Five dinner ideas to get you through your week as a working mumma

Being back at work and having a one or more in daycare can kinda upset the apple cart for awhile. Until you get your routine sorted and find your groove, you might find yourself eating toasted cheese sandwiches and cheerios for dinner. Staring a new routine is hard!

One of the best ways to avoid the 'breakfast for dinner' scenario (it's fun the first time but by Wednesday, yeah maybe not so much) is to go full 'organised parent' and list out some quick and easy meals for the week - do a big shop on a Sunday and get those meals on a chalkboard some where. The crossing it off the list part is quite rewarding!

First off you'll need a 'to do list' - so put that on your 'to do list'. I like to write it all out, I have a cute little notebook from Kmart (holy car, when  did Kmart get so cool BTW?), and I list out the meals, the ingredients and what night etc. It's kind of a nice way to spend 15 minutes on your own with some coloured pencils!

You can also find heaps of free, printable meal planners online, here's just a few I found that are pretty cute and easy to use.

So once you've got your pretty journal or your printed meal planner, fill it with a few simple dinners that (hopefully) everyone will eat! It's summer here in Brisbane, so I am trying to find oven-free meals as our kitchen heats up like a Finnish sauna. All except the first recipe here are 'no bake'

Monday - Sticky Sesame Cauliflower

Meat free Mondays are happening in our house. I found this yummy recipe on Connnoisseurus Veg. Other veggo blogs I like are Sprouted Kitchen and My New Roots.

 

Tuesday - 15 min Beef kofta curry

Who doesn't like a good Jamie Oliver meal? If you are prepped and ready to go you can actually get this served up in 15 minutes!

Wednesday - tropical tacos to get you over the hump

Ok so the tyrannical toddler in your life might be all like "prawns and pineapple - get real" but hey, just ditch the jalapeños, pineapple and prawns (basically all the good shit) and give them the soft taco shell with some cheese! Have a margarita mummy - you deserve it, it's Wednesday! Found this little gem on Fork, Knife Spoon.

Thursday - you don't make friends with salad 

OMG you so do. I love fattoush, not only do I like saying the word, I like eating it and hopefully the kids will too! Suzy over at The Mediterranean Dish knows how to fattoush ... have some feta on hand for when the radish gets spat out in disgust (but hey, you never know right!)

Friday - f*ck it, it's Friday, Mac 'n' cheese all round

Well done, you made it to Friday, you are officiating owning this whole 'adulting - meal planning' thing. This is a Kraft recipe, and it's a 'fancy' mac 'n' cheese. Kinda like how when you Bedazzle your denim  it's fancy. Anyhoo ... this is a recipe that most kids will eat - if they don't try swapping them for the next model up or even better doing a 'time share' trial and just spent this weekend at Noosa wearing a kaftan and drinking really cold save blanc.

Back to work in five, four, three, two, one ...

So, here I am in the countdown back to work after nearly two years on maternity leave with my little boy. It's quite a stressful time as we are moving interstate and moving really sucks! I'm securing my spot in day care centre near our new house, which makes me feel a bit better as we will be able to  walk him to drop off and pick up rather than drive - taking a bit of the logistal nightmare element out of the equation.

I feel like I need to enjoy this time, like really enjoy it as I can feel the days/hours/minutes slipping away. Even though it's tough being a stay-at-home parent, it's also really nice to hang out all day with a small person you like quite a lot. 

So the days are drawing to a close and I'm freaking out. I've always been a bit like this though, I remember a few years ago I got really stressed on the last week of our holiday - because we only had a week left of our holiday! Dumb huh. 

The feeling I have right now is a little bit like that. Often I have a lot of time to internalise and overthink stuff, as while he naps or I'm pushing his to the park in the pram it's just me and my eleventy billion thoughts. 

I am very lucky to have had this time, thanks to an awesome employer and even more wonderful partner. The reality for many mums and dads is having to go back to full-time or part-time work before their baby has turned one. I feel lucky, but I also feel sad it's almost over. 

It's not been a dream, it's not all been smooth sailing, there have been days where I just lost my shit and cried. One time I flipped out after I missed the bus, meaning I'd be late to storytime at the library. I spent the next hour walking the streets wailing and bemoaning my life to an infant. That was one of the shitter times in the 'dream' period of my stay-at-home mum life.

As any new parent will know kids are exhausting. They get sick, they don't eat their vegetables, they cry because we can''t watch the digger down the street for another 45 minutes. But, they are also great - hours spent in the yard playing with sand, talking to the dog, eating sandwiches on a picnic blanket in the sun, cuddles and all that warm fuzzy stuff.

I just hope I look back on this time I've had and remember all the good feels, and a little bit of me hopes he remembers some of it too.