My Annual Cheesecake

I'm a bit of a traditionalist, and for my birthday that means cheesecake.  Some years my mom (or someone else) has made one, some years we've bought one, and some years I've made my own.  Because a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do! Especially when cheesecake is on the line.

This was one of those years.

I couldn't decide between plain cheesecake with berry sauce or a more decadent chocolate cheesecake. In the end I decided to take my usual plain cheesecake and swirl it with chocolate.

It smells amazing.

And based on the taste of the batter (which you shouldn't eat due to the raw eggs...I know, I know), it tastes pretty amazing too.

Charisa's Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Crust
1 cup graham crumbs
3 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp sugar

Cake
3 packages cream cheese (250g each)
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs

4 oz dark chcoolate
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Topping
3/4 cup whipping cream
4 oz semisweet or dark chocolate
2-3 tsp honey, to taste

pinch salt

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine crust ingredients.  Press into 9" springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool. Turn oven to 425 degrees.

Melt 4 oz chocolate on low heat and set aside to cool slightly (must still be runny).

Soften cream cheese in a large bowl and add sugar, flour, lemon juice, vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and mix to combine.

Pour half mixture into cooled crust.  To the other half add melted chocolate and cocoa powder. Combine.  Pour into crust on top of plain batter and run a knife through gently to swirl.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 250 degrees and continue baking another 45 minutes or until centre of the cake is firm to the touch.

Let cool at room temperature. Once cooled, store in fridge until you top it - at least two hours prior to serving.

Combine whipping cream, chocolate, honey, salt in a medium pot over low heat. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly.  Pour over centre of the cake to fill any cracks, and spread to within 1/2" of edge. Chill until topping is set, about 1 hour.

Let sit at room temperature for an hour before serving.

Enjoy!

Adapted in part from Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Oh, and happy birthday to me! ;)

My Favourite Budget Meals: Dal Makhani

This is the beginning of a mini-series featuring some of our favourite frugal meals.  Some recipes I will post here, and some I will simply link to; this is one of those days.

Dal makhani is one of our favourite Indian dishes, and simply by nature of being vegetarian,  it's very cheap to make.  This creamy lentil dish isn't spicy, just rich and flavourful.  Dal and rice on the dinner table makes for a very happy family in my house.  And a happy wallet too!

You can find the recipe for Dal Nirvana over at Budget Bytes, and it is similar to dal makhani at our favourite Indian take-out restaurant.

Weekly Soup Night

One way that we save money on groceries is by having weekly soup night.  We've found that a big pot of homemade soup is a pretty frugal way to feed a lot of people.  I like to make a big pot, then we can invite someone over to join us, have the leftovers for lunch later in the week, or even freeze enough for supper another day.  We tend to let it slide in the warm summer months, but during the rest of the year we have soup on a pretty regular basis.  For us, weekly soup night entails homemade soup, usually accompanied by buns, bread, or biscuits.  

These past two or three years, we have been joined every Tuesday night by our friends Megan and Mairi for soup night.  For a few months we invited our entire small group to join us each Tuesday and bring something to contribute to dinner, followed by our Bible study time.  The soup potlucks were a great a low-key dinner enjoyed by friends.  Because I always made a big pot of soup, people could bring something simple to share, such as salad, buns, an appetizer, or a dessert.  Folks could easily stop at the store after work and buy something to bring, without having to really cook or plan ahead much.  It worked well for most people, solving the problem of what/when/how to grab supper between work and small group on a busy weeknight.  If everyone showed up, there was no soup leftover.  If only a couple people came, we were happy to have lots left.

Over the years my soup repertoire has really grown.  Part of the reason we can enjoy soup on a weekly basis is that we rotate through many different kinds of soup.  Here is a list of the different soups that I make:

-beef barley

-beef minestrone

-beef stew

-black bean

-borscht

-broccoli cheese

-chicken corn chowder

-chicken noodle

-chicken stew with butternut squash and quinoa

-chili

-clam chowder

-curried butternut squash

-ham and bean

-harvest pork stew

-lasagna soup

-loaded baked potato soup

-middle eastern red lentil

-potato leek with ham

-quinoa chicken chili

-salmon chowder

-split pea and ham

-tex-mex tortilla

-tortellini

-turkey rice

-ground turkey, kale, and brown rice

You can find some of these recipes, and many more that I haven't yet tried, on my Pinterest Soups page.  If you want a recipe not listed there, let me know and I can probably get it for you, or at find one similar (since I don't always use a recipe).

