Lucy's Soup Can

Intangible mission

2012-02-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

Day 36 of The Purpose Driven Life, discusses reaching unbelievers as being the mission of a Christian.

Warren goes on to say that Jesus' second coming is tied to Christians completing this mission. i.e., making sure everyone God wants to hear the Good News has heard it. So if I want Jesus to come back sooner, I had better focus on fulfilling this mission.

I realized when I read that statement, that I don't want Jesus to come back yet. And that got me thinking that as a Christian, shouldn't I want that more than anything?

I know that I am too much of the world as opposed to in it. I like my life. It has it's struggles, but on the whole I enjoy it. I don't want to leave it yet. And it's because the idea of something greater, heaven, just is not a tangible thing to me. Maybe I haven't had the blessing of experiencing God on a significant level yet. Maybe I just don't know Jesus well enough.

This is yet another example that I have a lot of growing in my faith to do. A lot of learning.

It also leads me to a fear. Because I am so comfortable in my life and sometimes still love things, my kids, and my husband more than Jesus, Jesus will take those things away from me in order to make me grow. It is no secret that Jesus uses people and circumstances to reach us.

James 1:2-4 (NIV) says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers [and sisters], whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything".

Warren himself writes that there are just some issues in life that will never be changed by any amount of Bible study or prayer. I am afraid that the only way for me to grow in faith will be to suffer the unthinkable: losing loved ones.

Warren ends day 36 by asking what keeps me from telling others the Good News. Well, my doubts often do. How do I sell something that I am not always convinced of myself? I fear being challenged on my beliefs because they are so shaky at times.

I posted about my faith difficulties recently. I now believe that God purposefully made me a doubtful person and he intentionally gave me faith as a struggle. Maybe part of the reason is so that I can share this struggle with you. And to keep me continually searching for truth and answers so that in the process, I can come to know and love God more than the things of this world.

Wordless Wednesday; 02/22/12

2012-02-22T08:04:00.001-07:00

This is San Diego. A place we last visited when my daughter was 15 mo old. My daughter is now 4.5 and my son is 2.5 and we are going back for a little visit. Escaping the (unusually mild) snow and cold.

Cheers!

Apple Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

2012-02-19T08:40:00.002-07:00

Adapted from The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook: Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean

These are a nice breakfast treat. There is no one overpowering flavor in these muffins. Instead the flavors blend well, resulting in a nice, moist, slightly dense muffin.

You will need:

1 C uncooked oatmeal, plain
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 C whole-wheat flour
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C apple juice
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C canned pumpkin
3 eggs
canola oil
1/2 C dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 F

Prepare a muffin tin.

In a medium bowl combine oatmeal, pumpkin, applesauce, juice, eggs and oil. Mix until well blended.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour in wet ingredients. Mix until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the cranberries.

Spoon muffin tins 2/3 full.

Bake 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Catch these when they are warm, spread a little butter on top, and enjoy! Makes ~12 muffins.

L-O-V-E

2012-02-14T08:14:00.002-07:00

Here we are; Valentine's Day.

So what's one more post about love?

In greek, there are four words for love. This seems much more appropriate than our one wimpy English word. Love is complex. Loving sandwiches is different than loving your spouse, for example.

Each of the Greek words has slightly different connotations and meanings.

Eros: passionate love (the boom-chika-bow-wow type)

Philio: friendship

Storge: familial love

Agape: sacrificial love

Although Valentine's Day is more about Eros, I want to talk about Agape love. This is the type of love Jesus expressed for us, and the type he wants us to express for each other (Ephesians 5:2, "Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us,").

So what is love? Our pastor gave a sermon on this a few weeks ago. He read out a commonly used wedding verse (I used it at my wedding), but for the first time I asked myself, based on that verse, how loving am I? I was disappointed with my answer.

1 Corinthians 13

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing.
3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!
10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.
All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love.

Maybe if we were spreading a little more agape love around, divorce filings wouldn't jump by 40% around Valentine's Day. Just a thought :)

12 Cheesy Easy V-day Gift Ideas

2012-02-12T17:06:00.004-07:00

With Valentine's Day only a couple of days away, I thought I would share with you the easy and admittedly cheesy, v-day gifts I've been leaving for my husband since February 3. My kids were able to get in the action too, helping me pick out treats and make the cards.

I didn't put enough forethought into this to think up items for a "12 days of Valentine's" song, so maybe that will be my challenge for next year.

1. "I Love You" card; a Pinterest find
2. Fun Bite snack ("You're a FUN dad!")
3. Nibs ("Nibbles" of Love)
4. Old Spice antiperspirant, Fiji scent (Our honeymoon was in Fiji)
5. Fly-Fishing Magazine ("You make my heart FLY")
6. Sweet and Sour Lifesavers ("Being with you is a lifesaver, even if some days are sour"
7. Energizer Battery ("Our love keeps going and going and going...")
8. Fruit n' Nut Bar ("I'm Nuts for You")
9. Burt's Bee Lip Balm ("Bee Mine")
10. Bear Hugs, another Pinterest find - I also used this idea for the kids in my daughter's preschool class
11. Box of Smarties ("From the Smartypants who was wise enough to marry you")
12. I love you this much card; also from Pinterest (for this one, I used one of my daughter's hand prints, and one of my son's)

There you go. 12 simple, cheesy ideas to remind your partner how much you love them.

Linking to Serenity Now

Battle of the Leading Men!

2012-02-10T07:23:00.003-07:00

As co-host of Battle of the Leading Men, I've got some serious business to talk about here so I'll get right to it...

McDreamy or McSteamy?

A long asked question for Grey's Anatomy fans and with here's your chance to weigh in!

Be sure to comment for your chance to co-host next week and visit Mommy Lady Club to connect with more fabulous women blog writers!

You didn't know that you could find a romantic retreat on a Mom blog, did you?

Welcome to Battle of The Leading Men!

Your Romantic Getaway...

Would you like to play?

Round 2 is Here!

First, meet our one and only Hosts, Clint Eastwood & Timothy Olyphant of Justified.

Why are these two so special you ask? They have been designated Untouchable, and shall never battle!

Thank you Gentlemen for guiding us through Round 1. We trust we are still in good hands.

Here’s how to play:

1: Please G+follow, visit and comment on our Co-Hosts blogs, Mommy LaDy Club and Lucy's Soup Can.

2: Please vote in the Battle below by commenting the name of your Battle champion.

3: You may also link up by Sunday at midnight to be drawn to win next week’s co-host spot!

The Battle voting will remain open through the week, even if you missed linking up for the co-host spot. Get all of the details of our Battles at your Romantic Getaway central, where you can view all past winners and losers from Round 1 and 2. These lovely contenders were some of our top competitors last Round. It is going to be tough, but you will have to choose whom you want to see again.Now...Battle On! Eric Dane, Battle Cry: Just Eric

vs.

Patrick Dempsey, Battle Cry: Grey's Anatomy

Don't forget to link up to be next week's Co-Host, and come back next weekend for more Battles! If you like to play our Battles of The Leading Men, grab our button...
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Banana Nut Oatmeal

2012-02-06T12:58:00.001-07:00

I love oatmeal for breakfast, but I don't want to develop an oatmeal rut. like our cheerios rut.

I've been playing around with different oatmeal additives and combinations. Loved this one!

You will need:

2 C uncooked oatmeal, plain
4 Tbsp all natural peanut butter, (I like smooth)
2 C milk
2 C water
1tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp chopped walnuts
4Tbsp coarsely ground flax seed
2 bananas, sliced for topping
brown sugar for topping (optional)
milk for serving

Bring water and milk just to a boil (watch you don't over boil it like I frequently do!).

Stir in oatmeal, peanut butter, and cinnamon. Reduce heat and boil gently for 3-5 minutes or until mixture thickens and becomes uniform.

Remove from heat. Stir in walnuts and flax seed. Serve in bowls with desired amount of milk and top with bananas and brown sugar. Delicious!

You can of course play around with different nuts and fruit. Raisins are really good!

Is it receive and believe, or believe and receive?

2012-02-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so one of the fundamental things that I have struggled with since I was eight years old and first heard about God and Jesus, was the whole "receiving and believing" thing. Everyone who knows anything about Christianity knows that at it's core is believing in the existence and resurrection of Jesus.

To become a Christian, all one has to do is pray to Jesus and say "I believe in you and I receive you".

I cannot tell you how many times I've prayed those words over the years and yet there are times when I still wonder if I've done it right. When I was little, I was told that praying those words only means something if you really accepted Jesus in your heart. But what does that mean, exactly? The issue that I have is this: wanting to believe that something is true isn't the same as believing it.

I have no problem believing there is a God. But how does one go from believing in a God, to believing that same God came to earth in the form of a person named Jesus, who was then murdered, but came back from the dead so that our souls could live forever? Why doesn't this belief or knowledge automatically translate for me like it seems to do for others?

If it hasn't become abundantly clear, one of my struggles as a Christian is faith. I have feared over the years that I was one of an unfortunate few whose heart God had hardened. Romans 9:21 discusses how a potter has the right to decide to use some lumps of clay to make a jar for decoration, and another to throw garbage into. What if I was one God had made to "throw garbage into"? Not a pleasant thought. But then Romans 9 goes on to say that even though God has the right to show his anger, He is patient and merciful. Thank goodness for that.

I have asked God why I should have so many doubts. Why couldn't I just believe and have faith?

Romans 10:17 (NLT) says "faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ". Ephesians 2:8 words it a little more specifically, "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God". The "it" referred to in this passage, is faith.

It seems pretty clear then that faith is a gift from God. I can't manifest it myself. This makes me feel a little better but it has also meant that I've come to accept that faith is a struggle God has given me, and that I am just going to have to work through it. I take a lot of comfort from Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT): "...let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith." The perfecter of our faith. This implies that it okay to struggle with faith! This verse has made me realize that I truly am a work in progress - God is still working on me. I'm not a lost cause! He just isn't finished with me yet.

Most recently when I questioned God about my faith, the following words popped very clearly into my head: just keep asking.

Once again it would appear that God is trying hard to teach me the lesson of depending on Him instead of myself.

Art By My Hand

2012-01-29T16:51:00.001-07:00

I scrapbook. Or at least I used to. These days I mostly accumulate scrapbooking supplies which sit on shelves.

Having faced the reality that I just do not have the time to scrapbook in the traditional sense, I have taken up digital scrapbooking. However, I am the belief that digital scrapbooking is cheating, so I aim to (traditionally) scrapbook a few pages for my kids and for my husband each year.

I've decided to do "all about me" albums for each of my kids. I am currently working on my daughter's "at age 3" pages. These will be the first in the album, so I had to fill three 12x12 pages.

In the journal boxes I plan to write what my daughter's likes and dislikes were at age 3 (she is four now, so unless you can remember a lot of details from when your children were younger, I would start with their current age, or up to one year ago if you can remember that far back). I'm going to use either a picture taken of her at her 3rd birthday party, or her preschool picture from that year.

Children bring home a TON of crafts. Way more than I know what to do with. After having a turn being pinned on my "Masterpieces" bulletin board, I have either recycled or stuffed away my kids crafts with intentions to figure it out later.

I have decided to choose a few of my favorite ones that my daughter completed at preschool and at home when she was 3 and include them in her "all about me" album. Since the second page is titled, "Art by my hand", I choose the crafts that used her handprint. I got pretty well all of the supplies seen here at Costco.

Make me look good

2012-01-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

I melted down on my children this morning while trying to get out the door. This is a fairly common occurrence in our house. There are only three mornings a week when we have to be out the door by a certain time, and those three mornings are my least favorite times. I almost always resort to yelling at my kids who inevitably take eons to eat breakfast, think it's funny to hide on me instead of get dressed, and who have to fight me every time I say they have to wear a toque and mittens (it's January in Alberta, so this means they fight me EVERY morning).

Before the holidays, I read about dashed expectations in Donna Partow's Becoming a Vessel God can Use. She hit really close to home when she observed that all too often, her own joy evaporated because of selfish expectations.

Selfish expectations? What's that now?

I'm starting to realize that's exactly why I freak out at my kids (and my husband, but we'll save that for a later date). In the getting-out-the-door example, it's because if we are late I take it as a reflection of my parenting abilities. It makes me look bad and I don't want to look bad. I want to look organized, put-together and efficient. Really it boils down to my own selfish expectations. I expect my kids to cooperate in the mornings so we can get to where we need to be on time in a presentable fashion, which makes me look good. In Partow's words, I am expecting my kids to minister to me. It only follows that with these kind of expectations, I am setting myself up for disaster every morning.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to me just how often my motives are selfish ones. Sure, getting to preschool on time is good for my daughter too. But I'm not yelling at her in the morning because I'm afraid she might part of her class time. I'm yelling because I don't want to look like a parent who can't get out the door on time.

Mark 10:43-45 (NLT) says, "among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others...". *Sigh*. Nothing about being a slave sounds particularly appealing.

Suddenly having the attitude that I am here to serve my husband and my children doesn't happen over night. This is definitely a work that I am not going to accomplish on my own. But I truly do desire to be a more selfless person. Especially if it means I can drop my daughter off at school without all the lousy drama.

Small group rookies

2012-01-21T14:26:00.002-07:00

My husband and I recently joined a newly formed couples small group. This is a pretty big deal because my husband is fairly new on the Christian scene and finds group Christian settings a little uncomfortable. I can't blame him. For someone not used to such things, being in a group talking about God, taking prayer requests, and praying out loud together can be a little overwhelming even for more seasoned Christians. So I'm going into this knowing that my husband is participating mostly for me.

This is my husband and I's second small group. Even though I've been in a number of different women's small groups, I often still feel like a small group rookie. We even feel a little bit fraudulent because while some of the other couples have been on amazing mission's trips and more often than not have some sort of musical talent (have you ever noticed that about Christians?), and are part of the choir or worship team, my husband isn't very "churchy" and in the past, I've gone in and out of regular church attendance. The other couples always seem much more knowledgable and comfortable with it all. But that's our perception and not necessary the way things really are. Nevertheless, it feels a little bit hard and intimidating walking into a new group.

So why join a small group? Well, I love learning. One of my favorite things to do is discuss something I've learned about. I get such a high from suddenly seeing something in a new light. I get inspiration from being part of a joint effort. It's an instant support system. When my mother died, on the scene were our small group members. When there is a difficult decision to make or a hardship to get through, I get comfort from knowing there are others praying for me. It provides accountability. I am much more likely to read scripture and think about things if I know I am meeting with people to discuss it. It's a great way to get connected in the church and meet other couples who are in roughly the same stage of life as us. And if we never step out of our comfort zone then we won't grow in our faith and we certainly won't get past feeling like fraudulent newbies.

The Bible is pretty clear that Christians should get connected and fellowship together. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT) says, "Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another...".

Matthew 18:20 says, "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them."

