I talk with a lot of mothers about serving healthy food for their children. All parents want their children to eat healthy but time often gets in the way. We have busy lives. In many cases, both parents are working outside of the house. Sports and extra curricular activities rule the evenings . Kids are hungry when they get home and its just easier to hit the drive thru than to whip up a healthy meal. Our family strives to eat healthy every week, but I'm the first to admit that we usually give in to a $5 drive thru pizza once a week. So this week I've put our family up to the "no fast food" challenge.
What we're up against this week: My husband has to be out the door early each morning. I have two board meetings this week after work, an overdue hair appointment and family pictures on Friday. So far Tuesday is our only normal evening. In addition, we were out of town all weekend leaving only a few hours on Sunday evening to plan for the week. The house has been deemed a disaster zone. The laundry pile looks like Mount Everest. My little one is having his 3rd Birthday party this weekend, so I have to order birthday supplies (praying that they offer overnight shipping). I also need to experiment with healthy cupcakes and prepare food for the party and our overnight guests. Last but not least, we have to finish a paint project that we started last week. If there were ever a week to give in to a quick pizza...it's this week.
So in our effort to put Healthy Kids first, we created a plan. I spent the latter part of Sunday grocery shopping, planning and prepping for the week. Here's how we plan to pull it off:
Action Steps:
I'm in charge of breakfast and lunch. Done! Breakfast is easy. Egg and cheese bagels for the adults. Oatmeal and fruit for the kids. Lunch is another easy one. Low fat, low sodium turkey chili, cut up veggies with low fat ranch and plenty of fruit for a quick "grab and go" lunch each day.
My husband and kids are in charge of making dinner. This means quick and easy.
Monday: Chicken Quesadillas and Broccoli (chicken is cooked and ready. Broccoli is cut up and ready to steam).
Tuesday: Filet, Mushrooms and vegetables (mushrooms are clean and ready. Just need to throw everything on the grill).
Wednesday: Baked Ziti with whole grain pasta and pureed cauliflower and carrots (all vegetables were pureed on Sunday. Will make this on Tuesday night for a quick re-heat on Wed).
Thursday: Crab cakes and salad (will mix up crab cakes the night before so we can quickly cook our crab cakes in the oven that evening. Salad and vegetables can be prepped on Tuesday night).
Friday: Shrimp & Rice stir fry with peas (shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to pull off).
The master plan is set. We have a busy week, but we're determined to stay focused and not give into our temptation to eat quick and easy fast food. Stay tuned. I'll let you know if we can pull it off.
What we're up against this week: My husband has to be out the door early each morning. I have two board meetings this week after work, an overdue hair appointment and family pictures on Friday. So far Tuesday is our only normal evening. In addition, we were out of town all weekend leaving only a few hours on Sunday evening to plan for the week. The house has been deemed a disaster zone. The laundry pile looks like Mount Everest. My little one is having his 3rd Birthday party this weekend, so I have to order birthday supplies (praying that they offer overnight shipping). I also need to experiment with healthy cupcakes and prepare food for the party and our overnight guests. Last but not least, we have to finish a paint project that we started last week. If there were ever a week to give in to a quick pizza...it's this week.
So in our effort to put Healthy Kids first, we created a plan. I spent the latter part of Sunday grocery shopping, planning and prepping for the week. Here's how we plan to pull it off:
Action Steps:
I'm in charge of breakfast and lunch. Done! Breakfast is easy. Egg and cheese bagels for the adults. Oatmeal and fruit for the kids. Lunch is another easy one. Low fat, low sodium turkey chili, cut up veggies with low fat ranch and plenty of fruit for a quick "grab and go" lunch each day.
My husband and kids are in charge of making dinner. This means quick and easy.
Monday: Chicken Quesadillas and Broccoli (chicken is cooked and ready. Broccoli is cut up and ready to steam).
Tuesday: Filet, Mushrooms and vegetables (mushrooms are clean and ready. Just need to throw everything on the grill).
Wednesday: Baked Ziti with whole grain pasta and pureed cauliflower and carrots (all vegetables were pureed on Sunday. Will make this on Tuesday night for a quick re-heat on Wed).
Thursday: Crab cakes and salad (will mix up crab cakes the night before so we can quickly cook our crab cakes in the oven that evening. Salad and vegetables can be prepped on Tuesday night).
Friday: Shrimp & Rice stir fry with peas (shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to pull off).
The master plan is set. We have a busy week, but we're determined to stay focused and not give into our temptation to eat quick and easy fast food. Stay tuned. I'll let you know if we can pull it off.