Recipe #81: Calzones

Sunday night I made a calzone that Will and I split. I was in the mood for pizza and it was perfect! For the crust we used some bread dough that I had made a day or two before. I made a Hawaiian Calzone because that is one of the only pizzas that Will and I both like! :)

You need:
pizza dough (or bread dough)
tomato sauce
mozzarella cheese
bacon
crushed pineapple
(can you tell I never measure anything?! just add to your liking or depending on how much crust you have.)
olive oil, parsley, and parmesan for the top of the crust.

• Take the dough and roll it into a flat circle. I was using my bread dough so let it sit for about 40 minutes first. This dough rolled out so much easier then the dough i used for pizza before!
• on one half of dough, spread some tomato sauce.
• Top with bacon, mozzarella, and pineapple. I kind of mixed those together then with a spoon.
• Fold the empty side on top of the mixture. pinch the ends together. 
• Baste the top of the calzone with some olive oil, parsley and parmesan (or wait towards end to add parmesan)
• put on a heated pizza stone. add 1 cup of boiling water to boil pan.
• Bake for about 25-30 mins at 450 or until top is golden brown.

 just out of the oven!

I was worried about all the stuff that might go wrong with the crust, but it was perfect--not too thin and crunchy on the outside! 

Recipe #80: Chef Salad

For a fast Sunday lunch, we decided to have a chef salad!

you need:
lettuce
tomato
carrots
cucumber
ham
cheese
boiled egg
croutons
etc.

mix together your lettuce and toppings.

Will likes thousand island with this, but I used my favorite Japanese Goma (sesame seed) dressing!

More adventures in baby food!

Wow, Alex's food tastes continue to grow!
Here are some things we have been trying:

Nice finger foods like fruit.

The pieces definitely are getting bigger so Alex can grasp it better.

chunks of banana...

 until he decides it would be fun to mush in his fingers or throw on the floor

My sweet potato fries were also a hit with Alex. He thought he was big stuff eating it with me!

Also cheerios. The boy could eat those all day!

As far as baby food I have tried a couple new things with him...

• pumpkin...easiest thing ever. open a can of pumpkin puree and serve! I froze most of the can so that I could take out the portions I wanted later
• potato. Heat up about 4-5 potatoes ( i used red) in the microwave for about 8 minutes. Peel off skin and then mash up. Freeze what you don't use. 

I mixed both of these with foods he had already tried, he's ate it up!

• squash (yellow): Today i took some leftover grilled summer squash. added about an 1/8 cup of water and pureed it up. Alex love it. He wanted to lick out the bowl! :)

I need to get one of those baby food grinders so we can be ready for when he starts eating more meat! 

Recipe #78: Potato soup with #79 croutons

I had a huge bag of potatoes and wanted to do something different...so found a recipe for potato soup! I thought it would be fun to add some toppings so in a way it was like a baked potato! I pretty much followed the recipe I found here.

You need:
6-8 potatoes, I used red potatoes
2 cans evaporated milk
4 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
toppings: bacon, cheese, croutons*. i thought broccoli would have been good too but I didn't have any

• peel and cut the potatoes
• cover with water (just barely) and boil until tender
• turn heat down and add butter and evaporated milk
• Mash potatoes with a potato masher
• add salt and pepper

honestly, i would have liked it a little thicker, next time i will probably add one can of milk and then mash potatoes and see how I like it, and then add as necessary.

But with toppings it was great!

*croutons:( i followed a recipe found here and then added my own seasoning)

you need:

stale bread

1/4 cup butter, melted

garlic powder

parsley

parmesan

• cut crust off of bread. baste with butter and then cut into smaller pieces
• spread out on a cookie sheet
• sprinkle garlic powder, parsley and parmesan on top
• bake at 350 for 15 minutes

a perfect fall meal...(can you tell I am excited for fall to get here!)

Recipe #77: SUSHI! (norimaki)

I love making sushi, it is so much fun. I started making it in college when i was missing the wonderful tastes of home, but not willing to pay American sushi prices! I don't like to do much raw fish at home, that makes me a little nervous, but it tastes great with veggies and all sorts of other delicious things!

