Suburban Bliss:: Birth Control Via The Written Word

Did They Eat It: Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie

When Maddie was a baby she developed carotenemia, a reasonably harmless condition caused by excessive consumption of orange baby food in babies. Maddie, even back then was very particular about what she consumed and NO THANK YOU SHE DID NOT WANT ANY OF THOSE PEAS! But she'd eat the carrots and the sweet potatoes so I gave them to her, until she looked as though she'd stuck her face in a bag of cheetos and maybe snorted the dust up her nose. 

She still likes carrots and sweet potatoes so when I saw this recipe for Shepherds Pie made with a combination of sweet and yukon gold potatoes, I saw it as an opportunity to bring us together as a family. You see, Max doesn't like sweet potatoes, but loves shepherds pie. Maddie likes sweet potatoes but would like it if you took that shepherds pie and shoved it up your arse. (She never said that...I inferred it from her snarl.)

My dinner table is the UN of dining! The UAW of family meals! I am reaching across the table so every one has a place at our dinner table. 

So step one was to make a mash of yukon gold potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Then I cooked the ground beef, setting it aside and cooking onions, peas, carrots and corn. (Max likes peas, Maddie hates them. Max hates carrots and Maddie can tolerate carrots. They both like carrots[edit: I meant when you add Logan to the mix...I've got a 3/4 ratio of liking peas or carrots, I like them both...except the onions...stupid onions....why do I have to like them?]and hate onions. See? We're Gorbachev and Reagan here.)

Here it is going into the oven. Appealing to Maddie, repulsive to Max.

Until I cut it open.

DID THEY EAT IT?

Logan: Remember how Maddie liked orange vegetables so much? She was like our own Violet Beauregard, in orange. This is good, except the stupid onions.
Melissa: Pleasing to me. Eat up kids! 

Maddie: I will eat the sweet potato mash and that's it. Even though I like hamburgers and this is the SAME MEAT. Okay fine I'll nibble some carrots. (She goes back for seconds of the topping and leaves the rest. Reminds me of the guy at the party who takes all the brie and leaves a big chunk of empty rind for everyone else. 
Max: I'm not sure how many times I have to tell you I hate sweet potatoes. But look, I'll eat the inside of this casserole. Here Maddie, eat my topping.

It's like teamwork...she eats the top, he eats the inside. Win!

Full recipe at Simple Comfort Food, here.

 

Did They Eat It: Simply Potatoes® Mexican Corn & Potatoes

This post is sponsored by Simply Potatoes.

I try to make a meatless meal each Monday. The kids like to moan and groan about this forgetting of course that pasta is meatless, as are pancakes and half the things they both like to eat. 

I've come to enjoy the faux whining about having a meatless meal. 

This is a dish I've made before but I've since adjusted it enough to feel confident to call it my own recipe. 

You'll need a bag of Simply Potatoes Diced Potatoes with Onion. I tried to hide the bag before anyone saw the onion included, but truly the onion adds so much flavor I was happy I was "forced" to buy it with onion already included. Guilt free!

You also need a 14.5 ounce can of black beans (drained) and 10 ounces of frozen corn (thawed). I really like the Fire Roasted Frozen Corn from Trader Joe's. Highly reccomended. 

 

 

Place the corn and black beans in a large-ish microwaveable casserole, mounding the beans and corn to the center.

 

In another bowl place your diced potatoes and a half teaspoon (more or less depending on your love of spicy foods) of chili powder. I've mentioned before I often have a weird reaction to potatoes. Not eating them, thank God, but when I wash them and touch my face at all, I end up with a crazy allergic-like reaction. This makes dinner less than pleasant. Of course it's lovely to do nothing more than tear open a package and dump it in rather than spend 10-15 minutes scrubbing and cutting potatoes while avoiding touching my face. If you're Logan you roll your eyes here because how hard is it really to not touch your face for 10-15 minutes. I answer that YOU'D BE SURPRISED. 

 

I used Chipotle Chili Powder because I had it on hand, (there it is, in my hand) but regular chili powder works just as well. 

 

Place the potatoes around the outer edge of the dish, leaving the majority of the corn and beans in the middle.

 

Cover the whole thing with salsa and place in the microwave covered with plastic wrap. Lift the corner to allow the dish to vent while it's cooking. It takes between 10-12 minutes to cook, put shredded cheese on top and melt it in the microwave for a minute or two. 

Serve. Sit back. Watch to see what happens next!

Did They Eat It? 

Logan: I always like this dish, and the onions were not that offensive though I mentioned I was concerned. 
Max: Uh huh, uh huh, keep it coming. 
Maddie: I will eat any of the potatoes and the beans and the corn you didn't get cheese on. (*But Maddie, you like grilled cheese sandwiches! And Pizza? Why do you forsake this cheese.*) Sorry, not eating it!
Me: I love this dish. It's filling, tastes good and is actually very inexpensive to make. I had it on the table in under 20 minutes. I highly recommend playing around with the type of salsa you use, I think the right salsa adds a lot of flavor to the dish. 

RECIPE:

Mexican Potatoes Corn & Black Beans

1 Package Simply Potatoes diced potatoes with onion
1 14.5oz can black beans (rinsed)
10 ounces frozen corn (I prefer fire roasted corn from Trader Joes) (thawed)
1/2 tsp chili powder 
1-2 cups salsa of your choice
2-3 cups shredded cheese (cheddar or a taco mix is very good)

Mix the black beans and corn together, place in a large microwavable casserole dish mounding to the middle of the dish. 
In another bowl mix together the chili powder and potatoes. Place around the edge of the dish.
Cover entire dish with salsa.
Cover dish with plastic wrap, venting the corner. Cook on high for 10-15 minutes. Turning dish once halfway through the cooktime.
Remove dish from microwave and add cheese. Put back in microwave for 2-3 minutes to melt cheese.

Serve!  

GIVEAWAY!

Simply Potatoes is giving away free product to two commenters on this post! To enter, please leave a comment. One entry per person, comments close Friday 4/8/11 and two winners will be chosen at random. 
Thank you Simply Potatoes!

The winners of the first Simply Potatoes Giveaway were Robin and Meghan. Congrats!

*Comments are now closed, winners announced soon!

Did They Eat It: Simply Potatoes® Irish Boxty

This post is sponsored by Simply Potatoes.

