Popcorn Cake

We love popcorn.  We usually have once a week if not more.  We have a stovetop popper that we use to make the best popcorn.  LE's dessert this past week was to make a popcorn cake.

We started by popping 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels with a T. coconut oil in our popper.  You can pop your corn anyway you like.
Next grease a bundt cake pan.
In a large bowl mix your popcorn with 1 cup of m and m's.
In a medium saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter with 1/4 cup of coconut oil over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  Remove for heat and  add 1 bag of mini marshmallows. Stir the popcorn and marshmallow mixture together and then add to the Bundt pan.  Use a spoon to press the mixture down and then cover with foil.  Allow to sit 3 to 4 hours.
To serve, invert the cake pan onto a large plate.  Serve at room temperature.

There's a Chef in the house, a couple of them

This summer, the girls are helping me out in the kitchen.  Each week, they will plan a meal including an entree and a vegetable dish plus whatever else they want to plan, shop for and clean up.  Week one was very successful.
Boo made us a Cajun feast from her Princess and the Frog cookbook.  She made gumbo (including the roux from scratch, I helped with this step), cornbread, rice and Ray's Mud Pie.  Since her gumbo had a lot of veggies, she didn't have to make one.  For her first cooking experience, this meal was a tad over zealous, but LE watched the boys and Daddy and I helped her.
LE's first meal to make was her favorite dish, my Granny's chicken and dumplings.  She made a rainbow veggie/fruit tray and strawberry shortcake before.  She did almost the entire meal on her own.  I handled the raw chicken.  Her veggie tray included bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, grapes, carrots, lemons, cucumbers, and blueberries.  We had Pastor Steve over for dinner a couple of nights last week b/c Miss Sue had to make an unexpected trip to her sister's funeral.  This gave the girls an opportunity to hone their hospitality skills.

Boo's ice cream pie was AH-mazing.  I told her it is what I want for my birthday.  I am so glad it is finally out of the house as of today.  Every time I opened the freezer it was SCREAMING my name.  The whole meal was really, really good. I hope it is one she duplicates this summer.
Ingredients:
Chocolate graham crust
1 qt. Chocolate ice cream
1/2 cup chocolate fudge topping (we used Hershey's dark chocolate syrup)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (we used dark chocolate)
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered cocoa mix

Scoop half of the ice cream into a bowl and let it soften about 10 minutes.  Then spread it into the pie shell. Dig holes in the the ice cream and fill each hole with a T. of fudge topping (mud).  Freeze again for 10 minutes.

Stir chocolate chip "rocks" into the remaining ice cream, and then spread it into the pie.  Return to freezer.

Beat the heavy cream at high speed for 3-5 minutes to thicken.  Add the cocoa mix and beat for 2 more minutes, we added a teaspoon of powdered sugar b/c our cocoa isn't very sweet.  Spread the whipped cream evenly over the pie.  Wrap pie in plastic wrap and freeze for 3-4 hours.

"the big easy" peasy king cakes

Sometimes I think we were born in the wrong state, don't get me wrong I love Texas, but man I love me some good Cajun food and good Cajun traditions.  I had no idea a king cake was basically a cinnamon roll, light bulb moment!!!
 I figured why couldn't we make a king cake out of the cinnamon rolls that come in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  IT WORKED!!!  WE unrolled two containers of cinnamon rolls and put them on a baking sheet in a wreath shape.  Then, we baked according to the directions on the pkg.  We added some food coloring to the white icing and Mama drizzled the icing over our "king cake".  I even got a plastic baby from the bakery dept. and hid it inside one of the rolls.  Happy Fat Tuesday, ya'll!

Christmas dinner

We did it, we actually cooked a Christmas meal at our home and it was really good. Steve blessed us at Thanksgiving with a turkey, so we decided to be brave and try to actually have a traditional Christmas meal.  First we brined the turkey and then roasted it.  Our sides were a Apple Cranberry Sweet Potato dish , that was actually a paleo dish I discovered.  We made what has become my signature dish, 24 hour salad.  Ben requested a pumpkin pie and since he would have been the only one to eat it, I ventured out to make this Turtle Pumpkin Pie, which was really good.

