a few of baby #3's favorite things

This pregnancy has been pretty bad as far as cravings go. Here are a few of Cletus the Fetus's favorite things:

homemade smoothies, trail mix, Goodwood BBQ restaurant, Simply Lemonade (it's worth it even if I get acid reflux), nectarines, dairy products, Kneaders Bakery & Cafe, grapes, bagels and cream cheese, watermelon (any fruit for that matter), haagen dazs ice cream (especially chocolate and peanut butter even though it gives me heartburn), honey roasted cashews, gyros (any greek, mediterranean, or Indian food actually), Breyers ice cream, chocolate covered cinnamon bears (heartburn city), pf chang's lettuce wraps, raspberry and cream cheese-filled croissants (any fine pastry will do actually), Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Cheese Puffs, and See's Candies.

matzo ball soup

We like to get in touch with our Jewish (not really) roots and make Matzo Ball Soup every now and then. It's so simple, yet hearty, and the kids totally gobble it up. You should be able to find Matzo meal at your grocery store. You might have to go to a specialty or international store. The scans above are from a recent-ish Martha Stewart magazine, but I don't know which one. I just tore the pages out. These are great recipes. The first is how to make your own stock from scratch, and then there's a recipe for chicken noodle soup, chicken and rice soup, and lastly, chicken soup with matzo balls. You can add chicken, carrots, etc., to the recipe, but we just do broth and the matzo balls. We don't follow the above recipe exactly, like we use vegetable oil in place of the chicken fat. Here's the general recipe with my changes added in parentheses:

Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls (serves 10)

4 large eggs, separated (we don't separate)

1/4 cup chicken fat, melted (we use 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil)

12 1/2 cups chicken stock/broth (we do 12 cups)

1 1/4 tsp. coarse salt (we use the kosher brand in all our food. It works in baking too)

freshly ground pepper

1 cup matzo meal

1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (you can use the dried to taste)

Coarsely chopped fresh dill, for garnish (also can use dried to taste)

1. Whisk yolks, fat, 1/2 cup stock, and the salt in a medium bowl; season with pepper. Stir in matzo meal and parsley. (we mix: 4 Tbsp. veg. oil, 4 whole eggs, 4 Tbsp. water, salt, matzo meal, and parsley)

2. Put egg whited into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Add to matzo mixture; whisk until smooth. Refreigerate until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. (when you skip the egg white process, you only need to refrigerate for 15 minutes or so).

3. Bring remaining stock to a boil in a large pot. Scoop out 1 1/2-inch balls of the matzo mixture, and add to stock. Reduce heat. Cover, and simmer until matzo balls are slightly firm and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Garnish with dill. (We cover and simmer for 40 minutes)

Of course, our version is less time consuming than Martha's, but whose wouldn't be? Here's how our's turned out. Delicious!

Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies

I saw this post on Ali's blog about Hillary Clinton's Chocolate Chip Cookies and I remembered that I had the recipe for Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies. So we made them. It was Luke's first time helping to cook something and he really enjoyed himself. We only had one major spill and that was the oats. Do you think that these first ladies really came up with the recipes on their own? I don't buy it. I think they had some help, like from their White House chefs, but it's kind of fun to have cookies like these anyway. I don't remember where I got the recipe. Maybe it was her biography or something.

Laura Bush Cowboy Cookies

3 cups flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla (I use pure vanilla extract because I'm a snob like that)

3 cups chocolate chips

3 cups oats

2 cups coconut

2 cups chopped pecans (I like the subtle taste of the pecans, not the chunks, so I chop them very fine)

Heat oven to 350. Mix flour, soda, powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Beat butter until smooth. Add sugar, eggs (1 at a time), vanilla, and then flour. Mix slowly. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut, and pecans. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

These are pretty yummy and they make, like, a million.

rice krispie treats

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(Reece's Peanut Butter Baking Chips)=

my favorite Rice Krispie treats

cream cheese is a staple in our house

We love cream cheese in this here house. One of our favorite things to do is to make this Sweet 'n Spicy Cream Cheese Spread. Sometimes we just take cream cheese and plain old apricot preserves and mix them together (to taste) until it's mixed thoroughly into a smooth spread. Then we spread a thin layer onto a piece of bread and top it with some thin sliced ham and there you have it. A pretty tasty and simple ham sandwich. We made these at Daisy's 3rd birthday party. We cut them into little tea sandwich squares, and served it with fresh mixed fruit inside ice cream cones. That's all I remember. With the leftover spread we just use it to dip assorted crackers in. It's so good! It's kind of heavy too- sticks to your ribs, so you can't eat too much, but still SO GOOD.

toast

I've been reading this Betty Crocker cookbook from 1957. I've noticed in these old cookbooks that people used to make some strange things. In the breakfast section, it has something called Toast Toppers. Have you ever tried any of these?

