The Three Ingredient Manly Appetizer: Rotel Sausage Dip

My friend Shawn shared this recipe with me a few years ago, and its so super easy.  It literally is three ingredients, you can double up if you're going to a big party or just stick to one of each ingredient if its a smaller gathering.  However much or little you take, I guarantee it will be gone. 

Rotel Sausage Dip

What you need:

• 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes (mild or spicy) with green chiles
• 1 pound bulk sausage (regular or spicy, whichever you prefer)
• 1 8 oz block of cream cheese

What you do:
Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray.   Crumble the sausage and brown in a skillet, drain the grease once all cooked thru.   Dump the sausage into your baking dish.   Dump the can of Rotel in there (you don't have to even drain it).  Plop the block of cream cheese on top of it all.   No need to mix it up.   Bake in the oven at 375 degrees (uncovered) for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven, stir it all together.  Serve with chips of your choice - Tostitos, crackers or my favorite - Fritos!   You can reheat in the microwave during your party if it starts to get cold.


Everytime I take this to a party, the bowl is licked clean and everyone wants the recipe.  Three ingredients, plus the chips.  You can't beat that!   Just in time for Superbowl.  It may not be the prettiest appetizer you've ever seen but I can pretty much bet you'll be glad you made it.

The Foolish Hermit Crab

an original story by Dylan...

"I'm tired of having this shell.  I bet I would have no fear at all," and the hermit crab took his shell off and rapidly swam away.  After that, the hermit crab almost got eaten by a fish!  Then the hermit crab almost got eaten by a shark!  In the winter the hermit crab was so cold he almost froze to death.  Finally, he put back on his shell.  The End.

Dylan told me the moral of his story is that sometimes its good to try new things.

Makes my heart smile.

tasty buddies

We are trying really hard to get more meat into Logan's diet to increase his iron levels to improve his sleep quality.  The iron supplements alone don't seem to be increasing his ferritin enough (although maybe when he gets retested again at the end of Feb we'll be pleasantly surprised), so we've been pushing meat, spinach, dry cereal, and other iron-rich foods on him like crazy.  Sounds easy but you don't know my son.   He would be perfectly content eating nothing but breakfast cereal (with  milk which counteracts iron absorption) for the rest of his life.  Maybe with a side of Sour Patch Kids.

I came across a recipe called Cowboy Casserole on Pinterest (which I am totally head over heels in love with and don't know how I ever lived without it!).   Ground beef, tater tots, cheese, corn (I used mixed veggies).   Sounded easy, hearty and something the boys would at least try.  We've really stopped cooking seperate meals for the kids, they have to eat what we're eating or else there's no dessert and nothing else to eat until breakfast other than water if they get thirsty. We're very strict about it... we've gone years and years of making them 'kid food' and us 'adult food' and honestly I'm just done.   Utterly ridiculous to spend the time and energy, not to mention money, on a whole seperate menu just for them.  The only exception to this rule is if Andrew and I are having something totally wacky, as we will sometimes. But we tell the kids they have to at least eat part of what we're eating, and if they full on try new, adventurous foods they can earn jewels for that too.

Anyhow, Dylan LOVED the Cowboy Casserole and had two helpings.  Logan, shocker, did not love it.  So we bartered our way thru the meal, with the usual bribes of dessert, etc. until he got a good 12 or 15 bites in him (just eat the meat at least!). 

"Logan, you have five more bites to go, keep eating."

"But Mom, I'm not going to eat the peas!"

"You can't even taste them Logan, they're just mixed in with all the other stuff."

"I can too taste them Mom!  I have different tasty buddies than you!"

Tasty buddies!  I about died.  He has this thing where he'll turn words into other words, or add different endings.  I can't think of any others right now off the top of my head, other than "toppings".   He'll refer to the lid of a soda bottle as the "topping".  Kills me.  But "tasty buddies"... that one takes the cake!

16 Bean and Ham Soup

This is the basic recipe off the back of a bag of dried 16 bean soup mix, with some tweaks I've made to it that I think make it super yummy.  This recipe takes a little commitment and planning ahead.  Its so worth if you have the time....perhaps a yucky, drizzly, cold Sunday when you have three or fours at home before dinnertime.

I imagine you could make this in the crockpot as well, if you have one big enough to hold your ham bone. As I re-read this sentence, its really making me giggle.

