Day Thirty: Himalayan Salt Slab

We have finally made it!  This is our final day of Home Cook Challenge! 

We should feel elated.  We made it 30 days, with only a few exceptions, on home cooked food.  The fatigue has set in, however.  As we bustle around the kitchen preparing dinner we bicker and gripe.  We are always in one another's way.  Our excitement over our last meal of the challenge is meager compared to our relief that tomorrow we can order a pizza. 

As the dinner hour draws near, however, we begin to perk up.  Our friends, Grant, Tish, and their son Cruz, are coming over for dinner.  We are going to surprise them with a real treat: cooking our dinner on our Himalayan Salt Slab.  This big hunk of salt was Mike's Christmas gift from my dad several years ago. 

First, we turned the oven up to 550 degrees.  We put the salt in and let it get nice and hot for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, we prepared the food.

Mike thinly sliced some beef tenderloin.  I chopped up some zucchini and a portobello mushroom.  We also had some shrimp, tuna, and lamb chops. 

We arranged all this on two plates: one for each side of the table.  We were almost ready!

Once we were all sitting down, Mike ran into the kitchen and hustled back with the hot salt.  He slid the salt onto our contraption in the middle of the table.  It was time to dig in!

This was all very primitive.  Pick a piece of raw meat.  Put it on the hot stone.  Wait.  Turn it over.  Wait.  Pick it up.  Eat.

It was thrilling to watch the meat sizzle and brown before your eyes.  You felt powerful when you decided what to select, when to flip, and when to remove.  Everything took on a slight salty flavor, which we all agreed we liked. 

Grant noted that it was nice that this gave you something to do while you ate dinner.  We all agreed, greedily watching our selections sizzle and pop.  On the other hand, we were often caught slacking.  We would get caught up in conversation and forget to turn or take off our meat.  Mike cooked two pieces of tuna until they looked like chicken this way.  I found it safest to take things off the stone early.  If they weren't quite done, I would just spear it with my fork, press it onto the stone for a minute or so, and pop it into my mouth.  This gave it a particularly salty flavor and worked really well with the shrimp.

We had some definite winners and losers tonight.  The shrimp, tuna, and beef tenderloin were amazing.  The zuchini, portobello, and lamb were terrible.  You win some, you lose some!

Jack and Cruz didn't partake of our hot salt cooking.   For the first time in this 30 day challenge Jack sat politely in his chair for the whole meal.  He mainly ate peas and croutons.  Cruz wasn't having any of it, and spent dinnertime pushing Jack's toy lawnmower around the house.

This dinner was the perfect finale.  It was fun, it was delicious, and it brought us together around the table. 

*   *   *   *   *

We have a lot of reflecting to do.  Did Home Cook Challenge bring us closer as a family?  Did we save money?  Did we become more creative, flexible, and talented?  Did we lose weight?  DID WE ENJOY IT????

We will share all our reflections tomorrow, from the comfort of the couch, surrounded by take-out. 

Day Twenty-nine: Cooking All Day

Today my dad came over to cook.  Anyone who knows my dad knows that he doesn't do anything simply.  Everything is detailed, oriented, and thorough.  He can take a recipe that would take my mom 30 minutes to make, and spend the entire afternoon steadily working away.  I knew it was going to be a long day... and I was right.

He came over about 2:30 while Jack was napping.  We started by making some french bread.  Dad loves making bread, and thinks that kneading dough soothes the soul. 

First, we had to mix up the dough.  We started with water, sugar, salt, and yeast.

After that we carefully measured in the flour.  Since there were two of us we were less likely to lose count of the number of cups as we added them, which we both often do when cooking alone.

Then came the kneading.  Ahhh....

And more kneading...

After the dough was nice and springy and we had both had had our turn, we set it in the oven to rise.

We had to wait an hour and a half for the dough to rise.  We planned to whip up some remoulade sauce and prep the shrimp for our po' boys, then have a nice rest.

Whipping up the sauce only took a few seconds, thanks to the food processor.  Preparing all the ingredients to go into the food processor was another story, and we were hard at work when Jack woke up and joined us.

By the time we finished the shrimp and the remoulade, the bread had finished its first rise.  I got to take out some frustration and punch down the dough.

Then we rolled it into loaves and placed it in the buttered loaf pans.

