spicy•tofu

This is another one of my cheater meals. We had  it last night.

It's so good. 
Too good not to tell you about it again. 
And I might remind you about it again after this...
Owen doesn't like the smell of it.  And probably not the taste either (it's slightly spicy).  This is fine with me and Brock, because if he wanted any we'd have to share it with him.  And we are fully capable of polishing off the whole batch between just the two of us.  So, we foster his dislike for it and call it "stinky tofu".  
Is this dishonest?
In any case, the kids were perfectly happy with their Annie's mac & cheese with peas.  And those of us mature enough to handle it get this deliciousness...

the veggies:

yum!

• 2 TBS olive oil
• 14 to 16 oz extra firm tofu
• 1 bell pepper (red, yellow or orange), chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped (optional)
• about 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1 packet of Frontera roasted tomato + mild red chile skillet sauce (or about 8 oz of some other slightly spicy Mexican- or New Mexican-style sauce)
• 4 to 6 Tortilla Land uncooked tortillas, or your favorite brand of tortilla (the fewer ingredients the better)
• shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, crumbled queso fresco-- whatever you want to put on top

the love:

1. Put a large heavy skillet over medium to medium high heat.  Add the oil.  
2. Gently smash the tofu between two plates to drain out some excess water.  Pat dry, slice into cubes, then pat those dry again.
3. Throw the tofu in the hot skillet and spread the tofu out so one side of the tofu can fry in the oil.  Let it get crisp on one side before carefully turning.  Continue until almost every side is done.  Be careful not to stir too much or you'll end up with a scramble.
4. In the mean time, heat up another heavy skillet and cook your tortillas, about 30 seconds per side, until flecked with golden spots.  Less is more with these-- they get crunchy when overcooked.
5. When your tofu is almost done, add the onions (if using) and carefully turn a few times until the onions start to become translucent.  Then add the peppers and carefully turn a couple times until the onions are done and the peppers start to become tender.  
6. Add the corn and dump on the sauce.  Turn carefully to distribute and let it simmer for a few minutes while you finish up the tortillas and prep some toppings.
7. Put a generous scoop of tofu on a freshly cooked tortilla, finish with some cheese and lettuce (or whatever else sounds good), and enjoy.  
8. Mmmm...

bread•cheese & fruit

I had a parenting class to get to last night, and about an hour from the time Brock got home from work to when I had to leave to make dinner and eat with everyone.  Perfect night for bread, cheese and fruit-- an old fave.  This one was featured in one of my first posts, cheater•meals, but it had been a while since we'd had it.   
I'd forgotten how easy, yummy and kid-pleasing it is.  Take 10 minutes to dig through the fridge and pantry for whatever looks good then slice a few things, arrange them on a platter, and you're done.

Last night, I found some smoked gouda, grape tomatoes, pistachios, pears, strawberries, sharp white cheddar, blackberries, hummus, some crackers, and white and whole grain french breads.  

So easy, and everyone's happy.  

Just as long as we can stand Owen asking for more blackberries every two minutes.

And I had plenty of time to have a nice relaxed dinner (between dishing out additional servings of blackberries) before heading out the door...

spaghetti with lemon-arugula•pesto

Oliver loves to sit on the potty lately.  This is generally a really good thing-- especially considering he's not even two.  I really only have two issues with this:

1. The fact that it's often hard to get him off of the potty.  This is especially an issue when, say, it's time to go pick up Owen from school and he won't budge.  I end up having to pluck him off the potty, pin him down to get a diaper and pants on him, then carry him kicking and screaming to the car.

2. The fact that he sits there almost constantly screaming, "POOP THE POTTY!" at the top of his lungs until I come check if he did, indeed, poop the potty.  It turns out that most of the time, he did not.

Another big plus, though: it gives me a few minutes to do something uninterrupted while he's in there mindlessly playing with himself and paging through a book about animals.  That is, if I can do it while listening to him scream "POOP THE POTTY!...  POOP THE POTTY!... POOP THE POTTY!..."  If I hurry, it's just enough time, for example, to throw together some pesto for tonight's dinner.  

