Chicken Creme and Pepper and Tomato Chutney (Melanie)

Tonight we had an awesome dinner because I'm amazing!! Yeah I made dinner (yay).
So if you want a taste of what we had tonight you can make it because we don't have any left.:)
Stuff you'll need:
Chicken breasts                                tomato
cream cheese                                   yellow pepper
basil (fresh or dried)                         half white onion.
salt and pepper
italian bread crumbs

Fillet chicken breasts; pound flat. Fill with 2 teaspoons of cream cheese sprinkle with seasonings. Roll up chicken; containing filling.
Coat chicken in bread crumbs and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
While that's chilling make the "chutney" I don't know if it's really a type of chutney I just don't know how else to describe it. Chop up your tomato, your pepper and onion We cut up a crookneck squash and added that to it too but that's just because we needed to use it. Toss vegetables in olive oil, salt, pepper and basil. Chill for 30 minutes.
Bake the chicken at 375 for 35 minutes and saute the vegetables in a VERY HOT pan. and cook down in to a sauce. Serve it over the chicken and love it. We sure did.

Freshness Genie? More Like Freshness Genius (Steph)

I had a breakthrough moment in my kitchen one day a few months ago.  For a normal person, this wouldn't be a huge deal, but for me, it was like I discovered something so earth-shattering that I can't even think of an example now to illustrate it.  Okay, maybe not that amazing, but I was still pretty proud of myself.  (You know how I like to over-romanticize everything)  Anyway, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about.  I'm getting there.

Have you ever found yourself asking, "Why are there never enough bag clips around to keep my various bagged goods fresh and tasty?"  I know I have.  Well my friends, look no further.

I give you...

the top of the bag!!

How does it work you ask?  Well, instead of savagely ripping open a bag of, say, marshmallows like a cave-man would- stop.  Grab the scissors, and cut the top of the bag off in a straight line instead.  After you have had your fill of marshmallows, take the top section of bag and use it to tie the bag shut. Simple as that.

No more stale snacks.  No more spilling bags you, "didn't know" were open.  Just the clean, organized pantry that you never thought possible.  And bag clips? Who needs them?!



See what I said about over-romanticizing?

Note: I wish Justin were home, so he could star in this infomercial.

"Hungry" for More (Steph)

Shortly after reading The Hunger Games (book 1) I read the 2nd book Catching Fire.  I finished two days later, then began on the 3rd and final book in the trilogy Mockingjay.  So in the week that it took me to read all three books, I got virtually nothing done around my house because I was so absorbed in what I was reading.  They are definitely hard to turn away from.  I'm not normally an advocate of reading in the bathroom, but you won't want to put it down even for something as trivial as answering nature's call.

I had recently looked up the cast for the upcoming film of the first book, and was a little taken back by the still of Peeta, a blond boy in the book, who'll be played by a brown-haired actor (he also appeared to have brown hair in the still).  Not a huge deal, but not quite right.  But then I saw this EW magazine cover.  You can breathe a sigh of relief, Sarah.

Sushi Night with Sarah (Steph)

Sarah came over the other day and we made sushi.  It was fun.  Here's some pictures.

First we made the tempura for the shrimp tempura rolls.

If you look closely, you'll notice that Sarah has carrot in her teeth.

Everything's prepped and now it's time to roll.

Here's what our first couple of rolls looked like.

We also make takoyaki, but without the tako (octopus).

Sarah's a pro now, so if you want to learn how to make this stuff, you can just ask her.

Oh, p.s. I also finished a book.  I copied Dorthy and read The Hunger Games.  I loved it and am a couple of chapters into the next book in the series, Catching Fire. 

How to Make Cookies (Rowan)

Hi, I'm Rowan and today, I am going to show you how to make cookies.  The first thing I do is pick a recipe I like and make sure to read through it.

 Before I handle any food, it is very important that I wash my hands with soap and water.

First, I mix the butter...

...and the sugars together.  I like to add the white sugar one pinch at a time.  Mommy thinks it takes too long, so she dumps it all in at once.

 There is brown sugar too.  It stays all clumped together until I brake it up.

 After mixing the sugar and butter together, I add the eggs.  I had Mommy crack the eggs open to give her something to do.

 Then I add the flour.  It works better if you actually get it in the bowl!

 Make sure all the ingredients are mixed really well.  It's fun to watch the mixer go around and around as the dough tumbles in the bowl.

