Sweet Pork Bites

I made this recipe up this afternoon after not wanting to do any of my normal things for pork. We loved it, and it's really so easy. I'll definitely do it again. :)

2 boneless pork chops, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup apple juice

Put pork and onion in a baking pan (I used a 8x8 brownie pan, but whatever works for you). In a measuring cup, put the brown sugar and apple juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over pork and onions. Cover with tin foil and bake at 425F for 40 minutes.

It made enough for Alex and I to have for supper tonight with no left overs.

Banana Cake

I had bananas that needed to be used, and didn't want to make a banana loaf or banana muffins, so I went looking for something different.  I ended up finding this recipe online and it was a hit as dessert at my parents' house for supper tonight. It's actually called "Frosted Banana Bars" but it's more of a cake to me than bars, so that's why I called it what I did. I made some modifications, so I'll give the actual recipe and then give my modifications.

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1 container of cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 10x15 inch baking pan
Mash bananas in a bowl
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the four, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then frost.

Modifications: I used 2 cups of bananas instead of 1, because that's how much banana I had and I needed to get rid of it. I also used an 11x7 inch pan (because that's what I had). Because of these modifications, it actually took 40 minutes to cook. Also, I was unable to get cream cheese frosting, so I put chocolate frosting on it and it was delicious.

PS: For anybody who might be wary of using sour cream or doesn't like sour cream...put it in. My father hates sour cream and didn't even notice it was in the cake. :)

Chewy Milk Chocolate Cookies

I actually got this recipe on the back of a bag of Chipits milk chocolate chips...and they are now my favorite chocolate chip cookes ever. who knew that making a mistake (I usually buy semi-sweet chocolate chips) would result in something so good?

1. Beat 2/3 cup melted butter, 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar, 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons hot water. Mix well.

2. Stir in 2 2/3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt (I didn't use that much salt).

3. Stir in 1 package of Chipits milk chocolate chips.

4. Drop from small spoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes.

Easy Sugar Cookies

I made these for our Halloween party and they were a hit. I got the recipe on allrecipes.com and some of the comments there complained that they couldn't make the cookies into shapes, but I had no trouble using cookie cutters to make ghosts and pumpkins out of the dough, so I think those people were crazy. LOL. Anyway, these are the best sugar cookies I've ever tried, and I will definitely make them again.

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter (or margarine) softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets (or if you want to be like me, take amounts of the dough, flatten them on the counter and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes before using a metal spatula to put them onto the cookie sheets).

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Let stand on cookie sheet for two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Aunt Peggy's Lasagna

This is pretty much the only lasagna recipe in my family, and it's awesome. I don't know where my aunt got it, but I wanted to share it with everyone.

1 lb. ground beef
9 lasagna noodles
3 tbsp olive oil
1 19oz can stewed tomatoes
2 8oz cans tomato sauce
1 6oz can tomato paste
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1 small tub cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 beaten egg
1 package sliced mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste

Cook ground beef in a large skillet, and drain. Add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cook lasagna noodles according to package and drain.
Combine the egg and the parmesan cheese in a bowl.
In a pan, layer the following: Sauce, 3 noodles, part of the cottage cheese, part of the parmesan cheese. Cover with 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat this two more times. Cover with the remaining sauce (if there is any) and mozzarella cheese.
Cover with tin foil and bake in a 350F oven for 30 minutes. Remove tin foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes prior to cutting, so it firms up.

Homemade Deep Dish Pizza

Yeah okay so anybody can make a pizza. However, Alex and I both absolutely love the way I've been making my homemade pizzas, so I wanted to share it with you. You can, of course, substitute any of the toppings for toppings of your choice.

For the dough:

2 packages of Compliments pizza dough mix
1 cup hot water

Follow steps on the packages of dough mix. Essentially, put the two packages of mix in a medium sized bowl, add a cup of hot water. Stir with a fork until it's all mixed together, then let it sit for 10 minutes (or longer). Grease a deep dish pizza pan and oil your hands. Put the dough onto the pan and spread it out, stretching it over the whole pan and up the sides.