Orange Sugar: Blend 1 tablespoon soft butter and 3 tablespoons sifted confectioners' sugar. Stir in 1 teaspoon grated orange rind and 1 teaspoon orange juice. Spread on unbuttered toast.

Raisin Peanut Butter: Mix 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons chopped seedless raisins, 2 tablespoons orange juice. Spread on hot toast.

Cranberry: Spread hot toast with cranberry jelly. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Cinnamon mix: Combine 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Sprinkle on hot buttered toast.

Caramel Coconut: Blend 1 tablespoon soft butter, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of flaked coconut. Spread on unbuttered toast and toast under broiler until it bubbles.

Toppers that I've had on toast:

Cinnamon Mix

Peanut Butter

avocado mashed with salt and pepper

eggs

jam

Probably the avocado one is the most "unusual" I've had. What do you people put on your toast?

things that look good to me right now

Pioneer Woman's Onion Straws. I've always disliked onions pretty much. But I want these so bad right now. I've been wanting them for at least a week now. Don't they look good?!

Ice Cream Sandwich Milkshake at Chow. This doesn't necessarily look good to me right now, but I saw it and knew that HF would love to try this. I read the comments underneath and they made me laugh. The first guy said that this was "perfect wife away from home, gonna eat crap food". That's totally HF. He does bad food combinations whenever I go out of town. He's totally going to try this tonight I bet.

I thought this was interesting to learn about green potatoes at Simply Recipes. I had no idea. I've lived this long without being poisoned, but probably something good to know. Now I'm thinking of all those times I've had fries at restaurants and they had a green tinge on some parts. Ew.

Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seed Cookies at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. But where am I going to find chocolate covered sunflower seeds? She's been making some other rather tasty looking desserts over there as well like this Blackberry and Lime Tart.

Now I'm hungry. I think I'll go eat breakfast.

IT'S STILL WINTER comfort foods

image taken from media.canada.com

Peabody did a cool food blog event titled Time to Make the Doughnuts and got over 100 responses. I wouldn't mind trying Orange Drop Doughnuts, Italian Zeppole, Spudnuts (made with potatoes), or baked donuts. There were some recipes from South Africa, Estonia, etc. Pretty cool to see that there are "doughnuts" to be found all over the world.

Soule Mama has a bread recipe that her kids call WHO Bread because of the main ingredients, Wheat, Honey, and Oats.

Pioneer Woman has a few recipes we've tried or want to try. Here are some good ones.

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

Veggie Quesadillas

Everything Cookies

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Peach Crisp With Maple Cream Sauce

Blackberry Cobbler #2

Simply Recipes Salsa Verde Carnitas. Super YUM.

I want to learn how to make good Refried Black Beans. I found a basic recipe on Food Network, but I wonder if there's a better recipe out there.

Can you tell that Mexican food is my favorite comfort food?! What are your comfort foods?

you are what you eat

My friend Stephanie sent me this email. I think it's pretty cool.

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.


Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemica l cons tituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Grapefruits, Oranges , and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes

the best key lime bars

[photo source]: cooksillustrated.com

Last night we made The Best Key Lime Bars from the July/August 2006 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine. They were FABULOUS. Seriously. They use animal crackers instead of graham crackers for the crust. The toasted coconut topping is optional, but I think it is a must. I'm not a lime or key lime kind of gal, but these were so great. I think it really makes a difference to use fresh lime juice as opposed to the bitter bottled stuff. Oh, and if you use salted butter instead of unsalted, do not add salt to your crust.

Cook's Illustrated is probably my favorite cooking magazine. These are the cooks from America's Test Kitchen. The tv show and the cookbook. You know, the guy with the bow tie? They review the best kitchen products and appliances, and they make/test so many variations of one recipe until they find "the best". I think it's a very useful and educational magazine.

grandma's mayonnaise cake

You know you're getting old, when you start to like Grandma G.G.'s nasty Mayonnaise Date Nut Bread. Seriously, I've always despised when my parents would put nuts in cookies, and fruit in things that shouldn't have fruit. In recent months, my taste buds are starting to truly enjoy nuts and fruit where they don't belong!! One of the "perks" of getting married, is that you now receive Grandma's bread at Christmas. I've always graciously accepted this bread and then thrown it away or given it away. I sound like a brat, but I just hated this bread. Well, this year, when we got our bread by delivery, I tried a slice of it because I was starving, and we didn't have any other food in the house. I LOVED it. I pretty much ate the entire loaf. Dates? Who cares. Walnuts? Not a problem. I am now happy to have this Date Nut Bread recipe and get it each year from Grandma G.G. It's another one of those special recipes that has been passed from mother to daughter since who knows when. Early 1900s? 1800s? And I will hold on to it and pass it along as well. And my kids like it too. I love how food can also be a link to our family's past. Oh, and did you know that supposedly December 22 is National Date Nut Bread Day? Well now you know.

