meatballs + rice pilaf + beets

Beloved husband is back and when he found out we had meatballs without him, he was so very sad. I succeeded in alleviating his sorrow by making him meatballs tonight and adding harvard beets for extra bonus points. The rice pilaf was very, very basic. The only thing that differentiated it from regular rice was a small onion and butter. But that made all the difference for it was tay-ay-stee. All three recipes came from my ATK's Family Cookbook except for the sauce/glaze for the meatballs. It came from my daughter's BH&G New Junior Cookbook. (You know what's funny. December of last year was the first time I made meatballs and now I've made them twice since then.)

The best part of tonight was that the Harvard beets were really good. Remember how I was wanting to find a good recipe for fresh beets? I think I found it. It won't stop me from trying new recipes (God forbid!) but I'm relieved that I've found a good "go to" recipe if I need one.

Oh! and the meatballs were a success. Happy Hubby.

5 guys + cake

Today was our eldest daughter's ninth birthday. In our house, when it's your birthday you get to choose all the meals for the day, only one of which can be from a restaurant. She wanted to have a bacon-cheese hotdog from Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We accommodated.  I had a Little Cheeseburger with everything add jalapenos, french fries and an orange Fanta. It was good. Real good.

For her dessert she picked Devil's Food with white chocolate chips in it. It was a three-layer cake with White Chocolate Mousse in between the layers and the whole thing was covered with a White Chocolate Ganache Glaze. I should have let the glaze cool a bit more and then immediately placed it in the fridge, but I didn't. The natives were restless and impatient. We were unable to wait for it to set. The results: in the picture you can see that it's a bit thin and surrounded by a moat of white chocolate ganache. No complaints in the taste department though. It was a tasty, tasty deliciousness. Good choice, my little nine-year old.

bww's

The day did not turn out like I had planned. It ended up being dinner time and I needing to go grocery shopping since my oldest daughter's birthday is tomorrow. I talked the husband into agreeing with my plan: eat dinner out and go as a family to the grocery store, splitting up the grocery list and shopping like savages with sabre-tooth tigers on our heels. It worked. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ordered the usual: 24 honey bbq, 6 garlic-parm for oldest daughter, 6 jamaican jerks for me, an order of buffalo chips and celery with ranch, please. We also got an order of fried pickles, as it was their first night offering them and they wanted our opinion. Surprisingly they were pretty good.

bean soup + cornbread

I made Hurst's Hambeens 15-bean Soup tonight. I added a pound of barbacoa meat to the pot and baked up a batch of our favorite cornbread. It was perfect for a cold evening.

scrounge for yer food

We got home from my parents' house. Not much on the side of food. The picture is what my daughter made herself. (She styled her meal and asked if I would take a picture.) She had applejuice alongside Sapporo Ichiban Ramen. I had rice with soy sauce wrapped up in some nori. It was "eat whatever you can find" night.

kolaches + coleslaw

Still at my mom and dad's. I made kolaches filled with cheddar cheese, a slice of turkey bacon and hot dogs. File them under "Tasty with a little touch of guilt." Coleslaw was leftover from hamburgers last night. The fresh baked bread part got extra bonus points from my dad. Score for me! And the kids ate all their food. Double score!

My mom made peanut clusters and coconut peanut clusters. Triple score!

burgers + chips + coleslaw

Hamburger night. Whole-wheat buns, sauteed mushrooms and onions, sprouts, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheddar. Pretty tasty.

My mom (we are visiting my parents) made some coleslaw, I baked up some potato chips and we washed it down with some Lemongrass Dry Soda (I loooooove that stuff). It was stuff-yer-gut good.

chef salad

This is one of our favorite meals because everyone can choose their own salad. My youngest boy tried to get away with only cheese, eggs and chicken. Yeaaaaah, no.

Tonight our options were: lettuce (duh!), chicken, red pepper, hard-boiled egg, clover sprouts (I sprouted them myself!), cheddar, broccoli, carrots and pine nuts. Needless to say, I had mine with everything.

chicken pot pie + monkey bread

The kids were playing restaurant this afternoon. Their kitchen was under our dining room table. I'm not quite sure why they didn't just pretend in our real kitchen, but hey, they're kids, right? They brought me the menu and one of the entree choices was chicken pot pie. I ordered their version and then asked if I could make a real one for dinner; it sounded so good. I immediately received a "Yes!" followed by a "Wait a minute! What vegetables are you going to put in it?" I said that I would only put in broccoli. Well, broccoli and an onion because I put onion in everything. And carrot, carrot would be good as would potato. The previous "Yes!" became a resounding, "No!"

