Weekly Gourmet

Today is Saturday! Checked the ole social calendar, and it is not blank! Lil 'Pizza Pop 'n' Parents Party' tonight, but we are the parents in this version. Woot woot! Obviously, there will be no pop. Probably Star Wars and whining, but who cares, I'm not hosting! I am bringing the dessert and I woke up bright and early at 8:00a.m. to whip it up so no little people would try to ruin it by helping. Buuut we have Nintendo now, so they were up with the sun and bothering me to help and lick stuff. Please ignore my lack of pictures, as I was mostly holding a beastly child back with one hand and trying to concentrate with the other. I made ginger pear cupcakes. Isn't that the combo everyone picks when they bring treats to a family gathering with six kids? They should! Because ginger and pear go together like...I don't know, ginger and bread. Ginger is such a fun flavor pop and pear is just sweet and mellow. I thought this one up because of that huge hunk of ginger ...

Today is Friday. How many muffins are TOO MANY muffins to eat in one morning? Well let's see, considering the amount of batter I licked out of the bowl, like a dog, and the number of muffins I "taste-tested" before serving them to my very worldly and discerning guests of my preschooler, and my parents...I'm gonna go with "However many I ate." My worldly, discerning preschooler is a lover of lemon blueberry anything, so even though it's a February cold snap, I made him lemon blueberry muffins in honor of...wait for it...his half birthday. Because we celebrate whatever over here. Half birthdays included. This week I almost bought my kids smoothies because they got haircuts. Perhaps I go too far with the sugar celebrations of nothing, but a half birthday is like a real thing. He's four and-a-half, and that's the last of the baby ages ever! : ( These muffins were moist and sour and lip-smackin' sweet. But not sweet enough for Luca, who threw hims...

Today is Thursday. Ah another busy day and another winter weather advisory. Sounds like beef stew to me! I even used the annoying crock pot for you guys. Someone can explain to Steve why he had to clean a pot AND a crock pot because I do not get what the advantage is. I'll give instructions for both ways and you go ahead and choose how you want to do your stew. This homey meal warmed up my frozen little body (and soul) tonight. The meat seriously melted in my mouth and happiness rushed down my body to my toes. And my children devoured it. Heard around the table tonight: "Luca try a meat! It's so good!"  "I ate all my carrots and my peas and my meats and my green things!" (followed obviously with a request for treats, and a grammar lesson) "Mom, your hair looks wet. Oh it's just greasy."  "Sit down!" "Stop kicking me!" "Sit down!" "Sienna get back in your seat!" "Eat over your bowl!" "Moooom...

Today is Wednesday. I know what you're thinking. Chinese New Year is nine days away and Liz most likely thinks it's today and has prepared a dish worthy of dragon parades and fireworks! I knew it! Yep- I went with an AWESOME pork stir fry tonight because I was thinking about my niece, who hails from China, and how it's her birthday tomorrow and she was born on Chinese New Year. I assumed CNY was an annual thing but I guess it's one of those tricky date-changing holidays like Memorial Day. Anyways, Sophia is going to be a FAMOUS ballerina one day so I like to do all I can to show her I am an amazing aunt, probably like a mentor, maybe even an idol to her. The big sister she never had...who ALLLmost honored the Chinese part of the family's heritage correctly. With pork. She's vegan. Whatever, this DOES happen to be gluten and dairy free! So it accommodates some people's diets, just not my niece's. Happy 15th to Sophia. Couple notes on Asian stir-fry dishes...

Today is Tuesday. Probably Taco Tuesday for you, but for us, it's Lentil Soup With An Egg In It Tuesday a/k/a Vegetarian Torture Day! Don't stop reading! I swear, lentils are friends, not tiny beads of torture. They are a delicious, inexpensive source of protein with endless shelf lives. Paired with an egg? This is a DOUBLE protein meal if you think about it. Like putting a chicken wing on top of a hamburger patty. Or "surf and turf with a spoon," if you will. AND, since it's such a healthy dinner, I let everyone dip warm, crusty garlic bread in it. My kids are much more amenable to trying fearsome foods while their hands are filled with hunks of bread, like little edible carbohydrate safety blankets. Actually, the middle kid brought lentil soup to school in a pink princess thermos today. She may have a bit of a bathroom situation later tonight, but I still giggle thinking about her like a small Sicilian peasant child in a kerchief, spooning in her lentils, hoping...