Homemade marshmallows

My first plate of homemade marshmallows

I haven't posted lately because I just feel uninspired about food right now.  Our dinners have become a dull rotation and our lunches have been there for quite some time.  Whenever I feel that I have an awesome idea or recipe to mix things up, my family isn't game, turning up their noses and asking for cheeseburgers or pizza.

I'm so frustrated because this is the time of the year that I get most excited about food.  Everything is so fresh and tastes amazing.  I love seeing the vibrant colors on our plates and the thrill of buying in season locally.  Our garden is still looking great and it's in our schedule to stake our tomatoes this weekend.  I should be thrilled about food right now, but I'm just not.  We are in a rut of bland.

Here's my confession - I actually sent hot dogs, cheddar cheese, and ketchup in the boys lunches this week. I honestly felt like I was serving them cigarettes and whiskey, I felt so guilty.  I just didn't have it in me to send yet another peanut butter and jelly.  Any suggestions to help with this rut are greatly appreciated!

Still feeling the guilt, I mixed it up the following day with tortillas filled with peanut butter and sliced bananas.  I am assuming that they went over well, or the sitter's dog really liked them, because they didn't come back in their lunchboxes.  Today I made an effort again by sending what I called "deconstructed s'mores".  I chopped up some homemade marshmallows and mixed them with Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks and organic chocolate chips.  Although I haven't gotten any feedback yet, I know that William will be very excited when he sees chocolate AND marshmallows.

Marshmallows are so easy to make if you have an electric mixer.  And they are so much better than the store bought.  Just another way that I avoid HFCS (the devil).  Here is my no fail recipe.  Enjoy!

Homemade Marshmallows

Makes 24

Ingredients:
Vegetable oil, for brushing
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin (3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons)
3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Directions:
1.  Brush a 9 x 13 inch glass pan with oil.  Line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang over the sides.  Brush parchment with oil.  Set aside.
2.  Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 cup water into a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Cook, without stirring, until mixture registers 238 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 9 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, put 3/4 cup cold water into a bowl of an electric mixer.  Sprinkle with gelatin.  Let soften 5 minutes.
4.  Attach bowl with gelatin to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  With mixture on low speed, beat hot syrup into gelatin mixture.  Gradually raise speed to high; beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes.  Beat in vanilla.  Pour into prepared dish and smooth with an offset spatula.  Set aside, uncovered, until firm, about 3 hours.
5.  Sift 1 cup confectioners sugar onto a work surface.  Unmold marshmallows onto the work surface.  Remove parchment.  Lightly brush sharp knife with powdered sugar then cut marshmallows into 2-inch squares.  Sift remaining 1/2 cup confectioners sugar into a small bowl and roll each marshmallow into sugar to coat.  Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Original recipe adapted from marthastewart.com.

Homemade popsicles

It finally feels like summer has arrived in Ohio. I love this weather. I look forward to it every year and can't wait until I can comfortably wear maxi dresses, flip flops, and unwind on our balcony. I took a leap of faith this week and switched out all of the boys winter clothes to summer. Jason even installed one of the window air conditioning units. Summer is on it's way and I refuse to believe differently.

Last weekend we worked in our yard trying to clean it up and make it a suitable play area for the boys. We finally set up our sandbox and added a slide, in addition to the regular maintenance of mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, etc. Now we can let them loose for some fun.

Days like this always give me a craving for something sweet and cold. Ice cream is usually my go to, but since it's an after dinner treat, I wanted to avoid a bedtime sugar rush. I felt like I found the perfect solution when I stumbled upon some adorable monster popsicle molds - homemade popsicles.

 

Like smoothies, this isn't really a recipe. Whatever you have on hand that tastes good together is the recipe. The popsicles pictured are made with almond milk, banana, frozen berries, mango juice, smoothie packet, and chia seeds. Everything blended together in the Ninja, then pour into the molds, and freeze. Both boys devoured them.  The next night they asked for another.  

Besides these popsicles having tons of nutritional value, the best part is that we didn't notice a sugar rush before bed. They easily went through our nighttime routine and off to sleep.

Popsicle molds are Monster popsicle molds by Joie. I found these at TJ Maxx for $5.99. They do not indicate on the box if they are BPA free, so I contacted customer service and was informed that they are BPA free. Initially, I was a little worried about Collin handling it, but these are wonderful for little hands. I love these, my boys love these, they're so cute and fun! This is my opinion and I have not been compensated by Joie or any of it's affiliates.

