tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31737204374511237422024-03-20T03:01:19.982-07:00Only The Good Kids Get BroccoliRuthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-116880911150327522021-05-19T19:01:00.000-07:002021-05-19T19:01:14.079-07:00Melon SalsaPeople were asking for this recipe, and I thought to myself: Gee, it would be great if I had a central location I could send people to get this recipe. Oh, wait, I had a blog once upon a time...<div><br /></div><div>No pictures yet, as I was not expecting to blog. I will edit later and add pictures of the next batch.<br /><div><br /></div><div>The youngest and I love watermelon. Can't get enough! But really, we can. So every time we bought a watermelon there were too many leftovers to fit in the fridge. So a few years ago I started playing with various applications of the watermelon so that the hubby would also eat it. His favorite is when I puree it with honey and lime juice then strain it. He drinks the juice, adds it to smoothies, freezes it. But it makes a giant mess of the kitchen, so I don't do that often. </div><div><br /></div><div>We also love something salty and vinegary with the watermelon. A salad with arugula, watermelon, feta and vinegar (either balsamic, or sweet Italian vinegar); melon, goat cheese, mint, and a simple classic vinaigrette; or, at our friend Jayme's suggestion last summer--watermelon tossed with coconut white balsamic vinegar and Persian lime infused olive oil and topped with some lime zest. </div><div><br /></div><div>But here is the best way to eat melon: Melon Salsa. But be warned, if you start with whole melons, you will end up with about 147 gallons of salsa. Which is why I share. The last batch I made was a couple of weeks ago. I rushed the melon season. I really wanted it to be good but the melons weren't quite ripe. I didn't discover that until I had already delivered it to some friends. If you got a batch of said sub-par melon salsa, my apologies. You all know I can do better (watch your front door for a porch drop in the near future).</div><div><br /></div><div>You can adjust all the amounts to your taste. Best eaten on the scoopy kind of tortilla chips, or on cold sliced chicken, or (I have heard but I don't eat it) fish. Enjoy!</div><div><br /></div><div>Melon Salsa</div><div>1 personal size watermelon, diced</div><div>1 cantaloupe, diced</div><div>1 honeydew melon, diced</div><div>3 jalapeno peppers, ribs and seeds removed to your preference and minced</div><div>1 large red pepper, diced</div><div>1 red onion, diced</div><div>1 bunch of cilantro, chopped</div><div>juice of 2 limes</div><div>healthy pinch of salt or two...or three</div><div><br /></div><div>Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. For best flavor, refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight.</div></div>Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-10690608086554231452018-03-06T18:22:00.000-08:002018-03-06T18:22:22.999-08:00Doughnuts??<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've posted before about how much my oldest loves spinach pies. We were supposed to make some a couple of weeks ago, but I used the onion in another dish...forgot to get feta at the grocery...then the thawed spinach sat in the fridge for way too many days and I gave up. But she's been bugging me ever since.<br />
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I haven't been myself lately. I have been getting treatment for a displaced disk in my jaw, which has been giving me a near constant headache for about 5 weeks so far. So my time in the kitchen has been limited. Our nutrition (and wallet) has been suffering for it. Plus, we had the promise of ice cream cake for dessert to celebrate our first daughter's birthday-in-heaven. So without a trip to the grocery store, what to have for dinner? Big bag of meatballs, and a peck of rainbow peppers to the rescue. But Dani doesn't eat peppers, so she bugged me again about the spinach pies.<br />
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Oh, baby, I am tired. The kitchen is a mess. And spinach pies take a long time. It's already 6:00...fine. How can we do this, quick in a hurry, without adding to the mess of the kitchen? Hmmm, the doughnut maker is still on the counter from Sunday morning when we made peanut butter doughnuts with chocolate glaze (look up a cake mix doughnut recipe on Pinterest...add 1/2 cup melted peanut butter. Glaze is powdered sugar, cocoa powder, melted butter and water). What if we....?<br />
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I quickly looked on Pinterest to see if anyone has ever done this before, cooking spinach pies in a doughnut maker. Nope. Maybe in a waffle iron? Nope. I did find a recipe for spinach and feta fritters that looked similar to my spinach pie recipe with some flour added. Well, why not?<br />
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I mixed up a modified version of my <a href="http://ruthiclaytor.blogspot.com/2014/03/mini-spinach-pies.html">Mini Spinach Pies</a> and added a scoop of flour. Preheated the doughnut maker, sprayed it with some cooking spray and mounded the spinach mixture in the wells. The first batch, I kept peeking and poking. Dani said we should flip one out and test it so we did. It worked! I timed the second batch to see just how long it takes...8 minutes. Eight minutes! And I don't have to wash out 48 tiny muffin tin wells when we are done?? Hallelujah!!<br />
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In that 8 minutes, I whipped up a dipping sauce for me and Ken with some mayo, sour cream, lemon zest, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. But these little "spindonuts" would be delicious with some tzatziki. The whole surface of the doughnut gets a bit of a crust on it, so it is a bit of a different texture of the mini muffin tin. I don't think I'm going back. Ken and I do try to stick to a paleo diet most of the time, so I will try these with a different flour one day. In the meantime, we aren't so strict that a tablespoon or two of flour is a deal-breaker.<br />
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Now, what is next in the doughnut maker? Any suggestions?Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-41655579986655494052018-01-09T19:02:00.000-08:002018-01-09T19:02:55.220-08:00Thought I was a food snob before...My wonderful husband did not get me the InstaPot I asked for at Christmas. He is usually pretty good with presents and gets me either what I ask for, or something that is life-changing for me. Past gifts: curved shower rod (I hate touching a wet shower curtain), gel mat for the kitchen (my feet hurt when I do alot of cooking), door mat that says "Door bell broken, yell "Ding Dong" really loud (I asked for that one). So when he set a pile of gifts in my lap on Christmas morning, not one of them was big enough or heavy enough to be an InstaPot.<br />
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I admit, I was a bit crestfallen, sorry honey. Then I tore into the sparkly paper. Under the packages of eight bottles of vinegar (we make vinegar sodas with flavored balsamics...delicious, gut-healing, and cholesterol lowering to boot) was a moderately heavy rectangular box. In the box was an immersion cooker. I have seen this method of cooking on television, mainly on cooking competition shows. My reaction, after the initial "This is NOT and InstaPot!!" was "this is cool, I'm looking forward to trying it."<br />
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It wasn't until Christmas night that I had a chance to surf Pinterest for ideas, where my "this is cool" tuned into "I can't wait to try this thing!!" A trip with friends and our annual New Years Day crepe fest meant I had to wait a couple of weeks. Well, I didn't have to, but it took that long to finish off all the holiday left-overs.<br />
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Still had a couple of NY strips left in the freezer from the cow we bought last year, I researched a bunch of sous vide recipes for steak and combined them for dinner last night. One of the steaks was still half frozen, but I figured (correctly as it turns out) that it wouldn't matter. Here is how the immersion cooker works: you vacuum seal (with a machine or inside a zipper seal bag) the food you are cooking and immerse it in the water. You clip the cooker to the side of the pot and set the temperature and time and it circulates the water and keeps it at a consistent temperature. It is impossible to overcook the food. I have always been intimidated by cooking meat. It is expensive if you mess up. I've gotten more confident by the addition of a good meat thermometer to my kitchen, and through practice, I can tell by feel when pork chops are done. But I have stopped using my crock pot when I am not home because I have ruined more than one pork loin (how can it be tender and dry at the same time??) and burned beef roast at least twice. Sous vide, though...I can totally see me setting that up in the morning and walking away!<br />
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Last nights experiment was NY Strip, salted and peppered and sealed in a zip-top bag with a pat of butter, a sprig of thyme and a sprig of rosemary. Two of these, actually. Sous vide-ed (not sure if you can use that as a verb) at 135 degrees for about an hour and a half. I set the timer for 2 hours, but got really hungry and pulled it out when I couldn't wait anymore. My littlest had chopped up some mushrooms before her dinner, so those were ready and waiting. I set a cast iron skillet to heat up and pulled out the steaks from the bags and patted them dry with paper towels. Into the hot skillet with some oil and flipped after about a minute. In a nook in the pan, I put a pat of butter, a squeeze of garlic from the garlic press, and a few sprigs of thyme. The intention was to spoon the butter over the steaks while they cooked, but I couldn't manage that...aww, I have to try this again (read with heavy sarcasm). Steaks out of the pan and covered to rest, mushrooms in. Some salt and pepper, a little white wine and a splash of heavy cream and the mushrooms were "kickin" (Ken's words).<br />
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Oh. My. Goodness. The steaks were perfectly medium. Pink all the way through and cut like buttah. Three bites in and I cracked open a bottle of red wine. I have never felt like more of a food snob than I did last night! But I tell you, I am never again making a steak any other way! Sous Vide is the way to go! Check out my Pinterest board "Sous Vide" if you are wondering what I'm making next.<br />
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To my Hubby: Thank you, baby, best Christmas gift ever!! Wait...you really enjoyed that steak last night...was this gift for me, or for you?<br />
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<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-28841485407085768602017-10-09T18:30:00.000-07:002017-10-09T18:30:25.891-07:00Jalapeno Popper Waffles with ChiliSometimes, I like to take a big break...mission accomplished! It's not that I'm not cooking, it's most likely that I am either too busy to type anything or (this summer for instance) we just get too busy for anything but can-a-box dinners. Two dinners we have had recently had me thinking I should write about them, and then a request for a recipe pushed me over the edge tonight...and I'm back!<br />
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Last fall, we went in with a friend and bought a half a cow. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend it. It has been a culinary challenge for me, cooking cuts of meat I would normally avoid at the grocery store. Also challenging, we each got 65 pounds of ground beef. When we put the deposit down on the cow-half, I had thought it would probably be about 50 pounds ground--no big deal, a pound a week, that's probably what we are eating from the grocery store anyway. Nope, big deal, it's been ten and a half months and we still have more than 30 pounds left.<br />
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So today, I went shopping without a list or a menu for the week. I passed some plump jalapenos in the produce aisle and decided on chili over Jalapeno Popper Cornbread Waffles. Back at home, I pulled not one, but three packages of beef from the freezer...go big or go...still have beef in your freezer after New Years. I won't bore you with the details of the rest of my day (I did get most of my "Killer Frost" Halloween costume made), we will skip right to the recipe. I'm not including a chili recipe here, I usually follow the directions on the "ready for chili" diced tomatoes can and doctor it up till it tastes good. This afternoon, I added 2 sweet onions, chili powder, corriander, cardamom, a spoonful of brown sugar, ketchup and hot sauce to the loosely followed can label recipe.<br />
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One last note, I'm pretty proud...the littlest asked for seconds on the chili (thank goodness I used three!)<br />