I think the challenge for us will be to be ourselves and not censor our past (it's not like we have out-of-control pasts but we have spent more time living a non-Christian lifestyle than living a Christian one). We have already met several times and the other members do not strike me as judgemental or exclusive so I'm sure things will work out. It will just take a little time to grow comfortable.

Too bad it's not as easy as inviting your neighbour over for a glass of wine or a beer.

Testimony

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

It was my grandmother who first introduced me to Jesus. I was eight years old. She led me through a simple prayer to invite Jesus into my heart. At the time, I had no idea what this meant.

Although my mom would attend church sporadically in later years, my parents were not church-goers. My childhood could be a bit unstable. My father struggled with alcohol and gaps in employment. My mom battled chronic illness and depression her whole life.

It wasn't that my parents didn't love me. They did and I knew that. It was that they weren't always available. At times, I felt very alone.

My grandma starting taking my sister, brother and I to church with her. My grandparents attended a very charismatic Pentecostal church. The congregation was small and older. It was the kind of church where a lot of people shouted out during the sermons. Very legalistic, very fire and brimstone; a lot of passionate loudly preached sermons. In short, it scared the crap out of me.

I was told that if I didn't believe in Jesus with my whole heart, I would go to hell. I became so fearful that I didn't believe enough. I continue to struggle with this today.

As soon as my parents determined I was old enough to say so, I stopped attending church.

I had a very idealized version of what a family should be in my head and it wasn't what I had at home. So I started looking elsewhere. I found a nice picture of it through a friend of mine. She was mormon and had 8 brothers and sisters. They ate their meals together, they practiced things like family games night and family meetings. I was smitten and started spending more and more time with them.

It wasn't long before they started inviting me to their young women's group and church on Sunday's. Since I was attending for social reasons, this did little for the fearful, confused idea of God I had in my head. Nevertheless, I am convinced that my friendship with this girl and her family kept me out of trouble. Highschool was an incredibly lonely time. I could have gone in any direction.

One day I was completing an exercise for the young women's class that involved looking up passages in the book of Mormon. As much as I loved the friends I had, as I was doing the exercise I realized that I had no connection to what I was reading. More than that, I didn't believe what I was reading. So I stopped attending.

Shortly after that I went to University and became a student of science. Whatever poorly conceived notions of God and Jesus I had in my head became even more muddled. Out of the fear I picked up attending my grandma's church, I had continued to pray to God every night before I went to sleep. But that was the extent of my relationship. And that was where I was at when I met the man who would later become my husband.

The two of us moved to northern Alberta for the job opportunities and I started working shift work in a chemical lab. I became instant friends with a very lively, outgoing co-worker. Night-shifts could be long, and we started having conversations about God and church. She ended up inviting me to her Baptist church. I went, and enjoyed it! Instead of being yelled at for over an hour, we primarily sang songs! It was there that I met her mom, who happened to run a women's small group. My own mom and sister were very sick at this point, and I found myself really struggling so when I was invited to attend the small group I went.

I found myself interested and excited about what I was learning. And sharing my troubles with other women who had their own battles, was immensely therapeutic. But I didn't know what it meant for my boyfriend who was not a Christian, so I broke things off.

That was a really difficult time. He couldn't understand why we couldn't be together when we loved each other and shared the same goals. Truthfully, I didn't really understand either. But I had picked up the notion that if I wanted to be a true Christian, I couldn't marry a non-Christian.

A couple of months later, his parents invited me over to celebrate a birthday and as we were sitting outside I felt myself struggling with the feelings I had not only for my ex-boyfriend, but also for his family. In my head, I suddenly heard the words, "Lucy - here is the family I have for you". I'm not kidding. As the girl who had longed to feel some family ties, I didn't need to think twice about getting back together with my boyfriend. As for the Christian-non-Christian thing, I figured that would work out some way or another. We got married shortly after.

We then found ourselves transferred to Southern Alberta for work and not long after we moved down, we got pregnant with our daughter. We didn't know a lot of people, and we certainly didn't know anyone else having babies. I was terrified. The same friend who invited me to church with her, had moved to the same city the year before and once again invited me to her church. My husband and I both liked this church!

When I was six months pregnant, we were sitting in the congregation and a couple roughly our age sat down next to us. The woman looked to be about as pregnant as I was. This led to a conversation. Turned out they led a couple's small group. My husband and I started going.

I can't tell you how much this saved me. I was ridiculously insecure about becoming a parent and felt totally alone in it. And now here was this girl who was going through the same thing. Not only that, but she knew what it was like to have a critically ill mother. In fact, on the day of her mother's funeral, my mother passed away.

This event could have devastated me. It devastated my dad and my sister. Three years later, and they are still not coping well. Instead, I felt myself surrounded my an incredible amount of sympathy and support. The peace that exceeds understanding talked about in Philippians 4:7? I experienced that peace after my mother died.

Not long after that we became pregnant with our son and my husband lost his job. For perhaps only the second time in my life, I trusted God to work out the details. We needed to sell our house and fast! In a flooded housing market our house sold in 36 hours. One day later my son was born. Two weeks after that we found ourselves relocated back to northern Alberta (just not quite as far north as last time). A couple of years later and we have settled into a new life, a new church and recently new small groups.

My husband and I still have a lot of growing to do in our relationship with God. "Not worrying", is not a concept associated with me. I still struggle with deep insecurities. Trusting God is something I have to work on every day. But if my story has taught me anything, it's that God doesn't leave us alone. You can interpret this story any number of ways, but they way I see it is that God could have let me walk away. Instead he used people to draw me back. Again and again. God knows that I am vulnerable to loneliness and feelings of despair. Circumstances that could easily leave me feeling alone and defeated, instead were buffeted by the right people at the right time.

You will have ins and outs with your relationship with God. But God never leaves you.

Philippians 4:6-7

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

2012-01-16T08:37:00.001-07:00

Snickerdoodle cookies are a family favorite. This is the muffin version of those cookies.

I like to make my mini. A more suitable size for my kids, and more melt-in-your-mouth!

You will need:

cooking spray for muffin tins
1/3 c butter, melted
1/2 C white sugar
1 egg
1.5 C all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C milk

Topping:

1/4 C white sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until well mixed.

Scoop batter into a prepared muffin tins (fill each one 3/4 full). This makes ~24 mini muffins (or 10-12 regular sized ones).

Bake for 18-22 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small shallow dish. Place melted butter in a second small shallow dish.

When the muffins are done, cool in tins until you are able to handle them. Then dip the top of each muffin in the butter and then in the sugar/cinnamon. Cool completely on a cookie rack.

Enjoy! These are fantastic when they are still warm!

Here is a simple baby gift idea...

A couple in our small group just had a baby girl and I made this pretty package to give them.

I used a heart-shaped basket, lined it first with parchment paper, and then a layer of saran wrap. I filled it with the muffins, wrapped the muffins up in the saran and parchment paper.

Then I wrapped the whole thing in tulle and closed it first with a pipe cleaner, and then pink ribbon. Simple and sweet!

What do you think?

2012-01-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

One of the things driving my effort to find greater meaning and purpose in my life, aside from always feeling vaguely dissatisfied, is recurring jealousy and insecurity.

I've realized how consumed I can be with worrying about what my friends think or agonizing over why I wasn't invited out for coffee or for a run or whatever the case may be.

This sounds so ridiculous but if I don't get an answer to a phone call or an email I sometimes invent entire stories in my head about that friend being too busy with other people to get back to me. Sounds like I'm describing a pretty pitiful person, doesn't it? Exactly.

I thought that if I went back to work, I would have my own "thing" and I would meet other professionals, so that what my little group of friends were or were not doing wouldn't matter so much. In other words, I thought I probably had too much time on my hands and that was why I was over-analyzing every little thing in my relationships.

But then I thought back to when I did go back to work after my daughter was born. I remember sitting in my office reading my stay-at-home-mom friend's Facebook statuses about playdates and strollercise and coffe-time and feeling really sorry for myself. Gosh. I have spent a lot of my life feeling sorry for myself! And it's because of all the time I spend comparing myself to others.

I want my life to be driven by something more meaningful than worrying about what other people think. I want to spend my time doing something more meaningful than comparing myself to my friends. And I want to be a person who feels genuine happiness and love when their friends experience success instead of niggles of jealousy and envy.

Ecclesiastes 4:4 states, "I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless".

I don't want to be this particular cliche anymore. I don't want the successes I do experience to be temporary and ultimately meaningless. The obvious solution is to change my attitude and my focus.

Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!".

Perfect peace sounds lovely, doesn't it? I just have to fix my thoughts on God? No problem! Easier said than done I'm afraid. But that is what I am planning on spending time on this year: practical ways I can turn my thoughts to God. Not just in those easy moments when things are going great or I'm sitting quietly by myself. But in those hard moments when I am tired, frustrated, hurt or angry.

Book Review: A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

2012-01-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

One of the things I missed the most when we moved a couple of years ago, was my book club. There is something about knowing that other people are reading the same book as me, that increases the experience. I love to talk about books I've read. So after I had been here for about a year and had met enough women to make it a go, I started my own book club.

Our pick over the holidays was A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. We picked it because we wanted something light-hearted to read over the holidays.

While this book was light-hearted, it was deeper and more poignant than I had expected it to be. There is a lot of emotion in this book. You will likely cry when you read it. Unless your soul is dead.

Cameron's descriptions of dog behavior are bang on. I could really picture the mannerisms he described, which made Bailey all the more endearing. It also illuminates what many dog owners already suspect, and that is that our dog's really do experience what we go through emotionally.

Whenever I read a book about dogs, it's always with a certain level of anxiety. I'm always waiting for when the dog you grew to love, dies. So that was doubly true with this book since you know the dog dies several times. Cameron is very good at building a sense of doom several times throughout the story, and when that happened I found myself having to put the book down in order to be able to sleep. Not wanting to give too much away, I appreciated that there indeed was a purpose that tied the whole story together.

I wasn't sure about the reincarnation angle when I started the book. But God uses people and he uses circumstances to influence our lives, and I like the idea that he is possibly using our pets too. Now whenever I watch my dog while she is dreaming, I wonder if she isn't possibly remembering a past family.

All of us agreed it was one to recommend to others.

If nothing else, this book will remind you to repeatedly tell your own dog, that s/he is "a good dog".

Our next pick, to be read by mid-March, is Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

Crock pot Porridge

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Source: Adapted from Tosca Reno's The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook: Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean

I don't know about you, but I often find myself in a breakfast rut of Cheerios, Cheerios and more Cheerios.

A big part of that is because I often don't get going in the morning early enough to have time for anything but cold cereal.

I've decided to be a little more disciplined and introduce a little more variety into our breakfast routine (I know, New Year resolutions, right? You probably give it a week? Me too).

This recipe was perfect because you set it all up the night before and just eat it in the morning! It is actually faster than cold cereal! Well, one downfall: cleaning the crock pot later that day sucks and pretty much evens out whatever time you saved in the morning. BUT at least you had a healthy, more exciting breakfast!

This recipe has a nice homey, stick-to-your-bones kind of taste. A perfect chilly morning treat. Just the kind of thing I envision eating in a mountain chalet before a day of skiing (if I did that sort of thing).

What you'll need:

2 C steel-cut oats
1/2 C oat bran
1/2 C brown rice
1/4 C wheat germ
2 Tbsp flax seed
3 C skim milk
3.5 C water (or any combination of fluids to equal 6.5 C)
1 C raisins (or anything, really - apple, cranberries, dates, nuts etc.) - optional
1.5 Tbsp vanilla
pinch of nutmeg
fruit toppings - optional (I like to top mine with berries and banana)
brown sugar - optional

Place all ingredients in crock pot. Stir well. Cover. Set to cook overnight on low. In the morning, top with fruit and a sprinkle of brown sugar, and enjoy!

New Year's "to-be" list

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, a previous small group leader gave our group this New Year's idea, to take the place of the usual New Year's "to-do" lists that people often make.

Lately, I seem to be constantly reminded of the truth that I can't "be" much without God. So rather than focusing on what I want to accomplish in the next year, this strategy involves asking God for fresh insight on what I am becoming.

Galatians 5:22-25, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."It is the "fruits of the spirit" that I am using to write a 2012 "to-be" list.

I suggest making your own. I chose the fruits that I struggle most with. The more specific you can be, the more meaningful it will be. This is what mine looks like today:

Be loving...when your kids won't leave you alone
Be joyful...at the end of the day when you are tired
Be patient...when you are running late
Be kind...when no one will notice

I don't make New Year's resolutions. Instead, I find it much more practical to re-start each day with a set of goals. So this year, I plan to start over every day asking God for help in being the things on my list. I know I won't be able to do it on my own! I've tried!

Prayer:

God, I ask that you would reveal to me the things I need on my "to be" list today. Help me to grow in being rather than simply doing. I ask that you give me big picture direction for this year, and that you would fill me with the fruit of the spirit in increasing quantities. Please fulfill me with your purposes as I concentrate on who you want me to be. Amen.

Risky Business

2012-01-02T08:04:00.000-07:00

Our spirits are immortal. Yet God puts us in earthly bodies with a sinful nature and allows Satan to surround us with temptation. One theory is that God does this to develop our character.

Doesn't this seem like a risky choice? God knows that not all of us will come back to heaven. Some of us will succumb to Satan. Yet he puts our souls at risk anyway. Almost seems contradictory to a loving Dad, doesn't it?

My other immediate question is, isn't there a better way? Yet this is what God had chosen to do. So although brief, our time here on Earth must be pretty important. God risks our salvation putting us here, so his reasons must carry some weight.

Maybe it isn't that different from sending our children to school. We know they will face temptation, culture, peer pressure, and at times even danger. They could get beat up by a bully, or hit by a car on the way there, or succumb to any number of other potential risks. And we know that there will be times when they have to make difficult decisions and they will make mistakes. Yet we do it anyway. Why? Because we know that despite the risks, it is for their own good. They are getting an education. They are learning how to become more like us, i.e. adults. It is not inconceivable then that God is doing the same thing sending us here to earth. To get an education and learn how to become more like him.

Okay, so if we are not here on earth for ourselves or for comfort, but are here to become more Christ-like, I would have to say based on observation that many of us do not have this as our number one priority. (Perhaps this can explain why I often find myself feeling frustrated and unfulfilled by my circumstances).

I would have to say that complacency is my biggest obstacle to staying focused on becoming more Christ-like. Which seems crazy when put in the context that God is putting my salvation at risk putting me here in order to build my character. And yet, when I am not at church or small group, I just don't always care enough about trying to be like Jesus. In the heat of dealing with uncooperative children I have to admit that it is often the last thing I am concerned with. Like a child who doesn't make getting their homework a priority despite knowing that being there to learn is the whole point of going to school.

So as we make our way into a New Year, I think I will be seeking practical ways in which I can keep focused on "what would Jesus do" mentality, moment by moment. Not just when I am peacefully reading the Bible or enjoying a tea at small group. I do not understand his methodology, but hopefully I will make some progress this year in coming to better understand who he is.

