What's for Lunch?

Frittata!!

I've always wanted to make a frittata. Why? Well, first off, it's fun to say. Secondly, it's a little high brow, but seems oh so easy. And it was.

I had leftover chicken and broccoli from Sunday lunch. So I sauteed them both in some olive oil in a small non-stick pan, mostly just to heat them up. Then I beat three eggs with my good friends salt and pepper, and poured the eggs over the chicken and broccoli. I let that sit in the pan over medium heat for eight minutes.

Then I sprinkled cheese over the top, and stuck the pan under the broiler for two more minutes and pronounced it done. It slid right out on the plate. I ate half, and Ben ate half of half (he wasn't as in to it as I was, probably because he didn't say it enough.) It tasted like a quiche with no crust. Pretty tasty. Not something I would want every day, but a nice treat for a day off, and a great way to dispense with some leftovers in an inventive way.

Everyone say it, altogether...Frittata!!

Resolutions

I'm not real big on New Year's Resolutions. In fact, I've found that my most "sticky" resolutions happen at other times in the year. But I do like to set a few goals for myself when New Year's rolls around - I've found that the fewer you make, the more likely you are to keep them. So here goes - my resolutions for 2009:

1. Eat more Super Foods.

I recently saw an episode of Healthy Appetite where Ellie Krieger talked about what she calls "super foods". These are those foods that pack the most nutritional bang for your buck. She named her top ten - of course there are many more that didn't make the list, but you have to start somewhere. So here they are, in no particular order:
Salmon
Spinach
Broccolini
Kiwi
Mango
Oatmeal
Nuts (walnuts in particular)
Hummus (actually, beans of any kind)
Red Bell Pepper
Berries (any kind)

The good news is: I already love nine out of ten of these foods! I'm not a big fan of red bell pepper, but I haven't tried one in a while, so who knows - maybe I can develop a taste. In the mean time, I have listed all of these foods on my fridge door to remind me to buy them, cook with them, and eat them.

2. Grow my own herbs.

I love to cook with fresh herbs. But....my local grocers don't have a great variety, what they do have is pre-packaged and over-priced, or sold in bunches that I couldn't possible go through before they go bad. Now, I'm not known for my green thumb, so this might turn out to be a disaster. But, I already had seeds for parsley, dill, basil, and oregano, leftover from a cub scout terrarium project. True, two of the packets expired last month, and the other two expire at mid-night tonight, but you never know. The worst that can happen is that I waste some dirt. So I planted the seeds in some good dirt in plastic cups in the window sill. It will be fun to see what happens.

3. Walk.

I am very fortunate to work in a business park that is great for walking. I can walk on breaks and at lunch very easily. So why don't I? Because it's easier to sit in a chair. But the truth is, I really enjoy walking. I take my ipod with me, and it's a great stress reliever/recharger. On really hot days, I sweat too much. On rainy days, well, that's out for obvious reasons. But on most days, there's no downside. It's just a matter of discipline.

So there you have it: My Resolutions 2009. What are you going to try to do this year?

Fun in the Kitchen

I was talking to one of the other mom's at a boy scout meeting one week, and she was telling me about how she's teaching her kids to cook. She lets them pick the meals - they have to be well-rounded and fairly nutritious - and she makes sure they have whatever they need to cook them. Each kid cooks one meal a week. Her kids are about the same age as Ben and Daniel, so I thought we'd give it a try as well.

We started slow - Ben made nachos and Daniel made hamburgers and oven fries. Not the most nutritious, well-rounded meals on the planet, but I wanted to start them out doing something they'd enjoy. We've moved on - Ben has since made Venetian grilled chicken with pasta, and Daniel made spaghetti with meat sauce. They each added a fruit side dish for their second attempt. I finally dropped the hammer and said there would have to be at least one solid vegetable present for each meal that they cook. Ben was the first to rise to the occasion and added steamed broccoli to his grilled chicken with fettuccine Alfredo.

So far, everything has been really tasty, and there have been no real accidents. I've tried to explain the whys of what they are doing, and not just tell them what to do. And I've been surprisingly hands-off (I have this bad habit of taking over their projects.) I help them work out a time-table, explain what they need to do for each dish, demonstrate if necessary, and mostly do whatever they ask me to. I've been very pleased, and hope we will continue this into the new year.