24 hour salad:
bag of spinach
bag of Romaine lettuce
half bag of frozen peas
1 bell pepper diced (any color)
2 stalks of lettuce diced
3 strips of cooked bacon diced
grated cheese of your choice (I use Gouda)
1 cup (or less) of mayonnaise (I used homemade paleo)
1 T (or less) of sugar 

Layer ingredients beginning with greens and refrigerate for 24 hours.  Toss salad when ready to serve.  
My MIL made this salad for Ben and it has always been his favorite.  I love to surprise him and make it for pot lucks.

canning

We are almost finished with our Little House in the Big Woods book and have had fun projects along the way.  My friends tease me how domesticated I have become, so I figured I needed to learn to can some things out of the garden.  First up, my favorite - my Me-Maw's (paternal great-grandmother) plum jelly.  Over Father's Day weekend, my mom spent the weekend with us and she brought her canning supplies.  We made 11 jars of plum jelly (if PawPaw is reading this we really only made 2 jars).  My grandfather's best friend has a plum tree that he lets my mom pick plums any time she wants.  I have teased that this jelly is made with crack and my worst fears were confirmed, it has more sugar than fruit.  I have reasoned with myself that it is ok, b/c store bought jelly would be the same way and it is loaded with all of the other crap stuff that preserves their jelly and hers is way better anyways.
We also made these homemade pickles from the cucumbers in our garden.  Ben and I really like them, but we have discovered the girls are a bit of pickle snobs.  Fine by me, leaves more for this preggo Mama's cravings.

garden zucchini

If you are on pinterest, you have seen all of my recent pins on zucchini.  We have one zucchini plant and I already cannot keep up with how much it is producing.
This weekend, we made what I shall call OMG zucchini bread.  It was the best bread I have ever made. I used coconut oil for oil and I am not sure if that changed the flavor any.  I think next time I will try honey to replace the white sugar.
For lunch, I made zucchini cakes.  I would compare them to crab cakes.  Ben, Bella and I really liked them, LE made herself a pb and j sandwich.  She has at least tried everything I have made if it comes from the garden.  I served the cakes with ranch dressing, but I was wondering if they would be good with marinara sauce.  I also substituted Italian bread crumbs for the panko crumbs, just b/c that was what I had on hand.  I think the Italian flavor probably changed the flavor considerably.
I made recipes with this one zucchini.
Cucumbers and the cherry tomatoes are ready to picked and it is crazy how much more flavor a home-grown tomato has than the store bought.  LE will eat them from the garden, but will not touch the store bought ones.

chopsticks

I made Erica's Moo Goo Gai Pan this past week.  I thought I would spice dinner up a bit by letting the girls eat with chopsticks.  LE had it (she doesn't eat rice), but Bella ended up with a spoon (she loves rice).

Mediterranean Pizza

This pizza makes a certain husband very happy.  

INGREDIENTS
1 can (13.8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated classic pizza crust
2 1/2 tablespoons Crisco® 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Pure Olive Oil
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
12 slices soppressata (dry-cured salami)
6  Roma tomatoes, cut lengthwise into 1/4 slices
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
3/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese (3 oz)
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (4 oz)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 425°F. Spray large cookie sheet with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Unroll pizza crust dough on cookie sheet; press dough into 14x10-inch rectangle and flute edges.
2. Brush 1 tablespoon of the oil over dough. Press sun-dried tomatoes into dough. Sprinkle with thyme. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until dough is light golden brown. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.
3. On partially baked crust, layer ingredients in following order: soppressata (gently press into dough), sliced tomatoes, salt, oregano, Asiago cheese, grape tomatoes, olives, feta cheese and pepper. In small bowl, mix remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil and lemon juice; spoon over tart.
4. Bake at 375°F 10 to 12 minutes longer or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with basil. Cut into squares.

fresh squeezed lemonade

I am a sucker for lemonade.  Growing up where the state arts and crafts festival was held each summer, I attended only for Joe's Jefferson Street Lemonade.  One year, I worked in the booth and learned to make fresh squeezed lemonade.  I recently found a similar recipe on pinterest, but it had way too much sugar.
I modified and I plan to keep tweaking it b/c Ben swears this stuff has crack in it (his own complement).  I want to try honey and vanilla as a sweetener in it.

Mix 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup but it needed a touch more) in a small pan on stove till boils.
Squeeze 8 lemons into pitcher and add 7 cups of water.  Add the syrup water and stir.
Garnish with fresh mint.

I then put the lemon rinds, 2 T vanilla and a twig of rosemary with 2 quarts water and simmered all day.  My kitchen smelled like cookies.  I was feeling quite domesticated.

bread braids

I have finally learned to make my own bread.  I found this recipe on pinterest, but tweaked it.  I cannot believe how easy it is to make bread.  I have always been so intimidated by making it.  My mom gave me a KitchenAid mixer and b/c I am not a baker it rarely gets used.  I was so glad I had it for this recipe.  I dumped all ingredients in the mixer and it was good to go except for the rising.  The entire family LOVED this recipe, super easy midweek meal.  Next time, I am going to experiment and try to make calzones or the peanut butter and jelly braid.  

