We’ve got a new week and a new month and a new blog post. Thank you for being here.
Giveaway Winner
Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway for Nicole’s debut novel, Inhale, Exhale. Twenty commenters threw their names in the hat, and the winner is…
Stephany! Woo hoo! Your copy will be in the mail asap.
Mystery Item
It took until Saturday for me to remember the mystery item I’d been meaning to order last week. (By the way, I loved Kate’s suggestion that it might be chipotles in adobo, which I’d previously blogged about running out of in a previous post! Good eye, Kate – fortunately, it’s on my grocery list, although my store was completely out of chipotles the last time I looked.) The mystery item was Loop ear plugs. Not a kitchen item AT ALL. I keep meaning to get Carla a pair of these ear plugs because a) I think she could use them during in-class study time, when her teachers discourage the use of headphones and b) I know she could use them when we go to noisy restaurants, which tend to make her feel unbearably overstimulated.
Things I’m Making
Speaking of Carla: she is going through another phase of not being particularly amenable to eating. She eats a decent enough variety of things, I think, but she gravitates toward easy foods which are often less nourishing and/or nutritious than I’d like. I would especially like for her to have easy foods to grab for breakfast a) because she often skips lunch. (We have discussed this with her doctor, we are on top of it, do not worry.), and b) because I want her to be self-sufficient in the mornings.
One food she has been into lately is the Starbucks bacon, gouda, and egg breakfast sandwich, which she gets without the cheese. I am having a strange and intense aversion to Starbucks lately, which isn’t the worst thing for many reasons. But this means I am less open to taking Carla to Starbucks. Also, Starbucks costs money and I am not eager to spend money on fast food breakfast more than once a month (outside of extenuating circumstances). Anyway, this is to say that I gave in once last week and took her to Starbucks for a sandwich with the caveat of using that sandwich as a prototype from which to make our own homemade breakfast sandwiches.
I made these bacon and egg sandwiches on ciabatta bread and froze them. (I added about a quarter cup of cheddar cheese to the egg mixture, because my kid likes cheese mixed in to her scrambled eggs, she just can’t abide it melted on top of things.) The finished product seems a little dry to me (no butter? no mayo?), and Carla has yet to try one, so please cross your fingers on my behalf. I will be quite irritated if she doesn’t eat them. (I eat very few sandwiches and also dislike eggs, so I will not be eating them. Maybe my husband will eat them.)
While I was cutting up the loaf of ciabatta bread, I made a miscalculation and ended up trimming the ends off of all eight sandwiches. Which gave me an excuse to make French toast muffins, a thing that seems delightful and which I have never tried before.
The French toast muffins needed to sit for two hours, so while they were sitting, I made a batch of homemade granola. I love granola, but it’s spendy. This batch called for coconut oil, which I don’t love, but it turned out okay. I used chia seeds, which is what I had on hand (because I purchased them specifically to make granola), but I would like to try adding flax seeds and/or hemp hearts and/or puffed quinoa to future batches. I suspect it will take me a long time to make it through this batch, though – I really only add a few tablespoons to yogurt.
Things I’m Planning to Make
I suppose while I’m making things, I might as well make a meal plan for this week.
Dinners for the Week of February 2-8
- Slow cooker Mongolian beef: This sounds good and slow cooker meals are always appealing – especially when it’s so enduringly chilly outside.
- Sheet pan Greek chicken and veggies: I love a sheet pan meal, and I love Greek-style flavors.
- Cream of mushroom soup: This sounds luxurious and warming. I will have to make some sort of protein for my husband to go along with his.
- Ramen with shrimp and edamame: My husband wanted to try the squiggly noodles from Trader Joe’s, and I am always a fan of ramen with shrimp and some frozen edamame. Easy peasy.
- Chicken paprikas: Yes. We haven’t had this in a while and it’s the perfect cozy comfort meal for winter.
Something But Not a Lot
In a rather drastic tone change, sometimes I feel so keenly the exhortation to say something that reaches beyond my little cozy corner. I have sat at my computer, many hours and many days, trying to find the words to express my despair and disappointment at the state of the world, to articulate the scale of my love and hope for all of us. Maybe it’s ignorance or delusion or cowardice or all three, but again and again, I find that I don’t know what to say or how to say it. I continue to read and listen to voices stronger and braver and more knowledgeable and more eloquent than I am. (The fragment “Before the apocalypse, there was the apocalypse” keeps looping through my brain.) I continue to seek out blog posts, fiction, essays, and poetry to make sense of things, to offer comfort, to provide distraction, to inspire, and to organize the complicated tangle of emotions into words.
