Monday morning: Launch mode

Monday:
Grilled chicken legs
Pilaf
Salad

Reflections from the Backcounter

Monday morning and all the mothers in America on overdrive. Why is the family launch so daunting? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that by 7 am, most mothers have organized and completed more tasks than many people complete in a day. By the time the house is awakened, breakfast prepared, lunches packed, animals herded and fed, house tidied and everyone directed toward the appropriate car or school bus, there is no time left for the mother to even think about coordinating her wardrobe or fixing her hair. All I know, is that I do not have high expectations or personal goals in the morning... all I hope to achieve is clean. My goal is to arrive at work clean (with matching shoes). If I do...it is a good day. Send me some ideas on howyou organize the morning lift off in your home. I could use some help.



At least dinner is on track.

Peace,



Julia

Menu week 7: Feeding the hungry hordes of teens

Menu planning: Don't give up! Planning menus and grocery shopping are daunting tasks. Every weekend, I dread having to face the week ahead early by thinking about organizing my meals. However, I always end up feeling better about everything once I have tackled the provisioning of my household. Food is very important in my house right now because my teens are very hungry and are really thin. Sports and teenage metabolisms require aggressive feeding schedules!!!

Enjoy these meals. We love them.
Peace,
Julia

Sunday: Moussaka
Salad

Moussaka

2 pounds eggplant
½ cup olive oil
2 large tomatoes(or 2 cans of diced tomatoes)
1 pound ground lamb
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
2 T tomato paste
3 T chopped fresh parsley
½ cup dry white wine

For the sauce
4 T butter
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 ½ cups milk
3 ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
4 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
5 3 T toated bread crumbs

Cut the eggplant into ¼ inch slices and layer in a colander sprinkling each layer with plenty of salt. Let stand for 30 minutes. Rinse eggplant in several changes of cold water. Squeeze gently with fingers to remove the excess water, than pat them dry on paper towels.

Heat some of the oil in a large frying pan. Sauté the eggplant slices in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Skin tomatoes by blanching in hot water (can also use two cans of diced tomatoes). Chop.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat 2 T of oil in a saucepan. Add onions and lamb. Sauté gently for 5 minutes breaking up lamb with a wooden spoon. Add tomatoes, cinnamon, allspice, tomato paste, parsley wine and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer gently for 15 minuets.

Layer eggplant with meat mixture and alternate layers in a shallow ovenproof dish. The last layer should be eggplant.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and gradually blend in the milk. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, until thickened. Add the nutmeg, cheese and salt and pepper. Pour the sauce on the eggplant and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Bake for 45 minutes, until golden. Serve hot, sprinkled with extra black pepper if desired.

Monday:
Chicken legs grilled
Pilaf
2 cups Uncle Ben’s Rice enriched parboiled rice (I buy mine in a large bag at Smart and Final)
1 stick of Butter
4 cups Chicken broth (homemade or canned)
Vermicelli (broken into 1 inch pieces)

Melt butter in saucepan and add vermicelli. Stir until lightly browned. Add rice and brown the rice for 30-60 seconds in the butter. Add chicken broth and bring
to a brisk boil. Lower heat to very low and cover. Pilaf will be done in about 20 minutes.

Salad

Tuesday:

Tamale Pie
Salad
Refried Beans

Tamale Pie (new recipe)

1 ½ lb. ground turkey
1 chopped onion
1 clove garlic crushed
1 package taco seasoning
Chile powder to taste 1-2 T
½ cup water
1-2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 can kidney or black beans
1 can corn
1 can chopped green chiles
1 can chopped black olives
1 cup shredded cheese, (Mexican mixture)
1 box Jiffy corn bread mix ( make according to package directions)
1 egg
1 T cumin
1 T dill seed.
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Sauté turkey and onion. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper, taco seasoning chile powder and garlic. Simmer until thickens. Add kidney beans, corn and chiles, mix well.
Layer meat mixture in ovenproof casserole dish. Top with olives and cheese. Make Jiffy cornbread add cumin and dill to mix. Layer on top of meat mixture. Bake at 350 degrees until cornbread is puffy and lightly browned on top.

Serve with refried beans.

Wednesday :

Sloppy Joes http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/100544
Carrot and Celery sticks


Thursday:
Artichoke pasta
Salad

Artichoke pasta
2 T butter
¼ cup minced onion
1/2 cup diced tomatoes and liquid
1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts in oil (Cara Mia)
1 T basil leaves crumbled
¾ cup whipping cream
1/4 t nutmeg
S & P to taste
1/ lb spaghetti

Melt butter in frying pan add onion and sauté until soft. Stir in tomatoes and break them up. Add artichokes, basil and vcream. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring until artichokes are tender and sauce decreases to 1 ¾ cups. Season with nutmeg salt and pepper.


Friday:
Shredded beef and green chile burros
Sliced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar

Shredded beef

1-2 lb boneless chuck roast
1-2 cans chopped green chiles
1 chopped sautéed onion
6 tomatillos hulled and roasted briefly under the broiler
1 can El Pato sauce (Mexican tomato sauce)
½ cup water
1 can black beans
1 clove crushed garlic
Salt and pepper
8 sprigs of cilantro chopped

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours until meat pulls apart.
Skim fat from meat and broth. Combine remaining broth with shredded beef and serve on warm flour tortillas with shredded cheese and sour cream, cilantro and chopped tomatoes

Close encounters of the snake kind

Rattlesnake!

