Another change I instituted when starting grad school was tokens for chores. We’ve had a chore chart for a while, and initially paid quarters and nickels and dimes for chores. My boys’ interest in the money jar lasted just a month or so, and the chore chart subsequently lost its value. When my boys got into Star Wars {and my husband introduced them to Star Wars video games}–and I started grad school and needed help around the house–I knew the chore chart was about to get dusted off. For each chore they check off on their chart, they get one 5 minute token. They add up tokens and turn them in for screen time–video games, shows, games on a phone, etc.
We’re going on four months now, and the novelty hasn’t worn off yet! My boys get up, {mostly} check off their morning chores without me asking, ask if they can check off the afternoon chores, and always check off the evening and count out their tokens for the day before going to bed. Ok, well, there are some mornings with lingering dishes on the breakfast table, and some nights with toys on the floor, but it’s a vast improvement from before. It’s been great to watch them count the tokens at the end of the day and put them in their jar, and then count by 5’s to turn them in for a 20 minute show or game time, share the price of a show by joining tokens together, or tell me they want to save up their tokens for an hour of game time. And let’s not forget the power of the token in terms of punishment or reward–or how cool you become when you say they can have some free time on you.
Tokens for me? Freezer meals. Dinner prep was seriously crunched during the semester, and it helped so much to have freezer meals to pull out and all I’d have to do was heat up the oven. You have to devote a chunk of prep time–when you have time–but you’ll thank your cool self later when the only prep you have to do for dinner is heat up the oven or a skillet.
A couple hours one afternoon made a few lentil potsticker meals down the line. Lentils only take about 20 minutes to make, mash them into a paste, add a finely chopped vegetable medley, herbs and asian seasonings, and your wrappers are ready to be wrapped.

Just about 1-2 teaspoons is enough for the small circle wrappers, then you just seal with water and crimp the edge by folding the wrapper over on itself. And repeat.


You can cook some right away {because who can resist a good potsticker} and flash freeze the rest to pull out on a busy day.



LENTIL POTSTICKERS
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup brown lentils, cooked and mashed
- 1/2 cup each finely chopped carrots, snow peas, red pepper, fresh cilantro, green onion
- 3 teaspoons Szechwan seasoning
- 1-2 teaspoons sambal oelek with garlic
DIRECTIONS
- Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
- Prepare an area to fill the wrappers (I like using a cutting board for easy clean up), and a bowl with water to seal the wrappers.
- Using a teaspoon, scoop the filling onto one wrapper at a time. brush water along the wrapper edges and fold in half, sealing closed by pressing with your fingers. To create the crimped edges, fold the edges over itself and seal by using water as needed.
- To cook, place two tablespoons oil and 1/4 cup water in a skillet. Place the potstickers in the skillet, base-down, cover, and heat to medium-high. Let cook for 7-8 minutes, then remove the lid and let the liquid evaporate or until the bottoms of the potstickers are golden brown and crispy. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (mine is a little soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, sambal oelek, and green onions).
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