Everything I've read lately about how to get in better shape, feel better, and have healthy brain function, all sings the same tune: Limit dairy, red meat, and refined sugar. Increase grains and greens:) So, we're giving it a try. This is really hard though because I grew up on a dairy where we had lots of dairy and red meat. What else it there to eat? I took Ken shopping with me on Saturday and we didn't buy any red meat. He was very stressed out about what we were going to eat for the next two weeks! The young 20ish kid in line behind us, who had about 20 boxes of Totinos Pizza's, asked Ken what in the world he was making. Ken informed him that he was making nothing but that his wife was on a health kick. The kid was thankful that he didn't have a wife and that he was happy buying his $.99 pizza's. As Ken bagged our groceries, he was wishing he could trade that kid bags, our veggies for his boxed pizza's.
On Sunday we had Green Salad with sliced chicken for lunch and White Bean Soup for dinner. Turned out very good. No one wanted seconds though. Yesterday we had tuna sandwiches for lunch and Artichoke Lasagna for dinner. When Ken gathered the kids around for dinner, he prepped them all by saying, "Okay, this dinner is not as bad as it looks. Everyone has to try it and make Mom feel good and then I'll take you out later for hamburgers." Shaelynne then blessed the food and asked that no one would get sick and that we would all make it through the meal and that it would all be healthy and maybe even taste good and that no one would make mom feel bad about her dinner. As everyone picked through their dinner, the conversations heard were; "Ooooh! What the heck it that." "Ooooh, I'm not eating it." "I think I might throw up." And that was just the things that Ken was saying. Of course, the kids jumped right on that bandwagon and the rest of the dinner was history. They did all agree that the best part of the meal was playing their new game of "What the heck is that?" I feel successful in uniting my family at the dinner table. (And for the record, the Artichoke Lasagna was really good!)
On Saturday, when we were cleaning, I could smell gas. I could still smell it yesterday so I called the gas company to ask them to come check it out. The furnace stuff is all in a closet in our garage and so you can only smell it when you open the door to that closet. It's been pretty mild for a while so I thought maybe to some degree that was kind of normal. The gas lady seemed a little more panicked than I was. She asked how long I had been smelling it. I told her since we had moved in but that it seemed pretty strong over the weekend. She told me to keep the door closed to the garage, since that's where it was at, and to not turn on any lights and they would be right over. Seriously, 5 minutes later, there was a service man knocking on my door. He came in with his little wand thingy and cautiously waved it around until he finally found the leak. He then red tagged us and shut it all off. Seems we really have had a leak since we moved in. Oops! It was all so exciting. Lesson learned: If you smell gas, this is not a normal thing. Call your gas company!
10 comments:
Thanks a lot, Dad! This was a funny post, Laurie. It's always a chore to keep the family moving towards health, but I'm with you. I think it is a big part of mom's job. Good for you.
OK...I could have died about the gas leak...scared me to death!
And...I totally admire your trying to take a new direction with food in your family. I am working on the same thing...I have been slowly working to this and finally mentioned to my husband last week that I think we need to really watch our intake of meat and try to eat more veggies. He's on board!
Oh...one more thing...I want the recipe for the artichoke lasagne...it sounded so good!!!
Scary....about the gas! Glad it is all fixed. I think it is harder to be healty than not, way more expensive too! I think I am ready to try it for Jeremy's sake. He really does eat a lot of junk!!
That sounds like dinner at my house every night. I swear my kids won't eat anything but cereal and sandwiches. And if I even think of adding vegetables to a meal, I will have the whole family crying. What did I do wrong?
Gas terrifies me!! As for the no dairy & red meat... at least the family is all together, isn't it amazing how the hubby is usually the ringleader!!!
I'm still laughing after reading this blog. Very funny. When Joel doesn't like a meal, he very tactfully says, "How about we take this out of the menu for next month?" The other night I made a new recipe that flopped completely. Even I wasn't that thrilled. It really bugs me when this happens because I hate wasting food.
SCARY! We don't have gas. I would love a gas stove, but I don't miss having to worry about the leak or shutting it off.
As for healthy foods, keep fighting the good fight!
My family is also scared of 'test' recipes. I am doing weight watchers right now, and I save the 'yucky' food for me, and they all still get the 'good' food. That's hard. I still give them fruits and veggies, (I should do more), but they also eat stuff I can't right now.
I also would like that lasagna recipe. I love artichokes. FYI, artichokes have a good source of fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, and folate. They are also low in calories. My friend, who is also a dietition, had just given me this info. I didn't just happen to know that off the top of my head.
Artichoke lasagna does sound pretty good. Post a recipe, I'll have my hubby try it. He is the one doing the cooking most of the time right now. I just wish I could get him to do more salads and less frying!! I cannot wait for our tomato plants to put on tomatoes, maybe then more salads. and what's up with this??? My kids think they need desert every night!
Remind Ken to never, ever preface a meal with "it's not as bad as it looks"! LOL. Maybe they'll try it better next time. Too funny.
Giving up dairy is the hardest thing, which is why I haven't done it yet. Oh, and bread. Gotta have my bread.
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