You need:
about 3 cups cooked rice
sheets of seaweed
rice or sushi vinegar
good insides include: avocado, crab, tuna fish, lettuce, cucumbers, cream cheese, carrots, shrimp, etc.

you will also need a rolling mat. they often come with little sushi kits. one time in a pinch i used a straw place mat...and that worked out too! :)

First put some rice into a bowl and add vinegar. for the 3 cups i used a 1/4 cup or less. it depends on how vinegary you want the rice. Let it cool slightly but not too much.

put a sheet of seaweed on your rolling mat and cover about 2/3s of it with rice. spread the rice out in a thin layer...mine was a little too thick (rice was kind of hot and a little too wet) so it was a little heavy on the rice, but that was okay!

Next layer your toppings on the rice, kind of in the middle of the rice so they are in the center of your sushi.

start rolling! lift up the edge of the mat and use it to start rolling the sushi up, As you roll the sushi keep pulling the mat out, and i tend to squeeze it a bit to make sure it is really tight.

YOu are done! put to the side and roll a couple more.

Alex "helped" out too with Alex sized mats! He had snack time while I rolled my sushi and was a very good sport!

Once you have a couple, take a serrated knife (those always seem to work best for me) Cut the roll in half, then place side by side and cut into smaller rounds. (the fatter the sushi the smaller you cut)

Enjoy your sushi! Mine turned out more like futomaki (fat rolls)
make sure you have your soy sauce and wasabi on the side! (oh the stories i can tell of my friends and wasabi, remember...a little goes a long way! :) )

Enjoy!!

Recipe #75 and #76: Honey Glazed Chicken and Curry Grilled Vegetables

The breeze this morning whispered fall, even though it probably is the hurricane weather. Oh well, I dream of fall. But it was the perfect evening to grill, so we did. Of course, Will got home late from football so it was sort of a rush meal, but still fun. I found the honey chicken recipe in an old Real Simple magazine.

you need:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• mix the sauce together
• Cut up the chicken into small slices and thread each onto a wooden skewer
• Grill for 6-8 minutes. Baste with sauce in last two minutes of cooking

Curried veggies:

You need:

yellow squash

potatoes

olive oil

curry powder

• mix some curry powder and olive oil in a ziploc to allow flavors to fuse and mix together. (one bag for each veggie)
• cut up veggies and add to bags
• close and shake up
• grill until veggies are done!

Don't these colors scream fall... I can't wait! 

(ps. the meal was perfect with some homemade bread!)

Recipe #74: Peanut Butter Bananas

This is a perfect snack, or breakfast, but Will thinks it is strange. You eat it and be the judge!

You need:
a banana
spoonful of peanut butter

• Spread the peanut butter on the banana
• Enjoy a protein filled snack
• Yes it counts as a recipe! :)

Recipe #73: Pizza bites

So last night I was in a snack kind of mood, but wanted to "snack" on something substantial, so I had a couple of cans of biscuits in the fridge, plus some meat and cheese...pizza bites...for lack of a better term!

you need:
2 cans of biscuits (or make your own biscuits found here)
1/2 lb of hamburger
shredded cheddar cheese
spaghetti sauce
parsley

• Spread out the biscuits on a cookie sheet. 
• on top a small spoonful of spaghetti sauce, hamburger and cheese
• close up around sauce etc.
• top with a little parsley and cheese
• bake at 350 for about 15 min. or until golden brown

heat up some more spaghetti sauce to dip your pizza bites in!

Recipe #72: Not your average PB&J

If you live near a Trader Joe's you need to make sure you own Dark Chocolate Dreams, a delightful mixture of peanut butter and dark chocolate. I used it to make chocolate croissants found here. Well, for lunch on Saturday I decided to make a "grown up" peanut butter and jelly sandwich, using, of course, Dark Chocolate Dreams.

