Birthday Meal Fit for a Two Year Old

Okay, I think I am back in the blogging saddle. During my time away, I have been doing my best to continue the Reilly Revolution. My quest to take back my dinner table hit a high point today for Maeve's second birthday. In my opinion, two is the anticlimactic birthday. There is no need for the fan fare of the baby's 1st birthday and the established circle of toddler friends is usually a bit limited. However, it is still a birthday and a celebration must be had. And that is what we did.

The challenge was the meal. We needed something quick that would satisfy the children without leaving the adults longing for their next meal. Although winter has been very mild in Colorado this year, I decided to stick with a good ol' winter standby - Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese. We are not talking Campbell's or Kraft Singles, but homemade soup and tasty grilled cheese.

I have heard so many parents say, "my kids only eat Kraft," or "we survive on chicken nuggets."

While I am often a fan of convenience, I always surprise myself as to how convenient cooking well really is. I teamed up with my best cooking partner, my husband Jim, to prepare a homemade feast fit for a two year old. I followed an

amazingly easy recipe for creamless tomato soup from CooksIllustrated.com (secret ingredient - bread) and bought a few loaves of thinly sliced fresh baked Italian bread and cheddar cheese. Within an hour, dinner was served.

The adults at the table were all very complementary. But the best complement came from my son who put his bowl to his lips to make sure that he could get the last drop. Can't wait to warm up a bowl tomorrow.

It really was a Mother’s Day…

This past Sunday my family celebrated Mother’s Day. Unlike year’s past, we decided to do things a bit differently this year. I decided that going to a restaurant with two young children really did not seem like a reward for all of my hard work as a mother and I am not one to spend the day away from my family. Instead, I decided that I wanted my day to support our family’s revolution.

We started the day by running the Mother’s Day 5k at City Park. I use the term “we” loosely. We did sign up for the family run, knowing full well that our three-year old was not going to run a 5k. Since this was a family run, there were jog stroller everywhere and we let him ride his bike. We decided to divide and conquer with the one goal that I would finish the race. I got into position with the jog stroller and Jimmy took up the back with the bike. 9:00 a.m. we were off. The course was beautiful. As I make the first turn I spot the play ground, I continue to run and the course double back. As I approach the play ground I see my three year old being pushed on the swing. At this point, I knew that I was on my own to finish this race. Running is not my favorite thing to do. I knew that I was not going to win the race; I just wanted to run the whole thing. That is exactly what I did and 40 minutes later, I crossed the finish line and found the other half of my team eating yogurt and talking nonstop about the playground.

The day was still young. I had run a 5k, now what? We headed to the grocery store to pick up the makings of dinner. As part of the Reilly Revolution, I wanted to cook a Mother’s Day feast for my Mom and my Mother in-law. The menu – Sea scallops wrapped in bacon, asparagus and pesto risotto and strawberries and biscuits for dessert. It was awesome, my husband and I spent two hours in the kitchen drinking wine and cooking dinner while the grandmothers spent time with the kids.

Usually, I am the first to jump on the opportunity to go out for a good dinner or to spend the day at the spa, but spending time with my family being active and cooking a great meal was the best Mother’s Day celebration that I could ask for.

P.S. My three year old and 16 month old ate everything that we cooked - that was my Mother’s Day gift.

The Start of the Reilly Revolution

If you didn’t watch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, I am pretty sure you have heard about it. Obesity is at an all time high and for the first time in history the current generation of children has a shorter life expectancy than their parents. The statistics are alarming. My husband’s father passed away in his late 50s and my father had a heart attack at 60. Since we have two young children, we are constantly reminded about the importance of taking care of ourselves. However, this has been easier said than done. We have tried all sorts of tricks – cutting carbs, counting calories, eating like a cave man. Has it worked? Yes, in the short term. However, a long day a work, a missed trip to the grocery store or an out-of-town visitor was all that it usually takes to get us off track.

I often ask myself, how did my mom do it? She worked full time, while finishing her college degree at night, yet we always ate at home with Fridays being our family night out. That was it, it finally dawned on me. My mother was not making gourmet meals each night, but always made sure that we had a homemade meal. What was stopping me from doing the same? Part of me wishes I could blame it on work, but in reality my excuse is pretty lame – I hate my kitchen. There, I said it. To say that it is small is an understatement, but at the end of the day it really isn’t a good excuse to not do what is best for my family. My other challenge is forgetting to take something out of the freezer. The kitchen, I can’t currently change, so I decided to tackle the latter.

About two months ago, I decided to try a little experiment. I ditched my numerous trips to multiple stores to shop solely at Whole Foods. My first trip was a complete failure, I spent almost triple my weekly spend and didn’t even by the things that usually drive up my grocery bill. I didn’t give up; I went back the next week and the next. Each week it got easier and easier to only buy what I needed for the week. I planned my meals for the week and found that I got my grocery bill under control and had less and less food waste.

That experiment has given way to my latest challenge, what I like to call the “The Reilly Revolution - One Meal at a Time.” I picked May Day to start my family’s challenge. We made a commitment to make as many meals from scratch as possible. I am hoping that by eating at home more often and by making sure that we are only using fresh ingredients that the rest will fall into place. So far our little revolution has been really fun. Again, nothing gourmet, just homemade – breakfast smoothies, a roasted chicken, peanut butter and banana muffins, and good old sloppy joes.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that our little revolution will be something that changes how my family thinks about food and that it is something my children will take with them as they grow. Stay tuned to see how it goes – one meal at a time.