Frozen Peas Please..

Tonight's dinner was straight out of the tired moms cookbook. I preach keeping certain staples in the freezer, and tonight was Cheese ravioli with sauce or butter and peas. For some reason my children will not eat peas if they are cooked, but if they are frozen, well that is a different story all together! I cooked peas for the grownups with a little pinch of salt and dot of butter, and the girls merrily popped the frozen morsels into their mouths as if they were chocolate chips.

We have officially eaten the last of our leftovers, have milked every possible way to turn something into something else, and thankfully, tomorrow is Kirk and the girls night to cook. I think they're making tacos from the ground beef I bought last week and had to freeze and thaw.

Am off to Trader Joe's to buy their guacamole and some lime, chili chicken burgers that looked interesting as well as some edamame shu mai that sounded good too. Will let you know how they are.

Last night of leftovers

It was a beautiful warmish springtime day here, the perfect day to...pick weeks. We spent the better part of the day picking pachysandra. We had our dear friends from up the street over to help us finish the last of the leftovers from Saturday's party.

I heated up the grilled pizza's in the oven, 1 was a fontina with chicken and apple sausage, spinach, onion and mushroom, and the other was Margherita. I heated up the last of the crispy wings, and made a large salad tossed with dried cranberries and feta cheese. I was out of lemon, so used the juice of a lime, a lot of black pepper, olive oil and kosher salt. It was tangy and refreshing.

The girls went to bed late, and I'm off to soak in the tub and gear up for another day of weeding.

Spare ribs revisited

Aren't Sunday's supposed to be a day of relaxation? I try desperately not to schedule anything during the weekends, but today was packed full of exciting events for my lucky children. The day began with horseback riding lessons, followed by a couple hour break for me with the arrival of our babysitter. Upon return, I took the kids to a bubble show, then ran them to softball practice, where upon arrival I realized I had left the mitt at home! Ugh...

That said, we had bought pork ribs to make the girls now favorite meal, Chinese spareribs. We didn't follow a recipe like they did with Papa, oh no, tonight Mom's in charge. I had the girls measure out a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, mixed in about 3 tbs. of honey, a 1/4 C. hoisin sauce and a 1/4 C. of plum sauce. They stirred the whole mess around the pork ribs, and baked them in a 425 degree oven for about 40 minutes. They were sticky and delicious. We ate it with some leftover rice from a few nights ago and a bunch of raw celery sticks.

We are all tired from our Un-Sunday. Monday's gotta be better than this!

Leftovers, the easy way.

Friday night was Thai take out. The girls won't eat any Thai food as it is generally quite spicy. They were happy with pasta, miso soup and the last remaining chicken nuggets from my in-laws visit.

I helped cater a Bat Mitzvah today and it was a good but long day. I brought home a few leftovers, some homemade pizzas, a few grilled burgers, some meatballs and 2 molten lava cakes. They had a few bites of everything and finished off with a grapefruit.

We'll probably eat those tomorrow as well, but the girls want to try their hands at homemade spare ribs again. Kirk will be home Monday for round 2 of Chinese Spareribs.

A run on broccoli.

Tonight's dinner was a no brainer for me. Turkey burgers, steamed broccoli and rice.

I make the rice the way I grew up eating it.

Add a Tbs. of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add a handful of thin vermicelli noodles (the kind you make chicken noodle soup with). Stir them in the oil until they become golden brown, maybe 4 minutes. Add in 1 C. of long grain white rice and stir into the oil and noodles so the oil coats the rice. Add in 2 C. of chicken stock, stir to combine, turn the heat down to low and cover. It takes about 25 minutes.

While the rice cooked, I made turkey burgers. I seasoned them with garlic salt and ground pepper. Since the turkey is so lean, I added a drizzle of olive oil into the pan and let it heat before adding the burgers. I cooked the burgers on high on one side for about 4 minutes, turned them, covered the pan and turned the heat down to medium. It's important to cover the burgers as they will dry out otherwise.

Lastly, I steamed the broccoli. Bring a little water to a boil, add the broccoli. After about 2 minutes, turn the heat off and let them finish steaming. They RARELY over cook this way. I add a little butter and a pinch of salt before serving.

As usual, a mixed bag at the table. One daughter ate both her and her sisters burger, they both ate all of the broccoli and a couple bites of rice.

I think it's hysterical that the girls bicker over who gets the last piece of broccoli!

Emma has her first day of softball practice tomorrow from 5-6p.m. (are they crazy, that's dinner time!) Anyhow, we will probably eat out tomorrow as I know the girls will be famished. I'm hoping that Friday's will become picnic night's as the weather gets warmer.

Sweet and sour peanut butter sandwiches...

Today was a full day and we got home late from Chess club tonight. I let the girls watch a cartoon while I set about making sweet and sour pork. I had bought a Sweet and Sour seasoning mix by Sun Bird. The directions were easy:

Combine:
1 1/2 lbs. boneless thinly cut pork strips ( I only used 1 lb.)
1/4 C. water
1/4 C. soy sauce
1/4 C. corn starch

Marinate the pork for 5 minutes in the mixture

While the pork marinated, I cubed a red pepper, an onion, a zucchini and I sliced a handful of carrots on the diagonal.

I heated 1 tbs. peanut oil and added in the onions, carrots and pork. I let it cook for 5 minutes, then added in the zucchini and pepper. I let the mixture cook for 3 more minutes, then combined:

1 tbs. cornstarch
1/4 C. sugar
1/4 C. Katsup
1 1/2 C. water
Sweet and sour seasoning mix

I whisked the mixture together then added it to the stir fry. I turned the heat down to low and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes until it thickened up. I added a can of drained pineapple chunks and served it over some white rice.

It was delicious. The girls took one look at the thick sauce and squinched their noses up. I made them eat 2 pieces of pork, Abby ate her cucumber and brown rice and Emma scoffed at the brown rice, but ate it anyways, and proceeded to make herself a peanut butter sandwich.

I had a sneaking suspicion that because they had never eaten sweet and sour pork they might respond this way, but they tried it anyways.

I have some ground turkey for tomorrow night, not totally sure what to do with it. I'm thinking turkey taco's. It can't be any worse than tonight!

Dad's night to cook

Kirk and the girls are really getting into the swing of things with their weekly cooking. We've made a few concessions, mainly that I go to the market for them and buy their supplies.

Tonight they grilled steak, steamed green beans and cooked rice. The girls loved helping, and he let them snap the beans, measure the water and rice and grind the pepper and salt onto the steaks. Abby even did my job and set the table.

I stayed firmly put on the couch and read my book. It is certainly a treat to leave the cooking up to someone else one night a week.

I finally got organized and bought supplies for dinner for the next few nights. Tomorrow night will be sweet and sour pork. I've never made it before, but how hard can it be?