Budding Foodie

I rushed to prepare dinner while getting ready for my rehearsal afterward. Dr. B walked in just as I loaded the plates, and we sat down to eat. She refused to come to the table, but rather than be late for Choir, I ate and ignored her. "I'll take care of her," he said. "She'll eat. I think she's..." he began to whisper, "pooping." (The potty training is still hit or miss, and the misses are often the messy type.)

I ran upstairs to change my shirt, and heard her sitting down at the table and pick up her fork. As I searched for another top to wear, she exclaimed, "Wow! Yum! This is yummy!" Hmmm... I wonder if she likes the garlic mashed potatoes? I zipped up my boots, and headed down to grab my choir folder. Maybe it's the pork chops with Roasted Garlic Rub and Dijon mustard and brown sugar glaze?

"I never had this before!!!" she said, gleefully, as she leaned over her plate, shoveling food quickly into her mouth.

I walked into the kitchen, smiling and proud of my culinary triumph. She loved it! Something I made was a huge success with my darling daughter. I took a quick look at her sectioned, plastic plate to see what had been such a coup.

Corn and Peas, mixed and boiled. With some butter.

"Hello, Food Network? Yeah, cancel that Toddler Tidbits idea. She's definitely not ready for prime time quite yet."

Force feeding fruit

My kid likes veggies. I know, crazy, right? I guess no one told her not to. I do, her dad does, maybe it's genetic. Whatever. Her favorite food is "tomaaaaadoes", and she prefers the fancy heirloom tiny ones from the CSA basket, turning up her nose at store-bought. Begging for a treat usually means a little cup of frozen peas, or perhaps "cold bread" (frozen french bread chunks.) Yeah, she's kind of weird.

Usually fruit is fine, too, and she likes just about everything we give her, except for some reason squash and carrots (an orange thing?), and anything too spicy, though her dad is working on that. So I shopped for our week together while her dad was in DC, buying fruit for us to eat together. Apples, oranges, grapes, and bananas.

And of course, the bananas are not getting eaten in a timely manner. Before, when I had none in the house, I'd be begged for them. But of course when I do, she doesn't want them.

So today, I whipped up a special delight, and it worked. "Bananas à la Ronica!!!"

They were a big hit.

My secret?

Rainbow Sprinkles.

I think I'm going to try them on carrots next.

She likes it!

Rowan has always been a good eater. From the first licks of non-alcoholic Strawberry Daquiri in the Bahamas (thanks so much for that, Chad) to bowls of grits mixed with chicken and mixed veggies last night, she eats it all, even the lima beans. Her only requirement is variety--should we give her one thing too many times, she'll reject it and throw a little tantrum in the high chair, flinging the food all over the floor. She is currently off bananas, Cheerios and yams for this reason.

As we sit down to dinner, she eats along side us, and this has worked great. She behaves well at the table, and is good in restaurants, too. Lately, however, she's begun to notice when her food is different than Mom and Dad's. She'll stare pointedly at our dinner, and then look down to her plainer fare, and stop eating.

So, lately she's become even more adventurous in her food offerings. Tandoori chicken and basmati rice. Philly cheesesteak. Fresh lemons from my iced tea. We did find one thing she didn't like at all, which actually surprised me since I craved it while I was pregnant--root beer. She spit the entire mouthful down her shirt, but then stopped grabbing my styrofoam cup out of my hand, so I guess it was a mixed blessing.

Yesterday, continuing in her whirling dervish phase, she made a beeline for the corner of the kitchen to try something new. Luckily, I caught her before she had swallowed.

I don't think Lucy's Canine Crunchies were designed for babies of the human variety.

What's for Supper?

It's that time again, and since last week I never bothered to post (we had some good stuff, but I don't feel like rehashing), I figure I better get back on the wagon. Currently, I've got tomorrow planned, but I am hoping that by the end of this post, I'll have the whole week done. Motivation, thy name is blog.

OK, so here goes. Including yesterday. Thanks, Laura!

Sunday: Lunch: Cashew Carrot Ginger soup (highly recommended), baguette, 4 cheeses (provolone with garlic and herbs, a basque sheep/cow cheese that rocked, an Italian truffle cheese that I liked but he didn't, and a Comté), sliced apples.

