We've Gotta Eat

I haven't posted any recipes in a while. I think I'm in a rut. Well, if I'm being more fair to myself, there has been a lot going on. Perhaps I'm allowed to be in a rut... I've made lots of yummy food, but it's pretty pedestrian in nature. Not much to tell.

There are a few things to mention. I want to jot down my split pea soup recipe because it was so deliciously awesome. And tell you about the endless quesadillas that I've made. And gush about the pork sausage that my man brought home (he can bring home the bacon... fry it up in a pan...).

So here goes. The first part of the split pea soup recipe is to have your dad smoke a giant ham. Then everybody has to eat the ham. Then your mom should put the ham bone and some tiny remnant bits of ham into a bag in the freezer. Then she should forget about it until she realizes that it needs to be used before freezer burn sets in. Then she should give it to you so that you can make soup like this:

Split Pea Soup in the Crockpot

1 ham bone (or a package of cooked bacon)
1 bag (16 oz) of dried peas
1 diced onion
2-3 diced carrots
1-2 diced medium potatoes
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
salt & pepper to taste

note: if you are using a wonderfully flavorful smoked ham bone, you could just use water instead of broth and still have plenty of flavor OR you can stick with the broth and have really really richly flavored soup :-)

Dump all of the ingredients (except the salt & pepper) into the crockpot, put the lid on, and cook on low for at least 4 hours. Everything will just fall apart and become a tasty, thick delicious soup, so it does not matter how coarsely or finely you chop the veggies. Taste before serving and season if necessary. Done and done.

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The next bit is not so much a recipe as something that happens almost every day around here. Miss Lily Ruth is now a full-blown toddler, and as such, she is pretending to be a picky eater since intake of food is one of the few things that she has control over. One thing that she never turns her nose up at is quesadillas. At home we use multigrain tortillas from Central Market. If we're out, she ADORES hand made flour tortillas from any of our favorite Mexican restaurants ;-)

Lily's Lunch Quesadilla

1 Tbsp refried beans
Shredded or sliced cheese (any flavor)
2 slices Hormel Naturals deli meat - sliced (optional)
1 tortilla

Spread the beans over 1/2 of the tortilla, if using meat, sprinkle it on now. Top with cheese. fold the tortilla in half. Warm in a skillet until golden and toasty. Cut into toddler-sized pieces and watch the Doyen of Nyet become the First Lady of MORE! Then make some for yourself and melt into a pool of mama happiness due to gooey cheese.

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Recently, Daddy Don went on his company's annual hunting expedition. He's not much of a hunter in real life, but he loves that trip. They have a fantastic time at a beautiful ranch. Their every whim is indulged. Food, drink, pool tables, card games, skeet shooting... oh, and at some point they wander out and shoot at animals :-(

This year, he shot a hog. The photo is horrific, yet my husband looks so handsome. I am tempted to crop the pig out and keep his smile. The company that processed the meat made sausage from most of it and chops from the rest. The sausage is unbelievably good! Seasoned beautifully and portioned into 1 1/2 Lb packages. We've made multiple batches of spaghetti sauce, chili and just cooked it up plain... and we still have a metric ton of it in the freezer. Tonight, I'm going to roll it into meatballs to add to pasta and sauce.

I wish that I was more inspired, but I have two lungs full of mucus and a giant headache. Pasta is the best I can do today.

Ready to Eat?

Today's Recipes: Dragon's Breath Sauce and Light & Lively Chicken Soup

Since I've been all Lily Ruth-centric and light on the crafting and recipes lately, I've decided to double up. That's right - 2 easy-peasy recipes that I adore for different reasons :-)

The first originally comes from The Wine Lover's Cookbook (by Sid Goldstein). Of course, because I'm me, I make it slightly differently. Also, this is one of my mama's favorite things in the whole world, and she renamed it :-) It's a very very (very very) spicy sauce that we like to serve with shrimp... or chicken... or beef... and/or noodles... but mainly shrimp. You can very easily double this - it's just as good ;-) *edit - I just went back and read the recipe again... I really just make it the same way he does...

Dragon's Breath Sauce

1/4 c hot chili oil
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil (or regular sesame oil)
1/2 tsp Thai chili paste (or WAY more)
2 1/2 Tbsp reduced-salt soy sauce
2 Tbsp chopped pickled ginger
2 Tbsp juice from chopped pickled ginger
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 Tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 c chopped cilantro leaves

Mix it all up and pour it over stuff you like to eat. Be forewarned, it is SPICY! We usually grill unseasoned, shell-on shrimp and boil some noodles. Then we peel shrimp, pour sauce over them and the noodles and eat until we cry. You will totally have dragon breath when you are done... hence the name...

