So You Think You Have a Day Off?

Murphy's Law is hard at work in my life. I've got this morning off and I had big plans to accomplish things but there's a kink in my plans. My youngest is home with a skin rash that is actually a staph infection. How gross is that?! I always think of staph infections as gaping, non-healing wounds from my days in the nursing home but it turns out it can also just look like hives. The source of this wonderful infection is your own skin, but it only flourishes when the skin is broken as it was with my son's recent bought of eczema.

So instead of focusing on holiday crafts this morning, per his doctor's orders, I'll be washing his sheets and pajamas in hot water so he doesn't reinfect himself. On the lighter side, this is only bothering me. Kyle hasn't been bothered by it one bit. It doesn't itch or burn or anything. From his perspective its a bonus day home with mom, catching up on the latest PBS has to offer followed by episodes of The Partridge Family that Jim brought home from the library.

Last night I made split pea soup and Cold Thai Peanut Noodles. I usually substitute kale for the sprouts and cabbage but I didn't have any in the fridge. Instead, I boiled some small beets for about 30 minutes; until they were fork tender and the skins slipped off. I cut them into small pieces and added them, along with grated carrots to the noodles. Here's a little tip from my kitchen to yours, be careful what you add beets to. From a flavor standpoint, this tasted great. Visually, the results were not so stunning. The beets gave everything a pink tinge, which is very unappealing.

I love to make soups this time of year. Today I'll be tinkering with a dhal recipe that uses red lentils in the slow cooker. Jim isn't a huge fan of Indian cooking, in fact he can smell an 1/8 tsp of curry powder a mile off, but I'll serve it with something that he likes to make the whole meal more palatable. I find this to be a good technique with the whole family. As a result, we often have melting pot type meals that intermix many culinary styles.