Peanut butter chocolate chip muffins

I'm not sure which I love more, the marriage of peanut butter and chocolate or the marriage of caramel and chocolate.  Both combinations are heaven to me.  I also love making muffins.  They are quick and simple and perfect for freezing and packing in little one's lunches.  When I found these peanut butter chocolate chip muffins on Pinterest, I just knew that I would be baking in the near future.

I realized that I had everything on hand already, so I whipped up a batch.  These muffins did not disappoint.  My partner in crime at work, Allison, was just as smitten as me after her first taste.  I feared that they would be more of a cupcake than a muffin, but they really are a more of a muffin and the not too sweet with the chunks of chocolate and just yum!

Here it is:
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 T butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup peanut butter (chunky, creamy, whatever you prefer)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used huge chunks, the original recipe called for mini, so again, personal preference)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar.
In the bowl of your mixer (or another large bowl) combine butter, peanut butter, eggs, and milk until smooth.  The peanut butter may remain a little clumpy and that's ok.  Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture until just combined (you do not want to beat muffin batter too much).  Fold in chocolate chips.
Scoop batter into paper lined muffin tins filling about 3/4 full.  Bake for 17 - 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I couldn't help myself and had to try one right out of the oven.  The melted chocolate and warm peanut butter was amazing.  Although warm and melty is my preference, Allison prefers them at room temperature and claims that they were even better the next day.  Enjoy!

Original recipe adapted from kaitlininthekitchen.com

Roasted turnips

Last Saturday I received an amazing turnip from my CSA share.  I love turnip greens and have a few go to recipes, but I've never had much luck with the turnip.  I cleaned and chopped it and put it in the fridge hoping that I would find a use for it.

I was sitting at work and then it hit me - roasted turnip.  Recently I've been roasting every vegetable possible, so I was excited to give the turnip a chance.  It didn't disappoint.  I thought that it was delicious.  And incredibly easy.

Turnip (mine was rather large)
Olive oil (enough to lightly coat turnip)
Rosemary (also from my CSA share)
Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss chopped turnip with olive oil, rosemary, and salt until turnip is lightly coated in olive oil.  I put all of the ingredients in a plastic bag and just gave it a good shake.  Roast turnips until tender and browned, start checking on them after about 30 minutes.  Try not to eat the entire pan at once.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from localfoods.about.com

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

I realized that in the long months on winter, we've been slipping on serving vegetables every single dinner. I always feel guilty when this stuff happens. It's not intentional, but I still feel like I am missing an opportunity to make my kids a bit healthier and introduce them to nature's yummy foods.

Last night I decided to break this trend and pulled out a bag of frozen green beans. Feeling more inspired than the usual steamed with butter, I found a recipe for Parmesan Roasted Green Beans. Yum, right? Super easy, too.

Parmesan Roasted Green Beans

Green beans
Olive oil
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place dry (since mine were frozen I patted them dry with a towel) green beans (ends removed) in a bowl. Add enough olive oil to just coat green beans and salt and pepper to taste. Spread on a baking sheet (as single layer as possible). Top with parmesan cheese (we love it, so ours got a pretty good coating). Place in oven for 15 - 20 minutes. Enjoy!

My boys (Jason included) each ate healthy servings. I've never seen them go after green beans like this. They've eaten them before, but not so willingly and happily. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the process and final result. I will take one next time and update this post. This will definitely become a regular in our house.

How do you get your kids to eat vegetables?

Chicken Parmesan

One of my favorite parts of recovery was all of the visitors. I had friends and family visiting, some that I haven't seen for years. I can't even describe how happy I was to hang with everyone.

Kate and I were friends during my college years. Never extremely close, but we would hang out one on one. When she moved to NC I was sad to see her go. We kept our relationship going enough to always be able to contact each other (you have to remember that this was long before facebook and other social networking sites), but would lose touch years at a time. Our relationship became much stronger when we started our families and would share our parenting triumphs and follies. It didn't take long to bond and become best friends over emails.

I finally got to visit with her when she came to Ohio after surgery. I was feeling pretty good at that point and was hopeful that we would be able to spend some time together cooking dinner and sharing a bottle of wine, which we always talked about in our emails. We took the opportunity and did just that.

After a brief discussion we decided on Chicken Parmesan. Delicious. Next was a quick trip to the grocery store and we were ready to cook.