Mark has offered to take over one meal a week as well, but I can't call what he does "Fun in the Kitchen". He's been having Fun on the Back Patio with the Smoker. He got two books for Christmas - one on barbecue in general, and one on rubs and marinades - and he's been burning it up (literally) ever since. He made a really good pork roast yesterday with a spicy rub and a really spicy sauce. It was delicious!

With all this cooking going on, I might be out of a job!!

What I'm Reading Now

OK, so my reading has been few and far between since about Thanksgiving. But I did start The Shack a week or so back. I have been starting and stopping, both because this is a really busy time of year, but also because the subject matter (at least at the very beginning) was not exactly something one wants to dwell on right before Christmas. Or, any time.

In short, the main character is in a very distant relationship with God after the unspeakably horrible loss of his daughter. Years later, he receives a letter in the mail to come for a visit to the shack. The shack is the place where his daughter's clothing (no body has been found at this point in my reading) was found. At the shack, he has a very unorthodox visit with God, in all three persons.

This is as far as I've gotten. He has had talks with God, and with Jesus, and is about to talk with the Holy Spirit in the garden. I'm not sure how I feel about the story at this point (I think this is one that has to be read in its entirety before you decide whether or not it was good), but I am very intrigued by one thing that has been said. God appears as a older black woman. Not at all the way any of us picture God, I'm sure. And when questioned about his/her appearance, God says (and forgive the paraphrasing) "If I appeared to you looking like Gandalf, in a long white robe and a white beard, then I would simply reinforce all the things you think are true about me. And this is not about that. This is about you finding out who I really am."

There is a lot of buzz around this book. People either love it or hate it. I'm beginning to see why. I'm looking forward to deciding which camp I fall into.

Annual Christmas Tree Joke

So, Mark and I took the tree down this morning. It goes surprisingly fast now that the boys are actually able to help more than hinder. And we laughed, as we do every year, at our favorite Christmas tree joke. It was actually a bit from a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up routine. He says "What's the deal with Christmas trees? People put them up, decorate them, and stare at them, mesmerized, for weeks leading up to Christmas. Then the day after Christmas arrives, and everybody freaks out, like "Oh my gosh! There's a tree in the house! Get it out! GET IT OUT!!!!"

Good times.

Christmas Dinner Recap

Well, as my loyal readers know, I was perplexed as to what to cook for Christmas Dinner. In the end, I went with a leg of lamb. I roasted it over a bed of veggies (carrots, red potatoes, parsnips, and fennel) with white wine and a lemon-mustard glaze. It was pretty good - Mark's parents joined us, and none of us had ever had lamb before. We all sat around the table and chewed, looked at the ceiling a few times (why do you always look up when trying new food?), and then came to the conclusion that if no one told us, we would think we were eating roast beef. But it was good. For dessert we had a pear tart that I made (which was completely devoid of flavor of any kind - go figure) and a pecan pie that Mark made (delish!).

And the company was even better. Mark's dad used a walker all day (no chair! Yippee!), and everyone was in good spirits. The boys read the Christmas story from different scriptures. After dinner, we watched A Christmas Story and took naps.

Later on, Mark rescued a stranded brand-new RC helicopter from the roof with a tree trimmer and three large buckets. It was a Norman Rockwell day from start to finish.

I hope all your Christmases were just as merry.

Merry Christmas!

More Christmas Cookies

So, there are these cookies my Mom gets from Freeman's Bakery in Florence. If you described them to me, I would say "no, thanks." They just don't sound that great on paper. But they are AWESOME. The elves at Freeman's roll out strips of something kin to gingerbread dough filled with fruit cake fruits, bake them, and them cut them into short strips. They rock.

And while I don't have a good gingerbread recipe, I do have a good cookie recipe: the world's best chocolate chip cookies. And I thought, why not use the base of these cookies to make something similar to those Freeman's gems? After all, I have used the base cookie dough for white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies, and they turned out fab.

So I made the world's best chocolate chip cookie dough. Only I didn't add any chips. Instead, I added a half a cup of chopped walnuts, and a cup and a half of fruit cake fruits (I don't know what else to call them.) I also added a half a teaspoon cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon cardamom, and some freshly grated nutmeg.

Daniel has refused to try them (he is very loyal to his chips), but Mark and Ben gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up. I liked them as well. We have deemed them "Santa-Worthy." I love it when a plan comes together.

