A Pioneer Week

One of the many struggles of working full-time and having two kids is finding the time to cook healthy meals. It also doesn't help that Charlotte is exceedingly picky these days. Things she liked a year ago are things she won't even touch today. For example, a year ago we went to a sushi restaurant for a friend's birthday and Charlotte chowed down on teriyaki chicken, rice, and edamame. Last weekend, our friends stayed with us and wanted to go out for sushi. I found this well-rated sushi restaurant and ordered Charlotte a kids' meal of teriyaki chicken, rice, and a salad. I knew she wouldn't touch the salad, but she didn't even attempt to try the chicken, only picking at a few grains of rice. She tried the edamame, which she loved the last time she tried it and immediately spit it out.

I'm not sure if I'm going about things the right way with Charlotte or not, but I've decided to stop struggling with dinnertime. I'm not a short order cook, and I'm not going to make her a separate macaroni and cheese everyday because I know it's one of the few things she'll eat at dinner. I figure, I'll present her with dinner and she can choose what to eat. What's really frustrating is when she pushes the plate away without even trying something. But I'm making peace with it as best I can.

Anyway, when it comes to cooking dinner for Chris and me my family, I like a lot of variety. I've been feeling like I make too many pasta dishes, which of course Charlotte loves, but aren't exactly the healthiest or most exciting dishes.

Enter The Pioneer Woman. I'll be honest. I had a bad preconception of Ree Drummond, probably thanks to this article on Slate. I thought, based on the line: "armed with Lawry's seasoned salt," that the Pioneer Woman was a bunch of shortcut cooking, with a lot of cream of mushroom soup. I am, I admit, a self-professed foodie. I love cooking, I love excellent ingredients, but well, I'm short on time. And no, I'm never going to have the time to cook everything from scratch like Thomas Keller. Anway, I've been hooked on the Pioneer Woman for at least a year. She has such a fun way of writing her recipes, and her food photography is to die for. She now even has a show on the Food Network.

I was so excited when Zulilly had her two cookbooks for half off, with the newer one signed by the author herself. So on Sunday, while Phoebe was napping and Chris was off with Charlotte rescuing her blankie that we left at a friend's house, I armed myself with the two cookbooks and made a list of what to make.

Here's what I made - all pictures are from the PW website.

Monday - Sherried Tomato Soup



This was super easy - diced onions, canned diced tomatoes, a jar of tomato juice, sherry, and cream. And it was delicious, especially with a rustic baguette. Charlotte ate the bread, refused to try the soup.

Tuesday - Summer Stir-fry



Shrimp, corn, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and garlic. Yum. This was also really easy, once you take the time to peel all those pesky shrimp. Charlotte, who loves corn, refused to touch this. Chris liked it, but he's not as big of a fan of shrimp as I am. I lurrvvved it, but then I love butter. And garlic.

Wednesday - Comfort meatballs with pan-fried spinach (no link) and sweet potato tots.



The meatballs were absurdly delicious - as the PW states, they're more like little meatloaves shaped into meatballs than your classic Italian meatballs. There is no link for the pan-friend spinach, but this is such an easy vegetable - heat up oil and garlic, add spinach, salt and pepper. Next time, we're going to try kale instead. I also baked some sweet potato tater tots. Verdict: Chris and I loved everything about this meal. I actually used ground turkey instead, because I had some in the freezer that I needed to use. Charlotte liked the tots, until she decided she didn't anymore and spit them out. We didn't even bother giving her the spinach. She ate about two bites of the meatballs, even while smothered in ketchup. One note: they are a little more labor intensive than actual meatloaf, but in some undefinable way, much more enjoyable.

Thursday - Ranch Style Chicken and Roasted Cauliflower (no link)



Okay, so I wasn't able to actually make the Ranch Style Chicken. I forgot to defrost the chicken breasts and forgot that I needed to marinate them in a honey dijon marinade. So I made BTCA - bacon tomato cheese and avocado sandwiches (no lettuce on hand) and roasted cauliflower. I did make Charlotte a plain grilled cheese with avocado, which she ate, mostly. She declared that "I don't like that!", pointing to the roasted cauliflower.

If you know me, you should know that one of the few foods I still hate from my childhood is cauliflower. I was a very picky eater, but for the most part, I love pretty much everything now. Except cauliflower. It was always served steamed and mushy, with no flavor. A few months ago, I went to a really nice restaurant to celebrate a good friend getting married and the side was roasted cauliflower. It was delicious. I thought, I can do this. I can like cauliflower!

The PW has a great recipe in one of her cookbooks (the newer one, I think) for roasted cauliflower. You basically roast bite-sized chunks on a baking sheet at 400 degrees, take them out of the oven after about 25 minutes or so, transfer to a smaller baking dish, and heap panko breadcrumbs and melted butter on top. Roast for another 5 to 10 minutes. Amazingly delicious. Not mushy, but caramelized and crunchy with tons of flavor. And behold! I love cauliflower. But only when roasted. Not steamed. Blech.

So there's my week in food - healthy, easy, with actual vegetables (and no pasta!!!). Ranch Style Chicken will happen later this weekend.

Do any of you have some great go-to recipes? What do you do when it comes to cooking? Do you rotate a dozen set meals into your month, or are you constantly looking for something new to make? I find, that as long as I have a plan, it's not hard at all to try some new recipes. And variety is the spice of life, or so they say...