Posts Tagged ‘Good eats’
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The weather has gotten beautiful around here. We’ve had all our windows open for the last week and our temperatures haven’t gotten above 75. Fall is on it’s way and I can’t wait!
We’re hosting our first college football game BBQ today, so I’ve been on the prowl for some yummy football appropriate desserts to make. I’ve come across a few that I’m gonna give a try:
Iowa Hawkeye Cupcakes – Clarissa at Next Generation Housewife
Chocolate Rice Crispy Footballs {what’s there not to like about that?!} – Marie at Make and Takes
And since the weather is becoming to fall-y, I loved reading this post:
Ten Fun Family Activities for Fall – Blissfully Domestic
Last {but not least} I read a really great post about mothering that I had to pass along:
An Interview With One of My Favorite Ladies – Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking
Check out Mandi at It’s Come 2 This for more Saturday Stumbles.
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We had an amazing Labor Day weekend. While it was all happening, I couldn’t tell you what made it so great {maybe that the girls slept in, or that we had an extra family day}. But looking back now, I can tell you the top ten highlights from the last three days:
1. The Weather – Nothing puts me in a better mood than cool{er} weather. I am not a fan of summer weather. So each year when fall begins to cool things down, I am like a walking musical. It’s nothing but sunshine and roses {or is that cool breezes and fall leaves?}.
2. Hosting a BBQ – Jonathan and I decided to host a BBQ on Friday night. I emailed some friends and before I knew it, there were 15 adults and 12 kids partying in our backyard. Total bliss.
3. Apple Orchard Visit – There is a local orchard that I just love. Since the weather was so perfect, we decided to spend Saturday morning at the orchard. Hannah was more than thrilled with the all-you-can-eat apple policy.
4. Caramel Apples – You can’t visit an apple orchard without buying a caramel apple. Yumminess on a stick.
5. Pedicure – I went for pedicures with Leah and Rachel. It was my first time going and a great girls time out.
6. Family Bike Ride – Saturday evening we decided to ride into Iowa City for dinner. We biked about 4 miles to The Mill and had their Big Nachos. On the way home we stopped by my former boss’s house {who we’ve stayed in contact with since Julia was born} and enjoyed a lovely chat.
7. Watching The Family Stone – Have you seen The Family Stone with Sarah Jessica Parker and Luke Wilson? If not, it is such a cute movie {especially around the holidays}.
8. Coffee on the Porch – We hosted house church on Sunday and sat on the porch talking about God’s awesomeness and drinking coffee. Beautiful.
9. Playtime at the Mall – Monday morning we spent family time at the play gym in the mall. Jonathan bought me my first pumpkin spice latte of the season. The girls enjoyed running around crazy, while Jon got a little work done.
10. Attending a BBQ – We started the weekend off with good food and good friends, so what better than to end the weekend with good food and good friends. There were a few more adults and kids this time around and much fun was had by all.
I don’t recall Labor Day being this much fun, but I’m hoping it’s a tread for the future.
What about you? How was your Labor Day weekend?
Visit Oh Amanda for more Top Ten Tuesday.
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{Be sure to check out my Eco Natural Soap giveaway!}
I love food. I’ve never been a salad-on-a-date kinda girl. Give me steak. Give me pizza. Give me real food. I stumbled some posts this week with recipes of foods I just have to make. Seriously, it took all my will power not to make them the moment I read them!
Healthy lemon bars – Nothing says fall quite like baking. Can’t wait to give these bars from Lindsay at Passionate Homemaking. {I’m drooling on myself as I type.}
Sushi – I made sushi once in college at some dorm activity. It did not go well. But, Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking gives such amazingly simple steps for making sushi that I’m going to give it another go. Do I hear sushi party at the Windhams?!
Steak, twice baked potatoes and roasted eggplant – Emily at The Adventures of Miss Mommy wrote this really great post about having dates with your mate. She shared tips on setting up a dating coop and was even so kind as to share her date night meal – Steak, twice baked potatoes and roasted eggplant. Talk about a yummy dinner! Especially without kids. 😉
Be sure to visit Mandi at It’s Come 2 This for more Saturday Stumbles.