These suckers had to rise again, so we let them sit in the oven once more.  We definitely planned to rest now, just as soon as we finished prepping the recipe for the shrimp. 

The knives got a major workout today.  Chop, chop, chop, all the day long!  Before we ever got around to resting, the bread was ready to bake.

By now, Mom had arrived.  She kept busy playing with Jack while Mike stepped in to help saute the shrimp.

The bread was finally done!

Sauteing the shrimp proved to be the quickest and easiest part of the whole day.  Just a few minutes, and those puppies were done.

Jack sampled the bread while the men were fixing the shrimp.

Now we just had to get the sandwiches put together. 

We collapsed into our chairs to eat our dinner.  It was wonderful.  The shrimp was done just right, and had just the right amount of kick to it.  The bread of course was perfect! 

Unfortunately, there was still plenty of work to do before we got to relax.

Today was a long day of cooking, but I got to spend it with my dad.  We worked side by side: anticipating each others' next moves, talking and quiet, laughing and sighing, creating something delicious together.  Each day I become more and more like my dad.  Days like this remind me that that's a good thing; and I'm thankful.

Day Twenty-eight: Last Minute Changes

We were excited all day today, because we were having great friends over for a really special dinner.  Mike was walking on air all day, and Jack had the usual bounce to his step.  Our friends who were supposed to come over at 6:00 called at 4:45 to cancel.  Immediately we sank into a deep and dark depression. 

There was talk of ordering a pizza... lots of talk.  It took all my will power to squash the temptation.  As a last minute change, I pulled out an easy, family-friendly recipe from my neighbor, Melissa, and headed to the store for the ingredients.  On the way there I called my sister to invite her for dinner.  Following Knauer family tradition, she didn't answer her phone.

By the time I got back home and was halfway through the recipe, she returned my call.  She couldn't come to dinner, she said, because she had just ordered a pizza.  The nerve!  Mike talked her into cancelling the pizza and coming over right away.  Mike is a salesman.  Sara took the flak from the pizza man and headed over right away.

Tonight's dinner was a Taco Ring.  It was easy and fun.  First, just brown your ground meat and add a little cheese.

Now comes the fun part!  Arrange a can or two of crescent rolls on a cookie sheet, pointy tip out.  Spoon the cheesy meat on top.  Now fold the crescent roll over.  This sounds extremely confusing when you're reading off the recipe.  In fact, I had to google "taco ring" to figure out just what I was making. 

It turned out to be extremely easy.  I felt so confident that I even made a double ring.

Meanwhile, Jack and Connor played and played. 

Mike got to play with his friend, too.

That's our neighbor, Ross.  It's winter, so Mike and Ross haven't been playing as much as they usually do.  Still, Ross is over a lot.  Ross is over so much that Jack can pronounce his name perfectly.  This is a big deal, since he still can't pronounce most of his family members' names.  In fact, when Jack sees a man he doesn't know, he calls him Ross. 

The taco ring baked in the oven for 20 minutes.

When it was ready, we thought it looked pretty good.

We gave Mike the entire inner ring, and the rest of us split up the outside.  Connor gobbled his up in no time, and Sara only had to beg him to take one more bite once.  Usually, he has to take one more bite about 8 times before she declares his dinner finished.  Jack stabbed his bananas and enjoyed trying to stab Connor with his fork.  He did not partake of the taco ring.  Mike, Sara, and I all thought it was pretty good.  We wished it had a little more zing.  I suggested adding shredded lettuce to the meat/cheese mixture.  Mike suggested adding more cheese or pouring queso over the top. Sara was just excited that Connor was eating!

We had a fun family dinner.  There was lots of laughing, a little crying, and one time-out.  The biggest hit of the night was the candle.  We all took turns trying to blow out the candle.  Jack and Connor were happily entertained playing this game for 20 minutes.

By the end of the night we fell into bed exhausted.  We had had a great time playing with Connor and Jack all night.  We had enjoyed our new recipe.  Even though our dinner had turned out totally different from what we had planned, we loved everything about it.

Day Twenty-seven: Burgers

Mike was on duty again tonight.  I think he was pretty tired from his work week, because instead of doing something elaborate he resorted to his old standby: hamburgers.  Mike makes a mean burger.  I never liked homemade burgers until I tried Mikes'.  I don't know what his secret is, but whatever he does, it works.  He could open a burger joint if he wanted.

