Don’t Crowd the Mushrooms

It’s true. Julia was right. I like to make mine with bacon grease (Boar’s Head) and Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour. 

 

I cooked steak in a skillet and then fried the mushrooms in it. I honestly can’t think of a better combination. Unless, of course, it’s edamame/corn/pickles. Heat frozen edamame and frozen corn with 2T of water. Once heated, add 1/2 cup of diced pickles (I used dill, but you could use sweet) and 1T of pickle juice. Delicious! What a treat. 

 

Sweet potato fries might be the child’s favorite new side item. Every single time I make them (or fried/diced Yukon gold potatoes), she asks, “Are there more of these for me?” before she even starts eating them. 

 

This is the first time in I couldn’t tell you how long that my sweet child hasn’t burst into tears at bedtime, telling me she’s starving. She has always eaten enough for three football players, and always asks for dessert after. I have been giving her apples at night hoping the fiber will fill her up; she didn’t even ask for dessert tonight. But I think the apples are making a real impact on her, wouldn’t you say? 

One of Those Days

Wednesdays are crazy. I pick the child up from the after-school program. They’re either inside or on the playground. I go inside, they’re not there. I go to the playground, and somehow I’ve missed them and have to go back inside. This takes about 20 minutes to find her, sign her out, grab her stuff, and get her into the car. 

Today, we ran an errand and I completely forgot it was Wednesday. Thank goodness I remembered because I was about to make two more stops. We rushed home, changed, got to practice (where it was parents vs. kids, and now I know why soccer players wear cleats). Afterward, we stopped by the grocery and grabbed this for dinner: 

 

After dinner, I checked her backpack. Her snack pocket was empty. I noticed this morning that she didn’t eat her snack yesterday. I asked her about it at the grocery and she said, “I was busy doing my homework.” So, tonight, I asked, “Did you eat two rice cakes today, and a Lara bar, and fruit snacks?” She said, “Yes.” 

So, today, my 6 y.o. daughter ate: 2 slices of bacon, an egg, part of a gluten free chocolate chip muffin top, half a cheese sandwich, two pickles, some chips, two gluten free Newman Os, 2 rice cakes, a Lara bar, a packet of fruit chews, popcorn, lox and cream cheese on toast, Cheetos, and a gluten free ice cream cone with vanilla and chocolate ice cream swirl. 

And now, she wants to know what is for dessert. 

You Growns Up And You Growns Up And You Growns Up

You know you’re an adult when you wake up one day and your celebrity crush is no longer Shawn Cassidy, but Eric Ripert/Anthony Bourdain/Nigella Lawson (?) and the like.

Tonight I made pork tenderloin. I’ve posted it before, but never the recipe. I don’t know if I actually know the recipe. I saw Eric Ripert cook it once. It involves butter and honey. Heat on an oven proof skillet. Pork tenderloin should be browned on all sides. Place in 375 degree oven until cooked through/to your liking. Heat the sauce and add boiling water (not much). Pour heated sauce over tenderloin. Devour.

It is SO amazing. I served it with lima beans and sweet potato fries. (I am in the midst of a freezer/fridge/cupboard clean out. The meals will only get weirder from here on out.

AND! AND! AND! My daughter made this for me! My chef’s uniform. It was a great Friday.

Cleanin’ Out My Closet

Not really–my freezer. But I love Eminem, and that phrase pops into my head multiple times a day. It’s like a tic. Think of it when I actually AM cleaning out my closet. It’s amazing.

Anyhoo…

I made soup for dinner. Soup is one of my favorite things in the entire world. I could live off of soup. If I was on a deserted island and I could take 5 Things, soup would be one of them. And after three years, when I was finally able to make FIYAH…I would eat the hell out of that soup.

Of course, if I was stuck on a deserted island, I would make soup out of whatever I found laying around (or growing around) which is pretty much what I do when I make soup at home. I look in my fridge and freezer and use whatever needs to be used.

Tonight’s soup consisted of: lima beans, green/red/yellow peppers, onions, peas, and corn. I added chicken that needed to be used from Sunday night, and gluten free corn spaghetti. I spiced it with sage, thyme, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Used Pacific Natural Foods Free Range Chicken Broth. I added equal parts boiling water (from the Twining’s Naturally Decaffeinated Irish Breakfast cuppa tea I made). Then I topped it with shredded mild cheddar jack cheese. (I like my soup with little broth and mostly stuff which does NOT make it a stew.) FREAKING. DELICIOUS.

Calm down.

Sweet potato fries.

And a tiny glass of wine that also HAD to be used from Sunday’s dinner with friends. This wine is delicious. I highly recommend it. I can’t drink red wine anymore. And gluten free beer doesn’t sit well with me lately. But I like this wine:

…and margaritas.

The child loved the soup and I am certain there were peppers in there which went unnoticed, because TRUST ME you would’ve heard about it.

What’s Cooking

There have been a few times lately where I’ve royally screwed up in the kitchen. My friends and I have decided that I need to write a cookbook called, “When You Eff Up the Original Recipe, Here’s How You Can Fix It,”…or something of that nature. 

Just a few weeks ago, I forgot to add the flour to the pumpkin muffins. Cooked pretty much a pumpkin pie in paper muffin cups. Took out the steaming hot pumpkin, added it to the flour, put it back in the oven. Mixed together the topping and saw that I was supposed to put the topping on the muffins before baking. Added topping. Baked muffins AGAIN. Somehow they were “a 10,” as my friend informed me. I made them a couple days later the correct way, alone in my kitchen. Nothing to distract me. 

Tonight, I was assembling the ingredients for bean soup and noticed that I had purchased a can of spicy chili beans that the recipe did not call for. This is why I hate groceries. I can never reach the top shelf, and as I’ve mentioned before I refuse to wear stilettos to Kroger. I usually luck out and some tall man (or woman) will come down the aisle and I can get them to reach the things I cannot. When my daughter was a baby, I would put her on my shoulders to reach the high shelves. She’s way too big for that now. 

Nevertheless, the soup turned out to be quite delicious. I started with a mirepoix (and garlic). 

Then added the ham, beans, broth, thyme, and salt and pepper. I even got to use my immersion blender I haven’t used in years. I actually forgot how to attach it to the base. 

 

I made a salad with romaine and homemade dressing (olive oil, mustard, OJ, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and red wine vinegar), and homemade gluten free croutons. YUM. I’m going to start putting those suckers on everything! 

My child and her friend requested mashed potatoes, chicken, and edamame. No complaints there. And for dessert, caramel apples with peanuts. OMG Thrilling. Followed by 45 minutes of dishwashing. 

Totally worth it. 

 

 

Nice spatula indentions, yes?

And the quote of the day came from my dear daughter, who on the way to the grocery said, “I’m wearing my pearls, mom; just like Julia [Child].” 

I’ve done good work here.