Recipe of the Week: Greek Tostadas

I wanted to keep this new recipe we used from Parents magazine without keeping the whole magazine (or hard copy of the recipe), so here it is!

Chickpea Paste
1 15 oz can chickpeas
1 TBs olive ol
1 love garlic
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/8 tsp cumin and salt, each
Lamb Mixture
1 tsp olive oil
8 oz ground lamb (we did use lamb, but turkey or beef would be fine)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Additional layers
4 whole Greek pita flatbreads, warmed (we spread all the ingredients out onto six)
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1 cup chopped plum tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
12 pitted black olives, halved
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (optional)

1. To make the chickpea paste, rinse and drain the chickpeas and then puree chickpeas with remaining ingredients. This can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to a week.

2. To make the meat, warm oil over med-high heat. Add meat and cook until browned. Drain fat. Season with remaining spices

3. To assemble Greek Tostadas, spread chickpea puree on top of each pita. Top with lamb mixture, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, and a dollop of Greek yogurt if desired.

My kids (aged 5, 3, and 1.5) each gobbled it up. They especially loved the pita bread and complained we didn't give them a full circle (we cut one up for them to share). Neither my husband nor I are big fans of cucumber, but we both noted how delicious it was on these tostadas. This is an easy dish to involve the kids in, as you can put out all the different layers and let them assemble their tostada on their own. I've found a little ownership over what is on their plates always gets my kids more excited about trying new foods. It also helps to talk about the different regions of the world the food comes from, and they loved hearing (what little we know) about Greece!

Millions of Peaches

On Monday I was scrolling through facebook as I watched Reid and Nell splash in our kiddie pool. Coraline was inside, napping. As I was flipping through my newsfeed I saw a post announcing a fruit truck was here in town selling boxes of peaches. It was only in town for three hours, so as soon as Coraline woke up we ran over to The Bar (no lie) to buy a 25lb box of peaches.

I thought I might have over done it. But have no fear, we have put all of those peaches to good use. First, we ate them fresh -- of course.

On Tuesday we made raspberry-peach freezer jam (yum, it's my favorite). Wednesday I sliced and froze about 6 to 8 peaches and then used them to make "ice cream" for our dinner with the missionaries. This morning we enjoyed them rolled up in yummy crepes (with strawberries and blueberries that I also used to make jam). The kids declared them delicious and asked if we could eat crepes and our fresh fruit cocktail every morning for breakfast for the rest of their lives.

Tomorrow I'm going to use up the last of the box in three different deserts: a freezer peach pie filling, easy peach cobbler, and peach crumble bars. Mmmm, I can't wait. I have no regrets. We even started the cash envelope system for our groceries this month. The box cost 10% of our entire grocery budget. It was definitely a spur of the moment splurge. And I definitely have no regrets.

Weekly Meal Plan

I didn't menu plan last week, and it was obvious. I don't think I made a meal until Thursday night (or maybe it was Wednesday). I just threw things together right before Ben came home (or I made him throw something together right when he came home -- he's a sweety like that). The kids loved it because they enjoyed spaghetti leftovers for days. Days!

But I'm back in the swing of things this week, so I thought I'd share our meal plan again.

Sunday Ben made us yummy roasted cauliflower and chick pea tacos. This is a new recipe for us. We first tried it about ten days ago, when Ben's parents came to visit us one weekend. Ben and I fell in love. In love! This time around we doubled the cauliflower and chick peas (and taco seasoning) while leaving the lime crema sauce as is. I think that combo was perfect for us. Neither of us like sour cream (the lime crema uses yogurt), so we don't need a ton of sauce. However, we do need a ton of leftovers -- thus the doubling (Ben's actually eating a leftover taco as I type this, yes, at 9pm Tuesday night).

Yesterday I whipped up one of my favorite Fall/Winter dishes: chicken pot pie crumble.

I make this one a few times each year, and I usually end up eating most of it. However, this time around the kids really took to it. Reid had thirds last night. Thirds! Granted, I started his portions out really small because he hasn't always gobbled it up in the past. 

One thing I love about this recipe is its make-ahead appeal. The hour between 4 and 5 isn't always ideal for making dinner. Somewhere around 1pm though, that's when I can make dinner! So I made the filling at 1, covered it with tinfoil, threw it in the fridge, and then started the crumble at 4;30. I put the filling, topless, in the oven while the crumble baked -- to warm it up -- and then did the last step (cooking it assembled) once the crumble was done. I love when I can lower stress levels just before dinner, and still have a great home cooked meal on the table. 

We ate steamed broccoli and fresh strawberries as side dishes. We needed some raw fruits and veggies to counter all that creamy goodness! By all means, don't skip the heavy cream. Don't!

Tonight Ben and I teamed up to make one of his favorite dishes: Thai Crunch Chopped Salad. 