Supper: Boneless Pork Spare Ribs with Kentucky BBQ sauce (Target boutique version), steamed asparagus, baked potatoes with butter and sour cream.

Monday: Chili with cheese and sour cream, beer. (Love those simple meals!) Note: we're not Irish, and don't like being pinched, so we don't celebrate St. Pat's. Except with the beer.

Tuesday: (friends who just visited France are coming over, so we're making at Breton specialty). Gallettes de Sarrasin with lardons (bacon), egg, mushroom and cheese served with sour cream (a good stand in for crème fraîche, because the American kind tastes weird), green salad with vinaigrette, baguette, hard cider. Our friend is bringing the dessert.

Wednesday: Jambalaya (I'm going the lazy route with a mix) with chicken, green salad.

Thursday: Hamburgers and Fries (yeah, also lazy, but I'll toast the buns!)

Friday: Urgent Enchiladas* (not authentic, but delicious! Recipe follows.)

Saturday: Lunch Grilled Ham and Cheese, chips, carrots and pickles.

Supper Round Steak (my mom's recipe, slow roasted with tomatoes and onions), baked potatoes, asparagus (if they still have the lovely stuff we got last week.)

Sunday: Lunch Leftover enchiladas

Supper some sort of soup, bread and cheese.

*Urgent Enchiladas
The name came from an email from my MIL: "Urgent!!! I need your enchilada recipe!"

• 8 flour tortillas
• 1 lb. ground beef or turkey, browned with onion and drained (optional)
  
• 1-2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed (1 if meat, 2 if no meat)
• 1 jar ChiChi's salsa (theirs is really good--Fiesta, Fire-Roasted, whatever. All good.)
• 1 can MILD Old El Paso red enchilada sauce (I don't get the Hot or Medium. They're really hot! Dr. B eats habanero sauce on his eggs, and he thinks they're too hot!) You can use 2 if you like them really juicy.
  
• Shredded Mexican-blend cheese, about 2 cups (Sargento is good, and doesn't have any spices added, just 4 cheeses. Or use cheddar or whatever.)
• Taco seasoning (about 1 T.) (I have used regular taco seasoning, but right now am using Penzey's Bold Taco, which I love. Doesn't much matter though, whatever you like, or make up your own from the spice cabinet.)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Brown meat (if using), add beans to pan and heat with about 1/2 jar of salsa and taco seasoning. Heat until most of the liquid is gone. If you're doing only beans, you could mash them a bit so they're easier to eat. I hate refried beans (too mushy) so that's why I use whole beans, but I go the easy route and get the canned ones.

Grease a 9x13 pan. On each tortilla, put about 3 T. cheese in a line, add filling (about 1/2 cup) and roll up. Nest together in the pan. Your pan will be really full.

Cover with enchilada sauce, making sure to cover all surfaces, especially ends. Pour leftover salsa down the center of all the enchiladas, and top with any leftover cheese.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until bubbly, covered with foil. Serve with sour cream, lettuce and black olives if desired. Serves 4 very generously, or more if you serve it with some side dishes like rice, beans, salad, etc.

What's for Supper?

I figure if I start writing this, maybe I'll get enough energy to actually do the planning involved. It's a pipe dream, due to the cold I am fighting, but I think by Friday I'll be hoping that I planned for more than just orange juice and Theraflu, so here goes. Thanks, Laura, for the motivation.

Sunday: Lunch Brie and Ham Omlettes, salad. Supper Bison Steak Haché (chopped steak) with Chicago Steak Seasoning from Penzey's, brown rice and couscous with Herbes de Provence from Penzey's, corn. (Dr. B's business trip took him to Madison, so he stocked up for me while he was there. The CSS was awesome--made the bison burger taste really steaky. BTW, that's why I didn't post last week--I basically ate the same thing for 3 days, then another same thing for 2 while I waited for him to get home. Not so exciting.)

Monday: Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce with Ground Turkey, Salad. (That is, if I get up and get going. Signs are not great. We may be having cough drops and 7up for supper.)

