Spaghetti and Meatballs

5yo is definitely the pickiest eater. (Closely followed by her father.) So when we read Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban I think she could relate. When I got it at the library, I just grabbed it because I remembered reading Frances books when I was little, but I didn't know it was about a picky eater. Frances is a girl (raccoon or something) who ate only bread and jam until she was so sick of it she begged for spaghetti and meatballs. My favorite part is when Frances, who is always making up songs, sings, "I know how a jam jar feels, FULL....OF......JAM!"

So after reading this book, I asked 5yo if she would like to have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner sometime. She said she would. And today as I was making the meatballs, I asked her if she'd like to help. She said she would. And while she was rolling meatballs with me, I asked her if she was going to try them. She said she would.

She didn't.

But saying she would is progress. Really it is. And by the time she actually tries them, maybe I'll have perfected the recipe.

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 egg
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1 t sage
pepper
1/2 c parmesan cheese

Mix all the ingredients, form into meatballs. I like them small so it made 25 meatballs. Bake in a 375 oven for 25 minutes. Or broil for ten minutes, turn, and broil ten minutes on the other side.

They were a little tough in texture, so I think I'm going to experiment. But not by using less lean beef, which is probably the easiest solution. A few recipes I looked at called for bread crumbs and water, which might help the texture, and next time I will definitely broil instead of bake so they aren't sitting in the gummy, yucky runoff while they bake.

My favorite part of these (which considering I don't like ground beef I was surprised how much I liked them) was the sage. I was the lucky winner of a potted herb garden several months ago at a church activity, and I love having tasty fresh herbs on hand. Amazingly, my little pot is (mostly) still alive, and the fresh herbs were great in the meatballs.

Kung Pao Chicken

Nine years ago my husband had a summer internship in Beijing. (I had voted for the other internship offer just down the road.) It was an amazing experience even thought it was challenging in many ways. One of the challenges was not surprisingly the language barrier. We were with a group of other American interns, some of whom spoke Chinese. When we were with them, we easily got to where we were going and got what we needed. Most of the time, however, we were not with them. A friend made me a little "cheat sheet" of phrases that even though I couldn't read or pronounce them, I could point to them. But then of course I couldn't understand the response.

We figured out the basics and were able to get around. Our apartment didn't have a very well-equipped kitchen, and it is extremely cheap there, so we ate out almost every meal. Since we were limited in our vocabulary, we were also limited in our menu. We ate lots of great stuff, and lots of unusual stuff. I learned how to say one of my favorite dishes, gong bao ji ding. (It makes it a little easier to remember because it rhymes with kung pao.) So we ate it frequently. A little too frequently. I haven't eaten it since.

I came across a recipe for kung pao chicken, and I remembered how much I enjoyed it long ago. I gave it a try. It didn't taste like kung pao chicken at all. Just chicken with a little soy sauce flavor and some peanuts. It didn't taste bad, it was just a disappointment. But now I've got it in my head that I want some good kung pao. I need a good recipe. Anybody got one?

Dollar Store (?!?) fish

This is a little gross maybe. But I was intrigued when I stumbled across frozen tilapia at the dollar store. It was a small portion (one serving), but when can you get a fish dinner for $1? I got the orange and ginger flavor, and then tonight when my husband was out of town I popped it into the toaster oven for 10 minutes. (The kids ate pancakes.) I thought it was quite tasty, with the sweet and spicy sauce. It would have been great in a stir-fry with rice or noodles. I should have eaten it with a salad or something. but since the only good thing about husband being gone is that I don't have to put any effort into dinner I didn't want to work too hard. I thought it was pretty good as long as I don't think too much about what corners had to be cut to make it cost a dollar.