Having the pesto ready ahead of time makes dinner super-easy to put together later.  Sometimes we keep it simple and just eat a big bowl of this stuff solo, which means simply boiling pasta and tossing everything together at dinner time.  If I have the time, though (say, if Ollie wants to sit on the potty again right before dinner) I'll also steam a green veggie for on the side and slice up some whole-grain french bread.  

Surprisingly, despite the fact that it contains arugula (a green I honestly didn't like until about five years ago), my kids love it.  Owen once said, while slurping a lemon-arugula noodle, "I could eat this all day!"  

Ollie really likes it, too.  But not as much as he likes sitting on the potty.

the veggies:

• about 2/3 box (or roughly 10 ounces) of Barilla Plus spaghetti (or other pasta)*
• zest and juice from one lemon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2  cup shredded parmesan, plus more for garnish (optional)
• leaves from one large basil stem (about 1/2 cup loosely packed leaves or roughly half a .66 ounce package)
• 3 cups baby arugula, loosely packed
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

the love:

1. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente, then drain.
2. In a small food processor, blend the lemon zest and juice, salt, parmesan, basil and arugula until well processed.
3. With the processor running, add the oil in a stream and process until evenly incorporated.
4. While the pasta is still hot, toss it with the pesto sauce in a large bowl.  Add salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste.
5. Serve garnished with extra shredded parmesan, if that sounds good.

tip:

*This is also good on cheese tortellini, but you'll need to play with the pasta-to-pesto ratio to get it right.

monkey cheese•muffins

I will, without shame or regret, put shredded carrots into just about anything...  Cookies, cake, oatmeal, rice, pasta, and certainly into the kids' mac and cheese (which comes out sounding like "monkey cheese" when Oliver says it).  That's why I was really excited to find this simple and really yummy recipe for Carroty Mac and Cheese on Epicurious.  Mojo was happy, too.  He loves carrots and comes running (or more truthfully, at his age, ambling) from anywhere in the house at the sound (or smell?) of me shredding carrots.  
Honestly, my kids still prefer their Annie's (with or without carrot shreds) to this version, but will tolerate this.  Baking it into muffins makes it a little more fun thus a little more acceptable.  
But, really, this one's not so much about them-- Brock and I prefer this one by far.  And baking it into muffins, in our humble opinions, makes it even better-- there's more area to get crispy and chewy.  Comfort food at it's epitome...

the veggies & the love:


Prepare as instructed in the original recipe at: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Carroty-Mac-and-Cheese-367160, except bake in muffin tins.  Mini-muffins will take about 12 to 15 minutes, and regular-sized muffins will need 15 to 20. 

tips:


* I make this pretty true to recipe, with a few simple substitutions (Barilla Plus elbows for the macaroni, plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and margarine instead of butter) based on what I usually keep around the house.
* From this recipe I made 12 mini-muffins and 8 regular-sized ones.  We thought the mini ones were the best, but I, sadly, only own one mini-muffin pan.  I'm guessing this would make about 3 dozen minis or about a dozen regular-sized ones, if you just did one size.
* Be sure to grease the muffin tins really well before adding the pasta mixture-- this will be key to getting the muffins out in one piece once they're done.
* Don't forget to reserve a half cup of the cheddar for on top.  Once I wasn't reading the recipe closely enough and I mixed the entire three cups into the pasta, and it didn't come out as good-- it was a little too greasy.
* Let the muffins cool for as long as you can stand it before removing them from the tins (though don't wait 'till they're cold).  The longer you wait, the easier they'll come out in one piece. 
* To remove them: run a knife all around the edge between the muffin and the tin.  Then, use a spoon to lift the contents out in one piece.

creamy•"pad thai"

To my chagrin, our (only) local Thai restaurant recently shut down.  After mourning the loss, I came up with this recipe partially to compensate for the lack of ethnic restaurant options around here.  Not that this is real Thai food (hence the quotes around "Pad Thai")-- I'm guessing the authentic version doesn't contain spaghetti or ketchup.  And this is a lot creamier and saucier than most Pad Thais I've seen (due to the peanut butter).

