Dinner With a Side Of Green

I'm sure all of you know yesterday was St. Patrick's day. And most of you know that I am slightly crazy, so a green-themed holiday is a lot of fun for me. Also, I am a skosh Irish (it's my blog, so I can make up whatever words I want,) so I must celebrate St. Patties day or the leprechauns will come and take away all my gold. Wait, I don't have any gold! Criminey, foiled again.

My mom had fun with St. Patties day too, as a child I remember green pancakes, green mashed potatoes, and green milk, to name a few. I also remember not wanting to drink the green milk, since it looked funny, and decided to ditch that one. Sometimes my dad would make corned beef and cabbage, and I never liked it. To this day I am not a fan, my brother goes over to my parent's every year for corned beef and cabbage and Guinness, but I will let that be 'their time.' I will not make it, because it is gross and it makes the house stink for days. Instead, I brought out the green food coloring and had some Irish fun.

I had bought some portabello mushrooms that needed to be eaten, and I knew dying them green would not work, so they were left alone. I made oven roasted potatoes with green food coloring, and pan fried sugar snap peas in a balsamic vinaigrette with toasted almonds. I roasted the portabellos in the oven with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and spices. I had intended on taking pictures, but by the time I got the kids served and settled with all the extras ("Can I have some ketchup? Can I have some ranch? I already drank my milk, can I have more? I didn't get a napkin! Wait, it's on the floor. Can I have a new one?") I knew I needed to just eat since I had about six seconds till Drew would wake up.

Overall, it was a decent meal. It was my first attempt at roasted portabello mushrooms, and they were good, but next time I think I will stuff them with something. The kids were less than thrilled with the mushrooms but they loved the peas and the potatoes. I think Emma would have licked the balsamic vinaigrette out of the serving bowl if I had let her. I normally enforce "you get what you get an you don't throw a fit" with the kids, but last night I relented and gave them something else. I cannot complain if one of the very few things my kids will not eat are portabello mushrooms.

So far today, I have pulled Ben out of the windowsill twice and off the top of the changing table once. And I wonder where the chipped tooth came from...

I have a great story that will be coming soon, but it involves pictures and my computer is still giving me fits, so when I know it is safe to upload them off the camera, I will post them.