Party time!

When I asked Joshua, yesterday, what he wanted to do tomorrow (today), he said that he wanted to have a party with a cake. So this morning, a cake we did make!! (ok, so it's banana bread. shhh.)

Zoe wanted to get in on the cooking fun, so when Joshua and I were done, she hopped up and started cooking cheddar bunnies. She had fun with this for about 20 minutes! That's my girl, loves to eat and cook.

she just kept saying "cooking bunnies. I like cooking bunnies"

In other news, the blender has come out of retirement (thanks to Leslie for the inspiration) and the shakes are a hit once again. We used to make shakes with broccoli but now the kids eat plain broccoli like it's ice cream, so spinach will be our new shake veggie of choice. We adapted Leslie's recipe to what we had on hand...

3 ice cubes

a cup of water /splash of V8 strawberry banana fusion

1-2 c strawberries

1 banana

1/2 - 1 c blueberries

1 container fruity yogurt

scoop of protein powder

3-4 c spinach - I really can't taste it in there (unlike the broccoli) and obviously neither can the kids!

Here's Joshua making his funny shake face for the camera and Zoe being cute as usual.

Dear Chicken Nuggets, I hate you. - recipe review included

Anyone else have a love/hate/guilt relationship with chicken nuggets? I'll give you the rundown on mine:

Love: quick, easy, my kids will eat them at least 80% of the time. 90% when they're shaped like a dinosaur. Sometimes, their leftover chicken nuggets may be all I eat for lunch or dinner, and they're not bad with red hot. Anything I can use as a vehicle for red hot is a-ok with my tastebuds.

Hate: They can actually be quite disgusting. Especially when microwaved. Or... certain brands, in my opinion, taste like sweat. I also hate them for all the above reasons, because it makes it hard for me to 'quit' chicken nuggets.

Guilt: They are so incredibly BAD for my children! I cringe when I feed them chicken nuggets. I swear up and down I will never buy another bag. Then Craig deploys, I get tired, have a bad day, end up at the grocery store, and voila, chicken nuggets for dinner all week long!

Here's what I'm making for dinner tonight. Hopefully I can figure out a way to freeze them so that they're as lovable as their predecessors, thus eliminating the latter from my kitchen, forever. Assuming we overcome the small matter of my picky eaters. I'll let you know.

p.s. Chick Fil A nuggets, I'm not talking about you. I love you, you're great.

***These have great potential! I totally recommend you try this recipe. We all liked them. Craig and I ate ours on our spinach salads. Yum.***

***I did all the stuff for the coating in our coffee grinder (the mini cuisinart was in the dishwasher). Didn't have oat bran, so I ground up oatmeal. I used a whole egg b/c I was lazy. I used a chicken boullion cube for the broth. I made most of them according to the recipe, then at the end, I put some red hot in the egg/broth mixture, and made my own special nuggets. I baked them all for 15 minutes or more. When I took them out, some of the coating stuck to the stoneware. Grrr. They also didn't seem too crispy, maybe if I had let them sit a little longer before trying to take them off it would have helped. I also don't think they needed that much liquid in the egg mixture. Confession time: I took nuggets off for Craig and myself and crisped them up in a frying pan with a little olive oil. I prefered these over the just baked version. Next time, I will brown them all in a pan w/ olive oil Pam before baking, just to help with the crispy-ness. I also preferred my red hot nuggets over the others, of course :) We only have a few left over (always a good sign), so I will try a freezer experiment with them. My plan is to see how long it takes to bake them after they've been frozen. I'm sure they'd be pretty gross microwaved b/c I kinda hate chicken reheated in the microwave. Any questions?***

Chinookies

We got these great cookie cutters from the FRG, and have been having fun using them. We've made Chinook peanut butter sandwiches a few times, and today, made some chinookies. (in case I need to explain, that's 'chinook' + 'cookies.' )

They were almond butter chocolate chip and if you think that sounds really yummy, you would be absolutely right. p.98 of clean eating magazine Mar/Apr issue. Let me reiterate that I can't believe how good these were. We've made 4 recipes from Clean Eating magazine so far and they've all rocked (oh, and they're healthy)

Here's our little cheese addict. I was making dinner while Craig was giving baths, and as soon as she was let out, she headed straight for the cheese. Every time we open the fridge, she runs over and starts asking for cheese.

bonus recipe (and costume #2)

For those of you new followers, thanks for visiting. Since I doubt you're following my blog just because you love to see 15 pictures of my children, I'll throw in an added bonus! Here's a recipe for what I call 'Roper's Dip', only because I got the recipe from my friend Roper. Last time I made it, someone told me it was like their 'Texas Sin' recipe. While I'm not really a big fan of sin, I think that's a better description of the nearly-sinful goodness of this dip.

