St Patricks Day Recipe Review

I enjoy making some kinds of traditional foods.  If they're easy.  And if I think my family will eat them. 

One of my most appreciated comments about our kids was our pastor last year- he complimented them on being "willing to try all the foods" at our Passover Seder.  When I'm often concerned about the little things they did wrong, people do a great job of reminding me how much they do right! 

Anyway, this year I chose this recipe: "Beer Braised Irish Stew and Colcannon," plus Irish Soda Bread. I was pretty sure that the stew would go over well, and mashed potatoes are normally pretty popular with everyone except me!  I'm sad I didn't take pictures, but like normal, getting dinner ready for when Gabe gets home at 7:30 is much harder than trying to have it done earlier- mostly because the kids are pretty worn out and hungry, so I forgot :-)

But Gabe's comment was that "there is nothing about this meal that is light!"  The stew was very thick and meaty, and the colcannon was REALLY thick (I think made a little too much potato!), plus the bread is a heavy bread.  But the flavors were fantastic- everybody ate all of their helpings, and Melia had extra colcannon.

The things I changed:  In the stew we had part venison, part beef.  For the potatoes, I used Yukon Golds instead of Russets.  And I followed one of the comments on allrecipes and stir-fried the cabbage instead of microwaving it. 

Definitely a successful meal!

A little mixin' in the kitchen...Edited...

I finally got around to remembering to buy the ingredients for Russian Tea, which Mom and Dad introduced the kids to while they were camping and we were in Utah!  I happened to have a little jar at home, but that was QUICKLY emptied by my two little addicts!

We seriously laughed at Melia's goofy head tilt in this shot!

And Kiera was adamant that I show her Wenatchee Wild tattoo in this one... SO attractive, I know!  ;-)

Added Note:  For the record, Isaac loves it too.  This morning I found him dipping a spoon into the jar and licking off the powder.  He's pretty hardcore.  :-)

Fall Yummy-ness

Pumpkin Butterscotch w/ a few mini chips just for fun cookies...

Eating the leftovers from our carameled apples- delicious!

Now, may I make a request?  The next time I make these- remind me of how STICKY caramel is, and that I need to find a different recipe than the one on the back of the caramels bag!  Oh yea, plus I remembered to roll the bottom in sugar, but not to layer the wax paper with sugar!  My little "rolling" did NO GOOD when it came to trying to rip those suckers off the paper!

However, we made these goodies for our church's "Bunco and Bema" night (Halloween alternative), and they were thoroughly enjoyed :-)  I am thankful we got to bring a few apples home to enjoy, especially because Kiera was distraught that I had forgotten to give her one at church...   What's really awesome was that both our girls chose to have a big plate of salad over pizza- that really suprised several adults!  And reminded me that I just need to make more of a point to have salad at home more often!

This weeks Bountiful Basket and Pix

I finally figured out how to publish- after a week of it not working!  Grrr! 
Anyway, this weeks basket included 2 nectarines, 3 peaches, 2 mangos, fennel, broccoli, cucumber, sweet potatoes, beets, celery, lettuce, and corn!  Suggestions on sweet potatoes, fennel, and beets would be welcome!!!

 This is the stir fry I made when we had the bok choy... It was tasty, but we needed some rice!  (I made so much I didn't think we needed a side, but it really would have enhanced the flavor.)

We are eagerly awaiting Esther's popping... Her poor belly is just rock hard and points out on both sides! 

We enjoyed having Isabel and Alden over last week, and Isaac showed his big boy helper skills at assisting Alden with his lunch!  Funny thing is, he really doesn't look that much bigger than Alden in the top photo!

Pressure Canned Chicken

What do you do when you have a feverish child? Can chicken of course! Because it takes a significant amount of time! I was suprised at just how easy this was. I cut up the chicken, closed the jars, put them in the canner, added boiling water, turned it on, and babysat it for 2 hours :-) I followed the tutorial HERE (http://www.thriftyandthriving.com/2011/06/step-by-step-instructions-for-canning-chicken/) (since it won't let me put the link in!) and the directions for my own pressure canner.

I SO Appreciate My Husband..

