Food, Food and more food

Just in case you had not noticed i've been posting a lot of recipes lately.
It's cold and my kitchen is warm. VERY WARM.
I've been trying to make a sit down breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day and bread through out the week so we don't eat the store bought kind. Sometimes I fail but mostly i'm trying to get used to my new stove and save money by making SURE we eat at home. It's actually funny dealing with a new stove and learning all it's quirks. The other day I tried to make beef stew for my brother. It burned so badly we had to order pizza. It was cooking on LOW!!! I left the kitchen for like 15 min because I got sidetracked by evil LEGOs. ANYWAYS... I wanted apologize and say well i might be cooking a lot but it's healthy too! kinda. On the flip side i think all this cooking is making me loose weight, and the family is sharing a lot more AND I've discovered a BIG secret to baking bread.. AND it's really REALLY fun seeing the hubs and the child assisting him in the kitchen look up at the mountain of dishes. I love being the EEEEvil mommy.

Lemon bread pudding

Can you tell i've been baking A LOT lately?

Supplies:
Stale bread-cubed
eggs
milk
vanilla
instant lemon pudding mix
1 large ziplock bag
9x13 greased baking dish

Directions:
scramble 6 eggs ( this is USUALLY what I start with) with milk like you are making french toast. add 1/4 tsp vanilla.  mix well. Pour bread cubes into bag then pour egg mix over the bread. ( I aim for the bag being 3/4 full of egg mix) seal the bag and place in the fridge. Every 30 min flip the bag ( i usually tell everyone when they get in the fridge flip the bag).
about two hours before you want to serve it :
Preheat oven to 350
make lemon pudding according to package
pour the bread mix into the pan. Then pour the pudding over it and stir together.
cover with foil and place in oven.
Cook about 15 to 30 min until the bread pudding doesn't LOOK wet, take off foil and cook until knife comes out clean.
* if im not ready to eat the bread pudding but it's ALMOST done. I recover it and turn off the oven because you want it to be nice and warm!!

Snow Cream

SNOW CREAM
Aka: I scream.. you scream..we all scream.. for SNOWCREAM!


Ingredients:
1 bowl of snow ( no yellow.. or brown)
2 cans of sweetened Condensed milk 
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
8oz thawed whipped cream
1 empty bowl BIGGER than your snow bowl (for mixing)



Directions:
 Combine the Sweetened Condenced milk, Whipped cream, and Vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Once fully mixed gather your empty bowl and your bowl of snow. add 1/2 the snow to the large bowl, pour some of the milk mix over and stir to combine adding snow and milk mix until well combined BUT NOT SATURATED!!!!  Use all your snow but you dont have to use all the milk mix! Once combined freeze until chilled.
This is soooo good! It tastes a lot like vanilla ice cream!!!!

fruity Chicken Salad

Fruity Chicken Salad
Ingredients: 
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup celery diced
2 green apples peeled and diced
1/4 cup chopped nuts ( i like walnuts) 
and 1/4 to a half cup, either sour cream, plain yogurt (strained), or mayonase
1 bottle raspberry balsamic vinegar or plain balsamic vinegar ( my mom likes the raspberry i like the plain)

marinate the  chicken in 1/2 of the balsamic vinegar for at least an hour to overnight. The next day grill the chicken until completely white in the middle. Shred the chicken and set to soak in the rest of the Balsalmic vinegar for at least an hour. If you have not already prep the remaining ingredients. Then drain chicken and place into large bowl. Add celery, apples, and nuts. Stir to mix. Then add your sour cream or whichever you choose.
This is great on a sandwhich or just with crackers.

Your children will LOVE it. Especially since it's purple which for adults may be hard to get over but this is soo yummy!

Potato Soup

The world second best potato soup

(my mommy's is the bestest)

Ingredients:

5 potatos cut into chunks ( we do not peel our potatos the kids like the peels)

1/2 a bag of frozen corn

1 package of cheap bacon

2 onions (cut into slices)

1 package of chicken stock or 4 bullion cubes

milk

1 block of velvetta (cut into med size chunks)

carrots (sliced) 

a STICK of BUTTER

Optional : add some ham for extra protein 

Directions

cut your bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy- scoop out of fry pan and set bacon aside to cool

drain all but a little bit of the fat and add onions. cook until softened. drain and set aside ( i just add it to the cooked bacon) 

cut up your potatos and add them to a large soup pot. pour chicken stock over the potatos until they are just covered (if you run out just add water!) and boil until the potatos are STARTING to get soft. At this point drain out some of the water and add bacon, onions, corn, butter and carrots then add milk to the pot until the level of soup is about where you want it. Allow to simmer. Stirring frequently until about 45 min before time to eat. Add cut up velevtta and stir until melted and throughly combined. 

