Let's Eat : Try Some New Things!

I may have mentioned that I don't do resolutions. And that's unlikely to change (can't take the pressure!). But I do like to cook things, so as the new year gets going I'm trying some new recipes as we get back on track after the holidays. I've gotten lazy about planning meals even though I know that having a plan is really an important key to getting food on the table every night. After the planning, then having good ingredients on hand is next, and I've slacked on my shopping too. Which is weird since I like shopping, in the right stores, and I like planning...but the holidays and a lack of a regular schedule got me all mixed up!

So here are a few of the new recipes I've tried so far this new year:

• Orange Shortbread Cookies (King Arthur recipe using candied orange peel, which I just happened to have on hand) -- yum! Keeper.
• Avocado "Hummus" (Giada recipe from her newest book) -- interesting. Stays green, in spite of having avocado in it. Needs a little more spice. I put hummus in quotes because it's made with white beans and no tahini, so not exactly hummus in my book. Once I perfect this one to my own taste, I may write about it again. It has potential.
• Whole Wheat Bread (recipe was in the comments of some blog I was reading...never to be found again) -- but that's okay, since it was an epic fail. it resembled a brick. Operator error, I think. Kids wouldn't even pick it up to try it. They actually looked frightened. Tried it again using a different recipe: Honey Whole Wheat Bread (via 100 Days of Real Food) -- better! At least I'll eat this one, even though the kids remain suspicious of all homemade bread. 
• Whole Grain Cranberry Muffins (found via Pinterest) -- another winner! Even Brett, who is The Most Difficult Kid to Please Ever With a Muffin (see related post) ate one every day until they were gone. Don't skip the glaze -- although it's easier to just mix OJ and powdered sugar than to follow the recipe there. Keeper.
• World's Best Chicken (found via Pinterest) -- and while the jury is out on world's best, it has mustard, and the kids ate it. Wow...that's a first! Super-easy and I had all the ingredients (there are not many).
• Nutella Cookies (another Pin) -- few ingredients, and it cleared out our Nutella supply, but these went together quickly and everyone liked them. I used white whole wheat flour and added a little coconut oil to help bind the dough. I'll repeat these if I'm ever willing to run out of Nutella again...

As I wait for my energy to rev back up for even more new recipes (and for a good time to grocery-shop my favorite stores), we'll keep cleaning out leftovers and bits of holiday remnants (a lot of which is chocolate, so how bad could that be?). I'll probably keep collecting more recipes, too, since they're everywhere I look.

I've got a couple of new cookbooks to keep me company and so I'm planning for some nice healthy things to come of it. Like this one, which was a new recipe for us last year and which has become one of our favorites. At least it has for the adults in the house and everywhere I've taken it...why not try it out yourself for 2014?

Farro Salad (I'm not reprinting the recipe here because this link shows it so nicely!) -- The Farro is good and chewy (I like to use Trader Joe's 10-minute farro, but I've also used the pouch of pre-cooked from Target), while the vegetables are crunchy and it's all got a warm dressing poured over the top made from sautéed onions, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. How would you possibly go wrong with that? And it's pretty enough for a pot luck!

 

 

As one of the TV chefs used to say (I think it was Jacques Pepin), "Happy Cooking!" Or in his case it was more like "Appy Cuking" -- ha.

What's Everybody Doing?

There's a kid at school whose parents I'd like to meet.
This youngster is causing all sorts of unrest around our house.
His name? Everybody. I've heard more about him than I care to know.
Maybe your kids know him?

Entertainment and Electronics (the most important topic for tween boys):

• Everybody has a television in his bedroom.
• Everybody has a DS, and he even sneaks it to school in his backpack.
• Everybody plays video games after school, all he wants.
• Everybody's read The Hunger Games. He has seen the movies, too.
• Everybody plays Call of Duty and other M-rated games.
• Everybody has his own cell phone. With a data plan.
• Everybody's seen Ted.

Other:

• Everybody gets flaming hot Cheetos, every day, in the cafeteria. If he doesn't have those, he brings in a big bag of Takis.
• Everybody throws away the school-lunch vegetables.
• Everybody rides in the front seat.
• Everybody drinks soft drinks for breakfast.
• Everybody says "those" words.
• Everybody cuts the corners when he's running laps.
• Everybody wears shorts to school when it's 40 degrees outside.

If you haven't guessed, I hear about these because Everybody's life is so much better and cooler than ours. I've resisted asking the clichéd Mom question -- "if Everybody jumped off a cliff..." because I don't really want to hear the answer. 

My kids are just 10. They're too young to fully understand the reasons why we don't do the same things Everybody does. So I get the enviable role of making many unpopular decisions around here, like not stocking blue Gatorade or soft drinks in the fridge. Like blocking content on the TV and computers, and limiting screen time. Enforcing chore time before the fun stuff. Insisting that there's no SpongeBob on the weekends (that's a personal thing -- I can't stand the sound of it!). These are the kinds of rules that unlimited-do-what-you-want Everybody doesn't have. Don't get me wrong -- we don't live some kind of sequestered, deprived existence. Just everything in moderation, and in its own time.

Why not just ease up and follow Everybody's lead? Part of it, I think, is that while some of these are (in my opinion anyway) basically unhealthy choices, others represent adult activities that distract from being a kid. If you've already seen the R-rated movies and played the M-rated games as a young child, what will you find amusing as you grow older and become an adult? If you're tied to a screen during all of your free time, how will you learn to play soccer? If you don't learn healthy eating habits as a youngster, won't it be twice as hard to learn them later? As someone who has been an adult for a loooong time, I feel qualified to say that there is plenty of time for the grown-up stuff...and not nearly long enough to just be a kid.

As I recall, when I was a kid Everybody was in school with me too. But it seems like that child was a lot more harmless, back then. Everybody wore Calvin Klein jeans and she had a phone in her room. I think that was it.

I think I prefer another kid I've heard about, Nobody. Nobody wears a coat on cold days. Nobody loves vegetables. Nobody sings in music class. Nobody does the extra credit assignment. Yes, that's my kind of young person!

The boys go back to school this week after a long winter break away from Everybody. Gee, I can't wait to find out what he got for Christmas. And what he saw...and played.