It’s 5 o’clock and the question that causes me to shallow breathe and pour a small vodka on the rocks, echoes from the family room…”what’s for dinner?” I know how fortunate I am to be able to answer that question with “what are you in the mood for?”, but that doesn’t keep me from standing in front of the refrigerator with the doors wide open and staring at the shelves, tasting dread.

You see, I have made many mistakes as a parent. And the one that is in my face (literally) every day is around food. My 12 year old is a vegetarian (and has been for 4 years), my husband is as skinny as a refugee and I am still battling the chubby 10 year old I see when I look in the mirror.

So wondering what I can make that will be meatless, fill up my husband and keep me from carbo-loading, is a constant challenge.

Elly to the rescue! Elly is my old sidekick from high school who makes all things look effortless. I appreciate knowing that the woman behind the curtain actually has to think about being human. Even she wonders, “What’s for dinner?” As such, she follows the blog of her friend, Amanda Haas. Elly claims that Amanda has “the best cooking blog and marriage saver I’ve ever tried!”  When asked what makes it so great, she says, “No more wondering what’s for dinner and we go to the store once a week.  Reading Amanda’s blog saves me time, energy and  money.”

So friends, check it out. www.onefamilyonemeal.com

What if we tried it together, for a month, starting the week of  September 6^th? Its Labor Day weekend – and we could take the “Labor” out of the day.  We could use TMC to post  ideas we find, tips and success. Yum!

In the meantime,  it would be delicious if you could share  your favorite time-saving dinner recipe with our MindFULL Creative readers. I will post mine next week. It’s actually an old recipe that I have changed over the years that Elly used make in high school! And guess what, I have managed to make it into a vegetarian, low-fat and filling one dish meal. Thanks, girls!

What’s your favorite MINDFULL and easy family dinner recipe? Let us know!