Ingredients:
1 sweet onion
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus more for frying)
56 ounces whole peeled canned tomatoes
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
20 ounces stewed tomatoes
1 bunch basil
7 cloves garlic
1 1/2 pounds mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
1 bottle Pinot Noir red wine
3 pounds chicken (we used thighs, the original recipe recommended breasts)
Seasoning (oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.)
6 eggs
4 cups bread crumbs (we used homemade, the original recipe recommended Panko)
1 box spaghetti

Heat olive oil in a stock pot, medium high heat.
Dice onion. Add to heated oil, cook for 10 - 15 minutes. Soften onions without turning them brown.
Dice garlic cloves. Once onions turn opaque, add diced garlic.
Add tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup red wine. Add seasoning (we seasoned to taste using my Italian dressing seasoning and adding other spices as needed, the original recipe suggested 1 tablespoon Penzey's pasta sprinkle).
Slice mozzarella into thin slices. Whisk eggs in a Pyrex dish. Add seasoning (we used a healthy dash of my Italian dressing seasoning). Dip chicken in eggs. Coat chicken with breadcrumbs. Repeat until all chicken is finished. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and place in freezer.
Preheat oven to 400.
Start a boiled pot of water, heavily salted.
Using submersion blender, blend marinara sauce to desired thickness. Pour a layer of marinara on a baking sheet and sprinkle Parmesan on top.
Heat olive oil in large pan. When oil is hot, add breaded chicken. After about 10 minutes, once edges of the chicken start to brown, flip.
Add spaghetti to boiling water.
Layer the chicken on top of the marinara. Repeat cooking chicken and continue adding it to the marinara covered baking sheets. Give the chicken a thin coat of marinara on top. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on chicken. Layer mozzarella on top. Put in oven and set the timer for 12 minutes.
Slice some basil into thin slices (chiffenade).
Add finished cooked spaghetti to leftover marinara sauce.
Continue to check on chicken in oven. Once it is bubbling and the cheese is beginning to turn brown, it's finished.
Pour remainder of wine into glasses. Plate generous portions of spaghetti and chicken and sprinkle with basil. Enjoy!

Kate's admitted that she's always been a bit intimidated to make Chicken Parmesan. I've never made it. We both thought that this recipe was not only easy, but incredibly delicious. My boys ate a ton of it. She made it for her family shortly after she returned from Ohio with success (cooking and family enjoying). I haven't made it again, but plan to invite some family over for dinner soon and this will most likely be our entree.  Without further ado, treat yourself to this deliciousness!

As written, this recipe makes enough to feed an army. Recipe adapted from Diane's Chicken Parmesan.

Banana "ice cream"

Last Friday after looking undesirably at my to do list, I figured that my time would be better spent in the kitchen. I cleaned out the refrigerator, made chocolate chip cookies, and looked around for something else to do. I eyed the four remaining bananas and thought that I would try the banana "ice cream" recipe that I see on Pinterest so frequently.  Bonus that I get to use the new Ninja, yet again.

I'm not usually a fan of "mock" recipes. I don't mind swapping ingredients like vegetable oil for healthier options like coconut oil, but I still like my ice cream to be ice cream and cake to be cake, etc. I really didn't have high hopes for this "ice cream", but figured that it couldn't hurt to try.

The recipe is easy enough. The ingredients are four bananas, two tablespoons peanut butter, and two teaspoons cocoa powder. Pretty much the only part that takes any kind of work is slicing and freezing the bananas (single layer) for at least an hour. I usually freeze bananas whole once they are about to turn for muffins, bread, etc. I think that I am going to start slicing and freezing them in the future, though.

Anyway, once the bananas are frozen, combine with the peanut butter and cocoa powder and blend until smooth. I originally tried to use the single serve cup on the Ninja, but found that it was too much density and too little liquid. I had to use the larger blender attachment and the process went quickly after I switched. I had to pulse a few times to make sure that all of the lumps were out of the bananas. The final result was a texture very much like soft serve ice cream.

I put the finished product back into the freezer and saved until the boys were finished with dinner. Collin ate a ton during dinner and didn't have much interest in dessert. William ate two bowls of the "ice cream", though, and I know that he would have eaten more. It definitely wasn't ice cream, but it was still so good!

This is one of my favorite Pinterest recipes that I made to date. I feel like it really is no fail and I enjoyed it along with my kids. I also felt good about giving that to them as dessert. I think that it would be excellent with a few chocolate chips added.  The recipe as written above makes about four servings. I hope that your family enjoys it as much as we do!