Tuesday: Pork chops, baby red potatoes, glazed carrots.

Wednesday: Beef hard shell tacos, salsa black beans.

Thursday: Ham and Swiss Hoagie Melts, salad.

Friday: Salmon with Dill Yogurt Sauce* (recipe follows), green beans.

Saturday: Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas with salsa and sour cream, fresh fruit. Supper: Norwegian Meatballs, potatoes and gravy, corn.


Salmon with Dill Yogurt Sauce

This is my own recipe, developed by experimentation, that I used to make back when we did the low-carb thing and got all skinny and then we got tired of all the fuss so we started eating again. (We're squishier, but happy.) But this one was really good, lightening fast and super easy, so I still make it often. It looks fancy when you serve it, but it's so easy a monkey could make it.

Ingredients:

Salmon filets or steaks
olive oil
salt and pepper
plain yogurt
lemon juice
dill weed

Preheat oven to broil. Line a baking pan (I don't bother with the broiler pan--to much of a pain to clean) with heavy duty foil and grease it well with olive oil. Place your salmon filets on the sheet, folding under any thin bits so it's pretty much of even thickness. (If you have a piece with a skin side, put it down. You'll be able to leave the skin on the foil when you lift it off with a spatula. Voilà! And if you let your dog eat the skin, she will love you forever.) Brush well with olive oil (Don't skip this or your salmon will dry out. I know it's a fatty fish. It still will dry out.) and season well with salt and pepper. Broil 8-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Don't overcook!

Sauce: Mix your desired amount of plain yogurt with salt, pepper and a pinch of dill. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Make lots, because it's yummy and you'll probably like it on your green beans, too. We do!

What's for Supper?

Monday is here, and it's Menu Plan time again. Thanks again to Laura for hosting! Last week our menu got pretty messed up, thanks to the flu, a blizzard and Dr. B being absolutely swamped at work. This week, hopefully we can stick to it a little better. We did take advantage of an Xmas gift card, though, for a night, so it didn't totally blow the budget! I'm working hard to use what we have and reuse leftovers in new dishes, comme c'est typique en France . Anyone got a good name for this? I'm stumped.

Anyway, the menu planning is working very well for me (I'm less stressed, my jeans feel looser, and I am not wasting food), but not so much for Dr. B. He is a stress eater, and tends to open the fridge and stare/grab when he's freaked out (which usually is about 15 minutes before a meal is on the table. Grrr.) Then later, he feels guilty and tells me not to buy any junk food. Then when I don't keep a bunch of extra stuff in the house, he tends to get mad at me or else eat the ingredients for a meal, despite the fact that he reads this and sees the list posted. This weekend there were no chips for the lunch tuna melts because of it. He's going through a really stressful time at work, so I'm adding chips, chocolate, cheese sticks, diet Coke, and some of those single-serving microwave popcorn packs to the list. (It's not like he chooses an apple when he's stressed--get real!) Then at least I don't get yelled at.

So here's the plan for this week.

Monday Dr. B is going to be late. I have leftover turkey cutlets with a red wine reduction sauce and glazed carrots from last night, and I'll prepare some starchy accompaniment for myself. Maybe a little pasta.

Tuesday Our Valentine's Day! :) NY Strip steaks, Garlic Mashed Potatoes* (recipe from Pioneer Woman), Salad, baguette, a bottle of Bordeaux, and Ice cream. Yum.

Wednesday Spanish Tortilla I never made last week, salad.

Thursday Turkey kielbasa Sausage, onion and pepper hoagies, oven-baked fries.

Friday My Mom's Meatloaf, potatoes*, corn*.

Saturday Lunch: Meatloaf sandwiches*, chips, fruit Supper: Sausage corn chowder with Potatoes*

Sunday Lunch: Leftover chowder*, bread, CPA Supper: Hard-shell beef tacos, Spanish rice

*indicates the leftover liaison--I'll make more of one dish than we need and incorporate it into the other meal.