Toppings:

1 small can of pizza sauce
Sliced pepperoni
Sliced mushrooms
Chopped onion
Chopped green pepper
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Pour the can of sauce on the dough and spread it out over the whole bottom of the pan. Cover with pepperoni, mushrooms, onion and green pepper. Cover all of that with the shredded cheese.

Bake pizza in a 450F oven for approx. 18 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Adventures in Baby-Led Weaning Part 4

So Charlie is now 7 months old. We've been doing baby-led weaning for about 5 weeks, and it's pretty cool how he definitely loves some things, definitely does not love others, and is on the fence about even more, ha ha.

We can honestly say he's our kid. Both Alex and I are huge meat eaters, and so is Charlie. He devours every piece of meat we give him. He's had the following:

Chicken
Pork (both ground pork in spaghetti sauce and pork chops)
Ham
Bacon
Beef (ground beef and steak/roast/stew)
Haddock
Scallops
Partridge

So far his favorite vegetable is carrots. He's tried peas, green beans, turnip and broccoli as well. He wasn't a fan of the green beans or peas, but he did eat some turnip and broccoli without spitting it all out, so I guess he likes them. He also will eat potatoes, but he makes faces whenever I give him some. LOL. He'd prefer them in the form of french fries, but he can't eat those all the time, ha ha!

He didn't like bananas when I had him try them, but he does love banana muffins, so I'll try him on banana again when I get groceries next. He also likes peaches, which makes him more like Alex than me (I hate peaches, I have always hated peaches...Mom even wrote it in my baby book). Soon we'll be trying apple, pineapple and maybe pears.

We gave him a bit of chocolate ice cream the other night. I wish I had been able to get his reaction on camera. It was hilarious. He's never had anything cold before, so the ice cream was a shock. He made this really "OMG BRAIN FREEZE!" face, but once he got used to it, he loved it. He also had a little bit of white cake and frosting last night and of course loved both.

I don't know if I'm going about it the wrong way or not, but when it comes to meat, I actually break off really small pieces and put them in his mouth myself right now. If I don't, he will put the entire thing in his mouth and I don't like that. I know he needs to learn how much he can fit in his mouth, but I figure we'll get there as he gets older, and we have lots of time. We're definitely in no rush, as I want him to still get most of his nutrients from breast milk.

It's definitely awesome watching him try new things and see the faces he makes when he tries them. He pretty much makes the same face for everything, but the only things he's really spit back out are the banana, the green beans and the peas. LOL.

Guess we must be doing something right. :)

Spicy Bean-Less Chili

I found this recipe online while looking for a bean-less chili recipe to try. Alex loved it, but in following the recipe, spice-wise, I found it way too spicy for my tastes. I will definitely be doing it again, but will lessen the amount of spices. I'll give you the original recipe and then say the things I did differently (I did modify it slightly).

1 lb lean ground beef
1 cup diced celery
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
1 small can diced green chilies
1/4 cup chopped raw onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 teaspoons ground cumin
6 teaspoons chili powder

Brown ground beef and drain.
Add all ingredients to crock pot and stir. Set on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.

What I did differently: I left out the celery, green chilies and salt. I used one onion (didn't measure it so it was likely more than what the recipe calls for). I added about a half cup of chopped green pepper and 4 diced mushrooms. I followed the spice instructions exactly, but next time I'm planning on using 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of cumin and 3 teaspoons of chili powder, then adding more chili powder if needed. I cooked it on low for 5 hours before I had any of it. Alex pointed out this evening that it was less spicy today after it had sat overnight.

Shake-n-Bake Coating

Everybody knows the easiest way to make lovely baked chicken is to use shake-n-bake. The stuff comes in a box at the grocery store, and yes, it's good. But I'm one for experimenting, and I never just use the plain boxed stuff anymore.

1/2 packet of store bought shake-n-bake
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons crushed almonds
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon oregano

Alternately, instead of using bread crumbs, I have also used 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. It's absolutely delicious either way, and I recommend it fully. Or better yet, do your own shake-n-bake experimenting and let me know what you did and how it turned out!

Alex's Chicken Fried Steak

I'm not entirely sure why this is called chicken fried steak when it has absolutely nothing to do with chicken of any sort, but I can say this. It is absolutely freaking delicious and I highly recommend it. Alex made this and his stuffed potatoes tonight to give me a night off cooking (isn't he sweet).

