valentine cuppycakes

For a little family activity tonight we decorated cuppycakes. I used the same recipe for my chocolate cake but did it for vanilla (using vanilla pudding, obviously) and I halved it. I used the big cupcake tin (has anyone ever bought the big tin cupcake liners? if you have tell me where!) Nothing is more appetizing that seeing a huge cupcake! I make a basic butter cream frosting,

2 sticks butter softened

1 bag powdered sugar

1 T vanilla (don't use dark vanilla or it makes you white frosting poopy color, use clear vanilla)

approx 2/3 c milk

pinch of salt

 Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, slowly add powdered sugar to the butter, add vanilla, now slowly add milk until the frosting is the desired consistency.

Use the gel food coloring instead of the liquid stuff, often they sell it over by the crafts (like at wall mart for instance) instead of the food section.

Kids had a blast, we delivered some to the neighbors, and they tasted good! I could only eat about a third of one, so it will make good breakfast tomorrow morning!

I'm so proud

Look what I did today!

I finally remembered to bring my reusable shopping bags into the store! I am so proud! I have only had them for 6 months, it was high time I used them! It felt great!

We live where there is no garbage service, so we have to manage our garbage ourselves. That make us acutely aware of how much garbage we use. So every time I brought home my groceries in those plastic bags I would be riddled with guilt. So I would pile them in a corner, with the weak intention of taking them to recycled, full knowing I would probably never remember to take them somewhere. I would recycle them in others ways, lining the bathroom waste baskets, some times I line a bowl with one and use it for garbage when I am cooking (Rachael Ray style) so I just pull it out of the bowl and drop everything into the garbage.

So today is a new day, Nan uses reusable grocery bags. Next thing you know I will be composting!

this is good stuff, and you can cook with it too!

This lotion is amazing! You will love it! and did you you coconut oil is a super food? here are the links. www.basabody.com and for information on coast coconut farms and how it helps moms in Kenya go to www.coastcoconutfarms.co.ke

Bring on summer . . food at least

So I love winter, I love to ski, I love the snow, I love careening down my hill in my car out of control bouncing off snow banks. I love all of it. What I hate is a winter where there is no snow, and there is just a soggy mess outside. Thank goodness I live above the inversion or I would be in hell! If there isn't going to be any snow to enjoy, bring on summer please. So last night I made some summer food.  Barbecue ribs, with coleslaw, french fries and watermelon.

So my ribs are really faux barbecue ribs. Because before I put them on the grill, I braise them on the stove. They however are the best ribs you will ever have. So here it goes!

Baby Back Ribs:

I buy my ribs at costco, however they only sell them in pretty big quantity, so if you are only serving a little family, best get them at you friendly corner market. You will need to cut them into sections in order to fit them into a pot. Sometimes I cut them individually, sometimes into three or four sections. Get your nice big pot and put your ribs in, if you are doing more than fits in one layer in the pan, stop here. Make one layer and liberally season with salt and pepper. Now quarter 1 small onion and smash 3-4 garlic cloves with the back side of your knife and add to the pot. Sprinkle with about a teaspoon of rubbed sage. Add 3-4 bay leaves. Now if you have more layers of ribs to put down, do so now and add more salt and pepper, onions, garlic and sage and bay leave. I would advise only doing two layers in a pot. Now add water just to cover the ribs. Bring to a boil and immediately turn to the lowest heat your stove will go. Let simmer for 1.5-2 hours. You can check them to see if they are pulling away from the bone and looking tender. They won't look super appetizing. . . yet.

 What the ribs look like taken out of the liquid

At this point you can potentially just put them in the fridge for when you are ready to eat them, or more significantly you can freeze them to eat them at another date or to take them on a camping trip, lake powell, etc. If you are going to eat them that night, like I just did, get your grill or your oven hot. I used my grill. You want the grill on medium low, the oven at 425 degrees. Baste the ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce, I like "sweet baby rays". Put them on the grill, flipping them once, for about 10 minutes. So they are browned and looking tasty.

like this . . . 