Grandma's Mayonnaise Date Nut Bread

mix together:
1 c. chopped dates
1 c. chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
1 tsp. soda
¾ c. water

Let sit 10 minutes at least. Longer is better

mix together in large bowl:
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 c. mayo
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend in date nut mixture. Add 2 c. flour

Pour into (2) greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350° 45-55 minutes. Stick in toothpick or a knife until comes out clean.

i promise. it's not your food.

The other night I made Southwest Chicken Soup from Real Simple magazine. It was really good, not a whole lot different from the White Chili recipe from Simply Recipes. It seriously just took a few minutes to make. I highly recommend this recipe.


Anyway, HF sat down to eat and ate a bowl of this soup and an orange and just when he took his last bite of orange, he gagged, leaned over the bowl and threw up in his bowl. Immediately, he looks up at me and Daisy, who are staring on in shock, and says, "I promise it's not your food. It's me." Then he proceeded to continue to gag and dry heave and/or vomit into his bowl at the dinner table. It was totally weird. Finally, I said, "Could you finish doing this in the bathroom?" Once I got over being really weirded out/worried, I thought it was hilarious. He has quite a history of vomiting/gagging. I've chronicled many of those stories here before. The best was when we were at someone's house. They aren't the cleanest people. HF was having a hard time eating with ease and when he began sipping water out of his glass, he saw what appeared to be dirt at the bottom of the glass. He set the glass down, excused himself to the bathroom in a hurry, and dry heaved in the bathroom for a few minutes and then came back out as though nothing had happened at all.

What's wrong with my poor husband?

christmas eve

photo credit: danmex.org

Make a postcard - it's easy!

if I were santa. . .

i would want:

Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies from Simply Recipes. In this recipe is a link to make the peppermint bark. I would have to agree with using high quality white chocolate (Wilton's melting discs or chips or other nice white chocolate) . The cheapo almond bark, or whatever that plasticy packaged stuff at Walmart was, not good at all.

What are you leaving out for Santa?

smilebox

I've been wanting to compile recipes that my kids love or ones that I would want them to have into a kid-friendly family cookbook. I saw in October 2007's Family Fun Magazine an idea at smilebox.com. You can put your recipes onto their recipe format and add a picture and print them out at whatever size you want. I thought they were pretty cute. Then you can slide them into a sheet protector and put them in a binder and the kids can look through their family recipes, choose what they want by seeing the pictures, etc. There's a lot you can do with it. So, that's one of my little experiments in the previous post. There's some annoying music that accompanies your design, but you can turn it off. Does anyone else know of a cool way to compile recipes like this for kids? Any ideas? Any websites you know of? Do you like this idea?

more christmas candy making

Make a postcard!

caramel pecan logs

I didn't purposefully have Mary from the Nativity set up like that. HF thought I was being sacrilegious. Anyway, this lovely candy pictured above is what we call a Caramel Pecan Log. We make them every Christmas and give them to people. They are seriously so delicious and addicting. I have also noticed that if we give them to people that might be expecting lavish gifts from us, one of these usually does the trick and they don't remember that we didn't spend all kinds of money on them for Christmas, but gave them this really unique and utterly delcious treat that they will always remember. So basically, it gets us out of the dog house with HF's family at Christmastime.