I was reading today about a really good deal on boneless, skinless chicken at $1.59/lb. You have to purchase a 40 lb box, and you have to pick it up at one of the drop places. Unfortunately, the closest drop points are in Ellensburg and Moses Lake. I seriously considering it, but thought I should absolutely ask Gabe first.


I explained it to him, and he responded with "Well, what you'll save on the meat you'll spend on gas getting there..." I totally hadn't calculated that in! And when I did, I would have spent more on gas traveling than I had saved!


If any of you who are close to a drop point, this would be a GREAT deal. You can read more about it here, and a review of it here.

BTW, if you want it soon, today is the last day, and while the review says $1.48/lb, it's now $1.59/lb. :-)

We Giggled So Hard

Gabe and I are sitting on the couch watching a movie. It gets to a loud part. We hear the door open to the girls' room. Thunk!

Out walks Kiera. She's sleepy eyed, we understand that the movie woke her up. She heads back to bed.

Thunk!

On the way out... and on the way back in... She whacked her head on the doorknob... Both times.

Gabe says, "She needs antennae."

Zucchini Yummy... or not.

In my effort to try to find different ways to eat this load...

I put together this. I thought it was pretty yummy, and Kiera ate two bowls. Melia did ok, but said there was a flavor that made her tongue unhappy. It had yellow squash from Shaun's house, lemon cucumber, zucchini and cherry tomatos from our garden, plus corn and carrots. I added Italian dressing for flavor. The next day Kiera literally took 6 hours to eat her one bowl, and Melia was gagging on whatever flavor that was :-) But by the time she was done, I had convinced her that she liked it. And when Kiera finally finished hers, she had a smile on her face. It's interesting just how much one takes from the other, and how much of eating "new" things is mind over matter. Not to say that I will convince myself to eat anything exotic, but when I know I "should" like it, it sure helps to do a little mental reprogramming :-)

Yesterday Melia also helped me make two loaves and 24 muffins of chocolate chip zucchin bread. They were yummy, but Gabe reminded me that he doesn't like chocolate... Sometimes I get so excited about making goodies that I forget he doesn't like chocolate goodies! Even Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips... (swoon..) Next time I think I'll try a batch of zucchini raspberry or huckleberry muffins. Because we ARE going picking. THIS summer. It IS going to happen.

Today was such a blessing...

Last night I was discussing with Gabe about how we have a travel trailer, the aerostar, and his bike that we need to clean up and sell. My biggest responsibility is getting the aerostar vacuumed and cleaned up, and my biggest complaint is that it's just too dang hot! By the time it cools down enough outside to work (hard! think sweat!) I'm busy getting dinner put away and kids in bed. Then I hardly feel like breaking a sweat! (Besides, that's when the spiders come out..)

Well, today, I resolved to get it at least washed. I can do that when it's hot, right? It was a BEAUTIFUL, CLOUDY day! Even a bit breezy! We got the car washed, and I even nearly burnt up my Dyson workin' it so hard. They do loose suction, by the way... at least when I suck up too many pistachio shellls at once... who knew? I pushed it so much while it was plugged up that it turned itself off :-) Whoops! So I went and got the steam cleaner and started doing that on the already-vacuumed area.

Anyway, long story short- the weather today was exactly what I needed to get movin' on selling that old thing! Thank you Lord, for the cool refreshment of today! (... now, how about another day so I can finish vacuuming? Please? Since that handy husband You blessed me with fixed my Dyson for me? ;-)

The bad thing was that I attempted to BBQ steak. And I did a perfect job- tender, moist, medium-well steak that tasted old. Yah, that's right. OLD. BLECH! I ended up eating corn on the cob and burnt-fried onions, along with a few fried mushy zucchinis for dinner... It's immensely frustrating when I work so hard on dinner and then it is barely edible... But, like Gabe says, A-1 covers a multitude of sins.... And Melia gobbled it down. Apparently she likes A1 too :-)

And about that zucchini.... I'd like some advice, if anyone knows how to cook it for a dinner side, not just a bread/sweet recipe. I breaded it and fried it (following the recipes' instructions to "evenly brown on both sides") and it was yucky mush. Tasted better raw... Suggestions? Please?

