Kohlrabi with Cream Sauce

Geez, has it been THIS LONG since we've posted?  April, REALLY??  And it's now July...  Well, I guess our excuse is we've been busy - Jenna got her own apartment and more of a life it seems like, because she never seems to be open when I need her to babysit!  Therefore no homemade dinners together...  She didn't babysit tonight either, but I HAD to share this recipe.  I am more than pleased with it.

I joined a co-op awhile back (www.communityhelpingscoop.com for those of you who want to check it out) and I LOVE it.  TONS of fresh produce delivered to the Red Bud Y every other Thursday, all for $23!  I hardly ever shop anymore and we always have fruits and veggies on hand!

Harlee got his hands on a peach as I was putting all our goodies in the fridge...

In cases like tonight, the co-op forces me to make new things.  Like kohlrabi.  What the heck do you do with that?  Well I looked up a recipe and I must say, kohlrabi is pretty yummy!  It's like a cross between a potato and a turnip... Also with the co-op this time we got zucchini and corn, so I incorporated that into it as well.  Here ya go:

Kohlrabi with Cream Sauce

4 kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and cubed
1 ear of corn removed from cob
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup cream
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp pepper
1/2 small zucchini, cubed

Place cubed kohlrabi and corn in a sauce pan and fill with water to cover.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until kohlrabi can be pierced with a fork but still firm.  Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid, and set kohlrabi and corn aside in a covered bowl.

Melt the butter in the same pan over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour, and stir until the mixture becomes paste-like and golden brown.  Gradually whisk the milk and reserved cooking liquid into the flour mixture, followed by the cream.  Stir until thick and smooth.  Stir in salt, nutmeg, and pepper.  **Optional: if you like your sauce a little thicker, which I do, mix a tsp of corn starch with a tsp of water and add to the sauce.**  Add in the zucchini, kohlrabi, and corn, and cook until zucchini is tender.  Serve and enjoy!

Harlee had zucchini and broccoli tonight, and I think more got ON him than in his belly!

Baked Tilapia and Berry Lemonade

Kisses from Mom before she goes to work!

Harlee and I enjoyed the outdoors today.  We put a blanket on the grass in the backyard and watched traffic go by.  Harlee also pulled out grass but thankfully didn’t eat any. He was pretty calm outside, and after a while ended up getting sleepy.  He dozed off but woke up as I was packing up the blanket and things. So, we sat on the front porch and listened to the neighbors mow grass. I thought it’d be a good idea to go for a walk, so I packed Harlee in the stroller and we took on lap around the neighborhood.

I think that wore him out because when we got home, he fell asleep pretty quickly.  He’s been a grumpy butt the rest of the evening, and nothing seems to pacify him except chewing on green bell peppers or broccoli.  Poor little guy is still teething. 

Dinner was tasty.  I didn’t help in making it at all, except taking it out of the oven and plating it.  So Jami will have to write about all that.

 ~ ~ ~ Jami here, dinner was super easy and super tasty (isn't that always the case, though?).  I realize I should probably have Jenna help a little more, but sometimes I get carried away with it!  She did a great job of removing it from the oven though, which is good as I couldn't do it myself since I was wearing Harlee (note the cute sling in the above left picture, made by Baby Miller Designs) - as Jenna said he was a bit grumpy and very needy of his momma, and thank goodness for that sling or I wouldn't get anything done sometimes!  I sure hope this teething phase goes by quickly, for both our sakes...

