Family Dinner Series Week Ten

Family Dinner Series Week Ten got off to an interesting start when Uncle Bud sent me a text message ten minutes before the end of my work day that read, "Call me ASAP".

WHAT?

Text messages like that make my heart race. Since I had just started my new job, I didn't really feel that I could excuse myself to call him right near closing time. I waited at my computer in a cold sweat until the clock struck 5, and then raced outside to find out if Bud had burned down the barn.

"What's up? What's going on?" I asked, panicked.

"Oh, Hoss and I are getting some french onion soup going," Bud said. "Are any of these pots OK to use?"

SERIOUSLY?

With the anxiety attack safely behind me, I drove home to get dinner started. While I had wanted to make bowtie pasta with sweet peas, salmon, and cream sauce, I knew the salmon wouldn't fly. Gilbert Hoss doesn't like seafood, Uncle Bud periodically chooses different fish to cop attitude about, and I didn't want to risk missing the protein mark with my new friend Jesse, our guest for the evening.

So I nixed the salmon and picked up some sausage.

The cream sauce was a little... stickier than I intended... but the boys convinced me to use it without additional doctoring (that's where I get in trouble) and sure enough, the dish panned out.

Thank you, Three Tomatoes restaurant of Burlington, Vermont for the recipe inspiration. Thank you, Gilbert Hoss, for again raising the appetizer bar with the aforementioned french onion soup. And thank you, Jesse, for furthering our wine education with the addition of Root: 1.

One of these days we'll get Uncle Bud to turn in his root beer for a wine glass.

Conclusion? If you can't get your boys to eat their vegetables, glue them to sausage with a cheesy cream sauce. Works like a charm.