Back to school

We are in full swing with back to school...new routines means revamping mealtime. With just one kid back to school last week, things were relatively smooth...dinner, soccer, errands no big deal...especially since I am able to expand a meal quickly by making soup in the Vitamix.  I have been trying to develop as many varieties of carrot soup as I can..so far it's working; Saturday I was able to make a meal of sauteed wild shrimp and soup in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the day.

This weekend was a little hectic so I was unable to develop a solid plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and after school logistics. I also had to pull together dinner for my grandmom's 87th birthday, which I was able to do successfully despite a series of unfortunate events. I put a boneless leg of lamb in the rotisserie, haddock in the oven, sautéed eggplant (ratatouille style), and did the zucchini in the pressure cooker (Savannah style). Everything was delicious and she especially enjoyed the soup that I literally threw in the Vitamix - onion, celery, potato, carrots, jalapeño - so much that she's thinking about getting a Vitamix (I made a quick soup last week when she came over from crabs).

Monday morning did not go well...I made sausage for breakfast while making hummus to pack in the kids' lunch (I'm now officially out of the Persian lime olive oil that I didn't think I'd use)...since they were both late for school I knew I had to get a better plan. Last night we had leftover lamb, I puréed the eggplant in the Vitamix to make a baba ganoush style spread, and some roasted corn on the cob. At the kids' request, I put together some breakfast loaves...instead of just sausage, egg, and potato, I added Swiss chard and carrots to boost up the veggies; I also substituted ricotta for heavy cream...they were fabulous this morning and I made chicken salad for lunch (also at their request). This morning went much smoother. I also prepped a "salad in a jar" for tonight since we will be out until 9pm for back to school night and other activities (I'm excited because I used bee pollen in the vinaigrette). Here's hoping that the remainder of the week will be as smooth.