This soup is REALLY good served with garlic bread!!! 

our Andes Mtn.

For the first day of school those of us who stay how took a vote on if we should make cookies or cake for Middlest.  They picked chocolate cake. This recipe i made was so flipping yummy and perfect for a busy momma!!

Ingredients:
 1 Devils food cake mix
 eggs ( according to box)
oil (according to box)
water (according to box)
1/2 a bag of ANDES chocolate chips
Topping:
2 16oz of Whipped cream ( i found this to be to much but 1 was not quite enough so..) THAWED
1 piping bag
1 size 12 tip with coupling and ring



Make the cake following the directions on package.. add in those yummy ANDES mint chocolate chips.  ( I only used 1/2 a bag and the cake was not overhelming andes tasting but just perfect for ME add a full bag if you want) stir to combine.
Pour the mix into a  greased baking pan I used a 9x 11 ( i think) anyways you need to to have room on top to frost the cake after baking.
(these would also make AWESOME cupcakes)
bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Make sure your whipped cream is thawed
Once the cake has cooled assemble your piping bag with the tip and fill the bag with whipped cream.
insert the tip into the cake and squeeze the whipped cream into the cake. DO NOT OVER SQUEEZE you will bust the cake!! Squeese the whipped cream into the cake in lots of diffrent places make sure well space your holes. but you still want every piece to get at least a little.
Once you have finished put the cake in the freezer for about 10 to 15 min.
The frost the top with however much whipped cream you want.
I then used a clean spatula and smacked the top of the cake so that it would look like mtn. peaks.
Put cake in the fridge until time to eat. :)
I hope you enjoy this cake
I would post a picture but....
they ate the cake...
even Eldest who rarely touches chocolate.

Election Day Cake!

To celebrate election day we voted AND we made.... 

Election Day Cake! 

We took a White cake mix and made it according to directions

Seprated it into 3rd's 

Used food coloring to color one red and one blue. 

We poured 1/2 of the white in a greased bunt cake pan.

1/2 the blue one top

1/2 the red then start over until there is no mix left. 

Bake.

We did the same with the frosting.

And no the cake actually tasted better than it looked. 

Except the frosting... Eldest put a little to much red coloring in the frosting.

Basil, Tomato, Mozzrella Sandwiches

Oh my goodness I am soooo im love!
Today for lunch I was in one of those moods that I didn't want to cook but didn't want a pb&j. Even though it's fresh Peanut Butter. I decided to try a Tomato, Basil, and Mozzrella sandwich. (esp since I wanted to make them for the girls tomorrow) I had to make sure they were yummy first.
All the ingredients were fresh even the cheese.
I am aware this is supposed to be an open face sandwich however I decided to make it more like a grilled cheese. ohhhhhhhhhh
I buttered two slices of fresh Itaillian bread then layered cheese, tomato, and basil sprinkled on a little balsamic Vinegar then topped it. I set it in the fry pan on medium heat then layed a Cast Iron skillet on top to smoosh it down.
Oh My Gosh.
If you haven't ever had one of these sandwiches make one soon. BUT make sure that you use FRESH Mozzrella cheese the kind in water.. Mine was little balls of cheese ,I wouldn't recommend that type because they roll off easily. Also use FRESH basil.
You will think you died and have gone to heaven. I promise. Well unless you are BigDaddy He isn't to fond of fresh basil ( he thinks it tastes like grass)

Strawberry Rhubarb muffins

I have only had Rhubarb once in my life but lately i've been hearing sooo much about how delish it is. I remembered how much I loved the Rubarb strawberry pie I had and kept thinking about it. Rubarb is not something you typically see in our grocery stores but I kept an eye out. Sunday at Earth Fare there was a huge display as soon as you walked in the store, It was a sign!! So I grabbed a few stalkes and contemplated my recipes. I found several I wanted  to try one was for muffins!!!