I could see this was going to be an uphill battle and I was already tired. They wheedled me down to "No veggies, not even onion." Can you believe it? It barely filled the 9x13 halfway, but they ate every single drop. It was tasty, but visually rather bland. This was definitely one of those "I'm outnumbered and they know it" times.

For dessert, my youngest son wanted to make Monkey Bread "all by himself." He saw the recipe in the Paula Deen kids' cookbook my redhead checked out from the library and wanted to make it. She calls for canned biscuits (pshaw to that) so I subbed in my pizza dough (of course). It was simple and the kids were thrilled. In the end my redhead wanted her name added to the "people who helped make this bread possible" list, but the little guy wouldn't have any of it. It was his. So for the record, for dessert tonight we had Tank's Monkey Bread.

pizza

I completely forgot to take a picture tonight. How could I be doing something for almost six months and then forget? As far as nights to misplace my brain, this one wasn't too bad. I mean it's pizza. Something I've done eight times on this blog already. If you really want a picture you could click on the pizza link to the right over there. Tonight we had one pineapple, one cheese, and one pepperoni. Not much imagination, I confess.

I thought that since I use it ALL THE TIME, I would post my pizza dough recipe for you. I have a pizza tutorial but it's two years old now and I should really update it. Not tonight though. Tonight I'll just give you the skinny on the dough. I use this dough for breadsticks, rolls, pizza (obviously), kolaches, bread loaves, focaccia, pita, and anything else bread-y that pops in my mind. I originally got it from here but that recipe has a few flaws that I've fixed. Here's my rendition:

 Mix together and let stand while you get the other stuff together:

• 1 c water (if you're using whole wheat flour, you'll need 1 1/4 c water and it'll take a little longer to rise)
• 2 1/4 tsp yeast (or one packet)

In the bowl of your mixer combine:

• 3 c flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tb olive oil

Pour in the water/yeast mixture and with your kneading hook on turn the mixer on low. ("Stir" for Kitchenaids.) After 7-10 minutes, you'll know your dough is done if it's all together in a ball and smooth in appearance. If it's sticking to the bottom, add a couple tablespoons of flour. It's best to be too sticky rather than too dry, though. Oil your hands pretty good and then take the dough out. Oil the bowl and drop the dough in, turning once to coat both sides in oil. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let it rise in a nice cozy spot until double. (I usually pick a sunny window, on the counter near where I'm cooking on the stove or even on the floor where the exhaust of my fridge blows out.) Roll it out, add toppings and bake in a 500 degree oven for 8 minutes or until the cheese is melted and has little brown spots in various places all over the crust.

This recipe makes one large thick crust pizza. I usually double this recipe and make three 12 inchers.

lasagna + salad + bread

Tonight the kids picked lasagna. Fresh baked bread and a green salad were the obvious accompaniments.

My dessert was a square of my 86% Intense Dark Midnight Reverie Ghirardelli bar that I received in my Christmas stocking smeared with almond butter. Mmmmm. Quite a lovely meal. Bravo kids.

calzones + smoothies

Tonight they all wanted Pick-Pockets. They were so excited. I made some pizza dough and followed the cookbook's instructions exactly. (Well, almost. They called for store-bought pizza dough cut into squares so the Pick-Pockets would end up triangular. I had to roll mine and they ended up in half circles.) When I was ready to put them in the oven the kids were so disappointed.
     "Hey! You made calzones! We wanted Pick-Pockets!"
     "I made them exactly following the recipe."
     "Oh. Do you think that maybe Pick-Pockets are just a fancy name for calzones, then?"
     "That might be it."

I also made these really yummy smoothies. Blend one avocado, one banana, one handful of almonds and enough soymilk to make it the right consistency. I loved it. So did the baby and the youngest son. Red-head daughter tried it and didn't like it (Bravo, daughter, for trying!) but the oldest two wouldn't even attempt it. Not-Even-Trying is a major pet peeve of mine but I didn't push it tonight. I just wasn't up to it emotionally.

meatballs + broccoli + rolls

Kid Week continues...

Most of the recipes from this week come from my daughter's cookbook: Better Homes & Gardens New Junior Cookbook. While I could skip the ridiculous illustrations, the recipes are decent. They are a little heavy on pre-made items (pizza dough, etc) but I just substitute my homemade versions and I'm satisfied.

