This week's Meatless Monday has become a little nostalgic for me. I was struggling with what to cook since I can't just run to the store and grab ingredients. (I blew my grocery budget this week on ingredients for my hubby's totally worth it turkey sausage lasagna.) I was searching my fridge and pantries. Thinking of what might go together and make something coherent. Since not everyone is home to eat this time I don't have to make a big bunch of something. Just enough to satisfy the kids and myself. And there it was at the back of my freezer: shredded cheddar! (Yes, you can freeze cheese.) It came to me on a memory. Something my mother did rarely. Make mac and cheese.
I loved it when we got mac and cheese. It was a rare "Dad's not home for supper" treat. My dad eats rice...only. It is apparently the only starch that exists in his world. So every now and again my mom would make us mac and cheese. Sure it was from a box, but oh the joy! Now to take that memory and turn it into a semi nutritious meal.
I make mac and cheese from scratch. That's how I roll. It's actually quite simple and takes no longer than making it from the box. This time, I paired my homemade cheese sauce with garden rotini. Shh. Don't tell my kids that it has veggies hidden in it. =) I also took some leftover broccoli and chopped it and threw it in the pot. With every bite they ate broccoli. Wrapped in cheesy goodness, yes, but they ate broccoli. My son doesn't like the heads of the broccoli. Only the stems. I have discovered that when I smother the broccoli in cheesy noodles he could care less which part of the broccoli he's eating. I also served canned green beans with the meal. This is, hands down, my kids' favorite vegetable, AND their favorite way to eat it. They don't want me to do anything fancy with it. They don't even want me to heat it up. They want it straight from the can to their plates.
So my Meatless Monday this week was simple, ready in less than 30 minutes and down right delicious. I savored every bite (along with some tummy friendly peppermint tea) and thought about how much I miss my Momma....and how I wish SHE was the one with dish duty instead of me! =)
My hubby was sorta like your kids he liked everything simple, simple, simple. I don't mind doing the whole from scratch thing and at times when I have a crowd to cook for love doing from scratch meals.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how just those simple things of the routines of life stuck in your memory. I remember a lot about raising y'all too and wish I was back there sometimes. I miss my babies. I also wish I was there for dish duties.. hahaha. I don't mind it at all.
Love,
Mom