A great thing about making soup from scratch is that most recipes can be adapted, even at the last minute, to feed extra guests.  Simply add more water/milk/broth as applicable, throw in a few more cooked veggies and you can accommodate a few extra people around your dinner table.

What is your favourite kind of soup?  Are there other soups you make that aren't listed here? I'd love to hear about them!

Feeding My Family on A Budget

Feeding our family on a budget is something we have been doing since day one of our marriage.  We honeymooned locally where we rented a cabin and cooked most of our own meals.  Once we returned home from our honeymoon, we spent the first month of our married lives both out of work (I was job-hunting, and Stewart's boss was between carpentry jobs).  Since August 2009, I have been at home full-time and we have relied on Stewart's single income, except for when he was in school, when we relied upon Stewart's part-time income.  For eight months we lived in West Africa on the financial support of friends and family.  And now, Stewart is employed as a pastor in a small town (and we all know pastors don't exactly make buckets of money!).  So we've had lots of time to learn to prepare food frugally!

Eating frugally looks a little different for every family, so this isn't meant to be prescriptive, as much as descriptive.  These are things that we have done at various times in our married life to keep our grocery bill down (not necessarily at this moment, or even all at the same time).
 
Shop sale items.  I'm not really into couponing.  I don't really have the time to look for and save coupons, but I sure love a good sale!  When I find non-perishable items that we buy on sale for a good price, I make sure to stock up.  At one point recently, I bought four jugs of liquid laundry detergent on the same day, because I came across a good sale at two different stores!  I've found that I do need to be discerning and make sure I only buy the sale items that we already regularly use, and not get sucked into buying things we don't need just because of the good price.

Grow a garden.  Big or little, every little bit helps.  Of course the cheapest way is to start with seeds, but even seedlings are cheaper than purchasing full-grown plants (such as potted tomato plants).  And even buying a full-grown tomato plant that produces well is likely to be cheaper than buying the equivalent number of organic tomatoes.

Buy in bulk.  Costco is great for buying in bulk, but you can also buy items such as rice and dry beans in bulk at import grocery stores.

Minimize your meat.  Use meat to flavour your dish rather than as the main course.  We often eat meat in our meals (ground beef in our spaghetti sauce, for example) rather than having meat as our meal (chicken breast with a side dish, for example).

Buy bone-in meat and use the bones to make a broth.  Homemade broth is healthy and delicious, and easy to make!  By using bones from your meat (chickens, ham, roasts) and veggie scraps (carrot peels, celery ends, etc.) you can make your own broth for a fraction of the cost of buying it ready-made.  (Read this article for a basic how-to.)

Use dried beans and lentils instead of canned.  I used to be afraid of dried beans.  They seemed like so much work!  While you can soak them for several hours before cooking them (best-case scenario), I often just put them directly into the slow-cooker on high for a few hours until tender, depending what kind of bean I'm cooking (black beans cook faster than kidney, for instance).  I'll often cook up a full slow-cooker of beans at a time, then portion them into roughly the amount that comes in a can, and freeze them, so they are ready to thaw and use.  I also use these slow-cooked beans to make my own refried beans (I usually just mash them and add seasonings, but I've been wanting to try this Garlicky Refried Beans recipe which also uses dried beans).

Shop in the States for key items.  When we lived near the US border, I would buy our tortillas, refried beans, butter, and cheese in the States at a much lower price than I could find in Canada.  Tortillas freeze nicely and a thaw quickly in a warm oven.  There are some items that I refuse to buy across the border due to the difference in food production standards.  For instance, I personally do not buy meat or milk unless it's organic due to the hormones/antibiotics that can be used in the animals.

Freeze or can seasonal produce, especially if you can buy it in bulk for a good price.  Peaches, pears, tomatoes, applesauce, salsa, jalapenos, are all good items to can in the summer or early fall.  Blanched green beans, pureed cooked pumpkin, grated zucchini, and fresh berries are just some of the items I like to stock in my deep freezer for us to enjoy all year long.

Cook from scratch.  Of course this takes more work, but if your biggest concern is finances, it certainly helps to avoid buying prepared foods.  With enough time and effort, bread, buns, cookies, cakes, bagels, english muffins, tortillas, naan, etc, can all be made from scratch.

