Dinner at 6: 5-minute tacos

Dinner at 6: 5-minute tacos

5-minute tacos

Sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day! Yesterday was one of those days and when I was totally pushing the clock and hoping to find a couple of rolls in the freezer for lunch......of course there was nothing!

 This is when I started having a 'moment' until that is, I remembered I always keep a stash of corn tortillas in the bottom of the fridge. I needed to be out the door in fifteen minutes, have Alex fed (thankfully Max was at a play date) and eat something myself that would tide me over until I got dinner sometime later that evening- probably around 10. ( I don't do well with 8 hours of food down time). Anyhow, I did my old favorite- tacos. Our local farmer dropped in some of her yummy eggs yesterday at work, I had some cilantro kicking round due to still not making my salsa verde and we always have ham in the fridge. While I soften the taco on the back burner then flip it over and sprinkle cheese on top (at this point I turn the heat down low so I don't burn the taco while cooking the eggs) I have a pan on the front, heat some butter and cook up a 'soft' omelet- meaning, you don't cook it all the way through, so it is still soft and fluffy.

Once all cooked, remove the omelet separate into tacos, add cilantro leaves and chili sauce for that power punch (Alex opted to pass on this, as he did with the cilantro) and there you have it- a delicious, filling lunch in 5 minutes!

French toast

It is Sunday morning, the boys actually slept in until 7-ish and I managed to get at least 7 hours sleep so I am feeling pretty fabulous! I woke up with the idea of baked beans, poached eggs and bacon all smothered in the green tomato, jalapeno and cilantro salsa I thought I made last night (must of been a dream because the raw ingredients were still sitting the fridge this morning!).

 I wasn't the only one dreaming of breakfast- Max greets me with 'What happened to French toast- we haven't had that in like 35 years!' ( I love kids sense of time). I agreed, it had been a long time and the fact that we still had berries in the fridge made the breakfast choice all that more appealing- meaning I didn't have to pull out the food processor first!

  Thick slices of day old bread, a lick of butter on each side then doused in a mix of milk, egg, cinnamon and a hint of orange juice before being lightly fried in more butter. There you have it, a crisp outer crust then cutting into a soft, creamy center piled high with fresh berries doused in maple syrup- it really did taste yummy! 

Thanks Max, lets hope we don't have to wait another 35 years.....

Summer salad

It's over halfway through summer and we are getting one step further to Alex actually eating salad for lunch. His list of foods he 'hates' is narrowing but how ever much I try he still clams up when I ask him to eat a tomato or a piece of arugula- however he will now eat ice-burg lettuce if sliced thinly (a small victory for Nic and I). 

When I was making the above salad for lunch today, Max wanted to help so I got him to squeeze the lemon juice into the jar, pour in the oil, add the dried oregano we got from our neighbours yard in Virginia and smash a garlic clove. I popped the lid on, added a bit of salt and pepper then he gave it a shake and presto a yummy vinaigrette to go with our salad. The question I was faced with next was 'mum, why are you putting in tomato if you know Alex hates it?' I told Max he hated tomato once 'I did not- I have always eaten it' was his reply. I told him I add the tomato because we all love it and Alex is learning to enjoy it. He may not like the texture but he enjoys the taste when combined with his love- legumes. I think Max stopped listening after I opened my mouth but that didn't stop him from asking me 10 more questions while preparing lunch!

 I wanted to have a Greek salad but I knew Alex would freak if he saw so many tomatoes. I added the black beans for two reasons. One, to draw Alex's attention away from the red beasts and secondly, my boys appetites is so large these days I have to come up with new ways to fill them.

Black beans and garlic bread did the trick!