This photo was taken pre-peanut sauce. Yum, that peanut sauce. This is a meal that packs a lot of flavor for very little prep. There are so many components to the recipe, but somehow I'm always shocked by how easy it is to throw together. The toddler and the preschooler love this one. I can always get them to eat a salad with Ranch dressing on it, but they don't turn their noses up at this vinaigrette based salad. I credit the edamame, red pepper, carrot, and flavorful chicken -- all things they love. And it is so balanced I don't even offer any sides.

Tomorrow will probably be our leftover night, even though I'd originally planned it for Thursday. It just depends on whether or not I can make it to the store for some salmon.

Thursday we'd planned on enjoying Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Quinoa Bites as our main dish, but then I saw my favorite grocery store is having a great fish sale this week. I'm thinking I'll have to take Mel's (from Mel's Kitchen Cafe -- my most favorite food blog ever) recommendation and serve it alongside some grilled salmon. Either way, I know I'll enjoy these tasty little bites for breakfast the following day. Seriously, they would make a fabulous brunch party item if you're ever on the hunt. They're like mini quiches but better!

Friday we'll cozy up with our favorite soup (heavy competition for that title around here), Split Pea and Ham Soup, with barley. It is our absolute favorite recipe for using up leftover ham. The kids devour it. And it is sooooooooooo easy. What more can you ask for? Healthy, yummy, easy ... it's a no-brainer, add this soup to your list of regulars right now!

Thanksgiving Menu 2014

With baby girl's arrival fast approaching we knew we wouldn't be traveling for the holiday. We gave Ben's parents a month notice that they and any family they might have for Thanksgiving were welcome to come to our place. Sometimes his aunt and sister from Cleveland come, but we found out that wasn't in their plan for this year. And Ben's brother had surgery yesterday, so that limited things to just Grandma and Grandpa, which is a wonderfully fine crowd for entertaining.

Knowing we'd have company, I still didn't come up with a menu until yesterday, and you'll notice some star players are noticeably absent. More on that later. Here's a list of what I did plan, and a link to all the recipes I used (yes, I'm in love with Mel of Mel's Kitchen Cafe).

We always use Alton Brown's brined and roasted turkey recipe. It does not disappoint. Yum, yum.

And Pumpkin Pie is a must.

I asked Ben for some side dish ideas and he suggested our roasted broccoli recipe. He also requested some sweet potatoes. I could see the hope in his eyes, as he knows I do not like sweet potatoes (though I do like this soup, I know, I'm weird).

Knowing that wasn't enough I started a search for a few other sides. I wanted some regular potatoes and corn, so this is what I decided on: Baked Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Creamy Confetti Corn with Bacon.

I was so proud of my five dish meal I didn't even realize rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce, and stuffing were totally overlooked. I love stuffing, love it! But I've yet to find a recipe that's to die for. So I decided those items would just have to come straight from a can or a box. Luckily, last night Ben's mom asked if she could bring anything, so he shot her my list of "store" bought items.

But here is a funny story, after making this list and doing all the necessary shopping, I dreamed about Apple Pie all night long. No lie. All night ling. I love pumpkin pie, but I woke up this morning determined to make two pies. So now I have to make a special shopping trip for this apple pie, but I don't want to loose sleep over it anymore. And even with just four adults, there's always room for another pie on Thanksgiving, right? 

5 Fresh Foods

Ben asked an intriguing question this evening. If you could have five foods always stocked and fresh in your refrigerator, what would they be?

My first thought was, mmm -- what kind of cheese and yogurt would I choose. But honestly, I think I'm becoming lactose intolerant. It totally bums me out and I don't want to talk about it. Let's just pray it is a pregnancy thing and it all goes away once the baby arrives.

So my answer (for now) is:
1. Chicken Breasts
2. Eggs
3. Apples
4. Green Beans
5. Mangoes

Yup, I am not a high taste kind of girl. Really, I'd love to have fresh steak or even ground beef ... but I just wouldn't eat them enough to justify always keeping them stocked. So I was practical when I came up with my list. I'd never tire of the five things above, and I'd easily eat each one more than once a week.

The other night I steamed up a batch of green beans right from our garden and I seriously thought I'd died. I could have eaten the entire pound! When we play outside Reid asks to snack on them (or the peas) and it just makes me so happy. He's anxious for the carrots to be done as well. That boy really loves our garden.

Thinking about this just makes me miss having fresh mangoes at my fingertips. I remember my very first night in Malaysia, the home we were visiting served a HUGE plate of fresh mango. I'd never had it before in my life, and though I enjoyed it ... I could only eat a few pieces. But, they insisted I eat a ton and I almost ate myself sick. I just found the taste and texture so overbearing.

Oh what I would give for that giant plate right now!