I've had Boxty, a sort of Irish potato pancake, at various local pubs. There are many different versions, some more like a pancake, others a little more crepe-like stuffed with beef or vegetables. I went with a rather simplified version knowing Max and I at least would like it as we're both big latke fans.

Also, I felt a little bound by my Irish heritage to make this dish given this folk rhyme.

Boxty on the griddle,
boxty on the pan,
If you can't bake boxty
sure you'll never get a man.

I don't know how I managed to get a man without making Boxty, perhaps because he's mostly Italian and French. Here's the recipe I used from the Simply Potatoes website.

First you're going to take a couple slices of bacon, chop it up into smallish pieces and cook it up. I used 4 or 5 pieces because we're a very naughty family that really enjoys bacon. Of course we just found out Logan has a moderately high cholesterol level...oops!*

*Don't ask him about his cholesterol level because it makes him really angry. Secretly he's livid I don't have high cholesterol since I barely pay attention to what I eat and think running is for chumps.

You're also supposed to have 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions sauteing with your bacon but as we all know that's not going to fly in this house.

Next you need 1 cup of Simply Potatoes mashed potatoes and 1 cup of Simply Potatoes shredded potatoes. Because I have a very unreliable food processer, I typically have to shred potatoes by hand. Shredding potatoes by hand is troublesome because my potatoes usually come with a side of my skin mixed in. 

I also find drying my potato shreds an enormous waste of paper towels and my patience.

But look! None of my skin, blood or excess water. (Not pictured: me not cursing my potatoes.) 

Mix one cup of mashed potatoes and one cup of shredded potatoes together in a bowl, then add a bit of cheese.

Add a cup of all-purpose baking mix

Then add milk and an egg...and mix until just combined. 

Now fold in your bacon and here's what you've got...a pretty lumpy mix. 

I used the same cast iron pan I cooked the bacon in, but wiped out the pan to remove any burned bits. I didn't need any reserved bacon grease because I have a very well seasoned cast iron pan I inherited from a chef friend. 

Drop 1/4 cupfuls of the batter into your heated pan and flatten into a nice disk. 

I highly recommend inheriting a well seasoned cast iron pan from a chef friend if you can. Look at these perfectly browned lovelies after about two minutes on one side. Just make sure your pan doesn't get too hot, because the middle of your boxty won't cook quite right.   

You can find the whole recipe here.

Did They Eat It?

Logan: Like a savory breakfast for dinner, excellent! Also, please don't write about my cholesterol. [oops]
Max: "So it's like an Irish Latke? And it has bacon? And it's a pancake? I'm sorry, why wouldn't I like this?"
Maddie: "I'm pretty hungry and my middle name is McGuire, okay I'll eat it. But don't even try to tell me that stupid rhyme* to make me eat it."
Melissa: It's breakfast for dinner, all in one pan. I ate mine with a bit of sour cream and it was sublime. I'm not sure how my family lives without sour cream as a part of their experience. Well, that and onions but alas...they seem fullfilled.

*The other version, Maddie's a feminist: [EDITED! Sorry!)
Boxty on the griddle,
boxty on the pan,
If you don't eat boxty,
You'll never get a man. 

GIVEAWAY!

Simply Potatoes is giving away free product to two commenters on this post! To enter, please leave a comment. One entry per person, comments close Friday 4/1/11 and two winners will be chosen at random. 
Thank you Simply Potatoes!

Did They Eat It: Bacon Beer Carbonara

I learned a little something about crisping bacon when I made this recipe....I learned this by burning the crap out of my onions after I added them to the pan too early. Thankfully I have chef friends on Facebook. Unfortunately I cried out for help a little too late. But NEXT TIME I'm going to do it better.

Anyway....

I found the recipe at Babble's food blog, you can find the recipe here.  

First step BACON! I mentioned before I try to take things I know Maddie will eat (BACON!) and use it to segue into something a little more exciting to expand her palate...the original goal of this feature. 

Here are the things I learned about crisping bacon...don't turn the heat too high! Also there's an onion in this recipe, one large. I used half of this onion to appease my lovely and particular family.

The next thing I learned: Don't add the onion to the crisping bacon too early or you'll end up with soggy bacon. When you try to get the bacon crispy you'll burn the onion and then it's all bitter. 

Live & Learn. Sometimes though, I just want to not cook ever again.

Now, on the one hand, see all that stuff in the bottom of the pan...yumm...deglazing! But really your onions shouldn't be burned. Sigh. 

Now is the time to add the stout. I had a plethora of beers in the fridge left from a BYOB party. I'm gonna give you a tip from another of my failed dinner experiments. Don't put Pabst Blue Ribbon in your recipe. I thought about using Logan's Short's stout, but it's too good to use for cooking, you gotta savor that stuff. Guiness it is!

Pour it in to deglaze the pan. 

Next add your grape tomatoes (I'd chop them in half in next time).

Let it cook down. 

You've got an egg mix, but so the egg mix doesn't cook unevenly you have to temper it by adding some of the hot liquid a little at a time.

Teeny bit. 

I probably went a little too slow just because I was afraid to ruin another part of this recipe. Feeling a bit defeated. Gah.

Now add your tempered egg mixture back to the pan.

Mix it up and don't use a whisk because it traps your tomatoes.

Add the pasta and stir the crap out of it. 

Here you go!

 Did They Eat It? 

Logan: This is very good. I can't even tell that you massacred the onions.
Max: Hmm, I'm a marginal fan of this.
Maddie: Nope, nice try though. (ate the tomatoes and pieces of bacon)
Me: It was pretty good, but honestly the onions were burned and I could tell. Definitely bitter. Like me in regards to cooking.

Logan & Max claimed they liked this dish but I just threw out a big dish of leftovers so take that for what it's worth! 

Did They Eat It: Spaghetti & Meatballs

Oh folks...you're gonna love this edition of Did They Eat It!

I made spaghetti and meatballs last week for our Pasta Tuesday dinner. Max, as I mentioned, loves meatballs and I rarely make them. I was compelled to make them because it's one of those things I'd like to make very well. 

Smitten Kitchen is a food site I've been reading for years but haven't utilized very often (though I have made her spicy caramel popcorn several times) when making dinner for the kids. Mostly because she likes to cook with things like mushrooms or chard...things I would eat every day of my life and maybe bathe in if left alone long enough...but things my family typically unanimously sticks their collective nose up at. 

