Improv Night

So, what does one do when they put Salisbury Steak on the menu?  Get a recipe?

Brian don't need no stinkin' recipe.

Voila!  Salisbury steak, improvised.

It was delicious.  Brian and I thought so, anyway.  Sean gave it a try and ended up eating four bites.

Will, on the other hand, was ok with the flavor until he found the greenery.  (Parsley, and maybe a little spinach.)  Then he pronounced it "a combination of a murdered cow and a vegetable garden."

In other news.....laughter will egg your ten-year-old on.  It's important to keep a stern face in these matters.  Or, at least try.

Fall Favorites in Pork

It's not quite "Apple-palooza" at our house yet but this is one of my all-time favorite fall suppers.  And the weather at night is getting chilly so it's the right time!

Pork Chops with Cider Pan Sauce!

There is no recipe, Brian makes it up as he goes along.  It's moist, perfect pork with just a little tang from the cider.  I love, love, love it!  Even Will got into it this year and ate a whole serving.  Sean, not so much.  But lately if it's not chicken or peanut butter and jelly, he won't touch it.  Everything else, in his words, is "No, no no.  This is 'au-skuskin."  (disgusting.)  Ah well.  More for us!  Sadly, there were no leftovers.

Food from This Weekend

My friend Maureen was here this weekend, and we ate out a lot.  A lot, A LOT!  Usually Brian or I cook, but this weekend was a flurry of activity and we didn't get around to getting groceries.  And everything we had was full of AWESOME!

Three places worth mentioning:

Friday night we went to Ronnie's in Auburn, MA.  I'd been before and this place is worth raving about.  It is the BEST fried seafood around.  It doesn't taste greasy but honestly, like they change the oil in the fryer in between customers.  Clean, delicious and exactly how it should taste.  Brian and I had fried clams, she had clam fritters, and Kid 1 and Kid 2 had a burger and fish strips, respectively. Sean normally likes fish sticks at home, but he proclaimed these "too fishy."  Ah well.  After we finished our meals we went to the back of Ronnie's where they have the ice cream.  The ice cream is certainly worth raving about!  I had just enough room for a twisted soft serve cone, and I decided to share with Sean.   That boy....if you get him his own kiddie cone he'll refuse to eat it.  Offer to share your small cone and the child will devour it as if it's the last cone on Earth!  The funny part of the evening was when Will asked us if he had ice cream on his face.  Um.....not your whole face per se, buddy.  But pretty close!

Saturday evening we found this place in Oxford called "Oxford Casual Dining."  What a find!!  It had lots of Italian specialties, plus a decent kids menu.  An added bonus is that no one seemed to care around us when the kids weren't perfect angels.  I got my ultimate favorite, chicken marsala.  They did not disappoint!  And there's leftovers for lunch tomorrow so that's great.  :)  And dessert....authentic key lime pie.  Not the kind that makes your mouth pucker as soon as you taste it, just smooth and citrus-y.  We will definitely go back to this place.

On Sunday, we went to Uncle Jay's Twisted Fork for breakfast, in Cherry Valley.  This place was rated a "Hidden Gem" by the Phantom Gourmet.  And they totally deserve it!!!  Will's already asking if we can go again next weekend.  What a treat.  This place is certainly NOT a "greasy spoon."  Everything is made to order, and to die for.

My lobster Benedict.  I had it in Maine several years ago and have always wanted to have it again.   English muffin, lobster meat, poached eggs and fresh hollandaise.   Call it a "once in every six years" treat.

Will was super-impressed with his "Wicked Awesome Waffle."  It was a waffle, sliced banana, chocolate sauce and fresh whipped cream.  He ate as much as he could, stopping twice and coming back for more.

Honey-Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Tonight's pork recipe is courtesy of the Food Network.   It was a delightful, tangy glaze of balsamic vinegar (which I almost forgot to add) honey, four cloves of garlic, olive oil, rosemary and a little dijon mustard.  Served with couscous and salad, but the boys had theirs with bread and applesauce.  Will wolfed his serving down, and Sean even tasted it before he politely told us that he didn't like it.  Who are these kids?  No tears, and eating everything??  :)

I also like recipes that start by browning on the stove and finishing in the oven.  The browning, and then the finish by roasting, makes for a nice, moist meat.  I'd definitely make this again.

