What's for Dinner - Week of 3/7/11

Better late than never, right?

The weather here in Columbus has been alternating between beautiful and ghastly.  Currently we are at ghastly with non-stop rain.  Of course, I am scheduled to run 7 miles tonight and two boys are starting with baseball.  Ugh!  I fear for April showers. 

This week is crazy as we start into our Lenten season with Ash Wednesday.  Thankfully, things will be a little easier now that the boys are eating more fish!  Rowan was even saying that he wanted to try some other types of fish, so I may have to "accommodate" him.  He will certainly have to be reminded of this conversation when dinner time comes around.

This is the time of year where I really try to clean out my freezer and pantry.  I hate to call it a "pantry challenge" because I fear that I am just not up to the task.  I know that I will have to go to the grocery store and buy additional food to supplement what I find in the freezer.  There are just too many appetites to fulfil!

Monday:  Pasta with Herbed Butter, broccoli
                 Very much like pasta with a pesto sauce.  I will add a pound of Italian sausage to appease the boys.

Tuesday:  Smorgasbord, carrots
                 We have a lot of left-overs to finish up.  Everyone's favorite (not)!

Wednesday:  Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, tomato soup
                  I have brie cheese for the adults and good old American and provolone for the boys.  I should be able to pull off this meal with the crazy night we have ahead of us.

Thursday:  Catfish with Stewed Tomatoes, yellow rice, asparagus
                 Rowan is getting his wish and we are going to try catfish.  Hmmmm, we'll see!

Friday:  Fish Fry at Church
                  Lent is known for the fish frys!

Saturday:  Out for a charity dinner
                  This is a corned beef dinner for a school charity event.  We even get to work the bar!

Sunday:  Smorgasbord, salad
                 Believe it or not, we will still have leftovers that need to be finished off.  Need to get the fridge cleaned out before I can tackle the freezer.

Have a great week!  Enjoy!

I am participating in Menu Plan Monday over at http://www.orgjunkie.com/!

Stay tuned!  I hope to have some more reviews and a giveaway later this week!

What's for Dinner - Week of 2/21/11

I had a major mom coup last week:  I served salmon to all of the boys for dinner. 

My back was to the wall.  No other options.  No kid food in my back pocket to bail me out . . .  and they liked it!  Most of them even had seconds!  Total success.

Now, I am the first person to say that when it comes to feeding children dinner that you should only have one dinner option.  Or make that two . . . take it or leave it.  For me, it has been a matter of survival.  If I offered other options or acted as a short order cook, I would literally have six different meals I would have to make.  (I am assuming that Mark would throw me a bone and let me cook him what I was eating, but I may be just assuming!) 

Let me jump off my soapbox, though, because I used to have one exception to that rule, and that was fish.  I started off serving fish when the boys were younger and I would call it "white meat".  They caught on eventually (Patrick has a keen nose) and began to revolt.  So, I would usually cook hot dogs or chicken nuggets to serve alongside. 

Recently, I started cooking extra fish, as some of my more adventurous eaters began asking for "bites".  Well, the bites became bigger and soon I started not having enough for Mark and my main course.  I took the plunge a couple of months ago and cooked tilapia for everyone and they loved it.  In fact, I ran out of it!  Slowly but surely, I have been working other fish into my plans with great success.  Score!

A long time ago I had read that children would often need to be introduced to a new food many times (I think they had said something like fifteen!) before they would start to like it.  I would have to say that I agree with that.  Sometimes it doesn't take so long, other times (mushrooms, beans, fish) it takes much longer.  Keep at it and you may turn your picky eaters around!

Now to the meals . . .

Monday:  General Tsao's Chicken, rice, edamame
                  More on this later this week.  Chinese is always a hit here!

Tuesday:  Omelets, hash browns, fruit salad
                 This meal was pushed back from last week.  I love breakfast for dinner!

Wednesday:  Moroccan Chicken, couscous, baked sweet potatoes
                  This sounds yummy.  More recipes from The Six O'clock Scramble.

Thursday:  Fettuccine with Chickpea Sauce, zucchini and tomato saute, bread
                 Ditto the source.  Sounds good, but the boys will be bummed that it is meatless.

Friday:  Dinner out for the Blue Jackets game!

Saturday:  Breaded Tilapia with Garlic-Lime Sauce, rice, green beans
                  Hopefully my success with fish will continue.  Everyone has enjoyed tilapia in the past.

Sunday:  Pizza out for baseball meeting

Enjoy!

Have a good week!

I am participating in Menu Plan Monday over at http://www.orgjunkie.com/!