Chicken {Curry} Soup for the Soul
Posted on: August 20, 2010
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As some of you might have read from my twitter update, I made Chicken Curry Soup this week. It was a first attempt {and one of Jonathan’s favorite soups ever} so I was a little weary of how things might turn out. Because of that, I didn’t take step-by-step pictures like I have before. However, I did get the finished product:
Oh man, this stuff was good. It was spicy and filling and perfectly curry. Yum. I had read several different recipes in order to pick and choose as I needed {if we didn’t have an ingredient on hand or if I thought another ingredient sounded better}. Here’s what I did:
Chicken Curry Soup
1 pound of cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
2 quarts of chicken broth {you could do half broth/half water}
1 onion chopped
several small potatoes, cut into quarters
2 carrots, cut {or baby carrots equivalent to large ones}
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
4 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon ginger
salt to taste
Saute the onion and chicken {if chicken isn’t cooked} until chicken is cooked and onion is translucent. Add onion, chicken, carrots, curry powder, ginger and salt to broth/water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add potatoes, mushrooms and coconut milk. Cook until potatoes are done {about 20 minutes}.
This was such a basic recipe. There are several more things I could have added and plan to the next go-round. But even without all the bells and whistles of a restaurant curry soup, it still tasted really great {even the next day for lunch!}. Two things I would change: 1. Not forgetting to add salt to my broth {again}; 2. cut down on the broth/water. Jonathan and I both agreed that it was too watery and that it would have been thicker if there was a better broth to milk ratio. Just little tidbits to tuck away for this fall when we start making soups several times a week.
For now: Bon Appetit!
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Last year we celebrated Christmas in July as a family {you know, because I’m obsessed with Christmas}. This year, we’ve taken it a step further and celebrated with our church. Well, the church might not have known we were celebrating, but I did.
Our house church meets on Sunday mornings. Before the actual meeting, we have a time of fellowship over coffee and muffins/bread. Today was our family’s turn to provide the food. So, I made pumpkin bread with a cream cheese glaze and gave all the kids a “stocking” with goodies.
The kids were pretty pleased with their stocking {or at least the treats inside}. We didn’t sing any carols, because Jon wasn’t around this morning {been working crazy busy hours for a site launch}. But, I have been playing Christmas carols around the house and we’re having roasted chicken and all the fixins’ for dinner. Yum-O!
Yeast rolls 101
Posted on: July 21, 2010
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After spending time off and on all day yesterday making my yeast rolls, I’d say they were a success {for my first time at least}.
They didn’t turn out as soft as I imagined. Once I got to the point of punching down the risen dough, it was really, really gooey so I added more flour to make it easier to handle. Perhaps I added too much? Or let it rise too long? Or even baked them too much? Not completely sure what happened, but the outside was harder and more dense, the inside was a little softer but not exactly what I like in my dinner rolls.
In the end, it was a good first try. I’m giving it another go today in hopes of learning something new. Wish me luck!
Proofing yeast for the baking idiot
Posted on: July 20, 2010
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You might recall my post about being scared to use yeast. Well, it’s only taken 5 months for me finally get over my irrational fear and use it! I currently have dinner rolls rising {at least I hope they’re rising…}.
First off, I was completely miffed by the idea of proofing my yeast. Maybe it’s because I have no clue what I’m doing, but I kept thinking “So, if I proof the yeast and it’s active, then what? What do I do with the stuff in the cup? How to I know that putting the yeast straight into the mixture won’t kill it?” Turns out, you use the yeast you proof. Of course it would be that simple. Duh…
Here’s a simple way to proof your yeast:
Measure 1/2 cup of water into a coffee mug.
Measure 1 tablespoon sugar into a small bowl.
Measure 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast {or one packet} into a small bowl.
1. Heat water in microwave until temperature is about 100 degrees {which was 12 seconds in my microwave}.
2. Add sugar. Stir until dissolved.
3. Add yeast, stir {won’t dissolve fully} and set for 5-10 minutes.
If your yeast looks like this:
Then you’ve done it right and your yeast is active. Now, apparently {I say apparently, because I still don’t know the final outcome of my rolls} you can just add this mixture into your recipe. You will need to subtract 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast from the original recipe.
If my rolls turn out {and even if they don’t} I’ll make sure to let you know all about it!
Mouth watering Poppy Seed Chicken
Posted on: July 13, 2010
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My dear readers, you are in for a special treat. I’ve decided to share my all time favorite family recipe with you: Poppy Seed Chicken. {You know it’s a fabulous recipe when it’s featured in Southern Living.} My recipe varies slightly from SL so if you want the exact “mama’s way” recipe, you’ll need to follow theirs. Otherwise, I’ll give you mine.
