Day 27: Make your family's favorite dinner,,,

Challenge Day 27: Make your family's favorite dinner AND do the dishes. Set the table FANCY - use candles, dress up, nicer dishes, background music.

This is a nice way to start the work week. The biggest challenge will be finding a "favorite" meal. My family members have very different tastes in foods. For starters, Terri is a gluten-free vegetarian. Maya, still has the adventure and flavor averse palette of a 4 year-old and only eats foods like cheese pizza, cheeseburgers, chicken strips, French fries. I'll eat pretty much anything. There are the usual meals we all eat a lot, like tostadas and pasta, but those are compromises, not favorites.

Let me think. Think, think, think. Well, everyone in the family likes breakfast. Terri's favorite meal is Huevos Rancheros and Maya LOVES bacon. We all like blueberry pancakes. That's perfect.

So I got off work, stopped by the store for a few ingredients, stopped by my neighbor's to borrow 3 plates,(we have no nice dishes - just the Fiesta ware we use every day), went home, kicked the family out of the kitchen, set the table then started cooking. I gave them both invitations to dinner and requested they dress up too. (Terri and Maya were bundled up in sweats and slippers when I got home - I knew getting them to dress up would be iffy. Terri agreed but Maya said it was way too cold in our house for a little dress).

The menu: Huevos Rancheros Verdes, - an easy-to-make and tasty version topped with green sauce, lime juice infused cilantro and scallion and avocado slices- http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/huevos_rancheros_verdes.html
Blueberry pancakes with Pamela's G/F baking mix, pure maple syrup, bacon for Maya, and sparkling orange juice in champagne glasses.

It was fun to sit down together at a fancy table with candles, "champagne", nice place settings and cutlery, and background music. Maya didn't know which fork to use. (We gotta get that girl out more often).

Everyone loved the meal - all plates were practically licked clean.

I even enjoyed my time alone in the kitchen cleaning up afterward - it felt more special, almost like an honor to be doing it.