Eggies and the Nutrition Police

None of my guys eats hard boiled eggs. I will on occasion. When I saw the Eggies gadget at the Dollar Tree, I decided to try it.  I mean, it was a dollar. I saw tons of reviews online of people that hated it. I saw more who questioned why bother. I saw a couple who liked it.

True, I have more kitchen experience than the average person, but I had no problem with leaking eggs, no messy counter, no boilovers. Pretty straight forward process. It does not save cooking time, and even adds prep time. I does prevent the pain of peeling eggs. I will never be good at that.  I know, I know. Use old eggs. Put soda in the water. Bake them instead.  I still have problems getting the shell off smoothly. No lectures please.

While we are on that lecturing subject. Yes, I know this is cooking in plastic and that is not good. I won't be doing this often-- promise. I figure there are so many bad things out there that I can't avoid, that I am not going to be the super vigilant, hyper healthy mom/wife/person that makes everyone around feel unworthy and judged. I remember the day a fellow parent made me feel terrible because I didn't use the right peanut butter and because my back yard did not have mature trees.  Excuse me. I never want to be her and I feel feel the sting of her judgment. I never go around telling people how awful sugar is. Not even when I see diabetics suffering. I offer our story simply as it is.  It is possible.

I work at keeping us healthy, but certainly don't want to make enemies because we choose to use or avoid certain foods or products. I read an article recently about how the "Paleo Police" make so many people give up even trying to make healthy choices. I got some rather snarky comments because I used Tilapia this week.  Ouch. Sometimes it just seems like there is nothing that is safe to consume.Either it is bad to start with, genetically modified, sprayed with pesticides, fed corn, coated in wheat, cooked with smoke, cooked too long, hard to digest when raw, source of salmonella, cooked in the wrong skillet, a possible allergen, or something.  Aaargh!

 I sometimes make bad choices and I admit it. Life is to be lived and every once in a while I have a diet Dr. Pepper. Not too often.  I do the best I can to be a good steward of our health and our finances. The two don't always get along well. Honestly, shopping at Whole Foods is simply not possible for us, and we have always lived simply, so there is no place to cut back.  I'll just place my hope in the fact that the good Lord has my days numbered and the occasional egg boiled in plastic or fizzy soda will not upset his plan for me. We are seldom sick and I have much more energy than people half my age. The reason for the Diner Plan was to keep us stocked in healthy foods when our attention was focused on life. Hard to believe, but despite having a food blog and being a cookbook author, my life focus is not food. I love it, but there is so much more to life. Let's go enjoy it instead of hyper focusing on every bite that goes into our mouths (and that stands true as to the state of the mouths around us too!) So Eggie or traditional boil, tis the season to enjoy some eggs. Go for it. And oh yeah, I remember when those were bad for us too.

Among Friends Thursday--My Hickory Sauce

Sometimes life is just too much to be a good blogger. This is pretty much one of those seasons.

In the midst of launching a new business, with building out delays on our location, I got the phone call. Of course, everyone dreads the call advising you that a loved one is gravely ill. But sometimes, they do come. Although my father and I have had a troubled relationship over the years, emotional ties remain. I willl spare you the details, but life is bound to have a little more turmoil for me the next few weeks. My father lives about a hundred miles away, so everything is complicated.

I realize that I am not alone in having a complicated life. The posts may be fewer, as they have been, but I am not giving up. This is tonight's dinner. I didn't try out any of my co-author's recipes, as I often do. Instead, stress is best dealt with by serving the meals I can assemble without a thought. Two of my man pleasing favorites. Like the plate says, no meal is an accident. We do still have to think about what we feed ourselves, especially under stress. This meal is Hickory Sauce from page 255 of Low Carbing Among Friends and Nana's Coleslaw with a Kick from page 225. No brainers. The  hickory sauce in the photo is stirred into some Freezer Favorite roasted pork I packaged up about  6 weeks ago. See how freezer prep can save your life? Today, I tried a new flavor of my favorite brand of liquid smoke. The Wright's Applewood flavor is very good too. I think I still prefer the Hickory, though. With pre-packaged coleslaw mix in the fridge, this easy meal did not add to my stress levels at all. With the holiday plans, news of my dad, my obligations to back-breaking work at our educational program, and a radio show to put together, I am betting my stress levels would measure off the charts. Funny how even when that happens, families still need to eat. We have eaten out more than I would prefer, but sometimes, the world is just too much. I am betting we have all been there from time to time, as no one is perfect. If I didn't have these freezer meals, my kitchen would be totally overwhelming right now.  I covet your prayers and thank you for the support and love I feel from so many of my blog friends.  ~  Lisa

