What's for dinner (in 20 minutes)?

Do you feel like you have the same 7 dinners in rotation every week -- like same stuff, different day? It's so easy to get in a rut of fixing the go-to, popular meals day in and day out. I'm hoping by sharing a couple of our favorites, maybe you can share your family's easy favorites, and then we can all shake up our routine a bit.

We are working very hard to make home-cooked dinners our priority. For the past 6 months or so, between our farm share and other meal planning, we have averaged almost six nights per week of eating at home. We've managed to create a rotation that includes many low-prep dinners and some decent nutrition. We always serve a vegetable, and we have a priority on whole grains -- sometimes difficult when we want to eat quickly and not spend all evening in the kitchen.

A while back, I wrote about some recipes that I love. I am not a gourmet chef, but I can follow a recipe. I'm also not terribly creative in generating new and exciting dinner ideas. Bear that in mind when you read our most popular meals -- for the kids AND adults in our house -- below.

1. Tacos. I have this one down to a quick science: brown the meat, heat some shells, and warm up refried beans. I have struggled to come up with the right vegetable to complement tacos. Nothing with much nutrition seems to mix well (read: lettuce on the taco doesn't count as veg!). But last week, it hit me: Sauteed bell peppers and onions.

2. Omelettes. Now that eggs are good for us again, according to the nutrition experts, I have no qualms about dishing up breakfast for dinner. They are quick to prepare, and often we can incorporate leftover vegetables as part of the omelette. And the girls shovel omelettes in like they're going out of style (but they're not). Toast on the side, and we're done.

3. Picnic dinner (veg and protein components pictured). I'm not talking about eating outside on a blanket. Instead, bring the picnic foods inside and put them on the kitchen table. This one was inspired by L's famous "snacky-snack" appetizer trays that he prepares for special occasions. Slice up cheese, salami, all the raw veg and fruit you can find, and put it on big plates. Add in whole grain crackers and/or whole grain bread. Everyone serves themselves. L and I agree that the girls probably eat more fruit and vegetables at this meal, wherein they select their food themselves, than at meals where we prepare their plates. The first time we served this, Jellybean exclaimed, "It's a picnic dinner!"

So, I showed you mine. Now you show me yours: What are your family's favorite quick dinners?

Farm to table

As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of eating locally, and I make both local and organic foods priorities for us. In that vein, this summer, for the first time in several years, we subscribed to a local farm share.

Going into the summer, I knew from the past a few things would be true with the farm share: 1. The fruits and veggies would be delicious beyond our imagination. 2. Cleaning and sorting the share would be a decent-sized project each week. 3. Incorporating everything in the share into our weekly menu would be a challenge.

These assertions all turned out to be accurate. The food has been SO good -- I didn't know salads could be so satisfying. However, I have come to appreciate when someone else (either L or the grocery store) cleans lettuce, spinach and potatoes for me. I spent more than a few hours leaning over my sink trying to rinse every bit of grit from the vegetables.

And I was glad to be prepared for allowing flexibility in our meals, because we only had a day or two's warning of what would be in the share each week. I am impressed at our creativity -- it was a team effort for L and me -- finding ways to fix even the most obscure of vegetables day in and day out. Along the way, we happened upon some delicious recipes and concepts.
But even with my previous experience with the farm share, nothing could have prepared me for how the kids would respond. I had no idea that they would eagerly anticipate our weekly trips to the farmer's market to retrieve the share. "When is it Wednesday so we can get stuff from the farmers?" they ask. We're talking about vegetables here, not toys. But it is approaching that level of excitement.

As we drive home from the farmer's market with our share box packed chock-full, they speculate about what might be inside. By the time we're home, opening the box on the kitchen floor is nothing short of Christmas, and I'm not exaggerating. "Finally, corn!" "Crunchy carrots!" "My favorite spinach!" (we call kale spinach for simplicity's sake) "Cucumbers to pickle!" Both Jellybean and Peanut now can identify almost every seasonal vegetable and fruit in its natural, raw state.

We have our farm share until mid-October. After that, we're on our own, I guess.

A "beef" with American food

About a year ago, I made a pretty significant change in my habits that also helped me lose weight and keep it off. No, it's not the new diet magic bullet, but it certainly wouldn't hurt you in that department: I stopped drinking pop every day. The best part is that I didn't give up my lunchtime caffeine bump. Instead, I switched to bottled sweetened iced tea -- this brand, to be exact.