Original recipe from: userealbutter.com

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

I had two predicaments.  The first was that Jason just bought a bag of apples that Collin promptly threw to the floor, so now I have an entire bag of badly bruised apples.  The second was that my beloved MIL accidentally picked up plain oatmeal packets instead of the flavored that my kids prefer.  I could only think of one solution - bake muffins.  I have to admit, it was a wonderful decision, so I am excited to share.

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins
Adapted from Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins at food.com

Muffins:
1 1/2 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned, I used quick)
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsweetened applesauce*
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 egg
(I also added some chia seeds to sneak in a bit more nutrition)

Topping:
1/4 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned, again I used quick)
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Heat oven to 400.  Line 12 medium muffin tins with paper cups.  Combine oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.  Add applesauce, milk, brown sugar, oil, and egg.  Mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Fill muffin cups almost full.

For topping combine ingredients.  Sprinkle evenly over batter.

Bake 20 - 22 minutes until deep golden brown.  Serve warm.

*I made applesauce.  I just peeled and diced the apples, added a bit of water, and simmered for 1-2 hours over low heat.  It was still a little chunkier than I prefer, so I hit it with my submersion blender.

These muffins are delicious.  I can't even explain the topping.  I tasted a bit before baking and was unimpressed, but after it caramelized and bonded with the oats, it is just amazing. 

Problems solved!

What's for dinner tonight

I originally found this recipe on Pinterest and weimmediately fell in love with it.  It isso, so delicious.  Initially the boyswere less than enthusiastic, but it is so good, I couldn’t help but make itonce in a while anyway.  To my surprise,tonight both boys were clean platers and William even asked for more twice!  

Do yourself a favor and make this as soon as possible.  Without further ado:

Garlic Pesto Chicken with Tomato Cream Penne

Marinade*:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil**
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried Italian style seasoning***
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and mix well.
*the recipe originally calls for ½ bottle of Lawry’s Herband Garlic marinade.  Of course, one ofthe first ingredients is HFCS, so I opted to make my own.  Original recipe: Garlic and Herb Marinade atallrecipes.com 
**I substituted olive oil
***I used a teaspoon of my Italian dressing seasoning 

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup pesto (luckily I have a family member that makes it,but if you aren’t quite as lucky I strongly suggest making your own)
8 ounces penne pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chicken broth
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup half and half

Cut chicken into one inch strips.  Make slits in chicken strips.  Marinate chicken in herb and garlic marinadeand ½ pesto overnight (or longer).

After the chicken is marinated:

Boil water to start noodles. Pour entire batch of chicken, marinade and all, into skillet and simmerover medium heat.  Cook chicken throughcompletely and the marinade will cook down.

Heat olive oil and cook garlic.  Once garlic becomes fragrant, add remaining pestoand chicken broth.  Simmer until broth ishalf cooked down.  Add tomato sauce andhalf and half.  Simmer an additional fiveminutes.  Toss pasta with sauce.

To serve – plate pasta and place chicken on top.

Recipe adapted from: Garlic Pesto Chicken with Tomato CreamPenne at http://cdargis.tumblr.com/post/18818836004/garlic-pesto-chicken-with-tomato-cream-penne 

Enjoy and you’re welcome!

Seasoning recipes

I know that I’ve referenced making my own seasoning mixesand I think that I’ve posted most of them. Just in case I haven’t, and for more convenience, here are the threeseasoning recipes that I use the most: 


Taco seasoning*:

1 tablespoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon paprika
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Original recipe: Taco Seasoning I at allrecipes.com 

Italian dressing:

1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 ½ teaspoons white sugar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
¼ teaspoon celery salt
2 teaspoons salt

To prepare dressing, whisk together ¼ cup white vinegar, 2/3cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons water, and 2 tablespoons of the mix.

Recipe adapted from: Italian Dressing Mix at allrecipes.com 

Ranch dressing:

1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dill weed
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon seasoned salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

Combine with buttermilk for dressing or sour cream and serveas dip.

Recipe adapted from: Dry Ranch Style Seasoning for Dip orDressing at allrecipes.com 

I add the ingredients into a mason jar and just give it agood shake.  If you prefer a much finerpowder just give it a spin in the Magic Bullet for a couple of seconds.  I usually quadruple the recipe and keep onhand.  The serving size (i.e. equivalenceto the store envelopes) is about 2 tablespoons.  

