Playing the long game
We want our kids (and ourselves obviously) to eat well and healthy. I’m totally behind this. However, this is not a realistic objective every single day or meal. Sometimes we are just too tired to cook and thus go for an easy solution. For example, Friday a week ago, after a full on week at work, and running out of time, we had bread and cheese for dinner. A few weeks ago, with lockdown getting to me, on one Sunday, all I wanted was to stay in bed and watch movies. So we did. M thought it was the “best day ever”. We call those kind of days a “no plans day”.
As I mentioned last week, we follow the principle of: we select what to serve and when, and the kid selects what to eat and how much. And as much as we try to provide good healthy food every day, when we follow this rule, sometimes M doesn’t want to eat what we serve. It can be easy to fall into a hole where we worry about her food intake. To counteract that, I do three things:
I try to make or consume more wholesome foods. I will buy the whole grain version of products or add wheat germ and wheat bran to my breads.
I load afternoon tea with fresh fruit and veggies.
Lastly, and most importantly, I remind myself that every day and every meal does not need to be fully balanced. If I build enough variety into my weekly meal plan, it will all balance itself out. I try to remember that we are playing the long game here, instead of just looking at what we ate today.
Doing a movie day or a “cheat day” is ok every now and again, as long as it doesn’t happen every single day. Sometimes we just need a break. So be kind to yourself if you just want to have a no plans day every once in a while.
I forgot to mention last week that we did the Mojo de Ajo confit garlic. It is more lemony that our usual version but still delicious
Here are this week’s recipe suggestions for you to try:
Preserved lemon pasta — Jess Milly shared this with us last week. We made it with cauliflower because we had some to use up. Our version needed the acidity of tomatoes, sun-dried or fresh, and also doesn't look as colourful, but it was still delicious.
Corn chowder — this is our favourite version of corn chowder.
Curried potatoes with fried egg — speaking of favourites, I love this breakfast from Bill Granger. The Times has a slightly different version of the same recipe.
Chunky minestrone with giant croutons — funnily enough Lunch Lady's tagline is "Food + Family".
Fruit dip for afternoon tea snack
2 kiwi fruits, halved with skins removed
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
1 tablespoon honey
A blender
A selection of fruits for dipping such as pear, banana and apple
Place kiwi fruit, raspberries, yoghurt and honey in the blender and blend until smooth. Serve with a selection of fruits, sliced.
Our meal plan from last week can be found at: https://foodfamily.app/public/meal_plans/59e11868-0f1f-4b61-b157-74bf6e1436d6
Once again, please let us know if you make any of these recipes, how you found them, what you changed, or just drop us an email to say hi.
Thanks and see you next week,
Elle, Lachlan, M, Ginger, and Edward