Thursday, January 7, 2010

Breakfast for Dinner

Last night I tried really hard to convince everyone to do some sort of take out. First I suggested Thai food, but we have PF Chang’s gift cards that we want to use this weekend so that got voted down. Then I suggested pizza, because our local pizzeria, Piazza Pizza, started selling gluten-free pizzas, but we just had pizza on Saturday at Opus in New York City so there were no takers on pizza.

So I fished around the fridge and decided that all I could offer was some sort of breakfast for dinner, but I wasn’t in the mood for pancakes. I shouted out the choices—scrambled eggs and toast or crepes. Crepes won by a landslide.

Actually, it was a fun and easy dinner. Crepes require very little flour and so any recipe generally adapts well to a gluten-free flour. The batter mixed up perfectly and I used a regular non-stick skillet with a brush of oil. Once you get the hang of swirling the batter into the hot pan, it’s a cinch. If I had been really smart about it, I would have had two skillets going at once!

I stood at the stove and made the crepes and everybody picked their own fillings. We had strawberry preserves, Nutella, bananas, powdered sugar, butter and shredded mozzarella cheese. If I had actually planned the dinner I would have had some shaved ham or more fruit offerings to make it a bit healthier. Powdered sugar and butter aren’t exactly great muscle builders.

The only reason I am writing about this is that I have finally found another dinner that FOUR FOR FOUR of my kids were enthusiastic about eating. Not one of them said, “looks gross” or “smells disgusting” or “can I have something else.” They really are nice people, but nightly dinners are drudgery and it makes me understand why some animals eat their young.

So crepes will go into the rotation along with the two other dinners…tacos and homemade mac n’ cheese…that when I can’t stand any more complaining about the lovely chicken, fish, beef or pork entrées I prepare…I will succumb to one of those three kid pleasers.

Kendall Egan

3 comments:

Amy said...

We love breakfast for dinner at our house, though I have to admit it's eggs and bacon or pancakes and not anything as fancy as crepes!
And I know just what you mean about getting tired of dinner complaints. My youngest keeps telling me we eat too much chicken unless I make fish, pork or beef and then he says we eat too much of that too.
Sometimes breakfast for dinner is the perfect answer.

Anonymous said...

Another vote for breakfast for dinner! Waffles are a favorite at our house. And a good palce to use whole grain, gluten free flours. It has been a while since I've made crepes, I'll have to get out the pan.

Gluten-Free Living said...

I had extra batter in the fridge, and they make a great after school snack as well!