Today was our prep for Easter and all the good food that typically occurs on that day. Please don’t think of me as someone that loses the meanings of the holidays and just focuses on the food, so take a look at yesterday’s blog to get an understanding of where I’m coming from. We sat down with the kids today and had an “expectations” talk about what Sunday would look like. The two main points were what the Easter Bunny would bring and also what we would eat for dinner.
Here’s what I knew going into the conversation.
As we attacked the first area of concern, (the candy), I realized how lucky I was to have kids that love foods I don’t particularly care for. We gave them each the option to pick something just for them. One chose Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs, one chose Jelly Beans, and the other chose Sour Patch kids. Since it was their only item, they got the freedom to name the brand of their choice, which really only applied to the Jelly Beans. The specific brand was identified and would be secured for him. Again, I was lucky that none of those treats are my “favorite” which would cause me issue to be around.
With the dinner situation, we took an entirely new approach in an effort to create a special meal. Stephanie suggested a sirloin or some other steak like meat which I can’t recall at the moment. For you normal folks out there, steak might be a weekly occurance in your house, but it is quite rare that we eat it at the Graham House. I can really only think of a couple of times during our 8-yr-olds life that we’ve had steak. It’s not that I dislike it, but my reasoning would likely be a blog in itself so I’ll spare you for now.
Once you settle on steak, then your side dishes can easily be adjusted. Mashed sweet potatoes and cauliflower will make an appearance, along with green beans possibly mixed with some bacon. You can also justify a salad on the side. As for dessert, let’s just say we’ve reached a point where the kids no longer ask “what’s for dessert tonight?”. Our youngest considers unsweetened applesauce a dessert item now so we’ll likely roll with that. (On a side note, I don’t understand why they sell “sweetened applesauce” with sugar and corn syrup. Is the unsweetened not sweet enough for people? I’ve always thought the natural applesauce was sweet enough, but give me your thoughts.)
My family came to an agreement about Easter in around 10 minute’s time. No one had hurt feelings or said they felt unloved because they were just getting one type of candy. The kids, ranging from ages 8 to 18, are more understanding about what the experiment is trying to accomplish than I originally gave them credit for. Keep that in mind if you ponder doing something similar to this experiment, but think it will be too difficult because you have kids of various ages. Don’t let your perception of your kids reaction be the thing that keeps you from making a positive change in your life for you and them.
As for me on Easter, I should be just fine without my solid chocolate bunny this year and maybe next. Not being distracted by chewing the head off of a chocolate animal might allow me to focus on more important things that day.
What I ate today
Today I had the day off of work and so did Stephanie, so it felt just like a Saturday with running around doing errands and throwing my patterns off. This caused some erratic meals.
Onward to Day twenty-six!
Here’s what I knew going into the conversation.
- We wouldn’t be having the typical Easter morning with baskets filled with a variety of treats and each person receiving their “featured” treat. (Mine was always the solid chocolate bunny.)
- We wouldn’t be having ham for Easter Dinner because it was a slippery slope. Once you get that sweet ham on the table, you have to position the mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, stuffing, and more around it. They all just seem to go together.
- There would be no Easter pies or ice cream for dessert.
As we attacked the first area of concern, (the candy), I realized how lucky I was to have kids that love foods I don’t particularly care for. We gave them each the option to pick something just for them. One chose Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs, one chose Jelly Beans, and the other chose Sour Patch kids. Since it was their only item, they got the freedom to name the brand of their choice, which really only applied to the Jelly Beans. The specific brand was identified and would be secured for him. Again, I was lucky that none of those treats are my “favorite” which would cause me issue to be around.
With the dinner situation, we took an entirely new approach in an effort to create a special meal. Stephanie suggested a sirloin or some other steak like meat which I can’t recall at the moment. For you normal folks out there, steak might be a weekly occurance in your house, but it is quite rare that we eat it at the Graham House. I can really only think of a couple of times during our 8-yr-olds life that we’ve had steak. It’s not that I dislike it, but my reasoning would likely be a blog in itself so I’ll spare you for now.
Once you settle on steak, then your side dishes can easily be adjusted. Mashed sweet potatoes and cauliflower will make an appearance, along with green beans possibly mixed with some bacon. You can also justify a salad on the side. As for dessert, let’s just say we’ve reached a point where the kids no longer ask “what’s for dessert tonight?”. Our youngest considers unsweetened applesauce a dessert item now so we’ll likely roll with that. (On a side note, I don’t understand why they sell “sweetened applesauce” with sugar and corn syrup. Is the unsweetened not sweet enough for people? I’ve always thought the natural applesauce was sweet enough, but give me your thoughts.)
My family came to an agreement about Easter in around 10 minute’s time. No one had hurt feelings or said they felt unloved because they were just getting one type of candy. The kids, ranging from ages 8 to 18, are more understanding about what the experiment is trying to accomplish than I originally gave them credit for. Keep that in mind if you ponder doing something similar to this experiment, but think it will be too difficult because you have kids of various ages. Don’t let your perception of your kids reaction be the thing that keeps you from making a positive change in your life for you and them.
As for me on Easter, I should be just fine without my solid chocolate bunny this year and maybe next. Not being distracted by chewing the head off of a chocolate animal might allow me to focus on more important things that day.
What I ate today
Today I had the day off of work and so did Stephanie, so it felt just like a Saturday with running around doing errands and throwing my patterns off. This caused some erratic meals.
- Grabbed two bananas on the way to the gym (visit 7). They were smaller bananas than typical.
- Breakfast was the traditional eggs and turkey sausage. Easter has given me an opportunity to stock up on eggs because of the sale prices. Had some sharp cheddar sprinkled on top. This meal was closer to noon so it became sort of a lunch or a “second breakfast” as my hobbit friends may call it.
- We were on the road with errands, so I grabbed another banana because they travel so easily.
- It was around 4 PM when we got back and I was thrown off because I didn’t feel like leftovers or salad at that time of the day. I ended up with a second helping of eggs and sausage. Then I snuck some sliced cheese shortly after that.
- Eating so late caused me to miss dinner and pushed it back to around 8PM. It was leftovers from previous nights as we try to minimize the amount of Tupperware items in the fridge taking up space. The chicken from last night, the last of the Quinoa, and a sweet potato. The sweet potato tasted perfect and I didn’t need to put anything on it all. Many places locally have them on sale right now and there must have been a good crop somewhere because it was perfect. Steph had prebaked it last night, so it just required a quick heating in the microwave to get nice and mushy. See the picture below.
Onward to Day twenty-six!
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