I'm telling ya, that lemon and garlic marinade from Wegman's is magical deliciousness. I always want to sop up all of the chicken juices in the pan with some bread. And it's organic! If that matters...to anyone...
So, my church had recently moved to a new building which also meant a new service time. Sundays are always "whack" days for Logan because the napping and feeding times are all up in the air because of church (Gosh, Jesus, way to be so inconvenient for my baby! haha, just kidding). When he was an infant, I used to obsess a bit more over it, mostly because he was such a terrible napper to begin with. Now that he's older, down to 1 nap a day, and eating regular adult-time meals, I feel more comfortable breaking up the schedule now and then. But, with the new service time, I noticed that we'd be rushing home to try to feed Logan and put him down for a nap. Sometimes, I'd debate, Should I take him straight to the crib? Will he even nap well since he's only had a few snacks and no lunch or milk? If he sleeps, then he'll have lunch at 3pm and won't be hungry for dinner...
So, this past Sunday, I decided to pack a lunch for Logan and feed it to him at his normal lunch time instead of filling him up on snacks. There were 2 problems: 1) What was I going to make?, and 2) When was I going to have time to make it? Logan doesn't give me an easy time when I try to cook in the kitchen and there's no one else around to entertain him (husband typically works out in the morning). So, I gave Logan a Sunday-special breakfast item to keep him busy (guess where it's from???):
That's right-- Wegman's organic flaxseed waffles. Yes, it's better with syrup, peanut butter or nutella. No, I don't give it to him with any topping. I just rip it up into pieces and let him go at it. This waffle takes him a little longer to eat than his usual bowl of (dry) Wegman's whole grain cereal (which we give before yogurt and fruit). But while he kept himself busy with that, I frantically searched my refrigerator, freezer and pantry for something quick to whip up. I also had to keep in mind that the lunch would need to be relatively "neat" (not a messy meal). After some searching and head-scratching, I decided to make pasta with garlic, peas and parsley. It took me 15 minutes to put together.
I used a small amount of olive oil (maybe 2-3 tbsp?), 2 cloves of garlic, some leftover parsley and peas and tri-colored pasta. I minced the garlic and sauteed it on low heat. Once that softened up, I added in the chopped parsley, small cup of peas, and a dash of salt and pepper. Then, I tossed in the pasta to let the ridges pick up all of that garlicky parsleyness!
I realized I was missing a protein here, so I heated up some frozen whole wheat chicken nuggets (I keep a stash in the freezer). I also realized the pasta was a little long, so when feeding it to him, we cut it up in half (and he did not finish this entire container).
By the time, I finished cooking and packing the lunch, the husband finished his workout and fed Logan his yogurt. Breakfast- done! Lunch- packed! Church- arrived early!
Talk about a productive Sunday!
You go, umma! Way to problem-solve! =)
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