MemeGRL

MPM--Happy New (New) Year!

2012-01-29T15:23:00.002-05:00

For some reason, the Chinese New Year really caught our attention this year. Maybe it's our older son's interest in stretching his palate. Maybe it's the emphasis on the Year of the Dragon. Maybe it's just winter and fun to have something else happy to focus on. Either way, we enjoyed our own versions of Chinese food last week (Pacific Rim Pork) and hope to keep going with it this week (stir fry).

Monday: chicken and mushrooms, rice, crack broccoli (seriously, it's happening this time. I kept putting it with other things that needed the oven)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: leftovers from Monday and the weekend (lasagne, slow cooker honey beans and spinach)

Thursday: stir fry (frozen veggies from Trader Joe's, some meat that looks good); or maybe I'll lo mein it like Anjali.

Friday: Moms' Night Out--woohoo! Boys, you are on your own.

I think I can actually stick with this this week. I have realized that with the kids' activities and my schedule, I'm really out of cooking mojo by Wednesday. Well--I could cook on Wed. but we don't get home until 5:30 so it has to be something superfast and with no real kitchen time because I'm also trying to corral homework, etc. So something like the sausage bake works, but anything that needs babysitting at the stove? Forget it. I think I can pull off stir fry though.

Something new I tried last week was beans in my crockpot. I used a few different places for info. I had two bags of cannellini beans, and soaked them for what turned out to be about 30 hours (whoops). I am perhaps not the brightest bulb in the shed but I truly did not realize how much water they would absorb! I was glad I "only" made two bags because more would not have fit in my crockpot (6 quart). Some of the sites' authors were saying how they always make a couple of bags at a time, but either they meant literally a couple, or they have giant crock pots! My other surprise shows just how uneducated I am on beans. I read over and over again how it's probably best to just buy canned kidney beans, because dry ones can harbor a toxin that is killed by boiling but only encouraged to grow by barely-sub-boiling temperatures. I felt very smug with my little white beans in the crock pot, only to read somewhere that cannelini beans are also known as... you guessed it... white kidney beans. So, I dug in my drawer, found a thermometer, and measured carefully until the temp was up to an actual 100 Celsius for 10 minutes and then felt a little better about the whole thing.

When they were done, they were good. I had some out of the pot, and I'm not sure I had ever done that before...they were very creamy and filling and enjoyable in a small portion with salt and pepper. I bagged four bags of the equivalent of a can of beans, made a bean hummus with some and kept playing with them for lunches and other things through the week. So far, so good with the toxin (or lack thereof), so live and learn, I guess.

Still working on better eating mentality, though. I had a dermatologist appointment last week, because I had this thing on my leg for forever (it looked like a mosquito bite, but it didn't itch and never went away), and suddenly it started changing so I did what you are supposed to do and got it checked out. It wasn't anything scary yet, but they wanted to remove it anyway, so two needles, one slice, and two stitches later, I was done. But I was still feeling jittery, and while I want to be one of those people who writes, So I came home and prepared myself a nourishing meal of apples and spinach to promote healing, the actual story is: I was still a little freaked out so I came home and had a Mexican (sugar) coke and some goldfish to make myself feel better. This is not optimal. At least I am aware of it (and did get myself the apple, once I thought of it, and consoled myself that standing and cooking with the stitches was probably not optimal either). Forty-three years of conditioning are hard to overcome.

In better nutritional news, I also made the honey beans and spinach recipe in the crock pot; next time I will skip the cream cheese, which "broke" (is that what they call it when it doesn't go bad but breaks in to clumps?); I didn't see where it affected the taste all that much. Without it, it's vegan, sort of somewhere between curry and Mexican in flavor, and my husband and I both really enjoyed it. We made it over rice, and the boys ate the rice at least.

Wishing you a great week! For lots more menus, try I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Winding through Winter

2012-01-22T22:09:00.000-05:00

I am not complaining, because we did get one little nuisance snow. This is the kind of winter I can deal with. Some cold, but not much freezing precipitation. I can live with cold and dry or cold and snowy, but the ice scares me. But wow, there's been plenty of wind--a huge branch fell on our porch in one windstorm, and we realized it came from one yard over. With the size of that branch--that was quite a windstorm. But, it beats an ice storm any day, so I'm hoping this mild pattern sticks around and we got all our snow out of the way at Halloween.

Monday: Pacific Rim pork (see sidebar), rice (my nod to Chinese New Year)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday. I am riding this pony as far as I can.

Wednesday: salmon, broccoli, rice

Thursday: chicken and mushrooms in garlic wine sauce, salad

Friday: oh, I hope we go out. But if not, we'll try the Bittman semi-vegan chickpeas and spinach recipe. (The boys will have quinoa pesto.)

I made the chicken with leeks and sundried tomatoes last Monday. (My husband walked in and said, Are you seriously frying chicken on MLK Day? Hadn't thought of it that way, but I suppose I did.) It was terrific and my better-eater actually enjoyed the leeks on the side as well. (No surprise, he likes onions in any form, including chopped and raw, but still--heartening.) It was my first foray into the SkinnyTaste website and it was a hit. I will add salt & pepper to the flour next time but I like to follow the recipe as written the first time. I used Italian-style cutlets and it was great. I also liked using my cast-iron skillet for this and am getting better with it. It was a big enough hit that I will add the ur-recipe (according to the blog author), chicken in white wine and mushrooms, to the lineup this week. (I will not make it on Monday, though--too much time with the kiddo activities this day.)

Side note: please know, I do not call my children "Mr. Picky" or "Better Eater" in real life. It is blog nomenclature only. We do compliment the adventuresome eater and encourage both to try things, and Mr. Picky is getting better about taking tastes. It's a huge step and I'm very glad. But he would still prefer the all-beige diet, given his druthers.

We also made more pretzel hugs this week for a party at school. We just used regular M&Ms this time, and only one per hug, and they were adorable and very festive. I love that the boys love to do the unwrapping, which seriously makes me think about doing just about anything else in the world. And they are much better now about actual accuracy (you do have to get the hug on the pretzel, not just kind of on the pretzel) than speed, so they are almost to the point of doing it themselves, which is pretty thrilling.

And in a fun little twist, there is so much bacon obsession online (and elsewhere) these days, I gave a try to the baking-bacon-in-the-oven-on-a-wire-rack technique. It was good, though a little overdone (and I love crispy bacon); next time, I will put it in a not-warm-yet-but-heating oven at 350, 15 minutes, flip the bacon, and cook another 8 minutes. I'm always happy to experiment with bacon. Yum.

For other awesomely planned menus, check out I'm An Organizing Junkie! and have a great week!

MPM--Resolute

2012-01-15T20:39:00.000-05:00

So, any longtime readers know that I am not a fan of self-flagellating new year's resolutions. I remember reading someone years ago, saying, Why be so mean to yourself in the darkest days of the year? Make resolutions that are nice to yourself, and not fake nice, like "I'm going to lose 50 lbs if it kills me for my own health and well-being." So the best resolution-keeping I've ever done is the year my husband and I resolved to try one new restaurant a month. (This was pre-kids, clearly. Not that others can't pull it off with kids on the scene, but it's only really become remotely possible in the last year for us.) This year, the resolution is kind of in between: my husband has been reading Mark Bittman and is intrigued by the semi-vegan life. This is a little tricky for a man who wants turkey sandwiches and yogurt with his lunch, but it's easy to get around it by making more dinners vegan. (Bittman suggests "vegan until dinner," we do "vegan at dinner once a week, maybe." Close enough.) Clearly, we are still committed carnivores (see: last week) but I'm trying to introduce more vegan recipes to our lives. I wish the kids would eat soups; that would help! But alas--still no luck on that front.

This week:

Monday: Holiday! I will try again to make the leek and sundried tomato chicken.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday's triumphant return! With spinach and mushroom quesadillas for parents.

Wednesday: Noodle night, for those who partake. I had a Wegman's visit this week so I'll be doing the sheep's-milk yogurt and caramelized onion version again, with regular versions for the less adventuresome.

Thursday: slow cooker honey beans and spinach, and probably Trader Joe's buffalo chicken meatballs for the boys.

Friday: Leftovers, augmented by the freezer.

Last week, the brisket was a hit with everyone but me, and took the other three through three dinners. I can live with that. And I cannot figure out how to keep a meat together in the slow cooker. They all fall apart and can't be sliced, only shredded. Not a big deal, but an annoyance nonetheless.

The big hit of the week: after an exasperating white-flour-only based day for Mr. Picky, his brilliant father announce we'd be making smoothies for dessert in my spiffy new blender. The boys were thrilled and poured in an entire bag of frozen blueberries, and some raspberries and mango from the freezer too. (My older son kept "stealing" pieces of frozen mango and slurping them down. Yay.) We added a banana, the last of the strawberries, and some pineapple from the fridge, and a little OJ to keep it all together, and wow. They ate it over vanilla ice cream and begged for more smoothie, then had more for breakfast the next day (minus the ice cream of course). (It's a big blender.) It was a huge hit and a great redeemer of a nutritionally bankrupt day.

My kids may not eat soups, but they will eat dips. I tried this one, light on the hot sauce, this week:

Edamame Ginger Dip (from Eating Well 2009)

6 servings, about 1/4 cup each | Active Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 1/4 hours

Ingredients
8 ounces frozen shelled edamame
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon tahini
1 clove garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt
Hot pepper sauce to taste
Preparation

Direction:
Cook edamame according to package directions. Puree the cooked edamame, water, soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, tahini, garlic, salt and hot sauce in a food processor until smooth. Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Per serving : 70 Calories; 3 g Fat; 0 g Sat; 1 g Mono; 0 mg Cholesterol; 6 g Carbohydrates; 5 g Protein; 2 g Fiber; 196 mg Sodium; 31 mg Potassium

Tips & Notes:
Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Another thing the kids liked last week was a stir-fry their dad made. He sliced some chicken breasts, a big clove of garlic, and sauteed them in some olive oil and chianti. The boys were thrilled, and even the picky one said, "Dad! Can you make chicken like this every time???" I vote yes.

In the wake of that stir-fry success, I tried this one from Dinner: A Love Story. I went with ground pork instead (I have that touching-raw-meat aversion) and it was good. (And cheaper. And I only used 3/4 lb and it was plenty.) Alas--I was out of soy sauce but happily I found ponzu (what in the world did I buy that for?) and it was a good substitute. The final product was good, but I wanted to add something to it, like spinach (like my ground pork recipe on the sidebar) or cabbage or broccoli or even cashews, something to add some crunch. But it is a solid base for a fried rice dish, and next time I feel like having Chinese, I will try this first. Plus, the "use frozen Trader Joe's rice" trick is a great one; we almost never have "leftover" rice, which is what is usually needed for good fried rice.

And back to Bittman: we did try one of his "semi-vegan life" recipes, for sweet potato stew. I served it with vegan rice (made with olive oil instead of butter). I used too much coconut milk (thank goodness it was light); next time I'll use half a can and more water or broth. I'll also use yams instead of actual sweet potatoes; it came out very yellow, and the picture of the orange one was much more appealing. Neither boy tried it but my husband and I enjoyed it very much. It's a keeper. I will be trying a similar variation next week in the slow cooker; we'll see how that one goes.

My husband and I have some different palates these days; he loved the ponzu since it wasn't as salty; I actually wanted to salt the stir fry in its absence. After the Wegman's shop, I bought Goya sodas for a fun "side" on taco night; I liked the pineapple but was kind of grossed out by the coconut soda--and I love coconut. But maybe that was the problem--my husband loves pineapple but was disappointed in the carbonated version and preferred the coconut. Happily, we are grownups and can work around this most of the time.

And now I'm rambling. Thanks for reading this far. Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie! for a great collection of menu plans!

MPM--I have no clever title this week

2012-01-08T17:51:00.000-05:00

So, how's your new year going? I felt like I had to ask, because after this week, people look at you funny if you talk about the new year. Our week didn't quite go as planned but it was still good overall.

This week, there were some good meat sales, so I have some fun stuff planned:

Monday: cranberry brisket (new-to-me recipe), crack broccoli (going for a cb theme here...creamed beef? nah, gilding a lily...creme brulee? now we're talking...)

Tuesday: tacos...we'll see if we can do soft ones.

Wednesday: Armagnac chicken, salad

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Sweet Potato Stew, rice or quinoa

I'll also be making some Smitten Kitchen brisket this week since brisket is on an awesome sale. And I'm very tempted by this borscht or this cauliflower soup. I'm especially psyched to try these because one of the unexpected gifts from Christmas was from my niece: the Food52 Cookbook, and it reminded me how much I like that website. (My niece interned at an NPR station and inherited their copy and passed it along. I'm so lucky to have such a kind and thoughtful niece! She said she felt guilty even wrapping it since it was a freebie. Ah, the charm of the young.)

One of our kids had pink eye last week, so I didn't get the chance to do much of what I wanted. But I did take advantage of the time to use one of our butternut squashes and make this soup, though I only had chicken stock and a Gala apple, it still worked). It was not amazing-amazing, but it was so easy and I will make it again.

Vegetarian Butternut Squash

INGREDIENTS

1 2-3 lbs butternut squash, cut into 1" chunks

1 yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 green apple, roughly chopped, skin on

2 carrots, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

2 Tbs non-salted butter

pinch of nutmeg

2 Tbs heavy cream

S&P to taste

DIRECTIONS

- Bake squash, onion, carrot and apple in EVOO at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top prior to baking

- Add above ingredients to soup pot with butter and vegetable stock

- Simmer 20 minutes, add heavy cream

- Puree to desired thickness

- Add additional cream, if desired

Note - careful while pureeing. The steam can make the blender lid pop off. If you have the time, allow the soup to cool a little before you puree.

ENJOY!

And that's about it for the week. Go see I'm an Organizing Junkie! for lots of amazing meal plans. See you next week!

MPM--Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T10:23:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I know so, so many people who couldn't wait to see 2011 go. For me, the return to the world of paid work colored the year to the point where I can barely remember anything else. And I can't wait to see what this year brings. I would love a year of ordinary days. Here's hoping.

This week:

Monday: Leftover party food. We hosted my father in law's 80th! on January 1 and I could cry with joy at the leftovers. Pork roast, chick pea salad, regular salad, and tons of snacks. Yum.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, just for kicks.

Wednesday: In the getting back to normal eating category, I'm trying this chicken with leeks and sundried tomatoes. It looks festive but light, and I have half a pack of sundried tomatoes to use anyway.

Thursday: Slow Cooker Chicken Curry; see below for recipe.

Friday: Pork chop recipe from I don't know where. Roasted Brussels sprouts and baked potatoes for the side. (Heat oven once, cook twice, I'm in.)

Season 6 oz boneless chops (~3/4 inch thick, though I am a weenie and go for thinner) with salt & pepper, then cook in oil over medium heat until cooked through, about 4-6 minutes per side. Remove & set aside.
Add 3/4 C white wine to the skillet and simmer, stirring, 1 minute. Add 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard; spoon over pork. And done. I hope I like this, it sounds crazy easy and fast and I need more of those.

Chicken Curry
In slow cooker, whisk:
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
2 Tbs curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbs water

Add:
1.5 lbs chicken (usually 8 thighs, though I do two thighs & the rest boneless breasts)
2 small onions cut in wedges

Toss to coat. Cook 6-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.
Make rice.
When finished, fold in:
chopped tomatoes (about 2 plum). Serve over rice with
Greek yogurt
cilantro

Can also try this with beef or lamb, but I have not yet done so.

For more ideas, try I'm an Organizing Junkie! And have a good year.

MPM--Closing Out the Year

2011-12-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

And what a year. It's always interesting to see what the trip around the sun brings. What a great Christmas! The boys are still full believers (and why not? Santa comes to the bedroom here to say Merry Christmas and take the elves home--it's hard to argue with that) and knowing it might be the last year made it all the sweeter.

Looking at pictures--I barely got out anything compared to past years. I never found my Christmas clothes. The box of master bathroom decor never made it down. And Christmas came just the same. While so much is out of storage anyway, I'm purging what's left. Some didn't come out because it's breakable and we have boys but I hope someday it makes its way back out. Others...not so much.

Holiday roundup below. This week:

Monday: Boxing Day. Leftover party food, including cioppino from Christmas Eve.

Tuesday: Spaghetti with red sauce or pesto.

Wednesday: I'm leaving this open; we are probably going to be in the city and will get something there.

Thursday: Freezer food. Oh, how I have LOVED having freezer meals in these last few weeks.

Friday: Out. I love break but I know I will be d-o-n-e.

Christmas, we brought a bunch of things to the open house--chicken nuggets, this Smitten Kitchen recipe for mushrooms, pizza dip, mac and cheese, and carrot mousse.

For Boxing Day, we went with a brunch. My mother-in-law made all savory things (quiches & meats) so I made an apple-cranberry crumble. I used this recipe and made it on Christmas Day while we were winding down from Presentpalooza. It was terrific and a great color for the holiday!

There was more but I'm feeling holiday lazy in a great way. See you in 2012! And check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more motivated meal plans!

MPM--It's Not Just the Goose Getting Fat

2011-12-18T11:57:00.006-05:00

I wish I had pregnancy as an excuse, but I do not. It is pure holiday gain, which I rarely succumb to. (I just stay at holiday weight year-round.) But with a week to go, I'm just trying to be careful from here on out.

I have stocked up on my favorite easy light lunch (Trader Joe's chicken-cilantro wontons and chicken broth), and I am hoping to make the bean and cabbage dish later to have this week for lunches and mom-alternatives to other dinners this week. But I'm also hoping to just not worry about it with the magic of the season upon us.

One fun piece of magic from last week's sprint of the season: Little Mr. Picky ate a spinach stromboli! Wonders may never cease. Many thanks to the intrepid hosts (from Fever) for an amazing party and Christmas miracle of food.

It was a great week, full of train rides and Santa visits and cookie decorating and pretzel hugs-making, and all kinds of goodness. The trees are up, if not decorated, but Christmas will come just the same. Here's wishing a great week to you and yours. And for my many friends who are missing someone this year, permanently or temporarily--I am holding you in my heart in a special way.

Monday: Apple-Sausage-Potato Bake. It's the second grade party and I know it's all I'll be up for. (I do love "Place ingredients in vessel; bake" recipes.)

Tuesday: Oh, alas, as the year comes to a close...Taco Tuesday might close too. My taco-loving guy has decided that if it isn't a hard-shell taco, he's not interested. Mom considers hard-shell tacos to be an every-once-in-a-while treat. The snits are not pretty. But for this week--still with the tacos.

Wednesday: I had this awesome crockpot pork at a party this week and would like to replicate it. Leftover macaroni & cheese; beets.

Thursday: Last day of school! Cranberry brisket, baked potatoes, some vegetable. I hope. If I get my act together.

Friday: Not sure. The boys have been grooving on pesto quinoa lately so hopefully leftovers + that will get us to the weekend.

Saturday: Feast of the 7 Fishes, MemeGRL's family style. We do a family take on it. We cheat with cioppino (getting scallops, shrimp, anchovies, cod, and mussels in one take), lobster bisque, canned oysters on crackers, and salmon for those who do not enjoy oysters or lobster bisque. And, to keep it totally traditional, we have pizza for the boys.

And that's as far as I can go right now. I think I made other things this week but the only item of note for here: I tried these three-ingredient Nutella cookies. They were easy but I did find I had to knead the dough by hand, not spoon. The original recipe may have worked better (though yum--they were delicious). There were others that I can't remember right now...and oh, I had a great non-cooking weekend, taking advantage of her and her generosity and yumminess. Thanks, blogfriends! I loved seeing so many online friends in person.

Have a wonderful week, everyone. See you on the other side of the holiday! Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menus.

MPM--The Whirl Continues....

2011-12-11T19:21:00.004-05:00

I cringe in the general direction of this week. This is the marathon before the stillness of the holiday. It's all fun but it's all this week!

Monday: Gymnastics until 6, then Chinese carnitas (from the freezer), kale chips, and rice.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, thank goodness.

Wednesday: Cookie swap night! Sausage-apple-potato bake and a green side to be determined. (Peas, probably, a rediscovered favorite of the veggie eating son.)

Thursday: Hoagies. I'm hosting book group, and we read Bossypants by Tina Fey, so we're eating our favorite food of the Philadelphia area. I'll get hoagies from my favorite place and dips from another and that will be about enough for me. Since the boys don't eat hoagies (why? they are denying themselves their birthright!) they'll probably have mushroom truffle flatbread.

Friday: Boys are on their own; I have a party to attend that's a reunion of my nursing moms' counselors group and I'm bringing a side dish to be named later. Probably mac & cheese but we'll see what I'm up for at this point in the week.

In the midst of the freezer cleanout, I couldn't resist this recipe and I'm glad I didn't. It was an easy roast chicken recipe and with veggies from my favorite veggie stand, it was cheap and delicious. I didn't have the spinach, but I had everything else. I used boneless skinless breasts and two regular thighs, but it wasn't as juicy. Also--my baster developed a hole (it was due) so I couldn't really baste it. But we will do this again, using a ton more tomatoes and I will peel the garlic next time. Highly recommended.

We also had fun this week making pretzel hugs for CCD teachers, friends, and babysitters. The element of danger in the hot candy made it especially attractive. I will note too that boys' pretzel hugs don't look like girls'. I'm just saying. But if you at all enjoy chocolate pretzels...let's just say that looks don't matter.

There are some good looking meals over at I'm an Organizing Junkie! The unstuffed shells from last week look awesome and easy. I hope you have a good week, doing whatever holiday fun or prep is on your list!

MPM--I Don't Know Who We Are Anymore

2011-12-04T22:02:00.004-05:00

Ho Ho Ho! Merry birthdays! What a whirlwind of a week. We started at the Eagles game (lousy--the Patriots put on a clinic of How to Dismantle a Disfunctional Defense--but hey, how often do you see a future Hall of Famer? From a box? With awesome food?) for my husband's birthday due to a very generous gift of tix from my sister in law. We rounded out the week at a cook-in-front-of-you (Benihana style) Japanese restaurant, which the kids loved (well, Mr. Picky only loved the first few bites of rice but hey, it's a start). In between, we cleaned out behind and under the stove (thanks to an errant toy car), blitz-cleaned the basement, inventoried and wrapped the Christmas presents, put away Thanksgiving, and started Christmas a-creeping in. I also went through a ton of clothes with the boys and got them set for the winter season (if it ever comes, both days this weekend were 50-something and sunny...global warming isn't all bad). We also got to see Shane Victorino on my birthday, and since he's my favorite player, that was awesome. The best, though, was the breakfast in bed from my boys. My youngest came up with a pencil tucked behind his ear and a paper on which he wrote my order...they came up with an unbelievable breakfast--eggs, bacon, grapefruit, smoothie...it was awesome and incredibly sweet. I loved it. No meal can top that, but alas, we will need to eat again...

So now the whirl has officially begun...

Monday: elementary school fundraiser at an indoor playground space; will buy the gross dinner there for the kids since that's part of the fundraising. I'll bring ... something. Banana. Whatever.

Tuesday: Lego build. We'll eat at the Mall. Ugh. My stomach turns at what we'll be eating two nights straight. I'll work on good stuff to bring for the line (z-bars, squeezable applesauce...).

Wednesday: I can't resist this roast chicken recipe from Cup and Table (channelling Jamie Oliver).

Thursday: Taco Thursday, of course.

Friday: Leftovers, and collapsing in a heap.

Last week was a great week. The runaway hit of the week was the Autumn Pork Roast. It was a great use of my butternut squash and the pork was delicious. A winner all around. And otherwise, we ate from the freezer and cabinets, which was awesome. In a rare moment, I found myself in front of Whole Foods and walked out with only three boxes of truffles (hostess presents for upcoming parties) and some bulk quinoa. We're really overstocked here and I want to work it down. It's going well so far.

Wishing you a wonderful week as times get merrier! Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more great recipes on the web!

MPM--Birthday Bonanza!

2011-11-27T10:12:00.007-05:00

So crazy-busy, these last weeks of the year. I am still trying to figure out how to squeeze enough hours of the day to do all I want to do in them. But one thing that has surprised and thrilled me: I really feel like a better mother since I went back to work. Not those times when I have to put the tv on or chase the kids to the neighbors' to finish a project, but the rest of the time--it's amazing. Having a job quiets the restless part of my brain so when I'm with my kids--I'm with them. And that hamster wheel in my head stops spinning and I can actually remember to calm down and focus on them and just be. And for that I am most thankful. I am grateful to Katie Granju, who wrote that part of being a good mother can be providing for the family. I'm grateful to 4everMom for showing me a way to think outside the box about combining working and mothering. I'm grateful to Anjali, for always reminding me that she knew, she saw, that spark in me that said, I need a professional life too. I have many other mentors on blogs and in real life, but it's a good season to get the long list started.

This week: with the exception of Monday, lots of eating down the fridge. I was kicking myself last week after running around to multiple markets, looking for creamed onions for my father-in-law, only to find they were in my freezer all along. That's a sign: too full.

Monday: Autumn Pork Roast (since I am still working down butternut squash from the CSA. This time, however, I am browning in the toaster oven so I don't burn my arm again)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday!

Wednesday: my son's first reconciliation so something fast. Probably the Catered By Trader Joe's route: mushroom truffle flatbread for the boys, mac and cheese for my husband and the boy who eats mac & cheese, and something Indian for me (see below).

Thursday: Leftovers, or more freezer stuff.

Friday: out for my birthday. I will not cook. Thanks to a surprise bill, that's about all we'll be doing, but that's ok. I am trying to purge stuff, not collect more.

One thing I forgot to mention last week: I had grand plans for making chicken curry, and all kinds of other yummies for Interpreter of Maladies night. Then I started running out of time and panicked and bought Trader Joe's Indian. Then I realized that several people there were friend who've never had Indian and I didn't want them to think they didn't like it because they had a lame version of it. So I caved and got takeout. But I'm not sorry.

Thanksgiving was lovely; I did the usual turkey-leg and Stuffing-Like-My-Mother's (nothing secret, just the blue bag of Pepperidge Farms Stuffing mix with the sauteed celery and onions mixed in; my in-laws' recipes are good, but hey, we all want our own memories served on Turkey Day) in the morning, getting the house smelling like the day. Then I went on to the carrot mousse and creamed onions, and when those were done by noon, I kept going and made mac & cheese for the home-from-college nephew, and cranberry blondie bars, because hey, I had the cranberries. And one miso sweet potato later, we were all set. It was great.

But that did remind me of another thing: I keep searching my own blog for my macaroni and cheese recipe. But it's not here, mostly out of fear of lawsuits by irate cardiologists. The ur-recipe is this one, for Patti LaBelle's Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese. It's amazing, but I am too lazy to even find that many bags of shredded cheese. So (deep breath, admitting this in public) here's how I do it.

My Favorite Aunt's Mac & Cheese
Preheat the oven to 350. Make one box of Creamettes, preferably just a little bit undercooked. While they are cooking, unwrap a stick of butter and use the wrapper to grease the inside of one large and one small Corningware dish. While the noodles drain, toss the stick of butter in the still-hot pot you boiled the noodles in. Put it back on the (now-off) burner to melt the butter. Pour the noodles back in. Stir; add seasoned salt (note: this is the only reason I even have seasoned salt) and pepper; stir to coat noodles and melt butter. Open three bags of shredded white sharp (preferably extra sharp) cheddar cheese; pour two in to buttered noodles one at a time, stirring after each. Add some of the third bag; I usually put in about a quarter. Now (gulp) add as much half-and-half as you dare, up to two cups. Currently I skip the eggs due to allergies in the family but if you want a more "together" texture, almost quichey/casseroley, it's also good. Stir well (you will be amazed at how much cream the noodles can absorb); pour in to prepared dishes. Sprinkle the tops with as much of the rest of the cheese as you like. Bake at 350 until bubbly. And go on a cleanse for the next several days and beg your arteries for forgiveness.

On that note, I hang my head in shame and urge you to look for healthier recipes on I'm an Organizing Junkie's blog. She has many great things there. On to December!

MPM--Changing Seasons

2011-11-20T22:32:00.000-05:00

We pulled down most of Halloween this week, leaving some pumpkins to keep the turkeys company, and I remembered anew why to start so early with the Halloween: because Thanksgiving really sweeps right in behind. But it was good; knowing that Christmas is tapping its toes impatiently waiting to invade, I really cleared the decks and eliminated lots of stuff. I actually removed furniture just to give some more space. I consolidated plants and ran a ton of errands that had literally collected on my windowsill. The boys walked in and said, WOW! You worked really hard in here! And that was startling but encouraging, that they noticed and cared.

There is still much to be done; to have any prayer of a birthday party this weekend, I have loads of work to finish in the "crushing through paper" department despite (no joke) filling two recycling containers already. With all else going on, meal planning is taking a serious back seat. But I'm kind of ok with that.

This week:

Monday: Crazy Jane's chicken (by request), roasted Brussels sprouts (I'm obsessed), asparagus ketchup (I'm getting better at it and again: I'm obsessed), salad. Maybe rice for the kids.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday.

Wednesday: Pre-Thanksgiving spaghetti. Because carbo loading is the way to go, right? I will probably be having leftover chicken, and use the noodles as a side. But we've been doing "family dinners" on Sundays the last few weeks (in my family, Sunday dinner was an early [starting sometime between 1 and 4, depending on when the Eagles or Phillies were playing] dinner of spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, and salad. When the weather got cold and I got sentimental, I reinstated the tradition and it was warmly received by 2/3 of the boys) and it is very popular with my younger son, who rightly pointed out that we have my older son's favorite meal every week, why not his too? That made sense to me, and I do love the "anchor meal" that Taco Tuesday gives me.

Thursday: Turkey day! I will probably roast a drumstick and breast for us, just to have the "right" smell in the house, but for the big dinner, we're bringing creamed onions (from frozen) and carrot mousse. I might also make mac & cheese for the college kids, who always enjoy it.

Friday: Leftovers of some kind. Taco or turkey, I care not.

Not much else to report...the kids tried black quinoa from the bulk bins at Wegman's, and loved it. "It tastes just like regular quinoa," my picky one said, "only much, MUCH better!" So that was a success, and since it's cheaper in bulk--score one for mama.

I am looking forward to trying some of Mark Bittman's 20 post-Thanksgiving recipes, depending what we have here. And for more inspiration, you'll have to go elsewhere, I'm afraid...I'm about out of ideas! Try I'm an Organizing Junkie! for more new ideas. And a happy Thanksgiving week to all...I'm thankful for you, wherever you are. I appreciate your checking in and your comments, even you ghostly lurkers, who show up on my Google analytics. Have a great week!

