"Open your mouth" is one of the first things we say to our children, moments after their birth. We say it when we're introducing them to solids, we say it to toddlers when they seem to be hiding something not-quite-edible in there, we combine it with "...and just try a bite, please!" to encourage stubborn preschoolers to give up their food prejudices. Food is so important to health, to happiness, to social interaction, and the habits we instill in our children need to last a lifetime. So let's open wide.
This week we've got the traditional Easter dinner coming up at my place: ham, potatoes, a few vegetables. Nothing groundbreaking, with the exception of this savory bread pudding with asparagus posted at 101 Cookbooks that I've been dying to try, that should fly pretty high with the family. It can be made in advance, so tomorrow I'll be able to focus more on getting everything else to time right.
And the week ahead? Leftovers, baby!
One night I'll be making a big pan of fried rice using leftover ham and
vegetables. This is one of my favorite go-to meals to repurpose
leftovers, which I'm sorry to say I'm not really great at using up. My
not-so-traditional, but fast and pretty tasty method is here and I'll make the rice for it either the night before. And speaking of leftovers, I have a little bit of lamb envy over here--Break The Cycle's got lamb on the menu
for Easter and anticipates the leftovers in pita the next day. A
little tomato, a little onion, a little tzatziki...maybe mini-pitas for
the kids? Maybe next year.
I'll be fixing a Salade Niçoise to clear our palates from the heavier traditional American holiday fare, and incidentally to use up some of the many, many hard-boiled eggs in my refrigerator. I picked up some nice tuna steaks to sear and slice, but packed tuna is fine, too. My incredibly finicky four-year-old recently decided to like fish, so I'm going to chase that train as far as it will lead us.
Niçoise or not, I really do have approximately two dozen hardboiled eggs left, after a week of eating egg salad every day. I'll be indebted to Kalyn and her collection of ways to get them eaten. That's going to account for at least one more meal this week, and this salad will definitely show up because I've got some serious tomato lovers in this house.
Also on the menu: Gnocchi (storebought) with vodka marinara (homemade) and a big green salad, and skillet-barbecued chicken breasts with steamed broccoli and mashed sweet potatoes.
What's in your mouth this week?