But I came across this recipe for Spaghetti & Meatballs, (which Deb adapted liberally from Ina Garten, jsyk)

You'll forgive my terrible photo, I know you will. You're kind. But look, here it is!

I made this recipe on the night I realized Gary The Cat had once again urinated on my dog's bed. I opened the back door and threw the dog's bed away. This makes me want to kill Gary The Cat. Instead of killing Gary The Cat...I drank a glass of wine while I made meatballs. (I'm not guaranteeing I won't still kill Gary the Cat...eventually.)

Here is a brief note about canned tomato products. My sister in law gave me a recipe card for Vodka Tomato sauce years ago. It was her brother in law's recipe (not Logan!) who got it from his very Italian parents. The note by the canned tomato ingredient reads, "Use a good brand, like Cento and not one of those bullshit brands". Some other food blogs always mention Muir Glen...so I went for the good stuff. 

And here are all the balls ready to be bathed in oil.

After I bathed the meatballs in oil, we were left with this in the pan. In the last year I've become a big fan of deglazing a pan...this is why. Look at all that good stuff waiting to go into my spaghetti sauce.

The full recipe is here.

A friend mentioned when she served dinner one night her three boys clapped. I'd never even considered that as a possibility, given my track record. And yet, it's been a goal of mine ever since.

So:

Did They Eat It?

Logan: This is....amazing and I'm not just saying that because I'm afraid to hurt your feelings. 
Max: I wonder if I could empty out my right leg to fit more of this in my body.
Me: So good. I can't believe I made it! Definitely becoming a regular! Deb pointed out that if you like a lot of sauce you may want to double the sauce recipe. I did, but had more than enough sauce, I'd probably stick with a single batch.

And....what about our Wild Card?

Maddie: I can't believe I like this...but I do! I'm eating all of it. The meatballs and the sauce is touching my spaghetti and I'm still going to eat that too!

Please picture my face while she was eating this. It looked like this:

!!!!!!!!!!!

This, is as close to a standing ovation as I'm ever going to get. Thank you Jesus, AMEN!

Remember that whole piece of advice I quoted before? About feeding a kid a new food twenty times before they'll eat it. Guys, I think I just saw proof of this. Well, it was probably more like 80 times but still. She ate it and she LIKED it! BREAKTHROUGH!!!!

Thank you Deb and Ina! xoxo 

Did They Eat It: Tamale Pie

Meatless Mondays continue to be fun for me and torture for the children. Just my kind of meal. Max is whining about Meatless Monday because he feels like he should. Siblings are so great. Maddie likes beans...sometimes. Other times she doesn't. You never know. 

This passes for excitement in our house on a Monday.

Logan and I like polenta so I decided to make this recipe from A Couple Cooks.

Keep in mind my pictures could use a little help. But here's the final product.

Here's the product before cooking...much nicer yes? 

Underneath the beans, tomatoes, corn and salsa is...
Polenta! I was running short on time so I used the premade tube kind. Next time I think I'd either make the polenta myself or add liquid to make it more fluid to line the bottom of the pan. 

Speaking of pans, I bought these little individual pans at my favorite dollar store. I've always wanted individual dishes to cook pot pies, lasagnas, mac & cheese, etc. But seeing as how I have literally four cupboards in my kitchen, tiny little dishes seem a bit excessive. 

Still, I liked having this dish portioned out, making sure each portion was suited to the person eating it...cutting down on waste. Mine, for example, was a normal size. Maddie's, meant for someone who wants to die when faced with something new.

Since the recipe made 6 little pans worth I was able to freeze 2 small pans so I can have lunches a few times. 

So...Did They Eat It?

Logan: Very good! Maybe put a couple of cubed potatoes in it next time?
Max: I like this...except that polenta is weird. 
Maddie: Watch me! Watch...see I'm taking a bite! One tiny bite...but that's the rule! One bite! And I ate it! You saw it!
Me: Really good, I'd make this again. You know what they say about introducing new foods to your baby..."It may take up to 20 servings before a child will accept a new food."

Maddie's gonna be thrilled.

*Get the recipe at A Couple Cooks, right here.

Did They Eat It: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

I've decided to designate specific types of food for different dinners throughout the week. I decided this after sitting down too many Sundays to plan meals and flailing around with all the options. The thing about my kids, is they want to eat dinner every day. Spoiled.

Meatless Monday was the first thing I added, though to be honest we eat meatless meals a lot. Not because of health, morals or earth-friendly reasons. Just because I'm cheap about groceries and also not very good at cooking meat.

Then I decided to add Crock Pot Wednesdays. I did this because I am becoming notorious for serving dinner at 6:45 on Wednesdays and Logan leaves for his bowling night at 6:40. He has started accusing me of purposely trying to sabotage his dinner plans because I hate his bowling league. 

It's true, his bowling league lasts 372 weeks, not really, but it does really last the length of a pregnancy. You could grow a baby in the same amount of time it takes Logan to complete his bowling season. I can't think of anything I'd like to do that many weeks in a row, aside from get a weekly check for a few thousand dollars.

But no, that's not why dinner inevitably ends up late on Wednesdays. It has to do with my problem reading a recipe all the way through. I typically miss the part that says, "Now simmer for 45 minutes..." or even better, "Chill in fridge and serve tomorrow night."

Enter the slow cooker, brilliant right? As long as I get my act together in the early part of the day.

I kicked off this new routine with a recipe from the cookbook my old neighborhood put together. This book is tear stained from the 2 year long grieving process of leaving the Best Block I've Ever Lived On, but I can still make out some of the recipes. 

I made Slow Cooker Barbecue Pulled Pork (from The Other Melissa On Our Street)
Recipe at bottom of post. 

It's a pretty easy process. You get yourself a Pork Shoulder or Butt Roast. My market only had butt, and let me tell you how fun it was to tell the kids we were eating Butt tonight! They were thrilled. "Won't it taste like poop or farts or something?"

My market only had a giant pork butt, when the butcher handed me the giant piece of meat I walked through the market with I Like Big Butts And I Can Not Lie stuck in my head. Later, as I split it, I still had the song in my head and I wanted reset my brain about halfway through the process.

To prepare the meat for the crockpot you need to combine cumin, salt, pepper and some other stuff together and rub it on your meat. (On the meat going in the crockpot.) I have a general problem handling meat. I especially don't like handling meat in the morning. That's typically the downfall of crockpot cooking....morning meat.