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Ok, one more last note...my hubby took the picture. My pictures never look like that, and we have essentially the same phone. When I asked how he does that, what settings does he use, his only response was "Pro." Hmph!<br />
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Jalapeno Popper Cornbread Waffles<br />
1 Box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix<br />
1 egg<br />
1/3 cup milk<br />
3 Tbs honey<br />
1 Tbs oil<br />
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded<br />
2 oz cream cheese, cut into small cubes<br />
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced<br />
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Mix egg, milk, honey, and oil in a medium bowl. Add the corn muffin mix and stir until just combined. Fold in cheese, cream cheese, and jalapenos. Let stand while you preheat the waffle iron. (If you use an adjustable temperature waffle iron, you may have to play with the setting to get it right, this is a pretty wet dough. I didn't feel like using the big professional waffle iron I have, so I used the "Frozen" waffle iron Santa brought the kids last year.) <br />
Cook the waffles according to your machine's directions, but a good rule of thumb is that waffles are done when the steaming stops, so ignore the sensor / ready light and watch the steam.<br />
To serve, we like to drizzle some honey over the hot waffle, top with a scoop of chili some shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.<br />
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<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-57677346943430737272015-07-07T19:23:00.000-07:002015-07-07T19:23:07.437-07:00The Next Step Towards Total Food-Snobbery<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQwx2ryVdBanw0d7pLHY24T_dV7Tf9_bjkkIqf3diYKGbC1mO3c-HP1TXUCPJpBaWEQbLkq8m-6ToqiBWMtUU4q69EHabIkM2xlkmcjnalWv3ZkR2jd47g8jqWH4laSG_8AOHsEQyG2QT/s1600/2015-07-06+19.30.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQwx2ryVdBanw0d7pLHY24T_dV7Tf9_bjkkIqf3diYKGbC1mO3c-HP1TXUCPJpBaWEQbLkq8m-6ToqiBWMtUU4q69EHabIkM2xlkmcjnalWv3ZkR2jd47g8jqWH4laSG_8AOHsEQyG2QT/s320/2015-07-06+19.30.54.jpg" width="320" /></a>Homemade ketchup! The thought came to me yesterday while I was showering (I get lots of thinking done in the bathroom--it's my only alone time anymore). It was Monday and we didn't have any plans--no school, no camp, no doctors. Our friends were coming for a mid-morning swim but the rest of the day was ours. Perfect to do a bit of kitchen experimenting...hmm, what to make...how about--SPIDER ON THE CONDITIONER BOTTLE! So now I'm playing "Naked and Afraid--the Home Edition" in the shower with a spider! Every few seconds, I'm checking on the spider to be sure he's not moving. Wet my hair...there is the spider...wash my hair...there is the spider...use a different conditioner...there is the spider...wash my face...Where. Is. The. Spider???? Now it's "Naked and Afraid--the <u>Deluxe</u> Home Edition!" Don't shave the legs, time to get out of the shower! The biggest child will just have to deal with my (her words) "porcupine porky thighs" when she sits on my lap.<br />
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Back to The Plan...When we planted our garden, we planted two kinds of tomatoes. I was hopeful that if the children grew them, they might eat them. Hubby eats tomatoes infrequently and I only like them cooked. I also figured that if we grew enough, we'd be able to make some salsa or homemade sauce. My business partner's father used to make homemade ketchup every summer before he passed away. Last year, she resurrected the tradition and brought me a quart of it. When I suggested ketchup to the children, they were all over it.<br />
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First we picked the tomatoes and peppers from the garden (we already had about 10 little tomatoes on the counter getting ripe). Next, I put sharp knives *gasp!* in the hands of my children (no worries, I have taught my children kitchen safety years ago). A moment later, I scooted the littlest away from the biggest...I had put a righty on the left side of a lefty, and the righty talks with her hands. Even if there is a sharp knife in them.<br />
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The children cut up all the tomatoes and the peppers. I cut the onion (if you've read my book, you'll know it's from experience). <br />
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Then we put everything into the cups of my nutri-bullet. The littlest was very excited to make ketchup smoothies!<br />
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We did it in batches, so some of the puree was greener than others because of the amount of peppers in the batch. Everything was very pink when mixed all together. Not to fret, as the mixture cooks and reduces, it gets a beautiful brick red color.<br />
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We boiled the puree for about 30 minutes until it was reduced by half then we added garlic, vinegar, ground mustard, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, salt and honey, and forgot to take pictures. Then I turned the stove to low and checked on it every 10-15 minutes for about 2 hours. It tasted great, but still had a kind of mealy texture so I ran the immersion blender through it for about 7 minutes. It got glossy and thick.<br />
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I didn't set out to make paleo-ketchup, but it is paleo. No thickeners, no sugar, and a bonus of very little salt. One taste and the hubby said "throw out the Heinz!" So I feel like this is one more step in total food-snobbery. That's just great, (insert sarcasm here) I've ruined store-bought ketchup for my entire family!<br />
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We ate it on burgers and smiley face fries for dinner (and chicken and bratwurst...we did some cooking on the grill to stock up the freezer and you just gotta sample everything). <br />
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This jar won't last long--it was full before dinner. Next summer, more tomato plants! We already have plans for balsamic ketchup, roasted jalapeno ketchup and maybe something herbaceous like thyme and oregano...any other suggestions? I'll let you know how it goes with the next tomato harvest.<br />
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<i>Homemade Ketchup using Fresh Tomatoes</i><br />
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12-15 tomatoes (I think we planted romas)<br />
2 smallish green peppers (we actually planted red, but too impatient to let them ripen)<br />
1/2 white onion<br />
3/4 tsp ground mustard powder<br />
1/2 tsp cinnamon<br />
1/4 tsp cloves<br />
1/4 tsp smoked paprika<br />
small pinch cayenne pepper<br />
generous pinch kosher salt<br />
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar<br />
1/3 cup honey (more or less to taste)<br />
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Chop then blend tomatoes, peppers and onion in a blender and pour into saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat until reduced by half, about 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium and add remaining ingredients. Bring back to boil and turn to low, simmer on low for about 2 hours or more, until mixture is thickened. If the mixture is "loose" or mealy after 2-3 hours, use an immersion blender to blend smooth. Store in fridge or using proper canning methods to preserve. Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-83431085331953437982015-06-29T20:41:00.000-07:002015-06-29T20:41:07.253-07:00Breakfast Stuffed Shells<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I feel like I have to apologize for my absence. Sometimes I just feel like I can't get my feet under me. Then I have a wonderful day like today...both kids with me all day, had my annual physical (which had the girls waiting an hour and a half total), lunch at a restaurant (at their request), hair cuts for both of them (I had them cut 6 inches off the littlest's hair and worried that the hubby wouldn't let me back in the house), a shopping trip to Wegmans (where the biggest asked me to make stuffed shells, who am I to argue), then back home to do some batch cooking. And we all had a great time! Ooh, and in the middle of cooking, the littlest decided that she wanted to swim with just the kick board and no life jacket, so I jumped in the pool with her and she took off. Just two weeks ago she wouldn't let go of the ladder! When I get done here, I'll be looking for some swim lessons and a swim team for her--she's a natural.</div>
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Knowing that I need to stock up the freezer for my mom, who is having shoulder surgery in a few weeks (if anyone has any ideas on good foods to freeze that can be heated and eaten one handed...please let me know), I cooked the whole box of shells. I made some traditional stuffed shells. Then ran out of ricotta cheese. So I had these left.</div>
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I didn't want to throw them out, but I couldn't find inspiration in my kitchen, so I turned to Pinterest. Know what's not on Pinterest? Breakfast stuffed shells. There should be breakfast stuffed shells on Pinterest. Ahem. Somebody needs to pin this recipe. Had to send the hubby to the store for cream cheese, but I had the bacon, mushrooms, peppers (from my first garden ever!) eggs and cheese in the fridge. I'm sure anything you'd eat in an omelette will work. Our friends make "crack dip" with breakfast sausage and cream cheese, that would be delicious.</div>
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Chop up your veggies and have them on-deck while you cook the bacon. </div>
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Pull the bacon out of the pan and cook your veggies in the bacon grease.</div>
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After the veggies are softened, throw a brick of cream cheese in the pan and stir until everything is melty goodness. Then stir in the cooked bacon and pour into a bowl and set aside. </div>
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In the same pan, soft-scramble some eggs. Then mix the cream cheese goop back in to the pan and lightly mix with the eggs.</div>
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Stuff into the already cooked shells.</div>
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Oops, no pictures, but make some cheese sauce while the bacon and veg are cooking. Pour the cheese sauce over the shells and bake at 350 til bubbly, about 20 minutes.</div>
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This is a great brunch dish, but it is a bit rich and needs something acidic. We ate it with a spoon, standing in front of the stove. If I was serving it to someone, I'd top it with something tomato-y (like a tomato and roasted red pepper sauce) or on the side of an arugula or frisee salad with a really lemony vinaigrette. </div>
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Breakfast Stuffed Shells</div>
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For the shells:</div>
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12-16 jumbo shells, cooked according to package directions</div>
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8 oz bacon, chopped</div>
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8 oz mushrooms, chopped</div>
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1 cup green pepper, chopped</div>
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8 oz cream cheese</div>
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Olive oil to coat pan</div>
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6 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt and hot sauce to taste</div>
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For the cheese sauce:</div>
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2 Tbs butter</div>
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2 Tbs flour</div>
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1 cup milk</div>
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4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated</div>
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1/2 tsp ground mustard</div>
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hot sauce to taste</div>
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Preheat oven to 350. </div>
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Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain, leaving the grease in the pan. (Meanwhile, make cheese sauce--directions below) Add veggies to bacon grease and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and the cooked bacon to the skillet and stir until combined. Remove from the pan to a bowl and set aside. Wipe out skillet and add olive oil. Over medium heat, cook eggs just until soft-set. Add cream cheese mixture back to pan and fold into eggs lightly. Stuff the egg mixture into shells and line up in a 9x9 greased casserole dish. Pour cheese sauce over shells and bake 20 minutes til bubbly and golden. Serve with something acidic (like a tomato sauce or a salad with lemony vinaigrette).</div>
