Oh the cheesy goodness of it all.

Sorry for the lack of blog postage lately. Between Girl Scout cookie season (did you buy your cookies yet? huh? Didja? Huh?), the cold I had last week and the ulcer that I've developed this week, I haven't done a hell of a lot of cooking. The few times I have this week I've been holding my stomach and crying while I cooked. Tonight was the first time in a while I've looked at food and thought it looked yummy. But then, as the title says, there was cheesy goodness and I think I'd have to be dead to not be happy about cheese.

I made chicken noodle casserole tonight. It's basically what it sounds like, chicken noodle soup turned into a cheesy, yummy casserole. It was so damned good it made me want to smack my mama. Fortunately for her, she's 125 miles away.

Bill of course didn't touch it because it was full of the dreaded cheese. I need to make it again and figure out where to leave the cheese out of some of it for him.

Ellie and Emma both thought it was good and happily ate it.

Sam refused to even bring his plate to the table and acted like we were trying to poison him.

I think it was a partial win. Actually, it was a total win because I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Yay me!

Here's the recipe I used (mostly):
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chicken-noodle-casserole/Detail.aspx

I added some crumbled up saltine crackers to the top and a sprinkle of cheese, with crackers smashed up in it, because we're a little odd and like our chicken noodle soup. So, I thought it would be good on top of the casserole but otherwise followed the recipe. Oh, and I've commit the sin of running out of garlic, so I didn't put any garlic in it, but I can only imagine it would be even better with some. If you love cheese and you love chicken noodle soup, this dish is for you!

Stirred, not shaken, once again

Stir fry is one of my go-to quickie meals. Throw some rice in the rice cooker, chop some veggies, slice some meat, throw it in the pan and 20 minutes later you've got dinner. And I pretty much always have onions, carrots and broccoli for veggies. Soy sauce, ground ginger, garlic and a OJ for the sauce are pretty much staples, too. This time, I had some bok choy to throw in there, as well, and some green onions to sprinkle it with. I usually grab some chicken boobs for the meat, but this time I had some pork that needed using so we had pork stir fry.

As usual, the kids pretty much turned their noses up at it, except they liked the meat. All three of them ate the pork and the rice. Emma ate the carrots, too. The pork did come out incredibly tender, almost melt in your mouth yummy. Maybe I need to grab pork a little more often and leave the chicken boobs unmolested when making stir fry.

You'd think that since the kids don't really like it, I'd give up and stop making stir fry, but I love it. And I get to eat leftovers for lunch the next day.

The ultimate birthday dinner for the man of the house

Tonight's menu featured wonton soup, sweet and sour pork, and chocolate cake topped with chocolate ice cream. All of Bill's favorite foods all in one spot. I guess it's the least I could do to ease him into being 45 yrs old. 'Cause that is like, OLD, dude. And not that far away for me, either.

The thing that makes this menu suitable for a blog about picky eaters is that, despite the fact that Bill loves sweet and sour pork more than anything else in the whole world, food-wise anyway, he still finds things to pick out of it. He will not eat the peppers and onions at all. Picks them out every time. This is my mother-in-law's recipe and I'm told that at one time she tried making it without the peppers and onions and the picky butts in the family told her it didn't taste the same. So, it has to be made with them in, but they will get picked out. Sigh.

However, Bill gave me the ultimate accolade and said the wonton soup was much better than he'd ever had in a restaurant. Props to me!

And miracle of miracles, Ellie ate it and liked it. The world may be about to stop spinning on its axis now, so hold on tight!

Since it was a partial hit, I'll share this recipe tonight and the sweet and sour pork in a few days.

It's really easy to make, too. And it would be even easier if you had some leftover pork roast or something instead of having to cook ground pork for the filling. I found the amount of sesame oil called for to be a bit much, too. Next time I'll do 1/2 a tsp of it, but try it this way first and decide for yourself.

You need:
1/2 c of cooked pork
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of soy sauce
16 wonton wrappers
6 cups of chicken stock
A couple of stalks of bok choy, chopped
A green onion or two, sliced finely

If you are browning some ground pork for this, like I did, I added a bit of diced onion, minced garlic and salt and pepper to the pan to give it some flavor.

Put your stock in a large pot with the bok choy and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, put the cooked pork, sesame oil and soy sauce in a food processor and whirl it around a bit until minced fine.













Lay out the wonton wrappers on a flat surface and put a spoonful of the filling on each one.



Using your finger, wet the edges of the wrapper and pull them together to make a pouch.











Once they are all made, add to the gently simmering stock and cook about 5 minutes. Don't let it boil too hard or the wontons will fall apart.












Gently ladle into bowls and top with the slice green onion.













Can't forget a shot of the most important part: the cake and ice cream!

The guaranteed win.

Tonight was homemade pizza night. Even for the pickiest of the picky in my house, that's a win. And the kids get to help make it, which results in tasty snacks on the floor for the dogs, who are quite fond of cheese.
I don't know why we don't make pizza more often. I can make them for less than I can buy a frozen one. And pair it with a big salad and everyone is full after 3 pieces or so, unlike when we hit the local pizza buffet. Even the skinny mini can pack away 6 pieces and a brownie or two when we eat there. And homemade has got to be more healthy.

