I resolved a long time ago to start including things we are eating that we like. Maybe it will get me on here to post a little more often.
I LOVE finding new recipes... I don't read books, I read cooking blogs (lately anyway). Cooking is something that I very much enjoy (when there aren't two grumpy kids screaming at me... but then again most activities aren't that fun when there are two grumpy kids screaming) and I love creating things for my family to eat that they love. Audrey is very much a picky eater right now, and things she will eat changes from day to day, but I know that we are exposing her to many good foods and she will learn to eat it (I hope). This is what we had last night for dinner- and we really liked it! It was my first time ever making from-scratch biscuits and I don't think I'd ever go back to a mix or even a can- they were wonderful! And honestly not that much harder than making them from a mix! The soup was very good- I changed it to fit what I had in the house so it turned into a Broccoli Cheese soup rather than Vegetable Cheese Soup.
Vegetable-Cheddar Cheese Soup (from Betty Crocker Sunday Dinner Cookbook)
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup carrot, finely chopped (I didn't have this, so I left it out.)
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
2 medium zucchini, cut into 2-inch strips (I didn't have this either, so I used a head of broccoli instead)
(I also added 2 cloves of garlic, minced)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground mustard (I didn't have this, so I left it out)
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups half and half (I used 3 cups whole milk plus 1 cup water, plus 2 tsp chicken bullion)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
Heat margarine in Dutch oven until melted. Cook Carrot, onion, and celery in margarine until softened. Stir in zucchini and cook about 2 min or until crisp-tender. (since I didn't use the zucchini, I just put all the veggies in at the first. I had to cook it a while to get all of it to be tender, and I still think I could have cooked it longer. What I will do next time is cook the broccoli first so it is already soft, and then chop it finely and add it to the mixture after the onion and celery are tender.)
Add flour and mustard, mix well. Gradually stir in chicken broth and half and half, stirring very frequently until mixture boils. Stir in cheese until melted. Serves 8.
Buttermilk Biscuits
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
About 3/4 cup buttermilk (sour milk worked fine for me- just under 3/4 cup milk, add a tsp or 2 of vinegar. Let it sit a few min- it might get a little chunky.)
Preheat oven to 450*F. In a large bowl, cut shortening into remaining ingredients, except buttermilk (use a pastry cutter or two knives), until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in just enough buttermilk so dough leaves the side of the bowl and forms a ball.
Lightly flour a work surface, turn dough out. Knead lightly 10 times (I didn't do this since I stirred a little more than I wanted to earlier.). Pat dough out to 1/2" thickness (I like to do 1/4" and then stack them 2 high when I bake them- then they come apart perfectly in the middle for butter/honey/jam/whatever). Cut with floured 2 1/2" biscuit cutter (I just used a glass, which I think was larger than this- maybe closer to 3 1/2" or 4".) Place 1" apart on an ungreased baking sheet. (Don't re-roll your scraps, just pat them together and bake them as they are.) Bake 10 to 12 min or until golden. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve hot.
There you are! This is what I'm planning on for today's dinner:
Sweet and Spicy Slow-Cooker Chicken (melskitchencafe.com)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 14oz can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
Spray crockpot with non-stick spray (I forget this all the time and nothing explodes). Place all in crockpot Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 8-10 hours. Shred with two forks, season with salt and pepper to taste.
We use this for shredded chicken burritos- flour tortilla, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, crushed tortilla chips. YUM! Super easy and delicious!
I have the most insane itch to start another sewing project. I can't decide what. But I shouldn't- I want to have things more unpacked/in order before I do that. So I'm just dreaming... I love this website, and I really love her patterns here.
Audrey is very cute, and now binky-free. Last week I think it was Tuesday, I put her down for her nap and told her that this was her last nap with her binky, and after she woke up we would have to put them away. Her eyes got big and she said "My binky?" and was a little concerned, but she went down ok. When she woke up, she handed me her binky and I said, "we better get the other one, because now we have to put them away!" I took both binkies and she said " My hold them!" So I handed them to her and we walked out into the kitchen. I asked her where she wanted to put them, since we had to put them away. She walked around and thought about it, and finally said "The Trash!" I said "Are you sure?" and she said "Yeah, the trash!" and she threw them both away! I was impressed... it took her about an hour and a half to go to bed that night, lots of tears, but the night after was better. Things are going better- it's been about a week since we ditched them. It's not really the binky gone that's the issue, other than it's hard for her to learn to put her body into sleep mode without it. She comes out of her room and it's just a back-and-forth game. Naptime is still an adventure- she actually hasn't taken a nap for the past two days. I'm really hoping it's not a trend... and just a fluke. I really miss my breaks! But she goes down at night a lot easier with no nap... she only comes out once or twice. Ah the adventures of parenting. After this it will be potty training, or as she refers to it "poopy training". Audrey is learning lots of new words and talks more grown-up every day. She loves to quote movies and she loves to sing songs. Her new favorite movies are Wall-e and Emperor's New Groove. Her new favorite songs are the Wall-e song (thank you, for introducing my child to quality music!), the Toy Story song, and "green and yellow and pink and blue" or the Rainbow song. She loves the Toy Story characters and plays with and about them often.
Ethan is good- still not crawling but he LOVES to stand up. He cruises a little teeny bit. He is teething- his top one or two teeth is/are coming in, so he's been super grumpy the last couple days. He is still a very happy baby though, and loves people. He has a super cute smile and he is learning to say "bye" when he waves. He says meh-meh-meh-meh for me, and he does say deh-deh too for Thomas. It is fun to watch his personality come out as he grows. He loves Audrey but she drives him nuts sometimes. She LOVES playing with him but is still learning what he does and doesn't like (hitting, kicking, throwing things at his face...) He really likes the old school Sesame Street- it is the only thing that will hold both their attention during dinner- still magical!
Thomas is still working from home for Auto and Art, and he is loving it. I am able to go accompany for lessons on campus and he is able to watch the children when I go. We LOVE our new house- it is wonderful and glorious to live in a little more space in our house and in our land. Thomas is brimming with ideas for projects once the snow melts. We got all excited last week when it got so warm, we thought maybe spring was on its way! But then we got a few inches of snow this weekend. Not a ton, but enough that our road needed plowing a couple times.
Michael and Qait came to visit this President's day weekend- and it was good to see them. Qait is having a baby girl in July i think she said... we are so excited for them! We got to see Ender- he is getting so big! Audrey was very happy to see him, although one of the days he was here she kept calling him "Jason"... which was a friend of hers from the Mill Hollow ward. Not sure why she kept getting confused- the day before she knew exactly who he was. She was very happy to have a playmate for a few days. We are still settling into our new ward and she already recognizes friends from nursery when we sit in Sacrament meeting. We don't have callings but we are looking forward to it!
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