Avocado recipies

In our house there is one food that can make everyone (but Winston) happy. That food is avocado. Peanut lights up when he sees me grab one. My husband and I have decided that Peanut's favorite food is avocado. Since he loves it so much, my husband and I have been coming up with different ways to incorporate it into our meals.

There is the ever classic guacamole:

• Grab how ever many avocados you want
• garlic cloves (I use 1 clove for 2 avocados- so grab the amount that you need) 
• Onion (I cut up a quarter of a small onion for 2 avocados)
• Lemon juice
• Lime juice
• dash of salt and pepper

I mix everything together, squeeze half a lemon and lime over the guacamole, mix that and serve.

I also have added avocado to :

• grilled cheese
• chicken salad
• tuna fish
• baked chicken
• turkey burgers
• and so much more. 

I love experimenting with it, and really love seeing Peanut's face when he has some.

Ciao,

Cupcakes

Do you ever feel the need to bake? I do. Sometimes the feeling gets so deep that all I can imagine doing is throwing caution to the wind and baking. Anything and everything. Cookies; brownies;  cakes and cupcakes. It's harder than I thought, baking with a baby. But now that I can start to time some of my peanuts naps I can bake.

Which means one thing....look out readers for new recipes that I am going to try.

Ciao,

Friday Night Fish

I haven't done a post about food in a while. I figured, since it is Lent, and Friday nights are fish night, why not go all out and make my own version of  a typical WI Friday night Fish Fry!

Since I believe in being as healthy as possible, plus I don't have a deep fryer, so I decided to bake my fish.  The first thing I did was season my fish. I soaked it in beer. (Any beer will do)

And seasonings. As well as a little bit of flour, mix them together and put them on your fish.

Make sure to grease the pan so it doesn't stick. Then bake the fish according to what type of fish you are making. I made tialpia, so it was in the oven 8-12 minutes at 350 degrees. 

While that is going one, work on your sides. I made steamed broccoli, French Fries and a simple salad.

(Homemade dressing- vinegar,lemon juice,and pepper)

Then cut up some lemon, put is all together on a plate, add a little tarter sauce and bam! 

ENJOY!

Ciao.

Avocado

I have a new favorite food. While, let's try favorite vegetable. Yes, I will always love onions, especially when they are free (see a post I did this time last year), and yes, pepper are amazing, along with carrots, but there is something about an avocado that is just...well...amazing.

Let me list the ways:
1. Healthy fats and omegas.
2. Hello, Guacamole...need I even say more.
3. You can substitute it for mayo in any recipe and it automatically becomes healthier.
4.They can increase your energy and make your skin shine
5. Avocado Fries.
6. You Can supposedly grow them yourself, but I have not been able to.
7. They taste good.

There you go, 7 reasons to eat Avocados.

Cookies

For a non baby related post....cookies.

I want to bake cookies, so does anyone have any ideas? I was thinking my classic chocolate chip cookies, oh and the caramel sugar cookies are yummy too. Maybe oatmeal? Hmm...I need some new cookie ideas so please share them with me (recipes too) and I will attempt to make them!
Ciao,

If you visit...

Can you bring food?

I'm trying to get used to motherhood, but things are, well, my little boy loves to cry all night long. And with my husband working night, it's just me.  I do my best, but sometimes I want to cry too.

And then people want to visit.

And the house ins't as clean as I would like. I'm so tired all the time, and hungry, and then to feed people?!?!?!?


If you visit, please bring food. Food is wonderful. And snacks are great...like this:

or this

or even this

Yum yum. 

Applesauce!

I don't know about you, but I like applesauce. Of course nothing can beat homemade apple sauce. I made this over Thanksgiving and meant to make a post about it. I guess it's always better late than never.

Earlier this year, I made my first batch of homemade apple sauce following a recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  After that, I began experimenting with my own recipe, using hers as a base.

So to start....I gathered my apples. I use about 8 of them and I don't use just one kind. I find that mixing a sweet apple (like a gala) with a sour apple, makes an applesauce that I enjoy best.

I then peel the apples and cut them up into small pieces. I like to get as much apple meat as possible, and I also like to leave just the tiniest bit of skin on the apples for a bite. I throw all my apples into a pot on the stove.