I stopped with the pop (regular Coke had been my drink of choice) mostly to avoid the high-fructose corn syrup that pervades our food system. I also had heard anecdotal evidence that Coke and the like can cause you to crave sweets and actually eat and drink more than you would otherwise. So, I substituted the tea -- with real sugar, mind you -- and not only did I enjoy something more natural, but I lost weight! About 12 pounds. Let me repeat that: I consumed a decent amount of sugar on a regular basis and still managed to lose and keep off weight. I think that's a testament to how insidious high-fructose corn syrup is to the American diet. (The only downfall to all of this is that the tea may have been an accomplice to my problems at my recent dentist visit)

Speaking of the American diet, a while back I read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a non-fiction story of how her family vowed to eat locally for an entire year -- winter and all. The book is wonderfully written and engaging, and it also changed my perspective on our food system and habits. I have consciously made an effort to eat more locally and in season so as to support local farmers and conserve fossil fuels used to deliver our food nationwide. Our local farmer's market, grocery stores and even many restaurants also have responded to this call and offer a big array of locally grown foods.

Also as a result of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (and an excellent episode of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days), I have decided to eat only beef that has been grass fed. Cattle were not made to eat corn and all the other by-products we feed them. Ever hear people joke about cows' flatulence? That's mostly due to their inability to digest the corn feed -- we just feed that to them because it's cheap. They were designed to eat grass, and the nutrients in grass affect the composition of the meat and actually make it healthier for us. Grass-fed beef contains significantly less saturated fat than traditional beef, as well as significantly more omega-3 fatty acids. Not to mention the cattle are raised more humanely than mass-fed cattle on the factory farms.

Locally raised grass-fed beef is available in our local grocery stores, so it is easy for me to find for all my cooking needs. I don't plan to eat the other kind of beef because as a consumer I want to send the message that factory-produced corn-fed cattle are unacceptable for my family and me. I hope to be a part of changing our agricultural system for the better, and I'm voting with my dollars.

(By the way, I now have ranted against high-fructose CORN syrup and CORN-fed beef. I don't have anything against CORN per se -- I just wish we could limit its uses as a substitute for better ingredients.)

Happy meal or pleasant partaking?

Now I've done it. I knew the day had to come, and it has. My 3-year-old now knows about McDonald's and Happy Meals.

We are not the fast-food eating kind. Frozen meals out the wazoo, yes, but they're organic frozen meals and they don't involve anything fried or otherwise empty calories.

For whatever reason, the golden arches were calling our names today. My husband has been out of town for three days, and I just wanted a break from washing every dish, cleaning every bib and wiping up every single crumb from a meal. So, I took us to the Mickey D's around the corner, knowing full well that this might end up memorable, especially for my 3-year-old Jellybean.

I gave her the (oh-so-nutritious) choices: hamburger, cheeseburger and McNuggets. She chose the hamburger. [Side note: I cringe at the meat quality, knowing a little about cattle farms and meat-packing plants. I wish restaurant chains would start looking into improving those industries, but that's a discussion for another day.] I was dubious because she unconsciously qualifies as a vegetarian bordering on vegan some days. I ordered the apples instead of fries so there could be fruit involved and got a milk for each girl. (The 15-month-old Peanut obviously can't verbalize her own decisions yet, and she's pretty good at wolfing down whatever lands in front of her.)

Full disclosure here: I did not just spontaneously jump in the car and plan to have them receive all of their nourishment from the fast-food establishment. No, I'm the kind of mom who brings vegetables -- organic, no less -- to McDonald's. There was lovely bright green cooked spinach to accompany the Happy Meal. There was also cool cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon to bolster the pre-fab apples. I just can't fill my kids' tummies with exclusively junk. Whether it's OCD on my part or justification, I don't really know, but I had to bring some home stuff.

The most amusing part of the whole meal is that Jellybean didn't like it. Really, not one bit. Not even the colorful Happy Meal bag and milk with a straw (well, that was the biggest hit). She took one bit of her burger and announced, "I'm done with that." She picked up each fry I had put in front of her and one by one transferred them to back to me without taking even a bite. She ate her entire portion of spinach, a couple apple slices and drank all her milk. That was her McDonald's experience. She does like the little toy, though, so that will be our sole souvenir.

As for Peanut, she ate about 1/3 of the hamburger, proclaimed "Mmm!" and chowed down about 10 fries, in addition to her milk, spinach and apples. Maybe she's the one I have to worry about. She has a lot of new words lately -- that would be a riot (tragedy?) if the word "McDonald's" were to spill forth one of these days soon.

So, I think our foray into fast-food dining may have been an isolated event. Even if we're traveling and need the Playland, it appears I am going to have to continue my trend of bringing plant sustenance into Big Mac land. But at least someone else cleaned up our crumbs and wiped our table!