(I put all those references in there on purpose, enjoy those of you with sick minds.)

To avoid this I handled the meat the night before (did it again!) and then put it in a bag in the fridge over night. In the morning I sliced onions and green peppers and placed them on the bottom of the crockpot.

I gingerly removed the meat from the fridge (not a euphemism) and dropped it on top. No touch!

Take a bottle of bbq sauce and some brown sugar, mix together and pour over your meat. 

Cook on low for 8-10 hours and you get this.

Remove the meat from the pot and shred it.

Serve on a hearty roll or over hot rice.

DID THEY EAT IT?

Max: "This doesn't taste like you'd think a butt would taste." (Liked)
Maddie: "It's so cute how you make things that are covered in sauce, one might even say overly sauced, and expect me to eat it. Stay awesome Mom!" (Picked at it a little, better than I expected.)

Logan: "Really good, but a little too saucy."
Melissa: "Yeah I messed up the recipe, you're not supposed to put the meat back in the pot after you shred it on a cutting board. I think our bbq sauce was also a little sweet and didn't need extra brown sugar, next time I'll go by taste. Otherwise, delicious and easy, luckily since I've got another half a butt in the freezer."

...and I like big butts is back.

RECIPE: 

1 boneless pork shoulder or butt roast (3-4lbs)
1tsp salt
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp paprika
1tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 bottle (18oz) bbq sauce
1/2 c packed brown sugar (check your sauce for how much extra sweet you need)

Sandwich Rolls and/or Hot Cooked Rice

Trim excess fat from pork. Combine salt, cumin, paprika, black pepper and red pepper in small bowl. Rub over roast. Place onion and bell pepper in slow cooker; add pork. Combine bbq sauce and brown sugar in medium bowl, pour over meat. Cover: cook on low for 8-10 hours. Transfer roast to cutting board. Trim and discard fat from roast. Using two forks, pull pork into coarse shreds.  

 

Did They Eat It: Swedish Meatballs

Continuing on with my Martha Everyday Food experiment, I made Swedish Meatballs next. 

Max asks for meatballs pretty often, but since I hate touching raw meat I avoid making them. 

I sucked it up and mixed all the meats together. Blurgh.

Then I formed very evenly distributed meatballs. I also realized at that point this recipe is meant for 8 people, not 4. I do this pretty often, ignore the recipe yield and end up cooking for an army.

Thats'a Lotta Meatballs!

While my Meatball Army baked in the oven I made the sauce. I started with a roux.

Then added beef broth.

Then things got weird...or maybe I just don't know Swedish Meatballs....I am Irish after all. But I let the sauce reduce for twice as long as called for and it was still very soupy...see?

But I served it over egg noodles anyway.

Did They Eat It?

Logan: It was bowling night and I made this too late for him to have....another thing I'm prone to doing.
Madison: I dished out her serving with just the meatballs and egg noodles. And...

!!!!!!

Max: Loved it with the sauce and without which is a good thing since we had meatballs coming out of our ears. 

Overall another winner from Martha Stewart going into our "Regulars" binder. 

Did They Eat It: Italian Pot Pie

Last week I went through my vast collection of Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazines and tore out five recipes that looked reasonably likely to please 3/4ths of the family. That's my goal now, 3/4ths, because I've determined it's next to impossible to get everyone in this house to like the same dish. 

First up: Italian Pot Pie

Did They Eat It: Bacon Egg Toast Cups

When Logan was busy working 472 hours in a week an ungodly amount, we ate a lot of breakfast for dinner. Many pancakes were consumed in that week because I was a little too annoyed to go out in public and buy food.

I decided to try making Bacon Egg and Toast cups. I used this recipe, but this one looks pretty good too.

Two Recipes You'd Probably Like To Try.

I told you how we've been entertaining more this summer. We've been entertaining and being entertained so much in this early part of the summer I said to Logan yesterday, "It's like I blew my Summer Fun Load already." 

That's a little gross.  Anyway.

On the Fourth we hosted a dinner for a few of Logan's coworkers/friends/friends I want to have. We made chicken and beef fajitas and had everyone else bring side dishes. There was an amazing potato salad, a pasta salad with asparagus and pancetta, also a bundt cake containing 3 sticks of butter. (Let's not talk about the part where Lucy ate the front end of that damn thing while it was waiting to be served. Shhh....don't tell anyone)

But one friend brought corn on the cob and he'd been in Mexicantown and had this corn, called Elote, with this amazing sauce and spice mix, he gave us this gift and I want you to have this gift too. 

Here is the recipe he gave us. 

You should know that at some point that evening I painted myself in the sauce and then begged Logan to sprinkle me in the spice mix. Logan hates mayo with the passion of a thousand Pickles so he refused. You can imagine how embarrassing that was, you know being naked, covered in a mayo/lime juice sauce and no spice mix. 

I also mentioned we made Fish Tacos for our Welcome To Summer With The Summers' party.

Did They Eat It: Sloppy Joe's

I swear I have fed my children since the last time I made a Did They Eat It post on March 16th. Wow, how did that happen.

I got a craving for Sloppy Joe's after sitting in the car at the market flipping through Simply Recipes on my phone. Here is the recipe. 

Did They Eat It: Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

It was finally over 35 degrees and sunny outside meaning everyone in Michigan donned bathing suits and took to the streets. It was so downright balmy. So for dinner I decided to make something spring-ish and light! Turkey and Dressing Slow Cooker Casserole.

Yeah, not the light spring-ish dish I was looking for but I made the menu when it appeared the sun would never reappear in this hemisphere and I needed some delicious warm comfort food to get through.

Did They Eat It: Crusty Lemon Chicken

Crusty, it's funny how a word can sound so gross in some situations ("He had crusty eyes" and so delicious in others, "Oh it had the best bubbly crust on it."

I made our Monday night meal from that cookbook I mentioned before, Seat of the Pants Suppers. It's something we'd had before but, who knows! Liking it one night does not mean you'll like it the next. I sometimes think my children are tag teaming me, "Okay Max, you liked soup last week, this week you have to hate it and I'll love it. Go Team Make Our Mother COMPLETELY FUCKING NUTS."