A couple quick notes.  We love saving the ham bone when we buy a spiral ham for Thanksgiving and again at Christmas.  Whatever isn't eaten during those holidays gets shoved in a Ziplock bag and frozen until we're ready for this soup.  If you don't happen to have a leftover bone-in ham, you can buy cooked ham hocks at just about any grocery (a couple will do), and then just buy a boneless ham and cube it up.

I didn't plan on doing a recipe post about this until after I had the pot cooking, so I didn't do step by step photos.   Here is a photo of what the bean packaging looks like.  Just go down your aisle that has dried beans and you'll see something similar. 

The beans are gorgeous and look like this.  And best of all, there's no question you'll be meeting your fiber dietary requirements for a few days.

16 Bean and Ham Soup

You will need:

very large stockpot

• leftover bone in ham (with plenty of ham left on it) OR ham hocks with additional boneless cubes of ham (at least 3 or 4 cups)
• bag of dried beans (as above)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 lb of carrots, cut up
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
• 8 cups of water
• box of diced tomatoes (*see note at the bottom of this post)
• fresh greens (I used collards Andrew picked from the garden today, but you could use chopped up kale, spinach, etc.)  (Also, this is optional... I just think it adds a nice flavor and texture to the soup, and more nutrition!)
• salt/pepper to taste

What to do:

First! 

The night before (or very early the morning you want to make this soup) dump the dried beans into a large bowl and completely cover them with water. They need to soak at least 8 hours, and longer than that is fine.   They will expand so make sure you use a large enough bowl.  The bag of beans will likely come with a 'flavor packet'.   Throw it away.  You don't need it, and who the heck knows what's in there anyway.   Trust  me, using your ham bones will give it plenty of great smoky flavor from a much more natural source.

Time to make the soup!

Heat the olive oil in bottom of stock pot and saute onion, garlic and celery until tender.  While you're doing that, drain the beans from their soaking water and rinse them off.  Add 8 cups of clean water to your stockpot, and all of the beans.  Submerge your ham bone (heh heh), or ham hocks, and add all of your cubed ham.  Add your tomatoes, carrots, and greens.   Salt and pepper.  Simmer for at least 3 hours.  When its close to meal time, remove the ham bone and toss.

Okay then.  My Grandpa Unklesbay was a bean soup lover, and to him, no bowl of beans was ever complete without a sprinkle of sugar on top.  Yep, you read that right - sugar.  If you like to mix your savory with your sweet, give it a try.  I happen to like it too.  But if you like to keep your savory with your savory, add a few dashes of Tabasco to your bowl.  That's how Andrew likes his.

This makes a huge amount of soup.   Now, my kids won't touch this with a ten foot pole.  So we usually eat it for a couple of days, and freeze the rest for another time.

Great served with cornbread, if you're so inclined.  Its super delicious, you won't be disappointed.  And, you won't have to cook again for a couple of days!

*************************

*I recently read a scary article about canned tomatoes, so I'm now trying to buy them in a box, like these.  You can find these right next to all the jarred tomato sauce, and they sell them this way at Trader Joe's as well.

Happy cooking!

farm fresh cinammon apple bread

Today is a teacher work day, so the kids are home from school.  The weather is depressingly blah.  And other than booking our summer beach vacation this past weekend, we really haven't done anything exciting lately.  Today is no different, except Dylan is at an all day birthday party/playdate, so its me and Logan and a whole day to conquer.

We've been crafting all morning, and then all of the sudden (being that his attention span is well, comparitive to that of a fruitfly), he announced he would like some apple bread.  As if that's just something I have available in the pantry.  A pantry that is pretty well stocked mind you, but no, I didn't happen to have any freshly baked apple bread.

I've never made my own apple bread. I make banana bread ALL the time, whenever we have bananas going bad, and throw the loaves in the freezer. Its one of Dylan's favorite breakfasts.


So Logan said we should look up how to make it on "The Google", and that's what we did.  I came across a few recipes that sounded good and narrowed it down to one I had all the ingredients to make.  I knew I could put him to work cutting the apples into pieces while I rounded up the other ingredients. I made a few changes to this recipe (added more cinammon, omitted the walnuts since my kids don't like them, etc.) and it came out DELISH.  I mean truly, this isn't really bread, lets be honest.  Its well within cake realm.  But Apple Bread makes it sound as if it  has a few less calories, right?  Its not overly sweet, but it is super moist and full of yummy cinammon flavor.  Don't skimp on the apples, throw a ton of them in there.
 