Mom's Day and Graduation

What a whirlwind of a weekend. So many emotions. My middle son landed an internship and moved back home for the summer. That made me happy. My brother and sister in law came for a visit. That made me happy since we don't see them often. My baby son graduated Saturday. That made me happy and sad, scared and proud--basically just an emotional mess. I am so proud of him, yet so sad that so many people I have loved didn't get to see his--our--big day. I have definitely said goodbye to a huge chapter of my life, and I am having a hard time getting my head around that. Good things are in the future, but it is hard to let the kids grow up when you have been such a full time mom.

Speaking of Moms, today is Mother's Day. My big old grown up sons prepared breakfast in bed for me just like they have done since they were little. I am so spoiled...even if they did use leftovers from the graduation brunch we held. I got a coconut flour and cheese sausage biscuit. Also fresh hot coffee before church. Everytime they talked about motherhood at church, I cried. The boys hated that, but I couldn't help it.

We had lunch with my mom and niece and her family. I am so blessed to have a fantastic relationship with my Mom. She is my biggest hero, and I love her so much. She helped with all the graduation details when she didn't have to. She didn't even mind when I bought her gift on the way to lunch and stuck it in a crumpled gift bag with no tissue. Forgiveness for her too busy daughter. I knew she would be gracious and she deserves so much better. That is just how she is. I hope to be able to keep up with the fireball of energy that she is! If I could only live up to her exercise schedule. OK, so now I don't need to be adding guilt to my emotional roller coaster this weekend!

My boys gave me some awesome presents. My oldest got me a tripod for my new camera. It will help so much as I struggle to learn food photography. Also nice, because it shows that he believes in me. A bit of a role reversal, but still warms a mom's heart.

Now if you have stuck it out this far wondering what happened to the food section of this food blog, you should be commended. Besides that brunch, we have been eating out. I have managed without too much deviation with carne asada at the Mexican place last night and grilled chicken Caesar salad at lunch. It can be done. Have to admit, I am looking forward to life slowing down just a bit. Stay tuned for more from me...now sleep sounds good. Hope you don't mind the proud, happy, sad mom sharing a picture of her grad.

Mexicali Meatloaf 's Return Engagement

I love Spring, but wow is it busy! Seems like a million details pull me away from being an organized homemaker. But gee, my hubby never stops needing to be fed, and a call to the pizza place just isn't going to do it. Flexibility is one key to making my Diner system work. If I couldn't make the meal I had planned today, I will always have a back up in the freezer.

Today, a good friend had a death in the family. With many of the arrangements falling on her, I knew she would appreciate some meals delivered for the family. That can be interesting--feeding picky kids who aren't the low carbers we are. Since I do still have one carby boy at home, I had a box of macaroni noodles. Not using the Dreamfield's on carb eaters! I made a meal for that family and arrived home just in time to need to feed my guys. Since there are better days when I plan for situations like this, I just pulled a meatloaf out of the freezer. It can go straight into the microwave or regular oven. Then all I have to do is prepare the veggies or salad.

This one happens to be a Mexican Meatloaf. That is a regular meatloaf seasoned with some chili seasoning. I also add some cheese to the meat. On the day I first made these, I baked all three loaves. That made tonight's dinner much quicker. If your prep day is super busy, though, you can freeze the raw meatloaf as well. It is a little trickier though, because that would need to thaw before cooking. If you try to cook from frozen, the center would probably stay undercooked while the ends got dried out.

I used a chili seasoning packet which was low in carbs. If you choose to do that, be sure to watch for added starches. Or, you can make your own seasoning mix too. I used one package for almost 5 pounds of ground beef. You could add more or less according to your family's tastes.

For a side, the carby boy got some of the mac n cheese I took to our friends. It is a fav of his. John got some cabbage. I fried it in olive oil with a spoonful of Rotel type tomatoes for extra zip. Once the cabbage is tender, just add a bit of salt and a sprinkle of cheese. Another successful easy dinner anyone could do.