Did They Eat It: White Bean Chicken Chili

This is one of my favorite recipes, it's one I can count toward my Life List Goal of having a handful of recipes I can make off the top of my head. It's pretty quick to make, I know how long the process takes at this point so I don't mess up and serve dinner at 8.

Did They Eat It: Cooking Light Chili Con Carne

The last recipe I made from Cooking Light's Jan/Feb issue was Chili Con Carne and boy this recipe made me question the justness of a world where people have to roast and peel chiles. The process of roasting, peeling and chopping these chiles took so longI started to believe the peppers would never be done. Additionally I didn't read the recipe correctly (again) and planned for an hour of simmering only to realize at 6:30 another 45 minutes were required.

I'm not sure why this is such a difficult task for me, getting dinner on the table when my family is hungry, but I'm missing a gene or something. I can probably get handicapped parking for this.

Did They Eat It: Cooking Light Bean Burritos

Continuing with my personal "Make Two Dishes From Every Magazine Purchased" rule I made Chipotle (But I Didn't Have Chipotle Chili Powder So They Were Just Regular*) Bean Burritos for dinner the other night.

*name was too long for title.

This is mine, the ones my family ingested looked very vaguely like this delicious one.

Did They Eat It: French Breakfast Muffins

I make French Breakfast Muffins pretty often because like Snickerdoodles, I almost always have the ingredients on hand. Butter, an egg, milk, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Easy! Apparently my pantry is French.

You can find several variations of this recipe but I like the one I saw in Family Fun years ago the best.

First you combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl using a wire whisk. Make a well in the middle of it, like so:

Whisk the egg until it's frothy then blend in the milk and melted butter like so.

Pour the mixture into the well in the middle of the dry ingredients.

Stir to combine but don't over mix!

Use some butter to grease your muffin pan and evenly spread your mix among 12 muffin cups.

Melt another bit of butter in a bowl and mix up some cinnamon sugar in another bowl and have them ready for the next step.

Dip each muffin into the melted butter:

Here's where my camera battery went out so I had to use my phone to take the last few pictures. After the butter, dip the muffins into the cinnamon/sugar.

Look, yum!

Here they are all done and looking good enough to eat 5 of them throughout the day. Not that I did.

Okay, look it was MLK Day, the kids were home, they'd been sick for the last few days and we were all a little stir crazy. I did what I had to.

Did They Eat It?

Coated in sugar? Filled with sugar? Duh.

Complete recipe here.

Did They Eat It: Peanut Noodles

It's kind of hard to write about food after you've had a round of stomach flu. Everything just seems to go back to that, which is unfortunate because this was really good. So let's pretend I didn't make this the day after I spent the night crying at God!

I am a big fan of peanut noodles and am always trying new versions. I picked this one because it was super easy and used ingredients I had on hand. This is a Family Fun recipe you can find here.

You may notice how light the pictures are and that's not because there is sun at dinner time around here. I made this ahead of time because this is meant to be served at room temperature.

Did They Eat It: Beef Stew

I made a deal with myself after buying one too many food related magazines. I can buy them, as long as I make at least two recipes out of each one I buy. I decided to try my hand at Beef Stew, something I've never made and seemed pretty easy.

I read the recipe carefully, making sure to note the four hour cooking time so we wouldn't be eating dinner at 11 o'clock in the evening.

Did They Eat It: Porcupine Meatballs

My mother is...a terrible cook. Mainly because she doesn't really enjoy the process of cooking, so she never learned to do it well. There are few things I think back and think, "Man, my mom made the best [fill-in-the-blank]." It turns out I do like pork chops, meatloaf and scalloped potatoes (not from a box), I just didn't realize it because my mom's recipes were not as good as they could have been.

However, inexplicably I have fond memories of my mother's porcupine meatballs. So when I saw this recipe I thought I'd try it out and see if I could lure Maddie with it. She loves bar-b-que sauce and ketchup. She also likes ground beef (in certain ways) and rice? She loves rice!

This has potential. 

There are lots of ways to make Porcupine Meatballs, here's a Google search. I guarantee my mother didn't put hot sauce or worchestershire sauce in her porcupine meatballs, but I found that combination irresistible and that's why I chose this recipe to try out.

You need to gather:

A pound of ground round
Half a pount of ground chuck
3/4 cup white long grain rice
a 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce
1 medium onion, cut in small dice [The onion I'm showing is way too big, especially for my family]
1 tablespoon dry parsley flakes [2 tablespoons chopped fresh]
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder/granules

Also:
A can of condensed tomato soup
Ketchup
Hot Sauce
Worchestershire sauce
[And if you didn't buy enough tomato sauce, hopefully you've got some taco sauce around to make up the difference]

Did They Eat It: Lean Lasagna

I was in the car picking Madison up from school and flipping through a food magazine deciding what to make for dinner. I got my mind set on this pasta and sausage bake deliciousness but then I remembered how I should read ALL the directions first so I know how long it takes to make.

That recipe required over an hour of bake time, inexplicably, so I scratched that plan and looked through my phone apps to see if I could find something to make. I use the Allrecipes app (only my kids never look that excited) and the Epicurious App.

I decided on a lean lasagna mostly because I wasn't feeling that hungry. Also it had spinach and after last week I required a lot of spinach/iron, I even had dreams of different spinach dishes I would like to eat.  (Lady troubles.) (oh man, that's gross.) (Sorry.)

I can't find the link to the recipe so I'll share it at the end of this post.

You'll need Ricotta, ground turkey, an onion, mozzarella, spinach, lasagna noodles, tomato sauce, oregano, nutmeg, basil, parsley and garlic powder.

Did They Eat It?

Did They Eat It: Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

The last two times I've tried to do a Did They Eat It? I've messed up the recipe, not peeling the potatoes before chopping them up for Potato Soup (beige followed) and forgetting that recipes aren't instantly ready for eating once you finish putting everything in the pot.

That chili was really delicious at 10 o'clock at night. (Hint: the kids didn't eat it.)

For this edition I wanted to do something I more than likely wouldn't mess up. I found this recipe at Tasty Kitchen the day before I wanted to make it (key!) and started it in the slow cooker around 9am...just to be certain it was ready.

Put corn in the slow cooker.

Put a can of (drained and rinsed) black beans on top.

Add a pack of taco seasoning (I make my own). I used about 3 tablespoons for this recipe, we like a lot of spice, and could have used more but that's all I had left already made.

