Week Ten- Mary ate a Little Lamb

Well I am late again! This busy mom thing keeps me on my toes! I would love to blame my tardiness on my three little crazies at home but truthfully I had a case of summer fever! It was finally 20 degrees this past weekend and I spent nearly all of it outside preparing what will be our family garden.

To make up for my lateness I decided to push my limits and make one of these blog dinners on a week night. We are like well trained fireman during the week. Piano lessons, karate, homework, dog walking and the like all happen in a military efficient manner to prevent chaos from consuming our lives. So to attempt a blog dinner on a Tuesday night would be a "true test" of a thirty minute meal. Tonight I made Moroccan Lamb Chops, flat breads, herby couscous, stuffed sweet peppers, and pomegranate drink from page 264.

Max and Mary were practicing instruments , Scruffy Hubby was walking scruffy dog, and that left me with the VERY hungry three year old and thirty minutes to make a meal. What to do with a ravenous boy you ask...give him a job! Super Simon helped Mommy make the drink, mix the couscous and season the flat bread. Every time he was done a job he asked "what I do now mommy"? This meal was a breeze to make! Simon and I knocked it out of the park in only 29 minutes!

Scruffy hubby came back from his dog walk to the sweet sweet smells of dinner cooking. As he came through the door he announced "I pre-five this meal!" Hold on their tiger! I would like to remind everyone of a little story I call "the best chicken fingers of our lives". Cory and I were young University students not so long ago (well ok it has been 9 years) and we loved to do what young University students all love to do...cram endlessly for exams, write the exam and then head to the local campus pub to drink! When the merriment starts before lunch you work up an appetite and become shall we say in love with the world. Scruffy Hubby (who at the time was clean cut and skinny) decided he was STARVING as did I his very cool girlfriend! We ordered chicken fingers and let me tell you they belonged in the food column of the New York times! These were the BEST chicken fingers we had ever had in our lives! We raved to anyone who would listen, the chicken fingers became legendary! Well a few years later we returned to our old stomping grounds and decided to one again partake in this culinary delight only to realize that these were the makings of a frozen box of poultry made by an 18 year old kid! How drunk were we???

The moral of this story is never judge food when you are starving and/or drunk!

Scruffy Hubby stayed with his vow of a pre-five and we sat down to dinner. We called the kids to dinner and down the stairs skipped our quasi vegetarian Mary singing "LAMB, LAMB, LAMB"! Mary loves lamb. I often think of the nursery rhyme "Mary had a little lamb" The poor little lamb becomes lost and Mary cannot find her. I know where the lamb went...Mary ate the lamb and wrote a snappy little tune about looking for her lost sheep to form a plausible alibi for her actions!

My Mary ate that lamb down to the shiny white bone as did both of her brothers! Despite the meat fest that can only be likened to lions on an African safari, the scores ranged from 2 to 4 because of the other meal elements. I am happy to say that I have been reading a fantastic book called "Bringing up Bebe" by Pamela Druckerman where she describes the amazing French phenomenon of children who eat anything. Druckerman contends that the French simply have the children try everything, talk about the food and just be open to the variety and taste. We have been putting this theory to the test and I have to say it has been working! Even the little food nazi tried her roasted red pepper and said (in a polite voice) I tried it and I don't like it! Hurray for progress!

Scruffy Hubby has declared that this meal deserves it's five and has renamed it "Indian Steaks Sexy Older Sister". He is claiming to be visionary with his pre-five. I think he was starving and I might as well have made chicken fingers!

Well I will get back on track with the blog schedule this weekend! Happy reading and eating!

Trish

Week Nine - Christmas Sweaters, Cooking Sisters and Spicy Food!

Well it is another typical spring weekend in Alberta! It snowed and it is -2 today! I have decided that I have to change my attitude towards this cursed weather or I am going to sink into a deep dark depression soon! I put on my Christmas sweater and decided to make some spicy food with my spicy sister!

My hot sister (that is right imagine Julia Roberts red hair) loves to travel to faraway lands full of all inclusive drinks and pool side tans. On the last couple of her excursions she has brought me back cinnamon sticks from the Dominican Republic and Golden Rum from Jamaica. Both these lovely ingredients were needed in today's Killer Jerk Chicken, Rice and Beans, Refreshing Chopped Salad and Chargrilled Corn from page 106. With all of this snow we needed a summer inspired meal to keep us warm.

We really thought we were gonna knock it out of the park today with a killer recipe and two sisters who kick butt in the kitchen. We were off and running! The recipes were simple and easy to make. Our ability to communicate without talking makes sharing the kitchen smooth. At 34 minutes we were finished and the kitchen was clean! The only problem was the food WAS NOT DONE YET! We were literally waiting for the pot of rice to boil and the chicken to finish. We decided to kill  the rest of our time waiting making Malibu floats. This recipe was recommended by our great friends Alan and Renee! We thought it was very suitable to makes this rum filled delicacy for our tropical meal. Because this is not a recipe from the book I can give it to you all to try! And let me just say my sister is hooked and plans to drink this ALL summer.

