The ‘I Can’t Believe I Said That’ Post

I don’t know what it is about turning 5 years old, starting school and suddenly not enjoying the foods you used to love. #2son no longer likes broccoli, anything with a sauce, dark leafy greens, pineapple and hot cereal. The same thing happened to my daughter when she started school. #1son went through a similar episode but thank goodness it was only a phase for him. Because I honestly think he’s going to be a famous chef one day. He loves food. He loves preparing food. And if he can’t help me prepare the meal (tricky knife work or a hot stove) he’s happy to sit and watch me cook. But back to #2son…..

A few nights ago I prepared a new dish for dinner. Something that I thought would be very kid friendly. Meatballs in a BBQ sauce (that has grape jelly in the mix for goodness sake) over egg noodles with string beans. He devoured the green beans. And asked for more. He ate two helpings of green beans but wouldn’t touch the meatball dish.

“It looks yucky,” he said.

“Try it. It has grape jelly in it, your favorite,” I pleaded.

He fussed. He pushed things around. He stalled. Meanwhile, his brother was finished and on to dessert.

“Can I have that for dessert, too?” #2son asked.

“Yes, after you finish your dinner.”

“But I don’t like it,” he said.

“You haven’t even tried it yet. You like noodles. Try some noodles.”

He tasted the noodles. Not bad. So he ate all his noodles.

“Now can I have dessert?”

“No,” I said, “You still haven’t finished your dinner.”

He eyed the meatballs. He looked at me.

“But the meat has too much sauce on it and I don’t like the sauce and I still want dessert,” #2son explained.

“You have to eat the meatballs, too. It’s part of your dinner and if you want dessert you have to eat ALL of your dinner.”

“But I don’t like the meat!” he cried.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “You can’t have dessert if you don’t eat your meat. How can you have any dessert if you don’t eat your meat?”

And then I burst out laughing. And ran to go put on my Pink Floyd CD.

Reason #32 Why I’m So Glad I Left the Rat Race

For Friday’s Funnies I give you this pictorial posted on Holy Taco – 25 Passive Aggressive Office Kitchen Notes. Enjoy! I sure did!

Shoppin’ The Refrigerator

My husband loves leftovers for lunch.  And he’s a saint for eating them up for all of us. Unless, of course, he forgets it on the counter. All day. Until it grows its own goatee complete with gray hair. Typically, because he is so good at eating them up, there are few leftovers. More often than not, I have to use a sharpie to mark MY lunch for the next day – because there are just some things that are better as leftovers like meatloaf, chili and scalloped potatoes.  

Last night, I went to make dinner and the refrigerator was full. To the gills. With what? You guessed it. Leftovers. I don’t mind leftovers but I like to cook. New things. But I hadn’t been shopping for days and the refrigerator looked full. So I scratched the menu for the evening and called the kids to the refrigerator. I handed each one a plate and told them they were shoppin’ the refrigerator. Huh? the confused little guys asked. Shopping? Our refrigerator? For dinner?

With meal tickets in hand (one meat, one starch, one vegetable and one freebie) they picked and choose to their hearts delight. There was so much excitement they couldn’t decide.   I had to pull all the available choices out for fear that the milk would spoil while they stood there gazing longingly at the titillating selection.  #1 son chose spanish rice, beef tenderloin, green beans and sausage. #2 son chose beef tenderloin, sausage, macaroni and asparagus. (Can you tell my boys are meat eaters?) #1 daughter (with her spanking new drivers license) was out “running errands” and conveniently went the fast food route as soon as she heard the menu.

And after every plate was heated up all I heard was munching. Crunching. A little slurping. Thank goodness, no burping. And then, “Mom? Can I have more (fill in the blank)?”  There were no complaints. No bargaining. No questions about what was for dessert so they could decide how hungry they really were. They finished their plates (and they were heaping because I was trying to clear out the refrigerator) without complaint.

Pinch me. I must be dreaming.

These are the very things we’ve eaten over the course of the past 3 days. And at each of those meals I have heard, “How many more green beans do I have to eat?” “Do I HAVE to eat the asparagus?” “You gave me too much rice.” “This meat is too chewy.”

But last night, because THEY got to choose, they couldn’t get enough. I think I might be on to something.

Then my husband came home. “What’s for dinner?” he asked brightly. Leftovers. “Oh.” His face fell. I guess he really does just like leftovers for lunch.

Well, 2 out of 3 happy eaters ain’t bad.

The Not-So-Secret Ingredient

One of my hobbies is cooking. I wish it were something I appreciated and enjoyed when my grandmothers were alive because they each had some amazing recipes, techniques and food stories I would so enjoy learning about today. I watch cooking shows. I sit down and just read cookbooks. Friends and family seem to enjoy what I prepare. And I receive requests for certain specialties.

One of my specialties is my cranberry relish. My family requests it at every holiday. My sister and I love it when there are leftovers. We sit together at the kitchen table, each with a spoon, and share the bowl, all on its own.

My mother doesn’t enjoy cooking. She’s not a bad cook – it just isn’t her thing. Every time she asks me to share the recipe (which I know she’ll never make)  I say, “No. It’s a family secret.” Of course, I’m teasing. She argues that she IS family. She tries to get it from other family members. And she spends time guessing what is in it. She gets all of the ingredients right, except for one. Now I’ve shared this recipe with other members of the family; all people I know will make it themselves. I’ve even given it to fundraiser cookbooks for our school and church. It’s not a very complicated recipe. Just very, very yummy. My mother has watched me make it before. She’s even seen the “secret” ingredient as I’ve chopped it up and put it in the bowl. But, still, she pretends to forget what it is and we do the dance all over again when we’re eating our turkey or ham and the bowl gets passed around and is practically licked clean.

The funny thing about this recipe is it used to be much more complicated. But one particular holiday I was visiting my sister and things were crazy. Between the two of us we had 4 children running around under the age of 5. Our husbands were out doing guy things. We had so many people coming over and I decided to take a major short cut. I would use canned whole cranberry sauce (horrors!) instead of starting from scratch. That particular year there were no leftovers. Everyone claimed it was the best batch ever. I’ve never gone back.

 

1. Open up a can of whole cranberry sauce. Pour into bowl.

2. Add to the bowl: 1 finely chopped thin skinned orange (the whole orange, including the skin. If your skin is a little thick just add less skin), 1 cup golden raisins…..and for the not-so-secret-ingredient….2-3 T. finely chopped crystallized ginger (to taste — I like more rather than less).

3. Mix well and refrigerate for 24 hours. This step is very important as it allows all the flavors to meld.

4. Enjoy! We serve this all year round with turkey, ham, roast chicken and pork.

(The inspiration for this post came from this wonderful blog: http://countryfriedmama.com/)