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Cheese sauce</div>
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Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, mustard and hot sauce and add cheese. Stir frequently until thickened and cheese is melted. Set aside until you are ready for it.</div>
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Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-28881627951899417332015-03-17T18:50:00.000-07:002015-03-17T18:50:07.789-07:00What I have learned so far...this weekHere is what I've learned so far this week (and it's only Tuesday)...<br />
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1. Corned beef is pretty easy to make, it just takes a loooong time.<br />
2. When you prepare dinners ahead for the week, you get to do things like go to a free jazz concert at the library on a school night and still <strike>make it</strike> almost make it to bed on time.<br />
3. At a jazz concert at the library, when the adults have finished laughing at the wise-cracking guitar player, your 4-year-old will most likely say "That's HILarious" in her perfect little outside voice.<br />
4. Umbrellas do not make good toys on windy days.<br />
5. I am able to run (when my child is heart-broken...see #4), I just choose not to.<br />
6. When you haven't run for, well, ever, some part of your body will hurt at some point in the hours following the running event.<br />
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Happy St. Patrick's Day, Paleo-style...<br />
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<a href="http://www.health-bent.com/beef/paleo-reuben-in-a-bowl">Reuben in a Bowl</a><br />
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This was my first corned beef brisket ever. I was sharing with a friend (as I sat in her kitchen watching some ribs in her oven) that meat intimidates me. It's getting better since I have introduced a thermometer to my kitchen, and with practice I can now tell by touch when a steak or porkchop is done to my liking. But I am still a bit intimidated--part of it is that meat is expensive and you don't want to mess it up. This was a pretty big gamble on my part with this $10 brisket. <br />
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I cooked the corned beef for about 4 hours on Sunday while I prepped some other dishes for this week. I baked it in the oven at 350, covered with foil for about 2 1/2 hours then uncovered for about 1 hour more. It still wasn't tender enough so I covered it again and baked it for 30 more minutes or so. Then I packed a layer of brown sugar on top and broiled it until the sugar got crusty. Whew, it worked--it's tender and moist. It is pretty salty (but okay with the dressing and cabbage, it's not overpowering). The next time I cook corned beef, I may boil it or soak it to get some of the salt out before roasting.<br />
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In case you are curious, here is what else is on the agenda this week...<br />
<a href="http://paleomg.com/stuffed-double-pork-sage-baked-apples/">Double Pork Stuffed Apples</a><br />
<a href="http://popularpaleo.com/2013/03/19/sweet-pepper-poppers/">Sweet Pepper Poppers</a><br />
<a href="http://diethood.com/baked-chicken-spinach-artichokes/">Baked Chicken with Spinach and Artichokes</a><br />
<a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/whiskey-glazed-carrots-major-league-yum/">Whisky Glazed Carrots</a> (this is my absolute favorite recipe right now...you HAVE to try it!)<br />
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Oh, and a few more things we've learned...<br />
7. My children like raw carrots, not cooked (or over-cooked as the biggest insists on telling me. Repeatedly.)<br />
8. We learned that there is no answer but the truth when your super-smart-and-very-literal-six-year-old asks "Well, how do the baby rabbits get out of the mother's stomach if the doctor doesn't cut them out?"<br />
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What have you learned this week?Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-3602156517916022772015-03-11T19:20:00.000-07:002015-03-11T19:20:41.832-07:00Picnic SoupSpring is definitely in the air, you can smell it! And what do you do in Maryland when you feel spring in the air? Why, you eat soup...outside...of course! What, you don't? So it's just us, then? <br />
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It's been a terribly cold February and a snowy start to March. It was still kind of cold this weekend when I prepped some meals for the week. I baked a handful of sweet potatoes (great for lunch with some almond butter or goat cheese and those roasted grapes I made on Friday), some Butter Chicken (I cheated and used a jarred sauce with chicken, peppers and onions. And by the way, if you are eating Indian and don't have any Major Grey's chutney, peach jam plus a cinnamon spice blend makes a pretty good substitute!) and this soup...<br />
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<a href="http://mylifecookbook.com/2014/10/15/creamy-pumpkin-sausage-kale-soup/">Creamy Pumpkin, Sausage and Kale Soup</a><br />
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which reheats extremely well. Sausage, onions, peppers, pumpkin, kale and some cream. I made it the first time a few weeks ago and I had been jonesing for it again. Only I couldn't find baby kale again so I got spinach this time...still tasty but a bit slimy--stick with the kale.<br />
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We were a bit late leaving school tonight as I was conferencing with a parent, so I'm very glad I had prepped for the week. And I am loovvving the time change and our new back yard!! The kids came through the house and straight out back when we got home. While I was heating dinner, hubby and I did that eerie thing married couples do...he said "where are the lawn chairs" at just about the same time I said "grab a blanket, we should have a picnic."<br />
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This picture sums up our evening...<br />
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And because I prepped, even though we got home late, the kids got to play with chalk outside, we had dinner, the biggest girl got two nights of homework and reading done, the littlest got a bath and I actually cleaned the kitchen all before bedtime! What a wonderful evening--we even got a cosmic high-five!!<br />
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Rock on!!Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-66555086057149774632015-03-06T18:43:00.000-08:002015-03-06T18:43:15.369-08:00I'm Back!!!So I've taken a bit of a hiatus for almost a year...it wasn't on purpose, it started because I was letting myself get bogged down in the minutiae of life and some really bad time management. When I began to get my feet under me, things happened like an emergency appendectomy, the biggest girl starting Kindergarten, and moving to a new house (and into a smaller, poorly designed kitchen). Meanwhile, we dove headfirst into the paleo lifestyle. If you don't know what that is, in it's simplest terms, it is eating like a caveman--lean meats and vegetables mostly. After my appendectomy, we ate strict paleo for about a month in an attempt to heal my gut. As a result, hubby and I both dropped some weight and felt enormously better (turns out carbs make me verrrry sleepy!) We aren't so strict all the time now, but "paleo" dictates alot of our food decisions. I'm not going to take this blog in a paleo direction intentionally, we are not strict enough for that. I'm still going to stick to what works for us and what works for our kids, and what I am doing in my tiny kitchen.<br />
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Let's get to it...we've had two snow days in a row this week. Snow days are meant to be spent in the kitchen. Baby Girl wanted crepes for breakfast. No problem, but usually I stuff them with a sherry spiked cream cheese or nutella. (BTW, we've tried paleo crepe recipes and none have worked so far...this is an instance where we are not strict paleo. I'm not eating pancakes or french toast but an egg-heavy, flour-light crepe is okay by me) So I started thinking about other things besides sugar laden yummy stuff to eat with my crepes, and what did I already have in the fridge, since it is a snow day.<br />
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Side-bar: If you like my "soft-focus" pictures and want to recreate them on your own, give your cell phone to your grubby pawed children for a bit, they'll smudge up the camera lens so that every picture looks like a close-up of Cybill Shepherd on Moonlighting.<br />
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Creamy mushrooms with thyme was up first, then when the kids started eating grapes, roasted grapes with thyme was born (and yes, I ate some of that too for second breakfast). The grape recipe comes from here:<br />
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http://www.alexandracooks.com/2011/09/07/lunch-roasted-grapes-with-thyme-fresh-ricotta-grilled-bread/ <br />
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and I've made it about a half dozen times--love it on bread but try the grapes on pork, on a sweet potato with goat cheese or just drink the elixir from the bowl, it's delicious! Not wanting bread, I thought that rolling the ricotta in the crepe and serving the grapes on top might be pretty good...I was right!<br />
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<b><i>Crepes Two Ways</i></b><br />
<b><u>Crepes</u></b> (makes about 8 8-inch crepes)<br />
3 eggs<br />
1 cup milk<br />
3/4 cup flour<br />
pinch salt<br />
pinch sugar (optional)<br />
2 Tbs melted butter<br />
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Mix all ingredients in a blender. Let batter stand for about 15 minutes. Cook in a very thin layer in a nonstick skillet or fancy crepe pan if you happen to have a mom who gives the best Christmas gifts ever!<br />
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<u><b>Creamy Mushrooms with Thyme</b></u><br />
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil<br />
1 Tbs butter<br />
8 oz mushrooms, sliced (white or crimini)<br />
3-4 stalks of thyme (no need to strip leaves)<br />
salt and pepper<br />
2 Tbs white wine<br />
2 Tbs heavy cream<br />
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Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and thyme and saute for 5-7 minutes. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper. Add wine to the pan (on a snow day when you have white grape juice in the house and you don't feel right about opening a bottle of wine at 8:15 in the morning, you can sub the juice for the wine...it works although I'm sure it's much better with the wine). Reduce almost completely. Remove the thyme from the pan and add the cream and stir. Pour over folded crepes and serve immediately.<br />
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<u><b>Roasted Grapes with Thyme</b></u><br />
About 1 lb of red grapes, removed from stem, washed and dried (of the water, not made into raisins)<br />
5-6 stalks of thyme (no need to strip the leaves)<br />
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil<br />
3 Tbs honey, divided<br />
sprinkle of kosher salt<br />
1 cup ricotta cheese<br />
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Preheat oven to 425. Toss grapes, thyme, oil and 1 Tbs honey on a sheet pan and roast in oven, stirring occasionally, until the grapes burst and give off juice, about 15 minutes. <br />
Meanwhile, mix ricotta with remaining honey and spread on crepes and roll up. When the grapes are done, spoon over rolled crepes and serve immediately.<br />
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I added some whipped cream on the grapes for the picture...what do you do with the leftover whipped cream? Give it to the littlest...<br />
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<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-79133812317255797072014-03-18T18:40:00.000-07:002014-03-18T18:40:02.996-07:00Mini Spinach PiesIn our house, we have a two "no-thank-you-bites" rule. When we have a new food, the children must take at least two bites before they are allowed to say a polite "no thank you" and move on to something else. With the littlest, sometimes it goes like this "just take this bite and I'll leave you alone." Sometimes, with the biggest, it goes like this "I didn't see you take two bites, take another one--SQUIRREL--oh, sorry honey, didn't see that one either, take another one..." and so on. The next time we have that particular food, they have to eat it if that is what we are having for dinner.<br />
