Nutrition 101

Confession: This morning, my children ate animal crackers for breakfast.

We had plenty of healthy, vitamin-enriched cereals on hand-- it wasn't that; it was just that Jonah got into the kitchen before Mommy and helped himself to a little morning snack. This, of course, prompted the girls to follow suit.

Anna, who likes to think of herself as the upstanding one, was the one who informed me that "Sissy and Jonah got animal crackers by themselves," while hiding her own bowl-full behind her back. Being in a rather sleepy but amicable state of mind, I said, 'all right,' and let it go.

Lunch time rolled around, and I was still feeling uninspired. So we dined on Walmart-special hot dogs and white bread. Yummy.

I was determined to save the day at dinner. So right after lunch, I started a big pot of black beans simmering. I figured I would pull apart the rest of the chicken in the fridge, mix it in with some seasonings, heat it in the skillet, and have black bean and chicken burritos, with lots of tomato and dark leafy greens tucked in where the kids might not notice them.

When Jason got home, I refried the black beans, heated the chicken, and got out the tortillas. Then I realized that my dark leafy greens had turned to mush in the crisper. And on top of that, we were fresh out of tomato.

One thing we did have in unhealthy quantities: Cheese.

And that was how my healthy burrito dinner idea turned into something else. Namely, nachos.