MPM--SuperFast November

2011-11-13T22:53:00.003-05:00

Soccer is over, football is over, and with friends dealing with challenges, I feel so lucky that changing routines is our biggest family issue for the moment. I am swimming in the deep end with my job, eagerly awaiting feeling on top of things again. I did a consignment sale of "never worked for our kids" toys and can't wait to see what that brings, cash-wise. (Only the tricycle and ski goggles didn't sell.) Halloween stuff went away just in time for some turkeys, and now we await the Advent calendars at Trader Joe's to tell us the seasons have truly changed again.

Monday--crockpot pork roast, baked potatoes, something green

Tuesday--Taco Tuesday

Wednesday--leftovers--pork or tacos

Thursday--I'm hosting book group for The Interpreter of Maladies, which I, alas, did not read. But--I get to have Indian food, woohoo!

Friday--unclear. Looking forward to figuring it out.

So on Election Day, when the kids had off, we tried this vegan smoothie from Foodie Parent. Result? Don't bother. Nasty. Not even close to sweet enough, even for me. Vanilla almond milk (as opposed to regular) might have helped but alas, not really a hit with anyone, and I can usually choke down anything healthy with the "it's nutritious" pep talk. Happily, we went to Wawa and erased that memory with some awesome smoothies from them.

Also, we've gone old-school and have started having big Italian dinners on Sundays. It works out well, actually; we have pancakes after Mass & CCD (now "PREP"), and then have an earlyish dinner to set up for the week. I'm loving it and am protecting this schedule as long as possible.

Here's hoping you are finding things that are working for you! If you are looking for new ideas--try over at I'm an Organizing Junkie! Have a great week!

MPM--Some Other Beginning's End

2011-11-06T22:14:00.002-05:00

Ah, November. End of (fall) soccer season, end of outdoor practices, timing falling back...I'm feeling ready, though. The clock fell back, the kids were up early but now are falling asleep early-for-them...life is good. Now, trying to keep it that way by doing an eating-down-the-cabinets personal challenge, and attempting to buy only meat and fruit this week. Should be alarmingly easy but you never know.

Monday: Leftovers, mostly from an awesome spaghetti & meatballs Sunday dinner here

Tuesday: back to Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: Tricky; I have a meeting at church at 6:30, so quick is of the essence. Solution: bag o' bbq chicken from Trader Joe's from the freezer, highly recommended by a friend with four kids who says it's one of the only thing that all her kids eat. That's a pretty solid recommendation. Rice, and probably beets.

Thursday: Another meeting for me (this time for the consignment sale this weekend, cannot wait for the empty space to start appearing in the garage, woohoo!) so another freezer meal. Will probably go for the shredded pork over rice and whatever veggies are in the fridge at this point.

Friday: Football made the playoffs (yeah!) but it's supposed to rain (boo!). And we're invited for pizza on Saturday so I'll have to make something. Solution: leftovers. Works for me, it's a Friday.

On Halloween, we had the leftover chili and I also finally made the pasta with sheeps' milk yogurt and caramelized onions. (Ask not what possessed me to try a new recipe on Halloween, but I will tell you: I'd found the yogurt at a Wegman's visit almost three weeks earlier and didn't want it to go bad--like the spinach--while I dithered.) It was good--I liked the tang and the caramelized onions make anything delicious. So I don't know that it will be in heavy rotation but I would definitely make it again.

The rest of the week was pretty much according to the plan, with some chicken breasts and asparagus ketchup thrown in (asparagus went on sale--not sure where in the world it's spring and asparagus season but it made me happy). We also made the white bean and cabbage dish again (this time my husband got to eat some and actually liked it, yay!). Next week I'm hoping to make the cauliflower soup among other things for lunches for the grownups in the house. I also did the sausage skillet dinner (with onions, apples, and cooked in apple cider) and it was yummy. I needed to change up something to get the sausage more browned, but I was glad to know it was all fully cooked, which soothes my nervous mom soul when cooking with sausage.

The lunchbox challenge is over, or almost (I've lost track), on the web at least. But in my kitchen, it continues. And the holiday prep went out the window entirely with the new job, as did reading any of my books for book group. Which is a problem, as I'm in charge of next month's book. Back down to the bookshelves!

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie! for the most comprehensive meal lists on the web!

A Maybe Misunderstanding...

2011-10-31T20:52:00.003-04:00

...but from what I saw briefly in my look at the Google Reader blog, they are turning off not just sharing and liking but also following on Blogger.
To those of you who have been my followers, I thank you. Each one of you made me smile, and I hope I did that for you, too.
I'm not on Google Plus for several reasons, including that my Gmail account has been hacked twice, unlike any of my other email accounts, but if I figure out a way to get a MemeGRL Google+ account, I will hope to reconnect with my followers there.
I'll probably stick with this platform because this is not a time in my life for any more newness, so I hope we reconnect out there in cyberspace somehow. But I didn't want the features to evaporate completely without saying thanks. I'm so glad you're here.

MPM--Let It ... wait what?

2011-10-30T22:32:00.003-04:00

Ah, well. Man plans, God laughs...we were supposed to have a rustic fall weekend in New England, visiting our niece at boarding school (first one in our family to go, though her grandmother on the other side went too). And we got there, and had a lovely tour on a blue sky day, and then the snowstorm chased us home. I am a driving weather wuss and preferred dry roads over wet...so we had an unexpected "extra" weekend at home. Not that I am any more prepared for Halloween, or the week...

Monday: chili, with noodles or rice for under and for kids. Gotta be quick so we can get out trick-or-treating!

Tuesday: Lego build, so boys and I will eat out, dad will fend for himself

Wednesday: the long awaited sausage vamp with pesto quinoa for kids

Thursday: Taco Thursday

Friday: Last football game! If it isn't eleventy-billion below zero. Brr.

Last week went well, though I didn't get to either the sausage or pork ribs, so this week, I know better than to try. One night I made chicken nuggets, another night it was apples with peanut butter and rice on the side for the kids and something for my husband and me from the freezer. So I am recalibrating my expectations here. I'm going to keep trying to keep it simple and figure out how to recapture my kitchen mojo, which has about abandoned me here.

The lunches continue to go well, except that my older son keeps taking things from the cabinet that I have earmarked for lunches. This drives me crazy when there are other things here besides the nut-free, prepackaged, easy to send along things. But that's not a lunch problem, that's a kitchen storage problem. I'm working on it.

For more inspiration--try I'm an Organizing Junkie! And come back next week when maybe I'll have figured out how to do it all in one day and get some sleep too. Happy Halloween, & happy November!

MPM--The New Normal

2011-10-23T14:56:00.003-04:00

So, here we are, settling in to October, all of us getting our rhythms. I still feel like I'm running to stand still a bit, but I'm getting there. And we lucked out with last week's dinners--on Sunday, we were invited to a block party celebrating a 40th birthday. As late arrivers, we became the de facto "clear off the street" crew, and as such, the lucky recipients of lots of party food. Spicy meatballs, palak paneer, cucumber and tomato salad...it was a good week. So some of last week will come to this week, which is fine by me.

I'm in a bit of a pork rut. It just seems like such a fall meat, doesn't it?

Monday: Slow Cooker BBQ ribs, CSA veggies (almost done for the season, sniff)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, of course. Ahh.

Wednesday: rescheduled from last week: riffing from a Trader Joe's sample: TJ's bratwursts in a skillet with apples and onions, cooked down in spiced cider, mashed potatoes, something vegetably (wish me luck, if you read here much at all, you know "riffing" is not a strong point for me)

Thursday: Please, God, let there be leftovers.

Friday: something fallish. Football game, or birthday party, or something fun...we'll see when we get there.

So, my older son is in the midst of a taste renaissance. He is all about raw onions (!) and trying new things. Last week, stir fry, this week, he asked for fish. Alas, I didn't get him any, but he did try the spicy meatballs from the party and loved them. And in an equally stunning development, Mr. Picky tried the spicy meatballs too. He didn't like them, but a bite crossed his lips. I'm shamefaced that this is what it has come to, but that passes for food excitement around here. They also both loved the pork that didn't quite work, in my estimation (the Chinese carnitas) so that was good news all around as well.

The lunchbox challenge, however, is suffering. By Friday morning, there wasn't a chance in the world of lunch being ready to go out the door, so my son danced off, $2.30 in hand, to eat the mystery chicken, a roll, and milk for lunch. Next week is another week.

For better menu plans than this, try I'm an Organizing Junkie! And see you next week for Halloween and November. November! You'd think I wouldn't be surprised, with the Christmas countdown getting so low, but somehow, it's sneaking up on me again.

Just Ask. What's On Your List?

2011-10-22T20:40:00.002-04:00

My grandmother died of ovarian cancer. It's a nasty, brutish thing. My best friend is battling breast cancer, the inflammatory kind, and it's a sword of Damocles, hanging over both of us (her more than me, clearly, but the worry is constant for all who love her, too). Just Ask! is a group dedicated to helping families create awareness of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. And they have a lulu of a giveaway, creating publicity for their organization. They are asking people to list 15 items on their bucket lists in a blog post. Here are mine:

Completed:

Kissed Jimmy Osmond. (Don't hate.)

Had a backstage pass to a rock concert.

Married the man of my dreams.

Worked dream job.

Went to Ireland with the extended family.

Went to Hawaii with the other side of the family.

Went to Disneyworld with the kids when they were young enough for the magic to be real.

New Year's Eve in Times Square. (Once is enough but I'm glad I did it.)

Drove the California coast in a red convertible Mustang.

Paid someone else's bill for something they couldn't afford. (It was anonymous, so no more details here, but: if you can do this, ever: DO IT.)

"Breathed" underwater on a helmet dive with my mom. (Most people dream of flying. I dream of breathing underwater, and every time I do, I wonder why I freak out so much about it, because it's really not hard at all.)

Raising kids in the town I grew up in, giving them experiences I loved and ones I never had.

Asked Stephen Colbert a question he clearly loved answering. (We went to a taping of his show in Philadelphia and before they started, they ask the audience to submit questions. They chose mine as one of the ones they'd use to warm up the group. The question was: What's your favorite Sunday School lesson to teach? And he was totally psyched to talk about it, which was really fun. The answer is: when Jesus told the apostle Peter to walk on water in the storm. Peter did, then actually thought about it, and then sank in the water. "It's the only example of physical comedy in the Bible," he quipped. True or not, he had us in stitches, describing the lesson.)

Oh, I am almost embarrassed to be posting this. I am so, so lucky to have had these chances and opportunities to make these choices. But I believe in the power of dreaming things in to life. Most of these experiences started as a vision and morphed in to reality over time and with effort. Oprah & company call it "the Secret." I'm not so sure I believe in "the Secret" hook, line, and sinker, but I do believe you have to have an idea of what you want if you want to get it. Sometimes you get what you want. Sometimes you don't. (note, for example, the lack of "see a taping of the Oprah Show" on this list.) And sometimes, you get something even better. (see Stephen Colbert, above.) But every one of those ideas started as just that: an idea. So I'm entering this because all of the prizes are things that either my kids (Universal!) or I (ski Park City!) would love to do. Hence, the 15 bucket list items.

Much of the rest of my list is travel too:

I've been to 45 states and would love to make it to 50 by age 50. (That gives me just over 7 years. Should be possible, right?)
-New Orleans with my hubby
-Alaska cruise with my family
-Montana with my friend Nina
-and New Mexico and Oregon somewhere in there.

Outside the US: Iceland. (No, I don't know why.) Australia & New Zealand. Asia (specifically China, Japan, and Vietnam. So, you know, a week or two. HA!). More of Europe. London with my kids. The Galapagos and Antarctica.

Closer to home: See a taping of Saturday Night Live. Host a Wednesday Spaghetti for my block. Create a storywalk in my town. Either run a 5K fundraiser or do one of those 2- or 3-day walks. Get the whole extended family to go bowling. See Lora in an improv performance. And divide the family photos among folks who would care.

There are more, but they are so universal (I think) I hate to mention them (like "live to see my grandkids" for example). But I do think that writing things down makes them more likely to happen. Not unlike my weekly menus, it's good to have a written guide to go back to. What's yours? What's keeping you?

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details.

MPM--October Randomness

2011-10-16T21:02:00.007-04:00

Here we are in filet of October. The weather has finally turned, the leaves are following suit, and while the pace is definitely faster than I'm used to, I love most of it. Some of the soccer practices, I can live without. But the running around outside? The rejuvenated dog? The boys who think raking is fun? Hot chocolate but no bulky blankets at football games? I live for this.

Monday: Leftover pork, rice, and probably beets, I have a bunch to roast.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, naturally.

Wednesday: Dad's choice. Mama's working. (Hah! That will mean chicken nuggets and pretzels for the kids, and Trader Joe's mac and cheese for dad. Betcha $1.) Though I have had requests for lasagne for dad and pesto quinoa for kids, so I will try to do that if I can get my act together before then.

Thursday: riffing from a Trader Joe's sample: TJ's bratwursts in a skillet with apples and onions, cooked down in spiced cider, mashed potatoes, something vegetably (wish me luck, if you read here much at all, you know "riffing" is not a strong point for me)

Friday: we scatter to the winds. One to a birthday party, the rest probably to the football game, either way: not much cooking for me, and probably leftovers if anything.

Also: our CSA has been very eggplant heavy so I was happy to see this recipe in Mark Bittman's dinner party matrix. Because I love my eggplant tomato sauce, but I have had enough of that. And I love it grilled, but grilling season is mostly over. And I'm eager to try the minty eggplant dip of Catherine Newman, but I am a ninny about guessing how to change things and don't have a broiler. So I might try the chickpea and eggplant stew recipe...we'll see. But I'm not losing another eggplant, that's for sure. Too yummy. So of course in making the NYTimes recipe I got distracted and forgot to dredge in flour, so now I feel incompetent to make a real judgement call on the recipe. Maybe it would have held together a little better with the flour, but as is, it worked. But--I would feel like someone who tried to serve it to me for a main dish (if that person was not a known vegan) would have some nerve. But it was a fine Chinese-ish style preparation with just enough kick to interest my hubans.

Meanwhile, last week I ran out of time to make the pork on its designated night and tried a chicken stir fry instead. I got the (raw) stir-fry sliced chicken at my market (yay, no touching raw meat) and used the Trader Joe's frozen stir fry veggies. After casing a few recipes, I fried the chicken in oil, added veggies, and when done, tossed in about a tablespoon of hoisin and a few tablespoons of soy sauce. And to my immense shock, my older one loved it, especially the edamame. So that's exciting: another easy freezer meal that 3/4 will eat. Wahoo! (And at least the picky one will eat rice.)

Interestingly (well, to me, anyway), I made the Chinese carnitas again and I seem to recall this is the second time that I have had a hard time getting it down to the sticky, dark brown glaze that the photo shows. The first time I made it, I was beating myself up for not reading carefully and boiling (lid on) for the first 90 minutes, and I think I turned it down for the next 90. But that was the only time I got it to the sticky glaze point. I also think I used 4lbs of bone-in ribs and swore I'd never make that mistake again, because the meat was so good we wanted more. But I think maybe with more meat (I used 3+ lbs of bone in, and 1 lb of boneless, which I didn't think would throw it off) it's harder to get that glaze. It's not a disaster; it's still really good pork, even without the glaze. But the glaze was the "so good it will make you cry" part of the original post. Without the glaze, it's just a stovetop version of my awesome crockpot pork roast with ginger. Sigh.

The lunchbox challenge remains challenging. At least I have one child who likes the same thing every day; the other one gets tired of things quickly. No sandwiches, no peanuts, no tree nuts, no hummus. And it has to be something he can eat fast because he cannot wait to get outside. So. There is that. He raved about a certain yogurt, put three multipack cartons in my cart at the store, and I thought, fine, that's easy, and one excellent lunch choice down...and halfway through the first carton, he was done. Booo. He might come back to them. He might not.

So, for more impressive menus, try I'm an Organizing Junkie! and check back here for my cooking misadventures to see how the week goes.

MPM--UberOctober

2011-10-09T16:59:00.002-04:00

Good thing I got that "Red October" reference in last week because wow, those Phils let us down in a big way. My husband is in a deep funk which will last until after the series. I am somewhat relieved because this is weeks of his time I have back. (He's a blogger for The Good Phight, a Phillies blog, and in season, it's a real second job for him.)

But last week, the second job around here was mine. It went well, though it was drinking from a fire hose as far as learning, but that was to be expected. The people are nice, the job is interesting, and I feel very, very blessed to have found this spot. But. It means by dinnertime, my brain cells are shot, so hooray for an easy week, and hooray for this blog, which gave me a nice archive of Stuff We Like now that I don't have time to focus on it.

This week:

Monday: Chinese-Style Pork Carnitas, rice, broccoli

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, of course

Wednesday: otherwise known as my son's birthday! We'll go out for Chik-Fil-A--his choice.

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Football night, I hope.

Easy week, but last week kicked my tush so I need it!

So, last week, I was looking for our pumpkin muffin recipe (and by "ours" I mean "the internets'"; thank you Donna at AllRecipes, whoever you are) and found two totally craveworthy recipes I had forgotten about. One was Pork Roast with Apples and Cider Cream Gravy, and the other was Chinese-Style Pork Carnitas. All three are on my sidebar now, for you to enjoy as well. I adore them both and was happy last week to have had all I needed but the pork for the cider-cream one. Yu-hum.

Besides re-pointing me to fall favorites, I was glad I made the muffins; they were popular in lunches all week. This is my new "deceptive way to feed them something healthy" trick of the week since the moment of the squeezers is over, alas. So the lunchbox challenge is, in fact, a little more challenging but I'm muddling through. I did feel grateful for my Martha Stewart Moment when I actually made pumpkin puree and froze it for just such an emergency but the banana muffin mix from Trader Joe's was just as popular.

Blogging time is a little more restricted for me so not much other news to report. Have a great week and check out I'm an Organizing Junkie! for the best collection of meal plans on the web. No, seriously. It totally is.

MPM--Red October

2011-10-02T16:17:00.001-04:00

SO, here we are, new month, new job, new routines all over the place. But some old ones will stay: I had to laugh at a Facebook post last week. Apparently there is Taco Tuesday happening all over our burbs! One of my friends' status was "Taco Tuesday!" and five more of us chimed in, three of who all do Taco Tuesdays every week. And here I thought it was just us.

This week:

Monday: Celebrating the first day on the new job. Rotisserie chicken and roasted veggies from the CSA.

Tuesday: It's gotta be tacos, right? The fun part of this is that last week, the kids and I were at the playground and my husband did the prep and threw in onions...it revolutionized the meal. My older one wants onions in with the meat AND raw all over the top. He is in a huge onion stage and we are happy to oblige, even if his breath could slay dragons.

Wednesday: chicken nuggets and roasted carrots for the kids, and Trader Joe's chicken soup and garlic bread for the parents.

Thursday: Leftovers.

Friday: In a huge, huge karmic gift (maybe), my husband was gifted tickets to Game 5 of the NLCS. If they play it. So the jury is out. There is a football game, a soccer tournament, and a playoff game...this is an eat-on-the-fly night to the nth degree.

I know, no real inspiration here anymore. Sorry.

The lunchbox challenge is going strong...wish me luck this week. My son did buy lunch one day last week so I couldn't get away with it the whole month, but that was a long shot anyway. Still, back to it this week...I'm making muffins again, I throw in healthy stuff, he doesn't know it, and thinks he's getting away with something.

And I'm weeks behind on the Holiday Grand Plan, and probably will remain this way. But I am off to pull out the Halloween stuff in one last minute push to normalcy before things change again. I will miss these at home days, somewhat. And I can't wait to restart the career I loved. In a telling moment, I dreamed I was rehired at my old job the other morning and went through the whole thing: the travel, the assessment, the meetings--it was a subconscious review of everything I know about my profession. And I woke up smiling. I'm ready.

For actual creativity in meal planning, go see I'm An Organizing Junkie!

MPM--September Sliding Away

2011-09-25T13:28:00.000-04:00

Well, that month went fast. I think our routine is pretty good at this point, and now it's a race against the clock to finish all those projects I wanted to do "before I went back to work." I got the banking settled (woot! streamlining paperwork and cash flows FTW!), cleared the outgrown kids' clothes out of the attic, rejiggered the linen closet, and feverishly crammed through papers dating back to 2004. (Yep, just about the time I started staying home. Coincidence? I think not.)

This week: clear the boys' rooms...oh, wait. Nevermind. You were here for a meal plan. Right.

Monday: leftovers from Sunday spaghetti dinner with the family, veggies from CSA share

Tuesday: taco Tuesday!

Wednesday: chicken in mustard-cream sauce (see sidebar), or ginger-hoisin sauce (see below), or asparagus ketchup (trying again), salad, baked potatoes, CSA veggies

Thursday: leftovers, I hope, with veggies from the CSA

Friday: Football Friday. I'm so on it.

One other bloggy note before I go on to last week's reviews. Did you know it's less than 100 days to Christmas? Alas, there's the sad truth. So one more thing I did on my list: wrap the pre-bought gifts (also a review of What I Had since an October birthday is coming) and started with the 100 Days to Christmas blog. I do a (pathetically light) version of the Holiday Grand Plan, but can't keep up with it, but the 100 Days routine is much more my speed. With (usually) only one item a day, they do a great job keeping me on track for the holidays without feeling like I need to just leave my house and start over. It's also not just Christmas, they are sure to stop and enjoy the fall too. (Go apple picking, etc.) And: bonus this year: some great giveaways! They had an awesome Kindle giveaway last week. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next!

So, I got to the salmon with bok choy this week. My older son went crazy for the hoisin-honey-ginger sauce and had it on his chicken and rice. The salmon was yummy and easy. The bok choy was not a hit. I liked it but it wasn't great.

Based on the CSA, I made some kale chips on the fly. Oh, mercy--I forgot just how many of these my boys would chow down on. Why am I not making these every week??? The kale at the produce store is $1/bunch. Beats the heck out of chips, price- and nutrition-wise.

I'm also back in my miso-sweet potato groove, since we are receiving tubers of unusual size in the CSA this time of year. I love them and am enjoying them for lunch, um, yep, just about daily.

And the lunch box challenge is getting more challenging. The mercurial tastes of my son means that the exact same foods are chewed one day and eschewed another. And this is my "good" eater! But I did get 12/13 meals out the door last week. (I didn't know my husband was going to work early on Friday and there wasn't room in our very small fridge to have it made the night before.) So I'm working on it for next week and amping up the creativity factor.

So...here we have eight years of time at home coming to an end. That's not really fair; I've worked for pay for five of those eight years, but none with as much out-of-the-house time as this. It's amazing to me, I'm going back almost exactly eight years to the day after I left, almost the same amount of time my mother had, so I think in my psyche, I was just feeling like "it worked for her, it can work for me" and it made it easier. Of course, finding the right job helped a lot too. So stay tuned for a recap of my last "week of leisure" (ha ha, for that, I should have worked while they were little and taken off once they were in school!) and the blowing out of the water next week of all the routines I've grown to love. Have a great week and wish me luck in mine!

For really inspired meal plans, try I'm an Organizing Junkie! and see her most impressive list!

MPM--September Surprises

2011-09-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

Well. Sometimes things come out of nowhere in a good way. I'm employed! It's a job I had no idea existed three weeks ago (unusual in my field, which is small and specific) but it's as close to an incarnation of a dream as I'll ever see. And in keeping with the dreamlike quality--they rewrote the contract to 25 hours per week for the first year so I could be home with my kindergartener after school. I am SO excited about the job and the company that thinks like that.

In other surprises, it was announced during back-to-school night that I am homeroom mom for my older son. I did not volunteer for that. I felt like Harry Potter when his name flew out of the goblet. I'll take it as a compliment. And fortunately, another mom I really like volunteered to help me once it had been announced.

This week:

Monday: really, the Crazy Jane's chicken this week, and stuff from the veggie box.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: sausage bake (see sidebar for recipe), something green (maybe creamed spinach from the freezer, maybe something from the CSA box)

Thursday: Back to School Night (last one of three! phew) means leftover buffet

Friday: Football night! One of the cousins is a senior at a rival high school so it's his last season. They have an excellent concession stand (Chik-Fil-A, good pizza, and great hoagies from a local shop) so we'll have something there. Woohoo!

Not a whole lot to report from last week...I switched out the chicken for the pork with creamy mustard sauce (see sidebar for recipe link) and was reminded again how much I LOVE that sauce. And I say Crazy Jane's chicken but honestly? I might do creamy mustard chicken. So that might have to happen again.

Also, for the funeral last week, I was in charge of dips, and a kind friend sent some suggestions. I had so many, I forgot to bring the spinach dip over (fortunately someone else had brought it too). But: I thought that my spinach was too leafy, and my water chestnuts were definitely too big. So I threw it all in the food processor and yum. I ate it all week with carrots and celery, tremendously boosting my carrot and celery intake as well. So I need to do more experimenting with this. Maybe my son isn't the only one in the family who prefers things in the "smoothie" texture family.

And that's it from here. The school year started well (ok, there was the 2-hour stomach flu last Friday, but really, he was fine by 10am, so it barely counts), and things are humming along. If you work and have small kids and have fabulous meal ideas, please let me know. I'm all ears. Also? The older one is skipping the yogurt in his lunchbox (and won't eat sandwiches at school, he says they "smell funny" by lunchtime) and comes home starving. He won't eat cheese or eggs and they restrict nuts...any suggestions for proteins?

What are you making this week? Connect your post with menu at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--September Mourn

2011-09-10T22:09:00.003-04:00

The school year started off well, and soccer season is in full swing. But our family lost our patriarch last week, and it's really a bigger blow than I thought it would be. His 89th birthday would have been this month, and once he got past 80, it just seemed he'd live forever. But that's not really how life works, and so we go on. Add that to the tenth anniversary of 9/11, which coincidentally coincides with my mother's death, and I'm really in a funk. I'll move on. But this week, like many others, I'm pausing to reflect, remember, and wrap myself in good thoughts.

This week:

Monday: yay veggies! Crazy Jane's Chicken and whatever's in the box.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday.

Wednesday: pulled pork sandwiches, roasted potatoes, something from the CSA box (it's back-to-school night for one child, so my sister- and brother-in-law are coming to babysit, yay, so big dinner for all)

Thursday: leftovers, if any, and if not, freezer dinner.

Friday: salmon with bok choy, rice. Kids might starve.

I'm obsessed with the White Beans & Cabbage. It's way better with butter. But I'll eat it either way.

I'm also obsessed with the Amazon grocery service with big discounts for scheduled deliveries. After seeing how fast we go through some of the pre-packed things with two kids with lunches, I'm scouting for the cheapest way. Thanks to a tip from a friend who works with Campbell's, I checked out Amazon, whom she told me is trying very hard to grow their grocery business. They have a thing going, Subscribe and Save, where you find the foods your family eats lots of, and sign up to have it delivered at intervals you choose, and you get a better price on it. I just joined our local big-box discount store (BJ's) and they have better prices on some things, but Amazon does on others, and the convenience of them showing up at my house when I need them...? Awesome. (Note: I am not an affiliate, alas, I just think this is very cool, even if it is iffy on the carbon footprint.)

I tried the Moroccan Shrimp recipe from Dinner: A Love Story but I think something was wrong with the shrimp, and I didn't have the cumin. I was the only one in the family who would eat it, and I wasn't letting $12 in shrimp go to waste. But it was not a big winner, alas. And otherwise, we didn't really try anything new. I shredded my zucchini and put it in the fridge, and it melted in to a big puddle of itself before I could make anything. Boo to me.

The Lunch Box Challenge, as predicted, wasn't very challenging, per se, but has been interesting. I have been trying to pack their lunches pretty much as they walk in the house. I also have adjusted what I'm sending; the sandwiches keep coming back home because my son is grossed out by them by the time he has lunch, so it's more full of little things (five yogurt pretzels, 6 cut up strawberries, a small container of goldfish or some other crunchy thing, a yogurt, a veggie or fruit item) than a traditional lunch. And they both get milk at school, which I love. They get chocolate milk, which is fine by me, because then we don't have it at home and it is Just Never Questioned. I love it when stuff like that works. And I'm willing to do it because it is hard to pack a drink for them that doesn't spill one way or the other; the chocolate milk tastes better than the white milk; and the school recycles the containers.

So, lots of transitions, lots of figuring out what we're doing, and I appreciate your patience as we get there. Sorry to be a bore but I'm really distracted by the rest of life and getting it on the computer is a stretch right now. BUT, if I don't, I'll be staring at 8 bags of nuts and butter shaped like a turkey in my freezer, wondering what to have for dinner, so the discipline is good for me.

For more inspiration posts, try I'm An Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Suddenly September

2011-09-04T22:23:00.006-04:00

Well. Boy howdy, that was some storm last week, and I don't even live in Vermont. (If you do, I hope you are recovering.) We lost power from Saturday to Tuesday, and let me tell you--it was enough. "Camping in our own home" was not quite the cheery adventure I hoped to convince the kids it would be. And having the roving band of cranky boys from our street (9 in elementary school alone) with no access to electric entertainment--well, let's say that swordfighting has never been so popular on our street. There was lots of annoyed energy to go around.

It also threw off my meal plans in a big way. I could use the burners but not the stove, and we could grill. So we used a ton of things from the freezer, sent some off to kind friends around town with freezer space, and, in a teeny silver lining, cleaned and defrosted the freezer downstairs. So that's over. And while I totally admired my friends who went camping *after* the power was back, I am really feeling it for those who are still without. In a very first-world problem, our pool was shut down for the summer prematurely by the storm, which was sad, so soon after both boys got their blue ribbons (ie, passed the highest swim test). We were so proud, and I know they were too.

This week: school starts. Soccer gets serious. And we all try to get in the swing. So...

Monday: Labor Day. Last night before school starts. No CSA, but I am trying to use what we have. I will probably make the cabbage and white bean dish again, and I am hoping to try the Smitten Kitchen zucchini fritters because oy, the zucchini. We'll also have leftover tri-tip steaks from the freezer; see below.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, of course.

Wednesday: First day of kindergarten! I'm so excited. Noodles, little Mr. Picky's favorite, to celebrate his first day of the next 13 years of school.

Thursday: Leftovers & freezer meals.

Friday: Football game. I am hoping this week they bring back the walking tacos.

Not really much to report from last week. We grilled the frozen pizzas on the grill and while I prefer the toaster oven, it worked in a pinch. The baby eggplant were still delicious on the grill. One of the defrosted dishes was a chick pea curry I was happy to see again, and the Trader Joe's fettucini Alfredo were well received by the cheese-eating boy. My older one begged me to make peas when he saw them in the freezer, and I was happy to oblige. And I had a Kashi frozen meal--Lemongrass Chicken--that I will definitely purchase again. It was awesome.