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My next recipe came to me in a vision last week. It was cool but not cold, and I wanted soup but I didn't want a hearty stew (unusual...) so I started thinking about the yummy Caldo de Pollo that you can get in so many Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurants around here. What came of all that ruminating was a light, fresh tasting soup that I loved and will make again.

Light & Lively Chicken Soup


1 pkg boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Cumin
4-6 dashes Chipotle Tabasco
2-3 peeled carrots - cut into coins
1/4 - 1/2 Lb crimini mushrooms - chopped
4-5 garlic cloves - minced
8 cups chicken broth (homemade is best - duh - but I use Pacific Foods a LOT)
3/4 c uncooked Fideo (or any fine/small pasta)
2 zucchini - chopped
1 bag fresh spinach - chopped or torn
1 container cherry or grape tomatoes - quartered
1/2 c (or more) fresh cilantro leaves

In a big pasta or soup pot, brown the chicken thighs in a small amount of olive oil. Season with cumin and Chipotle Tabasco (use however much you like, I'm totally guessing at how much I actually used) as they cook. After you turn the chicken the first time, add the carrots and the mushrooms. Just before the chicken is done, add the garlic. When the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the pot and scrape all of the browned bits from the bottom to loosen them - leave them in the pot along with the carrots, mushrooms and garlic. Add the broth (also only an estimate, the more chicken/pasta/vegetables that you add, the more broth you'll need) and bring to a boil. While the broth is heating, chop the chicken and return it to the pot. Once the soup is boiling, add the pasta & reduce the heat to a simmer. 4 or 5 minutes before the pasta is done, add the zucchini. When the pasta is done, add the spinach, tomatoes and cilantro. Serve immediately :-)
Makes 4 or 5 servings... or more...

** Notes on making soup: Soup is very forgiving, and very 'fluid' (HA!) - this is why I am so bad about measuring what I use when I'm making it. Taste after each major addition, and adjust your seasoning accordingly.

Oh MAN, now I'm hungry again!

Have YOU made anything lately that I need to know about?

Adventures in Baby Feeding

Today's Recipe: Diane's Amazing Soup

Well, week one of month eight in The Life of Lily Ruth has brought new adventures, new challenges, and (as always) big fun.

'What HAPPENED!?' you ask? Let me lay it out for ya!

Lily Ruth started Parent's Day Out. Day one went 'o.k' - caregiver code for 'she cried a lot, but there were some good moments in there, too'. Day two was apparently a scream-fest from the minute I handed her over. It was bad, ya'll. To the point that when I got back to pick her up, they asked 'how she was at home' - caregiver code for 'does she ever stop crying, ever?' I rocked her in the rocking chair there until she was calm. She then took a deep breath, climbed off my lap and started playing on the floor. She was laughing and smiling immediately. They were amazed and very surprised... too bad for Lily - I'm dropping her off on Wednesday come hell or high water - I've got things to do! She'll be fine.

We took Lily Ruth to her first birthday party! One of her (two) friends had his first birthday, and we were invited. I'm pretty sure that I managed to horrify the other mothers there (all related to our hostess) by feeding my newly-eight-month-old 'real food' off my own plate. She even had small amounts of ice cream and cake. She was THRILLED.

Which brings me to the next part - baby food... or the lack thereof. A few weeks ago, Lily Ruth lost interest in my lovingly handmade purees :-( She did, however, gain a great deal of interest in anything that I was eating. We had introduced a lot of foods by that point (avocados, peas, bananas, brown rice, apples, Greek yogurt, butternut squash, mango, spinach, blueberries, cherries, egg yolk, peaches, carrots, chicken), and we used the 4-day-rule for all of it. She displayed no reactivity or sensitivity to anything we gave her... so I got brave, and chucked the rules. As of last week, she eats what I eat! Now, I'm still holding off on the 'big no-nos' (honey, peanut butter, cow's milk, etc.) until she's a year old, but the rest of it is pretty much ON! Ya'll, I thought that it was fun to choose which foods to puree for her next, but it is WAY more fun to plan meals for us that she can share all or part of :-D

She started with baked potatoes and turkey meatballs at Nanny's house (we let her cover herself and the table with potato!), and progressed to pork tenderloin tacos on whole wheat tortillas. Since then, she's been a wild woman at the table who tries (and LOVES) things like mac'n'cheese made with spinach noodles, fresh orange & tangerine juice, pretty much everything they are sampling at Central Market. Oh, and yesterday, she flipped for a new soup recipe with sausage, lentils and spinach - as did I.

