Sunday, December 24, 2006

duelling dinners

Tonight, the Eldest and I constructed a version of my gluten-free, vegan lasagne. Proudly, we (okay, I) heaved it into the oven. As I set the timer, the Eldest's face fell. We have to wait? Oy.

This is what happens when I get my timing off. At Chez Imperfect, the locals are ruthless about their feeding times. If the trough isn't filled at the right hour, the smalls set up an outcry to melt one's heart, while the biggers go rummaging.

Ten minutes into lasagne baking, I come out into the dining room, a.k.a. the site of the Eldest's latest project: clean up the house. Half the chairs are pulled out from the table, the carpet sweeper is abandoned on the floor...and the resident Y chromosomes are gathered around the table, eating apple sauce and gingerbread.

I roar, indicating the lasagne in the oven, and wave my hands in the air. Finally, I concede. For all, you see, is not lost: the Eldest has also made lasagne.

Lacking any of the dreaded mushrooms, he carefully combined in a bowl the last of the crumbled tofu mixture, some fresh spinach, lasagne pieces and tomato sauce. I flung my hands up and instructed him to bring it out.

When I ungraciously stomped off, the Eldest was happily describing his dish. Mummy will love this when she comes down!

He might be right.

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. And to the locals, we're off to Childrens again next month, so bring along any beach reads you care to clear off the shelves. Books for adults, kids - so long as it's in reasonable shape, the folks at Childrens will be delighted. We also bring them recent magazines, so toss those in, as well!

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As it turns out, there's another allergy kiddo in the Eldest's class. That makes four out of fourteen, which fascinates me. Assuming, that is, you count the kid whose allergic to pineapple. Which I would.

The child's mother lent me an allergy cookbook. Now, I tend to be skeptical of these, but it has quick, good plain cookery, without common allergens. As always, I still had to tweak the recipes, but here's a good one:

Red Snapper (a.k.a Orange Roughy around here) in Rosemary Crust
Adapted from What's To Eat? by Linda Marienhoff Coss, page 71.
Serves 3.

3/4th pound red snapper/orange roughy
2/3 cup ground flaxseed (flaxmeal)
1/4 cup orange concentrate, frozen
1/4 c. olive oil (less is fine, but use most of it if the fish is skinned)
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon brown mustard
2 cloves minced, pressed garlic
salt and fresh black pepper

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Put fish into dish.

In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Bake 20 minutes. then broil for 5-8 minutes more. The fish should be moist, with a nice crunchy crust.

3 comments:

mother in israel said...

It's always a struggle to get meals ready around here too. I try to do some prep in bulk (like washing an entire head of cabbage at once, and keeping it wrapped in the fridge) and also do parts early in the day. Also turn on the over early if you are pressed for time (even though for a casserole it's not necessary).

ZM said...

I'm learning to love the crockpot for just that reason! The oven's a fast heat, but the prep time is what gets me.

jgfellow said...

Coming next week, a recipe for Silly Fish!

How's that for obscure?

-jg