*I cut back significantly on the black pepper and crushedred pepper for the taco seasoning, but that’s a personal preference.  

Enjoy!

Homemade chicken stock

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am trying to make some simple everyday staples (at least in my household) from scratch. The first weekend I successfully made breadcrumbs. This week was supposed to be homemade pie crusts. I was looking forward to it, but the tried and true recipe suggested by a dear friend required a food processor. Since my cheap food processor quit on me, that will have to wait. Instead I decided to make my own chicken stock.

I ended up cooking three whole chickens (just baked them in the oven) for my freezer meals. After I carved them, I stuck anything remaining (including skin) with carrots, onions, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper. Actually, I just used the pot instead of my compost bin while I was chopping vegetables for some recipes. I just filled up the pot with enough water to cover everything and simmered about four hours. When it cooled down a bit, I strained the stock and refrigerated overnight. In the morning I was able to take a nice layer of fat off the top and was left with the delicious stock. 

About the straining…I don’t have a good strainer, so I just used our colander. It worked, but in the future I will definitely invest in a decent strainer to eliminate some of the pieces. For a first attempt it wasn’t terrible, but I would like it to be more of a clear stock that is sold commercially.

I used what I needed for my recipes and froze the remainder. Those baby food trays are coming in handy yet again! Now I have it premeasured in one ounce cubes and ready in the freezer. I did find that I needed to cut it with a bit of water for chicken noodle soup, but I was happy that I was able to stretch it even more.

I plan to start using my limp, not so fresh vegetables for vegetable stock. Although these would usually go in the compost, I still feel like I’m bringing new life to something that would normally just be disposed of. It’s so easy to throw into a big pot, add water, and simmer. 

Just like the breadcrumbs, the flavor is unbelievable compared to the prepackaged stock. Happy simmering!

Making breadcrumbs

I apologize for my lack of posts.  As we all know, the holiday season hasarrived which for me brings additional commitments and busier weekends.  Between shopping, wrapping, decorating, andgeneral cheer, I feel like the hours in each day have gotten even shorter.

My sweet littlest guy has decided to be just like his bigbrother and give up all baby food.  Ihave quite the stash in my freezer and I felt like I was just getting in thegroove of making it again.  He startedthrowing the biggest fit when he wasn’t served the exact same dinner thateveryone else was eating.  When he pairedthese fits with refusing baby food, I knew that my pureeing days wereover.  Luckily he pops out teeth like it’snothing and we have nine and ten about to arrive any day now.

I’ve been cooking numerous freezer meals to prepare for my upcoming surgery.  Each week I decided totake something that we use regularly and make it myself.  Nothing too difficult, not so much tochallenge, but more of an eye opener of how easy this can be. 

The first weekend I made my own breadcrumbs.  I hated buying the premade, but it was justso easy.  I lucked out and found someorganic bread on clearance at the grocery store.  I bought three loaves, which was way toomuch.  I will never have to buy or makebreadcrumbs again!  I placed the sliceson a cookie sheet, being careful to not overlap, and dried them in the oven at300 degrees.  It took about 15 minutesand I flipped the slices about halfway through. After the bread cooled down, I threw the pieces in a food processor andwatched them crumble.  You can decide thelevel of chunkiness.  My food processoris incredibly cheap and I’ve never liked it much.  After the first batch it died on me.  I guess I know what I’ll be asking for thisChristmas!  Anyway, without that frustration,the process was incredibly quick and easy. I almost seasoned the entire batch, but at the last minute decided thatI would season them as needed.

My recipe for seasoning (this is an Italian seasoning):
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
¼ teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon salt

(adapted from allrecipes.com “Italian Dressing Mix”)

This makes quite a bit of seasoning.  If you prefer it as a finer powder, just giveit a spin in a Magic Bullet.  I don’tmind the big parsley, basil, and oregano flakes so I just leave it as is.  I keep this seasoning, ranch dressing powder,and taco seasoning on hand in mason jars. It keeps me away from those packets of chemicals and it’s just aseasy.  I use approximately 2 teaspoons toflavor 1 cup of breadcrumbs.

To store breadcrumbs, just use a glass jar or Ziploc bag andplace them in your freezer.  They’ll be readywhen you need them!  The seasoned versionis incredibly tasty in meatballs and meatloaf. Just like anything else made from scratch, these are so much better thanthe premade store variety.  Enjoy!