Last night I had forgotten to thaw anything for dinner so we decided to go out to dinner as a family and then date night would start after M went to bed. We went to Datz, a deli that has evolved into a foodie paradise.  Dinner was good – Rotisserie chicken for me, steak for Devon, hot dog for M.  But, to me and M the standout was the appetizer.  A bar mix of olives, manchego cheese, and croutons marinated in a little olive oil and spices.

I will take that bar mix over standard nuts or wasabi peas any day.  Mirabelle, too.  Ask her what her favorite food is and she will tell you olives. My parents were planning a treat for her to celebrate potty training and she told them she wanted pickles and olives.  But, she won’t turn down sweets either.

She and I actually have pretty similar taste in food – obviously she loves the salty stuff like olives, pickles, and capers (she will eat them by the spoonful).  But, when it comes to sweets, the sweeter the better. Forget the cake getting in the way of the sugary icing, fruit pies - eh, cookies are ok but give us the good sugary sweet stuff – candy, chocolate, marshmallows, and especially ice cream.  It’s interesting to see those tastes come out, especially the similarities.

So, date night was scheduled for last night but we never got there.  For the last couple weeks M has been having a terrible time going to sleep.   She cries when I put her in the crib and wakes up in the middle of the night.   Last night was no exception, only ending after Devon was able to calm her down – the only one of us who’s been able to do so these last couple of weeks. 

I know complaining about your child’s sleep habits is cliché, but it is difficult.  I’m worried about M and what’s keeping her awake (is it me and my work schedule?), I wonder if she will never go to sleep easily again, I wonder if my days of being the one to put her down are over – and honestly feel like I’m failing here, and selfishly I miss the calm in the evenings after she’s gone to bed. 

So instead of date night last night we had family date night and honestly that’s ok, too.  We love hanging out as a family and had fun – plus Devon and I have a night out planned for tomorrow, so we’ll get our time too. Tonight, we’re back at our respective computers, but we keep working at that balance between marriage, family and time to ourselves.    It’s been a rough few nights, but we still got dinner on the table.  

Dinner for Three

Taco Salad – During M’s nap I browned ground turkey with cumin, garlic, onion powder and chili powder.  Then, I added it to a salad of romaine lettuce, corn, black beans, tomatoes, and shredded cheddar cheese.

I topped it with a simple guacamole (mashed avocado with cumin, garlic, onion powder, salt and lemon), sour cream and salsa (Publix organic). 

Enjoy!

Let me give you some background. When my daughter was around one (she’s just over two now) I was seriously stressed about the idea of preparing home-cooked family dinners.  Every time we added something new to the mix, solid foods for instance, it seemed to take an excruciatingly long time to get everything done. I also work three days a week, making it that much harder to get home and cook dinner at a decent time. 

I thought I’d never be able to make dinner for the family, wrote out schedules I never implemented, and asked my sister what her exact schedule was like when her kids were little – that was 15 years ago, so she didn’t remember.  I knew my mom had done it, often serving dinner after 7 p.m. so my dad could eat with us.  Obviously growing up with such an emphasis on the family meal is why it was so important for me. 

For what it’s worth, my mom would tell me to let my husband, Devon, do it - or get take out.

So I worried, and for a long time Devon and I were eating dinner at 9:00 each night, after Mirabelle was asleep and dinner was made or delivered.  Then, suddenly I found the three of us having dinner together one or two nights a week. Then another, and now I cook and we eat dinner together most nights. It took some time, but we got there, and I’m proud of us!

Still, every night is a marathon to get dinner on the table.  A crisis at work, new developmental phase, or just plain laziness can all impact my ability to feed my family.  But, they are always fed. 

Some days it’s homemade, some days we take out or eat out, and some days it’s just me and Devon in front of the TV, eating at 9pm – and I like that, too. What was I so worried about?

When I was considering this blog, I though back to this time quite a bit. Turns out that I was able to figure things out, along with many other trials of parenting , creating a family, working, etc. and that’s what I want to focus on here.   That, and my real love of food. Cooking, too, when I have time to really enjoy it. 

So, here’s what was on our table tonight. Oh, and when Mirabelle came in from swimming with Devon while I cooked she said, “I smell something. I think it’s pasta.”  It was chicken, but I’m so impressed that at two, she is already becoming aware of the smells coming out of the kitchen. Hopefully it’ll be something she enjoys, too.

Dinner for Three:

Mock Chicken Picatta - My husband is trying to reduce carbs so I double dredged chicken cutlets in egg and parmesan cheese and added them to a pan with garlic that was already sautéing in olive oil.  I added the juice of one lemon, turned the cutlets a few times and then covered and let them simmer.  When they were finished I took them out of the pan, added butter to the pan and stirred up all the cooked brown bits, added capers and poured over the chicken.   Not the healthiest meal I’ve made, but good and a nice change for us. 

Cauliflower – Steamed in the microwave with a little butter and garlic, and added cheese on top.

Salad – I have a standard green salad with my own dressing that you will see here time and time again.

Enjoy!