Sink Soup

Tomorrow is payday.

Which means today is the leanest of all days--food wise. No big deal. You know how it is: right before you need to do a big shopping, you just don't seem to have anything that fits right for a decent meal.

That's what I was dealing with tonight. Had a bit of this and a little of that. Seemed to have too much of "yuck," and not enough "yum." I WAS fairly confident, however, that I could pull something together that would pass off as fairly decent. Thankfully, my family has been trained to not be picky. Daddy doesn't allow his little prodigies to turn their noses to Mama's cooking.

Anyhow, I looked around to see what to mix up. For starters, I had chicken stock from some bones I boiled earlier in the week (in anticipation of a day like this). I was stumped as to what I was going to add to that, however. I didn't really have any meat. No significant amount of vegetables. No chicken boullion.

How in the world do you make dinner with none of those things?

In the spirit of Pooh Bear...."Think, think think."

And I seemed to have the things you just couldn't do much with: fish batter mix, peach oatmeal, jerky marinade, protein drink mix. Yuck. A few saltine crackers? Nah.

Welllll.....

Alright. Start with the stock....get it heated up. Then get the small mound of mashed potatoes from a few nights ago and dump it in. If nothing else, the soup would be hearty. Uh....there's a smidgen of leftover broccoli too.....In it goes. A few carrots and half-dead celery can be somewhat salvaged. Needs water. Ooooohhhhh....NOW it needs seasoning...too watered down! Salt, pepper, parsley, garlic.....mmmmm.....not bad...not great.

What ELSE is in this pantry? Hmmmm......cream of chicken soup? Sounds workable. French fried onions....wellll, those are flavorful. A box of stuffing? Uhhhh....why not? It's chicken flavored at least!

I also found a goldmine of leftover chicken patties....3! Man! I can DO something with that!

There was also some leftover chicken gravy. Can someone say, "Flavor?"

So in it all goes, and it's really starting to look and smell like something good. Boiled up some noodles on the side, and Voila! Dinner!

I affectionately called it "Sink Soup." Because it contained everything BUT!

***

Me: "So guys, what do you think of dinner?"

Kidlette: "Uh...it's good! What's, um, IN this?"

Me: "Oh, ya know, a little of this and a little of that."

Kidlette: "Ok, what's it called?"

Me: "Sink Soup!"

All: "Huh??"

Me: "Well, it has everything in it but the kitchen sink! Get it? So I called it "sink soup." ((chuckle))

Kidlette #2: "It doesn't have the counter in it, Mom."

Kidlette #3: "And it doesn't have the faucet!"

Me: ((rolling eyes))

Kidlette #2: "It doesn't have a fork it in!"

Kidlette #1: "Hey! But it DOES have a spoon!!"




Oh, sheesh......what a bunch of clowns we've got around here.......

Great Find

Went yard sale-ing today. Didn't do too bad considering it was sprinkling early this morning. And the weird thing is that I didn't find too many sales in general, but the ones I caught were really good for me. I was especially psyched about a deep cast iron skillet (with lid!) that I found at an estate sale.

The person who died was 101 years old.

They KNEW how to use this thing, I tell ya!

I've been wanting one for quite some time, seeing as how I'm now a Southern gal. I've seen all kinds of stuff cooked in cast iron, and anything I've tried has been especially good. Now I just have to figure out how to recreate that.

Thank God for Google.

They MAKE These!

Ok, I am SOOOOO in trouble!


Do you see this?

Do you SEEEEEE this????

Creme Eggs.....in miniature.......in a little miniature egg carton.......

1 WEIGHT WATCHER POINT EACH

Oh, man, y'all, I am SOOOOOOO in trouble.........

Don't Feed the Bears

I've got a nice little system going here.

In the middle of getting Michaela ready for school in the weeee hours of the morning (read: 6:30), I get Noah out of bed so he can start his classes. He, in turn, will get Gabe out of bed for me when he decides to wake up just minutes after I get Michaela on the bus and slip my last cold foot back into bed.

For some reason, Gabe is some kind of weird freak of nature around here. He's the only one of my kids that doesn't like to sleep in. Well, Michaela doesn't like to either, but she can be cajoled back to bed and Gabe can't. It really stinks that he's like this, because I'm somewhat of a night owl and I don't mind getting 8 hours of sleep. Gabe, on the other hand, requires the least amount of sleep of ANYONE in the house. Like I said, he's a freak of nature.

