Dinner Without Dad – Veggie Burgers!
At least two nights a week, we have Dinner Without Dad. My husband has a backlog of projects at work and so he needs to put in some evenings at the office. That means that it’s just me and the kids for dinner. Spending the time to make a “real” dinner seems a little unnecessary to me in this case, since the kids aren’t impressed by the effort. Also, this schedule means that I am Single Mom for the night, solely responsible for playtime, dinner, clean-up, homework, bathtime, reading, teethbrushing and bed-time. So, quick preparation is key – as is a meal that will be gobbled quickly without complaint.
My husband and I both grew up with Dads who worked late. On those nights, my mother-in-law packed up her 4 kids and headed out to dinner. My mom made a full dinner and put a plate in the microwave for my Dad. My husband prefers to bring dinner with him and eat it at the office – instead of eating at 10 pm. So, I cook – but it is toned down.
I polled some of my Mommy friends to see what they do when their husbands work late. I heard a lot of “chicken nuggets for the kids, salad for me” kind of answers. Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese were also popular. While I am all about speed and easy clean-up on my Single Mom nights, I also still want to hold true to two basic criteria that I have for Family Dinner:
- I make one dinner. This is not a restaurant.
- It must be nutritious.
Some of the usual Go To food when Moms are just feeding the kids don’t stack up nutritionally. Check out these NuVal scores:
- Kayen Beef & Pork Frank: 7 (remember 100 is highest)
- Oscar Mayer Beef Frank: 9
- Ball Park Beef Frank: 8
- Tyson Regular Chicken Nuggets score a 14
- Kraft SpongeBob SquarePants Macaroni and Cheese: 4
- Annie’s HomeGrown Cheddar Cheese Regular Macaroni and Cheese: 5 On these nights, I steer clear of these low-scoring Kid Foods and resort to (drum roll, please) Veggie Burgers.
I do the stove-top cooking method, which takes only 10 minutes. And I love them too – so I’m only making one dinner for the three of us. My favorite is Gardenburger Original which score a 32on the NuVal scale. A better bet would be Boca burgers, which score a 54! I used to be a Boca Girl, and then I converted to Gardenburger.
To round out this meal and make it nutritious, I add:
- Country Kitchen Whole Grain Wheat Hamburg Rolls: 29
- Cascadian Farms Shoe String French Fries: 81 (that’s one of my favorite surprise scores of all time!)
- Sliced Cucumbers: 93
- Skim Milk: 91
And then, the kids add ketchup. A lot of ketchup. It scores a 3on the NuVal scale. Not good. While we ate this veggie burger dinner, my daughter asked me how they got the plastic bottle around the tomatoes! So, I explained how food gets processed in factories. Good thing I’ve been on a few food manufacturing plant tours in my lifetime!
So, while the kids miss Dad on these long nights (and I do too!), they cheer for Veggie Burgers and Fries. Now the question is – will I give up my beloved Gardenburgers for Boca? Stay tuned….
NuVal News
Two exciting things to check out:
Annette Maggi, MS, RD, LD, FADA, and Senior Director of Nutrition for NuVal has started a blog called Nutrition Outlook. Annette’s goal through her blog is “to get you to think about nutrition as it stands today, and to think about the subject of what you eat more broadly, more comprehensively.”
Also, over the next couple of months we will be working hard to make improvements on NuVal.com. Please think about your last visit, or visit NuVal.com today, and tell us what you think. If you take the survey by February 15th, you will be entered to win a $100 gift card for a grocery store of your choice. Here is a link to the survey.
Question of the Day
What do you make for dinner when it is just you or just you & the kids?
Posted by: Melissa 7 comments
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: French fries, Uncategorized, veggie burgers
on Jan 28th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Speaking of mac and cheese, I’m wondering how Annie’s whole wheat shells and cheese scores. The stats look pretty good to me, but I hope NuVal scores it soon! It’s delicious so I’m hoping for a high score of course.
on Jan 28th, 2010 at 9:28 am
I took the survey already:) Glad good things are happening at NuVal. Thanks for the veggie burger info. I usually cut mine up and put them over a big salad!
on Jan 28th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that Boca Burgers score high! They’re my favorite!
on Jan 28th, 2010 at 11:23 am
When I am “husbandless” for the evening I usually just eat cereal, but I did trade up to the Kellogs Special K with protein. If it is summer time than I usually go for sliced fresh mozzerella, tomatoe, basil, olive oil and garlice salad.
on Jan 28th, 2010 at 11:36 am
I will definitely take a survey with that incentive!
on Jan 28th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
We I’m solo for the night – we do broccoli, cheese omelettes. But mac and cheese definitely is in the mix too. We do chicken and apple hot dogs – wonder how they score – kids seem to love them.
on Jan 28th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
While I do not have the kids just yet, my husband’s job as a project manager for a commerical construction company often means late nights. On those nights that he doesn’t make it home for dinner, I eat breakfast for dinner — high fiber pancakes, scrambled eggs, or a quiche if I am feeling really adventerous.