Then, I add some flavor. I know a lot of people use a lemon, but me I find it is sweeter to use orange juice. So my apple sauce isn't too sweet, I squeeze half of the juice from a lemon and half of the juice from an orange. I also use 1/2 cup of apple cider and 1/4 cup of water for my liquid base. 

 Next I add 1 tablespoon of cinnamon (yum) , 1/3 cup of brown sugar and 4 tablespoons of white sugar. Why...I like how it all tastes.

I put it on the stove, and let it come to a boil.It makes the house smell great!

After the juices all blend together, and the apples are soft and tender, I take it off of heat. I then use a food processor and blend it all together.

And the last thing I do is enjoy it!

What is your favorite room?

Happy Sunday!

My husband and I were having a very interesting conversation this week. We were talking about our dream house.  What it would be like to build one/ design one. (This is all a dream, we cannot afford to build one)  One thing that we began talking about was designing our favorite rooms. H said he wants to design the master bathroom. But for me, it would be the kitchen.

I learned how to walk in a kitchen. I love to cook and bake, and I think some of the best conversations happen in the kitchen.  So, of course I pinned some kitchen that I liked.

My dream kitchen has to have a pantry. I would love a walk-in one. I think it would be great. 

A hidden dishwasher...how cool is that. 

I love the colors and the natural light. I think the best kitchens are ones, that look open, and welcoming. The have a seat for almost everyone, or at least counter top space for people to sit on. They smell great! Like...fresh food. 

What is your favorite room in a house. What would you do with it? How would you decorate it?

Tiramisu and my story continues

Happy Monday,

 Should those two words even be said together? Well, since I said them together, I guess they can be.  But what a Monday it has been. Ugh- I burnt my hand this morning- literally burnt it to the point of blisters- ouch :(  but I figure why not post about happy things. Like... the Tiramisu my wonderful husband made for me.

If you have not had Tiramisu- you must, and I shall repeat this, you must have it. It is the best dessert out there (It's my favorite if you can't tell). The wonderful, wonderful tiramisu is made with lady fingers, rum, espresso, marscapone cheese, eggs, sugar and cocoa powder. Yum Yum.

I figured I might as well share the recipe:

(Serves 4)
3 egg yolks (Do not have any egg white)
12 Lady Fingers
8 oz of marscapone cheese
1 1/2 C. of cold espresso
3 table spoons of rum (we used Kahlua)
Homemade Whipped cream
2 tablespoons sugar


1. Beat the egg yokes on high until soft and creamy. Add the cheese and sugar. Beat until well blended. Add 2 Tbsp of the espresso. Mix well.

2. With the rest of the espresso and the rum, mix in a small shallow bowl. Soak the lady fingers for less than 5 seconds- lay the lady fingers lat on the bottom of the bowl you are using. Layer half of the cheese mixture and repeat the layering with the rest of the lady fingers and cheese. (End it with the cheese on top).  Cover and put in the fridge for 2 hours. Take out and layer the homemade whipped cream on top and sprinkle with cocoa powder. Put back in the fridge for 4 hours. Then enjoy.

Yum Yum. It really is my favorite.

Day 5, Sunday: Publicly profess your love and devotion for one of your blogger friends. What makes them great? Why do you love them? If you don't have blogger friends, talk about a real-life friend or even a family member

Well,  I have met a lot of great wonderful bloggers.  Some of the ladies that I love are Ashlyn (On Cloud Nine), Heather (Every Girl like me), Deanna (The Peony Princess) and Jamie (Toby Tails)

All four of these ladies are wonderful. Just wonderful, and so sweet. I love reading their blogs and catching up on the day to days in their life. What makes them wonderful, (besides how sweet that are) is that they are more than willing to respond back to the comments you leave, and they are more then willing to talk to you.

Day 6: With out saying what your job is, what do you do?

I do a lot.

I do...

Hugs

Games

Baseball

Basketball

Healthy Eating

Science

Math

Cooking

Gardening

Counseling

Instructing 

Laughing

Joking

Disciplining

and much more.

I got this picture form the Vintage Apple:

Can you tell what I do?


Also, if you haven't entered the give away I'm co-hosting you can do so right Here!