Christmas decompression

2011-12-27T08:35:00.005-07:00

All the ingredients were there for this to be a really fantastic Christmas: good food, good company, mild weather, contagiously excited children, a pile of presents, a little drama in the form of a phone call from my sister's ex-boyfriend's inebriated mother...

And yet Christmas missed the mark for me a little bit this year.

Having caught a cold on the 23rd didn't help, and my husband having to work put a damper on things. My husband is a shift worker. He likes to point out that he has more time off in a year than most people because of it, but I like to point out that he misses a lot of events because there is no flexibility in shift work.

Then there was the production yesterday of going door-to-door in my neighborhood looking for my husband's brand new remote control helicopter that he lost control of and crashed.

This Christmas felt like a lot of work. A little bit like an overproduction. In truth, I feel like I am living in a Toys R' Us bomb crater with two excessively overtired cranky kids. I actually have to run out and buy some organizational units to be able to put away all the things my kids got (I'm making this sound like a bad thing. I'm actually one of those people who get warm fuzzies from the prospect of buying organizational units...).

A family in town lost their house Christmas Eve when their tree caught fire. I have a pantry and a fridge filled with more food than I can fit, and a basement overflowing with toys. I can't help but feel like I am living in excess. I've already started rounding up some toys for donation.

And I think that's where my post-Christmas melancholy really stems from. I feel like this was a Christmas of consumption. I can really feel God hammering away at me to give back. It's just not entirely clear to me what form that should take, but I can already tell this will be a big topic for me in the New Year.

I also think that ordering in Chinese food and having a Christmas movie marathon while feigning the flu so that we don't have to go anywhere or have anyone over, sounds like the way to go.

Donna Partow's Vessel Takeaways (Christmas version)

2011-12-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

The women's small group I attend through my church recently wrapped up Donna Partow's "Becoming a Vessel God Can Use" study. I would recommend this study to any woman. Partow has a blunt, truthful way of wording things and offers practical ways of becoming more God-centered. Plus, the lessons are short making completing it each week quite manageable.

As anyone who has completed any kind of study knows, as soon as you are finished and you put the book on your shelf, everything you just learned dribbles out your ears. At our Christmas potluck a couple of weeks ago, a woman spoke about how she wrote out a list of things from the study that she wanted to focus on over the Christmas season when most of us are vulnerable to missing the point by becoming too busy and distracted. With my family arriving tomorrow, I thought this was a great idea.

Here is my top-ten list of (Christmas) takeaways...

1. Instead of focusing on all the great things I am going to accomplish or have accomplished this season (like cute xmas letters, and awesome gift finds), focus on the great things God wants to accomplish through me. Seek opportunities to give back and serve others. In other words, focus my thoughts on the fact that the season is about the glory of God, not the glory of me.

2. I am responsible for the choices I make this Christmas. God is responsible for the results.

3. As I spend time with family and friends over the holidays, ask God to help me remove the labels I've given them. God hasn't labelled them and he doesn't hold things they have done (real or imagined) against them, so I shouldn't either.

4. Instead of longing for a new Coach purse, long to know God better. Ask God for the gift of faith and peace over the holidays, instead of hoping for more stuff.

5. Instead of quarrelling with God about how he made me every time I compare myself to someone else (whose baking is better, or whose house is more perfectly decorated, or who got a new Coach purse...), ask God to help me love and accept myself exactly as he specifically made me.

6. Don't allow myself to become so absorbed and wrapped up in the busyness of the season that I miss the joy my children and husband bring to it. Ask God to adjust my attitude from expecting them to do things for me. Towards my husband and children, ask God to help me be thoughtful but not moody. Helpful but not bossy. Thankful but not critical.

7. Don't allow myself to become so absorbed and wrapped up in the busyness of the season that I don't spend some quiet time honoring God and thinking about the baby Jesus who was born. The Christmas season shouldn't be about filling my life with more commitments, more activities, and more stuff, but about celebrating and reflecting on the birth of Jesus.

8. Ask God to help me let go of the expectations, hopes and dreams I hold for how I want this Christmas to be, in order to make more room for him.

9. Seek to be filled with a joyful, forgiving attitude over the holidays. Instead of expecting the people around me to provide these things, or a Christmas show or carol, look to God to provide them.

10. Listen for God's voice and act as he directs.

Merry Christmas.

Grandma's Snickerdoodles

2011-12-21T21:11:00.003-07:00

These are my husband's favorite cookie and they are the ones we make for Santa every year.

This is one I like doing with my kids because they can get their hands dirty making the balls.

SNICKERDOODLES

You will need:

1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (you may need a little more sugar and cinnamon)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Combine 1 1/2 cups white sugar, butter or margarine and eggs. Mix well.
Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Blend well.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls.
Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon in a shallow dish. Roll dough in sugar/cinnamon mixture and place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a cookie rack.

These are awesome when they are still warm!

Also, my daughter's preschool xmas party is tomorrow so I shrank down and printed off more

snowman wrappers and used them on boxes of smarties. Pretty easy for something pretty cute!

Snowman Popcorn Wrapper Favors

2011-12-17T18:55:00.002-07:00

Every year my husband and I host an Ugly-Sweater Holiday party.

The winner(s) this year if you were wondering, looked like this. They scored big points for carrying around battery packs in their pockets:

This year I wanted to send our guests home with a party favor. These are another great Pinterest find and were easy to do.

Source: My Crazy Life as a Farmer's Wife

You will need:
8.5 x 11 paper
a printer
glue stick
microwavable packs of popcorn
twist ties
dollar store gloves
medium to thick width ribbon
scissors

I found 8.5 x 11 paper at Staples that resembled brown paper bags.

I downloaded the printable from the website and imported it into my digital scrapbooking program, sbc from Creative Memories. I used sbc to add the wording, "Wishing you a Merry Christmas", (but if you don't have a digital scrapbooking program you can print them without the words).

I then printed out (landscape) the number I needed and cut them to 6.5 inches long instead of 8.

I wrapped the print-outs around packs of microwavable popcorn and glued the back.

Using twist ties, I bunched up the fingers of both gloves.

I then tied a ribbon around the twist tie to hide it (I just did a basic knot, nothing fancy).

I then slid just the glove in front (both gloves were too tight) over the top of the popcorn package.

So cute! I think I will adopt them for my daughter's preschool Christmas party this week and use them for boxes of smarties.

I love Christmas!

Rolo Turtles

2011-12-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was invited to a Christmas bake exchange this year. Last year my husband and I did a big one-day bake and in six hours produced all our baking, but it was exhausting and the clean-up took forever. So I'm excited and think this is a brilliant idea because you get all your baking done for the season but only have to make one item!

However, I had to make 8 dozen of that one item. And in a week where I have no fewer than 5 Christmas events and have to bring food to 4 of them, I went on the hunt for something quick and easy. I found the perfect thing on Pinterest (thank-you God for Pinterest!).

Rolo Turtles! These are so easy, I felt like I was cheating.

You will need:

a bag of pretzels. I prefer Our Compliments mini-twists because they are smaller and compact so less caramel can ooze through and stick to the pan (I couldn't find pretzel snaps like the ones pictured in the original recipe)
rolos (a pack of rolos has 10)
pecans (I had no idea pecans were so bloody expensive!)

Preheat oven to 350 F

Line a baking tray with parchment paper unless you have a nice clean non-stick pan, then the paper isn't necessary

Place pretzels on pan in nice tidy rows

Place a rolo candy on top of each pretzel

Bake in oven for 4-5 minutes or until the rolos are shiny but still intact

Remove from oven and with gentle pressure, squish the rolos down with a pecan (watch not to burn yourself)

Cool on pan until pan is no longer hot to touch, then chill in fridge for 10-15 minutes. Voile! Brilliant!

The original recipe I found on pinterest came from So Wonderful So Marvelous

A train wreck with Candy-cane cookies

2011-12-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest things weighing on my heart is my relationship with my husband. I know I am the source of a lot of unnecessary conflict and frustration. And I just know that things could be better.

In my quest to be less selfish, I am also trying to minister more often to my husband. I hate the way that sounds by the way, but it sounds better than "serving" my husband. The point is, I want him to see me as a place of comfort and support, and less as a place of agitation and annoyance.

I failed miserably in my quest today.

We decided to decorate our Christmas tree. Everything started out well enough. I made the fluffiest pancakes I've ever made (I think the secret was Our Compliments buttermilk pancake mix and the small soup ladle I used to pour the batter onto the skillet), but once we started decorating, things went downhill.

My husband likes to fiddle around with the settings on our camera. So while I tried organizing the decorations and putting them out for the kids to hang, he was fiddling. As soon as I opened the box of decorations, the kids dove in like maniacs. During the commotion I told my husband to forget the camera and just help with decorating. Instead he started snapping pictures of me.

My husband takes the worst pictures of me. Instead of getting the camera out when I'm all dolled up for a date-night, he gets it out when I'm in my pyjamas, my hair is frizzy from my shower, and I'm covered in pancake batter. What's worse, I look like a downright hag because I'm frowning and in the middle of telling him to stop taking my picture. "Stop being grumpy, like you always are!" he yelled accusingly.

Being told I'm "always" grumpy is a hot button for me (maybe because it's a little too close to the truth at times?), so I launched into the "what about you!?" sequence of our typical argument. Yay! What's more fun than a good game of "no I'm not, you are!"? Joy to the world...

Anyway, after wrapping that up we continued decorating the tree in stony silence. I know, the holiday cheer is overwhelming.

Feeling guilty about the lack of Christmas goodness, after the tree was done I decided to make some candy cane cake-mix cookies. The kids and I had been to the Santa Claus parade the week before and had accumulated quite the stash of mini candy canes. No one in our house cares for candy canes. I thought chopping them up and putting them into a cookie with chocolate might make them more appealing.

What are cake-mix cookies you say? Only the EASIEST cookie recipe out there! Remember when you bought like four boxes of cake mix at Safeway because they were buy one, get one free? Well now you have a way to use them!

Candy Cane Cake-mix Cookies

You will need...
- 1 box of cake mix (white or chocolate)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 C oil
- 1 C (or more) of chocolate chips
- 1/4 to 1/2 C chopped candy cane pieces

Mix together cake mix, eggs and oil with a wooden spoon for one minute. The dough will be stiff. Stir in 1 C of chocolate chips and 1/4 to 1/2 C chopped candy cane pieces. Bake 8-12 minutes at 375 until just set. Cool on sheet for 1 minute then on cookie rack.

If you like chocolate and mint, you are going to love these.

My daughter doesn't like chocolate and mint, so she took one bite and made a big production of spitting the candy cane bits out. Feeling a little downcast, I turned to my husband for his reaction. He doesn't like chocolate and mint either, so his reaction was, "Ummm...". Now I'm feeling really annoyed, so I resorted to "you never like my baking!" (yes, I am guilty of making my own "always" statements). It's also a clear over-reaction stemming from my frustration over the lack of cheer I was managing to create.

And that's just it. The whole day was about me. I had a picture in my head of how I wanted the day to play out, and when it didn't go according to my plan, I got frustrated with the players. I also took it personally. I was trying to "create" Christmas cheer so I took their rejection of my fabulous cookies as a reflection of my ability to do something fun and Christmassy with my family.

Can you imagine how much more fun we could have had if I had just hammed it up for the camera instead and took their rejection of the cookies as a blessing because now I would get to eat more of them? I can. And it makes me wish I could kick myself in the butt.

Herding cats

2011-12-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day about how before I had kids, I would stand firm about not to doing anything "Christmassy" until December 1.

Now Christmas seems to sneak up on me towards the end of November despite my best efforts to hold it off. Does this happen to anyone else? At the start of November, Christmas still seems so far away. But suddenly at the end of the month it feels like I will never get everything done. Like as soon as I turn the calendar over to December it's pretty well all over. I can't believe we're into December. Happy New Year everyone!

I've spent the last week making to-do lists, writing a family Xmas letter, getting photos developed to make into mini-albums for grandparents, making calendars for parents, buying the ingredients for a bake-off, buying containers and tags to put the baking in, planning our annual ugly holiday sweater party, making a Xmas gift list, writing a letter to Santa, decorating the house, shopping, cutting up school photos to put in cards, and of course writing out Xmas cards. Oh the cards. I feel like we send out a ridiculous number of cards. The result of moving towns every three years and having a large family. And EVERY year I make the same mistake: I buy 36 cards thinking I can pare down our list to under 50. Then I end up having to develop more photos and buy more cards when I run out. I really AM a slow learner!

All this business and December is just beginning! At first I enjoy these activities, but then they start to overwhelm and frustrate me. I start to feel like I'm racing around trying to herd cats.

The holiday season is a pretty good representation of my life in general. I create a lot of busy work for myself. My husband complains that I can never just sit. Upon reflection (prompted by the book Becoming a Vessel God can Use by Donna Partow), I really do seem to run through life aimlessly but at a frenetic pace. The result is that I am pretty much at where I was 3 years ago, even 6 years ago! I might get promotions, or accumulate more stuff but I have the same complaints about not knowing what I should be doing. How I should be passing the time. Donna Paltow has given me a clue and it has reflections of Rick Warren's A Purpose Driven Life, so I've picked that one up to retread over the holidays. The resounding message is that discovering your God-given purpose for your life will drastically simplify your life and give it more meaning. As the Christmas season ramps up, this appeals to me more than ever. I just hope that in my excitement and anxiousness to discover what my purpose might be, I don't get discouraged and frustrated If things aren't immediately clear. And let's face it, they rarely are.

A year with very little change

2011-11-28T15:45:00.001-07:00

Hellllooooo? Is anybody still out there? If you can believe it, it has been over a year since my last post. A YEAR.

And the last thing I posted about? Black bean corn cakes.

When I first began blogging, I was feeling restless at home with my two kids. Nothing new there. I love cooking and writing and thought maybe blogging about what what I cooked for my kids would provide an outlet for all that restless energy. Nothing new there either. It worked for awhile.

Then I started taking some business courses, again with the hope that I could rid myself of the dissatisfied feeling I was struggling with. It worked for awhile.

Then we got a call from our preferred daycare that we had not one, but two spots! I thought, "a-ha, now I can go back to work and everything will fall into place". My background is in environmental liability and project review. I thought to myself, "I'm educated, I have some great experience on my resume - I'll be snatched up in no time". I sent out dozens of resumes. And waited. I immediately became discouraged at the lack of phone calls. I eventually did get called in for a few interviews but I either didn't get excited about the position or they didn't get excited about me. I couldn't understand why things weren't working out. Was it because of the extra year off I took? Was it because I don't have much of a local network (other than other mommies)? I started to question my hire-ability.

The first job interview I went to was a short commute away and for the same company my husband works for. It would have been perfect. I thought the interview went quite well and I felt excited and good afterward. The only downside was that my son was going through a rough adjustment period at the daycare and I was experiencing massive guilt associated with leaving them both there. Way more than I had expected. After all, I had been through the whole daycare experience before with my daughter.