To start with, you will need 3 bowls.

Bowl one:
1/4 cup flour

Bowl two:
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons water
1 egg
Whip these ingredients together.

Bowl three:
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Pinch mustard powder
Pinch sage
Pinch oregano
Pinch garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

He used two 1/4 inch thick sirloin steaks (they were about 6 oz each).

Dip steak in flour. Then dip it in the egg mixture. Finally, dip it in the bread crumb mixture. Fry on medium-high heat for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on each side.

Optionally, if you want the steak to really fall apart when you eat it, tenderize it first. And of course, if you have more steak, you may need more of the ingredients.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

This is my mother's recipe. I'm not sure where she got it. I can, however, tell you that I hate zucchini, but I absolutely love this cake. So it must be good.

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Mix above ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

3/4 cup soft butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini (unpeeled)
1/2 to 1 cup milk (optional)

Beat together butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla and zucchini. Alternately stir dry ingredients with milk into the zucchini mixture.

Pour into greased and floured 10 inch tube pan or 2 loaf pans. Bake in a 350f oven for 1 hour (50 minutes for loaf pans).

Glaze:

2 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together and beat until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake.

*Mom doesn't cook with salt any more than I do, so she probably didn't use the full teaspoon of salt. Also, she says the milk is optional because the zucchini is usually moist enough, but if it's not you would add some milk.

Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe came from my grandmother, and is my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe of all time. I just made these for the first time myself today and wanted to share the recipe with everyone. If you're looking for a good, easy peanut butter cookie recipe, this is the one for you.

1 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fine flaked unsweetened coconut (optional)

In a bowl, cream shortening until fluffy. Add white and brown sugar gradually and mix until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time and mix well. Add peanut butter, blend well.

In a separate bowl, stir flour, baking soda and salt. Add peanut butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Add coconut if desired.

Drop dough onto ungreased pans. Press flat with fork (dipped in water).

Bake at 375F for 12-15 minutes.

(Note: I didn't use the coconut, and didn't use as much salt as it calls for. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.)

Easy Butter Icing

To go with the cake made from scratch, I wanted icing made from scratch as well. So I sent my mother a message and asked for her butter icing recipe, as I knew she always used it when I was a kid, but I couldn't remember how to make it. She gave it to me, and as you can see in the picture for the cake recipe, I used it.

I think it's the easiest icing recipe out there. Seriously.

Mix 1 teaspoon butter (or margarine) and 1 big tablespoon icing sugar until smooth. Then keep adding icing sugar until you have the desired amount.
Add a drop of milk (or cream or canned milk) and beat until smooth.
If you want to make it chocolate, add cocoa at this point. Start with 1 tablespoon, add more if desired (I used 2 tablespoons). If you don't want to make it chocolate, you can use food coloring to make it any color you want.

Trina's Easy Dark Chocolate Cake

This recipe comes from my good friend Trina Bond. Her new recipe blog can be found here: Trina's Food Adventures. This is actually the only recipe she has on the blog so far, and if her other recipes are as good as this, I'll be stalking her blog forever, ha ha. The icing recipe will be in the next post.

1/2 cup cocoa

milk (see note below)

4 tablespoons Crisco or butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a 1 cup measure, put cocoa powder; add a small amount of hot water and stir until cocoa dissolves. Fill remainder of measuring cup with milk to bring the measurement to 1 cup total.

Combine flour, salt and baking soda, mixing will. Set aside.

Beat shortening or butter and sugar, add egg yolk, beating for one minute. Stir in vanilla and remaining ingredients. Mix for one minute.

Turn batter into a buttered brownie or cake pan which has been lightly dusted with cocoa (shake out any excess cocoa).

Bake for about 40 minutes or until cake tests done.

Notes: I don't know how much hot water I used...I just put in enough to make the cocoa smooth and wet. Also, in my oven it only took 30 minutes for the cake to cook, so make sure to check the cake before the 40 minute mark, particularly if you have an oven that runs a bit hot.

