Two Recipes I Just Have to Share

I only post recipes on this blog when I've raved about them to real life friends or strangers at least three times. That's not a hard and fast rule—in fact, I just now made it up—but it serves to emphasize the "must try" nature of these two dishes. I'm not a foodie, and the complete and utter simplicity of the two dishes I'm about to share with you will prove that. They are easy, tasty, and pretty healthy too.

I found this recipe via Pinterest, where it was posted from the blog High Heels and Grills (image credit to her as well). It is so easy. As the name says, it is just eight cans and a packet of taco seasoning.

• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can white chicken breast, drained
• 1 can green enchilada sauce
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 packet taco seasoning

Mix all ingredients in large stock pot. Heat until warm, stirring occasionally.

I think I found this one on a grocery store mailer, and I've made it countless times in the last year. (Photo mine.) I'll admit, my husband doesn't care for the combination of flavors, so I make it just for myself, but if you're fond of strong, savory flavors, this just may become a new favorite.

• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach (approximately 4 oz. per potato)
• Goat cheese crumbles (approximately 1.5 oz per potato)

Wash, pierce, and bake sweet potatoes in microwave (or oven, if you prefer). Saute spinach with a little olive oil and lemon juice. I've also tried it with kale, which was also good. Stuff potato with your greens, top with goat cheese crumbles. Pecans make a nice garnish. 

I'm linking up today with A Blonde Ambition's "Great Souptacular," so click over for more great comfort food! 

Thanksgiving Day

So I'm a little late with the holiday recap, despite the fact that our Thanksgiving weekend included plenty of "lying around time." 

I realized Sunday night how relaxing our holiday had been, having not traveled for Thanksgiving for the first time in . . . well, since leaving home for college, I guess. We went to Matt's parents' house for a big midday meal and hung out until what would have been dinnertime, had we needed to eat again, but otherwise enjoyed a lot of time just being together at home. 

Thanksgiving began with coffee and muffins, and I realized how late the Macy's parade comes on. I guess with grandparents in the house in past years, I got to sleep in until closer to parade time! 

The girls wore their politically-incorrect Indian headbands. (Kate had made hers at school last year, and she and I made Claire's together.)

And I made my one contribution to Thanksgiving dinner: a pumpkin pie with a braided crust. I'm not a foodie at all, putting presentation over culinary skill, so in true Jessica fashion, I used Pillsbury crusts and put my energy instead into dividing, rolling, and braiding strips of dough, then agonizing over the baking process to make sure my creation didn't burn.

It didn't :0)

The real bird was lovely as well.

Claire ate plenty of pumpkin muffins, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and broccoli casserole, while Kate enjoyed the giant turkey leg!

As always, I am most thankful for my beautiful girls.

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Rainbow Cookies

I was really excited about the rainbow cookies I made for Claire's party. They were actually inspired by the candy corn cookies we made a few weeks ago—a layered sugar cookie sliced to reveal all the colors. The steps are pretty much the same, just more/different colors and a different slicing pattern.

Step 1: Mix up a sugar cookie dough. Here is the original recipe for the candy corn cookies I found on Kathie Cooks. It is lemon flavored and quite a nice texture.

Step 2: Divide dough evenly into separate bowls for each color, and dye to desired shade with food coloring.

Step 3: Press each layer firmly into a baking dish (might wish to line with parchment paper for easy removal) OR roll each layer out with a rolling pin and stack. I used the dish method for the candy corn ones, and found it was hard to make each layer even (see how bumpy my orange layer is in the picture above?) so I rolled each layer for the rainbow cookies. The edges are uneven, then, as you see below, but inside the "loaf," they are much more even.

Step 4: Wrap the layered "loaf" of dough (remove from baking dish, if you've used that method for assembling the layers) and place in fridge for at least two hours to firm. You can keep the dough for up to a week wrapped in the fridge, to make fresh cookies in several batches, like a homemade slice-and-bake roll. I did that with the candy corn ones. 

Step 5: Remove from fridge and slice into bars of about 1/4 inch thick. For the rainbow cookies, I sliced each strip in half to make bars about 3-4 inches long. For the candy corn cookies, angle your knife back and forth to make 6-7 triangles out of the long strip.

Step 6: Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet at 375 for about 10 minutes. Cookies will expand slightly. (I worried that I made the rainbow cookies too flat, resulting in too thin a bar, but the 1-inch wide bar expanded to about 1.25-1.5 inch after baking.)

Step 7: Add the finishing touch. Kathie's recipe calls for dusting the candy corn cookies in sugar (though they are quite tasty without it) and I added a frosting "cloud" to the end of my rainbow cookie bars.

