Valentine's edition

Insert excuse-y, self-deprecating comment here about how long it's been since I posted anything here. Okay, moving on.

I've made it clear that I like themed menus, especially at holidays. Valentine's Day, of course, lends itself well to this kind of silliness.

With vegetarians in the house, I don't do the traditional steak and potato type of thing. I go more with color than anything else, so...Red Beans and Rice. Not sexy, necessarily, but fits the theme and makes my family happy. (My daughter is obsessed with rice. It's weird.)

For dessert, though, I like to get a little crazy. I stared at Pinterest for a few days, looking for inspiration, but nothing jumped out at me, except maybe the thought of red velvet cake in general. I went with a trifle (because I am no good at all at decorating cakes or cupcakes, and I'm great at whipping cream).

Keep in mind that this is a WORKING MOM's blog, so this recipe fits well into the semi-homemade category. By the way, calling it a recipe is putting it strongly. Here's what I did.

Delegated the cake-making to a teenager. Two teenagers, actually. They had a great time and took pictures (which I do not have permission to share). Use a mix. (Duncan Hines was the brand I selected, because it was on sale.)

Whipped the cream - 1/2 pint, with 1/8 cup of sugar and a splash of vanilla - in the Kitchenaid mixer. (I insist on doing this part from scratch. I hate Cool Whip.)

Opened a can of cherry pie filling.

Made instant vanilla pudding (if I were on a school break, I would have whipped up some homemade pastry cream, but it's been a LONG week at school already. Pudding it is.).

Tore up that cake. Into bite-sized pieces.

Layer it all in a glass bowl. Cake, pudding, cherry pie filling, whipped cream, then repeat until you're out of everything. Try to end on a whipped cream layer. I sprinkled all that with a little hot cocoa mix powder.

My son called it love in a bowl.

NaBloPoMo, day 2

It's only day two and already I'm not so sure I'm up to this daily blogging. I did fine in November, but life was different then.

My eldest child, my daughter, just had a birthday last month. She was out of town with my parents on her actual birthday, and we've had a busy, busy summer, so we haven't been able to schedule her birthday party until tomorrow.

So here's the deal.

She wanted our neighbor, Ashleigh, to make the birthday cake. Because, in her lovely words, "I want a pretty cake this year, Mom."

Ouch.

My desserts are not known for their beauty, but they do taste good. But apparently my cake decorating efforts at my son's birthday party were so laughable that she won't ever forget.

Not wanting to disappoint my delightful, if painfully honest, spawn, I placed an order, and we're looking forward to enjoying it tomorrow.

But after the sleepover, the kids will be eating the breakfast that I cooked from scratch. And they'll love it. Because pancakes don't need to be pretty.

Day One, NaBloPoMo

My relationship with food has been a bit of a roller coaster over the past few years. Now, that statement seems loaded. Do I have an eating disorder, or do I fight with my weight? No, and no. As far as eating goes, my relationship with food is pretty steady: I eat when I'm hungry, and I mostly eat what I like.

No, the relationship to which I refer is more about the kitchen. See, sometimes I get really passionate about cooking and meal planning and grocery shopping. Heck, here I am, posting in a food blog.

But sometimes I really can't be bothered to spend more than a couple of minutes thinking about feeding my family.

I'm in one of the valleys these days.

It's probably because of my job.

If you didn't already know, I work in a hospital, in the food service department. It's not really a glamorous department, but my job is very visible and, to be quite honest, awesome. It's probably also of value to mention that my current position was a promotion from another, desk-bound, position in the same department. And my current apathy toward all things culinary pretty much began the day of my promotion.

My job allows me to engage in chef-like behavior (somewhat) and get a lot of ego strokes in the process. My prior position was primarily administrative and involved very few ego strokes and even fewer forays into the kitchen.

But my family is paying a bit of a price here. They used to get creative, well-balanced, well-cooked meals, courtesy of me, nearly every night. Trips to restaurants were special and also well-considered. These days, however, I've mostly delegated the cooking (and the shopping, and most of the planning) to my husband (who does a great job, by the way).

I'm hoping that this process, this daily blogging about food for the month, will help rekindle the passion. I can't remember the last time I tried a new recipe (except for cocktail recipes, which I tried just last week, with excellent results).

At least I'm well-positioned to succeed. Our vegetable garden is thriving in the Memphis summer. With the backyard-fresh vegetables, I've got plenty of inspiration, or at least good ingredients.

So here's the plan: I'll try something new in the kitchen every day this month. I've already started gathering recipes for pickles and jams and such. And I'll document the results. I can't promise passionate cuisine, but I can promise a dedication to fresh, wholesome food that (hopefully) families would like to eat.

Tomorrow: pickles, part 1.

Perfect pairing

Now that we have the bread sorted out, let's make it a balanced meal. Because nothing warms me up on a blustery fall day than a dinner of soup and bread. And nothing cleans out the refrigerator better than my family's favorite soup.

This one is never exactly the same twice, because the whole point is to clean out the fridge. You know what I'm talking about. The celery that's not quite as crisp as it should be. The cabbage that you kind of forgot about but still has a little life left. The remnants of whatever else might be in there and not quite worthy of the bin.

This time, I started with this:



Things weren't as questionable as they often are. Because the fridge had been cleaned out pretty recently. But if it makes you happy to pretend that the celery is wilted and the cabbage is less than perfect, go ahead. Because it usually is. You see that jar? It contains about 1/2 cup of brown rice. I was sick of looking at that almost-empty container. And those cans of tomatoes are essential if I want my kids to eat this soup. For them, it's not good soup without a tomato base and a healthy dose of cabbage.



I sauteed the leeks and a couple of cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes. When they start getting soft and fragrant, I added the other ingredients: the chopped veggies and about a quart of vegetable stock, along with the cans of tomatoes. EXCEPT the cabbage. Save that for the last 15 minutes.



And honestly, that's about all. Let it simmer the whole time you're baking the bread. The longer, the better. Throw in the cabbage for the last fifteen minutes of cooking.

Oh, seasonings? I used my old standby fresh herbs from the garden: thyme, oregano, basil. There was some shady-looking parsley in the fridge, so in it went. And some celery salt and pepper. If you have other favorites, substitute away.

And when it looks like this, it's ready to eat. Unless you have my kids, in which case you're going to need a few ice cubes. Maybe they're Russian?

Technical difficulties

I'd love to post.
But my laptop is in the laptop hospital.
And all my pictures are on my laptop.

But coming soon...baking healthy yeast bread and biscuits (using half oat bran flour), chicken soup, vegetable soup, slow-cooked pears, and more.

Any requests? The holidays are coming and I'd love to try some new ideas.