L'Espérance wrote:

> >
> > Perhaps you missed the part where I said my family is tired of green
> > salads / lettuce. We had a fabulous spinach salad last night and a baby
> > green / goat cheese / veg salad the night before, and caesar over the
> > weekend. We're lettuced out.
>
> I did and sorry. We eat salads daily so I never thought anything about it.

We eat salad about 3 - 4 times a week, but my daughter much prefers
that I vary our dinners by offering 'composed' (ie, non-lettuce-based)
salads or fruit a few nights a week as well. She will eat the greens
but does not like salad dressing, so I can see why she gets bored. For
her sake, I try to offer some variety.
>
> >
> > I also have no bread bowls on hand; I'm trying to work without a run to
> > the store. We love soup in bread bowls, but I usually save that
> > approach for creamier stuff like chowder or potato soup. I'm looking
> > for simple side ideas that would round the dinner out nutritionally. I
> > was going for barley to try to add some whole grains into the meal.
>
> I would just whip out the bread machine or mixer and make my own.
> Cheaper, easier, and better tasting with a heck of a lot less preservatives.
>
Oh, gosh, I wish! I have NO talent whatsoever for baking yeast bread.
Not that I;ve tried too hard =). I'm great with quick breads - we have
half a loaf of beer bread left over from the weekend, and we have
apple-cheddar-hazelnut muffins in the breakfast goodies - but I don't
do any real breads at home. The rise-punch down part has always
intimidated me. Want to come over and give me a bread lesson? =)

I had a bread machine eons ago when they first came out. I remember it
would never get my loaves right - I had a lot of bread that the machine
said was done, but when I took them out and cut them, they were doughy
/gooey in the middle. I also had one of the round ones that was SO
ANNOYING! becasue the paddle would bake into the bottom of the loaf and
then you would have to pry it out and you ended up with this round
loafwith a huge dent and hole taken out of the middle, so it was
useless for sandwiches. It went to the Goodwill about 8 years ago, i'd
guess. Maybe I should get one , people around here seem to love them

As I said, I think it's realy niteresting to think about how my mian
dish would turn out as dinner at someone else's house, so pleas don't
take offense as I shoot down ideas!! I think its fun to play with the
ideas.

And one more apology - Google seems to be going crazy today and
posting everything I say repeatedly. Sorry, it's not me.