Adventures in Baby-Led Weaning Part 3

I've been slack on the updates regarding the baby-led weaning, but we've been having fun with it. I try not to give him too much, just giving small tastes of different things every once in awhile. We've discovered that he loves arrowroot cookies, ham and bacon and bread (toasted or otherwise) provided it doesn't have crust. He'll eat carrot and mashed potato as well. He does not like tomato or banana. And of course, he loves chocolate pudding.

After eating some mashed potato at my parents' house last night:

Enjoying his very first taste of chocolate pudding, courtesy of Nannie, who thought it would be fun to let him try it. He *loved* it. We gave it to him on a regular spoon first, and when I took the spoon from him so we could give him the rest on his baby spoon, he actually cried.

Eating some ham tonight in his seat while Daddy and I ate supper. I love this seat so much. It straps onto a kitchen chair, is stable and secure and allows me to eat without having him in my lap. He loves the seat too, and was perfectly content to be sitting in it at the table with us while we ate.

Even though he doesn't like banana, I'm going to try giving him a bit of banana bread tomorrow morning and see if he likes it that way.

He's pretty good at coughing if food gets too far back in his throat. I will be happy when he learns to not put so much in his mouth at once though...when does that happen?

And that's it for this update. So far, the baby-led weaning is going well, and very enjoyable.

Garlic Broiled Chicken

I went looking on www.allrecipes.com for "chicken thighs" and this is one of the recipes that came up. I tried it because we had everything it called for already and seemed simple enough. It was, and it was absolutely delicious. Although I will say that Alex's favorite part was the caramelized mixture from the pan, ha ha! 

1/3 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried parsley
4 chicken thighs, skinned

Preheat oven broiler and grease a baking pan.
In a microwave safe bowl, mix the butter, garlic, soy sauce, pepper and parsley. Cook 2 minutes on high in the microwave, or until butter is melted.
Arrange chicken on the baking pan, and coat with the mixture, reserving some of the mixture for basting.
Broil chicken 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until juices run clear, turning every 5 minutes and basting with the remaining mixture.

Marinaded Beef Kabobs

So I had a package of stew meat, but didn't want to make a stew. So I found a recipe for a marinade on www.allrecipes.com and made shish kabobs instead. First, I'll give you the recipe for the marinade and then tell you everything I did.

1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely cracked black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine above ingredients. Mix well and then add cubed beef. Seal the bag and marinate in the fridge for 4-24 hours.

A couple of notes before I continue:

1. Use the low sodium soy sauce
2. Cut the amount of mustard in half
3. If you can find low sodium Worcestershire sauce, use it

I'm saying this because while we found it absolutely delicious, we did think it was a bit salty (and I used low sodium soy sauce) and a bit too mustardy. And as a note, I marinaded our meat for 20 hours.

Now, for the kabobs!

It's actually pretty simple. Cut your favorite veggies up and alternate them on skewers with the marinated beef. Broil on high for about 10 minutes, turning once during cooking. If you want (we didn't do this), use the left over marinade to baste the skewers at the half-way mark of cooking as well.

I will say this: I don't like making kabobs. I didn't cut the veggies up properly and they kept freaking breaking as I was trying to put them on the skewers. About drove me crazy. So don't make my mistake and ensure when you chop your veggies, you do it right so they don't break in half when you skewer them.

We served these with regular white minute rice and it was absolutely fantastic (aside from the bit too salty and mustardy for our tastes).

Alex's Stuffed Potato Skins

Alex made these to go with the curry pork chops in the last post, and they were absolutely amazing. We ate them all, which is kind of scary.

5 potatoes
5 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
5 garlic clove pieces, minced
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Bake potatoes in oven. Cut them length-wise after they're done and scoop out the potato inside. Place skins in a baking dish and set aside. Combine the potato, bacon, garlic, margarine and milk, mash really well, until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Cover with shredded cheese. Broil on high for 5 minutes or on low for 8 minutes.

Curry Pork Chops

Alex wanted curry pork again, but I didn't want to do what I did before (see the Pineapple Pork Curry recipe) so I made up a new recipe. This was absolutely amazing. Definitely spicier than the previous curry recipe, but still not too spicy at all. We loved it and will definitely make it again. Just wish we had made more, ha ha!