Breakfast burritos

Because I suggested it recently on another blog, I thought I would share my breakfast burritos cooking process. I used 12 eggs, half an onion (chopped and sauted), and 6 turkey sausage links we had leftover from a previous breakfast.Chop the sausage, and add to egg mixture, along with some milk. (I follow precise directions, can't you tell?) Add mixture to pan in which you just sauted the onions. Cook them up!While the eggs are cooking, microwave 10-12 tortillas until soft. Count out same number of paper towels and foil squares. (On a whim, we bought the precut foil sheets from Costco- boy have we loved them! So convenient!) Spoon desired amount of cooked eggs onto tortilla, and roll it up. Then roll it up in paper towel. Then roll it up in foil. Stack them off to the side until you are done, then put them back in your tortilla bag and label it right above the zipper. (I forgot cheese this time, but it's easy to add the cheese before rolling up the tortilla.) Then, put your bag in the freezer!When you want to cook one, microwave for about 45 seconds (NOT in the foil!) and then remove paper towel. Microwave for another 45-60 seconds. Let cool slightly, and enjoy!

I only had one casualty this time. But it didn't go to waste!!

Kiera's Recipe for Pepperoni Soup

Hot Dogs
Peanut Butter
Pepperoni
Cookies
Broccoli
Bananas
Soup

Literally. I wish I could just record her talking for a while. She's such a hoot!

Life at our house

Mellow yellow here at our house. Kiera's had a fever the past two days, so we are house-bound :-) I ordered some DVDs that were on sale from Answers in Genesis so we have a little more educational stuff to watch when we have a sick one on the couch. (We've exhausted our recorded supply of Dog Whisperers!) By the time they arrive, hopefully we'll all feel better!

I made this last night for dinner, plus a big batch to send to church today for Acts 2:42 (our monthly fellowship meal time). Creamy Potato Soup We all really enjoyed it, plus some corn muffins with honey butter. YUM!

Isaac's crawling all over the place; his smile is just huge when he comes around a corner to find you! He loves sitting in the kitchen and watching Ziva, or trying to chase down the kittens.

We are adapting to Gabe's new work schedule. The main challenge for the family is figuring out dinner time. We used to eat around 5-5:30ish before he went to work, now I am preferring to wait until 7:30 when he gets home... but that's more like bed time than dinner time. I have not yet mastered the art of having dinner for the kids, then later with Gabe.

My own challenge is not being able to steal his pillow when he's gone.... Maybe that will be on my birthday list. ;-)

Anyway, just catching up. I have a neat new oil story for you, just need to find time to sit down and write it out...

Denaye's Chili

I didn't follow any particular recipe, but mixed and matched from several different ones... Here's a *rough* recount of what I threw in...

2 cans black beans, not drained.
1 can great northern white beans, not drained
1 can corn, drained
1 small onion, diced
1-2 sweet bell peppers, diced
1-2 cups cooked roast, diced
16 oz salsa
couple sprinkles of garlic salt
a sprinkle of pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
dash of chipotle rub
sprinkle of italian seasoning
couple sprinkles of cumin
Cook in crockpot for several hours :-) I've heard the more the better!

I called it medium spicy. If you withheld the cayenne and chipotle, I think it would be mild.

Yea, and Grrr...

YEA: For you locals, do you remember/didn't you love Tanya's Bakery's scones? We used to buy them at the Farmer's Market and sometimes for special occasions- They were AMAZING! Sooo Yummy. Well, this morning I had a larger harvest of blueberries and wanted to make something special and yummy for breakfast. I quickly scoured Tammy's site, clicked a link to someone else's site for a Lemon Blueberry Scone recipe. The finished result? Tasted almost as fantastic as Tanya's! Perfect, with a not-so-sweet dough so the berries (and whatever else you choose to put in) are the explosion of sweet in your mouth.

GRRR: I tweaked the recipe quite a bit, using sour cream instead of yogurt, way more lemon juice, forgot the sugar, added milk, no lemon zest, added lemon oil instead, kneaded the dough, so that means extra flour, and rolled the wedges in sugar.... Not sure if I will be able to recreate the perfection experienced this morning.

Isn't that annoying!!!??!!

My Mind is Gone... And cooking for the freezer...