As an extra bonus, this makes your house smell INCREDIBLE.  Which was an added bonus of making this today, since we roasted broccoli for dinner last night and the house is a bit smelly.

Here's my little helper, chopping apples.

And taking an early 'test' lick.  Notice the flour on his forehead.


Farm Fresh Cinammon Apple 'Bread'

What you need:
3 cups all-purpose flour (I like to use unbleached)
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 TSP baking soda
1/2 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP salt
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups white sugar
1 eggs beaten
1 TSP vanilla extract
2 cups apples - peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped (I used Granny Smith, I think they hold up best when baking)
chopped walnuts (optional)



What you do:
Spray your loaf pan(s) generously with nonstick spray.  In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and apples. Stir into flour mixture. Pour mixture in to one large loaf pan, or you can divide mixture between two greased smaller loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan.  Note:  If you opt for one loaf in a larger loaf pan, it might take another 15-20 minutes to bake evenly all the way through - be sure to do the 'toothpick' test (or use a butter knife if your pan is too deep.).  If your loaf doesn't fall easily out of your pan when you turn it upside down, just use a butter knife to gently separate it from the sides of the pan, and wiggle..it will come out.

a dragons life, by Dylan

Dragons hatch really small then at the adult age they are huge.   So I am going to tell you how to take care of one.  When dragons hatch you have to take good care of it by giving it food and shelter.  Once a dragons got wings you have to teach it how to fly.  Once it knows how to fly you can fly all over the place.  Once the dragon is a teen it is easier to take care of the dragon.  When its an adult it can help around the house.  After that it will fly away and and lay eggs and will give them to you. You will have to say goodbye and hug but the eggs will someday hatch and turn into dragons and the life cycle will start all over again. 

The End

playdate

Dylan has two of his best buddies, J and N over right now for a playdate.  They rode the bus home and all four boys came bouncing off the bus this afternoon.   The boys have been friends for several years thru school, even though they are never in the same class.   Such nice boys.  You'd think four boys in the house would make for a high decibel but WWE action but they all love playing Legos and Beyblades, and jumping on the trampoline.  They really nice thing is, the three older boys play so well with Logan and include him in everything.

We're supposed to all go to one of their favorite places, Rebounderz, in the morning, if the ice stays away.  The boys are in Scouts together, and spend every recess at school playing spies, and a game they made up called Be Whoever You Want (ha!).

cravings

We've been cutting back on dining out lately, and thus I've been cooking much more.  I've had a few successes with new recipes, like this and this (amazing!).   This one wasn't a keeper (too bland).  And tonight, we had some pretty pitiful sloppy joe sandwiches and half burnt/half soggy sweet potato fries.

Its January 16th and I'm already tired of casseroles, chilis, soups and roasts.  What I'm really craving, as the winds blow a blustery 20 degrees and there's not a fresh vegetable in sight, is some fresh tasting food.  I miss the fresh flavors of summer so much.  Sigh.

Its going to be a while, so here's some food porn to hold us all over.

Yea.  I'm pretty sure I just made it worse.  C'mon May.

separate rooms

If you've been following this blog for a long time, you know that Logan has suffered from sleep issues since the beginning of time.  He did not sleep thru the night (at all) for the first 2 1/2 years of his life. I wrote so many times about it, as we tried to figure out why he never slept thru the night.   When he was 2 1/2, three years ago, we literally dragged his bed down the hallway into Dylan's room, and suddenly, he started sleeping.  It seemed he just didn't want to be alone in his bedroom at night.  Problem solved, at least for the time being.

Although he didn't get up at night screaming anymore, there were still other sleep issues going on but we didn't know at the time.  We've been treating him for severe anemia since August (via supplements and diet), which contributes to his Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, and prevents him from getting a good nights' rest.  His next 19 in August, and by the end of November, it had only gone up three points to 24.  It needs to be at least 80-100 in order for us to believe he has enough iron in his system to be getting a good nights sleep.  I can tell just by looking at his bed every morning (the sheets are so twisted its like a tornado came thru it). If his iron level continues to stay about the same, we will have to explore other possibilites as to why his body doesn't seem to absorb much iron.  And on top of that, we're probably looking at another sleep study in May to be sure his apnea has improved after his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Another blog post for another day.  But before I drop the subject completely, let me just rant about the fact that I've had to spend hours on the phone with the insurance company getting his referrals documented for the care he's getting from the sleep specialist.  These are the times that try you as a parent, heck, even just as a person.  But you do what you have to do to make progress, and get your children the help they need.