3 pork chops
1/2 onion, sliced
2 cups water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 heaping teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger

Put pork chops in a baking dish. Lay onions on top. Set aside. In a bowl, mix water, cornstarch, curry, chili powder and ginger. Pour over the pork chops and onions. Bake in a 425 oven for 45 minutes (or until pork chops are fully cooked.

Ranch Chicken

This is a recipe that Alex made up a couple of years ago and tonight I made it for the first time. It's very simple and absolutely delicious.

Chicken (your choice...he's made it with breasts, I made it tonight with thighs)
Potatoes, diced (as many as you want)
2 tablespoons margarine
Ranch dressing

Put chicken and diced potatoes in a baking dish. Drop the margarine on top (don't smear it out or anything). Cover everything with ranch dressing. Cover with tin foil and bake in a 400 oven for 1 hour. Every 20 minutes, take it out and stir/mix it. If it gets really greasy/oily from the margarine, drain the margarine out at the second stirring session. At the end of the hour, remove the tin foil and place under broiler for 3 minutes.

"Sweet and Sour" Pork Chops

This is my own version of a sweet and sour pork chop recipe and Alex and I both love it. It's incredibly simple to make, which is key for me given that Charlie doesn't like to let me have more than five minutes to prepare supper, ha ha.

3-4 regular pork chops
2 tablespoons mustard
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Place pork chops in a baking dish. In a small bowl, mix mustard and brown sugar until it's a smooth mixture. You may have to play with the amounts to make it as sweet or as sour as you prefer it. Spoon the sauce over the pork chops and smooth it out so the pork chops are completely covered. Cover with tin foil and bake in a 425 oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

The picture in this post shows the chops before they've been baked (obviously).

Adventures in Baby-Led Weaning Part 2

I decided, since Charlie is going to be six months old on Sunday, that a few days wasn't going to make any difference. So tonight, at supper time, we officially started baby-led weaning.

This was Charlie sitting in his bumbo on the kitchen table at my parents' house, just before supper tonight. He loves sitting with everybody at the table and gets quite upset if we don't let him.

I gave him a carrot and it took him awhile to decide to put it in his mouth (because he was watching Grampie eat the fish we were having and I think he wanted that instead!) but he eventually did, and actually took a bite off it. Dad tried to get a picture of him with the carrot in his mouth but this was the best he could do.

 Grampie decided to let him try some mashed potatoes too. I didn't mind, and Charlie ate some (he took it off Dad's fingers and put it in his mouth). He got more of it on him than he did in his mouth, but that's what this is all about, right?

After supper, I let him try a little bit of my raspberry jello as well. No pictures of that since it wasn't really much to talk about. All in all, with the faces he made, we're not sure he liked anything he tried, but I know he ate some, and the main thing is he's trying it and getting a feel for the textures and tastes of different foods. After all, food before one is just for fun, and he's still getting everything he needs from my breastmilk.

Pineapple Pork Curry

I made this curry recipe up on my own, and it's very mild. If you like a more spicy/hot curry, you may want to add other spices to it to give it the kick you want. I would suggest making it this way and then modifying it to suit your own tastes. Personally, I loved it. Alex really liked it but said it wasn't as spicy as he'd prefer.

2 large pork chops, cut into small bite sized pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large can of pineapple tidbits, plus juice
2 cups water
2-3 tablespoons curry powder
2-3 tablespoons corn starch

Mix all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours. Serve with rice (I used instant rice because it's all we had, but it would be really good with basmati rice too, of course). Alex and I each had a good sized serving (1/2 cup rice plus the curry plus carrots), and I was able to make 3 lunches for Alex (1/2 cup rice plus curry) for work with the leftovers. So it makes a fair bit.

Fluffy Carrot Muffins

Once again, this recipe was found on www.allrecipes.com. They turned out amazing, although I need to remember not to use the amount of salt recipes call for because I did find them too salty. Alex and I both loved them, and I will definitely be making them again.

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrot

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a muffin tin (or line with baking cups).
Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Beat the eggs and sugar until frothy and lightened in color. Stir in the oil, vanilla and carrot; fold into the flour mixture. Pour the batter into the muffin tins.
Bake in the preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean, 15-20 minutes.
Remove to cool on wire racks.
Makes 12 muffins.