While I waited to hear back, I asked God that if it was his will that I go back to work, then I would receive a job offer. If it wasn't, then I would not get the job and I would know to pull the kids out of daycare. Pretty straightforward.

I didn't get the job.

Here we are 5 months later and I just recently informed the daycare that we are not going to keep our spots. Why didn't I do this months ago when I first asked God for direction? Maybe I'm a slow learner. The truth is, when I prayed what I prayed I was feeling pretty confident that I would get the job and I think until recently I was in a bit of denial. The thought of being home indefinitely and going back to feeling aimless and restless also scared me.

I've been a Christian for a long time but amazingly (and tragically) I didn't really get what that meant until very recently. I'm tired of feeling restless, dissatisfied, and adrift but I think I'm discovering the key to peace.

If you haven't noticed, the focus of this blog is changing. There will still be recipes since besides cleaning, cooking is the 2nd most likely thing a person would find me doing in this household. But, there's going to be a lot more focus on God. Because I'm putting a lot more of MY focus on God. And we'll see where it gets us. Hopefully you'll stick with me.

Spicy Corn Cakes with Black Beans

2010-11-15T07:48:00.001-07:00

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Serves: 4

These were a fun alternative to rice or potatoes as a side at dinner. They would be good as a breakfast food too! The kids love the corn cakes, but could take or leave the black beans. The only problem now is that I'll have to search out other recipes to use up the cornmeal and buttermilk, which I do not normally have around the kitchen.

What you'll need:

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp chili powder
2/3 C ground yellow cornmeal
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 C buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 C frozen corn
2 tsp canola oil
sour cream and salsa for serving

In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the beans, oregano, and 1 tsp of the chili powder. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are heated through. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, remaining 1 tsp of chili powder, a bit of salt and a bit of pepper.

In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, buttermilk and egg. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just blended. It will look lumpy. Fold in the corn.

Heat a large cast0iron pan over medium-high heat. Brush with oil. Working in batches, add the batter like you would for small pancakes (~ 1/4 C at a time). Use a flipper to keep the batter in a small circle. Cook the cakes, turning once, until brown and puffy (about 4 minutes). Transfer to a plate and cover with foil. Stir the batter and brush the pan with oil in between batches.

Top the cakes with the beans, and serve with salsa and sour cream.

Cinnamon Biscuits

2010-11-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is a good one. Simple, yet tasty.

What you'll need:

2C sifted all-purpose flour
1Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C vegetable oil
3/4 C buttermilk
8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 C granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine flour, powder, salt and soda in a medium bowl and mix well. Stir in vegetable oil. Add buttermilk and stir until just blended

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Roll dough into a 15x8 rectangle.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease a 9 inch round baking pan lightly

Spread butter over the dough. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix well. Sprinkle over butter. Roll up rectangle jelly-roll style, starting from one long side. Pinch seam to seal.

Cut the roll into 1 1/2 inch slices. Arrange the slices, cut side up, in prepared baking pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve hot.

These are a great little treat, and quick to make. Perfect for brunches.

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

2010-10-04T07:34:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 4/5

Prep: 12 minutes
Cooking time: 17 minutes

Back in the summer, I had the luxury of having access to my in-laws raspberry bushes. I picked berries to my heart's delight. I happen to love raspberries, a love shared by my two kids. After two containers of raspberries were put into my freezer I went hunting for new raspberry recipes. This is one that everyone loved. The muffins were so moist and not overly sweet.

What you'll need:

1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, eggs, and lemon extract.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just blended. Gently stir in the raspberries.

Spoon batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick comes out clean, or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Cool muffins in the tin on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Simple Spinach Salad

2010-09-27T07:26:00.004-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 3/5 Taste: 3.5/5 Time: 5/5

Prep: 7 minutes
Cook time: 1 minute

This is a super fast, super easy, but super tasty spinach salad. Makes a terrific side and I just love the dressing!

What you'll need:

12 oz or 350 g pre-washed baby spinach
2 oranges
1/4 C lowest fat mayonnaise
1/4 C french vanilla yogurt (low fat)
1/4 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp milk (optional)
handful of croutons or cranberries (optional)

Rinse spinach leaves under cold water in salad spinner and spin dry. Place in salad bowl. Slice orange wedges and toss into greens. Set aside in fridge.

Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, and poppy seeds in a small bowl in that order. Whisk together (you may want to whisk in a bit of milk if you like your dressing a bit runny).

Toss a handful of your choice of croutons or cranberries into the spinach, drizzle with the dressing and toss again. Serve! Fresh and Yummy!

Recipe adapted from:

Thai Chicken Pizza

2010-09-20T07:13:00.001-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 3/5 Taste: 3.5/5 Time: 4/5

Prep: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 6 minutes

I have to admit, this was a weird one for me. After my first couple of bites, I wasn't sure if I liked it but it was such a unique flavor that I kept taking bites to see, and by the end I was quite enjoying it. It was a bit on the spicy side for my daughter, but I can see it being one of those recipes that as you make it, it grows on you until it's one in regular rotation. A fun twist on pizza anyway!

What you'll need:

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 boneless chicken breast
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy Seasoning
1/2 tsp curry powder
3 Tbsp creamy or crunchy peanut butter
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp water
12 " pizza crust (I got one of those pre-made ones from the bakery section)
3 green onions
6 mushrooms
1 C mozzarella cheese
1 C washed bean sprouts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat oil in a small nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat.

Cut chicken into small bite sized pieces. Add to pan and sauté until chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle with spice and set aside.

Soften peanut butter in a coffee mug in the microwave for ~ 15-25 seconds. Whisk in soy sauce and water (continue adding a bit of water until the sauce becomes slightly runny).

Spread sauce over pizza crust. Top with sauteed chicken. Wash and finely chop green onion. Wash and slice mushrooms. Scatter both green onions and mushrooms over pizza base. Top with cheese.

Bake for 5 minutes. When timer rings, change oven setting to broil. Watch carefully and remove when cheese begins to bubble.

Rinse bean sprouts in a colander under cold water. Pat dry. Remove pizza from the oven and sprinkle uncooked bean sprouts over top.

Enjoy!

The recipe is from my current favorite cookbook

Spaghetti Amatriciana

2010-09-08T08:18:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 4/5 Time: 3.5/6

Prep: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

We eat spaghetti a lot. It's kind of the go-to when we don't know what else to make. So I thought I would look around for alternate (but still relatively easy) spaghetti recipes to "spice" things up once in awhile. Everyone liked this one. The original recipe called for dry white wine. I used a little bit of apple juice instead.

This isn't a traditional amatriciana pasta sauce, because as wikipedia told me, amatriciana pasta sauce is made with dried pork cheek (I doubt my bacon is strictly made from the "cheek") and percorino cheese (never heard of it), but calling it "amatriciana" sounds like a more adult pasta sauce, so I left it in the title.

What you'll need:

2 Tbsp olive oil
90 g thick cut bacon, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 C apple juice (or dry white wine)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2.5 C diced tomatoes, with juice
salt
500 g (1 lb) spaghetti
1/2 C parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a large frying pan over medium-low heat, warm the oil. Add the bacon, onion, and red pepper flakes. Saute until the onion is softened and the bacon is lightly browned (~6 minutes).

Stir in the apple juice, and tomato paste. Reduce the heat to low and cook about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and 1/2 tsp salt. Raise the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, add 2 Tbsp salt and pasta to the boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente according to package directions (~8 minutes). Drain, reserving ~ 1/2 C of cooking water.

Add the drained pasta to the sauce and toss to combine. Sprinkle with one-third of the cheese and toss again. Add cooking water until the sauce is a nice consistency. Top with cheese, and serve.

Recipe from Weeknight Cook

Cashew Chicken

2010-09-01T07:45:00.001-06:00

Ease: 3/5 Kid-friendliness: 3/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 3/5

Prep: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 6 minutes

Cutting up chicken into bite sized pieces is probably my least favorite food preparation activity. It is so laborious! But I love a good stir-fry and this one is a new favorite. It's not the greatest for small kids because of the nuts, so I had to make a little bit without nuts for my son, but my daughter liked the nuts. My husband and I (before kids) used to go to a restaurant called Brewster's, mostly because they have an awesome beer sampler tray, but also because they had a really good cashew chicken dish. This recipe reminded me of that. All the meal needed was a cold Brewster's beer.

What you'll need:

3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
2 tsp ginger
500 g skinless boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cornstarch
3 Tbsp canola oil
2 green onions, chopped
1 C salted roasted cashews
streamed rice, for serving

In a large bowl, stir together 2 Tbsp soy sauce, the wine, and the ginger. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine 2 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and cornstarch and stir to dissolve the sugar and cornstarch.

Heat a large frying pan (or wok) over high heat and add 2 Tbsp canola oil. Remove and drain the chicken from the marinade, and discard the marinade. Add the chicken to the pan and stir-fry until opaque (~3 minutes). Transfer the chicken to a bowl. Return the pan to medium heat and add 1 Tbsp canola oil. Add the onions and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Return the chicken to the pan and add the cashews. Give the sauce a quick stir, add to the pan, and stir until the sauce thickens slightly (~1-2 minutes). Serve with rice!

And Happy September Everyone! Can't believe we burned through August like that...

Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

2010-08-25T07:40:00.001-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 3.5/5

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 to 12 minutes

Everyone loved these! A perfect backyard summer meal. Get your napkins out!

What you'll need:

2 Tbsp unsalted butter or margarine
1/2 C minced yellow onion
1 C ketchup
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 good sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into halves
vegetable oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 - 6 large sandwich rolls

Warm BBQ to medium high heat.

To make the sauce, in a medium sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine. Add the onion and cook until soft (~3 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add the ketchup, soy sauce, lemon juice and tabasco sauce. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Lightly brush or spray the chicken on both sides with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over direct medium heat until the meat is firm and no longer pink (~8 to 12 minutes), turning once. Remove from the grill and let rest 3-5 minutes. Shred the chicken, add the the sauce pan and heat through over medium heat.

Grill the rolls over direct medium heat until lightly toasted, (~ 1 minute). Built each sandich with a roll and some chicken. Very tasty!

Recipe adapted from Weber's Real Grilling

Grilled Asparagus and Prosciutto Salad

2010-08-16T08:28:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 0/5 Taste: 3/5 Time: 4/5

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes

This recipe isn't really kidlet friendly. Unless you have a really sophisticated toddler, most small kids probably don't dig vinaigrette dressing, especially one made from red wine. That said, I enjoyed this salad. It made a nice side to the chicken I made and is something beyond the usual tossed or caesar salad I make.

What you'll need:

625 g asparagus, tough ends removed
7 Tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp finely chopped chives
6 C mixed baby greens (I used a bagged mix)
90 g prosciutto, thinly sliced and cut into strips
60 g shredded or shaved parmesan cheese

Preheat a stovetop grill pan over medium-high heat (you could also cook the asparagus over a BBQ). Brush the asparagus with 1 Tbsp of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the asparagus in the pan and cook, turning occasionally, until slightly charred and tender, ~ 8 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the garlic, mustard, vinegar, a dash of salt and a pinch of pepper. Slowly whisk in the remaining 6 Tbsp of oil. Stir in the chives.

Add the greens and prosciutto (pronounced "pra-shoot-oh" - I looked it up. It's a dry cured ham, by the way) to the vinaigrette and toss gently to coat. Arrange the grilled asparagus on plates and top with the salad. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma The Weeknight Cook: Fresh and Simple Recipes for Good Food Everyday

Grilled Chicken Panini's in a Hurry

2010-08-09T07:52:00.000-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 4/5 Time: 5/5

Prep: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Sometimes, I am just at a loss for what to make at lunch time. If I don't have leftovers or sandwich stuff, it can be a real challenge to think of something quick and easy and not just have KD. Again. Here is a quick, easy one I rely on.

What you'll need:

375 g frozen stir fry veggies
375 g cooked chicken strips or chunks (you can buy packaged ones now)
4 whole wheat paninis
4 large lettuce leaves
ranch dressing (or BBQ or pesto sauce)
shredded marble cheese
sandwich press or grill

Over medium heat, heat a bit of water in a nonstick pan. Pour in the frozen veggies. Cover with a lid for ~2 minutes to soften the veggies.

Uncover the pan, add the chicken and saute until the chicken is warmed through, and the veggies are tender (~5 minutes).

Meanwhile, preheat sandwich press or grill.

Spread ranch dressing on paninis, sprinkle with cheese and top with a lettuce leaf, and some of the veggies and chicken mixture.

Press the panini until the cheese is melted (~1-2 minutes).

Serve!

Pita Pizzas

2010-08-03T08:12:00.000-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 4/5

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

This makes a quick easy lunch for the kids. My daughter loves pizza, making it a great way to slip in some veggies (if I think she might pick them off, I mince them up and mix them into the tomato sauce - shhhh...).

What you'll need:

4 whole wheat pitas
1 C shredded cheese (I used marble)
1/2 C parmesan cheese
toppings of choice (I used some orange pepper)
1 C tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly spray a foil lined baking pan.

Spread the tomato sauce over one side of the pitas. Add your toppings. Sprinkle liberally with shredded cheese and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted. Cut into 4 little slices and serve!

Pork Tenderloin and Bacon

2010-07-27T09:15:00.000-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 4/5

Prep: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes

I recently discovered tenderloin and think it might very well be my favorite meat right now. It's so, well, tender! And quite lean, too. This recipe was a crowd pleaser. I will definitely be making this one again.

For tips and tricks on selecting and preparing pork, see here.

What you'll need:

1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 pork tenderloins, about 1 pound each
12 slices thinly sliced bacon, about 3/4 pound

Trim any excess fat and silver skin from the tenderloins (see here to find out how).

Cut the tenderloin into 1 1/2 inch pieces (about the same width as a piece of bacon). Season with salt and pepper.

Wrap a piece of bacon around each piece of pork and secure with a toothpick. The bacon should overlap at the ends by no more than 1 inch.

Grill the pork over direct medium heat until the pork is barely pink in the center and the bacon is fully cooked (~12 - 15 minutes), turning once. If flare-ups occur, move the pork temporarily to indirect medium heat.

For another great tenderloin recipe idea, check out pork and apple pitas.

Tips and Tricks for Grilling Pork

2010-07-24T08:24:00.000-06:00

I recently discovered pork tenderloin. I have no idea why it took me so long, but it is quite possibly my most favorite meat to cook and enjoy. You really can't go wrong - it will nearly always come out juicy and tender!

I looked up some tips and tricks when it comes to selecting, preparing, and cooking pork since besides frying bacon and roasting the occasional ham, I previously didn't do much with pork.

What to look for:

Meat should be light to redish pink. Avoid anything pale or grayish.
The fat should be creamy white and smooth.
The meat should feel firm to the touch, with a fine, smooth grain.
If the pork is packaged, there should not be much moisture in the package, and what there is should be clear.

