my first food post

I had never really thought about doing a post about food or cooking mainly because I am not a gourmet cook and I never really imagined that anyone would be interested in our simple fare, BUT after a conversation at a home school meeting last week, I decided to share a little. So, for my friend, who shall remain nameless, hang on, the lentils are coming!

First up is the pizza I made Monday night. You will notice that there are no vegetables on it. It is just hamburger and cheese. My personal favorite is sort of a fajita chicken pizza ... grilled chicken with bell pepper and onion. But, the kids like the hamburger and it was what I had on hand, so we went with it. I do use my bread machine to make my own crust and since I use whole wheat flour, I feel a little better about feeding the kids pizza.

For my friend at the home school meeting, here's the scoop on the lentils.

I was sharing with some of the ladies that I felt somewhat guilty for enjoying an array of snacks at the meeting while I had left my family at home to eat only lentils and rice. My friend confessed that she wasn't even sure what they were. So, just in case there is anyone else out there wondering the same thing, I'll tell you what I know ... which isn't much.

Lentils are a type of dry bean. They are the closest thing you can eat to a perfect protein without eating meat. They are also perfect for a late planner, like me. They cook in about 1/2 hour, unlike other dry beans that have to be soaked and then still take several hours to cook. I have to admit that I was a hold out on cooking lentils for a long time. My brother, who was single at the time, kept telling me that they were easy to cook and tasted good, but they seemed a little too "health food nut" for me. But, I finally gave in and cooked some and have been surprised to find that they have become my favorite of the dry beans we eat.

I cook mine with lots of water because my family likes the juice ... it is what my Daddy Tom (my Daddy's grandfather) would have called pot liquor. I season the beans with a little olive oil, salt, liquid smoke and Spike (a seasoning blend that can be found in the health food section of some stores ... I like it because it only has one ingredient that I can't identify so I have to assume that it is healthier than other seasonings). I also like to add a little ground red pepper, but my kids don't like it much. One word of caution, if you are planning to cook these little bity beans, don't overcook them, they get mushy very quickly.

Last night, I served them with sausage and corn fritters ~ which are quick, but I really prefer corn bread.

These are D's beans with his sausage and fritters mixed in ... not my favorite way to eat them, but I don't mind as long as he eats them.

And finally, I'll share my healthy version of the kids favorite chocolate chip muffins. They really like the ones that come from a mix. I have to admit, that they are easy and taste good, but we are trying to eliminate ingredients that we can't identify from our diet, so I decided to see if I could find a better way to satisfy the kids. I tried making blueberry muffins, which I love, but they didn't like the real blueberries. (They prefer the "blueberry" pellets in the mix muffins!)

So, as I was looking for another idea, I found a recipe for oatmeal muffins. I figured that since oatmeal cookies are good with chocolate chips that the muffins would be good, too. And, I was right.

They even passed the test of my extremely picky eater. Amazingly all three kids liked them.
Just for the sake of honesty, I must confess that I didn't tell the kids that these were oatmeal muffins and that the chocolate chips were just an extra ingredient. I just called them chocolate chip muffins. I did tell LB about the oatmeal after they finished eating, but we agreed to keep that little tidbit of information to ourselves.