What I Made for Dinner: July 5, 2009

"Barbecue" lamb, chickpea salad with sweet peppers and feta.

This lamb dish was the return of the grilled leg of lamb we had last week. We had about half of it left over, and this is one of my favorite ways to use leftover hunks of roasted or grilled meats. I plunk it into the crock pot with some barbecue sauce, a can of diced tomatoes, and a beer or whatever leftover bits of wine are in the fridge. Four to six hours later, voila! Fake barbecue! (It's not really 'cue because the meat was never slow-smoked.)

While the leftover lamb crock-potted, we took the boys to a nearby park with a good-sized artificial lake. Josh and Alex wanted to catch frogs. We saw lots of them; by this time of year, apparently, they are large and kind of sluggish. They also seem to have some experience avoiding little boys bearing fishing nets. The frogs of Antioch Park are safe. We did, however, notice, scoop, and inspect several large lake-dwelling snails. We also inadvertently gathered a quantity of mosses and assorted algae. (I don't know how to clean a fishing net. I am hoping the slime will dry up and go away.)

Then we came home to the luscious-smelling fake 'cue and this delicious crisp salad, all of which the kids devoured because they were starving after all that exploring. Eli wouldn't eat any of this stuff but I count tonight as a win anyway because I got him to try, and enjoy, whole-wheat bread and butter. Small victories with this two-year-old.

What I Made for Dinner: June 4, 2009

Alfredo pasta with grilled chicken and peppers.

Suppose you'd been at continuing legal education all day, and suppose when you got home your children really, really wanted you to search for fossils with them. But also suppose you knew that within forty-five minutes or less, those same children--who had been outside just about all day, and who had achieved a spectacular level of dirtiness, and exhaustion to match--would turn into ravening beasts if you didn't come up with something to feed them. What would you do?

(Here is where I wonder why they care that much about playing with me. I have been home with them every day since school let out. Aren't they sick of me yet? I know I would be.)

Well, here's what I would do:

If you have leftover grilled chicken tenders and sweet peppers, and you have some half-and-half and grated parmesan cheese, maybe a little nutmeg, and if you have some whole-wheat bowties, you too could have alfredo pasta with grilled chicken and peppers, all in about fifteen minutes.

Josh and Alex devoured this, but honestly I think they were so hungry they would have eaten anything I set before them.

By the way, they really did find some cool rocks.