Pineapple Pie (Jamaica)

Today I'm coming down hard from the delight of a four day weekend, which means this post may be brief. Over the weekend, I celebrated my 11th anniversary with my fabulous husband, John. We dropped the boys at Grandma's, and went out for Moroccan food and did some shopping. Without kids. On our own. Just the two of us. Did I already emphasize the no kids thing?

Another highlight was that I got to spend an entire day with my new nephew, Elijah. Just seven days old! When my brother went back to work, I spent the day helping my sis-in-law, which meant lots of snuggly baby time:) And the finale of the weekend was spending all day Sunday in pajamas with the boys. As the guys played the day away, I sat back and read a super trashy novel. I decided the perfect end to the mini-vacation might just be some pie.

And because my hubby loves pineapple, I chose the Jamaican Pineapple Pie recipe from Extending the Table. The filling was ridiculously easy. Basically just spicing and thickening up 4-5 cups of fruit, which could be fresh or canned. I even learned that one pineapple equals 4-5 cups, to which I said, "Ha!" Of course, I took the short cut. Why would I fuss with doing whatever it is a pineapple needs to be edible when I could open a can and go back to reading? One of these days, I will gather the perfect, organic, locally grown produce and meat from animals that forage in the plains for grubs and sweet grass, but this weekend was not the time. No, this weekend was for my boys and my hubby and sweet pineapple pie made from a can.

Khao Niew (Thailand), Kunde na Nazi (Tanzania), Speculaasjes (Netherlands)

The last twenty four hours I've been in a cooking frenzy. This four day weekend has inspired me to play catch up for all the frozen pizzas and freezer pastas from these first seven weeks of the school year. It all started last night when I realized that the recipes I picked for this week from Extending the Table are all make ahead types, which happens to be one of my favorite type to make.

See, I love cooking. I love it! And I love my kids. Love them! But they can both be pretty exhausting, especially when the two are put together. So anything I can plan ahead for and even prepare in advance moves to the top of my recipes for the week. Knowing that I was going to be home these fours days, cooking ahead gave me time to take care of overdue tasks (taking the boys for flu shots) and just having fun (taking the boys to the Children's Museum right after the flu shots).

One of the recipes I found in the book, Kunde na Nazi, chick peas in coconut milk, is from the island of Zanzibar in Tanzania. These chick peas simmered in coconut milk and spiced with clove and turmeric were easy to make, but a tiny note in the margins of the recipe suggested making ahead and reheating for the best flavor. Done! Made last night between clearing the table and reading the boys their bedtime story. And because the peas are best served over rice, I decided to go ahead and make Khai Niew, sticky rice from Thailand. Again easy to make, but must be soaked several hours before steaming the rice. Guess how many times I've forgotten that step and ended up with instant rice.

So tonight's meal was essentially done last night, which left the Speculaasjes, Dutch spice cookies. These are cut-out cookies that again, must be made ahead and refrigerated. So I made the dough last night after the boys were in bed, without even telling them, and boom...afternoon activity. The three of us made alphabet shaped cookies, most of the twenty six, in less than an hour.

In addition, I finally attacked the last of the orchard Sweet Sixteens in the fridge. The boys again helped me whip up a batch of apple strudel bites courtesy of a can of refrigerator biscuits, and while they chowed, I peeled and chopped the remaining apples for a batch of crock-pot applesauce. Again, make ahead for something sweet after dinner tonight.

Bang Bang Ji (China)

I have to admit that when it comes to cooking, I sometimes cheat. I buy rotisserie chickens instead of fresh chicken breasts. I buy frozen broccoli that I sprinkle liberally in pretty much everything. And yes, it sometimes sacrifices the taste, but some days, Mondays, we just survive and focus on keeping it healthy. So tonight I pulled both these tricks out for our meal. And even though I was cheating, my selection from Extending the Table was pretty great.

Tonight's recipe was a success before it even hit the table. Given it's name, Bang Bang Ji (chicken), it was bound to capture my boys' interest. One, it's fun to say. Two, it's accompanied by action and noise. Three, it's pretty delicious. As an added bonus a main component of the sauce was peanut butter, which is an ingredient I can sell to my kids any day of the week!

The recipe came with a story about street vendors in China banging sticks to attract customers, which led to the name. The boys thought that was great, especially when I enthusiastically banged the counter to get them to the table. John naturally had to tell the story about how his mom rang a cow bell to round up the four kids at dinner time, which the boys enjoyed hearing even as they stuffed their mouths with the chicken and rice.

And tonight I had a bit of a cooking revelation. This recipe called for cucumbers in the stir-fry. I honestly did not realize you could cook cucumbers (beyond pickling them) in a way that was as tasty as this dish. The combination of the cucumber and the peanut sauce was interesting and very well balanced.  As John put it, this one is a keeper!

Fall Festivities

This fall has been a little bit magical. The stretch of eighty degree weather of the last several days has somehow heightened the rich colors of the leaves, the way they crunch beneath your feet, and those sweet flavors of apple and pumpkin in the kitchen. I almost missed it this week, but managed to pull off a Family Fall Fest to make up for it all.

