What's Cooking

I made these kale chips.  Justin loved them.  The kids hated them.  Such is life!

I also made strawberry preserves.  They are very good! Even if the recipe says it is jam...I'm not sure the technical difference, but we always called this preserves...

What's Cooking?

We had a traditional Passover dinner during Holy Week, so I made apple walnut charoset, unleavened bread, and lamb chops (though I didn't bookmark that recipe).  I  use prepared horseradish, simple salt water, a hard boiled egg, and fresh vegetables for the rest of the meal.

I've also made a delicious broccoli salad.  So very good!

With a busy practice schedule, I made Apple Breakfast Bars to have on the go for the kiddos. I thought these were wonderful, and they disappeared quickly, though I made a double batch!

I think that might actually be all that was new in my kitchen this month.  We've been gone in the afternoons quite a bit, and I've cut back on my baking.

What's Cooking

Since it is the end of the month, and I'm sure everyone has been waiting with baited breath (Ha!) to see what I've been cooking lately, here it is...

I made spanakopita bites to take to a ballet recital/tutorial ceremony thingy.  We haven't actually eaten them yet though!  They are supposed to freeze well, and since our thingy is on a weekday evening, I made them up ahead of time.  Justin got to eat the first, awkwardly shaped, one.  He assures me they are awful, while simultaneously asking if I need others disposed of, so evidently he thinks we should keep them here--good news.

I made the Italian Wonderpot recipe.  I've seen it around for awhile.  We thought it was quite good.  It was a bit light on the protein for Justin, so he was still hungry.  I think perhaps I'll make it even more Mediterranean by adding some beans at the end when I make it again.

The kids aren't big fish fans, so we always have fish on Friday's during Lent, despite being Protostant, because we think the practice is food for them (on more than one level)!  I made Crab Cakes, but we really weren't impressed.  I much preferred the tuna ones I made from an old fashioned cookbook--if you know what that is, these days!

For dinner tonight I'm making wraps.  They are inspired by Pioneer Woman, but in my true style, they are only vaguely reminiscent of her recipe, since I used more what we had on hand and less sun dried tomatoes and feta cheese type things.

Have you found any great new recipes lately?

What's Cooking

Here are some of the things that have been on our table lately...

Japanese Cream Sauce on fried rice with Sesame Orange Chicken, sans the orange.  Very good stuff.

We've also had Mediterranean Baked Chicken.  It was quite good and didn't take long to make.

I made Samoa Cookie Bars to take to our small group.  I thought they were just okay, but someone did ask for the recipe.

I also made sour dough bread for awhile.  I got the recipe from my mother quite a few years back, but the link appears to be the same one I use.  My starter went really sour, and made the bread, while edible, sour, so I tossed it and will have to start it again.

One Saturday afternoon, for fun, I made these Churro Waffles. The recipe made quite a lot.  We did not butter and cinnamon both sides or serve with syrup, as recommended, but they were very good.  They are definitely not for regular consumption, but they were a fun rainy day treat for us.

What's Cooking

I cook a lot.  With a family of our size and budget, that's a given.  Our meals tend to be simple and basic: a meat and two, soup, a casserole.  I love to bake though.  And since baked goods aren't due to be on the table at 5:00, I can do them whenever I have free time a napping baby.  I thought I'd share some recipes I've enjoyed lately:

Chocolate Chip Cranberry Bread:  The cranberries were on sale at the store for fifty cents a bag, so I picked them up not sure what I would make with them.  This looked really good, so I had Kate (who is working on fractions) double the recipe for me.  Oh my!  I think we may go back for more cranberries to freeze to have this again some time.  The sour cranberries in the sweet bread were so good!

Chicken Parmesan Casserole:  This was just okay.  It was easy enough to make, everyone ate it, but I don't think anyone asked for seconds.

No Bake Energy Bites: I had all the things on hand to make these.  They were wonderful.  I tried to make a second batch into a more cereal consistency--adding more oats.  I thought it was good, but the kids totally caught on and wouldn't eat the cereal version.