Of course, one portion of meat at dinner would not be sufficient.  Mike picked up some extras.

First, he grilled the bacon and ham.

Anything funny about that picture?  It looks like a face to me.  There's a furrowed brow, two big eyes, a moustache and an open mouth... right?  This would be Mike's version of the man in the moon.

Once the extra meat was finished, he chopped it up and threw it in the iron skillet with the beans.

After Mike put the burgers on, I worked on finding something for Jack to eat.  I figured we could give toasted ravioli a try, since he seemed to enjoy gnawing on the frozen one he'd pulled from the freezer.  I pressed Mike hard to get an estimate on when dinner would be ready; I needed to plan so Jack's dinner would be ready at the same time.  Mike's reply? It's ready when it's ready.  Helpful!  Finally, he gave me an estimate of 20 minutes. I accordingly planned to put the ravioli in after a few minutes.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a few minutes before Mike hollered to me that dinner was ready. 

This is how it works around here.  I scrambled to get the ravioli in the oven, and out, and slightly cooled before the burgers were completely cold.  We ended with cool burgers and hot ravioli, but we didn't care.  We're used to imperfections around here, and Mike likes to keep me on my toes.

After all that work Jack didn't do much with the ravioli.  He spent a lot of time dipping it into his marinara sauce and licking off the sauce.  He also dropped it on the floor a couple times and once between the booster seat and his thigh.  He demanded that Mike and I watch this! about 20 times while he gave it a good dunk.  After all that excitement, the ravioli was as limp and floppy as a worm.  We couldn't blame Jack for not eating it.

Our dinner was perfect.  It was just the right meal for a Friday night, our last Friday night of Home Cook Challenge! 

Day Twenty-six: Swordfish!

Mike is back in the apron tonight!  I'm so glad it's his turn to cook.  He always puts a lot more effort into meals than I do.  There's always less cleaning at the end, too.  Now that he has been introduced to the food pyramid (not the food rectangle as he used to live by: meat upon meat upon meat), he turns out some pretty balanced meals.

As you can see, he was happy to get back into that apron, too.  I would like to point out that that is in fact my apron, which he gave me as a gift.  I'm more than happy to share.

Somehow Mike was able to leave work, pick up Jack from day care, go to the grocery store, and prepare an amazing dinner all before I got home from my evening Spanish class.  He even made Jack his own little meal ahead of time.

That's marinara sauce... the kid loves to dip!  The sauce is technically for his grilled cheese, but you'll often see him giving his fruits or veggies a good soaking as well.

While Jack ate, Mike prepared our dinner.  He was grilling asparagus, his favorite vegetable, tonight.  What could make a vegetable even better?  How about wrapping some meat around it!

I'd like to make some more jokes about how Mike can't eat a vegetable unless it's wrapped in meat.  I can't, however, because these asparagus bundles were awesome.  There will be no leftovers of these green guys.

Next, Mike marinated two swordfish filets in our favorite grilling sauce: Doc Jack's.  We use this all the time on salmon. 

Apparently, Mike grilled himself a little appetizer while waiting for me to get home.

That bacon was in no way incorporated into the dinner, and was carefully left unmentioned by the chef.  Arg! 

At least the dinner was healthy!

When I sat down to dinner, I had to take a moment to admire the full, colorful plate. 

Of course, I started with the bread.  The asparagus was great with the salty prosciutto, and contrasted nicely with the slightly spicy swordfish.  We both tried our hardest to clean our plates.

Unfortunately, Jack was having none of it.  When I put some swordfish on his plate he reacted as though I'd deposited a dead toad there.  He wouldn't calm down until I moved the fish back to my own plate.  We didn't even try for the asparagus.  While he's not digging lettuce leaves yet, he loves croutons.  We fed him two-tons til his belly was full and he was begging to get "out, out" of his chair.

Mike and I were still enjoying our sit-down dinner, but Jack had other plans.  Tonight he just wasn't going to let us relax.  He demanded that we get up.  We were firm and exacting at first, saying that we had to sit and finish our dinner.  After a few minutes the whining got unbearable and we both acquiesced.  Of course that was the moment when Jack couldn't decide what to play and couldn't get us to understand what he wanted.  This led to more frustration on all parts, lots of NO!s, and even some tears.  

Thank goodness Basket-Head came through for us in the pinch.

Problem solved.  Hillarity ensues.