1 round french bread loaf

1/4 c butter

1 bunch green onions

12 cloves garlic

8 oz cream cheese - room temp cut into 1" cubes

1 pt. sour cream

1 jar marinated atrichoke hearts

12-16 oz grated cheddar

Sautee onions & garlic in butter. Mix sour cream and cheddar in large bowl. Add onions and garlic. Mix. Fold in chopped artichoke hearts and cream cheese. Mix. Cut off top of loaf, Hollow out, fill with dip and place top back on. Wrap in 2 layers of foil. Bake at 350 for 1.5-2 hours. Stir lightly. Serve w/ bread cubes (below) or tortilla chips.

Cut bread you hollowed out into cubes. Lay on cookie sheet, spray with pam and sprinkle with garlic salt. Toast in the oven while baking the dip (watch carefully so you don't burn them!)

Here's Joshua in costume #2, and Joshua and Zoe watching a video of Daddy reading a construction book. He sent the video when he was deployed over Christmas last year. Zoe was so excited when she saw him on the TV; she just pointed and kept saying Da! Da! Da! I had to put her in the pack n play because she was all up on the table trying to reach 'Da!' on the TV.
This is Joshua's firefighter costume. He told me that he needed a yellow jacket, a tank and a hose so that he could be a firefighter, so we found him the requested items and off he went. Oh, the sippy cup is in the backpack because he said he needed water in his tank.

It might not sound good but...

Here's that soup/stew I was talking about. Thanks, Laine, for the recipe.

Ingredients:

1/2 cabbage shredded (sautee w/ nxt 3 indredients until all wilted)

kale (3-4 big leaves, de-rib & chop small)

onion (sliced)

garlic (2-3 cloves)

2-3 lg potatoes (prebaked or not, big cubes, add to crockpot)

Jimmy Dean hot sausage (brown & drain, add to crockpot)

4 c chicken or vegetable stock

add salt & pepper, red pepper flakes and caraway seeds to taste

Stir it all up and cook low for however long (or until the potatoes are done if they're not precooked). Freezes OK, but when you thaw & reheat, the potatoes break up. Hope you like it!

p.s. I LOVE reynolds slow cooker liners. Not only is cleanup non-existant, but you can also put your food in the fridge w/out having to put the crockpot dish in there. Can't be doing that, it competes with the milk and my crystal light for valuable shelf-space. I just seal the top with one of those pampered chef twixit clips & put the bag in the veggie drawer.

mmmmm, pesto

my basil always seems to do pretty well, but I don't really cook anything with basil in it. My solution is pesto, which I could eat on everything (or with a spoon. gross, I know. Sometimes I just can't help it). So, if you have extra basil, might I suggest:

2T toasted pine nuts (totally not necessary)
1-2 cloves garlic
1-1.5 c fresh basil leaves
4 oz. grated parm cheese (I ran out of the grated kind last time, so used 1/2 grated and 1/2 kraft. it was a little more grainey but still good)
1/2 c EVOO

food process all the dry stuff until it's pretty chopped up, then slowly add the oil until you like the consistency.

I like it on pasta (with xtra toasted pine nuts & parm cheese). I'm going to try it as dressing nxt time I have salad. It also freezes well - I froze some for over a year and it was still great.

kinda like a tweet...

except that I don't twitter. but that's how short this post is going to be (you know, I wouldn't be any good at twitter, I can't keep things short enough, as evidenced by this already too long post). Anyway, I wanted to post something, anything, just to get myself back into the groove. I have lots o pics on the camera waiting to be uploaded, and we've got lots to say too, I'm sure. Just happy Craig is home after 3 long weeks!! That's my excuse for not blogging this weekend, obvs. :) Sooo... what I was going to post in the first place is that I'm making this tonight for our dinner tomorrow, and I'm excited to see how it turns out. I'll let you know! Tonight, we're having good ol' grilled chicken. Yum!

tomatoes, squash and raspberries

Joshua got his own tool belt. It was a very exciting day.

That was the raspberry, obviously. The other day, he was following Zoe around trying to blow raspberries on her back. She was a little confused, like she thought it was fun but she was still very worried. It was hilarious.