To prepare pork:

Remove the sinewy layer on the surface (silver skin) by slipping the tip of a sharp, thin knife under one end of the silver skin. Grab the loosened end with your fingers and slide the knife away just under the skin at a slightly upward angle.
Spareribs and baby back ribs have a thin, tough membrane attached to the bone. Use a blunt tool such as a flathead screwdriver to get under the membrane and remove it so that seasonings and sauces can penetrate. Once under the membrane, slide the tool around under the membrane to loosen it. Using the tool, stretch the membrane up to open up a flap. Using a paper towel, get a good grip and peel the membrane off the ribs (sounds yummy, no?)
Pork is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees F, however many believe this is overdone (I cook mine to 170 because I'm meat-paranoid), so many cook pork to an internal temperature of 150 to 160 degrees F (when there is still a light shade of pink on the inside).

Tender cuts for grilling include rib chop, loin chop, center-cut chop and tenderloin.

For a fresh and quick tenderloin recipe, click here.

Reference: Weber's Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance

Fish Fillets in Paper Parcels

2010-07-22T15:44:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 3.5/5 Taste: 4/5 Time: 3/5

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes

As I've mentioned before, I'm fussy when it comes to fish. I'm trying to "teach" myself to appreciate fish for fish, but until then, I like recipes that sort of mask the fish. This one was nice.

My husband said to score this recipe high for taste but low for "bang for your buck". In other words, he had to wait a while for what he felt was a small portion.

For tips and tricks for cooking with fillets, see here.

What you'll need:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 peppers, (I used 1 green, and 1 red), seeded and cut into thin strips
8 oz can diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp chopped mint
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper
4 skinless fish fillets (I used sole)
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
4 sheets of baking parchment or foil (I used parchment)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and peppers and fry until tender but not browned. Stir in the tomatoes and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Using a round plate, cut 4 rounds of paper (or foil), each the size to easily wrap a fillet.

Put a spoonful of the pepper mixture on one half of each piece of paper (or foil) and set a fish fillet on top. Spoon some of the pepper mixture over top of each portion. Scatter the cheese on top.

Fold the paper (or foil) over the fish, and fold the edges over several times to seal. Set the parcels on a baking sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the fish is cooked (for tips on checking the doneness of fish, see here). If you used paper, you can serve the fish in the parcels but remove if you used foil. Ta-da!

Recipe from Cook's Kitchen Handbook and 500 Basic Recipes

Egg Foo Young

2010-07-20T08:44:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 3/5 Time: 4/5

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes

I love eggs. I love their versatility. This dish makes a nice lunch but if you don't care for bean sprouts, then you probably won't like it.

What you'll need:

3/4 C finely chopped onion
1/4 C finely diced celery
1 C fresh bean sprouts, coarsely chopped
6 eggs, well beaten
1 tsp salt

Lightly grease and warm a medium sized pan over medium heat. Make sure the pan is good and warm.

Combine the above ingredients.

Fry by 1/4 cup fulls. Keep patties shaped with a pancake turner by pushing the egg back into the patty. When set and brown on one side, turn and brown the other side (~3 minutes). Nice served with hot rice, rice cakes or some raw veggies or fruit.

Chicken and Spinach Pesto Pasta

2010-07-18T08:50:00.000-06:00

Ease: 3/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 4/5 Ease: 3.5/5

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

I love pine nuts. Love them. And pesto. And my family loves pesto. So I thought I'd try my hand at making some homemade pesto. On the plus side, my husband (my biggest critic), said it tasted better than the jarred stuff (YES!). On the downside, I found it a bit high maintenance. Any recipe that requires me to use a blender, a pot AND a pan, is a lot in my books.

This pesto has a nice mild flavor.

What you'll need:

garlic, 1 small clove
2 Tbsp pine nuts
1 1/4 C baby spinach
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
1/4 C olive oil
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb whole wheat rotini noodles (really, any noodle would work)
2 C cooked chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 C feta cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a blender (or food processor), combine the garlic, pine nuts, spinach, and 1/4 C of the parmesan cheese. Chop. You will have to stop a couple of times to scrape down the edges. With the machine still running, gradually add the oil from the hole or spout in the top. Season with 1/4 tsp salt and a couple of grindings of ground pepper.

Add 1 Tbsp of salt to the boiling water. Add the pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally until al dente, according to package directions (~14 minutes). Drain; reserving ~ 1/2 C of the cooking water. Add the chicken to a large serving bowl.

While the pasta is cooking, over medium-high heat, melt the butter or margarine. Add the chicken and cook, until heated through and no longer pink (~ 5-8 minutes). Add the chicken to the serving bowl along with the pesto, feta cheese and remaining 1/4 C parmesan cheese. Toss, adding as much cooking water as required to make a nice consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve!

Adapted fromWilliams-Sonoma The Weeknight Cook: Fresh and Simple Recipes for Good Food Everyday, chicken and arugula pesto pasta recipe.

Last Minute Veggie Kabobs

2010-07-16T08:18:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 4/5

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

I recently returned from two weeks of camping in British Columbia. Got to enjoy some beautiful scenery.

Returned with a realization how much I appreciate the simple things. Things like real plates, clean clothes, a bedroom door, hot water and my kitchen! Of course, I came back with a nice tan but very little food and no energy to get groceries. But I had some onion, a green pepper, and 1 pear left from our trip. I decided to make a quick marinade and put my meagre ingredients on kabobs.

What you'll need:

1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C clubhouse Italiano seasoning
1 yellow onion, cut into chunks
1 green pepper, cut into chunks
1 pear, cut into chunks
kabob skewers

If using wooden kabob skewers, soak the skewers in water for 20 minutes.

Mix the olive oil and Italiano seasoning in medium bowl.

Toss the vegetable and pear chunks in the marinade and let sit for 20 minutes while the kebob sticks are soaking.

Preheat BBQ to medium high heat.

Thread the veggies and pear on to the skewers. Keep any remaining marinade. Lightly oil the grill. Place skewers on the grill and cover.

Grill, turning occasionally and basting with the reserved marinade, 8 - 10 minutes until tender.

I had a little leftover chicken breast and threw that on my kabobs too. A quick easy meal!

Cuban Beef Picadillo

2010-07-13T09:19:00.000-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 3.5/5 Ease: 4/5

Prep: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: ~25 minutes

Okay, so I had to google "picadillo". According to Wikipedia, it is a traditional latin-american dish comprised of ground meat, tomatoes, and other ingredients depending on location. And that's exactly what this was. Maybe if we had been served food that tasted like this when we visited Cuba, I'd feel more inclined to return.

Moving on, I was surprised my kids liked it so much. It's not spicy, but it is distinctive.

The raisins were like a nice little "hey there!".

What you'll need:

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 lb ground beef
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Chili powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
1 3/4 C beef broth
2/3 C raisins (or currants)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 C red wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper
steamed rice, for serving (optional)

In a large deep pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and saute until translucent (3-4 minutes). Add the beef and cook, stirring to break up any clumps, until the meat begins to brown (7-8 minutes). Rinse off excess fat.

Add the garlic, chili powder, and cinnamon, stirring frequently for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, raisins, tomato paste, and vinegar. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, uncovered until thickened into a stew-like consistency (~10-15 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice.

Chicken & Capocollo

2010-07-11T09:05:00.015-06:00

Ease: 3/5 Kid-friendliness: 3/5 Taste: 4/5 Time: 5/5

Prep: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 7 minutes

Isn't capocollo a fun word? (According to Wikipedia, capocollo is cured ham from the neck or shoulder of a pig, by the way).

This is a recipe that attempts to jazz up chicken breasts. I have a tentative relationship with chicken. I have a tendency to cook the life out of it leaving me with a dry cardboard-like substance resembling a former chicken breast. During both pregnancies, I developed strong aversions to chicken that has only improved with time. I still get cold-pricklies when handling raw chicken. I thus usually eat chicken in stir-frys or casseroles but find it is so time-consuming to chop it up. So I've been trying recipes that will hopefully add some life to chicken breasts served in this household. Baked parmesan chicken was another good recipe.

What you'll need:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise (effectively making 8 pieces)
salt and pepper
Mrs. Dash
3 Tbsp margarine
8 thin slices swiss cheese
8 slices extra-lean capocollo

Preheat the broiler. Season the chicken pieces with salt, pepper and Mrs. Dash.

In a large frying pan, heat the margarine over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until brown (~3 minutes). Turn and cook until opaque (~3 minutes). Transfer chicken to a greased baking sheet. Top each chicken piece with 1 cheese slice and 1 capocollo piece. Cook under the broiler until cheese is melted (~1 minute). Rice and green beans made for nice sides. Serve and enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by the Chicken Saltimbocca recipe found in Williams-Sonoma The Weeknight Cook: Fresh & Simple Recipes for Good Food Everyday

Grilled Steak Sandwiches with Melted Onions

2010-07-09T08:44:00.000-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 2/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 2/5

Prep: 10 minutes (1 hour if you count marinating time)
Cook: 45 minutes

Who doesn't love a great steak sandwich every now and then? The onions took a long time to cook, but they were melt-in-your-mouth good! Next time, I would turn the baguettes into garlic bread.

The recipe is from HeartSmart: The Best of HeartSmart Cooking. A little tip from the cookbook: if you grill a whole steak and slice it after, rather than cooking individual ones, it often turns out juicier. You can use diced leftover steak in a salad, stir fry or wrap.

What you'll need:

1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp coarse ground pepper
2 lb (1 kg) sirloin steak, 1 1/2 in thick, trimmed of fat
1 tsp olive oil
2 whole wheat baguettes (16 in long)
1 bunch of spinach, trimmed

Onions

2 Tbsp olive oil
4 large onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 C balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, combine sugar, garlic, salt and pepper. Pat steak dry, brush with oil and rub with sugar mixture. Marinate for 1 hour at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator.

Onions: heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions. Cook for 10 minutes without stirring, until the onions begin to brown. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Onions should be very brown. Add sugar and vinegar and cook gently, adding water if necessary until onions are very tender. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Cut each baguette into four pieces and then cut each piece in half horizontally. Top with spinach.

Grill steak until desired completeness (~7 minutes for medium). Lay steak on baguettes and top with onions. Serve on the patio with a cold beverage!

Rice cakes with Raisins

2010-07-07T08:06:00.003-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 5/5

I am always looking for new ideas when it comes to healthy, tasty but quick and simple snack ideas for my kids. This one fits the bill. Get your child to help put the raisins on.

What you'll need:

rice cakes
peanut butter
raisins

Spread a layer of peanut butter over one side of a rice cake. Top with raisins. Would also taste great with honey and granola spread on it, or nutella and cranberries. Can it get any simpler?

Baked Potatoes with Apples

2010-07-05T09:26:00.004-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 3.5/5 Time: 3.5/5

This dish makes a great side and would be a great accompaniment to pork roast or pork tenderloin. Since both my kids like sweet potatoes, this is an easy option. To save on prep time, you could use a bag and a half of McCain's frozen sweet potatoes.

What you'll need:

1 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
4 Tbsp apple juice
575 - 700g (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs) sweet potatoes, thickly sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease a baking dish. Scatter the onion and apples, and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the apple juice.

Lay the sweet potato slices over the onion and apples. Cover with foil or a lid. Bake for ~20-25 minutes (until sweet potatoes are soft). Uncover and dot with butter or margarine. Continue baking uncovered, for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are lightly browned.

Ham and Split Pea Soup

2010-07-03T09:55:00.001-06:00

Ease: 3/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 4/5 Time: 2/5

Prep: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

As I was endlessly chopping up the vegetables for this soup (which takes extra long these days as I have to chop them extra fine so that my eleven month old can eat them too), I couldn't help thinking that I really don't like making soup. But after I enjoyed this hearty soup's flavor and packed away enough left-overs for lunch plus some for the freezer, I remembered why I do.

This recipe makes a nice thick gravy-like soup that is a little less messy for kids to eat.

What you'll need:

10 C chicken broth
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 C diced red bell pepper
2 large carrots, shredded
1 large celery stalk, thinly sliced, with tops
1 lb dried green split peas, rinsed and drained
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lb lean thick-sliced smoked ham, cut into small pieces
1 large bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp ground cloves
slat and freshly ground pepper to taste

Place 1 C of the broth in a large soup pot, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Reduce heat to medium and add the onions, garlic, bell pepper, carrot, and celery. Cook uncovered ~15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Gradually stir in the remaining 9 cups of broth. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat just to a gentle simmer, and add the split peas, potatoes, ham and seasonings, stirring to mix.

Partially cover the pot, and continue to simmer for 1 hour, or until the peas are very soft and the soup is quite thick. Stir often to keep the soup from sticking to the pot (I didn't stir it often enough, and was left with a difficult pot to wash!).

Remove the pot from the heat. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Stir and serve. Makes 8 servings.

Adapted from Karen Bellerson's Ham and Split Pea soup recipe in Low Fat, No Fat Cooking

Meatballs on a stick

2010-07-01T09:40:00.000-06:00

Ease: 3/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 4/5 Time: 3.5/5

Prep: 10 minutes (45 if you chill your meatballs, which I did not do)
Cooking time: 8 minutes

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Any recipe with "on a stick"in the title, has got to be good in my books. Especially in the summer. And doesn't meatballs on a stick just spell "festive" to you, on this, my country's birthday? (For my American friends, today celebrates the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North American Act (today called the Constitution Act, 1867), which united two British colonies and a province of the British Empire into a single country called Canada - our equivalent of the fourth of July). Must be some throw back to a childhood memory of corndogs at a fair or something. Speaking of which, the Calgary Stampede (the self-proclaimed "greatest outdoor show on earth") gets underway July 9th, so really, meatballs on a stick could not be more appropriate. And for no other reason, these meatballs are just plain fun and make a great appetizer.

What you'll need:

3/4 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/3 C bread crumbs
3 Tbsp whole milk
3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp dijon mustard (I didn't have any, so substituted 1 tsp of mustard powder)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt (I just used sea salt - maybe it's the same thing?)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp tabasco sauce
extra virgin olive oil

Sauce:

1/3 C ketchup
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/8 tsp kosher salt (or sea salt if you're me)

In a medium bowl, combine the meatball ingredients. Using your hands (yay!), gently mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Wet your hands with cold water and shape the meat into balls, ~1 inch in diameter. Try not to overwork the meat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 45 minutes or until very cold (anyone know why? I didn't do this step since I pick recipes last minute and they cooked fine and tasted great to me).

To make the sauce, whisk together in a small bowl the sauce ingredients.

Lightly brush or spray the meatballs with oil. Grill over direct high heat until the meat is cooked but not dry (6 to 8 minutes), gently turning occasionally with tongs. Arrange the meatballs on a platter with toothpicks. Serve warm with the sauce. Makes 25 - 30 small meatballs.

