yummy food

"You are insane" - Sam
"Why am I insane?" - Me
"I don't know. You just ARE!" - Sam
"Insane in a good or a bad way?! That is not a very nice thing to say, that I'm insane." - Me
"You dive with sharks" - Sam
"So that is not 'insane.' It's totally cool!!!" - Me
Pause.
"You jump up and down like a kangaroo at the mall." - Sam
"You thought it was fun!" - Me (and it was 3 or 4 years ago!!)
"Savannah didn't" - Sam
"I just like to have fun. Maybe everyone else is insane and I am normal." - Me
"Weird is good." - Sam

Ah kids. And, this from the kid who said he was going to go on a marshmallow rampage!

We have a friend of my daughter's over and holy moly macaroli if I didn't make a new recipe last night that everyone liked! I love it when that happens. The kids rarely like my food, because when I do cook from scratch it's got lots of veggies and cool fresh yummy stuff that to them is "gross." So we tend to eat a lot of bean-and-cheese burritos (which we make). Here's a recipe I got from my friend that all three kids loved!

White Chili
Brown a pound or so of ground turkey (with or without onion - I didn't use it because my kids don't like onion). Add 1 large bottle of green salsa, 1 can of chicken broth, 1 or 2 cans of white northern beans, 1 tsp cumin. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also added about 1 tsp garlic powder. I let it sit about half day in the crock pot too. (The initial recipe from my friend calls for a mix of ground turkey, veal and ground pork, but she doesn't eat pork or veal so just did it with turkey and it's great! You can probably add in some chicken too)

Oh, I guess I should say that my attempt at resurrecting my vegetarianism is clearly out the window. I tried, but though I don't eat a lot of meat I feel I need some in my diet.

YUMMO! Good stuff. Another intensely amazing recipe that I adore, from Working Mother magazine (here's the link):

Grilled Eggplant & White Bean Salad

2 small Italian eggplants, sliced in 1/2-inch-thick rounds (I have used the frozen sliced eggplants & then cooked them)
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or other wine vinegar
1 tablespoon pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, crushed
11/2 cups flat leaf parsley
3 ounces (3 cups, packed) baby spinach leaves
1 cup canned Northern/white beans, rinsed and drained
8-12 cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced

1. Grill eggplant (or broil in oven). Brush eggplant slices with 2 tablespoons of the oil. Season with salt to taste. Grill 2-3 minutes per side. Should be soft and flexible.

2. Parsley dressing: food process 3 tablespoons oil, the vinegar, pine nuts, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Transfer to small bowl and set aside.

3. To serve, arrange spinach leaves, white beans, eggplant and tomatoes on a serving platter or individual plates and drizzle with parsley dressing.. (I found the dressing to thick to "drizzle" but just plop some on and mix it up).

It's sooo good!!