List #1: January 3rd, 2015

We are starting this week out with cold, wet, rainy weather. The babysitter is out of town. And, I have already cooked beans. This adds up to keep it simple, easy, and use the crock pots. I don't want to be chopping veggies and doing Kindergarten and 6th grade homework with the kids.

Breakfast
Cereal
Breakfast Bars (just a few, for the days we are running late)
Scrambled Eggs
Paleo Egg and Chorizo Muffins
or maybe these
100 calorie egg and cheese muffins

Lunches
Kids will eat at school. They love school lunches. They are weird kids. (School serves ice cream)!
Mason Jar Salads
Leftovers
Sandwhiches

Dinner
Saturday: Chili from the leftover beans
Sunday: Paleo Chicken Tortilla Soup
Monday: Cereal or leftovers - Basketball practice night
Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti
Wednesday: Leftover day - not much time because of Wednesday night church
Thursday: Chicken Fajitas
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: White Chicken Chili

Snacks
Fruits and Veggies

The Epiphany: Storing my menu lists on this here blog

Our family has a difficult time eating at home. And, I love Pintrest. These two things go together, they really do, I promise. I have all kinds of menu boards on Pintrest, I even buy all the ingredients, but I find it difficult to get in the rhythm of cooking a meal. 

I think we make it too difficult. The whole cooking thing. We eat out all the time, so we expect our home cooked meals to have the same kind of flavor, choices, and presentation.

Really? I'm a working Mom. That is NOT happening. So, I make my menu and send David to the grocery story (because I refuse to grocery shop with both of our kids) and promise myself that all that food won't end up in the compost at the end of the week.

AND THEN ... I loose my menu list, like I did today, and I'm lost and can't remember what I had planned to cook after a long day of work and 6th grade homework with my Middle Schooler, Which inspired me to sit down and make a blog, so that I can keep up with the links I pin.

EPIPHANY! What if I blogged the now-lost menu, and, even edit the blog to note what I like and dislike as I cook the menu? TIME SAVER! Fewer lists to make, right?

That's a pretty big aha! 

It also means I actually need to cook. Seriously, I am still working to convince myself that the kitchen is a necessary room in my house. 

Fortunately, I get to balance the checkbook in my household, so, those big debits to the restaurant usually provides some motivation for getting myself in the kitchen and not turning it into an extension of our too small living room.

Checkbook aside, there are better reasons for cooking at home. Here are some:

1) Ultimately, it saves time. I don't have enough time, so, saving time is a pretty good reason.

2) It's healthier. There is no way we are going to lose weight eating out. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. 

3) I have my own garden. It's therapeutic and organic veggies are good for us. We really should eat what we grow.

4) Probably the best reason, though, FAMILY TIME. Kids need to know that there is a center to their family rhythm. There is a time and place for them to sit with Mom and Dad, to talk about their day, to share their high's and lows, to hear their parents take on God's work in the world.