Recipe from Weber's Real Grilling: Over 200 Original Recipes

Beef Tacos

2010-06-29T09:45:00.002-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 2/5

Prep:
Cooking Time: min 4 hours

My dad had eight brothers and sisters. There are still seven of them; five in Alberta. My Grandma B is alive and kicking as well. When her children began moving out, she required only one thing of them: that they agree to come together at least four times a year to celebrate holidays and birthdays. Dutifully, they have done so. Family members take turns hosting. The host is responsible for the entree, and other family members bring the fixings. This month was my husband and I's turn. Needless to say, it's a fairly large group that comes together. Cooking for large groups can stress me out a little. Turkey and roasts are the tried and true large group options, but this time around, I wanted to make something summery, and simple.

I landed on the idea of beef tacos. This worked out perfectly, because other than a little prep work, all that was required was throwing the beef into my slow cooker, giving me plenty of time to stress about cleaning the house.

What you'll need:

1 1/2 lbs (680 g) extra lean ground beef
3 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 package Tex Mex seasoning
1 tsp dried whole oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 C chopped onion
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
12 oz corn
2 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp Tex Mex seasoning
1 tsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp dried whole oregano
couple dashes of tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix first 8 ingredients in bowl. Scramble-fry in non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat until browned. Drain.

Put onion into 3.5 or 5 quart slow cooker. Add peppers, corn and beef mixture. Stir.

Combine remaining 7 ingredients in bowl. Stir well. Pour over top. Stir. Cover. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Makes 10 cups.

To complete the tacos, I served the beef mix with hard and soft taco shells, chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped red onion, chopped green onion, salsa, and tex mex cheese.

It was a great afternoon!

Mac n' Cheese

2010-06-27T09:07:00.000-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 3/5

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes

My daughter's favorite foods in life include apple cinnamon cheerios, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets, and Kraft Dinner. So on her actual day of birth, I set out to make some homemade mac n' cheese that would rival KD. A lofty quest, I know.

As many of you can attest, the best place to go to get the good, gooey, full-fat recipes is the The Pioneer Woman. She didn't let me down. She's got several mac n' cheese recipes on her site, and they all sounded perfect. I liked It's Not Your Granny's Mac N' Cheese, because it adds some vegetables to the pasta (I am cooking for kids here), and her Macaroni and Cheese recipe because I am partial to baked pasta dishes. So I combined the two. The result? Really really good. Your arteries may not thank-you, but your taste buds will. Cheesy, moist, buttery, sticky...

What you'll need:

4 C macaroni
1/4 red onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 C frozen corn
2-3 cloves garlic
olive oil
1 whole egg, beaten
1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 C all-purpose flour
2 1/2 C whole milk
2 heaping tsp dry mustard
1 lb cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot, boil pasta until very firm (I cooked mine for ~6 minutes). Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet, add olive oil and saute onion, bell pepper, garlic and corn over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat egg.

In a large pot (really large), melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over low heat. Cook for five minutes, whisking constantly.

Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until thick. Reduce heat. Take 1/4 C of the sauce and slowly pour it into the beaten egg, whisking constantly. Whisk together until smooth.

Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.

Add cheese, and stir to melt.

Add salt, pepper and seasoning salt.

Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.

Pour pasta into a buttered baking dish, and top with extra cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top. Serve and enjoy some serious comfort food!

Blueberry "Ice-cream"

2010-06-25T07:15:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 3.5/5 Time: 4/5

I came across this recipe on the Today's Parent magazine website. This "ice-cream" is super fast to make. I found it a bit sweet, and more frozen yogurty than ice-creamy, but still really tasty. Great to enjoy on hot summer evenings.

What you'll need:

2 1/2 C frozen blueberries (or fruit of your choice)
1/2 C sugar
2/3 C whipping cream (I used the 95% fat free kind)

In a food processor (or blender), combing the frozen fruit and the sugar. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped (I used a blender, and at first, the mixture was too dry to blend, so I let it sit and melt for a few minutes while I cleaned up from supper). The mixture will appear dry and crumbly. With the processor running, add the whipping cream though the chute in the lid until the mixture is thick, smooth and creamy (stop the machine once or twice to scrape down the sides).

Serve immediately. It will be soft. You could also transfer the mixture to a container and place in the freezer to firm it up slightly. Leftovers could be kept in the freezer for a week.

Lastly, Hello fellow blog-hoppers! Thanks for stopping by. I'll be sure to swing 'round your place as soon as I can!

Peanut Butter Pinwheels

2010-06-24T09:19:00.000-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 5/5

Here is another quick and simple kid's snack idea (the possibilities with tortillas are endless!)

What you'll need:

whole wheat tortilla
1 Tbsp smooth peanut butter (chunky makes the tortilla hard to roll)
1 tsp honey
1/4 C low fat granola

Spread one side of the tortilla with peanut butter and a bit of honey. Sprinkle with granola. Roll up and slice into bite-size pinwheels. It's that easy!

Baked Parmesan Chicken

2010-06-22T09:17:00.002-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Taste: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 3/5 Time: 3/5

Parmesan chicken is one of my husband's favourites. It's a good Father's Day dish. Of course, he likes his battered but that's adding a whole n'other step, not to mention a bunch of fat we don't need. Both my kids love pasta sauce too, so recipes that "mask" meat and veggies using pasta sauce, are always on my list.

This is a favourite recipe from my current favourite cook book: Williams-Sonoma The Weeknight Cook: Fresh & Simple Recipes for Good Food Everyday

Truth moment: I don't know what kale is so I used spinach (the black blobs in the picture) I had in my fridge that would otherwise have gone out with the trash this week.

If you're looking to reduce the fat, use less cheese as I find this recipe calls for a lot of cheese.

What you'll need:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 bunch spinach (or kale), stems removed and leaves torn into large pieces
2 C purchased tomato-basil pasta sauce (my favorite is Prego)
8 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 C fresh parmesan cheese, grated (I used about half this amount)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large ovenproof frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown both sides, turning once (~7 minutes). Remove to a plate.

Add the spinach to the pan and saute over medium-high heat until wilted,~ 1 minute. Return the chicken to the pan and pour the tomato sauce over the chicken and spinach. Place 2 mozzarella cheese slices (I only used one) on each chicken breast and sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Bake until the cheese is golden and the chicken is cooked, about 20 minutes. Serve to your husband with a kiss!

Toast Strips

2010-06-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 4/5

Happy Father's Day!

This recipe is perfect for getting the kids involved in preparing something for someone special. In our home, my husband is the pancake guru. In all honesty, he's way better at getting them just perfect than I am. So I didn't want to touch his well-earned title of Pancake-Extroidinaire. Toast strips are a fun alternative to pancakes and french toast. I found the recipe in Blender Baby Food: Over 125 Recipes for Healthy Homemade Meals.

What you'll need:

Toast

1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp grated orange zest
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp butter/margarine
1 slice bread cut into 1 inch strips
Strawberry yogurt dip (see below)

In blender, on high speed, puree egg, milk, vanilla, orange zest and cinnamon until smooth. Transfer to a shallow bowl or pie plate.

In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Dip bread strips in egg mixture, turning until well coated. Arrange in a single layer in skillet. Cook, turning once, until both sides are golden (~3 min/side). Serve warm with fruity yogurt dip.

I doubled the recipe, which soaked 3 slices of bread.

Strawberry Yogurt Dip

1/2 C plain yogurt
1 Tbsp honey
1 banana
1/2 C sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen - I used frozen)
2 tsp lemon juice

In a blender on low speed, blend yogurt and honey until smooth. Add banana, strawberries, and lemon juice and puree until smooth. (In place of the banana and strawberries you could use almost any fruit combination. The recipe also suggested using 1 C chopped peeled pear and 1/4 tsp ground ginger, which I haven't tried yet, but sounds good).

Serve with fruit fresh (which also tastes great dipped in the strawberry yogurt dip), and you've got a nice breakfast.

Sugar Cookies

2010-06-17T21:56:00.002-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 4/5

First, hello fellow Blog-hopp'in Friends! Thanks for stopping by...

I have been talking all week about the main event at my daughter's 3rd birthday part - cookie decorating. It worked out really well. The kid's loved it! (Warning: if you are concerned about getting your floors dirty, this idea is not for you).

I have tried a couple of different sugar cookie recipes, and they have always turned out...meh. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe years ago, and this was the first time I used it. I thought these sugar cookies turned out better than any previous ones I had made. They were fluffier (probably because of the cream of tartar!).

I was able to prepare the cookies ahead of time and I made the icing the morning of the party. Instead of goodie bags, I bought plain aprons from Michael's for the kids to take home and jazzed them up with soccer ball iron-ons for the boys (it is FIFA, after all), and cupcakes for the girls. I also had take-out boxes for the kids to take home uneaten creations. A bunch of decorating sprinkles, jube-jubes, and mini chocolates, and we were ready to go!

To help the mom's ensure our kids ran off the sugar, once the cookie decorating was complete, the kid's played outside. We had a soccer field set up, and a bubble blowing station. We were blessed with beautiful weather. All-in-all, I would absolutely do this kind of party again.

What you'll need:

2 eggs
2 C white sugar
1 C shortening (melted)
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 C of flour
assorted cookie cutters

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix sugar, soda, cream of tartar, salt and nutmeg with 4 1/2 C flour. Stir in shortening, milk, and milk. Mix until thick and smooth (a nice dough-like consistency - you may need a little extra flour).

Use the other 1/2 C flour to roll out the dough. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Use a cookie cutter and cut cookies out to desired shape. Place on cookie sheet and bake for ~ 10-12 minutes.

Other party menu items included sandwich trays pre-ordered from Safeway, a veggie platter, pretzels and:

Happy Friday!

A Brief Reflection on Creme de Tartre

2010-06-17T08:50:00.002-06:00

As part of my daughter's cookie decorating birthday party, I obviously needed to make cookies. The sugar cookie recipe I have from my mother-in-law called for cream of tartar. I had no idea what cream of tartar was.

At the grocery store, I set off to the dairy section and when I had no luck there I headed for the aisle that contained condensed milk. I mistakenly thought (as the name would imply), that cream of tartar was some sort of cream. I tracked down a store employee who looked like they might bake (i.e. a woman in the bakery section versus the 15 year old boy in the produce isle). She promptly took me to the spice aisle. It's a powder sold with the spices!

After I got it home, I got curious about what exactly this stuff was. Here is what the jar says; "Cream of tartar is indispensable for a number of cooking and baking applications. Essential for use as a stabilizer for beaten egg whites, it is commonly required in angel food cakes and meringues. Cream of tartar helps prevent the crystallization of sugar in candy making and is often an ingredient in fondants and fudges". Ingredients: Potassium Bitartrate.

Despite a number of university chemistry courses under my belt, I felt no closer to understanding what this ingredient was. So I dug a little deeper. Turns out is is an acid.

Cream of tartar is obtained when tartaric acid is half neutralized with potassium hydroxide, transforming it into a salt (sounds impressive, doesn't it). Grapes are the only significant natural source of tartaric acid, and cream of tartar is obtained from sediment produced in the process of making wine (how it ever crossed someone's mind to use wine sediment in baking, is beyond me)

Basically, it gives more volume to beaten egg whites and creates a creamier texture in candy and frosting by preventing the formation of sugar crystals . It is an essential ingredient in play doh and gingerbread house icing.

Tips and Tricks:

If you are beating eggs, and don't have any cream of tartar, you can use white vinegar (~1.8 tsp per egg white), but your baking may turn out coarser.
It can be used with white vinegar to make a pasty cleaning agent, which can be used to clean brass and copper cookware, and used as a stain remover for sinks and bathtubs.
Cream of tartar and hydrogen peroxide can remove rust stains without scratching the surface (always test a small area first though).
If mixed with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), the two will neutralize each other, creating carbon dioxide and a sodium acetate solution, which mimics the action of baking powder. This is how most cooks made baking powder before it became commercially available (apparently, you need to be careful when doing this however).

After all this, I have yet to understand where the "cream" part of it's name comes from, except to link it to the fact that it makes frosting and icing creamier (if any of you know, please do tell!), but at least I learned something today.

Sources:

O Chef

Safeway Cream of Tartar bottle

Wikipedia

Sugar Cookie Icing

2010-06-16T08:05:00.002-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 5/5

A cookie decorating party would not be complete without colored icing. I found this over at allrecipes.com. I altered it only slightly. It worked really well. It's quick and easy to make. I liked it because it's not overly sweet. I made it the morning of the party and covered it with press and seal, and it was still soft when it came time to decorate (please note, that it does melt in warm weather. I packed some decorated cookies up for the park the next day, and what a sticky fantastic multi-colored mess that was!).

What you'll need:

1 C confectioner's sugar
4 tsp milk
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
assorted food coloring

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the confectioner's sugar and milk until evenly mixed.

Add the vanilla and almond extract and stir again until evenly mixed.

Add the corn syrup and stir until evenly mixed. At this point it was a nice smooth consistency for spreading. I added a couple of drops of food coloring and mixed well. One bowl of this would have easily covered 20 cookies, but I wasn't sure so repeated the recipe 3 times with three different colors. This was way more icing than was needed! It dried to a tacky state within 20 minutes, and completely hard within an hour. I know I will be using this recipe again.

Cranberry Almond Punch

2010-06-15T09:50:00.000-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 2/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 5/5

No party would be complete without a good punch. This is probably my favorite and most frequently used punch recipe, so I pulled it out for my daughter's birthday party. It's super easy to make. I marked it low for kid-friendliness because of the pop (we're holding off on pop for as long as possible), but adults and older kids will enjoy it!

What you'll need:

2 L cranberry juice
1/2 L pineapple juice
1/2 L ginger ale
1 tsp almond extract
ice
lemons, sliced (optional)

Over ice, mix the above ingredients well. Garnish with lemon slices, and you have yourself a refreshing summer drink!

Cookies and Cheesecake, how could this be? My little girl just turned 3!

2010-06-14T09:50:00.003-06:00

I did it. I made the mistake of blinking, and now I've got a three year old. And I've got a house full of balloons and sugar cookies to prove it. Not to mention, a little whip of a girl dishing out some serious sass.

I decided that this year, I would make my child's birthday cake instead of picking up the usual cupcake cake from Safeway. For me to make a cake for a bunch of people, you know it has got to be quick and simple. You may recognize these mini cheesecakes I posted about last week. I came across the recipe at Real Mom Kitchen and made the chocolate swirl variation. They turned out great!

I dressed them up with this cute idea from the Lovely Paper Blog. I scrapbook (or at least I did, before I took up parenting and blogging), so I have a ton of scrap paper lying around. This put all that scrap to perfect pretty use!

I just love simple prettifying ideas like these. You can reuse them too.

Other menu items (which you'll soon be seeing) included sugar cookies, refried bean dip, and cranberry almond punch (the rest I picked up at my trusty local Safeway).

So guess what I've been called....

2010-06-13T15:38:00.000-06:00

A Versatile Blogger!

Yenta Mary, otherwise known as the Food Floozie ( a food blog smartly written by a woman who has won or placed in over 60 cooking contents!) , has given me a special shout-out in naming me the recipient of The Versatile Blogger award.

