Cooking for Ingrates Episode 35,148

[pegkerr]

Dinner tonight: taco pie.

Cook two cups of rice, mix with one beaten egg and some parmesan cheese, press into an oiled pie dish and bake in 350 oven for ten minutes. Fill with a mixture of ground beef mixed with taco seasonings, salsa, black beans and corn, bake in oven, topped with shredded cheddar cheese, until the cheese melts.

Side dish: winter squash. Hah, Peg, you never learn, do you, you stupid bitch.

Verdict: Rob ate the pie, asked for a second helping. He took one bite but otherwise snubbed the squash. Both Fiona and Delia refused their entire dinner. Delia was actually hypoglycemic because she'd just come from karate class, but she would not would not would not eat the pie because it had beans in it.

"Fine," I told her. "Then make yourself a piece of bread with peanut butter."

She spread the bread with peanut butter and then stared at it for ten minutes, her hands shaking, until I lost my temper. "Eat the damn bread. You're hypoglycemic, for God's sake, and you're just going to get worse until you choke something down. I don't care if you think you don't want it: eat the goddamned bread."

Whereupon she burst into tears and I left the dinner table.

And came up and did this entry.

I hate cooking for my ungrateful family.

The leftover pie and squash will be my lunch tomorrow.

Comments

[aome.livejournal.com]

The winter squash debacle reminds me of a recipe I tried recently, that I thought you might like as food-for-Peg. Halve an acorn squash lengthwise, and seed it. Cut off a tiny bit of the outer shell so it lies flat (without being all tippy), cut side up, on the baking dish. Mix together a bit of softened butter, honey and dijon mustard (I think it was something like 1Tbsp honey and butter, 1 tsp mustard for each whole squash, but I found that to be too much butter, so adjust to taste). Spread the honey/mustard/butter mixture over the well in each squash, bake in oven until done - very tasty as a side dish. For Peg, anyway. :)

Hope you can find a few choc chip morsels or a cup of cocoa or something, to help mend your (understandably) frayed nerves.

[lauzeta.livejournal.com]

Oh man. Kids these days. You have my sympathies.

[rachet.livejournal.com]

*frowns* I think it sounds delicious. Especially the squash.

If I was there, you'd have no leftovers.

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

Sounds yummy!

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Yum! Good for you. Rob can get her to eat something.

You're not a stupid bitch. I love you, and I don't love either stupid people or bitches.

[satakieli.livejournal.com]

Sounds delicious. I shall have to try that.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I just this moment finished a banana, baked in the microwave with chocolate chips, topped with vanilla ice cream.

[teacherla.livejournal.com]

Another roasted banana variation: spritz it with cooking oil, wrap in foil, bake in oven until hot and soft. Peel (cautiously...) and eat by itself! Mmm!

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Your kids may not like the taco pie, but I think it sounds awfully tasty, and less messy than normal tacos. (However, regular tacos or fajitas may work better for your family: put out rice, beans, beef, chopped lettuce, grated cheese, diced tomatoes and onions, and salsa in separate bowls. (Any or all of these are optional; you could also add sour cream or guacamole.) Provide hard taco shells or tortilla and let everyone make her own at table.

Two questions: when you say "oiled pie shell" do you just mean a pie dish, or a premade pie crust? (The former seems more likely but if I used the phrase "pie shell" I'd mean the latter.) Also, does the rice get really eggy or does the egg just help it stick together better?

[penmage.livejournal.com]

I'm not a squash person, but that taco pie sounds unbelievably delicious. If I could think of a successful way to replace the meat or the cheese, I'd be all over that in a flash.

Funny story: my dad is a really, really picky eater. He is also macrobiotic, which makes cooking for him hard. He also claims that he hates all things squash, even if they only have a little bit of squash as an ingrediant. He claims he can taste it, like the princess and the pea.

One week a few years ago, my mom made squash latkes. I also do not generally like squash, but I tasted them, and they were really pretty good. So we made a pact, she and I, that we would not tell my father what was the main ingredient in those latkes.

He ate them, and loved them. He still loves them to this day, and still has no idea what is in them. I really think that if he found out, he'd suddenly stop liking them.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Oh! I meant a pie dish of course. I used a glass one. I'll correct the entry.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Are you vegan? If not, you can use that crust for quiches, i.e., fill it with beaten eggs mixed with various vegetables.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

No, I keep kosher. I meant, I'd have to replace the meat OR the cheese, and both sound too integral to lose and still have as awesome a dish.

[eal.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Morningstart Farms veggie crumbles? They work really well as a meat sub for a lot of things.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

I've had their veggieburgers (yum!) but not their other products. I'll have to try it!

[eal.livejournal.com]

I swear by them and the best part is my super-meat eating husband can't tell the difference between ground beef and veggie crumbles.

One piece of advice a little more spice because they're kind of bland.

I hate to say it

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

but maybe you need to give Delia a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and a spreading knife, and tell her if she wants something else she can eat what is set in front of her.

And ignore any protests to the alternative. Except maybe to force her to eat a slice of bread or drink a glass of orange juice if she is acting hypoglycemic.

My parents were pretty good about stuff because the had the 'test child' way before us and forced an eating incident that caused, urm, untoward results at the dinner table. But if we got adamant about it, that was the answer. "we've got bread, we've got peanut butter, you won't starve, suck it up."

Since I cook for all adults, I'd just go f-you, fix your own f-ing dinner if you're going to be so f-ing picky.

[romancoat.livejournal.com]

It sounds fantastic to me. And I guess things are just different nowadays? When I was younger, the deal was that we had to eat whatever my mom placed on the table. If we didn't like it, we cook/make our own meal. I would've been in such big trouble if I'd refused the entire meal.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Enough Mexican dishes are often made with beans only that I think you could get the same effect that way, with enough seasoning. Maybe use refried instead of whole beans (you'd need refried bans made without lard, obviousy.)

Re: I hate to say it

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what I did, isn't it? Without the f-language.

But I was sure thinking it.

I said in a comment to kijjohnson's LJ tonight that I was thinking of drop-shipping my kids to Siberia.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

If we didn't like it, we cook/make our own meal. Well, that's essentially what I told her to do.

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

I think I may steal your taco pie recipe. Though my family would be confused since we have a version of our own- cooked hamburger and frozen corn mixed with taco seasoning, pour a layer of cornbread over it, bake for 45 min.

I am beginning to better understand your troubles. Samantha will not eat tomatoes or potatoes and those are two staple ingredients at my house. We've decided that any night where she refuses to eat what I've made her, she owes me 30 min of doing whatever I need done. It's worked well.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

By the way, I'm actually pretty excited about this. I've just moved to Taipei, and there's some Western food we can get and some (so far) we can't. Not sure if they have taco shells here, but I know they have rice (of course!) and beef and cheese and eggs and corn and I'm pretty sure about black beans. Not so sure about salsa, but it seems at least somewhat likely.

[msavi.livejournal.com]

Food is supposed to be a happy thing. I feel badly on your behalf when it isn't for you.

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

I would have loved having you as a mother. Peanut butter as an alternative to meals I didn't like?

I never got that choice, and that included some pretty awful 'experimental' meals, including tuna fish salad chow mein, chili mac quiche, and that old army favorite, sh*t on a shingle (but with the hamburger replaced with potted meat, and the gravy replaced with pickle relish). Ew.

Nonetheless, as bad as all those were, I still would have eaten them before letting my blood sugar get so low I passed out and had to be taken to the hospital (and I'm diabetic as an adult, so I'm achingly familiar with how bad low blood sugar can feel).