And finally, one of the biggest ways we've found to cut down our grocery budget is to stop eating out!  This seems so obvious, but it really does add up fast.  When we lived in the big city, we found it so tempting to grab lunch at a drive-thru on our way home, or order in Indian food when life got busy.  But now that we live in a small town where that just isn't an option, I've realized it's not that hard to live without!

What are some of the ways you've found to save money on groceries?

2 Easy Ice Cream Recipes

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I just started using my new ice cream attachment for my KitchenAid mixer.  I'm loving it.  Making ice cream is so easy, it's so delicious, and I can make it without refined sugar.  And it's way cheaper than buying ice cream - especially anything that would meet my criteria of being "healthy".  (Used in quotations, because we all have our own interpretation of what that means.)  I've made strawberry, dairy-free chocolate, mocha, dairy-free rocky road, and maple pecan.  Needless to say, I'm hooked.

As I've spent time researching recipes I've noticed that most homemade ice cream recipes require egg yolks.  You actually cook a custard-like batter before freezing it.  I'm not a fan of this idea for a few reasons:
   1) making a custard adds more work to the process
   2) making a custard takes longer because you also need to let it get cold before freezing
   3) using eggs in your recipe also adds to the cost (not significantly, I know, but still...)
   4) I know we all eat lightly cooked eggs in dishes all the time, but I still have a hard time getting my mind around it.  It kind of grosses me out if I think about it!

So, when I found a delicious recipe for eggless strawberry ice cream, I just stuck with it.  I've used this recipe as my basis for other flavour variations.  Both mocha and maple pecan were delicious!

I have found that it isn't crucial to have the correct proportions of milk and cream.  Any combination will work, but obviously the more cream the richer the flavour.  It also seems that using more cream will keep it from freezing solid.  I made one batch of strawberry with very little cream and while it tasted delicious, it did freeze quite solid after a while.  The batch of maple pecan I made following the recipe, and it has remained easy to scoop even while fully frozen.

Without further adieu, here are both recipes.

Mocha Ice Cream
You can use either decaf or regular coffee in this recipe.

2 cups whipping cream (33% MF)
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup honey (use 1 cup if you like it sweeter)
1/4 cup strong coffee
1/2 tsp really fine ground coffee (use a sieve to avoid getting any bigger grinds)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients until completely smooth.  Use a blender or immersion blender if needed.  Chill in the back of your fridge until completely cool.  Freeze, following the instructions on your ice cream maker.


Maple Pecan Ice Cream

2 cups whipping cream (33% MF)
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup real maple syrup
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp maple extract

3/4 cup toasted chopped pecans


Combine all ingredients except pecans.  Chill in the back of your fridge until completely cool - this is unnecessary if all ingredients are already chilled.  Freeze, following the instructions on your ice cream maker, adding the pecans for the last minute of mixing, or stir in by hand after you are done with the machine.

welcome to my kitchen, little lady

This beauty entered my house this evening in the hands of loving friends.  How blessed am I to be the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who is giving away a Kitchenaid?!  She's been used once.  The cake didn't turn out, and the mixer was to blame.

You've found yourself a good home, little lady.

Work starts tomorrow.  Bright and early!  (Might not sleep much tonight... way too excited!)


Thank you Jesus for providing me with this...something I really wanted but really didn't need.  You are so good to me.  Let even this Kitchenaid be used as a ministry tool in my kitchen.  Amen.

(delicious!!) Quinoa Chocolate Cake

Yes, you heard me right.  And I'll say it again: quinoa chocolate cake.  This is the healthiest, tastiest, gluten-free, sugar-free cake you will ever eat.  It can easily be made dairy-free, too (unless you're like me and top it with whipped cream!)

Okay.  Time to stop raving.  Here's the recipe.  Go make it for someone you know who hates healthy food.  Listen to them rave about your delicious chocolate cake.  Then enjoy the look on their face when you tell them what's in it.  I dare you.

Quinoa Chocolate Cake
 2/3 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup water

Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  As soon as it boils, cover and reduce the heat to low.  Simmer 10 minutes (do not stir or lift the lid).  Turn off the heat and leave it on the burner.  Fluff it with a fork and let it cool, still on the burner.  You can leave it and ignore it for a while.

In a blender, combine:
1/4 cup milk (can substitute almond milk, rice milk, or I'm sure coconut milk would also be good)
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup honey

Add the cooked and cooled quinoa.  Blend until smooth.  The smoother the better.

In a large bowl, combine:
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

Add in the liquid ingredients from the blender.  Mix only until combined.

Spread batter evenly into two 8" round pans, or one 9x13" pan.
Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes.