Seeing as this is my first time being the recipient of anything since joining the blogosphere, I feel pretty happy this Sunday afternoon.

The guidelines for accepting this award require the recipient to (1) thank the person who gave it to you; (2) tell 7 things about yourself; and (3) pass the award on to 15 bloggers, whom you have recently discovered and think are fantastic.

Thank-you to Yenta Mary for stumbling across my blog and sending some love my way. I highly recommend anyone interested in food to check out her blog.

Now. 7 things about myself.

1. To this day, I still haven't been able to figure out how to whistle with a piece of grass. This really annoys me.

2. I am a classic Type-A personality and am okay with it. I figure I get a lot done because of it.

3. I think that most situations in life can be improved with a glass of wine.

4. I think the best way to learn about who you are and who you want to be, is to have a child.

5. I have no idea what arugula is. I think it is hard to get here in Canada, because I never see it at the grocery store. But I make a lot of recipes that call for it. I use spinach instead.

6. Until this weekend, I had no idea what Cream of Tartar was. I looked long and hard for it in the dairy section, and where they keep condensed milk, wrongly thinking it was some kind of cream (as the name implies). It's a powder sold in the spices aisle. I still don't really know what it is!

7. I don't think my husband likes a lot of the recipes I try. But he does a good job of making me think he does, which I love him for.

Now onto the important business of identifying 15 blogs I've recently come across and think are noteworthy. This was quite easy for me to do, since I'm so new to this I have been actively seeking out good blogs in order to find inspiration. So here is a list of 15 blogs that have inspired me in some way:

1. A Busy Nest
2. Cooking for Little Finger
3. Everybody likes Sandwiches
4. Fab Find Foodie
5. Food and Whine
6. Lovely Paper Blog
7. Nobody puts Mamma in a Corner
8. Real Mom Kitchen
9. Santa's Gift Shoppe
10. Shamrocks and Shenanigans
11. Stepping out of the Toybox
12. Sugar the Golden Retriever
13. The Domestic Project
14. Where's my Rolling Pin
15. Your Happiness make me Happy

Mocha Black Russian

2010-06-11T07:05:00.000-06:00

Feeling Chic?

Don't take this quiz.

I'm turning 31 in the not-so-distant future. Since recently informing my boss that I am not returning from maternity leave (because I no longer live in the same city), I've been doing a lot of motivational reading on careers and making career changes. One of my favorite books on this subject is Lisa Johnson Mandell's Career Comeback: Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want. It's largely targeted at women in their forties, but the advice is applicable no matter what your age.

One of Lisa's suggestions for landing that perfect job, is to raise your "chic" quota. To give you an idea of how much work this might take you, she conveniently provides a "How Hip Are You?" quiz. Thinking I would score somewhere in the middle and feel pretty good about how well I'm keeping up on the latest and greatest despite spending my days singing children's songs and watching The Backyardigans, I bombed!

I had no idea what "Hulu", "Seven for All Mankind", or "Wiki" were. Or who Lloyd, Will.i.am or Judd Apatow were (is this because I'm Canadian?). If I wasn't feeling my age before, I'm feeling it now.

To put some icing on this cake, she later tells you that nude panty hose are obsolete. When did this memo go around? In fact, I apparently looked like a "seventy-three-year-old retired school teacher on her way to Sunday school" at my husband's company Christmas party last year. Point taken. The hose are gone.

To raise my spirits, I turned to the liquor cabinet. A couple of these tasty treats had me feeling a little more chic...

What you'll need:

1/2 C frozen mochaccino yogurt (chocolate would taste equally well)
1 oz hazelnut kahlua
1/2 oz amaretto
handful of ice

Add all ingredients to a blender and mix until smooth and frothy. Poor into a martini glass or large cocktail glass. Enjoy immediately! SO. GOOD.

A friendly hello to fellow Friday-Follow Me participants!

Raisin Nut Bananas

2010-06-09T09:11:00.001-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 5/5

These happen to be one of my favorite snacks too. I came across the idea in the May edition of Today's Parent magazine. Kids will like helping to put the raisins on. So easy!

What you'll need:

1 whole banana, cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces
1 Tbsp peanut butter (nutella would taste great too!)
raisins

Spread a layer of peanut butter evenly over one end of the cut banana pieces. Top with raisins. That's it!

Pene with Pesto and Potatoes

2010-06-07T09:52:00.000-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 3/5 Ease: 3.5/5

This is a quick, simple pasta dish. If you like pesto, you'll probably like this. I added a little less pesto than what the recipe called for, thinking my kids might not like such a strong pesto flavor. Turns out they love pesto!

What you'll need:

3 white boiling potatoes
salt
penne, ziti or other tubular pasta
1 C green beans
1 C basil pesto
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese

Put the potatoes in a medium sized pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until tender (~20 minutes). Drain and let cool. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some salt, and pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. 5 minutes before the pasta is ready, add the beans (I added the beans 8 minutes before as they were frozen).

Drain the pasta and beans, reserving 1/2 C of the cooking water. In a large serving bowl, mix a few tablespoons of the water with the pesto. Add the potatoes, pasta and beans and toss to combine. Add as much remaining cooking water to achieve a nice consistency for the sauce. Top with parmesan cheese, and serve! Makes 4 servings.

My Blog is Carbon Neutral

2010-06-05T07:56:00.001-06:00

People are spending more time than ever on the computer. Myself included. Have you ever given any thought to the amount of emissions being released by computer use?

I hadn't until I came across this initiative at Food Floozie's.

According to Times Magazine Online, my google search to find out just what kind of emissions we're talking about, would have put forward between 1g to 10g of carbon. An amount comparable to that required to boil a kettle of water! Running a PC generates between 40g and 80g of carbon emissions per hour (according to the Apple website, my computer is putting out about 49g). And how often do you turn your computer on and leave it running for the majority of the day?

As a family, we try to make environmentally conscious decisions. And yet, we have a large monitor computer, I do laundry and dishes every day, we drive two vehicles, etc. etc. The responsibility lies not only with manufacturers and companies taking steps towards being more environmentally friendly, but with individuals as well. So when something as easy to do as this comes along, why not embrace it?

This is an easy enough initiative to participate in. "My blog is carbon neutral" was originally started in Germany by the "Make it green"programme. One tree is plated for this blog, thereby helping to neutralize my blog's carbon footprint. The trees are planted in Plumas National Forest in Northern California by "Arbor Day Foundation" (Recycle Bills has checked this claim and it pans out).

And here is how you can participate:

Write a blog post about the initiative + insert your favourite button
E-mail the link to your post to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de
They plant a tree for your blog in Plumas’!

Mini Cheesecakes

2010-06-04T07:27:00.001-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 5/5 Time: 4/5

Look how precious THESE are:

I came across this fun twist on cheesecake at Real Mom Kitchen. They are just the right serving amount. They would be perfect for a kid's birthday party. I made them for my mother-in-law's birthday, and they were a hit.

What you'll need:

2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese (I used light)
3/4 C sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp lemon juice
vanilla wafers (I broke up graham crackers I had left over from making s'mores) and/or oreo cookies
18-20 cupcake liners
pie filling, fresh fruit, or chocolate chips (I used whole blueberries, whole raspberries, and chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream the cheese and sugar together. Add eggs and lemon juice. Beat until smooth.

Line cupcake pan with liners. Scrape the filling off the oreos. Place oreos and/or wafers flat side down in each liner.

Fill liners 3/4 full with cream cheese mixture. Bake for 6 minutes. At this point I added the fruit or chocolate to the cheesecakes (4-5 blueberries or 2-3 raspberries or 4-5 chocolate chips. If adding chocolate chips, swirl them around in the batter with a toothpick). Continue baking for 9-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow cheese cakes to cool and store in the fridge. Before serving, I topped them with 3 blueberries, 1 raspberry or 4 chocolate chips, depending on what I had added to the batter (my daughter had fun topping them). You could also top these with pie filling before serving (can also be frozen prior to topping. To serve, thaw and top with fruit, chocolate chips or pie-filling). Made 20. So good! Real Mom Kitchen also provides a Turtle Variation that sounds awesome.

Lastly, a special hello to fellow Friday Followers!

Chicken Ranch Wraps

2010-06-02T10:05:00.002-06:00

Ease: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 4/5 Ease: 5/5

There is nothing to this recipe. You can barely even call this a recipe. I just appreciate being able to find snack and lunch ideas for my kids. It's easy to fall into a rut when it comes to snacks and lunches. My daughter would love to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and goldfish every day, but I figure a little variety is a good thing. This recipe is also an easy way to use up left-over roast chicken or turkey, or left over chicken breasts from supper the night before.

These are a favorite of my daughter's.

What you'll need:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 bell pepper (I used 1/2 a green one, and 1/2 a yellow one), cut into think strips
6 pieces of lettuce
2 C cooked chicken, cut into strips (to save time, most grocery stores now sell packaged cooked strips of chicken and turkey breasts).
6 whole wheat tortillas
2 Tbsp ranch dressing (I use light)
1 C shredded cheese (I used marble)

In a small skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the pepper and sauté until tender (~ 3 minutes).

Spread a thin (or amount that you desire) layer of ranch dressing evenly over one side of a tortilla. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Layer a lettuce leaf, some pepper, and some chicken in the centre of the tortilla. Roll up tortilla length wise and enjoy (quick tip for toddlers: I often put the cheese on top and cut the wrap in half, and then heat it in the microwave for 20 seconds. This melts the cheese, and "seals" the wrap making it a little easier for my daughter to eat)! Makes about 6 wraps.

Oven-roasted Cod

2010-05-31T10:05:00.001-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 3.5/5 Time: 3.5/5

I am learning all about fish these days in an effort to include more of it in our diet. Problem is, I'm a very picky fish-eater. I prefer fish coated and this simple method can be used for any firm fish. Both of my kids loved it.

See "Tips and Tricks for Cooking with Fillets", for more information!

What you'll need:

4 cod fillets (6 oz each)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 C crushed bread crumbs
1 Tbsp chopped fresh (or dried) parsley
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh (or dried) chives
2 Tbsp margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 435 degrees F

Brush fillets with margarine; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place bread crumbs in resealable freezer bag. Seal bag and place on flat surface. Crush crumbs by rolling and pressing rolling pin over bag (I use a tea towel underneath to help prevent the crumbs from puncturing the bag).

Combine breadcrumbs, parsley, chives, and 1 1/2 tsp margarine in a small bowl; toss well. Spoon breadcrumb mixture over fillets, pressing down gently. Drizzle with remaining margarine.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes or until the flesh flakes easily when tested with a fork.

NOTE: You could also BBQ the fillets in foil over high heat (which is what we ended up doing - getting maximum use out of our new BBQ!).

Tips and Tricks for Cooking with Fish Fillets

2010-05-30T10:05:00.002-06:00

Growing up, I didn't eat much fish. My mom didn't like it and I always assumed, to my dad's frustration, that I didn't like it either. It wasn't until I was in college that I realized, fish is okay. My relationship with it is improving. Given it's health benefits, I have been making an effort to include more of it in our diet.

I am creeped out by the idea of fish eyes staring back at me when I cook, so for now I am sticking with fillets. Here are some tips and tricks for cooking with fish fillets that I've come across in my search for recipes.

A fillet is a boneless or nearly boneless piece cut lengthwise from the sides of the fish. It may or may not have skin.
When shopping for fillets, fresher is better. Look for vibrant flesh. If there is still skin on the fish, it should be shiny. Give it the smell test - it should not have a pungent or overly fishy smell. If there is any liquid on the flesh, it should be clear, not milky.
Fish perishes quickly. Only store it in your fridge for a day or two. If properly sealed, and kept in a deep freeze, fish can keep in the freezer for up to six months. When thawing frozen fish, thawing it in milk helps keep the fish tasting fresh (don't ask me why).
Sturdier/fattier fish (such as grouper, salmon and tuna) are better for grilling, as they practically baste themselves. Thinner cuts are great for frying or baking. Lean (such as cod, haddock, sole or halibut) fish can dry out at high temperatures, so a protective coating is a good idea when frying.
To remove skin from a fillet, make an incision near the tail, hold firmly and cut down at an angle with the knife.
Rinsing fish in cold water and lemon juice helps to maintain its color and enhance its flavor.
Once you start cooking your fish, leave it be! Turn only once (fish less than 1/2 in thick do not require turning). This helps develop a nice crust on the fish.
A general rule for cooking fish fillets, is to cook it 10 minutes for every inch of thickness.
Fish can easily be overcooked. Remove fish from heat a couple of minutes before end of estimated cooking time as it will continue to cook after you have removed it.
Many fish-eaters prefer tuna and salmon when it is still raw on the inside. This is not my cup of tea. The best way to check for doneness, is to use a thermometer. Cooked fish should have an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. You should remove the fish from the heat source when the internal temperature is around 140 degrees F, to avoid overcooking. Flesh should be opaque, firm, moist, and easily separate or flake.
Don't be afraid to experiment with different herbs, spices and flavored butters, but try not to overwhelm mild tasting fish.
Lastly, I always make "fish night" the night before garbage pick-up. That way all the packaging, skin, etc. doesn't sit around stinking up the kitchen or garage.

Coming soon: a simple way to prepare oven roasted cod!

Sources:

About.com
Cook's Kitchen Handbook; 500 Basic Recipes

recipetips.com

Spaghetti Carbonara & Friday Follow Me

2010-05-28T10:52:00.000-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Taste: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 0/5 Time:4/5

I gave this recipe a zero for kid-friendliness because it involves cooking with alcohol, and raw eggs. Well, you add hot spaghetti to the raw eggs which I assume (or at least it's what I told myself...) cooks the eggs (but could that REALLY have cooked the eggs??).

With a fresh loaf of French Bread, this recipe would work great for a date night or if you have last minute company and you want an adult tasting meal quickly, and without a ton of ingredients.

Truth moment: I popped mine in the microwave for a minute which sort of ruined the flavour but saved my sanity over the raw eggs. The following day, I added a bit of milk and some butter to the leftovers and warmed them in the microwave and thought it tasted even better!

What you'll need:

3 Tbsp olive oil
125 g (1/4 lb) chopped bacon
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/3 C dry white wine
3 eggs at room temperature, beaten
1/3 C parmesan cheese, grated
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb spaghetti
1/4 C fresh parsley, minced

To make the sauce, bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a large frying pan over medium heat, warm 1 Tbsp oil. Add the bacon and 3 Tbsp water and cook until the water has evaporated.

Add the garlic and remaining oil and cook until bacon is slightly browed (~ 4 min). Stir in the wine and cook about 1 minute. Set aside.

In a large serving bowl, beat the eggs with the cheese and 3/4 tsp salt; set aside.

Meanwhile, add 2 Tbsp salt and the pasta to the boiling pot of water. Cook, according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1/2 C of the cooking water.

Working quickly, add the hot pasta to the egg mixture and toss to combine. Add the cooking water slowly until a nice consistency for the sauce is achieved.

Add the bacon, a generous amount of pepper, and the parsley. Toss again and serve.

Recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks: Williams-Sonoma The Weeknight Cook: Fresh & Simple Recipes for Good Food Everyday

Also, today marks participation in the NEW Friday Follow Me Party! And I know you wanna!

Sausage and Chickpea Casserole

2010-05-27T10:05:00.001-06:00

Ease: 3.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 4/5 Taste: 3/5 Time: 3/5

Since we were just out camping over the long weekend, I had some left over smokies and wanted to make something a little more sophisticated than KD with chopped up smokies (although, that dish does have it's time and place...). I ended up with this. It's very filling. My nearly ten-month old LOVED the chickpeas.

What you'll need:

4 sausages (I used our left over Mitchell's mesquite garlic smoked sausage)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper (which I've learned are also called, capsicums!), seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can chickpeas (14 oz) (which I've learned are also called, garbanzo beans!), rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 C bread crumbs
2 Tbsp margarine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slit each sausage diagonally several times on both sides. In a frying pan over medium heat, cook the sausages, turning once, until browned on the outside and heated through (~10 minutes)

In another large frying pan over medium high heat, heat the oil. Stir in the chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper, and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until the chick peas are heated through (~ 5 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut the sausages into bite-size pieces. Spray a 3-qt casserole dish and distribute the sausages in the pan. Spoon the chick pea sauce over the sausages. Spread the bread crumbs on top and drizzle with melted butter.

Bake until bubbly and the crumb topping is golden brown (~ 20 minutes). Let cool slightly and serve!

Breakfast Smoothie

2010-05-25T10:10:00.004-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Taste: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Time: 5/5

This is what I got to stare at all weekend:

I sacrificed warmth and sleep to do so, but even bad weather camping is good camping. But as those of you who camp know, coming home sucks. Everyone is grumpy and all your stuff is dirty and smelly. Nobody in this house felt much like making breakfast this morning. Smoothies are my go-to when I don't have the time or ambition to make "food" for breakfast.

The downside to smoothies is that I never feel satisfied for long. This smoothie recipe adds oats and I find they help to keep us feeling fuller for longer.

What you'll need:

2 1/2 C skim milk
1 C frozen fruit (I used mangoes this morning)
1 banana
1/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp coconut-flavoured extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 C quick-cooking oats
nutmeg (optional as a garnish - I prefer to garnish with cinnamon)

Place all ingredients in a blender, and puree until well blended. Divide among 4 tall glasses and garnish with nutmeg or cinnamon.

Recipe variation: I often like to substitute a cup and a half of juice (berry or apple is my favourite) and a hand full of ice for the milk and 1/4 C of sugar. Makes the smoothie a little more slushy - great for hot days!

Adapted from Karen Bellerson's Low Fat, No Fat Cooking

Tips and Tricks on Making S'mores

2010-05-23T10:05:00.003-06:00

The S'more. A staple in camping culture. A s'more (as in "some more, please") is not difficult to make, and some might say there is no wrong way to make one. Which is nearly true, with one exception: I really do not think microwaved s'mores are the same.

Here are the basic steps to s'more success...

What you'll need:

1 box of graham crackers
1 bag of large marshmallows
3-5 bars of hershey milk chocolate bars
paper towel (baby wipes work better), for cleaning your hands afterward

Have a campfire going. The only true way to make a s'more is over a campfire. (Waiting until the fire has burned down and there are lots of glowing embers is best).

Upon a graham cracker, lay enough chocolate (I use about 3 pieces) to cover cracker.

Toast the marshmallow until golden brown. I find it's easiest to go marshmallow by marshmallow instead of roasting multiple marshmallows at a time. This helps to ensure the marshmallow is hot enough to melt the chocolate.

Using another graham cracker, push the marshmallow off of the roasting stick onto the piece of chocolate. Top with the graham cracker and smoosh to ensure complete chocolate meltage.

Let cool (many a tongue have been burned!). Enjoy! Serves ~5.

Turkey Vegetable Chili

2010-05-21T10:05:00.002-06:00

Ease: 3/4 Taste: 5/5 Kid-friendliness: 3.5/5 Ease: 3.5/5 Time: 3.5/5

Camping Chili!

There's a lovely spot in the mountains we traditionally go to every May Long Weekend (this will be our first camping trip with TWO kids, and in typical Alberta fashion anything can happen with the weather, so wish us a ton of luck!). Every camping trip we take, I like to bring a big pot of this chilli with us. It's more only mildly spicy, making it kid-friendly, and it's fairly quick as far as chili's goes, plus packed full of veggies, giving it two thumbs up. I like it with mushrooms, but my husband gives me grief when I include them, so this recipe is without.

What you'll need:

1 lb ground Turkey
1 can (398 mL) diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1/2 C corn
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed
1 can brown beans (in molasses or tomato sauce)
3 Tbsp Chili powder (or to taste)
1 package Safeway Select vegetable beef soup mix

In a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook turkey, breaking up with a fork until all pink is gone.

Stir in tomatoes with their juice, chili powder, soup mix, vegetables and 3 1/2 C water.

Reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until veggies are tender and sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes

Add beans and heat through.

So good!

(By the way, is it "chili", or "chilli"? I never know.)

Health(ier) Chicken Nuggets

2010-05-19T10:10:00.005-06:00

Ease: 2.5/5 Kid-friendliness: 5/5 Taste: 4/5 Time: 3/5

My daughter LOVES McDonald's chicken nuggets. We have one whole drawer in her toy shelf dedicated to McDonald's toys. Which told me, we probably go there a little too often. So I searched around for a healthier option for nuggets.

I'll start by staying that I thought these tasted better than McDonald's nuggets and they may save you some fat, but they don't save you any time or effort, which is the whole reason we go to McDonald's in the first place. But if you or one of your family members has a craving for nuggets, but don't want the extra fat, these will satisfy. My daughter seemed to eat them with as much enthusiasm as the restaurant ones anyhow.

I used a heavy freezer bag for rolling the bread crumbs, but even then the crumbs punctured it, so have a second bag handy to transfer to once the crumbs are rolled out. Rolling them on a tea towel helped (if anyone has a better suggestion for crushing bread crumbs, let me know!).

What you'll need:

1 3/4 C herb seasoned crumb stuffing mix
1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp margarine
1/4 C low fat buttermilk
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F

Measure stuffing mix into resealable plastic bag. Seal bag and place on flat surface. Crush crumbs by rolling and pressing rolling pin over bag.

Open bag and add parmesan cheese. Reseal bag and mix thoroughly.

Melt margarine (in microwave on high for 45-60 seconds or in saucepan on stove over low heat).

Place melted margarine, buttermilk, and pepper in medium shallow bowl. Stir well. Set aside.

Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towel (not sure if this step is really necessary).

Place chicken on cutting board and cut with small, sharp knife into 16 chunks of equal size (about 8 pieces per chicken breast)

Dip each chicken chunk into buttermilk mixture, let drip, place 3 dipped chunks at a time into bag of crumbs. Seal bag and shake until chunks are coated.

Place coated nuggets on an ungreased baking sheet.

Place baking sheet in oven. Bake nuggets for 4 minutes, then turn and bake for another 4-5 minutes (I had to cook mine closer to 15 minutes before they were done) until golden brown and chicken is no longer pink.

Serve!

Recipe from American Heart Association Kids' Cookbook

Things my daughter says that I don't have the heart to correct...

2010-05-18T10:15:00.005-06:00

My daughter is nearly 3 and giving her father and I a run for our money these days. As everyone knows, kids this age say some pretty amusing (and embarrassing) things. Here's a sample of a few that I can't bring myself to correct:

She calls a computer a “piano”;
She calls her nipples “buttons". Like a belly button;
Anyone wearing a dress is a ballerina or a princess;
She thinks any service or trades person who comes to our door is "Bob the Builder";
She thinks the letter "M" is pronounced like "bah-bah-bah-bah-bah!"

- McDonald's has some brilliant marketing people. Brilliant. We can't go to Wal-Mart without immediately hearing "Mommy, I'm hungry. We need some bah-bah-bah-bah-bah, you think?". We can discuss my role in this later, but if it weren't for their commercials, that lovely little melody wouldn't have been one of the first songs my daughter ever sang. Brilliant marketing tool.

S Coming Soon: a healthier, but still tasty version of McDick's chicken nuggets...

Papaya & Black Bean Salsa

2010-05-16T10:15:00.004-06:00

Since I had half of a papaya left over from making an invigorating papaya facial, I looked around for a recipe using papaya and found this this one in Salsa, Sambals, Chutneys And Chow-Chows

I love fruity salsa's and this one is really fresh and mild tasting. (Since I only had half of a papaya, I quartered the recipe and it made just the right amount for myself and three play-date moms).

What you'll need:

1 C cooked or canned black beans
2 ripe papayas, peeled and seeded, diced small
1/2 red bell pepper, diced small
1/2 green bell pepper (I used yellow), diced small
1/2 red oncion, diced small
3/4 C pineapple juice
1/2 C lime juice (~ 4 limes)
2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp minced red or green chile pepper of your choice (I used red)
salt
fresh cracked black pepper

In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients and mix well. This salsa will keep, covered and refrigerated, for 4-5 days.

Papaya Facial

2010-05-15T10:15:00.011-06:00

"Fruit of Angels" (Christopher Columbus)

Turns out papayas are magical fruits. Not only are they rich in proteolytic enzymes (enzymes that aid the digestion of protein), many claim they have rejuvenating properties, especially for the control of premature ageing. I personally had never given any thought to papayas until I came across the recipe for an exfoliating facial in Lisa Johnson Mandell's Career Comeback: Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want (I recently notified my boss that I will not be returning from maternity leave, prompting an immediate run to the library for literature on careers. Early mid-life crisis you ask? I'll get back to you).

Papaya Facial

I used half of a papaya to make this papaya facial (and the other half to make Black Bean and Papaya Salsa - stay tuned!).

1. Peel and remove the seeds from a ripe papaya

2. Chop the papaya into small pieces and blend in a blender until smooth (you may need to stop the blender after a couple of seconds to scrape the edges down)

3. Apply the facial to cleansed neck and face, but avoid eye area. Wait 15 - 20 minutes before rinsing with warm water.

Do I feel like 5 years have been taken off my face? Not really, but my skin does feel fresh and soft and there is plenty left over for tomorrow.

Pork & Apple Pita's

2010-05-14T10:15:00.003-06:00

Ease: 4/5 Taste: 3/5 Kids: 2/5 Time: 4/5

I love meat/fruit combinations!

Inspired by my "Mac Mishap", I thought this quick and fresh sounding recipe fit the bill. I enjoyed them, but they were difficult for my daughter to eat. Small hands just do not possess the finesse necessary to eat a pita (rolling it up works better!)

My husband isn't a fan of a strong dill flavour (or any strong flavour for that matter), but if you are, you can double the sauce recipe.

The recipe also called for alfalfa sprouts, but since I couldn't find any (yes, I only went to one store but with two kids, would you go to a second?), I used a packaged "broccoli slaw" that I found. It gave a similar crunch and texture, and was probably more nutrient packed than sprouts anyway. Broccoli slaw is my new favourite salad topper!

What you'll need:

1 pound boneless pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/4 inch slices
3 Tbsp nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 tsp dill seeds
1/2 medium cucumber, chopped
1 apple, cut into thin slices
2 large lettuce leaves (I had green leaf that needed to be used up)
alfalfa sprouts (or broccoli slaw!)
red onion (optional)
whole wheat pitas, cut crosswise

Trim the pork of visible fat. Cut the meat crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Then cut each slice into 1 inch strips. Let the pork finish thawing if you cut it slightly frozen.

In a small bowl, mix together the cucumber, yogurt and dill. Chill until pork is ready.

Lightly spray a medium-sized nonstick skillet and preheat over medium-high heat. Place the pork in the skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until completely cooked.

Line each pita half with yogurt sauce, apple slices and lettuce. Fill with pork strips, broccoli slaw and top with onion if desired (no raw onion lovers in this household).

I got about 5 stuffed pitas out of this recipe.

Recipe inspired by Karen Bellerson's Pork & Apple Pita recipe in Low Fat, No Fat Cooking

Mac Mishap...

2010-05-13T11:15:00.004-06:00

This could happen to anyone, right?

I had a moment where I considered blaming this on my daughter...

I use a Mac. I love my Mac. However, as other Mac owners know, you can't see the slots for your camera cards or CD's that are on the side of your monitor. The slots are also very close together. I went to stick my camera card into it's allotted slot, and instead sent it flying into the CD slot. Turns out that picking your monitor up and shaking it won't work in this situation. I also couldn't figure out the magical way the monitor is held together.

Talk about feeling like a dummy. So into the doctor the computer went. Thankfully, the fine people at Apple did not laugh at me and it was a quick fix. My husband letting me live it down however, won't be as quick a fix.

Stay tuned for Pork and (Macintosh) Apple Pitas, inspired by this incident.

Strawberry Passion Martini

2010-05-11T11:15:00.002-06:00

What are you passionate about? This is one of the things you are supposed to ask yourself when thinking about choosing a vocation. Sounds so simple. Why is it so obvious to some people while the rest of us think anything from dog walker to pharmacist sound like good career options? There are lots of jobs I’d be good at. I know I’d be a kickass receptionist (seriously), and I also think I’d be really good at naming paint colors but I’m not sure either of those would elicit my elusive “passion”.

I officially told my boss that I am not returning to work. I had a lovely government job with great benefits and flexible working hours. Only problem was, it wasn't in the town we now reside in. So for the first time since graduating University I find myself officially unemployed. This drove me to spend an embarrassingly long amount of time on the internet taking career quizzes only to find that I apparently lack passion.

At least I found a worthwhile use for passionfruit...

What you'll need:

1 oz light rum
1 oz strawberry-passionfruit juice (or any passionfruit juice)
1 oz lime juice
1 tsp powdered sugar
ice

Mix ingredients together over ice and strain into glass.

Great to enjoy on the patio with a friend (while simultaneously drowning your career anxieties away).

Rethinking Jello-Molds

2010-05-10T15:49:00.001-06:00

This video has been circulating among my friends lately, and not only did it make me laugh, it made me question my assumption that jello-molds are a thing of the past. I thought jello-molds were only used as gags, theme decoration or as a fun retro dish at an 80s party. But maybe I should know how to make one in order to "perfect my tricks"? I haven't seen one at a recent BBQ or baby shower, but maybe I'm missing out.

According to Wikipedia, jello-molds were popularized in the Victorian era - much longer ago than I would have guessed (as an aside, apparently "celery" was once a gelatin flavour. Can't imagine why that one would be discontinued...). As recent as 1998, an entire book was published on the matter (The Joy of Jell-O Molds: 56 Festive recipes from the classic to the contemporary). That's more recent than I would have thought for a book on jello molds.

I happened to stumble upon a rather fun blog all about jello molds (who knew so many things could taste good congealed!). But aside from the small pockets, tell me, do people still make these?