STRAWBERRY - RHUBARB MUFFINS

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 c. milk

1/3 c. vegetable oil

3/4 c. minced fresh rhubarb

1/2 c. sliced strawberries

6 sm. strawberries, cut in half

Sugar



Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, the baking powder and salt in large bowl. Combine egg, milk and oil in small bowl; stir into flour mixture with fork just until moistened. Fold rhubarb and sliced strawberries into batter. Fill well buttered muffin tins 2/3 full with batter. Press a strawberry half gently into top of each muffin. Sprinkle tops generously with sugar. Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes. Remove from tins; cool on wire racks.

   This recipe made a little over a dozen muffins. I felt it needed more fruit but I always think muffins never have enough fruit!
I hope you try out these muffins, They are soooo good!

Soda Bread

Todays project was to make Irish Soda bread. The girls decided mommy makes enough bread that THEY ought to make this one.

They shared the duties. Eldest got out the ingredents and tried to pre-measure them out.

Her sisters got to pour the stuff into the bowl and stir while she measured out the rest of the stuff.

They each took a turn kneading the dough.

I LOVE this picture. Eldest took it of biggwrl and myself. I was showing her how to knead the dough.

she has a little trouble pushing instead of flat-ing the dough.

The bread is cooking and they are all tucked into bed with green on thier jammies so the leppiecauns won't pinch them during the night!

Fairy Cake

This cake gave me quite a bit of a headache today. We finished it though and while it does not look like the one in the picture the girls LOVE it.

So this is the start of our cake.

I cut to much off of the bottom but it ended up almost perfect.

This is the half of a cake that crumbled when it was set on the bottom layer.

Warning... Do not get anxious let the cake cool completly before layering!!

This is our green frosting. Notice the lumps and un-evenness..

the frosting broke my precious hand mixer. My ONLY mixer.

So I attempeted a dirty icing on the cake.. now you can really see the big lumps of shorting. However... it ate my cake. It was pulling my cake apart.

I was finally able to half way decently ice the cake. It still had crumbs in it but at this point I could really care less :P So for the tree stump since we had no way to make frosting I softened canned chocolate icing and poured it over the stump.

BigGwrl is filling a piping bag with sand colored frosting for the pond and waterfall.

See how pretty it looks :) BigGrwl did a good job!!

Next we poured in Piping gel we colored blue

As soon as the water was in Biggwrl decided the fairies needed to go on the cake.

This is our fondant. Surprizingly it was VERY easy to work with. We just rolled it out and used this little punchy thing to pop out little bitty flowers. So easy a 4year old can do it!

As we punched out flowers I noticed the icing falling off of the back of the cake.

SuperFab.

So we frosted the back with Chocolate frosting.

This is the finished project. It actually turned out really well. Once we added the flowers.

TA_DA!!

A bigGwrl Birthday cake

This is the cake that BigGwrl wants for her birthday...

Looks deceptivly simple doesn't it? We will see. Tonight I will be posting a tutorial about how BigGwrl and mommy attempt to make it. We have 4 cake mixes, Fondant in pastel colors (for flowers), a Large cake pan, blue piping gel, Lots of frosting, and TONS of Strong Tea. We will see how this turns out!!!

We are sooo excited!!!

Adventures is sourdough day 6

Well Steve turned out GREAT! I think it needs to set out longer and get more sour. But Holy Moly that was a GREAT dough to work with. It was so soft and silky. I let eldest knead the dough for a bit and I had to fight her to be able to get it back. It was so nice. It didn't rise as much as I had hoped it would... i think our house might be a little cool. Because as soon as it hits to oven it exploded much like the King Cake yesterday. Anyways here are the pictures of the bread Steve has turned into so far.

How Pretty!!

We should have let it cool a little longer.. but we didn't

who can resist fresh bread? No one in our house... they start smelling bread and I magically have three girls all staring in the stove going is it done yet? is it now? mommy ? mommy? mommy? is it done?

See what I mean? No one can resist.

adventures in sourdough day 5

Well i forgot to take pictures before I divided the mixture and then fed Steve. Steve would be the name a follower from FB recommended and the children ruled it must be so. I think it mostly had to do with the man with picked Steve. Regardless. Steve it is. Steve looked pretty much the same he did yesterday. Middlest said it smells like yuck. And it does. haha However I apoligize for the pictures. I was busy making .....