When Chicken is Cheap

Great sale on boneless skinless chicken breast this week. Of course, they were sold in bulk packaging, but that is fine. I am never without a plan! My dear hubby brought we home a whopper big package of chicken that weighed in at 12 pounds. Partially frozen, of course. That does make it a bit more of a challenge. Here's what I did:

I let the solid lump of chicken thaw until I could easily remove the outer cuts. These, I made for dinner as Chicken George. Last night we chose Chicken Parisienne. That is a grilled breast topped with a sophisticated cream cheese and sherry sauce from the E.Z. Fix section of the e-book.So decadent and rich. My college boy really appreciated it. I made some browned butter sauce green beans on the side. These were much improved over those tough asparagus stems from the other day. That meal is pictured above, sorry the photo is not the greatest, I am still trying to figure out this new camera.

While that was going, I pulled some more chicken out and put it in the crock pot for Chipotle Chicken Shreds. That cooked on low all night long, getting all soft and spicy with green chiles. Yum. This is our Triple Play meal for the week, even though it is in the Freezer Favorites section. Flexibility is good. We will see the chicken in a soup, quesadillas and enchiladas later in the week. That's done.



By the time I peeled away all those breast portions, the center was still frozen. I took advantage of that fact to make it into a dump meal. This time, I chose the Steakhouse Special marinade. It just took a minute to whisk that up, pour it into ziploc bags and then add the chicken. Now I have some tasty bird waiting in the freezer for another week. After all, who wants to eat chicken every night of the week? On second thought, I think my hubby could...

Today has been a productive Prep Day, although I did veer off course just a tad. Rather than making a breakfast Multiply Meal, I made a master mix of low carb baking mix. So far it seems to be working well. I used it to make a Mexican Fudgey Pie and 12 low carb buns for burgers and sausage sandwiches. Those two recipes will help cover four breakfasts this week. Yes, chocolate will be breakfast--instead of muffins. It's legal. Hope there is enough left; John keeps sneaking slices. I had better wrap that and hide it soon.

I also made a discovery for a new twist on an old low carb snack that is just too easy, and great for those of us who appreciate a little spice. I even managed to squeeze in making a dry mix for ranch dressing. I added that to some home made yogurt, and it tastes fabulous--especially with my hot new snack. I'll show you how these go together in blogs later this week. Right now, I have a boy home from college, and I would rather spend my evening with him. So I am out of the kitchen and off the computer for now. We are building our first fire of the season in the fireplace. Not counting camp fires, of course. We had plenty of those last weekend. I swear I can still smell the smoke in my car!

Leftovers

Today is super busy. We just grazed on planned leftovers today--homemade yogurt for breakfast, Cheezeburger Quiche for lunch, and some Bobby-Q Pork for dinner. Glad nothing else was on the menu. We managed to break a window out on our car today, and had to try our own home made version of fixing that. Aah, trash bags taped to the car is a thing of beauty! I am trying to keep my sense of humor. In the past, days like this would have led to eating out and a major binge. Now, even if I don't have time to fix a proper dinner, there is still always a meal or two that will save the day. Gee, no excuses!

On a better note, my business student, the one needing a thousand dollar brake job, told me that he pitched my cookbook idea to his strategic management class. It was the most popular business plan. Now he and his team are going to put together a complete business plan and marketing strategy for the Diner. They will do all the things I can only imagine. I have no budget, but they will get to use a simulated budget. Sounds cool. Maybe he will graduate in May and get a loan to make it all happen. Then we could make my little cooking system into a real business, and I would get to have my boy closer to home. I think we could work together, even if he is a bit bossy sometimes. When life's troubles seem only to accumulate, it is fun to imagine better things! Now if I just had a spare thousand dollars around here...

Beef Medallions to the Rescue

Today was my toughest day at school, so I planned an E.Z. Fix dinner of grilled burgers. Little did I know that the dear hubby grilled up ALL the burger patties last weekend. I had thought he just made a few extra for his snack purposes. Tonight, I found out that I had no easy dinner as planned. But I am never completely caught off guard, because...well, this stuff seems to happen to us more times than I care to admit. So, the moral of this story is that scheduling is great, but add some flexibility and it is even better.

I had a couple packages of cooked beef medallions out in the freezer for emergencies. These are easy enough for a teenage boy to cook up for himself, which is really what I intended. Tonight, they made a quick supper for the family. I simply heated them up in my cast iron skillet, until they had gone from frozen to warm. Being precooked, they don't give off much fat for gravy, so I improvised. I didn't have the barbecue sauce I usually serve. Here's the recipe for what I did:

Quicky Beef Glaze

1 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons cooking sherry
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or another thickener

I added the water to deglaze the pan. Use this water to dissolve the bouillon cubes. Add the cream and sherry. Heat to boiling and sprinkle the xanthan gum over while stirring. When mixture is thick, stir in beef to coat.

