EAT PLAY PLAN: CALZONES AND CARS

Dear Olive,

I am resurrecting the Eat Play Plan.

Here is tonight's fare:

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EAT PLAY PLAN: ITALIAN AND MARBLES

Dear Olive,

What we did tonight:

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EAT PLAY PLAN

Dear Olive,

How satisfying it feels to wake up with an idea of what to make for dinner and to have actual food to make it.  Perhaps this is because it happens so rarely.  How is it, that with all of life's challenging tasks, the last meal of the day is the most elusive chore? After a long day of work and parenting problem-solving, my mental energy fizzles at dinner.  So, I've been devising an Eat Play Plan.  The intention is to reduce the regular cortisol-attacks induced by trying to enact a dinner out of a can of chicken broth and a red pepper.  And while I've made gamely attempts at pepper soup and pepper pasta, there must be a more reasonable way to tackle this life detail.  Here are my rules for Eat Play Plan:

• All dinners must be 5ish ingredients
• Meals should take 20 minutes or less to cook
• No "boxed" pre-prepared dinners
• Must be kid-edible
• All work will be side saddled with a kid activity that is easy enough to pull together in about 5 minutes.

The goal is to have the kids engaged in something while I make dinner.   Having a pre-planned activity assuages the mom-guilt that I feel from focusing energy on anything other than them after being gone at work.

Here is Monday's plan:

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