Try Something New - Lunch Time

This year (pleeeeease let me stick with it this time), I have sat down with the boys at the beginning of the week and made a lunch list for the week. Art stays at school because he likes to have more time to play with his friends but Macboy thoroughly enjoys any break from the day that he can get, so he comes home. 

History has taught us that if we don't discuss it much, my kids will eat the same bologna sandwich every day for months without complaining, then one day it will just stop. You know that moment where it's like "if I ever see another piece of bologna again...." It's not that I force feed them the same thing every day. I don't. I ask them every morning what they want, and they tell me. I'm not awake enough in the morning to even think that it's the same thing they've eaten for the last 476 days straight.  They are not allowed peanut butter, and are picky eaters, so I'm kind of screwed for ideas.

Oh, wait.... I should have said grilled cheese. Or anything else. My kids still willingly eat bologna everyday even if it's not in a sandwich. I've gone through at least a package every week for the last .... oh.... 6 years. haha
(wish I was kidding)

I talked to them about the importance of variety, getting a good assortment of foods in and absorbing different nutrients and blah, blah, blah....

We started with a general list of 'acceptable' ideas, which I have kept and will add to as we find more variety, then we listed the days of the week and chose their lunch picks for the week.  When we got to Friday, I added a 'Surprise Lunch'  The big surprise is that I don't have a clue what the surprise is either.... I haven't decided yet. It depends on the amount left in the paycheck after the bills clear!

Art has asked to come home for lunch on Fridays, I agreed on the basis of Surprise Lunch days, but not necessarily every Friday. We would discuss in advance as the year goes on.  I know he likes to come home, but it all depends on the day. If he had a super morning recess he wants to continue it at lunch, if it wasn't so great, he wants to come home.  For a few weeks last year, he figured I could come into the school to check with him.  Ummmm..... No. I don't go there to pick up Macboy, so I would have to go out of my way to see IF he was having fun or not.  I finally put my foot down and made him come home everyday.  And of course, because Art will argue with everything just for the sake of practicing his english, both of those months, he wanted to stay almost every day.

I don't want to get into a rut for food, and I need to expand Macboys cooking skills a bit. Lunch is a great time for this. Most of the time it is just him and I and the Angel Baby, so I've been teaching him how to make more of his own food.  There will be a time not too far from now that he will need to make his own lunches everyday. 

I couldn't eat the same thing every single day.... I'd go nuts! So, I'm working on making sure they don't repeat their meals too much either. Plus it saves me time every day, I don't have to guess, I know I have what I need. They get more time with mom because I'm ready. Win, Win, Win.

Sausage and Eggs, Please

Seriously, the Sunday Morning breakfast should not be so darn complicated!!  We are all picky eaters here in one way or another.  Every one of us.

Today was Sausages and Eggs.  Simple, right?  No.  I'm not a meat eater... and not crazy about eggs all the time either.  But I'm cooking today, so I'm gonna eat it.  Dear Trucker, well, he likes eggs but only one way.  Sunny side up.  Art agrees, he won't eat an egg you can't "dip toast in". Macboy wouldn't touch an egg even if you paid him.  He says it's only okay to have eggs if they end up in something where you can't even see there ARE eggs.  Like Cake.
So, in a house with sausages, eggs and toast,  none of us had the same breakfast.

Trucker ate his sausages while he was waiting for toast, then he had his toast and eggs.  Like a two course meal.
I ate the meal altogether as intended (though I have to admit, I soak sausages with pancake syrup first or I can't eat them).
Art had eggs and toast, no sausage.
Macboy had toast with peanut butter.  No eggs, no sausage.

And then, of course, there's Angel Baby ... her taste just depends on the day.  And today it was the baby's breakfast not hers.  She did eat some of everything, but only because it was 'someone else's' breakfast.  You know how that is, it always tastes better from someone else's plate!

Yes, she even had her own chair.  Macboy tried to sit there and Angel Baby FREAKED OUT.

You just have to love my family of picky eaters!

Some Days You Shouldn't Ask

More specifically, TODAY.  

When I am running down the list of the furniture I moved, the organizing I've done, the million things I've accomplished, it is not advisable to interrupt and ask 

"What's for dinner?"

I did have dinner options ready, I just hadn't started yet. teeheehee. (sounds good, right?)  It was a quick prep day, taco pie.

And there you have it, the details of my day as the trucker would prefer to hear it.  I'm smart enough to admit that it is probably ALL he heard out of everything I said today anyway.

