Cooking lessons

While we were in Ohio at Vicki's house, I bought some Usborne things from her (she is a good salesperson, but I am also a sucker for Usborne's wonderful books and things!). One thing that I got is this recipe card set. For the last few weeks, the girls and I have been having cooking lessons on Saturday afternoons, using that set as well as this one. This past Saturday we made Bread Rolls and Spicy Bean Soup, both from the healthy recipes set. The three youngest did most of the work for the rolls, and Caitlyn worked on the soup. At this point, I'm still helping a fair bit. It's fun to see them learning techniques for cooking and I know it won't be long till I'm not needed!

Poutine and Nanaimo Bars

Here are some photos for those of you that are just learning about these Canadian delicacies.

Nanaimo Bars here and poutine here.

Don't drool on your computer.

Exciting times!

Last night, in honour of Canada Day, our neighbours joined us for supper. (My Canadian spelling in that last sentence didn't sit well with spell-check.) I'm so excited to say that we ate poutine! (My only idea for truly Canadian food.) And it was good! :) We felt so patriotic.

It just occurred to me that some readers might not know of the deliciousness that is poutine. Here's the complicated recipe: I ordered fries, grated cheese and mixed up a package of instant gravy mix. I layered the fries and cheese on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven to melt the cheese. Then we passed the gravy at the table. I'd love to know if that's the first time you've ever heard of poutine.

I felt so guilty thinking of my mom's heart attack while eating poutine, cheese/refried bean dip and chips, and then having Nanaimo bars for dessert. I promise that does NOT represent our normal eating habits.

What would you consider Canadian food?

Vanilla beans

Remember way back when my counter hit 10,000 and I told Iris and Betty I would send them a prize for seeing the counter at 10,000? Well, I think they are finally receiving their gifts sometime about now! :) Better late than never, right?

I sent them each a package of Madagascar vanilla beans, and thought I would post some links here about how to use them. I'm afraid that making my own vanilla will be something I miss a lot, although the slightly booze-y taste when you dump too much in (what's that you say? measure vanilla? I can't hear you...) can be a bit overwhelming. :) Don't let that scare you, though.

For about 6-10 beans, I buy a 750 ml bottle of vodka (I think rum would work as well) and dump enough out so that when you put the beans into the bottle, it doesn't run over. Close it up tight and put it in a dark cupboard for at least a month. Maybe 3 or 4, if you have time.

If you prefer not to buy vodka, there are many recipes out there that call for the bean on its own. That is just as much fun, so don't feel limited. :)

Here are the links, and if you need more info, just use Google!
Information on vanilla beans.
Recipes using vanilla beans.
More recipes that I didn't really look at. :)

Enjoy!

Input, please.

I've been doing some thinking about what we eat, etc. So, if you can, I'd love to hear some opinions about this:

How do you manage your kids' sugar/fat/junk food intake? Do you have rules? Suggestions? What do you do? Or don't you? Spill the (low-fat, high-fiber) beans. :)

Thanks Iris!

Iris is the one who taught me how yummy a simple stir-fry of yellow summer squash, zucchini, green peppers, onions and tomatoes is! I almost never see yellow squash here, but saw them in the store the other day. That thing almost flew into my cart! :) This was soooo good! For those of you that might not know how to make it, just saute everything but the tomato in a little oil, at the last minute throw in the tomato and salt and pepper it. Eat it with hot rice. Yummy! And, I can think of about 3 of you that will gag at the sight of this, but trust me, it really is good.

New recipes...

over yonder. Enjoy.

Making Mexican in Madagascar

Yesterday we had guests coming for dinner and I was so hungry for Mexican food that I decided to be less selfish and cook it for guests. (It's labour-intensive and I'm usually too selfish to serve it to guests, to be honest!) M had the day off yesterday, though, and he and the girls helped with the tortillas, so it wasn't too bad. And, if I may say so, the results were super tasty. The reason I decided to post these pictures is that in Canada I would buy tortillas, refried beans and salsa and think that tacos were an easy "I'm-too-tired-to-cook" meal! Ha. Not here.

M and the girls rolling out tortillas.

The girls took turns bringing them to me to fry.

One in the pan. I always have to resist the temptation to start eating them right then and there.

Homemade salsa. I finally found some peppers with some kick, so this was slightly more than tomato salad. :) All fresh and so good.

The refried beans before they were refried. They were more appealing after they were cooked, and either way they still taste better than they look, if you ask me.

Recipes

I've posted some new recipes for the first time in months. These are recipes that actually make a great meal together, although you probably want to add a salad or some veggies of some kind! :o)

Here they are:
Homemade Mac and Cheese
Easy BBQ Bork Sandwiches
Cherry Crisp

Enjoy them and please let me know if you try them. Also, feel free to send me your current favourite recipe...unless it takes cream cheese in vast quantities, slices of ham, blueberries, raspberries or pierogies. :o)

Bagels

Mix together:

1 ½ cups warm water

2 Tbsp yeast

3 Tbsp sugar

Stir in:

3 ½ cups flour

1 Tbsp salt

Knead 5 minutes until you have a firm, smooth dough. (This can be quite a heavy dough…don’t think of bread or cinnamon roll dough.) Cover and let rise until double. Divide into 12 balls. Let rest for 5 minutes. Boil 2 qts of water in a large kettle. Make a hole in each ball, gently stretching into a bagel shape. (Make the hole at least 1” across.) Let them rest again for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 F. Turn heat under water down until the water is just simmering. Boil 2-3 bagels at a time – 45 seconds, flip, 45 seconds. Drain on a clean towel. Brush with slightly beaten egg white (and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds if desired). Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

If I can't eat it, I wish one of you would!