So I'm trying to cut back on carbs, per a tip from a healthcare provider, so this meal is pretty low carb except for the rice, which I included to add a little variety for Jenna and Debbie's sake (Debbie's been joining us for dinner quite a bit lately!  I'm especially grateful this time as she juiced about 8lbs of lemons for me to make the berry lemonade we served with dinner...), but that's obviously very easy to omit if you want to follow the same kind of diet.  We also served steamed broccoli, which, as you can see, Harlee loved.  I wish I had taken a picture of the floor beneath him after he was finished with that poor floret... it was pretty gross.  So were his hands.  And his arms.  And his chin.  And both of our clothes...  Haha ah, the joys of introducing foods!  At least he's finally showing an interest - I didn't think the day would ever come!  Now he's curiously watching us as we eat and reaching for our plates.  I'll let him sample a few things, mostly only fruit and vegetables but I let him taste a little fish too.  He loves his veggies!  He still wants nothing to do with purees, though - he has to feed himself.  So much for all that work I did pureeing and freezing all those fresh vegetables awhile back... oh well, I guess you just never know with babies, or kids of any age!  He also has absolutely no sweet tooth, which is great since I don't want him to have sugar until at LEAST after he's a year old.  It's just not good for us, and I might as well protect him from having the same problem his momma has for as long as I can!  Yes, I am guilty of having a terrible sweet tooth.....

Alright, here's the recipe:

Baked Tilapia
    Taken from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Tilapia/Detail.aspx3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
 

1 6oz can tomato paste
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

6 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia
12 large slices of red onion
12 slices of green bell pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat bottom of a medium baking dish with about 1/4 cup olive oil.
In a small bowl, blend remaining olive oil, tomato paste, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper.
Arrange tilapia fillets in the prepared baking dish, skin side up. With a spatula, spread the olive oil and tomato paste mixture over the tilapia, heaping the majority in the centers of the fillets. Arrange onion and green pepper slices on top of the fillets.
Bake in the preheated oven 15 minutes, until fish is easily flaked with a fork.  Serve over steamed rice.

 

 

 And let's not forget that lemonade... holy cow was that good!!  Debbie brought over a bottle of sparkling mineral water, so mixing that in a glass with the lemonade (about half and half of each) gave it a little extra fizz and a different twist to the flavor - very yummy!

I guess we could have garnished this with a lemon or something to make it a little prettier... oh well!

Berry Lemonade

2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 quarts water

1 cup sugar

1 16oz bag frozen mixed berries, thawed for a few hours in refrigerator (or berries of your choice)

Stir ingredients together in a pitcher until sugar is dissolved.  The berry juice blends nicely with the lemonade, but if the bag was only partially thawed then the berries chill the lemonade well too.  Enjoy!

 

Spinach Gorgonzola Burgers

Jenna didn't babysit today, instead it was a fantastic family day just the three of us, but dinner turned out soooooo good, and I HAD to share the recipe!!  Plus I had to gloat a little that I made this recipe up myself :)

We colored Easter Eggs today, which I've been looking forward to since, oh, when we took the Christmas tree down probably, haha.  That was always one of my favorite family traditions growing up - I guess because it was a unique opportunity to unleash some creative juices.  And they're just so pretty!  I'm excited to start the tradition with my own family now!

Pretty!  Oh and the bottom one has Harlee's hand print on it :)  It's raw, so I'm going to hollow it out and save it!

 

Harlee got a hold of one of the eggs... I don't think we'll be coloring this one...

After we did Easter eggs we took a walk to the park.  Harlee's cutting teeth pretty bad and wasn't having the best day, so a walk to the park was a great distraction for the poor guy.

 

He got pretty dirty... then after chewing a piece of broccoli and a pickle (yes he loves pickles too we found out) to shreds, he's going immediately to the bathtub!

Here's the recipe for dinner:

First off, the buns were a repeat - Sweet Rolls - oh I cannot get over how GOOD these are!!  And turned into burger buns, wow...

So the burgers, courtesy of my culinary genius, haha...

Spinach Gorgonzola Burgers

1lb ground meat (of course venison for us, but whatever you like!)

2 tbsp crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

1/3 cup chopped spinach

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 egg

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup soft bread crumbs (or one slice of bread, torn to crumbs)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all above ingredients until combined, divide the meat into quarters and form into patties.  Cook over medium heat until you reach desired done-ness.  Place a slice of cheese of your choice (I used provolone) on each patty for the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Serve on those yummy buns with your choice of toppings and condiments, and enjoy!