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That being said, you have to know your children. We have learned that Charleigh's favorite food is asparagus and that she really doesn't like meat (I keep telling her that she can be a vegetarian when she is 12, but until she will eat the right foods to get enough protein, she has to eat her meat). We have also learned that Dani is the only one in our family that doesn't like asparagus, so we don't make her eat it. Charleigh likes spinach raw, Dani likes it cooked. Each of them will not eat it the other way.</div>
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So I stock the freezer with these little spinach pies for Dani and when we have asparagus for dinner, we just defrost a couple ("Five, because I am five years old, Mommy!") for Dani to eat.<br />
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Just a little background for you...Dani was borderline anemic when she was a baby and even feeding her beef five times a week wasn't correcting it, so we were trying all iron-filled food. We started with spinach filled things, like quiche <a href="http://www.ruthiclaytor.blogspot.com/2012/03/real-men-think-quiche-is-cool.html">(check out that blog post here)</a>. Each time, she would say "I don't want the crust...I don't want the egg...I don't want the ham..." Then we tried spanakopita but she didn't want the crust. So we ended up with making these little spinach pies--kind of the filling of spanakopita but without the pastry (or the fuss, thank you baby girl for making my life a little easier here). Oh, and here is the cutest thing--she still calls feta cheese "marshmallow cheese," as she did when she was a toddler. Well, it does look like marshmallows!</div>
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My little photobomber...I can't get her out of pictures when I'm cooking. When photographer Daddy wants to take pictures, she will not cooperate--Yay 3-year-olds!<br />
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Chop and saute onion. In the past, I have tried to hide this step from the biggest. She thinks she doesn't line onions. This time, she saw me and I told her that I was making some spinach pies for me and I like onions. Then I took a HUGE risk...I asked her "can I tell you a secret? I've been making yours with onions for a long time now. I just cut them up really small so you don't see them. Can I make yours with onions this time?" I held my breath for a beat or two...then she shrugged an okay and left the kitchen. Phew!<br />
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Squeeze the water out of the spinach and set aside in a bowl. I used to do this with a towel. Now I just do it by the handful, it is actually less messy that way.<br />
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To get the rest of the water out of the spinach, toss with the onions in the skillet for a few minutes. Place back in bowl to cool and add oregano, lemon zest, parsley and a pinch of nutmeg.<br />
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Stir in feta, parmasen, and eggs, stir to combine.<br />
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Remind your husband that there is raw egg in there as he tries to eat the feta out of the bowl.<br />
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Scoop into a greased mini muffin tin.<br />
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Bake 20 minutes at 350.<br />
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Mini Spinach Pies<br />
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4 boxes frozen chopped spinach (9-10 oz each)<br />
1 medium onion, diced<br />
2 Tbs olive oil<br />
1 Tbs dried oregano<br />
pinch of nutmeg<br />
salt and pepper<br />
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley<br />
zest of one lemon<br />
8 oz crumbled feta cheese<br />
2 oz shredded Parmesan cheese<br />
2 eggs, beaten<br />
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Preheat oven to 350. Squeeze the water out of the spinach and set aside in a large bowl. Saute the onion in the olive oil until softened. Use your fingers to separate the spinach a bit and add to skillet for a minute or two (just to dry it out a little more). Add oregeno, nutmeg, salt, pepper, parsley and lemon zest to the spinach and toss to combine. Place back in the bowl and let it cool a bit. Add feta, parmesan, and eggs and stir.<br />
Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray. (This recipe makes 36 pies, stuffing the tins full. You can easily stretch it out into 48 pies) Fill each tin to the top with the spinach mixture. Bake 15-20 minutes til golden brown on the edges. Serve warm or let cool completely and freeze. To defrost when frozen, heat 5 pies on a plate for 1 minute at 50% power.</div>
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Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-86607858513597189932014-03-17T19:53:00.000-07:002014-03-17T19:53:22.652-07:00Snow day, round 3...my Momma's vegetable beef soupAs I write this, my children are being forced to enjoy my mother's vegetable beef soup. Mother Nature saw fit to dump yet another winter storm on us...8 inches this time. So in between shoveling and playing in the snow, I was working on this soup. It is super simple and remarkably delicious. And if you pour off all of the broth, a three year old will eat it. Only if you feed it to her like a baby. And she will chew the beef for five minutes like it is a piece of bubble gum, even though it is possibly the tenderest piece of meat I've made in awhile.<br />
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FYI--this recipe is also featured in my book <u>Only the Good Kids Get Broccoli.</u> Check it out <a href="http://onlythegoodkidsgetbroccoli.com/Home_Page.html">here</a><br />
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Gather ingredients...let the meat stand at room temperature for a bit before cooking so it warms up.<br />
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Get the oil rippling hot. Salt the beef and sear...<br />
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About 5 minutes each side--you are looking for a good crust on it. Add beef broth, bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the meat is fall-apart tender, 2-3 hours.<br />
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I like to slice the cabbage into thin strips. It ends up being like noodles in the finished soup. <br />
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Remove meat to a plate and cool until you can handle it. Pour vegetable juice into pot. Add tomatoes, soup mix and cabbage. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer at least 20 minutes. Shred the meat or cut into bite sized pieces and add back to the pot.<br />
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Nannie Norma's Vegetable Beef Soup<br />
2-3 lb boneless beef chuck roast<br />
3-4 cups beef broth<br />
32 oz vegetable juice (like V-8)<br />
15 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies<br />
16 oz package of "soup mix" vegetables<br />
1/3 head cabbage, sliced into thin ribbons<br />
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Season the beef on both sides with salt. In a heavy bottomed pot (dutch oven) sear the beef in 3 Tbs vegetable oil over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes per side. Add beef broth to pot, enough to come up about 3/4 the way up the side of the beef. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer until beef is fall-apart tender. (My 2.8 lb piece took 2 hours, 45 minutes) Remove beef to a plate and allow to cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, add to pot the vegetable juice, tomatoes, soup mix and cabbage. Bring to a boil and reduce to low. Simmer at least 20 minutes until the cabbage is softened, but you can let it go longer if you wish. Shred or cut the beef into bite sized pieces. At some point during the simmering, add the beef back to the pot. Serve while hot, or it's even better the next day. After the soup has refrigerated a bit, you can remove the hardened fat. This soup freezes beautifully, so don't be overwhelmed by the vat of soup on your stove right now.Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-11541290638936819442014-03-14T20:10:00.000-07:002014-03-14T20:10:10.258-07:00Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes, Mini-sizedTomorrow is our "just because" ice cream party. While shopping for sprinkles, magic shell and other various project materials (we are making ice cream playdough and painting with shaving cream mixed with glue--it stays fluffy), I found these adorable little babies...<br />
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We have ice cream and chocolate dipped sugar cones covered, but what about cupcakes? I've made full size ice cream cone cupcakes...small ones--even better, especially when the kids will be eating ice cream too.<br />
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So preheat your oven to 350, mix up a cake mix, line up the cones on a cookie sheet (the little ones actually stand up better than the big ones do), fill the cups 2/3 with batter and bake 15 minutes. Easy-peasy. They are so small that from turning the oven on to icing and sprinkles was a few minutes shy of an hour.<br />
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To show how little and cute these are, I tried to find something that everyone knows the size of to compare. The bananas were hanging next to the stove...<br />
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Well, that's better, they are about the size of a shot glass.<br />
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Cute. Cute. Cute. All ready for tomorrow.</div>
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<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-86087472644047174322014-03-12T19:48:00.001-07:002014-03-12T19:48:50.468-07:00Quinoa Stuffed Acorn SquashSo I promised this recipe last night...didn't happen, but the final episode of season 2 House of Cards did. Love binge watching, but so sad when we run out of episodes!<br />
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Anyway, the inspiration for this dish was a yummy concoction hubby and I had on an anniversary trip to Williamsburg two years ago. It was a special at one of the restaurants where we had dinner. Hubby ordered it, I couldn't stop eating it. They stuffed it with barley, sausage, some veggies and topped it with what we deduced was a creamy balsamic syrup. The savory stuffing was a nice contrast to the sweet squash and syrup.<br />
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If you have read my book (thank you), you know we usually make acorn squash with butter and brown sugar (and Grand Marnier for hubby). I grew up eating it that way--you cook the squash then put a pat of butter and a couple tablespoons brown sugar in the cavity (and brush some Grand Marnier around the rim for the hubby). We got our kids eating it by calling it candy squash. Whatever it takes, right?<br />
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We tried to recall everything that was in the dish from Williamsburg, but neither one of us could truly remember. Back in the fall, I tried two different combinations in the filing, this spinach / mushroom / goat cheese was the hubby's favorite. It might be because we are putting goat cheese on everything right now. Even at restaurants, we'll look at each other "you know what this needs...goat cheese."<br />
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Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Try to make sure that your two halves will sit up straight. If not, slice a tiny sliver off the bottoms to make a level bottom.<br />
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Brush cut sides with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast cut side up in a shallow dish at 350 about 40 minutes.<br />
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Meanwhile, cook quinoa according to your package directions. Mine said to rinse, then cook with a 2 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa. I made double what I needed for the recipe and I used vegetable broth. I will portion and freeze the remainder for another use.<br />
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Cook sausage over medium-high heat until brown and cooked through, remove from pan. I've used a roll of breakfast sausage in the past. This time, I used a mix of hot and sweet Italian sausage.<br />
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Add pepper and onions and cook until slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Then remove from pan--add to sausage in a bowl.<br />