Could someone please try this for me? :) I can’t get all the ingredients here, but would love to try this. Someday…

Mountainous Mandarin Pie

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup sour cream
2 drops yellow food coloring, opt.
1 drop red food coloring, opt.
1 carton (8 oz) whipped topping
1 chocolate crumb crust (9 in)
1 (15 oz) can mandarin oranges, drained
1 sq. (1 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1 tsp. shortening

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add the milk, orange juice concentrate, sour cream, and food coloring. Beat until smooth. Fold in the whipped topping. Spoon half into crust. Set aside 8 mandarin orange segments. Arrange remaining oranges over filling. Top with remaining filling and reserved oranges.

In a microwave, melt chocolate and shortening. Stir until smooth; cool slightly. Drizzle over pie. Chill for at least 4 hours before slicing. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Sneak Preview!!!

Must. Have. Peanut Butter.

Can you please share your most decadant bar, cookie or candy recipe that includes peanut butter? Thanks! You can post it in the comments or on your blog, but please leave a comment saying it's on your blog. I can't wait to see what you have to tell me about.

Christmas Cookies

Check out the new recipes I posted at Nisly Recipes --->

who needs a title

Well, today has been a little happier than the last few. I still have one kid that is insisting on pushing the limits and breaking the rules. (And it’s not the two year old.) I thank God that it’s down to one, since all four of them were like that for the last few days.

Today I have baked sugar cookies (with ‘help’ from the kiddos) and maple pecan cookies. I have mocha cookie dough chilling in the fridge, and I hope to bake them as soon as it’s firm enough. If I had more butter, I would make the Toffee Bars that I posted on our recipe site. It’s probably good that I can’t, since I have homegroup here tonight and should make some sort of supper first.

S has a fever today, and isn’t eating anything. She is drinking lots, so that’s okay. Hopefully she’ll be fine tomorrow. We prayed for her, and after about an hour C said, “God is taking for a long time!”

So, what do you want for Christmas?

Friday Food (and an almost completely irresponsible morning

Tonight we will eat food. That’s all I know.

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Today is the first time that A and S are at school. It’s ‘just’ a playgroup that is held at C’s ‘old’ school for the holidays, but I decided to take them once or twice a week to get them used to being there. I lectured C on how to stick by them and take care of them, since they were both a little emotional through breakfast. We got to school and there were 3 kids there from the MAF team, so they knew them already. All 3 girls kissed me and said good-bye as if they’ve been going to school for years. I was pretty proud, especially of A…the nervous one. I’m here at home now…I’ve had a cup of tea, tidied up the living room, read my e-mail, checked out your blogs, and now I’m writing. I need to go buy a few groceries before I pick the kids up at 11:30. Oh yeah, how much is this irresponsibility costing me? $2 per kid. But, just because she’s nice, the director told me she’ll do $5 for all 3 girls. It works for me. (In case you wondered, L is having a fun time hanging out with Mme Pauline. I am not feeling at all guilty about that because lately L has been on a ‘mommy hode you’ kick that has made me start to feel claustrophobic. I was also wondering if there was any point to paying Mme Pauline to come watch her if I just ended up taking her with me.)

Friday Food

Aaahhhh, I wish you could smell what I smell. I asked Mme Pauline to cook dinner for us (this morning, but it will still be good for tonight...unless I get into it.)and she is a good cook! She makes a kind of stew and of course it is eaten over rice. The stew part is made of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, zucchini, green beans, leeks, garlic, tomatoes and salt. It is so good. The tomatoes and beef juices combine with the (plentiful!) garlic and onions to make a sauce over it all. Yum. I'm going to learn how to make it so that I can make it on my own someday, but for now I'm happy to let her do it once in awhile...it's a good treat for me!

We are having the new MAF family over tonight. So, we'll eat the beef 'stew', rice, cucumber/tomato salad and some yet-to-be-decided dessert. Maybe baked chocolate pudding. (You know, the kind that you pour water over before it bakes and it ends up with a gooey sauce under the cake?)

What are you eating?

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Please tell me this: How often do you wash your hair, and what do you use for hair care? (Shampoo? Conditioner? Other? What brand?) Everyone must answer this question, ya hear? No slackers. No more hiding...I know you're out there. (Bethany.)

Friday Food

I thought I would try to start doing this again...please add your dinner plans in the comments.

Pizza casserole (don't ask for the recipe...I'm making it up.)
Cooked carrots
Applesauce

Maybe some cookies or whatever we scrounge up for dessert.

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I've been giving potty training a lot of thought lately. L is now 21 months, and I am debating whether she is ready to start. I've never started before any of mine turned 2, but I'm thinking it might be kind of nice to have her trained before we go to Canada. On the other hand, it might be a total pain. Can you help me think this through?

Friday Food

Pancakes
Butter
Peanut Butter
Syrup
Bananas

Milk
Juice
Water


Fancy, eh?

Friday Food (and other assorted topics)

Sorry I haven't been a good and faithful blogger lately...life is busy and something had to go. I've been composing blog entries in my head all week, but unfortunately, most of them will never be recorded. :-)

Friday Food - my menu last night was a noodle/ham/green bean casserole. That's it. No side dishes. (I decided what we were eating when I went out to the kitchen to cook it.)

Tonight we had some friends over for supper and then our neighbours joined us to play games and eat ice-cream after the kids were in bed. We played Pit and it was lots of fun.

Got to get to sleep now...I'm teaching Sunday School tomorrow, along with all the other normal 'craziness' of Sunday. (Day of rest? For who?) (Who? Whom? I never can get those straight.)