Step 8: Serve and enjoy!

I'm notorious for botching dessert recipes that require even the tiniest amount of skill, but I've managed these layer cookies twice in the last month!

Sharing the wealth of this slightly-easier-than-it-looks recipe, I'm linking up at Kristen Welch's  Works for Me Wednesday and with Clever Chicks blog hop!

Cookies! Om nom nom...

Noticing that I had a half-full container of rolled oats in the cupboard and knowing that there's only one thing I ever make with oats, I felt inspired this morning to make my signature Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. And I knew that Kate would love to be Mommy's Little Helper. She loves to help with whatever Mommy's doing, and she loves cookies!

As I suspected, she was very into it, helping stir the ingredients and pour in the things I'd measured out. The recipe calls for two eggs, and after I cracked the first one and put it in, Kate of course wanted to do the second. I tried to show her how to tap it and split it, but she just squeezed until the thing shattered. That's definitely another way to do it, and amazingly did not get any shell in the batter!

Finally, it was time to add the best parts--the Craisins and white chocolate!

Matt was gone most of the day helping a family in the church move, and I was hoping he'd get back in time to take some pics of Kate and I cooking together, but alas he did not, and the arms-length thing does not work as well with a big SLR as it does with a little point-and-shoot.

Fortunately, the auto-timer got a good shot of us, though! I think Kate has a white chocolate chip in her mouth, which is why her teeth look funny.

Time to go in the oven! We have to use creative tricks to get Kate away from the oven when we're putting things in or taking them out. Here, I asked her to start cleaning up. While making dinner tonight, Matt begged her to come sit with him on the couch while I put the eggplant parmasean in, but she would not leave the space between my legs and the cabinets. Finally, I just said, "Kate, Daddy has a boo boo!" and she ran to kiss it. Sweet girl.



In case you're interested, here's the recipe:

(I've been making these for years, but I think I originally got the recipe off a Craisins bag, so I really can't take credit!)

2/3 c. butter

2/3 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 c. rolled oats

1 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 6 oz. pkg. Craisins

2/3 c. white chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 375. Beat butter and brown sugar together, add eggs and mix well. In separate bowl (though I often just do it all together) combine oats, flour, soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture gradually, mixing as you go. Add berries and chocolate. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. (Makes two dozen.)

Working Mom Wednesday: Family Dinner

I'll admit it: my husband is a better cook than I am.

I went out to lunch the other day with another working mommy/pastor's wife (getting our money's worth from a sushi buffet--yum!) and we were talking about the various challenges of being a work-outside-the-home mom. She asked if I had any good tips for getting decent meals together after a long day at the office.

"Yeah... let my husband cook!" I quipped.

It's true, his meals are often more tasty and creative than mine, but when he doesn't volunteer his culinary skills, I generally fall back on easy, tried-and-true recipes (like my Swiss Chicken or Black Bean Cakes--recipes at the bottom of this post!) or something super-easy (read: lazy) like a Bertolli frozen pasta entree or--like tonight--grilled cheese and tomato soup.

I love a good meal, and I try to make sure we eat healthy, balanced meals, but to me, sitting down together--before Kate goes to bed or Matt runs off to an evening meeting or Bible study--is more important than having anything fancy for dinner. I save the new or tricky recipes for a weekend when I'm feeling domestic and can take my time and have fun with it.

