The Big Crayons

Our sweet neighbor called me late last week and asked if Peanut could come over to play.  She had purchased some sidewalk chalk for Peanut to have fun with and so after Peanut's nap, we went and knocked on their door.  Peanut was very excited for the "big crayons," and was eager to have our neighbor draw some pictures for her.

Peanut did dabble a little in drawing herself, but thought it was much more fun to watch us big girls.  

I tried very hard to not be that mom and not panic as Peanut proceeded to lay down in the middle of the driveway.  She was quickly covered in chalk.  But I figured hey, it's only chalk, it will wash out no problem.

However.

Just a few days before the chalk event, our landlord had a tree service cut down a tree that was right over our driveway.  (It had been planted right next to a concrete wall and the wall was starting to crack.  Also, last summer, Hubs told me not to we chose not to park underneath where the tree was to avoid sap drippings on our vehicles.  Yuck.)   Anyhow, the tree was cut down last week--great entertainment for Peanut by the way--and at the end of the day, not only was there chalk on Peanut's clothes, but sap as well.  Only I didn't know that until after the clothes came out of the wash.  So I googled it--did you know that hand sanitizer works great for getting sap out of fabric?  It does--although not perfect, it does a good job saving clothes I thought were ruined forevermore.

Good to know though, right?

And Peanut still had a great time.  I am sure we will be getting a lot more entertainment in the weeks years to come with many more big crayons {sidewalk chalk}. 

Lentil Soup with Ham

This is an easy and inexpensive dish to make.  Plus if you have a really nice mom who sends you home with a big chunk of ham and a ham bone, well then, it's even less expensive to make.  ;)  That said, I had a ham bone and some ham in my freezer that needed to be used and with Easter coming up, I wanted to make sure to get use up all our ham so I can justify snagging some on sale this week or next. 

This soup is so yummy and is definitely one of my comfort foods.  It also reminds me of when I first started staying at home with the Peanut and I thought that the only thing we were going to be able to afford to eat was things like beans and rice.  Although we don't have an unlimited grocery budget, I have been able to make a variety of dishes and still stay within budget.  However, some things are just so good you just keep coming back to them. 

Lentil Soup with Ham

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups diced onion
3/4 cup sliced carrots
3/4 cup sliced celery
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
2 quarts (8 cups) chicken stock
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
Pepper, to taste
1 ham bone
1 cup cooked, diced ham

In a dutch oven over medium heat, saute onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil.  Cook until softened, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Add in salt, lentils, diced tomatoes, chicken stock, coriander, and cumin.  Stir to combine and add in ham bone. Bring just to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.  Simmer until beans are cooked through, about one hour.  Ladle out about 5 cups of soup in a separate bowl and puree with a stick blender or use a standard blender or food processor and blend until completely pureed.  Remove ham bone from dutch oven and pour pureed soup back in.  Stir to combine.  Cut off any meat left on ham bone and add in additional cooked ham.  Once heated through, season with pepper (and additional salt if needed) to taste. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap  
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday 

Menu Plan Monday

Last week I worked on using up some stuff in the freezer and for this week, well, I am still working on using up some stuff in the freezer....I guess had a little bit more in there than even I realized!  So for this week,

Sunday-Cheese and Chili Arepas with Eggs and Chorizo  (mmmm....thought this sounded so good!)

Monday-Stuffed meatloaf, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies

Tuesday-Macaroni and Cheese with Ham, steamed veggies

Wednesday-Spicy fish tacos, Spanish Rice, green salad with ranch dressing

Thursday-Pan fried pork chops, rosemary potatoes, green salad

Friday-Leftovers

Saturday-Leftovers


For other great menu plans, visit the Organizing Junkie. 

Tried It & Loved It: BLT (Bacon, Leek, Tomato) Carbonara Pasta

This one isn't actually from a blog, but from Rachael Ray.  Yes, I have made many of her recipes before and this one is another that is sooo good.  I, of course, adapted it (slightly, not hugely) and it was still really good. Like I've already made it twice in the last month (or so?) good.  I just love that bacon can add so much flavor to a dish and you don't have to use a ton, so it is budget friendly as well.  So without further ado...

