Sunday and Monday dinner reviews

Sunday night's breakfast for dinner was an 80% success.  Maybe more.

The black bean hash was fantastic.  I subbed Yukon Gold potatoes for the sweet potatoes (because this week's menu is very sweet potato heavy), and it was a well-received change.  Rich opted for an over-easy egg on top of his hash, and it looked pretty great.

E. does not like eggs, so she went crazy on fruit salad and hash and seemed no worse for the wear.

R. loves eggs, especially omelets, so he blissed out on a cheese omelet along with fruit.  He was not interested in the hash.

I had a small omelet, hash, and fruit salad.

You notice I haven't mentioned the Brazilian Cheese Bread.  The recipe for which I purchased tapioca flour.  The recipe I read three times, and decided to make only 1/3 of a batch since it makes 36 individual mini-muffin breads.  The recipe I messed up by omitting an ingredient.  Not nice.  The texture was horrible.  But the flavor was good, so I'll try it again, this time with everything in it.

Monday's dinner was a 100% success.

The red lentil recipe was great.  Easy, quick, and very, very tasty.  The pairing with quinoa was well-considered.  I used the quinoa we had in the pantry, and added curry powder and a small squeeze of honey after it was done cooking.

I steamed the brussels sprouts and also steamed broccoli (the kids are not fans of brussels sprouts), and added a dash of dill weed when they were done.

We don't have Trader Joe's in Memphis, and I can't imagine buying sweet potato fries anyway, since they're so easy to make.  If you've never made them, here's what I do.

1.  Peel a sweet potato.  Or two.  Or more.  (For two adults and two teens, I used two big sweet potatoes, and we had a small serving left over.)

2.  Cut the peeled sweet potatoes into fry-size pieces.  You can go as big or as small as you want.

3.  Toss the sweet potatoes with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and your choice of seasoning.  I used lemon pepper and everyone loved it.

4.  Put the oiled, seasoned sweet potatoes onto a baking sheet in one layer.  Put that into a preheated oven, about 375 degrees (but if you're using the oven for something else, it's okay to go to a different temperature).

Mine took about 40 minutes to cook to a nice, caramelized finish.  I took them out of the oven once to move them around.

The whole meal took less than an hour to prepare and cook, and the last 10 minutes were not active time...I was able to change clothes and take off my makeup before it was ready to eat.  The cleanup was not difficult, either.  Two saucepans, two prep bowls, one measuring cup (I rinsed and reused it), a couple measuring spoons, stirring spoons, knife, and cutting board.