Pizza and Ice Cream!

Bye bye Papa John...so long Ben.....see YAAA Jerry!

This was our goodbye party and it was yummy! The boys loved it and while the changes we're making haven't quite sunken in yet, they did have fun. Well, who wouldn't with a fantastic melty, cheesy, crispy, pepperoni-y pizza and cold, creamy sweet chocolate chocolate chip ice cream.

Before our "party" I spent the better part of the day shopping, or should I say label reading? I had to ask 4 different managers at Costco what the ingredients were on a package of Kirkland's Hamburgers (frozen) were...there was ingredient list nor did it say 100% Beef. We finally figured out that it was indeed 100% beef, but you have to be careful, alot of the pre-packaged burgers have fillers like soy or wheat flour, both of which are no-no's now. I was exhausted after shopping in the 111' weather for 6 hours but the kids had a great time and the food was awesome!

So then comes the next day and I'm already clueless. I really should know how to do this already. Hasn't my husband been nearly gluten-free for over a year? But feeding picky kids is different, especially when they're used to going into the pantry and grabbing a granola bar or cereal whenever they are hungry, now i've got to get in the habit of preparing snacks which means I need to find some snack recipes....another thing to add to my ever-growing to-do list!

Dinnertime comes around and I still have no idea what to make...i've got a refrigerator and pantry full of food that I don't know what I'm going to do with! It's now 7:30, hubby is on his way home and i'm still searching through the cupboards and looking on Pinterest to find inspiration......none comes. SO what do I make on our first night of our gluten/dairy/soy free diet? Scrambled eggs. Watermelon. And.........Basmati Rice. Rice? How did that get there? I'm not sure really, I needed something else and that's what I grabbed, haha!

Ok, now its last night, which was Saturday, Husband was working again (he works 7am-7:30pm at a hospital as an RN) and he's really no help anyway when it comes to food...he just says "You know what I like to eat". So I'm looking in the fridge and I'm thinking tacos....how can i make a version of tacos without cheese that the kids will still eat? We already only use corn tortillas with no additives so those were fine. What I finally did was brown some ground beef, throw in a generous amount of my homemade taco seasoning, basmati rice, corn and some water. Afrter cooking, I added some salsa and black olives to the adult meals and everyone but Boy3 loved it (and he's difficult with anything new, after a few more tries he'll most likely eat it too)! Even the baby ate a full bowl. I was so proud of myself! Hubby even says its a keeper!

But. today is a new day with the same dilemma...but today I have a plan! I am making this tonight: http://paleoparents.com/featured/bacon-wrapped-meatballs/ Can't go wrong with bacon!

I'm not seeing any changes yet, although I don't expect to see any this soon.

As for Boy1, he's struggling with doing chores. He didn't do as he was told this morning and now can't play any games today. He cried and had a bit of a fit- he doesn't quite get consequences and that the choices he makes is what dictates them. BUT, his behavior did not escalate and he did not get out of control. He got over it and he unloaded the dishwasher. Small victory...but a victory nonetheless...and I'll take any of those that come my way!