I just took pictures of five different topics that I've been meaning to post on, and can't decide which one to do first.... concentration/focus is absent from my abilities, so I will do my best. I keep thinking I'm going to have a baking day/OAMC, but with my lack of brain power, at this point I'm doing good to do a little here and a little there.
A few nights ago, I had Gabe pick up a rotisserie chicken and we ate that for dinner and I saved the rest for enchiladas the next night. Let me tell you- oh, yummy! The chicken was still so moist and tender- fantastic! (And for those of you wondering, yes I burned the nachos...)Anyway, back to my point: I had enough to make three extras, so I thought I would give this method a try.

I read this idea a while ago, probably linked from Tammy's, so I am not taking any credit! You line the pan with Saran Wrap and place your food on top. When complete, wrap any extra wrap over the top tightly and freeze.

This is what happens: You can remove the food from the pan, therefore not tying up your pan while it sits in the freezer waiting to be used. You can wrap it again in wrap, to try to avoid freezer burn, or just do a layer in foil, like I did. It was pretty well covered anyway.Then label it well, including what pan to thaw and cook it in. Simple, isn't it? I am happy with the results.

And, just to add in another picture, check out my new find, and our old favorite.

The bottom one we have been buying for a while- Gabe makes this fabulous rice dish from it that I just can't copy... But it's so good! I can only find this mix at Safeway, so normally sale price is about $2 each. On Wednesday, I found the top one at Fred Meyer, on sale $1.67/bag! I just about jumped for joy (thanking the Lord for His provision!) because around here, sale prices on peppers are 2/$4, sometimes 2/$3. Grocery Outlet is cheaper, but across town, so not worth the trip just for peppers. But this is a fantastic deal, plus no wasted soft moldy pepper sitting in the fridge! I was so excited, and they tasted delicious in the enchiladas! WOO HOO ;-)

So, is my writing as babblish as my thought patterns?

Puttin' Up Food

Status:
Apple Peel Jelly: Very pretty in the jars! Tastes good, not a whole lot like apples, but it's jelly nonetheless. When I spread it on, well... let's just picture a stranded jellyfish on the beach. Yep, that's pretty much what I am spreading on my biscuit... Glad I don't have too many prego hang ups yet!

Apple Butter: Tasted good, but had a slightly scorched aftertaste. I think that because it cooks down, and then you add more applesauce, the sauce left on the side of the pot caused this. Oh well. 7 quarts of applesauce down the drain.

Pumpkin Puree: Not bad. Not too much work, and pretty easy to bag and freeze. One pumpkin done, four to go.

Pumpkin Butter: (Because mom likes it, I tried it!) Good! Surprisingly good :-)

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds: Yummy :-) reminds me of popcorn. Kiera was stuffing them in by the handful....

Dried Apples: ...are we done yet?.....

Actually kinda proud of myself...Pizza

So, I know. Pizza is not that difficult. But I just don't really do pizza. Don't crave it, don't make it weekly, nothin' like that. But tonight I did. And Gabe was impressed. :-)

Since Rachael said she used Tammy's breadsticks recipe for a pizza crust, I did that. And I remembered something special from my Costco food court pizza making days: I docked the dough :-) I used my meat holder cutter thingamobob. It worked good. ;-)


And just so you know, don't knock the food court workers. They make just as much as most anyone else in there, so don't feel sorry for them. They start out at $10+/hr too! (We had this conversation at work last week-- the supervisor got a pity party from someone, and she desperately wanted to retort that "thanks, but I do make $**/hour, so no thanks!") And hey, now I know how to dock a pizza so I don't get air pockets...valuable time I tell ya...


Anyway, so I used my homemade pizza sauce, courtesy of Tammy again (she's a goldmine of good recipes too!) And loaded it up with grilled chicken, tomatoes on my side, and pineapple on Gabe's. Here's a before-oven pic:


And an after-already-been-consumed pic:

No, the tomatoes weren't actually green. They were yellow, and yummy. It was the camera...

It was good. I will admit that, from a non-pizza craver. And boy, apparently I am overdoing myself. Gabe said I made two "better than usual" meals today. The other one was chicken fried rice for lunch (I did it Karalee! I actually followed the directions and it turned out good! Woo Hoo! ;-) Maybe I'd better slow down, otherwise when the funky prego smell issues turn up, we'll all starve.....

