Choices, choices....

Working with children and being a mom, I feel like I spend a good part of the week explaining to young people what their choices are and breaking down the good or the bad consequences that may (or will in fact) take place if one choice is made over another. I want Katelyn to understand that she has choices to make everyday. All that said...I would NEVER expect a three year old to choose steamed broccoli over a piece of candy if given the option.

The other night Katelyn ate her dinner and she did a good job eating so she could have a treat. She chose a sucker. Then Michael and I sat down at the table and started eating our dinner. We were having baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and a salad. Katelyn's eyes got real wide and she said, "What's that." (She knew exactly what it was...broccoli is her favorite vegetable...hands down.) So she asked for some. Of course we gave it to her. (Who doesn't give their kid broccoli when they're asking for it?)

So she had broccoli in one hand and the sucker in the other and she one by one ate a whole pile of broccoli. And then she wanted some of the soy nuts in my salad...so we gave her those too.

By that point we had finished dinner and decided that we'd all go for a walk around the neighborhood together. I asked her if she wanted to take her sucker on our walk and she said, "No, I'm all done now."

I'm really thankful for Michael because he loves the fact that I cut coupons, can get a good deal on just about anything, want to live simply, eat well and live within our means. Not only does he love it, but he shares the same values which make day to day lifestyle choices pretty easy.

So over the past couple of weeks I've started putting together a menu each week so that 1) we don't have the daily question, "So what do you want for dinner tonight?" 2) I can look at the ads for the week and what's ready in the garden and plan a menu around what's on sale or ready to harvest 3) we sit down and eat a healthy meal together at our table most nights of the week and 4) we rarely spend money eating out and my favorite part 5) I get to try lots of new recipes!

So last week our dinner menu was:
Monday - chicken with curry dill sauce, raita (cucumbers and tomatoes in plain yogurt), couscous with vegetables
Tuesday - slow cooker pork chops and rice, salad, homemade honey oat bread (loving my breadmaker!)
Wednesday - homemade vegetable pizza (with whole wheat crust) and salad
Thursday - Stuffed red peppers, raita, homemade egg bread
Friday - community dinner at our pastor's house
Saturday - Pork fried rice and salad
Sunday - Chili, cornbread and salad

And this week:
Monday - Dinner at the church
Tuesday - Baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad
Wednesday - chicken enchiladas and salad
Thursday - Marrakesh vegetable curry, couscous, naan bread
Friday - Community dinner at our pastor's house (we're making tacos!)
Saturday and Sunday I reserve for leftovers or something new made from leftovers.

I've been packing everyone's lunch each day (sandwiches or leftovers). (Katelyn got leftover steamed broccoli in her lunch the other day and ate it...might be a preschool first!) Fast food pretty much never sounds good to us anymore. (Except Katelyn who loves her broccoli but would eat McDonalds everyday if we'd let her.) So we're eating healthy and spending next to nothing eating out. There are fresh vegetables EVERYWHERE right now. I LOVE cooking in the summer!! And Michael is sweet and good and likes pretty much everything I put in front of him whether it has meat in it or not. What a guy!!!

The clothesline is up and I've hung six loads of clothes, sheets and towels out there to dry this week already. Our dryer hasn't been turned on once.

We're finding our groove as a family and it's been pretty great. I'm one happy girl!