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This is the sausage, peppers and onions waiting for me. I made enough for four servings, but I only had one acorn squash. (Bonus...I used half of this sausage and pepper mixture with a small can of mushrooms in half a jar of Ragu. Poured that over some al dente penne mixed with ricotta cheese, topped it all with a handful of mozzarella and baked it for about 20 minutes. Easy weeknight dinner last night).<br />
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Saute mushrooms.<br />
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Add spinach and toss to wilt.<br />
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Well, that was fast. And look how much that spinach cooks down.<br />
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Add sausage / peppers back to pan. Stir in quinoa.<br />
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Stir in goat cheese.<br />
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Brush cut side of cooked squash with maple syrup. Fill cavities with the sausage / quinoa filling. Bake at 350 til golden and hot through, about 20 minutes.<br />
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Sometimes we top it with an extra drizzle of syrup. <br />
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Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash<br />
2 Acorn squash, halved and seeded.<br />
1 Tbs olive oil<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
1/2 cup quinoa, uncooked<br />
1 cup water, chicken stock or vegetable stock<br />
1 lb sausage (breakfast or Italian)<br />
1 red pepper, chopped<br />
1 medium onion, chopped<br />
8 oz mushrooms, diced<br />
8 oz baby spinach, chopped<br />
4 oz crumbled goat cheese<br />
1 Tbs pure maple syrup<br />
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Preheat oven to 350. Place squash in a shallow dish and brush cut edge and cavity with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 40 minutes in the oven.<br />
Meanwhile, place quinoa and liquid of choice in a covered saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes until liquid is absorbed.<br />
Cook sausage in a skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through. Remove sausage from pan and place in a bowl. Place peppers and onions in skillet and cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Place peppers and onions in bowl with sausage. Cook mushrooms in skillet over medium heat (add extra olive oil if necessary) about 5 minutes. Add spinach and toss until wilted. Add sausage and peppers back to skillet with spinach and mushrooms. Stir in quinoa and goat cheese.<br />
Brush cooked squash with syrup and fill cavities with sausage / quinoa mixture. <br />
Bake in oven about 20 minutes until browned a bit and heated through.<br />
<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-13308409488429581062014-03-10T19:51:00.000-07:002014-03-10T19:51:22.522-07:00Brussels Sprouts with BaconI am so looking forward to spring. This has been the strangest winter the east coast has seen in awhile. It has been bitterly cold. So unusually cold that I've been carrying around extra snow pants and blankets for the kids in the car, just in case we'd get stuck and have to walk somewhere. Blech, and the snow...I actually like snow, but it has to be more than 4 degrees outside if you want to play in it. And frankly, I am tired of waking up at 4:30 in the morning to make a decision on if my employees could sleep in or brave the icy tundra and get to work.<br />
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Rant over. Here is what I'm going to miss about winter...the food. Yeah, I know that you can make a beef stew in the summer, but who really wants to? While I am already dreaming of corn on the cob and zucchini, I am making my last effort on the winter food front. Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Stuffed Acorn Squash (check back tomorrow for the Acorn Squash recipe).<br />
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The Brussels Sprouts were quite the hit on my facebook page last year. When the Ravens were in the playoffs last year, I had my own little superstitious ritual going on. These Brussels sprouts were my "game day food." While other people were making wings and dips, I was getting my roast on. Every time I made them during a game, the Ravens won...all the way through the Super Bowl. A few playoff games in, I posted a picture on facebook. I am amazed at the number of people that like Brussels sprouts. More than once, I had to post the recipe. Here it is, so it will always be available...enjoy! Go Ravens!<br />
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First, attract a great deal of attention by purchasing one of these at the grocery store. (You could also get a bag of pre-trimmed sprouts, but where is the fun in that) I was so excited to see these make an appearance at our local store about two years ago. I thought what a great way to get the kids involved in the kitchen, they will most certainly eat Brussels sprouts now! (Insert Family Feud XXX here). They still think Brussels sprouts are disgusting and that I am weird. But I keep trying...<br />
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Trim and cut the Brussels sprouts to about equal sizes. The ones that are the size of a quarter get halved; the half-dollar sized ones get quartered. Does that make sense? Toss on a cookie sheet with chopped onion and diced bacon. Drizzle with olive oil, pepper and just a bit of salt.<br />
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Roast at 425 for 20 to 25 minutes. The sprouts will get wonderfully brown. I usually let the bacon tell me when the sprouts are done.<br />
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Finish with a pat of butter, a squeeze of lemon juice and a squirt of honey.<br />
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Roasted Brussels Sprouts<br />
1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved or quartered (uniform pieces)<br />
2 medium onions, chopped<br />
1/3 lb bacon, diced<br />
2 Tbs olive oil<br />
salt and pepper<br />
1 Tbs butter<br />
1/2 lemon<br />
1-2 Tbs honey<br />
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Preheat oven to 425. Toss Brussels sprouts, onion, bacon, olive oil, salt and pepper on cookie sheet. Roast in oven for 20-25 minuets, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven, stir with butter, lemon juice and honey.Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-56525060155315995852014-03-09T19:45:00.000-07:002014-03-09T19:45:32.799-07:00Mushroom tart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Don't you just love the combination of mushrooms and thyme? I do. I start many dishes with this combination--creamy mushroom soup, mushrooms julienne (a Russian dish with lots of Gruyere), even my Mostly Veggie Steak Sandwiches will get a healthy dose of thyme if we have any in the fridge. <br />
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So in deciding on a pre-spa birthday brunch dish for a part-time-vegetarian friend, I came up with this tart. I did find inspiration here: <a href="http://mmmisformommy.com/2011/12/creamy-mushroom-tart.html">creamy mushroom tart</a>, but going with ingredients on hand, this is what I came up with. When I prepared it the night before, hubby was quite upset that he couldn't partake. I had to make another one for him the next day. Luckily, refrigerated pie crusts come in a two-pack. <br />
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Over the past six months, the recipe has evolved to what you see below. Last month, I made it meatless (no bacon) while I was recovering from strep throat. Hubby thought that the bacon might scratch on the way down. He was probably right. I was worried about missing the smoky flavor, so that is when I started using smoked cheese and red wine...it almost (said the full-time carnivore) made up for the bacon.<br />
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I originally started to make this tart the other day with the softened cream cheese I didn't use in muffins. But no bacon...and it was snowing...so it was Apple Pear Pie on Monday, Mushroom tart today.<br />
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Cook bacon over medium heat til crispy.</div>
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You want bacon now don't you? Take out the bacon and leave a bit of grease in the skillet.<br />
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Cook mushrooms, shallots, thyme in the bacon grease until mushrooms are tender. Season with salt and pepper.</div>
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Add wine and reduce almost completely.<br />
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Add cream cheese, stir until melted. Stir in reserved bacon and smoked Gouda.<br />
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Place mushroom mixture on pie crust.<br />
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Fold up edges, brush with egg wash and season with herb salt. Bake 20 minutes at 375 until golden brown.<br />
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It is very rich, serve it with a green salad dressed with a simple vinaigrette.<br />
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Bonus professional shot...thank you honey!<br />
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Mushroom Tart</div>
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1/3 lb bacon, diced (if you are making without the bacon, sub 2 Tbs olive oil + 1 Tbs butter)</div>
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16 oz mushrooms (white or crimini), sliced</div>
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1 Tbs fresh thyme (about 10 small sprigs)</div>
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1 small shallot, diced fine</div>
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pinch salt</div>
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black pepper</div>
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1/3 cup wine (red or white, either will do fine)</div>
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4 oz cream cheese</div>
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2 oz smoked Gouda cheese, shredded<br />
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1 refrigerated pie crust</div>
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1 egg, beaten with a splash of water</div>
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herb salt (optional, recipe below)</div>
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Preheat oven to 375. </div>
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Cook bacon in a 10-12 inch skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon to a paper towel, reserving the drippings in the skillet. Pour off about half the drippings, leaving a couple of tablespoons in the skillet. Add mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes until tender. Stir in thyme, shallots, salt and pepper and cook another 3 minutes. Stir in wine and cook until reduced almost completely. Reduce heat and stir in cream cheese until melted. Add smoked Gouda and bacon pieces and stir to combine.</div>
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Unroll pie crust onto a cookie sheet or pizza stone. Place mushroom mixture in center of pie crust, leaving about 1 1/2 inch border. Fold the rim of pie crust over the edge of the mushroom mixture. Brush top edge of pie crust with egg wash. Sprinkle with herb salt.</div>
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Bake 20 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before cutting. Serve warm or room temperature.</div>
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Herb Salt</div>
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1/2 cup coarse sea salt</div>
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1 Tbs dried rosemary</div>
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1 Tbs dried thyme</div>
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Mix all ingredients. Place in a pepper grinder, set to medium grind. Use on savory pies, pizza crust, focaccia, scrambled eggs, anywhere you want some extra flavor. </div>
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Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-77251171565775139252014-03-06T18:55:00.000-08:002014-03-06T18:55:05.050-08:00I get by with a little help from my friends...We all need some good friends. I am grateful that I have the friends that I do. What a wonderful group of people who all bring something unique to the table. The good listener, the excellent advice-giver, the business-minded, the style-guru, the compassionate one, the global thinker, the rocket scientist, the one who totally gets my sense of humor, the one who I don't talk to often, but she knows me better than anyone...I'm a lucky girl. <br />
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While I am so appreciative of all of my friends, today's post is about two of my favorites, McCormick and Jiffy...</div>
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Not quite canna-boxing it last night, but certainly taking some help where I can get it. What's on the table? White Chicken Chili and Green Chile Cheddar Corn Muffins.</div>