As a Good Housekeeping article my mom clipped for me points out, sit-down meals give a family "civility, economy, and health" (I love that phrasing--sounds like the clipping was from 1950 rather than 2010), calories are burned in the group preparation of meal and table, and meaningful conversation can happen over the table that may not happen on the run. Also, a recent study shows that adolescent girls who eat family meals five or more times per week are 1/3 less likely to develop eating disorders. Good to know!

~~~

And now for a couple favorite recipes. I never post recipes because I in no way fancy myself a gourmet cook, but these are so easy, I have to share. I actually never look at the recipes, because they are simple and flexible enough to do from memory, with a little improvization...

Black Bean Cakes

The inspiration for these was my college cafeteria. I kid you not. They were so good, and when I saw this Pampered Chef recipe somewhere, I started making them for myself.

1 can black beans, drained and mashed

1/4 cup salsa (minimize juice)

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

onions and/or corn, if desired

2 egg whites

Combine all ingredients, mold into patties, and brown in an oiled skillet. Serve on a bed of lettuce. The sauce (now this isn't from Pampered Chef, but what the lunch ladies told me) is salsa mixed with ranch dressing. Yum-mee. Top with sour cream.

Swiss Chicken

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 slices swiss cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/3 cup milk

8 oz. stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9 x 13 dish. Top each chicken breast with swiss cheese. Sprinkle stuffing mix around chicken. Combine soup and milk in bowl and pour over all. (The recipe only calls for 1/3 can of soup, but I like it saucy, and find that the stuffing doesn't cook thoroughly without more liquid, but it's a matter of taste, I guess.) Cover dish with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Serve with a green veggie for a complete meal!

Vegging Out (or not)

Two things to know about me:

1. Picky eating is a pet peeve of mine.
2. I've been pleasantly surprised at how "chill" of a parent I've been.

Those two factors intersect to put me between a rock and a hard place. Or, perhaps--between mashed potatoes and green beans.

I honestly can't remember if I referred to Kate as a "good eater" in her first few months of solids a year ago. I don't recall any major issues. (A quick look in the blog archive indicates that at Thanksgiving, she ate all table food, including turkey, peas, carrots, mashed potatoes, and a roll.) Somewhere beyond that point, though, her dietary repertoire narrowed considerably. Now, she literally won't touch a vegetable, and rarely eats meat or other proteins. It's pretty much all fruit, dairy, and carbs. So that's the pickiness that concerns me some.

Regarding the "chill" factor, I certainly don't mean that I'm trying to be a "cool" parent who doesn't lay down the law. I just mean that as a Type-A who, in most areas of life, gets bent out of shape when something doesn't go as planned, I expected to be more high-strung as a parent. I've been pleasantly surprised that I can keep my cool when Kate is upset, not caving to tantrums and not turning general toddler obstinence into a power struggle. I guess my definition of "chill" would simply be a happy medium between being a pushover and freaking out about every little thing. Sometimes, that line is harder to walk than others.

I am really trying not to get worked up over this pickiness. She's growing fine, and from some cursory research, I think the fruits she eats provide most of the same nutrients as vegetables. It doesn't seem to be a health concern, so I'm trying to roll with it and assume it will pass. But what if it doesn't? I really don't want her to get into this habit of picky eating.

I've read that it can take many exposures to a food before a kid will try something, so I always give her some of whatever we're eating, in addition to one or two things that I know she'll eat. But, she just eats the berries or cheese and leaves the meat, rice, peas, etc. I've tried going back to baby-food veggies, with the thought that since she likes yogurt, maybe she'd go for that. Alas, no. (But I did stir half a container of Gerber mixed veggies into our mashed potatoes the other night, and that was a success!)

I guess the experts would say to simply not give her anything that's not on the menu and eventually she'll get hungry enough and eat. She never seems to care that much about eating, though, so I think it would be quite a while before she got "hungry enough" to actually sit and eat dinner.

Actually, she's been reluctant to sit in her eat-seat at all lately, and if she's going to eat at all, wants to sit on my lap while doing it. I've been torn over how strict to get with that too, because I'd rather her sit on my lap and eat something than spend dinnertime Houdini-ing herself out of her seat and refusing to eat. For a while, she was in the habit of standing in her seat to eat breakfast, and I finally decided to lay down the law (after wiping dripped yogurt off her shoe several times in one sitting). So now she's usually sitting down for breakfast, but for dinner, she'll stand in her seat until I'm done dishing things up for Matt and I, then she'll push her plate over to my place and climb into my chair. I don't really fight it because I'm picking my battles and focusing on the food for now.

Do you think she'll get over it on her own? Or should I starve her into submission? (I'm exaggerating there, clearly.)
What would you suggest?

Feeding Frenzy

Why is this formerly half-bare cabinet now full?
Because it is now half-full of baby food!

Yes, Kate started solids this past week. First with whole wheat cereal once a day, just to learn and practice. Rice cereal is typically the first solid because it is the least likely to cause allergies, but I read a piece in Parents magazine ("The Right Menu for Every Age," June 2009) that said one should feel free to try a different grain.

Kate has definitely shown signs of being ready for solids (and not a moment too soon, since the AAP recommends waiting til 6 months to start), being interested in what we're eating, even to the point of grabbing food off my plate, and seeming hungry more often. So, she was eager to try the spoon, and opened her mouth wide, leaning forward to meet the spoon, but once the food was in her mouth, she'd get a slightly sour expression like she didn't know what to do with it.

After a week of practice, however, she seems to like not just the concept of eating but the food itself. We started applesauce in addition to the wheat cereal today, and she enjoyed that too. Since you're supposed to start only one new food at a time (so you can identify the cause of any allergies right away) I guess we'll stick to wheat and applesauce for the next day or two before adding a veggie.

Anyone have any advice on what foods to try and which ones to avoid or postpone? If your kids have allergies, how did you identify them and when?