You need:
two pieces whole wheat bread
blueberry jam (my favorite!)
Dark Chocolate Dreams (you will have good dreams, I promise!)

On one piece of bread spread some sweet blueberry jam.
On the other piece spread a wonderful layer (a thick layer of course) of Dark chocolate Dreams.
The end result: AMAZING!

you honestly could cut it in to smaller pieces and serve it at a party. people would love it!

Recipe #69: Taco Salad (Plus Recipes #70 and #71: Salsa and Taco Sauce)

Isn't it such a wonderful, colorful meal! Taco Salad--Its it wonderful! So hodgepodge and so easy!

you need: 

Chips

cheese

ground beef and taco packet, prepared according to directions

lettuce

other veggies: corn, beans, etc. anything you want to make a salad.

sour cream is also great but we didn't have any.

taco sauce and salsa (see recipes below)

Make your salad, add the taco meat, cheese etc. on top! 

Salsa:

you need:

5 tomatoes

corn

pepper

1/4 of an onion

2 cloves garlic

4 torn up leaves of basil

2 Tbsp of lemon juice

I would recommend cilantro too but I didn't have any.

Also add some jalapeno if you like it hot

I diced up the tomatoes and heated them up on the stove. I added just a titch of water.

Add in some onion, corn, pepper, garlic, basil, lemon juice etc. Heat until the tomato is softer. 

If you wanted it really fresh don't heat it, but the warm salsa tasted really good on top of the salad.

Taco sauce (or Will also uses it for BBQ sauce):

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup vinegar

2 Tbsp chopped onions (optional)

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp mustard

Heat all ingredients to boiling over medium heat. Stirring constantly, reduce heat.  Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes.

Will's family uses this for a bbq sauce too!

Recipe #68: Monkey Bread

This has been a long time favorite. I used to make it in college all the time when there were lots of people to eat it up, so I wouldn't eat too much! Tonight I made it for our community group dinner. But after my day today,  I would have enjoyed eating a lot more of it!

You need:
4 or 5 tubes of buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

• combine sugar and cinnamon, i actually doubled that to make sure there would be PLENTY!
• Take each biscuit, roll into a ball and then roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
• Arrange in a greased fluted tube pan (I use an angel food cake pan...is that the same thing? :) )
• Sprinkle top with more cinnamon and sugar
• Melt butter in a sauce pan and add brown sugar and then pour over top of biscuits.
• Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. I often pull up the top of one or two to make sure it is done underneath too.
• Cool for 5 minutes before putting on serving platter.

Recipe #67: Ramen Salad

You will recognize parts of this recipe from the other day's asian cole slaw found here. You will need to ramen part and the dressing recipe...I am to tired to repeat it now!

The recipe calls for:
romaine lettuce
1 head of broccoli
green onion
1 cup pecans
browned ramen
dressing (directions for ramen and dressing found here, in case you weren't paying attention at the beginning. :) )

I used:
romaine lettuce
cucumbers cut into strips
walnuts
browned ramen
dressing
(it's what I had on hand!)

• tear up the lettuce.
• cut up cucumbers
• add ramen and walnuts
• pour dressing on top and mix.

this time though I just added the romaine, cucumbers, and walnuts to individual bowls but left the ramen and dressing off and Will and I put in how much we want...soggy, leftover lettuce and ramen really doesn't taste so good! But fresh...Delicious!

Recipe #66: Curry Rice

Curry Rice is an all time favorite Japanese food. There is something so satisfying about the thick sauce and chunky vegetables. I literally could eat it every day of the week. Unfortunately, Will gets a little tired of that as leftovers for the week, so I end up needing to cook again.
I normally just make it on a pot on the stove, but I was using pot roast meat because that was what was in my freezer so I wanted to make sure the meat didn't get too tough.

You need:
1-2 boxes of curry rue. It looks like this. You can even find it at Walmart now.