Part of my reasoning for using the ingredients I do is to make it accessible.  After all, it's easy to find a Thai recipe that looks fantastic, but often it will contain at least one ingredient I've never heard of that's only available at specialty stores.  However, everything on the list below can easily be found at any regular grocery store.  In fact, most of the ingredients are things I usually keep around the house.  

And don't let my strange combination of ingredients deter you-- this peanut butter-ketchup-spaghetti concoction is actually really scrumptious, despite how weird it sounds.  It's so good, in fact, that maybe I didn't need the Thai restaurant after all...

the veggies:

• about 2/3 box (or about 10 ounces) Barilla Plus spaghetti
• 8 ounces fresh mung bean sprouts, rinsed
• 1 block (14 to 16 ounces) of extra-firm tofu
• 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 TBS brown sugar
• 3 TBS lime juice
• 3 TBS ketchup
• 3 TBS canola or peanut oil
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• a pinch of cayenne pepper, or more to taste
• 6 to 8 scallions, chopped (about a cup)
• chopped peanuts, fresh cilantro leaves and lime wedges, for garnish (optional)

the love:

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions, adding the sprouts to the pot for the last three minutes of cooking.  When the pasta and sprouts are done, rinse in cold water, drain, and set aside.
2. Squeeze the excess water out of the block of tofu, pat dry with a clean tea towel, then slice the tofu into cubes.  Pat dry again and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, veggie broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, and ketchup, and set aside.
4. Heat the oil in your largest skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the tofu and let it fry for several minutes on each side before carefully turning over.  Continue cooking and turning like this until almost every side is golden and crispy on the edges.  Then, turn once more and scoot all the tofu over to one side of the pan.
5. On the open side of the pan, add the carrots, garlic and cayenne and cook, stirring just the carrot mixture, for a couple minutes, or until carrots are softened.
6. Add the scallions, spaghetti and sauce and toss everything together until it's heated through.
7. Serve garnished with peanuts, cilantro leaves and lime wedges if you want to get fancy. 

avocado, clementine and tofu•quinoa salad

I do love the holidays, but I always come out of them feeling run-down and asking myself a lot of questions, like, "When was the last time I went to the gym?", "When was the last time I consumed a whole grain?" and "Why are my skinny jeans so much skinnier than they used to be?".

This meal may just be an (indirect) answer to many of my questions.  What I need is something simple and fresh, yet satisfying enough to keep me away from those glazed nuts we still have laying around.  It was inspired by a recipe that recently ran in Sunset Magazine and the fact that clementines are in abundance at the supermarket (and my kitchen) right now.  It was veganized (and therefore made more awesome) by yours truly.

While quinoa is not technically a grain, take heart that you're eating what many call a "supergrain" for it's awesome protein content.  This, along with the tofu and healthy fats in the avocado mean it will satisfy you like no Christmas cookie can.

Now I just need to get to the gym sometime this year...

the veggies:

-for the quinoa

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water*

-for the tofu

• olive oil, for prepping your pan
• 14 to 16 ounces extra firm tofu
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• juice and zest from 1 key lime or 1/2 Persian (regular) lime**
• 2 TBS soy sauce

-for the rest

• 5 clementines, peeled and segmented
• 2 ripe avocados, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (about 1/2 bunch)
• juice and zest from 1 key lime or 1/2 Persian lime
• 3 TBS olive oil
• salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

the love:

1. Preheat your broiler to high, and prep a broiler-safe pan with a thin layer of olive oil.***
2. Cook the quinoa: Rinse and drain your quinoa then add to a pot with the water.  Cover, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes****, or until all the water has evaporated and quinoa is no longer crunchy. Fluff with a fork and set aside, covered, until ready to use.
3. Make the tofu: Squeeze the excess water out of the block of tofu, pat dry with a clean tea towel, then slice the tofu into cubes.  Pat dry again.  Combine the 1/4 cup water, minced garlic, juice and zest from one key lime, and the soy sauce in a large mixing bowl.  Add the tofu and very gently toss until it's coated.  Dump into your prepared pan and place under the broiler for 15 to 20 minutes, turning carefully a few times during cooking.  The tofu is done when it's firm on the outside and all the braising sauce is gone.
4. Prep the other stuff:  Combine your clementines, avocados, cilantro, the remaining lime and the 3 TBS olive oil in a large bowl.*****
5. Combine it all: Add the quinoa and tofu to the other ingredients and gently toss.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

tips:

*At a lower elevation, you may need to reduce the amount of water to as little as 1 1/2 cups.