One of the things that was defrosted was tri-tip steaks from Omaha. I got antsy reading all the websites that said how it can be tough if it's not marinated for 24 hours. So, we experimented, even though once it was out of the wrap, they seemed really tender. Two, we cut up in to kebab's with DALS's Tony's Steak dressing, then stuck 'em on skewers with cherry tomatoes. And two, we tried with this dry rub, despite a name that made me cringe. It was easy, and I had all the stuff, though I think I used too much of it. I would definitely use less next time, though when slices in to thin strips, it was easier to take. The kebabs were really dry, though, which was a bummer. Our grill has been fussy, so I don't blame the meat. For a steak dinner, it was easy and good.

If you aren't reading me in a reader (why not?)--and you are in the thick of school lunch prep--there is a challenge over here that I'm joining. It's not much of a "challenge" for me (my older son, the "good" eater, actually doesn't like most of the school lunches, woohoo!), but the giveaway is awesome, especially as my kids snarf Revolution Foods like the candy bars we save for desserts. I haven't found YoDrops anywhere but am intrigued.

And that's about all. For those who celebrate, Happy Labor Day! (My grandmother and her sisters were all in the ILGWU, so I still hum "look for the union label" on Labor Day.) And check out I'm an Organizing Junkie! for more menu plans!

MPM--August Endings

2011-08-28T10:54:00.008-04:00

Earthquakes, hurricanes...nothing like a few natural disasters to end the summer. Around here, lots of schools were supposed to start on Monday and had to cancel for fear of Irene. Serves 'em right for starting before Labor Day, I say. Of course I am writing this in advance, and hoping desperately that this turns out to be a bunch of rain and that

Our last week of vacation is this week and I'm in my usual churn of ideas...Irene reminded me I need to empty my freezer, and pronto. We made lots of things from the freezer in storm prep and it was high time too.

Monday: CSA box day. Something veggie, and probably the pork chops on the grill from the freezer.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday!

Wednesday: I am hoping this is a beach day, but if not, the shrimp-and-corn thing that I love will be great tonight. When I find the recipe, I'll copy and post.

Thursday: Happy birthday, Mr. Picky Eater! We'll have something he likes this night, but I don't know what yet. The weather will determine how we celebrate. (Beach? Museum? Amusement park?)

Friday: Crystal ball is unclear here, too, though "something from the freezer" is a safe bet. There is a chick pea curry in there that is calling my name.

You know how I always cook way too much for snowstorms? As it turns out, I do the same thing for hurricanes. On a thundery day before the hurricane even gathered speed, I was busy in the kitchen, having filled the tank of the car, and bought bottled water, and all those other goodies. I made the curried egg salad, and alas, it was not a favorite; the red onion I had was overpowering even though it was little and I didn't use much. Next time, scallions or shallots. I made the sardines rillettes as well, the ones that the Tipsy Baker enthused about, and you know what? They were awesome. I used the Trader Joe's sardines, a 3.5 oz can, and it was exactly enough and the bones were already removed--score. I was dreading that part. I also made a potato pizza from Time for Dinner, using purple potatoes from the 25-cent bin at the Co-op, which made it much prettier.

So I was wandering through some blogs and some bookmarks and found some recipes I had been meaning to try. One was a bit of a blog-universe collapsing in on itself: the 101 Cookbooks author Heidi Swanson's recipe for white beans and cabbage via The Tipsy Baker. I ended up making it vegan by using the olive oil and forgetting to add the parm at the end. (When I realized I had, I tossed a bit on to see what it was like, and actually liked it better without.) If I hadn't made it myself, I would have sworn there was bacon in it, it had that kind of mouth feel. And while I liked the entire dish, I loved it before I added the cabbage, so I'll remember that for the future too. Also, I made it in my cast iron skillet, as I'm trying to use that more often, and that changes things a little bit--more rustic, more caramelization, etc. I might try in a non-stick sometime but for a Monday--it was a very tasty lunch and a great way to use up cabbage. NB: some versions call for thyme. I like thyme, but I'd be surprised if I liked it here. I skipped it and didn't miss it at all.

And we had another breakthrough for the boys: chicken sausage with spinach and feta. We grilled a link and asked them to try a piece. Both of them loved it and while Burger Boy went back to his burger, the other one--Mr. Picky--actually cut it in to slices, put it on a burger bun, added ketchup (um, eeuw, but ok), and ate that sandwich. Miracle!

Another miracle is a condiment that they both enjoy--it's a Wasabi Ginger Finishing Sauce, and I am hoping it stretches them enough to give wasabi and ginger the scaffold that they need for eventual acceptance. And it worked as a bridge for grilled eggplant for the older one. We had some awesome teeny eggplants, sliced, tossed with a little olive oil and kosher salt, and grilled in a basket. Yum. We were all almost grateful the little guy didn't want any--more for the rest of us.

I made the green bean-celery salad and that was a hit in my book. Really, no shock, with the vinegar-mustard sauce, but still--a nice option for green beans and anything no-cook works for me in a big way in the summer. It was crunchy and refreshing and very enjoyable. My husband couldn't really tell the difference between that and other salads I'd made with green beans so I bet it would be good with some cherry tomatoes thrown in there too. I also tried to replicate the tomato ricotta pie from the Co-op, and I couldn't do it but the recipe I used was fine, and my husband had seconds.

Looking for more inspiration? Try I'm An Organizing Junkie! for the best menu planning on the web.

MPM--Summer's End...Almost

2011-08-21T20:38:00.005-04:00

And just like that, we're in the waning days of August. I bit the bullet and put the boys in soccer camp. In some ways, I hated to do it; we had SO MANY THINGS we wanted to do this summer! But in other ways, it preps them well for the fall, which is so close. So we're having some big lunches, and tucking them in bed closer to school-year times this week. I hope.

Monday: We'll see what the CSA fairy brings, and add some meat. Probably a pork tenderloin. Or, to be honest, I'm jonesing for some macaroni-shrimp salad. (Macaroni, celery chopped small, salt, pepper, cooked shrimp, and a dressing of mayo mixed with vinegar--white, if presentation matters, or red, if you don't mind pinkish dressing, which I do not). It is 1970s comfort food at its finest for me. I am not sure anyone else in the house will eat it but that may not matter to me. The jones is strong. On a similar note, this is my week to try this egg salad, which has been knocking around my list for ages. I never heard of curry as a child, but this seems like a good update--old favorite, adult twist. I also know I want to make this bean and celery salad from The Bitten Word, because as you might have figured out by now, vinegar and mustard are members of the inner circle of my culinary happy place.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday. I have to tell you: I really love this anchor of my week. And I love it more in summer, when the tomatoes are so good I can just lightly sprinkle everything else in there and have a mostly tomato and cheese taco.

Wednesday: Cheesy Zucchini Pizza, and maybe a ricotta tomato pie, if I'm not tired of it yet. The Co-op was selling them last week and I could not stay away. It was just exactly the kind of summer food I was looking for, except for the jillion-calorie part. I'm sulking because they moved on but I am hoping that this version is similar.

Thursday: I have book group, for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, so something southern. The boys will have something boys like, probably nachos from leftovers from taco night.

Friday: Moms' Movie Night--woohoo! Can't even tell you the last time I did something like this...we're going to see The Help, which we read for book group (like 87% of all book groups in the last few years...) so quick and easy from the freezer for the boys. I'm saving my calories for popcorn and a soda.

Last week I got back to my stove for a bit of a reunion. I made some old favorites and tried some new.

New: the cold asparagus sauce from Dinner: A Love Story. I love every ingredient in this and yet still was not thrilled with the final result. It was a little bitter. I used seedy mustard, and I'm wondering if that did it, or if there was too much lemon (I used about 1/3 of a small one). I did actually chill it, and had the chicken at room temperature. I finished it, because I love asparagus, but it wasn't as yummy as I was hoping. I might try again with a slightly different combo, because I really, really WANT to like this.

A zillion years ago, when I read Glamour, there were two different recipe pages I pulled out as a not-really-experienced-in-the-kitchen 20-something. One was for oven-roasted tomato sauce. The other was for nine different pasta toppings. I've made most of the 9 at some point (lemon cream, ricotta walnut...yum) but a continual favorite is the tomato-eggplant-mozzarella. It's so easy; take an eggplant; cube. (If you have time and feel fancy, salt, let sit, and rinse. If not--skip.) Heat some olive oil, and throw the eggplant in there with a minced garlic clove. Add either a bunch of cut up tomatoes and juice, or a can of crushed tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes, and before serving, toss with little mozzarella balls and basil. I just love this sauce and am so happy it's eggplant season again.

And for those of you who caught Lora's comment about crab fries--I had to laugh, and really, when push came to shove, I couldn't spend $7.75 on fries. I just couldn't. In fact, we did an upside down day that day and I made a hot(ish) lunch (it's summer, nothing too hot) and packed sandwiches, popcorn, applesauce pouches, and fruit leathers for dinner. So still "fun" food but for literally 1/10th the price of what we would have spent at the park. I'm sure the opportunity to got to Chickie's and Pete's will happen organically someday, and I'll try them then. But the ballpark versions of food are usually not as good as the original--and if the original isn't something to get excited about...just as well to skip it.

We double-checked-off another summer thing this weekend too: I made waffles for the boys on a pajama'd weekend morning. The older one wanted to skip soccer, and we let him. He's gone just about all summer and has more practices coming up, so I was happy to let him stay in PJs and play with Legos. He got his teacher assignment this week and I'm steeling myself for the havoc social interactions take on his psyche. In doing so, I paid attention: mom's waffle recipe makes 4 or 5 waffles, depending on how good you are at covering the maker. So now I know.

Check out I'm An Organizing Junkie for more late summer meal plans!

MPM--Really Lazy Days

2011-08-14T23:34:00.001-04:00

And when I say lazy, I mean lazy. I fret as we cruise in to August--where are we on the "things we want to do this summer" list!? That is totally antithetical to August, I know. But I struggle with both wanting the days to be both long and unscheduled and a time we look back on and say, That was awesome. I'm so glad we did that.

Last week was amazing. We went to the mountains, alone for the first time as a family, and while we missed all the cousins (pesky high school kids, with college visits and jobs that keep them away from the Sports Week events), we loved being there ourselves and planning our own days. The scalloped tomatoes (see sidebar) were a hit with all the grownups (grandparents, aunts, uncles) who were around to try them. And otherwise, we ate pretty simply, to just enjoy the time at the lake and the games as much as possible. It was one of those golden weeks and I want to savor every second.

But now it's time to be home and planning. The good news is, I'm done all the back to school shopping, at least until the teachers' lists come, so it's time to just hang out and relax. Menus this week:

Monday: CSA box, trying the asparagus sauce from DALS with some chicken, and just tossing fruits and veggies at them otherwise.

Tuesday: Need you ask? Actually, we have ball game tickets tonight so I'll let the Phillies feed me. (More on that below.)

Wednesday: Taco Tuesday, a day late.

Thursday: SOME of us are going to the beach. Boardwalk pizza. My mouth waters just typing those words.

Friday: leftovers/freezer meal. I went in to my freezer for my crashed hard drive and couldn't believe how much stuff was in there. So I'll start working that down before it's too cold to defrost my freezer before winter hits.

We lucked in to Phillies tickets in a much swankier section than we usually have for last week and this. And so being down in the expensive seats, I learned there are way more food options than up in the "cheap" (ha! ha! even standing room isn't "cheap" but "cheap" is easier to type than "less insanely expensive") seats. In some ways this is good--I'm intrigued by the salads, and I've never tried the crab fries (shh, they'll take away my Philadelphia residency if they know). But in other ways, it was lousy, in the way that too much choice is always lousy...I had to walk exactly half-way around the stadium (which is not small) to get a plain burger for my son. Plus, I had to make stops at five different places to get what everyone wanted. (Hot dog, hamburger, Italian sausage, chips, beer, soft drinks.) And after a series of unfortunate finds in my last few hot dogs at ballparks (really. you don't want to know. and it was not just the Phils' MLB stadium), I tried the vegan dog. It wasn't great, but it wasn't scary, which was a step up. There are black bean burgers too, but I worry about the pepper thing (I can't eat them, and I can't find the ingredients list or vendor name). Can't top the strawberries and whipped cream at the BOB (in Arizona, ages ago) but still--a step in the right direction.

That's the news for the week. Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more transferrable menu ideas and have a great week!

MPM--On the Road Again

2011-08-07T21:34:00.001-04:00

Phew! What a week! We did all kinds of things we'd never done before. Our kids were in the water show at the pool (so cute, all the five-to-seven year olds playing gods and goddesses in Hercules), we went to the Crayola Factory (and not a moment too soon, my oldest, not-a-drawer, had all but aged out of there), and I had my eyebrows threaded (less painful than waxing, but took longer, so a bit of a wash). Lots of things were checked off the old summer list--yay! In between, we tucked in Daddy Days, more of the 100 picture books, more games, a trip to the beach, and a cousin visit. The scare of August has commenced--time to squeeze in all of summer that we can!

This week:

Monday: yogurt-marinated chicken (yes, I'm obsessed), CSA veggies

Tuesday: taco Tuesday!

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: freezer food. I have some chili in there and a few other things just waiting for the defrost.

Friday: Take me out to the ball game!

We had my in-laws for dinner and had a summer feast, courtesy of Dinner: A Love Story. (I really need to move on but I'm having a crush.) We had two different meats, the yogurt-marinated chicken and Tony's flank steak. The steak was terrific except we didn't slice it thin enough. But still--yum. That is a new one in the rotation. For sides, I made the lemony smashed potatoes, a mozzarella and tomato salad, green beans, and corn on the cob. Amazing. And, double bonus, all gluten-free for my father-in-law, who's been having some gastric issues. No one missed the gluten, that's for sure!

I made the massaman curry in the slow cooker, even though it broke one of my rules of slow cooker cooking. I prefer the "throw it all in with minimal prep" version and this included browning meat on the stove. But I tried it anyway. I tend to agree it was a little too liquidy, so next time I'll use one can of beef broth instead of two cups. But there probably will be a next time; it was really good, mild but clear Indian influence, awesome over rice. I'm not a huge fan of chuck roast, though, so I might try it again with something else, though I'm not sure what.

I've been doing lots of reading lately...The Hunger Games as I mentioned, and now I'm just waiting for book 3. I also read some other kid/ya lit...A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer, in hopes my kids would like it, but they did not; and The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, which I enjoyed but they did not. My book groups are reading Love in the Time of Cholera and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I'm trying to read the Bible in 90 Days but I am woefully behind (but not out!). I finished Temple Grandin's first book, Emergence: Labeled Autistic, and it was a good insight in to the world of an autistic child and reminded me to wait wait wait for my kids to catch up to themselves. I finally finished Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, by Kate Braestrup. I won it from Ready, Set, Wife! and was so excited; I love Kate's writing and her story is so hard and so compelling. And then the book literally slipped off my bedstand and I just found it again. But it was kind of at the right time: one of her (literal) lessons is to fill in the blank: Nothing is more important than _____________. And she goes in to a lot of different riffs on the theme and it was kind of what I needed to hear right now. How would I finish that sentence? Right now? Tomorrow? (Not for the blanks, though that would work too, really.) I finished Super Sad True Love Story though it pained me. So much promise, so fell off a cliff. And I'm with my friend who thought he was too misogynistic to be borne. She's not wrong. There were some others but I can't remember them anymore, which is why I wanted to get these down.

Anyway. More lazy August days of reading ahead...for more meal plan reading, try I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--August Beginnings

2011-07-31T09:17:00.006-04:00

Greetings! I spent (wasted) most of last week being sick...such a bummer in the summer! So not much time for me at all in the kitchen. I did have a shrimp moment and made shrimp salad like my mother used to (with macaroni and celery with mayo-vinegar dressing...summer heaven) and more. See below:

Monday: the curry from last week that I never got to, CSA veggies, rice, cucumber salad (the one with vinegar-sour cream dressing, yum)

Tuesday: Lego build, and ice cream night...eating out for sure.

Wednesday: leftovers, including from the grilling dinner on Sunday--yum

Thursday: taco Tuesday Thursday

Friday: probably pizza, if the past is any indication.

The cold I had last week pretty much wiped out my taste buds, so it was all about texture and temperature for me. Lots of cold fruit, cold soups (and, um, the watermelon gazpacho from the New York Times? Nasty nasty nasty. Sorry I wasted a tomato on it), and that's about it.

While on the one hand I'm sorry camp is over (it is MUCH easier to get the little stuff of life done--laundry, groceries--when they are out in the morning), I'm not sorry to temporarily halt the influence of others on my little guys. When did things get so violent? The game "sardines," where one kid hides and the seekers hide with him/her when found, has become "manhunt." And now I learn that if you are holding cards so your opponent can see them, it's called "bleeding." And one of my boys went to sleep in panicky tears because some of the big fourth graders were talking about people being killed when their houses were blown up by explosions and he was worried it would happen while he slept. And the worst is, I know this is only dress rehearsal for other, realer fears coming down the pike, and I'm lucky he shared it with me.

OK, off soapbox and back to the rest of my life...lots of picking up to do after last week "off" for sick time...hope your summer is progressing better than mine right now! Go see I'm an Organizing Junkie for actual meal plans worth following!

WFMW--Caption the Photo in the Photo

2011-07-27T00:07:00.002-04:00

Hi--remember Works for Me Wednesdays? Yeah, I haven't done them much lately. I want to say it's because "not that much is working for me" but that's not what I mean--it's that my hacks are SO specific, I don't think they'd help you much. But in the wonders of Facebook, I came across an adorable shot of one of my kids. It was totally share-worthy, but what grabbed my attention was the piece of construction paper he was holding. I'd used a marker to write on a piece of construction paper: "My first day at preschool! 9-26-09"

Good for me! I remember now that his dad couldn't take off to go with him, and his brother was at school already, so it lacked some of the momentousness of other school sendoffs. And without the requisite family photos, I would never, ever have known what that adorable shot was without that piece of green paper. And I know there are photo programs that make it really easy to do the post-edit, but really, I'm lucky to get the photo to begin with, let alone fool around with the captioning programs. (PS--I also try to do this by taking pictures of things to remind me of dates or places--like at the lake, where they have a whiteboard with the date and the water temperature, or at the entrance of a theme park.)

So: low tech photo captions in the picture work for me! What's working for you? Share it at We Are THAT Family and learn other tricks that work for other families!

MPM--Last Week of Camp Edition (sob)

2011-07-23T20:41:00.015-04:00

I remember saying once to my mother in law, who had five kids, "There must have been days you never left the kitchen!" and she agreed. This week was not like that. Too hot. But that's hard to tell from the list at the bottom. Really, except for one day, I wasn't cooking very much. This made it excellent. Shooting for the same this week. What I really need to do is my list of "meals from thin air," because this is the last week of camp. Which means no more kid-free shopping for a month. Yikes.

Monday: Shrimp and mango salad from Two Fat Als. (So glad they are back posting!) CSA veggies.

Tuesday: Taco night.

Wednesday: Leftovers. I think tacos and the mango salad will go well, actually.

Thursday: A friend pointed me to this slow cooker massaman curry. Looks good to me!

Friday: I'm in a shrimp mode. And it's corn season. So I'll be doing my shrimp-and-corn thing that I love, with the rice vinegar and I have to stop now while I'm not drooling.

Sunday started with using the pitiful I-forgot-to-put-in-the-chocolate-chips sweet bread to make this French toast casserole. I thought that inch-and-a-half slices sounded very thick and I was right. I would definitely do smaller slices next time. Also, my pound-and-a-half loaf was too big. BUT--that said--the flavor was excellent and it will be added to the rotation.

There was a salmon sale and I couldn't resist. I tried the Time for Dinner cookbook Salmon Teriyaki recipe. I thought the boys would be grossed out when they smelled the sauce (which I made while they were at camp, but they both said, "MMM! What is that? Can we have it for lunch?" And while I couldn't sell them on the salmon (which was ok, it had bones) they loved the teriyaki sauce. Who would have thought? They had it over rice for lunch. I also got the roasted seaweed snacks from Trader Joe's and the older one tried it and didn't love it but didn't gag either, so it's been a great couple of week for the boys' experimenting. Woohoo! (The seaweed snack is like the stuff they wrap sushi in, but saltier. It was excellent with the salmon.)

I also made the garam masala yogurt marinade for the chicken, but completely missed the "whirl ingredients in food processor" directive. Oops. But--I was ready to make another batch of marinade to eat for lunch without the chicken. It was really tasty. Once on the chicken and on the grill--even better. AND the picky one ate it. I think the unpicky one might also have tried it but I also threw the Trader Joe's lamb tips in there (in the refrigerated section, near the bulgolgi, in a vacuum package with burgundy and spices. That was a huge hit, including with the adventuresome older, who has never to my knowledge eaten lamb before. (Younger one toying with vegetarianism did not try. I liked the really well done bits but in general--not a lamb person.) But wow, the chicken. It's got a definite Indian flavor, so not as universal as the yogurt marinade with lemon, but still-delicious.

Another fun thing I tried was in the effort to clear the fridge. For some reason, all my produce is freezing-not quite solid, but ice crystals and all, so I tried to get moving on using it. I had some extra zucchini from the fabulous cheesy zucchini pizza last week and was looking at frittata recipes. Those looked okay, but when I saw The Bitten Word's deconstructed version, I was sold. I am not a "float an egg on it and call it delicious" girl but this was really yummy. And honestly? I made a second batch without the egg. Plus I am very suggestible and seeing all these food blogs I love yammer on about just throwing an egg on it and calling it dinner, I keep trying, despite the fact that I don't have the same ecstatic reactions. Still--excellent. Great combo of veggies, easy prep, and in-my-house ingredients.

In another random-ingredient-smackdown, I finally made the 101 Cookbooks Carrot Oatmeal Cookies. I like my cookies to darken a little more than these did, but they looked pretty and held their shape much better than the Nikki's Healthy Cookies (which I do so enjoy). (Random aside: clearly it's hot when in my air conditioned kitchen, my coconut oil is liquid!) I thought they were pretty good for a not-sweet cookie, almost shortbready. But my older son loved them and went back for more and more. Loved loved loved that. Apparently I will be making these again!

Another old favorite I made this week: Smitten Kitchen's green bean and cherry tomato salad. Simple, yummy.

For more menu planning ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Julilacs

2011-07-16T22:39:00.002-04:00

Remember the old joke "If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?" One answer of course is "pilgrims." But another is "JuneBugs," and JuneBugs bring Julilacs. Yes, my brain is melting from the heat. At least I got unlazy and put the pictures back on the computer. This week:

Monday: Grilled chicken (grilled on Sunday), CSA veggies

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! Including the leftover black bean tacos from last week.

Wednesday: My mother-in-law's birthday. Out for Chinese--yum.

Thursday: Leftovers, including extra-easy chili (see sidebar) from the weekend.

Friday: Freezer meal. We'll see what that looks like; the boys have been clamoring for the truffle mushroom pizza.

Last week, it was produce-a-go-go here, with yummy thing after yummy thing rolling in to the house. The week was full of tomato sandwiches and a few experiments. Well, now that I'm writing them all down, more than a few. But they were all easy (except for maybe lots of chopping for the salads) so it didn't feel so overwhelming day-to-day.

One was this cucumber-cilantro salad from my CSA. It was a fine use of a lot of stuff in my fridge, but it wasn't a big hit. I had high hopes for the cucumber salad with lime and cilantro after that disappointment. That was better though not quite as complex as I might have wanted. Maybe I'll use peanut or coconut oil next time (and I didn't have the mustard seeds and used powder instead). I also added some rice vinegar to it, which gave it too much liquid but much better flavor (for my taste buds).

Not disappointing at all: Detox Soup. (See sidebar for link.) On a 99-degree day, pure bliss. Love love love this soup.

In what is also a shocking twist for me, I winged it a little in the kitchen with something. I made the Smitten Kitchen Sour Cherry Compote last week and loved it. This week, among other things in our fruit share, we got white currants. They were beautiful to look at but not totally pleasant to eat plain, so I halved the compote syrup recipe and added the currants. It wasn't as amazing as the cherries but it was way better than composting them! And that's not even quite fair-they had a great little sweet-sour thing going on, and, as someone on the web pointed out, the white currants have a way of bringing out the most complex directions. ("Take your embroidery scissors and make a tiny slit in the skin of the fruit, and pull out the seed without ruining the delicate shape and beautiful look of the fruit..." I'm not kidding.) So this was good: practice making the good syrup, and experimenting with a new fruit. Success, even if the cherries were better.

I did do the overnight black beans for taco Tuesday. It really was crazy simple--2:1 water:beans, a bay leaf, some garlic salt, and a half an onion chopped. I did not sautee it first, as I wasn't quite sure that's what was called for, and at 11pm, with the Daily Show coming on, and my brain going off, I had no interest and figured 12 hours on low should do it. Ten hours later, I realized that I didn't have enough water and it was starting to burn on the sides. But--the positive was: I don't like watery beans, so the consistency was perfect, and it was cheap and easy and I loved it and used it for black bean tacos (see sidebar for link) for myself on Taco Tuesday. Yum.

I wasn't inspired to sautee those onions (which worked out totally fine) but I did get inspired by this post at (surprise) Dinner: A Love Story to caramelize my onions that were suddenly all over my house. It takes me forever to caramelize them and they don't even ever get to that crazy brown color (I am figuring it is the balsamic vinegar that gets that lovely gold) so I just let them hang out while I did other things. And then I had these lovely onions and was going bananas trying to figure out what to do with them. Pizza? Pasta? Straight from the container? So I tried all of the above and they were all heaven.

I tried to make a truce with Trader Joe's pizza dough. I left it out for 30 minutes and took my time pressing it out around the cookie sheet. I used it to try this cheesy zucchini pizza, which looked amazing when my friend made it. I figured no way the kids would eat it; they don't even like regular homemade pizza. But I had those zukes ready to expire in my fridge, so I gave it a whirl. I wish I had gotten the zucchini drier. But the crust was a success, and the pizza was excellent. I skipped the red pepper flakes and was sorry. It needs...something. But I'm not totally sure what. Still--I'll make this again. Because---BOTH BOYS ATE IT! The younger (Mr. Beige) didn't love it but ate the whole (very small) piece while he complained. The older gave it a thumb-up-a-little-past-halfway, but I'll take it.

In the interest of "keep or skip?" for my mini crock pot, I tried the pesto bean spread for my Mothers & More meeting. And in the shock of my week, both boys ate that too! It was pesto, and they ate it on bread or chips, and were happy to do so. I am doing a happy dance of protein over here. (I think the older is in a growth spurt--he snarfed a bag of pistachios too, and between that, the cheese, and the beans...I predict new shoes next month.)

We also made the chocolate chip bread again. This time, we remembered the chips! I also used whole milk instead of our usual 1%. I added the sprinkle of whole-wheat flour before checking but the dough came together so much better this time I don't think I would have needed it. I wasn't crazy about it but the kids loved it. I also kept the chocolate chunks (what I had) in the freezer so when I added them they would have a little more stability. This won't become an everyday bread but for a treat every once in a while, it's great, and it doesn't require the work (and heating the kitchen) that chocolate chip cookies do.

The whole milk was in the house for a French toast casserole I had intended to make, but didn't, so I used it to make yogurt. (And about now: let the record show, we also went to the pool, had several playdates, and did other fun stuff. I was really not tethered to the kitchen at all.) And once I made yogurt, I drained it for the whey to make no-knead bread...yes, I have a problem here. Actually I made two loaves, one with regular flour, the other with whole-wheat as an experiment. The regular flour one was so runny, I almost didn't want to put it in to bake. It had worked beautifully with the whey before so I'm not sure what went wrong. The crust was awesome but it wasn't as poofy. Then I realized: I'd used the bread machine yeast. I didn't think there was a big difference. Whoops.

A friend of mine hosted a brunch (hence the French toast casserole I was hoping to make) and her casserole was awesome, so I'm posting it here so I have the recipe on the blog when I need it!

Colleen's Do-Ahead Breakfast Bake

Prep: 15 min

Chill: at least 4 hours

Bake: 35 min

Stand: 10 min

1 to 2 cups diced fully cooked ham (I had used smoked turkey)

2 packages (6.0 ounces each) Betty Crocker hash brown potatoes

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup) - I omitted this

1 tablespoon instant chopped onion

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (8 ounces)

3 cups milk

1 cup bisquick

½ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1. Grease rectangular baking dish, 13x9x2 inches. Mix ham, potatoes, bell pepper, onion and 1 cup of the cheese. Spread in baking dish.

2. Stir milk, bisquick, salt and eggs until blended. Pour over potato mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown around edges and cheese is melted. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

There are supposed to be 12 servings.

That's it for the week...check out I'm an Organizing Junkie! for a much bigger collection of recipe ideas!

MPM--Summertime

2011-07-10T15:41:00.006-04:00

Last week, I did my usual effort at keeping out of the kitchen in summer and it worked pretty well. This week, we'll see.

Monday: Dinner from the CSA box. we didn't get to grill, so I did Crazy Jane's Chicken in the oven, and the box has corn and tomatoes, salad (or more of the barley-replacing-farro salad)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday (trying again with the overnight beans)

Wednesday: Leftovers (Nacho Night), and another effort with my little crockpot: this white bean and pesto dip.

Thursday: Pizza out, then ice cream night with my moms' group

Friday: Collapse in a heap? Not sure what we're doing this Friday...might be at the in-laws', otherwise we'll grill. I have some boneless pork chops in the freezer.

From last week...

New recipes I tried: one was from my old loved cookbook, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper. It was the scallion-dill pilaf. It was fine, but maybe I didn't have enough oil, or my dill was old, or something. It was good, but not amazing. Still in search of a way to dress up rice.

Another new-to-me, inspired by the CSA: Smitten Kitchen's Sour Cherry Compote. I got a bag of sour cherries and didn't know what else to do with them, and this looked good. And oh, mercy, it was. I had some with Greek yogurt, and drizzled on cake, and finally said, I don't want to dilute this further and ate the rest spoonful by parceled-out spoonful. Yum. This was a precise mix of Flavors I Love and I will make it again.

I did an old favorite, Nikki's Healthy Cookies, and now I'm inspired to move on to Carrot Oatmeal Cookies. I don't know if my tastes are changing or I'm just getting luckier but I am having more hits that misses with Heidi's recipes these days. Yum.

We were inundated with cucumbers this week, so I made the White House chef's Cucumber Soup, which I loved, even if no one else did.

And I made a huge good faith effort at more green smoothies...but I just can't do it. Back to regulars. And we've had some great ones lately...the secret is mango.

Have a great week and check out I'm An Organizing Junkie! for more great recipe ideas!

MPM--There's Gonna Be Fireworks

2011-07-03T12:21:00.012-04:00

Quick, name that song! Showing my age with that goodie from Schoolhouse Rock. Such a fun weekend--block parties, beach, parade on Monday...I am excited for the day! And...like a national holiday in my mind...the Jersey tomatoes came in. Bliss is a tomato sandwich.