Cabbage Steaks:  So you know that I don't just feed my family new sweets, we also try new veggies, or at least new ways to prepare old veggies.  This one went over well.  Nate said he didn't care for it, but he also said that a cranberry was sweet.  In other words, he's not a reliable witness!  Next time I may add Worcestershire sauce too.

Though I haven't made either of these lately, they are probably my two favorite cake recipes:

Italian Cream Cheese Cake: This is a really rich cake with a great taste.  I usually leave out the nuts because I leave the nuts out of just about everything except pecan pie...  That's just me though!

and

Chocolate Cake: This actually isn't where I found the recipe, but the blog I read is no longer there.  The recipe I use substitutes strong, hot coffee for the boiling water.  It is gooey and wonderful.  Like the Cream Cheese cake you'll only want a little slice.

Back to Granola

Have you been reading about GMO corn?  It is getting a lot of bad press, and the studies are pretty condemning.  Corn is everywhere.  It is in so much of the prepared foods we purchase.  While I do a great deal of cooking, I do still buy things with corn in the mix--BBQ sauce, ketchup, and the one that has really been bugging me is cereal.  Condiments, those are occasional use, but cereal, the kids eat that on a regular basis.

I've never been one that would buy chocolate flavored cereal or the kind with the mini-marshmallows, as much as I remember enjoying them as a kid.  My kiddos had plenty enough energy without the extra sugar, plus add Justin's diabetes to the mix, we just don't do it.  After much cajoling and me checking the sugar content of a cereal, the kids convinced me to buy a cereal with pink icing.  It made me ill to pour it.  That was the last straw.  Ick.  They were going to eat that!

I went back hunting and found a granola recipe.  Most of the time I'm looking for ways to save our family money and this does cost more, corn crops are subsidized after all, but it isn't a ridiculous expense--I'm estimating it will cost $6.75 (plus any dried fruit or nuts we choose to add) as opposed to the $5.38 I paid for that icky stuff, for the same number of servings.

Here's the recipe I used as our basis--though I'm guessing it will take about 2 times that amount to feed the kiddos granola for 5 days.

Uh-Oh

Oh dear. Evidently I'm not the only person who exploded coffee lately. Every once in a great while I look at the stats for the blog. I was looking at the referring searches--it's fun to see what people (in the most general sense--it doesn't tell me any details about individuals) are reading. People have checked in to look at Cat in the Hat hat cakes lately and turkey crafts. One individual typed in "microwave stopped working after coffee exploded in it." If you've stopped back by, I hope your microwave is working now!!

In case you ever wondered...

coffee can and will explode in the microwave.

I had read a recipe calling for strong coffee. We had regular coffee, so I reasoned that I could drive off some of the water and have the strong coffee required for my little recipe.

I am a reasonable person, so I heated the coffee for a couple of minutes and then stopped, so it wouldn't boil over. I came back twenty or thirty minutes later to heat it again. After one minute and eight seconds the coffee went boom and the microwave stopped (on it's own), flashing :52 at me.

I scrubbed out the microwave around the measuring cup until it had a chance to cool. Then I moved it and scrubbed some more. The inside was sparkling clean, but the big question was, "Will the microwave work after having exploding coffee in it?"

The answer is a thankful yes. I guess I'll forego the coffee milkshake. Or at least think of a better way to make 'strong coffee.'

What's Cooking?

Our diet took a bit of a turn nearly two years ago when Justin was diagnosed as an adult onset type I diabetic. There is no longer garlic bread with pasta. We have to round out some dinners with extra carbohydrates because there just isn't enough in baked chicken and green beans to take a dose of insulin. We've mostly found our way through--finding a few foods that are filling without carbohydrates. A favorite being cheese. Snacks are virtually gone, unless of course he has a low, then look out!

