Tallulah's Amazing Blueberryalicious Pancakes

Recipe:
1 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons oil
2 cups blueberries
butter and oil as needed to coat the skillet
makes about 12 4-inch pancakes

This is one of my favorite pancake recipes.  I found it in one of Noah's books (about a pancake chef cat) that we checked out from the library.  I always double the recipe.  I think I use half white and half whole wheat flour.  I often use dry nf milk mixed with water as well.  Mix dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients together.  Add wet to dry, mix til everything is just incorporate (don't over mix!).  "Never sneeze directly into the batter."

Noah's original artwork

Recently my son made a beautiful watercolor painting. I wanted to show it off in our home but couldn't find the right frame. Instead, I found a jigsaw. And it was love. Anyway, I have lots of random pieces of wood in my basement that I've collected over the years (much to my husband's chagrin!) and traced the size of the painting onto a board. I used the beveled edge to make a 45-degree-angled cut. I spray painted the edges black. I used Modge Podge to glue the painting to the frame. Then I covered the painting with Modge Podge to give it a glossy finish. I screwed 2 short screws into the back. My next step is to get some wire and then hang this beautiful artwork on the wall.



In case you're wondering, I'm labeling this post as a kid project because of the watercoloring. Don't worry, I don't let my children near the jigsaw.

gnocchi with brown butter

tonight our friends came over and made the most delicious meal. We made gnocchi together--although I still need to get the recipe!--and then we made this amazing sauce to coat it. All you do is melt a stick of butter, add some fresh sage and fresh squeezed lemon juice from half of a lemon. (We doubled the recipe since we had a lot of gnocchi.) You cook the butter until it is brown. Dump cooked gnocchi into the "sauce" and gently toss together. Serve and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Mark made some awesome asparagus to go with it--I'll have to have him post the recipe sometime. He basically tossed the asparagus with lots of olive oil, lemon juice, S&P, and Parmesan and then roasted them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 (I think--I was rolling, cutting, and forking gnocchi while he was making this) for 15-20 minutes. Once again, I find myself loving a food that I've never really enjoyed that much.

If you refer to yourself as a picky eater, I really encourage you to go out and start trying some new foods and/or previously disliked foods because things change. Life is so much better when you are able to enjoy more good things. The same thing goes for offering food to your "picky" kids. Just because they don't like something one day doesn't mean they won't change their mind. The key is to keep an open invitation to trying any foods. When I asked Noah if he would like some asparagus (he often doesn't like "green" things) he happily said, "sure!" And then he ate every bite!


(the kids got bolognese sauce so the adults could have all the good stuff!)


In case you're wondering, Rich is not wearing a women's top. He is wearing a baby carrier with a baby inside of course. :)

Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

Mark made the most delicious soup yesterday. This will definitely be a regular on our meal plan. You have to be an adventurous cook to make this though. And by adventurous, I mean that you can't be the type of person who has to follow the recipe exactly because there was a little of improvising and adding a little bit more of this or that to get just the right flavor (it probably helps if you've had Hot and Sour soup as well). Otherwise, this soup is really very easy. You could easily adapt this to make it vegetarian. Below is the recipe (from allrecipes.com) we used. Our recommendations/changes are in red

Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

Ingredients

• 5 dried wood ear mushrooms
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 8 dried tiger lily buds---Don't worry about finding the right kind of mushrooms. we used fresh mushrooms so we skipped the soaking step. I found a variety package of mushrooms that had a mix of Bella, oyster, and something else. We put 2 packages in.
• 4 cups chicken stock We used 8 cups, Mark would like to use 10 cups next time
  
• 1/3 cup diced bamboo shoots--omitted these
  
• 1/3 cup lean ground pork--we used 2/3 lb but recommend leaving it out for next time
  
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce--doubled
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar--doubled
• 1 teaspoon salt--omitted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper--doubled
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar--doubled, used rice and white wine vinegars
  
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/2 (16 ounce) package firm tofu, cubed--used extra firm, cubed, with a drained weight of 8 oz and it was the perfect amount.
  
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion--make sure you don't add this til the end!
• We added sriracha to give this soup the "hot" element--other people recommended different kinds of chili sauces/pastes but sriracha is definitely a staple you should have in your house if you like cooking Asian food.
• Have a tasting spoon handy because we would add something and then decide to add more. It will taste like it's missing something until you add the sesame oil at the end.
• sprinkling some sesame seeds at the end would make a nice touch, we will do that next time
  

Directions

1. Soak the dried mushrooms and tiger lily buds in warm water for 20 minutes. After trimming off any tough stems, slice the mushrooms. With the fingers, shred the tiger lily stems.
2. Place the mushrooms, tiger lily buds, stock, bamboo shoots, and shredded pork into a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in soy sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper, and vinegar. Combine cornstarch with 3 tablespoons water. Add a little of the hot soup to the cornstarch, and then return all to the pan. Heat to boiling, stirring. Add the bean curd, and cook 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Just before serving, turn off the heat. Stir the egg in gradually. Mix in sesame oil. Sprinkle each serving with scallions.