Monday: Isn't it a requirement to grill on this day? We're obsessed with the Montreal burgers from the Co-op--burgers with Montreal seasoning mixed in, and edges rolled in it too. Mmmm. Though I also have some topping for flank steak (which alas was buried in the freezer) so I might replace the steak and use the topping for that. Mmmm. I will also have the new DALS-authored yogurt-marinated chicken on the grill for later in the week. Also on the menu: double mustard potato salad, grilled Jersey tomatoes! Or just Jerseys with oil and vinegar and salt and pepper. Heaven is a place on earth.

Tuesday: it's the Lego Build night so we will eat out. At the malls near us, the lines for the Lego Build start at 3 for a 5pm build. We do not have that kind of patience so we leave at 3 and bring things to do. But 3 is a bit early for dinner and hope it will last, so we'll grab something on our way to the line. Or I'll bring sandwiches. We'll figure something out.

Wednesday: The aforementioned chicken, plus veggies from the CSA box.

Thursday: Taco Thursday. See, I can still alliterate.

Friday: Leftovers (I think "Nacho Night" has actually officially replaced Taco Night as the favorite, but I'm obstinate.)

I had my amazing week-of-eating-out last week. It was awesome. We went to an Asian place on Monday for a closing banquet, Bertucci's on Tuesday for the annual Mothers & More dinner out, Taco Wednesday, and the town picnic on Thursday. I made the usual corn-tomato-zucchini dish. YUM.

In looking for the corn for the dish, my freezer and I had a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment with each other. Turns out I'm a squirrel--I had no idea how many nuts I had, particularly pignoli. Which is good, because I wasn't paying and $12/lb for them like they are now. But you should see some nuts turning up in the near future.

In the great freezer cleanout, I made some things I might not normally have done in, say, June. But I had lots of corn, and it's almost fresh corn season here (they are selling it, but it's not really ready yet), so I made the crockpot corn chowder from Crockpot 365. Boy, do I wish my kids ate soup. Soup and a salad and a hunk of bread = dinner perfection for me. And it really couldn't be easier--I love dump-and-go recipes. This was awesome but at 3 hours, it wasn't quite done and I had to go; when I got back a little past 6 hours, the cheese was curdled so I had to blenderize the whole batch to get rid of it. It was a little lighter than most chowders, but (especially in summer) that's not a bad thing. I will definitely make this again.

While I was in Philly Cream Cheese mode (I should really just join the campaign), I made the sundried tomato and artichoke dip for the block party. I used my favorite trick of using the food processor to get the chunky things in bits so they wouldn't be too gloppy and upheld a resolution to use the baby crock pot to see if it was worth keeping. I only use it once or twice a year so the jury is out. This dip won't move it any closer to the "keep" pile. It was fine but not amazing, but for the block party? It did what it needed to do.

I also made my favorite slaw salad and realized I didn't ever post it here. So without further ado:

Fave Slaw Salad
1 bag Dole Dry Slaw
1 3 oz. can La Choy Skinny Rice Noodles
1 c. toasted slivered almonds (350 degrees for 15 min.)
1 c. craisins
1 small can mandarin oranges
dressing:
1 c. olive oil
6 TBS balsamic vinegar
6 TBS dark brown sugar

mix all ingredients; mix vingar and sugar, then add oil; add dressing right before serving.
(For the record, 1 cup of olive oil seems overwhelming to me so I've never used that much in my life.)

Also? On a totally different note--Don't buy your potatoes at Target. This has been a public service message. (They were on sale for $1.99/bag a week ago and I was psyched, because I'm on a microwaved baked potato kick. In the whole bag, there was one wholly edible potato. One. This was a disappointment.)

For more meal plans, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--The StoveTop Version

2011-06-26T12:16:00.011-04:00

First things first: when making popcorn on the stove at home, use coconut oil. That is the most important lesson of the week.

Menu for the week:

Monday: I'm out to dinner, so we'll see what the boys come up with. Kidding. I will be leaving them with CSA vegetables and noodles. My stash is really out of control and the weather isn't supposed to be so hot.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, but Mom's Night Out for me...yippee! To bolster for leftovers tomorrow, I'm also going to try to make the easy beans & rice from Rage Against the Minivan. At 89 cents for the bag of beans, and all the rice floating around my cabinet, if it's terrible, I lose nothing. And if it's great, woohoo!

Wednesday: Leftovers, plus something new from the box, I'm sure. It's also our ice cream stroll for our moms' group so it'll be quick so we can go enjoy frozen treats!

Thursday: Town picnic! Our part of the alphabet is in charge of fruit, veggie, or side dish. Not sure where I'm going with that. Might be barley salad (see below); my town is hippie enough that it might work.

Friday: Hopefully the oven will be fixed (see below) or it will be a good grilling night. If not...hmm, dinner pending knowing what I have to work with in the kitchen. With any luck my stove will be all better by then.

Saturday is our block party, so I'll figure that out too.

My little guy is my chef. Despite the fact that he won't eat anything, he'll help me cook everything if I invite him, and often makes dessert suggestions himself. My older one has very little interest in the kitchen. But that seems to have started changing, just a little, this week. He helped his dad make garlic bread (beyond my "spread butter/sprinkle garlic salt" way). His dad taught him to mince the garlic, mix it with Italian herbs in olive oil, and spread it on good rolls. He was ecstatic with the results. So the next night, when I realized I was out of Jora's taco mix, I had him help me again. His technique is, um, rough. I am not, for example, a fan of measuring the spices in the middle of the kitchen and then walking several steps, trying to balance the teaspoon without spilling, when I could be measuring right next to the container. But, this is how we learn. I hope. And he was thrilled with how good "his" tacos tasted, and I was happy to have had the help.

For Tuesday Wednesday Spaghetti, I thought I'd use what I had (I'm learning, slowly, but I'm learning) and make these Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars. But cutting butter in to things is not a strong point for me. It never looks like crumbs; it looks like sugar and flour with some lumps of butter in it, until the clumps of butter are small enough that it just looks like flour and sugar again. Adding the egg made it better but it really didn't reach dough consistency until I had the sharp little almond pieces bumping around in there. By that time I gave up on having it for dinner (just as well, it was so hot the chocolate would have been all over) I ran out to get some bread to bring and that seemed to be a better plan. But the toffee bars were made by soccer, and they were very, very good. There is too much chocolate to make them a great summer dessert but in two months when it's cooler, or in the mountains--they will make a return appearance.

And speaking of bread, I'm in a use-what-you-got mode again and was in a frenzy of cabinet clearing. Also in the freezer: whole wheat flour, so I made this cinnamon-raisin bread in my bread maker, and alas--I hit the wrong button and it didn't bake. And then I learned my pilot light was out on my stove. And I am a weenie wuss about things like fooling with gas. And so you are seeing MPM--The StoveTop version. I digress--I took my dough to my sister-in-law's, baked it off...and learned my flour was bad. Boo. But even with old nasty flour, it was pretty good so we will try again soon.

While clearing the cabinets, I found pearled barley I'd somehow talked myself in to buying, so I perused my bookmarks for why in the world I would have bought that. And first, I found this barley salad from Dinner: A Love Story. And not unlike my son saying, hey, pesto and hummus taste pretty similar, I should have figured out that with a whole grain, lemon, olive oil, and parsley, you're going to end up with, essentially, tabbouleh. But I like tabbouleh, so that was fine. However, the big hit for me was the 101 Cookbooks Buttermilk Farro Salad, which, happily, the notes said would also be ok with barley (because really, I already have barley and millet, I am drawing the line at farro, but you know that's a substitution I would never, ever dream of making on my own without specific instruction that it would be OK). The dressing was a total home run for my tastebuds and it took an incredible act of will for me to not drink it all straight from the salad dressing shaker I used to make it. Happily, there was plenty of barley to pour it on, and I got lazy and used the food processor to chop the radishes and zucchini to sneak the veggies in to the salad. But this was culinary love for me. Also, I tried two ways of making the barley: the one "instant" (from DALS: boil in a 3:1 water:barley ratio for 50 minutes--which is about how long dinner takes me so that was ok) and the other the overnight method (soak 5 hours to overnight in a 2:1 water:barley ratio, then boil 15 min. and drain). The package said the barley would be "fluffier" by which I think they meant "less sticky." I actually liked the sticky better.

The other winners were Saturday and Sunday nights. Saturday, we learned our nephews (both in their early 20s) were alone for the weekend so we had them over for a cookout. I served the barley salads, and grilled up veggies in the new veggie basket for them. Alas, I was very disappointed in the onion-mushroom recipe, and even the zucchini didn't turn out as well as I was hoping. Any great uses of a veggie basket out there you can recommend? The winner that night though was last year's Dinner A Love Story yogurt-marinated chicken. Still totally enjoyable. I might branch out and try to fake my way through one of their other yogurt based marinades but this one is so good it's hard to leave.

And finally, by Sunday we were wiped out. We'd spent hours at the pool, playing baseball, hanging out with friends and family. So we cleaned out the fridge and freezer of berries and bananas and frozen pineapple and made several kinds of smoothies. And the boys drank all of them. Booyah. Of course, I didn't put kale in any of them.

In the non-food department...

Cars 2 was as disappointing as I hoped it wouldn't be. SO many guns, SO many explosions...every single major scene, a different family was leaving with a screaming, horrified child. It was SUCH a departure from the first one...very depressing. And I bought 3D tickets by mistake and I swear I could feel my ocular nerves jangling the rest of the day. Yeah, I'm old. And my kids liked it but even they thought it was a little over the top "with too many guns and stuff," said the one who begs me for Nerf weapons. And if he thought it was too much...it was too much.

Since this is probably our last-chance summer to do it, I am making a huge effort to get to the 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know. I'm sure there are 100 lists like this and all different--where are the Sneetches? Where is Lois Ehlert? And why no Margaret Wise Brown? and on and on and on, but this is the one I picked. So I went crazy at the library, getting out a bunch and being inspired by a few others. And oh, how fun to revisit Strega Nona and her magic pasta pot. (We have other Strega Nona books, but not the original.) And what a delight to find some new ones on there. It's also been fun discovering books the kids have read that we didn't know about--Swimmy by Leo Lionni, for example. I never heard of it until I saw the list, but my sons were verbally falling all over each other to tell us about it, so we'll just check that one off. Helping with this project: DEAR, a lovely concept from first grade. For the uninitiated, DEAR stands for Drop Everything And Read. You don't have to tell me twice. We've had lovely 20-minute stretches of just quiet reading. I almost weep with joy when it works. Some nights it's 10 minutes. That's good too. But the boys flopped down blankets and pillows and stuffed animals all over the floor to prep for DEAR and I love it every single time. I'm also using it as a time to cull through the kids' books, which is hard for me...one to donate, 67 to keep seems to be about the ratio. But I'm trying to be good about releasing those books to somewhere they will continue to spread joy.

For better ideas about food, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie! See you next week...

MPM--June Buggin'

2011-06-20T01:17:00.001-04:00

Here's what I learned last week: long stretches of time with the kids in the neighborhood sounds awesome...until I discover that the 4th grader (!!!!!!!) got Call of Duty: Black Ops as an end-of-year present from his dad and the kids are learning way more about warfare than is good for kids who aren't yet in kindergarten or second grade. Sigh. The neighborhood boys are generally great kids but I miss last week, when Ghost in the Graveyard and Sardines were the games du jour. I don't want to be the overscheduled summer mom but we can come up with something better than this. So I have a few day trips planned and some other things to hit a better balance of too-much and not-enough. But the house-to-myself was nice while it lasted; the doorjambs look much better since I had time to take a magic eraser to them. Woohoo!

Monday: CSA day, so we'll see what comes up from the farm. Meanwhile, the kids can finish the pesto quinoa from the homemade batch of pesto from Father's Day.

Tuesday: Tuesday Wednesday Spaghetti, and soccer practice, so maybe tacos for the soccer player and spaghetti for the rest. Also trying desperately to go on a date to see Company but I don't think I can make all the pieces fit. Argh.

Wednesday: Plum jelly chicken, rice, CSA veggies, including a salad of some kind.

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: It's our anniversary but it's also soccer night...you can guess what takes priority! Actually, I think we'll be going out as a family...our hope is to nab Cars 2 matinee tickets (though the idea of Mater with firearms honestly makes me sick to my stomach) and go out for early dinner before soccer. Who needs Company when Pixar has a new movie?! (please let Company become available through Amazon Prime streaming...)

So last week I was counting on the splash party and the Italian festival for some dinners. Wrong. The splash party was for kids moving up to 5th grade (nope, not here yet) and the St. Anthony's Festival night was actually my book group night. So, leftovers saved the day one night and the other, I tried the easiest stroganoff ever recipe from A Year of Crockpotting. The author caught greif for posting this two-ingredient paid recipe--it's beef and Philadelphia Cooking Creme (note: I am not being compensated. Hah! As though you needed to wonder!) in a crockpot for 8 hours. Done. Is it chock full of farm-grown goodness? Of course not. But it is the easiest dinner ever and for a processed food--the creme sauce was great. I usually can't stand things like this--I avoid most creamy bottled salad dressings and pre-made dips gross me out. But I had a coupon and a driving need to make dinner and this fit the bill. I tried to console myself by putting the leftover broccoli pesto on some of the noodles, but there was no getting around the animal-protein goodness of this dish. I will make it again, even though the kids wouldn't go near it. So while it's only a 2/4 score, it's SO easy, it gets to stay in the rotation.

I spent a lot of the week eating my kale salad obsession, but on another hot night I tried a green smoothie recipe from my CSA. I had everything, though alas, the avocado was very underripe, which did not help anything. But I had lots of kale and cilantro and a lime, so I went for it. It was a little like a too-green gazpacho. I drank it but wouldn't even think about giving it to anyone else in the family. It was too brown-green and garlic-smelling. I'll give it another shot when I have tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes but it was a good end of the day after a week with more meat than I've had in a while. And it actually got better the next day. Yep, I drank it twice.

Otherwise, we revisited some old favorites, made a chocolate cake for an end-of-school celebration, and broke out the grill with Montreal burgers (which were awesome) and zucchini made in the new grill basket (which my older, less-picky son, gobbled up with great glee, to my great joy). I'm trying to keep it easy, so apologies for any lack of inspiration here. Try over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for that! Meanwhile, have a great week, and happy summer!

MPM--Summer Already

2011-06-12T22:30:00.003-04:00

Ah, summer. Nothing like an early heat wave in June to throw off the end of the school year. When is the last time you heard a seven year old say it's too hot to go to the pool? And he was right.

Thankfully, this week looks cooler than last, so we'll have a few more food choices than hoagies from somewhere else and Anything Frozen on a Stick. But--last week the miracle occurred--Little Mr. Picky tried TWO new foods and liked them both! I honestly wept with relief. Clearly I'm too emotionally invested in this for either of our own goods. Foods shared below the meals for next week...

Monday: Such a nerd--I'm psyched that the fruit share starts with my CSA this week. Applesauce is one of the items so I'll make slow cooker pork, lemony smashed potatoes (also from the CSA; see sidebar for link), and a salad. (See below for my new dressing obsession.)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, and then Rita's Water Ice for all! It's School Spirit Night fundraiser there and I am already looking forward to it.

Wednesday: Last day of school! And, by some coincidence, Margarita Night for my moms' group. Hmm. Someone planned well. Splash party at the pool. And if they are not serving hot dogs, we'll order pizza for delivery.

Thursday: I'm hoping to take the boys to the St. Anthony's Festival for some awesome Italian food. Otherwise, leftovers.

Friday: Probably leftovers, and then off to co-ed soccer. It's been going on for a month, but we've barely been able to go (insert dramatic hand-to-forehead here) because of one party or another. So it really feels like the start of the summer season.

Shockingly, the first food he tried was...not with me present. (Uh...noted.) And it was (drum roll please): the mushroom-truffle flatbread from Trader Joe's. When he told me the next morning, I didn't believe him. He can't deal with a different (organic) milk, but mushroom-truffle flatbread is accepted?! Of course I am sure this is to tick off his brother, who could happily consume an entire one. But if you don't think I'm clearing out the TJ's freezer tomorrow, you have not been paying attention. Whee! Food the whole family eats! Yay!

And the second one--I cannot believe I put it off for this long, but they both LOVED the Heidi Swanson/101 Cookbooks/Super Natural Every Day orzo with broccoli pesto. I took a page from Dinner: A Love Story and pulled out some orzo (not whole wheat, just used what I had, will cross that rubicon next time) and just put the broccoli pesto on it. Smart Little Picky tasted it and said, "It reminds me of hummus! Can I have some hummus?" (So that came back too... I made him a hummus sandwich and was delighted that it's returned from banishment. Can sweet potatoes be far behind?) But smart boy, to make that link. I was very pleased. And it wasn't that hard...I will be playing with this some more over the next few weeks because it was really great and the whole family enjoyed it. I can hardly believe it's two weeks in a row with 4/4 rated recipes! And in other news...

So, as I said, the heat waves have started...or alas, continued, here in our part of the country, so last week was light on cooking and heavy on things that didn't need heat to make. First up: Cup and Table's lemon vinaigrette. I had lots of CSA parsley to use and am a sucker for lemons (ha ha) and it just looked perfect for a salad on the curly endive that came in the box. (Not to be confused with the torpedo-like "ohn-deeve" that the Barefoot Contessa just loves. This looks more like kale and was, believe it or not, one of my favorite salads when I was little. Then it kind of fell out of favor, and it's been fun to rediscover.) It was excellent, though a little sharp, even for my acid-seeking tastes. It also jazzed up my other favorite kale salad enough that my husband finished his serving, which was a nice surprise.

Monday was a dinner fail; I tried to make the outrageously good creamy mustard sauce on chicken instead of pork. I even flattened my chicken with a rolling pin, which I never do, with my fear of microscopic droplets of disease spraying my kitchen from the raw flesh. But I did it, and it was nice to just saute them up without agonizing about how done the middle was. And then I poured in the cream and...curdle city. My nice new farm-fresh cream was not so fresh. But! The kids, of course, enjoy a plain chicken breast, so they weren't much of a problem. And the Dinner: A Love Story post on Asparagus Ketchup reminded me: I had chimichurri in the fridge. Chimichurri is an Argentinian condiment to put on meat, and while this isn't my total favorite ever (somehow the originator's version is better), it's quite good and an excellent use of parsley. I first had it at a tailgate with some grilled sausages, and it was equally yummy on chicken breast. Apparently it can be used as a marinade too, but you know me: experimentation is not what I am looking for. I like clear directions that are followed with ease. But we'll see how this goes.

Recipe courtesy of a friend, and passing along to you:

Chimichurri, aka CHIMI!
Step 1: SALMUERA. Boil one cup of water, add 1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt and mix until dissolved, take off heat and set aside to cool.
Step 2: CHOP. I hand chop although you can use a food processor. Just make sure that you keep the ingredients on the rough side, not too fine.
1 head garlic
1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
1 cup fresh oregano (I often replace this with 1/2 cup dried)
Step 3: MIX put your chopped herbs in a mixing bowl and add:
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
the Salmuera; mix well.
Put into an airtight jar and refrigerate.
The chimi is best after 24 hours and can be used as a marinade or a sauce.
I try never to finish the chimi and always add new to what I have.
Most of you have had it with chorizos, as a marinade it works great with entana or a shell steak.
Buen Apetito

What are you making? Inspire us at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Random Meal Generator

2011-06-06T04:26:00.000-04:00

...thy name is June. The weather has been crazy here (though thankfully not fatal like some locales). 94 and super humid...or down to 55 and needing sweaters. So some nights I just threw fruit at the kids and hoped for the best, and others, I actually cooked. So take this week's menu with a grain of salt. (I always do.) We also had a spate of parties--graduations, first and ninetieth birthdays, you name it, so the party food has been crazy. Note to self: do a graduation brunch, and with another family. Smart smart smart.

Monday: CSA inspired something. Oh, I suppose I have to do better than that. Ok, I didn't get to the mustard-cream sauce chicken last week, so that, plus veggies from the box.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! Woohoo!

Wednesday: Baseball game. I will feed myself something before we go but I know the boys will have hot dogs there.

Thursday: Leftovers.

Friday: Graduation party! I'm on for a vegetable tray. For 120. That's a lot of carrots. But so worth it.

Before I returned Eating for Beginners to the library (along with a hefty fine) I tried her No-Grill Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Vinegar, which she loosely adapted from Marcella Hazan. It was blissfully easy: melt 2T butter with 1 T olive oil; brown some tenderloins; turn heat to low, salt & pepper the loins, then pour in 1/2 C balsamic vinegar and some bay leaves. When done, reduce the sauce while the pork rests. This is my kind of recipe. Easy, little work involved, items I have in my house (if I get a pork tenderloin). The reduction is basically a vinaigrette. Yum. Interestingly, her original one calls for NOT balsamic. So now I'm going to try this version sometime soon. Meanwhile, the fine was totally worth it. Four out of four eaters in the house had some pork. It's more of a moral victory as Picky One had a sliver about the size and thickness of my pinky fingernail. But to prove to his brother that he did indeed eat some, he had a second, slightly larger piece, almost the size of my thumbnail, which he nibbled in three distinct bites. Still--a four out of four counts for lots around here.

Meanwhile, I rediscovered the joy of making "baked" potatoes in the microwave (for us: poke potato so it doesn't explode, wrap in a wet paper towel, cook 4.5 minutes on high and let rest 5 minutes)--what an awesome lunch. And my picky eater has gotten very curious about "what he used to eat." Which was everything. So here's hoping there's some progress soon on that front. I'm not sure his version of a taco is "progress" (sour cream and shredded cheese wrapped in a tortilla) but--it feels like a small increment up from those elements separately.

Next week is really up in the air. School is almost over, and I'm pulling my act together for the transition to summer. Stay tuned, and for much better planned dishes, try I'm an Organizing Junkie! to see what folks are doing there.

MPM--No, Seriously, Can't Be June. Nope.

2011-05-30T08:42:00.003-04:00

We had a great blogger night last week with a ton of the local writers, and they gave me some great feedback and inspiration. One note: some of them said they were readers here (hi!) and because (like me) they read on an aggregator, they didn't realize there was a list of favorite meals on the sidebar. So, if you are reading off a reader, and are looking for something to make, I'm trying to keep a "greatest hits" list on the side of the blog to make it easy to find Recipes That Worked. Feel free to come check it out.

This week: boy, I hope some things work. The days still have some things here and there but the night whirl really comes to a sudden halt. Which is a beautiful thing.

Monday: Memorial Day. I wish there were a picnic or something at the pool, but there's plenty of that to come. Still, keeping it easy: Trader Joe's potatoes with green beans, something else from the freezer. Too bad I'm the only omelet eater in the house.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! Love this anchor of my week as I try to figure out what to do for dinner five nights in a row.

Wednesday: Smitten Kitchen's lemon-asparagus-goat cheese pasta. This will not be popular with anyone but me, but I can serve the noodles to the kids (or a leftover taco to the noodle-averse) and hopefully my husband will eat some before he sneaks back to the plain buttered noodles for the picky one.

Thursday: chicken in the mustard-cream sauce, rice, CSA veggies

Friday: I really hope our grill is open for business by Friday, but my husband will probably want to play soccer instead. So, we'll see how that goes. If we grill, the boys will get hot dogs, and I will marinate some portobellos for me. I also got a closeout grilling basket for my husband last year so hopefully we'll have a bunch of veggies to toss in there and try it out.

This pizza was excellent. I roasted two Idahos with a little evoo, salt, and a minced garlic clove. For the pizza dough, I'm back to Pillsbury, which is a little sweet for my taste but remains the only dough I have any success working with. It was really great. The kids of course loathed the homemade pizza, longing for the round one that was spun in the air. So next time, I'll make the whole pizza for grownups and do something else for the kids. Score: 2/4, but I loved it anyway.

I made the rosemary bacon chicken again and at the excellent suggestion of some of the blog grls who came to talk to my moms' group, I have to rate this one a 4/4, meaning that all four of us ate it--woohoo! That may be a first. Full disclosure: I skipped the rosemary on the pieces for the pickiest eater. But still--that just made it easier. I also experimented with fava beans, after they were so excellent at Talulah's. They weren't hard to shell, and seemed almost prehistoric; the pods have this white cottony interior, which made it kind of fun. But then you boil them. And then you shell them again. And then they taste...like a nice mellow bean. And a huge bag of them makes...about 32 beans, which just about cover the bottom of a cereal bowl. Verdict: not worth it. But glad I did it once.

For his preschool graduation, my son decided he would like to give his teachers cookies and flowers. (Will he be the best boyfriend ever or what?!) He also wrote each of them a very careful thank you note with his best printing. I could expire from pride; he started the year just signing his name and I just loved watching him focus on the sample I wrote to make each note the best it could be. So we made them chocolate chip cookies (from the recipe on the bag), The Best Babysitter Ever's add-in cookies (with craisins and white chocolate), and the coconut-almond-toffee cookies I found on Two Fat Als but are actually from here. I used my new cookie sheets, and they were awesome. My husband introduced me to the saying, "Man! Always blaming his boots for the faults of his feet." and I really try to remember that as I'm about to blame circumstances for something that really came down to me. But--cooking might be an exception to this rule. There was a visible difference between the cookies on my old sheets and my new ones. And I need to remember that sometimes, it really is the equipment. Meanwhile, I ran out of flour (whoops), discovered two of my random flours were "best used by 2009" (whoops) and smelled like they were well past their prime...so I ended up topping off the toffee cookies with King Arthur whole wheat flour, to no ill effect in the cookie. Yum. I have to keep reminding myself in the cookie department: smaller is better. Smaller is better. Smaller is better. The toffee ones are supposed to be huge, but I find them harder to bake accurately. So, smaller next time. And bake a little longer.

We had a nice little menu: sandwich tray from the market, fancy salad from another market (poor planning but necessary), and, at my son's request, a cheese tray from the fancy little market. Add some snacky things--fruit, veggies, goldfish--and cookies, and it's a party. Low key but lovely.

MPM--Last Preschool Graduation Edition

2011-05-23T08:56:00.003-04:00

Thanks to those who gave dinner-from-thin-air suggestions last week! It was fun to see what people are doing on the no-ideas-for-dinners nights. When I pull the whole list together, I'll post it here too.

For a week of "coasting" last week, I did a respectable amount of "new"...check the reviews after the break. This week is another busy one:

Monday: homemade pizzas (this one with the leftover onion beschamel, see below for that story, and a regular one for the kids); salad

Tuesday: overlapping kids' events, so Wawa hoagies for the parents, and happily, both kids are provided for at the various events.

Wednesday: and did I mention that the Tuesday meal for the one boy is tacos anyway so I can skip a week? Score! Bacon wrapped rosemary chicken, veggies from the CSA

Thursday: preschool "graduation." I'm not a big believer in these things, but at my sons' school, they don't do caps and gowns or anything, just a very nice end-of-year program, which is a really fun celebration. We'll get a sandwich tray and salads and have leftovers for dinner.

Friday: prom night! If my sister-in-law doesn't barbecue, we'll pick something up on the way home.

Back to last week:

As the week went on, I tried a few new recipes and went back to some old ones. I tried the crockpot version of Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic. It came out pretty well in some ways, but was hampered by me developing an (unusual for me) wicked headache that day, so the smell was getting to me. But my son walked in from school and asked, "Mom, what's for dinner? It smells great!" That was a first, and I will treasure it forever. But. He didn't like the actual chicken. My husband loved it and I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it'll make it to the rotation.

CSA season started again, so I needed to keep the produce moving. I made an old success, the Simple Cauliflower from 101 Cookbooks, and had a big enough head of cauliflower to try it two ways, the traditional and the nutmeg. I was also in my favorite gourmet store and they were pushing roasted broccoli sprouts all week, but no way was I spending $7.95 per pound for them, so I roasted them myself. Yum.

I've also been reading a book called Eating for Beginners. It was reviewed in Brain, Child Magazine, which I love, and I saw the author and I went to college together (but we didn't know each other). It is a memoir of her year of learning to be a chef in a farm-to-table restaurant, not as a career change, but in an effort to find something to feed her ultra-picky child. So yes, I was hooked. The recipes all sounded great but I went with the ones that seemed easiest: roasted parsnips and creamed spinach.

I'll start with the Creamed Spinach: Seabrook Farms does this so well, I fail to understand why I'd make it any other way again. But the recipe sounded so good I couldn't help myself. I should have, though, because I messed up the bechamel. I had tons of it and it was totally gloppy. It was good but not better and so much more work. But the roasted parsnips were awesome. I don't usually roast with butter but I followed the recipe (cut in to smallish irregular pieces-"on the oblique"--dot with butter, roast 30 min at 350 with salt & pepper to taste) and it was great.

In an odd move, knowing that our CSA kale season is approaching, I bought some kale ahead of time to try again with a massaged kale salad. I have not, traditionally, been a fan of dark leafy greens. Spinach is ok when drowned in cream or vinegar, but that's really my limit. We did have success with kale chips, but really: there's not much in the world of edible items that isn't ok when doused in olive oil and salt and roasted. So I decided to try a massaged kale & avocado salad. I feared it would be a big waste of an avocado, but it worked out. The video was a huge help; it showed me how small I needed to get the leaves. So I destemmed, chopped away, and mixed with my hands--which I hate. And I cheated and used the whole avocado--first, because they don't store well, and second, because I figured it would drown out the kale. Did I love it? No. But I really enjoyed it, and felt very virtuous eating it. It's hardly low-cal with the olive oil and avocado (half of which I massaged in to the kale, and half of which I left in tasty chunks) but full of nutrients (and I did add the tomatoes). I also liked that it held up ok in the fridge overnight (due to the lemon, the avocado discoloration wasn't terrible). So this is a keeper for summer.

And, as a bit of a surprise, I hosted my Mothers & More book group meeting. (It was the best way to ensure I got to it--have it in my house!) The book was The Help, and while I would have loved to Southern-food it up, I didn't have time or energy. (And the leak I discovered in our house 27 minutes before the start didn't help.) But--I had rhubarb, so I made the strawberry-rhubarb crumble again which was well received, and I tried the buttermilk pie recipe that a reader posted in my comments. (Thanks, reader!) It was awesomely easy, made the house smell great, and was also well received. I did find that the amount of filling I had would have been better for a deep dish pie dish, or two regular pies, but it all worked out. It is an excellent use of buttermilk, so I'm very happy to have that in the repertoire now.

And that's our week that was. Hey, if you're local, my Mothers & More group is hosting a blogger night on Tuesday; leave me a comment with your email if you want more details and I'll send them to you. We're happy to meet lurkers in person! There will be some awesome bloggers there--we'd love to have you, too!

Meanwhile, for more menus-check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Coasting

2011-05-15T22:34:00.001-04:00

It seems funny to consider this month to be coasting...we're all about having the kids finish the school year strong (keeping up the spelling word streak) and there are so many events (baseball! gymnastics showcase! preschool graduation! field day!), "coasting" doesn't seem like the right word for May at all. But, last week was a glorious weather week, and we did lots of bike riding and introduced the idea of coasting to the kids (who, of course, loved it). And, my car is a hybrid, so it has a screen on it to show where energy is coming from (electric battery, engine, brakes) and going to (wheels, battery recharge), and the kids are newly fascinated by that. And they love that (wait for it: metaphor ahead) energy is created by coasting.