**If you use a Persian lime, make sure you zest it (then divide the zest) before you halve the fruit (I've tried zesting a cut lime before, and it's not very easy).

***I used my 10-inch cast-iron skillet for this and it worked beautifully.

****For lower elevations, reduce cooking time to about 15 minutes.

*****Save on dishes and reuse the bowl you used to toss the tofu.

recipe link•snobby joes

I'm working on a couple of original recipes to post, but in the mean time I thought I'd share a link to one of my family's favorites: Snobby Joes.  

I make this pretty much true-to-recipe every time.  This says a lot for the recipe, because I'm definitely a meddler (and if I do meddle with this, it might be to switch out the green pepper for red and throw in a little frozen corn for color-- minor stuff in my kitchen).  We like this with baked sweet potato fries on the side.

I first discovered Snobby Joes in the cookbook, Veganomicon, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  They're the authors of several other fantastic vegan cookbooks, along with the website, Post Punk Kitchen.  Check them out-- Veganomicon and Vegan with a Vengeance, especially, have been indispensable to me.

Without further ado, the link: http://www.theppk.com/2009/11/snobby-joes/.  

Enjoy!

baked•ricotta

Brock and I went to Santa Fe for a long weekend for our first anniversary.  This was back in our BC (before children) era, when we could do (and afford) such things as take off for a romantic mini-vacation to an artsy (and expensive) town.  This trip has probably been romanticized in my memory a bit, but my memory says it was magical.
We'd have pastries and lattes at the bakery below the hotel every morning, and spend our days wandering through museums and galleries, eating amazing spicy New Mexican food, drinking strong margaritas, perusing jewelry sold by street vendors on the plaza, etc, into bliss.  We spent one morning meandering through the arts district and found ourselves at a cute, funky little tea house at lunch time (our first departure from New Mexican food, not counting pastries).  I had a tasty oolong and an incredible (and memorable) baked ricotta sandwich.  Brock had some weird bright-green foamy tea (matcha?), and a lunch that wasn't quite as memorable.

  
But the ricotta...  This was the first (and still only) time I'd had baked ricotta at a restaurant, and I never was able to find a decent recipe for it, so I created this one.  
Best dang sandwich this side of Santa Fe, if I do say so myself.


the veggies (etc):


-for the ricotta:

• Olive oil, for prepping the baking dish
• 32 oz ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• fresh ground pepper, to taste

-for the sandwiches:

• Your favorite bread, sliced
• Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling
• Roasted red peppers, cut into strips (4-6 strips per sandwich)
• Baby spinach, large stems removed (about 6 leaves per sandwich)
• Fresh basil, chiffonaded (did I conjugate this correctly?-- Or, in other words, shredded; a tablespoon or two per sandwich)

the love:


-for the ricotta:

1. Oil a 9x9" (or slightly larger)* glass baking dish and preheat your oven to 350°.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir together the ricotta and eggs until well-incorporated.
3. Add the garlic powder, basil, salt and pepper, and mix well.
4. Spread the mixture evenly into your prepared dish.
5. Bake for about an hour, or until the ricotta is firm in the center.
6. Cool slightly or completely before cutting.**

-for the sandwiches:***

1. Slice the ricotta into rectangles,trapezoids, or whatever shape and size best fits your bread.  Munch on any small odd-shaped pieces while you assemble sandwiches (good stuff, huh?).
2. Top a slice of bread with a piece of ricotta, then drizzle with balsamic.
3. Top that with a few strips of roasted peppers and several spinach leaves, then sprinkle with some basil shreds.  
4. Top with the other piece of bread and savor while contemplating the art of Georgia O'Keeffe.

notes:

*I make mine in a 9x9" dish, and the ricotta comes out pretty thick.  It's good this way, but sometimes a little messy.  In a slightly larger dish you'd get thinner slices but more of them, which could be a good thing...
**I often make this ahead of time and refrigerate until I'm ready to use it.  It tastes good at any temperature, but is nice and firm (thus less messy to eat) when cold.
**This is just what Brock and I like on these-- but there are probably a million ways you could dress up this ricotta and still have it taste fantastic.  For my boys, I just serve it plain on regular whole-wheat sandwich bread.

pickle ball and olive•pasta

Owen loves pickles and I will use this fact to my advantage to make dinner time go just a little more smoothly.  Actually, calling capers pickle balls is not far off from the truth.  The little spheres that are commonly called capers are actually flower buds from the caper bush that are-- you guessed it-- pickled.

He loves olives, too, and insisted I add them to the title of the recipe.  So, with some direction from my preschooler, I bring you "Pickle Ball and Olive Pasta".

We had this for dinner last night, and Owen said, "This is the best dinner I've ever had!"  I'm pretty sure he has learned by now that it's to his advantage to flatter his mama, and I'm pretty sure this statement was a slight exaggeration.  But, I was not about to argue with him.  The four-year-old has spoken.  Brock and I thought it was maybe not the best dinner ever, but really good.  I was excited that dinner was so easy to make-- and of course, that Owen is finally starting to learn to flatter his mother.  Oliver was just excited about his bread.
This pasta has actually been a favorite of ours for years-- as evidenced by the condition of my recipe card (with notes scribbled all over and the original blue ballpoint ink faded nearly to oblivion in places).  It's about time I type it out, lest it be lost to me.

The veggies (etc):

• A 14.5 to 16 oz package of pasta*
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 lb ripe tomatoes (about 3 large tomatoes), chopped (about 2 to 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups pitted, coarsely chopped Kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup capers (AKA pickle balls), rinsed
• Red pepper flakes or cayenne, to taste (I just add a pinch so it's not too spicy for the kids)
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 1 1/2 TBS dried parsley**
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

The love:

1. Cook your pasta in boiling salted water until al dente and drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat in a wide skillet and add the garlic, tomatoes, olives, pickle balls, pepper flakes or cayenne, marjoram and parsley.
3. Simmer briskly for 10 minutes, until sauce has thickened a bit and tomatoes start to break down a little.
4. Season sauce with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve immediately, topped with a little fresh grated parmesan.

Tips:

* I use Barilla Plus pasta, which for some reason comes in 14.5 oz packages.  Maybe it's because this kind expands more than your average noodle when cooking-- it seems to be about right when substituted for a one-pound box of regular pasta.

**If you feel like getting fancy with the herbs, you live somewhere you can grow such things as marjoram and parsley, or you generally use a lot of fresh herbs when cooking, go for it and substitute fresh for the dried (use about 1TBS chopped marjoram and 1/2 cup chopped parsley).  Your pasta will probably taste that much better because of your valiant efforts.  But, if you're like me and are looking for a fast meal with a minimal about of washing and chopping, you cannot grow herbs more finicky than mint and chives in your garden, or you end up using a small amount of store-bought herbs and letting the rest of them go slimy in your vegetable drawer, stick with the dry herbs-- it'll still be pretty darn good.

Where credit is due:

In the very corner of my recipe card, in very small and faded print, I believe it says Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  A quick Amazon search and a glance at the cover photo have reminded me that this cookbook is by Deborah Madison.  My memory now tells me that although I haven't picked up the actual book in years, it's been a helpful one in the past-- and has obviously provided me with a recipe or two that I've tried, re-made and re-named over the years...