Carrots, I used a bag of baby carrots
7-8 potatoes, cut into pieces
half an onion
beef or chicken cut into small pieces

• Put all of the cut up veggies and meat into the crock pot.
• Add enough water to cover the top of the veggies, etc.
• put curry rue on top, mix up
• cover and heat on high for about 3 hours. Half way through I added another half a box of the curry because I like it thick.

Always hits the spot! Curry rice is the one dish that the Japanese always serve with a spoon! It improves with age too! :) I separated the rest into two tupperware--one for now, one to freeze so that Will won't have to eat this for the next two weeks!

Recipe #65: Sweet Potato Fries

Last night I was eating a sandwich since Will was gone, but I decided to make some fries to go along with it, plus, it would give Alex something to snack on too...he loves to chew on anything with those 8 VERY sharp teeth. Don't worry, they are baked so very child friendly and a lot healthier then fried!

You need:
3 sweet potatoes
olive oil, parsley and Parmesan to taste

• Cut the sweet potatoes into small strips. Or think ones, it is your choice. I had alex in mind when i cut them up so I wanted some thinner ones that had no skin on them
• Put in  gallon size ziploc bag.
• add in some olive oil, parsley and parmesan.
• Toss to coat
• Bake in a single layer on a cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes at 450
• Sprinkle on some more parmesan before serving!

Recipe #64: Egg Salad Sandwhich

So, life has suddenly gotten really crazy (goodbye summer vacation!), and while I have been cooking, there are just not enough hours to write it all down! So these entries will probably be short and to the point!
Last Saturday, for lunch I let Will have the leftover chicken biscuits found here, and I decided to use up some of our huge amount of eggs to make an egg salad sandwich. Will hates it, but they had such good egg salad sandwiches in Japan that I just loved it! Anyways, there is really nothing special about it, plain and simple, which is probably why it tastes good! Also my mayo of choice is kewpie mayo from japan, but I unfortunately did not have any on hand! :(

You need:
5 eggs, boiled
2 Tbsp mayo, give or take depending on how much you like. me not a lot.

Boil your eggs.

So does anyone else have trouble with the eggs cracking when they start moving against the pan? I have tried putting them in after the water is boiling and , using different pans etc...finally this idea came to me--i used my silicone steamer! It worked great!
*update: I also learned that putting eggs in right after water is boiled and then sitting with no heat for 12 minutes is a good way too! :)

After your eggs are boiled. (I started them in the water so the whole time took about 12 minutes) run them under cold water so they peel easily.
Peel two eggs, cut up into small pieces
add mayo, mix up.
put on bread. I toasted mine and added a little cheddar cheese

The next day I cracked and peeled the other three which lasted two more meals...why not boil extra eggs to save some for later!

Side Dish #5: The Help

                                   My cousin passed along the amazing book called The Help. It was one of those books that I could not put down...one of those books that makes me realize why I don't read more--my house does not get clean until I finish the book! So there I was, Alex siting next to me playing, and I am trying to read as much as I can before he starts grabbing for the book again.
Many people are reading it now because the movie just came out, and while I would like to see it sometime, the author does a wonderful job of painting the world of the maids and their employers that I could picture it so well in my head. You really feel a whole range of emotions reading it, which also makes it so wonderful, you will laugh, cringe, cry, and when the book is over, let out a long sigh and sit there not sure what to do next. What I thought was most interesting was the author's note at the end. She had "Help" growing up, and while the book is not really based on her situation completely, it made me realize how not very distant this history was, and how many people might have similar stories to tell.
So go find the book and read it, but carve out about 2 days in which all you will do it read and not accomplish anything else!

Recipe #63: Chocolate Croissants

A long time ago I had made some croissants and put chocolate chips in the middle. They melted okay, but didn't really spread through the croissant very well. This summer, my sisters made some with nutella and they were very delicious. I didn't have any nutella on hand but my mom had passed along some Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Dreams, which is peanut butter mixed with dark chocolate (yes, i think we will have good dreams!). So I put that in the croissant instead!

You need:
1 tube of croissants
nutella, dark chocolate dreams or other chocolate filling of your choice

• unroll the croissants
• spread some dark chocolate dreams in the center of your croissant 

Like so

• Roll back up and bake according to package directions, about 10 minutes

• Eat them up!