We also served steamed broccoli and Oven Roasted Potatoes (only I used red potatoes instead of Yukon gold this time, since I had them on hand).

Stuffed Shells

It was an historic day in Harlee’s life:  he’s finally crawling!  He’s taken that “first step” and can get around.  Awkwardly, but he’s getting around.

He didn’t do this until this evening.  While I had him, he was still staying in one place.  He was so happy to see me when I showed up, so we played a while.  Then, he took a nap and I watched Ellen.  When he woke up, it was dinnertime for him, so I fed him, we played a bit more.  Justin was here for a while, and he played, too.

All that play made Harlee sleepy, so it was naptime again.  I finished my knitting, and Debbie showed up at 6.  Harlee woke up and was hungry again, so after another feeding and diaper change, Debbie and I started dinner.  We cooked the shells and browned the meat and then Jami showed up.  Thank goodness, too, because we were having a hard time figuring out the can opener.

The dinner was pretty easy to make.  Jami made the cheese filling before she left, so once we were done with the sauce, Jami and Debbie stuffed the shells.  The sauce consisted of the meat, tomato sauce and seasonings.  Easy.  Jami also fixed up some homemade rolls, which we popped in the oven.  They came out great, too.

The whole dinner was tasty, and I get to take home leftovers.  Yum!

Harlee in his high chair, with nothing to eat because he's still not interested.  Although he did get an onion... since he likes those...

Here's the lineup:

Sweet Rolls

     (taken from AllRecipes)

*Note: I used our bread machine to make this, otherwise I have no idea how to bake bread... This recipe is delicious, so I'm posting it for those of you who also have bread machines, or know how to bake bread.  For those of you who don't, you should learn just for this recipe... it's that good...

 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup warm milk
1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, softened

Place warm water and warm milk together in the pan of the bread machine with the yeast.  Let yeast activate for about 5 minutes.  Add the butter, egg, sugar, salt, and flour.  Select Dough/Knead and First Rise Cycle and press Start.  
When finished, divide dough and shape into balls the size of your preference, or you can divide it into two and roll out each ball on a floured surface, cut into eight wedges each and roll each wedge into a crescent, starting with the wide end and rolling towards the point.  Arrange balls or crescents on an ungreased cookie sheet, cover with a towel, and allow to rise in a warm area for about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.


Stuffed Shells
     (taken from AllRecipes

16 jumbo pasta shells
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups chopped spinach
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp fennel seed
2 teaspoons dried basil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground meat (your choice - we used venison as usual but beef or turkey would work well too)
1 15oz can tomato sauce
3 tsp Italian seasonings
3 tsp basil
3 tsp oregano
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, gently place pasta shells in boiling water; bring water back to boil. Cook until noodles are just tender; drain well.  
Combine spinach, ricotta, 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, fennel, basil and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Mix well.
Brown ground meat, drain any grease, add tomato sauce, Italian seasonings, basil, and oregano, and stir.
Spread half the meat sauce evenly over the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Fill each pasta shell with the spinach cheese mixture. Arrange the shells, filling side up in the baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce over the shells. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese on top of the shells.
Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven until heated through; about 30 minutes.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
    (adapted from AllRecipes)

 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 clove crushed garlic
1 teaspoon ground mustard
2 tbsp honey

In a jar with a lid, add olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, garlic, mustard powder, and honey.  Seal the jar and shake well.  Serve over mixed greens and veggies of your choice.

Steak Salad with Citrus Dressing

Justin and I rang in spring with our first motorcycle ride of the year!  Aahh that was much needed, I've missed the bike!  Harlee stayed at my parents' while we went out, but we dressed him in his Harley gear just for good measure!

Haha, he's such a stud... :)

Oh, and we've discovered that along with his new tooth comes some very bizarre taste buds... Justin and I had lunch at Mary's the other day and I, being the ornery mother that I am, decided to touch one of my onions to his tongue to see his reaction.  Well his reaction wasn't quite what I expected it to be - once he tasted it he leaned in with his tongue hanging out and finally snatched it out of my hand and munched it to pieces!  He didn't smell too nice after that, either.  Sure was entertaining though!

