... dinner! Black Bean and Avocado Quesadillas... yum!I had been thinking about posting about this topic for a while, but after reading this post on a blog I subscribe to, I figured it was time.
You know I posted at the beginning of the year that making more "family time" was one of my priorities for 2011... well this is another facet of that... family dinners. I don't know if I set out to do this from the beginning or if it just happened. Spending time with your family can be addicting, so maybe it just happened. :-)
We had always tried to sit down together for a family dinner each night... but it was hard with the kids' schedules and my lack of motivation in the kitchen. I found myself coming back to the same few convenience meals or throwing my hands up in defeat and asking Jeff to pick up take-out on the way home. Now, things have changed. The kids' schedules are still crazy, but I have made family dinner time a priority and have figured out a way to make it work. I have started subscribing to several recipe blogs and have expanded my repertoire of dinner options. The kids get so excited about "what's for dinner" now... I used to dread it when they asked me that question because I really had no idea most of the time. Now I plan ahead and have everything planned out for the week. With the new blogs, comes a ton of new recipes to try... here's a few of what we've tried just this week (in addition to the quesadillas above) ...
Ranch Chicken Pizza
Sour Cream Noodle Bake
White Chicken Enchiladas
It would be tempting to feed everyone separately (especially since Clara doesn't get home until 9 some nights)... throw everyone some convenience meal item and just get it done. But we've decided that sitting down together as a family is our biggest priority. Like I've mentioned before, our time together as a unit of 4, is so limited... I can't imagine not taking advantage of every opportunity to spend a little extra time together that we can. We have some of the greatest family conversations over dinner, even if it is at 9:30 at night. If we didn't have family dinner planned on those nights, Jeff wouldn't be able to sit down with the kids at all that day. At least we get that daily dose. Does it always happen this way? Do I always get something cooked? Do we always sit down together? No... definitely not. You saw in one of my last batches of photos that we had cold cereal for dinner. But do we make this a priority and try to make it happen more often than not... definitely yes.
That is so great! I find that very few people I know sit down together. For any meal. We always have, but then we have always been shedule free with just the one kiddo so that makes it easy. Though I have to admit that lately the idea of cooking dinner has not been at the top of my list. All I'd rather do is sleep :) I blame the hormones! I am trying to list up some super simple meals I can fix and I think those quesadillas will be at the top of my list this week!
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