Routine

I thought I liked routine.

Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Bake on Wednesday,
Brew on Thursday,
Churn on Friday,
Mend on Saturday,
Go to meeting on Sunday.

I know all about Flylady. I grocery shop every Friday morning. I'm telling you. I thought I liked routine.

And, then I gave birth.

To the most wonderful little boy alive. And the most challenging.

He keeps me on my toes, that one. He stretches me. He makes me look past myself.

And he loves routine.

Yesterday, we spent the day running outside at his Honey's house. Great fun. He fell asleep in the car while delivering a treat to his aunt's house. We dropped Honey off at home, and he didn't say good-bye.

He woke halfway home and cried the entire rest of the way home. Over thirty minutes of crying, whining, and protesting.

Lord, help me.

Today, he is choosing to remind me that he only had a 45 minute nap yesterday. And, how is that sweet little boy doing that?

By refusing to take a nap today. Now, how does that make sense?

I'll tell you. It doesn't. Not a lick.

My grandma used to say that everyone was going to send her to the nut house.

I hope they have clean sheets when I get there.

Publix Bargain Meal February 26 - March 4

You know one of the things I love about Publix? Because they are based in Florida, they get all this great Florida produce, of course, in season. But, because it's Florida, the seasons run a little ahead of us. This week, strawberries!! Around here, the you-pick places aren't quite ready (it'll be April-ish), so what a treat.

A couple of years ago, we joined our first CSA. Since then, we've moved towards more eating with the seasons. It is cheaper (the initial reason), things taste better, better for the environment, and well, after a while, it just seems right. One of the other benefits (that we didn't anticipate) is that we really, really (and I mean really ) look forward to the season for various fruits and vegetables. We've been looking forward to strawberries for a couple of months now. Woohoo!

For this meal: cuban picadillo over rice and of course, strawberries and whipped cream. This picadillo is no where near authentic, but our family loves it. It comes from a great cookbook, The Dinner Doctor, by Anne Byrn, who also wrote The Cake Mix Doctor. But, authentic or not, it's still a great dinner. My toddler is especially fond of it.

1 pound ground beef round--on sale $1.99/lb--use 1/2 pound--$1.00
-------------------------
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, sliced
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup dry red wine or water
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substitute spicy pasta sauce for above ingredients--on sale--$1.25
1/4 cup raisins--$0.25
2 teaspoons dried oregano--pennies
Salt and black pepper--pennies
1/4 cup sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives, optional--$0.25
2 teaspoons drained capers, optional--$0.25
1 cup white rice (that's what we like this served with)--$0.30
hot sauce for serving--pennies

Cost for main dish--$3.30

Strawberries--on sale--$1.67
Cream (about 1/2 cup)--$1

Cost for dessert--$2.67

Total cost for two courses--$5.97 (not too shabby)

Erin at $5 Dinners hosts the gathering of many, many $5 meals, based on sales circulars from all over the country. If you need inspiration for a cheap meal, you're sure to find it in one of those ads. Check it out if you haven't already.

Menu Planning

I love reading all the menus over at orgjunkie. It's so much fun to see what everyone else is cooking this week.

Friday: tacos, blackberry cobbler
Saturday: barbecue shrimp, salad, bread (this makes two weeks in a row of the exact same recipe--very unusual for us. But, it was just that good. And, well, my in laws were paying, too. LOL)
Sunday: pasta with eggplant, sausage, and broccoli rabe, bread
Monday: chicken pot pie, salad
Tuesday: porcupine meatballs, rice, brussel sprouts, salad
Wednesday: lasagna rolls, salad
Thursday: bacon spinach quiche, salad, biscuits

The best Chinese food ever

My in laws were here this weekend. And, this time of year, it's always a quandary as to how to entertain them. It's a little cool for sitting on a bench at the park, and I didn't expect them to chase little boys to help warm up. No one in the family is a huge shopper. We don't have season passes to the zoo or the like, and with itty-bitty kids, paying full admission price is one of those decisions that leaves you a bit resentful on how much you have to pay for ten minutes of fun. Not a good choice, either.

We ended up walking around Your Dekalb Farmers' Market. This place is always a great choice, for anyone in town. If you come to visit me--please remind me to take you! It's the most wonderful place. Full of cool produce and interesting spices. People from every corner of the globe. Vegetables you've never heard of. Bread baked that morning. The most wonderful cafeteria line you'll ever stand in (and thanks to my Mimi, I am a cafeteria connoisseur). But, this one is the best. Hands down.

My father in law was incredibly generous, and he bought us enough shrimp to have supper that night, plus enough for a future date night. Thank you PawPaw!!

After Your Dekalb Farmers' Market, we needed lunch. So, I remembered that the blissful glutton had mentioned a new Chinese place. We headed up Buford Highway in search of some food. My in-laws lived in Chamblee in the 60s, back when it was suburbs. Ha ha ha. That strikes me as hilariously funny. Kinda like Doraville being a touch of country in the city. But, they liked being able to identify some long ago places and tell us about shopping at Plaza Fiesta before it was plaza fiesta. I always like hearing about Atlanta in the 60s. Things change so fast around here. I like imagining what we'll be telling our kids about Buford Highway way back in the early 2000s.

Back to the food.

Y'all. Y'all.

It might not look like much, but this was good stuff. Just ask my big boy.

I forgot to get pictures of the plates all fresh and steaming, but just use your imagination. We got eggplant, beef, lamb kabobs, and some sort of bok choy/mushroom in this fabulous light sauce.

Yum.

To mix up a little bit of Georgia with a little bit of delicious kabob...

This Chinese food is so good it'll make you wanna slap yo' mama.

We talked to the owner. She says that this is what real Chinese food tastes like. I don't care if it's real or not. Just that it was good. Really good.

If I don't answer my emails, it's because I'm dreaming of dry fried eggplant.