Manic Monday

If you could completely redecorate any room in your house at no expense to you, what room would you choose? The master bedroom. Every other room in the house is pretty much done. I absolutely love West Elm or Pottery Barn. One day we will get to it. It definitely always seems like our home is a work in progress.

Which hour of the day do you feel goes the slowest? That moment just before my alarm clock goes off....I wish kids came with a snooze button. You know, just bop them on the head and they go back to sleep for nine more minutes! Yeah, wishful thinking...I know.

If your birthday could be in a different month of the year, when would you have it? Anytime during the school year. I never got to bring cupcakes in for my classmates since my birthday is in the summer. I did have one teacher that did half-birthdays! I would totally bring my chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!

Fleur-de-Lisa hosts the original Manic Monday here

Thursday 13+ : Coconut Curry Chicken soup

Okay, this has more than thirteen ingredients....which that alone would normally make me shy away from this. But it really was as good as a coconut chicken soup I have had in a Thai restaurant! I am so glad we have leftovers!

Ingredients

4 cups water
3 cups fresh spinach leaves
1/2 pound snow peas, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
1 (5 3/4-ounce) package pad thai noodles (wide rice stick noodles) **I think I used the wrong noodles**
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
2 teaspoons red curry paste ***used sriracha hot sauce instead***
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast (about 1 pound)
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons fish sauce **Did not use since apparently this is an item not to be found in KY***
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 small hot red chiles, seeded and chopped, or 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
7 lime wedges


Preparation

1. Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add spinach and peas to pan; cook for 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan with a slotted spoon; place in a large bowl. Add noodles to pan; cook 3 minutes. Drain; add noodles to spinach mixture in bowl.

2. Heat canola oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and the next 5 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth to pan, and bring to a boil. Add coconut milk to pan; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken, onions, sugar, and fish sauce to pan; cook for 2 minutes. Pour chicken mixture over noodle mixture in bowl. Stir in cilantro and chiles. Serve with lime wedges.

printable recipe from Cooking Light

Yield 7 servings (serving size: 2 cups soup and 1 lime wedge)

Happy Thursday, y'all! Want to play: the new thursday-13

No Soup for You

I have a confession to make. I love soup. I was so ready for "soup" weather I was making grilled cheese and tomato soup in September. I should have probably waited until November or so.

Maybe I should have some soup criteria for next year:

* must be no warmer than 60 degrees for so many days in a row

* must be willing to make my own bread to dip because I love to dip bread as much as I love the soup.

* maybe throw in a frosty night or two

In any case, I love soup. Tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, beef stew are a few of my favorites. I have had a pear soup at a wine dinner that was delicious! I have never seen a recipe for one since. But Google is my friend, maybe I'll hunt one down.

So tonight, when we were having this peppered beef soup in asiago cheese bread bowls, I knew I had to snap a few pics. This recipe was from Southern Living, so you know it was good! Now that my belly is all warm and happy, I need to go rest!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Muffin Monday....or pastry Wednesday ..take your pick

Muffin Monday was a day late this week. We had Husband's big dawg bosses over for dinner on Monday night. So there was no way I was even going to try to do too much in one day.

Will received a Ratatouille game for his Leapster for Christmas. One of the things they do on the game is put together food items to make various recipes. One of the things they can make is eclairs. Or 'd'clairs' as Will likes to call them. So this week the kids kept saying they wanted to make eclairs for muffin Monday.

We make muffins because I know we can prep, mix and bake....and be done in an HOUR. But he was bent on making them. Okay, okay, put my grouchy mommy attitude away for a bit.

I have NEVER made pastries in my life. But I can follow a recipe. I got out my trusty Better Homes and Garden cookbook. Yeah, yeah yeah. we have water, butter, sugar, flour....let's get on it.

It was actually fairly easy. I am very reluctant to let them cook around the stove, so they really just handed me stuff. They did get to break the eggs into a cup to mix in...but I pretty much made these.

We put a chocolate pudding filling in the inside. Will has issues with texture and did not like the filling in them at all. So, a handful were just pastry with the chocolate glaze.

Overall, very good, I would even say excellent, but very labor intensive. Make pastry....make pudding filling (the bake on the stove kind!!) and then the chocolate glaze.