Becca's Italian Chicken

I'm naming this "Becca's Italian Chicken" because my mother also has an Italian Chicken recipe and I'm going to post it here at some point as well, I think.

Chicken (I used half of a whole cut up chicken), skin removed
Pasta (your choice and however much you want)
Vegetables (I used frozen peas/carrots, but you could use other kinds)
Italian Dressing

Put chicken in a baking dish and baste with some of the Italian dressing. Coat the chicken and even pour some dressing in for the chicken to bake in it. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.

Meanwhile, cook pasta and vegetables. Mix together and stir in Italian dressing. When serving, put pieces of chicken on top. Can be served hot or cold.

Baked Haddock

Here's another recipe from www.allrecipes.com and with this one, as Alex put it, I "hit it out of the park". I did a couple things different from the recipe, but otherwise it's the same. Alex says this reminds him of "flying fish sandwiches" that he got in the Caribbean a long time ago (he actually put his portions of the fish between bread with mayo and ate them as sandwiches).

3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
4 haddock fillets
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 500F
In a small bowl, combine milk and salt. In a separate bowl, mix bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and thyme. Dip the haddock fillets into the milk, then press into the crumb mixture to coat. Place haddock fillets into a baking dish and drizzle with melted butter.
Bake on the top rack of the oven until the fish flakes easily, about 15 minutes.

*I don't know why you need that much milk to be honest. It seemed like a waste to me, so in the future I'll probably cut the amount of milk in half or so. I didn't use that much salt (mainly because I never cook with salt). In place of the thyme, I used oregano flakes (and I read the recipe wrong and put 1 teaspoon instead of 1/4 teaspoon). I also skipped the melted butter part. And finally, I heated the oven to 425F and cooked it for 25 minutes because I was also cooking french fries at the same time.

Adventures in Baby-Led Weaning Part 1

So I'm technically not starting the baby-led weaning until after September 18 when Charlie is 6 months old.

However, I couldn't resist a couple of things.

About a month ago, after watching him watch me eat orange jello more than once, I put a tiny bit of it on his lip to see what he'd do. He made SUCH a funny face when he tasted it, as if to say "Hey that didn't taste anything like I thought it would, Mama!"

And the other day, just to see what he would do, after I fed him, I gave him a single Ritz cracker. He held onto it and started sucking on it. You should have heard the happy squeals that were coming out of him! He loved it! I said "It's salty, isn't it?" and he laughed and laughed! I only let him suck on it for a couple of minutes, though, because I didn't want to get too carried away before the six-month mark.

But I'm thinking this baby-led weaning thing is going to be a breeze!

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

Tried this the other day (another from www.allrecipes.com) and Alex absolutely LOVED it. Personally, because I don't like red wine, it was all I could taste, so I wasn't a huge fan. Also, the wine smell in the house while it was cooking gave me a headache. Double whammy. If I was going to make it again, I'd use apple juice instead of the wine. Otherwise it is a fantastic recipe and I do recommend it.

1 pork tenderloin
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 cup water
3/4 cup red wine
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Place tenderloin in the slow cooker with the contents of the soup packet. Pour water, wine and soy sauce over the top, turning the pork to coat. Carefully spread the garlic over the pork, keeping as much on top as possible. Cook on low for 4 hours. Serve the cooking sauce on the side as au jus.

*I actually cooked mine on high for 4 hours instead of low, because the tenderloin I used was still slightly frozen when I put it on.

Roasted Beef and Veggies

I had some steak that had been cut into cubes and didn't know what to do with it. So I made something up. And it was amazing.

Steak cut into bite-sized cubes
2 large carrots, coined
2 potatoes, cut into slices
4 sections of garlic, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
Olive oil
Parsley
Oregano
Put meat, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic in a pan. Pour in some olive oil. Mix it all up so the oil coats all the meat and veggies. Sprinkle in parsley and oregano (a large pinch of each). Mix again. Cover with tin foil and cook at 350 for 45 minutes, then remove tin foil and cook for another 15 minutes.

Spaghetti Sauce

I've managed to spoil Alex, and he no longer likes anybody's spaghetti sauce but mine. He'll eat others, of course, and they're good, but he loves how I do it (and frankly so do I).

