Hello Summer (and Mango Key Lime Pie!)

It has been so hot lately and it’s not even technically summer yet. I never thougt I would know any different but Ohio ruined me for summer weather. We’ve been to the sprayground, the pool or playing with the hose in the backyard practically every other day for the past couple of weeks.

I’ve worked out some activities for Kelsey and I for the summer that hopefully won’t be too hard on the old pocketbook. I got a youth membership at the YMCA for Kelsey which lets me take her to the Open Family Gym times and Parent/Child Swim Lessons for no additional cost. Then I got a postcard in the mail for 50% off a program so I signed her for Tumble Tots class for the second half of the summer since she’s been loving the open gym time. In addition, before we decided on Kelsey’s membership, we were given 10-day guest passes so I’ve been trying to stretch those out so I can take Kelsey to the pool until her class starts. So there’s something to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays for now.

I’ll be also be taking her to Growing Together class at Baby Bungalow on Mondays. I skipped this last session because it seemed a little over her head when I took her about 14 months but I could definately see her learning new things and being more confident already so I knew I wanted to go back to it. In the hour class they do a bunch of different activities and the kids get moved along to the next activity but at least I get an idea of the types of activities Kelsey likes and is ready for so I have things to do with her througout the rest of the week.

That leaves the sprayground, playgrounds and other activities that pop up to fill in the rest of the time. I’m hoping Kelsey will come around to touching sand at some point so we can go to the beach but it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. Also, we’ll be getting a family membership to Glazer Children’s Museum for those crazy hot days, super rainy days, and need-to-get-out-of-this-house days for the next year.

Well, along with summer comes one of my favorite foods and one of my favorite desserts. Mangoes are out and about and Key Lime Pie is so good. When we went to Key West a couple of years ago we had at least one slice everyday! My wonderful husband had the brilliant idea to make Mango Key Lime Pie. Publix sells a pretty tasty one but it’s, dare I say, too sweet. Thankfully this one came out not as sweet but just as tasty. We used this recipe for the filling and this recipe for the crust. We had enough filling for the large pie plus we filled 4 ready-made mini pie crusts. We didn’t have any whip cream and skipped the garnishes, just plain old pie. (If you’re looking for more inspiration, here’s a link to a bunch of mango recipes.)

Here’s to kicking off the summer!

Our U-Picking Adventure

With spring in the air, and having already missed strawberry picking season (we just couldn’t get our act together to get out and do it), we decided to try to get out to the short blueberry picking season. We started out at Fort Lonesome Farm in Lithia, Florida. It was basically the front and side yard of a home but it looks like a lot of homes in the area take advantage of the land and have a variety of products.

Kelsey had a great time “talking” to the chickens and following them around and then feeling her way around the plants. She wanted to use the shears and kept carrying around the basket. I was happy to let her explore the different textures, shapes and colors.

While there were many more items we would have liked to pick up, we settled on a few, including some things we hadn’t tried before: mulberries, kale, patty pan squash and apple mint.

Mulberries:

These little berries were messy but tasty. Tasted like kind of  cross between a raspberry and a grape to me. We didn’t end up making anything with them but here is a link for information and recipes in case you want to try them.

Kale:

About half was turned in to Kale Chips. The rest eventually became Kale and Basil Pesto.

Kale Chips

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Rinse, dry, remove stems and break kale into pieces. Spread out on baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with spices (we use a Mexican Fiesta blend we found at Whole Foods or black pepper, we try not to add salt to things when we can). Bake for 20 minutes.

Patty Pan Squash:

At the time, we had no idea what this UFO-shaped thing was. The gentleman there told us what it was and told us what he does with it. He said to cut the bulb off and grill the pieces. After a little research, I came across this recipe and made a few changes to suit our taste and to use what we had including the fresh basil and rosemary growing out back.

Buttery Patty Pan Squash with Basil and Rosemary

• 1 patty pan squash, 1/4 inch slices
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• fresh basil and rosemary, chopped
• fresh ground lemon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep ingredients. Lay slices in a baking pan, drizzle butter over slices, scatter basil and rosemary over slices and crack pepper over it. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.