Today, this poem is resonating with me.
That’s all I have for you today, Internet. Stay warm and be well.
Thank you for sharing the poem. I share your feelings of not knowing what to say or do about Minneapolis, ICE, and so much more. It’s hard to stay rooted in what is in your control versus spiraling.
Hoping that the sandwiches are a hit–food stages with kids can be so tricky.
The sandwiches were a success! The kid and my husband each tested one last night and both agreed they tasted good, and my kid had one for breakfast this morning. Woot!
That poem is so powerful! I may have to share it too, if that’s OK. That Sbux sandwich is my favorite. It has no sauce because of the cheese and it works fine for me; I’m not sure if the cheese inside the egg will also provide that extra greasiness (not the right word)/creaminess? Besides my own excellent mocha, Sbux ranks as one of the best due to the chocolaty chocolate. I’ve had many, many bad ones at other coffee shops so I go for the consistency and predictability.
I’m so glad you like the poem, Margaret! Poetry should be shared as widely as possible. <3
No idea why I have this Sbux aversion lately! I used to go there for drinks at least monthly and it was a treat… but somewhere along the way it started to make my stomach turn. I wonder how long that will last?
the Kirkland breakfast sandwich at Costco is the EXACT DUPE of the Starbs sandwich! Cooper does not eat cheese, so he just pulls the frozen slice off before he microwaves!
Okay, this is a Hot Tip, Sarah! I will keep an eye out next time we’re there. Our garage freezer died so I am not sure we have space for a Costco size box of sammies, but maybe we will get a chest freezer?
Also! Have you read Poet Warrior? One of my very favorite memoirs.
I have not! Adding it to my TBR!
I still haven’t heard back from my local bookstore on the ETA for Inhale/Exhale, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Hopefully it won’t be much longer.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for breakfast sandwich success. At that age the boys were into very plain foods, which was such a mystery to me, so if the sammies seem plain and dry, that might be a good sign. Seriously kids, what is your deal????????????????????????????????
I think my next project is going to be experimenting with frozen breakfast sammies for myself. Sometimes Costco has really great biscuit sammies, but the supply is inconsistent and they’re so good that they’re ruined me for everything else out there. That means I need to start making my own to fill in the gaps.
Yes, why the insistence on PLAINNESS? Why are kids so averse to FLAVOR?!
I look forward to following along on your breakfast sandwich journey.
We got Eve Loop earplugs on the basis of a Facebook ad a couple of years ago and she loves them. I want to get the noise reduction ones for my loud school library – I don’t like being a shushy librarian but something about the acoustics of that one room makes me stabby when the kids are loud.
I have Mongolian meatballs on the menu this week! And we have a breakfast sandwich maker my sister gave me for my birthday years ago that has seen hard usage – they’re super quick to whip up in the morning if the prep is done.
I feel like being surrounded by excited children would cause extreme sensory overload, and if the acoustics amplify the noise on top of that??? Yikes.
BREAKFAST SANDWICH MAKER. Hmm. I may need to consider this.
I make homemade granola about once every three weeks and I use about half a cup with my yogurt every morning. You only use a few teaspoons? It becomes clear to me why I am having trouble cutting calories…
Why is granola so calorie laden? It is one of the great food injustices of our time. It’s got oats and nuts and berries and seeds — it should be calorie free!!!!!!
I’m so glad you thought of the thing you were trying to think of!! What a relief.
It is very hard to know what to say or how to say it, when the topic is so huge and baffling. And when so many of the things one might want to say are things that shouldn’t even have to be said, and yet here we are.
It was like finally unclogging an eardrum or sneezing or getting to scratch an itch. So satisfying!
I haven’t said anything on the blog about all that’s happening in the world because anything I say will sound trite and boring (“this is terrible! I can’t believe this is happening!”) I love the idea of sharing a poem, and this one is beautiful.
After years of fighting it, my daughter no longer eats breakfast. And some days she brings a lunch, but some days she only brings a protein bar. I’m not on board with this, but what can I do- she’s 17. And I’m tired or arguing about it.
Good luck with the breakfast sandwiches! It seems like a great idea to me, but clearly I’m not an expert on teen breakfasts.
I was never a big breakfast eater, either, so I get that. I just need my child to eat SOME MEALS, you know? And I can supervise / nag about breakfast and not lunch, so that’s why I get so fretful about it.
