I remembered an acquaintance had mentioned they started having a special Sunday dinner. They used their fancy dishes (we don't own any) and made a 3 course meal to enjoy together as a family. We don't own any fancy dishes. We hardly own many matching dishes at this point in the game. I have learned that if I set a goal too high, I don't even stretch to achieve it. So, after talking to my husband, we decided we would have a special Sunday supper of our own each week. To keep it simple:
- We will not serve "quickie" meals like hot dogs, spaghetti, or any of the other convenient meals that are used as fall-backs when short on time. Real meals. Nothing fancy, per se, but nothing that can be made in less than 15 minutes either.
- We will light candles to set on the table during the meal. (The Unity Candle from our wedding was just collecting massive amounts of dust; begging to be useful.)
- We will have instrumental music on during the meal.
The first Sunday we did this, it was a constant battle to keep our 3 year old from trying to "roast" his food on his fork over the candles. Having now done this for a month, he gives the candles little notice. Then there was the issue of music. We want to expose our kids to different music, but we are concerned about the lyrics. Hence, we opted to try play instrumental music on occasion. One day I tuned into the instrumental station on the radio. That was a mistake. Within 15 seconds the 12 and 6 year olds were protesting. I can't blame them, it sounds like endless elevator music and the announcer's voice was slow and dry.
The library!!! I checked and our library has a huge assortment of CD's available to check out. They're nicely labeled as "Instrumental" and/or "Soundtrack", and better yet, I found several labeled "World" and "Instrumental." We discovered not all instrumental music is reminiscent of an elevator after all! We really enjoy Bombay Dub Orchestra and it gave me the opportunity to discuss where Bombay is in relation to the US.---Geography.... I guess I am a homeschool mom at heart! (Hooray! It being my first year, I am full of insecurities.)
I haven't had waffles in over 7 months*. Every morning I eat rice/corn based cereal. My body even rejected GF oats. I dislike grits & cornmeal, so, I eat cereal. Every morning. A particular highlight is when I have strawberries to put in it [as in when they are on sale AND good enough quality to buy]. No bananas for me, causes nursing baby terrible SCREAMING gas fits. {Thank you SO much to the mother of 5 who gave me that hint after having pulled her own hair out trying to figure out what in her diet was bothering her little ones while nursing! Wisdom indeed!}
Now for the * . . . I haven't had waffles in over 7 months until this last Sunday. Mmmmm, waffles. I was a bit scared that egg/dairy/gluten free waffles would leave so much flavor/texture to be desired that they would be a waste of ingredients and not at all be reminiscent of real, fluffy yet not soggy mouth-watering waffles. That's why I never bothered trying to make them. Until I came upon a recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie- a girl who is a genius in the kitchen. I stumbled upon her "Healthy Dessert Blog" when searching for vegan cookie recipes (it's easier & gets better results than trying to search for "egg free and dairy free" cookie recipes, trust me). When I read that she eats chocolate every day and that her goal is to create dessert recipes that do not taste healthy i.e. they taste GREAT, like "regular" desserts [honestly we find them to be better than many of our "regular" desserts]. Oh, yes, back to the recipe- on occasion Katie posts non-dessert recipes. This one happened to be for carrot cake waffles. Told ya the girl was a genius!