(It makes a pretty thin cake, so you might want to consider doubling the recipe, and adjusting the cooking time accordingly.)

Cool completely.  Frost with whipped cream (sweetened with a little bit of real maple syrup).  If you're feeling decadent, melt some dark chocolate and fold it into the whipped cream.  Keeps best in the fridge - if it makes it that far!

It makes for a great one-year-old birthday cake!

how we eat: the details of our "real food" diet

Well yes, we do eat by putting food into our mouths and chewing, just like the rest of you.  Just in case you were wondering.  :)

By "how we eat", I guess I really mean "what we eat" or "our style of eating" or something like that.

I've been reading a lot about nutrition lately, mostly information based on the studies of Weston A. Price.  We've been making changes in our diet accordingly.  We're not yet fully where I'd like us to be, but we're doing better than we were.  And we feel healthier.

I understand that not everybody is into this, and that's okay.  I also don't expect us to eat like this 100% of the time.  I cook this way as much as possible, but I'm okay with us eating differently when we're at other people's homes (or when I need to come up with a quick dessert and end up resorting to our old stand-by's).  So no pressure if you happen to have us over sometime!  The way I see it, I don't make too many exceptions when I cook, but we eat meals at the homes of friends and family often enough that those are our treats/indulgences.

I'm the sort of person who reads a blog about "changes" and I want specifics.  What does that actually look like?  So here you go.  A list of the specific changes I've made in our diet (or at least trying to make!):

-We no longer cook or bake with refined sugar at all (read Replacing Refined Sugars).  Everything is sweetened with either honey or real maple syrup.  Eventually I also want to get my hands on some rapadura, which is another better-for-you natural sweetener. (Read Toxic Sugar.)  I'm also working at using sweeteners less overall.  This will come slowly, I think.

-I cook with only olive oil, butter (from the milk of pasture-fed cows when possible), lard, and coconut oil.  (Why not margarine and other "heart-healthy" fats?  Read here about heart disease.  Also read Taking the Fear out of Eating Fat.)

-Instead of white rice, we eat brown rice, soaked 12-24 hours to break down the phytic acid, making it more easily digestible and thus more nutritious.  (Read How to soak brown rice.)

-We don't eat processed foods anymore.  At least for the most part (in our house with me cooking).  And we're still using up some things we have in the cupboards, for example.

-I replaced our chicken/beef/vegetable bouillon cubes with a more natural MSG-free alternative that I use sparingly when necessary.  But mostly I make my own chicken and beef broths and keep them on hand in the freezer.  (Read a little about MSG here.)

-Bone broth is ridiculously healthy, so I enjoy it as a hot drink.  I've yet to convince Stewart to join me, but Micah likes a good mug of chicken broth!

-When I bake, I use only whole wheat flour, and am hoping to get some sprouted whole wheat flour soon.  Sprouted grains are easier for our bodies to digest and we get more nutrients out of flour this way.

-I no longer drink coffee or caffeinated tea.  This is largely due to my heart palpitations, but was reinforced by what I've been reading lately about the impact of caffeine on our bodies.

-When I cook with oatmeal, I usually soak it 12-24 hours, same concept as with the soaked brown rice.  (Read Soak Your Oatmeal.)

-We eat bread (either store-bought or homemade) that is either sourdough, or made from sprouted grains, same with tortillas, buns, and english muffins.  (Trader Joe's is a wonderful source of sprouted breads, tortillas, and whole wheat sourdough bread and buns.  Even sprouted cinnamon raisin bread!)

-For breakfasts we cook something everyday: eggs, oatmeal (soaked),  pancakes, fruit, waffles, muffins, etc.  We do keep a box or two of (healthier) cereal on hand for those days that we don't have time to cook, or are low on groceries, etc.  But breakfast cereal is no longer our standard breakfast.

-I no longer buy "low fat" or "fat free" items.  After reading the list of ingredients on these, I decided I'd rather us eat full-fat foods rather than unpronounceable additives/substitutes.

-I'm going to start taking fermented cod liver oil.  Yep, that's right fermented cod liver oil.  I haven't ordered it yet (online), but will soon.  Will let y'all know that that goes... haha.  You can buy flavoured FCLO, so maybe it won't taste too terrible?  I'm hoping...

-For more information on the reasoning behind soaking, souring, sprouting, read Living with Phytic Acid.

