Fresh Tart

Nathan's home with me today, with a fever and feeling tired. I went to check in with him after posting last night and he was sound asleep, at 6:50 p.m. Had fallen asleep doing his homework! Definitely not usual 9-year-old-boy behavior. So today he's lyin' low, watching a little TV, and finishing up the homework he didn't finish last night. I can tell he's probably going to be OK, because he requested a home-made pizza for lunch (!). And I'm willing to make it for him because he hasn't eaten anything for 24 hours. And I can make it pretty healthy when I do it myself (throw a little whole-wheat flour into the crust, keep the sodium low in the tomato sauce, incorporate some fresh garlic, go easy on the cheese). Hopefully the pizza, some rest, and a little TLC will get him back on his feet.

For tonight, I'll be keeping things simple. Both kids here for dinner, I'm thinking crispy roasted chicken, rice, and a quick tomato gratin. As you can tell, we eat alot of chicken & rice in this house! Variations on a theme, it's all just variations on a theme...ha.

Well, made the pizza for Nathan, and he loved it. He's definitely on the mend. Since I'd messed up the mixer anyhow, I decided to bake some bread for tonight. At first I was thinking challah (or Rockin' Challah as Susie the Metal Jewtheran - Jewish Lutheran - was calling it today; just to use that cool name, I'll post the recipe, below) but I'm a bit low on eggs so just made a nice white loaf instead. I may end up revising the dinner menu, hmmm... As in, I think I'll skip the rice. And since I haven't bought chicken yet, I could skip that too. Soup would be nice with the fresh bread. Too bad no one would eat chili but me, that sounds great... Really the only soup that the whole family will eat is chicken noodle, so I guess that's what I'll shoot for. Fresh bread and chicken noodle soup! With a salad. That's pretty far from chicken & rice with tomato gratin, but so the day goes!

The soup is delicious, but that bread, hmmm...it's looking a little odd in the oven. I bake bread all the time, I'm not sure what I blew, perhaps not quite enough yeast. That's how it looks anyhow. And it looks hilarious! OK, now it's out of the oven, and I sliced the end off, and it tastes yummy, so I guess we'll go with it. Nice texture, chewy and soft interior, good flavor, didn't develop much of a crust though (as you can see) - nice top! Oh well! (If it had tasted like crap I would have baked popovers, which I almost love more than fresh yeast bread anyhow, thus my calm attitude.) Put a little Hope Creamery butter on the table, everyone will think it's fabulous (yes, I bought it again, damn I wish I didn't love it so much...). So, on to a salad, and dinner will be on the table. I have Caesar dressing from last night, and both kids LOVE Caesar, so I know they'll eat their veggies, at least tonight.