Good Eats

Last night I made a one pot/skillet meal and it was 'to die for'! Really. I love meals like this and it was so simple. My youngest ate it as well, double food score!
Skillet Lasagna.
1. Brown about a pound of beef in a skillet (I sauteed some onions and garlic a little before adding the beef).
2. Add a jar of sauce or homemade pasta sauce (3 cups worth) and a 1/2 cup of water along w/ 3 cups of broken up lasagna noodles ( I let Q break up the noodles and he LOVED this job, however, not so fond of the eating of the noodles later).
3. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Top w/ a cup of ricotta cheese (dotted over top of mixture), and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese (I mixed in some parm w/ that too). Simmer an additional 3 minutes or so until cheese is melted.
5. Mangia! (that's Italian for eat, and I think I spelled it right too).


Q is on a new eating plan I have devised. I no longer make mac-n-cheese or chicken nuggets for him for dinner. (I told him the Doctor called and told him he had to try new food and that I couldn't make him these things any longer--except on Sundays, when I let him choose what he wants for supper). I give him an index card with a set number of squares on it (yesterday was 3 square=3bites). He gets stickers for each new thing he eats. So yesterday he tried broccoli and didn't gag, and then two bites of the noodles with the sauce on them and almost gagged, but he got his stickers. For earning all his stickers, he gets to chose dessert. And before you're all like "what? for 3 bites of food?" You have to know Q, and what it took for me to get him to eat mac-n-cheese and chicken, and what it took for me to get to this point of no longer making him a separate dinner. I will gradually extend the 3 bites and then eventually phase out the card. But, its working, he's trying new things, and for now, I'm happy with that.
I was so tired of the battle with food with Q. Cause he stopped eating the stuff he liked to. And then we were constantly prodding him to eat, and that got annoying too. I evaluated myself and why I was making him his separate dinner, and while at first it was just so he would eat (back in the day, he only ate baby food and I had to teach him to eat his standards), now it was just easier to make him his food and know that he'd eat and not have a battle. I was only doing it cause it was easier for me, and not healthy for him.
So, in my mom's bible study, we were talking about why we parent the way we do. Is it for selfish reasons? So that your child will love you? Or so you can fulfill your responsibilities to raise up your child in the way he should go? I felt convicted to change things, so I did. In only the way I know best, by devising a token board! (I used token boards a lot at work). And NO, its not bribery. Its called a behavior contract. Reinforcement is different than bribery. I'll explain another day.