There you have it.  This is the journey we've been on this past couple months.  With each new article I read, I find something else I want to change/remove/add to our diet.  Little by little we're making changes and feeling better.  This isn't the perfect diet - I know we still have much to learn, but I hope all my jabbering away and all these links will help someone else out there who's looking to make changes, too.

One last thing, for anyone who's interested in reading more, there are two specific websites that I found really helpful as I read and researched about nutrition.  The Weston A. Price Foundation website is full of helpful articles, as is The Mommypotamus blog.  Also, as I've come across articles and recipes, I've posted them to my Pinterest board "WAPF/Traditional Food Recipes and Articles".  Happy reading!  And, even more so, Happy Eating!!

two weeks of meal planning

I'm going on three weeks of really intentional meal planning so far, and it's been such a good thing for us.  We're eating better, there is less stress around what to make, more meal prep done ahead, and fewer trips to the grocery store.  Definitely worth it! 

I plan for 2 weeks at time, and adjust the second week as it gets closer, when I plan the following week.  So I always have the current week and the following week planned.  I've been planning out all three meals a day, trying to stay away from eating store-bought cereals for breakfast and KD for lunch.  :)  Now, our lunches are usually just leftovers from the night before, so I will not go to the effort of typing up our lunch plans.

So, here is my current meal plan.  This week I've made a lot of adjustments due to being sick, so this is semi-adjusted from my original plan.


This Week
Sunday
breakfast: fried eggs and toast
supper: homemade mac and cheese (with brown pasta - whatever we have on hand, probably not actual macaroni)

Monday
breakfast: pancakes
supper: supper at a friends' house

Tuesday
breakfast: oatmeal
supper: lasagna, brought with love by a friend, since I was sick

Wednesday
breakfast: BLT's (not a typical breakfast food, but it was Stew's idea... and delicious)
supper: roast chicken with roast potatoes and carrots

Thursday
breakfast: raspberry breakfast cake (adapted from here)
supper: Japanese food (friends are coming and going to teach me!)

Friday
breakfast: breakfast trifle (made with muffins, or in my case leftover raspberry cake, yogurt, and fruit)
supper: spaghetti and meatballs with sourdough garlic bread

Saturdaybreakfast: crepes or waffles with fruit and whipping cream
supper: chicken enchiladas



Next Week
Sunday
breakfast: breakfast casserole (wifesaver)
supper: not sure yet...haha

Monday
breakfast: oatmeal
supper: Thai red curry

Tuesday
breakfast: pancakes
supper: pork roast

Wednesday
breakfast: eggs and toast
supper: Creole peanut soup

Thursday
breakfast: muffins
supper: West African peanut sauce with couscous or brown rice

Friday
breakfast: breakfast casserole (make it slightly different than on Sunday)
supper: lasagna with focaccia and salad

Saturday
breakfast: crepes or waffles with fruit and whipping cream
supper: pulled pork pizza, BBQ chicken pizza, veggie pizza

As you can see, I don't have a ton of breakfast ideas, so those will pretty much stay the same week-to-week, maybe just rotating days of the week.

I'm a newby over on Pinterest, but I've already found it to be a great source of meal ideas.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

roasted red pepper dip - before baking

 I made this dip a couple nights ago for a party, and since I only vaguely followed a recipe I was hoping, hoping it would turn out.  Once it was mixed together (but still cold) I sampled some, and so did Micah.  And we could hardly keep ourselves from gobbling it up.  So I figured it would also be good hot.  And yes, yes, it was good.  :)  The next day we ate the leftovers with our lunch, Micah and I.  (He's a lover of fine foods, that boy.)


[All measurements are approximate, since I made it without measuring...]

1 jar of roasted red peppers (about 300ml)
1 package light cream cheese
1-2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1-2 cups monterrey jack cheese, grated
fresh ground black pepper, to garnish

Drain the roasted red peppers.  Puree the peppers, cream cheese, onion, and garlic until smooth.  (I used my hand-blender.)  Stir in mayo, parmesan, and monterey jack cheese.  Place in a small baking dish.  Top with fresh ground black pepper.

Bake approx 30 minutes at 350, or until bubbly.

Serve warm with crackers or tortilla chips.

Recipe Review: Lemon Polenta Cake

Mmmm... Lemon Polenta Cake.  A definite success!  I found this recipe in Kitchen Playdates by Lauren Bank Deen, page 117, and it was delicious!  And I forgot to take photos.  Even though I just made the cake last night, there are only two pieces left (Stew took a big chunk in his lunch to supposedly share at work)... and unless I somehow come up with a large amount of self-control in the next couple hours, the cake will probably be gone by the time he gets home from work.  Just being honest here.  It's that good.