After my birthday on Monday, I spent the rest of the week alternating between being violently sick to my stomach or extremely sick to my stomach. By Friday I was exhausted, having merely listened to my guys enjoying the fall weather from my bed or the bathroom. I even had to cancel a special recipe I was to make with the boys earlier in the week. So when Ian requested apple pie for Saturday, I was determined to make it happen. In fact, I suggested we make a day of it.

So Saturday morning we began with pumpkin scones. This recipe comes from a giant Byerly's cookbook we received as a wedding gift. The scones are one of three recipes for which I keep the book, and they are delicious. Suki kept asking for more 'cookies' with a very full mouth! I jazzed them up a bit with some jack-o-lantern faces, and we ate our way into the new day.

Next we tackled the apple pie. Of course, that required a trip to the orchard! We drove south along the river, taking in the leaves, until we found a little orchard the suited our purposes, which included a tractor ride around the orchard and pumpkin patch, hot dogs and apple brats, and a peck of Sweet 16s.

After an afternoon of napping to recover from all the apple picking, I started in on actually making the pie while the boys hit the leaves outside. In addition, I set about preparing dinner. About a week ago, Ian and I found a Halloween cookbook in the dollar bins at Target. He carefully paged through and chose his favorite recipes to try. Salty Bones. Mummies. Finger Food. After washing off the leaves, the boys helped to put it all together.

So as our bones and mummies baked and the fingers mouldered, the boys and I put up Halloween decorations and special guest, Grandpa Dan, read monster stories. I even snuck a quick loaf of pumpkin bread in for breakfast the next morning. Really, a pretty magical fall day. 





Srpski Grah (Serbia) & Quesadillas (El Salvador)

Every year for my birthday my husband asks what I'd like to eat for my birthday dinner with the loving intention of preparing my request, regardless of whether it's realistic for him to attempt the recipe or not. He does his best in the kitchen, but most years I either want my mom's home cooking or look forward to celebrating my birthday in my own kitchen, cooking away. This year was a bit of both.

Yesterday the extended family gathered over an old favorite for my birthday dinner. I chose a childhood staple, cheesy potato soup, with an entire block of Velveeta cheese melted for a base. Yes, the entire big block! I paired it with cheesy apply biscuits and artichoke crab dip.  Dessert consisted of dark chocolate cake with chocolate chip icing, this one was made by John and the boys, key lime pie, made in honor of green week at Ian's school, and peach pie, which I didn't eat because I'm allergic. Everyone was well fed.

Today, on my actual birthday, I indulged in quite a few delicious treats, including a couple new recipes from Extending the Table. Friends at school brought muffins and cake, which was a fabulous surprise. For dinner with my guys, the main course was Srpski Grah, country bean soup, a simple soup originating in Serbia, with Quesadillas, otherwise known as cheese muffins from El Salvador and not to be confused with Mexican quesadillas.  Suki quickly decided that the best way to eat these dishes was to dip the muffin in the creamy soup and munch away, while Ian and I worked out just how to pronounce Srpski Grah. The meal ended with left over birthday cake and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, Cha-Cha-Cha.

As we ate, I did marvel some at how our world is constantly expanding to the point that I am blessed beyond any birthday wish I could imagine. Sometimes I look at my boys and it takes my breath away that from the far corners of the world, we find each other at the same table, dipping our Salvadorian muffins in Serbian soup. In my life, there is a celebration in every meal.

Abobong Manok (Philippines)

This week was the first hard week of the school year for us. This week was also the first recipe from Extending the Table that was a bit of a dud. It wasn't necessarily a bad week, or even recipe, but it was the first where germs and fatigue and changes all caught up with the fam, and the flavors of the food didn't sit well.

Ian had a yucky, croupy sort of cough-cold thing happening, so I stayed home with him early in the week. The next day daycare called to cancel due to a stomach virus, which was good because Suki started throwing up shortly there after, so John stayed home. Ian still hasn't fully recovered into the weekend, and little Suki has been generally out-of-sorts.

Of course, me staying home with a sick kid, is much different than John doing so. I napped along with Ian, but managed to clean the kitchen and run a quick errand. John did several loads of laundry, baked bread, changed the furnace filter, cleaned all the bathrooms, mopped the floors (twice, because he wasn't happy with the first go at it), dropped Ian at school, picked him up, took him back for a special school event, all between cleaning up bouts of vomit. Yeesh!

This week we were all exhausted, too. One or both of the boys have regularly been asking to go to bed by 6:30. Thursday was a record though with Ian asking for bed at 6:15. Sometimes, they are too tired to eat, so we've changed our evening routine for them. Dinner is much earlier now, which isn't so bad, but the hour after dinner gets a little rough. Plus the boys have just in general been clingy, whiny, and picky all week.

Thursday was my new recipe night. I made Abobong Manok, chicken adobo, from the Philippines. It was a bit of a bummer though, and also marked the first recipe I tried to alter. The recipe called for the chicken to simmer in a sauce with a base of vinegar and soy sauce, which was just too sour and salty from the start. It was also looking bland, so I tossed in some veggies to make it more of a stir fry. Unfortunately, the veggies basically pickled in the vinegar. I will say that is was edible, but no one wanted seconds or left overs.

So we're making a new start of this Saturday, with twelve plus hours of sleep for the boys and mom. And there has been a culinary delight! This week's color at Ian's school was green, so today I made key lime pie. And it turned our beautiful and very, very edible.