He Likes It, He Really Likes It!

A few weeks ago, Will spent April Vacation at his afterschool place.  They serve a hot lunch to the kids every day, but you can still bring lunch if you don't like what they're having.

Will is a picky eater.  I'm sure that if you've read this blog, you are not surprised.  Unless it's a dessert, it's difficult to get this kid to try new things.  So whenever he's going to spend a full day at this place, we review the menu together and see if he's going to eat that day's entree or take a soy-nut butter and jelly sandwich.  (Ewww...I know.  But no peanut butter allowed.  I got him to eat this simply by not telling him that it wasn't peanut butter.  By the time he realized he had been eating it for almost a whole summer and just let it go)

One day's meal was American Chop Suey.  He insisted on a sandwich, and the in-house lunch packer (aka Daddy) made his lunch.  That night when he came home, he said "Mom, the lunch today was American Chop Suey.  I tried some.  And I liked it!"  He then asked if we could have it for dinner some night.  So we did, a week later....and he ate a whole plate!

Later on that same weekend, we were in Ikea, looking at furniture.  On the way out, we stopped for a snack.  I got a frozen yogurt cone.  It was vanilla, which....eh.  Now, Will usually despises ice cream because it's "too cold."  He shocked me by asking if he could try my cone.  And then proceeded to devour most of it!

I'm thrilled, because I love chop suey and that's one more thing we can cook that everyone will eat.  That makes me the happiest of all.  :)

Will the Chef

Will decided today that he wanted to make lunch for him and Sean.  He's done this before, he's gotten pretty good at making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the two of them.  I love encouraging this kid to do his thing in the kitchen with minimal help, but teaching him the "right" way is important too.  Like cleanup...putting things back where they belong (jelly in the fridge instead of the cabinet, etc.) and wiping the peanut butter off the counter.

Today's lunch, courtesy of Will:  peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with fruit salad.  He did everything except cut up the apple...I did that.  He found out that butter knives don't cut everything!  I had him help me cut up the apple, I taught him that you need a cutting board, and then slowly slowly...with my hand over his, we cut the apple into slices.  Then I cut it into chunks and he tossed them into the salad.  Both kids devoured every bite!

Day 30: Grillin' Again

Here it is....the last post for the Thirty Dinners thread.

Last night was grilled chicken, potatoes and candied carrots.  I love anything on a grill, I really do!  Sean liked the carrots, and Will pretty much refused to touch them.  I really worry about him sometimes, getting nutrients.  I won't stop trying to get him to eat veggies though.

This was fun, posting dinner every night.  I was careful not to change what we eat because it was on the blog, and from what I see we do get a variety of food.  I'm pretty satisfied with how this experiment turned out, though I am glad not to have to remember anymore to write it down!

Day Eight: Pizza

Our plan tonight was for the boys and I to visit Daddy at the Relay for Life and bring him dinner.  The weather was most uncooperative for us to have an outdoor dinner with Daddy, so I opted to stay home with the boys.  Feeling a little lazy, I ordered pizza for the boys (Will wanted pepperoni so that's what we got,)  I didn't want pizza at all, so I got a Greek sub.  It was grilled chicken, feta cheese, onion, tomato, Greek dressing and huge hunks of cucumber on top.  It was delicious!  The only thing I would've changed was to make it red onion instead of white.    Everyone was happy, we watched a movie while we ate and the boys devoured their pizza. A good night was had by all.

Pasta and Muffins

Highlights of this past week:  Three Cheese Penne Bake.

  The recipe was in some magazine this week, I think it came with Brian's copy of Time Magazine.  It was cheese (well, duh) spinach, chicken, peppers and pasta.  We opted to swap ricotta for cottage cheese, I despise cottage cheese.  A perfect dinner, with lots of leftovers for lunch later in the week.  It even served as dinner another night for Brian and I, stopping us from succumbing to the Takeout Pizza Monster.

Later in the week, I made chili.  It was not good.  I've made chili many times, but usually use tomato salsa as a base.  This time, there was no salsa in the house, we'd eaten all of it with guests last Sunday and forgotten to buy more.  So in a pinch, I used spaghetti sauce as the base.  Also, we had no red kidney beans in the house, so I used the only thing I had for beans in the house:  white kidney beans.  I thought they'd be better than nothing....I was mistaken.  No leftovers from this epic fail.