Now I think I need to keep this book for a little longer and try another recipe or two... yum.

Recipe Review: Mustard BBQ Chicken

Mustard BBQ Chicken is on page 109 of Once-A-Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg.  The whole cookbook is designed to prepare a month's worth of meals ahead of time, to keep daily meal prep really fast and simple.  It's a good concept, except that I really like cooking and don't want to do most of my cooking only once a month.  I loved that all the recipes are easy to prep ahead of time and freeze.  Although I wouldn't follow their "once-a-month" method, if you're looking to stock your freezer this book is a great resource.  Next time I'm pregnant, I will check it out again (or borrow my Mom's copy) and make some meals to have on hand post-partum.  Not that I am already planning for baby #3 or anything...  :)

The chicken recipe was delicious!  Once again I made a few alterations to the recipe... the recipe calls for three pounds of chicken legs and thighs, but since I was cooking just for Stew, Micah and I, I only made four boneless, skinless chicken thighs and half the marinade.  The marinade is primarily dijon mustard with a little vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme.  I substituted rosemary for the thyme, since I didn't have any.  The dijon we have right now is really spicy, so I was afraid the chicken would be too hot for Micah, but once it was cooked it really lost the kick and was just really flavourful.  The recipe says to freeze the chicken in the marinade so you only have to thaw and cook it.  Since I didn't make it ahead, I just took frozen thighs and thawed them right in the marinade, then BBQ'd it.  It was very easy, and I will definitely make it again!

Recipe Review: Pumpkin Pecan Muffins

Last week Micah and I made Pumpkin Pecan Muffins from Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children, and Their Parents, by Cynthia Lair, page 219.  It was the first time I had baked anything with Micah, and from that angle it was a definite success.  We had lots of fun, didn't make a big mess (which I  fully expected), and the muffins turned out.

The recipe itself wasn't great.  Maybe that was because I substituted natural peanut butter for the molasses?!  Not a substitution I would recommend.  But in a pinch, it worked.  I read that honey is a good sub for molasses, but the recipe already has brown sugar and honey in it, so I didn't want to add more sweetener, and my natural peanut butter was a similar consistency to molasses... so why not?!  The muffins were edible, for sure.  We made one dozen "normal sized" muffins, and two dozen mini muffins.  The mini muffins made a great snack for Micah, and as a result they are all gone.  About half the bigger muffins are still sitting on the counter, now stale.  Clearly more of a hit with Micah than with Stew and I.  In my opinion that means it's not worth making again!  But I will for sure keep making mini muffins (of other varieties) as a snack for Micah.

In general, if you are into whole foods and eating healthy, this cookbook is full of good meal ideas for the whole family.  Each recipe lists suggestions of how to adapt it for babies.  The Pumpkin Pecan Muffin suggests reserving some of the baked pumpkin and serving it pureed for your baby six months or older.  Not exactly a profound idea, but sometimes it helps to be reminded to set things aside for your baby as you cook.  For me, Feeding the Whole Family lists too many unusual ingredients.  It may be really healthy, but many of the recipes included ingredients that I either don't keep in my house, or have never even heard of.  This one I will be returning to the library and probably never checking out again.

taking tacos to a whole new level

Growing up we regularly ate tacos... probably the same kind of tacos you grew up eating.  Flour tortillas, seasoned ground beef, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and cheese.  Maybe some refried beans on a good day.  All my life I thought these were tacos.  Then I met Stewart.

Stewart introduced me to authentic Mexican tacos.  We're talkin' corn tortillas, small chunks of beef (or shredded beef), chopped cabbage, cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo (fresh salsa), and lots of fresh squeezed lime juice.  These "real tacos" are not even in the same category as the ones I grew up eating!

I'll admit, even after being introduced to these beauties I've continued to make tacos the way my mother did.  I've been a little intimated by the "real" ones.  What if I don't make them right?

Today, as a part of Stewart's birthday week celebrations, I decided to throw caution to the wind and make real tacos for supper.  I made shredded beef in the slow-cooker seasoned with beef stock, half an onion, two cloves of garlic, some chili powder and cumin.  I made pico de gallo, and served the tacos with corn tortillas (a must), limes, salsa verde, and cheese.  We didn't have any cabbage and it was noticeably missing.  Next time.

