Menu Plan Monday #8

Monday: Burrito Bowls with chips & cheese
Tuesday: Anniversary dinner! I am so excited! Dinner for the babysitter and Molly Chicken Fingers with Apricot BBQ sauce, Snap Peas and Carrot Sautee
Wednesday: Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs with baked beans
Thursday: Traveling on the road, no cooking!
Friday: Appetizers and Cocktails Potluck with the family. I will be serving 7 & 7's, Creamy Garlic Salsa Dip  & chips
Saturday: Family Potluck, BBQ pulled pork sliders (in the slow cooker)
Sunday: Grilled Brats with Pineapple Salsa & Sweet Potato Fries

Linked to Menu Plan Monday, click here for other ideas.

25 Random Things; for my new blog hop peeps to get to know me!

1. Maybe two times in a school year will I ever wish not to go to work. I love what I do! (8th Grade Honors LA Teacher)

2. I pick out a new Bath and Body works scent everyday depending on my mood, I have about seven to choose from at any one time and it makes the day a little more interesting for me.

3. I HATE doing dishes, I hate the squeaky clean feeling from moist dishes coming out of the dishwasher, it gives me Goosebumps every time.

4. I am stoked to have my daughter try new foods, I never know what she will eat and what she won't I don't make her something special she eats what we eat, and I get so proud when I see her try new things or LOVE her veggies.

5. I took Shakespeare classes in college as an elective. My thoughts were; I loved Shakespeare but have a hard time reading it on my own, so by taking the class (not once, not twice, but three separate times) I can say that I have read most, if not all, of his works.

6. Most of the time when my daughter starts crying and I know that it isn’t anything life threatening (she is fed, clean diaper etc.) she is just being cranky, I laugh. It is so funny to me that she pouts, and she is so cute! Instead of making me upset it just makes me laugh, don’t really know if that is a good or a bad thing.

7. I LOVE accents. In high school I would annoy my friends sometimes for days by speaking in an English accent non-stop. Since then however my voice has taken on a weird North Dakota/Minnesota accent which I am not sure where it came from because I have never lived anywhere but Oregon. “Doncha know!”

8. I hate it when people find out that I am an only child and then automatically say that I was spoiled. I could have been spoiled but I wasn’t, in fact sometimes my parents went to extremes to make sure that others knew that I wasn’t a “spoiled only child.”

9. I also hate it when people find out that Molly will probably also be an only child and they again automatically assume that she will be spoiled as well. ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT MOLLY HAS IS A HAND-ME-DOWN OR USED (INCLUDING HER TOYS AND NURSERY ITEMS! For those of you that have seen the pictures I have posted, think of all that you can do with recycling people!) Plus I am a teacher, and Brian owns a small business despite what people might think we just don't have a lot of money to spare. Plus why would you say no if someone is willing to pass down items?

10. I used to say that if I won the lottery I would still work so that I wouldn’t be bored, I have since changed my mind. If I won the lottery I would buy some land near here and build a completely green sustainable house, and spend my free time gardening and raising my own animals a la Animal, Vegetable, Mineral style. I mean we are talking off the grid; sun, wind, and water energy (because the land would have to have a creek of some sort) and some sort of waste management system for our toilets.

11. I love my 20+ year old Volvo station wagon, Stella; she is my dream car and the embodiment of me in car form.

12. I have a very good memory for song lyrics, movie lines, and pop trivia. I wish that memory would have translated to my memory of subjects in school.

13. I am a horrible test taker.

14. I am a voracious reader, I read for probably an hour every night, and unfortunately I am a bit addicted to romance novels (I wish I could be more studious and admit to only reading the classics and books from Oprah’s book club, but alas it is not so, give me smut any day!)

15. I am never sick, my immune system is spectacular. When I was a student, as supposed to a teacher, I would always get a little sick on the first day of my vacations. Spring break sick, first week of summer sick, etc… it was as if my body knew it was ok to shut down and get over it.