You sound like an absolutely amazing cook. I’ve never made granola and I think I should. You could get it just the way you like it. I hope the breakfast sandwiches are a hit!
You are very kind — I like to think my enthusiasm helps make up for lack of skill, but… you’d probably have to check in with my husband on that one!
I’m glad you were able to recreate the sandwich and I see in the comments that she ate it. Success!
The poem ends on a powerful note.
I hope it continues to be something she wants to eat!
As I’m typing this, our town’s emergency siren test is going off. This is new for us. In addition to the tornado siren, there’s now a recorded voice explaining what to do in an emergency, and it’s unsettling in a way that feels very of-the-moment.
Thank you for saying something here. Lately I’ve felt oddly empty reading blogs that are only about travel or buying things. Those things matter too, but they feel incomplete right now. There is a war happening not that far from us, and it often feels like people don’t notice or don’t want to look.
I appreciated the way you held both the ordinary making of food and the harder, heavier thoughts about the world. It helped me feel less alone in trying to live inside both at the same time.
This was such a kind comment, Kari. Thank you. I *love* reading blog posts about inconsequential things because it helps distract me from the endless anxiety, but I definitely understand what you mean. And I think, for myself, it felt like I was sitting in the room with someone that I had to acknowledge in some way, even if imperfectly, you know?
I’m glad you did. 💜
I really liked that poem. I feel like all I keep saying is “I just can’t believe X is happening”. Again and again.
That breakfast sandwich does sound yummy. I am glad they liked it.
I guess the world does begin and end around the kitchen table. I really like the poem, thank you for sharing it.
I wonder if those earplugs would work for sleeping next to someone who snores? It says they are for sleeping. Are they more comfortable than the cheap ones you get at the airport?
My husband made meatloaf a couple of weeks ago, and the recipe we use calls for 5 lbs of ground turkey (Ina Garden, really? 5 lbs?) and we usually only make half. I asked him to make the entire recipe, and freeze it in 3rds, uncooked. I’m so happy we did this, because I’ll be taking one of those out of the freezer today.
Those breakfast sandwiches look tasty. My favorite bread for a breakfast sandwich is an english muffin. I had one with english muffin, egg, cheese, and bacon yesterday, and it was delicious. Hmmm. Like Engie above, this may be part of why I am not actually reducing my calories.
J – I have these earplugs for that very reason (when I’m on vacation with my mom, ha) and they are the BEST. I will never go on vacation without them.
I see in a comment above that both your husband and Carla ate the breakfast sandwiches! Hooray! My kids do not like condiments like mayo or mustard so sandwiches do not work for them since they are dry and boring. I wish they’d get on board w/ some sort of condiment. I’m relieved I only have to pack lunches in the summer and on non-school days when they go to the care program – otherwise they eat lunch at school. I marvel at the things they are willing eat, like Sambusas and honey chipotle fish sandwich. Peer pressure sure is effective!
The world feels heavy these days. I am happy to see 700 ICE agents are leaving Minnesota, but that means there are still 2,300. Typically we only have about 150 ICE agents because we really do not have that many undocumented immigrants. Sigh.
Congrats to Stephany for winning the book! I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to convince a teenage girl to do something. Hang in there! The breakfast sandwich sounds like a winner! I love breakfast. It’s my favorite meal of the day. The poem is so powerful. Thank you for sharing it.
I waited way too long to order my copy of Nicole’s book and it won’t be here until MID-MARCH. So your copy will likely arrive first. Woohoo!
Those Loop earplugs are LEGIT. I love them. I use them when I go on vacation with my mom because she snores LOUDLY and they are precious to me, lol.
Thank you for sharing that poem. It’s so hard to act like things are normal when they are not, sigh.
Don’t feel bad for not knowing what to say. I think we all feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and news we have to digest every day. It’s really, really hard to eloquently comment on it… when I do, I feel like I am just scratching the surface. There is so much to say.
Thank you for sharing that poem. That is quite powerful.
The granola looks/sounds amazing. I am guessing Carla won’t eat that? (Bummer.) I think you got some great suggestions re: the breakfast sandwiches. I have no advice because I do not eat breakfast sandwiches (ever).
Well, now I will be able to sleep much more soundly, knowing that you remembered the mystery item. YAY!!
I will wait with baited breath to know if Carla enjoys the sammies that you’ve so lovingly created for her.
Yay for Stephany!!!