However, corn muffins were part of the menu plan on Chili Night.  Whenever there's baking to be done, both boys come scrambling to the kitchen, begging to help.  Will got there first this time, and got to mix the muffins and help pour:

Brian has a few weeks off before his FINAL grad school semester this summer, so we'll be sure to eat better in the weeks to come.  :)

Breakfast Buddies

Will and Sean enjoying their orange-vanilla waffles and bacon on this beautiful, sunny Sunday!

The Breakfast Experiment

A friend's facebook post yesterday about oatmeal for dinner caught my eye yesterday.  (If you're reading, Hi Jes!)  She made a mean oatmeal for her kids for dinner the other night, with add-ins such as almond meal and cinnamon.  It got me thinking about oatmeal, which I like a lot.  I've never really considered it for dinner, because only Sean likes it.  Will won't touch it, which is too bad because it's delicious!

I'm not really good about breakfast during the week, I never eat enough and I'm always starved at my desk long before lunch.  Guess what...I'm not great with snacks either.  So this morning, I was standing in front of the fridge looking for a quick meal.  That's when I saw the leftover pork tenderloin and mashed potatoes, in a Tupperware container with no lid.  Obviously I cannot bring tupperware with saran wrap on top to work too easily, so how about eating it for breakfast?  I've always prided myself on being able to eat anything at any hour.  Hostess cupcakes at 6AM?  Sure. Cold spaghetti at midnight?  Yep.  Buffalo wings before bed in college? I'm your girl. 

Into the microwave it goes, and I go off to dry my hair.  Soon Will wanders into the bathroom, informing me that I need to check his brother's diaper.  I check, and it's fine.  (Which is good, since I had just changed him.)  I told him that it was fine, and he said, "Well, what's that disgusting smell then?"  The smell: leftover Brussels sprouts.

Humph.  Turns out that there IS something that I can't eat at any time of the day.  However, mashed potato and pork tenderloin weren't too bad for breakfast.  :)

Cook with Me, Sesame!

This week's cookbook in the spotlight:  "C is for Cooking", a Sesame Street cookbook that Will got for his birthday.  We made two recipes, Cookie Monsters "Me Love Meatloaf" and Grover's Pork Meatballs.

Both recipes were received with mixed results.  The meatloaf one, Will right off the bat wasn't interested.  Meatloaf?  UGH I don't like meatloaf.  However, he has graduated to taking a bite, chewing and swallowing and then telling us no thank you.  Well, most of the time.  :)  I liked that the meatloaves were cooked in individual muffin cups, but they kind of "stew" in their own fat, there's nowhere for it to drain off.  However, this was also filled with some great ingredients, like oatmeal and shredded carrots.  Good way to "hide" these kinds of things.

The sesame pork meatball recipe was really good, but dry.  There needs to be a sauce of some kind for the meatballs, without it it's just dry pork with no ingredient to hold it together. (Like an egg)  The rice was basmati rice though, which we had never cooked at home.  It was just like white rice from a Chinese restaurant!

So there you have it, first two recipes from Will's cookbooks.  He is really enjoying the work in the kitchen.  Somebody's gonna be just like his dad.  :)

Another Food Network Fan

We have an issue at home...one that is far from unique.  The preschool that our older son goes to, like many other preschools, has a scheduled "rest time."  After lunch, all the kids take to the mats with their blankets and "lovies," the lights are dimmed and everyone rests.  Will actually falls asleep during this time, almost every day.    The problem is, Will doesn't need the nap.  It's a surefire guarantee that he won't be tired at all at bedtime, and if he goes to bed at 8-8:30ish, he will come out several times saying he is not tired.  Or worse, playing in his room and having a grand ol' time until after WE are in bed as well.  Then in the morning he is not well-rested at all and Mr. Crankypants has come to visit our home.  Then he NEEDS the next day's nap.  It's quite the cycle.

