It’s October and we haven’t had recipe Monday since June. There may be some of you out there desperate for some fresh dinner ideas. Have no fear. It is October and we are having recipe Monday on a Tuesday.
With a weekend of turkeying behind us, you might suspect I will try to offer you some jazzed up variation on turkey. I won’t. For some reason, the same children who can eat chicken nuggets for weeks on end can spot turkey leftovers from a mile away. I can try to trick them disguise the turkey with pretty layers or fancy names like Pilgrim Bake of Mayflower Hash, but they know what they’re getting.
So in a complete departure from turkey, I will open my vault and share my secret supper recipes for those nights when you can’t think of anything.
This meal is always a hit because it includes a lot of autonomy for the kids. They choose, they serve, and they clean up. Everyone wins.
Before you get all crazy and start throwing ingredients together without reading ahead, put down the bowl. In our house, it is imperative that the milk be poured before the cereal. (Except for Rob, but he’s always been a little unconventional when it comes to cereal. We won’t get into that any further here.)
One of my nephews is baffled by this order of operations and always asks how we know how much milk we need if we don’t pour the cereal first. I ask you, Mr. C – how do you know how much cereal you need if you don’t pour the milk first?
You may feel let down by the apparent lack of flavour complexity here. If that is how you feel, you are an amateur so allow me to enlighten you. Toast is merely a base. Where it spins off from there is anyone’s guess. Do you go sweet or do you go savoury? Do you layer the toppings (peanut butter, honey and cheese is a personal favourite of mine) or do you let a single flavour shine (tomatoes. Straight up. No cheese, lettuce, or bacon.)
One word of caution. You are making toast not simply drying out bread. Put some colour on that thing! (If it’s too much colour you can scrape off the darkest parts and no one is the wiser.)
Ok. I’ll admit it. This one requires you to stand over the stove and stir. (Don’t even mention the ‘M’ word – it doesn’t taste anywhere near the same without the little layer of burnt soup at the bottom of the pot!) Some people are content to merely follow the directions on the label. However, mix up the water half and half with milk and you have a whole different flavour profile. We like to bulk it out with some crackers. (One time I was feeling gourmet and threw some noodles in. They have never let me forget it.) (I won’t even mention what Rob throws in. Of course, the kids love the round nitrate bombs that float in their soup when Dad is in charge of supper…)
There you have it. Three ideas in one post. You’re welcome.
Obviously this is not the caliber you have come to expect from Recipe Monday. Angela, who has done Recipe Monday’s, is not able to contribute regularly this year. Life happens. Thank you, Angela, for setting the bar so high. Should you be able to return, we anxiously await with open mouths.
A Space for Grace 