In Our Mouths

I haven't blogged anything of substance for the last week because we've been getting teeth. I say "we" because it's truly been a family experience for us ... involving each one of us in some special way. Poor little Eric has one tooth in (on the top), one "arriving" any day now, and two more on their way on the lower level. Matt and I have taken lots of pictures documenting the precious gummy smile ... only they're on my sister-in-law's camera, and I don't have her USB cable. So, I'll post a picture later of the gummy smile (which, incidentally, has been a challenge to capture ... we keep ending up with "deer in the headlight" shots).

I wouldn't have even posted today except that our family has to eat. And as long as I'm making up our menu, I may as well share ours with all of you in blog land that you might be inspired by our family's dining habits. :) (Ha, ha, ha!)

So, I've updated the menu for the week. Maybe you've noticed that I don't update every seven days. Well, that's because, contrary to popular belief, I don't cook every night for seven days. We often have leftovers or go out, but I don't always know when that will be. So, I usually try to have everything on hand for seven meals (in the extremely unlikely event that I cook for seven straight days), and the menus usually last about 10 days. I try to plan my "fresher" meals first ... the ones that have the freshest ingredients, so they don't spoil, and I usually try to have one or two meals at the end that have ingredients with a longer shelf life.

A few people have requested recipes for some of the things I've listed. I am lucky to be friends with great cooks who don't mind sharing recipes, so I hope they don't mind if we take the sharing to the next level by posting on my blog (read by millions, I'm sure!). :)

The first is an AMAZING recipe for chicken lentil stew. This came from my friend, Kasey, who got the recipe from her sister-in-law. Watch out! This one is terrific. I made this the other night with homemade cornbread ... recipe from my sister's blog. And we made Snoopy salads as the other side. I will post a picture of snoopy salad sometime, but basically, every kid loves them. You place a pear half core-side down on a plate. Then put a prune (the cherry flavored ones are good) as the ear on the "big" end of the pear. Then put a maraschino cherry on the small end to make the nose. The eye is a raisin, and put one or two mandarin oranges on the bottom to make a collar.

But, I digress, so, I give you ... recipes for stew and cornbread.

Curried Lentil Soup

2 med. sweet potatoes (2 cups), peeled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup water

2 cans (19 oz. each) Progresso lentil soup

1 1/2 cups frozen cut green beans

1 cup chopped cooked chicken

2 to 4 teaspoons curry powder

In 3 quart saucepan heat sweet potatoes, onion, juice and water to boiling, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add lentil soup, beans, chicken and curry. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Corn Bread

2 c. Bisquick
4-6 T. cornmeal (I usually go with the 6)
1/2-1 c. sugar (I usually stick closer to 1/2 c.)
2 eggs

1 c. milk
1/2 c. butter, melted

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into a greased 9 x 9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 mins. (Mine took a little more time ... closer to 45 minutes, I think.)