sunday dinner

i know that for a lot of people, especially around here, if you asked what was their favorite thing about sunday is they'd list the various things they enjoy about church. and i appreciate spiritual enlightenment on sundays, but the best thing for me on sundays is the food.

and it's nice to know that my kids love my food as much as i do. in primary yesterday the kids were asked what they loved the most about their moms. jackson's hand shot straight up and he said "my mom is the best cook!"

i'm not gonna lie. i was proud. and i was extra happy to be in the kitchen yesterday baking rolls, mashing potatoes and smelling that delicious turkey roast in the crock pot.

kiddo lunch

a few weeks ago jackson and i were having a heart-to-heart and broke down crying and told me he couldn't concentrate in school and he felt like the dumbest kid in class. that was shocking for a couple reasons. 

#1 he's not dumb. #2 i had no idea he was struggling.

so of course i instantly started researching everything ADD, homeschool and a bunch of different things to find a solution to the problem. my boy who loves school was all of a sudden telling me he hates school and never wants to go back. 

i talked to his teacher, took him to the doctor to see if he needed to be tested for ADD, then sat down and talked to him again. a couple days had passed and he wasn't so emotional about it so we sat down and talked about it again. it turns out all the things that were bothering him were things that had simple solutions. the biggest thing though was the concentration. since nate is a veteran and is going to school full-time jackson qualified for free school lunch. so i gladly sent him off to school each day not worrying about lunch. come to find out they have two options each day. and from what jackson says he eats nachos every day. he said the other stuff is gross. no wonder he can't concentrate in school. a bowl of cereal in the morning and nachos for lunch? i won't be up for mother-of-the-year this year.

so we stopped having cereal in the morning and i started cooking him a healthy well-rounded breakfast. i also committed to sending him to school with a healthy lunch. it's been a week and there is already a huge difference. he feels better about himself and about school. he's concentrating and finishing his work faster. and he's happier and behaving even better at home. 

Food Matters!!!

banana, celery & all natural peanut butter, cherry tomatoes, cream cheese-cucumber-sprout sandwich on whole grain bread, annie's bunny crackers & mixed nuts, choc covered pretzels, V8.

turkey-cheese-romaine sandwich on whole grain bread, all natural apple-strawberry applesauce, chocolate almond mild, mixed nuts, carrots & ranch, annie's bunny graham crackers, mini babybel cheese wheel.

turkey-sprout-tomato sandwich, apple strawberry applesauce, cheese wheel, vanilla soy milk, annie's crackers and mixed nuts, yellow & orange bell peppers, chocolate covered pretzels.

peanut butter and honey sandwich, apple strawberry applesauce, cheese wheel, vanilla soy milk, mixed nuts, yellow and orange bell peppers, cherry tomatoes.

strawberries, grapes, apple strawberry applesauce, V8, annie's crackers, peanut butter and honey sandwich, cashews.

grilled cheese

winter is going to sneak up on us any time here in utah. i don't like winter. especially in utah. i'll be publicly cursing the cold weather until may. then about the end of june i'll start complaining about the ridiculous heat.

it's a vicious cycle.

anyway.

the one thing i do absolutely look forward to is all the soups that i get to make. and along with that goes the obvious comfort food....grilled cheese sandwiches :) i wandered over to "a beautiful mess" and my mouth started watering when i saw this picture.

click on the picture to go to a beautiful mess

in n out

they just built another in n out burger in utah. it boggles my mind when i see cars filling up the parking lot waiting for an unreasonable amount of time in the drive thru for some in n out food. since the food is only mediocre the only reason that comes to mind is that utahns so badly want to feel like they're in california so they flock to this place. 

i was driving by one day and saw how unbusy this location was at the time so i decided i was going to go in to give in n out one more chance to impress me. i think you can tell by the look on mr. p's face how unimpressed we were.

Food

I do my best cooking when I'm sick.

I'm just a picky eater in general, but when I'm not feeling well I'm a REALLY picky eater. When I'm sick there are only a few things that sound good to me. Chicken Noodle Soup. Roast Chicken. Stuffing. Mashed Potatoes. Potato Soup. Fresh Bread.

You know, all the good stuff that you eat when you go to Grandma's house.

But it can't be soup from a can, chicken from the store, instant mashed potatoes or Rhodes Frozen Bread. It has to be the real thing. Noodles made from scratch. Homemade stuffing shoved inside your chicken and roasted in your oven so your whole house smells. Real bread mixed in your mixer and set aside to rise for two hours.

I'm sick today, so of course that's what I spent my day doing. Roasting a chicken.

And there's a pie in the oven right now.