BLT (Bacon, Leek, Tomato) Carbonara Pasta ~ adapted slightly from Rachael Ray

1 pound pasta (I used whole wheat penne, Rachael suggests a wide, long-cut pasta)
Salt
2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 pound lean, good quality bacon, chopped
2 leeks, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/2-inch thick, washed and dried on clean towel
5 to 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
1 cup chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes
A generous handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 large, egg yolks, lightly beaten
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Make sure to salt your water!  You will want your pasta to be al dente.  Note: you will also want to reserve about a cup (or more) of the starchy pasta cooking water, so make sure to reserve that before draining off the cooked pasta.

In a large saucepan over medium to medium high heat, add EVOO and cook bacon until nearly crisp.  Add in leeks, garlic, crushed red pepper and stir for occasionally for several minutes.  Add in stock and reduce by half.  Add in parsley and diced tomatoes and reduce heat to low. 

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add in about 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to temper the eggs.  Add to the pasta and toss so the sauce completely (and smoothly) coats the whole mixture.  If the sauce isn't really "creamy" add in more starchy water.  Now this is where reading the directions always helps.  In Rachael's recipe, you are supposed to serve the cheese on top, but I mixed some in and added more on top for serving, so reserving a little more of the pasta water would have allowed mine to stay really "creamy"--but either way it tasted AMAZING, so I figure you are good either way!

While the Parents Are Away....

As mentioned on my menu plan earlier in the week, the Hubs and I had a gift card to go out to eat.  Our sweet landlord, K,  has offered over and over to watch Peanut if we ever needed her to, so we finally got the chance to take her up.

K called earlier that day to see if it was all right to use my mixer.  She planned to make cookies with Peanut.  Sure, no problem.  So they baked cookies, had tea with our neighbor, played hide and go seek--Peanut had a non-stop, fun filled evening. 

I didn't realize until today, after talking with my neighbor, that she saw my camera bag sitting there and she took it upon herself to grab it and take some pictures while we were gone.  So nice, huh?

(Unfortunately the camera was in manual mode, which of course is hardly a user friendly setting, but you'll get the general idea....)

Notice the last picture--both with the obviously rapid movement from Peanut AND the tray of cookies?

Clearly, the former was the direct result of the latter.

 No wonder we had such a hard time getting her to bed that night.

Overachiever

When we got home from tumbling class last week, Peanut asked Daddy to play with the play dough with her.  She is always asking her playmate to make specific items.  I can make very simple things like balls and bracelets.  Occasionally I'll branch out and make something like a banana--or in this case a really big hot dog on a really little bun.

Peanut asked Daddy to make a truck. Let's just say Daddy never disappoints.....and she had a hard time waiting until he was finished.

She was very grateful though.

Needless to say, she was thrilled with the end result. 

A Trip to the Park

The weather has been warming up here quite a bit.  Yay!  So last week on Hubs day off, we ventured over to the park to let Peanut burn off some of her massive amounts of energy.  We even went to the park that has all the play toys.  However with the flu going around (we found out she got it at tumbling class--tons of parents/kids were sick with it the same time Peanut and Hubs had it), Hubs broke out the HazMat suit as soon as we got back to the car wiping her down with wipes and disinfectant.

Look how much our little Peanut (can she still be a "Peanut" when she is 17?) has changed in the last year.....wow.  I mean I know she hasn't been a "baby" for a while now, but looking back at pictures sure gives a different perspective.... 

Here we are waiting for Daddy before we left for the park.  She wouldn't sit still until I suggested she hold her 'Rora {Aurora--her baby Sleeping Beauty} dolly.  She thought having their pictures taken together would be fun.

Oh, and she loves using her pockets.  She is so funny.

She was sure to see that Daddy was always close behind.

I think the slides were her favorite.

There was also this rope net thing (no, I don't know the athletic/proper name for it) to climb on.  Peanut's first response was "I can't."  Sigh--she is so my child.  Thankfully, Daddy would have none of that.  He calmly encouraged her to climb the net and after much frustration, she realized she could do it! 

Same was the response for the big circular slide--but once she realized she could, she was all over it. 

I am so glad I have the Hubs to help balance out my inadequacies. 

My personal favorite....now we just need to remember to include Mommy in the pictures next time. 

A Little Slice of Heaven

I have decided that pies are my new favorite dessert.  Specifically cream pies.  Is it okay to have a birthday pie rather than cake?  If it is, then sign me up! (That is unless my mom is making her homemade German Chocolate Cake--because if that's the case, all bets are off...)