Here are some pictures of my zucchini extravaganza. Zucchini bread, garden pizza and squash casserole. All delish!

lots o' squash

as you will see when I finally post pictures, we have an overabundance of squash and zucchini around these parts. Consequently, I have been trying to use it all without getting sick of it, and hiding it in things that Joshua and Craig will actually eat (because I surely don't want to eat 10 lbs of squash by myself). It's like Iron Chef with zucchini... I am, of course, winning, since I'm the only one playing. We also had lots o' tomatoes, so you will see those used too. I only have one zucchini left... until the next batch is ready to pick.

zucchini bread - Paula Deen
3 1/4 c flour (I only used 3 c, and used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 self rising)
1.5t salt
1tnutmeg
2t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
3 c sugar (I used 1 c sugar and 2 c splenda)
1 c vegetable oil (I only had 3/4ish, so I used an extra 1/4 c water)
4 eggs beaten
1/3 c water (not including the extra I used)
2 c grated zucchini
1 t lemon juice
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts (I used 1/2 oatmeal and about 1/3 c milled flax seed)
bake at 350 in 2 greased loaf pans for 1 hour or 5 mini pans for 45 min

squash casserole - Paula Deen
sautee until cooked, 6 c diced zucchini and squash in olive oil and drain well (I put them in a dishtowel and squeezed after I used the colander, I think that's what she said to do)
sautee 1 lg onion, diced, in 4T butter while the squash is draining
mix together in a bowl: squashes, onion & butter, 1/2 sour cream, 1/4 t pepper, 1/4 t garlic powder, 1/2 t salt... or maybe it's 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t garlic powder. who knows., 1 c grated cheddar. Put in casserole dish (my sm. round pampered chef one fit it perfectly) and top w/ 1 cup crushed ritz. Bake 15-20 min at 350

three cheese garden pizza - pampered chef (but I'm sure I forgot something)
make a crust or use a pillsbury one; we like to make a whole wheat crust
press 2 cloves garlic (or more :) and spread over crust. top w/ mozzerella & cheddar, I think (I used a pizza cheese mix), top with a sliced tomato, onion, zucchini and mushrooms, top with some grated parmesan. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or so, until the crust is done... or you can get all fancy and bake the crust for a few minutes before you put all the stuff on.

chicken pot pie
make chicken pot pie as usual and add steamed zucchini to the veggies. you won't even know it's there...

Joshua also likes his zucchini raw, cut up into little sticks so that he can build stuff with them. He likes to dip them in lawry's.

shake time

Joshua loves to drink shakes for breakfast. He loves for his Daddy to make them for him and they both drink tons and tons of shake. Although I made this shake (Craig would argue that it is, therefore, substandard), they still seemed to enjoy it - this was Zoe's initiation into shake time. She was determined to try to figure out how to use this straw. They make good popsicles too!

Here's what's (usually) in them. I have been known to add extra veggies in the form of leftovers and unused baby food. Enough strawberries and bananas will cover up the veggie taste.

~ 1 cup frozen strawberries
~ 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
Craig adds frozen raspberries
banana
apple
yogurt (mixed berry)
vanilla protein powder
~1 cup broccoli
handful of dry oatmeal
Craig adds cottage cheese
Craig adds honey, I add stevia
...and whatever else I feel like throwing in. Craig usually doesn't deviate from his 'recipe'

everything's better with bacon.

I've been making a lot of things with bacon in them lately. The real kind, not the turkey kind. Craig was supposed to be home around noon, but finally got home at 9ish. Last time he got home late due to maintenance, this time it was weather. I was mentally prepared for him to get home tomorrow, to having him home tonight was a sweet surprise! Joshua got to wait up for him, and he just went to bed at 10:30. Hopefully we all get to sleep in tomorrow!

Anyway, back to the bacon. I made this recipe from my new favorite blog (since I could read cookbooks all day long) to welcome Craig home. I also got some hot tamales and Dr. Pepper in case the chicken didn't turn out good. It was in fact delish, and it was nice because I was able to leave the house while it cooked. I deviated from the recipe by adding some garlic powder and black pepper to the thyme, rosemary & salt, and then added enough olive oil to make a paste with which to massage my little chickies. I did remove the skin but the olive oil & bacon make up for that. I also deviated where she says to discard the bacon after cooking. WHAT!!!!! Discard bacon???!!! I peeled it off, microwaved it until it was crispy, and put it right back on the chickies. Yum

I'm going to make this with the scraps. And then make chicken and dumplings with the broth. And they will all taste like bacon. And they will therefore be delicious.

Zoe is sitting up very well now, and her 3rd tooth is peeking through! What a big girl! Joshua started singing his ABC's to me in the car today, and then he counted to 12, and then he sang Jesus loves me (complete with making a muscle when he sang "he is strong"). And then he started talking about his baby sister Zoe and how he wanted to pet her hair (she was asleep in the carseat and her head was flopped over to his side) - he says things like "I yike dat ha-ir. Jossa pet baby-sitter Zoe ha-ir. Funny ha-ir Zoe."

