It's Sunday afternoon. My son and husband are playing Lincoln logs in the library, my daughter is asleep on the couch, and I'm engaged in my Sunday ritual, cooking for the week.
Everybody who knows me, knows that I spend Sunday afternoon cooking for the week. Sometimes the weekly chore can be stressful or dreaded, but some days like today, when the house is peaceful, and it's too hot outside to do anything else, I find it to be relaxing. Either way, it's a necessity.
During the week, we get home around 5:15 with the kids. They're tired and hungry and so are we. During the week, even take-out seems like a hassle, so I want to have meals ready in the fridge that I can just warm up in the microwave and eat. There's also health reasons. I want to be able to feed my kids wholesome food like my mom did when I was growing up. During the day, they're at school, and I can't control everything they're putting in their mouths (though I do send organic milk for their lunch). So I take breakfast and dinner seriously.
Menu planning can be a challenge. To make it easier, I break it into the food groups, old school style. I want to make sure my kids have some whole grains, veggies, and lean meats. Of course they drink a glass of milk with their meal as well.
When it comes to veggies, if I was just cooking for my husband, cutting up a salad or making a stir fry would be the easiest answer, but my kids are a bit picky. I've found that the frozen steam bag of veggies are my best bet. There are a lot of varieties available. My kids like the broccoli with cheese sauce. That adds a little fat, but at this age, I want them to eat their veggies and start enjoying the taste. My son recently ate homemade stir fry veggies without complaint. The best thing about steamed veggies, is the ease, it's just a matter of heating it up in the microwave.
Grains are easy. I make brown rice in the rice cooker the night before and reheat it. I also boil a variety of whole grain pastas the night before. Sometimes, I serve this with good quality store bought sauce, but sometimes, I just toss with olive oil, Italian herbs, and crumbled cheeses. You can mix in the same types of things with rice and make a quick pilaf.
For meat, on Sundays, I usually serve baked fish. I also cooked a big pot of chicken curry, make a shrimp stir fry, and one beef or goat dish. Besides Sunday dinner, I usually try to have three complete meals ready. That takes me to Thursday, when I usually have leftovers. On Fridays, we do the occasional take-out, or I feed the kids snacks when they get home and cook a fresh meal.
The chicken curry is done, now I must get back to my Sunday ritual.
