Growing up my sister had four food groups she would eat from. Those consisted of chocolate and other confectioneries, a vegetable group of corn and mashed potatoes, the fruit group of apples and finally ground beef. She was afraid of all foods that were crunchy, smelly, coloured or had more than one ingredient. This picky girl has come a long way over the years. She has such an extreme dedication to her family's health and well being that she adopted the actual food groups (thank you Canada Food guide) for her daily meals and made sure that her family was more adventurous than her 5 year old self. Still she harboured her secret food fears and only ate very specific foods. To her I was the crazy foodie always pimping out my food fads. Now that I am writing this food blog she is my number one fan and has vowed to eat everything I make. What a good sister!
For this happy birthday senior supper (senior not because my sister is old but because we had to eat in the late afternoon to finish and make it to church in time) I decided to make Chicken Pie, French-Style Peas, Sweet Carrot Mash, Berries, Shortbread and Chantilly Cream all from page 90 of Meals in Minutes. I have made a chicken pot pie that my family has loved over the years but it takes HOURS to make. The time involved makes Christmas a more common occurrence in our house.
The stage was set for week two. My sister bailed me out by buying the forgotten mushrooms on the way over. She thought she was sooooo funny telling me she "didn't know fresh mushrooms came in a can". She is lucky it was her birthday. I took my sister's advice and I hit the loo before the event started. I think the actual cooking went much smoother this week than last. I am glad I had my house slippers on because I was sliding around my kitchen like Tom Cruise in Risky Business. I still had this nagging feeling that pot pie cannot be accomplished in 30 minutes but I was willing to give it a shot. Well 33 minutes later I had completed a feast worthy of my sister's birthday. Even the chicken pie was ready to go! The only dish I questioned at this point was the french style peas with romaine lettuce cooked in. In my book lettuce should only be in a salad...this could be gross.
The family sat down and dived right in. My brother in law is hilarious because he likes to stage and photograph his meal before he eats it. I like that he is taking such an interest in the project. Bryon says he was pleasantly surprised by the peas and gave the meal 4 stars. Cory the scruffy hubby has decided that he is going to be critical because he doesn't want to throw too many 5 stars around. He said it gets four stars because it is not as good as my other 4 hour version. But he really liked the veggies for a fresh change. Max my oldest darling said the only thing stopping him from giving me 5 stars was the mushrooms which he claimed took up 14% of his dish. Interesting data coming from an 8 year old. Brylee gave dessert a 5 and the meal a 4. Simon said "you get a 3 mommy" I think he picked three because he just turned three and that happens to be his favourite number right now. I will take it as a complement. The birthday girl gave it 5 stars and said she would make everything again. She was really surprised by how fresh everything tasted despite it being the dead of winter. Mary the hard ass five year old has once again offered up only 2 stars and only because she really loved the peas. Logan my 8 year old nephew said the best was dessert, but said it needed two cookies. Turns out he was right and we all agreed with him! The only deviation to the recipe today was the lack of the optional Elderflower Cordial. Considering my garden is under two feet of snow I cannot make my own and to import it from the UK will take a while. I will be much more prepared next time!
I am loving this project from head to toe. I love people asking me what I am going to make next. I love the family crowded in the kitchen watching me do my thing while playing DJ to keep my motivation up. I love my 3 year old chanting "go mommy, go mommy!" as I am sliding around the kitchen in a haze of flour. I love that a simple set of 30 minute meals has made hours of family fun time.
This week was another success at 33 minutes and only $3.33 per person with 9 of us eating once again. The average rating for this meal was 3.8 stars. My family thinks I should try something a little more "out there" soon and is already asking when the dreaded liver and onion night will be. I already have had lots of friend offer to come over and eat on liver and onion night so we may have to make it a liver and onion party! I will keep you posted.
Happy week number two and happy birthday to the best sister in the universe who has turned into a real foodie!
Trish
No Elderflowers hiding under all that snow! Damn you Canadian Winter!
A table set in only 33 minutes!
The beautiful birthday girl doing the honours.
A perfect family meal that tastes as good as it looks.
Despite his critical withholding of stars by hubby cleaned his plate no problem!