Okay.  Time to move on.

After a very trying winter break (behaviorally), we decided for many reasons, it was time to try to move Logan back into his own bedroom.  Every night, bedtime was getting to be a challenge with them sharing a room. Logan still acts very impulsively and just couldn't seem to keep himself from climbing into Dylan's bed after we tucked them in, thus ultimately ensuing in fights and keeping them both up way too late.


It had been three years, and surely he had grown out of his not wanting to be alone at night right?  Plus, Dylan is 8 1/2 and although he never said it, I'm pretty sure he was getting sick of sharing his room.  I mean, we have a four bedroom house and for three years we've only used two bedrooms.  If we moved Logan out from under Dylan's loft bed, we could then set up a nice comfy quiet homework desk area for Dylan.  Sometimes after school behavior is very challenging for Logan as well, and its very disruptive to Dylan being able to focus on homework.  With a nice cozy homework area in his bedroom, he would then have another choice for some peace and quiet, when doing homework at the kitchen table isn't an option.  Logan could get some more responsibility having his own big boy room, and we'd let him choose stuff for the walls.  He would have his own quiet place to go to when he needs a break.  We filled it with his books, his beloved stuff animals and made it his own. 
 
This transition would also finally allow us to give Dylan more responsibility by having his own alarm clock and getting himself up in the morning.  We've always had to quietly wake him in the morning when they shared a room, so as not to wake Logan (if we could help it, since he needs all the sleep he can get).  We also let Dylan stay up a bit later, especially on the weekends.  This caused a problem of 'unfairness' in Logan's eyes when they shared a room.  But Logan needs to go to bed at a consistent time 7 days a week because he never sleeps in.  If we let him stay up until 9:30 or 10 on the weekends, we're basically setting ourselves up for hell the next day as we'll be up bright and early at 7 am no matter what. Dylan, however, taps into his future teenager, and will sleep until 8:30 or 9 or so. 

We made trips last week to Ikea, Michael's, Target and Homegoods last week and made it happen.  And both boys are really over the moon about their 'new rooms'.  Best of all, bedtime is now a breeze, and they both seem to be getting more hours of sleep.  Logan hasn't gotten up during the night at all.  His bedsheets are still twisted in the morning, and hopefully we're on the path to fixing that issue.  But behaviorally, he isn't having issues with sleeping in his own room all night.

We hung new curtains for both rooms, got Logan a new dresser, and let the boys choose what to put on their walls.   We created a homework 'office' for Dylan and I even found him a desklamp on clearance at Target that has a plug in for his iTouch.   We didn't have to spend a ton of money, either.  We didn't even have to paint, thanks to these awesome wall decals.

First, Dylan's room:

And Logan's, which  needed a little more work since no one has lived in this room for three years:

so cute hooks from Ikea

life

In case you read the title and thought this might be a philosophical post, sorry to disappoint.   I'm talking about the game of Life, one of my favorites from childhood.  We got it for Dylan for Christmas, and decided to break it out Saturday night.  

I love playing board games and I love that our kids are old enough to play most games with us, and totally 'get it' now.  I was a little worried about this one, since it says 9 and older.  But they LOVED it, both of them, and totally stuck with it during the almost two hours it took to play.  I haven't played this game since I was MUCH younger and it was funny to see some updates to bring it up to current times (i.e. You Build a Family Website, pay $2,000). 

How did we all fare?   Here's the breakdown:

Logan's career choice was "Entertainer" for $50,000 per pay day.  He had one child, lived in a mansion, and ran for Congress.  He retired with $415,000.

I was a Hair Stylist, living in a Luxury Mountain Retreat, with a sailboat.   I had one child, and retired  owing the bank $180,000.

Dylan, the Veterinarian, made twice as much as me per payday, bought an SUV and modern victorian home, had three kids, and retired with $870,000.

Andrew beat us all, retiring from being an Accountant, dividing his time between his double-wide and his RV, and banking $1.5 million.

Chipotle Grilled Skirt Steak Salad

This is one of my favorite salads because the flavor is just incredible.  The key to this recipe - canned Chipotle Adobo peppers.   They're pretty darn spicy so don't use the whole can.   But don't skip using them either or else you'll lose the whole point of the salad.  Look in the Spanish aisle of your market.   Whatever peppers you don't use, you can freeze for next time.  Or even better, puree it all up and freeze the sauce, using a little to flavor chili's, soups, etc.   Its a wonderful, spicy, smoky flavor.

