update

      I promised an update on the food challenge that we began on Sunday. If you're joining us late, scroll down and read so you'll know what the heck I'm inflicting on my loved ones.

This is the yummy dish that started the 'clean out my pantry' kick. If only they were all so delightful and healthy and satisfying....and easy.

Night One: Black beans and brown rice with green chilis and lots of fresh kale. We ate it with a hot green salsa and sour cream and jalapeno cornbread. Those are kidney beans thrown in, too. My friend Mimi, of Hikercise fame, turned me onto this recipe, and it's so fortifying. If you've seen Mimi, then you know, we should all just say, "I'll have what she's having!" And this is it!

Night Two: Feeling strong and able. The kitchen was more like a restaurant with me turning out several small meals to make one big meal. In Spain they would call it tapas. But that makes it sound glamorous. And it wasn't. The last of the potstickers, a leftover hamburger with carmelized onions and blue cheese, a reuben made with a random frozen chicken breast, a plain chicken sandwich, and to tie it all together, a plate of deviled eggs. Weird. And a pain in the drawers. But these were things that needed eating. They got et.

Night Three: This was easy. Spaghetti and spinach salad with garlic bread. For the bread we used all those odd leftover buns that find refuge in the freezer. And our meager butter stash. Lewis had marshmallows and chocolate chips for dessert, on the sly.

Night Four: A coconut red curry with tofu, onion, spinach, tomatoes and carrots. More brown rice and a ginger lime slaw. Tasty. Max kept talking about how good the chicken was. He finally got it. Ahhh, it's tofu! And went back for more.

The trickiest part, so far, has been snacks. The kids can't see the possibilities as readily as I can and I have to help a good bit. Yesterday after school they were STARVING. Mean and ugly starving. I looked in the pantry and voila. Ramen. Three packs from 2004. I cooked it. They all sat at the table and started to inhale it, but suddenly Max hops up and goes to the trash and pulls out the wrapper. Bastard.

'Mom, can you just guess how much sodium is in this stuff?' he says, while waving the wrapper in the air.

'I have a feeling you're going to tell us, Mr. Takes Health Class SOOOO Seriously!'

'Try not to eat any more before college, and I think you'll live,' I say.

Because momma is cold and just doesn't care.

So far so good. I would be lying if I said that my kids aren't complaining, but I'm fine with that. They start to bitch and moan and then they pause and say 'oh yeah, my mom is weird, and we aren't buying food these days.'

Today when I picked them up from school I handed them all an orange and a smushed no name fig newton that had survived our road trip to Albuquerque. Yum. Who wants an old smushed fig newton?

No one, that's who.

Guess what? Not one word. They ate it all. Happily.

It made me want to go buy them a special treat.

But I didn't.

They can have some grated coconut and sweetened condensed milk.

tofu red curry