These real tacos were delicious!  A huge hit with my man.  And with my little man!  We had lots of beef leftover (I had cooked a small roast) so we can freeze the rest for tacos another day.  I think there will be no going back to the way things used to be...

already bored: a plan!

I've been back at cooking for my family for about a week since going on bedrest and having Halle.  (I really hadn't cooked much before that either, since we had just arrived home from Africa and moved into our new house when my water broke and I went on bedrest.)  So really, I should be full of meal ideas!  I am eager to get cooking --I love to cook!-- but I am so bored already.  I just can't think of anything to make!

It seems that whenever I have a break from cooking (on holidays, sick, birth of a child...) it takes me a long time to get back in the swing of things again.  Am I the only one!?  At one point I made a list of all the meals I could make, or wanted to make and kept it organized by meal type.  It was a great resource for meal ideas.  However, somewhere along the way I've lost the notebook I wrote it all in.  Great.  So now I am back to square one.

Yesterday I stopped by the library (sans children... what a treat!) to choose a few cookbooks.  I've found the library to be a great place for cooking inspiration!  I pick out some cookbooks, spend a couple weeks perusing them and trying new recipes, then I copy down the ones I liked, and return the books.  All for free!  :)

On my drive home from the library I decided to be more intentional this time.  I'm going to try to test out two cookbooks a week, and make at least one recipe per book.  (I have two small kids... I'm aiming low!)  Then, if I remember, I will take photos and share the results with you.  No guarantees how long this will go on; I have four cookbooks out from the library right now.  Also no guarantee that I will actually follow the recipes!  ha ha.  I almost always change something when I "follow" a recipe.

So keep an eye out for my recipe reviews - coming soon!

making another move

It's that time again... sorting, organizing, purging, packing, cleaning.  Moving.

I've started to clean out our freezer and pantry.  Only a few more suppers to cook in this house... so it's time to really be cooking strategically.  How can I finish off all the meat in my freezer, and the rice, pasta, and other odds and ends?  And still eat good meals, and even healthy ones?  Well, maybe we just can't!  But I'll do my best.  Hot beef sandwiches tonight for supper, made in the slow cooker.  Such a simple, yummy meal, and maybe a salad too.  (If I get around to soaking/bleaching/washing my lettuce in time.  I don't mind soaking my veggies, but washing lettuce in general is a task that I just detest.  Thankfully Charlotte often does it for me, but she was busy with other things this week.  And in not too long I will no longer have to bleach all of our produce!  So looking forward to that.)

Yesterday I had a friend over for a full day of cooking.  She wanted to learn to make a few dishes, so that we did.  We made vanilla gelato, pizza (dough and sauce from scratch), chicken pot pie, and pumpkin pie.  It was a fun day - and it really helped in clearing out my freezer and pantry.  And we decided to give her some of the brought-from-North-America goodies we have around here, since she's fairly new and just learning to cook.  So we gifted her with maple flavouring and a syrup recipe, molasses and a quick lesson on mixing your own brown sugar, etc.  It was a good day.

Now we're back to the usual today - doing laundry and hanging it on the line, looking around to see what else is ready to pack up, scrounging up lunch for just me and Micah (pancakes it is!).

I think we found ourselves a new home!  Everything should be finalized today.  It looks like a great place - above ground, bright and spacious.  I'm already thinking about how to arrange our furniture, what odds and ends we'll need to pick up, just how to fix up the kitchen to allow for a bit more counter and storage space.  But other than the little bit of work needed in the kitchen, the place looks just about perfect for us, and a great location.  I am so looking forward to being able to settle in and not think about moving again for a little while.

But for now we're still in transition, still sorting through our stuff, what will stay and what will go.  Only about a month until we will be all settled into our new home.  What an exciting thought!

homemade BBQ sauce

I've been meaning to share with y'all my homemade BBQ sauce recipe.  (And by my recipe, I really mean my friend Becky's recipe.)  However, I noticed this morning that the Pioneer Woman posted her recipe for homemade BBQ sauce.  So instead of going to the work of making it, taking photos, and blogging, I will just be lazy and point you over to her post.

Because as good as my (I mean, Becky's) recipe is, the point was really just that making BBQ sauce is easy and inexpensive.  And great way to be frugal and cook from scratch!

(Truth be told, her recipe is actually for BBQ chicken, but what I do is just make the sauce, let it cool, put it in a jar and keep it in the fridge.  And then it is ready when you are for some good BBQ flavour.)

a love/hate relationship

I currently have beef dip in the slow cooker for our lunch today.  Stewart has a friend over for a time of mentoring/digging into the Bible together, so I'm making them lunch.  And for me too, of course.  And Micah.  Can't forget him!