sweet potato•pancakes

Many people are very particular about their pancakes.  I discovered this when I recently did a google search to find out if you can make pancake batter ahead of time and refrigerate it (and it turns out you can, if you use double-acting baking powder).  I also learned that pancake-making is a serious matter.  One guy became almost belligerent when someone else suggested they like to "whip air" into their batter.  Along with a detailed scientific description of how whipping your pancake batter destroys the pancake cells (or something to that effect), he said (complete with extra punctuation and caps), "Barely mix the batter!!!  BARELY!...  Stop killing your pancakes!"  Hmm.  I suppose it's time someone stood up against senseless pancake murder.  I had no idea this was such a problem.
Since people are so particular about their pancakes, I thought I should give full disclosure as to which type of pancakes these are.  These are not quite as light and fluffy as your average restaurant fare, not terribly dense and hearty (which is actually how I prefer my cakes), but somewhere in between.  I'm not sure where they fall on the scale of crepe to blini to blintz to galette (and I'm not even sure what all those terms mean or if I've terribly offended anyone by putting them in that order), but someone out there on the internet could probably explain it to you-- quite emphatically.

The last time we had these sweet potato pancakes we topped them with Nana's home-made apple butter.  In the event that your Nana didn't give you any home-made apple butter, syrup is good, too.  But, for the love of God, make sure it's PURE MAPLE SYRUP!!!  This is one thing I am adamant about.

The veggies (etc):*

• 1 cup peeled and grated raw sweet potatoes or yams (about one small potato)**
• A squeeze of lemon juice (about 1/2 tsp) or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of lemon zest
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 2 TBS canola oil
• 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 TBS brown sugar

The love:

1. In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, lemon juice or peel, egg, milk, and oil.
2. Add the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar, and mix until just incorporated (remember to "Barely mix the batter!!!  BARELY!").***
3. Oil or butter and preheat the biggest, flattest skillet you have (I use a cast-iron griddle) over low to medium heat.**** 
4. Scoop in about 1/4 cup portions onto your skillet and cook on each side until golden on the outside and no longer wet in the middle.

Tips:


*This recipe does not make a ton.  The four of us usually eat it for dinner with a little fruit and a small side like some veggie sausage or green eggs and we never have leftovers.  If we're extra hungry or want leftover batter or pancakes for later, I double the recipe.

**Another google search has taught me that although sometimes you'll see something called yams at the grocery store, they're almost always really sweet potatoes.  Real yams are usually not sold in the US and are not even related to sweet potatoes.

***Most recipes will tell you to mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, then stir them together-- this is to prevent clumping and ensure even mixing.  I'm lazy and don't like getting out and washing an extra bowl, so I do it all in one bowl.  To make up for it I try to mix the dry ingredients together on top of the wet before I really stir it into the the wet stuff.  If this is offensive to you, by all means, get out another bowl.

****These have a tendency to cook fast on the outside and slowly in the middle, so I like to cook them low and slow to ensure thorough cooking.

Where credit is due:

We once had a scrap of paper in our recipe box, in Brock's writing, that said "Cinnamon Rolls: flour, yeast, sugar, butter, cinnamon", and that's it.  This is how Brock transcribes recipes.  Needless to say, I never tried the cinnamon roll recipe and it's since been thrown in the trash.  My original sweet potato pancake recipe is also in Brock's writing, but was-- luckily-- much more thoroughly transcribed.  The only thing that's missing (as far as I can tell) is the actual source of the recipe.  I think it came from a Moosewood book, but exactly which one is a mystery.  In any case, I've made this recipe my own by simplifying it a little and adding whole wheat flour (as I can't bring myself to make something containing flour and not sneak in some whole grains).  And who knows what Brock left out of it...

we do not like•green eggs and ham

My family only partially agrees with Sam I Am.  Our contention: ham is gross.  Green eggs, however, can be pretty good.  We generally like them in our house.  And we usually like them with sweet potato pancakes-- for dinner.  And some of you, like Owen, will like them with some ketchup on the side.  We haven't tried them in the dark or in a tree, but that could be fun, too...

The veggies (etc):

• 1 TBS oil, margarine, butter, or whatever else you like to cook your eggs in*
• 2 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach leaves, larger stems removed**
• 4 eggs
• A generous splash of water (about 1/4 cup)***
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (we like cheddar or a combination of mozzarella and parmesan)

The love:

1. Measure your spinach in a large glass measuring pitcher (if you're using an immersion blender) or the pitcher of your blender.  Add the eggs and water and season with salt and pepper.
2. Blend just until the mixture is smooth (it will be a bit foamy).
3. Heat your oil (or margarine, or whatever) in a skillet over medium heat, then add the egg mixture.
4. Cook eggs, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, until almost set, then stir in the cheese.
5. Cook and stir for a few more minutes until eggs are set.
6. Serve to your freaked out family (these eggs are surprisingly green).

