Breakfast is the easiest meal for me to prepare. I make oatmeal, smoothies with goat milk or goat yogurt, eggs and bacon, oatmeal pancakes, and occasionally rice chex or corn flakes. Fruit of course is also great.

Lunch proves to be the most difficult meal. Maybe because I do not really have time to make it while we are schooling. I need to be able to prepare lunch quickly. Leftovers are my all-time favorite lunch, but we rarely have leftovers. I believe that my children see my dinners as a challenge. They will eat until there is nothing else left.

I can make vegetarian chalupas quickly.  All you do is heat up flat tostada shells and spread warm refried beans over it. Then build a salad on top with lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Quesadillas made on the stovetop from corn tortillas are very good. Omelets, rice with kimchi, lettuce wraps filled with tuna or chicken salad are all very tasty options.

Dinners are not hard. The biggest challenge is when you haven’t been home all day or have a 5:45 p.m. baseball game to attend. I plan my menu for a two week time period. I try to serve a soup and a fish dish once a week. For the other five meals, I choose recipes and meals from five main ethnic groups. We eat a lot of down home cookin’, Italian food, Mexican food, and Thai or Chinese cuisine. We love meatloaf and pot roast. We love spaghetti and fettuccini alfredo. Enchiladas and fajitas are some of our favorites. We really like stir-fry and spring rolls.

I also like to get my husband involved in preparing dinner once a week. He enjoys to grill or smoke something every once in awhile. Steaks and sweet potatoes are amazing on the grill. He can also smoke a mean venison or wild hog ham. On these nights, I just have to prepare sides. We eat potatoes, rice, or brown rice pasta. Salads are wonderful as well as any fresh garden vegetables.

We occasionally enjoy dessert. Air-popped popcorn is fun to make and delicious to eat. Goat milk ice cream is our absolute favorite dessert. Little squares of dark chocolate satisfy my cravings. Some gluten-free desserts are actually quite good like oatmeal chocolate chip cake. I posted this recipe already on “Food Allergies.”

We eat many things. I try to keep a variety of flavors, colors, and textures so that dinner will be interesting. Dinner is no fun if it is always the same meal. We are blessed to live in a country where a wide variety of foods and spices are available. Try new recipes. Try new spices. The most important thing is to not get stuck in a rut.