Empty Heads and Empty Tanks...

I actually kind of like blogging, and it is like free therapy. You get to write stuff down and clear your thoughts, and go forth with an empty head, but I seem to have a lot of trouble lately with the going forth on an empty head... I SWORE that my kids would never be overprogrammed, yup, do you want to know how many other words I've eaten over the years? Not enough time for that right now, and my head is empty, but I do know that we now have six team practices per week, plus violin, fiddle and orchestra, not to mention homework and other school activities... No wonder my gas tank is always empty, just when gas creeped back up to the $2 mark!

But anyway, enough random ramusings, and back to the eating thing since that is what I am supposed to be blogging about here. Have our eating habits gotten any better since I last wrote? Nope, not really, my kids are pretty sure that every Monday they get to have milkshakes for dinner, and now with baseball starting in earnest, I am trying not to let things fall apart even more. So, I sent my kids shopping at Columbia's Kitchen so that they can stock the fridge with whatever they will eat. Since they are the ones burning all the calories lately (pushing the gas pedal and brake and shopping for new baseball socks has not earned me any calorie deficits!) I figure they should get to pick.

And it's working. Columbia's Kitchen has a lot of great dishes my kids love, but I tend to try to make them eat different things when I have time to fight that battle. But now, all bets are off. This week, they have been eating turkey burgers with gravy, chicken enchiladas, chicken spaghetti, Greek chicken pita wraps, and tuna patties. Now that we are starting to get fresh produce at the Farmer's Market, a great big salad is the perfect accompaniment!

And speaking of summer and the Market, all of our customers use us differently and we do have some who spend more time in the kitchen in the summer, but we also have a lot who we get to see often in the summer months because they would rather not spend a lot of time in the kitchen because they want to enjoy their time with friends! Whatever helps you is what we do, but we are starting to bring out our summer favorites--bean and pasta salads, breakfast dishes perfect for guests, or light dinners, and great grill entrees! A lot of our fish dishes are heavenly in a smoker or on the grill, as is any of our pork tenderloins, Show Me steaks, or pork chops. And of course, soon we will have THE RIBS--our very own homemade dry rub and top quality ribs cook up perfect every time.

So that's all I have time for today, I hope all is well in your homes, MAP testing will soon be over, and I believe it will stop raining long enough to enjoy spring without allergies! We had a pretty mild summer last year, so I a hoping for another one like that! Take care and see you soon, Lisa