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Sorry I didn't get more pictures again, but you know...ahem...kids. It's a wonder I can even get dinner on the table.<br />
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White Chicken Chili<br />
2 Tbs. olive oil<br />
2 lbs. chicken (I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs), cut in bite sized pieces<br />
2 med onions, diced<br />
1 large yellow pepper, diced<br />
1 packet McCormick White Chicken Chili seasoning packet<br />
4 cups chicken broth (you can use less if you want it thicker. With 4 cups, it comes out more like a soup)<br />
1 can white beans, undrained<br />
1 cup frozen corn<br />
1 4oz can diced green chiles<br />
For serving<br />
Sour Cream<br />
Cheddar cheese, shredded<br />
Lime wedges<br />
Cilantro, chopped<br />
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In a heavy bottom pot, cook chicken in olive oil over medium high heat until chicken is no longer pink (5-7 minutes). Toss in onions and pepper, cook about 5 minutes until the veggies soften a bit. Stir in the seasoning packet, chicken broth, beans, corn and green chiles. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 10 minutes. To serve, top with sour cream, cheese, cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Green Chile Chile Cheddar Corn Muffins</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">1 egg, beaten</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1/2 cup milk</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2 Tbs melted butter</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1 4oz can green chiles</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Preheat oven to 400. Grease a muffin tin. Mix all ingredients until just combined (batter will be lumpy). Spoon into prepared muffin tin. Bake 18-20 minutes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks Friends!</span></div>
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Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-46701762402590156222014-03-03T20:27:00.000-08:002014-03-03T20:27:20.499-08:00Snow Day, Round 2!Last night, the littlest said to me "can we make an apple pie?" I told her that if we didn't have school the next day, we most certainly could.<br />
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Low and behold, the Governor asked everyone to stay off the streets. Doing my part, I decided to make a bunch of people stay home--Center closed. You're welcome. First thing in the morning, Charleigh excitedly reminded me that if we were home, we would make an apple pie. Mentally, I thought through what ingredients we might need. What was missing? The apples. We had a few, and a pear. Apple Pear Pie it is!<br />
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We started the day off thinking about making Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins. Right after I softened the cream cheese in the microwave, I remembered the cherry doughnuts I impulse bought yesterday when I joined the rest of the Baltimore Metro at the grocery store in preparation for the storm (I had milk, bread and toilet paper...hubby wanted white chicken chili--more on that later--and icy hot patches). So I had perfectly softened cream cheese and no plan.<br />
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I can't help but think of my friend Michele when I think of apple pie. Hers are the best ever, with about a 1/2 inch of crumbly stuff on top. She lives in California and it was stupid-o'clock in the morning on the west coast; I was not about to call her. I've been toying with fruit pies lately, so I had an idea of what to do. When I started gathering ingredients, I put my hands on the bowl of softened cream cheese and I remembered a pie my mom used to make in the summers--a peach pie with cream cheese spread on the bottom, ostensibly so the juicy peaches wouldn't soak through the crust. Hmmm, everything is better with cream cheese.<br />
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Here is what we ended up with...<br />
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By the way, hubby said it needs raisins. As most of you know I don't like <strike>satan's fruit</strike> raisins. So I might be in the market for a new <strike>husband</strike> recipe.<br />
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Spread cream cheese in bottom of pie crust.<br />
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Lemon zest going in to bowl with apples and pears.<br />
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Followed by the lemon juice.<br />
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Toss with sugar, flour and cinnamon. Maybe we should have measured the cinnamon...three year olds like to bang every bottle and jar like it's ketchup!<br />
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Butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon for crumb topping.<br />
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Cutting it in. She was surprising good at this. She watched me, took a turn, watched me again and then on her second turn says "oh, you twist it a little." She is so observant.<br />
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Ready to bake...<br />
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Baking...<br />
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This picture doesn't do it justice, it was so pretty when I took it out of the oven. I'm so proud of us!<br />
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Well, that's better...hubby came home with the good camera (and the better talent). Maybe I'll keep him around a little longer, despite his passion for raisins.<br />
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Apple Pear Crisp Pie<br />
1 frozen pie crust<br />
4 oz. cream cheese, softened<br />
3 medium apples<br />
1 large pear<br />
zest and juice of 1 lemon<br />
1/3 cup sugar<br />
3/4 cup flour, divided<br />
1/2 tsp cinnamon (we used the blend from Pampered Chef--it's a bit like pumpkin pie spice with other stuff in it)<br />
dash salt<br />
1/2 cup brown sugar<br />
1 stick cold butter<br />
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Preheat oven to 350. <br />
Spread cream cheese evenly on the bottom of the crust, set aside.<br />
Peel, core and cube apples and pears. Toss fruit with the lemon zest and juice. Carefully stir in the sugar, 1/4 cup flour, cinnamon, and salt. Pour into prepared crust.<br />
In a small bowl, cut the butter into the remaining 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top of the pie.<br />
Bake for 50-60 minutes. If edges start to brown too much, cover just the edges with foil.<br />
Let stand for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. The longer it sits, the easier it will be to cut.<br />
<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-86715927040910235242014-03-03T06:13:00.000-08:002014-03-03T06:13:01.151-08:00Ice Cream in a BagI bribed my kids a few nights ago.<br />
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I don't normally bribe them. I strive to be a pretty matter of fact parent. Tonight, for some reason, I was a raving lunatic. I'm not proud. I joined a facebook group a week and a half ago with a no yelling challenge.<br />
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I don't yell at other people's children. After 25 years of working with children, I have learned that it is ineffective. The only thing it might accomplish is a temporary release of your pressure valve, but it's followed immediately by shame, and kids don't really hear you when you yell anyway. So why do it? That's how I feel about other people's children. The most frustrating thing for me is that I know what to do, I'm a "Professional" for Pete's sake. But my own children know every button I have, and they push them. Repeatedly. Every. Day. <br />
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I don't yell often, or for very long, but even once a day is too much for me. When I found the facebook group, it popped up on my Pinterest feed while I was in a "Mommy-time-out" because I was ineffectively yelling at the children and they weren't listening anyway. Ironic, isn't it?<br />
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The challenge is for 365 days. I reset my clock tonight. I got very frustrated in the car on the way home with the children interrupting each other, then yelling at each other about it. My teachers will, I'm sure, pick on me for this one, but I yelled at my children to stop yelling (How's that for modeling behavior? Do as I say, ladies, not as I do!). <br />
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When we got home, hubby was late and I needed to get dinner started. So, knowing I couldn't take one more "mommy, mommy, mommy" I told the kids to sit with their leapsters and don't make a peep. Then I bribed them with a project while dinner was cooking. If either of them whined, cried, yelled, or called my name while I was prepping our pigs in a blanket and peas, we wouldn't do it. <br />
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It worked. We made home made ice cream in a bag. I've been meaning to practice, anyway. A friend and I are planning a just because ice cream party for our children and a few friends in a couple weeks. I was worried that the ice cream in a bag would take too long and the kids would lose interest. For the record, the littlest, who is 3, did lose interest after about three minutes, but she was easy to pull back in (hence the photobomb below!)<br />
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This is the rock salt we used. This was left over from a project at the Center, I found it in the art closet a few weeks ago. If I hadn't any rock salt, I would have used some kosher salt. I'm sure table salt would work too, any kind of salt will lower the freezing temperature of the water, making the slush very cold. I found this video, it was the most concise one I could find, but still over my kids' heads as an explanation (but they are only 3 and 5): <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lYATQdeSMw">How does salt melt ice?</a> There are plenty of videos out there, it could lead to some experimenting with your kids.<br />
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We put the chips in the bag, then poured in the cream mixture. I wanted to ensure equal distribution for the siblings.<br />
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Rock salt on ice.<br />
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Ice cream mix bag inside ice/salt bag...photobomb (this is one of five pictures--I finally gave up trying to get one without her). I tried to get the kids to put mittens on their hands so they could hold the bag and squish it around, but we had left our mittens in the car. They improvised with their socks (the dirty ones, taken directly off their stinky feet and put into their hands. Don't judge me, I was proud of their problem solving skills). We ended up wrapping the ice bag in a dish towel, which we later used to wipe the inner bag clean and dry.</div>
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It's ice cream!<br />
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Snip the bag and squeeze it out.<br />
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Freeze it or eat it! My kids didn't eat it until the next day...the bribery worked before the project, but not after dinner. Matter-of-fact-mommy kicked back in and drew a hard line in the sand...knock it off or go to bed. They went to bed and I tried not to eat their ice cream. After all, I'd like to think I don't need to bribe myself to behave.<br />
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Ice Cream in a Bag for 2<br />
2 gallon size ziplock bags, 2 quart size ziplock bags<br />
1 cup Half-and-Half<br />
1/4 cup sugar<br />
1/2 tsp vanilla<br />
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (optional--we also used cinnamon chips, you could mix in anything you want)<br />
10 cups crushed ice, approximately<br />
1/2 cup rock salt, divided<br />
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In a medium bowl, mix half-and-half, sugar and vanilla until combined. Add chocolate chips or any mix-ins you like. Divide the mixture between the two quart ziplock bags. Carefully squeeze out air and seal the bags.<br />
Fill each gallon ziplock bag half way with crushed ice, add 1/4 cup rock salt. Seal it and shake it up a bit. Insert the quart ziplock with the ice cream mixture into the ice mixture and seal the bag again. Shake it for about 5 minutes. It works best if the quart bag is kind of flat--the ice cream will freeze faster.<br />
When ice cream is frozen, remove inner bag and wipe off any ice or salt particles. Cut the bottom corner (about 1 inch) off the bag and squeeze the ice cream out of the bag. Eat or freeze immediately.<br />
