Aloha Chicken

Well, with the beginning of Little League and a busy Easter week, I decided to take it easy on everyone again this week.  I thought I was anyway until #2 said, "Ugh, chicken...I don't like chicken."  The chicken was very similar to a sweet and sour without the sour.  Lots of sweet pineapple-y goodness!  I would have served it over the rice but, again, my children have a 'thing' with mixed foods...one thing at a time.  My sweet hubby did add his usual hot sauce so maybe it could have used a bit more flavor.  I think their favorite part was all the pineapple.  I snuck (is that a word?) a second new food in with the yellow/wax beans.  I offered them the choice of steamed or raw.  I tried both and much prefer the raw (as did everyone else) though I am still not a fan.  I would probably be perfectly content never to eat another bean again with the exception of chickpeas and possibly baked beans.   I think next week I'll be dusting off my crockpot, but what to make...

Here's the recipe for the chicken:
http://www.parents.com/recipe/chicken/aloha-chicken-with-pineapple-dip/

I used two large chicken breasts and it fed all of us with a little leftover.  I also increased the amount of the pineapple sauce since the recipe said it only served two...they must have used a very small chicken.

Eggs Over Easy

In all the craziness of #4's birthday week, I almost forgot to post this weeks meal!  Since the past three weeks have been a challenge for the boys (or some of them at least), I decided to take it easy (har har har) on them.   While they've eaten scrambled, hard-boiled, and salad, none of the kids had ever eaten fried eggs.  It might be because I don't do very well with the whole flipping and not cooking the yolk too long thing.  The two in the picture were the only ones with any significant dipping yolk left!  They loved the eggs!  Well, #1 wasn't a big fan of the yolk which is funny since when he eats hard-boiled eggs he always tries to eat the yolk in one bite.  Gag!  #2 copied #1 and dipped a bit and then ate all the white around the yolk.  #3, once again, cleaned his plate.  Outside of the burnt oven-made toast, dinner was a hit.  My favorite was the REAL bacon...none of that healthy turkey bacon we normally eat.  I'm thinking about maybe some sort of stew or casserole next.  I'm also compiling a list of all the New Food Mondays that happened pre-blog.

Pastitsio

Well, this past Monday I was called into work so sadly I wasn't able to experience the entire New Food Monday event.  I took Matt's suggestion and made pastitsio.  The recipes I found weren't exactly what he remembered, but he enjoyed it anyway.  The reviews were again mostly positive.  That's three weeks in a row...must be a new record!   #1 was put off once he found out there was some sort of tomato based sauce involved.  He did, however, eat quite a bit of the lettuce I had intended to make into a salad.  #2 ate ALL of his while #3 ate just a few bites.  I missed #4 trying hers but, from what I was told, she gobbled it up.  Matt took a picture so I could get a glimpse of how much she enjoyed her meal.  She's actually joining me in some leftovers as I type.  The most frequent comments involved the amount of cinnamon in the dish.  As for me, I really enjoyed what was, to me, a Greek version of the lasagna and baked ziti we ate growing up.  As you can tell, the recipe made a lot!  I decided to freeze half of the leftovers for one of those nights when I have no clue what to make for dinner.

I based my version on the following two recipes:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pastitsio-recipe/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-specials/pastitsio-recipe2/index.html

I reduced the cinnamon and onion (in Ina's recipe) by half and used tomato puree rather than crushed since we have an issue with tomato (and onion) chunks in our house.  I went with rigatoni but might try lasagna noodles the next time.  I went ahead and followed Ina Garten's recipe for the bechamel which was yum but you could probably tweak it to make a lower fat version.  I just love getting to sneak sips of heavy cream.  Now I just need to figure out next week...

Harvard Beets

I liked the beets!!  I know, can you believe it??  #4 was the first to take a taste followed shortly by #3; both thought they were yummy. We even tried to hide #4's meat in the beet sauce since she liked it so much.  #2 was slightly hesitant but after Hubby finished his and gave the "Papa Seal of Approval", he went ahead and ate the required bite.  My ever picky #1, who has issues with the texture of his food in general and sauces in particular, decided the taste was okay but that maybe the sauce was a little slimy.  It did get a little more congealed as dinner wore on.  It took me several minutes to figure out why the taste was so familiar before it finally came to me...they tasted like the smell of Beech Nut's Sweet Corn Casserole!  And as a side note, I have decided that it is nearly impossible to take a good photo of beets.  It must be something about the color that just isn't very appetizing.

Here's the recipe I used...http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art536.asp
I chose to use fresh beets since I don't really care for most canned vegetables.  I boiled until tender (which seemed like it was forever but was probably closer to 45min.) and when they had cooled, the peels just slid right off.  I would probably half the recipe if I ever made these again.  I'm not sure when that will happen since I am still trying to finish the leftovers.