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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Monday - Chili, cornbread
Tuesday - Out (fundraiser for kids’ school at Chipotle)
Wednesday - Slow cooker veggie lasagna
Thursday - Popovers
Friday - Homemade pizza

I usually do crockpot once/week, and then either popovers or pancakes once/week.  Often one of the other nights is pasta and the other is a leftover from a previous crockpot night.[/quote]

Are popovers the whole meal?[/quote]

Yup.  It’s on the lighter side, but it’s fine for now since our kids are little still.  It’s not what I’d made once they’re teens. :)[/quote]

A popover is the meal?[/quote]

I'm having trouble with the popover too - please share more.  Like the airy, hollow tall buns?  Do you put cheese or herbs or something in the batter?  Or stuff them with something?  Really having a hard time picturing this as a meal, and want to know more.  [/quote]

[img]https://images-gmi-pmc.edge-generalmills.com/5f1ead79-85c5-4926-9f6f-b101f6c4c586.jpg[/img]

How can this be a meal?

That's like saying a flour tortilla is a meal.

I need more information, please.[/quote]

I don't know... [b]One (or two?!) of those with butter and jam would be freaking delicious for a light supper! [/b]They look scrumptious![/quote]

Exactly.  Where did I say each person was allotted a single popover?  DH and I usually each eat three, our older two (8 and 6) eat two, and the three year old eats one.  We eat them with butter and have a few different kinds of jam available.  The whole family *loves* popover night.  Yeah, it's on the lighter side, so what?  It's milk, eggs, flour.  It's fine.

(also, thanks, PP :) )[/quote]

I’m not the previous poster but I guess it works because your children are such light eaters. My six year old would eat probably at least  6 and my 4 year old at least 3 and they’re both slim.[/quote]

I don't consider my kids particularly light eaters.  Some meals they eat a lot, others, not so much.  If your kids regularly eat that amount of food, they sound like very heavy eaters.  DH and I are not small people, and we can be satisfied with three each.

Also, to the other PP, why is it so hard to imagine people eating a light dinner?  I eat plenty and don't diet, but I don't need every meal to be substantial, either.  If I know we're having these for dinner, I'll have a slightly bigger afternoon snack.[/quote]

PP here.

Come on, folks...

How many people just loooove breakfast for dinner?? Not my favorite, but plenty of people get into this. Popovers are not substantially different than pancakes, in reality.

And, why do meals always have to be so prescriptive? Dinner [b]has[/b][i] to be a certain amount of a certain type of food?

To be honest, I think this type of set expectation creates inflexibility and lack of creativity which doesn't serve us when we are encountered with some type of challenge at mealtime...[/quote]

I loooove breakfast for dinner.  But I wouldn't serve just one breakfast food for dinner and call it a meal.  A typical breakfast for dinner here might have pancakes and eggs and fruit.  Something similar with popovers would be amazing.

I'm also someone who would happily eat just popovers for dinner, but I don't feed my kids that way.  I always offer them a meal with protein and produce at a minimum.  Because I don't think I can judge when it's a day when they're not very hungry and ready for a light meal, or when they're craving protein.  So, I don't make that decision for them.  [/quote]

Good for you.  If my kids eat the popovers--always served with whole milk, which adds protein and fat--and tell me they're still hungry, I'll give them something else.  It's not that hard.  Please stop implying that those of us who don't do a heavy protein dinner are somehow depriving or otherwise harming are children.

I completely agree with the earlier PP who noted that insisting that every meal have specific requirements is overly rigid.  If my kids' favorite dinner is popovers, their favorite breakfast is leftover Thai takeout.  Should I not serve that because it's a dinner food?  Variety in food matters, but that can be achieved at a broad level.  I don't think that level of micro-management of food is healthy.[/quote]

So, it's rather like beating a dead horse, but seriously - serving your family protein-bearing simple carbs with a side of protein-bearing simple carbs is not good nutrition, especially if this is a weekly dinner. Protein is not the problem (I'd guess you're getting at least 15g from 2 popovers and 8 oz of milk). But there's likely 1 gram of fiber in the entire "meal" and minimal to no other nutrients. It's the same problem as eating fast food. You can get the appropriate macros (calories, fats, proteins) but you are deficient in most vitamins and minerals and dietary fiber. A treat or exception, sure, but not something I'd serve on a regular basis, especially when trying to develop lifelong nutrition habits in kids. Sorry, I'll step off the nutrition soapbox now, but this is a terribly common issue among kids and families today. 
[/quote]

Sure it is.  And my kids almost never eat fast food.  Or sugared cereals.  Or any of the other processed crap out there.  I'm trying to build eating habits that focus not solely on the nutritional value of every bite they put in their mouths, but also on their attitude towards food and their bodies.  So, if they eat breakfast, lunch, and snacks that have plenty of fiber and nutrients on a given day, popovers are a fine meal for dinner.  Most of their other other dinners are veggie-heavy.  Frankly, I'd rather my kids eat in a way that's slightly less than ideal in Every Possible Way if it means they can eat flexibly and not obsess about every meal in the way that you describe.  Lifelong nutrition habits have to be sustainable and, ideally, not unnecessarily link food with morality (see: "clean" eating).  I also work with my kids to build in the daily habit of movement, since exercise is another crucial part of overall health (*not* weight).

In other words: stop judging people who aren't as rigid about food as you are.  There are myriad ways to be healthy, but perfectionism usually isn't among them.[/quote]

What I don't understand is how putting some bananas on the table, or whatever with the popovers makes it less of a meal that your kids look forward to, or more rigid or whatever.

I agree with a lot of what you say about not being overly rigid, but I also think that kids deserve some choice and some way for them to have control.

I have a hard time predicting what my kids are going to eat on a given day.  Maybe if I happened to be with them all day, and I know what they've already eaten, but in general, I can't know if they'll come to the table with big appetites or small, or craving protein, or with a taste for fruit.  So, only having one food on the table seems odd to me.  I don't think that makes me rigid.  Deciding that you happen to know that 3 days from now your kids will have light appetites or that popovers are no longer a treat if you offer bananas with them (just giving bananas as an example of a breakfasty food that is literally zero effort to add) seems rigid to me. [/quote]

You're rigid because you judged the heck out of me for a single (!) meal in a whole week.  And you keep doubling down on that.

Last night, as I was preparing the popovers, I remembered we had oranges, so sliced some up and put those slices on the table.  My oldest ate her popovers and oranges and was still hungry, so I had her finish her milk and then she got herself a little more food (cheese, I think).  This is what I mean: I'm flexible in the moment and I can roll with it.  What I don't do is repeatedly criticize another adult about her meal selection.

Also, while it's important for me that my kids have some degree of input around what they eat, it's also important that they learn to make a meal out of what's available.  Not every meal is going to have everything they want, and that's okay.  I don't want them to grow up to be the adults who go to a dinner party and complain that they really were in the mood for something else, or wanted more fruit, or whatever.  They know they can verbalize if they're still hungry and we'll figure something out.  But they're also learning to be appreciative for someone making them meals every day, even if it's not their absolute favorite thing or what they were craving.  It's one freaking meal.[/quote]

I get it.  You wrote popovers and then when someone said "just popovers" you said "yes", when in fact you actually serve them with milk and fruit, and the option of protein foods like cheese.

So, no you don't serve just popovers.   You just wanted to wind people up.

Expecting to have enough food that you aren't hungry is totally different than complaining that the food at a dinner party isn't to your liking.  I have absolutely no idea why your plan of not feeding enough and then when they complain letting them have more would lead to them complaining less.  But, you do you.  [/quote]

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