Permission to let go

Tonight marked the first of six weeks of soccer for my kids.

It starts early in the evening, which was a requirement of mine when I went looking for soccer for them. (Currently, my daughter is enrolled in Beavers, and Beaver night is always a late bedtime night. Not good for kid in question. Not good for kid’s parents.)

So the deal for me to get them there on time and keep them nourished and hydrated throughout their playing time is to get a healthy on-the-go dinner packed up along with some interesting (read: junk food) snacks and plenty of water. Then I have to pick my son up at daycare, pick my daughter up at school (she normally takes the school bus home) and then scoot to the south part of the city and deliver them to the soccer field.

Brain Overload!

OhMyGosh! Can we say, “brain overload?”

Of late, I have been trudging through the World Wide Web, looking for tips and information on healthy eating for families who want to get back on track. And by back on track I mean, Mommy and Daddy want to lose some serious pounds before the family vacay, and kid #1 and kid #2 need to start eating enough healthy food to give them energy for all the fun activities we’ll be doing on said family vacay.

Now, we all know there is a TON of information out there and it would take eons to get through it all. Plus a good portion of the information probably isn’t great anyway. But WOW, it’s almost a full time job just sifting through some of it, trying to find what might work for me and my family.

“Strict” parental control really is (for me) sweet success

Recently, I have slipped a bit in the “controlling screen time department.” Generally speaking, my children get 1.5 hours of TV per day (At home, that is. What they do outside our home is basically out of my control.)

It breaks down something like this:

The problem with a picky eater

My daughter is a picky eater. She’s not just picky about what she eats. She’s picky about when she eats and how much she eats.

There are certain things she doesn’t like on certain days. And on other days, these certain things are her favourite. I guess it depends on her mood. I’ve been warned by fellow parents who have older girls that the moodiness starts way before puberty hits.

Spaghetti pie

Who doesn’t think spaghetti is always better left over? There’s something about anything in tomato sauce that has been sitting in a sealed container in the fridge overnight. The longer tomato sauce soaked pasta sits, the tastier it is.

Mommy anger is a slippery slope

So the kids are driving me nuts. I think it’s horribly unfair that days that start so well in so many ways end with such upset and screaming (mostly mine ).

Stretching the meat budget

So, in the on-going effort to make the almighty dollar stretch ever further, I have started looking for ways to “increase my meat”.

Peanut Butter Banana Roll-Ups

Sometimes, life calls for E-Z. This was one of those weeks.

Try New Foods!

So, my eternally picky eater daughter ate and loved the dinner I cooked.

I made mango curry ground beef with white rice and mixed veggies. I also puréed some of the veggies and hid them in the sauce (just in case).

Brown rice is not my friend

I’ve been trying to feed my family in the healthiest way possible. When it comes to healthy food, there are some things my kids will eat, and some things they won’t.

Quinoa is one of those things that go over like gang busters. Brown rice, not so much.