16. Since having Molly I got a house keeper. It makes me feel a little guilty, until I come home on a cleaning day and I revel in the cleanliness!

17. I love to cook, except when it is really hot out.

18. My mom is one of my best friends, my husband is the other one.

19. I avoid Holocaust movies because they make me too emotional. Once in high school I went to Life is Beautiful without knowing it was a Holocaust movie. Once I realized where the movie was headed I got very nervous and cried a lot in front of the two guy friends my friend and I dragged along with us. And having to teach this subject to my 8th graders never gets easier, in fact it hits harder now that I am a parent.

20. I love my huge extended family. The camp outs we take are hugely important to me, and have been all my life. Every year I can’t wait for camping season to start, and now more than ever I am looking forward to it so that Molly can play with all her second and third removed (is that how you say that?) cousins.

21. Since my husband’s cat, Coal Kitty, I hate all cats, and will never own one again.

22. I LOVE IKEA. It is my Mecca.

23. I think my husband is incredibly smart and talented, if not a bit nerdy (which in my book is a plus).

24. I find LARP’ers incredibly funny and yet strangely embarrassing all at the same time.

25. I can watch a movie and read a book over and over again and never get bored, and strangely enough cry at the same parts every time.

Few days, no post (back at the grind)

So over the last few days I had my wonderful parents invade my home to help watch Molly while I went back to work for a few days. While the work, and the people, were very stimulating and really got my juices flowing for going back to school my house/family/and cooking has fallen to the wayside. On Tuesday we went out to dinner at a great Thai Restaurant in town; mom and dad both had Yellow Curry, Brian of course had Masuman Curry, and I had Lemon Grass Chicken that I shared with Miss Molly. It was fantastic and lead to plenty of leftovers, well mine was fantastic the rest of the group said their curries were a little bland, but the appetizers were good. Anyway, on Wednesday we had another Zoo concert Leroy Bell and his band My Only Friends played. They were great, but my daughter's -who only had about a 20 minute nap- left much to be desired and I didn't feel like I really got to enjoy the music. Guess I will just have to settle for buying his CD's and listening to them in the car, in the kitchen, and in my classroom while I set everything up! My dad refused to let us pay for the Thai dinner asking instead that I make another crumble. At the time I was out of blackberries but I did have a pint of fresh blueberries from our CSA bag, and four nectarines. So I used the exact same recipe as before just instead of blackberries it was a combination of the two other fruits. I have found that I really enjoy nectarines, in any way they come in. LOVE THE FLAVOR! Click here for previous post which includes recipe. Just switch the berries!

The berries!

The crumble before and after baking.

Finished product, we ate it warm before the juice could really set, but I think this combination of berries might have needed a bit more flour than the blackberries. The previous crumble was perfectly set, this one was a bit watery.

The Monday night before my parents got here we had grilled flank steak with tossed salad, steamed green beans (done on the grill, click here for how I did it.) and garlic and olive oil noodles. Brian didn't care for this salad, it was tossed simply with olive oil, vinegar, and celery salt. I thought it was great with pieces of meat but Brian wasn't into it.  Anywho, aside from the second crumble, and the food packed for the picnic this was the last thing I cooked in the last few days.

Linked to Boost My Blog Friday, Friendly Friday Follow, New Friend Fridays.

Menu Plan Monday #7

Monday: Grilled Mushroom Skewers over cous cous (this was supposed to happen last week and it got pushed back)
Tuesday: Thai Food (dinner out to celebrate Mom's birthday...not my birthday but Nana's it was two weeks ago but this is the first time we have gotten to get together)
Wednesday: ZOO CONCERT! Sandwiches, veggies and dip, ??? (My parents are here watching Molly for two days because I get to go back to work - planning with the AP vertical team, I am such a nerd and love my job to the point that I am totally jazzed about this! So I will gone all day, which makes packing for a picnic dinner more difficult. I will figure it out later and re-post)
Thursday: Burgers, bistro fries, salad
Friday: Fajita Chicken Salad

For other menu ideas click here.

