Extra Time

Jordan zoomed through his work today so I wound up with some extra free time this afternoon. Leah's class on Wednesday starts at noon so she eats early and zooms off; today she had an appointment with her high-school counselor so she left earlier than normal. For Jordan and I that meant that we could pretty much set our own schedule for the day. While I was at the chiropractor he did his math lesson (we do a lesson together one day then he repeats the mixed practice part of the lesson the second day) and his grammar. We finished science, history, and Harry (Harry Potter-Goblet of Fire) after I got home. While the weather is still a bit cool I thought I would go ahead and roast some garlic. If I can get some done now and freeze it then I won't have to worry about doing it when it's hot outside (ok, I know in CO that may only be June and July). Other food news at the Byes: From my CL magazine in March we have made the Sauteed Brussels Sprouts (p.44)-a hit we love it and Leah ASKED for me to buy Brussels sprouts when I was at the store this weekend. We have also made the Beef-Broccoli Stir-Fry (pg.36). Everybody here loves Chinese so we would like to find some recipes that mimic that taste so we aren't tempted to want that as an eat out meal. The first time we made the recipe, Mark and I thought it was too gingery and not sweet enough. The second time we made it, he browned the meat in the skillet (minus the sauce) first and then added the sauce, cut back a bit on the ginger, and doubled to amount of hoisin because I wanted it a little sweeter. We may try taking the hoisin down just a pinch and do 1 1/2 TBSP and see what we think. I think this recipe will be a keeper too (we did like it) but we may look around at this type of recipe other places and see what their suggestions are before we settle on the final recipe for us. Because we are using so much broccoli we may get to that broccoli slaw I've been wanting to try soon too. We are well on the road to our yearly goal of 12 new recipes a year.