Where I've Been and What I've Done

So no posts for a week, I bet you were getting worried. My children went with my parents on vacation and we don't retrieve them until Thursday of this week. If I ever wondered if I cook for hubby and me or if I cook for the children, man, I now know my answer.

You know what we ate this week? Well, remember college? Not really? I have heard it goes something like this, ramen noodles, cereal and milk, scrambled eggs, "experiments" made with rice and canned soups... (or was that just me?) Our Meatless Monday Menu this week would have been 4 bowls of Cap'n Crunch between the two of us. Warning: that much Cap'n Crunch has a mildly laxative effect. It was not pleasant. There was an attempt at making a chicken (a lame attempt) and we ate off the chicken carcass like starving hyenas hunched over a bowl on the stove. We ate toast and bacon one night, toast and bacon washed down with some root beer. Saturday morning I made a big pan of cinnamon rolls (from frozen bread dough) and we ate on that all day. A whole day we ate nothing but cinnamon rolls!

Anyhoozle, it's a new week and we are starting over, this morning (Father's Day in the US) my husband made a big pan of oven baked french toast. Basically take some stale bread (I recommend something chewy with a good crust like Cuban or French bread) and cut it into slices and layer them in a well-greased 9 x 13 inch pan. They should be laid over like toppled dominoes if you can picture that. Mix together a couple of cups of half and half and a cup of milk, 2 TB sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg, a capful of vanilla and 8 whole eggs. Pour that over the bread and let it soak up to 8 hours in the refrigerator (can be made the night ahead). We have let it soak as little as 20 minutes and it is still wonderful. Then we make a praline topping by creaming 2 sticks of butter with 1 packed cup of brown sugar, 1 capful of vanilla, 1 tsp each nutmeg and cinnamon and a 1 C chopped pecans (we used walnuts today, you can also skip nuts entirely). Spread that over the top as best you can, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or so. Serve warm. Can be topped with warmed maple syrup or whipped cream, but I like mine plain.

For dinner I made meatball subs. I took some frozen meatballs (but of course homemade would be 1,000 times better) and put them on a cookie sheet to bake for 20 minutes. Meanwhile I sliced half an onion and one red bell pepper and cooked them in a pan with olive oil and sea salt. When they had some nice brown color on them I added a small can of tomato sauce, a few tsp of Italian seasoning and mixed them together. To this sauce I added the now cooked meatballs. As they simmered on the stove I hollowed out two pieces of French Bread. This should not be construed by anyone reading this as a carb-saving measure; it should be apparent by now the only definition of "diet" that I recognize is the NOUN: The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats. I refuse to recognize the VERB: Restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight, because frankly there is nothing more boring to me than talking about all the food somebody ISN'T eating. Sheesh. Anyhow I hollow out the bread loaves to make the round meatballs nestle in snugly with slices of provolone cheese and not roll out and leave splashes of tomato sauce on your shirt or tablecloth. :) See? I am always thinking of you guys!

Tomorrow, and for the rest of the week I plan on using only what we have left in the house since we are leaving mid-week to go and get the kids and celebrate our youngest's 3rd birthday. Be on the lookout then for some cooking with my Mom and pictures of party food!

Meatless Monday: Black beans and yellow rice with veggies
Tuesday: Any leftovers with Roast beef
Weird: Wednesday: Leftover Choose Your Own Adventure
Thursday: In the air to go and get the kids (will try and post a lunch recipe)
Friday: Cabin cooking with my Mom
Saturday: Birthday Party Food
Sunday: Flying Home, or Snack-Tastic! at 30,000 Feet