The Ham Cannonballs were tonight's choice. Half ground beef and half ham that I chopped in my food processor, they were a little soft texture-wise, but they made up for it with taste. I added brown-n-serve rolls (courtesy of my mom) and steamed broccoli. My parents joined us (they have to leave for a cruise in the morning from Galveston and are staying tonight with us) and Dad said these meatballs just wanted a hoagie roll for sandwich perfection. I think he's on to something there.

While it's a little heavy on the pepperoni (I haven't posted the different pizza-type lunches we've been having) and other meats, this Kid Week isn't turning out quite as bad as I first thought it might.

do i really have to tell you?

First, the excuses.

1. We had a late lunch.
2. There were just so many kids I lost focus.
3. They really didn't care anyway.

Technically, my kids ate popcorn balls and monster cookies for dinner. I watched our friends' kids so they could go out for a pre-Valentine's rush dinner. Nine children, four of which had brought sandwiches (which didn't get eaten), and a thrown-together Valentine's party produced just enough chaos that it was bedtime before we realized that we didn't actually eat a "dinner." 

Well, my kids didn't eat dinner, that is. I got so hungry and sort of sick that I prepared and ate an entire box of Annie's macaroni & shells at 1030pm. Not my best move. But definitely a tasty one.

out, out, out

A local church had a parents' night out tonight. Husband is gone so I took advantage and had dinner with friends. We ate Chinese. I had tofu with spicy sauce (that's what it was called on the menu), hot and sour soup and they gave us a free egg roll. Cha-ching! Score!

wings + veggie sticks

Kid week continues with Garlic-Parmesan Wings. I got the recipe off the 'net. I was pretty surprised at how easy they are. Just bake the wings and toss them in a sauce. We just might add wings to a more regular spot. We had carrot sticks and red pepper strips as well. There were supposed to be celery as well, but it was too sad. Much too sad for us.

hot dogs + chips

The kid-choice week has begun. I let the kids design the menu and first up: hot dogs! HEB had Hebrew Nationals for only $2 a pack! It was a sign from God if there ever was one. I had treated the kids to bacon this morning and I used a little of the bacon grease in my cast iron skillet to heat up the dogs. Sinful, I know.

I used my pizza dough to make hot dog buns and then used the recipe in my daughter's cookbook to make chips. They turned out so very good. Half were kettle chip-like and the other half (the ones I didn't cut quite as thin) were a little more potato-y in the middle. They were devoured.

Picky daughter informed me that we "shouldn't buy hot dog buns anymore, they just aren't as good." I can't say I didn't smile.

God bless friends with big hearts

I went grocery shopping today and my friend offered to watch my four oldest while I took my baby. I left around 4:30pm and didn't get to our friends' house to pick up my kidlets until 6pm. And what do you think I found? My lovely friend had dinner all ready for me when I walked in the door. How good of a friend is that? You're jealous aren't you? (By the way, it was box macaroni and cheese pimped up to healthier and high-brow levels of deliciousness with ground beef, zucchini, tomatoes and some other things I can't remember that she said.)

mish-mash

I am amazed at how kitchen-ly unmotivated I am with my spouse-man gone. I think tonight was the last night to glean a meal from leftovers. I ate a stuffed sweet potato from the other night, a quesadilla, a green salad, a tangelo and a handful of wasabi peas.  I did this all while standing at the counter supervising my seven-year old redhead make Malt-O-Meal. I also ate each thing separately, not knowing what I would eat next until I finished the current food and looked for the next. I think it went well.

I, for whatever self-centered reason, decided to start every sentence with the pronoun I. I succeeded. I am tired and my writing is getting ridiculous. I am sorry.

whatever you can find

That's how it was tonight. We took my husband to the airport and by the time we got home it was after 5:30. I told the kids they could eat whatever they could find, upon approval. For myself, I cooked up some elbow macaroni and ate up the rest of the oh-so-yummy puttanesca sauce. And then I ate a bowl of granola.

That's just how it is some days.

valentine's, a week early

My loving husband is abandoning me on Valentine's Day for the 2nd year in a row. Work, work, work. Fortunately for him he made it up to me by taking me out to this delicious restaurant. And to be honest, not fighting with St. V crowds is rather nice.

Where did we go? Well, we usually eat vegetarian most of the week. Every so often I get an incredible urge to eat meat. Beef, particularly. I just feel like I really need to eat meat. With this in mind I did some research and found Guri do Sul, a Brazilian steakhouse. (More specifically, a churrascaria.)