While that was heating, I steamed some fresh cauliflower and some frozen broccoli from Sam's Club. I love Sam's frozen broccoli. Generally, I dislike frozen blends because they contain too many stems which just never get to a good texture. Fresh is better, but these are so close and much more convenient.

Somehow, these tired old bones made a really good impromptu dinner. It is odd to think that I used to cook like that all the time--making up dinner while staring into the fridge. That would make me a nut case these days!

Probably won't be blogging tomorrow. It is our 23rd anniversary, and we plan to dine out. Nothing too fancy, just a local Mexican food place that really knows how to use a grill. It is easy to pass up the tortillas when your plate is full of steak, sausages and veggies cooked up until they caramelize on the grill. Mmm. Can't wait. Maybe I'll take a photo to show you and try to duplicate that grill at home.

Braised Beef with Smoked Paprika

It is amazing how groceries can change into mystery food an hour after going into the freezer. Always remember to label your Freezer Favorites before they go in! This time, the story was a little different, but it still left my menu plan with a big road block sign. You see, we purchase meat from a local meat packing plant once a month at their dock sale. We missed last month, so my freezer was pretty empty. This morning, John went and purchased ground beef for $1.25 a pound, some fully cooked chicken chunks for $2.50 a pound, and some beef medallions for $1.50 a pound. Great deals, no doubt. I was busy working on a curriculum project when he got home. Stupid me, I didn't oversee what went where in which freezer.

Tonight's menu called for beef fajitas, so I pulled out a package of fajita meat to thaw. Come dinner time, I grabbed that, only to find that I had been thawing beef medallions instead. Not exactly interchangeable. What to do? I placed the beef, still in some larger frozen chunks, into my chicken fryer skillet. I put in a cup of water, turned it on low, put on the lid and went to watch a movie on Netflix with my guys. John did stir the meat a bit when he passed through the kitchen a couple of times. I appreciated being able to stay reclined with my feet up for a while...

After the movie was over, the beef was nice and tender. I drained off most of the broth and sprinkled the beef with garlic powder, onion powder, regular paprika and about half a teaspoon of the pricier smoked paprika. I let that simmer a bit while I stir fried some garlic green beans with onion and red pepper. Yum. Not bad considering my taster was ready for fajitas. The lesson? Don't be a slave to the menu, and learn to think through kitchen disasters creatively. That and don't have a picky family.

Country Fried Steak Fingers

Cube steak was on sale this week at the nearest grocery store to my home. All my men love country fried steak, and always order that when we dine out at home-style restaurants. The low carb version my not be quite the same, but the fingers are tasty. This week, I made enough to make a "Triple Play" recipe.

Tonight, we are having steak fingers with gravy. Later in the week, the fingers will show up in a lunch salad, then in wraps made with lavash bread. They gravy I tried was not all that wonderful, so I will spare you those details.

The breading I used today was soy flour, flax meal and wheat bran mix. I dipped the fingers in egg, then dredged them in the flour mixture. Remember that when you fry with soy flour, the breading darkens more than with wheat flour...especially after the first batch. If you are avoiding soy, you could easily substitute another flour. I even saw recipes using all flax meal, but I haven't personally tried that.

Well, the Chicken Blanco casseroles are wrapped and ready to go into the freezer, and the extra chicken is cubed for this week's chicken salad. We had some guests today, so I am postponing making my muffins and Minute Sausage until tomorrow morning. It is good to be flexible--just as long as I still get it done in a reasonable time. Then I know I will always have some home-made food ready on the quick. That is good to know.

Kahlua Pig Stir Fry

I planned for Waikiki Stirfry as my third meal of the Triple Play meals this week. But, as life often goes, things got messy, and I found I was out of pineapple DaVinci syrup. I planned on picking up some pineapple flavoring at the grocery store, but none could be found...even at two stores. So I changed up some ingredients and made a brand new dish. Still very "islandy"--is that a word? Who cares.

I did have some Kahlua flavored syrup. I did have some coconut milk. The beginnings of inspiration. I threw various veggies in the skillet--you can put in whatever you have. This time, I added about 3/4 a pound of frozen snow peas, 1 cup of coleslaw mix, 1/4 zucchini, and some red bell pepper. Once they got going, I mixed half a can of coconut milk, about 1/4 cup DaVinci Kahlua syrup, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger and a half teaspoon of xanthan gum. I whirled this around in the bullet blender to really mix in that thickener. Next, I added the already cooked and chopped ham to the veggies. Once that was hot, I stirred in the coconut milk mixture and let it thicken up for a minute or so. I served it up and sprinkled some chopped peanuts on the top for crunch.

