Food and Family

Well a weeks worth of food and I only have two shots to show for it. On thursday night we had chili dogs. Wicked good chili dogs. The dogs were actually the good breakfast sausages and it was more like a thick bean stew/sauce but whatever the ingredients it was an awesome way to get the weekend started. Then here on Sunday evening I whipped up a vegetarian lasagna. The brown beans in sauce were a little sweet but the overall effect was nice.

We did up a double shepherd's pie last night, one topped with mashed potatoes and the other topped with mashed yam. It was so tasty we had to have some friends over for dinner. I just didn't get around to the camera so your imaginations will have to provide the rest.

Now compared to the spartan visual fare that our dinners provided this week we have a lavish spread of family photos courtesy of the two oldest kids. The batteries on the camera are now low again but that is the cost of doing business. And it ain't that steep. Instant noise makers. Yes they worked very very well.

Home and Home.

So it was home cooking again today. To start with we did make bread today, honest. Only I didn't take any pictures of it. The first rise was pretty long and the second rise was also long. It was a warm day. Yet the bread just wouldn't get that big. However, it is going to be great slathered with my topping of choice or under a fried egg with melted cheese on top. Yes, we like bread.On a different note I made some lasagna for dinner this evening. The ever strong zucchini made it's presence felt as the bottom layer. Overall it was pretty good but could have used another can of tomatoes. Not as saucy as I like it. The garlic bread was pretty good, even if it wasn't our bread. The green salad was really tasty and we are still enjoying the thai sesame ginger dressing. The daughter wanted to know if it is sold here in town. I replied of course. She wanted proof. Was I sure? Had I seen it? I answered in the affirmative but I don't know if she really bought it.

We train 'em young.

A trip to the library today managed to snag us some childrens cook books. The daughter wanted to do her part and make some dinner. I thought to myself, "This could be good, this could be real good."

Tonight's dinner was quick skillet lasagna from Canadian Living Best: Kids in the Kitchen Book. We added a few of our own flairs but basically Iread and she chopped, sprinkled and stirred.
Now there is a delicious smile to go with some chopped mushroom.Mmmm, fried garlic and ground beef. We didn't forget the basil.Here is what it all looked like before she stirred in the cooked pasta spirals and layered on the cheeseThe maestro with her masterpiece. She was pretty proud with the meal she made. We all were and of coursethe real question, how did it taste? I loved it. Everone else gobbled theirs up too. With the wife's coleslaw also on tap it was a great meal. And all I had to do was read.

Leftover Heaven

Well this evening turned out to be that perfect night when the second lasagna was out into service. I had a staff meeting till five so the Mrs. cranked up the oven, slathered some garlic butter and made a refreshingly sweet spinach salad. So nice to come home to.

Funny moment. Tuesday night is puppy play group just up the street from us. So the son goes over to our neighbiurs house earlier to say, "are you going to the dogs?" She took it in stride. The puppies were cute and fun. Still not planning to own one soon.

Layered Glory

Well that can only mean one thing, Lasagna. We once again whipped up a batch and a half of lasagna. So there is a frozen dinner just waiting for a planned no cook night. The second one is in the background here. You can see how it is smaller and I managed to forget to leave some cottage cheese aside. The Mrs. made the request and I totally blanked. I cursed myself for not spreading it out evenly and having some left over when I was finished. So I went ahead and ladled the remainder on top of the second lasagna. Once again my idiot gene overcomes my planning gene. In any case it was good eating. Green peppers, zucchini, and mushroom made up the vegetable portion. We used ground pork both because we like pork and it was cheaper than ground beef. Very tomatoey and flavour full. With the added benefit of having major lunch potential tomorrow. Good times.

Here is a snap the wife took this afternoon while I was cooking. If you look closely you can see the leg of my cutoffs just above the daughters head.

Holding Pattern

That is how I am feeling right now. Every day after waking up I spend the day holding my breath, anticipating whether or not today is the day... I don't get dinner on the table. However, today was not that day. I managed to pull one of these out of my oven. That doesn't sound quite right for some reason. Anyways, I planned to make Lasagna and I believe that is what I made. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and there is even a small version wrapped up and stored away in the deep freezer. Oh the joy of making two meals for the price of one. I did two sauces this evening. Your standard meat sauce: onion, garlic, crushed tomato, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Brown the meat and veggies, pour off the excess fat, add tomatoes and flavouring, simmer. I also made a veggies type sauce, in the blender I put mushrooms green pepper chunks, and whole tomatoes (stewed in a can version) this was blended until everything was tiny little pieces definitely not puree. Then that was put in a bowl and microwaved for about 8 minutes (honestly, it was a big bowl). Earlier in the day I purchased the pasta you have to boil first so I did so. Then I layered all of the above, throwing in a cottage cheese layer or two and topped it all with grated cheddar. 30 mins at 400 later and we were ready to eat.
The wife got on the garlic bread while the Lasagna baked and I was cleaning pots and pans. Then she whipped up some almost instant salad. She added carrots and cucumbers to flesh it out a little. With this dinner was ready. We sat down with our friend who just recently got back from a trip to Japan. She came over this afternoon to hang out and we forced her to stay on for dinner. Being overly polite I have no idea whether she enjoyed the food or not but she did have a second helping. There was ice cream for dessert but I declined.There went another great 5 day weekend. Okay I was sick for all five of the days and had to referee yesterday and made dinner four of the five nights but I'm not complaining. I am just listing the facts. And it was great.

After the Fact

So we got a little carried away, what with having guests over for dinner, and we completely forgot to take a picture of a nicely manicured plate pre-tucking in. So this evenings picture is of seconds. Sorry. I did my duty though and had a little of everything. The lasagna was much more of a classic lasagna than I usually make. Low and behold it was truly delicious and lasagna like. I usually try and make layers of vegatables and it just doesn't work out. This evening I used the Jessica Seinfeld puree and hide the vegetables trick with yams and carrots. They went right into the sauce and man was it good. The green salad was nice with the same soy sauce dressing the wife made a few nights ago. However, the topper was the pumpernickel loaf that came from the organic, no white sugar or white flour bakery we have in town. It was truly amazing bread. We are sending an espionage team in to find the recipe and take out anyone who tries to stop them. I honestly think the baker would give us his recipe if we asked. He is a really good guy. We did have healthy brownies for dessert (bran in the brownies, who'd of thunk it) and they were a nice accent. The molasses in the pumpernickel was nicely offset by the shiraz that our guests brought for dinner. All in all a good night.

Here is a shot of the kids after dinner. Thanks for coming friends from Kamloops. Hope you eat as well in Trail as you did here.

Tomorrow: Probably fish chowder. We are indecisive at the current time.