P.S. I don't typically like mushrooms or tofu but this soup has the best flavor and the mushrooms and tofu really soak it up that I could not help but drain my entire bowl and then serve myself a healthy second serving :) Maren even loved it and Noah liked the squishy, white squares. Enjoy!

Smoky Chipotle Hummus

Hope you don't mind all of my recent posts have been on food. I'm trying to make up for the last 3 months of not wanting to eat/make anything!

Just made this for a book club I'm hosting at my house tomorrow. It's so good. I'm sure it will be even better tomorrow when the flavors meld together a little better and I when I actually have something to dip in it.

Here's the link for the recipe: Smoky Chipotle Hummus

Here are a couple changes I made based on what I had and didn't have on hand:
- fresh squeezed lime instead of lemon (I used the whole thing and may have overdone it a little so just start out with half a lime)

- No bell peppers or sun dried tomatoes, but it really doesn't need it.

- I added about an extra 1/3 of a can of beans because I was a little to adventurous with my chipotle and adobo sauce.

- This is not a change but an emphasis: make sure you don't dump the whole can of chipotle peppers in the hummus. Just use one. I also poured in some of the sauce too and had it at the perfect spiciness and then I added some more and it was a little too much for me--hence the extra beans.

- I used a hand immersion blender instead of my blender (I don't have a large food processor) and the texture turned out so perfect.

Enjoy!

Pad Thai Peanut Chicken

For our anniversary, Mark and I went out to eat at a Thai restaurant. I really wanted Pad Thai but I also wanted something with peanut sauce. The menu item with peanut sauce was served on spinach which didn't sound as delicious as being served on noodles. So I don't know if this is an authentic Thai dish or not but today I combined the two dishes to make this really awesome dinner.

Pad Thai Peanut Chicken

Ingredients:
1 package (mine was 16 oz) rice noodles

peanut oil
3 chicken breasts (I don't know how many pounds, sorry!)

Sauce:
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups chicken broth
2/3 cups creamy peanut butter (I eyeballed this so more like 3-4 large spoonfuls)
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar (use rice vinegar if you have it)
sriracha hot chili sauce, to taste (optional)

Veggies:
peanut oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup grated carrot
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 inch chunk fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 jalapenos, diced (I mostly deseeded mine, I'm not a good judge for how much to add!)
2-3 large handfuls bean sprouts

Toppings (optional, if you are lame) :
chopped peanuts
chopped cilantro
lime
shredded coconut
sesame seeds
sriracha hot chili sauce

Directions:

1. prepare noodles according to package (soak in very hot water for 25 min, then drain)

2. sauce: whisk the cornstarch into the chicken broth until dissolved. Whisk in the peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, and sesame oil. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar and keep warm. To add more spice, add a 1/2 teaspoon or so of sriracha. (I added a bit to the big batch and then set the bottle on the table so everyone can adjust to their own liking)

3. Saute chicken in peanut oil. I sauteed the breasts, then chopped them up into smaller pieces but you can chop the raw chicken first if you wanted. I just hate touching raw chicken. I also forgot to season my chicken first which I think would have made the chicken much better tasting! (season with salt and pepper, or if you know something fancier, go for it!)

4. Heat more oil in a LARGE skillet over medium heat. Add onion. Wait a minute or two then add garlic, ginger, and jalapeno. cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrots and bell pepper. Cook until all veggies are tender. Add softened noodles and chicken chunks. Add bean sprouts and cook a couple more minutes. Toss the vegetables, pasta, and chicken with the peanut sauce to serve.

5. Squeeze some lime juice on and pile on the toppings. Keep the sriracha handy!

My thoughts: this was a total experiment for me. I've never made Thai food before but it was so good. Noah (4) even asked for seconds. I think Maren (1 1/2) would have too but she's been a little under the weather lately. Mark and I had several helpings. The chicken is not my favorite part about the meal, but then again, I'm not a huge chicken fan. I won't forget to season my chicken next time and I'll probably cut it up into smaller chunks. This dish can easily be converted into a vegetarian meal (veggie broth and no chicken). Also, it's gluten-free for all my celiac/gluten intolerant friends out there. Enjoy!

Strawberry Balsamic Pizza

This looks yummy! I'd like to try this someday when strawberries are in season...

Strawberry Balsamic Pizza with Chicken, Sweet Onion, and Applewood Bacon