The problem with asking about dinner today is that it came out during our discussion about reclaiming/creating my home office.  You see, I've never really had an 'office' here.  I have a portable workstation, a binder that keeps me together and a laptop. Most of the time, my office is in my dining room or living room.  But there are supplies that I need, paper and pens, I have a bulletin board and whiteboard, the big calendar, the printer... and so on... that were residing in our guest room/office space.  

My oldest son, Macboy, is 11 now.  He doesn't want to share his space with his younger brother.  I lost the argument with the trucker a few months back about the boys sharing their space.  I had even tried a 'private' space for each boy. One had a large closet, the other had a play area under the stairs.  But, my attempts to keep them sharing were all in vain.  My dearest trucker has 6 sisters. No brothers.  I bet all of the sisters would agree with me, but he is the only boy and always had his own room so he just doesn't get it.  I always had to share with my sister... why can't the boys?

We finally agreed that he could SLEEP in the guest room. Not every single night, but some nights when the younger one was being difficult.  It didn't take long before it was every night, except if we actually needed the guest bed for guests. 

A few weeks go by and he has taken over the surface of the dresser and the bedside table is buried under lego and books.  

Trucker, always the helpful sort, decides to swap the contents of the guest room dresser with Macboys clothes.  Just three days before, I cleaned out the top drawer for my growing stock of office items.  Now, my office supplies (well, half of them) just got relocated to the CLOSET of my youngest boys bedroom!  A week or two later, when I was complaining about the placement of my things... it was suggested I quit my job.  Seriously!! Ummm.... okay?

Today, I just threw in the towel.  I finally gave up.  

I had a conference call on Skype.  I was sitting on a selection of Mario plush toys and using the top of my new filing cabinet (which has not yet been given a home) to support the laptop. I had to set my coffee between a couple of Sega cartridges and had a heck of a time trying to find a pen and a flat writing surface.

I need my office back 

I need my office supplies in ONE spot, in ONE room 

This is what I'd LOVE

I took Macboys dresser into the guestroom, switched the contents back where they should be.  I brought up the smaller dresser from the basement and swapped the larger one out of there. I donated the large dresser immediately.  After returning from Goodwill, I moved the lego landslide upstairs.  I moved my office items downstairs. I moved almost all of our play area from the basement and divided it between the two boys.  

I moved three dressers today, including hauling one up a set of stairs and one to my vehicle.  I moved a large rolling cart down stairs, and I took about 50 trips up and down those stinkin stairs moving the office down and the play area up.  

With a toddler underfoot all day and two boys after school too. 

This is what I get :)

 All I wanted to say was

I really DON'T CARE what 

YOU make for dinner!!!

But I didn't get a chance.

The only help I've asked for, is no more help.  And after a full day of moving everything all over my house...
My boys have clean rooms but I STILL don't have my office.

Broccoli Cheese Soup For My Sick Family

Well, we are finally on the mend again... I'm sorry for such a long break between posts.  Everyone one has been sick at least once in the last 6 weeks here. Three adults, three kids all down at varying times with some sort of bug.  I am hopeful that the last of it has now passed.

Today is a snowy and windy kind of day.  Great day to make some home made buns and my favorite broccoli cheese soup.  There are very few things I enjoy more than a good thick bowl of cream of broccoli soup. Given my cooking history I had to search high and low for a good recipe that I could actually manage to make.

The broccoli cheese soup recipe I found first was heavy on onions, so it didn't really taste like broccoli anything.  But the directions were simple enough and, after all, this is soup I'm making... I just used less onions the next time.  It was great when I made it for me, so I attempted to share with the family. 

It's not a favorite for every one, but it is definitely something they will all eat.  And that is a rare occasion here!

Right now, while I write, the veggies are simmering away on the stove in half broth/half water.  Today I've added a small onion and a clove of garlic as well as some celery.  (I'm really big on onions right now, since they do seem to help fight these flu germs!)  

It smells absolutely FANTASTIC in my house right now. 

Once the buns are ready to bake, I will add the cheese and make the soup rich and creamy.

The dough is rising as we speak and the buns will be fresh out of the oven just in time for dinner.  I'm making the pull apart buns (also called clover leaf buns, I guess) as they are a family favorite.  Thank you to my dear mother in law for letting me in on that secret!! I've never known my trucker to eat so much of something home baked!  

Just by changing the way I baked them, I transformed these buns from 'okay' to 'awesome'.