Soooo. The reason I said all that was because Noah is so nice to get him out of bed for me in the morning so I can catch a few zzzz's before starting the day (again). BUT, in order to keep Gabe civil and quiet so the REST of us can sleep, he has to put him in his highchair and get him some breakfast. Which, should really be no big deal.

Yet it IS a big deal. I'm not sure why, but Gabriel is NOT easy to please. First off, he's not patient. He will fuss a blue streak until you get him his sippy cup. That's IF you figure OUT that he wants that. Noah will try to just get him some dry cereal, but Gabe will start fussing about it. So we try the cup, but that just makes him louder until you actually get the thing in his hands. But the peace doesn't always last long after that.

And I just figured out why: Gabe doesn't LIKE dry cereal.

He doesn't particularly like wet cereal either. Well, let me back up here. Gabe would LOVE the sugary cereals that I let the older kids eat (wet or dry), but I just can't bring myself to let him eat that on any sort of regular basis. Not that it's the best for the other kids either, but for the one-year-old? I can't bring myself to do it. So we try to stick to Cheerios or Kix the majority of the time.

The Kix died a hard death pretty quickly. He just wouldn't eat it anywhere near long term.

Now, the Cheerios are a "nay." I think Cooper's eaten more of those than Gabe has.

This whole "no eating cereal" thing has made for one seriously fussy child for the rest of the morning. I mean, he LIVES for lunch. And I must be losing it because I JUST figured this out recently. I mean, for MONTHS I thought that he was just disagreeable or teething.

He was HUNGRY.

Sigh. But being the mother of six that I am, it is not in my nature to make different meals for different kids. If I make oatmeal for breakfast, we all eat oatmeal whether someone wants it or not. If I make eggs and toast, same rule applies. But if I sleep in, then the kids can choose which cereal they want and get it for themselves (ahhh, independence---how sweet is thy name!). So, if Gabe doesn't want to eat cereal on a cereal day, then my first reaction is "tough toenails toots."




"Awww, Kelly! He's a baby....."

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. I can't let just let him starve because he's picky.....

But if he were TWO....now....that would be a different story!




So this not eating breakfast thing is a definite problem. And that's when my wheels started turning. Because, you see, Gabe WILL eat plenty of things. He likes finger foods of many different varieties. He especially likes the fruit snacks that the older kids get.

But that's not decent breakfast food.

Think think think......

What IS decent breakfast food? I mean, what defines breakfast? As a culture, we Americans will eat lots of different things for breakfast: grains, beans, meat, vegetables (you know, in an omelet), of course fruit and dairy, and even cold pizza. But what's the best for a baby? For a little kid?

Not to mention, what's easiest for ME? (or Noah, heh heh)

And this is what I came up with: whatever it is, it should really touch on each of the food groups. You know, the pyramid thing? Grain, meat and beans, dairy, fruit and veggies, and only a smattering of fats.

Ok, think think think.....

For toddlers, grains and fruits are pretty easy to figure out. You could just use raisins and Cheerios. But my kid doesn't LIKE Cheerios. So we'll start with raisins. OK, one down, 4 to go.

Then for dairy, I thought of yogurt. They make yogurt in a finger food version these days: Yogos. But Yogos have the equivalent of candy in the middle, so that was out. But they STILL make yogurt covered raisins.....BINGO! That knocks out two items, all rolled into one!

Ok, now for the meat department. Gabe would gnaw on a beef stick if I gave it to him, but that just seemed kinda nasty for breakfast. So I thought about beans.....hmmmm.....the only beans I could come up with would need to be cooked. But we're looking for finger food here, and baked beans don't fit into that. So, I decided to turn to nuts, and everybody knows what a kid's favorite nut is: peanuts. Peanut butter! Hmmm...finger food? Well.....

How about peanut butter crackers? That would not only take care of the protein department, but ALSO the grain department. Home run! Ritz makes those little peanut butter crackers that are just right for little hands.

That just leaves vegetables. Veggies aren't the easiest to get into a kid's gullet by far, but food makers are getting pretty creative at it these days. One thing I gave Gabe a lot when he was much smaller was the fruit and veggie puffs that Gerber puts out. I looked at the label, and they actually put dried vegetables in these things. Hey, dried, cooked, smashed, it doesn't matter to me! As long as he can eat them by himself, we're good.

So, that just left fats, and I think those get into processed foods by default so I didn't worry about it.

In the end, what I had put together was this:

-Yogurt covered raisins. Dairy and fruit.
-Sweet potato finger puffs. Veggie and grain.
-Ritz bitz peanut butter crackers. Meat (protein) and grain. (And probably some oil too)

I took portions of each and dumped them into a gallon sized Ziplock bag, shook them up and voila! Gabe Food!