Tips:

*Don't skimp on the cooking fat-- these eggs like to stick.

**You could also use defrosted frozen chopped spinach-- but cut back the amount (to about 1/2 cup) and eliminate or reduce the amount of water you use. 

***I like to use water because it seems to produce a lighter, fluffier scramble.  But, if heavier and creamier is what you prefer, use milk instead.

cheater•meals

When Brock got home tonight, Owen summed up our afternoon for him this way: "Ollie started it, I made it worse, then Mom was just being mean".   I really couldn't have described the situation more accurately myself.  
It's times like these that I just have to leave Brock with the savages and sneak off to do my own thing for a while, like run off some steam on the treadmill.  Or, tonight I simply retreated to the quiet of my laundry room and folded some clothes.  In any case, when I re-emerge to the real world that is my kitchen, I realize I should have started on dinner a half hour ago.  I roll up my sleeves and start searching freezer, fridge and pantry for something super-quick.  I'm not talking "30-minute-meals" quick (is it just me or do those recipes always take longer than 30 minutes to make anyway?), but 20 or less-- really.  The following is a list of things we eat on nights like tonight-- when I just need to get some food on the table so we can get those boys fed and in bed.  Here's to a fresh start in the morning-- and hopefully a slightly more thought-out dinner tomorrow night...

• Bread, cheese and fruit:  This is pretty much just what it sounds like-- a big platter of whatever you have on hand.  I usually put out a couple kinds of cheese for me and Brock (e.g. goat cheese or smoked gouda) and a simple cheese for the kids (usually good old white cheddar), slice up a chunk of whole grain french bread and/or get out an assortment of crackers, cut up some fruit, and check the fridge and pantry for bonus items, like olives, pickles or nuts.  Voila-- crowd pleaser.

• Veggie Burgers and sweet potato fries:  I usually do the store-brand version of original Gardenburgers on a 100% whole wheat bun, with cheese, lettuce, mustard and ketchup.  But there are a million variations on this, so experiment and choose whatever floats your boat.  For the fries, I peel sweet potatoes, slice them, then cut again into half-moons, toss with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and bake at 400°-ish until crispy-yet tender.  Or, on nights like tonight I throw some frozen Alexia sweet potato fries in the oven.

• Quesadillas:  Start with whatever tortilla you can find at the store that has the smallest ingredients list-- believe me, these always taste the best.  At my local grocer these are Tortilla Land raw tortillas, found by the cheese.  Cook one side of the tortilla (if necessary), then top that side with a sprinkling of your favorite cheese (queso fresco is yummy), then add a little of whatever veggies your kids will tolerate (we are, after all, looking for a quick and painless dinnertime), such as frozen corn, chopped spinach, shredded carrots, chopped tomatoes, etc.  Top with more cheese and another half-cooked tortilla, and heat both sides in your tortilla skillet until everything's warm and gooey.  Top your portion with your favorite salsa (mine is Roberto's medium chipotle variety), and put your kids' portions in the freezer 'till they're hardly even warm and therefore a comfortable temperature for them to eat (does anyone else do this, and also feel a little annoyed and silly every time?).

• Pizza:  We either like to just add some toppings and a little extra mozzarella to a cheese take-and-bake pizza from the deli section of the grocery store, or, with a little extra effort, make pita-pizzas.  Try spreading whole wheat pitas with a little finely chopped spinach or spinach puree before you slather on the sauce-- kids usually don't notice, and adults will probably agree that it has a lot more flavor than plain sauce.  Top it with whatever you like, then sprinkle with mozz (or vice versa if that's your inclination).  Owen's all-time favorite is pineapple-- for which I sometimes hack into a whole fruit.  But, I usually just pick up one of those single-serve fruit cups you can get in the refrigerated section of the produce aisle.  My personal favorite quick-pizza topping combo is finely snipped kale, fresh or roasted red peppers (from the jar if I'm trying to make it fast), and sliced mushrooms (sometimes the pre-sliced ones are even cheaper than whole, per ounce-- one more reason to take a shortcut).  Seriously, kale on pizza is incredible.  So is eggplant, but that takes well beyond 20 minutes to do it right...