1 lb ground pork
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 green pepper, chopped
3 or 4 portions of a garlic clove, chopped
1 can sliced mushrooms (or several fresh mushrooms, chopped)
1 can of Hunts Thick & Rich Mushroom and Basil spaghetti sauce
Red pepper flakes
Oregano
Parsley

Cook ground pork in skillet until no longer pink. Add onions, green peppers, garlic and mushrooms, cook for another few minutes. Add can of spaghetti sauce, red pepper flakes, oregano and parsley and mix thoroughly. Get it nice and hot and then let it simmer while you cook the pasta. It will be a nice, thick, hearty sauce.

I use our wok as the skillet so this is a one pan thing. As for the spices, I don't measure them, I just do a pinch of each for flavor. We use ground pork instead of ground beef because we find it makes the spaghetti sauce taste lighter and overall better than ground beef.

Mushroom, Cheese and Haddock Bake

This was the first new fish recipe we tried in recent months (found on www.allrecipes.com). You wouldn't think that mushrooms would go with fish very well (or at least I wouldn't think they would) but they really did, and this is a great recipe if you are looking for something new to do with your haddock!

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 (6 ounce) package button mushrooms, chopped
• 2 pounds haddock fillets
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon dried red chile peppers
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley (oregano also works)
• 3/4 cup shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese (I used old cheddar)
• 1 lemon - cut into wedges, for garnish (optional)
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. 
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, then add green onions and mushrooms; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Season haddock with salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried chile pepper and place in the baking dish. Top with green onion and mushroom mixture, then dot with butter. Sprinkle parsley on top.
• Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove foil and top haddock with cheese and return baking dish to the oven. Continue baking until the fish flakes easily with a fork and the cheese is melted, 15 to 20 minutes.

Cheesy Bacon Fish

My mother found this recipe online and passed it on to me. Alex wants me to cook all fish this way now, ha ha. And I'm happy to oblige (good thing we don't eat fish that often?)!

Fish filets
6 slices of bacon (or more if you have more fish)
Sliced onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp flour
Shredded cheese

In a baking dish, lay 3 slices of bacon. Cover this with sliced onion. Lay the fish filets on the bacon/onions. In a bowl, mix margarine and flour, then spoon the mixture onto the fish and spread it all over. Sprinkle it all with the bread crumbs. Cover with another 3 strips of bacon. Sprinkle the whole thing with shredded cheese. Bake uncovered at 450F for 30 minutes.

When Mom made this recipe, she used trout filets and didn't put the cheese on it. When I tried the same recipe, I used haddock filets and put the cheese on it, and it was phenomenal. I also used more bacon because I had more fish than my mother did when she made the recipe.

Oven Fried Parmesan Chicken

I actually got this recipe off my favorite recipe website, www.allrecipes.com not long ago. I was looking for a new recipe to use when we had company, and this one totally hit the nail on the head. It was delicious and exactly what I was looking for.


1 clove crushed garlic

• 1/4 pound butter, melted
• 1 cup dried bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 whole cut up chicken
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a shallow glass dish or bowl, combine the crushed garlic with the melted butter or margarine. In another small bowl mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat.
• Place coated chicken pieces into a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

Baby-Led Weaning

Taking a break in the recipes briefly (I'm still trying to get caught up in posting them here) to talk about feeding my son.

Anybody who knows me, knows I'm exclusively breastfeeding my son. Meaning whatever I eat, he gets through my breast milk later on (anybody know how long it takes for the taste of what I eat to go into my milk?). I'm planning on breastfeeding exclusively (as in it's the only thing he's going to eat) until at least 6 months of age.

I am *not* planning on doing any type of cereals or purees or any of that, because I like the idea of baby-led weaning.

What is baby-led weaning? Well, in short it's where you give baby pieces of whatever you're eating and let them play around with it and try it. Is it messy? Sure. But so is feeding purees and cereals. Heck, so is breastfeeding, from time to time!

http://www.babyledweaning.com has some information if you'd like to know more.

I have a feeling that we're going to start pretty close to the six-month mark though. I'd like to wait longer, but I don't think he'll let me. The other night, I had him sitting on my lap while I was eating orange jello. He watched that spoon of jello go from the bowl to my mouth every single time. He was absolutely interested! For fun, I put the spoon towards his mouth to see what he'd do and he opened his mouth as if he expected me to put the spoon in and give him the jello!

