Thursday, May 31, 2007

I'm back!

My computer croaked so I spent the last week or so off line. I made a fabulous Carrot Cake with the kids last Saturday. It wasn't that kid friendly to make, but it sure tastes good! The kids were able to help with pushing the buttons on the food processor.

Other than that, we've just been going crazy with my in-laws visiting. We went down to Mobile, Alabama, to go to the beach. It rained, so we never made it there. We found some great BBQ, which is always a good thing. We also spent much of the day at the U.S.S. Alabama.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Something for a busy day

Today was very rushed. Memaw and Papa are visiting. They haven't seen the children in two years and have never met the baby. With all the commotion we had a very quick meal, that surprisingly generated rave reviews. There wasn't much the kids could help with except for clean up, but they couldn't get enough of the dinner. It was also pretty humid today, so cooking something quick that didn't really heat up the house was a plus.

Found this on food network, btw.

Nacho Bread Pizza

1 loaf baguette or semolina bread, day old is fine
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped or 1 pickled hot pepper of any kind, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can black beans
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt and pepper
1 cup prepared salsa, any variety
2 cups shredded Cheddar, smoked Cheddar, Monterey Jack or pepper Jack
1 heart romaine or 1/2 iceberg head, shredded
1/2 cup green olives with or without pimiento, chopped
1/4 red onion or 2 to 3 scallions, chopped
2 plum or vine tomatoes, seeded and diced
Split bread lengthwise. Hollow the bread out and cut each half in half across, making 4 boats.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil, 1 turn of the pan, garlic and hot peppers. Drain beans. Add half of the beans then mash the remainder of the beans in the can using a fork. Add mashed beans to the pan and combine with whole beans. Season beans with hot sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. When the spicy beans are hot through, spread them evenly across all of the bread. Top with salsa and liberally sprinkle with cheese, covering bread to all edges. The boats will only be half-full. Melt cheese in the oven until it bubbles and begins to brown.


Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Getting organized

Today no cooking because it was grocery day. We were also outlining our science labs for the summer. It should be interesting. The kids want to make a volcano. eek!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Bestest Banana Bread EVER

My 8 yo has a latex allergy. We recently discovered this as I was in the hospital having baby #5. she was playing with a latex glove and faster than you can say PUSH! she had hives all over her face. This would explain the anaphylaxic reaction she had in the hospital a few years earlier.

Anyway, I'm rambling again.

She is quite distressed that as part of this allergy thing, she can no longer eat bananas. She's not had a severe reaction to bananas, but we don't want to take the chance.

Still, that doesn't mean the rest of us have to suffer a banana-less existence (no flames please)

I found this recipe at all-recipes and it is truly the best banana bread you will ever taste. if you don't want to take my word for it, 2000 other reviewers have pretty much said the same thing.

For this recipe, my special helpers were the 5 yo and the 3 yo. Five year old did banana duty. Three year old helped sifting the flour.


Banana Banana bread

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas i used 5 bananas

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. i sifted the dry ingredients into the wet and used a wooden spoon to mix it to just moistened
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

my oven cooks hot so it was at a 325 oven for us. also 22 minutes for muffins.

In the Beginning

In the beginning when I decided to start another blog, I wanted it to be something more interesting than my daily ramblings.

I've been an avid stalker of Anna's Cookie Madness blog since seeing her win the Pillsbury bake-off. She really has inspired me to get cooking again and well, blogging about it.

My extended family is fairly sick of me emailing them recipes and calling with "you've got to try this" or "did you see *insert food network star of choice* today?" My 3 yo gets excited when Rachael Ray comes on and went into hysterics when she saw a cracker box with her picture at the store. And, then my 8 yo discovered Good Eats. It's become a nightly ritual for us now.

She's asking me if we can make things together. And any time I cook with one child, the other four want to be involved. Yes, even the baby. She's at that age where I can't be 2 feet from her. So there I am with a baby on my hip, barefoot in my kitchen directing the children how to cook. It was then I had the epiphany that THIS is what I needed to blog about. My discoveries about mothering, cooking with the kids and all the things we are learning.

here you'll find recipes and probably some experiments, too, as we're doing home summer school this year. The kids want some sort of science lab in the kitchen. don't be surprised if you find instructions for weird experiments, here, too.