Malibu Float
1 scoop of vanilla ice cream
1 ounce (well lets face it put two if you really want a tropical escape) of Malibu
top off with Coke

Enjoy!

Finally at 47 minutes the food was done and we were ready to eat. It looked amazing! However with what seems to be our luck the meals we think are going to kick ass and take a 5 are just OK. The food was good but lacked some of the POW we needed! I would make it all again but add my own spicy flair. The kids all gave it a 3 because of the salad but really liked the chicken. Bryon the brother in law also gave it a 3 saying that he would have added a little something to it all. Cory gave it only a two and started raving about the Indian Steak from week 7 (every night can't be Indian Steak Cory). The food Nazi took one look and announced it "looked like a 1" Uncle convinced her to taste it first which she generously upgraded to a 2. I really liked everything and loved the cinnamon in the rice!

Jody the cooking sister gave everything a 4 (then down graded to a 3 after listening to Cory rant). She said this was a meal to be eaten outside with the sun in her face and her feet in a kiddie pool! She really did not like the cinnamon in the rice cause it was too much like rice pudding. Her best part was the Malibu float!

I too am dreaming of summer and when I really can put my feet in a kiddie pool without getting frost bite! For now I will drink the Malibu and just imagine it. I had a blast cooking with my sister. Next week is Scruffy Hubby's turn. He hasn't picked his recipe yet but we will see if he is still as stingy with his fives when it is his turn to cook.

Trish

Cooking sisters ready to roll!

Watching the clock waiting for the rice to boil!

47 minutes later our tropical dinner was on the table!

Looks good! Lets eat!

The cooking sister dishing up the kiddos.

mmmmmmm Malibu Floats!

Week Eight - Snow Storm

Mother Nature is a bitch! I have been revelling in my early spring following our very unseasonably mild winter. My tomatoes are 4 inches high, I have started all my other seeds, we have been to the zoo, I have staked out my future patio and back yard garden spot. We took our snow tires off the van and sighed the oh so familiar Canadian sigh of "whew, winter is done and spring is here". Then mother nature reared her ugly head and dumped 25 cm of snow in eight short hours.

Fortunately I was on my second week of Spring Break (one of the benefits of being the only one in the house who has a year round school schedule). I kept my three little darlings home from school and we hunkered down. Well what do you do with three balls of plutonic energy when you are trapped inside all day? We tried cartoons, giant basement forts, Easter crafts, cake baking and a stuffed animal zoo...that was all by 11:30 am! I decided to let them loose outside to build a snowman and snowball fortress while I made blog dinner!

This weeks selection I wanted to squeak in before all the family Easter meals coming up this weekend. I chose the Swedish Style Fish Cakes, Roasted Baby Potatoes, Sprout Salad and Fresh Zingy Salsa from page 146 of Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes. This was a risky choice all because of our lovely honey moon a short 11 years ago. My scruffy hubby (who at the time was actually clean shaven and skinny) and I went on a delightful 10 day honeymoon to Mexico. Our trip included first class tickets! We received the luxury of glass dishes, cloth napkins and a meal that did not come in a plastic wrapped card board tray. We were on our way home from Mexico when we got to eat crab cakes. I don't want to blame the crab cakes because I think the real culprit was some type of Mexican Bubonic plague that Cory contracted from the several questionable establishments we ate at during the course of our trip. Never the less Cory was SICK! It was like a scene from the exorcist less the head spinning. The poor crab cakes took the blame. Since that day the mere mention of a seafood type patty makes Scruffy Hubby turn green (even under the beard). But rules are rules and I have to make every recipe.

The recipe was easy to make. Thanks to my handy food processor! In a speedy 35 minutes I had golden fish cakes and yummy veggies to complement everything. We set the table and I held my breath to see what every one thought. Well it was pretty much a clear consensus. The potatoes and sprout salad were just "OK" with myself and the boys giving them only a 2. I think microwaved potatoes are a little gnarly and that didn't help. The fish cakes were a hit though. Almost 12 years after his crab cake calamity Cory had no immediate sensory memory flash back and enjoyed every bite! Simon gave the fish a five and made me show him where I wrote down his 5 in my cook book. You may be wondering why Mary's results haven't been mentioned yet? Well after last weeks generous and surprising 5 I was quite hopeful for today. Unfortunately Mary lasted exactly 3.5 minutes before screaming that I hate her because I made something with avocados. She stormed away without eating a single bite. God bless us when that girl is 14! 40 minutes later she came down and said "mommy it all gets a one and I didn't even taste it"! Tous chez little food nazi!

I am hopeful that the next blog will take place with sunshine and my sister! Happy Easter everyone!

Trish

Max, Mary and Simon burning off some energy in 25 cm of Spring snow!

Sizzling fish cakes!

35 minutes later at $7.35 a person dinner was ready and the sun was shining!

Looks yummy!

Scruffy Hubby attempting to get over his fear of seafood patties!