It's fall! Halololoween is a-comin! And we got stuff to do! Scouts parties and soccer team parties and PTA parties! Parties, people!
(Also I have been grading papers. But mostly, parties!)
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
What I Made for Dinner: October 20, 2010
Beef stew.
Okay, the beef stew was, in fact, very tasty. I'm feeling much less grouchy with a day's distance from making the damn thing. It was really nice to have a healthy, hot meal ready for the family to eat in the twenty minutes we had to eat dinner between Hebrew school and basketball practice.
So I can say it was worth it, although I still maintain it took way too long to assemble it last night. (Plus, the cookbook's proviso "Like all stews, this one gets better with age, so . . . cook it a day or two before serving" is ridiculous in the context of a busy family's Crock Pot cooking.)
I will try it again, but next time I'll try a few modifications to see if I can make it more quickly.
Okay, the beef stew was, in fact, very tasty. I'm feeling much less grouchy with a day's distance from making the damn thing. It was really nice to have a healthy, hot meal ready for the family to eat in the twenty minutes we had to eat dinner between Hebrew school and basketball practice.
So I can say it was worth it, although I still maintain it took way too long to assemble it last night. (Plus, the cookbook's proviso "Like all stews, this one gets better with age, so . . . cook it a day or two before serving" is ridiculous in the context of a busy family's Crock Pot cooking.)
I will try it again, but next time I'll try a few modifications to see if I can make it more quickly.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What I Made for Dinner: October 19, 2010
Eggs in a nest, hash browns, fruit salad.
This dinner was lovely and easy, unlike the insane project I undertook tonight to get tomorrow night's dinner ready.
Too tired to describe it now. That stupid Art of the Slow Cooker book got me again. At least this time, I wasn't all dressed up and rushing to get to work. I am beginning to doubt that the author, one Andrew Schloss, has ever actually talked to anyone who uses a Crock Pot about why, and under what circumstances, a person might use such a device.
This dinner was lovely and easy, unlike the insane project I undertook tonight to get tomorrow night's dinner ready.
Too tired to describe it now. That stupid Art of the Slow Cooker book got me again. At least this time, I wasn't all dressed up and rushing to get to work. I am beginning to doubt that the author, one Andrew Schloss, has ever actually talked to anyone who uses a Crock Pot about why, and under what circumstances, a person might use such a device.
Monday, October 18, 2010
What I Made for Dinner: October 18, 2010
Chicken salad.
So last week, when I turned officially too old to eat road food anymore, I didn't feel like celebrating. (I really like road food, after all.) But my family insisted and on Saturday, when we got back from Omaha, we went over to my sister's house for dinner.
My mom, in planning the menu, had asked what my favorite foods were. If I could eat anything at all, what would it be, and they would try to make it happen. So, you know, sort of like the last meal request for death row prisoners, which may or may not hold a metaphor for my fortieth birthday.
Anyhow, here is what I settled on, which also likely would be my last meal request if things ever went horribly wrong: Martinis and cheese selection to start. Main course of roast chicken and root vegetables. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert.
Of course, my mom and my sister made it happen, and we got to bring home the leftovers. How I love the leftovers from this meal. (Obviously not a concern in the last-meal scenario.) Out of the leftover chicken I got two lunches of chicken salad (the mayonnaise kind) and this dinner, which was a romaine lettuce salad with apples, artichoke hearts, sweet onion, and avocado, topped with chicken and cheddar cheese, dressed with dijon vinaigrette.
So last week, when I turned officially too old to eat road food anymore, I didn't feel like celebrating. (I really like road food, after all.) But my family insisted and on Saturday, when we got back from Omaha, we went over to my sister's house for dinner.
My mom, in planning the menu, had asked what my favorite foods were. If I could eat anything at all, what would it be, and they would try to make it happen. So, you know, sort of like the last meal request for death row prisoners, which may or may not hold a metaphor for my fortieth birthday.
Anyhow, here is what I settled on, which also likely would be my last meal request if things ever went horribly wrong: Martinis and cheese selection to start. Main course of roast chicken and root vegetables. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert.
Of course, my mom and my sister made it happen, and we got to bring home the leftovers. How I love the leftovers from this meal. (Obviously not a concern in the last-meal scenario.) Out of the leftover chicken I got two lunches of chicken salad (the mayonnaise kind) and this dinner, which was a romaine lettuce salad with apples, artichoke hearts, sweet onion, and avocado, topped with chicken and cheddar cheese, dressed with dijon vinaigrette.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
What I Made for Dinner: October 17, 2010
Tilapia and shrimp with vegetables in packets.
We went on a little road trip with the kiddos this weekend on a visit to the fantabulous Omaha Zoo, and I am not kidding when I say the zoo makes a trip to Omaha worthwhile from just about anywhere.