So May has felt like a bit of a victory lap for my blog. With the incredible rush of so many events, I've really cut down on the new-recipe trying and fancy-technique doing, and new-food introducing. It's time to hang back a bit and rediscover some old favorites, so I've mostly been using the ones listed on the side over there and loving it. That said, the chicken recipe is new this week, but it's a crockpot recipe so it doesn't add much work.

Monday: chicken with 40 cloves of garlic (from the slow cooker); CSA vegetables

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday

Wednesday: Freezer meal of some kind. I worked down a bunch of things over the weekend (always love the TJ's gnocchi, but the pad thai...not so much) and would like to keep going for the annual summer thaw.

Thursday: Leftovers. And if not...see below (chicken with mustard cream sauce...yum).

Friday: Take me out to the ball game...these "extra" May activities are fine by me when they get me out of a dinner.

The big food news from last week was the pork with mustard cream sauce. I didn't have the evaporated milk this time, but had cream leftover from Easter and, um, YUM. Don't be surprised to see me try this again next week with chicken, the sauce is SO good.

Also, a "coasting" way for me to get more fruit in to Mr. Beige Food Only: Mashables. This is not a paid endorsement (ha! I wish), just me sharing a parenting hack. It all started with Trader Joe's applesauce in a squeezer; now the mashables are fruit puree in a fun tube. I hate the fun tube part of it but am that desperate to get actual fruits and vegetables in to my son on a reliable basis. So here we are. (For the record, smoothies often, but do not always, work, so this has been a nice backup to the apple/banana routine we had going.)

Finally, on a bummer of a note...what are your "dinners from thin air?" You know--the night you just got back from the emergency room/unexpected extra innings/just longest day at work ever. Ours are soft pretzels, cheese, and applesauce; Trader Joe's mac & cheese and a salad or piece of fruit and of course spaghetti but there isn't always time. In summer, BLTs sometimes work. We're pulling together a list for a friend going through a rough time of dinners you don't necessarily want to do all the time, but in a pinch, they work. Cereal, of course. Anything I'm missing? Or, for a night with more time but little energy--what's your go-to meal?

Thanks! Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more ideas around the web.

MPM--Mother's Day Afterglow

2011-05-09T00:09:00.006-04:00

Hi all--I have to be honest: I usually hate Mother's Day. I don't want to be a downer, but it's one of my least favorite "Hallmark holidays" because it makes me feel like a failure (because who can live up to the mothers described in those flowery cards?!) and an orphan (not fair, with my amazing aunt and loving mother-in-law, but, both of them have lost their mothers too and totally understand). But this one--this one was for the books. My one son made chocolate bark and was so proud he was dropping hints for days; my other wrote a poem for me that I will treasure until the day I die and beyond. I am eternally grateful to his teacher for all the work she did with him on it. And then our celebration here, which for most of the week looked like it would be just us and the grandparents, suddenly turned in to an all-play with every local family showing up in droves, so drinks and appetizers for 6 turned in to dinner for 14. And still--it worked out great. We had lots of freezer appetizers (little hot dogs, brie and raspberry rolls, etc. etc.), chips, pico, hot pizza dip, veggies and dip, and those yummy pretzels that are flavored and baked. For dinner, I made the Armagnac chicken (which got really exciting when I spilled the brandy and up it flamed)--though I had to make 3 and had almost no leftovers!--and augmented with a spinach salad, the carrot & avocado salad, and a pasta and veggie salad and potato salad from another party, plus leftover cake and I made a strawberry-rhubarb crumble. It was awesome, and so fun to have everyone here on a beautiful day.

This week:

Monday: Party leftovers. Chicken with vegetables, and I'll make rice to go with. Also salad, as I found iceberg lettuce at 2/$1, woohoo!

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, of course!

Wednesday: Creamy Mustard Pork (didn't get to it last week), rice, asparagus. Can't be late as my moms' group is having our Mothers' Day celebration and it's Trader Joe's night--I'm looking forward to seeing what people bring!

Thursday: Leftovers or spaghetti

Friday: Relay for Life at a local high school--we'll eat there since it's a fundraiser. Also, I'm very psyched: the American Cancer Society is launching a long term (decades!) health study to look at cancer risks. It's the third large-scale research project they've done; the first is what linked smoking and lung cancer. My husband and I are enrolling in the study, and they are doing the intake work at the Relay for Life.

And that's the week that's coming! Last week was kind of different. The pork I had bought from Trader Joe's had a microhole in the packaging so by the time I went to pull the tenderloin out of the fridge, it had leaked pork juices all over. I couldn't get back to exchange it that day so I pulled off a freezer meal, delighting my kids, and set the tone for the week. And Wednesday--oh, I barely have words! We went to Talula's Table, an ultra-gourmet restaurant, famous right now for being the toughest reservation to get in the country since they only have one table. Well--now they have two-after I "liked" them on Facebook, I learned that there is a kitchen table, where you get to sit in the kitchen and watch the chefs and learn from them while they cook. It was awesome and the menu was unbelievable.
The entire thing was awesome, including the amuse-bouche plate they brought us at first, with an eggplant tarte, tuna salad topped with fried capers on a hash-brown, and a mushroom-and-brie ravioli. YUM. It was crazy-expensive, but less than the trip we'd hoped to take to California (you'd hope so, right!?!) and oh-so-worth it.

Here's hoping you get to splurge on something you love this week. Meanwhile, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more realistic and inspirational menus!

MPM--Sorry, World Events Intervened

2011-05-02T09:26:00.001-04:00

Hmm, a little delay there while I blinked in disbelief at the news. I cheer no one's death but I am relieved for those whose lives he devastated, that they may sleep a little easier, that one source of evil in the world is here no more.

On to my mundane, first world problems, that I am grateful to have. The CSA starts today--woohoo!--so veggies are subject to change.

Monday: pork tenderloin in creamy mustard sauce (see sidebar); kale chips; asparagus

Tuesday: taco Tuesday

Wednesday: Chik-Fil-A fundraiser (shudder)

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: baseball game, so food-to-go; I have pizza shells in the fridge so a pizza/flatbread of some kind will probably work as a portable, fast meal.

Last week, I lucked in to an awesome roast chicken day at the Co-op (it's always amazing when I can buy a fully-made chicken for less than a raw one that I have to do the work on myself), and we had that one hot night, and my husband did a terrific sundried tomato "stir fry" with some of the chicken later in the week, using Trader Joe's sundried tomato pesto and some other things--wine, pine nuts, parsley--which was awesome. It's really tragic for our family that I'm the one who ends up doing most of the cooking. He's so much better than I am in the kitchen.

Last week, I alluded to my Matrix moment with food. One of them is related to this article, where they write about how food dyes create flavor out of thin air, literally. The food chemist tells how a white pudding tastes like vanilla, even with mango flavor in it, and a yellow pudding tastes like banana or mango even with no fruit in it. Am I the only one thinking of the turkey dinner on Camazotz from A Wrinkle in Time? While I know the science doesn't support it, we've really noticed a difference in our son since we cut out the red dye. And I am kicking myself--how hard was that? Not hard at all--especially for such a big difference. The only good thing is that he's old enough so that when he had the dye, and melted down, we could talk to him about it reasonably, and say, "Do you like how you are feeling right now? Is this easy or hard?" and then help steer him to non-dye choices later, which was easy, because he hated how it made him feel. There are still a few places it sneaks in--the excitement of the ice cream truck, for instance, made him forget to check for dyes--but overall, I'm very proud of him for making the choices himself. And we just try to stay a step ahead and stock the cabinet with things that don't have the dye, and reasonable alternatives. (For example, "all" the kids have fruit gummies at lunch, so I bought Annie's and some others that don't have dye.)

Anyway, we're in the treading water time of year here, so no new things to review from last week, and not much excitement this week either. I'll get back in to it eventually, I'm sure. For more meal-planning ideas, you know where to go!

MPM--Apres Easter

2011-04-24T23:04:00.001-04:00

Happy after-Easter season to those who celebrate! And happy almost-end of Passover to others. And happy spring to all. We had a lovely Easter (see below for my contributions) and now it's back to reality. But oh, I am still glowing over the fun day. My boys are at a great age for the fun. We had a mongo egg hunt, because three of the small cousins didn't show, so there were eggs for 9 kids but only 6 collecting (and one was 10 months old, so the kids who could walk made out like bandits!). The Easter Bunny came, which the littlest girls loved, and it was just a really nice day with almost all the cousins present and accounted for. My humongous mac and cheese barely made it out for seconds, and the whole brunch was excellent. So: back to reality.

Monday: Taco Monday--leftovers from Taco Thursday last week. (And yes, I finally made the sweet potato filling.)

Tuesday: It's going to be in the 80s here! Back to summer dinners. Leftover fruit salad from Easter, chicken breasts on iceberg for grownups, and with A1 sauce for kids; raw beet salad. Time to get the grill going again!

Wednesday: Pacific Rim Pork, rice, broccoli.

Thursday: Crazy activities day. Freezer/on the run food.

Friday: School event--no cooking. Phew!

I have to be honest, I'm having a little bit of a "Matrix" moment with food right now. My son's sensitivity to red dye is suddenly completely over the top, so we're pulling back on that. (This, by the way, is entertaining in Easter season.) And as to food in general, I feel a little like I swallowed whatever pill Neo did (I think; I never saw the movie). We stopped at a fast-food restaurant on the way to the beach last week and I couldn't bring myself to order anything and hated ordering anything there for my kids. Which isn't to say I can't eat out; part of my spring break "staycation" was that I only cooked dinner once this week. But it's hard to enjoy some things the way I used to.

But, not a problem when cooking at home, and while I didn't do a lot of that, there were a few things I tried this week that were new. They weren't the things I thought I would make last week, but that's part of the charm of a vacation, right?

If you read here often, you know there are some sure signs of a recipe I can't resist. Easy? Check. Ingredients on hand? Check. A little wacky? Check. I was all over Catherine Newman's Savory Lemon Jam this week. Partly I loved the idea because it had the whole lemon, pith and all, and it reminded me of the Italian priest who baptized me. He was a dear friend of my parents', and my husband and I actually stayed with him on our honeymoon. When I was about 10, he was over for dinner and asked for an orange. "Please wash it well with soap, and rinse it verrrry carefully," he said, in his big booming voice with the rolling Italian Rs. I did, and he ate the whole thing like an apple. I was still in a grossed-out-by-pith stage (which my son has faithfully followed in my footsteps) but he said, "The rind is the part that is most like an orange!" I wondered whether it was an Italian thing, or surviving World War Two thing, and certainly I never did convert to it. But every time I use the zest of a citrus fruit, I think of him.

Thanks for coming down memory lane with me. Back to the lemon jam. I had everything I needed, and so when the food processor was out anyway, I made it. And it was exactly as she said. Intense lemon flavor, a little chunky, but I like the texture, and the savory is a great little twist. Plus it looked so springy and ready for an Easter table, with all that yellow and green (I used basil). It would also be great for a baby shower. It was very good on asparagus, as suggested, and on bread by itself. Whether it was my lemons or the jam, it did not improve with age. It wasn't terrible a day or two later, but it was more pithy, and not in the good literary sense.

Also off the beaten track, though less so: the Wednesday Chef's Apple Crisp. She thought of it as breakfasty, since she used muesli instead of oats; I'm not sure I'd go that far, but since I was in charge of fruit for Easter brunch, it seemed to work. It was very easy, I had all the ingredients, and while I lacked an appropriately shallow baking dish, one of my clear Pyrexes seemed to do the trick. I brought some Greek yogurt for it to Easter and there was approximately one spoonful left at the end of the day. It was awesome, and easy, and we had everything for that too. Yum.

I was also happy to have a great recipe come through from The Best Babysitter Ever (who has long since become so much more than that to us, but I refer to her that way so you know who I'm talking about) for a minted fruit salad with a ginger syrup. The ginger syrup was easy to make one night and just have ready, so all I needed to do was get fresh fruit the day before the holiday. It was exactly what I was looking for--a classic fruit salad, but dressed up a little bit. It was delicious, and the syrup did a great job with the underripe melon, making it taste restaurant-ready instead of too crispy to be truly yummy.

I also brought the Smitten Kitchen creamed mushrooms on toast. Our hostess loves mushrooms, and I knew she'd be crazy about them; and I have a Smitten Kitchen thing going on with my niece and her husband from DC. And, happily--I had so much extra mushrooms I made a batch for home, too. Mmmm. Oh--and of course the mac-and-cheese.

The night before Easter, we made Resurrection Rolls, which apparently have been around forever, but I'd never heard of them before. For the other uninitiated, you roll a white marshmallow (purity of Jesus) in butter and cinnamon sugar (preparing for "burial"). Wrap it tight in a crescent roll from a tube (burial wrappings) then put in the tomb (oven). Bake--and the marshmallow disappears, and the wrapping is empty. All but one of ours collapsed, but they smelled great and it was a fun opportunity to teach my kids a little more about Easter in a way that might sink in. Or not. The disappointment over the "missing" marshmallow was high. Either way, it was pretty neat.

This was a really jumbled post. Sorry about that. For more cohesive posts, and other post-holiday menus, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Spring Break!

2011-04-17T13:14:00.002-04:00

I have deliberately hidden my head in the sand that it is mid-April. No, the taxes are done, but I cannot breathe if I think about how close to summer we are coming. So, this is my practice week for summer. I tried not to overplan, and just have some activity ideas and we'll go from there. But first, it is Palm Sunday (for you kind folks who read when I post and not from MPM), so a link to our fun food item du jour: Hearts of Palm Dip. I found a fun site called Catholic Cuisine, and they have lots of fun ideas for Holy Week and making the week accessible to kids through food. So I'll let you know how the dip goes. Tonight we have a fundraiser dinner at Peace A Pizza, so that should be fun and I am always happy to not have to cook. But the rest of the week...

And a quick question: any great ideas for things that are not food to stuff in Easter eggs? And do you have a fruit salad recipe you love?

Monday: hot dogs from the funniest meal fail of the week. Well, fail is such a strong word...we went to tailgate in a monsoon. It was very fun, but the driving rain and flooding did keep all but the heartiest away, so there are leftover everythings. Which is also fun. I don't have whole wheat orzo, but I have regular orzo and will make the Heidi Swanson orzo with broccoli pesto to go with them

Tuesday: taco Tuesday!

Wednesday: I am hoping to be at the beach this night so look for me and the boys on the boardwalk. Ahhhh....

Thursday: Baseball practice night so something quick. There will be taco leftovers for one boy, and probably I'll make noodles for the other. But we'll see. I have a few other things in the fridge (carrot and avocado salad, maybe, and I couldn't resist the supercheap kale...).

Friday: It's Good Friday. I am planning to not buy any food specifically for today (so no run to the store for that one last ingredient).

Saturday: we'll see what's around...and we'll be making macaroni & cheese and fruit salad for Easter brunch.

So, the week started with the brining. I couldn't wait until Wednesday, and I needed more healthy food to offset the junk I knew the kids would have at the indoor play place fundraiser. Since Kathleen was interested in the results, I did two brines: one with the original "recipe" (2 T sugar, 3 T salt [I used kosher]), and one with just the salt (halved the water and the salt) and threw one chicken breast in the modified version. That made it very interesting. After I brined them and rinsed in cold water, I followed my favorite lazy chicken baking system and put them in my shallow Corningware round tray, covered in foil, and baked at 375 for 45 minutes. When I took them out, they were definitely bigger than the ones that I don't brine, and were clearly more moist. They had almost poached themselves with the foil. The one that I did in just salt was fine but was (wait for it) a little salty. The regular ones were not as salty tasting; the sugar must cut it somehow. But it was a good technique, and almost as easy as my favorite Crazy Jane's chicken. I'll bet it's awesome on the grill.

And of course I'm a sucker for Dinner: A Love Story so while I was making the quinoa for the pesto anyway, I made enough for their quinoa salad. I would have never thought to roast the tomatoes with honey, and while I won't do it every time, I did like the little kick of sweetness it brought. And the salad was awesome, even without the parsley, which I thought I had but had instead liquified on the bottom of the drawer (oops). Also: I roasted them way more than an hour, because of course the heat of the oven makes the liquids swell so the tomatoes don't look shriveled until you pull them out and they cool off. Still yummy, though.

And did I say "we" would finish up the non-meat corn dogs? I believe I meant the kids would. Because I am past the corn dog stage of my life, I am afraid. The one with cheese inside is a different story, though I don't know whether I could finish all of one of those either. But even without the hot dog of questionable provenance, the corn dogs just skeeve me out at this point. We didn't turn out going that route--things went a little crazy on Friday afternoon and we picked up pizza, which was awesome.

Have a wonderful Holy Week/Passover/whatever you celebrate! And for inspiration of the culinary kind, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie! for more menu plans.

MPM--The Comfort Isn't Just the Food

2011-04-10T04:53:00.005-04:00

So, this week I'm back in the "try stuff, you might like it" mode. And there were a couple of winners, which will be listed after next week's menu.

First, a quick question, and an appreciation. The question: What do you do for on-the-go dinners? We have lots of gymnastics-to-baseball nights, or 5:15 lacrosse games coming up. I'm faking it so far but I would love something I could bring that won't break the bank.

And, the appreciation: I just love my vintage Corningware. It cleans so easily, doesn't have any of the BPA issues of plastic, lets me cook on stovetop or in the oven, goes from refrigerator to oven and back...and just looks so homey. But with dishwashers cleaning less effectively, it's really the cleanup that's making me swoon right now. The French White stuff is pretty too, but you can't beat the cornflower blue for the nod to childhood. At least mine.

OK, end of unpaid endorsement. I've been cleaning out cabinets and closets and rediscovered the Corningware and wondered how I ever let it slip out of daily use.

This week:

Monday: I'm loathe to even say it, but we're eating out. The reason I hate to say it: we'll be at an indoor playground for a school fundraiser. A portion of the food sales support the Home and School Association. But the food is gross so I will be offering all kinds of things before we go (oranges! bananas! applesauce!) and sneaking in something for me.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, of course. I have sweet potatoes again so here's hoping I get to that this time.

Wednesday: a new technique for chicken breasts, highly recommended from my aunt: brined chicken breasts, rice, broccoli

Thursday: leftovers, augmented if needed by the freezer

Friday: pesto quinoa for the kids again (we did skip it last week, I'm not in that big a rut)...and freezer fish for the grownups. (The TJ's prepared scallops were scotched for the Phillies fish recipe in honor of the Phillies' first week back to the regular season (holla!). We'll see, though; we have a baseball game that night so I might try to finish up those non-meat corn dogs that are sucking up valuable real estate in my freezer.

Last week:

First, the clear home run: pineapple pork chops. Prep time: less than five minutes. Might have been less than three if I weren't also supervising spelling homework and doing laundry. (I had the jarred ginger and used that.) And the three of us who eat Things Which Are Not Beige loved it--all four chops were polished off that night. Woohoo! This is definitely one to try and will be part of the rotation here.

Another winner, but in a more limited capacity: the banana-cashew smoothie from Real Simple. Easy, forgiving (I would be embarrassed to tell you how many days my cashews soaked), and a great use of my frozen bananas. The grownups loved this. Kids were not as enthralled, but we thought it was terrific.

And on Taco Tuesday, my husband was at a ballgame (you're welcome, honey) so I made the 101 Cookbooks quesadilla recipe. Eggs are just all over the place right now, aren't they? And I am frankly tired of tacos and am continuing to look for ways to jazz them up for me. This was a fun little experiment, and got me through a taco Tuesday, but I'm not sure I'll do it again, at least this way. I did like it as a breakfast sandwich later in the week with some of my favorite pico de galo instead of the capers, and actually think that with regular sour cream, tomatoes and/or salsa and cheddar--this would be excellent. Or I might also try it with lime in the cream instead of lemon, but I'm just crazy for limes.

We also revisited some favorites--the edamame and cherry tomato salad, the hot chicken salad, the roasted cod (or in this case, haddock) and the green bean salad with pickled red onions, all on the sidebar, all still winners, at least for the grownups. Especially the pickled onions. Mmmmmmm.

What are you making this week? Go see I'm an Organizing Junkie! for some great menu planning ideas!

MPM--Settling In to Spring

2011-04-03T09:16:00.001-04:00

I'll tell you what, having a given night designated for a certain meal--Taco Tuesday, in our case--makes life much easier. And I love that it's Tuesday, because then I really only have to plan two dinners--one for Monday, one for Wednesday, and Thursday leftovers. It's a beautiful thing. Even better? Getting the slow cooker involved. Which I'll have to do more of next week.

Monday: Trying something new, in the clearing-the-pantry way: Pineapple pork chops, rice, green bean salad, either from last week or the other crazy delicious Smitten Kitchen one

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, of course, and thank goodness. Baseball season has started and I need to feed the boy promptly and get him the heck to the field.

Wednesday: Trying again for the Hot Chicken Salad, rice, Oasis Carrot Salad, asparagus (see sidebar for recipes)

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: pesto quinoa for the kids, Trader Joe's scallops in light sauce for grownups.

As to last week--nothing new. I'm spent. We had an awesome time at Wednesday Spaghetti, and then my high school reunion this weekend, which meant time with old friends I just don't see often enough. It didn't leave much time for creative time in the kitchen. And I'm kind of ok with that, even though it makes the blog dull. Here's hoping your week has more inspiration! Try I'm an Organizing Junkie for more great meals on the web!

MPM--Another Short Post

2011-03-27T23:27:00.003-04:00

Hmmm...not to chase away readers in the first line, but...Wow, is this blog getting unexciting. Still, that was the goal: to get some meals going that the family likes. And it has also helped me with things like figuring out how much food we actually need in a week. I make "for four" but since most things in the house are only consumed by two, I'm sending a lot of things to Aid for Friends and the freezer. But I've gotten better at that too. And, it's been great to have somewhere to look when I think, hmm, I have a little bit of buttermilk left, what can I use that in? And go back and find it. So we'll see. The blog might be coming to a "maintenance" stage. Meanwhile, there are always a few new things to try. Menu first:

Monday: slow cooker pork and sauerkraut, green bean salad, beets (tried the technique, if not the salad, from here)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! And in a thrilling development, my younger will now eat cheese quesadillas, so he'll be having one of those.

Wednesday: Wednesday Spaghetti--woohoo!

Thursday: leftovers (mostly pork)

Friday: pesto quinoa for the boys, fish for the parents, with veggies.

Last week:

Despite my multiple past failures with the 101 Cookbooks site, I was haunted by the Lime-Grapefruit-Ginger Juice, and on a chilly sneak-winter day, I made a half batch for myself. I lucked in to some great citrus, which was key, and I way under-did the ginger (by half maybe) and was still knocked out by the heat of it. But she was right--pouring it over a big ice cube was useful, and I loved the flavors. It's not the prettiest drink but it was great on a gray, cold day.

I rediscovered the carrot and avocado salad and wondered why I don't make this every week.

Baseball for both boys starts this week...of course pro baseball does too...it's one of the last normal school weeks for a while, between conferences and spring breaks and whatnot. So it's time to figure out the new "season" schedule. May the week bring you & yours good things...and for more inspiration, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Behind Already Somehow

2011-03-20T23:28:00.001-04:00

I hope you all had a fun Saints' Week! We celebrated St. Patrick (with Irish soda bread and reading Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato to the first graders) and St. Joseph (with zeppole--yum). But somehow we ended up off schedule menu-wise and I have a ton of food leftover from last week. So nothing impressive this week:

Monday: leftover hamburgers/cheeseburgers, broccoli, salad, potato salad

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday; I have a large sweet potato so will probably do the veggie version with black beans for grownups

Wednesday: ham, pineapple, carrot salad, spinach

Thursday: Leftover buffet

Friday: Salmon, rice, spinach

The hit of the week last week was the slow cooker veggie curry. I served it over rice with Trader Joe's Naan, and could happily eat this several nights a week. (And I might. It made a lot.)

The Mediterranean chicken was also a hit, but less of one because I used crushed tomatoes (instead of whole or diced) but more importantly, they really smelled metallic and it was hard to get past that for me. My husband, however, loved it, and with the crushed instead of diced, it made an excellent, healthier alternative to meatballs or meat sauce. I had tons left so I froze it. Same with the chicken breasts for Hot Chicken Salad...I just didn't get there last week. Part of it is, at 5pm, my kids are ravenous. So I throw fruit at them (well, at their plates) and do what I can, but it doesn't encourage them to try much at "dinner" later when Dad gets home.

For more inspiration than I have, try I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Getting Our Irish On

2011-03-13T21:17:00.002-04:00

Hi all--feeling frantic here, but in mostly good ways. Lots going on, including (yet another) vacation week for my son... happily, it looks like March of 2008 was a very good month for the crockpot challenge. Two of my recipes for the week are coming from there. Reviews from last week after the meal plan...

Monday: Mediterranean Chicken, salad, rice with my new method (see below) or possibly noodles on the side

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday is back! I have a ton of cilantro here from last week so I'll try to do something spiffy for grownups but I might not have it in me this week.

Wednesday: Crockpot Vegetable Curry, rice, naan if I get to Trader Joe's

Thursday: Happy St. Patrick's Day! Ham, mashed potatoes, some green veggie, Irish soda bread, and probably green something for dessert.

Friday: Continuing the Irish theme, salmon, mashed potatoes, and leftover curry vegetables.

Sunday, I quickly made the broccoli recipe from Dorie Greenspan. I steamed the broccoli, as suggested, with mixed results; at first, it was too crunchy, then it was a little soggy, so the timing clearly was off. Also, my old nemesis in the steaming department returned: I almost ruined my pot by running out of water by the end. There was barely any left in there by the time the broccoli was ready. When done, the broccoli gets tossed in with buttery bread crumbs. Nothing wrong with that either. Overall, though--not worth the extra effort considering how much we enjoy our "regular" broccoli. The directions (I can't call it a "recipe"): cut desired amount of broccoli in to florets of desired size. Place in microwavable bowl. Drizzle with small amount of olive oil and pepper to taste. Cover (best with a plate or lid rather than plastic wrap) and microwave 2-3 minutes to desired crispness/tenderness.

For Mardi Gras, since I happened to find Goya ginger beer in my shopping trip, we made pancakes, bacon, and Dark & Stormies for the grownups. I am not a big drinker at all, so to go half and half might have killed me. As it was, I went with lots of ice, two oz. rum (I had Goslings), and then topped mine off with ginger beer. It was actually spicy--too spicy for me, alas. I'll be interested to try it again this summer with a different ginger beer, maybe, and see how it goes. I liked it, and I can see where it will be great in summer, but I am not sorry to have it off my mind before Lent.

While my rational brain tells me "if you want your life to be 'real simple'--a good start would be purging all the magazines"...my lizard brain just screams, oh, surely THIS one has the answer to my life's problems! And they don't, and I buy them anyway. This month's Real Simple pulled me in with the superfoods, which of course I knew but continue to not incorporate as fully as I should, but there were a few recipes I tried this time around. One was the roast beef wrap with horseradish slaw. It won't go in to weekly rotation but I loved having the spinach in there, and it scratched a roast beef sandwich itch while getting more veggies than my typical sandwich would. They also had a truly different photo spread on 10 smoothies to try. One of them, the spinach-grape-coconut smoothie caught my eye, not only for its bizzareness, but because I had a quarter cup of coconut milk hanging out in my fridge from an earlier recipe, and spinach there for this week. So I entered the land of the green smoothie, and while I wouldn't say I loved it, it was definitely a great use for all those things, more nutritious than many of my usual grab-n-go foods, and a worthy experiment. I don't know that I'll rush to repeat it but when I have the leftover coconut milk--this will reappear, I think.

And on Friday, I went off the track a little with the shrimp-spinach-asparagus stir fry from Cup and Table. I have a huge bottle of fish sauce but the smell of it makes me so nauseous every time I open it, it is hard for me to cook with it. But I had a ton of spinach and really everything but the shrimp (and the palm sugar but I used my agave nectar) so I barged ahead with it. It was a solid stir fry; easy, including prep (slicing bunches of straight veggies in to large pieces=my kind of prep), tasty, fast. I hate sliding shrimp (or anything else) in to hot oil but otherwise--it was superfast and a nice Lenten meal. I also experimented, making jasmine rice in the microwave. Put 1/2 c rice in 1 c water in an uncovered Corningware. The blog tip said 20-30 seconds. Hah! I think in the end I was at 7 or 8 minutes...but it worked. And I will try it again because it was fabulously easy and freed up part of my stovetop.

And that's the week that was and will be, God willing. Have a great week and for more inspiration, try I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--401Woot!

2011-03-06T16:31:00.004-05:00

Last week was my 400th post. That's a lot of cooking (though there are lots of random posts from the beginning). It's a sadly small little list of "Recipes That Worked" over there for that many posts, but hey, that's why I keep trying. This week's recipe's first, last week's experiences (and Lenten musings) below:

Sunday: Crazy Jane's chicken, broccoli (still wanting to try the Around My French Table version), something from my starch cabinet because wow, there's a lot of random stuff in there. Spinach salad at my husband's request.

Monday: Dinner A'Fare pork medallions in honey balsamic glaze (no idea how long that was in the freezer but I was happy to find it there); applesauce (of course); sweet potato, probably mashed with miso, as I'm addicted.

Tuesday: Mardi Gras! We'll be having a pancake supper one way or another, either at our church or at our house. Given my husband's hours lately, I think we'll be making them at home but we'll see how it goes. If it's at home: there will be bacon.

Wednesday: I'm hosting a meeting at my house so easy freezer meals: mac & cheese for Little Picky and Dad, mushroom flatbread for older son and me. (It's also Ash Wednesday so there is no call for anything bigger.)

Thursday: Spaghetti and meatballs if I'm coordinated, or three days of meat-free eating if I'm not.

Friday: Ah, meat-free Lenten Fridays. I have not missed you though I think I am better prepared for them this year. Boys will have pesto quinoa. Grownups will have that either the miso fish or a Caribbean fish recipe...details to follow. Either way, with rice.

Last week:

I got around to making the steamed lemon spinach from last week on Monday. It was based on another Around My French Table recipe. I had to fake it a bit since I didn't have nearly as much spinach as she recommended but it was good. I liked the lemon, and I liked using my steamer basket, which I almost never have used, ever, since I never quite got how. But YouTube helped (and didn't, with a ton of "how to use a steamer basket" videos that never actually showed people using steamer baskets), and it was a good experiment. I liked that it used a lot less oil than I usually do, and made it again to serve with the lemon-rosemary chicken (see below). I am not totally sold on steaming as it seems like a lot of parts, compared to just sauteeing. But it was a good experiment.