Said soup deserves it's own paragraph. It's THAT GOOD. The recipe comes from my Mama's good friend Diane. She is a WONDERFUL cook, and an ardent gardener. I love her blog. She captures the wild, rough, individualistic beauty of South Texas in her pictures while making gardening sound like something I might be able to do someday! I've been secretly yearning to start a garden, and may even start small with kitchen herbs this year. I just need to find the time and the energy... At any rate, the soup recipe can be found here. As you may have noticed, my lack of an attention span makes recipe following a tricky business. I managed to buy 1 Lb instead of 1/2 a Lb of Italian sausage. Also, I forgot the celery. I also need to mention that I am so used to putting garlic in literally everything that I cook, that I almost minced some and added it before I realized that the recipe doesn't call for any. A lesson can be learned here, folks - garlic is not mandatory. Even with my unintentional changes, it was beyond fantastic, and it was super easy to make! Now, if you make the soup and like it, let her know! In fact, if you make any of the recipes that I share with you, let ME know!

Happy Eating, Folks!

By the way, there is standing and practice laughing happening over here! You should come over!

gonna make some more stuff!!!

Today's Recipes: Potato Chowder with Corn & Sausage, Grandmother's Chili, Carnitas

So, I went to Michael's again today (this is getting bad, folks)... um, and Target (and you know what that means)... in my defense, the leg warmers are being made as a gift from a co-worker to her bestie's new baby... I'm only going to keep one (or two) pair for Lily Ruth... but here's the best part - I bought puffy paints and polymer clay! That's right, it's time to paint the feet of Lily Ruth's sleepers and socks so that she can get some traction on the hard floors AND I'm a gonna make Sushi Bracelets!!!! Once again, THANK YOU SAMSTER MOMMY for giving me something to do! I'll post pics of the bracelets when I start to work on them because I'm going to do them slightly differently... in part, I'm going to base them on a GENIUS charm bracelet given to me by the amazing Kittyn (you know, the blogger...)

I also wanted to share the 3 recipes that I've made this week - comfort food, because Baby, it's COLD out there!

Potato Chowder with Corn and Sausage - this one I made up myself :-P

1 medium yellow onion - chopped
1 pkg crimini mushrooms - chopped
4 or 5 large garlic cloves - minced
olive oil
5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes - chopped
chicken broth
3 links Opa's Beef Sausage - chopped (you can use any pre-cooked sausage links - I just prefer this one)
1/2 bag of frozen chopped spinach
1/2 bag of frozen corn
Fat-free Half & Half
1 cup shredded cheese (I prefer Sharp Cheddar, but have used lots of others as well)

In a large, heavy pan (I used my pasta pot w/o the strainer), sautee the onion, mushroom and garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add the potato and enough chicken broth to cover it all. Cover the pot and simmer until the potatoes are done. Mash it about until the potatoes are sort-of or even mostly mashed. Add the sausage, corn and spinach, and a bit more chicken broth (until it's runny but not quite soupy). Return the mixture to a simmer. Add half and half until it's a nice 'chowder-y' consistency. Stir in the cheese and serve immediately.

My Grandmother's Chili - of course, I've monkeyed with it...

olive oil
1 medium yellow onion - chopped
1/2 of a green bell pepper - chopped
5 or 6 garlic cloves - minced
1 Lb ground meat (turkey or beef)
1 can pinto beans - drained and rinsed
Chili powder - start w/ 1 Tbsp, and add more if you'd like (I use 3 or 4 :-P)
dash of cumin
1 can diced tomatoes - undrained
1 can tomato paste
salt
oregano

In a heavy pot, sautee the onion, bell pepper & garlic in a bit of olive oil. Set aside. Brown the meat - crumbling it as you cook. Add the onion mixture back in. Add the rest of the ingredients - seasoning to your taste - simmer for at least an hour. Note: I puree the beans in the blender first because my husband despises beans, but will happily eat them if they are disguised (even if he knows that they are there) - this also gives the chili a nice thick texture.


Carnitas - now, I got this off the internet a loooong time ago, didn't bookmark it, couldn't print it, and didn't note where I got it from... So if this is your recipe, I'm not claiming it as my own, and I'd be happy to give you credit for it - just let me know!

