Working Hard or Hardly Working?

Goofing off on National Goof Off Day? I think not. On March 22, Jet decided to be a big helper and helped me make dinner.

I was making Green Goddess Pitas from "A Season of Family Meal Plans" volume 1. He saw me putting together the cabbage filling, saw the spinach that I was going to use for the dressing, and decided to help by putting bits of spinach in with the cabbage. So we had whole pieces of spinach in with it. That's fine.

Since we did need the spinach in the dressing, I gave Jet a measuring cup and he filled it with spinach himself to put in the blender. He started to do more in the measuring cup so we had a bit more than just the cup of spinach it called for which is fine.

I love that he chooses to help in the kitchen. You know he's my baking buddy. He's also my cooking buddy. He likes when I hand him the measuring spoons and cups to dump ingredients into something. He wanted to help cut onions with a plastic knife but we put a stop to that once he started rubbing his eyes. Poor kid. I did give him pieces of cucumber which he was able to cut with a plastic knife.

Sometimes he really is a big helper. And sometimes... I mean he did help clean the wall the day before... after he took a pencil and ran it back and forth along the wall multiple times.

This is why I refuse to read my children the book, "Harold and the Purple Crayon", which is one I read in my childhood. It's a fun book but I don't want to give them ideas (especially Jet).

The pitas turned out well. It was my turn to make hummus to go with it and we had some left over for Chip and Dip Day on March 23. I also made tzatziki with sour cream (so good) for Chip and Dip Day. I used the recipe from the beginning of the year when we made pitas before. Some people had salsa with their chips.

Earlier that day, Jeremy, Nichole, Lucky, and I went on a Utah County Birders field trip. Unfortunately it was getting ready to storm so there wasn't a lot to see in the way of birds but it was still nice to be around my birding peeps (see what I did there, birding peeps? 'Cause small sandpipers are called peeps? Tee Hee).

We got a thunderstorm and hail later that day and the next day we got snow.

Ah, Spring.

The next day after that, March 25, was International Waffle Day. Jet decided to be my helper in the kitchen again and helped stir the waffle mix before I put it in the waffle iron. Then he was happy to help eat the waffles. Tee Hee.

A Few More Celebrations and Shelf Cooking

February 21 was the Anniversary of when the first Legend of Zelda video game came out. Jeremy and I celebrated it observed earlier in the month when we watched a special concert online of Zelda music.

 

February 22 was National Chili Day. I made chili and garlic bread. Yumm.

February 23 was National Banana Bread Day. When I went shopping earlier in the week, I bought bananas and hid them when I got home. Bananas don't last very long when Jet knows where they are. I was able to make them last long enough on this occasion so I was able to make Cinnamon Crumb Banana Bread for the holiday. The recipe came from "A Season of Family Meal Plans volume 1."

With the banana bread we also had Pizza Pinwheels and Seven Layer Salad also both from that book. That salad is not something I would normally make (it had peas in it and I don't like peas) but it actually tasted really good.

Speaking of that book, we're still enjoying trying out new tastes. And I'm learning better about adapting, substituting, and repurposing leftovers. Yay, shelf cooking. 

For example, I made Thai Peanut Lettuce Wraps. The recipe called for ground turkey but I used rotisserie chicken. We had Classic Fried Rice on the side.

Later, I used some corn tortillas and a bit of cheese, the leftover Thai peanut chicken, and made quesadillas. Jet and I ate a few and put the rest in the freezer for quick lunches or whatever.

 

Here are some other things we tried.

Hawaiian Pork Sandwiches with leftover Seven Layer Salad.

Sheet Pan Greek Chicken with Lemony Greek Rice. 

Easy Broccoli Pasta. The other recipe for that meal was Tomato Basil Salad. Since I didn't have enough fresh tomatoes, I used canned tomatoes and cooked it all up to make a sauce that we ate on toasted baguettes. #shelfcooking

I already talked about Leap Day but February 29 was also National Toast Day. So for dinner we had BBQ Pork Quesadillas with rice and toast and Lost Mesa Corn Avocado Salsa (that last recipe came from the Fablehaven Cookbook).