Monday was the cider vinegar chicken night. It got bonus points for easy, but was not a big hit with the family. I get a pat on the back for trying new things, but for you, the easiest chicken recipe ever. I thank my sister-in-law for this "recipe" for Jane's Crazy Chicken: Put as many boneless skinless breasts as you feel like making in any roasting container. (Roasting pan, pyrex dish, whatever.) Sprinkle liberally with Jane's Crazy Salt. Cover roasting container with foil. Bake at 375 for 45-55 min. or until chicken has reached 165 internal temperature. Note: cover well, or these will dry out. But if the foil does its job, they stay very moist, and even with lots of Jane's Crazy Salt, the flavor is still pretty mild. I also served this with the mustard potato salad from DALS, which I realized is one of my "accidental vegan" recipes...another for the list. Yum.

Big hit of the week (with the grownups): Pioneer Woman's spinach and mushroom quesadillas. Fontina's price is laughably high for this dish, though if I ever see it on discount, I'll try it. But this--this was a winner. We were enjoying them all the way while also thinking of how good it would be with black beans, or the sweet potato filling from the Moosewood recipe. For my veggie friends who look at my meat recipes longingly--this one's for you.

And in the "better late than never" department, the week after Christmas, I'd bought a can of black-eyed peas, thinking I'd make a half-batch of Katie Lee's Hoppin' John for our annual New Year's Day party. That didn't happen. But I got tired of seeing that can hanging around, so I tracked down the recipe, started making it, realized I didn't have scallions or parsley, and waited until I did. To my surprise, my husband loved it. I thought it was fine but it didn't make my taste buds sing. But it was easy and healthy (well, depending how much cheese you add) and while I can't promise I'll be making this every week, it will definitely make more than once-a-year appearances. With the rice, it's actually an excellent Lenten Friday supper.

I hit a big sale + coupon on chicken so we were pretty chicken heavy this week. I tried a recipe based on Cooking Light this month, with breasts tossed with lemon juice, lemon zest, rosemary, fennel seeds (lightly crushed, leftover from another recipe--totally skippable here), salt, pepper, and olive oil, then roasted for 35 minutes at 425. I loved the speed and it was juicy, but overall, a bit of a fail. Since it was only coated and not marinated, it didn't flavor the chicken much; and while that's usually a selling point with my kids, all the rosemary and fennel seed on the outside freaked them out. But it was fine and a flavor combo I like a lot. The other new chicken recipe we tried was the Chicken Chili from DALS. Again, I had everything I needed for this, so it was convenient, and it couldn't have been easier. I'm not sure I'm sold on the cinnamon, and I cut back on the chili powder and regret that decision. But my husband and I loved it and will definitely add it to the repertoire.

And not to close on a totally gross note, but here we are: my older son now won't eat hot dogs. He either had a virus or too much excitement after a Kids' Night Out last week but whatever it was--he's blaming it on the hot dog. And while part of me rejoices (hot dogs skeeve me out, though I do have one or two a year at a baseball game, but I immediately regret it), there goes Yet Another Thing that both kids would eat. Insert .gif of me banging my head against a wall here.

Lent starts this week, with the countdown to Easter and is a great time for getting the spiritual house in order. This year, I'm playing around with a few ideas, one of which is to get my actual house in order too. I love the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge...if by "love" I mean "am petrified by but know it's important to just do." I read about it on Clover Lane, one of the "mom blogs" I found and am not even sure how or where but I just enjoy. These moms of five kids (like my mother in law, among others) really attract me and inspire me to do more and better around our house. And this purging is something I've been putting off for a while, but I am hoping the spiritual component will help continue to inspire me through it. I have a few charities I think could use some of the things we have (Mothers' Home for some of the baby items, Family Court's waiting room for the toys, Bernadine Center for the food, the local animal shelter for some of the unwearable/undonatable textiles, etc.). Not that there won't be plenty of trash, too... I hate letting things go but it's time. It's beyond time. I have issues around it and always have but I truly want to break the cycle here. I am not planning to update it here but might do a different blog on the purge. I'm almost cheating: I am including my storage unit here. That's 40 bags right there. I have other Lenten goals as well but that's enough digression for now.

Another idea is more food related, and lifted from SortaCrunchy, who is dedicating her Lent to 40 Days of Community...once a week, have a meal with people you've never shared a meal with before. I'm mulling that one over too. If you don't count the July 4 picnic, that's most of my neighbors, so I might just simplify to "finally do the street-wide WedSpag you've been talking about for two years now." Which would also work for me. Not a "sacrifice" exactly...but on the right road.

For food inspiration (and organizing inspiration--I know the 40 bags challenge is right up Laura's alley!) check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--In Like a Lion...

2011-02-27T22:42:00.001-05:00

Hello, and welcome to almost-March! I, for one, welcome our new weather overlords. This February wasn't as epically terrible as some but there was so much fallout from January, I am ready to weep with relief over the change of month. Here's hoping that lots of good changes are in the air for you and yours, and me and mine.

Monday: cider vinegar chicken, roasted potatoes, salad (maybe Moroccan carrot salad? could be too much vinegar, we'll see)

Tuesday: taco Tuesday, plus Pioneer Woman's spinach and mushroom quesadillas for the grownups

Wednesday: freezer meal--could be Trader Joe's, could be something I made. We'll see!

Thursday: Plum Jelly chicken again, this time with cashews (see below), rice, broccoli

Friday: leftovers.

Last week:

The plum jelly chicken was a hit again, which was nice, though of course neither child ate any. And it left me with a lot of plum jelly, so we'll make it again, and soon. This time, though, I think I'm going to add cashews, and I'll also say: don't skip the scallion garnish. That's what really makes this dish, in my experience, the tang with the sweet sauce.

Speaking of jelly, Amazon keeps flogging One Big Table to me based on my cookbook browsing. I finally took a look at it and I loved the idea, and got hooked by the recipe for LaVerne's seedless black raspberrry bars. I used a few "stripes" of jellies from jars in the house, and instead of doing half-and-half with batter in the bottom and over the jelly, I went a little heavier on the bottom since that's how *I* like cookies like these. And it was so easy, and I love a recipe with no eggs so the kids (yes, the kids) can eat the batter without me hurling silent prayers to heaven to protect from salmonella (or worse, being mean mom and saying NO to licking the spatulas at all). It was fascinating to see the difference between the "good" jellies (Polaners) and the cheapie store brand jellies and how they cooked up. (Store brands, in general, thicker and less appetizing looking to me.) They all tasted good, though, and were a hit with the family and my moms' group. Next time, though, I will go with even more dough on the bottom and less on the top; there was so much left in the pan after cutting and so much left in the container after transporting, it felt like a waste. And I like the idea too of serving warm with ice cream...next time!

In a fail almost before I started, I made the orange-cumin slow cooker pork roast. While it smelled great cooking, I was reminded of several things while making it, because the first thing I did was botch getting it in to the pan to brown, splashing shimmering hot oil all over my wrist and forearm. A) this is why I usually brown in the toaster oven, but (despite the cookie story above) I usually like to follow a recipe exactly the first time so if it's a mess-up, I know I don't have to wonder whether it would have worked if only I'd followed the directions. B) this is why I usually use my high-sided pan to do my browning. C) this is why I should do the dishes before I go to sleep, no matter how tired I am. Happily, it wasn't a bad burn, but it's painful for sure, and made it harder (and hurtier) to do those aforementioned dishes I'd left in the sink. Sigh.

Where was I? Oh, yeah, the pork. I'll brown it in the toaster oven next time; I do think it makes a difference to brown, but it's pork, why add oil? And it made the house smell great and tasted delicious. It went with our Taco Tuesday well; with the cumin, it could be a taco filling, or, you can do what we did, and just serve over rice with broccoli on the side.

In a fit of desperation for something healthy with a complex mix of flavors, I tried the butternut squash galette from Catherine Newman, whom I've followed since she wrote for BabyCenter. Her good natured earthy crunchy recipes are always so appealing, and seem like they should fit right in to the lefty liberal town where I live. (I always felt out of it, since we ate processed food, like squishy white bread, or Italian food, and everyone else seemed to have brown bread and lettuce on their sandwiches and fruit in their lunches...but I digress.) I liked it but didn't love it, partly a function of not loving butternut squash (I know, but I still had one leftover from the CSA), and partly because the roasted onions were so great, I wanted a ton more of them in there. So I think I might play with this a little more with some different fillings to see how it goes. Next time, I'll toast the pecans first too. And I did like it even better for lunch the next day right out of the fridge.

And while it was Galette Day, I made the cherry galette from Dinner: A Love Story. It sounded so good and easy when I first read the recipe forever ago, I actually had the cherries. Mine was not as good looking as hers (of course I used a crust from a box) but mine also bubbled way over so I was glad I had foiled the pan. And then I tried to get the galette off the foil and was, well, foiled in the attempt. But it was a popular dessert among those in the house who eat fruit. Which makes three of us, for anyone counting.

On Saturday night, I tried one more thing that had been on my list, and I bit the bullet before the herbs went bad: the DALS Thai-ish Salmon. It was my first attempt at cooking with lemongrass, and shitakes, and it helped move along some Thai red curry paste that was in the fridge. It was mostly a hit--the Thai curry paste was really strong (to the point where I put in only 1/2 tsp to begin with and fished a lot of it out in a prescient moment). Usually my husband loves that but this time, he was grabbing for my son's milk. If I make it again (which I might, on a day I'm innundated with herbs) I'll skip the curry paste altogether. But it was easy, and different, and a one-pot meal (well, two, counting the rice).

By last Friday, I was out of cooking mojo, and was despairing a bit, when suddenly my older son said, "Mom? Can we have pesto quinoa for dinner? With strawberry smoothies?" And I felt like that made a lot of these stumbling efforts worth it: a vegan meal even picky eaters can love. (OK, less vegan for the kid who adds cheese on top. But still: a measure of success.)

And on a mostly different note: Does anyone out there use any money management software or programs? We started a free trial of PearBudget and boy howdy, that's an icy hand around the heart experience, entering every receipt. Still, instructive. And like a food diary, when I know I have to write it down later, whether due to laziness or embarrassment or something, it does make me think twice. Last week, before the trial? No problem plunking down $6.50 for a sushi and coke lunch. This week? I'll get something from the cabinet, thanks.

For more meal inspiration, try I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Spring? Snow? Who Can Tell?

2011-02-20T20:49:00.007-05:00

Happy last week of February! This month has been better than last, but that 67-degree day was a real gift. We spent it at the beach, in an impromptu day trip that soothed my soul and will get me to June. I really don't have to live at the beach, but I do need to be near the ocean just often enough. Ahhh.

Monday--orange glazed crock pot pork roast, baked potatoes, lemon steamed spinach from AMFT; cherry galette from Dinner A Love Story in honor of George Washington. (OK, should be Tuesday, but I have a meeting and there will be plenty left over.)

Lemon Steamed Spinach
1 3/4 bags (2 10 oz bags) baby spinach, precleaned & trmmed
1-1.5 Tbs evoo
lemon zest
salt & pepper

Toss spinach with 1 tbs evoo, zest, salt & pepper. Taste for seasoning; if dry, add more oil.
Turn in to pot that is ready to go. Cover. Steam 3 minutes and check; will prob need 1-2 more minutes to tender (but a good idea to check and turn).
Serve immediately.

Tuesday--plum jelly chicken, rice, broccoli

Wednesday--spaghetti (nothing exotic, red sauce, meatballs if they are in the freezer), and broccoli from AMFT (maybe the garlicky bread crumbs will make them edible in my little guy's estimation).

Thursday--leftovers

Friday--leftovers or freezer meal

Last week:

I'll begin with the end: we were invited to Sunday dinner at my in-laws', which was lovely, and I had two pounds of green beans from my unsuccessful plan to make the Thai-ish salmon, so it seemed like a great time to try the latest Smitten Kitchen green bean salad recipe. Good thing--it was great! I will say that I mixed everything before we left so I wouldn't be lugging too many dishes there (fennel in lemon in one, almonds in another, etc. etc.) and it was better immediately than it was after sitting. I don't know why. And it wasn't bad after tossing and transport, just not as awesome as it was in my kitchen. I'll definitely be making this again--and I'm also psyched because my one (less picky) son tried one of the green beans before I threw in everything else and remembered how much he likes them, and sat there and snacked on a whole bowl of totally plain boiled beans. Score. My other one wouldn't even hold one in his hand. (We didn't even ask him to taste! Just hold! And still--no dice.) It was easy, and with the kids out of the house, even easier. But it was nice because as long as you get started with the onions first, everything else can be done in fits and starts until it's all ready.

Even though I had to return Around My French Table to the library, the lovefest continues. Happily I found several recipes online (apparently I was snoozing when it came out) from the initial publicity blitz and from her extensive cooking career prior to this particular book. The first recipe I tried was the Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin. It was not difficult at all, but I did start it too late for it to be dinner that night. I was perplexed as it cooked because it smelled so much like breakfast (five eggs and a quarter pound of bacon will do that to a dish). And I think because my cauliflower was small, I didn't end up with that rustic, bacon-all-over, florets-sticking-out look in the gorgeous photo with the link. But mine behaved nicely, staying put in the 2.5 quart dish that I happened to have, and coming out looking like, well, a crustless quiche or a strata. For me, it was a great lunch dish (as she said, lovely with a salad) or side dish (I can see where it would be good with a roast as it was almost Yorkshire-pudding-esque). And in my personal world, I wanted more of everything: more cauliflower, more cheese, definitely more bacon. But it was delightful and went with the Aid for Friends meals as well as feeding me.

Another AMFT thing I just had to try (because I had all but one of the ingredients) was the Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good. Guess what I didn't have? Yup--the pumpkin. But I lucked in to a great sale on winter squash so I got a small kabocha and figured it would be close enough. Bread, cheese, garlic, herbs, cream, tucked in a pumpkin or in this case, small kabocha, then left to cook to soft (in this case, about 75 minutes). Alas, something went wrong and I don't know what--how wrong can you go with those ingredients?! But I think my garlic (even with the little green part removed) was too strong and it was not a pleasant combination with the kabocha. This made me sad but I am undaunted and will try again in pumpkin season.

And in keeping with the theme, we did try the Beggar's Linguine this week. I wasn't sure how it would go, so I made it with some extras (chicken leftovers, broccoli, etc.), figuring there would somehow be something for everyone. And, as expected, the boys wouldn't touch the main dish (but you know, I'm fine if "dinner" = broccoli and cut fruit, as it did for the older boy). My husband cheerfully called it "trail mix pasta" and just as cheerfully went back for thirds. It was different and with that much brown butter (though I cut it down to just one stick, hello) it couldn't be that bad, right? But it was really delicious. I wish I had let the trail mixy part cook just a bit longer but even so--delicious.

For more meal inspirations--check out I'm An Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Can't Top Sunday Edition

2011-02-13T10:53:00.015-05:00

Hey, just for kicks I looked at my stats the other day. Welcome, new readers--I'm glad you're here and hope you find something useful! What made me laugh was that my number one search term (and numbers three, four, and five, for reasons I don't understand) are all for beeping key finders. I wish I sold them! But for those of you here for recipes--there, I can help, at least a little. Last week's hits and misses, below.

Not to brag, but a bonus to living where we do: we went for a barely-early Valentine celebration (unusual for us but this was worth the departure) to a restaurant run by Jose Garces, the newest Iron Chef. We had this meal--crazy good. If you watch the video of the Garces meal, that is what was recreated for dinner tonight. It was fantastic--such a great combination of flavors. (And--if you watch the video--tonight had no seeds!) Extra bonus for us: it's in a building connected to the main train station, so we rode the rails in and out. Not that Sunday night traffic is so awful, but you never know, and it was very relaxing to just hang out together and chat rather than worry about parking or crazy drivers.

Alas, I will not be cooking this well this week. I do my best but transcendent is not in my repertoire.

Monday: takeout heart shaped pizzas. Not sublime, but topical. I'll also be baking heart cakes, and a veggie recipe from Around My French Table. (Heart cakes=our favorite chocolate cake, just baked in my heart-shaped bakers that come out exactly once a year.)

Tuesday: Beggar's Linguine for grownups, chicken nuggets in reserve for kids. (I didn't get to this last week because the chicken in packets went two nights for us.) And in case the linguine isn't a hit, there should be enough chicken and salad to tide over en the grownups.

Wednesday: this won't go well with the boys, but I will have leftover chicken for them; for my husband and me, Thai-ish salmon from (of course) Dinner A Love Story. Maybe I'll get crazy and try to make coconut rice to go with it, inspired by the Garces dinner. Or not. We'll see.

Thursday: hot dogs for kids, baked potato soup for grownups. (I wish we were at the Thursday Wednesday Spaghetti, but we have a school meeting, so that can't happen. Alas.)

Friday: I might try the miso fish recipe from last week here instead and go back to meatless Fridays here.

I had my cooking mojo last week...results below...

On Monday, I tried the chicken in packets from Around My French Table (though without the peppers as I can't really eat them). I loved them, my husband enjoyed them, and they were very easy once I figured out how to wrap the packages! I served them with rice on the side, and then made the huge mistake of making the Pioneer Woman Apple Dumplings for dessert (though I made only a half-batch, which is easy to do). I am not a fan of Mountain Dew. I am not a fan of crescent rolls. But somehow, put together with enough butter and sugar, and whoa, Nellie. These are way too easy to eat. The fun part is how nicely the apple cooks. (Really, it is.) It gets all mushy and sweet and YUM. These are clearly hazardous to your health, though, so I do recommend the half batch. And honestly? I might try bigger apple pieces next time. Or a little less...something. But oh-so-good and the house smelled awesome. Special thanks to Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for drawing my attention to those little buggers.

Continuing with the house-smells-awesome theme, I used my two half-done barbecue sauces from the fridge to make the Crock Pot Honey Barbecue Ribs. These were mostly a success; even though Stephanie from A Year of Crockpotting seems to think that dry meat comes from not being in long enough, these were in on low for 9 hours and were definitely overcooked, not under. They were awesome--falling off the bone, and while it really didn't look at all like enough sauce when I started (not even close to all the pork was covered), it was swimming in it by the end. And it was good, but you really need to have a sauce you love! (We used Sweet Baby Ray's, one regular and a little bit of leftover honey barbecue sauce, and then I cut back just a smidge on the actual honey.) Baked potatoes or mashed are good with this but from our gimpy can't-go-up-and-down-stairs week, I had SO much laundry to do I just wanted to keep dishes to a minimum! So baked it was, and yum. I really need to just remember: my crockpot cooks at too high a temperature, so adjust accordingly.

I couldn't have been any happier that the snow didn't come last week, and twice now, it's been close to 50 degrees! (Sorry, all of you who are still digging out, but we've been there this winter already.) But I already had the pork, so spent Friday braising the pork ragu. (A departure for me, meat on a Friday; these "meatless Mondays" are cracking me up, making the Catholic church look downright progressive for abstaining from meat all those centuries on Fridays! I did too, until very recently, despite Vatican II telling me it was OK not to observe that rule anymore. But I'm overwhelmed by carnivores in my house currently and it got too hard. Maybe I'll go back. But I digress...) The pork ragu was very good. My husband loved it. My kids wouldn't touch it. I have trouble playing nicely with canned tomatoes; even the good ones in the lined cans taste tinny to me. But the pork was yummy and it was a nice Friday night dinner. For a side dish, I tried the Trio Salad from a blog that kind of just showed up in my Reader. It was ok. I liked it fine and it used things I already had, but no one else was enthralled. Welcome to my house. Sigh. Sometimes I think I should just give up and serve hot dogs three nights a week and not deal with the crap.

Further bolstering that idea: "my" copy of Around My French Table goes back to the library today, so I tried to get in a few more recipes. Despite cracking all those pistachios, I didn't get to the Beggar's Linguine yet, but I did make the Roast Chicken for Les Paresseux. "Les Paresseux" roughly translates as "the lazy," which sounded good to me. But it was only ok. I liked roasting it in my beloved Dutch oven, and it really wasn't tough to prepare. I loved that the veggies were prepared while the meat was already cooking; it felt much more efficient than having to get everything in the pan before cooking commenced. But I have decided I am not a good enough cook to try to get by with less than ideal ingredients. I think my main issue here was that oven stuffer roasters were on such a huge sale, they were less than 1/3 the price of an organic chicken, so I grabbed one. And at least in this case, I think it really threw things off. The bird cooks on two pieces of baguette that are supposed to come out crispy and delicious, and the pan juices are supposed to be minimal. While the bottoms of my bread were crispy, the tops were swimming in a lot of pan juices, plus it took more than 90 minutes of cooking to get the thighs to 165, the plastic thingee in the breast didn't pop until it was resting, and even then, all the juices didn't run clear. Now, to the recipe's credit--it was a lovely brown, and very juicy, but compared to the other roast chicken recipe--well, this just didn't compare at all.

There were a few other things that I tried the week before last that I forgot to document...mostly because they were merely ok. In a continuing effort to get Little Picky to eat some vegetables, I tried these broccoli cheese bites. They were easy-ish--the ingredients were all in my house, and nothing was complex to prepare. But. I hate forming anything with my hands. I never thought of myself that way, but it really annoys me to get stuff on my hands. I hate making meatballs, I dislike rolling balls for cookies...so, I grew up in to that person. If my child had eaten and enjoyed them--I'd suck it up to get the veggies in him. But, not surprisingly, he ate one and didn't like it, then tried to eat around the broccoli so as to only consume the bread crumbs, cheese, and egg. And for him--egg is a big step so I should be grateful. Instead I'm just glad I don't have to keep rolling these things.

I also tried the sweet potato hash from Real Simple's February 2011 issue. I was happy to have an excuse to use the grater disk of my food processor, but my pieces were shorter, and just plain never cooked in the skillet. Eventually I just popped it in the oven with some butter and called it a day, though I loved the idea. I can't figure out what I did wrong. I thought it sounded great; I loved the nutritional powerhouse of the spinich and sweet potatoes; and it smelled great in the skillet. I'm not sure if I'll try again or not as I do have other ways that I love eating sweet potatoes.

The other thing I made was the game-day dip from Dinner: A Love Story. I had other lunch plans and instantly broke them when I saw this. It reminded me of my own favorite artichoke dip recipe from a friend, but easier (only four ingredients! and I had them all!). It was better than my original in that it was even easier, and very cheesy and stretchy and gooey and yum. But I like my original better, so with thanks to my non-bloggy friend who gave it to me: for you. And do whir the hearts in the food processor so you can scoop more easily. It's key.

Artichoke Dip
1 c mayonnaise
1 8oz block cream cheese
1 jar or can of artichoke hearts (plain or marinated, I've used both & prefer plain but use marinated in a pinch. also: as mentioned, I prefer to whir these through the food processor before mixing for easier scooping and spreading)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 c parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400. Mix all ingredients. Top with a little more parmesan and cover in foil. Bake 45-50 minutes, uncovered for the last 20 minutes.

Finally, because it was less a recipe and more an act of desperation--we made snow ice cream in the big blizzard! I was very grateful to the friend who posted it on Facebook. It was super-easy--I just took my biggest mixing bowl/measuring cup out in the snow, filled it somewhere between 6-8 cups (I took a big spoon and found an untouched area to dig in), brought it in and added 1 cup milk (whole is best); 1 tsp vanilla; 1/2 cup sugar and mixed until creamy. The boys were crazy about it, and it was really fun. It was a great accompaniment to hot chocolate, that's for sure.

But...no blizzards that we can see this week...in fact, we might lose the last of the big snow, which would be a relief at this point. I hope you have a great week, whatever your weather...for cooking inspiration, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Welcome, February

2011-02-06T21:00:00.004-05:00

So, here came the first week of February, and not a moment too soon. To kiss the awful January goodbye, I heard my knee pop on the ice and ended up RICEing it (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), and my older guy got a new and different cold, just to keep things fresh, while my younger got pink eye. The February weather wasn't really a change, but my husband paid me a nice compliment, telling the boys that I'm an excellent snowy weather cook, and he's right...something about foul weather just sends me to the kitchen to make all kinds of soothing, nourishing food. Reviews of last week below the upcoming menu...

Monday: Chicken in packets from the cookbook of the moment, Around My French Table.

Tuesday: Crock Pot Honey Barbecue Ribs, baked potatoes, carrots...somehow!

Wednesday: Beggar's Linguine, salad

Thursday: more snow, so I'm making the pork ragu from last week.

weekend: I'm sad The Minimalist column in the NYTimes has ended, so I'm celebrating a little with some Bittman recipes; for the grownups, I'm trying the black cod with miso, with rice (of course) and probably broccoli

Last week, I started my week by making this cauliflower soup...I was so excited to try it, because really, it couldn't be easier, we get tons of cauliflower in our CSA boxes in season, and so I had very high hopes. They were dashed. I'm not sure if the lemon I used was too sour, or that I didn't use the Pimente d'Esplette, but the croutons were the only thing that made it worth eating. And let's face it, croutons (mine were from Trader Joe's) make most things worth eating! I might try again with broth instead of water and watch the lemon more carefully, because I loved the texture. But this batch did not excite me.

We also started by using one of our gift certificates from the Christmas family swap, this one to Bertucci's. I used to love that place but lately, I'm not impressed. First, they changed my favorite pizza (Lestina) and kinda ruined it, then this time, it was off the menu entirely. My Alfredo sauce was so watery, it was a stretch to call it Alfredo. I know I tend to the picky side, but I'm just sad that a place that used to be a reliable spot has dumbed itself down. The only bonus: we all had leftovers, so I didn't need to make dinner on Monday. So the turkey shepherd's pie fell off the list.

As mentioned, I've been reading Around My French Table this week from the library, deciding whether to put it on my wishlist; I'm thinking yes, but we'll have to see. The Armagnac chicken was so amazing but I need to add a few more home runs to make it worth the actual purchase. I made her tuna rillettes for my book group, but it was not a hit, including with me...I think I needed to splurge on better tuna as "chunk" was a generous description of the product therein. But see below for a much better result...

Inspired by my eagerness to move bottles off my refrigerator shelf, I tried the French's mustard sloppy joes sliders recipe, taking a break from old reliable Rachael Ray's. I did a pesto quinoa for the side (figuring if the kids didn't eat the sloppy joes, they'd have something they liked). One child liked it. One child didn't. But unlike other items--Picky One actually ate two bites! (Which has ostensibly been the rule around here for a while.) It was a major breakthrough. My husband liked it fine. I thought it was gross and will return to the other, more tomato-y, less condiment-y one. And I will use the rest of the barbecue sauce in the crock pot recipe above.

I ended my week the way it began; with a cauliflower soup, this time from Around My French Table, as reviewed by The Tipsy Baker. This soup was exactly what I was looking for. My husband loved it and I cheerfully ate it all weekend. This was the cauliflower soup I was looking for. Smooth, rich, delicious.

Wishing you culinary success this week! For inspiration, try I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Yum

2011-01-30T14:23:00.002-05:00

We had a very successful week here foodwise last week. In my personal life, can February please be better? Menu below, and lots of happy dinner results from last week beyond that.

Monday: Pork Ragu over noodles, salad (will probably do pears and walnuts with shallot dressing from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything...feeling fancy)

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes from a recipe in the coupon circular. I am on a real "use what's in the fridge and pantry" tear and this is helping a lot.

Wednesday: Turkey Shepherd's Pie

Thursday: Plum Chicken, rice, broccoli

Friday: Leftovers. Or maybe out. We'll see how I'm doing by then.

I've been really lucky lately with the new recipes. The sausage bake was insanely quick, easy, and delicious on the coldest night in two years. It honestly took ten minutes to prep, if that, and the times were loose and the ingredients easy. My husband loved it. My kids wouldn't touch it, which surprised me, because hello, pig. But we enjoyed it enough to finish almost all of it.

Tuesday's recipe was awesome as well--Smitten Kitchen's mushroom bourguignon. Fortunately, though, I started making it on Monday. Creminis were on sale around here and I thought they would be great, but oh, the slicing--much easier on portobellos. In my mind, I thought I could leave the creminis whole. But--no. If I make it again, it'll be portobellos all the way. Once all the slicing was done, it wasn't hard, though the kids would need to be watching TV or something while doing it--there's some scooping and switching and adding and things that are hard to do while also coaching spelling words, say. But it really fit something I've been looking for--a meaty winter meal that doesn't really involve meat. There are nights that meat just grosses me out. And now that I'm buying only the guilt-free (free range, humanely slaughtered, oxymoronic though that may be, etc. etc.) meat, it's pricey. (Not that creminis aren't.) So this was a great find...and while I honestly think it would be a little better with meat, it was yummy anyway.

It was "bring an appetizer recipe" night at my moms' group so I brought an old favorite (hot pizza dip) and took the opportunity to try a new one--Minty Peas. The minty peas were ok but somehow not right for a winter's night. I will try again in summer. The pizza dip, of course, was almost all gone by the end of the night.

Then it snowed again--another top-ten-ever--yawn--this is getting dull as four of the top ten ever in our city have been in the past five years. But we had my usual "it is snowing--I must cook meat" thing here and a great recipe--Belgian Beef Stew from Dinner: A Love Story. It was delicious, easy, and fast. This will go in the winter rotation for sure.

I did not get to the pesto minestrone. I had made the Armagnac chicken again for another family and my son begged me to make it for us. Such requests are rare, so I hopped on it. Still delicious, though now that I am out of the Trader Vic's Flaming Brandy (circa 1963), I am not sure how it will taste next time!

Have a good week, wherever you are. And check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more yummy ideas!

MPM--Monster Post on Some Things that Worked

2011-01-23T22:13:00.008-05:00

Greetings, all. The menu is on top but a TON of links and reviews are below. You can tell it's winter--everything has potatoes and there's a lot of meat (or meaty things) involved! I'm also continuing to use things up...the beans from the can-can sale, the mysterious drawer full of carrots...

Monday: Baked Sausage with Apples, Potatoes, and Onions

Tuesday: Mushroom Bourguignon over egg noodles

Wednesday: If the kids are better: Wednesday Spaghetti! But since I like the people at WedSpag, I will spare them our germs if the kids are still not totally better. Backup plan: Pesto Minestrone or avgolemono from the Time for Dinner cookbook

Thursday: Belgian Beef Stew over mashed potatoes

Friday: Leftovers

First, last week. We went pretty much according to plan, and after so many sick weeks, it was a joy to see my older son snarfing down two huge tacos. He still wasn't 100% but at least his appetite came back!