I think with the peanut butter it made the chocolate insides a little drier, if you want gooey chocolate I would recommend the nutella. Either way it is delicious!

Recipe #62: Asian Cole Slaw

There will always be some kind of cabbage recipe after I make yakisoba because I don't want to waste the rest of the bag of cole slaw mix.

You need:
1/2 bag of cole slaw mix
cucumber, cut into long strips
sweet red pepper, diced
1 package ramen
1/4 cup butter

dressing:
1 cup veggie oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar (I used apple cider and it tasted fine)
1/4 cup soy sauce

• crush up the ramen in the packet and then brown in a fry pan with the butter. you don't need the seasoning packet that came with it.
• once finished, pour onto a plate lined with a paper towel to blot the ramen.
• mix cole slaw, veggies and ramen in a bowl
• in a separate container (preferably something with a lid, I used an old jar) mix the dressing ingredients. close up the container and shake well to mix everything up. 
• Pour some (maybe 1/3-1/2 of the dressing) over the cole slaw and stir together. 

The dressing is AMAZING! put it in the fridge to use later, I will use it for another salad recipe soon. 

I will admit, I had thirds...between the sweetness of the dressing and the crunchy ramen. It is delicious!

Recipe #61: Chicken Biscuits

This is another one that my family really enjoyed growing up. Pretty much because my brother loved the chicken/white sauce combo... It really doesn't take that long either if you cook the chicken before putting it all together in the oven...
You can make it with just chicken, but I added some vegetables, so I didn't have to use as much chicken. I made it in a 8x8 dish so if you are making it for a family you would want to at least double everything.

You need:
2 chicken breasts
1/2 white sauce recipe and ingredients
one tube of buttermilk biscuits (or make your own using the recipe found here)
some veggies--i used about 1/2 cup cut up carrots and 1/2 cup frozen green beans
a little shredded cheese if you want to add that on top

• start boiling chicken, when finished cut into pieces
• While chicken is boiling make a half recipe of the white sauce. once it is finished add carrots and beans and let simmer
• preheat oven to 350
• Add chicken to the 8x8 dish, then pour white sauce and veggies on top
• Top with the biscuits in the tube
• add a little cheese on top of the biscuits
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until biscuits are done on top. They might be a little gooey on bottom, but taste really good that way! 

Finished!

Perfect with Asian Cole Slaw (look for Recipe #62) and some fresh melon!

Recipe #60: Corn and Edamame Salad

We had yakisoba tonight, which I have already made before (you can find the recipe here), but some good things need to be eaten more than once in a year! :) So while my yakisoba was cooking up in the big pan, I had my corn salad going in a smaller one. I got the idea from a Parents magazine and then morphed it into what I wanted!

You need:
1/4 of an onion (you can use more, but Will doesn't like onions so I tried not to put to much in)
2 cups corn (or more, I just poured some in! )
1/2 of a sweet red pepper
1 cup shelled edamame, steamed. (Sam's has the best little frozen bags of edamame and I used a whole one of those)
oregano and sea salt to taste

• dice the onion and the red pepper up
• brown onion on stove with a little olive oil
• Add the corn and stir
• add the red pepper, stir all three until they are well cooked. 
• Sprinkle some oregano in
•  Add steamed edamame
• Make sure it is well mixed together

Recipe #59: Fried Rice

Fried rice is a great way to use up extra rice or veggies, but I was in the mood for it so had to look around to see what I could use to put in it! So put on some rice, look around for the veggies you have on hand and you are good to go!

You need:
3 cups rice, go ahead and get that cooking
veggies: I used
half of an onion
green beans
corn
thinly sliced cucumber
(if you have a bag of the little mixed veggies you could use that too)
2 eggs or 3 if you like more egg
soy sauce and sesame oil

• cut up veggies that need it.
• With a little oil brown onions first.
• Add the rest of the veggies, add a little sesame oil with them
• Once veggies are ready add the rice. 
• Pour in some soy sauce and mix up. push rice and veggies to the side of the pan.
• mix up the eggs and pour into the empty portion of the pan. scramble up then mix in with the rest of the fried rice. 