If using the oven, put them on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until they are browned. You will not believe how good these ribs are, and you will want summer to come!

chicken dumplings

Sigh . . . .Chicken and dumplings . . . don't get me wrong, they are really, really good, but you know what chicken means right? My love is out of town. Yep, its chicken and pork week. We always eat chicken or pork when he is gone,  and we are going to be eating a lot of chicken and pork. I hate you chicken and pork and all you stand for.

So this dish is very "semi-homemade" which isn't usually how I roll, but its quite good. This is something my mother taught me and I ate often as a child. You can use left over  sunday chicken, roast your own chicken or, use a rotisserie chicken. You could also use, dare I even utter the words, boneless, skinless chicken breast, but I think boneless, skinless chicken is a violation of culinary humanity. I shutter.

Ingredient list:

2-3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 box chicken stock

1 onion chopped

2 c potato chopped

2 c carrots chopped

1 c celery chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 c frozen corn

2 T butter

2 T oil

flour

salt and pepper

3 c Bisquick or any baking mix

milk

Make sure you dice all your veggies the same size (1/2 inch). Heat your oil and butter in a large skillet and saute all your veggies, hold off on the peas and corn till your other veggies and par cooked. Season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Add corn and peas and cook a while longer. When potatoes are tender, add about a 1/2 cup flour, sprinkling all over the veggies. Stir to coat all the veggies. Add the chicken (and any gravy if you have it) then add the chicken stock, you might not need all of it.  Pour enough in to cover everything. Bring to a boil then simmer on medium low for about 15 minutes, till potatoes are very tender and everything thickens up. If it is too thick, add some more stock. Taste and make sure it doesn't need more salt and pepper. You could add some herbs, like thyme or rosemary but I don't.  Meanwhile, make you biscuit dough. You could probably just follow the instructions on the box, but I just add some milk to make a very sticky dough. Pour the filling into a casserole dish. With a mini ice cream scoop, spoon balls of the dough on top of the filling, as if you were arranging cookie dough on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the biscuits are fluffy and browned. Its an easy one and everyone will love it, unless you are fairb but he's gone anyway :(

what do ripe bananas mean its time for?

BANANA BREAD!

I sometimes buy extra bananas just to have an excuse to make banana bread. But my banana bread is more than banana bread. It is super bread bread! I adapted this recipe from my mother-in-law to hide some healthy stuff in it in order to make it a more healthy snack for the kidos. It's made with half whole wheat, has flax seed, carrots and zucchini.

Ingredients:

1 c melted butter

1 c sugar

4 eggs

1 c shredded carrots

1 c shredded zucchini

6 ripe bananas mashed

1 cup milk

1 container of yogurt (any kind, just not something chunky

or you can use sour cream(about a cup)

2 c whole wheat flour

2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c flax seeds (you can do whole, but the kids won't like it, I grind them up into meal)

1 t salt

2 t baking soda

I chop up the carrots and zucchini in the food processor, you want it fine. First cream the butter and sugar, next add the eggs, zucchini, carrots, bananas, yogurt and milk. Blend together well. Meanwhile combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mixture, until combined. Do not over mix. Now this will make two long bread pans (what I do) or three regular bread pans. Make sure you spray with pam first. Bake at 350 degrees convection, if you oven doesn't do convection, do 375. Bake for 50-60 minutes. Test it with a toothpick.  

You absolutely must have a piece when it comes out of the oven, put some butter on it. Yum! Store it in tin foil and enjoy for the next few days. Take the extra loaf to your neighbor, or freeze it!

What to do for family home evening

Come with me and my family to this concert tonight! You may have heard about Stephanie and her husband Christian who were in a plane accident in August and were severely burned. What you may not know is that Stephanie is my cousin. So come on down to Provo for this benefit concert for her family!