Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Saving Dinner



Being responsible all day long for the kids, I am also responsible for all their food needs.  Every bite that goes into their hungry little mouths must be conceived by me at some level. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and at least 2 snacks - all hoping to be nutritious and delicious. Somedays this seems like a huge amount of pressure and I end up essentially with cooker's block.

Thankfully, Leann Ely delivers me from the crisis of imagining dinner.  Calling herself the Dinner Diva, she mails out a link to a weekly menu that includes a complete grocery list.  We subscribe to the low carb menu, in part because I think it is good for us and in part because low carb tends to avoid many of the food allergies in the house.

The recipes range from good to delicious (meaning, not a single nasty one among them).  They are easy to follow, such that either Bill or I can successfully create lovely meals in 30-45 minutes.  Many of the recipes include actual flavorful ingredients, but are simple to tweak such that the children can still enjoy their food as comfortably subtle.  My kids particularly enjoy the ones that include fancy sauces, which turn out to be easy to prepare.  

Leanne also offers freezer menus (assemble ingredients now, freeze them then defrost and prepare them at a later date) and holiday menus with very complete and thorough directions. I see she's even got recipes out for baby food.  

Because The Dinner Diva is endorsed by FlyLady, she gets a ton of traffic.  That means some on-going struggles with web services.  The past year has seen several painful transitions with a brand new site available.  It seems easy to use, but I can't find any sample menus to point you all to.  Their customer service responds quickly to my issues and made sure to compensate for any weekly menus I missed. 

Check it out, you might find yourself enjoying dinner again soon. 



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