But the road trip means two days of road food, and I recently became officially too old to eat like that anymore. Jeez. So I liked this light little meal as at least partial redemption. The recipe says to add just white wine to the packets, but I added soy sauce and lime juice as well for a more Asian flavor, and I served the fish with brown rice.
We went on a little road trip with the kiddos this weekend on a visit to the fantabulous Omaha Zoo, and I am not kidding when I say the zoo makes a trip to Omaha worthwhile from just about anywhere.
But the road trip means two days of road food, and I recently became officially too old to eat like that anymore. Jeez. So I liked this light little meal as at least partial redemption. The recipe says to add just white wine to the packets, but I added soy sauce and lime juice as well for a more Asian flavor, and I served the fish with brown rice.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
What I Made for Dinner: October 12, 2010
Chili and cornbread.
My parents joined us for dinner tonight and with the mail we got a DVD about summer camp, so tonight's dinner conversation was all about camps we've known and loved. I went away to camp for a month every summer from the time I was twelve until I was too old to go anymore. I've always figured my kids would go someday, too.
I can't believe it, but Josh and Alex are about that age. That snuck up on me.
So for Jewish children in our area, there are two main options for summer overnight camps. Both are hideously expensive. Hideously expensive! There arises the first dilemma: Even if we can scare up the cash for camp, wouldn't it be better--wiser, more prudent--to save it for something else? I mean, there's no question: Yes It Would. College leaps to mind. Braces. Alex's grownup teeth are beginning to look, shall we say, exciting. Cars and the attendant teenage male driver liability funds. Bar Mitzvah parties. Or, or, or any of the other very real, impending, and expensive needs in our children's futures. Times three.
The second dilemma exists only if we ignore the first. I don't know if I can ignore the first. But anyway, which camp? Goldman is my camp alma mater, so I would love to send them there. But it's a little far away. Also, it might not be a great fit for my boys--a little too religiously intense, maybe too much arts and not enough lake. Sabra might be more fun for them, and it's about a thousand times easier to get them there, but it's even more hideously expensive than Goldman and I don't know as much about it.
Oy. Vey.
My parents joined us for dinner tonight and with the mail we got a DVD about summer camp, so tonight's dinner conversation was all about camps we've known and loved. I went away to camp for a month every summer from the time I was twelve until I was too old to go anymore. I've always figured my kids would go someday, too.
I can't believe it, but Josh and Alex are about that age. That snuck up on me.
So for Jewish children in our area, there are two main options for summer overnight camps. Both are hideously expensive. Hideously expensive! There arises the first dilemma: Even if we can scare up the cash for camp, wouldn't it be better--wiser, more prudent--to save it for something else? I mean, there's no question: Yes It Would. College leaps to mind. Braces. Alex's grownup teeth are beginning to look, shall we say, exciting. Cars and the attendant teenage male driver liability funds. Bar Mitzvah parties. Or, or, or any of the other very real, impending, and expensive needs in our children's futures. Times three.
The second dilemma exists only if we ignore the first. I don't know if I can ignore the first. But anyway, which camp? Goldman is my camp alma mater, so I would love to send them there. But it's a little far away. Also, it might not be a great fit for my boys--a little too religiously intense, maybe too much arts and not enough lake. Sabra might be more fun for them, and it's about a thousand times easier to get them there, but it's even more hideously expensive than Goldman and I don't know as much about it.
Oy. Vey.
Monday, October 11, 2010
What I Made for Dinner: October 11, 2010
Penne with roasted tomato sauce.
Here is a fantastic, easy tomato sauce perfect for a weeknight. (And I used up a bunch of basil and oregano out of the garden, too.)
6-8 roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 T brown sugar
2 T olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
about 1/2 to one cup of fresh basil leaves
about 2 T to 1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves
Preheat oven to 425. Line a rimmed baking sheet. Place the tomatoes, cut side up, on the baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them all over with the brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Roast them in the oven until they begin to brown, about 20-30 minutes.
Place the roasted tomatoes in a food processor. Add as much of the pan drippings as possible. Add the herbs. Puree until more or less smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Here is a fantastic, easy tomato sauce perfect for a weeknight. (And I used up a bunch of basil and oregano out of the garden, too.)
6-8 roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 T brown sugar
2 T olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
about 1/2 to one cup of fresh basil leaves
about 2 T to 1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves
Preheat oven to 425. Line a rimmed baking sheet. Place the tomatoes, cut side up, on the baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them all over with the brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Roast them in the oven until they begin to brown, about 20-30 minutes.
Place the roasted tomatoes in a food processor. Add as much of the pan drippings as possible. Add the herbs. Puree until more or less smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
