A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, in the time known as “Before We Had Kids”, Aaron and I lived in New Orleans. Lord knows there are a kazillion amazing restaurants to choose from in that town, but one of our favorite local haunts was a restaurant that specialized in all kinds of different pasta dishes. It was called Semolina. Cute, no?
Feeding seafood to my kids is a battle that I rarely win. They shudder at the sight of a shrimp, cry when confronted with crab, and gag when googled by a grouper. OK, they don’t exactly gag (much), and groupers don’t google (to my knowledge), but you know what I’m getting at. It’s hard to get my girls to eat anything that once swam in open water.
Just because my kids don’t like something doesn’t mean we don’t occasionally have it for dinner. I am a big believer in “changing taste buds”. What your child may hate one day, may be his favorite the next. It’s always worth a shot!
I know what’s happening right now. I have some Greek friends. They are looking at this picture and saying, “That’s not Pastitiso!” OK, I get that. It’s not traditional Pastitiso, but it works!
Pastitiso is a hearty, comforting, Greek dish which, I guess, could be considered a Greek version of lasagna. A thick meat and tomato sauce is layered with pasta, onions and a thick, butter and cheese filled cream sauce. It’s pretty good stuff, but not exactly something I add to our weekly menu often. It’s very rich, and the butter and cheese help load up the calories. My hips certainly can’t handle that often.
Well, it took a couple of weeks, but now our nights are busy again. After school activities have kicked off this week. We’re exhausted and very thankful it’s Friday. I don’t know how some families do it. We are only busy a couple of nights a week and it throws us for a loop. All of you out there with something going every night amaze me!
We are a casserole lovin’ country, aren’t we? I don’t make casseroles often, but every once in a while, I really just want something warm and comforting for dinner, even in the summer. If I’m being completely honest, one of the main reasons I don’t make a lot of casseroles is because canned condensed “Cream of ___” soups give me the heebie jeebies, and it seems like they always pop up in a casserole recipe. I know, that’s not normal, but it’s the truth. There’s something about dumping out a cold can of gelatinous, slimy goo, with little chunks of “meat” in it that just creeps me out.
It may only be the first week of August, but summer is officially over at the Carlisle house. My girls went back to school yesterday! Part of me is having a really hard time believing that summer vacation is already over. It sped by with lightning speed this year because we were busier than we’ve ever been during the summer months. We had a lot of fun together, but another part of me was quite ready to get the girls on the bus yesterday morning. If you’re a parent, you know what I mean. I love them more than life itself, but when it’s time, it’s time.
We often joke that Emily, my oldest, could easily be a vegetarian if it wasn’t for pork. That girl loves her bacon, her baby back ribs, her pork tenderloin and chops. Most recently, she’s discovered that her new favorite thing on the menu at a Mexican restaurant is pork carnitas. I can’t say I blame her. They are pretty good.
If you usually stick to the beef or chicken section of the Mexi menu, turn the page and try out the carnitas next time. Carnitas is slow-roasted, nicely spiced, usually shredded pork shoulder. It’s delicious and used in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, or even as a nacho topping. And, in many Mexican restaurants, you can order up a plate of just the carnitas on their own!
When my kids are home in the summer time, and it’s a kazillion degrees outside, we spend a good deal of time in the kitchen making “fun food”. Generally, there’s not a whole lot of nutritional value in “fun food”, but that’s OK. It’s for fun, right? This is a recipe that I came across online last year and it has become a summer favorite. Last summer, I should have bought stock in marshmallows, I made so many batches!
The finished product is deliciously chewy, sweet, and tangy, but above all, fun! Plus, from an adult standpoint, it’s pretty cute.
It’s hard for me to believe, but I’ve been at this food blogging thing for almost nine months now. It’s been such a whirlwind, and has become such a regular part of my life, that it’s hard for me to remember a time when I wasn’t writing about food a few times a week. As the blog has grown in popularity, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of a few really exciting things…and I am so thankful!
It’s already hot here…and it’s only June 1. In all honesty, I’m really scared of August.
When summer hits and it’s crazy hot, I just don’t feel like eating anything heavy. I need crisp and cool. Salads are perfect, but my family would probably be pretty frustrated if I just served up salad for dinner every night of the week. I’ve found that there are a few salads I can bring to the table that the whole family enjoys, though, and this is one of them.