I admit I was pretty tempted to give him a tiny bit, just to see what he thought of it, but I'm adamant that he not get any "real" food until he's officially six months old (and that won't be until September 18). I mean I freaked out on Alex when he put a bit of chocolate ice cream on Charlie's lip a few weeks ago. I don't want to be a hypocrite, ha ha!

Because this blog is about food, I'll probably include posts of our adventures in baby-led weaning when it happens as well.

Pulled Pork

This is one of Alex's and my favorites. I found the idea for it online and we love it. It's really, really easy too, since you use a slow cooker and it's really no work at all. Great if you're like me and dealing with a child (or children) who hates to have you out of his sight...

Pork tenderloin (or boneless pork chops)
Root beer (go with the cheap stuff)
Barbeque sauce (we use Diana sauce)

Put pork into slow cooker. Pour in root beer (cover the pork or not, it's your choice). Cook on high for 3 hours. Drain root beer. Shred pork with a fork and then mix in some barbeque sauce (as much as you want). Cook on low for 2 hours (or more...the longer it's in the barbeque sauce, the better it is). Serve on toasted hamburger buns (or kaiser rolls, whatever you want).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe online and it's one of my favorites for chocolate chip cookies. The best, of course, is the one on the back of the bag of chocolate chips I use, however, this recipe is a close second for me.

1 cup butter (or margarine), softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F
Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. 
Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips and nuts. 
Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the edges are nicely browned.

Tuna Casserole

This recipe is mine. I made it up a couple of years ago and have been making it ever since. Alex loves it, so I don't change a thing.

Shell pasta, cooked (as much as you want to use)
1 regular can tuna, drained (I use flaked)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Marble cheese, shredded (as much as you want to use)
Put soup in a casserole dish, set aside
Cook pasta and drain 
Mix in tuna then pour into casserole dish and mix well with soup
Cover with shredded cheese
Bake uncovered in 350F oven for 20 minutes
Let cool for a couple of minutes before serving and serve with vegetable of your choice
I have also done this casserole with bite-sized pieces of chicken instead of the tuna. If I do it with chicken, I also add fresh chopped garlic. It's quite yummy this way as well.

Five Star Bars

Okay so this recipe is NOT my mother's! Shocking, I know! I think it's from our friend Penni, but I'm not 100% sure. All I know is these things are delicious. I haven't actually made them myself, but have had them several times.

2 cups coconut
2 cups graham wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 can eagle brand condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
Mix and bake 10 min. in 350F oven in an 8x8 slightly greased pan
Melt 4 aero or jersey milk bars and 1/4 oil in microwave. Pour over squares
Chill in fridge until chocolate sets
Cut into squares

Meat Loaf

Mom's recipe? You betcha! I get a lot of recipes from her, and would be posting a lot more of them here if I knew where my recipe box was...This is my favorite meat loaf ever. She also does a stuffed one, but I am a weirdo and hate stuffing, so...you get the one I like. :)

1 lb. (roughly) hamburger
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 stalk celery, chopped fine (optional)
1 egg, slightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
Combine together and place in loaf pan
Topping: 3/4 cup ketchup
              2 tbsp. mustard
              1 tsp. corn startch
              1 tbsp. vinegar
              1/4 cup brown sugar
Combine all ingredients together in small dish, then cover meatloaf using pastry brush or back of a spoon. Bake covered with foil for an hour in 350F oven (maybe less depending on weather and altitude).

Paprika Stew

Seeing a trend here, as this is another of my mother's recipes. This is a great meat stew that Mom often serves with mashed potatoes (or rice) and peas.

1-1 1/2 lbs. stewing beef
2 tbsp. oil
2 onions, sliced
1 1/2 tbsp. paprika
 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste (or ketchup)
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste 
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup water
Cut meat into bite size cubes
Brown meat in oil in 2 lots
Saute onions for 5 min. on low heat
Add: paprika
        corn starch
        salt
        pepper
        ketchup (tom. paste)
        sugar
STIR
Add water. Stir again and bring to a boil
Add browned meat
Simmer 1-1 1/2 hours on low heat