I'm in a seemingly eternal search for how to recreate my favorite sweet potato burrito from a food truck with a maddeningly inconsistent schedule near where I used to work. I knew their pico had a lot to do with it, and so thought maybe I'd try using my favorite one from the little gourmet shop near us. It worked! And the very kind friend who made us dinner (more on that in a minute) told me about the Moosewood sweet potato burrito recipe. I followed the recipe (because it was the first time, and I'm just like that) and it was excellent, but I'm even more excited because I think I have the answer to how to fake my favorite takeout burrito now. The Moosewood recipe is here, and I do recommend it. I didn't read carefully enough and did not dice my onions small enough (I thought they'd be going in the food processor), so be warned about that but otherwise--easy and so good. (And again, I didn't bake them off--I just made them in to a burrito with sour cream or yogurt or something, pico with avocado, and the filling. Heaven.)

Meanwhile, this kind friend I mentioned made us dinner on Monday night because--surprise!--my husband's ankle *is* broken after all. Hello, stylin' new boot. And the very next day, just to keep the giggles coming, we had an ice storm. Fan-freakin'-tastic. And this awesome friend called and offered me one of two dinners for the week. Since I already had sweet potatoes at home, I tried the other one, and it was terrific too. I really need to just go tag along in her incredibly healthy and homey kitchen for a month and apprentice myself. The dinner was noodles in a peanut sauce with some tofu mixed in, with snap peas on the side. To be honest, I wasn't thrilled when she mentioned it but I thought, beats coming up with your own dinner, and it was actually great. Both grownups really enjoyed it (and she says her kids like it too...mine were too suspicious...did I mention the little one cries when I mention kindergarten "because they serve grapes at kindergarten parties and I don't like grapes?" true story). Anyway. It also reminded my older one that he likes snow peas, so that was a bonus as well. And as if that weren't kindness enough, when the snow came after the ice storm, we woke up to a cleared sidewalk and driveway, with our paper right outside our door...funny thing was, I thought my husband did it...he thought I did it...Turns out his soccer buddies, the ones who he was playing with when his ankle was broken, had organized a shoveling crew and come over to dig us out before work. It has been such a hard month for us, this still makes me smile every time I think of it. They are threatening to do this every snowstorm until the ankle is clear. I just stocked up on hot-drink cups and cocoa. We're not missing them again if they do come, that's for sure.

Back to meals: I skipped the slow cooker recipe when I found this recipe for (faux?) butter chicken. As the curry keeps not happening, I thought I could do *something* Indian, so we gave it a try (plus I had all the required spices and was on a quest to finish my cumin, since the lid was broken). And this was a clear home run for me. The chicken was great but it also was very similar to my favorite sauce for malai kofta (veggie "meatballs") from my favorite Indian place so I am already plotting how to use it for that next time. Now really: how could it not be good with that much half-and-half? But still: an excellent base to experiment.

Finally, I realized I didn't ever post some of the things we made while the computer was down. There's more than this, I think, but these were sort of the attention-grabbers during the busiest baking season of the year.

While the wheels fell off some things (I didn't bake any Christmas cookies other than the magic five layer bars), others went well. My niece and her husband came to visit and cook, and we tried some new recipes and taught each other some old standards.

My personal favorite new recipe was the Smitten Kitchen Mushrooms in Garlic Sauce. I also loved her Mushroom Lasagna and her Creamed Mushrooms on Toast, so it wasn't surprising that these were great too. We tried them at home, then I took another batch to Christmas--they were worthy.

We also did the Food52 overnight steel-cut oatmeal, which was a big hit with all but my picky younger son (odd, since it's beige!). We even trotted out the almond butter and I really liked it, but most of the others just stuck with their usual add-ins. (And have I mentioned how fun it is to have a foodie niece half my age who found the same blogs on her own? Love it. Love it. Love it.)

I also made yogurt again, which was a big hit, and went very well with the Trader Joe's granola...yum.

There was an interesting discovery while making the Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes from the box: First, they were excellent, even though they were a little past the date. They are definitely worth making again. Second, it said the recipe would make 10 cupcakes but in my pans, which were my mother's, they would definitely have made 12. This was a good lesson: first, no wonder cupcake recipes and muffin recipes don't always come out well for me, and second, what an up-close example of how food in America is just getting bigger.

A less successful experiment was rosemary-olive bread in the bread machine. It worked, but it was heavy, so I need to figure out more here. And the olives practically disappeared, which was not a desired outcome. I have a lot to learn here.

Finally, how easy is this: Rosemary Bacon Chicken. I mean, it's a no-brainer, right? Right. Super easy, felt healthier than the rollups I usually make with the same ingredients *and* cream cheese, and bacon is one of the only foods all four of us eat. So that was a win. Even the rosemary didn't scare off the younger eaters. This will enter the rotation.

So. There's more than you ever wanted to know about my family's eating habits these last few weeks. What are you up to? Post your recipes at I'm an Organizing Junkie, or look there for more ideas!

MPM--Winter Break, Take 2

2011-01-16T23:04:00.005-05:00

This post gets chatty again, so first, for the wanderers-by, the recipes for this week, with updates after Friday:

Monday: Fancy tuna casserole, inspired by the Bitten Word, leftovers for everyone else

Tuesday: back to Taco Tuesday. We skipped it last week because my taco eater was really, really sick (see below) but we're back to it. I'm having mine with sweet potatoes rather than meat, just because I miss the sweet potato burrito guy where I used to work.

Wednesday: I've never tried a Rachael Ray crockpot recipe, but this seems like a good place to start: honey-lemon chicken. And I've learned my thighs lesson (see below) and will us breasts instead.

Thursday: spaghetti night, with leftover taco for the one who no longer eats spaghetti.

Friday: bingo night at the elementary school. But since no one eats pizza anymore, I'll be packing something.

Happy MLK Day to all! We will be serving by keeping up with resolutions of sharing. We are delivering toys to the family court waiting room, books to a Head Start library my moms' group created a few years ago, food for the hungry, and then my son will be doing projects at his school.

We'll see how it goes, though. He was so sick last week--first, a late-diagnosed ear infection, then a fever after the amoxycillin was started, then spots all over his body--he looked like a leopard. Now we know: he is "reactive" (NOT allergic) to -cillins, which I find sad, as I truly consider them one of the wonders of the last century. But the -mycin seems to be doing its job and he's on the road to recovery. But he was home four of five days last week, missing the late start for snow, the class party, and a few other fun things. But a four day week certainly won't hurt him this week

Given the snow and the sickness, we were pretty homebound, so we tried a bunch of new things last week. There was yet another "plowable" snow, which this time meant 8 inches, but it really was a perfect storm. It started after rush hour, ended before the morning rush, left the world looking lovely and yet only a 2 hour delay of school. Perfect. It did, as usual, inspire me to a meat-fest. I tried a bunch of recipes, from the Real Simple chicken over white beans to the others below. Happily, there were lots of successes.

The Real Simple chicken wasn't a total hit--I just can't make myself love chicken thighs, alas, but I enjoyed the beans and we did rediscover the yumminess of the cooked grape tomato, and I was inspired by its relative ease. But the big winner of the week, by a mile, was the Dorie Greenspan Armagnac chicken. I read about it at the Tipsy Baker website and (as I commented there) was happy she'd included a picture of her white chicken, because mine ended up that way too. Normally I'd shrug and think, hmm, good thing I don't like the skin. But when the instructions actually pause to say "Admire the perfect brown color of your chicken," I start to get verrry anxious. But, I thought, if the Tipsy Baker's came out white and still delicious, maybe mine can too. And wow, did it ever. I honestly don't remember the last meal the entire family ate, but this was one of them. Of course Little Picky was not about to try any of the vegetables, but he tucked away the chicken without once asking for dipping sauce, which is an unusual day here. I also loved that it used the CSA potatoes and carrots that were hanging around here, and even with the disadvantage of making it with a truly ancient bottle of Trader Vic's Flaming Brandy, it was unbelievably good. And there were some leftovers, but my favorite was taking the sauce and the veggies from the bottom and spooning them over some quinoa for a very comforting leftovers dinner. Yum.

There was a call at the Dinner: A Love Story facebook page for favorite DALS recipes, which was fun to peruse. After the first dozen or so DALS favorites were ringing in with this pork showing up frequently, and since I had half a head of cabbage still, again, as ever, in the fridge...and, just as excitingly, leftover red wine and pomegranate juice in the fridge...and voila, another incredible-smelling dinner. (I took the 'braise at 350' option). Like my slow-cooker pork, it shredded rather than sliced, but otherwise, it was quite good. I enjoyed the cabbage better cold the next day, and my kids were grossed out by the cabbage overall. But it was a winner. It's not displacing my slow cooker recipe, but it was still good, and enjoyed by all, and went a long way to clearing my fridge too, which always scores bonus points.

Semi-successful: shaved Brussels sprouts salad. Big success: using the food processor blade to shave. A whole new opportunity just arose in my kitchen. I was skeptical about the raw Brussels sprouts, and that may have gotten in my way; I didn't like at first but after an hour or so, it bloomed. I'm also a dressing girl and I thought it needed more dressing--like double the amount--to jazz it up. But that may have been a function of small lemons. It's hard to tell.

Final semi-successful: these apple-quinoa muffins. I overbaked them a little (and of course I'm still using my apparently-antique muffin tins, whose smaller size makes some recipes hard to gauge), which didn't help, and the quinoa flour retains a slight hint of the bitterness. But I loved how the turbinado sugar held its shape so gave little bursts of sweetness in the otherwise somewhat dry muffins. Butter really helped these, too.

This week was also week 1 of take down/organize Christmas decor and I'm pretty well in the middle of that. I consolidated the wrapping accoutrements, which is huge for me, and got lots of things put away for the church baskets next year. And then my husband wrenched his ankle so I took down anything that I could reach, and the rest, which isn't too much, happily, will wait for something closer to recovery from that. Baby steps.

For more inspiration on meal planning or organizing, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie. Have a good week!

MPM--Let It Snow, Round 3

2011-01-09T20:44:00.003-05:00

Hello! It's not quite as crazy here as it is in some places, with school canceled before the first flakes fall. But suddenly, all the weather people can talk about is "plowable" snow. Where that term came from, I have no idea, but it's quite the word du jour.

So, I'm stocked up on milk (for hot chocolate), pet-safe ice melt, the sleds are ready, and the new-to-us Lego kit is ready to go. And while I'll be shopping the freezer this week, I also have some hunker-down food ready to go.

Monday: leftovers (chili, noodles, soup, etc.)

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday (of course)

Wednesday: roast chicken (hat tip to the Tipsy Baker), salad

Thursday: leftovers/freezer meal

Friday: probably pork roast, but we'll see when we get there. I was supposed to go out that night but the event was postponed, so I'm having trouble getting over it and planning around it. I'm also still in mourning over the pizza. I need to move on.

Last week, I got in to a few new recipes. I tried this rustic cabbage soup from 101 Cookbooks. No one else in the family was interested but I really enjoyed it. It felt substantial enough for a winter meal but light enough that it didn't weigh me down. This week, I'm also trying some apple quinoa muffins (which seems like a good thing for a snowy week) and our traditional cakes for the kids who taught my son this term, which now I need to rush in before the snow. So that should be busy but fun.

And I did well on my resolutions...I froze some of the soup for Aid for Friends, I have cut down on the amount we're throwing away as opposed to recycling, and I had one of my best ever coupon/sale shops...I gave my coupons and cards at the end and watched a $185 bill go to $99. That felt good! I also used lots of what I had in the house to make a riff on Bossy's shake...usually not following a recipe exactly gives me hives but the green food (which I know, is the whole point) was mucho dinero, and I only had chocolate almond milk, but I had most of the rest of the items in my freezer and cabinets. And it was pretty good in the end. It probably wasn't the nutrition bomb it could have been but still, I was happy with it.

Finally, I'm also doing the 52 Weeks of Organizing with OrgJunkie too...week 1 for me was the computer desks, which went pretty well...one is totally clear, the other is mostly clear...it also pointed up some other spaces that need clearing so I can completely clear the desktop. The next two weeks are to take down Christmas and get it organized. We made a good start already; all the bedrooms are cleared, the outdoor tree is down (but not the front lights; the ground is still frozen so it may be a while...) and most important, I'm trying to put it away in a way that makes it easier to get out next year. Check back in November to see how it went.

So. What are you making this week? Inspire me, please! And check out OrgJunkie for the best lists around.

MPM--Really This Time

2011-01-02T22:57:00.002-05:00

Well, I got off track with my anti-Apple screed last time. So here's this week:

Monday: chicken breasts (with Jane's Crazy Salt, nice and easy), roasted potatoes, cannelini beans with grape tomatoes

Tuesday: we'll try taco Tuesday again. I tried that in November, and even my taco-loving son got tired of them. Oy.

Wednesday: veggie curry over rice

Thursday: Leftover buffet

Friday: Not sure. It should be pizza night, but now my big pizza fan has decided he doesn't like pizza. (Insert .gif of me hitting my head on the wall here.)

Nothing thrilling, but it does keep me on track here. Wishing you a new year full of whatever you are hoping for!

MPM--Happy 2011

2010-12-31T16:52:00.003-05:00

Well, that took longer than I thought. Long story short: I took my MacBook to the Apple Store because it wasn't backing up and was starting to malfunction. "Genius" at Genius Bar said, "Your hard drive is crashing but no time soon; order this item from Amazon and come back next week." Me: "Can I just buy it now and back it up so I know I have my irreplaceable photos?" "Genius:" "No, that'll take too long and cost you $30 extra dollars. It'll be fine." Insert me asking in two other ways for him to pretty please back up my stuff, and him blowing me off. Next time I turned on my computer? Gone. Dead.

Back at Apple, I got the same "Genius," whose response was "Who would have known that it would happen like that?" Answer, "Genius," I think, is ME, which is why I was there, asking three times for you to please back up my stuff so it was safe. He gave me lousy advice and knew it, so next thing you know, my entire computer was upgraded and spiffified (new cover to the keyboard, etc.) for nothing. But all those new things would have cost maybe 1/3 of what it will cost for data recovery, if my data even can be recovered. And I was so bitter, I didn't get on the computer for a month. And I still can't open the MacBook without feeling like I've been stabbed in the heart, so I'm back on my Dell, which is less than ideal but doesn't make me want to cry.

So. My resolution for 2011 is to back up my photos. I'm looking at SmugMug.

But it's also to spend less time on the computer. While I was completely web-free, I read seven books, used my cookbooks (though I really did miss some of my favorite food blogs), called and texted more, and wow, was my house cleaner.

I'm not sure how I'm going to continue this blog. I might just use it to mention new favorite recipes. Because I did have some pangs with big successes or failures, thinking, Oh, I need to blog this. And it has become an awesome personal favorite recipes bank. (Newest favorite: this crockpot pork and sauerkraut recipe is cooking right now so I can take it to my father-in-law's birthday party tomorrow; I used the non-vinegar CSA sauerkraut for a slightly milder flavor, and shredded an apple in there too).

Finally--it's not too late to make an even better resolution for 2011...be inspired at Resolution11! Mine: stop throwing out leftovers. Buy less, give more to our local food bank, and be serious about making Aid for Friends meals. How about you? Please check it out. And may 2011 bring you all that you dream.

MPM--Better Late than Never

2010-11-02T13:52:00.003-04:00

That was last week, too, I suppose. Things have been busy around here. There has been a plan, but alas, "Post the Plan" didn't make it past the planning stages. Main issue: my dearly beloved laptop died. Please say a prayer to the saints of data recovery for my photos, which were backed up but not daily, and I'd just downloaded a bunch. So clearly, I'm out of NaBloPoMo this year. Which is ok.

Monday: turkey breast, cauliflower, roasted carrots, leftover "baby bat" (mini bow tie) noodles with butter & parsley

Tuesday: I thought I'd make mushroom lasagne, but the call went out for crabcakes, and I am no one to argue this great idea. Salad, beets.

Wednesday: Mushroom lasagne. Which translates to "hot dogs or chicken fingers" for kids.

Thursday: Leftovers.

Friday Last football game--woohoo! Well--the team is going in to the playoffs, but we are not.

Last week was good--nothing really new--lots of finishing the old. This was fine. I'm too distracted on the not-my-computer to do a good job with this post, but wanted to let you know--I'm fine, just my computer isn't. Hoping your life, cyber and otherwise, is going better this week. See you on the other side of a new hard drive...

MPM--Something Fallish This Way Comes

2010-10-24T21:54:00.003-04:00

Something about the colder temperatures is so inspirational for cooking, isn't it? I had really lost my mojo there for a while and a few fall days brought it right back. I set off to use use use what we had, and made some lovely things. You must know, I have a new resolution: whenever Catherine Newman posts a pork recipe, drop everything and make it immediately. The pork roast with cider-cream gravy tasted like something from a restaurant and is super-easy to boot. That's the "best of" in a sentence from last week. But there's lots more reviews after the new menu.

This week is crazy with something almost every night, so this will be a little dull:

Monday: JV football night! Hoping the hot dog stand is open. If not--chicken nuggets for kids, DAF meal from freezer for grownups, CSA veggies for all. Though I am having a big craving for a cheesesteak, so we might scrap the freezer stuff.

Tuesday: Even crazier gymnastics-then-football-then-meeting night. Can't be any more grateful that this is the last one of these. Back to Bittman for the turkey breast with cabbage two ways, beets, salad.

Wednesday: I hate to say no to the WRH but I can't pull off a night out right now. Leftover turkey, sweet potatoes (by request!), salad.

Thursday: Miraculously, the last football practice. I have really been glad that my son had the opportunity to play, and there's not really a better time. But wow, getting evenings back will be nice. Chinese carnitas, rice, cauliflower.

Friday: Town Halloween Parade--we'll be going to hear my kids wonder why, again, their store-bought costumes don't win. Trying to use veggies and making this curry, with potatoes. And the kids will get pizza, and we might too, but the curry is happening to finish the crisper.

Last week was a really fun one, food-wise. Maybe it's the weather, or that both kids are back in school, but I'm finally getting things back in gear.

I surprised myself by having a big bowl of the nutmeg version of this 101 Cookbooks cauliflower recipe, which, with the nutmeg, was just right for fall and so nice and warm on a just-turning-cold day. (And I like cauliflower but am not in general a fan...making a small portion helped, so I didn't feel swamped under a mountain of cauliflower.) I used our CSA leeks and freezer peas and leftover sauerkraut to make my wierd soup again. I was inspired to try other soups, not that my kids eat them, but others do, and we had some people to cook for this week, so I made Alton Brown's potato leek, and Crockpot 365's spinach bisque. Yep, I even bought Velveeta for this one. (Despite my skepticism that you can call a soup with Velveeta "bisque.") It must be fall. Well, that and we're desperate to get veggies in to our younger son and so were trying this recipe, so I bought one block and split it between. The soup was ok. I served it as a dip to my husband with corn chips during the baseball game and it went well. But the broccoli bake? Total fail. My older one won't eat cheese. My younger sobbed that he was afraid that the taste of the broccoli might never, ever leave his mouth again if he allowed it to cross his lips. And yet he'll eat sand at the beach. My husband and I enjoyed the taste of our childhoods with the Velveeta and butter-soaked Ritzes. But we really try not to eat like that much, so I don't think we'll try that tactic again anytime soon.

We jazzed up spaghetti night with Trader Joe's garlic bread, which, alas, was meh. I was hoping for a home run here but really--this is better done ourselves. Sigh. I know, it's so easy I have no reason to complain. But a girl can dream of saving even one MORE step.

As for the brunch...it was fun! In an "I don't even know who I am anymore" moment, I made my own pumpkin puree (thank you Pioneer Woman) and made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins with them. Next time I'm going to put some demarara sugar on top, and I did add a whole cup of chocolate chips, but otherwise I followed it exactly.

I made the Ina Garten peach-raspberry yogurt. I drained it overnight and laughed when I saw that this meant instead of four cups of yogurt, I now had two. It was pretty funny but good--and in another I-don't-know-who-I-am-anymore moment, I used the whey to make no-knead bread. (Not for brunch--not enough time, but we all love that bread.) With the whey, the bread was excellent and devoured by all in 24 hours. Alas, the yogurt wasn't nearly as good and I don't know why. Not sweet enough, for one thing, but the honey was overwhelmed and I couldn't add any more peach juice without totally overwatering it. I can't believe Ina let me down but it appears to have happened!

That's it for this week. Tune in next week for still more pumpkin muffins, that's for sure! What are you making? Go share with I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Fall Fest

2010-10-11T20:54:00.009-04:00

Happy week everyone!

Finally, we're settling in to fall. School, football, soccer, Phillies playoff games, all in a bit of a rhythm here. I made a bit of a breakthrough last week and skipped the pork roast because we still had lots of grilled meats. I made a steak salad, and we all had a very iron-rich week.

This week:

Monday: pork roast, finally, mashed potatoes, something from the CSA box

Tuesday: baseball playoff night so football is switched. I'm working this night so boys' night in, which will mean spaghetti, whether I plan anything or not. I found some Italian sausage in the freezer so I might make my husband happy and throw that in the crockpot with some tomato sauce all day.

Wednesday: Tonight is football night so something fast. Probably leftover pork for all with roasted potatoes (less hands-on time than mashed).

Thursday: Freezer meal for football again. Nuggets for boys, not sure for grownups. We'll see how the week goes.

Friday: Fall Fest at the elementary school! Woohoo! Learning from last time: bring change. It's a fundraiser. We ordered pizza and will buy from the bake sale for dessert.

And just for fun...one of the last football games for my son is this weekend in the district where his cousins all live (that is, the ones who don't live in ours). So I'm hosting a football tailgate brunch in our car. I'm making granola, Ina Garten's peach-raspberry yogurt, crockpot breakfast casserole (vegetarian), and, if I'm feeling ambitious, sausage sandwiches (easy-peasy--get the little teeny soft Pepperidge Farm rolls, and tuck a sausage in each--and I'll make the sausage the night before and store in the thermos). That plus coffee and cocoa and we'll be ready to roll!

In my epiphany about too much food in the fridge and freezer, I really focused on not following whims (yep, pork roast, I'm looking at you), and just making what's there. We revisited lots of old favorites from the CSA I made a carrot and turnip mash, which I liked and no one else touched (OK, not fair, my husband is on board and had some). I forgot to copy the recipe except it was close to this one, though I just boiled them all together. I also roasted a bunch of CSA potatoes and did the lemony smash for some of them and left the rest as ersatz French fries. My son who eats potatoes had both. Finally, the apples were overwhelming so I found a recipe for an easy apple pie, using pie crusts from the freezer. I skipped (ok, forgot) the butter and lemon juice and it was still awesome. My kids were happy just dipping the raw apples in cinnamon and sugar, which I have filed away for less enthusiastic apple days. But I was really excited; frozen crusts or no, it was my first apple pie, and it felt like getting a mom badge.

Given all this, I'd love to say I didn't buy anything, but that's not true; I didn't need much, though, and stumbled in to some awesome sales ($1 for my favorite elbow noodles, half price cheddar = cooking for holidays time! Woohoo!) and was giving myself a pat on the back for walking out of the store with $65 of groceries for $40. I know people can do much better but I'm usually in the 10% range, so that felt great. I'm feeling like we've emptied the freezer a decent amount so I can start filling it with things for the holidays, and make the call then about whether to keep it going through the winter.

Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menus on Monday, and have a great week!

MPM--In Which Mark Bittman Saved Me Hundreds of Dollars

2010-10-10T22:10:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday all!

Remember last week, where, inspired by Mark Bittman's appearance at our city's library, I was using my freezer to make dinner?

Good thing, as it turned out.

Whether the last person in the freezer (who could have been anyone, really) didn't close it all the way, or whether it pushed itself open from freezing over, I'll never know.

But yes, my freezer defrosted itself again.

It wasn't a total tragedy this time. I really think it was the permafrost just gently tipping it open, because it was only the stuff on the doors and the popsicles that were lost. For the most part, the meats (thank goodness) were still frozen completely solid. But it did change the meal plan last week. The shrimp--I was unwilling to take the chance. But some tilapia were still frozen, so we ate those, plus some sides, and a Trader Joe's pizza for the kids, and since many of the Dinner A'Fare meals all said "Defrost" anyway, I just cooked 'em up and ate 'em all week. So it wasn't what I thought I was doing, but it's a good exercise.

I'm ready to write the thing off. My husband wants to give it one more try. I have the feeling if we got rid of it, I'd miss it, because my kitchen one is so small. BUT it might be a worth experiment as there would be less impulse buying. Plus, there are probably ones out now that are far more energy efficient.

But this week continues the theme: Things We Can Eat from the Fridge.

And as you might guess, I never made it to Mark Bittman. BUT--thank you to the Free Library of Philadelphia--you can listen to the podcast here. (It's free, though I try to donate to them once a year in the annual giving campaign at work to keep it coming!)

Happy Columbus Day to all!

Monday: Grill leftovers (primarily steak) with CSA veggies

Tuesday: Happy birthday to my oldest! The traditional birthday tacos will be squeezed between gymnastics and football.

Wednesday:Can't resist a good pork roast recipe: must try this one. Mashed potatoes, and something else from the CSA box.

Thursday: Leftovers in a hurry before practice.

Friday: Game night!

So in the cooking frenzy that was last week, in addition to the freezer eat-down, I tried a new soup with the delicata squash that were hanging around (really, I just like an excuse to use my immersion blender). I went with this recipe because it was easy and I have everything but the cream. Now, let's be honest: Anything with that much cream should be frozen and served on a cone, but it does make the soup awesome too. This was a little bland, though, so I experimented (! shocking for me, but there was a ton of soup) with herbs. Rosemary was ok but a little overpowering. But still--on the chilly cold damp days--bliss. I also made the sauerkraut soup with the defrosted peas and the CSA leeks. I never thought I liked sauerkraut except with tons of molasses under a pork roast. But that was the fakey stuff in a bag. I'm really addicted to the "just cabbage and salt" old school versions in the glass jars. Yum.

And of course it wouldn't be a week if I didn't try a new DALS recipe, so there I was, raiding the canned goods (see, I'm keeping the theme here) to try the Six Kid Crowdpleaser of chicken in creamy tomato sauce. For some reason, both of my chicken eating kids flat out rejected this one, but I thought it was amazing and rediscovered mascarpone ... oh, yum.

Here's to a better week all around...go see I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menus!

MPM--Welcome October

2010-10-03T08:20:00.002-04:00

Wow, last week had it all. In addition to the wonderful adoption finalization, we had business trips, death, hospitalizations, floods, and a raft of friends with their own calamities. It was a nice September in parts but now overdue for departure, so I was glad to see the new month roll right in on time.

This week:

Monday: Mark Bittman is speaking at the Philadelphia Library. I don't think I'm going but in his honor I will Use My Freezer and make things that are already in there. I found shrimp and corn and will probably make my favorite skillet meal from that, augmented with the CSA box.

Tuesday: crazy gymnastics/football day. With great trepidation, I'm trying "homemade" pizza again, this time with a tube of dough I'm hoping is already flattish enough that I don't end up with a glob like the last several times. Regular for the kids, sauteed red onion for us since they are piling up from the CSA (which is fine).

Wednesday: a little easier. Chicken tacos, since I'll have the time to cook and I found ground chicken in the freezer.

Thursday: back to school picnic! We ordered a (fundraiser) pizza, and will augment with bring-along carrot sticks, chips, dip, and fruit leathers.

Friday: probably a football game but we'll see how the weather goes. (yeah, we're that kind of fan, now that we only have one nephew in the band, and it's his 6th year).

Here's hoping your week brings you smooth fall sailing! Go visit I'm An Organizing Junkie for more meal planning inspiration!

MPM--Indian Summer

2010-09-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

Happy fall, everyone!
We had a string of perfect days--74 to 77 degrees, lovely sunshine, cooling breezes. Then on Wednesday, it suddenly popped back up to 88 and humid, right when the the calendar should have said fall. I'm still not quite ready to let go so I had lemonade, a bacon and tomato sandwich, and a peach for lunch. But by dinner, I was trying the Dinner: A Love Story challenge and braising chicken with bacon and brussels sprouts. If I'd only had the apple cider to do it with, it would have been an ideal welcome to fall, but even with the white wine, it felt like closing a door and opening a window, even as we closed the windows and turned on the AC for what I hope is the last time. I also officially waved the white flag and made the first batch of applesauce in the slow cooker. I used this recipe, but it turned out way too watery. Plus I realized I had no pumpkin pie spice so I faked it. Still, it tasted great, even before the brown sugar, and that was nice.

Monday: dinner with friends with a new baby. I love the two-grownups-to-six-kids ratio--should be fun! I'm making the slow cooker carnitas again; it's a good fall dish and easy to transport, which is key.

Tuesday: back to football so easy dinner night: chicken nuggets from the freezer, broccoli, maybe some potatoes if I feel up to it.

Wednesday: Finally, the pork roll ups I made a few weeks ago. Rice.

Thursday: Forever Family Day for our newest nephew--yeah! We're bringing fruit salad, probably this one, just to eke out the last bits of summer that we can.

Friday: All good things must come to an end: the Friday night soccer days are over, so we'll probably head our first football game of the year.

Not a heavy cooking week--not a bad thing. I'm still kind of hunkering down here. My son was sick, I have a few friends I'm worried over, and in between I'm trying to figure out if I can spent one more year at home, or whether it's time to go back to work. Not really the moment to be focused on meals.

Hope your week is less angsty! For more meal ideas, as ever, go see I'm An Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Finally Fall

2010-09-19T00:12:00.003-04:00

Happy week, all. Things are falling in to place here (pardon the pun) but it's a busy week, so an uninspired menu. I'm also feeling unsettled, as all the new elementary school experiences rolling along, there are job interviews percolating, and health issues for one of my closest friends. I'm really just trying to cut to the basics and let this be a week where dinner is not on the list of things I worry about.

Monday: Boy Scout meet-n-greet picnic. I'm not sure scouting is a fit with our family, but we won't know unless we try, right?

Tuesday: pulled pork sandwiches, smashed potatoes, carrot salad

Wednesday: leftover grilled chicken or hot dogs, CSA vegetables, quick pickles

Thursday: pizza and salad--we're going to back-to-school night (#1) so this is for the sitters and the kids too

Friday: either football game (high school) or a Dinner A'Fare meal from the freezer

The good news from last week: we hosted the end of soccer season party at our house and it went well. I kept it deliberately low key for me because getting the house in shape for an onslaught was critical. I took a page from Wednesday Spaghetti and didn't go in to a cleaning frenzy (though I of course gave the bathrooms a good swipe), but mostly I just picked up to make room for everyone in the house, put the too-easy chili in the crockpot (doubled the meat and beans, plus pack-and-a-half of spices) and it was GONE. I'm glad I put out noodles to stretch it further. But it was so fun I am recommitting to doing more entertaining. We all loved it. I was thinking about the vestiges of the "When you entertain as a grownup, you use the good china and candlesticks and all sit down to a large meal" idea that hangs out in my brain from the house I grew up in, with the little voice saying, "This isn't a grownup party!" But it is. I'm keeping the china, just in case things change, but for now--this is working for us.

What are you up to? Post your menu with I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Not to Scare You But...

