My phone rang at 4:45 pm. I rarely pick up at that hour since I have to be on set 5 minutes later. But I did today and heard Eva on the other end of the line.
“Hello Mom. This is Palm.”
“Hello Darling. How are you?”
You should know “Palm” is my daughter’s alter ego. She’s called herself this for about a year now. Oh ya, and she’s British. So now re-read the conversation using your best British accent.
“Hello Mum. This is Palm.”
“Hello Darling. How are you?”
“I’d like to know what’s for dinner. Because I certainly don’t want what happened last night to happen again tonight.”
WHOA!!!!!!!!! Back up 24 hours. I rushed home from work, went straight to the kitchen and made Szechuan Beef. I attempted Szechuan Beef!! And it actually tasted like Chinese food!! Darrin and I had extra helpings it was that good. The kids however, went into their typical rants I’ve heard the past 6 months.
“Is this Paleo???”
“Mom, you know we HATE Paleo!!!”
No you little bastards, IT’S CHINESE FOOD! So what if it happens to qualify as Paleo. So what if I tried to slip a Paleo dinner in under the guise of Chinese and got caught. So what if I never ever cook dinner again!
And then she said this:
“So since I don’t want what happened last night to happen again, I was thinking I could cook dinner tonight.” And she had dropped the British accent so I knew she was entirely serious.
Well, hell yes you can I thought to myself. “Absolutely Palm! Knock yourself out!”
After work that night, I walked into the house and actually smelled food cooking. And I hadn’t even stepped in the kitchen!! This is Christmas morning for me. This is the greatest present of all to a working mom! Dinner ready the moment you walk in the door!
I sat at the dinner table and Eva and Domi proudly served me their meal. Chicken breasts, asparagus and edamame. Yep, two greens and a protein! I couldn’t have been prouder. Maybe underneath all their surly talk about how my dinners suck, the kids are learning a few things about good nutrition. And may I point out that, minus the edamame, this dinner IS TOTALLY PALEO!!
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About Wendy D
I hear if you let your kids help you with dinner prep that they are more likely to eat what is cooked because they are part of the process. Being allowed to add their own ingredients, stir, etc is a motivation for them because it’s something “they” made. What your kids did for you is pretty awesome.
So true Cathy!!
I had to giggle because I get the “please tell me that this is not paleo” talk from my kids for months. However, now, I get a “this tastes kinda funny” when they eat non paleo foods loaded with gluten. They new request almond/pecan crusted chicken or Greek chicken. Makes me so happy! Now if only I could trust them to cook dinner on their own without burning down the house.
I can’t wait to get to that point with Paleo at my house Beck!!
Just saw an article about a woman who was in the Ironman Triathalon in St George, Ut and she was making paleo-pancakes made with bananas, almond butter and eggs. Think the kids would go for something like that?
I think I have that recipe, Cathy! it’s great!