Putting the Kids in Charge!

Today is the official first day of school holidays here in WA and we've had a lovely day. The kids were super quiet this morning and Hubby and I enjoyed a lovely sleep in until 7.30! I love that now both kidlets are past the must-be-fed-immediately-upon-waking stage and also that they're old enough to grab some books or a game and play quietly until we wake up (or they decide we've slept long enough and the day should be starting!). And yes, when the alarm usually goes off at 5.40 in the morning 7.30 is an ENORMOUS sleep-in.

As it is school holidays the kids have requested lots and lots of junk food and I've given in to their request. Sort of. I put them in charge of this week's menu and told them they had to come up with a bunch of meals that mean 'junk food' to them. But there are some conditions. The first one was that we wouldn't be buying any of the junk food - I had to be able to make it all at home. They've also got to eat the salad or vegies that I serve with each meal, but I'll be doing my best to make them part of the dish or disguise them where I can so that they'll think they've had a total week of junk but I'll know they haven't.

Here's the menu plan, as designed by Offspring #1 and Offspring #2, for this week:

Monday: Hamburgers

Tuesday: Fish and Chips

Wednesday: Chicken and Salad. All mixed up together. On one big plate in the middle of the table. With sauce and stuff for dipping. (This was one of #2's contributions - I think because I make this as an easy meal she equates that with junk food. Either way, it's an odd choice but one I'm happy to accommodate!)

Thursday: Pies

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: friends to dinner - Lamb Shanks in the slow cooker

Sunday: Spaghetti Bolognaise (they know it's not junk food but they love it and decided to include it)

Baking; Choc chip cookies, apple cake

Let's just revisit those meal ideas, shall we?

• Tonight's hamburgers were home-made meat patties, fresh hamburger rolls and lots of salad.
• The fish and chips will be pan fried hake with store bought chips and a big salad
• Wednesday night's chicken and salad isn't even remotely unhealthy. I don't need to do a whole lot to fix anything there!
• Thursday's pie filling will be a very delish pot of leftover beef and vegie hotpot from the freezer. I'll probably use frozen pastry, simply because I have some in the freezer. And I'll serve more vegies onthe side. Tricky, I know.
• Friday's pizza - the kids will have ham cheese and pineapple, as they always do. Hubby and I'll have something a bit more upmarket, depending on what's left in the fridge by that stage.

Add in their regular breakfast of cereal, toast and fruit along with a sandwich or wrap for lunch, fruit for morning tea and the odd cookie or piece of cake for afternoon tea and I'm thinking that this whole junk food week really isn't that bad at all. But don't tell the kids!