Recipe #58: Chocolate-Coconut Whole Wheat Pancakes

Last night was another "breakfast for dinner" night at our house. I grew up with my mom making delicious pancakes for us on a regular basis, however, on special occasions, like birthdays, we could choose chocolate chip pancakes. Once I grew up I realized that I didn't have to wait for a special occasion to eat chocolate chip pancakes, and so now it is fun to add that to the normal mix if Will and I feel like something sweet!

Here is my mom's whole wheat pancake recipe. If you are feeding a family use the full recipe. I used the half recipe for will and I but we had some left over. The fourth would have probably been best for two people.

	Full Recipe	Half Recipe	Fourth
Flour ( ½ white, ½ wheat)	4 cups	2 cups	1 cup
Sugar	4 Tbsp	2 Tbsp	1 Tbsp
Baking powder	4 tsp	2 tsp	1 tsp
Baking soda	2 tsp	1 tsp	½ tsp
Salt	2 tsp	1 tsp	½ tsp
Oil	8 Tbsp	4 Tbsp	2 Tbsp
Milk	4 cups	2 cups	1 cup
Eggs	4	2	1

So choose your measurements and mix them up. I have an electric fry pan or a griddle as well that I use and I set it to about 300 to heat up. You can do it on the stove as well.
Get your chocolate chips ready or any other ingredients you want to put in.*
I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the pancake batter into the heated pan.
Immediately sprinkle your "add-ins" onto the pancake.
Wait for it to start bubbling a bit before you turn it over.
After a couple minutes take it off the heat!

You can also mix up the full batch of dry ingredients

*some other great add-ins are: chocolate chips, coconut, blueberries, mashed bananas and nuts...
With the sweet pancakes we like to add powdered sugar on top instead of syrup so the syrup doesn't overtake the chocolate taste etc...

This was the first time I had used coconut with the chocolate chips and it was AMAZING!

Recipe #57: Simple Cucumber salad...

I don't know if you can really call this a salad, but they are a little more exciting than plain cucumbers so here it is...
You need:
half a cucumber
some dill weed
red wine vinegar

Cut up the cucumber
Pour a little bit of dill weed on top
add enough vinegar to thoroughly coat the cucumber,
mix it up.

Recipe #56: Honey Baked Chicken

I made this a couple of nights ago and am just now getting around to posting! Lets just say once school gets back into full swing this is going to be pretty hard to keep up! :)

This recipe came from a cookbook of family recipes we made for my sister a couple of years ago when she was getting married. Then it became a regular dish in my other sister's house and after eating it there a couple of times, I finally made it at home!
The recipe said to use a whole chicken, cut up and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes which was probably the thing that made me always turn the page quickly, I never have that much time to get dinner ready, but using chicken breasts cuts the time almost in half!

You need:
3 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces--I cut it into 3 pieces. You can also use more because there is plenty of sauce
1/3 cup melted margarine
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp prepared mustard
1 tsp salt
1tsp curry powder

• Preheat oven to 350
• Arrange chicken pieces in a 9x13 dish
• Mix the rest of ingredients together.
• Pour over chicken and make sure chicken pieces are coated.
• back for about 40 minutes or until chicken no longer runs pink.

We had a lot of sauce with ours, but then it tastes really great with the rice so if you just do three pieces of chicken and don't like a lot of sauce you could probably half it, or just do more chicken so you have more leftovers for the next day! :)

Recipe #55: Breakfast Parfaits

After making the fruit tarts last night, i had some leftover cut-up fruit so decided to make a parfait this morning!

You need:
yogurt. I used greek vanilla yogurt
fruit
All bran cereal, granola would be nice too, but I don't have any of that right now!