We're so glad to have Craig home. We prayed all day for his safe flight, and a safe flight for Emily & Jason. And I'm so glad that he'll be able to spend tomorrow enjoying all the funny cute little things they do every day!

And I don't even like meatloaf!

**a note on this post in case it wasn't clear... I really REALLY liked this meatloaf :)

Craig's been home since Saturday night (Happy Valentine's Day, right?) so I did some quick meal planning for the week (SO out of character for me) and grocery-shopping-sans-les-enfants (grocery shopping without babies - it was a special occasion so I used a little French to make it sound fancier). We had these when we visitied Rosemarie & Fam to see the circus in September.

**totally forgot to mention that I used ground turkey for this**

Meatloaf patties:

Place 1 1/3 lbs ground sirloin in a large mixing bowl and create a well in the center of the meat. Fill the well with 1/4 cup bread crumbs and dampen with a splash of milk. Add 1 egg, 2 tsps of grill seasoning (or course salt and pepper), 1/2 tsp allspice, 1 tbsp ketchup, and 3/4 of a medium onion finely chopped. Combine the mixture and form 4 large 3/4 inch thick oval patties. Arrange 2 slices of bacon in and X on the cutting board; repeat with the other 6 slices of bacon (you should have 8 slices of bacon). Place a meatloaf patty on the center of each X. Fold the bacon around each patty. (You don't need toothpicks b/c as the bacon cooks it attaches to itself) Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat with EVOO. Transfer the patties (Bacon seam side down) to the hot skillet. Fry the patties for 7 minutes on each side under a loose aluminum foil tent.

Remove the patties to a platter and return the pan to the heat. Reduce the heat to medium. Add Tbsp of butter and 1/4 of the medium onion finely chopped. Cook for 2 minutes. Add 2 Tbsps of flour. Cook 1 minute...whisking. Then add 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Stir in 1 tsp mustard, 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce, and parsley (1/4 cup) to taste.

Good sides: boiled potatoes, steamed broccoli or asparagus.

or go here for a slightly different version:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/meatloaf-patties-smashed-potatoes-and-pan-gravy-recipe/index.html

We had them with the smashed potatoes (w/out the sour cream cuz I didn't have any). Joshua even tried a bite of bacon - he liked it!

I'm no Jessica Seinfeld but...

(I heard she stole all her deceptively delicious recipes anyway)

My ongoing quest to get Joshua to eat something other than peanut butter coupled with the fact that I was dying to bake something for my little Blessing (thanks in part to Jen) led me to look for a zucchini bread recipe. I've never made zucchini bread before, and I think my mom has a good recipe, but I used one I found in the Sugar Bears cookbook (p. 109) that Sara & fam (I'd link to her but she DOESN'T HAVE A BLOG!!!!!!!) gave us (that's short for the one of us who cooks) for Christmas. And then, of course, I changed it to match what ingredients I actually had in the house, cuz who wants to go to walmart with 2 kids for yogurt and flour at 7pm? NOT this girl!

It was good (everything's good when it's right out of the oven, no?) but there are a few things I'll do differently next time. The important part is that Joshua loved it. I made 1 loaf and oodles of mini muffins, since he loves those. I was so glad to be able to grant his request for "mo' muffin" as many times as he wanted. That's a lot of zucchini!

(these pictures were taken this morning. I went in to get him up and was greeted with a smile and "want muffin peas mommy")

Here's what I did:
3 eggs
1.5c splenda
1/2 c brown sugar (next time, I'll use 1 c. splenda & 1 c. brn sugar)
1/2 c applesauce
a few Tbsp olive oil (next time, I'll use 1/2 stick softened salted butter)
~1c cottage cheese (I just dumped in the rest of the container)
2+ tsp cinnamon (I'll add more next time since I couldn't really taste it this time)
2.5c grated zucchini (about 3 small zucchinis)
2c whole wheat flour
1c all purpose flour (I ran out of whole wheat)
1t salt
1t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
3t vanilla extract
chopped walnuts (about 1/4 c? I just dumped some)
it was a little watery, so I added:
a handful of quick cooking oatmeal
a few Tbsp ground flaxseeds

Next time, I'll probably add some vanilla protein powder.

I almost forgot the all important baked-goods-photo. The brown ones have some hershey's special dark cocoa power, a little squirt of stevia, and a few special dark chocolate chips (about 1/muffin) in them. Notice how there are only 2 of those left.

If you have a tried & true zucchini bread recipe for me, please oh please send or post it my way!
When we finish the zucchini bread, I'm going to make some pumpkin, so if you have a pumpkin bread recipe (Rosemarie :) send/post that too!

Imagine that, I managed to capture Zoe being cute. Her hair is so fuzzy, I love it!