I'm calling it a family recipe. I know that my mom and her side of the family have been making these. It seems like many people haven't heard of them. Maybe it's a western thing. I don't know, but our family has always made these it seems. The white inside is a fondant. A creamy, smooth, buttery, sugary fondant. Wrapped around the fondant is homemade caramel sprinkled with pecans. I don't like pecans, or nuts in general, but I will eat them in this without hesitation. I'm telling you, if you make this for people, it will impress them and they will ask for more or for the recipe. You won't hear the end of it. These are awesome. They make great gifts for co-workers, bosses, teachers, friends, enemies, anyone. My mom made them for our school teachers every year. I was totally teacher's pet. These can be a bit tricky to make, but totally worth the effort.

caramel pecan logs

make caramel:
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup Karo syrup
2 sticks butter
1 can Eagle brand milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook caramel to firm ball stage. You can test this with candy thermometer, or the water method. Pour onto large cookie sheet covered with chopped pecans. When cool, cut into rectangles that will fit over fondant when rolled.

make fondant:
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 teaspoon Karo syrup
1 cup cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients except vanilla in heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. DO NOT STIR. Cook to between soft and firm ball. Remove and let cool until able to handle (110°). Beat until changes color and becomes fudge-like (loses its gloss). Add vanilla. Knead until smooth on buttered board. Mold into 6 log shapes (6-8 inches long, or whatever your preference is). Refrigerate fondant logs until chilled/firm. Place in the center of a caramel rectangle and roll and shape caramel completely around fondant until covered. Then wrap in wax paper and gift with additional wrapping paper wrapped around wax paper. May keep refrigerated. To serve, just unwrap, and slice into wheels.

Thanks mom, for helping me make these this year after Thanksgiving. She did most of the work. I had to keep leaving and throwing up. I don't really know why, but seems to happen on Thanksgiving every year, before even eating. I think it's the handling of the raw Turkey.

lemon blossoms

image: bella-note.com

A few weeks ago, some single guys that live a few doors down from us, brought us over some tasty little treats. One of them said they were called "Lemon Blossoms". I tried to convince HF to go over and ask them for the recipe, but he would not do it. I now see how un-manly that would be, but I didn't want to do it. Finally, I called them and asked for the recipe, and one guy, Chris, told it to me from memory. I had to ask him if he really made them himself, or if someone else, like some girlfriends, did it for them, but he was pretty proud of himself and his accomplishment-as he should be. He told me exactly how to make them, what he does differently from the recipe, and that they are better the second day. I must say I was pretty impressed. Maybe because I've never met any men that know how to cook anything other than hot dogs. Anyway, these lemon blossoms are so good! And so easy to make! I did find out that it's actually a Paula Deen recipe and not Chris's, my bachelor neighbor's original, as I think he wanted me to believe.


Make these babies, they are so good. And I did like my neighbor said for the glaze: 3 cups powdered sugar instead of 4, and a tad bit more water. It was more glaze-like, which is better than frosting-like. I think he also left out the lemon zest, but I wouldn't do that. And you have to make them as mini cupcakes. I tried mini loafs and it just didn't work. I think they were really meant to be miniature.

worst meal EVER

I love to cook. I love trying new things all the time. When HF and I were dating, I was made aware that he was not accustomed to homemade foods so much. He ate a lot of boxed foods and processed foods growing up, so I was excited to introduce him to an exciting new world of real food. And I thought it couldn't hurt to further dazzle him with some more of my mad skillz.


Using the ingredients I had on hand, I decided to make him some kind of a crustless quiche. This is the first meal ever I made for him other than a sandwich. I'd never made this before, or any time since then. I followed the instructions precisely, poured everything into a cheap metal-like baking dish and stuck it in the oven. When it was ready, I served HF a nice giant slice of this quiche, and waited for his reaction. He didn't swoon or make any pleased sounds like Bob on What About Bob. In fact, I couldn't read his expression at all. He was expressionless. After he ate the entire serving, and helped himself to another, I asked him to be honest and tell me what he thought. He was quiet for a while then he said, hesitantly, "It was really, really bad." I was shocked. So I tried some. And you know what it tasted like? METAL. I don't know what kind of flimsy metal pan this was, or if it was even metal at all, but it's like the cheap metal coating had baked into the eggs. It was like eating pure metal . It was so bad I gagged and spit it out and somehow he had managed to eat his hefty portion of it just to please me. I told him never to do that and to always tell me what he thinks. It was so gross, but it further proved to me how kind and considerate he was.

I can only think of a couple other times where he was pretty grossed out by my food. I made cream of caulifower soup. He has issues with cauliflower not remaining in its original form. If I hadn't told him it was cauliflower he would've gladly eaten it, thinking it was potato or something. The other was a roast. I don't know what his deal is. He's like the only guy that doesn't like roasts.

I have a friend who made french toast for her husband. This was the first time he tried some of her cooking. Instead of sprinkling cinnamon on it, she unknowingly sprinkled cayenne pepper. He thought it was some kind of a joke, but he ate ever single last bite and didn't mention it to her for a long time. She had no idea that it wasn't cinnamon.

What's the first thing you ever made for your spouse? How did it go? If it went over well, have you made anything that was disgusting?