Funny Face

Sometimes while Owen eats lunch, we make funny faces.  On this particular day, I was making a funny grunting sound and he was trying to mimic it - my personal favorite is the first picture.  It shows his little quirky personality.  I LOVE this phase!!!

We have been down for the count this week.  Well, actually, I have been down and Owen has really been a trooper!  He's been great at entertaining himself with his tractors, cars, blocks and new fire truck from "Gamma" Di.  Occasionally this sick momma has allowed a little Thomas or Elmo so that I can rest my eyes!

I did rally for a bit yesterday and made a yummy dinner for the Jman and me.  He has been working really hard and combined with first trimester blahs/head cold, we've been having too much take out!  So I made a yummy, fresh, couscous dish that was even Owen approved!  Now, it has a bunch of steps and takes a bit of time for a "salad" - but it is TOTALLY WORTH IT!  I warned J that if it wasn't fabulous it would be the one and only time I make it.  Well, I will be making this one over and over again, despite the time commitment!

This was my left over lunch serving and I wasn't feeling the chicken, so I added a few more beans.  However, I did eat the chicken the night before and it was delish!

Couscous Salad with Grilled Chicken and Spicy Mustard Vinaigrette

Adapted from Zov, Recipes and Memories from the Heart
~ serves12 to 14 ~ (I cut it by 2/3s when I made it!)

Vinaigrette

6 garlic cloves
1/2 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Chicken and Couscous Salad

1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1 tsp ground black pepper, plus more to taste
7 Tbsp olive oil
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pound Israeli couscous*
2 large onions, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise
1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut diagonally into 3/4 inch lengths and blanched 30 seconds**
4 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/3 inch pieces and blanched for 2 minutes
4 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced diagonally and blanched for 30 seconds
2 red bell peppers and 2 yellow bell peppers, roasted, seeded and cut into strips (I roasted mine by cutting in half, pulling out the seeds and membranes and broiling for about six minutes, skin side up.  I then popped them in a ziplock to steam them a bit and peeled most of the skin off!)
1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup golden raisins or currants (As this is a recipe from a Middle Eastern inspired cookbook, of course there are golden raisins!  LOVED the sweet pop in every other bite!)
3/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives (If you have an aversion to olives, I get it.  However, the Kalamata olives added a wonderful saltiness to the dish that might be lacking if left out - just take note that you may need salt if you leave them out!)

Instructions

1) To make the vinaigrette: Mince the garlic in a food processor (I didn't want to dirty one more hand wash only instrument, so I used my garlic press and threw everything in a bowl and whisked it.  I bet the vinaigrette would have emulsified better if I had...).  Blend in the vinegar, mustard, salt, seasoned salt, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.  With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil.  Cover and refrigerate the vinaigrette. 

2)  To grill the chicken:  Prepare the barbecue for medium-high heat.  Whisk the garlic, rosemary, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tsp black pepper, and 2 tablespoons of oil in a small bowl to blend.  Rub on the chicken breasts.  Grill the chicken until they are just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.  (I did this on my grill pan and made the mistake of not evening out my chicken breasts - be sure to use a meat mallet and even them out or cooking time may vary!)  Transfer chicken to a platter and refrigerate until it is cold.  Cut the chicken breasts crosswise into thin slices.  Cover and refrigerate the chicken. 

3)  To make the couscous salad:  Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.  Add the couscous.  Return the water to a boil and cook until it is al dent, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.  Do not over-cook the couscous, since it will soften further as it cools.  Drain the couscous well, then transfer to a large bowl, and toss it with 2 tablespoons of oil to coat.  Cool to room temp.  (I used a box of Trader Joe's Israeli couscous and followed the directions on the box which were much more like cooking regular couscous.) 

4)  Meanwhile, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large skillet over high heat.  Add the onions and saute until they are brown and caramelized, about 15 minutes.  Cool completely.  (You may need to adjust the heat because you don't want the onions to cook too quickly or they won't caramelize, they will just burn.)

5)  Add the onions, asparagus, carrots, zucchini, peppers, beans, and raisins to the coucous.  The vinaigrette, chicken and couscous salad can be made up to this point at least 1 day ahead.  Cover each separately and keep them refrigerated.  Re-whisk vinaigrette before using.

