Not really in the mood to cook on Friday, so I made Spaghetti, and we had a carpet picnic.
Turns out that's not an ideal dish for carpet picnics when you have a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old. But they thought it was fun, and everyone ate their supper. The dog however, thought this plan was genius, cause she got to play the role of vacuum for the night.
I use a chunky garden style sauce (the more veggies the better for us) and added in 2 small cans of black olives and one large can of mushrooms. Brown the meat with a minced yellow onion and some "italian" herbs, put it all over angel hair pasta. I was out of "sprinkle cheese" and nearly had a mutiny on my hands, thus the carpet picnic.
Saturday we had an actual picnic outside (for lunch) but it was simple PB&J with kiwi slices and oranges, till it got windy and dark and chilly. Then we came inside and finished up in the foyer! DH took us out to our fav Sushi place for supper Sat night, happy tummies all around!
We had big plans Sunday for dinner with my friend and neighbor, potato salad and chicken wings. But that dang Snot Fairy came back to my house over the weekend and attacked my little ones, so I passed out Tylenol and wiped noses Sunday, and ended up exchanging bowls of potato salad for a bowl of chicken wings with the neighbor. During the exchange I ended up eyeballing her can of baked beans (an item I never buy) but was salivating over. Off to my house I went, and to my dismay all I had in my pantry to work with were black beans (normally I only have dry beans, so I was lucky to even have these gems!). Turns out, you can make a pretty tasty baked bean substitute with black beans, here's what I did.
2 cans black beans (and their "juice")
1/4 c brown sugar (I mix both light and dark in my bin, so it's your choice)
5ish drops of liquid smoke
dash ground ginger
2 dashes gourmet hamburger seasoning
GENEROUS squirt of ketchup
1 packet ham flavor
Simmer and reduce down, I didn't let mine reduce as much as I'd have liked because the monsters were getting restless, but it was still tasty.
DD#1 has been asking for queesh, so I'll prolly do that one day this week, and I've been craving pie for a couple weeks now. There are also some pork chops in the freezer whose days are numbered. Oh and it's raining again, so that's nice.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
It's my party and I'll cry if I want to
So a fellow blogger is having a party, and asked for some recipes, and I thought I'd take this opportunity to post some of my favorite ones here.
I like to serve finger food at my parties, but still hitting all the food groups. Fruit trays are always nice, but I like to make a dip, with Cottage cheese and honey (to taste) and just blender them together. Sounds simple, and it is, but not everyone likes heavy snacks. I sneak veggies in queesh, cause if you put enough cheese and/or bacon in they don't notice! I also like to wrap veggies in bacon and broil them. Surprisingly, I find that most people will eat the sweater (baby carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, sugar peas) veggies just raw, and usually with out any sort of dip.
Still on the light side is Black Bean Salsa, 2 cans of drained and rinsed black beans, 1 lb bag of thawed corn, 1 can green chilies, either 5 (ish) diced roma tomatoes or 2 cans diced stewed tomatoes (depending on season and price) salt and pepper to taste and a dash of cumin, 1/4 cup Cilantro (chopped) fresh or powdered garlic and onion (which ever you prefer) (if using fresh 1 small clove garlic minced, and 1/2 small onion minced) 1 Tbs Lime juice. I like this on a tortilla or that hard toasty bread (not so much for chips).
For something more substantial (and time consuming, but NOT hard) there's always my 4 layer dip. The bottom layer is Pinto beans (you can use canned beans if you like but I make my own (the day before) in my crock pot, I use 1 lb of beans, cover with water, check on them through out the day to make sure they stay covered, and then when soft I add 1 pk of Ham Flavor, and salt to taste, then mash with my potato masher). The next layer is "Mexican Rice" 1lb grd beef browned with 1/2 onion and garlic, salt and pepper and a dash of cumin, remove the meat from pan, add 2 tbs butter and the other half of minced onion, 1 small clove garlic and 3 cups of uncooked rice, saute till rice is slightly browned, replace meat to pan, along with 1 can of stewed tomatoes, 1 can of green chillies, 3 Tbs Chicken Bullion (not the little cubes, over in the Hispanic section they have this stuff LOOSE in jars!! it is easier to use, and tastes better, you can even get it with a tomato base!! who knew! it's a green jar with a yellow label by Knor of course!) Add water to cover. Cook covered, but with lid not on all the way, and keep adding water to cover till rice is tender. Third layer is shredded Colby Jack cheese, and the Fourth layer is either Salsa or Mexican flavored Stewed tomatoes (your choice, my family is not a huge fan of Salsa, as they like their tomatoes nice and chunky). You need a LARGE 13x9 pan to put this in and those restaurant style chips for dipping (I of course fry my own tortilla chips, but no pressure).