Ingredients
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup all-purpose
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour or all-purpose
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to boiling. Add both flours all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a spoon after each addition.

2. Drop dough using a 2-tablespoon-capacity ice cream or cookie scoop or by heaping tablespoonsful 3 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a deep golden color and puffs are firm. Transfer puffs to a wire rack; cool completely.

3. Cut puffs in half; if necessary, remove soft dough from inside. Spoon in filling. Replace tops. Sift powdered sugar over tops.

Makes 10 cream puffs.

Eclairs: Prepare as above, except spoon dough into a heavy resealable plastic bag. Snip a bottom corner to make a 1/2-inch opening. Pipe 20 to 22 strips of dough (about 4 inches long) 3 inches apart onto two baking sheets that have been lightly greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes or until deep golden and firm. Cool and split, as in Steps 2 and 3. Fill eclairs as with the cream puffs. Makes 20 to 22 eclairs.

Sweet weekend

We made fudge this afternoon for our neighbors and the kids' preschool teachers. This is my aunt Rose Mary's recipe. The recipe calls for Milnot. The first time made it, I had to call my mom from the grocery store to see what Milnot was. Who knew it was a brand of evaporated milk? I sure didn't. They didn't have that brand, but it turned out well. This really is a super easy recipe. I would even say that it is a tried and true, not grainy fudge. You don't even have to use a candy thermometer. My aunt even has on the recipe card, "For a delightful change, use butterscotch chips." Here is the recipe if you want to try it. It would be great for a cookie exchange because you can easily double the recipe.

3 c. sugar
1 c. Milnot (evaporated milk
)3/4 stick margarine *I use butter*
1 7oz. jar of marshmallow cream
12 oz package of chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts (pecans)

I give you this wonderful recipe, but only if you promise to pronounce the word "pecan....like this: pea-can...Pinky swear...okay! Mix sugar, evaporated milk, and margarine in a huge pot. Boil for five minutes, stirring continuously. Remove from heat, stir in marshmallow cream and chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Stir in PEA-CANS...(Did you say pecans or pea-cans? Pour into a buttered 9x9 pan. Makes 2.5 pounds.

Note: do not try to make this when there is 90% humidity....it takes forever to set. This note was on my card from when we made these in in TX last winter.

Pancake Sundays.....

Back to the days when Husband and I were dating, we would have pancakes on Sunday. We used to sleep in, then go to IHOP in big L'town, America. It was something easy and we fell into a routine. Then we had two kids in two years, and all that sleeping in and going out for breakfast came to a screeching halt.

So we started a new family tradition.....on Saturdays Husband gets to sleep in and I get up at the a$$ crack of dawn with the kids. (please tell me at what age they start sleeping in??) Then on Sunday I get to sleep in ...Husband gets up and makes pancakes and sausage with the kids.

During TDY's (Army speak= short trip away from your family, usually a week or so), I always try to keep things as close to our normal routines. Of course this morning, I did this pancake tradition but with a little twist.

I started storing all the seasonal things like Santa pancake molds, Christmas dishes, etc with all the holiday storage. Note to self: do a post on how I organized these things...it makes it so easy this year. This weekend we put the tree up, decorated the fireplace, and little touches of Christmas all through the house.

Anyhow, this morning, I managed to do the whole thing one more time without Husband....I made the cutest little pancakes in the shapes of Santa, stockings, sleds, and a snowman. I am not that much a pancake eater anymore, but I did get in my token cup of coffee with my new Chocolate mocha creamer. Yes, I like girlie coffee.

Happy Sunday, y'all

PS....Boomer Sooner....any time OU beats OSU it is a good weekend!

Weekend Update

We had a great fall weekend. Saturday morning I was unloading all the junk from the back of my car so I could load with a more junk from my errands. As I was stacking the soccer chairs, Husband made a comment about being a soccer mom.......ooops.....SOCCER! Will had his final soccer game that morning. After a quick glance at the clock, we realized we had 45 minutes to get over there. The kids were still in jammies. (It was going to be a jammie day after all.) While Husband showered, I loaded the soccer stuff back in the car. I filled water bottles and got the kids dressed. Whew hoo, we made it.

