Dinner With Daddy

Zucchini used to be one of those veggies that I just had no desire to eat.   It was nothing more to me than that annoying mushy green half moon thingy in my “seasonal vegetables” at the restaurant.   Recently, I have developed an appetite for zucchini and I’ve been trying all sorts of ways to cook it. The other day a friend of mine told me about zucchini “boats”.   He told me that it was originally a Weight Watchers recipe, though he had prepared a different variation.   So, that very night I googled “zucchini boats”, and made my own version of a Zucchini Boat .     The great thing about the Zucchini Boat is you can use whatever you want for a filler.  While I chose to use veggies, my friend stuffed his with ground chicken and cheese.  The possibilities are endless, from super healthy to super decadent.    I have prepared zucchini in other ways as well: I've brushed sliced zucchini with olive oil and grilled it,  I've ...

Have you ever heard the expression “If a tree falls and no one is around, does it make a sound?”? I’m guessing you have. Well this has nothing to do with that per se, but I did discover that the happenings at the HB dinner table continue even if Daddy’s not around. A good example of that fact is this take on My Beautiful Wife’s description of the dinner conversation from the other night while I was at work. I only hope I can do it justice. My children started school this week, as I’m sure many of yours did. Cheddar Buns, who is starting seventh grade, and is required to study a foreign language, chose Spanish. She said that one of the kids in her class was Spanish and had Spanish speaking parents, yet he couldn’t speak the language himself. She asked My Beautiful Wife how this was possible. She explained, “Well sometimes people move to the US from other countries and they either bring their small children, or perhaps have children in the US and ...

A few nights ago at dinner the family conversation turned to the upcoming school year.  Sour Dough, being the high school teen that he is, refuses to eat breakfast.  His reasons vary from "I have to get up too early", to "I'm not hungry in the morning", to "There's nothing to eat." My Beautiful Wife and I were explaining the importance of a good breakfast. We told him how his body needs nourishment and his brain needs fuel and all of the other reasons we all know as to why we have to eat breakfast.  Sour Dough knows this already because he is actually a very intelligent young man.  Oh yea, and because he's a teenager and they know everything. As the conversation progressed the old, "There isn't anything to eat for breakfast.", excuse reared it's ugly head.  My Beautiful Wife said "What about a banana and a Boost?" referring to the nutrition shakes that we always have on hand.  "I can't eat a banana and d...

Last Sunday, like every Sunday, the family and I attended church services. As a parent you hope that the children are paying attention and getting the message being delivered by the Clergy.   Apparently, on this particular Sunday, at least one message made it through loud and clear. We happen to be of the Catholic Faith, and for those of you not familiar with Catholic Mass proceedings, there is a time during the Mass when you offer those around you the sign of peace. I would never have guessed that this is the part of the Mass that would make it home. That night I had no specific plan for dinner, so, as dangerous as this could be, I asked the children what they would like for dinner. It's dangerous because I usually get four different answers from four different kids and none are remotely compatible with the others. Nevertheless I asked and was pleasantly surprised when two of them asked for Pork tenderloin with rice. My wife had picked up some baby Lima beans the day before an...

I have four wonderful children, as you may have read.   I have three boys and in the middle of them somewhere I have one daughter.   Anyone that has multiple children, and based on familial experience this is exacerbated by sheer number, they WILL fight.   Yell, scream, throw things, “that’s mine”, “will you stop touching me?”, “you’re a stinky poopy head”, “stop copying me”….you get the point. Well my children don’t fight.   They don’t do any of the things I described in the previous sentences.   In fact, my house is so calm I am constantly looking for stimulation. Ok, that’s not entirely true, or even remotely true.   My children wake up scrapping.   Any time they are in the room together there is a battle.   When they are not in the room together they all get bored out of their respective minds.   “Where is everyone? I’m bored.”   Then the siblings return and the MMA match begins again. The other day, Brötchen was sitting ...

On occasion, the family likes to substitute the usual dinner fare for breakfast foods.   Pancakes, French toast, eggs, and bacon are welcome dinner foods for my children.   One reason for this is whipped cream or as the HB children refer to it, “Whooped cream”, as in “you got you butt whooped ”.   We allow our children to use whooped cream on their pancakes, waffles, and French toast.   “Why?” you ask.   It’s much like Bill Cosby’s explanation of why chocolate cake is good for breakfast.   There’s milk in it, milk is good for you.   O.K. that’s probably the only thing in it that’s good for you, but it gets them to eat their food.  Another thing that happens in our house, on occasion, is one child briefly transforming into an enforcer, if you will.   For some reason every child in my house, and this increases with age, has felt the need to correct and/or enforce rules that their siblings have or have been perceived to have broken.   And ...

A few nights ago Sour Dough mentioned that he had a craving for Chinese food.   Since Sour Dough doesn’t usually make requests or mention cravings I figured that he must really want it.   I decided to make Chinese food last night to appease him. Now I know that when my kids say they want Chinese food, what they really mean is they want ribs and wonton soup.   While I make a pretty mean rib, if I do say so myself, I don’t make them the way the Chinese restaurant does.  So, I decided to make fried rice and beef stir fry and then go to the Chinese restaurant to pick up ribs and soup. The fried rice was easy to make because I basically just copied what I had seen the chef at the local Hibachi restaurant (which is technically a teppanyaki restaurant) do a dozen times.   I simply cooked rice in my rice cooker, then on the stove in my wok I heated olive oil, scrambled two eggs, added corn, peas and diced carrots, rice and soy sauce.  Super easy and quick...