The hubs and my birthday were last month (they are just a few days apart) and I made him a blackberry pie.  We still had some left over on my birthday, so I didn't bother making another dessert and I promised myself that the following week, I would make myself a pie.  (Hubs is wonderful, but it's like pulling teeth to get him to bake on my birthday--so I stopped trying.  Plus he detailed my car inside and out so I can't complain!  Please know I am not bashing my husband--I think our "talents" compliment each other very nicely!)

The next week came however and Hubs and Peanut both got sick and then life got in the way, so I finally got a chance a few days ago to whip this up.  It was worth the wait.  Even Hubs liked it and he swears he doesn't like coconut--I really think he's lying.  Either about not liking coconut or about the pie--but when you are short on time getting ready for work and you still choose to have a piece of pie after lunch--my bet is that he's lying about the coconut.

Although I love the butter based crust I found, I had some palm shortening that I wanted to try.  This crust was very good and flaky, but more difficult to work with than a butter or vegetable shortening crust.   I also made a stabilized whip cream, as I knew the pie would take us several days to eat.  It worked really well!

Coconut Cream Pie

For the crust

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp palm shortening
2 to 3 Tbsps cold water

In a food processor (or by hand), mix dry ingredients together.  Add in shortening and pulse to combine (cut shortening into flour using two knives or a pastry cutter if doing so by hand) until the mixture is a little chunkier than canned Parmesan cheese (I think that's a great reference point, don't you?).  Add in water one tablespoon at a time, until dough just holds together.  Shape dough into a ball and flatten to a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate about 20 minutes. 

On a well floured surface (I love using my Silpat for this), roll out dough evenly into a circle, large enough  for a 9 inch pie plate.  I roll the dough out and hold the pie plate over it to make sure it will cover the bottom and the sides.  You could use a pastry mat too, but this works for me.  :)

Fold dough into quarters and transfer to pie plate.  Press into dish, fluting edges or trimming even with the pie plate.  You can tell what I did--someone got lazy.  Pierce the dough evenly with the tines of a fork and bake at 475 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.  (This is called blind baking--where the crust is baked prior to filling the pie.)  Allow crust to cool prior to filling.

Coconut Cream Filling

4 large egg yolks
2/3 cup of sugar (I used good ol' sugar--somethings you just can't mess with)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups whole milk
2 Tbsp butter
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup unsweetened, flaked coconut divided in 3/4 cup and 1/4 cup

Whisk egg yolks in a small bowl for about a minute and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, mix together sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  Stir in milk gradually, whisking to combine.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and starts to boil.  Boil for one minute, continuing to stir.  Remove from heat temporarily and ladle about a half a cup of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, stirring the yolks constantly.  Once combined, return the egg mixture back to the mixture in the saucepan, stirring to incorporate. (This process is called tempering.)  Place saucepan back on burner and bring to a boil once again.  Boil for one minute and remove from heat.  Stir in butter, vanilla, and 3/4 cup of coconut and fold to combine.  Pour into cooled pie crust and place plastic wrap directly on filling to prevent a hardened pudding crust from forming.  Allow to cool completely before topping with cream.

Stabilized Whipped Cream (aka homemade Cool Whip)

1 Tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a small bowl, mix together water and gelatin.  Set aside.

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, whip cream on medium high speed until cream starts to thicken (about 3-5 minutes).  The gelatin mixture should have thickened completely.  Using a spatula, break up the gelatin mixture and add to the cream, along with maple syrup and vanilla.  Mix again on medium high speed until whip cream reaches desired thickness--I let mine get fairly thick as I wanted it to hold up in the fridge for several days.  Remove plastic wrap from cooled pie and spread whipped cream evenly over top.  Top with toasted coconut if desired.

Toasted Coconut

Place a large saute pan on burner over medium high heat.  Allow pan to get hot enough to let a drop of water dance all over the pan. (That way you know it's good and hot!)  Using remaining 1/4 cup of coconut, pour into pan, stirring constantly.  Coconut will start to toast immediately, so make sure to keep stirring to allow all the coconut to toast (this shouldn't take more than 30 seconds).  Remove from heat and pour onto plate and allow to cool before topping on pie. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This recipe is linked to:

Alli 'n Son's Sweet Tooth Friday
Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Friday Potluck at EKat's Kitchen
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap  
Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap
Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday 

 

Menu Plan Monday

Last week was a success--as in every meal was prepared as planned!  Rummaging through our freezer this past week, I realized that it's starting to burst at the seems again, so I am going to be working at getting that down.   A full freezer is a blessing, so I am not complaining.  It also goes light on the grocery budget and that's always nice!

