Impromptu Paella(ish)

In an attempt to mix up the usual meal routine, I recently went looking through one of G's kid cookbooks in search of a new recipe. On this particular day, I came across a recipe called Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Rice. In recent months, introducing new foods has become a more difficult task so the recipe was quite perfect as it incorporated some of G’s favorite foods yet constructed them in a new and interesting manner. Unfortunately, I only had half the ingredients the recipe called for and therefore improvisation was required. Since I did not have chicken, the main ingredient, I went with sausage as a substitute. This actually worked in my favor as I’m convinced G only tried the meal after realizing it contained sausage. What I ended up with was a much less complicated and fussy yet delicious meal, essentially simplified paella. A saucy rice dish combined with onions, carrots, peas and sausage…an instant hit with G!


Natalie’s Paella(ish)

Sauté 1 small onion and 1 carrot, both chopped in some olive oil. Add approximately ½ cup tomato sauce, cover, and simmer for a bit until onions and carrots are tender. Add 1 cup cooked white rice to the mixture along with some frozen peas, stir and cook on low just long enough for the rice to absorb the tomato sauce. May need to add more depending on how saucing you like it. You can eat as is, adding more veggies if you like, or a protein such as chicken, sausage, or shrimp.

Filet of ...

In just this past year I have attended five weddings and as with most events, the food has been fundamental to the success of each party. In fact, the food is so important that it is a constant throughout the entire event, from the cocktail hour, to the sit down dinner, to dessert. Come to think of it, it would be a fantastic idea to serve little snacks during the ceremony as well. Food brings the entire event and the people attending together. There is no better way to bond with a complete stranger than over a delicious mini appetizer half falling off your teeny tiny napkin while at the same time balancing your cocktail in the other hand.

At each of these weddings, I have always found the main course entry options to contain at least one fish or vegetarian choice. Supplying a wide variety to a large group is key if the goal is to satisfy everyone. While I realize that offering a vegetarian meal is a fairly recent concept, I was under the impression that serving fish is a common practice. Apparently this is not always the case as I learned, the hard way, at a recent wedding I attended.

For this particular wedding, the main course entry choices were not supplied with the invitation and instead, orders were taken once everyone was seated. The waitress for our table explained my options as lamb, chicken, or filet. Not even for a second did I question what they were filleting as my brain immediately denoted the first two options as land animals and therefore I proceeded to order the third. You can imagine my surprise when instead of a filet of fish, a huge hunk of meat was sitting on the plate served to me. I think what surprised me most was not that I had actually ordered filet but that at no point before receiving my meal had I realized my ordering blunder. I actually found the occurrence quite amusing and the other guests at the table enjoyed my mistake as they were all dished an extra helping of filet mignon. This was definitely a first for me however, part of being a vegetarian is anticipating that these things will happen and going with the flow once they do.