Skillet dinner

I hit a home run with this recent quick and easy dinner, and dinner prep that night was even quicker and easier because I made it in advance! 

I found a freezer bag with a half pound of ground pork and half pound of ground beef so I popped over to Pinterest to see what I could find, and quickly found a recipe 

for an Italian beef and rice recipe.

The recipe suggested pasta instead of rice to mix things up a bit and I had some small pasta shapes to use up, so I chose these sweet little stars.  I mean, come on!

Now, they are small and visually got lost in the dish, but that was ok because it was super awesome.

The grownups added a bit of heat to our bowls.  So good.

This is a recipe I will try again - with rice, a bigger pasta, some different veg - there are endless possibilites.  

Recipe here - Italian Beef Rice Skillet

Sunday Dinner - Hot Brown Casserole

Hot Brown sandwiches are something that I've wanted to make for years, and I decided I'd do them for a Sunday dinner, but then I couldn't find the original recipe I'd saved, and when I hit Google up came Hot Brown Casserole, and I was like, yes!  even better!  and went with it.

This was sooooooo good.  I just loved it.  It was pretty easy too; the sauce was simple to make and I bought a rotisserie chicken so it was a snap to throw together.  

Recipe here:  hot brown turkey casserole

Kids Book Club - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I am a big fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.  I have the complete set, plus a few extra biographies on her and her family.  If I ever win the lottery, I'm heading down to the states to tour the places she lived.  I read the books to The Boy - although he was too young to remember them - and now The Girl and I have just finished reading LHBW and I was so, so happy to start reading the series again.  

I know it's a cliche and sexist, but I'm happy to have a daughter who will hopefully like the books and I can pass down my set to her when she's older.

LHBW is one of my favorites in the series because there is so much detail of their every day life - Ma making cheese and how meat was preserved for storage.  The long days of her parents and the excitement of seeing family that lived elsewhere.  The angst of trying to be a good girl when you have an annoying older sister.  Such a lovely book. 

Squash and Turkey Meatball Curry

I  had a beautiful kabocha squash to use up and I didn't want to bake or steam it, so I thought instead I'd make a curry with it.  My original plan had been to keep it vegetarian, but then I decided to throw in some turkey for the kids - although really it was just for The Boy - The Girl is practically a vegetarian.  She does not like meat much at all - so I made some quick meatballs and tossed them in too.  The Girl didn't care for this and The Boy only wanted to eat the rice and meatballs but The Mister and I really really liked it.  

1 TB coconut oil

1/2 - 1 red onion, diced

1 kabocha or other squash, peeled and diced

1 TB ginger, grated

1 TB - or more to your taste - curry paste - I keep it low for my weenie kids

1 can coconut milk

1 cup broth - veg or chicken - or I cup water

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

Meatballs - 

1 lb ground turkey

salt and pepper

1/2 cup or more bread crumbs

Any other seasonings you like - onion, garlic, curry etc

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add the diced onion and cook until softening.  Stir in the grated ginger and the curry paste and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes.  Add the squash to the pan and cook for a few minutes more.

Pour the coconut milk and broth or water in, and add the soy sauce and sugar to taste.  Bring to a gentle simmer over medium low heat, and cover while you make your meatballs.  

Remove the lid and gently drop the raw meatballs into the sauce.  Cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meatballs are cooked through and the squash is tender.

Serve with rice.

Dill Bread

I had a bunch of fresh dill that I had planned on making into tatziki, but then the kids ate all the cucumber, so I decided to make bread instead.  

Because I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen for a dough that needed rising and shaping (Spring has sprung!  We are outside as much as we can be right now!) I went looking for a quick bread recipe.

I found one that called for dill as well as buttermilk which I didn't have but I did have the plain yogurt I'd bought for the tatziki so I replaced the 1 1/2 cups of buttermik in the recipe with 3/4 cup each of milk and plain yogurt whisked together.

It was a delicious easy bread that called out to be eaten with cheese.  As some breads do.

Recipe - Dill Buttermilk Bread

Book Club - every day by david levithan

"Tomorrow."  she says, a little less than a promise, and a little more than a chance.

The devil doesn't make anyone do anything.  People just do things and blame the devil after.

If you stare at the center of the universe, there is a coldness there.  A blankness.  Ultimately, the universe doesn't care about us.  Time doesn't care about us.  That's why we have to care about each other.

___________________________________

I bought this one because it was $10 and sounded interesting.  It's a YA book, which isn't my usual type, but it was good and I cried at the end.

More Treasures

My Dad has been working through some boxes stored in his basement and he gave me a stack of papers to go through. Here's some cringy things I found - 

A Breakdancing instructional poster - I am pretty sure this came in a record I bought?  

I laughed until I cried looking at this.  It reminded me of when my mom signed me up for a (thankfully short) set of beginner breakdancing lessons at a downtown dance studio in the 80's.

I was horrible at it, but I appreciate my mom letting try.

When I found out that Shawn Cassidy and I share the same birthday I thought that meant we were destined to be together forever.  My obsession with him was as short lived as my breakdancing career, but along the way someone gifted me with this super cool notebook.

In this pile of papers there were some loose "order forms" and receipts and menus from when I would play waitress and take orders from imaginary customers in the restaurant in my room.

Those made sense, more sense than this note I found.

I was a lover, not a fighter, so I am mystified by this.  What was up?  

Who was I begging myself not to fight? 

Ok, so who would NOT want The Go-Go's, Willie Nelson and Billy Joel at their party?  But who is Jennifer Rodgers?  Google is revealing nothing.  Such a mystery.