When the Food Stars Align

Sometimes, I'm a genius.

Last night the time for dinner was quickly approaching. I hadn't been able to get to the grocery store this week, so, in spite of my habit of keeping a stocked pantry, we were running low on some kitchen staples. That meant the two plans I'd had in mind for a meal wouldn't work.

I rummaged through the big freezer in the basement and found a bag of breaded chicken tenders that I'd forgotten about. Huzzah, protein found! But what to pair it with? I saw a partial bag of red potatoes and thought roasted red potatoes and onions sounded good, so I carried them back upstairs. It was while walking to the kitchen that I discovered the potatoes were no longer viable as a food source for humans as they had begun feeding another life-form from the fungus family.

Awesome.

Okay, what else goes with chicken tenders? Pasta salad! I had some tomatoes that needed to be used, so I searched the internet for a recipe. Nothing caught my eye. I moved to my collection of cookbooks. Still nothing about pasta salad for the ingredients I had on hand.

Time was ticking away.

I checked the tiny freezer attached to the fridge and found stir fry vegetables. Well, that would probably be weird with the chicken tenders, but I pulled them out anyway.

Back to the cookbooks, I finally found something that I hadn't been looking for, but still looked interesting. And that's when inspiration struck.

I made Pioneer Woman's Simple Sesame Noodles, but I doubled the sauce and cooked a whole pound of noodles instead of just the called for twelve ounces. I also subbed Tabasco sauce because I have never purchased Hot Chili Oil and therefore had none in my kitchen. I used some of the sauce to saute six cups of the stir fry veggies. When they were done, I added them to the now cooked and dressed noodles. Then I cut up several of the hot-from-the-oven chicken tenders and cooked them for a few minutes in the same pan that I'd just pulled the vegetables from, adding some additional sauce.

It was amazing. I thought the breaded chicken would be an odd addition, but it soaked up the sauce and was so good. The purpose of this post is really so that I have a record of this meal and can replicate it again. The kids all loved it and asked that I put it into their lunches for tomorrow.

Did I say I'm a genius sometimes? Well, that may be true, but in this case I think I just got really lucky.

Space Tours

Moving Pictures

Peter's caught the film-making bug. I took this picture of him today, sitting at the computer, doing a Khan Academy lesson on animation. We had to insist that he join us for dinner, he really just wanted to keep learning about this subject.

A Sneak Peek

Peter has a big science presentation due today. He's been working on it for a month, gathering data, creating plans, then finally asking me to load green screen software onto one of the inexpensive phones we have. I knew Bryan might have a cleaner solution than an app, so I kept putting Peter off. I finally remembered to mention it to Bryan and, sure enough, he had lots of ideas.

Yesterday, the green screen arrived from Amazon, so Bryan set up a studio in the basement. I hope to share his movie soon, but here are a few preview pictures for now:

My Brain Was Too Full

It feels like we've run a marathon these last four days. Between church obligations and school projects, our days, and a portion of our nights, have been packed.

Did you notice I didn't post on Friday? I kept thinking that I needed to take care of it, then my brain was so full of plans and things that I needed to accomplish for the weekend, I completely forgot until Saturday morning.

Oops.

And now it's nearly midnight and we're almost done with our last project of the night. Bryan and I were both so busy ensuring that the boys finished the big homework assignments that they have due tomorrow, our evening meal was the ever faithful backup: cereal.

Goodnight all, I hope tomorrow is slower...

Photogenic Young Men

The boys had picture day yesterday. It's the only day of the year that I insist on picking out their clothes. And yesterday? I even ironed their shirts and made sure their teeth were brushed. Their hair? Well, at least it was freshly washed.

While we waited for the bus, we practiced smiling for the camera. I know Cooper is blurry, but this is the most natural smile in a picture I've seen from him in some time. I hope he replicated it for the school photographer.

It was a total accident, but I happened to catch this action shot of Peter. This picture, more than any I've taken in a long time, captures who Peter is. You can see how lanky he is and his active, fun-loving personality is shining through.

I love it.

Girl Lunch

Energized

I slept for eight hours last night. I know that I've done that before, but I certainly don't remember when. I do, however, know that I always wake up with a feeling of wonder, a sort of "Oh that's right, this is how it feels to be rested, I forgot" kind of amazement.

And I made good use of that sleep. I did laundry, I prepped dinner in the morning, Sophie and I made cookies, I had a fantastic lunchtime book club, I was on-time to pick everyone up from school and the bus and drop them off at piano (no small feat, I assure you), I picked up the violin we're renting for Cooper for this school year, I fed everyone dinner, and I did a full 5K after the kids were tucked into bed for the night.

Now maybe this looks like a normal run-on sentence kind of list, stuff that most moms do everyday, and it probably is. But I work in such a constant state of sleep deprivation that this list is a unicorn, elusive, beautiful, most likely mythical.

I may have to make this sleep thing a habit...

The Things We Do For Our Children

I have children that love peas so, in a moment of motherly love tonight, I prepared some peas for dinner. I figured they'd pair well with/be disguised by our homemade mac and cheese. Peter and Phoebe were delighted. Sophie recited a book we have about a girl who doesn't like peas. I told her that I didn't much like them either, but I would eat them anyway. Then she and I both ate our entire servings of peas.

I still hate peas.

Bach and Mozart at Lunch

Sophie and I enjoyed a lovely, free concert this week. We went to a huge, old church with some friends and listened to a harpsichord, a flute, a violin, a cello, an opera singer, a chorus, then a full orchestra as they performed music by Bach and Mozart. It was delightful and Sophie was remarkably well behaved. The majority of the audience was firmly in the senior citizen demographic, and those that caught sight of Miss Sophie were clearly amused.