Like-Larry's Chicken Strips

I know, I am late posting this, as I promised it weeks ago. I just couldn't come up with a good picture! But this one is decent, barring Melia's bizarre smile.

This recipe is originally from over at Baker's Dozen. She has lots of recipes that I have tried and want to try-- fun kid friendly ones. Crepes are one of Melia's favorite breakfasts-- "the ones that roll up, mommy." I tried the chicken recipe because my friend Brooke said she did and "they taste exactly like Larry's, only baked!" So, I had to try.

Now, I have to relate to you the only other time I have ever tried to cook Larry's. (For those of you who don't know me, my siblings and I all worked at this little drive-in called Larry's that just plain has the best boneless chicken strips anywhere.) I was still living at home, and I bought all the ingredients, heated up the oil, and proceeded to catch the stove-top on fire. And haven't tried since.

But when I read through the recipe from Baker's Dozen, I thought, "that is almost exactly like Larry's." As the following: BD recipe- flour, beaten egg, bread crumbs. Larry's- flour, milk, cracker meal. Basically the same thing. So, my recipe: flour, milk, italian bread crumbs. (Because two giant jugs of italian bread crumbs at Costco is approx. $4.50)

When you bite into it the first time, you will notice the italian seasoning. Maybe even the second bite. If you're really into it, maybe the whole meal. But not one time after that! We are truly enjoying this frugal recipe-- and a cheaper option is to buy the fresh strips when they are on sale, and freeze them up. Locally, Food Pavilion often has them for $1.78/lb when you buy 10 lbs. And yea, 10 lbs is a lot, but when I was stacking them in my freezer, I appreciated that I had several meals worth stored! Oh yea, and to make them even more like Larry's cut the strips in two or three pieces so they're small and skinny, and then beat them a little when you are breading them :-)

And... for those of you who really wish they could find Larry's sauces, I included the ones we have in the picture. Longhorn BBQ sauce and Minors Sweet and Sour, both available at URM cash and carry in Sunnyslope. No, I don't know which ranch he uses, and the tartar is made from scratch. Hope that helps. Ask Darcy or Shaun if they know about the Ranch situation :-) Or better yet, maybe they will comment with an answer!

Italian Cheese Bread(sticks)

Ok, these were sooo yummy! except I kinda overdid it on the spices, gabe says. But he still ate and ate and ate!

We had soup, salad, and breadsticks. Corn chowder, salad, and these breadsticks--- a little labor intensive for a headache dinner, but good nonetheless. And it helped when Gabe took the girls in to give them a bath-- and got those high little nonstop voices out of my kitchen....:-)

My pointers? If you use a stone to cook them on, give them a little more time, or warm the stone up prior. And I didn't have the individual spices, so I just guestimated and used my italian seasoning, so if you do that, cut down on the amount. And it makes a LOT. Like filled my whole rectangular stone a Lot. I was thinking, ok, so use 2/3 for a pizza crust, then use the other 1/3 for breadsticks.

And I am sorry, I just keep cracking myself up -- I keep typing breasticks. hee hee. Can you tell my headache is feeling better? hee hee

Forced OAMC

It was almost a tragedy. Almost. Thank the LORD that Gabe found it before all was lost.

Our freezer in the garage somehow got unplugged-- and when he found it, everything was thawed. Still iced over, but thawed. Including the venison.... So we tried our hand at "Once A Month Cooking," which we have never done before!

Last night we had deer steaks for dinner, I cubed up several steaks for stew meat, cooked it, sliced up some fajita meat, cooked it, and then we used a grinder that Gabe found at a yard sale earlier this year (brand new!) and ground up some venison-burger :-) That is some lean burger!

I cooked that up with some stewed tomatoes and some seasoning...Then we put the spaghetti sauce in a gallon bag, and we froze it all. Now, just to remember to use it soon....

It was pretty cool to make our own burger-- Andrea, show Shaun and tell him not to cry when he finds out that this is ground tenderloin....-- So next time, we can make our own, but we would need to buy a scale so we can weigh it. And maybe some cow fat... :-) Just kidding, I like lean meat!!!