Do what a friend of mine does...leave her an agreed upon grassy area (for the kids in his case) and plant the periphery of the property and next to the home. You need windbreaks after all.

Might consider fruit trees with ornamental value known to do well in your area.

I suspect some berries that won't fruit here will be gorgeous for you: currant, gooseberry, lingoberry, blueberry. Arctic/Hardy Kiwi vines?

Marriage is about compromise. Also make her take care of the grass. Also, I don't know what kind of grass does well in your area but St. Augustine does well under a canopy as ground cover and amazingly does not inhibit the trees.

you have also herbal , edible and medicinal grass species. some grass species also have very nice scent and can be used in dishes ( like vanilla grass ).

maybe you can combine those with some edibles and get 50/50