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<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-31444181430604400892014-02-25T20:06:00.000-08:002014-02-25T20:06:45.313-08:00Where is that cat, and what did he do with my tongue?So as we were eating dinner tonight, there were a lot of clever phrases running through my mind I could use in this post. Then the littlest tilted the dining room chair over while trying to whisper something in my ear and she went with it. Her fall was almost broken when she caught her chin on the table, biting her tongue in the process. There is nothing worse than your child virtually slipping through your fingers and getting hurt. Except maybe that terrifying couple of seconds of silent scream where she holds her breath...it actually took her four of five little hiccups before the blood-curdling scream, it felt like forever! She is fine, I still need a good cry about it.<br />
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Bottom line, clever phrases...gone.<br />
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This is what was for dinner: rosemary pork chops, roasted cauliflower, crunchy (raw) carrots, and fried apples. I didn't take a lot of pictures this time, as I didn't think about posting until the apples, which were an afterthought.<br />
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The rosemary pork chops was a recipe on the side of the Shake and Bake box. <a href="http://www.kraftbrands.com/shake-n-bake/">Kraft Brands--shake-n-bake recipes</a> We've always loved the shaking and the baking, but when you add some Dijon mustard and rosemary, yum! Check out the size of these things--I got a big pack at the store for a ridiculous price and these three were buried under four more chops the size of my whole hand. All seven cost me about eight bucks, what a deal. We always cook the shake and bake on a rack sprayed with cooking spray on a foil lined baking sheet--it gets a little crispier that way.<br />
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The cauliflower was tossed with olive oil and kosher salt and roasted for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees. The littlest used to eat it (she used to get mad if you didn't let her have the whole bowl), but it's been awhile and she's in the "I won't eat any part of the food that is brown" phase. When she told me she didn't want the brown parts, her sister reminded her that "brown food tastes good."<br />
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The fried apples were, as I said, an afterthought--while the pork was cooking, I remembered a meal my mom made for us after one of the babies was born. She made pan fried pork chops and served them with some canned apple pie filling. Not having apple pie filling on hand, I figured I could whip something up. Here is what I did:<br />
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1 apple, peeled and sliced (I used a fuji apple)<br />
1 Tbs butter<br />
1 Tbs brown sugar<br />
1/4 tsp cinnamon<br />
1 squeeze of lemon juice (a turn or two of the pan from 1/2 a lemon)<br />
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Combine all ingredients in a small skillet. Cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and apples have softened a bit, about 5 minutes.<br />
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After tasting, the littlest said "maybe I think I don't like them." The biggest ate a few and said "maybe I can have some more apples for dessert." We made another batch with enough for her to take some for lunch tomorrow. By the way, when your husband uses a metal fork to cook the apples, and then you use said fork to scoop them into a lunch container, DON'T LICK THE FORK! It's hot. Charleigh wasn't the only one sucking on an ice cube tonight.Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-3123123408317280992014-02-18T19:49:00.000-08:002014-02-18T19:49:06.236-08:00It's a canna-boxing kind of dayWhat a busy day (yesterday--had to wait for the jello mold pictured below to set up overnight before posting)! Presidents' Day...no school...no plans...until...<br />
A friend invited us and another family to go to an indoor play area at a local library. I've been wanting to check it out, so we decided to go. Closed. Presidents' Day.<br />
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Fly by the seat of your pants, straight to the play place at the local mall that has a couple of bouncy houses. Follow that up with a picnic of Chick-fil-a and a good long round of freeze tag in the center of the mall "amphitheater." Not ready to call it a day? Let's try some bowling! Ten-pin! With a 2 year old, a 3 year old, two 4 year olds and two 5 year olds. Thank goodness for gutter bumpers and a very patient <strike>ball-fetcher</strike> manager who would stroll out and return all the balls that stopped rolling half way down the alley. What a great day we had (she said without even a hint of sarcasm)!<br />
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Home by 4:00 with the intention of cuddling on the couch with a movie, as we missed nap time. No movie...I started clearing the dining room table (we are terrible about leaving mail on the table and not doing breakfast dishes in the morning) when the littlest brought me a silicone ice cube tray shaped like apples and asked "can we make something in this?" Fly by the seat of your pants--of course we can!<br />
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Jello jigglers<br />
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Which led to this...I've been wanting to make it since I pinned it on pinterest. <a href="http://www.jello.com/recipe/mosaic-dessert-bars">jello mosaic dessert bars</a> It is three flavors of jello jigglers mixed with a unflavored gelatin and sweetened condensed milk mixture. It is pretty and pretty yummy, I got to use my mother's old Tupperware jello mold, and you can eat it with your fingers! I really love the look of it, and I can't wait til St Pat's day--rainbow colors!!<br />
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While the jello was setting up, I did these (as a Valentine's gift for my teachers...okay, as Presidents' Day gift, I'm a bit behind. They are lip balm holder key chains. I put them in a clear bag with some Hershey Kisses and a tag that said "Pucker Up Buttercup"). I'll give credit here <a href="http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2012/10/20-minute-crafter-chapstick-cozy-five.html">www.littlebitfunky.com chapstick cozy</a> but I didn't really follow their directions implicitly...a little more flying by the seat of my pants today.<br />
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Then it was dinner time. I had reached my daily quota of domesticallity. We had Canna-Box for dinner. Allow me to explain. My friend Jen coined the term a few weekends ago. She had a dinner party for six adults and twelve children at her house. She was very proud of the sweet potato casserole she made from scratch, and joked about how the rest of dinner was "Canna-box." With that many people to feed, and most of them kids, she had bought rotisserie chickens, instant mashed potatoes, boxed stuffing and, of course green bean casserole. Sometimes I think that because I wrote a cook book, and I love to cook, people think that I scratch make all of our meals. Soooo not true.<br />
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Here is the proof...kids had spaghetti-o's for dinner. Hubby and I had these:<br />
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Egg (over hard for me), cheddar cheese, and sweet Lebanon bologna on an English muffin. Hmm, next time I'll use Swiss cheese and call it an International Hand Warmer! <br />
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So Jen, no worries, even the best of us canna-box it every once in awhile.<br />
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<br />Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-11311301329000282062014-02-16T06:56:00.000-08:002014-02-16T06:56:13.835-08:00Let's Get Ready To GUMBOOOOOO!I've been chanting this all morning! We've had all the ingredients for a few days (even before the snow storm), but haven't had the opportunity. Today, I'm cooking with my hubby, and attempting to write this blog post at the same time...we'll see how this goes. (It didn't, the gumbo went fine, the posting did not. By the time you read this, it will be tomorrow in my world)<br />
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I found this great recipe for gumbo at Bacon, Butter, Cheese, Garlic (what a fantastic name!). And the title of the blog post is "The Rue to Roux." How can a girl named Roo not give this recipe a shot?<br />
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Normally, I hate it when people post another person's recipe and then say "but we used turkey instead of pork, added some ketchup because I really don't like the flavor of mustard (in the mustard pork chops), and omitted what ever other ingredient that is essential to the recipe because we feel like it." So I really try not to do that the first time I make a recipe. But I will tell you that we didn't make the shrimp stock--we have two small children and not a lot of time. I used chicken stock we had on hand, so we added the creole seasoning with the chicken while it was cooking. <br />
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Also, after a little distraction named Danielle, I didn't refer back to the recipe and I assumed that the time to add the tomato paste would be after cooking the chicken and sausage. The recipe says to add it with the shrimp near the end. Turned out fine.<br />
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Here is the recipe<br />
<a href="http://baconbuttercheesegarlic.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-rue-to-roux.html">Bacon Butter Cheese Garlic--The Rue to Roux</a><br />
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And here is what we did...<br />
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1 cup vegetable oil and 1 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in a stock pot and stir constantly until the roux is caramel colored.<br />
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We are getting there...it took about 20 minutes for us, and in hindsight it could have gone a bit longer...gotten a bit darker.<br />
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Onion, green pepper and celery, saute until tender<br />
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Chicken (and creole seasoning--Emeril's, made from the link in the post on Bacon Butter Garlic Cheese).<br />
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Andouille sausage. I was halfway through slicing when I said to the hubby "should I dice this?' So some is sliced and some is diced.<br />
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Here is where I stirred in the tomato paste...this looks good enough to eat already!<br />
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Add the mixture to the roux--carefully, it really bubbles up at first. Sorry, not enough hands to take a picture. Then add stock and bring to a boil.<br />
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Add okra and cook to your liking. We let it go about 20 or 30 minutes. Long enough to tickle the children for awhile.<br />
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We pulled about half the recipe out to freeze before adding the shrimp to what we are going to eat today. I'm sure that you could also freeze the shrimp, but the hubby has a thing about (not) eating leftover shrimp. The shrimp cooked way quicker than I expected, so check it often. Ladle some gumbo in a bowl and top it with a scoop of rice. <br />
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Delicious! Hubby needed a little more heat so he added some hot sauce. Next time, we will make the stock--I think that is where we'd get more kick. Also, next time, I'm getting him to take the pictures. Let me tell you what a joy it is to try to take pictures on a point-and-shoot camera with your photographer husband behind you. I can only assume that the eye rolling and brow lifting were meant to be pointers.Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-70960937773514791872014-02-13T19:46:00.000-08:002014-02-13T19:46:53.559-08:00Snow Day!!Today was a snow day! The snow gods dumped about a foot of heavy snow overnight. And for the first time, I didn't spend the day second-guessing my decision to close Grannie Annie's today. Also, for the first time, I made the decision last night...I got to sleep in (relatively speaking) and just be a mom this snow day! <div>
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After a super long cuddle in bed this morning, I asked the littlest what she wanted for breakfast--anything she wanted. She asked for pancakes with sprinkles like I made for her sister's birthday. Absolutely! Hubby, on his way out to shovel (for the first time) said "it's snowing, I want snowflake pancakes." Challenge. Accepted.</div>
