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Friday, February 13, 2009

Tastes Like Glue


I didn't ask my daughter -- my 12 year old -- how she knew what glue tasted like when she declared that my latest culinary effort "tastes like glue." She was wrong, in my opinion. It was delicious. At least, I was pleased.


I've been planning meals 5 days at a time, and that plan has generally been getting us through 6-7 days with leftovers and extras. The best part for me is that I only have to make a decision about one of those meals as each family member picks a dish for the meal plan. I like variety and I am easily bored when food becomes too routine. This method has been giving us plenty of new and different meals and everybody seems to be happy with the process. We just "plan" one meal a day and the rest of our eating is fill-in foods like sandwiches and favorite staples. We do a lot of grazing around here... not grazing that makes you feel guilty, just good foods available to eat whenever you are hungry.


So this week we've had a "breakfast" meal of biscuits, gravy and eggs, two versions of mac n cheese (one kid loves from the box, the other loves homemade), vegetarian chili, and Pad Thai (rice noodles, bean sprouts, peanuts, and I made mine with a little chicken and shrimp...yum).


Pad Thai was my pick and we were supposed to have it early in the week, but for one reason or another it kept getting moved back. I've been in love with Pad Thai since hubby and I lived in Houston and I had the pleasure of eating at a Thai restaurant called Sawadee for lunch on a regular basis. I've tried to make my own about a half dozen times in the last dozen years, and this was by far my most successful attempt.


Hubby, of course, started in with the eye rolling when I picked up bean sprouts at the store this evening. It seems I have a reputation for creative cooking that doesn't always work out. (Even I agree that the potato dumplings were NOT exactly edible.) But you just don't know if you don't try it... and I assured him that I was sticking to the recipe this time.


Hey, sometimes freelancing it works!


They forget to give me credit for the meals I make that they love. That, or they beg me to make them again and I'm not quite able to duplicate them because I'm not exactly sure where I stuck with the recipe and where I veered onto my own creative course.


So I got the "tastes like glue" comment and a number of family members ended up making their own meals this evening (not entirely unusual or unexpected in our household). It's okay - more Pad Thai leftovers for me.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You and I have a date now to sneak off for Pad Thai up here next visit! I love, love, love it and was just telling Mom about it this week! We have an excellent Thai place here. I'm not adventurous enough to make it myself yet! I think yours looks yummy! I'd eat it!
Melissa

Anonymous said...

Looks better than many of the dishes I prepare! Somehow, the cooking "gene" skipped right over me! Needless to say, the kiddos in this household have also come up with some creative words to describe what gets served up around here!