Not everything we've eaten this week has been such a big hit. Last night I made shepard's pie, which is one of Bill's favorites. What's not to love about meat and potatoes, especially if you are a man. And piling mashed potatoes on top of meat just makes it better. The carrots and peas tucked in there are just a bonus to make you feel like you've gotten your veggies in. But of course, the kids didn't like it.

Fortunately for my blood pressure, I was at a meeting and didn't have to listen to them saying "Yuck!" No, not that kind of meeting. They haven't pushed me that far, yet. It was for Girl Scouts.

So, I got to come home and eat my dinner in peace in front of my weekly dose of Gray's Anatomy, something we don't let the kids do. I'm sure they found something to eat as clearly they didn't starve overnight.

You say potato, I say potahhh-to!

Last night was one of my easy-peasy, really hard to fail meals: baked potato bar and a big salad, both things that everyone in this house loves as they encompass the food groups of starch and Ranch dressing.
Most of the time, during the winter, I just do Cesar salads since you have to spend an arm and a leg to get halfway decent tomatoes. This time, the dinner gods were smiling, because the little cherry tomatoes were on sale, and with a simple meal, I prefer to punch up the salad at least a little. A nice mix of lettuces, little cherry tomatoes, some grated cheese and a sprinkle of bacon pieces to add some protein and make it a filling salad.
With the 'taters, I baked them off in the oven instead of the quickie microwave. I figure if they are going to be the star of the meal, they should be presented at their best. Moist inside with a crispy skin is the way to go. Open 'em up and then let everyone fill them as desired from a selection of butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon. Salt and pepper to finish them off. Everyone is happy. Everyone eats. And mama feels like she didn't even have to cook. It's a win-win situation!

Stroganoff a strike-it-off?

In hopes of improving El's interest in food and maybe getting her to vary her diet some, we sat down last week and went through one of my cook books looking for things she thought might be good. I was surprised at many of her choices, including a chicken pie with leeks in it because she has refused to even touch my version of chicken pot pit. We'll see how that one plays out in a couple of weeks.
Tonight we had chicken stroganoff, which was a recipe she had picked from the cookbook. Since I tend to use recipes as starting points and not engraved in stone like the ten commandments of cooking, my final result wasn't exactly like the book showed. The biggest difference was that the recipe suggest rice pilaf as a side dish, and in my esteemed opinion, stroganoff is supposed to be served on egg noodles.

Otherwise, it was pretty similar to the more classic beef stroganoff. Here's what I did: Put a pot on to boil for the noodles. Add about a teaspoon of salt to the water and toss in the noodles when it's at a boil and cook until al dente.

While that's going dice some chicken, sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary and paprika. Slice about a quarter of an onion. Saute both in a skillet with a couple of tablespoons of butter or canola oil. Meanwhile, slice a handful of mushrooms (if you have a family that likes them, use as many as makes you happy. I used them sparingly since I'm the only one that eats them), and finely dice some garlic.

When the chicken is brown, add all that to the pan and saute until the mushrooms are soft and the garlic fragrant. When it's almost done, add a bit more butter, then a couple of tablespoons of flour to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, then whisk in some milk. Somewhere between half a cup and a whole cup. Just enough to make a bit of sauce. At this point, a took some out of the pan for Bill, because he hates sour cream. For the rest of it, add about half a cup of sour cream. Sit gently until it's melted in.

Toss the stroganoff with the cooked noodles and serve. Voila! Chicken stroganoff. It was relatively quick and easy to make, too. And other than the mushrooms, I almost always have the ingredients on hand.

We served it with a Cesar salad. Sounds nummy, yes?

I thought so, but we all know my opinion doesn't mean squat around here. The moment of truth for the one that picked the meal:













S0, what did the masses think? Well, Sam was quite rude and refused to even try it, so his opinion doesn't count. As for the other two, it got two thumbs up!



So, chicken stroganoff was definitely not a strike-it-off and we'll be adding it to our repertoire. A definite dinner win!

Shaken, not stir fried.

I declared a day off for myself today and vegged with a book, a CSI marathon and too much chocolate. Dinner needed to be off the cuff and something guaranteed not to strain my brain too much. So I went for a quick and easy stir fry. It's something that can be made out of almost any combo of meat/no meat and veggies and rice/noodles and it's quick to prep and cook. Tonight's stir fry was thinly sliced chicken, with broccoli, carrots and onions tossed with a garlic, ginger and soy sauce marinade served over rice. Sounds impressive, yes? In reality, I had it all chopped and sliced and diced in about the same amount of time its going to take me to write this post. And it cooked in about the same amount of time. Major flaws in tonight's dinner included me not putting enough water in the rice, so it was a little crunchy and not cutting the soy sauce with enough water, so the dish was a little salty. Maybe I melted a few too many brain cells with the CSI marathon.

As for the family, no one openly complained and Bill actually likes stir fry, I think. The kids at least at the rice and voluntarily ate a veggie or two. I'm pretty sure I saw Emma eat a bite of chicken, as well. She complained that it was too sour, which is her complaint when she knows a food is too something, but isn't sure what. And she was right, it was a little too salty.

Overall, I was just thrilled that I didn't hear any moans, groans or protests of "Yuck! I don't like that!" even if it wasn't the best dinner I've ever put on the table.