Bulking up and other such nonsense...

Breakfast?

Yep.

Sad, I know.
(I'll make no comment about how this little delicacy looks just like a..... well, you know that two veterinarians live in this house)

Seems like I've spent a lot of time baking and cooking over the past few months....

I'm really in need of some warm weather so I can burn more calories than I make (and eat).

Whole wheat bread is good though.... unless you are trying to eat less carbs.

Potato soup... aka Carrot stew (you know, from The Tawny Scrawny Lion book)

We call it Carrot Stew because of course little children are more likely to eat Potato Soup if it is called Carrot Stew.... sometimes we sprinkle on a few fishy crackers because the Tawny Scrawny Lion's carrot stew had fish in it, you know.....

Chocolate chip cookies.... that fly out of the freezer faster than you can say, "Walter be nimble, Walter be quick."

And.... something delicious just for Mom and Dad. Yum.

Do you, like I, bulk up over the winter months?  I think "bulk up" is a nice way of saying, I'm saving up energy for a long winter's nap.... which would be fine if I actually used up all those calories during winter hibernation.  But, I don't.  Every winter.  Which means more time on the treadmill..... which is boring.

Boring unless you are watching Downton Abbey on Netflix, that is.  Do you know about this series?  I LOVE it.  {L.o.v.e.}  I cannot wait for the series to start up again to find out what happens next.....  which brings up the problem that since we don't have cable or satellite.....  HOW ON EARTH AM I GOING TO FIND OUT BEFORE NEXT YEAR (or whenever Netflix puts it on streaming)?   If you're a local sort of person and you can tape this for me from KWSU -- I'd make you a steaming batch of cookies.... or healthy bread if you'd rather --- just for making my jogging on the treadmill more enjoyable.  Chocolate pinky swear.

Watch the full episode. See more Masterpiece.

{Linking up to Mosaic Monday at Mary's}

{Click on over to see some beautiful hyacinths}

Peanut Thai Noodles

{sorry for the messy plate---see, I'm not a professional food photographer}
This recipe has officially made the list of my top ten favorite meals.
Seriously. You HAVE to try it.
Just once......and then you will be hooked.

And then you could watch Kung Fu Panda..... or not.
The picture of Reid reminded me of that movie.

Here is the recipe I follow (loosely):

• 1 Tbl oil
• 1/2 sweet onion diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper cut in 1/2" strips
• 1 head broccoli cut in small pieces
• 2 cups sugar snap peas (ends trimmed)
• 1 cup carrots julienned
• 1 lb precooked grilled chicken strips (optional)
  
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 c apple juice
• 1- 2lb package {yakisoba noodles}
• handful of peanuts to sprinkle over the top (optional)
  

Put the oil in a skillet or wok (I don't have one) and heat before adding the onions and bell pepper. Saute until soft and onions are translucent. Add the other vegetables and saute stirring frequently until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. I like my stir fry vegetables not soft, but not hard -- just in the middle. (While the vegetables are a cooking you can mix the peanut butter, soy sauce, cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic powder, and apple juice in a bowl.) When the vegetables are about half cooked, add the pre-cooked chicken (if using-- the recipe is just fine without the chicken). Once the vegetables are finished and the chicken heated through, add the sauce mixture and stir until well incorporated. At this point, you can either add the noodles directly to the vegetable mixture, or you can heat the noodles separately and add the vegetables on top of the noodles on each individual plate. Tastes the same either way ;). Add peanuts and enjoy! Mmmmm....... truly addicting.

{{Don't forget to enter my Ruffle pants giveaway over on my Farmhouse Blog}}

The Noodle that Broke the Mother's Back

There once was a mother who {was inspired to make chicken noodle soup} for supper for her little brood. She slaved away for HOURS cutting up the fryer (one of her least favorite jobs), preparing the chicken and broth, cutting the vegetables, and then making the noodles. She thought about how delighted her brood would be with the homemade noodles -- they usually loved noodles.

She mixed the eggs and flour (half all-purpose flour and half semolina flour)

until a nice dough was created.

She kneaded the dough until smooth and elastic and let the dough rest
(while her forearms recovered)

One of her brood was glad to help, especially since homework was in want of finishing. The rest of the brood milled about famished and begging for snacks. "No snacks allowed," said the mother. She was so tired of children not eating their dinner because of wanton self-serve snacking. The children groaned and moaned but the mother prevailed. "Supper is served in a few minutes," said she.

The noodles were ready. Into the pot of chicken and vegetables they plopped.
Ten long minutes later..... the chicken noodle soup was ready.

