Dining In... Again

Yes, I know this is a cycle that I go through over and over again. I don't know what else to say besides, "Bad habits are hard to break." I've never smoked a cigarette. Never been hooked on drugs or alcohol. But I have most definitely become addicted. To fast food and casual dining food. All I can think is that it must be the convenience I'm craving, because it certainly isn't very tasty. But still, I find myself, several times a week, driving through for dinner. And I'm SICK OF IT!! I don't want to keep feeding my body (and my kids' bodies for that matter) with a bunch of garbage that hurts rather than helps. I don't want to continue to form these same bad habits for my children, as they come to know fast food dinners as a way of life. And, quite frankly, I don't want to waste the money on it! We spend a lot of money on restaurant food, and rarely do we get the true satisfaction of a great meal for all our money spent.

So starting today, I am on a quest to get through the next 3 weeks - that's 21 days - of no fast food. I am determined that we will break bad habits and replace them with good ones. And now that the kids are in school, I really have no excuse... other than laziness or poor time management and failure to think ahead... none of those are very good reasons.

The kids and I sat down after church today and came up with a menu of dinners for the upcoming week. I'm feeling positive about this! I know we can do this... I CAN DO THIS with a little forethought and preparation. Here's the menu we have agreed on:

• Loaded Baked Potato Soup, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
• Vegetable Pizza, Corn on the Cob
• Loaded Nachos
• Roasted squash with cinnamon & butter, steamed carrots & broccoli with sweet butter sauce, bread
• Chicken pot pie soup, crescent rolls
• Stuffed shells, salad
• Chicken fingers, wilted lettuce, chips (football food!!)
• Grilled chicken strips over salad, whatever else we feel like putting with it

So there you have it... that's the plan for the week. I'll try to keep you posted with our progress, my thoughts and the kids' thoughts on the meals, and maybe even a little cost-per-meal analysis... and a recipe or two??? We'll see how ambitious I get.

For now, I'm off to tackle laundry and some book work. Neither do I WANT to do, but as I tell my kids almost every day, sometimes we just have to do things, whether we want to or not. Happy Sunday!!