A Week of Ham

I roasted an 8lb ham on Sunday. Why on Earth would I buy an 8lb ham for my little family you wonder? Well, because when I bought an 8lb ham I got a 12lb turkey for free! And who wouldn't buy 20lbs of meat for just over $20? A crazy person, that's who! In fact, I deemed the deal so good I cashed in on it twice.

There is no shortage of ham-leftover recipes, I assure you. We'll be using up our ham every night this week, and I still won't get to try all the recipes I possibly could.

On the off chance that there is another soul in the world who has an 8lb ham waiting to meet their dark, warm oven, I will share with you the list of meals our lovely ham will supply us with.

Sunday
We roasted our bone in ham for about 3 hours at 300 degrees using this recipe. Yum! The sweetness of the pineapple, syrup and sugar matches the saltiness of the ham perfectly. And the finished product is nice and juicy. We served it with baked potatoes, green bean casserole, and rhodes rolls. I'd also bought a salad, but it didn't make it to the table until tonight.

Monday
For lunch we enjoyed ham sandwiches. Day old rhodes rolls and sweet ham slices are such a perfect match.

For dinner we had this fabulous split pea soup and a store bought loaf of poppy and onion bread (homemade bread is not on my list of skills ... yet). I can say with quite a bit of confidence that split pea soup (at least this version) is one of Reid's favorite meals. He always goes for seconds. Makes a mommy feel good to know her boy is filling up on veggies and barley. Less guilt when he eats an extra chocolate mint oreo cookie before bedtime.

Tuesday
There was plenty of leftover soup for lunch. Yay! And for dinner we tried this chicken cordon bleu casserole for the first time. I didn't add the brocoli to the casserole, and instead choose to serve it on the side. This was just a personal choice; I wanted the meats to soak up all the soup and cheese they could. Ben always prefers the veggie mixed in with the casserole. The dish wasn't a big wow-er, but it definitely had chicken cordon bleu flavor all over it, and since I have no desire to go to all the trouble of making real chicken cordon bleu, this is a good recipe to have in my arsenal.

Wednesday
I'm planning on having plenty of casserole leftovers for lunch. Then I'll make this yummy fried rice recipe, adding ham and pineapple chunks for a complete meal. I've made this several times before, and both my boys approved. Hopefully they'll enjoy it with the pineapple thrown in.

Thursday
Hawaiin grilled cheese! Bread, shredded swiss, pineapple chunks, and slices of ham. Better be finger licking good!

Friday night is our ward Christmas party, and I don't think ham is on the menu. The break may be welcomed by then.

Saturday
I'll finish the week off with this skillet ham pasta. Ben isn't a fan of the Italian (unless we're talking tomatos and basil ... he'll eat those with anything), but he did tell me once that this was his favorite of all the pasta meals I've made. And I've made some pretty fancy shpancy pasta dishes. I was actually quite surprised that he even remembered this dish when I asked him what kind of pasta meals he enjoyed.

For the record, I fully expect to have about 2 cups of diced ham still left when ham week is over. I'll just throw it in a ziploc and freeze it for another week, when we're craving that delicious split pea soup again. I think next week will have to be vegetarian week, but thanks for the yumminess this week little piggy!  

Spoiled on Beef

This post is pretty pointless, but it just has to be said.  My Uncle Howard "makes" the best beef ever.  I love me some beef.  Burgers, meatballs, chili, steak . . . whatever form.

Sadly, beef away from the farm is pricer than other meat options.  Not to mention, ground turkey is healthier.  So I don't eat much beef nowadays.

Well, last week when I was home I made my meatball recipe with my Uncle's ground beef and it was heavenly.  I assumed this meant I should bag the ground turkey and just do it with beef all the time (as the original recipe states).   So tonight I made it with store bought ground chuck.  Not much better than the turkey.

Sad, sad face goes here.

I was so spoiled as a child!  Steak and roast were regular meals.  We didn't add any flavors to our hamburgers and they were delicious every time.  I know very few people understand it (I don't, I simply know it exists), but there is an art to good meat.  A fine, fine art.      

So much chocolate

Ben's fingernails, sweater, beard, and the back of my baby's head were evidence that the cookies I made tonight were EXCELLENT.  All had chocolate on them for nearly an hour after Ben took his first bite. Cranberry chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies courtesy Giada of the food network.  Thank you!

I'm so torn though.  I want to say "these are the best oatmeal cookies on the planet."  But I don't know if I can do that to my oatmeal-peanut-butter-cream-sandwich-dipped-in-chocolate-cookies.

It's kind of like choosing between the cast of Modern Family and the President.  If the cast of Modern Family were to come play at my house I'd make the peanut butter sandwich oatmeal cookies.  Family friendly, easy to double and serve a crowd.  But if the President were to come lunch with me I'd make the cranberry chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies.  Classy and intelligent. 

