July 7, 2008

The Picky Plate


It is pretty much standard practice in our house to have sandwiches/rolls for lunch every day. Although they are packed with salad and sliced meat (bar Alex's, he will only entertain the idea of cucumber, cheese and ham- a bit of work to do here!) they do get a little, how should I put it- boring. So every weekend I will come up with something different and exciting. 
When we lived in Virginia we had a garden, so I grew my first crop of lettuce. It was a great success and even more successful with the kids. Alex as I have mentioned HATES lettuce, but when he planted the seed, watered the garden and chased away the rabbits I think it made him realize how much work was involved in growing veggies (I planted peas also but we had a family of rabbits who feasted one night and ate the lot!). Alex managed to eat a few leaves of lettuce knowing is was from our garden and did so with out gagging, sadly this has not continued and we are back to getting the performance of a lifetime with salad eating again.

Our favorite lunchtime meal would have to be the 'picky plate' and a great way to introduce new flavors and use up leftovers (another thing I don't understand, Nic and Max seem to have an aversion to leftovers??).
Lima bean dip is a favorite in our family. I puree a tin of lima beans with lemon zest and juice of a lemon. Pop a handful of parsley leaves in, salt and pepper and then blend it with extra virgin olive oil. Really simple, very good for you and Alex of all people LOVES it- maybe he is color blind and can't see it is green?
Mix that with what ever sliced meat I have around the fridge, olives (always in our fridge), cheese, hummus (bought from a fabulous little shop up the road because I like to cheat when I can) and what ever left overs I have from the week. This week I had some pinto beans left over from tacos and half a bunch of rappini. It doesn't matter what I do to the rappini, my boys hate it, but that is OK. I combined the beans with rappini, tomatoes, lemon and a hint of dried red peppers. They eat the beans, pick out the 'green stuff' and Nic and I enjoy the whole flavor. 
Even thought they wont eat the bitter green leaf I am happy that they are enjoying the flavor without realizing it. 

2 comments:

Roisin said...

The food just gets better and better...that lima bean dip is coming to Ravinia tomorrow night!!!

Mal said...

I've eaten many of these sausage rolls, but I think you should be aware that they are just a little bit addictive. So freeze some and you will have them even when you don't feel like cooking!