The boys sneared at it as "Chinese" food. They don't share my passion for snow peas. I think it is wonderful. We'll see if John likes it. It is packed in his lunch bag. I am eating mine for brunch. Once it was cooked, it smelled too good to pass up. The Breakfast Bonanza muffins I microwaved can be my snack later! Flexibility can be the mother of invention too, I guess. Aloha!

Colorburst Pepper and Sausage Skillet

I really meant to get this dish into the crockpot this morning, but that just didn't happen. I was out the door when my ride arrived, and the ingredients were still in the fridge. But failure doesn't mean we don't eat. It just means that it is time to improvise. Working the 24/7 system disasters still happen. I had two choices. I could just grab a Multiply Meal or Freezer Favorite and have a really quick dinner. Or, I could use the same ingredients and change the method of cooking. Tonight, I swapped the slow cooker for a skillet. I'm not too sure, but this just may have ended up as an improvement. It is no chef's special, but it is good, homey comfort food. No leftovers tonight.

Colorburst Pepper and Sausage Skillet

1 pound cooked polish sausage
1 rutabaga
1 yellow onion
1 red bell pepper
1/2 green bell pepper
2 Tablespoons oil
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and dice the rutabaga. Place it in a skillet with 2 Tablespoons of oil. While that is cooking, chop the onion and peppers and add to the skillet, stirring to coat. Place lid on skillet and simmer for 10-20 minutes until rutabaga is nearly tender. (this time will depend on the size of the dice and how fast you are with a knife) Add sliced sausage and stir into veggie mixture. Pan fry until the vegetables and sausage are beginning to brown. Here, you may add any seasonings you desire, but I prefer to let the natural flavors of the peppers and onion come through.

Note: To extend the servings on this recipe, I added 1 steamed red potato for each of my carb eaters. I have always loved potatoes, but the rutabaga is a wonderful substitute for me. It remains firm and has a milder flavor than turnips, although they could be added to this recipe as well.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

The ice cream I made last night is tasty stuff! My old favorite flavor of milkshake from Sonic was coconut cream pie shake. This is very similar, but without any sugar! The recipe is simple, and if you have a good ice cream maker, it is a snap to make. I had a few problems getting mine in the maker, and getting the lid on, but the dogs loved cleaning up what I spilled. My son Pearson came to the rescue when I just didn't seem to have enough hands. Now, I will remember to assemble everything before I dump in the cream mixture. Lesson learned.

Because of my little mishap, and the time I lost switching bowls, mine may not have set up as well as it would have. We ate some soft serve style and froze the rest. After it has been in the freezer overnight, it is far too frozen to be scoopable. I let it sit on the counter a while, then we had more luck. I did still have to shave it a bit. That is fine though---the taste is worth it. Way better than that stuff they can't even call ice cream. Just what is "frozen dessert" anyway? I hate to think what is really in there. Don't you love it when they call it a cone of soft serve? Soft serve what? I remember one summer when my boys were little, we got them a treat from the ice cream truck. Pearson got a confection that looked like a Ninja Turtle. After a couple of bites, it fell off the stick. Green residue from that treat stayed in our grass and on the driveway for months. Eeeuuww! We never did that again.

I digress--now back to my real ice cream. I read online that if you add a spoon of vodka, the freezing chemistry is changed, and you won't get the ice crystals common in home made ice cream. I may try that some time, but we don't drink around here, and I wasn't about to send my sweet hubby to the store for that!

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

14.5 ounce can coconut milk
1 pint half and half
3/4 to 1 cup sweetener of choice (or equivalent)
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of xanthan gum

Mix all the ingredients together. Pour into an ice cream freezer and follow directions for that model.

We planned on eating Father's Day dinner out tonight, but John has a migraine. We opted to stay home. Of course, that menu spot was empty, so I threw together a casserole using leftovers from last night's Hobo dinners. I added a can of Spam-like loaf from Aldi, some extra cauliflower and American cheese slices. They melt so nicely and make their own sauce. SO simple for comfort food. Hope he feels better for the big day tomorrow. Andrew is having company over and I need to pick up a bit. Living with a house of men does have it's neatness problems!