Taco Braid Filling
4 oz of Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup Salsa
1/2 lb ground turkey, seasoned and cooked with a Taco seasoning mix
1 pkg refried beans (cooked) we like the refried black beans
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
olive oil
garlic salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray counter and hands with cooking spray and knead for a few seconds to form smooth ball.
2. Roll dough into a 15-in. x 12-in. rectangle. Place on a greased cookie sheet. It's very important to place the dough on the cookie sheet before you fill it because once you fill it, it will be too heavy to move onto the cookie sheet. Mix salsa and cream cheese in a small bowl. Spread cream cheese mixture lengthwise down center third of rectangle, salsa, then seasoned meat and beans. Sprinkle with cheese. 
3. On each long side, cut 1 inch wide strips about 2-1/2-inches into center. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling. 
4. Pinch ends to seal and tuck under. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.

Fast Easy Bread Dough Recipe
2 and 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 Tbsp sugar 
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Fleischmann's Active Dry yeast
1 cup hot/warm water

Instructions: 
1.Mix dry ingredients.
2.Add water slowly, add 3/4 cups and then the remaining 1/4 cup. Mix for 1 minute and check consistency. The dough mixer should be sticky and pull itself off bowl. 
4.Mix/knead in mixer on medium setting for 5 minutes or knead for 5 minutes by hand.

Stone Soup Recipe

Heat some water in a pot.
Add some stones you've scrubbed a lot.
Sprinkle pepper, salt and herbs.
Let it boil undisturbed.
Drop in carrots, onions too.
Let the soup heat through and through.
Stir in milk to make it sweet.
Add potatoes for a treat.
Toss in meat cubes.  Let it stew.
Let it bubble, let it brew.
Taste the soup and when it's done,
Share stone soup with everyone.
~Stone Soup by Marilyn Sapienza

Richards Family Five Simplified Soup:
Boil water, add a clean stone.
Add 2 bay leaves and a whole chicken.
When chicken is cooked through, remove skin and debone.  Toss bay leaves.
Add 1 pkg of frozen mixed veggies.  Cook until tender.
Add 4 pkgs of Ramen noodles and seasoning packets.  Cook until noodles are tender.
Serve.

apple juice slushes

I am not sure why I did not think of this, oh let's say 5 years ago, cannot imagine the money I could have saved.   About year ago, our Sonic stopped serving the apple juice slushes.  Light bulb moment - we decided to make our own for the cooking lesson this week.

Toss 4 cups of ice cubes into the blender, add 1 1/2 - 2 cups apple juice and blend.  Taste much better if you have a curly straw to serve it with.  (oh and it tastes better than the real thing - L.E.)

Hatch-Lime Shrimp Tacos and Black Bean Salsa

Shrimp Tacos Ingredients:

1 hatch chili pepper; seeded and diced
1 TBS olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 lime (juice and zest)
2 tablespoons cilantro; chopped
1 pound shrimp; peeled and deveined

Directions:
1. Mix the pepper, olive oil, cumin, brown sugar, lime zest, lime juice and cilantro in a bowl and and let marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Skewer the shrimp.
3. Oil up the grill and grill the shrimp until cooked, about 2-3 minutes per side.  I grilled them on the George Foreman Grill and served on par-baked HEB tortillas (I will never go back to regular tortillas again).

Salsa Ingredients:
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 T olive oil
1/2 t salt
1/2 t white sugar
1/2 t ground black pepper
1/2 t cumin
2 T chopped cilantro
1 (15 ounce) can black beans; rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can sweet corn; drained
1 red pepper; diced
1 jalapeno; seeded and diced
2 green onion; sliced
Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix together balsamic vinegar, oil, salt, sugar, black pepper, cumin, and Za’atar.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together black beans, red pepper, jalapeno, green onions and corn. Toss with vinegar and oil dressing, and garnish with cilantro. Cover, and refrigerate.

I tweaked the recipe from my baking addiction so that I could use hatch peppers. 

crafty with food

We read the story Why the Crab has No Head and the girl's surprise lunch that day was a crabby sandwich.  I had hoped they would develop a taste for new foods, they did try fresh mozzarella (eyes) and radishes (mouth), but not sure they enjoyed anything but the croissant and the carrots (claws are red bell pepper and eyes olives). 
The girl's cooking project was to design a lunch including items such as pretzels, apples, raisins, string cheese, cucumbers, and carrots.  LE created Granny.
Mimi, please make sure Gran sees this.  She said the cucumbers made perfect Granny hair.  She also created our house out of pretzels.  Bella created herself with pigtails.

yum- braised zucchini and grape tomatoes

Braised Zucchini and Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes

2 zucchini, washed and sliced lengthwise
12 grape tomatoes, sliced in half
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 small bunch basil, torn or cut into large pieces
Heat olive oil in large skillet with high sides or braising pan. When it shimmers, add zucchini and cook quickly until browned. Remove to a bowl and set aside. Add a little more olive oil to pan and add garlic. Saute briefly, 30 seconds-1 minute, then add cherry tomatoes. When tomatoes begin to soften and release juices, add zucchini back to pan, season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Add basil, toss again, and serve hot or at room temperature.