If you don't know, this is a place where you get what you want from the salad bar and then roving gauchos (that's what they called them) bring sword-long skewers of meat and slice it onto your plate. Constantly. Every minute you are being asked if you want the Garlic-Spiced Beef, or the House Special Center Cut, or the Lamb Chops (yuck!) or...you get it right? Before five minutes are up your plate is completely full.

Let me go back to the salad bar, though.  It's not your typical iceburg lettuce, baby corn and ranch line. It had hearts of palm, steamed asparagus and green beans, mozzarella balls, pickled red peppers, marinated mushrooms, two types of crab salad, and more. Oh so much more. It was more along the lines of an antipasto bar. My favorite was the real wheel of Parmesan-Reggiano carved out into a bowl in which you could take out chunks of the salty cheese. That's when I knew I had landed in a little corner of heaven.

(My salad plate, pictured above, taken in the dark dining room with my hubster's camera. I know it's less than ideal photo-ing, but let's just consider ourselves lucky we got any pictures at all. The only reason I remembered to take this one was because I hadn't eaten yet. Once their delectable food hit my lips, all other thoughts left my mind.)

The best part was because I ate so much meat, I was satiated before my tummy distended into the country of Painland.The meal was awesome and I recommend the next time you have some a lot of money to blow, treat yourself to Guri's.

Well, if you're in the NW Houston area, that is.

stuffed sweet potatoes + rice + chutney

I'm back in the mood for Indian. The smells when you cook up those exotic spices are awesome.

Tonight, I made these unspeakably delicious Savory Indian Sweet Potatoes. Think twice-baked potatoes with an Indian flair. The sweet potatoes were baked, gutted and the innards added to cinnamon and coriander-spiced onions, peas, red pepper and cream cheese. And cream cheese, we all know, makes everything better. No exception with this recipe.

The rice was aptly named Golden Rice in Low-Fat Moosewood. Turmeric, carrots and a few other spices were added to brown basmati and mmmmmmm, is how I can describe it.

I've never been a big chutney person simply because it's so foreign to me and no one has ever "taught" me how to use it. Moosewood recommended saucing the potatoes with yogurt and their Mango Chutney. I decided to give it a try. Easy recipe: add all ingredients and simmer for 45 minutes. Unfortunately, when dinner time came I realized I had used all the yogurt for a biscuit recipe and we had to use sour cream. Fortunately it was a rather delicious substitution.

leftovers

Leftovers yet again. I had more Penne Puttanesca. It was even better the second day.

The kids had Annie's Mac & Cheese. But since I am such a lover of those yellow-sauced elbows I had a bowl of it as well. Normally I add a spoon of sambal to spice things up. Tonight I opted for a couple dollops of that puttanesca sauce. Macaroni and cheese heaven let me tell you. I couldn't convince any of the kidlets to try my concoction. Wussies.

If you happen to make mac and cheese and have some puttanesca lying around, mix them! You won't be sorry. (At least I don't think you will.)

Tonight was a bit overkill. The husband's gone and it was either all or nothing. Translation: Cereal or a full-blown dinner. I needed something substantial and healthy so I went for the latter.

So for me, and four kids under ten I made Smoky Eggplant and Red Pepper Pate on water crackers, Penne Puttanesca and a green salad. Needless to say we had a bit leftover. And the kids weren't impressed nearly enough.

All recipes came from Low-Fat Moosewood and I'll definitely be making the Puttanesca again. It was lovely: a thick, chunky tomato sauce with kalamatas and capers and little red pepper flakes. (Confession Time. I am not a lover of whole wheat penne. It was too heavy. I'll try another brand to see if it's the brand, but if it's just like HEB's store brand which I used tonight, I'm downgrading to white penne again. Hang my health.)

The pate was good but it could have been better. I'm going to have to tweak it a little since it was a bit bland.

The salad was salad. (And I like salad.)

tacos

Easy dinner night. Tacos! I used ground beef instead of tofu and the kids were pleased.

grilled cheese + tomato soup

Tonight was classic Americana with a twist.

My husband is not a huge fan of tomato soup. He'll eat it but he'd prefer not to. Well, the poor guy is in St. Louis this week so we had tomato soup with no guilt on my part. Of course we had to have grilled cheese. You just got to.

The kids had normal sandwiches but I had a grilled cheese risen to new heights. My buddy ol' pal turned me onto grilled avocado & cheese and I've never looked back. Believe me when I tell you, it's tay-ay-sty.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, tomato soup is one of the few prepackaged foods that I buy. Our favorite is Pacific's Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato.