Dinner Hour Pastimes

 Dinner last night: Nigella's Lemon Linguine, and Salad

The antidote to a long, tiring day must surely be relaxing around food.  I always think it's far more relaxing to watch someone else bustle about in the kitchen, so this afternoon two of the kids, and I, sat down to a few episodes of Nigella Express.  In between a chicken was directed into the oven and there will be vegies later.  Dinner is on its way.

A cup of tea and some more time with my feet up and I feel a little less stretched.

I've just started reading a book (a freebie from Amazon for my Kindle app) titled The Hour that Matters Most, all about the family dinner hour.  My children were astonished when I suggested that we are, in fact, a very unusual family and that there is a trend towards rarely sitting together over a meal.  It has been a practice in our home since Miss Sunshine was barely a year old.  It made practical sense a way back then and its a habit that has been retained, no matter what.  In the early years of my husband's move from sales to management I used to fret about him missing dinner time.  In the end I decided that there were more of us present than absent and that we would carry on with our daily routine regardless.  Young children in a home tends to demand it.  It gave Dh the freedom to do what he needed to and me the ability to release us all from my anxiousness and frustration.  The children and I almost always sit together at the table.  In fact we almost never sit anywhere else.  Dh is here as much as he can be.  And I try to insist that everyone remain until the last one is finished.

Sitting at the table makes sense to me.  My children are (still!) messy eaters.  I can't tell you the mess around Mr Busy's place, let alone the floor beneath.  I would much rather have only one space that requires diligent sweeping, than trying to keep up with it spread throughout the house.  And during ant season I don't want those little pests running about the entire house.  Again, limiting the damage to one area is much more manageable.  If dealing with ants could be described "manageable"!

We talk and laugh.  We tease.  Sometimes we are silent.  Sometimes we are listening to the news on TV.  And I'm OK with that.  What is important to me is that our children see that cooking a healthy meal and valuing the people at our table is important.  Perhaps this is one of the secrets to having raised, thus far, children who enjoy spending time with us and one another?

What are your meal time habits and practices?

More Nigella Inspired Planning

My week with Nigella's inspiration about my kitchen was very successful.  We adored the crisp chicken cutlets.  Dh was particularly fond of the redcurrant lamb chops.  I preferred the lower-sugar teriyaki chicken....although that will still need to be saved for rare occasions I think.  Tonight we'll have a roast lamb which will receive some Nigella Express treatment.  And next week we'll spend some more time with the Queen of Quick and Satisfying.

To top it off I've been re-watching some of my Nigella DVD's.  Sometimes a girl just needs to relax and find a reason renew her relationship with the kitchen!  Particularly one that now has a dishwasher that appears to work properly.  I feel spoilt after 4 years with a dud.

Study is nearly over for a while.  My final assignment is awaiting approval from my study partner and then I need to prepare for an exam.

In the mean time...shopping lists and thinking about sugar-free snack food....

Special Diets: Sugar Free?

Have you ever had to try and give up something you really enjoy?  You know what?  It's not so easy.  And not so fun.

My journey with sugar began many years ago when I discovered I can't have aspartame.  It makes me very unwell almost immediately and that lasts for about 3 hours.  For about 3 years I couldn't touch it, nor any kind of soft drink because of the severe response I had to it.  Now I can gamble with small amounts, but generally I avoid it like the plague.  The suffering simply isn't worth it...and it's pretty scary stuff.  Over this course of this year I've also discovered that regular sugar is no friend of mine.  If you've been reading here a while you'll know that I have discovered that sugar is evil...and I've talked a little about why.

But it's really hard to avoid it.  And it's even harder to choose not to have it.  Even when you know it won't be a good thing.  This is really something that I need to address and I think the key may lie in finding alternative foods that I really enjoy.  I found some sugar-free chocolate.  It's OK, but it doesn't thrill me. 

This is something that I really need to get a handle on.  If you have any stories to share leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you.

Watch Out...She's Gonna Blow

 classroom 'investigations' - making car tracks with blocks

Something families do really well is knock off all the raw and rough edges and refine us.  A little bit here and a little bit there.  Over time our families make us reconsider how we respond to circumstances and help us to understand that we may not know what is going on in someone else's life to make them respond the way they do.  They tell us the truth (sometimes the painful truth!) about how our actions impact on other people. 

The other day the kids and I (my kids, not my students) were discussing something (I can't remember what) and I began to get a little hot under the collar passionate in the way I reacted to the topic.  It wasn't a discipline issue or a parent-child disagreement - just a discussion where we were all expressing our opinions and sharing our thoughts.  My kids know all too well that there are some topics that press my buttons.  This was, apparently, one of them!  Miss Sunshine, in all her 16yo wisdom, commented just as I was getting a bit worked up, "watch out, here comes the cyclone".

How's that to stop you in your tracks.  And I did.  And they laughed.

For those of you who don't know it, there was a famous cyclone in 1974 that hit Darwin on Christmas Day, named Tracy.  Yep - same spelling and all.  I was 3 at the time.

After our staff devotions on Monday, in which we heard about Child Theology, I think it's rather apt to acknowledge that my kids have plenty to teach me.  Perhaps as much as I have to teach them.  I think it's a wise parent who is humble enough to accept that our children have a certain way of cutting straight through the superfluous junk to get to the heart of a matter to refine us.

In what ways do your kids teach you?

A Week with Nigella

seafood and avocado sushi

I'm back to work tomorrow, sans children.  I am always terribly grateful for the fact that we have a couple of days to get brains back into work mode before adding children to the equation.  With the return to work comes the return to frenetic activity and less time to cook elaborate meals.  But I still want tasty and interesting.  Where does one go for inspiration within those parameters?  Nigella, of course.  She is indeed the queen of practical, time efficient and satisfying.  Sprinkled between a clutch of Nigella's recipes are family favourites like pasta bolognaise and a lamb roast.  But on all the other nights of the week I'll be spending some time with Nigella.

Crisp Chicken Cutlets need to be steeped in buttermilk and worcestershire sauce to create a lucious, silky crumbed chicken fillet.  I already have them getting cosy with one another in the fridge ready for tomorrow night's meal.  (Nigella Kitchen, p. 28) click here to go to the recipe

Teriyaki Chicken is a meal we enjoy from a recipe I garnered along the way from "The Chicken Plan" a few years back.  It's delicious but full of sugar.  Nigella's recipe contains a smaller quantity and has mirin in it, so I thought we should give it a go.  (Nigella Kitchen, p. 40) click here to go to the recipe

Recurrant Lamb Chops have been taste tested before now and found to be delicious.  I have some redcurrant jelly tucked away in my pantry so I'm all set to go without the panic of wondering where to get my hands on it.  I don't think any Woolworths store stocks it now so it's a half hour drive to find this ordinarily easily acquired ingredient.  (Nigella Kitchen, p. 67)

African Drumsticks have become a recipe we enjoy immensely, so I could not go past the page when I came across it without writing this one down as well.  (Nigella Kitchen, p. 46)

Where do you go for weeknight meal inspiration?

Celebration Feasts

 
Miss Mischief turned 15 this week.  Fifteen...I simply cannot imagine how that happened.  As with all birthday's in our home the right to choose the menu becomes yours for the day if you're the birthday person.  You know how I said that I was looking forward to having time to cook time-consuming meals?  I think Miss Mischief sensed that!  Here's her day-long menu:

~ Breakfast ~

Cinnamon Bagel

~ Lunch ~

Hot Chips

Salad

~ Dinner ~

Chicken Wonton Soup

Sushi

Dim Sum

Black Forest Cheesecake

Pretty spectacular isn't she.  It has been such a beautiful couple of days that we decided a picnic in the backyard would be the perfect way to enjoy our lunch.

Then of course, as if that weren't enough, she had a couple of friends sleepover for a movie marathon last night and had a specific idea of what we should eat for that too.  Of course, all of this was sandwiched between generous helpings of movie food.  Like coconut M&M's and chips.

~ Sleepover Menu ~

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Fresh Corn Salad

Potato Salad

Asian Salad

Dinner Rolls

Chocolate Ripple Cake

I forgot to make the chocolate ripple cake the night before.  It really needs an overnight in the fridge so I spent an hour thinking about how to speed that process up.  At 6.30am I got up and began making it - I dipped the biscuits into milk before sandwiching them together with the cream.  It worked perfectly.

After all that feasting my brother and his family came for lunch today.  My 6yo niece had wanted to know why she wasn't invited to Miss Mischief's birthday party because they are best friends.  We laughed - who said Miss Mischief was having a party on her birthday?  And who said a 6yo could cope with it?  So we had a cousin birthday lunch.  With all the leftovers.  YES!  And after a rather significant and very entertaining meltdown on my SIL's part over cheesecake two weeks ago, she was finally presented with a slice.  Better late than never.

And now I'm returning to my almost sugar-free life....

What's your favourite menu for family celebrations?

By the Way Honey....impromptu dinner guests

Do any of you know what it is to be an introvert married to an extrovert?  An extrovert whose mother could cater for any number of people at the drop of a hat?  Let me tell you, it's been a nearly 22-year training program for me to be able to accomplish what my amazing mother-in-law made to seem effortless!


My husband is one of those incredibly generous people who loves to be spontaneous and spend time with friends.  It's been a challenge, over the years, for me to figure out how to cater for the likelihood of his spontaneity without getting myself in a bother.  I think I'm getting better.  Now I only panic for the first five minutes!  So after yesterday's mid-afternoon I've-invited-friends-for-a-barbeque phone call I determined that it wouldn't actually be a barbeque.  It would be dinner based on what I already had planned...and fancied up a bit.  A quick stop at Safeway after a dash down to pick up a new (our first) Myki card for Miss Mischief netted all that I needed to have a plentiful meal on the table.

The kids cleaned the bathroom, toilet and swept the floors - they're getting good at that basic list of chores required before visitors arrive.  I worked on dinner, which was always going to be the vegetarian rolls with vegetables.  I used Maggie Beer's sour cream pastry recipe and brushed egg wash over them before baking.  Oh my they were good!

Nigella's Ginger & Mustard Chicken Drumsticks

Vegetarian "sausage" Rolls

Jacket Potatoes with Sour Cream

Cauliflower & Broccoli Au Gratin

Honey Carrots

Buttered Dinner Rolls

I used Nigella's recipe for cocktail sausages on the chicken drumsticks.  I've always found the marinades she uses on sausages to be quite chicken worthy, and this was no exception.  I had some ginger, lemon and lime marmalade from our trip to Queensland, so I used that.  It was delicious!  The dinner rolls were marked down to $1, hence their last-minute inclusion.  Our friends brought dessert, and everyone walked away contented. 

Best part?  There are some leftovers for lunch today....very surprising considering the appetites seated around our table last night.

How do you cope with last minute dinner guests?  Do you have a favourite stand-by menu to get you through the panic?