Poached eggs = fail

Tonight's dinner was going to be toast topped with roasted kale and a poached egg, with a side of sweet potato fries, thanks to inspiration from fellow bloggers CrumblyCookie and SimplyMe (this is my first attempt at linking on my Mac!) Alas, I apparently did not pay close enough attention all those nights during my childhood when my mom would make us poached eggs on toast. I got the boiling water part down, and knew to cook the eggs for as long as it cook the bread to toast, but beyond that, I was winging it. Nobody told me there had to be a certain amount of water in the pan, nor did anyone explain how to get the whites from shredding like cheap toilet paper mid-flush. My two beautiful farm-fresh eggs stuck to the bottom of my pan, and their golden moon yolks were left high and dry (or actually, rather slimy) due to my inexperience. One was salvageable, but the other served as a reminder to the dog that, although he gets reprimanded an awful lot, I do still like him. He was quite the attentive dinner companion after that.

As for the rest of the meal, it was divine. My sauteed kale was cooked in olive oil with garlic, orange bell pepper, and corn. This was my first experience with kale. The texture is "meatier" than spinach or chard, taking longer to chew, and the flavor was an excellent complement to the surviving egg. I liked that it kept its ruffle and did not wilt down to a pile of mush as spinach is wont to do. I used Tosca Reno's sweet potato oven fry recipe from The Eat-Clean Diet book, which is a spicier version of the Sweet Potato Oven Fries in The Eat-Clean Diet for Family & Kids book. The H and baby had a dinner date with H's parents, so I was free to cook for my own tastebuds. And my 'buds like spice.

So even though the eggs didn't go as planned, don't think I forgot about my toast! Ohhh no. I could never forget my toast... it was just a plain ol' piece of sprouted grain bread, until I smeared it with a hearty helping of artisanal cream cheese--one of my co-op selections from last night--that probably supplied my daily value of fat in one fell swoop. The texture was closer to goat cheese than the brick of Philadelphia you may be used to, but once it came to room temperature it was delightfully spreadable. Best.cream.cheese.ever. Thanks, Dancing Goat Creamery!

In case you've fallen asleep reading the previous three paragraphs, here's a recap: Dinner was garlic-sauteed kale with bell pepper and corn, topped with a messily-poached egg and served with spicy sweet potato oven fries and sprouted grain toast with locally-made fresh cream cheese. And it was very good.

Cooking ahead

"What's for lunch?" is often a more difficult question for me to answer than the usual, "What's for dinner?" Dinner (or supper, if that's what you call it) means cooking for my family. Dinner is why I comb through cookbooks and magazines in my spare time looking for delicious and healthy meals that fit with our clean-eating lifestyle. Dinner is eating with other people, so it's fun (for me, anyway) to plan for and look forward to.

But lunch? Lunch is lonely. It's something to get through on the way to my son's naptime, or eaten in a hurry at my computer while I try to get some work done once he's down. Lunch is usually leftovers, if The H hasn't taken them to work. Lunch is boring. A hurdle to jump over on the way to a delicious dinner.

Enter cooking ahead. Determined not to have boring lunches all week, I decided to make things from my clean cooking resources that The H wouldn't appreciate as much, or can't eat because of his allergy. Cooking ahead saves time in the long run, which is always nice, and something I've heard readers asking about lately. It doesn't take a lot of time, promise.

Tonight's dinner was one of our old standbys, a CrockPot casserole-type thing we call "chicken-salsa-rice." It's really a hands-off dinner, since the only real prep is pouring a jar of salsa over frozen chicken and turning the crock on low. Closer to serving time, cooked rice and shredded cheese are added, and sour cream if you want. When I made the rice this afternoon during snack time, I figured I might as well make a big batch to keep in the fridge for lunches or another dinner later this week.

After dinner, once the baby was fed, bathed, and in bed (by 7:30) I got to work in the kitchen. I'd had a package of Trader Joe's extra-firm tofu staring me in the face every time I opened the refrigerator and figured I should use it--the tofu burritos from Tosca's family & kids book were a perfect fit. The H has also been asking for hard-boiled eggs, so those needed to get made. And then there were the chicken breast tenders I wanted to use for dinner tomorrow (chicken taco salad). Sounds like a lot! But you know what? I was done, with the dishwasher running and my pans hand-washed, sitting in front of my computer before 8:45.

First, The H (never turn down free help!) put the eggs in a pot and started them cooking. He also laid out all the chicken tenders on a baking sheet and drained the tofu for me. And then it was my turn. Onion, garlic, jalapeno, bell pepper and tofu got chopped. Canned tomatoes were drained; juice was saved and labeled. Oil heated, veggies added, tofu stirred in. Mixture seasoned and simmered. Eggs done and cooled. Burrito filling container labeled and filled (I love my label maker), burrito pan washed. Egg pan rinsed and dried. Chicken checked, not done, timer set for another 10. Then I went to shower (ran a quick 3 miles before dinner) and came back to put the chicken away. Chicken pan rinsed, dishwasher started, the end! Whew.

Now I have a fresh (as in not left-over) option for lunch. I can add brown rice to the tofu filling in my whole-grain wrap, or use some plain tenders + rice + whatever seasoning for a different flavor, in a wrap or not. I can make a clean egg salad to eat on Ezekiel bread. My son can have an egg with his morning fruit-and-waffle. If The H doesn't take dinner leftovers, those are still available, too.

Tomorrow I will make a batch of oatmeal-egg-white wheat-free pancakes (would have made them tonight but didn't feel like washing the blender) to freeze for another breakfast or lunch choice. And you know what else? I haven't gone grocery shopping since last Sunday. All of this was made with ingredients I had hanging around! If you ask The H, or even my son's sitter, they'd have likely told you there was nothing to eat. Surprise!

I love cooking ahead. It might even help me love lunch.