Themed night meals (more photos to be added)

Not a single two nights have we had the same thing unless it was leftovers of the first time I cooked it. That sounds very romantic and exciting but the trouble is and the reason why this is is that even if I cook something we love I never know exactly what went into it so I cant do it again unfortunately. Even if I'm starting out by following a recipe I always end up adding a bit of this some of that and end up with a completely different result each time! This was great when it was only Wetcat and I but now that Chunk and Canary (Kik and Sof) are in the game I think we need to implement some sort of ' tradition ' around mealtime if only it is to ward off any picky eating issues. That is why themed meal night sound like a great idea! The only issue is that what I find online is very... meat eater friendly but not so health or vegan friendly. Examples of what I'm finding go as classic as pizza and taco night and as wild as 'three cheeses' night? Well the dilemma is how to make it sound good to kids while it still being something you feel good about feeding them? I read somewhere that the secret is to make them feel like it's their idea. That's exactly what we will be doing as soon as they can let me know (13 months so far so the only way to know what they like and what they don't is how long it takes them to dump it all on the floor which is on average 5 seconds for what they don't like and 23 seconds for what they love!) that being said, having some sort of tradition surrounding it from an early age will hopefully set them in the right path. I'm proud to say they haven't had any Mcdonalds or Mac and Cheese yet but for anyone who has kids who have, all hope is not lost! At the end of the day, I'm also guilty of more than a sin when it comes to feeding children. Guilt only sets in after the third time I give them a handful of plain Cheerios so they stop whining while I'm getting the last few things I need at the store (I read somewhere that it will raise emotional eaters... and it's starting to feel that not only everything I do is wrong but that I will be lucky if my kids don't end up being some sort of serial killers who listen to jazz while driving and eat cheerios while shopping for groceries. Why is parenting so complicated? ). That being said, I'm still willing to try to set them (and myself while we're at it, I can't recall when was the last time I had an actual 'meal' while sitting down and enjoying every bite of it) on the right path.

Alright, let's get to the point. I'm going to list the ideas of themed night meals that sound good to me right now and I will be adding to it as I come up with more ideas or recipes to add to this list. That way we can change the themes every now and then and when they can decide they can help me choose what themes sound good and that way they will be more excited about the food choices and they can hopefully help prepare some of it (and clean up especially, can't wait to have them be able to take silverware out of the dishwasher and put it away! ahh the little things! ).

I might add that we've been dancing between high carb low carb diets for a while here so this doesn't necessarily reflect either or and there are enough choices to accommodate both diets, since we eat primarily vegan the list reflects that even if our kids will have the occasional meat/ egg (transitioning slowly but surely). 

Italian - minestrone, bean soup or pasta

Mexican - fajitas w shrooms, enchilada

Middle eastern- Falaffel, Moroccan eggplant

Thursday - asian- spring rolls, stir fry, etc

friday- pizza &wings or 

Saturday- Indian - saag paneer aloo paratha etc

Sunday- snacks for dinner- 

hummus, buffalo cauliflower, fries, onion rings, appetizers etc veggies w dip

Pasta

Salad

Tofu

Rice

Sandwich/ burger night

Stir fry

Soup

Grain/ bowl night

Make it together monday

Taco tuesday

Grill friday

Caseroles

Tajine night

Raw dinner