What's for Supper?*** Updated

I'm on pantry-clean-out mode, due to the overflowing nature of it in recent weeks, and am proud to say I can now open it with nothing falling on my head. My goal is for it to be full of what we're eating this week, a few staples, and not much else, because it's tiny and we don't have room for loads of junk (and frankly we are not really likely to be snowed in for days either, so I need to let go of that obsession.) The fridge, however, is bare except for some citrus fruit, a few condiments, and the random rind of hard cheese, so that will need to be restocked. The menu has been made, the list written, and I'm ready to go shopping! (OK, not that ready. I still need to dry my hair, put some maquillage on, and eat some lunch.)

Thanks again to Laura for hosting this and helping me stay motivated! (Though I admit I put it off until today--I just really needed that nap yesterday afternoon...)



***Update: this all gets bumped. I came home from the grocery store to find that our power was out, and it wasn't restored until 9 PM. I was NOT going to cook pizzas over a candle, thank you very much. So we went to Quaker Steak and Lube and had disgustingly delicious cheeseburgers with wing sauce, blue cheese, and all sorts of other drippy stuff on them. Yum. And we had a really good waiter, which is always nice. Funny, helpful, but not too in your face. And he didn't squat. (I hate that.) Now I'm just trying to get an overtired baby to sleep. Wish me luck.

• Monday: Homemade Pizza with ham, red peppers, cheese and black olives, salad.
• Tuesday: leftover potato soup with ham and peas (from Sunday), une baguette, cheese (probably some of that lovely intense Brie from Wegman's), carrot sticks, pickles, applesauce. (you'll see these a lot--we have CPA a lot, especially if there are no veggies to speak of in the meal.)
  
• Wednesday: Pesto Pasta with shrimp, red peppers, carrots and zucchini, salad.
• Thursday: Quickie Beef Chili, cornbread muffins.
• Friday: PAYDAY! Go out for dinner! (*does a little dance*)
• Saturday: (Lunch) Chicken strips, fries (remainder from burger night), peas, leftover cornbread. (unless we have good restaurant leftovers, in which this can all stay in the freezer.) (Supper) pork chops, yellow rice, green beans. More leftover cornbread if there is any.
• Sunday: (Lunch) Tuna sandwiches, chips, pickles and carrot sticks. (Supper) Crock-Pot Beef Stew, bread and butter.

Note: for lunches I usually eat last night's leftovers or a Lean Gourmet or make a quesadilla or something. On the weekends, if I don't plan it and make it at the right time, Dr. B will pig out on chips and chocolate. He's very capable of preparing lunch, but for some reason he has this sort of mental block about it, and would sooner mow down 500 g. of Lindt dark and 1/2 a bag of Sun Chips than heat up some soup. Go figure.

I keep ice cream around for dessert (usually later, while reading or watching a movie) and sometimes make some baked thing during the week if I get inspired. This week I'm thinking about making cupcakes. Last week Rowan and I made coconut chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but I didn't like the recipe that much (of course, I had to substitute one ingredient, so that could have something to do with it). Of course I ate them all anyway. Heh.

Breakfast is the same during the week (we both like routine). We both have coffee, toast (with choice of butter, nutella, jam, peanut butter), fruit (bananas or citrus), homemade yogurt (I make it in our yogurt maker each week--he eats his with honey, I like plain sour milky goodness). He usually adds a boiled egg or piece of ham. On the weekends, it's either this or he'll make a yummy scrambler with whatever is laying around, or sometimes will run out for patisseries. I don't function in the AM, so don't ask me to cook or leave the house before noon. Putting toast in the toaster takes all the effort I got.

Also: last week I got creative and made stuffed hamburgers based on the Bob's Bad Breath Burgers at the Weary Traveler in Madison, WI. The stuffing was divine, but I need to work on the technique, so I'll let you know when it's perfected.

MYSTERY INGREDIENT QUESTION: I have a jar of tomato ginger preserves (from a gift basket) that I don't know what to do with. Should I serve it with crackers and some sort of spreadable cheese like Chavrie? What other ideas do you have? I'm stumped.

What's for Supper?

