SpaghettiOs are Good, no?

When you have kids, you often end up eating what they eat. Case in point, last week Miss O and her lil bro A wanted SpaghettiOs for lunch. I heated up two cans just to be sure I had enough to fill each Thermos but as luck would have it, there were some SpaghettiOs left for me to eat with bread and butter later that day. Yum-O - one of my childhood favorites! When I was a kid, I would pile the Os and the sloppy tomato sauce on top of the bread then fold it over to make a messy sandwich of sorts. (Yep, I still do this as an adult) It's funny how a simple lunch can stir up happy memories from back in the day. After gobbling up my SpaghettiOs, I wanted all the world to know about it so I posted this on my Facebook status:

I ate one of my favorite childhood lunches today - spaghettios with bread and butter! I know, weird . . . what's one of your favorite lunches from your childhood?

Lo and behold, several FB friends contributed some fun responses to my question, which is a good thing because I'm pretty sure most people don't give a hoot about what I'm eating for lunch day to day. Then, my friend Rick suggested I write about this very topic for my blog, so here goes nothing!

Interestingly enough, I discovered that as kids, and most likely as adults too, my friends and I enjoy eating food from these three groups:

2. Dairy . . . Cheese, butter, milk
3. Grains . . . Bread, pasta, macaroni
1. Processed protein . . . Hot dogs, bologna (and yes, I sing the Oscar Mayer jingle in my head to spell bologna, don't you?), ham, and other deli meats

OK, I know what you're thinking. Hmmm . . . many of those foods are not so good for you. I agree, but they're tasty and nostalgic. Take this comment from a guy named Brian A., perhaps you know him?

Peanut butter and pickle (dill slices), a banana, and chocolate milk

Now I'm not sure if he meant a peanut butter and pickle sandwich, but I do agree that chocolate milk and pickles make a surprisingly delicious combo. Especially if you made the chocolate milk with PDQ like we did as kids.

What did everyone else have to say? I will tell you right now. Yes, way!

• Ham and butter sandwich - Carrie D.
• Macaroni and cheese with sliced hot dogs or tomato soup with chunks of cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches - Sarah H.
• SpaghettiOs and cut up hot dogs, tomato soup and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich - Rick M.
• Minced ham on fresh white bread with American cheese - Juli T.
• Tomato soup with popped popcorn in it! And toasted cheese... open face cheese on bread in oven - Ronda M.
  
• Hot dogs and beans....and a chicken noodle concoction you could get in a glass jar....it was yummy - Leanne S.
• Hamburger helper cheeseburger macaroni with lettuce, raw onions and tomatoes diced up on top! - Maria G.
• Bologna and cheese sandwich, Guys plain chips, and a grape soda packed in my Snoopy lunch box and eaten outside on a blanket - Connie M.
  
  Pam B. shared her thoughts about SpaghettiOs with bread and butter:

  My mom used to make me that for lunch all the time!

  Well, of course she did!
  
  Thanks to all my friends who unknowingly contributed to this post. Let's do lunch soon, darlings!
  

Weekend Brunch

It's another Friday and that means Sue and I make our lists of good things. We'd love to read about yours in the comments!

Today, I'm thinking about brunch. You know, the meal that's a little bit like breakfast and a little bit like lunch - and you get a slice of melon at the end? Yeah, I knew you would. So let's bring it with the food!

Breakfast: Three good things about breakfast

Sue

1. Coffee
2. Baked goods like muffins, donuts, and scones
3. Hot oatmeal on a cold day


Brian

2) Bacon
3) Bacon & Eggs
1) Bacon & Eggs & Bacon

Lunch: Three good places to eat lunch

Sue

1. Portillo’s or Buona Beef - It's a tie! Hot dogs at Portillo's, Italian beef at Buona.
2. Emerson Creek Pottery and Tea Room, Oswego, IL. - Great place out in country for ladies-who-lunch.
3. Hoosier Mama Pie Company, Chicago - They have both sweet and savory pies so in my book that counts as lunch!

Brian

2) 5 Guys - pretty much my favorite burger.
3) Loui's Lunch - the birthplace of the hamburger.
1) Pal's Diner - best wait-staff ever.

Brunch: Three good things you might eat for brunch, but not at another meal

Sue

*I will eat almost all brunch foods at other times of the day, but there are some brunch foods I will NOT eat ever!

1. Smoked salmon, or any type of salmon for that matter
2. Oysters or mussels
3. Bloody Marys, or any kind of tomato or veggie juice

Brian

*I will also eat almost all brunch foods at other times of the day, but I wrote the questions, so I'm sticking to them.

2) Fruit compote (really a fancy name for fruit salad, but the name is all brunch)
3) Poached eggs. I have no idea why.
1) Yogurt parfait (again, fancy name for yogurt, fruit, and granola - that I eat all the time - but don't call it that)


Ok - there's our good stuff - tell us about yours!

Summertime, summertime . . .

sum sum summertime! Today marks the very last day of school for the year, which really is the less-than-an-hour, pick-up your report card day, but who's counting?

Two very excited kids! And one sort of excited, and a little bit melancholy mom. As a kid, summer seems to last forever. As a parent and a former teacher, summer can go by in a flash! One day you're watching fireworks or toasting marshmallows, then before you know it, you're at Target loading up on new school supplies and the latest fall fashions.

In honor of this day, I will note three good things about summer vacation:

1. Sleeping in. No alarms, no five more minutes, no catching the bus. With the exception of sports camps and other activities, we are no longer on a tight morning schedule. Ahhhhhhh!

2. No homework. No spelling tests or reading logs. No huge social studies projects. No notes to sign or papers to check. No multiplication facts, geometry problems, or Internet research. No nagging, "Did you do your homework yet?"

3. Sacking the sack. Lunch that is. No nightly ritual of packing lunches for the kids. Although we will still need to make and eat lunch, our choices can be much more flexible than sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, and a juice pouch. The kids can have hot foods like soup and mac and cheese, or cold foods like popsicles and ice cream. Hey, we can even go to Portillo's for hot dogs. Fancy that, Brian! ;-)

Summertime, ooh ooh ooh!

WAL and whatnot

Food glorious food! It's a good thing in my mind, and especially in my tummy. Today, I'm serving up three helpings of gastronomical glee. Let's begin.

1. WAL? - from time to time, OK nearly every day, I ask Brian WAL (What about lunch?) My favorite part of this silly exchange is that he always tells me. Sometimes whatever is on Brian's plate sounds really yummy, sometimes it does not, and sometimes it's really not that healthy for him. And I tell him so because good friends are honest with each other, right?

2. My chocolate stash - I like to eat a little bit of chocolate every day so I always try to keep a stockpile in my kitchen cabinet. When my hubby goes shopping, he often brings me a chocolate treat. It's like chocolate is my crack, and he's my dealer. Today I ate mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joes - yummy!

3. Pancakes for dinner - my family loves, loves, loves to eat pancakes for dinner! My son's record in one sitting is 15 pancakes, and he's not even a teenager yet. In fact, we enjoy eating all kinds of breakfast foods for dinner. See about this very good thing on my other blog, In Sickness and In Health.

friends, food, fun - good things, no?