My second birthday of food

Since I couldn’t decide on my birthday meal I told Kyle I was making it a double header.  Not like he cares – it is really no different from me cooking any other night.  Except that usually I get his input on the weekly menu (or at the very least his blessing) and for this week I kinda just said this is what I’m making because it’s what I want.

But it was ribs, skillet corn bread and green beans, soooooo…he was hardly putting up a fight.  😉

I had leftover pancakes with cashew butter for breakkie.

I made the kids vegan shells n cheese with peas for lunch, which they LOVED and finished off in entirety.

Then I ate this salad from TJs for my lunch (with avocado added per usual).  I only bought ONE of those salads this week because I’m committed to weaning myself off pre-made salads.  They’re good to lean on in a pinch, but I’d rather make my own.  It just takes time to plan out – prepping dressings, chopping veggies, and getting the toppings/add-ins ready – that I have to remember to fit into my life.  This past weekend was busyish (and Kyle was forcing me to relax), so I didn’t do as much prep as I typically do.

Now let’s discuss dinnah.

I followed the rub recipe from Ready Or Not and then put these in the fridge the night before so they had had a decent amount of time to sweat before I set to work on them the next day during naps.  I actually had to work quickly because I had to make skillet cornbread too and finish it all before a landscape consultant came by at 2.

DUDE!  This is the skillet cornbread from Danielle Walker’s cookbook, Celebrations.   And I was VERY skeptical of a recipe that used the name cornbread, but doesn’t in fact have any corn or cornmeal in it.  Or grains at all. But I was eating my words after tasting it that night because oooooooeeeee was it ever something good.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I put the ribs in the instant pot so I wouldn’t have to deal with them.  Normally they take a couple of hours.  Aint nobody got time for that.  Push some buttons and be done with that.  Next!

[PS I have this instant pot – for the few of you who have commented or emailed about which model I got]

Ummm…soooo…I rellllly don’t like buying processed food but look what “the kids gave me” for my birthday. What the heck am I supposed to do now???  I’m kinda annoyed by this actually because I dodged buying these the week before when the kids saw them at the checkout end cap.  I was vague about why I didn’t want to buy them because I felt awkward saying “they’re crap” in front of the TJs employee and other shoppers but I guess I wasn’t firm enough.  So now I have to be excited that they got them for me!?!?  When all it really means is they want them for themselves.  Blah.  They have asked about them every day since so I finally caved and gave them one each.  Meanwhile I am reading a cookbook by Michelle Tam about converting her family to eating real food and ditching said crap.  Super.  I feel like I’m going in the reverse direction.  It’s a tricky spot because Pacman is getting over his food allergies that were so limiting before, which I want to celebrate; and yet, I feel guilty that I’m no longer making hemp milk and fruit/seed bars from scratch, etc.  Kyle thought I was insane when I brought it up to him – and he may be partially right – but I still feel that pressure to give them the very best.  The balance is not sacrificing my sanity in the process.

Just before dinner that night I added some BBQ sauce to the already-cooked-in-the-instant-pot ribs (not a ton because I don’t love the overpowering insanely sweet nature of store bought BBQ sauces and I haven’t – yet – made my own) and broiled them for 5 minutes.

Voila!

Served with the cornbread and green beans.

What.  A.  Meal.

I stuffed myself silly and was beyond pleased about the entire thing.  I knew I wasn’t having dessert, so I committed to glutton status and went for it.

This “cornbread” is so good.  The kids kept asking for more and more and more.  I ended up freezing the remaining portion for another meal since I didn’t know how to store it in the skillet and have no immediate plans for it in the future.  The ribs are gone, obviously.  Instant pot ribs are the way to go!  After all, that’s basically the recipe my friend made that finally turned my mind on the whole IP debate.

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Comments (10)

  1. Cheri

    I’m glad you let your kids have a cookie. You shouldn’t feel guilty about them having one piece of “crap”. Clearly you don’t feed them junk all the time, so one little cookie is not going to hurt. Take it easy and don’t be so hard on yourself. Kids will be kids and they like crap…it’s Okay 🙂 Life is not about perfection. Let them eat cake! I mean, cookies. Heh.

  2. Lesq

    Elise don’t feel guilty and go with a few of your children’s store bought requests it’s beneficial for them. My sister-in-law deprived her children at home and when they went to people’s homes they were glutinous about eating junk they were deprived. I kept a home like yours and a few things my kids picked from Whole Foods like the “healthy” as they call it cheese doodles and the Back To Nature chocolate cookies as examples and they never looked to over indulge out because it was available so seemed like no big deal. If you isolate them into a zone where they feel deprived it will back fire. Healthy over all is a mental/emotional and physical balance. They might appear to be 50 years old in intelligence, but they are still kids with certain kids tastes and wants. Let them enjoy and you will see they will keep returning to the fruit and veggies when not deprived of a little 💩

  3. Elise (Post author)

    THANK YOU. Excellent point. I don’t want them to feel deprived lest they go off the deep end in a rebound from such rigidity.

  4. Elise (Post author)

    Hehe. Yes, this is (of course) what I needed to hear and be reminded of. I’m so afraid of V’s sweet tooth but I’m probably just projecting my own issues with sweets. We have talked about treats as “some times foods” because they don’t help our body grow as big and strong as other foods do, so they roughly get the “why” but still. So tricky – I don’t want them to feel denied of things because that may lead to other issues. And yet, I love that P’s palate is so sensitive to sweetness because he was precluded from getting processed stuff due to his allergies. It’s nice that they think fruit, especially dried, is as good as it gets. For now…

  5. Ttrockwood

    That looks like a fantastic birthday dinner! Green beans are soooo good right now too so it’s like you hardly need to do much and they’re great.

    And i agree with other comments, it’s really about overall balance and sustainability. What if P goes for a sleepover at a friend’s house? Will you send him with meals? (i hope not because that toes the crazy line) obviously your kids eats a totally unprocessed crazy healthy whole foods diet, so an occasional cookie or even an entire meal of straight up processed crapola is probably a good thing in the big picture. And yes, your own sanity needs to play a much bigger factor here.
    Once P goes to grade school will he bring lunch and snacks every day? Or will he have lunch at school? That’s a fairly major transition to have in the back of your mind…

  6. Elise (Post author)

    HA. I would definitely not send a meal with him. That’s one of the major perks of him outgrowing allergies and doing oit!!! He eats the snack they provide at school which occasionally has processed stuff – graham crackers, goldfish crackers, etc – but is mostly healthy, real food (stuff that I’d feed him). I think our public schools have a meal service but it’s optional and I plan to pack him his lunches.

  7. Courtney

    I feel the exact same conflicting feelings about “processed” foods with my daughter! I totally get your concern. My family thinks I am crazy, but it really does worry me. I see myself getting more and more lenient with a few things every now and then and I question it every time. Parenting is full of so many decisions and it is overwhelming sometimes!

  8. Elise (Post author)

    100% blah. Glad to know I’m not alone :-/

    How are you feeling btw??

  9. Courtney

    I am exhausted!! But I guess most parents of young children are, right?!? My girl has a cough and is up in the night wanting to snuggle me (I.e. Lay on top of me) which is getting harder and harder as my belly gets bigger and bigger.

    Your birthday meals look amazing, by the way!

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