Starting small.

In the last 15 months I have been working on mastering the art of producing a somewhat healthy, slightly elevated, definitely tasty, and assuredly quick dinner at least 5 nights a week while working with my toddler (aka Carpet Lizard, aka Chubby Dictator) underfoot.

It’s been a challenge. And so I thought about it some more and I realized if it is a challenge for me, who actually LIKES to cook, it has to be hard for all other parents out there, or people without children but with hard jobs, and so while this is hardly the most creative idea to hit the internet, I thought I’d start writing every so often about what we’ve been eating, and how it made it to our table (or, often, to the trays in front of Top Chef). And add in some comments if it was good (or horrendous), and what I learned.

I promise lots of pictures, and I promise will be honest about when I fail and order in 4 nights in a row.

The first 9 days of 2013 have been about us doing Bon Appetit's Food Lovers Cleanse. We did the 2012 version, simply because clearly the editors at Bon Appetit are publishing this for people without children or full time jobs as the 2013 version came out on New Years Eve. Taking on a project like this takes at least 5 days of mental preparation and 3 grocery store trips with my charming, lovable 25 lb boss. 

It also has taken a lot more time and effort (and money) than I budgeted. More on that too. 

Since we are still cleansing (don’t tell anyone about the Diet Coke I had with lunch today), this is more of a preview of my first official entry, and after we are done with it next week, I’ll fill you in on how it went. We have had many successes in terms of learning about some new healthy snacks, and a few new recipes we’ll bring into the rotation that I'll share, and we have had a few failures involving a Pop Tart eaten in a crisis and the previously mentioned Diet Coke.

Cheers to new beginnings!