6)  Just before serving, toss the salad with enough vinaigrette to moisten.  Season to taste with more salt and pepper.  Transfer the salad to a large serving bowl or platter.  Arrange the sliced chicken atop the salad.  Garnish with the olives and serve!

* Israeli couscous is larger than regular couscous, with a diameter about the size of black peppercorns.  It is sometimes called pearl couscous.  If you can't find it, you can substitute regular couscous or orzo. 

** Blanching is the process of tenderizing veggies and brightening their colors.  To blanch, simply bring a pot of water to a boil and dump the veggies in for the recommended time.  Pull them out with a slotted spoon and immediately dunk them in ice water to stop the cooking process.  I LOATHE uncooked zucchini, so I was dubious that this would work.  I was pleasantly surprised - loved blanched zucchini!

And one more funny "tape-o" (potato) head face!

Owen Loves Pinterest

So I've been spending FAR too much time on Pinterest.  I find all these amazing things to make with my hands and I get really excited about my future projects.  But instead of turning off my computer when the "work' day is done, I continue to pin and not create.  Vicious cycle I tell you.  Vicious cycle.  Alas, I have made a few recipes (some good, some flops) and I am absolutely LOVING all of the great ideas on entertaining a toddler and allowing him to explore!

He LOVED this little project: paint and tractors!  Owen is obsessed, I mean OBSESSED with tractors (fitting we live in Kansas!).  So I lined the the tractors up, squirted some paint on some packing paper and let him go!

Luckily we have linoleum floors in our kitchen, so the paint came right up with a damp paper towel.  And, more importantly, it came right off of Owen as he got it all over himself!

Please note that he sort of dragged his diaper through the mess.  At first I was concerned that I would have a bit of a tie dyed cloth diaper on my hands.  Alas, BumGenius never fails me!  EVERYTHING comes out!  Including paint!

It came out nice and clean.  I love, love, love my cloth diapers!!  I can't wait to buy more for Baby #2 - and you better believe I will be getting some pink and purple ones if this little gummy bear is a girl!!

And for activity two, I got out a few different muffin tins and a table cloth and let him sort different colored beans and pasta.  This is a fave for Owen - he actually requests beans and "noo-nels" regularly.

This activity, as opposed to fun with paint, keeps him occupied and quiet for a solid 30 minutes.  Not to mention the clean up:  just dump the table cloth in the ziplock baggie and we are done!  WINNER in my book!!  Please note, he is trying to put his teeny tiny foot in the muffin tin...

Eventually he gave up, realizing that his foot was a little bigger than the cup :)

I love this little boy SO MUCH!  Yay for little boys!

I've Been Baking

I haven't been making may meals, but I have been baking up a storm...and my littlest test subject is a sucker for "cutcakes."  Lucky for me, anything baked in a cupcake liner qualifies as a cupcake in his book.  Including these amazing Double Coconut Muffins! 

 

Double Coconut Muffins

Adapted from www.smittenkitchen.com

Makes 10-12 regular sized muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut oil

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp table salt

1 cup plain yogurt, best if at room temperature (Smitten Kitchen calls for Greek yogurt but I didn't have any in the fridge.  I thought they were amazing with the plain stuff, but I bet they are even better with the Greek!) 

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, best if at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, divided

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375*.  Line muffin tin with paper liners, or spray pan with non-stick spray.  (As a side note, Owen and I couldn't wait for the muffins to cool, and as such, we lost half of the muffins to the paper.  Best to wait for them to cool, otherwise there is an unnecessary waste of baked goodness!)

In a small pan, heat the coconut oil until JUST MELTED.  You don't want it hot.  I heated mine on medium-low and it worked perfectly.

In a medium bowl mix together the flours, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the shredded coconut - you may have to use your fingers to break apart the coconut.  In a separate bowl, mix the yogurt, sugar, egg, vanilla and coconut oil.   Stir into dry ingredients.  Spoon mixture into muffin tins.  Sprinkle the remaining coconut over the muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Move to rack to cool.

**If you are interested in variations, go to www.smittenkitchen.com.

AMAZING.

Cooking with a Toddler...

