Revolution Day 3-Dance day and easy meals

The Dancer's
My debut and retirement all in one performance with Ella!!

Silly pose

The real stars!!

Headed out to dance-what a crazy day!!!

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What a crazy weekend!!  I am posting this late from complete exhaustion.  The dance recital was a huge success!!  The girls did a fantastic job!!

Our meals for day 3 were simple but quite good!!

Breakfast - Scrambled eggs and toast

Lunch - variety of cold veggies, left over fruit, and sandwiches

Dinner - cold veggies, salad, grilled chicken

So I just finished this book called Bringing up Be by Pamela Druckerman.  She is an American living in Paris and her book is about the difference between parenting styles in both countries.  The book is interesting, but what is so timely for our family is the section on how the French address food.  Most French families have set meal time and one afternoon snack.  A typical schedule would be:  breakfast at 8; lunch at 12; a late afternoon snack around 3:30-4:00; dinner at 6:30 or 7:00.  Lunch is the biggest meal that the French eat.  A typical lunch menu is heavy on protein, fruits, and veggies.  Dinner is usually a carb (like pasta or bread with cheese) and plenty of veggies.  Meals are served in courses, and while I thought this idea sounded pretty swanky, it is a simple method of presenting veggies FIRST.  At dinner time, the author sets out a variety of vegetables for her children to eat prior to the "main meal".  If her children fill up on the veggies then so be it.  They have all eaten well.  At these set meal times, the expectation is simply that everything must be tasted.  There is one meal served (which I already do) and each choice must be sampled.  One bite is appropriate.  If it isn't cared for then that is perfectly acceptable.  I have been using the meal schedule since my "grazing in the kitchen" episode and this has also been very effective!!

So last night after we got home from dance and we were all very tired and STAAAAAARVING, I quickly set out several plates of cold veggies and told the kids they could come to the table and eat while we prepared the chicken.  I couldn't believe how well it went over!!!!  The children that were hungry enough to eat the veggies did.  Warrior girl did not.  Then when the chicken was done, I set out a salad, pineapple, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  Success!!

Keeping our meals and snacks simple really has made this do-able.