It’s 1 pm, 7 hours into a crazy busy day working on the business, running errands and chauffeuring the children around to all their appointments. I haven’t eaten, am beyond starving and my 2 year old has made about 943 requests for chicken. Wanting quick and easy, my first thought was to swing into the McDs drive thru. Instead I took a deep breath, went home pulled together staples into this plate.
· 2 baked breaded chicken tenders, cut into small pieces (my daughter still got her chicken J)· Handful of mixed salad greens
· 1 slice of red onion
· 1 boiled egg, chopped (each week I boil and keep a few boiled eggs in the fridge for use in tossed, chicken or tuna salads)
· ½ tomato, sliced
· ¼ cucumber, chopped (we keep these year round, our kids sometimes eat sliced cucumber instead of potato chips)
· a couple baby carrots (another favorite snack for the kids)
· Nabisco Wheat Thins Flatbread Crackers, Tuscan Herb flavor (love love love love love these)
The dressing is my quick and easy light honey mustard dressing.
· 3 tablespoons light mayonnaise (we don’t do fat free mayo)
· 1 tablespoon prepared mustard (for some kick, use part regular and part dijon or creole mustard)
· 1 tablespoon honey (spray the measuring spoon with cooking spray so the honey will slide right out)
· 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (used the remainder of the lemon in a glass of ice water)
Whisk ingredients in a small bowl. Add a bit of water to thin it out and make it pourable. Store any leftover dressing covered in the refrigerator.
Instead of dining from paper wrappers and cardboard containers of brownish beige fast food loaded with fat, salt and preservatives, I sat down to a plate full of pretty colors and varied textures – foods a lot closer to the way God put them here on earth for us.
I ‘lost’ a bit of time on a crazy busy day, but gained the ability to not just say, but really mean the words of our food blessing “ Thank you God for the food I’m about to receive for the nourishment my body”.
The news is full of stories about how bad fast food is for us. This experience showed me the danger of making a fast, food choice. During crazy busy times, taking a deep-breath-time-out to slow down and think about what I’m about to do helps me make a choice that honors God and cares for my body. Thank you God for the sanity that can come in a slow down!
When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 CEV