"Ooo, ooo, ooo, please give me another Candy Cane Joe-Joe*!"

"Oh, maybe if I smile while begging, I'll get another one."

"Let me think about this, does she even know that it is only 8 in the morning and she is feeding me cookies?"

"Hi Mommy!  Thank you for the cookie and for letting me cook with you!!"

Okay, I admit.  I love this child.  And I'll also admit, because I am a push-over mommy, I did in fact let him eat a Candy Cane Joe-Joe before he had eaten breakfast...Well, what really happened was I put the Joe-Joe's in the food processor and he was on his stool and kept saying "watch, watch" so I showed the bowl of the processor to him and he immediately grabbed a cookie, seriously, the kid has cat-like reflexes.  I was so impressed with his prowess, I decided to let him eat the cookie :)

We had a little office party for my co-workers, I mean Jeremy's co-workers.  If I had an office party for my job it would be me and Owen and that would complete the guest list!  So I made a variety of treats, my favorite and easiest treat were these delish Candy Cane Joe-Joe Balls!

Candy Cane Joe-Joe Balls

*Trader Joe's (better) version of the peppermint Oreo!
Makes: LOTS

Ingredients:
1 box of Candy Cane Joe-Joes, Peppermint Oreos, or just pain old Joe-Joe's or Oreos!
1 package of cream cheese
1 1/2 packages of Hersey's White Chocolate Chips
1 package Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Bits (I, of course, couldn't find them in the Little Apple, so I used the peppermint candies and crunched them up.)

Instructions:
Toss the Joe-Joe's and the softened cream cheese into your food processor.  Process.  Once all the cookies are broken up and mixed in well with the cream cheese, start making little balls.  I advise placing them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. 

After you are done making far too many balls, pop them in the freezer for about a half hour.  When you are ready, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.  Now, this is where it gets a bit messy.  Use two spoons and plop the balls (I am using such amazing vocabulary right now) in the chocolate, making sure all sides are covered, then place back on the parchment lined cookie sheet.  Before the chocolate hardens, drop a few Andes peppermint crunchies on top.  Delish!

Super easy and yummy.  I might make them for the Super Bowl and dip them in dark chocolate with some white stripes...We'll see!

Our one and only pic in front of our Christmas Tree - and we blocked it to boot!

I haven't been cooking

Instead I've been knitting for the new babies in my life!  My cousin Jamie had a little baby girl at the beginning of December and requested strawberries!  So I figured out how to make a little ruffled edge on the booties and found some little white flower buttons.  LOVE.  And for the hat, I made a little crocheted flower and stitched it onto a barrette so she could also use it on a headband at some point.  So sweet!  Can't wait to post a picture of her wearing the little berry getup!

Jeremy's brother and his wife had there first baby on Christmas (previously mentioned!).  When Mandy was still pregs she requested Robin's Egg Blue if she had a boy - and here they are!  I LOVE them and can't wait to put them on his little feet in a week!!  Again, will post when I have pictures!

I leave you with a picture of my favorite little stinker.  He doesn't have much hair, but enough to have fun at bath time!

New Year's Resolution: Bake More

Owen and Auntie Katie decorating the "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake - he loved it!

I'm not a big baker.  In general, I usually fail miserably at it.  For example, this morning I attempted to make crepes for the first time in a crepe pan my husband got me two Christmases ago.  Yes, I've had it for two years and never busted it out of the box.  Anyfood, I finally decided to try it out.  After four failed attempts with each crepe sticking to my well buttered pan, I finally gave up.  Now, I don't know if crepes count as baking, but they made me feel like a miserable failure in the kitchen. 

Now arts and crafts, yes please.  I love, love, love being crafty.  I made these little tissue paper poofers for Jeremy's cousin's wife's shower (mouthful, jeez) while we were in Detroit.  They take a little time, but how stinking cute??  I found the tutorial here if you want to make some of your own!

Here are the Stephens ladies!  Alas, Amy, the most adorable prego lady ever, is in the middle, hiding her belly!  Isn't her dress just the cutest?