Dump it on top.

Lay three boneless, skinless chicken breasts on top. They should even be frozen which is like a dream come true since "defrosting meat I'd like to cook with" is right up there with "remember to get hair cut every 8 weeks". Something I just can't get the hang of.

Next dump some salsa on top, Logan is a fan of this kind.

Do you see how easy this is, look at these extraneous photographs I have to show you in order to make this a post!

Put the top on the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken and mix everything up, keeping warm until you're ready to serve.

And here they are with a side of rice.

Did They Eat It?

Logan: "I Love These. No really I love them. I want to have them a lot." He almost looked like a starving refugee when he said this. Which means he did like this but my God, it's not like we've been starving here. Waiting 8 hours for your dinner to be on the table NEVER KILLED ANYONE!

Max: "These are pretty good, will I be able to see corn in my poo tomorrow?" Something about tacos perplexes Max. Every time he takes a bite he sort of looks around incredulous that the shell cracked again. Like, "This Taco Clearly Has It Out For Me." And that's true, but don't tell him.

Madison: "Look. I finally got used to the idea of plain old hamburger meat inside a tortilla chip shell and now you pull this crap out at me? Thanks for nothing. Jerks." She didn't starve that night, I call that a success!

Me: I loved how easy this meal was. I would have had to try to mess it up (not that I COULDN'T!). I've been feeling a little, you know, stupid with all these cooking mishaps. This was a nice ego boost right before we tackled our Thanksgiving Feast. If I changed anything I'd add more salt and spice and maybe cut the corn back a bit. Not because of the bathroom thing Max mentioned but because it just tastes too sweet for my palate.

You can find the entire recipe here.

Did They Eat It: Sausage & Egg Baked Potatoes

I'm not sure how to start this Did They Eat It. I'm still in awe over how everything went so terribly wrong...this should have been one of the easiest dinners I've ever made. It's essentially a twice baked potato.

The recipe, from Real Simple, said it would take 10 minutes of prep and 1hr 15 minutes total to be complete. I put the potatoes in at 5:10pm. Apparently these potatoes were filled with titanium. We didn't eat until 7:45pm. By that point we ate both cats and Maddie's arms. The recipe says it should take about 45 minutes to bake the potatoes and it took about 18 hours (1.5 hours) for us. I could have made a turkey dinner with all the trimmings....plus a couple extra for the neighbors.

Oh My God.

I did pick large baking potatoes so maybe it was my fault. Sorry family plus a guest we invited over for dinner. I'm not sure I'm ever going to effortlessly pull off dinner.

Anyway, I doubled the recipe because we invited Logan's coworker/friend for dinner and also because I think this recipe is generally meant as a brunch dish.

Get yourself four potatoes and scrub them. Does anyone else get itchy skin and eyes when they scrub baking potatoes? Every time I start sneezing and my eyes and skin itch. Logan claims this is a fake allergy, but if it was wouldn't I have the same reaction when I tried to do the laundry or clean the bathroom?

,

Poke your potatoes with a fork.

Put them in the oven, my oven mind you has never given me trouble cooking things in a normal amount of time. Apparently these potatoes were filled with gold and needed to get REALLY hot to cook through.

The recipe, as I mentioned, said it would take 45 minutes for these potatoes to cook. This is where the lies begin.

Did They Eat It: Smoky Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup

Cooking has been slowly making its way back onto my radar. This could be because it's (not really but feels like) winter now and the cold makes it hard to want to leave the house. Or perhaps it was the cries of the children, "Pasta!? Again?" That triggered my guilt and need to put something good in the mouths of my children. Of course "something good" means something very different to me than it does to the children.

I had a craving for soup so I decided to browse Ree's new project Tasty Kitchen looking for a recipe for some form of Chicken Tortilla Soup. I'm guessing Ree does not work in her bed in her pajamas. I might try working at a desk, maybe then I'd be as productive as this woman. Only not.

I settled on Smoky Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup which sounded like I'd at least like it.

I bought a rotisserie chicken at Costco. $5.00! And no, I didn't feel a little silly buying razors, a chicken and a case of Sierra Nevada. I also bought a hunk of queso blanco.

If you ever want to either become a vegetarian or revel in your carnivorous status, might I suggest tearing a rotisserie chicken apart with your hands? wow.

Did They Eat It? Sweet and Sour Beef

Oh hey! I cooked a meal for my family!

It was 5:30 and the ground beef I pulled out of my freezer yesterday was still frozen solid. This made my last minute plan to make a lot of meatballs pretty much out of the question. So I pulled out my favorite last minute dinner cookbook, Seat of The Pants Suppers, and quickly found a recipe that would take me 20 minutes or less to make with things I had in the house.

(*This book is awesome, I've made a lot of the recipes before but the actual book is impossible to find.)**(For some recipes see below.)

I pulled out Sweet and Sour Beef just to see who would eat it.

You need
1 - 1.5 pounds of ground beef (not shown, see below)
1 T. vegetable oil
1/2 an onion
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
3 cups cooked rice.

I spent about 40 minutes trying to slowly defrost the ground beef in the sink and that was aggravating. 

Did They Eat It: Walking Tacos

I have pretty much stopped cooking all together this summer. We've grilled a lot, ate many turkey sandwiches, or sometimes even cereal. Don't judge, hush, don't judge.

When we were up north last weekend with our friends, my friend's 7-year-old and I were chatting by the fire. She told me she loves tacos and she spoke about tacos with such affection and love, a love I've very rarely heard my children speak of food with.

I told her about this thing I'd read about when I was planning our camping trip Walking Tacos. "It's a taco," I told her spellbound face, "but it's in a snack size bag of chips with all the taco stuff in the bag."

She said, "I want to eat that!"

I'm glad I told her about Walking Tacos and not Saganaki, because her enthusiasm for the food would have made me powerless, I'd have to fry my eyebrows off just to make her culinary dreams come true.

This is less a recipe and more a great idea for feeding a crowd at a party, tailgate, skating party, camping, that type of thing. Portable food with minimal clean up. I'd planned to make this for our camping trip and the Saturday night potluck but then it poured rain and we went home and slept and cursed the rain. (Again.)

But here are some of the things you can use.