• Broccoli Alfredo: Cook up some of your favorite-shape pasta (Barilla Plus is my favorite brand-- check out the nutrition panel!), adding broccoli florets the last three-or-so minutes of cooking.  Drain and toss with an all-natural, store-bought sauce.  Enough said...  Although a hunk of seedy french bread never hurts this meal.

• Frito salad:  If the word "Frito" sounds scary to you, you obviously have not looked at the ingredients list.  Here it is, in it's entirety: whole corn, corn oil, and salt.  While I wouldn't recommend eating a whole bag, they can't be that bad for you, right?  This salad is basically just a big salad with whatever toppings sound good, with Fritos to add to the texture and kid-appeal.  My kids actually skip the greens and just have a big plateful of the toppers, like avos, cherry tomatoes, carrots, red peppers, thawed frozen corn, diced cheese and/or black beans (if you do canned, choose Eden Organic ones-- theirs are the only cans not lined with BPA).  Don't forget a generous sprinkling of Fritos, and, for those who like it, a good chipotle ranch.  Mmmm-- chipotle ranch...

• Grilled cheese and soup:  Skip the can and go for one of those pureed soups in an aseptic container, like Imagine or Pacific brand.  Owen likes the butternut squash variety, sipped through a straw once it's cool.  Oliver goes more for the grilled cheese, which I usually do with monterrey jack or white cheddar on slices of 100% whole wheat, brushed in olive oil.  

• Veggie chicken nuggets with mac-and-cheese-and-peas:  Our favorite nuggets are the Quorn brand ones, by far (partly because they're soy-free, and also for the texture and flavor), and I usually reach for Annie's when I'm making mac-and-cheese from a box.  I like to throw some sort of veggie right in with the pasta for the last few minutes of boiling (such as frozen peas, chopped spinach, an organic mixture of corn, carrots and peas, or shredded carrots), or stir in a little puree with the milk and cheese mixture (carrot, squash or sweet potato blend in well-- just don't go too nuts or it'll be too goopy).

• Breakfast-for-dinner:  We like Kashi frozen blueberry waffles with Field Roast apple-sage sausage and whatever fruit we have on hand.  Another favorite dinner-breakfast (or breakfast-dinner?) of ours is sweet potato pancakes and green eggs.  These require a full-on recipe and a little more time, though-- they'll be starring in their own post soon. 

• Indian food:  Kitchens of India and Tasty Bite make tolerable approximations of our favorite Indian restaurant meals, sold in boil-in-the-pouch packages.  They taste especially good when you're out camping or just feeling really lazy.  I put them over either whole-wheat couscous or brown Minute rice, perhaps with a few frozen peas thrown in while cooking.

• Spicy tofu: This is my favorite lately-- although due to the spice factor, I usually end up making something else for the kids ("Who wants PB&J tonight?!").  Take a chunk of extra-firm tofu, gently squeeze out the excess water (I like to do this between two small plates so I'm squishing evenly), then pat dry with paper towels or a clean tea towel.  Cube the tofu and toss it in a hot skillet with some oil and let it fry (the key with tofu--if you're not going for a scramble--is to not stir it too often).  Meanwhile, chop up some onion and red bell pepper and throw it in the pan, carefully turning every few minutes.  Once the onions start to get tender, throw in some frozen corn and dump in some sauce, like a packet of Frontera New Mexico Taco Skillet Sauce with roasted tomato + mild red chile (look for it by the enchilada sauce at the grocery store).  Give that a few minutes to simmer and gently turn everything over to coat it.  Put that in a tortilla with a little crumbled queso fresco and some shredded lettuce or cabbage, and you have something beautiful.  But, don't get too entranced by it and forget the PB&J for the kids...