falling off the whole foods, no meals out of boxes wagon, landing in a ditch filled with diet root beer and instant pudding

The past few weeks have been very busy ones for me. I'm not sure why, really. I am between outside the home jobs and my two young children are in daycare throughout the week. My oldest son attends daycare/preschool five days a week and the little one is going two days a week until I go back to work. So maybe that is where my time has been going. Trying to adjust to being at home with the two year old three days a week was maybe a little more challenging that I thought it would be. I want him to still be challenged and learning, plus, if he sees that he does not have my total and undivided attention he turns into a tiny tasmanian devil, crossing the living room like a hurricane, leaving mayhem and destruction in his path. I send my oldest son and husband off in the morning and before I know it is time to do the daycare pickup. And frequently the two year old, (and me), is still wearing pajamas and I am rushing to get him dressed and thinking, "Where did the day go?" Then, all too soon, everyone is home and it is time for dinner. Which someone still has to make.

So I didn't even notice how crazy the past few weeks were until I was gathering up the trash from the kitchen. Not all of it would fit into the kitchen sized trash bag because there were so many boxes needing to be thrown away. I pulled them out and stacked them on the counter, to be carried out separately. And then it hit me. There, on my counter, were boxes from macaroni and cheese, hamburger skillet meals, pop. There were empty rice side dish and cookie boxes. I had to face the facts. I had completely fallen off the whole foods, no meals out of boxes wagon. Not just fallen off. Catapulted off while the wagon was rolling along at top speed, rolling down a hill covered with preservative laden fruit gummies and landing in a ditch filled with diet root beer and instant pudding.

Here's the sad part. Not only have I been feeding my family the least healthy meals I possibly could, but my oldest son had found a new favorite food. From a box. What have I done?

My four year old is just like every other four year old out there. He would eat meatballs and chicken nuggets every day if I let him. And he only eats those items if covered in cups and cups of ketchup. He is not big on trying new foods. And now I have given him a new food, a new unhealthy food, and he loved it. Now he keeps asking for it. So I finally found something different he would eat, something the whole family would eat, and now I feel like I can't serve it to him.

So back to eating outside the box. I know my experiment was working- last week my oldest son and I were at a play group dinner where very yummy and healthy food was served and I actually saw him eat a cucumber slice. Normally he sticks to fruit only and I have to trick him into eating his vegetables. It was a proud mommy moment, to be sure.

I set out to create a healthier version of my little guy's new favorite meal.

matthew zhao's favorite hamburger stroganoff

1 lb ground beef (lean lean lean!)
1/3 cup water
1 cup plain yogurt
8 ounces egg noodles

Cook noodles according to package directions. Brown ground beef in a large skillet with high sides, breaking into small pieces as it cooks. Drain. Remove from heat and add water and yogurt. Mix thoroughly. Return to low heat, add noodles, and mix.

I have played around with this recipe a few times trying to get it just right for my little guy. My first pass at it was too "grown up"- I made it like a traditional beef stroganoff, only replacing the beef strips with ground beef. I kept in the white wine, sour cream, onions and mushrooms I normally use in this dish. It didn't fly. I then removed all but the sour cream. Still too strong a taste for the four year old. Finally I replaced the sour cream with plain yogurt and voila - child approved. The good news is the cost of the meal was significantly lowered by replacing the sour cream with plain yogurt. In my house at least sour cream always goes to waste. I never plan accordingly and I wind up throwing away a half full carton away, long after the expiration date. The plain yogurt, on the other hand, never goes to waste. With the amount of yogurt my two year old puts away it is much healthier and cheaper to feed him plain yogurt with frozen unsweetened berries mixed in. So two birds, one stone. My son gets his new favorite meal served homemade and not from a box, and my grocery budget stays intact, which is more important than ever these days, with me between jobs. Another successful meal, and we are back to eating outside the box.