Sunday-Lentil Soup with Ham, green salad with ranch dressing

Monday-Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies

Tuesday-Leftovers

Wednesday-Out to dinner (we have a gift card! and a babysitter! I don't know what I'll do!)

Thursday-Spanakopizza (one dish pizza--veggies, protein(s), and carbs!)

Friday-Red Beans and Rice with Ground Beef Turkey, green salad

Saturday-Steak with blue cheese topping, baked potatoes, green salad, steamed veggies

For other great menu ideas, visit the Organizing Junkie.  

Tried It & Loved It: Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I have been trying to make all our own bread.  I honestly haven't bought bread in ages and when in comes to things like dinner rolls and pizza crust--I am so on top of it.  I use my go to recipe for those items and I make those each time without fail.

Sandwich bread though--not so much.  In fact, many times I just find something else for lunch--fruit, cheese, smoothies, etc.  I have been trying to get better.  I found a recipe awhile back that I really liked--but it wasn't entirely whole wheat.  It was about half and half (all purpose and whole wheat flour).  In fact, a lot of recipes I came across where half and half.  I thought this was because most didn't like the taste of an entirely whole wheat bread.  Not so.  Turns out that all purpose flour has a greater gluten content which in turn makes the bread softer and lighter.  Hmmm....well then.   

I came across this recipe several weeks ago and I tried it....and yes, I loved it!  She actually lists three separate recipes, each of which she has made and lists the pros and cons of each.  I tried the third one, which was her favorite and I was quite happy with how it turned out.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread ~ ever so slightly adapted from Artistta

6 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees)
3/4 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees)
1 cup whole milk (105 - 115 degrees)
4 tbsp. melted butter
4 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. sea salt
5 1/2 - 7 cups whole wheat flour (I used hard white wheat)

Mix yeast and 1/2 cup of warm water.  Let sit about five minutes.  The yeast should start to bubble and become foamy at the top.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and then add in milk, honey, salt and remaining water.  Bring temperature to 105-115 degrees.  Remove from heat immediately and mix in yeast mixture.

In a stand mixture (Artistta does this by hand, bless her heart!) with the paddle attachment, pour in liquid mixture and add in 4 1/2 cups of flour.  Mix until flour is all moistened.  Once it is moistened, change out paddle attachment for the dough hook and start adding in 1/4-1/2 cup flour at a time--until the dough forms a nice smooth ball.  It should be a tiny bit sticky--but not overly so.  Artistta gives a wonderful explanation:

If you are wondering why there isn't a specific amount of flour for this recipe or for most bread recipes, that's because there can't be. Humidity, how you measure out your flour and liquid ingredients, etc. all play a factor in how much flour you'll need in the end. This is where bread-making becomes an art form. When you first start making bread, it can be hard to know how much flour to add. Here are a couple rules of thumb. First, only add enough flour to your dough while it's in the bowl to get the dough to hold together nicely. It should still be pretty sticky. Then dump the dough onto a well-floured kneading surface and start kneading in small amounts (1/4 cup works good) of flour at a time. Once your dough is beginning to get a nice, smooth consistency that doesn't stick all over the place, stop and wash your hands and scrape any dough up off your working surface. Why? When your hands and working surface are sticky and covered in dough, you have a greater tendency to add too much flour to your dough because it keeps sticking to everything. When your hands and work surface are clean, the dough won't stick as much and it will give you a more true idea of how much more flour you need to add. In the end the dough should be smooth, moist and just a bit sticky.

If you are not brave like me and are using a mixer, knead for about 5 minutes on medium speed.  After kneading, the dough should be smooth and somewhat elastic.  Coat the dough and bowl with olive oil and cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place.  I do this when "rising" bread:  set your oven to heat to 350 degrees and set a timer for five minutes.  When the timer beeps, turn OFF the oven.  Your oven will be nice and warm, but not ridiculously hot--a nice cozy place to let bread rise.  Rise until dough doubles in size.

Punch dough down and split dough into two even portions.  Shape each into loafs, making sure all "seam" sides are on the bottom.  Allow dough to rise a second time--again, allowing it to double in size. 

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Bread should sound hollow when tapped or you can stick a thermometer in and it should read 190 degrees. 

Allow to fully cool before slicing into sandwich slices.  We don't go through bread very fast at all around here, so once I slice it up, I stick the whole loaf in a zip top freezer bag and just pull out single slices as I need them.  Preservation without the perservatives!