Preparing a meal in the slow cooker is a wonderful thing.  The simplicity.  The ease.  The simplicity.  The ease.

However, now that is is 11:30 and my house smells absolutely divine, I remember why I also greatly dislike slow cookers.  It's Thanksgiving day, and Christmas day all over again.  The wonderful, amazing, scrumptious, tempting smells!  The house smells absolutely heavenly.  Except.

Except that it smells heavenly long before you actually get to eat the amazing food that is cooking.

And so I sit, being taunted by the fabulous smell of hot beef dip sandwiches, which will be ready in an hour or so.

cravings of all varieties

Some days I just want to eat a very specific type of food.  Usually things you can't get here.  And since I can't just go to a restaurant and order whatever it is I'm craving (come here, you Wendy's Junior Bacon Cheeseburger!), I usually have to be patient.  At least long enough to find a similar recipe online, go to the store and buy what I need (if it's available here!), and cook.

Like this past while: I've been wanting Chinese food.  Not even a specific dish, just something.  Maybe sweet and sour pork, honey garlic pork, or ginger beef (mmm... I love ginger beef!).  Or even chicken fried rice.  Or chow mein.  So in the end, I made us honey garlic meatballs and rice, with green beans, for supper last night.  Oh was it potent.  But so, so good.  I guess ten (small) cloves of garlic will do that: both potency and extreme goodness.

Now I don't usually claim these to be pregnancy cravings, more just living-overseas-cravings.  I remember feeling this way when I lived in the Middle East, too.  And I was most definitely not pregnant then!  But for the entire time I was there, I just desperately wanted to eat a pepperoni pizza from Panago.  Problem being, of course, that was no Panago.  The only pizza restaurant served pizzas with toppings like hot dog, tuna, and corn.  Any pepperoni you could buy was halal, and just didn't taste quite the same as our North American non-halal stuff.  And, I really wasn't much of a cook back then, at least not when I was cooking for just me, which was all of the time.  (Thankfully making a good pizza from scratch is now a skill I possess.)

Oh there are some days when I have pregnancy cravings.  Those are different.  And usually more urgent.  And often nutritious.  Like when I crave oranges or milk.  (But not together.  Ew.)  I'm very thankful that we can now get amazing, juicy, delicious imported oranges from North Africa.  Until they showed up on the scene we only had green, tough, not-juicy, local oranges to eat.  Phew.  Thank you Jesus for imported oranges!

I guess that's just a bunch of rambling with no real purpose.  Aren't you glad you read to the end?!  I'm making myself hungry...

homemade mango ice-cream

After trying my friend Megan's recipe for homemade chocolate ice-cream a couple weeks ago, I was hooked.  I could not believe how simple it was to make ice-cream without any special equipment.  Since then I made mocha sherbet, and now, my own recipe for mango ice-cream.  And it was good!

Here's the recipe:

-2 mangoes
-1/4 cup water (approx)
-1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (to taste - depending how sweet your mangoes are)
-pinch of salt
-2 cups milk

don't you love my concrete counter top?!

Slice or dice the mangoes and cook in a small pot with water, sugar, and salt.

 

Boil for thirty seconds, minimum.  Puree the sauce.  You want it fairly smooth, with a few small chunks for texture.

Turn off the heat.  Stir in two cups of milk.

 

Let mixture cool on the counter, then in the fridge, until well chilled.  Pour mixture into a 9x13 pan (or similar) and place in the freezer.  Stir mixture every 30-90 minutes, depending how fast it seems to be freezing.  You want to stir it really well, to break up any ice chunks and let it freeze smoothly.  Just keep checking on it and stirring until it's ice-cream texture.  (I find that with our hot weather, it's best to make the mango mixture one day, and then put it in the freezer first thing the next morning, so I am not still stuck stirring it late at night when I'd rather be sleeping.  Or, more accurately, so I don't have ice-cream that froze into a chunk because I forgot to keep stirring it and went to bed instead.  Oops!)

Enjoy a big bowl of mango ice-cream on a hot day.  Which here in West Africa, is everyday.  Which just means that I get to eat a lot of ice-cream.  And I'm okay with that!  (Especially times like now - when there is no power, thus no fans running!  Ice-cream here I come... just gotta open the freezer very quickly!)