Rice Stir Fry

 
I have found making meals to be a challenge since Daniel was born. The first few weeks of his life "ex utero" were easy as Kevin and friends took care of it all.  The last few weeks, I have gradually taken over the meal making duties again, with continued help from Kevin and the kids.  I've struggled with not planning ahead as well as usual, and sometimes it has been 3 p.m. and I have had NO idea what to fix for dinner. 

A long time ago, I had a brief season of planning my meals out in 2 week intervals.  I know and respect people who plan a whole month ahead and there were nice things about meal planning, but I've decided long term it is not for me right now.  One big problem is that I could never gauge how many leftovers we would have on a given day, and food would tend to disappear into corners of the refrigerator and be forgotten. 

The last week has been better in that I've been more prepared ahead of time.  I made this stir fry a couple of days ago and it was quite a success.  I cut up zucchini and tomotoes (both from our garden) as well as carrots and onions, fried them in olive oil, threw in some boiled rice and a few eggs and salt, and voila, dinner. The kids mostly liked it.  It is rare for ALL the children to like anything I make, so if 4 or 5 like it I feel I am doing well.  The ones who don't like it have the option of not eating. We don't make anyone eat anything, but I don't prepare separate things for those who don't like a particular meal.  The kids don't have to eat, but they are not allowed to whine and complain about the food.

One thing we have NOT done much is ordered out.  I have a personal allergy to running to a restaurant when I fail to plan. Anything but that :-).  We were blessed with a gift card from our church which allowed us to buy a few meals from restaurants and oh, that was a blessing.  But in general, I always find something to eat in the house. There have been times when dinner was eggs, muffins, or a variety of leftovers.  Very occasionally, we've had cereal for dinner.  So yes, odd dinners, but dinner is served every day.