Ground beef
A pack of taco seasoning
Bags of snack size corn chips like Fritos. Some people swear by Doritos.
Shredded cheese
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomatoes
Diced onions
Salsa
Black Beans
Sour Cream
Guacamole
Chopped Cilantro
Pickled jalapenos

I usually buy a pound of beef for the four of us, so cooking for 10, we did 2.5 pounds and probably could have had more...they were so good.

I like to crush up the chips a bit before opening the bag so you get chips and toppings on your fork at once.
You can also make your own taco seasoning....this is a decent one I've used before.

To save money, we bought enough bags of chips for everyone to have one and then an extra bag of chips for refills in our bags.

Did They Eat It? It's a world record folks!

Did They Eat It?: Grilled Chicken With Shells II

This is a repeat, because you may have noticed, I haven't been cooking very much for my family. I don't know why exactly other than I've been feeling uninspired. Possibly because I keep thinking we could eat for 6 months on $10 and a shit-ton of ramen noodles. I could tell the kids this is practice for college. Or we could eat beans out of the can, cooked over an open flame, just like the hobos!

Logan and I have been talking about having a Recession Party where everyone comes wearing a barrel. Or maybe dressed as a traveling hobo, or in a burlap sack. We'd serve beans and Spam and everyone would drink moonshine from a ceramic jug.

The problem is this is Detroit and the threat of job loss is like a black cloud over your head and YOU KNOW we'd plan that party and Logan would be laid off that day....just to add to the atmosphere.

Anyway I made this again because we really love it and I think it's pretty to look at. Also, I wondered if there would be a change in the kid's reaction to this dish.

Did They Eat It: Spaghetti Carbonara

The other day I sent out some smoke signals on Twitter. The smoke signals said, "Help! I'm a suburban housewife and I don't know what to make for dinner." Then I put a finger on my cheek and looked vaguely helpless and 100 strangers favorited my picture on Flickr.

Then I got this note, a version of spaghetti carbonara that is immensely simplified and easy to prepare. If you're a spaghetti carbonara purist, please don't read any further because I know. There's no wine or cream or any of the things that MUST be in carbonara. This is going to be our special version everyone!

Did They Eat It: Cincinnati Chili

Have you had Cincinnati Chili before?

I used to eat this chili at the house of my second family, The Mitchell's.  I've talked before about this family I grew up knowing. I've mentioned how I watched them ferociously looking for how normal families work, how normal marriages are, and least dramatically, how people cooked food that tastes good.

Things I learned about food at the Mitchell's:
Hamburgers from McDonald's are not "gourmet".
Spaghetti with clams and red sauce is amazing.
Pork Chops can be cut with a knife without straining your bicep.

Chili from Cincinnati is the best kind of chili in the world. It's made with chocolate and if you hate chocolate you're probably not human.

Did They Eat It: Simple Chicken & Noodles

This meal wasn't exactly meant to challenge my three children's tastebuds. If they didn't eat this, I would have made them wear it for sure. And not just for a couple of hours or something. No I'd make them wear it for days so they could really think about how picky they've become and is it worth it now that you're wearing a hat of chicken breasts and noodles.....

We grab lunch at Noodles quite a bit, it's right up the street from us (yay!) and across from the bookstore and since, as a family, we all enjoy eating lunch out and browsing the bookstore we do this quite a bit.

Here's the order, as I've messed it up about 429 times, I now have it tattooed on my forehead.

Maddie: buttered noodles, no parmesan, with seasoning and grilled chicken breast

Max: buttered noodles, with parmesan, seasoning and parmesan crusted chicken breast

Maddie loves the chicken so I decided to try and recreate it at home.

Snickerdoodles: The Day Before Payday Cookie

It's almost like when ABC News came to the house we were just tempting fate with our budget.

Reporter: Would you say your financial situation is better since you're renting?

Me: Of course! Ha ha ha!

......two weeks later......

God: How about now?

Ho Ho! It's not that bad and we'll make it work, the nice thing is we have a lot of flexibility with our financial landscape, plus all the late night fretting I do, so everything will be fine.

Our cash flow however has run into some snags in the last month. Mainly related to lawsuits against douchey ex-landlords who have illegally held our security deposit and those types of things. That keeps coming up doesn't it? I should just grow up already.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa.

So at the end of the pay period we're sort of very careful with our money and this is my (typically) long-winded way of telling you how I decided to make Snickerdoodles today since my house has been cleared of everything except a variety of condiments, 3 eggs, some questionable hummus, and a lot of things you can mix with alcohol to make cocktails. It's what's for dinner!

I decided to try a recipe I saw at Tastespotting. Tastespotting has become my new hobby as I'm eating a really unsatisfying meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or worse, a spoonful of peanut butter. I browse and think, "Gee, I wish I was putting that in my mouth."

You can find the recipe for snickerdoodles here.

Here's why I make snickerdoodles after growing up without ever even knowing something called a snickerdoodle existed. You can make them with 7 ingredients we almost always have in our house. The only cookie more reliably made from our kitchen would be one composed of ketchup, barbeque sauce and Rose's lime juice.

Let me know if you have one!

Did They Eat It: Sweet and Sour Chicken

I grabbed this recipe from Elise Bauer's great Simply Recipes site while I was at the grocery store deciding what to make for dinner. I take a (humorous, loving) beating from my friends and family because of my (really unbecoming) dependence on my phone. But this iPhone is a life saver in so many ways. One way being that I can be as flaky as I am and still buy the correct ingredients for dinner.

Maddie likes very few things and sauces make her fly into a wild rage, WHY DO I HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING WITH SAUCE!? But this Sweet and Sour Chicken has chicken, she likes, pineapple, she likes, and the sauce is like a punched up ketchup so I decided to risk it.

Here is everything you need, except an egg and the chicken that I forgot in the fridge.

Did They Eat It: Chillied Black Bean Pasta

Hey! Look! I cooked something while using a camera. The only bright side to the Spring Forward segment of daylight savings time is the extra daylight in the kitchen so food doesn't look unappealing in my dimly lit kitchen. (You remember that kitchen I was cooking in for most of the winter? The one we "trashed". Ahem.)

Last night I decided to make Chillied Black Bean Pasta, you know how we feel about black beans in this house. This is a recipe from my old neighborhood's cookbook. Logan designed it for them and we planned on getting them made into real books but that proved too difficult to get together. We ended up making the book into a PDF you could either print or use on your computer.



