Once a month I help after school unloading and sorting the items from our school’s ongoing fundraiser. This month was pie month and my friend, who is the chairperson for this fundraiser, is a robot. She set her sales goal at 200 pies, last year the school sold around 80 pies. She made it happen because she is a robot. If you ever wondered what 200 pies look like I’ll tell you: they look like a lot of work.

By the time I got home from that project I was exhausted and frazzled, sorting pies while 15 kids run wild in the gym will do that to you. I decided to make this Orange Beef Stir Fry we’ve had before. However I did not take pictures of the preparation because of the frazzled nature of my nerves. Here is a picture from Martha Stewart.

We usually make this with brown rice because we’re a whole grain type of family. But this is the week before my husband’s marathon, you know the thing which has controlled the last six months of my family’s life? As a final bit of control we’re all switching to plain white rice and plain pasta because my husband has certain digestive issues which are helped by a low fiber diet before he runs 26.2 miles. My sacrifices never cease.

We usually deceive our children by feeding them brown rice and Barilla Plus pasta because it is made with chickpea flour and omega 3’s. Since they eat a lot of pasta I like that it has protein and other good things. I know, I’m teaching them horrible things by not getting them used to omega 3s in their natural form. In the name of full disclosure I’ll start giving them a little dipping bowl of fish oil each day.

Ahem. Oh where were we?

Our white rice orange beef stir fry dinner.

Logan: “I have one free night this week! I made another appointment I’ll be back after dinner.” Nice.

Madison: “Finally you make something I like.” She eats all the vegetables and beef but not a lot of the rice.

Maxwell: “I liked this before but I think you’re getting soft. I don’t like it anymore. Try that on for size lady.” Pokes at it, eats mainly the rice plain. I try not to poke him in the eyeball.

Bonus dinner tip: My kids LOVE eating with chopsticks. It’s how I got them to try this meal in the first place. The novelty got them started and then they realized they liked the food. Of course I sent a set to my friend’s picky son and she had no such luck. It’s worth a try with your picky pants anyway. I found a great kid friendly clothespin style chopstick from CB2 and posted it at my shopping blog, you can see it here.

On Thursday I’ll have a reasonable start on my gift wrap situation and I’ll share my process with you then.

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