2010-09-16T20:38:00.003-04:00

It's that time of year.

I am of course sitting here wishing I could forget last month's electric bill so I would be willing to turn on my AC to clear the humidity...but no go.

And I'm thinking...if I start now...maybe... MAYBE ... I'll feel somewhat ready.

Doubt it will work. But hope springs eternal.

MPM--Relearning the Basics

2010-09-12T19:30:00.002-04:00

Happy week, all!

The school year is off and running, and I am lunch planning around this year's constellation of allergies in my son's classroom. So: no nuts, peanuts, dairy, eggs, shiitake mushrooms, snow peas, pears, cucumbers, or ranch dressing. Noted.

And in getting ready for the school year, I found myself distracted, with some varied results...see below...meanwhile, the menu for the week:

Monday: leftover chili, noodles, CSA veggies

Tuesday: football night, again, so back to the freezer for hot dogs for the boys and a Dinner A'Fare meal for the grownups

Wednesday: defrosting the pork or the chicken from a week ago for either pork rollups or bbq chicken, with potatoes or rice on the side

Thursday: leftovers, or something else from the freezer

Friday: the final soccer blowout of the year...and due to a field change, we're hosting. Hold me. I am not a carefree entertainer. In some ways I can't wait and in others, I'm having tremendous anxiety. So I will figure out something...maybe chili again, maybe pizza (always a crowd pleaser) and definitely chips & salsa, snacky things, a birthday cake, and the hot pizza dip.

I have to remember: making a recipe once does not make me an expert. For our Best of Summer Dinner last week, I used the last of our plums with the plum crumble that we (I) loved. All went well until the topping, when I grabbed Five Spice Powder instead of cinnamon. Oops. At least cinnamon is one of the five spices, right? Then I mixed the butter in instead of drizzling. All went well. It didn't look as pretty but it did work, and the five spice powder, while I wouldn't do it again, didn't ruin it either. My husband even said it made it taste Christmasy, so I'll keep that in mind when the time comes.

I did the same thing with my so-easy chili when we had unexpected guests on Friday. I took a deep breath and a page from the hostess with the mostess and did what I could and mentally let go what I couldn't. But the chili smelled not-quite-right and I realized: I forgot almost everything that adds flavor. No extra onions or garlic. No chili mix either. But I fixed it with plenty of time to go and we had a lovely evening.

So, that's what's doing here. I hope your Septembers are hitting their strides...go visit I'm an Organizing Junkie! to see what others are making!

MPM--Summer Must Be Over

2010-09-05T07:00:00.003-04:00

because...
...all my short sleeved shirts have butter stains from corn on the cob.
...despite the best efforts of SPF 50 sunscreen, my boys have farmer tans.
...that "sentinel tree" at the pool is blindingly yellow.

OK, here's the sad thing: I wrote this on August 31 of last year, but it's true (again, or still, depending). The sad thing is, my sentinel tree is gone this year. I guess the bad winter got it, which makes me melancholy, because at least I had the trickled-off post to remind me: yes, it should have turned by now. But...nothing. And another of my childhood markers is gone.

I am still having my end-of-summer blues (can you tell?), still wishing the Days Away lyrics weren't so apropos right now. (And boy, did that song need to be released in May to coincide with graduations! but I digress. Again.) I did continue to attack the list as though finishing it would prolong the season, but that didn't work at all. We did have a great time, doing all kinds of things on there, from museums to free bowling to the zoo. But all good things and all good seasons must come to an end, and with any luck, they bring a whole new kind of good season. Right? Right???

Monday: Labor Day grillathon! I was not kidding, I'm making about 20 of those yogurt-marinated chicken breasts, maybe some filets, and probably my favorite corn-zucchini-tomato pie, and a salad. I have to say that Tony's Steak is very tempting. So is this Cuban one.

Tuesday: First day of school! Tacos in honor of my first grader.

Wednesday: Grilled meat from Monday, potatoes roasted with rosemary, roasted carrots

Thursday: CSA veggies, grilled meat, and the potato pizza from Time for Dinner.

Friday: the final soccer blowout! I'm bringing Roxane's sangria, recipe below, among other things yet to be determined. And that takes us neatly in to football season, and booster dinners at the snack bar. Woohoo!

We basically followed last week's plan, except I couldn't resist the chicken in plums from Time for Dinner, because I had the plums and they needed to be used asap. Personally I would like more veggies in it but it was very good as is. Also, my sauce came out a little gloppy and not as subtly tasty as I thought it would be but it was still way better than greasy takeout. On our unplanned Saturday, since most things went well and there were few leftovers, we tried to make pizzas on the grill but yet again, can't get the dough to cooperate. I don't like most of the pre-baked. I have made my own and it doesn't seem to proof. Friends rave about Trader Joe's but as my husband said, it's like working with rubber cement. (I'm sure it tastes good, but texture-wise it was almost impossible to get it thin enough without it springing back.) The toppings for two cook pizzas are ready to go, if I find dough I can work with. When the pizza plan literally fell apart, I pulled together the corn for the dentally challenged. The corn mixture was awesome but it didn't really go with pasta very well. But what's to not like about corn, bacon, and onions? This won't go on top of noodles again here but we will make it for a side dish. I also finally made the beans and kale salad with canned beans, of course. I liked it, didn't love it, but I continue to have issues warming to kale. But it's so good for you, I just keep trying.

Not as good for you: sangria. But I love this and was thrilled to find the passionfruit juice to make it right, and just in time for apple season, too. Hat tip to my friend Roxane for sharing this among many other awesome recipes with me!

White Wine Sangria

2 c passionfruit puree (I just use passionfruit juice or tropical juice that includes passionfruit)

2 bottles dry white wine

3/4 c simple syrup

1/2 c triple sec

3/4 c brandy

3 lemons

2 oranges

3 granny smith apples

It is best to mix it up early in the day and let the fruit absorb the drink for a few hours.

Enjoy!!

How are you celebrating the end of summer, food-wise? Share your ideas at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--The Dwindling Days of Summer

2010-08-29T18:50:00.005-04:00

I know, I know--few will have sympathy when my kids are still home, when the pool is still open, and the weather is warming back up. But I'm not dealing with this season change well. Should I send my youngest to kindergarten? Should I go back to work? These are definitely first-world problems and ones I am lucky to have, but I can't find peace with them.

I bury my worries in our summer Wish List. I should be thrilled--it was a wonderful outline to the summer, and we said from the start we wouldn't possibly get to them all, but I find myself trying to squeeze in the last ones I can. (Maybe if I rearrange *this* refrigerator shelf, we can do the Jello Jigglers? And if we go to the zoo early, hit the Please Touch in the afternoon...?) Seriously? A little deranged. Especially considering all we did that wasn't on the poster: go to the longest Phillies game in four years, and stay to the bitter end, cheering on the pitcher in left field. Maybe not the Academy of Natural Sciences, but three other natural history museums across three states. Touch a piece of Mars, a piece of the moon, and a meteorite. Two of us learned to ride two-wheelers. And so, so many great visits with friends and family near and far. It was lovely.

That said--finally, this weekend, we were home, my husband was home, and we had a good weekend at home. No neighbor kids, not much pool time, just being here, enjoying each other and our house. Laundry was pushed through, the dog was walked, and my husband got out the grill. We took a page from Kristen and grilled all kinds of things. So I am actually, miracle of miracles, set for the week.

Monday: this menu from Dinner: A Love Story. Our butcher sells "Italian style" (very thin cut) cutlets, and they were fantastic in this marinade. (I sneaked a bite on Saturday when he made it.) The double-mustard potato salad was already a hit in our house, and the asparagus will be replaced with something from the CSA box.

Tuesday: candy-coated pork, broccoli (will try in alfredo sauce for young Mr. Picky, and just steamed for the rest of us), roasted potatoes

Wednesday: sweet pork rolls from Time for Dinner, the DALS's author's cookbook. I'm hooked. This smelled so good when I was making it, my husband got up out of bed to come downstairs to see what it was. Essentially ground pork with five-spice powder and a few other spices, it's served in lettuce leaves with other raw veggies. Sounds like a nice meal for a hot night.

Thursday: barbeque chicken, corn on the cob, tomato something (maybe the escalloped ones, maybe just a mozzarella salad)

Friday: the last of the soccer pizza parties of the summer. I'm a little sad about that. With the encroaching travel teams and earlier darkness, the grownups cede the field to the kids again. Our kids will miss the Friday night parties as much as we will, but it was magic while it lasted--outdoor fun, kids of all ages roaming around, friendships made, friendships deepened--exactly what you move to the suburbs for. Already I'm looking forward to next year.

I hope this works, with the week's meals pre-grilled and ready to go. I can live with this. In some ways it feels like double work, but I'm hoping it pays off. I'll let you know.

What are you making? Go to I'm an Organizing Junkie! to share and read more.

Again, I sneaked tastes of everything as it came off the grill. I'm not psyched about cooking pork on the grill; I'm never confident it's done adequately. But I am very happy with the "candy" coating. Will let you know how it reheats. The chicken, as I said, was already a winner. Nice and lemony and moist--exactly what you hope for from grilled meats. And I finally, finally made the bbq chicken from the paper (reprinting below because I have found the Inquirer's site to be unreliable in having it when I am looking for it). And I have to say--nothing here was particularly expensive, which was nice. I don't really like chicken legs, so I was stunned to see how many drumsticks were in a packet for less than $3. Same thing with 3/4 of a pound of ground pork--way cheaper than any cuts I usually use. This is a good trend. Last week I didn't follow what was there much, but at least we mostly ate out of our kitchen and pantry, so that was soothing to the pocketbook. And I did try (yet another) avocado and cucumber soup, this one much lighter (no buttermilk, more cuke, less avocado) from the White House chef, no less. Obviously it wasn't as awesomely decadent as the other, but it was quite good and certainly healthier. Still, I think I'll try it with lime next time, but it's a great use of cukes when they come flooding in. I also made the crockpot Chex Mix, but mine burned. That happens with regular Chex Mix recipes and me too, so I'm not surprised. C'est la vie.

One other end of summer note: the appetizer of the summer here has been the margherita stick, with the easiest recipe ever. Poke a fancy toothpick through a cherry tomato with a leaf of basil wrapped around it; then spear a tiny mozzarella ball on the end. These were hits at parties with both the healthy eater and not-so-much contingents this summer, and if you are bursting with cherry tomatoes and basil, it's a fabulous way to use them, and they look so festive.

Wishing you an angst-free end of summer, or start of fall, wherever you are.

Direct from the Inquirer's site, in case it disappears again:

In last week's Food section, a story about a soup-kitchen cooking contest included a photograph of barbecued chicken. We got many requests for the recipe, and we persuaded the reluctant chef, Rosa Stephens, to share it.

Rosa Lee's Southern Style BBQ Chicken

Makes 8 to 10 servings

8 to 10 chicken legs or thighs

2 18-ounce bottles of honey barbecue sauce (Ms. Stephens prefers Sweet Baby Ray's)

1 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper Seasoning Blend

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 orange

1 lemon

Fresh parsley, for garnish

1. Wash chicken and place pieces in a large bowl. Cover with honey barbecue sauce (about one bottle).

2. Drizzle maple syrup over chicken, ensuring that all pieces are coated.

3. Sprinkle chicken with Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper and basil.

4. Squeeze juice of one-half lemon and one-half orange over chicken. Cut remaining fruit into pieces and add to mix.

5. Transfer chicken and all ingredients into Ziploc bags, seal tightly. Marinate overnight.

6. When ready to cook: Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

7. Pour contents of Ziploc bag into glass baking dish. Cover tightly with foil, and bake for 4 hours.

8. Remove chicken from oven. Drain liquid.

9. Cover chicken with more honey barbecue sauce. Drizzle more syrup over top of chicken. Sprinkle with more Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper and basil.

10. Return to oven, uncovered. Bake for an additional 45 minutes to one hour.

11. Garnish with the lemon and orange slices and fresh parsley.

- From Rosa Stephens, St. Philip's Lutheran Church

Per serving: 403 calories, 24 grams protein, 35 grams carbohydrates, 30 grams sugar, 16 grams fat, 111 milligrams cholesterol, 719 milligrams sodium, trace dietary fiber

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/restaurants/51414627.html#ixzz0vkKutzCT

MPM--Settling

2010-08-20T17:29:00.004-04:00

I was so worried about the August Camp Mommy schtick that I went a little overboard and wow, we are overstimulated. We've been to the mountains, the beaches, the cousins', the ballparks, the capital...it's been great but it's time to reel it in a little.

This week will look somewhat similar to last week because last week, as I said, we had our niece here, which was great, but unexpected. As we settle in to the last weeks of the vacation, we will have one or two more exciting days but right now, I'm really looking forward to a routine of the pool and other local things. My goal is to not go to the store at all and instead use things we have in the house already.

Monday: corn, tomato sandwiches, beets, the kale and bean salad from (of course) DALS (I need to just order that cookbook already as my lame local bookstores do not have it...boo...)

Tuesday: Vietnamese shrimp, rice, quick Asian pickles

Wednesday: hot dogs, roasted potatoes, tomato & green bean salad

Thursday: black bean and regular tacos for all

Friday: pizza, of course

There were many fun things with my niece last week, but one was lots of baking. We splurged on Star Wars cookie cutters (birthdays are coming up) so we made sugar cookies with those. We ran out of time to ice them, but the cookies were good and very cute. I also had a zillion plums from the CSA so we tried the Wednesday Chef's plum crumble. I don't have a nine inch pie plate so it overflowed the regular dish I had. (If you try it at home--and you should--it was awesome--don't overload with the plums. They give off SO much juice. But, um, YUM.) We also baked bread (bread machine and the 24-hour kind), and a Mounds cake. She gives me great hope as she was another picky eater in childhood but she's branching out now. Alas, the detox soup was a bridge too far but I adored it still; and yummy scrambled eggs with feta and dill. Maybe as my boys get older there will be more of this...

What are you up to this week? Check out other late summer menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Back in the Swing

2010-08-16T06:43:00.001-04:00

Hello all!

Now that I'm back, I can tell you last week was lovely; we followed the menu plan pretty closely because we were in the mountains for a visit with the grandparents and that was all we brought! The weather was everything--hot, cold, sunny, rainy--and we hiked and picnicked and swam and had a ball. And here comes reality again...recipe reviews after the jump.

Monday: Vietnamese shrimp, rice, quick Asian pickles

Tuesday: potatoes, steaks, stuff from the CSA box

Wednesday: black bean and regular tacos for all

Thursday: DAF meal or maybe that BBQ chicken!

Friday: pizza, of course

So, last week was a bit of a kerfuffle because we weren't sure who was coming when, how many would be there for dinner, etc. etc., so (alas) I never did get to make the barbeque chicken. But we made lots of other things and had two dinners we really enjoyed. One was an Ina Garten spaghetti with broccoli and shrimp--which was, unsurprisingly, outstanding. The other was surprising for me--I'm kind of not a Campbell's Soup recipe girl but my mother in law fussed with this pork and peaches recipe and it was terrific. She didn't have pecans, but she used fresh peaches and orange juice instead of the canned syrup and it was really tasty.

The other unusual circumstance of the week: my 13 year old niece came home with us this week (woohoo!) so I have another palate to consider now, so stay tuned. We're thrilled to have her, but it means food is really low on my priorities right now; figuring out fun stuff to do with her and my kids is key. Whatever happens dinner-wise, we'll be happy!

What are you up to this week? Go see the menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie! for inspiration!

MPM--All Kinds of Fun

2010-08-08T18:08:00.003-04:00

Greetings from Camp Mommy! We had a decent week last week, though the football--practice Monday-Thursday, 6pm-8pm--is totally throwing us off. So this week, I have lots of pre-made things so we can do an early dinner and snacks later....anyone who has done the late-practice-starving-kids shuffle, feel free to ring in with suggestions! Last week I tried to feed the boys early (their preference anyway) and have milk and homemade bread after. (Or on really hot nights, popsicles.) Thanks to Lauren for the bread recipe...the boys feel like they are getting away with something, having bread; I feel like I'm getting away with something, baking it with good-for-them ingredients. Sneaky cooking ftw!

On another note, the biggest success on the Very Hungry Caterpillar so far is the zucchini bread my friend baked for us. "It tastes like a brownie!" the young picky one said, and gobbled it up. Note to self: dig out that Jessica Seinfeld cookbook again. Sigh.

This week, we have lots of cousins rotating through, since there was the big graduation party last weekend, so lots of big-group cooking ahead...

Monday: leftover party food (and to answer my commenters...I have a 6 quart crockpot...I made the pork roast three different times, shredded it, and then reheated them together as one big batch).

Tuesday: barbeque chicken, corn on the cob, salad, cornbread (recipe below)

Wednesday: taco fest (meat, black beans, corn, salsa, taco sauce, lettuce, tomatoes)

Thursday: spaghetti and meatballs

Friday: what else? pizza, of course

We had a good week last week...I tried the corn salad (minus the jalapeno) from Raising Foodies, and I loved it, but really--it's fresh corn, what's not to love? I also followed her link to Weekend, where the quick Asian pickle recipe did me well.

We achieved another of our summer goals by getting out the bread machine and trying two different recipes. The one, alas, did not work because the bread flour had turned (no surprise; it was literally inherited from my sister-in-law, who passed away some time ago, and her husband's new wife found the flour tucked away in a freezer and thought if it were still good, I would use it. True, but the fact that my brother in law is (ahem) already remarried was a big hint that the flour was past its prime. But it was fun to do and the ducks at the local farm were happy with it. And Lauren's oat bread (not that I call it that!) made the adventure a success.

Also in the bread department, I am copying my dear friend Doris's trick to yummy cornbread. One of my favorite traditions in the office where I worked before I had kids was our holiday brunches. Doris almost always brought sausages on Pepperidge Farm rolls--so easy, such delish finger food for an office party--and deviled eggs. Then once she brought her famous cornbread, and I really enjoyed it. She laughed and said, "Honestly? It's from the Jiffy box, but I dress it up a little, and you have to use the right technique." And it was easy and kept in my head for forever, and then it wasn't there, and luckily Doris sent it along in an email so I'll never lose it again. And my picky one loves cornbread, and loves to cook with me, so here's what we're doing for the cornbread:

from Doris: Lately, I’ve been mixing my own ingredients and not using Jiffy, but basically: Drain one can of Green Giant shoe peg white corn or Niblets and stir into cornbread batter. Pour into lightly greased iron skillet, let rest a minute or two, and bake per instructions on the box. Insert toothpick to make sure it’s done in the middle. Serve right out of the skillet! You can vary the recipe by mixing in chopped peppers, onions, or other stuff. Enjoy! I wouldn't think these little things would make a big difference. But they do.

The real trick at this point for me is getting dinner on the table by 5. It's a big switch for us since Dad usually isn't home until 7, and we were trying for years to do real Family Dinners, but clearly, this is not in the cards for us for the near future. The kids are starving by 5, and trying to eke them along to 7 isn't good for anyone. So we'll let go of this dream for now, and work on Things That Work for where we are now. I'll let you know next week whether this plan got us closer to that goal.

How are others celebrating summer in dinners? Go see at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

MPM--Why Is July the Longest Year?

2010-08-04T09:24:00.001-04:00

Ah, a four year old's sense of time, and a very hot month: Why *is* July the longest year? This year, it was the heat and the humidity, thanks for asking. I am not sorry to see July go. I am sorry to see camp end, but who knows, maybe August will surprise me. Camp Mommy is getting off to a big start, with parties and pizza lunches and field trips--and my latest innovation: the Ice Cream Tour of Our County. Our moms' group has done a "deck tour" of the county, with moms' nights out at places with lovely outdoor seating (though we have alas been chased indoors this summer, it's been so hot). But it seemed like a good time to do something for all ages--hence, the ice cream tour. Some chains, some mom-n-pop places...should be refreshing.

Of course, as soon as I started planning the ice cream tour, the weather suddenly remembered that this isn't Florida and started getting normal. It's summer, so it's still hot, but not crazy hot like it has been since, oh, MAY. But that's ok. Camp ended. Football's starting. The last graduation party is this weekend. And we're just hanging around the house in PJs, building legos and train tracks, and enjoying these "boring" summer mornings.

Football, though, is really throwing off dinner. Practice is 6-8 pm, Monday through Thursday. So we've switched to big late lunches and dinners on the go.

Monday: CSA day--veggies a go go, plus freezer food to augment

Tuesday: sandwiches at the field

Wednesday: chips and salsa, black bean tacos at home

Thursday: hot dogs from the snack stand at the field (yes, the concession stand is open during practices! for me, this is hilarious, but maybe in the rest of the jock universe it's normal)

Friday: soccer and pizza. Can't beat it!

Also up this week: making pulled pork in the slow cooker for 75. Good times!

Have a good week! And check out Org Junkie to see what's up there.

WFMW--Mini Photo Album

2010-07-28T00:18:00.001-04:00

So, I'm probably the last to catch on to this, but I'm loving how this is working.

My sisters-in-law are awesome about taking lots of pictures, and unlike me, actually printing them. They arrive with some frequency in cards through the mail and envelopes tucked in my bag at potlucks. And I am so grateful to have them, but since I have gone digital, there hasn't been a spot for me to put them. (Ok, full disclosure--there has NEVER been a spot to put them in my house. I have photos tucked all over the place, and wish I didn't!)

One day in the grocery store (of all places) they were having a clearance on smallish photo albums--100 sleeves, one photo each, with a little tab for jotting a note or two.

Perfect! It's small enough to fit in a kitchen drawer or in my mail in-box, so I always have it where I open the mail or unpack the bags, and I can tuck the photos in and jot a note next to them so I know where they came from, and then, they aren't getting lost or ruined floating around the house.

That works for me! What works for you? Go share at We Are THAT Family!

MPM--Summer Winds

2010-07-26T00:22:00.000-04:00

Those summer winds...came blowin' in...from across the sea...

Alas, I am not at the beach, but at the almost-end of camp. Which makes me very sad indeed.

Monday: CSA Day, so many vegetables aaand...something. The little one is desperate for pasta, which he has not had in a while, because he was sick, and when he is sick he wants butter and cheese on his noodles, but he is my tummy-problem guy, so that's out. TMI, I'm sorry, but I'm menu planning here. So: veggies and pasta for all. I will probably make the Splendid Table's alfredo to go with it and tie it together like an actual meal. But I also have some buttermilk left and might do buttermilk soaked chicken and bake or panfry. The weather broke also (hooray!) so it's roasting day.

Tuesday: I have a meeting, so it's a Trader Joe's night. For Dad and Little Guy: mac and cheese (and Dad will have leftover filet and veggies with it). For Mom and Big Brother: mushroom flatbread and salads.

Wednesday: I have some of the crockpot Italian beef in the freezer, so beef sandwiches plus veggies from the CSA box

Thursday: I didn't get to the shrimp-tomato-corn salad last week so hopefully tonight. I love that and it's peak season!

Friday: pizza and soccer. Can't beat it!

Last week, I got some of my cooking mojo back. It all started with the tomatoes.

When I saw the recipe on Smitten Kitchen for the Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons, I needed to make it almost immediately. And I was SO glad I did. You must make this next time you have good bread and tomatoes on hand. A few notes: 1) I left crusts on, and worked fine 2) It was still mushy, but who cares? still, will probably do more bread next time 3) forgot basil, so it wasn't sublime but merely amazing and 4) halved the kosher salt and still very, very salty (but I think it was my parm, which was the Trader Joe's preshredded because it's what I had and I needed to make this immediately).

Lest you think my other blog crush, Dinner: A Love Story was left out, fear not: I made her salad dressing almost instantly. I was insanely disappointed at first, but after a day, it came together in an all new way that I loved.

I also inherited a ton of otherwise unwanted fennel from my CSA and did the caramelized fennel and onions recipe again. Uh--yum. I don't want to inform everyone what they're missing but it is delish.

We also thought the hottest day of the year would be a fun day to grill. We tried the Pioneer Woman's steak rub. To be honest, I got suckered in by the moment of silence for the foodies. I thought maybe I have erred in my lemon pepper avoiding ways. But I had a bottle of it from...something, and always the Lawry's for my mac and cheese, so we gave it a try. I think we erred in grilling. It must need the oil and butter to make this palatable. While my husband thought it was fine, I thought it was too much--well, lemon-pepper-y, and it wasn't what I was hoping for. But PW does not, in general, let me down, so I'm going to try it once more (still have plenty in the lemon-pepper bottle) but will actually pan-fry and see if that changes anything. Will let you know.

While my husband was out there, I long-sliced and oiled and salted and peppered a zucchini for him to pop on the grill, and I made the Dinner: A Love Story double mustard potatoes. Those were excellent. I loved them and will make them again. And again. And it really wasn't hard--a moderate amount of chopping the potatoes, and then the long part was waiting for the water to boil. I love those. And next time, I might try with parsley instead of basil, because my basil got lost in the mustard. Still--a keeper.

Don't forget to click over to I'm an Organizing Junkie! to see what lots of others are up to!

MPM--That Worked

2010-07-19T08:54:00.004-04:00

Happy Monday, all!

The honeybaked ham was a hit last week. So were the hot dogs, of course, and in a huge surprise, my older one split a mushroom flatbread with me (one of the Trader Joe's ones), so the hungry caterpillars are moving along.

But then the Summer Flu moved in and I'm running a little low on ideas. Sorry for the lack of inspiration...mostly this is for my husband and me, as my kids are all bananas/rice/applesauce/toast this week...

Monday: filets mignon from the freezer, veggies from the CSA box, potatoes with butter and parsley

Tuesday: fish from the freezer, roasted beets, roasted carrots

Wednesday: shrimp, corn, and tomato "salad"

Thursday: depends how the kids are feeling. If they are up for it, hot dogs or tacos. Otherwise,

Friday: pizza and soccer, I hope!

The one thing to report on recipe-wise from last week: After a string of amazing successes with Kelly's Recipe's cakes, I made the lemon version of this one (it's in the comments) for the Tuesday Wednesday Spaghetti. The WedSpag was awesome, and the cake got good reviews. I might throw in poppyseeds next time for mouth feel but it was really good and super kid-friendly without them.

For more inspired ideas, try I'm an Organizing Junkie! and see what other folks are doing! For me--back to the toaster. Have a good week!

PS--I'm realizing I may not have posted about the "hungry caterpillars"--I cut construction paper circles, the boys drew heads and added pipe cleaner antennae, and every (healthy[ish]) new food they try, the "hungry caterpillars" get another circle as a body piece. (So a new kind of cake doesn't get a circle, but when my little one tried tomato sauce on his spaghetti, that counted.)

MPM--Heat Wave(s)

2010-07-11T22:34:00.001-04:00

Happy week everyone!

We are going through a string of massive heat waves here--when moms are deciding it's too hot to go to the pool 45 minutes early for swim lessons--it's hot! I changed my plans and just took advantage of one cool morning to make apricot chicken (recipe below) and chicken marinated in Trader Joy's Island Soyaki sauce. I didn't love it (the Island Soyaki) but I enjoy the apricot chicken and loved having dinner pre-made in the fridge, just needing to be sliced and tossed on a plate with some fruit and veggies. (It was a big week here for ants on a log. Next week: cream cheese in celery! woohoo--living on the edge, here.)

Monday: honeybaked ham (cold), potato salad, something from the CSA box

Tuesday: Tuesday Wednesday Spaghetti (woo!)

Wednesday: finish the ham, regular salad,

Thursday: hot dogs, chips, whatever veggies may have come-beets, probably?

Friday: (soccer)

One thing I didn't really mention enough last week: Kelly's coconut cake recipe. We had a block party and a barbeque with friends over the July 4 weekend and I made this cake and, as one of my neighbors said, "I was mad when I went back for seconds that it was gone!" If you like coconut at all, this cake is awesome. The reason I made it for the 4th was so I could use blueberries and strawberries to make a flag cake, which was cute. But wow, this stands on its own, if you are looking for a very rich, very cold, very sweet cake. Yum.

I also made her chocolate chip pound cake. For how easy it was, it was amazing. My husband had two pieces--unusual for him!--and we all loved it. "Pour" is a bit of a euphemism though--the batter was very thick and more gloppable than pourable.

Something else I haven't given adequate credit to: the marinated portobellos. As I'm getting more and more grossed out by ground beef, these have been a great thing for me this summer. (And don't get me wrong: a good burger from a source I trust is still an amazing thing. But a very undercooked burger at my reunion in May was really a last straw for me on meat from the grill that someone else is cooking.) At our farmer's market, we have a mushroom grower who had samples of these portobellos out and I have loved them. Put portobellos in a sealable plastic bag. Pour in Italian dressing. Marinate 1-4 hours. Grill or broil. Eat like a burger, or slice and serve as a side dish. I hate to even call that a recipe but they were also a hit at the July 5 block party, even with people who didn't think they would enjoy them.

I also made the Dinner: A Love Story broccoli slaw. That wasn't the humongo hit that some other things (coconut cake) were, but it all went and I liked the very old-school taste of the celery seed.

Two other recipes I made last week that I have no links for are below. One is for apricot chicken. This was a big hit with my kids a few years ago, so I'm including it, but this time, it didn't go so well. I think I'll play with it a little bit--I made it with whole chicken breasts this time instead of pieces, but I might go back to cut up again. Or I bet thighs would be great with this if you like dark meat. And it's so easy...I wish I weren't the only one who likes this.

Apricot Chicken

1 C apricot preserves
1 Tbs distilled white vinegar
1 Tbs brown sugar
Chicken meat of your choice (I use boneless skinless)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix everything but the chicken to a smooth paste. Cover chicken with mixture in a baking pan. Cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake 50 minutes; uncover; bake another 10 minutes.

The other thing I made was a buttermilk dressing from the Philadelphia Inquirer food section. I would have linked to it but I couldn't find it, so I am recreating it here because I loved it, it was all ingredients I have on hand (except the buttermilk), and I can't find the teeny clipping and want to make it again!

Buttermilk Salad Dressing

1 C buttermilk
1/2 C mayonnaise
1/4 C olive oil
pinch garlic powder
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
2 Tbs lemon juice
salt
pepper

Put all in jar or other container with tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously. Serve immediately, or keep up to a week.

I loved this on just lettuce and tomatoes from our CSA.

Also, just as this is essentially my family's food diary (fear not, I do keep other, far more relevant info elsewhere for them): our Co-op had two excellent cheeses out for sampling this weekend and I loved both so much, I brought home some of each and made a cheese plate for my husband and me for dessert. Yum. One was Memoire Truffle Gouda (you had me at "truffle," and they recommend it in a mac and cheese. I'll bet that's awesome but our piece wouldn't go that far, and it's too hot for mac and cheese right now). The other was LambChopper sheep's milk cheese from Cypress Grove, CA. It had bite but also creaminess and I loved it, maybe even more than the one with the truffles, which is unusual as I adore me some truffle.