Monday, March 31, 2008

Just when I thought I could not go lower

I love to cook. I enjoy making things from scratch. It is an amazing stress reliever for me--my husband knows I have had a bad day if he smells cookies in the oven or a complicated stew simmering. Yet, ironically, when I get insanely busy and obviously stressed, I reach for whatever I can find to feed my family.
At the beginning of the school year, I made sure my lovely children had a full balanced lunch--fresh veggies, paninis with all sorts of good-for-you yummy stuff--and then I slowly started to slip. It started with the frozen spinach walnut tortellini; I made sure to still make a fresh butter based sauce and a pretty parsley garnish. Then I discovered jarred pesto (side note: I love making my own pesto--easy and cheap yet I bought the jarred) and began to spoon this over the tortellini and the parsley was left out. And the kids LOVED it. They thought it was just yummy! Last week, I emptied the dishwasher while the tortellini was boiling. I did not want to dirty a bunch of plates so I used paper plates from a Valentine's Day party. The kids found it festive and I felt I could not go any lower. Until today.
Today was insane--tests, speeches, memory verses. I thought I was reliving college finals week. By the time the inevitable question 'what's for lunch?' was asked, I was drained. And then I sunk to a brand new low. I picked up the phone, texted my husband.
"Pizza 4 lunch"
"Sure" was the swift reply.
I texted back an order and 35 minutes later we had pizza from a local pizzeria on our table. And here's the ultimate low--because we all had personal, lovely, artistic pizzas, we all had out own box. And, blushing, these were our plates.
Don't want to waste those paper plates after all ;)

12 comments:

Jacque said...

Sounds yummy!! I'm sure the kids thought it was a treat, and Mommy needs a break once in awhile! :)

Elizabeth Byler Younts said...

thanks for stopping by my blog...i wish bad news only came via the news...having it come by email and phone just hits you right between the eyes. thank you for your prayers.

JCK said...

Isn't amazing how kids turn it around to something fun and festive? And we feel the guilt! Hey, all of that sounded OK, even the pizza reasonable. I served PB&J and frozen peas for dinner to my kids the other night...BAD Mommy!

Texasholly said...

I really need help because that would be a good meal for us.

Grace Acres said...

I think this all sounds fun and cozy.

just jamie said...

Mmmm.... I'm still stuck on the delicious paninis. You should have seen how sad the lunches were that I packed for the kids today. I was already feeling guilty. Pizza would have been a step-up.

Melissa said...

ohhh I love paninis. My mom makes these amazing ones with munster cheese, thyme, and some other sauce I can't remember. It is the world best gormet grilled cheese sandwich

Elizabeth Byler Younts said...

you've been tagged! come by my blog and check out the rules!

Grace Acres said...

you've been tagged...check out my blog... Christina

Anonymous said...

pizza sounds like a good dinner to me! just make some frozen broccoli florets with it!

Momo Fali said...

I be the kids were thrilled with that! My kids love it when our routines are changed a bit!

(And, I hope you never read my post about feeding my kids Beef-a-Roni and buttered hot dog buns for dinner once!)

Anonymous said...

I just discovered your blog and enjoyed it.I really enjoy doing everything from scratch too and feel the same way when I give in to fast food, but it is what we do most of the time that matters.Besides we all need a break sometimes. Keep up the good work.