And really, are you going to make me decide if I'd rather play host to the cast of Modern Family or President Obama?

That's just mean.

Go try my banana bread

Apparently Amazon isn't my only internet love affair.  When registered on the dashboard of my blogger account, there is a list of 10 blogs.  Yup, 10.

The newest is "I work out for a reason."  There's only 3 posts so far, but since I just started it 4 days ago it's safe to say I'll be updating it fairly regularly.

It is inspired by my dear friend Maci.  Who started this adorable blog to keep all her "homemaking" ideas together (I like to use the word homemaking as often as I can cause I know it makes my mom and dad chuckle each time I do).

Anyway, I was struck by her introductory line "a place to keep ideas and recipes."  I have 7 cookbooks, a bookmark folder titled "recipes" that is almost a full page long, and a word document full of my mom's best meals . . . and I still call her once a month for a new one.  So, I thought, why not organize all my favorite recipes on blogger?

BINGO!  I can label them accordingly, right little notes to myself (Ben loved, less salt next time, etc), and have them "with" me wherever I go!  Most importantly, I can share them others.

I highly recommend my first two posts.  The cheesecake in our fridge has not been touched since that banana bread came out of the oven.  It is heavenly (and the added bonus, healthier)!  And even if you don't love mushrooms, you will LOVE the glorious stuffed mushrooms.  Trust me.

And you can thank my later for that banana bread recipe.

Baby Product Review

The title of this blog couldn't be more fitting.  Sometimes I just have to "say it out loud" in order to "move on."  Weeks ago I got this post idea to review baby products for newborns.  But . . . LAME!  Still, I just couldn't get this idea out of my head.

Enters Amazon.

I heart Amazon. It is such an organized way to window shop from the comfort of my couch.  Plus, in this case, I could use their listmania feature to get this blog post out of my head.

Check it out HERE.  And if you like it, give it a thumbs up so that it will be featured when mom's peruse through the baby store.  Ben harassed me for this request, calling it self gratifying.  But that's not it -- one lady's list had four kinds of swings, and I just don't want women thinking they really need four swings -- I just want to help future moms get an idea of things they might need without racking up the credit card.

Confession

Since moving to Oshkosh one month ago, I have made not one but two batches of Chocolate Chip cookies, a pan of fudge brownies, and then Ben made me this for breakfast.

Cap'n Crunch French Toast | Courtesy Of Chef #487843 Recipes | - User recipe | Foodnetwork.co.uk

I think it's time I go on a diet.

In my defense, I did not eat one bite of cookie dough while pregnant, so I had to make up for it. One batch of the Choc Chip cookies went with Ben to his office and the other batch had whole wheat flour and rolled oats.  Healthy, right?  I cannot justify the brownies . . . but they were delicious and I recommend Alton Brown's recipe to everyone.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/cocoa-brownies/67711.html

The Cap'n Crunch French Toast was my Valentine Breakfast "in bed," so it belongs in the super justifiable category.

Regardless, if I have any dreams of running just one Triathlon this season (instead of two heart-attacks) . . . I need to make some serious life changes.

Oh, and that bag of Peanut M&Ms I bought Saturday night was gone by Sunday afternoon.  

Some of my favorite recipes

So, yesterday I invited all our family over for chili. Of course, no one accepted my invitation. But Mother Dear did want the recipe. It's really easy and REALLY yummy and really healthy! Sadly, it's not my recipe, but I'll share it anyway, as well as a couple other favs.

The perfect chili
We doubled it, which was a mistake . . . this makes plenty for four people. Luckily, it freezes well. Yummy with tortilla chips or corn bread.

Meatballs that are to DIE for
My meatballs make about 20, I use the medium size mozzarella balls. If you can't find them in your grocery store, you can use mozzarella sheets you'll find in the deli sections of Wal-Mart or other stores. You just have to cut them into squares and then roll them into a little ball. Also, I've only used the bacon once, it's good, but they are just as great without them. And finally, you can eat them with spaghetti or use them to stuff a sub. SO YUMMY. It's an easy recipe for a big family too; we doubled it for all of Ben's fam over Christmas break.

Cookies that make you look like Betty Crocker
I use chunky peanut butter and never cook them over 10 minutes. I took the "dip them in chocolate" advice, just ask my folks or anyone in the Matt Bassett fam, they are yum!

When I'm craving chicken pot pie
So easy and delish, probably not healthy at all, but oh well.

And finally, if you like artichokes
And here's a great flat bread idea to go with any chicken recipe. Cut a pizza dough roll in half, brush some olive oil and italian spices over both sides and place it on your george foreman. It crisps up real nice, and the flavor is yummy. It works great for sandwiches with the leftover chicken.