And there is nothing... absolutely nothing better .....than having still warm buns to dip in the broccoli cheese soup that has been slow cooked all day... when the snow is blowing all around the house.

Stay warm!!

How To Make Your Kids Eat Dinner

Tonight, I had this massive craving for pasta.  The trucker was working later, still home in the evening but not home for dinner, so this worked perfectly.  He's not a noodle guy.
I decided on Chicken and Mushrooms with Penne and Pesto sauce, which I loved and the little princess inhaled!
My boys don't like mushrooms (when they can see them) and they are not big fans of 'fake chicken' (the kind with skin and bones removed).  They believe that all pasta should be like KD.  Super cheesy and only in that shape!

I had store bought pesto that had just a hint of lemon in it.  My boys LOVE lemons, they often ask for them and will almost always eat them like oranges.  So for tonight's dinner, I sliced up a fresh lemon and lined the pieces up on the edge of the plates. The meal looked gourmet!!

A little sprinkle of lemon over the pasta, then they ate what was left of the fresh lemon... and then cleaned their plates!  They ate a meal full of things they don't like, simply because of a few slices of lemon.

Don't I wish I had thought of this earlier!

Oh, and before I forget... for those who are curious... 
Yes, the potato salad was great as was the pork, the company and the entire evening with friends and family!!

Recipe Books Do Not Instantly Make Good Cooks

If you look in my collection of cookbooks, which I share with my mother, you will find stains and splashes on all the good recipes. Those are the pages that have been used so many hundreds of times that we don't even need to look at them anymore, unless we need to double check an ingredient or cooking time.  

In addition to the smears of love, you will find our family secrets. No single recipe ever gets made exactly as it is written. We have additions or omissions. We have notes about who liked or hated each dish.

Each time we try something new or a new variation, it gets written down and dated.  

I absolutely love this!

My darling mother has provided me with an excuse to NOT make the same mistakes she has.  The foresight to NOT make a recipe that was a real dud and the secrets to improving a meal that was 'almost' good.  I know she is a great cook, but now I also know that she went through the same processes that I am going through now. 

Trial and error, over and over.  

This wonderful gift of information that we share should be my saving grace, it should give me a head start on this learning curve. But it doesn't always work this way.

One favorite meal, a super easy casserole dish, exists in several of our Company's Coming cookbooks.  It's Shipwreck.  Simple ingredients, easy prep, delicious dinner.  Mom has made this many times, I have made it many times.

BUT 

(of course with me there is always a "BUT")

I can't raise this ship to save my life.  It always tastes good, the flavour is right.  BUT every single time I make it, I forget one ingredient.  

Not even the same ingredient!  

Each time I make it, I take everything out of the fridge or pantry first.  I spread out everything I need and double check the list to be sure I have it all.  And still, somehow, I miss something.  It's a layered dish, potatoes, onions, meat, celery, rice, etc...  I miss a layer every time.  Whether the rice or a veggie, something is always missing.  

This shipwreck, for me, is eternally beyond salvageable.

The only positive experience I can draw from continually making this meal is that I never forget the meat (beef) and the potatoes.  

I guess that's why my trucker likes it. That's the only part he cares about anyway.

That Burning Smell Is Not The Ribs!

I can not believe that those words actually came out of my mouth.  Such a proud moment in my motherhood.  And possibly worse yet was the reaction of my husband... "I guess we're just so used to your cooking, I hadn't smelled anything burning anyway."

Now, I must admit that I am not the worlds greatest cook.  In my defense, I also cook for a very picky family of 5.  Hmmmm... Maybe, just maybe, they are not picky, but wise to the fact that I am not the worlds greatest cook.

No......

That can't be it!!

More to the point of my story, I made my cheater scalloped potato recipe a few days ago.  Using a can of mushroom soup, my fave spices and ... you guessed it.... potatoes.  I shoved it in the oven and cooked them  until they were done(which is pretty much whenever I can stick the fork in and they are soft).

The potatoes were a hit as always.  (I can cook a few things...)  But they of course boiled over in the oven.

And I, of course, forgot.....

.....until the smoke was rising from the oven while preheating for my famous ribs.  In my absolute brilliance, I actually DID call out "that burning smell is not the ribs."

Thankfully the ribs did turn out just right, like usual.  We sat down to a good family meal.  (Well, ribs, package potatoes and boiled carrots. If that counts for a good meal.)  Everyone ate, everyone got full.  And there was no overpowering flavor of burnt scalloped potatoes in the meat.

I think.

But, then again, I did seem to have more leftovers than usual this time......