My first recipe challenge! Week of Monday, April 11th, 2011

First, a disclaimer: I promise not all of my recipe choices will be vegetarian. I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian and my kids and hubby are omnivores, so these recipes will cover the gamut.


That said, my first weekly recipe challenge comes from the 20th Anniversary Edition of The Grit Restaurant cookbook:

General Chin's 5-Star Tofu Delight.
Here's their verbiage on this recipe: "Jimmy Ray's rendition of a traditional Chinese brown sauce pulls no punches when it comes to the intense flavors of garlic and sesame." I'm still a bit leery of copyright issues so I won't post the recipe here, however I did find the recipe on Google Books. You can also check out http://www.thegrit.com/ to order your own copy.

 

The Grit is hands down my favorite restaurant (as a vegetarian and UGA grad I must admit I'm totally biased).  It's in the awesome little town of Athens, GA. Swing on by The Grit next time you're in town, especially if you can catch them for weekend brunch!

So far I haven't found great Chinese food in our town, and with my best friend Yingzi living in Belgium, home-cooked authentic Chinese food just isn't going to happen. I'm looking forward to giving this recipe a try, and in case anyone was wondering, I did get my hubby's input before deciding on this for my first recipe—he is going to have to eat it after all!

I've got to a bit of shopping to do before I can whip up this recipe. I'm almost out of sesame oil and I definitely don't have sesame seeds on hand. I'll let y'all know what my family thinks....

A blog is born.

This is a blog for all those mamas out there like me—I'm stuck in a rut and I wanna get out!

It all started months ago when talking about dinner plans with a friend of mine who lives a few houses down.
D.: "What are y'all havin' for dinner tonight?"
Me: "Probably pasta again."
D.: "You know, seems like all I ever cook anymore is pasta or Mexican."
Me: "Augh, me too. I gotta start cookin' something new."
D.: "Girl, you and me both!"
Me: "We should start giving each other cooking challenges each week—pick out a new recipe to try each week."
Now here I can't remember D.'s exact response other than it was positive. Did we actually go thru with it? Not yet. Then I realized what I really needed to do was to have some real accountability. Kinda like having a workout buddy, but broader in reach and scope. And so the idea for "Mamas in a Rut" was born.

I realized that mealtime isn't the only rut us mamas can get into—it's just my biggest hurdle, my biggest rut right now and one that should be easy to conquer. And I gotta start somewhere!

I'm lucky that for the most part, my girls aren't too picky when it comes to food (well, one is a bit). We established the rules early on for them that you have to try everything you're served (if it's really new and different we allow licking the food to count—gotta start somewhere!). Also, I really want them to be exposed to a lot of different foods and cuisines. I'm a vegetarian (since 1992) and my favorite cuisine is Indian food. My husband is an omnivore and loves Mexican food. Our girls are omnivores too: our oldest is particular and has a delicate palate (health problems as an infant kept early food choices limited); our youngest is adventurous when it comes to food, she especially loves spicy foods. I don't believe in cooking a different meal for each family member, the only thing I will do is add a second entrée for myself, which I usually add as a side item to everyone's plates.

Now, with all these things going for me, how could I possibly find myself in a food rut? Because cooking the same thing over and over is easier. Because a 4-year-old and a 2 1/2-year old keep me busy and my brain's shot at the end of the day. Because no one has complained loudly enough yet (okay, so my husband does sigh just about every time I tell him what's for dinner). Because.

So here's what I'm going to do. Each week I'm sending out a recipe challenge. I'll pick out something from one of my cookbooks, something I've never prepared before, and let y'all know what the cookbook is and name of the recipe (I'll have to check copyright laws to see if I can just post the recipe here). I'm also giving myself a weekly bread challenge. I LOVE BAKING BREAD! And I love to make it old school—kneading my hand and no bread machines (no offense to those that prefer new school, everyone has their own preferences!). Let me know if you try the recipes too, or post what you chose to do this week to get outta your own Mama Rut (or Daddy Rut, or Just Plain in a Rut, Rut).

I'll also post weekly tips, mommyisms and general musings. Let's get outta that rut together, or at least commiserate while we're there!