And by the way, if you ever go to Florence, go to Freeman's Bakery. Even if you don't buy any cookies, it's worth it just to go in and smell the place.

What's for Dinner? (In Pictures....)

Mmm-Mmm Good.

Christmas Cookies!

Today was Christmas cookie day at our house! We baked three different kinds of cookies, some with better results than others.

First up, we baked Alton Brown's Chocolate-Peppermint Pinwheels. He made these on The Santa Clause episode (very funny.)

Clearly, mine didn't spread as well as AB's did, but man, they were good.

By contrast, the raspberry thumbprints spread like wildfire. I couldn't even get them off of the pan. I finally just slid the parchment off the cookie sheet and left it on a desk. We eat one when we walk past.

Finally, the main event. We have a GREAT sugar cookie recipe that we make every year, using the cookie cutters that me and my brother used when we were kids.

I like them plain. (This says a lot for the recipe.)

Mark and the boys like them decorated.

Lookin' good!

I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, and experiment with a fruit-chewy-nut cookie, but my feet hurt and I still have to cook dinner. If I try the other cookies, I'll post later in the week.

Wish I could share some with you!!

Dinner Party

My sister-in-law Karen just finished FIVE SEMESTERS of nursing school. Those of us with two kids and a job and a house to keep know how HUGE an accomplishment this is. Since we missed her pinning ceremony, we decided to have Karen and Craig and their kids Callen and Anna over for dinner to celebrate!

We started the evening by toasting Karen's success with sparkling white grape juice (Daniel gave the toast.) Ben said the prayer, then we all enjoyed bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, maple butter sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus, spinach-hazelnut salad, and dinner rolls. And then we chased it down with creme brulee.

But most importantly, we had a great visit. After dinner, I forced everyone in front of the tree for pictures. Good times.

Sticker Shock

All year long, I have been planning a Christmas meal. Not real, serious meal-planning mind you, just kicking around ideas, with the basic idea being to prepare a really nice, bordering high-brow, Christmas meal for Mark and the boys (and anyone else who wanted to join). My fantasy involved a standing rib roast, or possibly a leg of lamb, or something that equally screams "special occasion".

So I go to Ingles last weekend and take a meander through the meat department, just looking to see what was out there. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but around here, stores don't carry real specialty items until close to Christmas. So I was just taking an inventory - seeing what was available.

And Ingles had a standing rib roast! And it was $80! (Actually, it was $80 with the Ingles Advantage card - it was really $95.) Holy Lord! I put it down like it was on fire. I walked off, looking like someone who accidentally picked up an adult magazine or something.

Eighty dollars??? I wanted a special occasion, but not that special.

So yesterday, Mark and I are at Food City, and I decide to check out their meat department. They have a leg of lamb! For $68. And a beef tenderloin. For a couple thousand and some change. The most "in my budget" thing they had was a loin of pork for $30, but it didn't even have the bones in it.

I haven't completely given up. After all, I can do some pretty amazing things with a pork tenderloin, but we have that all the time (tonight, in fact.) I'm looking again on Monday, so we'll see what I find. I may end up hanging out at the grocery store until closing time on Christmas Eve and making an offer.

Holiday Movie Quotes

OK, most of these should be fairly easy, but I thought it would be a fun, seasonal thing to do. Go!

1. "Eat, Papa, eat!"
2. "He must be a South Pole Elf."
3. "Naddafinga!"
4. "Happy Birthday!"
5. "Merry Christmas, Uncle,"
6. "Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?"
7. "I'm Mister Green Christmas. I'm Mister Hundred and One!"
8. "Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?"

Merry Christmas!

The Bethlehem Project

The boys' church Christmas play was tonight, and they did a great job!! Ben played Uzzi, a Bethlehem street tuff, and Daniel played Caleb, his right-hand man. They both sang short solos (a first!) and said all their lines loud and clear. It was a really nice program.

Uzzi and Caleb share a laugh.

Caleb mops the stable.

Daniel's teacher came to see him in action.

The show also featured Gigantor as Joseph.

Visit With Sam

On Saturday, the extended fam had an Early Christmas/Late Thanksgiving/Sam's Birthday celebration.

Of course, I only got pictures of Sam.

With one exception.

Good times.