I am LOVING pinterest.  It is my virtual cookbook.  Found this recipe and tweeked it for our family.  We have zucchini, grape tomatoes and basil growing in the garden, try to keep garlic in bulk.  This is my new fave side dish.  I served it with Hoison-Glazed Turkey Meatballs.

Cheesecake Factory Endive Salad

The Cheesecake Factory has my favorite salad, but at $6 for a "small salad", which Ben and I do not like to share I had been on the look out for the recipe.  CCF sells salad dressing, but at $8 and they have to be used in 48 hours, it was just not feasible.  In my salad searches over the past few weeks, by accident I discovered olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixed was the secret CCF salad dressing. 




My Endive and Bleu Cheese Salad Version:
Belgian endive (had to purchaed at Sprouts - cut this like you would celery and toss the hard center stalks - very bitter if you don't)
Ruby Reds (CCF uses radicchio, but also hard to find)
Arugula
Gorgonzola (or bleu cheese)
Candied Pecans
1 T. olive oil
1 T. Balsamic Vinegar

Mix 1/2 cups pecans, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 T. water - stir and heat on low heat.  Remove when mixed together and allow to chill  (this made enough for a week's worth of salad).
Mix 3 cups (handful = cup) greens together and coat with olive oil.  Then, toss with vinegar.
Garnish greens with cheese and pecans.  Serve immediately.

three pepper salad

I am cutting back on carbs over the next few weeks (I have becomed quite obsessed with them lately and wanted to get it in check.)  In that attempt, I needed to discover more sides, primarily veggies.  The vegetable aisle is so colorful and I found a recipe using my fave ingredients, colorful bell peppers.  Oh yeah, and we love Mediterranean food.

1 European cucumber (or 2 regular cucumbers)

1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper
1/2 orange bell pepper
1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1/2 cup Kalamata olives (pitted and cut in half)
1/4 cup red onion, cut in 1/2 inch pieces (optional - I added to Ben's salad)
1/2 cup diced Feta cheese
1/2 cup Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing
1 tsp. dried oregano
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Mix oregano into salad dressing, set aside - I did not use all of the dressing.

Peel cucumber in strips, leaving some green stripes lengthwise. Cut in half lengthwise, then in slices. Dice peppers in 3/4 inch pieces.
Combine cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, olives, and onion and toss with desired amount of salad dressing. Sprinkle Feta cheese over salad and grind on black pepper, then serve immediately. (Kalyn's Kitchen)

chocolate-covered pretzels

Mimi got the girls a new cookbook, Paula Deen's Cookbook for Lunch-Box Set. For Girl's Game night we made a yummy treat out of the bake sale section. This was a super easy treat and it made several days worth of snacks for us.

The recipe is for a bake sale batch, so we cut it back for our needs.
15 large pretzel rods
6 ounces chocolate chips (we used semi-sweet chocolate bars)
1 T. butter
rainbow sprinkles
wax paper

Melt chocolate and butter for 1 minute in microwave safe bowl. Remove from microwave and stir. Continue cooking for 30 more seconds, stir again. Dip pretzels into bowl (I helped by using a spatula to get the chocolate higher onto the pretzel.) Lay the pretzels onto the wax paper and then sprinkle with the rainbow sprinkles while chocolate is still warm. Allow to cool (if you can) for one hour before serving.

strawberry bars

Sweet and Tangy Summer Treat

1 cup granola
1 cup fresh berries (hand-picked strawberries taste best)
1/3 cup agave nectar or honey
1 T vanilla
3 cups greek yogurt

Pour granola on bottom of foil-lined 8x8 square pan.  Blend remaining ingredients and pour over granola.  Freeze until starting to harden (around 2-3 hours), remove and cut bars into squares.  Return to freezer until completly frozen. 
I cut the bars b/c they will freeze solid and it seemed impossible to cut apart.

my go-to snack

I am tired of spending large chunks of money on trail mix that is predominately raisins and peanuts, so this month I scoured the bulk aisles and Sam's and decided it was cheaper to make it our way.
I am so glad we have a HEB Plus near our home with a huge selection of nuts and dried fruit.  I buy the black/white bags of dried fruit that are $1.99 a bag and then dice them myself.  I also added a handful of dark chocolate chips (which I usually have to go back and replenish b/c of two little blonde elves who snatch them).

Richards Family Five Trail Mix
dried banana chips, shaved coconut, dried papaya & mango, craisins and raisins
dark chocolate chips
cashews, almonds and peanuts (from Sam's)
Mix together, quantities according to your liking.