At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them. I’m using: Pixie Stix ~ Lucky Charms ~ Jagerbomb ~ dustpan ~ burlap sack ~ ball gag. They were submitted by: The Momisodes.
I try to provide my family with healthy foods. I know it may not seem that way since I mostly feature chocolate and cocktails on this blog. It’s difficult to do because even though they’re grown men, my boys are still pretty picky eaters. My younger son has a hyperactive gag reflex so it’s always been impossible to get him accustomed to new foods. TMI, I know.
Honestly, you can make great, healthy dinners but if no one eats them you aren’t really accomplishing anything.
I recently came up with a recipe for Taco Stuffed Potato Skins that went over well with the family. I made them with lean ground beef but they could be made with chicken or turkey as well. They’re chock full of (cleverly disguised) vegetables. Score.
Taco Stuffed Potato Skins
And yet, sometimes I try something new and even I have to admit that it just didn’t work. These are our “bowl of cereal” nights. Unfortunately on those nights my brilliant experiment feeds the trash compactor and everyone happily grabs a bowl of their favorite cereal.
OR “bowl of cereal night” could be necessitated by a scenario similar to this:
My family likes meatballs. I had this great idea that I’d make us each an individual giant meatball, kind of a cross between a meatball and meatloaf. Brilliant dinner idea.
But an innocent misstep the night before put the kibosh on that idea.
Jagerbombs are deceiving. If you’re not familiar with Jagermeister, yes it’s alcohol but it’s made with 56 herbs, fruits and spices. Seriously, check their web site. Can you think of anything healthier than ingesting something made with 56 herbs fruits and spices? Jagerbombs are a shot of Jagermeister in a glass of Red Bull. Red Bull, pfffft, just glorified soda, right?
OK, I may have added some Pixie Stix, you know, just to sweeten it a bit but that has not been confirmed (or denied).
Truth is, Jagerbombs will put you right over the edge, or hanging off a ledge, as the case may be. Anyway, innocent misstep. Lesson learned.
Well needless to say the next day I felt like I was going to be removed from my home feet first on a gurney and wrapped in a burlap sack. Or a hazmat bag. The house was a disaster; bottles and cans all over the counter, pixie stix dust all over the floor.
As my family made their plans for the day, and I tried to figure out who was the most likely person to cooperate when I handed them the dustpan, they asked about dinner and the new recipe I had been talking about trying. It was all I could do to squeak out an answer: “don’t even talk to me about that meat ball, gag me. It’s “bowl of cereal night”, grab the Lucky Charms.”
PS: Before you go off planning my intervention, let me just say that this piece is a work of fiction. Well, mostly. I could still make that giant meatball some day. Stranger things have happened.
Links to the other Use Your Words posts:
Printable Recipe
NOTE: After I scoop out the potatoes I mash them and use them to either pipe onto the top of the Taco Stuffed Potato Skins
OR to make Potato Crusted Meatloaf
OR Individual Taco Pies
Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef, boneless skinless chicken strips or ground turkey
Taco seasoning mix (one packet or 2 ½ TBSP if you make your own)
2 cups cooked, cooled, chopped mixed vegetables of your choice
3/4 cup salsa
4 slices sharp cheddar cheese
Large baking potatoes (approximately 4)
Vegetable oil
Directions:
*Scrub your potatoes to remove any dirt from the skin, wipe them dry. Pierce the potatoes with a knife in the middle of the side (where you’ll later cut them in half). Lightly grease them with vegetable oil and bake until cooked through (depending on the size of the potato this should take about 50 minutes at 400 degrees).
*Cool at room temperature until you can handle them (about 20 minutes), slice in half lengthwise and scoop out most of the potato, leaving some potato in, you don’t want just skin.
*Cook the meat with the Taco seasoning until cooked through. Drain any fat, then add the vegetables and salsa until everything is just heated through.
*Using a pastry brush, lightly oil the skin of the potato halves. Place them on a baking pan. Scoop the meat and vegetable mixture into the potatoes, top with a half of a slice of sharp cheddar cheese.
*Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the potato and filling are hot.
*Serve with Homemade Pico de Gallo
