Dinnertime

Last night Brian walked in the door after an intense two day trip to Dallas. After everyone had their turn to hug Daddy and welcome him home, he got the report from me about how things had gone while he was away.
I was in the middle of a very messy kitchen and reported that I had just delivered a meal to a family in our neighborhood whose mother had just had a baby and that I had dinner for everyone except the gluten-free people. I was in the process of phase two of dinner preparations, in other words.

I went through each of the kids.

Brandon has been exhausted all day from not getting enough sleep before his early morning swim practice and then forgetting to give himself insulin (he has diabetes), so he's been struggling all day and just wanting to sleep. He and Josh broke the new blender that we've had for 5 days and used only once before today.

Katelyn was dropped off at the church at 5:30 this morning to meet the group all heading to girls camp. It took all day Monday to pack her for a week of camping, but she was excited to go.

Josh has a fever of 103 and has not kept anything down since lunch.

Amanda has been to the orthodontist and after seeing the x-ray of her teeth, he recommends that she get braces right away. It will cost a total of $1300 starting today.

Zach has an ear infection and hasn't slept well, so he's really cranky right now. The good news is, he'll probably go to bed on time tonight.

Of course, we may not sleep at all since we have a raging fever going with Josh.

After hearing all of this, Brian took a deep breath and went into the bedroom to change his clothes. When he came back, I encouraged him to get a plate and sit down so that we could all eat together before he had to leave for his church duties with the Young Mens program.

We sat down (I had a gluten-free solution by then--a big salad and gluten free bread) and ate together enjoying a few moments of together time. He shared with me some details about his business trip.

After the meal the problems didn't seem so big. We felt that we could handle it. Brian and Brandon left for the church and I cleaned up the kitchen and got the little ones ready for bed. Just sharing the meal together helped us to feel that we were not alone and that the burdens of life (which seemed so heavy just before the meal) were okay. We could do it.

That is the beauty of dinnertime.

Recipe #2

Swedish Meat Loaf
(I make this one more often in fall and winter, but it is a family favorite).

1 can (4 oz) mushrooms (pieces and stems), drained and finely chopped
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, snipped
1 cup gluten-free bread crumbs
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp allspice or nutmeg
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound lean ground pork

Preheat oven to 350. Combine finely chopped mushrooms, onion, parsley, bread crumbs, milk, egg, and seasonings in a mixing bowl. Crumble ground beef and pork into mixture. Shape meat mixture into a loaf pan (I use four mini-loaf pans since I like to keep the meat portions smaller). Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until meat is no longer pink in the center of loaf and internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Remove meat loaf and let it stand for 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or gluten-free pasta. I use McCormick's Brown Gravy Mix (it is gluten-free) and cover the rice or pasta with this gravy. We also serve it with peas and carrots or other vegetable blends.