Ciao,

Yummy yummy chicken pot pie

Good Morning,

<div align="center"><a href="http://tobystailsblog.blogspot.com" title="Toby's Tails"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkmlFExW5Z2nymRfQPX6LLZMcRmiT0HsSQ6Q7WlvYop2JtRs09yrBuPpyMusuQ-YnYTf_iWUWNbKnFdtQQHRUtr2-jrAm5sylC4Lx-ZhWolX9hyA7J7dyJmfKrFzzJjTleO-ljsXXNmvY4/w497-h373/2013-02-26" alt="Toby's Tails" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I have a wonderful husband. All the time I was sick  just wanted a good old fashion Chicken Pot Pie. I thought I would share the yumminess with you.

Crust: (This is for two small pot pies- it covers the bottom and the top- not the side)

            1 Cup Flour

            1/3 to 1/2 cup milk

           3 Tbsp butter

           2 tsp sage

          Pinch of salt

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add milk and butter and kneed  until a ball forms. Put int he fridge

Inside(aka soup):

    1 can of cream of chicken soup

    1 cup of water

    1/4 cup milk

    peas

    cooked chicken cubed

    carrots

    beans

   corn

1. Mix everything together in  a sauce pan. Bring to a boil.

Put together:
              Roll out the crust- set some int he bottom of the pan. Pour the soup in. Cover with the rest of the crust. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

(I think if I were to make this again, I would brush some butter on top of the crust to give it a flaky texture and taste. What do you think?)


 And for some of my It's Okay's for the week:

...to be super excited for the 48 degree weather we had yesterday....

...to have crazy food cravings and NOT be pregnant but PMSing...

...to love the idea of paperwork just to be able to listen to music...

...to be super excited that the peppers I planted have sprouted.. YAY!...

and

...to want to wear sun dresses and have the body to wear sun dresses...

Ciao,

Free Onions!

TGIF all.
Guess what- I got Free Onions.

Imagine this- it's raining out and you go into work and are just feeling ho-hum. And then, you go to the kitchen, and see a not addressed to you saying "The onions in the fridge are for you" Eeek! Free onions! It's like

And it makes your rainy day tens times brighter.  And then you stumble across this on the interwebz 

The first one- very funny. The second one just reminds me of Winston. But I'm glad yesterday was rain, because today we have

(Okay- that's not true. I love snow, I really do, just not in April)

Which leads Winston to look like

I can't go play ball outside. :(

Well, I guess that is all for now. Until next time.

Birthday Cake!

It's J's birthday today. He's turning a big.....well, he is getting close to entering his mid twenties. And he is well not doing a great as one would be doing around their birthday. He seems to be a bit depressed. I thought maybe making him a healthy cake would help him. (And by healthy I mean less than 310 calories)

Tuscan Cake with Citrus Compote

( I did make some substitutions- they will be in Pink!)

Cake:

• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons of EVOO(extra-virgin olive oil) - I didn't have enough oil (opps) so I used 1 1/2 tablespoons of  pure vegetable oil (Don't tell)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp grated grapefruit ring (My grapefruit was bad so I used clementines instead)
• 1/1/2 tsp grated lime rinds
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1( 6 ounce) container of plain yogurt. (I use Greek yogurt which involved math- ugh- I found out that between 2/3 and 3/4 cup is 6 ounces. Remember there are 8 ounces to a cup NOT 16 like I thought) 
• 1 1/4 Cup of flour
• 1/4 cup of cornmeal- the first time I have ever used cornmeal in cooking.
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat over to 325 degrees.
2. Grind up the limes and clementines

   3. Place sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl; beat at high speed 2 minutes or until well blended.  

    

 4. Add the egss 1 at a time and beat well after each addition,

 5. Add the rinds, yogurt, and vanialla; beat until just combined.

             

6. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder and salt, stirring with a whisk (A whisk is very important)

                                             

7. Add the flour mixture to the oil mixture and stir with a whisk until just combined. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

            

 For the Compote:

• 2 large Red grapefruit ( I didn't have those so I used clementines)
• 4 Large Oranges
• 2 tbsp of fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
• 3 tbsp of honey
• 1/8 tsp of cinnamon

1. Peel the fruit, reserve the juices and set the fruit in a medium bowl.

              

2. Combine  the reserved juices, lime and lemon juice in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Stir in the honey and cinnamon. Simmer until syrupy. Cover and chill for 30 minutes, mix with the fruit and pour over the cake. 

And the Cake!!!!

 So, while I was making the cake I did have a helper. (or someone who wanted to help)

(Hey Mommy what are you doing? Can I help?)

(Is that for me?)

(I can't believe I couldn't lick the spoon)

Ciao,