Whatever!  :)  So, for dinner tonight Jenna, Granny, and Debbie came over and we had a steak salad with a homemade citrus dressing - sooooo good!  After that we had homemade ice cream that Justin hand-cranked and I made some egg-free cookie dough (so you can leave it and eat it as cookie dough, thus cookie dough ice cream!).  Yeah, I was pretty pleased with how healthy the main course was, but we completely ruined it with dessert... oh well, it was worth it!

Here are your recipes:

Citrus Dressing
    (taken from AllRecipes)

1/2 cup olive oil
4 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 lemon, zested
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
2 tsp white balsamic vinegar

Add all ingredients in a jar with a lid, seal and shake well.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.  Strain basil before serving (or you can serve it with the basil - we did and enjoyed it!)

Steak Salad

~1.5 lbs top round steak, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, and parlic powder to taste
Spinach
Romaine lettuce
Dried cranberries
Walnuts
Sliced tomatoes
Sliced onions
Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Note: I didn't put any measurements on this because it's completely up to  you how much of each ingredient you want in your salad.  You can mix it up too, like have whatever kind of greens or cheese you want or add things like sunflower seeds or Mandarin oranges.  I found the above recipe to work very well with the dressing.  But salads are easy to get creative with!

Heat a large pan with olive oil on medium heat.  Add steak slices and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Turn over and season the other side, and continue turning until no longer pink in the middle.  Assemble salad with remaining ingredients (or ingredients of your choice) and serve steak slices on top.  Enjoy!


And let's not forget about that cookie dough!  I baked a little of it and it made some very nice cookies:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
     (taken from Eat. Drink. Smile.)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda (omit this if you have no intentions of baking the dough, although I think it might alter the taste a little bit, so it's up to you...)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugars in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or stir by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.
Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.
When dough is firm enough to handle, form dough into 1/2" balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.  Serve with ice cream, in milk shakes, or just eat it like you did when you were a kid and your mom was baking Christmas cookies! (I'm sure I wasn't the only kid sneaking cookie dough from the bowl... haha I'm surprised there was enough dough left to make cookies sometimes!)  Only without the raw eggs, you don't have to worry about taking the risk of getting sick!  Horray!

Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

If you want to bake them: bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Chicken Parmesan

It wound up being a late night tonight, but we made dinner anyway!  Jenna went on home to go to bed, which is where I should be too, but I decided to stay up and write instead.

Tonight we made Chicken Parmesan, which turned out really good!  Kept us up late though... We could have bypassed dinner altogether, but Jenna wanted to stay and watch My Strange Obsession on TLC.  Sometimes I don't know why they call it "The Learning Channel" anymore... I certainly didn't learn anything important... instead it left me rather disturbed!  Enough said...

Today Justin worked in the garden, planting potatoes and onions.  Harlee enjoyed watching:

Yes, he's still really cute :)

And for dinner, we've just got a pasta and chicken recipe to share with you.  I would have liked to add and salad or some kind of vegetable as always but we just wanted something quick since it was getting late.  Chicken Parmesan seems like a fancier kind of meal to me, but this definitely suited our needs for a quick dinner, and it was really really good too!  Here ya go:

Chicken Parmesan
Pasta:

16oz spaghetti, cooked al dente
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste
~12oz spaghetti sauce

Heat olive oil in a sauce pan, add minced garlic and saute until tender.  Add sauce, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Stir until heated through.  Add to spaghetti.

Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 egg
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat olive oil in a medium pan.  Dip chicken breasts into egg, then coat with bread crumbs.  Place in pan and brown on both sides.  Place chicken on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.  Add mozzarella and Parmesan cheese to top of chicken, cook for 10 more minutes or until no longer pink in the middle.  Serve with pasta.

St. Patrick's Day!

I (Jami) feel like I've taken over the blog while all Jenna does is eat my food... haha.  I have to pick on her...