 

The theme for her shower was Strawberry Shortcake (thus the hot pink, light pink, and red poofers!).  So I made strawberry cupcakes that were TOO.DIE.FOR.  Seriously, they were amazing!!  I chalk it up to the fresh strawberries and cake flour.  You MUST make these!!!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 34 ~ adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour, (not self-rising)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 large egg white

1 cup whole milk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups finely chopped strawberries, plus small strawberries for garnish

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

2.  Reduce speed to low. Mix any remaining wet ingredients in a bowl if needed. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

3.  Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks. Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to 3 days, unless otherwise noted.

Cream Cheese Frosting 

(BTW the original recipe calls for strawberry buttercream frosting.  I do not like buttercream frosting at all - I don't know what it is.  maybe I have just been spoiled by cream cheese frosting?)

Instructions

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 stick of butter, salted, softened (I made it with unsalted butter once and it just wasn't as good, so if you only have unsalted, add some kosher salt to compensate)

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened.

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Blend together in your mixer and DONE.  Save extra for topping boring old graham crackers, or animal crackers that you have purchased for your toddler...also delish on nilla wafers!

Christmas Edition!

My favorite Christmas present!  (Don't judge with the "fof," as Owen calls it.  It was late in the evening and it allowed us to stick around the party a little longer!)

Well, no Christmas recipes, just Christmas pictures!  Although I have a yummy Peppermint Oreo Truffle recipe that I need to post.  I just haven't taken the picture yet and I've been fighting off Jeremy as he wants to finish them.  I finally had to hide them in the freezer in the garage!

Owen LOVED opening presents!  LOVED.  Look at his excitement!  It was so cute!  Please also note his Lions t-shirt - I think they made it to the playoffs because of how cute he looked :)

One of the best Christmas surprises we received this year was our new nephew Hudson!  He was born on Christmas morning!  Owen and Grandma had some bonding time over Skype!

So, besides loving to open presents, Owen went nuts for Christmas lights!  And Grandpa was a sport and took him for several walks around the block to check out "Sansa" (O hasn't quite gotten the "t" into Santa, but any time you say Santa Owen responds with "ho, ho, ho") and the lights.  It was a bit cold so we layered him up!  But that didn't stop him from saying and signing, "mo, mo!"  Seriously, I am obsessed with this kid!!

The cold weather (actually, today it was in the 60s, but let's pretend it is actually winter in Kansas) inspired some delish tomato soup!  I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen - if you haven't checked out this website, why not??  She makes delightful food.  This tomato soup recipe is like french onion in that you get a deliciously soggy bite of toast with sharp cheddar with every bite.  Amazing!

Roasted Tomato Soup with Broiled Cheddar

Soup Ingredients

3 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise  (I can never find plum tomatoes, so I normally use Roma)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste) dried crushed red pepper
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Cheddar Lid Ingredients
4 1-inch slices from a large loaf of rye bread, whole wheat sourdough or bread of your choice (or 16 1-inch slices from a baguette), toasted until hard and lightly buttered on one side
1 tablespoon grated raw onion
1 cup coarsely grated cheddar (or more to taste

Soup Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap garlic cloves in a tight foil packet. Place tomatoes, cut side up, on large baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (SK used 1 full teaspoon of Kosher salt). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Add foil packet of garlic to tray. Roast until tomatoes are brown and tender (garlic will be very tender), about 1 hour. Cool slightly.


Unwrap garlic packet and peel cloves. Transfer cloves, tomatoes and any accumulated juices to a blender or food processor and pulse machine on and off until tomatoes are a chunky puree. Transfer tomatoes to medium pot and add thyme, crushed red pepper and stock and bring to a boil Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasonings to taste.

Cheddar Lid Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange four ovenproof soup bowls, crocks or large mugs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. (I have adorable soup bowls from Crate & Barrel - I just wish they were a teeny tiny bit bigger!)  Stir grated onion into the warm soup.  Float toast slice(s) in each bowl, buttered side up and divide grated cheese generously over top. (If you’re using a wide bowl, you might find that you want more cheese to create a thick, broiled lid.) Bake soups on tray for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese on top is bubbling and brown at the edges. If you’d like it even more bronzed on top, preheat your broiler and finish soups for a minute or two under it. Serve immediately.  (Be careful, the bowls are so hot and so is the soup!  So maybe not *immediately*.)