Tag Archives: family dinner

Have you heard of the phrase “food desert?”  This label designates an area of the country—applicable to both urban cities and rural towns—that lacks access to fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy items.  In most cases, these places also have more fastfood joints and convenience stores.

Our country’s food deserts—or “food swamps,” according to one article from the NYT—have received a lot of press lately, thanks in part to Michele Obama and her Let’s Move campaign, which aims to eliminate childhood obesity.  There is a lot of literature available on the web, and I recommend you at least do a Google search and check it out.  It’s pretty eye-opening stuff.

Lunch

I was being dramatic yesterday and kept referring to our fridge as a “food desert” because we hadn’t been to Wegmans in several days and had virtually no fruit or veggies.  I wasn’t feeling super creative either, so when lunchtime rolled around, I assembled the exact same sandwich I had yesterday.  The only difference was I scrambled one egg instead of two.

Dinner

Every Sunday night, my extended family gets together—I’m talking aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents—for an Italian-style meal.  The whole clan came to our house last night, so I was saved from my melodramatic food desert.

To prevent a carb-coma, I loaded half my plate with salad that included celery, chickpeas, and red peppers.  I also enjoyed one scoop of pasta with extra homemade sauce, a meatball, and a small piece of homemade cheese/garlic pizza.

Dessert also happened.  Margaret made a delicious devil’s food cake with seven-minute frosting, and there was no way I was going to pass up a Magnolia Bakery recipe creation.

Breakfast

I had one of my go-to morning meals today—two Kashi waffles with PB and banana slices.  Always a winner.

Hope you have a wonderful Monday! (Is there such a thing?) When you have virtually no food left in the house, how do you go about preparing meals?