It came out tasting pretty good, kind of a typical “squash-y” taste and texture, if that makes any sense. The fresh herbs gave it a lot of flavor. I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to get another one but it wasn’t bad and I would have it again.

Apple Mint:

I’ve been having some trouble with insects in my garden and wasn’t trusting the mint so we decided to pick some up while we were here to make another batch of Mint Simple Syrup for iced coffee. Boil 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar and a bunch of mint leaves. Once the liquid is clear, take it off the heat and let it sit the rest of the day. You might want to give it a taste test over now and then to make sure it doesn’t get too strong.

There was some mint still left so I decided to chop it up and freeze it in ice cubes. It might be good with some handmade sweet tea!

After Kelsey followed the chickens around again, we headed out to find some blueberries. It was getting towards the end of blueberry season and not every where was still open for u-picking. Basically we just needed to decide to make a right or left from Fort Lonesome Farm and keep our eyes peeled for a place. We found one which was, again, basically a backyard. Will and I were chitchatting the whole time, which wasn’t very long, and when we got to where we were going, I got out and opened Kelsey’s door only to find she was passed out asleep.

Will and I traded off blueberry picking and waiting by the car so Kelsey could sleep. I had a nice conversation with the man that owned the farm and we talked about a whole different bunch of things. Finally, it was my turn to go picking. You know, I could have stayed out there picking for an hour! You get in to a groove with looking for and picking the blueberries and can just kind of zone out and think or not think, which ever ends up happening.

We ended up with about half a bucket full for about $10 which came out to just over 8 cups worth. Of course, that’s not including the couple here and there that I popped right in my mouth! Check me out in the bucket holding rig – for stylish, hand-free blueberry picking.

Blueberries:

We ended up doing a couple things with the berries. Some went in to shakes and oatmeal. We made some delicious Blueberry and Banana Muffins (had some really ripe bananas I wanted to use up) and Will made a delicious Blueberry Cheesecake. Both recipes were adapted from cookbooks we had at home. I wish I would have taken more pictures, but it was so good that it didn’t last long!

Blueberry and Banana Muffins (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 beaten egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 3/4 cup mashed banana
• 3/4 cup fres or frozen blueberries
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Grease muffin cups, don’t line. In medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of dry mixture. In another bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mix. Add mashed bananas and lemon juice. Stir until moist, batter should be lumpy. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake in a 400 degree oven fo 20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups; serve warm.

It was great having some different fresh fruits and veggies around the house for a bit. Always makes me feel a little healthier, even if they end up as desserts. Looking forward to the next new food.

Kale and Basil Pesto

It may only be the “unofficial” start of summer but it’s already been summer for at least a month here in Tampa. Letting Kelsey play in the kiddie pool I noticed the basil was trying to bloom. Again. It was getting too tall and has been trying to bloom every couple of days, it was time to cut it back. I just hope I didn’t kill it by taking too much off.

Once again, I found myself trying to think what I could do with something in an effort to not throw it out. Pesto it was. I then remembered that there was some kale still in the fridge from our u-picking adventure a little while back. After a quick search, I found a couple of recipes for Kale and Basil Pesto. I used this recipe as my starting off point and used what we had on hand.

2 cups basil

2.5 cups kale

1 cup olive oil

1/2 cup pine nuts (can use walnuts)

1 teaspoon garlic powder (we were out of minced and fresh so powdered it was)

fresh ground lemon pepper and salt

• Hand shred and rinse basil and kale. Chop in food processor. Slowly add about 1/2 cup of olive oil.
• Add pine nuts, garlic, salt and pepper. Continue to process until well blended.
• A tip from a basil pesto recipe: 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan or Ramano cheese–add this only if you are serving immediately

It is sitting in the fridge for now. Hmm, what to have it with? Some tri-colored pasta, spaghetti, chicken, pork? We’ll just have to wait and see!

It has been fun having our little garden. I can sometimes get Kelsey to water the plants and today I was picking the basil leaves and giving them to her to put in the bowl. Then she dumped it all out. Well, she is just 16 months old. Looking forward to her being more involved as she gets older.

