Pizza Chicken

The kids are good eaters. Well, they are good at eating what they like and not so good at eating what they don't like. What those things are change from day to day and sometimes from meal to meal.

A sure bet? Ice cream. Yet, even I of the cold pizza or leftover spaghetti breakfast frown on ice cream as a breakfast choice. The kids would be thrilled to get cookies as their second choice, and I can't climb on board with that either. I plead the fifth on whether or not I've had cookies for breakfast, besides, we are talking about the kids. Although - I did see a "breakfast cookie' in the commissary the other day, but since it was beside the pop tarts and candy thinly disguised as chewy, fruit roll up thingies, I didn't even bother to pick up the box. Besides, what am I teaching them by giving them a 'breakfast cookie' for breakfast? Well, other than it's okay to have cookies for breakfast. But I'm getting off track.

Our landlords are going on vacation, so we have been given a lot of tomatoes and been instructed to pick and eat some apples while they are gone. As much as I love ketchup (Heinz only, please) and pasta sauce, I don't care much for tomatoes themselves. I don't like tomato juice or soup either, which really doesn't make any sense - not that all that much that I do makes a lot of sense. So I'm trying to figure out the best way to use these tomatoes. As tomatoes go, they look wonderful. I sliced up one for our Labor Day burgers, and the flavor was wonderful. Why I like a piece of tomato on a burger, but won't eat them on salads is a complete mystery to me. So, I figured I'd try to make a chunky, healthy tomato type sauce out of the rest. I diced them and boiled them with some water, garlic, fresh pepper and Italian seasoning. The next night for dinner, I was sauteing some chicken breasts and thought that I'd try throwing on the tomato creation for some added flavor.

T wanders in, sniffs, and asks, "what's that? Pizza?" (a little hopefully). Going with the flow I reply, "Yes! It's pizza chicken." (I manage to keep a straight face). Looking at me doubtfully, he peers into the pan. "Pizza chicken?" he asks. "Uh-huh" I respond. "Okay" he says, eyeing me cautiously and walking out of the kitchen.

This would be a good place to point out that the last gazillion times I've made chicken for dinner he has not been the least bit interested. However, we sit down for dinner, we cut some up and put it on the kids' plates and sprinkle it with cheese and....holy healthy dinners, batman! Not only do they try it, they EAT it and ask for more. Cheerfully. Along with the majority of the green beans I fixed and they even try the squash. Will wonders never cease.....