January 11th

Here's where it starts. Monday, January 11th.

Breakfast on monday is pancakes, always pancakes. That went just fine. I made the regular batch instead of the double because Russell is spending the week at Grandma's and he's one of the piggiest pancake eaters.

But then dinner: I had planned Supper Nachos. This is one of our party dinners because it involves tortilla chips, but sometimes we have it on weeknights. Instead of this, though, I made the Southwest chicken I was going to make on Sunday, with refried beans and spanish rice on the side. I taught the children how to get your mexican-food-platter going, with cheese over everything. And they balked, and they claimed they were full, and they pouted, and they dragged their feet. I finally had to make deals with both of them, involving them eating the beans and rice and me eating their chicken. Wah Wah!! Mom made something I don't recognize! Wah. Now I admit, this will probably not show up in my rotation again without some major modifications, but come ON!! They were balking before they'd even tried it. Eric especially. Here's the recipe, in case you love tomatoes more than me:

4 boneless skinless chix breasts
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 c. picante sauce
1/3 c. sour cream
avacado slices
chopped cilantro

Sprinkle chicken with cumin, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken and garlic in oil until lightly browned, about 2 minutes per side. Add picante sauce. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 10 minutes (I left mine for like 45 minutes because the chix was so fat). Remove chicken to serving platter. Keep warm. Stir sour cream into skillet juices until well blended and heated through. Spoon over chicken. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serves 4.

Mine may have been too tomatoey because I'm using a type of picante sauce called Herdez, and it is really tomatoey. Also the chunks are really big. Plus we don't eat avocados and I didn't have any cilantro, so maybe that affected the taste. It wouldn't have mattered for the children though, since they barely even tasted it.