A few weeks back we'd been dealing with diaper-y issues with the little fellow. We tried a day on the BRAT (bananas, rice, apple sauce, & toast) diet to give his system a break. When I added in yogurt the next morning, the issues were back. Wierd. Then it hit me--could it be dairy? We made a switch to almond milk that day. And 'fake' cheese. And even 'fake' ice cream. Any time he gets any dairy we are right back in copious numbers of diapers. The bigger problem isn't the number of changes that are required, it is that the poop then burns his poor little bum. Evidently that is a sign of lactose intolerance--the acid in the milk is not broken down so it is still there. I've read that lactose intolerance can be an issue for a month or so after a stomach virus, so here's to hoping we're going to pass through this faze, but Justin had about 10 years of lactose intolerance.

I've been making him some separate foods for him... He likes pizza, but obviously can't have it with regular cheese. I made him up some on french bread with soy cheese. Soy cheese isn't great, but it is miles better than plastic rice cheese. By the way, the cheese powder in mac & cheese boxes does have enough real cheese in it to cause a problem, even when mixed with almond milk.

I've put off the pediatrician, since we're handling the issue on our own without any problems and it may well be temporary. I'm not a fan of the appointments where the doctor has to tell me wait and see, and since that's what we'll likely get until after this has lasted awhile longer. I am hoping that we will be able to get an all clear on dairy before too long or at least a dosage for the lactase enzyme, when I get him an appointment for his two year visit, so the little guy can eat our normal foods again soon.

Until then I guess what's cooking is not a creamy soup or gooey casserole, at least not for the little guy. And Justin will have to keep sneaking his cheese.

Eating our way Through Class

As a part of our homeschooling, we're taking a 'tour' of six countries. Part of that has been sampling the cuisine. Some of these have been fairly safe. We eat Italian food already, right? Well, there was the issue of the canoli.... Like, I have made at least one new dish though each time--I've never made my own sweet and sour chicken or lo mein. I also try to involve the girls whenever possible--like I'm not chopping veggies or things are not too hot.

This week we're studying Kenya. I knew the food might be pretty different. I guess if I was going to describe it in any manner at all it would be bland. I'm not sure if the people in Kenya use seasonings that weren't included in the recipes or if they don't season their foods as much as we Westerners do, but I added some salt and pepper to our dinner!


We had Ugali (which is simply cornmeal and water), Nyama Choma (roasted beef ribs), and Kenyan Cabbage (cabbage, tomatoes and onion).

Here's the rest of the fare we've been dishing up around here.


pasta with homemade sauce (Italy)


sweet and sour chicken, lo main, stir fry (China)


This is the girls making rugelach. We also made falafel and bourekas, but I managed to miss getting a picture of it. (Israel)

It's made eating dinner on Wednesdays interesting around here. I'm not sure that anything we've tried new will make it in our regular dinner rotation (there have been some things that some but not all of us like--falafel and bourekas are on that list with lo mein), but it has been a learning experience. Next week is Mexico and after that is Germany, so I'll be looking for things we haven't made here before. I'm seriously considering fried ice cream.

Cooking up Italian Style

We're studying Italy this week. As a part of our study, we made an Italian meal tonight. We made the sauce from scratch, with a recipe from a friend. It was delicious, as usual.
Since Kate had chosen a familiar meal for our study of Italy, I wanted us to be more adventurous with our dessert. We made modified cannoli, using sugar cones instead of the fried pastry, trying to make it so that Kate could do it more independently. I got a recipe for the filling. It was runny, so I added a little more sugar. Still runny. I added more sugar. Runny. I pulled out my corn starch. It thickened up a little more than the previous runny mess, but not much. I stuck the would be filling in the freezer in hopes it would help. Perhaps I should have drained the cheese, but I've not used it before and it didn't mention it in the recipe.

We learned a lesson today--sometimes things go your way:

And sometimes your cannoli filling runs all over the plate:

But Redi-whip and a maraschino cherry can make anything better.