The Spice of Life

The other day I was at a friend's house for a play date. We were staying for lunch so that after the girls went down for a nap, we could do some sewing. When I have other moms and kids over for lunch I typically serve grilled cheese. Once, in an effort to change things up, I made peanut butter and jam pinwheels. They looked fancy in the book, but in reality there were sort of squished and looked rather unappetizing. Anyway, back to the story at hand - this friend who was now serving us lunch said, "I just kept it really simple." She then proceeded to heat up some cream of carrot soup that she'd made earlier (incredibly delicious), which she served with a sort of tuna melt made on a tortilla wrap (toasted to perfection in the oven). For dessert, she pulled a home-made treat out of the freezer that she simply keeps on hand: bananas on popsicle sticks, coated in chocolate and rolled in granola. This was keeping it simple? To me, it was gourmet!

Now, with recipes and instructions in hand, I see that it might be simple after all. It's not something you whip up when you have 2 minutes to feed some hungry kids (hence my dependence on grilled cheese), but with a little bit of advance planning, I too can produce lunches of this caliber. And if I do successfully make this soup, I will have 2 soups in my repertoire. No comment, Jill!

I have long been on the hunt to find meal ideas to break the monotony of my own limited cooking, and I'm excited by some of the recipes I'm discovering. Beth's stew, for example. Simple maybe to some, but a whole new arena to me. After all, variety is supposed to be the spice of life!