An Epic Food Failure

Not to toot my own horn, but I think I am a pretty decent cook.  I am not a chef or real foodie, but I can make a decent meal.  Even when I don't cook from scratch, I tend to be able to throw together something that comes out pretty well.

Tonight, apparently, I failed.  I failed miserably.  Let me state before we go any further, though, that it was not so much what I did, but what I picked.

Since it is Girl Scout night, I need to be able to get my meal ready pretty quickly as Scouts doesn't even end until 5:30, assuming we actually get out of there on time.  So, normally Monday is one of my crock pot days.  For some reason, my brain missed that memo today, and I just forgot all about it.  (I would venture the guess is pregnancy brain already, but who knows.)  The Husband is trying to eat healthy right now, and has requested lots of chicken breasts this week.  So, I thought, chicken breasts, baked potatoes, green beans, and some cottage cheese thrown in for The Big One and I who don't eat meat.  Unfortunately, I needed to hit the store to do this as I am out of potatoes.  I kept trying to get there today, and it never happened.  Just one of those days.  Not a problem if you can grab the potatoes and have them done in about 15 minutes in the microwave.  It is a problem if your microwave suddenly up and dies on you.  That is worthy of a whole post by itself (and probably will get one), but it also means that I have to make the potatoes in the over at about an hour of time instead of 15 minutes.

So, at the last second, I had to choose something else.  I opted for quinoa.  Apparently, my choice was incorrect.  I like quinoa, and it is very healthy.  It is also a complete protein, something very important that I try to get in The Big One now that she is not eating meat.  I knew they would all balk at the idea of something new, so I told them it was special rice.  They didn't buy that either.

The comments I heard tonight were pretty bad.  It seems my family thinks I was trying to poison them.  Not with a nice poison that you can't detect, either, but something horrific that makes you want to lick tree bark.  The Little One started crying the instant I made her put a tiny bite in her mouth.  The Big One acted as though she was going to vomit each time she started to chew the few bites I required she eat in order to continue to be a vegetarian.  The Husband told me he had mistaken it for cardboard, but then told me it might be ok, if I picked a flavor other than "recycled" next time.  It was French Herb.

I liked it.  So, I have it.  I have a medium sized container of it to eat  tomorrow.  I'm thinking a nice cold quinoa salad with some cut tomatoes, cucumber, and a little feta will be great for lunch.  I guess this time I will actually be allowed to eat all of my own food without anyone asking me to share, or just picking up my fork and getting a bite at their own will, too.  I suppose my loss is also my gain.  Ehh...I can only lead the horse to healthy food, I can't make it eat.  I can, though, remember that the horse refuses particular healthy grains, and promise never, ever, to fix them again.

Lychee - Good for dishpan hands

My husband is a little odd when it comes to food. While he won't eat a tomato to save his life, he loves some of the oddest tasting foods ever, including Lychee. He brought home a big bag of them yesterday from the grocery store, pleased as punch with himself for getting them.

He and the little one ate about half the bag as soon as they got them home. My baby is going to have an iron stomach, I swear.

So, last night, he forces me to taste this thing. Now, first of all, I am completely grossed out by just the sight. They look like big eyeballs. Really. They do. After that image hit me, and I shared it, he made it worse by pretending they were big eyeballs. Have a mentioned that he is really just a big kid before? After he pesters me to eat the eyeball for a while longer, I realize that there is no way he is going to let up, until I try.

I give in, and get the smallest taste I can manage. They taste about as good as they look, in my opinion. I do not understand why so many people love these things. It has to be an acquired taste. To me, they tasted like dish soap. Yup, go take a big whiff of the bottle of dawn sitting on your sink, and that's exactly what they tasted like to me. My husband vehemently disagrees. I finally looked them up online. Guess what. Lychee are members of the soapberry family. I don't make this stuff up. Couldn't if I tried. So, I am right, and I have proof.
Lychee - good for dishpan hands, and takes the grease right off. Or, at least they taste that way.