3 Lbs pork shoulder - cut into 1" chunks
1 Tbsp salt
water
4 large garlic cloves - minced
1 onion - chopped
2 tsp Ancho chili powder
1 tsp chili powder

put the pork chunks into a heavy, wide pan. barely cover the meat with water, and add the salt. leaving the pot uncovered, bring the water to a boil. once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat & continue to cook at a low simmer until the liquid has evaporated - the meat should be cooked but not falling apart (approx 60 min). reduce the heat again and continue cooking until the fat is rendered. keep turning the meat and cooking until it is browned all over (approx 15 min) - you could keep going until it's crispy (traditional method), but I prefer it tender. remove the meat from the pan & set aside. using the rendered fat (or olive oil), sautee the garlic and onion then add the meat back in and stir in the seasonings. yum.

Speaking of food, Lily Ruth continues to do good work in the solid food arena :-) So far, she still adores avocado, tolerates homemade brown rice cereal, loves yogurt, feels pretty good about mango, and despises banana and peas... we'll go back to those at a later date... maybe we'll try meat this weekend!

to continue my constant posting of non-essential-to-the-post photos, here she is - in love with Grandpa Doug



and pissed off about peas



and that will just have to tide you over until I make/do something else!

Mmmmmm, Crock Pot

Today's Recipes: Pizza, Beef & Barley Stew

First of all, I have felt like there was a lot of dirt in my bed this week, but had no idea why. That's right, dirt. For no discernible reason. As I came out of Lily's room tonight, I found out why...



In case you can't tell from the crappy cell phone photo, that's Keely's dog butt right by Don's pillow, and her dirty doggie feet right by MY pillow! Yum.

Second, I decided to bite the bullet and take a look at my sewing machine. The one that I had left at my Grandmother's house assuming that it was broken and/or needed help that I could not give it. I brought it home, read the whole dang manual - o.k. fine, I skimmed it. Then I ran a few practice seams down a rag to check for evenness. It was perfect and fine. I'm a total dork. I finished all 5 pairs of leg warmers in less than 30 minutes. It rocked. AND, my adorable daughter is an excellent model for my favorite pair...







Plus, check out how great her hair is getting. I can't wait until it's long enough to be truly wild!!!



Third - the cooking stuff! I forgot to tell you about last night's dinner. I made a fantastic pizza. It went a little something like this...

Rachel's New Favorite Pizza:
Boboli pizza crust
Newman's Own Alfredo Sauce
Italian Sausage - cooked (I sliced mine, but you could crumble it)
Chicken breast - cooked & cubed (little olive oil, little Italian spice)
- I had cooked both of those for previous pizzas, and had frozen the extra - it rocked to have them pre-made!
Frozen Chopped Spinach (defrosted & drained)
Fresh Garlic - minced
- I mix the spinach and the garlic together so that the garlic gets evenly distributed
Italian Cheese Blend (pre-shredded)
Freshly grated Parmesean cheese

Now, if you need detailed instructions on how to assemble a pizza, you need to get your recipes elsewhere. The cooking directions should be on the package of the crust...

Today, I made Beef & Barley Stew in the crock pot based on a recipe from Cooking Light. As you may have discerned, I have no patience. This includes following recipes. I tend to read the ingredient list, read the directions then not really look at it again. Tonight's stew went like this...

1 1/4 lb Lean beef stew meat - cubed into tiny pieces
1 med yellow onion - chopped
3 med carrots - peeled & chopped
1 red bell pepper - seeded & chopped
1 pkg sliced mushrooms - chopped a bit smaller
4 lg garlic cloves - minced
2/3 c pearled barley
2 1/2 c mushroom broth
4 1/2 c beef broth
crushed red pepper flakes
ancho chili powder
1 can diced tomatoes - undrained
1 bag fresh spinach - slightly chopped

sautee onion & carrot slightly in a bit of olive oil. add red pepper, mushrooms & garlic - sautee until mostly done. move veggies to crock pot. add beef to the skillet - season w/ salt & pepper. cook until just brown on all sides. add beef to crock pot. add barley, broth (mushroom broth not needed - I just had some open. you could use all beef broth) & tomatoes. As for the spices, season to your own taste. I love spice, so I used a lot - maybe 1 tsp ancho & 2 tsp pepper flakes. cook on 'high' for 1 hour then turn to 'low' for 5 or more hours. 5-10 minutes before serving, stir in the spinach.

yum.

Maybe tomorrow we can talk about the holidays... maybe not. I have to make a pumpkin cheesecake, pack for our trip, then drive to Houston.