Blackberry Almond Crumble

On Friday in the morning before it got too hot I made a blackberry almond crumble. I roughly followed this recipe in the food network magazine, but I used oats instead of cornmeal and blackberries instead of blueberries. It turned out delicious!

Blackberry Almond Crumble
Filling:
4 cups Blackberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
Crumble:
3/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
7 tbsp softened butter
2 tbsp cold butter (for top of crumble)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 375, grease your pan.
2. Load 4 cups berries into your pan. Sprinkle sugar over top of berries, and tablespoon of flour.
3. In a separate bowl mix the crumble ingredients together with your fingers until the butter is incorporated nicely.
4. Evenly spread the crumble over the top of the berries.
5. Dot the top of the crumble with 2 tbsp of butter divided. Bake for 40-45 minutes until golden and bubbling.

For the magazine recipe click here. Also linked to Making Friends Monday, Meet Me Monday, Mingle Mondays, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table.

Zucchini Bread, Pulled Pork Leftover Magic, and "Coopins"

Molly helping me cook in the kitchen, believe
it or not this is her "smile face." Cracks me up every
time!

So I am starting to get a lot of zucchini lying around the house so I decided to make a zucchini bread for the first time this season. As you may or may not know we don't have AC in this house so I find very creative ways to cook (as much outside as possible, or by using the microwave, toaster oven or this year the BREAD MAKER!) It turned out fantastic, and I see a lot of zucchini bread in our future. The only problem is I am not a huge fan. Walnuts make my mouth swell up, and I am not a fan of the spices in the bread, reminds me of pumpkin pie -which I am also not a fan of. This is why earlier in the summer I was thinking of calling all of my zucchini attempts my "Zucchini Adventure!" (read that in your mind with one of those superhero announcer voices, that's how it sounds in my head when I say it) Anyway I digress, my husband loves the bread, so he is just destined to it all. I keep trying to give my daughter pieces of it and she very politely says, "No thank you." Or, "I don't like it daddy." Which is what she told my husband last night when he tried to slip her a slice. She is very polite for a two year old I think.
Zucchini Bread

1 cup of walnuts

2 tbsp flour

3 eggs lightly beaten

1/3 cup veggie oil

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups zucchini (drain/squeeze excess moisture out with cheesecloth or dish towel)

2 cups flour

1. In a small bowl combine walnuts with 2 tbsp flour, in another small bowl lightly beat eggs.

2. Spray bread pan, place ingredients into the pan in the following order; eggs, oil, flour, baking powder and soda, sugar, cinamon, clove, salt, zucchini, and walnuts with all flour that remains in the bowl.

3. Choose quick bread setting on breadmaker, when finished loosen with a spatula after it has cooled somewhat then carefully remove from the pan.

So I made pulled pork in the slow cooker (another way to save my house from the heat, because although it does put out some heat, it is nothing compared to heating up the oven). When I make this recipe I usually use a 3 lb roast and have a TON of meat left over. Usually the second night you will always find that we have BBQ pizza.

BBQ Pulled Pork PizzaZXZ
Bread maker Pizza dough (can make two cracker thin large crusts, or one large thick crust)
1/4 cup favorite BBQ Sauce
1/4 white onion thinly sliced
1 cup of mozzarella cheese

Pinch of Italian seasoning over the top.

1. Prebake the pizza dough before you put any ingredients on it at 350 for 6 minutes or more, so that you can ensure a crispy crust.

2. Spread BBQ sauce (we even like it on the crust even if you don't put the other toppings on it, the sauce on the crust is always good) layer all the rest of the ingredients evenly, sprinkle with seasoning and I guarantee it will look like any BBQ pizza you might order at a restaurant or buy in a store.