During the game, he scored a goal. He was so cute. He glanced at us on the sidelines and did a little snap. The he pointed at us with the biggest grin on his face. It is a wonder these shots turned out, I was laughing so hard.

Once the game was over, he got a trophy. He has been carrying that thing around all weekend. He wanted to sleep with it, but I was afraid he would poke his eye out!

That afternoon we carved pumpkins. Each of the kids drew a face on a piece of paper. Husband did the carving. I just can't imagine letting a 4 and 5 year old use a knife. I did the cute little flower one. It is one of the few times I use a drill.

Now, I am toasting the seeds....pepitas if you call them that. A little olive oil, a little salt....bake at 250 degrees for an hour or so. Yummy! I have seen a couple of recipes that made sweet ones with cinnamon and sugar. I have never had them that way. I did save a few to try that way though.

Overall, the weekend was great...I even got to sleep late today. That is a great weekend!

Happy Sunday, y'all!

Manic and Muffin Monday.....lemon ricotta muffins

Manic Monday brought to us by the talented Fleur-de-Lisa

What is the sexiest part of the body? I do like a nice booty.

If you kissed a frog, who would you like it to turn into? already kissed my share of toads......I got my prince about 10 1/2 years ago.

What do you have stuck up on your refrigerator right now? I can only stick stuff on the side since it is stainless, but I have my calendar and two birthday invitations for the same freakin' weekend.




Muffin Monday.....lemon ricotta muffins, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

and a little Muffin Monday; Lemon ricotta biscuits.....they were yuumy-licious, as Livi would say!

Happy Monday!

cheers!

cheers!, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

We had a great Christmas.....how about you? The kids got us up way before the sun came up. I had a "make ahead" breakfast casserole in the fridge....so I just popped it in the oven. They had a great time finding stuff in their stockings. I don't think that they even realized there was stuff under the tree. It is in the office, so we had to go to another room!

We just kind of vegged around all day. We even all took naps!

For dinner Husband grilled the steaks . He was kind of worried since he hadn't used it the last year. I like my steaks medium with a teeny tiny thin line of pink. He likes his just barely thrown on the grill. He did have to take them back out for a bit! But overall, there were awesome.

We had this wine that Husband's parents brought back from their tour of Europe this summer. It is a vintage of Husband's birth. We were going to save it for out 10th anniversary and his birthday....but he was still gone. So we thought Christmas was a better time to have it. I have not ever had a wine this old. It was really good with much 'deeper' taste than my normal $10-20 bottles!

Have you started packing up the Christmas decorations yet? I have at least gotten all the wrapping stuff put away!

Muffin Monday......blond brownies

Muffin Monday......blond brownies, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Oh my ......these were simply delicious.

Just a little background on Muffin Monday: I am a diligent follower of Flylady. Just as Mike left in October 2006, Flylady issued a challenge to get rid of cookbook clutter. I had narrowed things down once before, but wondered if I could really get rid of anymore cookbooks. So I told myself that if didn't use a cookbook for at least three recipes I would get rid of it. I would put the recipes I used it for on cards or in my recipe notebook.....and out it goes.

There were a couple of cookbooks that were very sentimental but I only used one or two recipes in it....so I looked through the muffin recipes thinking I could make one or two and get to keep that cookbook. Kind of like bargaining with myself.

Muffins are actually pretty easy to make with the kids....who were only 2 and 3 at the time! Livi could measure the dry stuff. Will could do the wet stuff......wallahh, mix, scoop and bake. We could be done in 45 minutes from start to finish.

Also since we used mini muffins, they only take 10-13 minutes to bake. We had lots and lots of muffins.....so we started to share with out neighbors. We have tried sweet, savory, spicy, and every flavor in between.

Now we are running out of muffin recipes. This month in Better Homes and Gardens, I saw a recipe for Cranberry Blondies with Cinnamon Whipped Cream. They were awesome! It said to let them cool for an hour...well, that didn't happen. But today I tried a little piece, and it was better today. I guess we should have waited.

Happy Tuesday.....

edited to add recipe: (my notes in red)

Nonstick cooking spray

1/2 cup buttered, softened (leave it out on the counter for a few hours prior to baking...makes it really easy to mix with the sugars)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour (I use half wheat and half all-purpose flour.)

