A winner and a loser.

So I came to the realization today that I may have the dinner routine down pat but lunches I have certainly bombed as of late. Or maybe always. My daughter went to school this morning with a yogurt and two cookies, and my husband who requires breakfast, lunch and dinner on Tuesdays, only walked out the door with two of the three. I did intend to pack hot chicken noodle soup for my daughter, but it somehow slipped my mind. Thankfully the school is right around the corner... But a decision was made today to step it up a notch, since who's kid of a food fanatic goes to school with such boring lunches? Mind you, if my dear daughter had her way she would fill it with prepacked junk, just like the other kids have - I suppose the fitting in with others thing has begun. As I do not intend to go that route, I will instead make a menu list, just like my dinner lists, for school and work lunches. I feel that same frustration others have when figuring out dinner when it comes to preparing lunches. The cure for this must be planning ahead!
Off I went to the supermarket, and home I came with fun lunch possibilities. Above is Day #1 - Ham, Cheese and Pineapple Skewers (a straw representing the otherwise poky skewer). I also came up with doing my own pigs in a blanket, yes, using homemade dough, and a tuna roll up. So simple, yet what a relief to me...

Dinner tonight was a total FLOP, Salmon with Lemon Bordette and Sweet Pea Puree. SOUNDS yummy... And I am sure it could have been, but the lemon was so overpowering that it was not edible. The recipe called for the juice of two lemons, plus the zest of one. I am going to blame this on overly large lemons - once again - weight measurements triumphs over "two lemons". I do want to try it again at some point, as the components separately (other than the bordette, which I must tell you I did save the rest of it since I love squeezing lemon juice on potatoes about to be roasted) were incredible. The Sweet Pea Puree was stunning! The reason I wanted to attempt this dish was because it calls for quite a bit of fresh mint pureed with the peas. Peas and mint? Blech! But why not try! Let me tell you, wow! Bracing myself for a peppermint tea slash pea combination which did not come to fruition, I was in love with the fact that this seemingly sweet herb could do savoury so splendidly. And salmon, well salmon is - salmon! I adore simple pan seared salmon.

Here is the kids version:
(I must make a confession and add that I did ask my kids to eat the salmon.)

The somewhat more dressed up grown up version:

Don't be fooled by the nice sear on the fish either, it was way over done... But I did have fun cooking it! And I will be making more vegetable purees from now on, that's for sure.