What you need:
2-3 cups chicken, cut up
1 can cream of chicken {or cream of mushroom}
1 8 oz sour cream
1/2 roll Ritz crackers
2-3 tablespoons poppy seeds
Boil chicken until complete. I typically use boneless, skinless chicken breast, but finding cheap-ish free range chicken breast just isn’t easy. So, this go round I opted for a variation of bone-in breast and thighs that are free-range. If you do that, you’ll need to boil, then peel off the skin and de-bone.
Mix together chicken, cream soup, poppy seeds and sour cream:
Wanna know a secret? I use two cans of cream soup – one cream of chicken and one cream of mushroom. Why? Helps make the dish go further.
Wanna know an even crazier secret? This time I used plain yogurt instead of sour cream:
I had everything ready to go for making dinner, opened the refrigerator to grab the sour cream and…. we had no sour cream. Perfect. I went out on a limb and tossed in plain yogurt {since I have always heard you could substitute it for sour cream}. In the end, it had a slightly different taste, but if you had never had poppy seed chicken before, I doubt you’d notice the difference.
Put your mix in a cooking dish and spread with chopped up Ritz crackers and poppy seeds.
Here’s the end result:
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
Our standard poppy seed dish is served with potatoes, veggies and bread. You can make the dish ahead of time {morning of or night before} and leave it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook it. It’s an easy dish that is a wonderfully yummy comfort food!
She ain’t no chikin
Posted on: July 10, 2010
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Yesterday a herd {haha!} of us celebrated Chick-fil-A’s Cow Appreciation Day. Chick-fil-A just so happens to be one of my favorite places to eat. Ever. And I do recall once saying that if Iowa City ever got a Chick-fil-A I would be willing to live here for forever. They came. And I’m staying true to my word.
Being the totally awesome mama that I am, I walked out leaving our camera on the countertop. Yep. I am so smart. But thankfully Leah caught the above photo and a few others, like this one:
Clearly, Julia was under-dressed. This was our first “CAD” so I didn’t realize just how stiff the competition was going to be. But I’ll be prepared next year, don’t you worry. I might even get myself something like this.
Going Green – What did I just eat?!
Posted on: June 28, 2010
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Most Americans don’t like talking about the meats we eat. We prefer to not associate our chicken sandwich with having ever been a chicken. I’m in that same category. I love meat. I love burgers, steaks and roasts. But, I love animals. Yet, even though I love looking at cows in the pasture, I don’t need to see that cow in between pasture and my plate. For a while I’ve flirted with the idea of being vegetarian, but my love of steaks trumped my love of cows.
Then I read The Compassionate Carnivore by Catherine Friend. Now, compassionate and carnivore might prove to be an oxymoron, but for this meat loving gal I didn’t think so. Friend talks about how it’s not wrong to eat meat – but that we need to consider where our meat comes from and how it gets to us. She places strong emphasis on buying local meats that are free range and “happy”. Granted, no animal is happy about being slaughtered for food, but the idea that you can choose for your meat to be raised and slaughtered in a caring environment.
Here’s what we have done to be more compassionate carnivores:
1. Buy local meats – We bought a quarter buffalo about 2 months ago. We liked the farmer’s hands-off approach to raising the herds and his emphasis on having them killed in-field rather than undergo stress in transit to a abattoir. I’d suggest this site for more information: Eat Wild
2. Eat vegetarian when we eat out – Ok, this one is hit or miss. I make every effort to eat vegetarian when I can’t ensure that the animal was free range, but we’ve also let it slide a few times. I’m ok with that, since this is a slow process and is taking time to adapt I don’t expect us to give up old habits that quickly.
3. Read, read, read – The more you know, the better decisions you’ll make. Get a good understand of how animals are suppose to be raised {that chickens actually aren’t vegetarians} so that you can make more informed choices for yourself and family.
4. Practice grace – Seems odd to talk about giving grace to others because of your food choices. But you’d be surprised out how black and white this issue can become. We said early on, we aren’t going to choose our self-made diet over loving people. Which means – you serve it, we’ll eat it. If given the choice, we’d request our preferences. But, if someone has gone out of their way to prepare me a meal, I will consume it with delight.
What about you? How are ways that you practice being a compassionate carnivore?
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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