Dis-Pinterested Fridge

I was pretty excited when I saw the following pin on Pinterest.  It recommends using Glad Press'n Seal to cover refrigerator surfaces for easy cleaning.  

I finally cleaned out the bottom of my fridge today, but bad news.  The Press'n Seal didn't stick.  I am thinking that the surface must be different.  In any event, I was really bummed.  Oh well, at least I finally wiped my fridge out.

Ever made your own chorizo?

I realize I am a bit nutty because I make so many things from scratch.  I may be a fanatic but the truth is I just love being in the kitchen.  Sometimes cooking meals doesn't satisfy my need to create.  I also like to find new ideas for cooking projects.  I checked this book out of the library this week: Simple Food, Big Flavor by Aaron Sanchez.  It's a cool book because Mr. Sanchez gives 15 recipes for ingredients like salsas, pastes, rubs that can be used to make meals.  It's an awesome format for a cookbook.

I think I'm up for one of the projects (maybe more).  I am considering making my own chorizo.  I have already tried to make this elk sausage and thought it was delicious.  Do you think it's wrong to put elk in chorizo? I'm going to guess that while not authentic, Mr. Sanchez would prefer I have a crack at his recipe in any form.

Weekly Meal Think

Here are the things I am thinking about making for dinner this week.

Mongolian Beef (only with elk) and broccoli (left over from last week since I never made it).
Pumpkin Pasta with garlic bread.
S&B Golden Curry with carrots and potatoes.  If you haven't tried this, it's super yummy and so easy.
Roast Chicken and Potatoes with homemade pear chutney.
Pizza.

And I still have a head of cabbage from the Bountiful Basket last week.  Anyone have a good cabbage recipe?

Breakfast for Dinner

I saw this recipe for sausage and pancake meatballs on the Once A Month Mom site and thought that I would give it a go.  With hash browns and eggs it made a great breakfast for dinner.  It's what we ate Saturday night.  See I can't keep to a meal plan if I tried..

Don't Come to Our House For Dinner

Seriously.  Unless you want to see me lose it in an very undignified manner, you don't want to be anywhere my house at mealtime.

Last night was the second night of my attempt at meal planning.  On the menu: lettuce wraps with Asian crunchies.  First, let me say that I have been sick for three days, so I don't have my usual energy or patience.  Anyway, I made the crunchies about 10am.  They were delicious so I ate a quarter of them for lunch.  I mean anything toasted in butter can't taste bad.  I was also pretty excited to let the hubby taste them too since he loves a bit of crunch on  . . . well, on anything.

Since I wasn't up to a meal that required much prep, I scrapped the idea of replicating PF Changs lettuce wraps and washed the crock pot instead.  I threw in a couple cans of white beans and some home canned peach pepper BBQ sauce (perhaps a post for another day?).  I figured with a little white rice some sweet and spicy beans would be just right.  The less effort the better.

When it was time to eat I found out the hubby was going to be late.  Bummer.  So the kids and I sat down for what was supposed to be an uneventful meal.  My toddlers, however, have the attention span of . . . toddlers.  So once the three year old discovered the rice was sticky he created a new game called "Intentionally cover my hands in the sticky rice so I can go play in the sink."

The 17-month-old wanted to play in the sink too.  In spite of his diminutive stature he can still manage to drag a chair three times his size across the kitchen.  Due to the fact that I was sick and napless I let the two of them play in the sink and enjoyed my lettuce wraps by myself.  I figured what harm can they do to a sink full of dirty dishes?  They can't make them any dirtier.  And the lettuce wraps were delicious!  Soft white rice, sweet and sour beans and the crunch of the Asian crunchies.  Perfect.

At this point I made the mistake that was to be my downfall.  I left the kitchen to talk to the hubby again on the phone.  Upon my return I discovered that all the lovely Asian crunchies, the pinnacle of the meal, were in the sink covered in three inches of water.

So the kids were locked in their room until my urge to scream and cry had subsided, the hubby didn't get any crunch on his lettuce wraps as a reward for working so hard and I had a big mess to clean up in the sink.  So you see, it really is best if you don't come to dinner at our house.

What We Ate For Dinner: Peach Chicken and Asparagus

As a follow up to my meal plan, I thought I would let you know how dinner turned out.  Last night I made chicken in the crock pot based on this recipe.  It was delicious, but I did make a few changes.  First, I only made half a recipe, I used peach jam in place of the apricot preserves and my onion soup mix was homemade.  I was super easy so I have no doubt that we will make it again.  I roasted the asparagus in the oven at 450 after covering it in a little olive oil, kosher salt and some garlic.  It was perfect.

Weekly Meal Think

Here is what I am thinking of making this week.  I say thinking rather than planning because sometimes I change my mind.  If there is a plan and I deviate I feel like a failure, if there is no plan and I deviate then I feel creative. No need to set myself up for failure.

Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken (but I will use peach jam instead) and roasted asparagus
Lettuce wraps with Asian crunchies
Mongolian Beef (with Elk) and steamed broccoli
Chicken Spaghetti casserole with Country green beans
Stuffed green peppers with tomato basil cream sauce (but I don't have turkey so it might be Elk)
Homemade pizza

You might have noticed that all the veggies are those from the Bountiful Basket this week.  Well, except the broccoli.  Wish me luck!

Toddler Job Charts

I've been wanting to start a chore chart for Kimball for a few months.  The new year finally inspired me to get things rolling.  I found a chart that I liked HERE and I have been using small stickers that my Mother-in-law gave me.  I started with one page for Kimball (age 3) and he liked it so much that I went to a second page.  Stan (17 months) loves it too, so he has his own.  I mostly let him put stickers on it since he doesn't yet understand the reason for the stickers.

A few thoughts if you are going to do a chore chart for a three year-old.

1. Put a thing or two on the chart that the child is going to do anyway and even something he likes doing.  This way he will start to understand how it works.  
2. Include things which the child is struggling with behavior wise to incentivize better behavior.  
3. Put something on the list that he is not doing, but you would like him to learn to do.  For me this was going to the potty.  Everyday he tells me that he will do it when he gets bigger.  I figure we'll get there eventually.  At least with the chart he knows it is expected of him.  
4. Put something on the list that you yourself need to remember to do.  For me this was practice piano.  I was always forgetting to help him do, now I remember too.  The chart has also helped me get all of us, kids and hubby included, to pick up toys before bedtime, which is a huge help to keeping Mommy a little saner.

I realize that the hardest part is remaining consistent.  But overall the chart has been awesome.  I love that I can threaten to withhold a sticker if he doesn't brush his teeth when I say it's time.  Finally a threat I can follow through with!  The best part is, since the chart is blank I will be able to adapt it over the next few months/years.  (Is it even possible I can keep this up for years?)

Book Review: The Cookbook Collector

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been so long since I've devoured a book.  I really enjoyed reading this one.  It was all the more delicious since I have been prose starved.  The characters were wonderfully real and multifaceted.  I would recommend to anyone looking for a satisfying read about what makes life worth living.  Just so you know, it's not really about cookbooks.


View all my reviews

Happy Discovery

I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight and I had a little trouble.  I couldn't find the lid to the peanut butter.  I looked in the fridge and look what I found.  My Honey had put the lid on a regular mouth mason jar of apple sauce!  I never knew that they would fit.

You can see just behind the apple sauce that there is a jar of peaches with a white lid.  This is a Ball brand plastic lid for wide mouth jars.  You can buy them for regular mouth too, and I was planning on picking some up, but now I don't have to.  Yay for serendipitous lid discoveries.  My Honey just saved me about $5.  Hey, 5 bucks is five bucks.