I'm sure everyone knows how to make Spinach dip, so I'll not bore you with that, what I will say is that if you add chicken to it and then use it as filling for these Puffs it's like tiny little sandwiches. The Puffs aren't that hard, but they are a tiny bit fiddly. 1 Cup water, 6 tbs butter, 1 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup flour 4 eggs. Bring the water and butter to a boil, and remove from heat, add flour (in pot) return to heat till it pulls from sides of pan. Remove from pot, but batter in bowl and beat till cool (er) add eggs one at a time, put batter in a zip top bag, cut off corner and pipe onto a baking pan (cookie sheet/stone) into blobs about 2-3 inches wide (wet your finger and smooch down the tips so they are nice and round). Bake at 400 for 15 min and at 350 for 30-35 min. They will puff up and be hallow, once cooled you can cut them open and they will be hallow and be ready for filling. These are the same puffs that they fill with creme, but if you do that make them smaller? (or not LOL). I made these for Christmas Eve and the kids gobbled them, so did the neighbors.
Crepes are simple, and you can fill them with lots of different things. 1 1/2 c flour 2 eggs 1/2 c milk 1/2 c water 1/4 tsp salt 2 Tbs melted butter. Combine eggs, flour and salt, add water, milk and butter. Batter should be thin and then cook like thin pancakes on a well oiled pan. They're good with whipped cream and fruit, or pie filling, the skies the limit here.
For a sweet but not too sweet dessert I like to do Banana Bread with Chocolate chips. 1/2 c shortening 1 c sugar 2 eggs 3/4 c mashed bannans 1 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/4 flour 1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts) 1 c chocolate chips (I use semi sweet or dark) 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Combine all the wet ingredients and then fold in the dry. Put in a greased pan and bake at 350 till you can stick a tooth pick in it and pull it out dry (30-45 min?) I bake a lot so my nose knows ya know?
Also in my blog are my cheesy meat balls, strawberry fluff, plumberry buckle, scones, cookies of various kinds.
I think that's about it. This should also redeem me for the lack of posting this week! LOL, I am cooking all this week, but not getting too fancy (prolly).
I like to serve finger food at my parties, but still hitting all the food groups. Fruit trays are always nice, but I like to make a dip, with Cottage cheese and honey (to taste) and just blender them together. Sounds simple, and it is, but not everyone likes heavy snacks. I sneak veggies in queesh, cause if you put enough cheese and/or bacon in they don't notice! I also like to wrap veggies in bacon and broil them. Surprisingly, I find that most people will eat the sweater (baby carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, sugar peas) veggies just raw, and usually with out any sort of dip.
Still on the light side is Black Bean Salsa, 2 cans of drained and rinsed black beans, 1 lb bag of thawed corn, 1 can green chilies, either 5 (ish) diced roma tomatoes or 2 cans diced stewed tomatoes (depending on season and price) salt and pepper to taste and a dash of cumin, 1/4 cup Cilantro (chopped) fresh or powdered garlic and onion (which ever you prefer) (if using fresh 1 small clove garlic minced, and 1/2 small onion minced) 1 Tbs Lime juice. I like this on a tortilla or that hard toasty bread (not so much for chips).
For something more substantial (and time consuming, but NOT hard) there's always my 4 layer dip. The bottom layer is Pinto beans (you can use canned beans if you like but I make my own (the day before) in my crock pot, I use 1 lb of beans, cover with water, check on them through out the day to make sure they stay covered, and then when soft I add 1 pk of Ham Flavor, and salt to taste, then mash with my potato masher). The next layer is "Mexican Rice" 1lb grd beef browned with 1/2 onion and garlic, salt and pepper and a dash of cumin, remove the meat from pan, add 2 tbs butter and the other half of minced onion, 1 small clove garlic and 3 cups of uncooked rice, saute till rice is slightly browned, replace meat to pan, along with 1 can of stewed tomatoes, 1 can of green chillies, 3 Tbs Chicken Bullion (not the little cubes, over in the Hispanic section they have this stuff LOOSE in jars!! it is easier to use, and tastes better, you can even get it with a tomato base!! who knew! it's a green jar with a yellow label by Knor of course!) Add water to cover. Cook covered, but with lid not on all the way, and keep adding water to cover till rice is tender. Third layer is shredded Colby Jack cheese, and the Fourth layer is either Salsa or Mexican flavored Stewed tomatoes (your choice, my family is not a huge fan of Salsa, as they like their tomatoes nice and chunky). You need a LARGE 13x9 pan to put this in and those restaurant style chips for dipping (I of course fry my own tortilla chips, but no pressure).