1/2 dried cranberries

1/2 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate (I just used white chocolate chips, since I couldn't find a bar.)

1 cup fresh cranberries

1 recipe Cinnamon Whipped Cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 11x7x1 1/2 inch or 9x9x2 baking pan with foil; coat foil with cooking spray and and set aside.

2. In large mixing bowl beat butter with wire whisk or electric mixer until softened. Beat in sugars. baking powder, soda, and salt. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. On low speed, beat in flour.

3. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate. Spread batter in pan. Sprinkle with fresh cranberries; press in lightly with spatula. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. (I didn't read the part about pressing the cranberries, so I just mixed them in the batter...which is VERY thick. They turned out fine.)

4. Cool on wire rack for one hour. Lift with foil to remove from pan. Cut into bars. Serve with Cinnamon whipped cream. (Did NOT cool for an hour....still turned out fine, though the whipped cream did melt a bit)

Makes 12 bars

cinnamon whipped cream

In a chilled mixing bowl combine 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1/4 t. cinnamon, beat with electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. (Or just use Cool whip and cinnamon)...

Will's no bake cookies

Will's no bake cookies, originally uploaded by tommiea1.

Okay, can i just say I love this little thingy on Flickr....? It came in handy again tonight when I wanted to do a sequence with Will's cookie pics.

The time change is wrecking havoc on Livi's schedule. She asked to lay down at preschool this morning. I pick them up at at 12:30....last week she was napping at this time. She literally crashed as soon as I laid her down on her bed.

So Will and I got to make his cookies. Normally I am so paranoid about letting him eat raw cookie dough. I guess somewhere along the years someone convinced me if I ever ate cookie dough with raw eggs I would die some unimaginable death. Since this is a no-egg recipe....he got to lick away.

Sad to say by dinner time they didn't harden up like they normally do. I am sure the neighbors don't want gooyey no bake cookies. Oh well, the kids still ate them!

ps, just a little note on that vanilla in the first picture. My friend Andrena got that for me years ago when she went to Mexico. That was several moves ago....since the military doesn't always move open spices and liquids like that, we have packed it up with other kitchen essentials and moved it in our personal vehicle. It's that good!

9.19 Midday Madness

I am still hanging in there with the My America at Home assignments...today's assignment is Midday madness: "Who's home? Come one, come all. Show us your dashing kids, lovely friends or even that one strange black-crowned heron who just built a nest in your front yard maple tree."

Well, the midday is actually pretty calm....I do have a Midday map posted in the kids' bathroom....but all it is is: Put lunchbox away. Use the potty. Take a nap. Have a snack.

Will gave up naps last year. But he still does a quiet time in his room. Or once Livi is sleep he can do a little bit of computer time. He loves Noggin's website and can play it alone. Livi is usually worn out after being at school all morning. But there are just some days where she is too wound up to fall asleep. I dread these days.....it means a breakdown about four o'clock. The kind of break down where she throws herself down on the floor like her best friend just left. These are the days I dare not take them out in public for fear of massive meltdowns. So after listening to her play in her room for about an hour, I let her get up.

I had some bananas ....b-a-n-a-n-a-ans....getting way too ripe on the counter. After seeing this delicious bread recipe at Study of Schoolbooks & Shoes: This bread is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s , I knew I had a plan for this afternoon.... so I got Livi up. We usually make muffins on Monday (Muffin Mondays)...but since Livi was sick I didn't want to bake something she couldn't eat.

Will is able to do the paddles on the mixer. He figured out how to line up the little notches. (Yes, he washed his hands!!) No little four-year old's germs were mixed in...

Livi can put the bananas in a zip lock bag and mash them.

This is a photo challenge I saw...something about focusing on the foreground and blurring the back. The recipe posted at Libby's is for a bread made into a loaf. We make mini muffins just because it takes a mere 15 minutes.

Livi is patiently waiting for them to be done. They spread a bit and looked like mutant mushrooms, but they tasted wonderful!!! Very light and fluffy...Note to self: make it in a loaf man and NOT mini muffins.

So that was our Midday madness for today.....yes, we even had the predicted meltdown....around 4 PM....so we had an early dinner, and early to bed.

happy wednesday y'all