Wordless Wednesday: Rachael Ray’s Shepherd’s Pie

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Erika

My favorite meal to cook. It does take planning and time — and a lot of dishes — but I love it. Recipe is great, just make sure to add salt to the potatoes.

Boil quartered potatoes in salt water. I leave skins on.

Chop carrots and an onion.

Brown ground beef, add salt and pepper.

Add carrots and onion to browned beef.

Make a roux with butter, flour, a cup of beef bouillon and 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce. This will be added to meat and veggies, along with a half cup of frozen peas.

Keep helper occupied (and dog).

Mash potatoes with sour cream, butter and salt.

Plate potatoes aside -- and then save a dish by using the potatoes' pot for assembling pie. Bottom: meat, veggie and roux mixture.

Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika.

Broil for 5 minutes to brown the top. Add a little parsley on top, and serve. Kids will say, as they’ve been trained to, “I’m not hungry, thank you.” THEY ARE TOTALLY MISSING OUT. It’s delish!

Filed under: cooking, Daily Life, food | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Mineral Monday: We’re going to San Diego!

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Erika

… and also, eating issues.

My Chemical Romance’s grandfather died recently at the age of 90 years young. He is survived by his wife, four children — including My Chemical Romance’s dad — several step-children and lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

My Chemical Romance really wanted to be there for the funeral, but his mom went one better (or six better) by paying for ALL OF US (except the dog) to fly to San Diego. I am so excited!

San Diego at night (Flickr: Michael McDonough)

I am so not looking forward to a long plane ride with five children. I can’t emphasize that enough. I am not looking forward to a five-hour plane ride with five kids. However, I’m sure the trip will make up for it.

Mineral has a lot of anxiety regarding plans changing, so he wants to know all about the trip. What we’re going to do and where we’re going to go, and with whom we’re going to stay and what we’re going to eat –

I digress: eating is a big issue right now. Mineral doesn’t eat much. His ADHD medication suppresses his appetite — which totally sucks, because he’s already underweight. Then, when he’s coming down off it, in the the evening, dinner is a battle.

If dinner is not one of the few things he likes (hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, quesadillas, fried chicken, noodles, eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles) he gets extremely upset. And he expresses that unhappiness for the duration of the meal. Then he wants to know what the next night’s dinner is, and the next night’s. And if those meals aren’t things he likes, his tantrum continues.

Flickr: Kevin Dooley

I try for an every-other-night approach for meals he will like, but sometimes I get sick of hotdogs and macaroni-and-cheese. I’m not sure if I want to make him his own special dinner — he already gets a lot of allowances for his ADHD, and often the other children will skip a dinner if they don’t want whatever it is. Or just try it. Or sit quietly with us.

Also, if I don’t feed him, he will take food from the pantry up to his room and eat it. Or take food to the bathroom. Or the guest room. I find various food — mostly bread — all over the house. Then I feel bad because he’s skinny and hungry and I’m not feeding him enough.

Writing this out makes me realize that he probably needs his ADHD medication twice a day. His doctor had prescribed that, but I was hesitant because it keeps him awake at night. He suggested giving him half the medication in the afternoon, to see how that works. I think I will try it.

 

Filed under: attachment parenting, Daily Life, family, Mineral Monday | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Porcelain: No Longer Adorable

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Erika

So, this happened:

And yet, not a single egg in the dog food! Well done.

This was a three-step process of decision making: (1) to cook eggs and bacon for dinner (2) to put Porcelain in the Learning Tower but (3) not to move her to the exact center of the room, where her octopus-like arms inflict the least amount of damage.

"Who, me? What did I do? I'm just standing here benignly, watching you cook."

Instead, I, veteran mother of five children who have never broken a bone — we just recently had our first experience with stitches! First experience! After nine years of parenting! Including twin boys! — put her right by the countertop, with the carton of eggs nearby.

Well, the floor did need to be mopped.

This is my life, in an eggshell. Including My Masterpiece, in the background, smiling adorably.

Filed under: attachment parenting, cooking, Daily Life, family, food | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

In my former life, I was a waitress

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Erika

But I never worked at a restaurant like the one I was at yesterday for Jugs Night Out.

Our poor waitress — she was new, and she was not confident. When I was a teenager and I worked at a Mexican restaurant, I would smile as I wrote down customers’ orders phonetically then rush into the kitchen to make sure I understood what they wanted. Usually I didn’t.

(There seems to be this divide between people who want a server to write down orders, and people who want them memorized. I prefer to have mine written down. I always want more mayo or sauce or hold the onions — unless they’re carmelized — and if I’m going to spend My Chemical Romance’s hard-earned money, I want to get what I want.)

Also, going out to eat with Wii is always amusing, because she wants what she wants — and is much more specific than me. I want meat and cheese and sauce, and maybe some french fries that are extra crispy. Extra sauce — but I’ll take it on the side if it doesn’t end up on the meat. Wii is very specific. She has dietary restrictions, eats really clean, and wants to know how things are prepared, what are the ingredients, and if the fruit is ripe. Or fresh, or in season or something.

I get it — but I also know that if she’d gone to my Mexican restaurant, she would have run the risk of getting her food spit in. But she’d never have eaten at my restaurant. Everything was cooked in hydrogenated oils. Maybe servers are less inclined to spit in the food in nicer establishments.

Anyway this poor waitress encountered Wii, and what little confidence she had totally evaporated. The waitress didn’t screw anything up particularly — all of our food was right, except Nice-Nice’s took extra time — but she was flustered and forgot napkins and silverware and chopsticks and had a difficult time dividing the bill when we were finished.

She was training, and her trainer totally left her in the weeds. I suppose training on a Tuesday makes sense, because, like, who goes out to eat on a Tuesday? — except that this restaurant is new and hip and trendy and DELICIOUS. It’s called Cowfish and you should totally go there.

The upshot was this: the manager comped our entire dinner. The.Whole.Meal. And Mary F. Poppins had drinks; Nice-Nice, Little Miss Popular and I had apps. I ordered a to-go sushi roll for My Chemical Romance.

It was awesome! I can’t wait to go back.

Afterwards we went to Pinkberry — apparently the theme of our night was yuppie food — which was okay. The toppings were awesome; the yogurt was meh.

Porcelain, the only baby with us, was pretty good despite being awake the entire time. I look forward to our next JNO!

 

Filed under: friends | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

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