I'm sure everyone knows how to make Spinach dip, so I'll not bore you with that, what I will say is that if you add chicken to it and then use it as filling for these Puffs it's like tiny little sandwiches. The Puffs aren't that hard, but they are a tiny bit fiddly. 1 Cup water, 6 tbs butter, 1 tsp sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup flour 4 eggs. Bring the water and butter to a boil, and remove from heat, add flour (in pot) return to heat till it pulls from sides of pan. Remove from pot, but batter in bowl and beat till cool (er) add eggs one at a time, put batter in a zip top bag, cut off corner and pipe onto a baking pan (cookie sheet/stone) into blobs about 2-3 inches wide (wet your finger and smooch down the tips so they are nice and round). Bake at 400 for 15 min and at 350 for 30-35 min. They will puff up and be hallow, once cooled you can cut them open and they will be hallow and be ready for filling. These are the same puffs that they fill with creme, but if you do that make them smaller? (or not LOL). I made these for Christmas Eve and the kids gobbled them, so did the neighbors.
Crepes are simple, and you can fill them with lots of different things. 1 1/2 c flour 2 eggs 1/2 c milk 1/2 c water 1/4 tsp salt 2 Tbs melted butter. Combine eggs, flour and salt, add water, milk and butter. Batter should be thin and then cook like thin pancakes on a well oiled pan. They're good with whipped cream and fruit, or pie filling, the skies the limit here.
For a sweet but not too sweet dessert I like to do Banana Bread with Chocolate chips. 1/2 c shortening 1 c sugar 2 eggs 3/4 c mashed bannans 1 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/4 flour 1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts) 1 c chocolate chips (I use semi sweet or dark) 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Combine all the wet ingredients and then fold in the dry. Put in a greased pan and bake at 350 till you can stick a tooth pick in it and pull it out dry (30-45 min?) I bake a lot so my nose knows ya know?
Also in my blog are my cheesy meat balls, strawberry fluff, plumberry buckle, scones, cookies of various kinds.
I think that's about it. This should also redeem me for the lack of posting this week! LOL, I am cooking all this week, but not getting too fancy (prolly).
Friday, March 12, 2010
I scream, you scream, we all scream, for soy beans and waffles?
1lb Kielbasa and about 3/4ish lb diced chicken breast, 1 large onion diced, sauteed till onion is caramelized. Add a bag of frozen soy beans, and broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spoon over rice. Simple. No witty story to go with this supper, we were hungry, the kids like sausage and soy beans.
I forgot to mention that we had Breakfast for supper this week also, nothing fancy, just Waffles and bacon with Pineapple (from a can) on the side. Why is serving Breakfast food after the sun goes down such a novel idea no matter how often you do it? It's like magic, I swear there's no sort of magic syrup or special mix involved, but they act like it's spiked? And I'm not just talking about the children, DH who normally turns his nose up to breakfast is all about waffles at 630pm? And all the Pre-eating frenzy? Oh and just so you all know, if you get tired of the standard fare, you can (dare I say should) substitute your regular waffle mix with banana bread batter (thin it down some). It makes for some FANTASTIC pancakes too, and if you're in a pinch for dessert toss in some chocolate chips and you're "in like flint". And if you're feeling extra adventurous you can just blender some bananas and stir them in to your blueberry pancake/waffle mix (I use Krustease, if I'm using a mix or Alton Brown's recipe if I'm doing from scratch).
I swear I'll change my ways
This meal is why I don't buy the excuses of "I don't have time to cook". It took me all of 20-25 min from start to finish? (how ever long it takes to boil a large pot of water and then cook egg noodles in it).
Just look at it. Grilled (on my grill pan) Chicken strips (just hit them with some, garlic, onion ,marjoram, and salt and pepper), Corn and Spinach (DS#2's invention, fiber anyone?) cooked in a large cast iron skillet with 2 packs of my favorite ham seasoning, and Egg Noodles, with butter, and Parmesean cheese, parsley, garlic.