I hate New Year's Resolutions. I'm not going to lose 20 lbs., become fluent in Italian, or cure the common cold in a year, and a resolution just makes me feel guilty 'round March when I haven't even thought about starting. A few years ago, I started making New Year's Resolutions I Kind of Want to Keep. ©

One year I decided to eat more salads. (I like salad. I should eat it more. And once or twice counts as more.)

Another year, eat more fish. (Same reasons. I don't often cook fish, but started ordering it at restaurants. Then I started making broiled salmon at home with a yogurt-dill-lemon sauce. It's yummy.)

Yet another, wear more skirts. And another? Call my family and friends more.

This year I wanted it to be good. I kept thinking. What do I need to get better at, that's not too much pressure and will trigger a bout of migraines or insomnia? Something I will enjoy, but have to do anyway?

And I got it.

I decided to start planning my family's meals, rather than buying a bunch of random crap at the grocery store and hoping it fits together. I got tired of staring at my over-stuffed pantry and not having any idea of what to make. And I got tired of eating the same convenience stuff over and over again because, due to the witching hour from 5-7 (aka Rowan's FREAK OUT time), I was to tired to think.

I used to be a from-scratch cook, then I had a baby. And got realistic. Yeah, spending 90 minutes leisurely making dinner while sipping a glass of wine and listening to jazz? Doesn't happen often anymore. Plus, living in a small home makes you really question the use of space, and storing food in case of a 3-week blizzard may have been practical in North Dakota where we grew up, but it's not here (and not likely, anyway.) Things have to change around here.

So I started. I'm on week 2, and so far so good. In fact, it's a lot easier than I thought. I found I stress out less, spend less money, go shopping less, and we eat healthier because there's less, "Oh honey, you had a rough day. I'll just take you out for dinner," thus eating a much higher-calorie meal and paying 5 times as much for it. I actually kind of like it (though I'm not going to turn down the occasional meal out. I'm not crazy.)

So though it's not Monday, I'm going to join in. (Thanks to commenter Sharon for showing me that I'm not the only one with this resolution.) And maybe I'll even keep it up.

This is what we've been eating.

Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad.
Tuesday: Chicken Fajitas (tortillas, seasoned chicken, red and green peppers, onions, sour cream and salsa), black beans cooked with a little salsa and fajita seasoning.
Wednesday: Norsk Meatballs (I made a huge batch and froze before Xmas), potatoes and gravy, salad. I was going to do corn or beans, but we have leftover lettuce so I think salad will do. ***Note: I got inspired in the afternoon and made jello. Whoopie! But it was good. Apricot jello, made with 1/2 pear juice, and peaches and raspberries. In wine glasses so it's Super-fancy.
Thursday: Dr. B has a meeting, so I'll eat leftovers or something.
Friday: Huevos Rancheros casserole (black bean, onion, green pepper, red pepper and cheese, veggies saved from the Fajita night), salad.
Saturday: (lunch) Leftover egg bake, (supper) Hamburgers and fries (homemade, though. Well, at least baked out of a bag.)

OK, that's as far as I got. I was planning Sunday-Sunday, so may have to remedy that to participate in this thing.

Last week:
Sunday: (lunch) tomato and roasted red pepper soup (Pacific), terrine de canard, bread, cornichons, fromage avec champignons. (supper) Sloppy Joes, Sun Chips, pickles, carrot sticks.
Monday: Beef Soft Tacos, spanish-ish rice (Tío Ben's).
Tuesday: Moroccan Chicken Stew, couscous. (Needed more cayenne, cumin and raisins. Or maybe garlic? Good, but needed a little more zip for our palates.)
Wednesday: Dr. B had a meeting so I ate leftovers.
Thursday: Veggie Lasagne, salad. (frozen from Wegman's--don't think I'm too ambitious.)
Friday: Chicken and Prosciutto Tortelloni with caramelized onions and sour cream, salad.
Saturday: we went out to the Elk Creek Café with Seth and Erin. Very good beer. Food was good, too, but they ran out of most everything (they're a lot busier than I think they expected) so I am anxious to try something I planned to order.

That's it. So, if you're a part of this, I'd love to hear from you! Maybe it'll give me some ideas. I'm always on the lookout for easy, good, and fast recipes!