 The best kind of cookie has chocolate in it and this recipe uses two kinds! Chocolate is also good just to eat.

After adding the chocolate, or at least what was left of it, we bake the cookies.  Mommy helps me with the oven because it's so hot.  After they come out of the oven, I have to wait for them to cool, and it's so hard!

Finally, I get to taste what I made.  They're really good!  I love making cookies!

Here's the recipe if you want to try them too:

Grandma's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (from "Worldwide Ward Cookbook: Secret Recipes" by Deanna Buxton)

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teasppon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups oatmeal, blended to a fine powder
4-ounce chocolate candy bar, shaved
12 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.  Stir in flour, soda, salt, baking powder, and oatmeal.  Add shaved chocolate, chocolate chips, and nuts.  Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.  Makes 36 cookies.



Pancakes (Dorthy)

 A couple weekends ago, we made pancakes from a mix.  They seemed to hit the spot and we both liked the from-scratch pancakes we had at Grandma's house the weekend of the 4th, so we thought we'd try some the next morning.  We found a recipe in Rory's "How to Boil Water" cookbook.  They tasted good and they turned out good considering I have a tendency to burn pancakes.   Rory ate 4 1/2 of them all by himself. 

I tried a Mickey Mouse pancake with the last of the batter.  I did fairly well, but I needed a bigger spatula considering how big I made the pancake--Mickey's ears tore a little when I went to flip it.  We gave it to Rowan, who was impressed by the shape, but he wouldn't eat the thing.  Rory cut up the ear so he could have some, but Ro got upset and pieced it back together.  He just sat and looked at it until breakfast was over.

I guess the recipe is a little more involved than some others, but we didn't feel like it took too long.  The recipe stated that it makes 8 large or 12 small pancakes.  I told Ror how many pancakes we got depended a great deal on how they defined "large" and "small".  I made them using about 1/3 cup of batter and got 10 good sized pancakes, so I think they meant pretty big.  If you feel inclined to try it, here is the recipe:

Pancakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt (we used regular table salt)

Pinch of nutmeg (optional, we put it in.  It gave the pancakes kind of a holiday flavor.)

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 cups milk

About 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Neutral flavored oil for cooking the pancakes

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Beat eggs in a medium size bowl, then whisk in about half the milk and all the vanilla.  In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with the remaining milk, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.  Stir or whisk into the egg misture.  Pour wet ingredients into the dry and whisk just until a thick batter forms.  Heat skillet or griddle over medium/medium high heat (350 degrees if using an electric griddle with temp control).  Brush with a little oil.  ladle desired amount of batter onto skillet, spacing pancakes evenly.  Cook until bubbles break the surface of the pancakes, the batter loses its shine, and the undersides are golden brown (about 2 minutes).  Flip pancakes and cook for about 1 minute more.  Serve immediately or keep warm in oven.  Repeat with remaining batter.

It also lists a couple of tips that I found interesting:

-Batter is best slightly lumpy (I already knew this one, but I have found it to be true)

-Don't smash or push down on the pancakes while they cook; it makes them dense.

-Straight to plate is best, but if you need to wait, keep them warm in a 200 degree preheated oven.  Lay them out in a single layer, stacking steams them and makes them tough.

Slow Cooker Smokehouse Salad Inspired by Dickies Restaurant Modified by Mel

I made a smokehouse salad similar to the one they offer at Dickies Barbeque Pit (if you have't eaten there, I highly recommend it.) It has brisket in it, so all the fat and crispy bits get into the salad so no wonder it's good, but I didn't have any brisket on hand so I improvised and used beef roast. I let a 1-2 pound beef roast thaw overnight so it was almost room temperature when I pan seared it in olive oil. when I had the crispy bits that I know everyone on the planet loves (they're actually my favorite part of any beef roast) I put the roast into a hot slow cooker, deglazed my pan with some water to get all the yummy stuff off the pan, and seasoned the roast with salt pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. I added a 1/4 cup of water to the pot and covered it and let it cook the rest of the day. when it was done I shredded the meat (or you can chop it up, that's how they do it at the restaurant) and put it on a salad of romaine hearts, cucumbers and french fried onions and topped it all off with home made ranch dressing. The meat was perfect and I tried to make it for my parents but I ran out of time and had to use the pressure cooker to have it ready in time, but it just wasn't the same. SLOW COOKING makes all the difference.