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day a day late, which worked out perfectly - we were actually going to do it a day early so you'd all have a few recipes to use for your own St. Patty's Day feast, but Jenna moved into her own apartment that day and we ended up getting fish from a local bar & grill, then Saturday we had a bachelorette party to attend, so our St. Patrick's Day feast moved to today, Sunday.  That worked out perfectly, though, as it was a much more laid-back day and Justin was off work, as opposed to Friday and he would have missed out.

Here's little man celebrating:

Can't pinch him!  Justin had him for the night while Jenna and I were at the bachelorette party, so he brought him to a local bar to celebrate.  I heard he was quite the hit!  He got some green beads and everything!  In other news, he has a tooth!  FINALLY!  That thing has been working its way to the surface for weeks, accompanied by excess drooling and lots of crabbiness.  It finally broke through on St. Patrick's Day!  He still wants nothing to do with food though...  I've nicknamed him Fort Knox whenever I try to have him taste something.  Can't get a spoon between those lips whatsoever!  I guess if he intends to take after his dad, though, he'll wind up eating us out of house and home, so maybe he's giving me time to save up right now... Who knows?

Of course we had some variation of corned beef and cabbage, since that's what you do for St. Patty's Day!  I cooked a corned beef brisket in the crock pot all day with the seasoning packet it came with, and some beef broth and carrots.  I cooked it on low for about 8 hours and it turned out great.  As for the cabbage, we made an Irish colcannon, which is a mashed potato recipe with cabbage mixed in.  It was really good!  We also had some Irish soda bread, which turned out delicious as well.  Following are the recipes for those two:

Colcannon
    adapted from All Recipes

~8 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 small head cabbage, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter, melted

Place potatoes in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender.
In the oil, saute the cabbage and onion until soft and translucent. Putting a lid on the pan helps the vegetables cook faster.
Drain the cooked potatoes, mash with milk and season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Fold in the cabbage and onions, then transfer the mixture to a large serving bowl. Make a well in the center, and pour in the melted butter. Serve immediately. 


Irish Soda Bread
   taken from All Recipes


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
1-1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk

        Note on buttermilk - If you don't have any on hand, you can make your own.  Take a 1-cup measuring cup and add a tablespoon of white vinegar, then fill the cup to the top with milk.  Easy!

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the caraway seeds. Set aside 1 tablespoon beaten egg. In a bowl, combine buttermilk and remaining eggs; stir into crumb mixture just until flour is moistened (dough will be sticky). Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead about 10 times. Shape into a ball.
Place in a greased 9-in. round baking pan. Cut a 4-in. X, 1/4-in. deep, in the center of the ball. Brush the top with reserved egg. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil during the last 20 minutes if top browns too quickly. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to a wire rack to cool completely.

Asian Chicken and Banana Muffins

Looks like I've become the resident blogger now, Jenna has passed the duty on to me every time now for the past month and a half it seems like... That's okay, I did all the cooking and she didn't babysit this time so I guess I'm the only one with anything to say!

Josh is in town so I had the two of them over for dinner, and our friend Debbie joined us again too.  Good thing too, this meal was delicious!  And SUPER easy.  Guys, this is an excellent recipe for an Asian-style sauce that is really easy to make and tastes just as good, if not better, than what you get at the restaurants, so if you're in the mood for Chinese take-out, whip this up instead!

Afterward we made some banana muffins.  I had recently made these for the last ICAN gathering and they seemed to be a hit.  I know I liked them!  I had to make them again tonight, and I'm glad I did, they definitely satisfy a sweet tooth.  And the best part is they're milk- and egg-free!  So anyone needing to avoid those ingredients will be able to eat these.

I just got a package in the mail so Justin stuck Harlee in the box :)

Had to give you your Harlee picture fix.  He's just as cute as ever!  After dinner we all goofed off with him and his (well, Jenna's...) new toys.  She LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba on Nick Jr.  Why?  I have no idea.  I think it's a little strange but at least it teaches good messages!  I saw some little bath squirty toys on Amazon.com and felt like she had to have them.  You know, for when she babysits Harlee... haha.