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Looks fancy, it's super easy! I use this technique just about every other time I make pancakes. It's instant pancake mix, the kind you just add water. Mix it, let it stand for a few minutes (it will "rise" a bit), then pour it into a squirt bottle. I have one with a wide screw off top that I think came in a chocolate melting / candy making kit. You can use an old ketchup bottle or syrup bottle, but it's not quite as easy to fill. I imagine you could use a pastry bag with a large tip, or in a pinch a zip top bag with the corner snipped off, but I haven't tried either.</div>
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Choose a delivery method and squirt your design onto a preheated griddle sprayed with a little non-stick spray. Sometimes I do the kids' names (yes, every letter in Danielle and Charleigh; we use the double burner griddle for those days)</div>
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The upper left one was the first, and neatest. The rest were done in a hurry as the pan was getting hot pretty fast, but you get the idea.</div>
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So in the finished product, I added a drizzle of syrup and some snowflake sprinkles (that I got dirt-cheap on Christmas clearance a few weeks ago and the kids have been itching to use). When we sat down to breakfast, I may or may not have triumphantly said to my husband "Ha. snowflake pancakes <u>with</u> sprinkles!" </div>
Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-56755282234361226282014-02-02T06:40:00.001-08:002014-02-13T19:59:50.778-08:00Chemistry Lesson<br />
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So it started because the kids were home sick. Day one was doctor appointments and bed. Day two was four movies and a nap (quite an accomplishment for the three year old--she really wasn't feeling well). Day three my wonderful business partner came in on her day off so I could give the kids one more day at home to <strike>drive me bananas</strike> recuperate. I know they are starting to feel better, despite the icky cough, because they are eating non-stop and actually playing today. After two snow days last week and three sick days this week, I am desperate for distractions.<br />
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Here is how the breakfast conversation went with the three-year-old...<br />
Baby Girl: What is that paper made of?<br />
Me: Paper.<br />
Me: What is this coupon holder made of?<br />
BG: Plastic.<br />
Me: What is this piggy bank made of?<br />
BG: It's glassy.<br />
BG: What is this chair cover made of? (it is a pillow case covering the back of the dining room chair)<br />
Me: What do you think it's made of?<br />
BG: Umm, diarrhea?<br />
Me: Umm.....<br />
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So after some Lucky Charms, she wanted to know what marshmallows were made of. We looked up a recipe (Thank you Mr. Alton Brown *love you* and the Food Network), and here is what happened.<br />
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For some unknown reason, when I moved into my husband's house almost a decade ago, he had a giant box of unflavored gelatin. Because of that, we had all of the ingredients to make marshmallows. I forgot to put the vanilla in the picture, but you get a bonus photo bomb!<br />
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1/2 cup water, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup corn syrup heated to 240 degrees. The last 10 degrees feels like forever!<br />
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3 envelopes of unflavored gelatin softened in 1/2 cup of ice cold water.<br />
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Mix the heated sugar mixture into the gelatin at low speed until combined. Let the children find something else to do when you lose their attention.<br />
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Whip it for longer than you think (12-15 minutes in a stand mixer if you have one), until it gets thick and lukewarm. Add 1 tsp vanilla in the last minute of whipping. Don't forget to call the children back every few minutes to see it get thick. <br />
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Pour into a pan greased and dusted with a cornstarch / powdered sugar mixture. Spread with a greased spatula. Dust the top with more cornstarch / powdered sugar.<br />
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Let sit 4 hours or overnight. Turn out onto a cutting board and cut with a pizza cutter dusted with the cornstarch / powdered sugar mixture.<br />
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Toss the cut pieces with rest of the cornstarch / powdered sugar mixture in a zip top bag, shake off excess and store in an airtight container.<br />
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My hubby says these taste better than store-bought. The children say they don't look like the ones from the store...bonus math lesson: Marshmallows are cylindrical in shape.</div>
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Update 2/13/14: Made the marshmallows again today, Cherry flavor by request. We added a pack of cherry Kool-aid powder (the kind that you add sugar to, but don't add any sugar to it) to the 1/2 cup ice cold water before mixing in the unflavored gelatin. They are delicious, as long as you like cherry kool-aid. Very cherry flavored. We are going to try to root beer flavored next (root beer extract in place of...or in addition to...the vanilla extract).</div>
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Homemade Marshmallows by Alton Brown / Food Network</div>
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Ingredients</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">3 packages unflavored gelatin</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">1 cup ice cold water, divided</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">1 cup light corn syrup</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">1/4 teaspoon kosher salt</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">1 teaspoon vanilla extract</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">1/4 cup confectioners' sugar</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">1/4 cup cornstarch</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Nonstick spray</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Directions</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">For regular marshmallows:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #efece3; color: #1c1c1c; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px;">Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-marshmallows-recipe.html?oc=linkback</span>Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-51326454486161218052012-08-07T19:49:00.000-07:002012-08-07T19:49:11.999-07:00The Lesser of Two EvilsTonight's dinner was nothing spectacular, although I am proud of us as parents. I'll be naming this tip "The Lesser of Two Evils."<br />
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Today there was a giant traffic mess and there were quite a few parents late picking up their children from the Center...then my children had to go see their grandmother's pet bird before we got in the car. That put us on the road half an hour later than usual. Luckily, my wonderful husband had called before he left work and asked what we were doing for dinner. Also fortunate, I had thought about it the day before and defrosted some ground beef...we are having Hamburger Helper for dinner. It is not often that I buy it, but I do have some fond childhood memories of the lasagna flavor, mixed with a little cottage cheese. So a couple times a year, we indulge. Tonight, Daddy cooked while we were at the gas station (that put us another 15 minutes behind schedule!). <br />
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Here is where the proud part comes in...our three-year-old is borderline anemic with very low iron stores. We need to be feeding her beef 4 times a week. She hates beef. Oh, and while feeding her beef, she can't drink milk--I just found out that it interferes with the iron absorbtion. She loves milk. We have also been increasing her green-leafy vegetables (you may have seen my <a href="http://www.ruthiclaytor.blogspot.com/2012/03/real-men-think-quiche-is-cool.html">spinach quiche</a> post). So tonight, I told my wonderful hubby that there were a bunch of frozen vegetables to pick from...why don't we do the creamed spinach and give her a choice of another iron-filled food when she refuses to eat the beef, like we know she will.<br />
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The kids and I came home to an already set table with Hamburger Helper and creamed spinach on the plates and water in the cups. Baby Girl immediately starts with the foot-stomping, arm-crossing, lip-pouting, Whiny McWhinester routine. I make the mistake of sending her to her room (like we always do when she does that routine). She jumps up out of the chair and says "I'm not hungry anyway!" Did I mention, she's three?<br />
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Change of plan...make her sit then ignore her...yeah, that's better.<br />
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She actually started eating. Once all the noodles were gone, we gave her choices:<br />
<ol>
<li>Eat some of the beef and spinach, or</li>
<li>Eat all the beef, or</li>
<li>Eat all the spinach.</li>
</ol>
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When Daddy tried to feed her some spinach, she yelled "I just want beef!" Is it wrong that inside my head sounded a little like this: "Mmmwwaaahhhaaahhaahhaahhaa"Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3173720437451123742.post-5993031339475504452012-07-26T20:28:00.000-07:002012-07-26T20:28:20.603-07:00PInterest SundayPinterest is my latest addiction, as I'm sure it is for many of you out there. So far, my nightly pinterest pinning has been <span style="font-family: inherit;">trumped</span> only by <span style="font-family: inherit;">Christian</span> Grey (why yes, I have jumped right on that bandwagon!). <br />
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Again, like many of you, I pin everything and then do nothing with it. My boards are full of wonderful ideas that never come to life.<br />
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Yesterday, I vowed to change that! My children had a marvelous time in the bathtub for almost two hours. <br />
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They played with <a href="http://www.playcreateexplore.com/2012/01/cloud-dough-is-awesome.html">cloud dough</a> (a mixture of flour and baby oil, found on play create explore blog) in the bathtub, because it was too humid and hot to play outside and I couldn't fathom the mess in my already dirty kitchen. This was followed by some bathtub paint...I don't know who to credit for this one, there are directions all over the web...we mixed shaving cream and food coloring in a mini muffin tin (they each got six colors). After awhile, I squirted some kids body wash over the top and it seemed to stick to the walls better.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggcJD5Fe7uPosN-LCbq_xe5sgS5Kt_1AT_MaoZHj155cChOMNMy04GfA-P9_GQAwOVtwXfl1DJDHX2fXVfZav9AID5MplOiI0TiRiuVAujsK32hDNCIZoqJl1YUbC3Bo_Pi0VLoqYEvlwO/s1600/untitled-9652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggcJD5Fe7uPosN-LCbq_xe5sgS5Kt_1AT_MaoZHj155cChOMNMy04GfA-P9_GQAwOVtwXfl1DJDHX2fXVfZav9AID5MplOiI0TiRiuVAujsK32hDNCIZoqJl1YUbC3Bo_Pi0VLoqYEvlwO/s320/untitled-9652.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
When we decided to be finished, the three-year-old got a washcloth to wipe down the walls and the toddler got the job of rinsing all the dishes and paint brushes (so I could keep her sitting down in the slippery tub). Then everyone got a bath. If I'd had some, I would have thrown some glow-sticks in the water and turned the lights out and we could've made it a pinterest hat trick. (Again, I don't know who to credit for the glow-stick idea, I've seen it on Pinterest just about every day)<br />
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Here is what I learned...<br />
<ol>
<li>Food coloring mixed with shaving cream will not stain a fiberglass tub (thank goodness!).</li>
<li>Two hours in a tub makes for some very tired and satisfied kids--we will be doing this again.</li>
<li>There is nothing in this world that is any cuter than my toddler's bubble butt covered in specks of dough and rainbow shaving cream!</li>
</ol>
Then, after I fed the kids some <a href="http://www.ruthiclaytor.blogspot.com/2012/02/ruthi-claytor-picked-peck-of-rainbow.html">Stuffed Pepper-Stuffed Shells</a> that I cooked ahead for the week, I made some<a href="http://www.joyfulabode.com/2009/07/05/homemade-baked-egg-rolls/"> Baked Egg Rolls</a> for me and my hubby, also found on pinterest.Ruthi Claytorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09573288608032344588noreply@blogger.com0