I can't take credit for this recipe.  A couple of years ago, we had a can of these peppers in the ole' pantry and were trying to figure out what to do with them.  My husband started looking online and found this recipe.  We tweaked it a bit to our tastes and now, when the weather calls for grilling, this is a go-to for us.  The weather has been so mild for January, we're making this goodness tonight.  The dressing is absolutely to die for. 

Chipotle Grilled Skirt Steak Salad

For the Steak

1 1/2 - 2 lbs of skirt steak

1/4 cup lime juice (fresh if you have it, bottled if not)

3 TBSP canola oil

3 - 4 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

red pepper flakes, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Smokey, Creamy Chipotle Dressing

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup buttermilk

1/8 cup mayo

3/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

2 Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (see photo above)

1 small white onion, chopped small

1 garlic clove, chopped

pinch of sugar

For Salad

fresh salad greens (I like Romaine, but you can use whatever greens you prefer)

tomatoes (either sliced, or grape tomatoes)

1 avocado, sliced

corn (optional)

1/2 half red onion, slivered

olives (optional)

What To Do:

Add the ingredients under "For the Steak" in a ziploc bag, and marinade the steak for at least 2 hours, if not longer. 

In a bowl, add the cream, buttermilk, mayo, cilantro, white onion, garlic, salt, pepper, pinch of sugar and two of the chipotle peppers with Adobo sauce to your food processor or blender.  Puree until smooth and creamy.

Grill your steak to desired doneness (we light medium rare), approximately 5 minutes per side.  When steak is done, set aside covered in foil, until you're ready to slice and put on top of salad.

Prepare salad plates with greens, tomato, corn, onion, avocado, olives.   Top with slices of steak, pour dressing on top.

Delish!

slow cooker pork carnitas

One of my goals this year is to post more recipes on my blog. We're still adopting a whole new approach to food in our family, and a huge part of that is cooking whole, healthy and delicious foods.  I really enjoy cooking, but for me it has to be practical.   This means relatively simple, not a huge amount of time, and something my kids will eat (or at least eat a version of).  Extra bonus if cooking yields leftovers we can enjoy for another dinner, or a lunch.   This recipe falls into that category.  In fact, it  makes so much you can freeze half of the meat for another meal in a few weeks when you're hankering it again.

To say I love my Crockpot is an understatement.  Andrew got me a fancy new one for Christmas and I've already given it a whirl.  If you don't own a Crockpot, what are you waiting for?  Its the best $40 you'll ever spend.  Whip up dinner in the morning while you sip your morning coffee and be done with it.  I seriously use mine at least twice a week.  They could not be easier to use.  Two rules:  nonstick spray, and use enough liquid.  Years ago I forget what we were trying to make, but we forget to add the broth and by the time we got home from work the beef that had once been a lovely robust roast was shriveled into something I could have used to patch my car tire.

There is nothing worse though, than spending all the time and energy on a new recipe, only to sit down at the table and have it turn out to be a bust.  One family of food which is always a hit when we're dining in or out is Mexican.  My kids love beans, tortillas, cheese, sour cream...   So even though they might not be daring enough to try this delicious pork filling (yet), we can whip up a side of black beans and cheese quesadillas with ingredients we already have out for this meal.

Pork Carnitas
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (3 or 4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth
2 limes

What to do:
Spray Crockpot with non-stick spray. Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.

Cover and cook on low for about 8-10 hours. When the pork is tender, shred using two forks. The cooking liquid will moisten the meat perfectly. Squeeze fresh lime juice over shredded meat.  If there seems to be a lot of liquid don't worry, you'll want to store the leftovers with the liquid so the meat stays moist.

Delicious Toppings:

• fresh sliced avocado
• sour cream
• shredded monterey jack cheese
• fresh cilantro (optional)
• marinated red onions (cut red onion into slices in the morning once you've got the crock pot going with the meat.  Place in shallow dish and soak in red wine vinegar until dinner time).  YUM.  To me, this makes the whole meal.

Place some of the shredded pork, and whichever of the above toppings suit your fancy, into a warm flour or corn tortilla and bite into heaven.

Serve with black beans and while you're at it, sprinkle a little diced onion and sour cream on those too.