Jenna started singing the theme song to him.  His face says it all!!  Haha :-)

Here's the recipe for tonight's dish (it's kind of similar to the Chicken Stir-Fry recipe we made, but WAY better!) :

Asian Chicken

2 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 tsp powdered ginger
3 cloves minced garlic
Dash of hot sauce, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into strips
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can bamboo shoots
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1-2 cups snow peas
1 cup chopped pineapple

Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and hot sauce in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a large sauce pan.  Lightly salt and pepper the chicken strips and add to oil.  Brown on both sides.  Add vegetables and stir.  Let simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is no longer pink in the middle, about 8-10 minutes.  Serve with white rice and enjoy!

Banana Muffins


2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas

In a large bowl, cream sugar and shortening for about 5 minutes (mixture does not get smooth).  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with bananas, beating after each addition (the batter will be thick and sticky).  If you're having trouble getting it to turn into a batter, I added a little apple sauce to help thin it out.  You can also add milk if you'd like.  Spoon into a greased muffin tin and bake at 350 degrees 20-25 minutes (~10 minutes for mini muffins) or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Leap Day!

Jenna had to eat and run again, so I (Jami) get to blog this time.  Justin and I decided to get a movie in while Harlee slept though, so this blog post is a bit late!  We wanted to be sure to get a Leap Day dinner in, though, so Jenna came over to cook even though I didn't need her babysitting services tonight.  Unfortunately there are no cute pictures of Harlee this time either, but to update everyone on him he's learning to crawl!  I'm excited but I'm okay with waiting as loooong as possible for him to figure it out completely - I'm beginning to realize how NOT baby-proof our house is!  Can we just freeze him at his cute playful sitting-up stage?  Haha just kidding, I'm enjoying every minute of his progress and growth, I just need to suck it up and start plugging our outlets and child-locking our cabinets...  In other news, I think he's FINALLY starting to sprout his first tooth!  Or at least, there's a hard lump in his bottom gums that wasn't that prominent before, so I'm assuming that's a tooth.  Paired with a runny nose and some extra crabbiness, that can only mean one thing, right?  Well, I guess we'll find out...

So in honor of Leap Day we made Garlic Chicken Leg Quarters and Spicy Four-Cheese Macaroni.  (Did ya pick up on the "4" theme, by chance?  'Cause Leap Year is every four years?  Yeah?  haha).  This is something I'll definitely want to make more than every four years, though.  It was pretty tasty!!  Here are the recipes:

Garlic Chicken Leg Quarters
   (adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-garlic-broiled-chicken/detail.aspx)

1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley
4 boneless chicken leg quarters, with skin
dried parsley, to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a baking pan.
In a microwave safe bowl, mix the butter, garlic, soy sauce, pepper, and parsley. Cook 2 minutes on High in the microwave, or until butter is melted.
Arrange chicken on the baking pan, and coat with the butter mixture, reserving some of the mixture for basting.
Broil chicken 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until juices run clear, turning occasionally and basting with remaining butter mixture. Sprinkle with parsley to serve. 

**Note: The original recipe said to broil the chicken, and either I don't know how to use the broiler or our broiler doesn't work, because the chicken wasn't done after the 20 minutes it called for.  I adjusted the temperature and left it in for a bit longer, so the 40 minutes is an assumption.  Be sure to check!  This tasted DELICIOUS though!!


 Spicy Four-Cheese Macaroni
    (adapted from http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamy-four-cheese-macaroni-10000000222589/)


1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 2/3 cups milk
3/4 cup (3 ounces) cubed pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
3 ounces Velveeta
6 cups cooked elbow macaroni (about 3 cups uncooked)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1/3 cup crushed crackers (your choice of flavor)

Preheat oven to 375°.
Place flour in a large saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat 8 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add cheeses; cook 3 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in macaroni and salt.
Spoon mixture into a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle crushed crackers over macaroni mixture. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.