In a bowl layer yogurt, fruit, then cereal add one more layer of each.
Of course this is the way to make it look pretty! It tastes just as good in a big bowl mixed together!

Recipe #54: Fruit Tarts

I think I could have eaten these for dinner instead of the curry, but I resisted! :) Super easy to make and just fun!

You need:
pie crust
fruits of choice--I used  peaches, strawberries, and frozen blueberries
whipped topping

• First i used a muffin cup to find a similar size circle object. my baby bowls worked perfectly. I used those to make circles in the pie crust.
• put the circles inside of the muffin tin and pat the sides down. poke some holes in the crust with a fork.
• I preheated the oven to 450 and then put it in about 8 minutes before it was done preheating and it came out perfectly.
• while it is in the oven i cut up the fruit. 
• take the crust out immediately and let cool.
• once they have cooled add the fruit. Add whipped cream right before you are ready to eat!

ENJOY!

Recipe #53: Yellow Curry

I love curry, all different kinds, so watch for several different recipes.
Yellow curry is one of our favorite Thai foods and so I found a variation that tastes pretty good! I had it from a Woman's Day magazine ages ago, the recipe can be found here.
Of course I didn't have all of the ingredients so here is what we did.

You need:
2 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
1/2 onion
1 green pepper
10 baby carrots, cut in half long way
4 potatoes, cut into small pieces
2 cans coconut milk
1/4 cayenne pepper
4 Tbsp yellow curry powder

• start the rice cooker with some rice!
• Saute the onion and then once soft, add the green pepper
• add coconut milk, cayenne pepper and curry powder stir well
• add carrots, potatoes, and chicken.
• cover and allow to simmer until sauce thickens. I doubled original sauce recipe because we like more sauce!

Baby Food: Zucchinis!

Well it has been almost a month since Alex first started eating zucchini, I just haven't had time to post about it! One day I realized I needed to finish up some zucchini before it got to old, so I decided to let Alex eat some too. I went to my trusty guide to baby food found here, which is where I got the idea in the first place. It is, as making any baby food is, really quite easy.

I used about 3 zucchinis. Chop off the stem, cut in half and then cut each half into long, thin pieces.
Cover with some water and then let boil until they are really soft.
Transfer to the mini food processor with about a 1/4 cup of water. puree until there are no chunky pieces.
Put in trays and freeze!

i think he liked it!

The zucchini puree is really watery. I usually mix one cube of zucchini with one of carrots or sweet potato to give it a little more thickness.

Side Dish #4: Luggage tags

Okay, so the little mister and I went on a plane last week to go see his grandparents one last time before they head to Japan. I needed to mark my suitcase and his car seat that we were going to check in so I decided to make some luggage tags! The little things that make my day! :) I had actually made some name tags several months ago for Alex's diaper bag so that they would know it was his in the nursery at church Then I made some for his two cousins as well, but had to go back to the store to get new tags since I had no idea where my leftover one was!

You need to buy some self laminating luggage tags. I found them at hobby lobby and office depot...I am sure you can find them almost anywhere. On the tags check out to see how big they are. Then in microsoft office, open a text box that is just a bit smaller than the tag. I downloaded some fun fonts from here. They have a ton of REALLY cute fonts, also doodles, which is what I used for the little pictures. Print it out and follow the directions on the package to make your own unique luggage tags!

Recipe #52: Puppy Chow

We had to bring snacks to work today, so I decided to make Puppy chow. Don't worry, it is not for dogs, but a delicious treat for people! It is super easy to make.

You need:
9 cups of Chex cereal (or just the whole box)
1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• Measure out the chex into a large bowl
• In a small sauce pan melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter
• Pour chocolate over chex mix. the best way is to pour a little bit at a time so that you can mix it up and get the chex evenly coated.
• In a 2 gallon ziploc bag pour in the powdered sugar. 
• Carefully add the chex in, close up the bag and shake it up until the chex has been evenly coated with the powdered sugar.
• Pour out onto a wax-paper covered cookie sheet to let it cool. Once cooled put in an air tight container and enjoy!