One child upon seeing the fare, melted into a puddle of tears on the floor. One child just poked her carrots and noodles, smashing them to smithereens, but nary a carrot entered her mouth. One child sat and ate quietly knowing better than to say a word because his little barometer told him a storm was brewing. And one child upon being told that the mother had worked long and hard making the dinner and that he had better be quiet and eat said, "Well, she didn't work long enough then." And that was the noodle that broke the mother's back. Two children were sent to their bedroom until they were ready to eat. One child gobbled quickly remarking on how well he enjoyed the soup. And one child sat in her daddy's arms crying because she was tired and she knew the mother was not happy.

And the mother.....well she looked something like this......only no trace of a smile could be found on her countenance. The house and it's inhabitants trembled. The dogs scurried into their kennel, the cats paused in their grooming to assess the danger, the chickens decided it was a good time to roost, and the cows......well the cows kept chewing their cud because the mother did not scare them. The mother stomped into the pantry and opened the doors and drawers and began stuffing all the snack food she could find in a plastic bag. Stuffing, stuffing, stuffing, all the while muttering, muttering, muttering about ungrateful children and broken backs.

After all the children were bathed and clothed and in bed (early) the mother asked the father if she was wrong to react so strangely to a broken back. And the father said, "No, it was about time." So ends the story of the noodle that broke the mother's back. Well, almost. Even though the mother felt bad for her stomping and muttering, the cheetos, gummy fruit snacks, and potato chips will be on vacation until the mother's back is healed and the children have learned to eat what is served at meals. Then we'll see........

A Reason for Hollandaise

Because it is Sunday and because the chickens have started laying eggs again.... my slow breakfast this morning. Everyone else had potatoes and eggs and toast. I made myself Eggs Benedict. I don't make it very often since the hollandaise sauce takes a some time to make properly. This morning, I didn't want to take the time to make the sauce the "right" way, so I tried a faster blender recipe. The blender hollandaise was OK -- flavor was fine, but the texture was not the same as cooked hollandaise -- in a hurry it will do. Here is the recipe I used for the {blender hollandaise}. Here is an example of a {proper hollandaise}. I know it takes extra time to make, but the proper hollandaise sauce is well worth the effort. Just don't curdle your eggs!

Moroccan Stew

I made a Moroccan stew for supper last night. After about five slowly eaten bites, Randy informed me that he was more of a country sort of guy.......... (get it..... more rock.....more country). Dangnabit, I knew I should have smashed up the butternut squash instead of leaving it in big chunks. Of course, maybe it was the cinnamon and cumin that was a little too much for his salt-n-pepper taste buds. (At least it smelled really good while it was cooking.) If the chicken's eggs all taste like Moroccan stew, I guess we'll know why...........

Bad, Bad Toffee

Bad, bad toffee.

How dare you taste so good?

Very naughty.
(In case you're wondering.....
I followed {this recipe from Smitten Kitchen}

except I used almonds and I didn't use the coffee
-- still sinfully good)

Crepes

Sunday mornings are usually our mornings for "slow" breakfasts. What's a slow breakfast, you ask? Well, a slow breakfast is more than cereal or pancakes or egg on toast. Slow breakfasts happen when we don't have to rush off to school or work or church.

Our slow breakfast this morning was crepes. Crepes are a particular favorite of Wyatt's. He LOVES crepes -- this morning I think he ate 7 or 8 of them -- I lost track. We used to make crepes the old fashioned way -- in a buttered, non-stick skillet. Really -- you had to butter a non-stick skillet to keep the crepes from sticking. But then, my parents bought me {this crepe maker} for my birthday a few years ago. If you like crepes -- this little kitchen helper will be your friend and confidante --and it won't even tell how many "mistakes" you eat before breakfast is served. Luckily though, there won't be very many mistakes to eat, because this crepe maker (combined with Randy's crepe making skills) makes nearly perfect crepes.

There are about as many ways to serve crepes as there are crepe recipes, but we like to serve them two different ways. The kid's favorite is with "sweet and sour" as they call it --sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice, rolled up, and then topped with sweet whipped cream. Us "big" kids like to add a berry sauce inside the crepes before rolling them up. I sometimes also make a creamy sauce from cream cheese, whipping cream, and yogurt to serve instead of whipped cream. Here is the recipe we use for making the crepe batter:

Basic Crepes
2 c. all purpose flour
4 eggs
dash or two of salt
2 1/2 c. milk
6 Tbl butter melted

Combine all in a blender and process until smooth. It is best to let the batter rest for 1-2 hours (or even overnight in the fridge if you are thinking ahead). But we usually make the crepes right after making the batter (no thinking ahead). The butter is really important to help make sure the crepes don't stick. Also, it is best not to use a batter that has sugar in it -- sugar makes the crepes stick to the "pan". We also brush the surface of the maker with melted butter from time to time to help the crepes come off easily. No one said crepes were a low calorie food.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Here is what we did with the pumpkin seeds from the Baby Pam pumpkins we grew in our garden this summer. Nothing tastier than roasted pumpkin seeds -- salty and nutty -- and so hard to stop eating. I started by cutting the pumpkins in half, then scooping out the seedy pulp from the pumpkins and setting the seeds in a colander to rinse the pumpkin strings from the seeds. I then placed the clean seeds on an oiled baking sheet, drizzled olive oil and salted liberally, and placed in the oven at 250 degrees F to roast for an hour or two. I would occasionally check them to see how the roasting was progressing and stir the seeds around some. Easy peasy pumpkin seedsy.