King Cake!! I wasn't sure it was going to turn out well since it didnt rise so much. HOWEVER once I put it in the oven it EXPLODED! So we will have that to look foward to tomorrow.. especially since they have cancled school tomorrow...again... for 1/2 and inch of snow. We better get a ton tonight thats all i'm going to say!!

sincerely,

going crazy here

adventures in sourdough day 4

today is day 4 we already have bubbles and we are now looking for it to be "frothy". Well it's getting a little stinky but in a good way I hope and it's definatly getting thicker.. this is disgusting but it's kinda the consistancy of really thick snot. I know i said it was gross. :)
 so here are todays pictures....

Notice the hooch? also the smaller bubbles? I hope this means it's getting frothy and not dying.

see the smaller bubbles? it's different from yesterdays so im excited!! I think Wednesday I'm going to try making sourdough bread!! Tuesday is Cream Cheese King Cake!

my sourdough journey day 3

Okay today was exciting!! Well Sourdough wise hahaha I have several pictures for you
I'm not sure if I explained the methods or the recipe in my previous posts
1 large non metallic container with a lid
1 cup of warm water
1 cup of flour
add the flour and water into container cover loosely so air can get into container.
Thats it
the next day you pour 1/2 out (or give it away) and then add 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 of water every day until it starts bubbling good. at this point leave it out and use it and continue to feed daily or put it in the fridge and feed it once a week.
 Not to much to be scared of.
So on to today.
This is day 3 where we should start to be able to see some action taking place. However it might take longer depending on where you live.
This is what I saw when I went to feed.

The black arrow is the hooch.. a liquid that is a bit like beer but not so dont drink it ! It is harmless either pour it off or mix it in.

The blue arrow is some of the bubbles we are supposed to be seeing!!

I have a more close up picture.
This is soo exciting we haven't killed it!! Our little mixture is thriving.. I suppose we ought to name it.

This is the close up see the hooch and bubbles?

 This is inside our container. See all the little bubbles? That means our mixture? batter? is growing just as it should!!

Whew! It's a little nerve wracking... can you imagine what's going to happen we we have to eat it?

my sourdough journey day 2

I re read  the directions last night just to make sure I was doing everything right.
Last night I measured out about 1/2 of the mixture and then added in a 1/2 c bread flour and a 1/2 water.
It is starting to look thicker than it did the night before so hoepfully i'm doing something right.

Sourdough bread

I kill things. Plants mainly, well fish too... they just don't seem to survive our house..well with the exception of on little plant that I can not seem to kill no matter what. It was given to me as a end of the year present the year Rose was born and it is still alive no matter how often I forget to water it. However that all being connfessed I have started a sourdough bread starter. can you start a starter? Anyways. I am hoping to not kill it and start maing some yummy sourdough from it. Who does like sourdough bread toasted in the morning with yummy seedless raspberry jelly on it.. yummmmmm... so today is day 1 I will post pictures daily until it has either died or formed and gone to live in the fridge. It is a simple recipie of 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. you mix them together and allow to ferment on the counter feeding it daily. Good luck to me and now I must run for I must get to moms house before the snow starts again. There is nothing like Alabamaians in the snow. Panic soon follows!

oh yummmm

Tonight was girls night. Big daddy has tutoring and we take the chance to stay up a little later and watch NCIS and eat girl food. This week we couldn't think of what to eat so I decided to throw a few things in a pot. First we had Burtolli cheese tortolini. but no skettie sauce.. BUT I had bacon and chicken.. who can pass up that combo?? Still did not have a "binder" no sauce.. hmm well I have sour cream and a Spinach Artichoke Dip packet. Mixed that together and let set while the food cooked. Ohhh baby this is sooooo good!! Not at all healthy! but very good. Thank goodness for Daddy tutoring this would have been right up there with giving the girls ice cream sundaes for dinner :) Not that I would EVER do something like that.

Peanut Butter Sushi

Well in hindsite I should have used a more squishy bread like wonderbread HOWEVER the girls said these were REALLY yummy so here is how to make Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi.

Start out with Peanut butter and Jelly, and a few slices of bread (since these were for the girl's lunches and Middlest LOVES nuttella I added that as well )

Cut off the crust's and flatten the bread with your hands

Apply Peanut butter or Nuttella to the bread

Then apply a thin layer of Jelly (we used Strawberry)

Then roll the bread up tightly (my kinda crumbled but it was cheap bread)

Then slice like little sushi .

How cute are they? I got this from Family Fun magizine thiers looked much better though.