Affectionately known as "Gabe's Morning Mix."

And would you believe it? The kid LOVES the stuff. I mean, full-fledged is gonna make himself puke he eats so much. Add a sippy cup of whole milk or 100% juice, and he's turned from a Grizzly Bear in the morning to a Peaceful Doe.

And a quiet one at that. Ahhhhh......sweet sleep at last!

(Oh, and I guess it's good that the baby is eating again. Yeah, that's probably a good thing.)

I Watched Julia Child as a Child

I like Food. Yup. Definitely like lots of stuff about food. It's taste, it's texture, it's smell, it's ability to stop my stomach from grumbling. There's just not a whole lot you can dislike about food. Food is a very likeable substance.

Unless you're on a diet.

And THEN food is oftentimes the "enemy."

But no more! I have learned that food and I can co-exist peacefully with my waistline still intact! I just have to TRICK the food into being more.....friendly. More.....anti-flub. More good! Yet....er.....good that's......good! Good.....for ME! And the rest of me......and the rest of me that likes food a lot.....

Yes. Well. You know what I mean.

So, in the spirit of some of my favorite food blogs (yes, there IS such a thing. Do you doubt me?), I have decided to demonstrate the proper preparation technique for GOOD food preparation. The kind of preparedness one would need when they are preparing to prepare GOOD food. As opposed to BAD food (yes, there MUST be such a thing. But I doubt me...).

For my first preparedness seminar, I shall prepare a classic dish of unclassic proportions:

Lasagna!

Yet, not lasagna....

Vegetable Lasagna!

Come come, I will SHOW you........

***

First you must hunt and gather. THESE are the items you must retain for our purposes:
-Lasagna noodles (whole wheat!)
-Olive oil (Omega 3!)
-Cooking spray
-1% milk (low fat!)
-Flour
-Ricotta or cottage cheese (part skim!)
-Mozzerella cheese (part skim too!)
-Garlic (nature's gold)
-Salt, pepper, and nutmeg (optional)
-Parmesan cheese
-Veggies: zucchini, yellow squash, onion, frozen spinach, carrots, broccoli

Once you have all these fine ingredients together (Kevin, no fussing!), you start with the onions. You must Peel the onions (2 cups worth, or 2 med sized), and Chop the onions, as I have done here.
Small chopping here, no big stuff allowed!









Then , you spray your cooking spray in a fine pot of large-ish proportions (word of the day!), and saute (cook until soft) your 2 cups of onions on med-high heat, as I have done here. Once the said onions are somewhat limp, you add 4 cloves (2tsp) of minced garlic. Then you push all that around in your large-ish pot to get that nice and hot and limp as well. Once the onions start to get a little brown in some areas, dump it all into a large bowl and set it aside.




Next, you chop up those wonderful squashes into small bites and dump the lot o' them into your pot. You should have about 2 cups of each variety, or just throw measurement to the wind and use two of each. Whatever suits your fancy. Add a little olive oil to keep them company and turn on the heat!










You need to saute them until they look like this:


Limp.

Mmmm. We LOVE limp veggies :)


Once they reach that point, throw them in the bowl with the garlicky onions.




Now for the carrots. You'll need to cut these up somehow, and make them lasagna worthy. I used a cheese grater and that worked fine. The carrots didn't know what hit 'em. 2 cups worth or two good sized ones should do the trick. Add some more olive oil and heat, and stir 'em up.

(The lone zucchini in the picture must be really self-absorbed to make sure his picture was taken TWICE.)





Again, LIMP is the goal. Once that is achieved, add 2 cups of chopped broccoli (I know, I know, someone has a 2 cup fetish--I didn't write the recipe!). I cheated and bought a broccoli cole slaw where the broccoli was chopped into the fine lengths you see here. I had to pick out the red cabbage, but it was a small price to pay. Hey, they even threw some carrots in there---Bonus!






Like before, cook the broccoli/carrot mixture until tender and then throw them into the onion/garlic/squash bowl of fun. Add about 1/2 tsp of salt in there and mix it all up.

Now forget about it for a while.








I guess now could be a good time to turn your oven on. You could wait until the pasta is cooked if your oven preheats quickly (like mine), or you could get a head start on it. Whatever you like, ok? 375, in case you're wondering.









Next step: the sauce. Magnifique! Ya gotta love sauce! White sauce! YUM!

Take your all-purpose vegetable limping large-ish pot and rinse it out. It must be made sauce worthy now.