We also served oven-roasted asparagus, a simple recipe I refer back to quite often, and you can find it on this previous blog post.  Enjoy!

Brupper!

Jenna passed the torch once again - we had a late night tonight and she's got an early morning tomorrow so I offered to do the honors of blogging.  It was a long day of babysitting for her today!  I had a morning client and then I didn't have another until later in the day so I utilized her babysitting services to get a little house cleaning done.  And then we decided to run down to a cute little shop in Chester, IL, called Pinky's Sugarland, owned by Jenna's friend Dianna Mueller.  Jenna had been talking about her cake pops for a LONG time and I finally got the privilege of getting to try them and see her shop.



 It was a fun spur-of-the-moment adventure!  I feel like we almost cleaned her out though... I'm going to have to ration these cake pops out over the next month or so or I'm going to turn into one!

Anyway, we made it back just in time for me to get to my last couple of clients, during which it sounds like Harlee slept the whole time for Jenna (he sure does make this easy for her...), and I made a pit stop at IGA to get a few things for our "brupper" - breakfast for supper!  There I ran into our friend Debbie who happened to not have any plans for dinner, so we invited her to join us.  I think she's glad she did, the meal turned out great!  I'm glad she came too because she sure does a good job of cleaning up my kitchen afterwards... :-)

Here's the lineup:

Fresh squeezed orange juice - can't beat that!  It took an 8lb bag of oranges to make 3 glasses though... whew!

Bacon - I don't think I need to post a recipe for that...

Scrambled eggs - just beat about 6 eggs with maybe a half a cup of milk (I failed to measure...) and a little bit of salt and pepper and pour into a pan, cook on medium heat and stir frequently to avoid them sticking to the pan until they stiffen to your desired texture.

Hash browns - chopped some yellow potatoes and fried them in the bacon grease with some salt and pepper.  Yum!

Biscuits and gravy - for the gravy just cook about a 1/2 lb of ground pork sausage until no longer pink and drain grease, then add in about 3 cups of cream and stir in flour a little at a time until it reaches desired consistency (some like it thick, some like it runny).  I think I used about 5 tbsp of flour for ours.  Salt and pepper to taste (I threw in a tiny bit of cayenne pepper for a little extra kick) and serve over biscuits:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt , and cream of tartar.  Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add milk all at once.  Using a fork, stir just until mixture is moistened.

Drop dough into 12 mounds onto a greased baking sheet (we used parchment paper) and bake for 10-14 minutes.  Serve warm.


Ah this was delicious, and VERY filling.  Probably not the healthiest of meals, but I think it's okay to splurge every great once in a while.  And now you have lots of yummy ideas for breakfast!  And I have lots of leftovers...

Enjoy!

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

60 degrees in February can only mean one thing: go to the park!  Harlee napped most of the time while I was babysitting (we played with toys before that), so when Jami and Justin got home, we all walked to the park!  Harlee had so much fun swinging and going down the slide, and so did the rest of us.

After some laughs and smiles at the park, we walked back to the house where Jami made our dinner.  I entertained Harlee as he sat in his little walker.  I can’t tell you how preparing the chicken was since I had no part in it, but I can tell you it seemed pretty easy and it was really delicious.  It seemed similar to the blackened salmon: rub the chicken and put in a hot pan of oil and cook until done.  And flip it, of course.  It was a bit spicy, but if you don’t like spice, that’s probably easy enough to leave out.

 

Harlee even enjoyed some of our dinner.  Not the chicken or the rice, but he did chew on some broccoli and bananas.  He seemed to enjoy them.  

 

Here’s the recipe:

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

   taken from allrecipes.com

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust this to your spice preference)

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons garlic powder

3 tablespoons lime juice

In a small bowl, mix together salt, black pepper, cayenne, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and parsley. Sprinkle spice mixture generously on both sides of chicken breasts.

Heat butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 6 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons garlic powder and lime juice. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently to coat evenly with sauce.

    *Side note: this sauce tastes delicious mixed with white rice, which we served with the chicken.  Yum!