Earlier in the day (about 5 min before I started cooking) I was gardening, muddy, and tired, got in a big kerfluffle with DH and was in a horrid mood. He was all for take out, but I'd had enough of that, for the week (had been gardening all week and running errands, so just grabbing and going, or eating fast things at the house, I was ready for a MEAL).
Most of the rest of the week was spent eating salads and cleaning out the fridge of various foodstuffs.
I'll try to post more often, Spring just gets me out doors more often, and sewing more for people that move on Island. I'll also post some of my favorite recipes that I make for parties for my friend over on another blog. Hope all ya'll enjoy!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
So after posting the birthday party, and the cake, I felt bad. Cause really I Can make cake, I promise. SEE.
My dad got married last summer. I packed all 4 kids in the car, and drove from ID to FL in 3 days (with my mom, we'll not talk about that part, no really, on the return drive I was solo, nuff said). I made my dad's wedding cake.
Now if you were nosy and looked through my entire flicker page you might have spotted this. But I'm posting it here anyway. I bought the sugar flowers because I didn't have time to make them (the last time my dad got married I made fondant flowers on the cake too, but I lived in the same town back then) Dh's mom supervised, cause she's got more experience at this than me, and I get nervous on wedding cakes, and it's fun to do things with DH's mom (cause she's awesome and loving and supportive nice and I love her, and well the kids were there and she's Granny). It was fun making my dad's wedding cake because I got to know his wife to be more too. Now it's not like my dad's some serial groom, he's been married 3 times, my mom (didn't work out) and his second wife that died, and now his third.
SO, now you know more about me than you ever wanted, but you also know that I can do more than slightly smooched monkey head and bunny head (from a pan) cupcakes, which was the point.
"Happy, Happy Birthday"
Sunday (a week or so later than I had planned, do to the Snot Fairy's untimely visit) we had DD#2's first Birthday Party!! It was low key, with just the neighbors invited over for cake and snacks.
I did a veggie tray, a fruit tray (with dip, Cottage cheese blended with honey, to taste, till smooth), my cheesy meat balls (recipe below) and cake, my friend and neighbor Amy did the chicken wings (she said she'd teach me how to make them, and I have an extra bag of wings in the freezer waiting for her), there were some crackers and Kool Aid too.
It was perfect, the weather held, there was just enough snacks, and the kids ran around in the yard(s). Between the 4 houses there were 14 kids under 10!! (most of them being from just 3 houses where there are 4 kids each) I'm also including a link to my flicker page so you can see the rest of the pics from the party. I'll just include the pic of the meatballs on this page tho.
Cheesy Meatballs
Normally this is a 3 ingredient list
1 lb 93% lean ground beef
1/2 cup grated/shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
If you are out of Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs (like I was on Sunday) you can use
1 (ish ere on the more side of ish) cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbs Basil
1 tsp Oregano
1 Tbs Sage
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
Moosh the meat together and then roll into ping pong sized balls and bake at 350 till brown.
normally they are crisp looking, if you used the mozzarella they will be gooey, but still tasty. Turns out when you add the extra gooey meat balls to the not so meaty leftover soup it's divine!
The cakes were from boxes (gasp, I know, but hey, I'm not super woman here) and I found how to make the monkey by doing a Google search and Martha Stewart has a video that explains it far better than I could ever dream of doing . The bunny head cupcakes were from a pan I picked up on an after Easter clearance a few years back in Homage to DH's mom (she gave me 2 3-D pans, a bunny and a duck) and when I saw the cup cake pan I had to have it too.
So I called Her Spanish Eyes
DH had an "Early Out" on Fri, and took us out to eat Italian. Yakisoba Saturday, Birthday party Sunday (will blog about party food later I suppose) Monday we had left over Yakisoba and today, the kids wanted Mac and cheese with chicken, tomatoes, and green chilies tonight. Not pretty, or actual cooking for that matter. But there you have it, tasty, filling, and best of all the kids clean their plates without any prompting.
Big plans tomorrow for some "Mexican" (learned it from my actual Mexican neighbors in ID) tomorrow. And some gardening (if the weather lets me). Cross your fingers!
Big plans tomorrow for some "Mexican" (learned it from my actual Mexican neighbors in ID) tomorrow. And some gardening (if the weather lets me). Cross your fingers!
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