The pumpkins I steamed until soft, removed the skins, and then Randy and the boys processed the pumpkin in this vintage, alien-looking food strainer. Randy remembers seeing one of his grandmothers use the exact same type of strainer.

I could get a pumpkin screen for my food processor, but the kids like using this three-legged contraption for pumpkin every year. It is fun to watch the pumpkin squeeze through the holes of the strainer--reminds me of playdough.

Pumpkin ready for the freezer -- enough for 6 pumpkin pies. Mmmmm.....can smell them baking right now.

Apple Pie

Last week, I made apple pie from our meager apple crop. At least we had apples this year, last year the yellow jackets pretty much ate all our apples. Still, I had to do a lot of trimming out of bad spots and worm tracts to make the pie. Our apple trees are only 3 years old, so I think we had a pretty reasonable crop. Now I just have to figure out how to keep worms out of the apples.

I'm not a big pie fan, but I do love munching on the raw apples coated with cinnamon and sugar. Randy and Reid are the pie munchers.

Maybe you already know this little trick I use to place the top crust with ease -- but I'll share it anyway. After rolling out the crust on a well floured surface, I fold the crust in half, and then in half again. It should look something like the above photo.


Then you can easily place the smaller sized, folded crust on the top of your pie, unfold, and viola -- you have you top crust without holes or rips. For apple pie, I like cutting vent holes in the top of the pie to make it look like a piece of apple in cross-section.

Ready for the oven.

Ready for the mouth.

Food Critics

We did it again. We made donuts (or doughnuts depending on the purists in the crowd). We are big fans of maple bars (sorry Juanita). I found a maple bar recipe on Cooks.com and so we thought we'd give it a try. The dough was silky, smooth, and beautiful --it raised well, and fried up well. But.......the food critics were not impressed.

Never afraid to give his opinion.

Still trying to figure out his opinion.

Reid's typical non-committal opinion.

The BIG man's opinion.
I love his smile, don't you?

Altered and Adulterated

I make chocolate chip cookies about once a week. Often when I make bread, I also make cookies --that way I only have to wash the mixer bowl once. What's a little bread dough in the cookie dough (or vice versa)? Lazy? No efficient. Last week, when I went to make the cookies there were NO chocolate chips in the BIG bag of Nestle morsels. (We hadn't been to Costco in awhile). Gee -- I wonder why there were no chocolate chips? Hmmm.....I'll have to think on that one.
So, I hunted around in the pantry until I found these little gems from last Christmas -- you know-- those terribly sinful chocolate truffles they sell at Costco during the holidays. I have no idea how they survived that long without being consumed, but there they were --ready to save the day. I chopped them up and altered and adulterated my usual cookie dough recipe.

The cookie monster didn't notice. I have also added 1/2 c. wheat germ before (in an attempt to make the cookies more healthy) and the cookie monster didn't notice that either. I'm pretty sure he WOULD notice if I added smooshed up broccoli though. He he.

Applesauce Donuts

What did you have for breakfast?

We had homemade applesauce donuts. I followed {this recipe} from the Farmchicks.
We used applesauce we had canned last year.

My donut cutter

My donut dipper

Frying and dipping

Donut nibbler #1

Donut muncher #2

Donut sugar face #3
(Donut dipper #4 said he ate too much when he was dipping)

Breakfast is served
(Are you drooling yet?)

Waiting for the Puking to Start

This is what I get for sleeping in. My man so graciously let me sleep-in to glorious 8 o'clock this morning. Winona and I enjoyed every minute of it. Randy used left-over crepes for breakfast. Crepes are one of our favorite breakfasts, so even left-over crepes are a hit. He served the crepes with lime juice, sugar, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream (in that order) with sometimes extra cream on top. It is more like dessert for breakfast, but it makes a special start to the day.

So when I finally got around to eating breakfast about 11AM, I took a good hard look at those crepe shells. It has been 6 days since those crepes were made, and yes they have been refrigerated, but still. I love left-overs, but I usually toss or freeze left-overs after about 4 days because I have a real phobia of getting sick from spoiled food. I guess I'm funny that way. Sure enough, little black spots all over those crepes! I showed Randy. He said, "Good, more protein."

I decided to make my old favorite breakfast standby--egg on toast-- yoke broke, over easy on home-made wheat toast. Mmmmm good. No extra protein.


Maybe Randy should make breakfast with his reading glasses on--or maybe I should get my backside out of bed earlier. Let's see, do reading glasses come in breakfast designed frames?