So we tried something--we moved bedtime back to 9pm.  And interestingly enough, it's helped.  But...BUT!  That takes away a precious hour of Mom and Dad's quiet time.  Knitting, watching hockey, etc etc etc.  So the last hour of the evening is quiet time for everyone.  Usually I'm knitting in my chair, and Brian's watching a show on the Discovery Channel like "How it's Made" or something on the Food Network, or hockey. .  Will's taken an interest in the Food Network, and will sit quietly and ask questions about the shows.  This is to our great delight--being foodies ourselves!  It's a good thing--putting things on the TV that aren't all cartoons or animated educational kidstuff.  Right now we're all enjoying the show "Chopped." It's where four chefs compete in appetizers, entree and dessert categories.  Each chef is given a basket of ingredients that must show up in their finished dishes and are judged at the end of the round.  All four compete in "appetizers" and one gets chopped from the competition in each round.  The one at the end is crowned champion and the prize is $10,000.

One of the things I like best about this show is that it gets us to consider different ingredients in our cooking, and putting things that don't traditionally go together, or using ingredients in different ways.  It also gets Will looking at different foods and not judging them for what they look like, and trying different things.  For example, he never would have put his cereal with fruit.  Lately he's been asking for "salad for breakfast."  His salad consists of cheerios, blueberries and craisins mixed in the same bowl, with shredded toast topping.  I asked if he needed a spoon, and he said "No Mom, it's more of a hand salad."  The fact that he's willing to eat all of that together, I have "Chopped" to thank.  And who knew that a pushed-back bedtime could bring us closer together?  :)

Pie Tonight!

The day before Thankgiving....that means that tonight is Pie Night!

After work tonight, Hubby and I will bake pies.  This year will be apple, pecan and pumpkin pies.  I roasted sugar pumpkins weeks ago and froze them, which is a good thing because there are no sugar pumpkins to be had in the stores.  We have a variety of apples on-hand, to make the perfect apple pie.  And back after a long hiatus, we're going to try our collective hand at a pecan pie.  Last time was a disaster, it was pretty much liquified.  However, it still tasted delicious.  :)

Chef Will will be giving us a hand tonight, he's pretty excited about it.  Sean, well, his job will be to watch television and stay away from the oven.  Or perhaps he'll do some "cawlah....cawlah..." at the kitchen table.  (Coloring) 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Sammies and Shakes

I saw a recipe in a magazine for stuffed peppers that caught my eye.  Instead of the usual hamburger and rice, this one featured bulk sausage and potatoes.  In other words, something different than the same ol', same ol.'
It would have been helpful to read the recipe through though, because was a slow cooker recipe.  D'oh!  Certainly not a Thursday night dinner.  Instead, we ended up using Will's birthday burger coupon and heading out to Red Robin.  (YUMMMMM)

So tonight, we still had the sausage patties in the house.  (BJ's doesn't carry bulk sausage.)  So they became Sausage Sandwiches with Colby Jack and sauteed pepper n' onion.  Perfect Friday night dinner.  :)

The boys?  Waffles and strawberry smoothies were the intention.  I still have some strawberries from the summer in our freezer and since we're getting our first snowstorm this weekend (Before Halloween....what!?) it's time to use 'em up.

Only somehow they ended up being milkshakes instead.  And they were beautiful...so thick that the straws stood up by themselves in the middle of the glass.  Everyone enjoyed them, even Hubby and I.  Which was strange...I don't normally like strawberry drinks.  But these were very fresh strawberry, not that artificial strawberry taste that I detest.

Good Friday night, perfect start to the weekend.  :)

Pasta Talk

Last night's dinner was a pasta saute with farfalle, bulk sausage, red peppers and feta cheese. It was pretty good, nothing out-of-this-world but I'd try it again. The boys had some chicken with the farfalle. We of course introduced the farfalle as "Look! It's bowties!"

Usually we stick to thin spaghetti or ziti, and this was really the first time that Will noticed that the pasta shape wasn't one of our usual. It opened an entire discussion in the car this morning, talking about different shapes. We talked shells, manicotti, and of course, macaroni and cheese. Then I totally blew Will's mind by saying "Hey, did you know that there are other spaghetti sauces besides tomato sauce?" Will absolutely hates tomato sauce, which is really too bad. If he liked tomato sauce he would likely get a lot more servings of veggies since they're easy to hide. He was pretty intrigued about "other" sauces though, but we didn't get past Alfredo sauce.