Unfortunately, our free ride is over. In the southwest, we have two lifestyles. Snake free living and snake alert. Snakes hibernate in the winter and so we are happiest when we are sure they are sleeping. All it takes is one warm day and they are out! Today is the first day of true snake alert. We were preparing because we had seen one or two on the road but today we had our first visit from a diamondback. Snake alert living means that kids cannot run free in the backyard, and adults must always carry a light at night when taking out the trash or pottying the dog. Luckily, most rattlesnakes give a good warning before they strike so there is ample time to get away. This snake was resting just under the car below the door on the drivers side. A VERY close call.
He has been relocated and order has been restored. Great information on rattlesnakes can be found at Desert USA
Photograph courtesy of Cove mountain kennels http://www.covemountainkennels.com/
Watch where you step and if you live in the desert, consider snake proofing your dogs. More on that later.
Peace,
Julia

Grilled pizza technicals

I have had a few questions about the technical aspects of grilling pizza on bricks. A burned crust can be a problem and is best managed by allowing airflow under the bricks. Look at the way we have constructed the bricks in our grill. This allows for airflow to go under the bricks and diffuse the heat more evenly. The top bricks are sitting on a frame of bricks that are seated on their sides. It is constructed as a platform.

Hopefully, this answers some questions and makes the process easier to understand. Give it a try, your family will love grilling pizza!

I love grilled pizza!

Peace,

Julia

Pizza on the Grill a great party for teens

Pizza on the Grill

Friday: Grilled Pizza

Salad

Refelections from the Backcounter
Grilled pizza! A great way to entertain teens. Have your teen invite friends over to construct and grill pizza! Pizza dough is easily made using frozen bread dough and kids love to roll it out and make their own creative toppings. We have had two teen birthday parties for our kids and all invited had a great time. I gave each participant a paper chef's hat and apron and much to my surprise everyone loved wearing them and truly got into the spirit of the event.

Any grill can turn into a pizza oven. There are lots of websites with instructions on how to grill pizza. We used bricks in our gas grill and the pizzas turned out perfectly with a crispy base and well cooked toppings. A pizza stone also works but if the heat is too hot stones will crack and break. We moved to the bricks for this reason. They were purchased at Home Depot and were very inexpensive

What you need:

• Prepared pizza dough




• Pizza peel (to slide pizza onto hot stone or brick)




• Grill (gas or charcoal)




• Pizza sauce




• Cornmeal to place on peel so that pizza will slide




• Rolling pins, chef hats, aprons, flour to dust work surface




• Toppings (grated mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, peppers, artichoke hearts, olives)




• A fun group of cooks




• Pizza rotary cutter and cutting board

How to grill pizzas is discussed at this website.

http://www.preparedpantry.com/vol4iss6-22.htm

Enjoy and don't get discouraged if you don't get it quite right the first time. It does take a little practice. This is a great way to enjoy Friday night and to engage the kids in a fun activity

Peace,

Julia

Networking with other mothers

What's going on?

Thursday:
Grilled apple and chicken sausages (I prefer Aidell's)
Salad

Refelections from the Backcounter
Social networking sites abound in our electronic world. Our kids are much more attuned to the intricacies of such sites as My space and Facebook. Mothers may not be as technically savvy as our children but there are sites available for moms to connect with other moms who have similar interests and concerns. I have recently discovered CafeMom and think it has great groups and discussions for almost any topic. Another interesting site is Momspace.com. Interesting reading for busy women.

There is such comfort in commonality. We as humans need to know that we are not the only person to have encountered adversity or challenge. Discussing our concerns and seeking out advice from others who may have shared similar experience or who have overcome similar problems is essential to our own development and mental health. Social networking allows the opportunity to connect with others throughout the world and to learn from the trials and tribulations of others. Certainly, there are recommended cautions. Personal information should not be readily disclosed in any public forum and information about our children should be carefully guarded, especially pictures.

Check out these sites if you already haven't.

http://www.momspace.com/

http://www.cafemom.com/



Peace,

Julia

I need serenity or I just need to be more organized

Wednesday: Fettucine with brussel sprouts and pine nuts http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/240591

Salad

Reflections from the back counter

If only I could be more organized! How many times have you said that to yourself and why is it that organization is such an unattainable goal for many of us? I do believe that self organization is not truly the issue . I would bet that most mothers did a pretty good job of organizing their lives prior to the onslaught of responsibilities that accompany marriage and motherhood. Wanting to be more organized is the natural response to the increasing demands on our finite resource of time and our need to do things well. Let's face it, running a family and a household is a full time job that is comparable to running a small business. Unfortunately, there are no employees to whom we can delegate, no small business loans available to float cash shortfalls, and no board of directors managing and guiding our decisions.

In addition, while we are striving to become better organized and in control of our lives, our minor children and in some instances, our spouses are coming behind us and creating chaos and disarray. There are days when I feel like I am trying to herd cats or hold sea foam in my hands; both impossible tasks.

The ability to organize is the most important tool we as women have in our life skills toolbox. If we were unable to make lists, keep calendars and multitask, our families would implode.

I too wish that I could be more organized but the truth is, I and most other mothers are already doing a pretty darn good job of it. Menu planning and feeding our families healthy meals is a great start on organization. Hopefully, the Backcounter Buffet is a tool that helps.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change.

Peace,

Julia