Dinner Diaster

I promised you that I would share easy dinner ideas with you.  Well, let me save you from a dinner time rush catastrophe!  CJ has been asking for lasagna recently and normally I would make it from scratch.  Not to say I make everything from scratch because let’s face it ain’t nobody got time for that noise! I am all about boxed cake mix for just about all things, I doctor it up to make it taste more homemade (i.e. put a box of pudding in to keep it extra fluffy and homemade-esque.)  But lasagna is one thing that I normally take the time to make from scratch. 

With that said lately with two little ones and one more on the way I just was looking for EASY. So, while at the grocery store this last weekend we picked up a Stouffer's lasagna.  It looked good and would “save me time” so in the cart it went. 

Cut to Wednesday night, CJ wasn’t going to be home until after 7 pm and it was 5:30 and Z-man and I were hungry, border line HANGRY so I thought we would do the lasagna.  Well that little sucker takes 80 MINUTES to bake.  Yes EIGHTY FREAKING MINUTES!  Well if nothing else dinner would be hot when CJ got home because planning on something simple I hadn’t pulled anything else from the freezer.

We have also hit a phase with Z-man where he is refusing to eat anything that I make for him if it isn’t nuggets, mac and cheese, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  It is phase that makes me want to pull my hair out daily and rock in a corner telling myself over and over “It will be ok.  It will be ok. It will be ok.”

An average dinner conversation goes as follows;

Z-man: “Umm… I think I don’t like this (insert anything other than the three above named items)”

Me: “Well this is what is for dinner and this is what you will eat”

Z-man: “Well, I am not hungry then”

Me:

Super fun right?  Nope not at all.  But to be fair most of it is our fault.  For a period of time the cheaper the meals could be the better for our budget as fund were beyond tight for a while. But now that we are in a better place financially and starting to get back into our old routine of more wholesome eating it is a challenge to change those habits with Z-man.

Sweet Pea on the other hand will eat anything we put in front of her and is happy the whole meal. Oh, Lord, please don’t let me mess up with food with her too! 

But, back to lasagna night, Z-man pulled his new super fun “I’m not hungry.”  And this night we said “Well, if you don’t eat it now you will have it for breakfast. Or lunch if you don’t eat it for breakfast.”  By the grace of some higher power**ahem** us threatening no birthday party**ahem** he took a bite and SHOCKER the kid freaking loved it! I know crazy right! Who would have thought that I would put something eatable in front of my child?

CJ had two helpings and I thought it was gross and vowed to never take the “easy” way out ever again.

This semi disaster could have ended so much worse but going forward I will stick with what I know will be quick during the week and save the new more time consuming things for the weekend when CJ and I can tag team with the kiddos. 

See ya later friends!