3. Back in the oven for 15 min or more until all cheese is melted, and crust is to your liking.

Even after the pizza I still had left over meat, it is like the meal that keeps on giving! So I pulled out some Rhodes dinner rolls and popped those into a muffin tin to allow them to thaw and rise.  Once they were ready to go I rolled them out on my counter, plopped in some of the pork, folded them over a la empanada style, crimped with a fork, popped into the oven, 350 at 20 minutes until golden brown. You can eat these right away, but I prefer to freeze them and eat as needed, for a snack, lunch, whatever. I pull them out of the freezer pop them straight into the toaster oven with a little cheddar cheese on top for five minutes. The cheese is melted, the pocket is thawed, cooked through with a crispy outer crust. They are simply fantastic! You have to try them. For those of you, like me, that are on a crazy kick to make/pack better lunches for your kids after watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution these would be a GREAT addition to a lunch.

Homemade "Hot Pockets"

1 1/2 cup BBQ pulled pork

12 Rhodes dinner rolls (or biscuits in a can, or pizza dough from previous recipe or your local store)

Flour

Rolling pin

1. roll out rolls to about 4 inch diameter circle

2. Fill with pork

3. Fold over, crimp with fork to seal

4. 350 degrees for 20 minutes, serve and eat or pop in the freezer for a go to snack, lunch or meal.

So last night I went to a coupon class, I like to say "coopins" in my head like I am from Northern Minnesota, just a little something I do -can't be explained. The woman that ran the class was super informative, and very funny. If you live in the Pacific Northwest she is a great resource if you want to start, or are into "coopins" (say it with me!) Click here for her site Frugal Living NW Anywho, I am wondering at this point how far down the rabbit hole I want to go. What are your thoughts?

Gooey Chocolate Mug Cake

So I saw this post on my feed on both my dashboard and on Facebook, and I immediately was intrigued. I then shared it on my wall and asked if any of my friends were with me on trying it tonight. I mean come on it has literally three ingredients, all of which are pretty much home staples. I got a pretty big response, but wouldn't  you know it I had a bowl of ice cream and then only remembered mid way through that I was supposed to try this gooey chocolate mug cake thing. The next day one of my relatives by marriage in England asked how it went, she was convinced we were all going to have major heartburn so she had an invested interest to see how it all turned out. This of course made me feel bad that I didn't follow through, so I thought, why not. It was the middle of the day I hadn't had any lunch yet, I was pseudo-hungry and instead of a blistering hot summer day it was overcast and cloudy. A warm mug of chocolate cake sounded pretty darn good. The original recipe was on babble, and it called for:

Gooey Chocolate Mug Cake

1 egg

1/4 cup confectioner sugar

1-2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 standard coffee mug

1. Mix together in mug, pop in the microwave for 50-60 seconds and then top with chocolate chips, whipped cream, ice cream (whatever tickles your fancy).

Now, I love chocolate so I did two tablespoons of cocoa powder. And I have an easy 30 second button on my microwave so I hit it twice and voila, it was cooked. I mention these two steps because these were the downfall, to what was almost but not quite the best thing EVER! It reminds me of those warm delights that came out a few years ago, same kind of consistency but obviously not processed and loaded with preservatives. So I am thinking to make this the best thing ever, 1 tbsp cocoa -it was too rich. 45-50 seconds in the microwave - mine wasn't gooey at all, it was surprisingly spongey cake like even though it had no flour. Chocolate chips at the end is a must -they melt and add to the gooey. Maybe even caramel sauce - this would make it even more like those warm delights treats. And you definitely need cool whip/redi-whip or something of that ilk. I mean I am assuming this is a spur of the moment kind of thing and not everyone has whipping cream in their fridge at all times to whip up some homemade whipping cream. If by chance you are an amazing person and literally make things like that on the fly all the time, all the better. I will be sure to try this again, to see if my musings are correct on how to make this better, for me. Until then, have you tried it? What is your take?

**For the original story click here.