I like reading cookbooks while I eat something particularly unsatisfying, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, thinking about what else I could be eating that would actually be satisfying. So I had my book printed and put into a binder.



This is a recipe from my friend Andrea's collection. We'll be eating a lot of black beans in the next few months because, hey Mandatory Paycut at Logan's office! Woooo! I am loving this economy!

Here's what you need

Did They Eat It?: Queso with Chicken, Black Beans and Rice Velveeta Edition

Finally! The (Rather Lamely Named) RECIPE!!!!!!!!

This is most of my ingredients: Multigrain tortilla chips, diced onion, brown rice, black beans, Ro-Tel, minced garlic, cumin and chili pepper. And, you know Velveeta (2%!)

Did They Eat It?: Pumpkin Polenta with Chorizo and Black Beans

As I read this recipe, I found myself laughing a little to myself. As I've said before, I like making things my kids believe they'll die from eating. It makes me feel just a little more alive.

This one, had all the makings of a deadly recipe. Sausage! Polenta! Even onions. Onions I diced while my husband watched, remarking every 20 seconds, "That's a lot of onions, huh?" and "Jeez...how many onions are you putting in that?"

You can find the entire recipe here.

I skipped the red peppers (ever since I was pregnant with Maddie, I can't eat red peppers. Her pickiness made it's way into my blood a little. I also used sharp cheddar in place of the Manchego cheese, just because it seemed a little silly to search the cheese refrigerator at the market for a special cheese when I knew the kids were going to spend the entire meal gagging and dying on the floor.

This was a really, really easy meal to make.

Here are most of the ingredients I used...sloppily displayed with Logan and Max sharing a before dinner snack/drink.

Did They Eat It: Pasta Primavera

I made this Pasta Primavera from Elise Bauer's Simply Recipes for my book club.

I realized while deciding what to make for this group of women that I'm okay with one food restriction. I can cook vegetarian meals with my eyes closed, but if you add an additional allergy to the mix, I end up running around the kitchen spraying flour on every surface while fretting about what to make.

My book club includes a couple vegetarians (poor things) and a lactose intolerant lady (unfortunate soul), so I'm constantly finding vegetarian recipes that include cheese, or non-cheese dishes that include animal flesh. One of the conditions for membership in our book club, at least in my head, is "You have to at least eat pasta."

Pasta is one of those uniting foods that brings people together over the table. Kind of like the Olympics or sharing outlandish landlord stories. Oh wait that's only at my table!

Did They Eat It?: Shells with Grilled Chicken and Mozzerella

My family is very wary of recipe titles.

They're certain that by only telling them the name of the recipe I'm serving,  I'm leaving out all the many things they hate to eat. So I can spring it on them just before dessert. "You like that? Guess what? It's PEOPLE! Surprise!"

But this recipe is pretty much what it says, except it  makes no mention of the tomatoes (thankfully that's a welcome  surprise for my family). It has a little something for everyone,  grilled chicken, tomatoes and cheese.  It's a really easy meal,  especially if you think to grill some extra chicken at a meal a couple  days earlier. I never do this because all of my brain cells are being occupied by Project: Keep The House Standing.

There's no heavy sauce to scare Logan under the stairs in the basement. Maddie likes  three out of the five main ingredients (depending on her level of PMS) and Max likes everything in  the dish, unless he's constipated. These are excellent odds for a happy dinner table.

Did They Eat It? Chicken Corn and Black Bean Stoup Edition

My mom bought me this cookbook for Christmas. Do other people do this? I eat something really boring and unsatisfying but I read cookbooks while I do it and think of how good something really good would taste.

I don't quite get the rage Rachael Ray elicits, (seriously?) (Whoa.) I'll admit she's a little over saturated perhaps, see this 5ives list. But overall she cooks in a way I can cook, well at least close to the a way I could strive to cook. Simple, fast with not so many dishes to clean up.

I realize I haven't done very well with the Did They Eat It feature I promised months ago. But there's a good reason for that. I suck at cooking for my family! I want to be better, I truly do. But I just can't seem to create the ever elusive Meal Plan System I keep thinking will make me able to plan meals each week with little effort. Also I get bored making the same meals over and over. I start to feel like there's no point in cooking unless I'm trying something new. Trying something new each time I cook is annoying because I'm always the equivalent of a newborn in the kitchen.

Suburban Bash: The Kind Of Lazy But Still Fun New Year's Eve Party

I meant to share our New Year's Eve party with you. This was the party that broke my back so to speak. There was the Holiday Progressive which left me invigorated and then all the last minute Christmas preparations I did, then Christmas dinner with my extended family, our trip to Chicago, followed by frantic de-Christmasing and preparations for 12 adults and 17 kids under nine to ring in the New Year. I was exhausted. I wanted it to be fun for the kids but to be honest I sort of wanted to throw a bunch of confetti at them and call it the New Year.

Still, it's not often kids get to stay up until midnight (or later if no one's killing each other) and I don't get to spend the first minutes with my best friends all the time so I wanted it to be reasonably special.

I made this event potluck-ish, emailing the guests while still in Chicago asking them to bring their own drinks and an appetizer to pass. I made just a vegetable tray with two dips, these really yummy Brussel Sprout, Bacon and Cheddar skewers (huge, huge hit both times I've made them).

Did they eat it?
Max and Maddie didn't try it.
Logan did and said, "I love these. Come to think of it, I've never tried a brussel sprout in my life!"

I just don't know where Maddie gets her inhibited taste buds from.

Did They Eat It: Chicken Casserole Edition.

This is a casserole my friend Jean used to make for me to serve when I babysat for her kids or for dinner when I lived in their basement in my early 20's. ("Hi, I'm Melissa....I live in the basement.") I love it and, when Max was a baby I used to make it for he and I to share because he loved it too.

Logan does not like it, you see it contains 1/4 cup of mayonnaise. If you divide a 1/4 cup of mayo into an 8 serving dish, that means you're eating like 1/2 a tablespoon of mayonnaise and that is enough to kill a man.

Logan is out of town though, ha ha! So I decided to mix it up for the kids and I. I thought, given Max's babyhood love of this dish I'd get at least a 2 out of 3.

This is the sort of dish which would be easiest to make if you had extra chicken from another dish and 2 cups of rice leftover as well. I had neither of these things so I made the rice and used cooked diced chicken I purchase from our school's fund raising food place, Market Day.