Kickin Cajun Casserole

On the run this evening, have a meeting to attend. Tonight's dinner highlights how flexible the 24/7 Diner system is. Since Sunday was Mother's Day, I purposely neglected some kitchen duties. I did not make the Minute Beef this recipe calls for. Instead, today I chose to cook the ground beef up fresh. I added the vegetables directly to the skillet rather than to a casserole dish. Everything else is the same. Making this a skillet supper rather than a casserole suited my needs this week. Flexibility keeps the system rolling. Now the boys and hubby can dish their portions up as they get home and are ready to eat.

I like extra Cajun hot sauce, can you tell by the photo?

Don't Hate Me Because I'm a Leftover

Today was one of those days. You know, you hit the ground running, get drenched in the rain, have to deal with insufferable people, somehow forget to eat. Wow. I can't believe I just said that. I have never been the type to forget to eat. What gives? I really wasn't hungry, partly due to an absence of cravings, partly due to an overly full schedule. So just how do days like this fit in with the 24/7 Low Carb Diner system?

First off, we did still have breakfast goodies waiting in the fridge, I just didn't get around to eating any. I packed hubby's lunch, but never made my own. That was just a problem with timing. I left the higher carby kid on his own today, since I was away.

What about dinner you ask? Usually, I make a Multiply Meal on Thursday evenings. I already had an important meeting to attend tonight, so I knew to rearrange that on my weekly menu. I'll cover that later. Besides, once you have a stocked freezer, it is okay to skip a week here or there. I left my hubby with instructions for a George Night--that is an EZ Fix meal on the Foreman grill. He was obedient there. When I dragged home from my meeting,I was coming down from an incredible adrenaline rush. The leaders of the meeting got stuck at the airport, I was left to entertain and educate the audience for 35 minutes, unplanned. Just a bit stressful. When the excitement wore off, the hunger pangs were becoming real. One might have thought my wonderful boys would have grilled a steak for me, but... umm...no.

So what to eat? A quick check of the freezer inventory showed a single serving of my yummy rutabaga beef stew, affectionately called Stew-a-baga. See the blog post here for the recipe. I added a salad--so glad that is always waiting in the fridge. Dinner was served. Who knew leftovers would create the most comforting moments in my day? I had an Advil for dessert! Sometimes that is just how life works.

Forgot to Thaw!

Oh, my. I remembered late this afternoon that I forgot to thaw my hamburger for tonight's burgers. Time to be flexible. I still had some leftover Southwestern Beef, so I substituted that for the Minute Beef in the 2 E.Z. Enchilada Skillet, and added a can of low carb black soybeans. We actually had enchiladas for lunch today too. But, they were so good, we still wanted more. This E.Z. Fix meal was just right.

That is the way real life works at our house. Menu plans aren't always perfect. We learn to be flexible. Our meals are far from gourmet style. I serve real life family style food and life is good! John just got some fantastic numbers on his blood work. I'll share those when he gives me the exact report. Diabetes is not going to work its damage in my family if I can help it!

Life Intervenes Soup--or Creamy Chicken Cilantro

When it comes to quick fix meals, I usually don't follow recipes; I just throw stuff in a pot. Today was no exception. I didn't get my menu planning done on schedule last week. One mega cold combined with a Court of Honor Program for my Eagle Scout. Between mucus, chills and making punch for a one hundred reception guests, my shopping and menu didn't get done. So, I am playing catch up today. Yesterday was devoted to my youngest's film making venture. He didn't like the food I had planned to pack for our lunch, so we did resort to MacDonalds. Dad still had his proper food, though. (Thanks to my well stocked freezer, he had a chicken version of Mermaid Muffins for lunch and Cowboy Comfort Breakfast) Dinner was a freezer casserole. Good to have those always ready.

This morning, I cleaned up a few leftovers. In class last Friday, we had a Middle Eastern luncheon. We had some leftover garlic lemon chicken. That went into the pot with a quart of chicken broth. I still had about 2 cups of leftover coleslaw mix. I added that too. I tossed in 3 cilantro cubes, and bit of salt and pepper. I let that simmer while making coffee and cleaning up the kitchen. When the cabbage was tender, I added about 8 ounces of cream cheese. After stirring that together, I poured it into a jar for John to take for his lunch. If it sounds good, but you don't happen to have any garlic lemon chicken, just add about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and a tablespoon of lemon juice to your pot.

Now, I'm making myself hungry. I think I'll have a bowl of my own and finally get the rest of the week's menu written. Flexibility. It's a good thing.