A Dinner Hack: Feed them Fruit
I've written before about the fruit hierarchy that exists in our house (most of which still holds true--just add in pears which are currently at the top, even above berries), and thought I'd share a little dinnertime hack that has been happening around our household because:
1. My husband is traveling so cooking is a nonstarter
2. Everyone has been sick for the past month so I'm trying to cram as much fresh food into my family as possible
3. Dinnertime is still quite impossible in this stage of life, where even throwing something premade into the oven requires a lot more effort than you'd think.
Feed them fruit!
It's been a couple years since I've shared the life-changing tenet from the book that has influenced a lot of my philosophy on feeding my family (post is here), so here it is again:
"Fruits and vegetables carry the same nutrients, so a child can be well-nourished on either."
Don't have to tell me twice!
I heard something recently that resonated with me that was more or less: "Why are we being so precious about dinner?"
Meaning, dinner doesn't HAVE to be what we grew up with. It doesn't have to be meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans, or that model (although that does sound like a meal that my family would devour, and if anyone wanted to bring that over we would certainly accept it!)
Dinner can be:
a snack board
soup and bread
a stuffed baked potato
a piece of baked chicken and a clementine, unpeeled, rolling around on the plate, to which a husband might amusedly exclaim, "That's a fun plate!" (in my defense there were turnips still roasting in the oven)
If you, too, find yourself in the dinnertime trenches (5 years and counting!), maybe just give yourself a little grace, swap out one of the side dishes for some fresh fruit, know that your family will be totally excited about it, and move on with life!
Any dinnertime hacks helping you lately? You know I'm all ears.