Alfredo sauce, we all know, is delicious! It's also fattening as hell, considering the amount of butter, cream and cheese in it. So it's obviously not going to add anything nutritious to the mix. Naturally, this is the one that Will shouts "Oh, I'd really like to try THAT!" Perhaps it's time to try some chicken and broccoli alfredo. If Alfredo gets him to eat the broccoli, that's a win, right? :)

Father and Son Baking

Daddy and Will set out to bake their very first cake together, for us to bring to a cookout.   The recipe?  A buttermilk pound cake with chocolate ganache icing.  Kind of reminiscent of the Stock's Cake that Brian's family in Philly brings to EVERY family gathering!  (It's good stuff, too!)

 I had bought them matching aprons at Christmas Tree Shops.  Brian's said "Big Man" and Will's said "Little Man."  Will did not like his apron, not one bit.

 But he put it on, to be a good sport and appease Mommy.

The cake baking went pretty smoothly, until Brian went to put the batter in the KitchenAid mixer.  Will asked what speed the mixer was going to and Brian replied, "As fast as it goes, Buddy.  Ten!"  Will freaked out a bit.  I think he remembered the time that *he* put the mixer on ten and got a faceful of flour!  He spent the total mixing time hiding in the dining room, with his hands over his ears.

Sean got a little jealous, and wanted to make cake too.  He instead settled for wrestling his big brother while the cake baked in the oven.

The finished product, a gorgeous cake!

The cake got Sean's seal of approval at the cookout.  He kept coming back for more bites, and had most of it smeared on his face.  Success!!

A Double-Header in the Kitchen

I worked on getting the Big Kid to clean up his room while Hubby whipped up this recipe:  Saucy Steak!  The recipe called to be served over mashed potatoes, but we opted for rice instead.  The meal was rounded out with green beans fresh from the garden.

And bonus!  There's plenty of leftovers.  We gave the same dinner to the boys (minus sauce).  Lately we've been trying harder to have everyone eat the same thing at night.  I am really wishing that veggies had been showing up every night on the dinner table from an early age for Will, 'cause I'd be lying if I said it was a walk in the park to get him to eat them now!  But still we try....

What's in the yellow bowl, you say?  That there is homemade chocolate ganache....relaxing so that it can be spread on a cake to take to a cookout tomorrow night.  And that cake....is a whole 'nother blog post!

Holy Green Beans!

I took Will out in the backyard tonightt to get some of the fresh green beans that appeared while we were on vacation.  Also, big THANKS! to my brother for coming by every day to water our garden.  Without him, our veggies would have been victims of the heat wave that swept thru in our absence.

 Show me the green beans, Mom.  I don't see them!

 Wow...it really is cool to grow our own veggies!

 We grew them to eat them, Mom?  Oh my....you're hilarious.  Or barking mad.

 Taking his watering duties very seriously.

This is the first bunch of green beans, I grabbed just enough for dinner.  And there's still a plethora of 'em out there.  What should we do with this first bunch??

Going on a Berry Hunt....Gonna Get some Juicy Ones

Despite the fact that Dora the Explorer is going blueberry picking in the blog title, it pretty much works for strawberries too.  We got up this morning early, and after haircuts for the boys (MUCH needed) we went strawberry picking.

I hadn't been strawberry picking since I was a child, and it was so much fun.  Will, who doesn't like strawberries unless they're in a smoothie, had fun dashing up and down the aisles looking for red beauties.  Brian and I took turns hanging out with Sean while the other was busily filling up a pint container.  Sean kept looking down at the berries filling up the box and kept begging to eat some.   I'm not sure how many he ate, but he was really enjoying them.   When we weighed our take at the checkout, I was surprised to discover that we had picked twelve pounds!!

After a picnic lunch at the farm (and watching two wild turkeys run around the picnic area) it was time for picking up some strawberry donuts from the farm kitchen.  And let me tell you, they are delicious.

Some of the berries will go to my parents, my mom loves fresh strawberries.  Tonight we'll have some shortcake.  And then....I've bookmarked recipes for Strawberry Muffins and Strawberry Pie.  And but of course, strawberry-lemon syrup.  If there's any left after all of that, then into the freezer they will go.

We went to the same farm that we had gone apple picking last October.  That place is great, not too crowded, reasonably priced and very kid-friendly.  We liked it so much, we'll be back in July sometime to go blueberry picking.  (My boys are blueberry-eating monsters!!)