Dump a 1/2 cup of flour in there--go ahead, it won't feel it. Then 3 and 1/2 cups of milk. Get the cobwebs off your wire whisk and put that baby to work. Add some bubble making heat and stir away! We're looking for thick, here, people. Thick! There'll be NO wimpy thin sauce in THIS lasagna!

While you're waiting for the sauce to thicken, get out another pot of large proportions and boil water in it. This is for the lasagna. I suggest you lay your pasta in the boiling bath and let it sliiiiither down into the warmth as it cooks through. Don't break, beat, or mash your noodles. You can gently guide them down, but don't force. Lasagna noodle cooking is an art. It must be handled properly.

And don't take them out until they're LIMP. Limpness is important!


Now, back to the pot o' sauce. Once thickness has arrived (like ranch dressing, we'll say), bless it with a 1/2 t of salt, 1/4 t of pepper, and dash of nutmeg.

Or, you could be like my friend Amie, totally disregard the spice instructions, and dump whatever you like in there. You're the one who's eating it. I could care less.

Whisk it up until it's evenly distributed.




So, here's where we're at: the veggies are hanging out, the water has boiled, the noodles are limping, and the sauce is thickened and spiced.

What you need to do next is make sure your bag of frozen spinach is thawed out. If it isn't, then take the bag and put it in a hot water bath for a while (nothing but the best for OUR veggies!). Once thawed, drain and massage all the water out of the spinach (read: grab chucks and squeeze the spinach as dry as possible, making balls)







Then take those wads of green goodness and sprinkle them over your sauce (maybe not the whole lot--about 3/4 of it). Add a 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, and stir it all up. It should look like what you see here.



Then forget about it for a while.






Since those noodles are done, drain them and let them get ready for their sole purpose in life. I find that a wire rack dries them fairly quickly, making the noodles easier to lay into the dish. I drain them first, then I lay them out for a minute, then I stack them on a plate until they're needed.

You can do it however you like. Just make sure they're in their place when their king shall call for them.




Next on the agenda is to make the cheese spread. Many people like cottage cheese in their lasagna, but I'm a ricotta girl, so that's what I used. A carton of ricotta, and 1 and 1/2 cups of the mozzerella. I mixed them up, and this is what I got. No egg here folks. Just the cheese and the cheese. Set it aside.



I said NO egg....don't put one in! I'm tellin' ya!



Now, we're down to the fun part: the assembly. At this point, you should have: cooked noodles, a bowl of cooked veggies, a pot of thick spinach sauce, a bowl of ricotta/mozzarella, and a pre-heated oven.

Spray the bottom of your 13x9 baking dish with the cooking spray. Then take 1/2 cup of the spinach sauce and spread it out on the bottom of the dish. Lay 3-4 noodles on top of that.










Then, spread 1/2 of the ricotta/mozerella mixture over the noodles. Don't skimp! 1/2 does the trick!

After that's all even, then you can do the same with 1/2 of the veggies. Spread those out evenly. You gotta make sure every bite is consistent. Don't fall asleep on this step!






Next is the spinach sauce--about 1 cup worth. So at this point, you should have the base: spinach sauce then noodles. Then you have the first layer: cheese mixture, veggies, and spinach sauce again.



Then ya do it all over again.

The layer, that is. Not the base. That was just to be a base. Not a layer. Get it?



After you're done your second layer, top it with another set of noodles, the rest of the spinach sauce, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, and as much mozzarella as you prefer. This is the finished, yet not edible product.


(Yes, I know you can eat it, but you won't! You won't! You MUST cook it first!)





(Look at that layering........ohhhhhhhh......)


Anyhow, you must now cover your concoction with foil and bake it for 20 minutes. Not 22, not 13. I said 20. Follow me, as I follow the directions here people.

Then, you UNcover it and bake it for ANOTHER 20 minutes.





and you wait.....


and you wait......


and you clean your messy kitchen......





















And finally what you get is this:

Oooooo, La la!!!

(drool drool.....)

And this is how it looks on your plate:

The yum factor on this dish got 6 stars (one for every person who ate it). I thought it needed a little salt, but, eh, who cares? Salt is easy! Healthy, yummy, mouth watering on a diet is NOT. If you want nutrition information on it, email me. But if you try it, let me know. I had fun making it, even though it's a long process (especially when you're, ahem, taking pictures). It's a good make-ahead Sunday dish, or Saturday time-to-waste meal. We added some chicken breast on the side to round it out.

And just to give credit where credit is due, this is a Cooking Light recipe. Light! It's GOOD for you! Anti-flub!



Ahhhhhh......you can all eat a little easier now.....