 

Bakin’ Biscotti

For my husband’s birthday this year, I figured I would make something for him. I typically haven’t cared much for biscotti or hard bread in general but this recipe has made me fall in love with it! We are big coffee drinkers and my husband picks up biscotti here and there and that gave me the idea to hunt down a recipe that would work for me.

I found this one on Pintrest and made a few tweaks for a more “traditional” flavor. Here is what I ended up using while following the directions in the recipe.

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon almond extract
• 1/4-1/2 cup slivered almonds (we have them in the cupboard already so I just dumped in what we had)

Here is the result:

I think they tasted great. The husband liked them, too. They were going pretty fast the first couple days then we kind of got biscotti-d out. Definately meant for a crowd.

We have a  Make It, Bake It, Grow It auction fundraiser coming up at next months MacDill Enlisted Spouses Club meeting. If I get my Gevalia coffee samples get here in time, I’m thinking of baking these again to give some away and still have some for us to much on. These would also make nice teacher or office gifts with little bags of coffee.

 

 

Valentine’s Day 2012

Even though I knew it was coming, Valentine’s Day still kind of snuck up on me. Mostly because I didn’t really think I was going to do anything for it but in the last coupe of days before it, I decided why not celebrate a little?

I decided I wanted to try to take some Valentine’s-ee pictures of Kelsey. I had a hand-me-down dress that fit Kelsey but wasn’t overly hearts and pink. Someone was giving away baskets on freecycle so I spray painted one white. I was tidying up some stuff in my craft area and came across a couple bunches of red carnations left over from a project a couple of years ago. I saw a little heart garland in the background of someone’s picture that I thought was cute.

Let the Valentine’s decor begin!

I picked up a couple of sheets of felt from Walmart, cut into fourths, then cut out hearts. I then cut slits into the hearts to run the ribbon through, which I already had. I stuck a few nails in the fence out back to hang them from. I put the flowers in the basket, put Kelsey in the middle of it and started snapping away. I have found that keeping her in one spot works best if I give her things to play with.

After the shoot, I hung the hearts around the living room and the flowers turned into a door decoration. I picked up a half ball of floral foam, tied ribbon around it to hang it from and just stuck the blooms into the foam. Viola!

For my husband, I took advantage of a free personalized card from Tiny Prints and I decided to make something yummy. Most importantly, I finally found a use a heart pie baker we got for our wedding almost 6 years ago!

I followed the directions to make this No Crust Strawberry Pie I found through The Frugal Girls. However, instead of whipped topping, we heated up and drizzle some dark chocolate topping over our servings. Who doesn’t love chocolate and strawberries?

I gave Kelsey a couple of treats in the morning. I picked up a box of Sweethearts on sale and got a heart lollipop from a wedding I went to last week. She promptly turned the candy into a shaker and proceeded to swat the dog with the lollipop.

Since my husband stil had his regular, into the middle of the night work hours, we got the idea to go to IHOP for breakfast.

In the afternoon, it was girls time at the mall. I picked up my free, travel-size, Signature Collection item from Bath & Bodyworks from their facebook promotion and then picked up an Icedream from Chik-fil-A, soft serve with pink sprinkles! Kelsey had a few nibbles, the child won’t drink milk or eat cheese or yogurt but she likes ice cream.

We both worked off our treat on the playground – Kelsey by climbing up everything and me by having to carry her down off of everything. She’s still not too sure about getting off items but she’s starting to gain an appreciation for slides. Here she is giving the dolphin a kiss!

Earlier in the day, my husband gave me a card and a box of Zombie Bonbons – chocolate with cherry brains – and picked up a copy of Breaking Dawn from Redbox, free one night rental through their facebook promotion. I had a MacDill Enlisted Spouses Club meeting but once we got home and I got Kelsey to bed, I was able to finally watch it. Yes, I’m a little bit of a Twilight dork.

All in all, it was a pretty good (and relatively cheap) Valentine’s Day! I hope you had a good one, too.

Here’s a few more pictures, I can’t help myself.

Goals for 2012

It’s a new year and, so far, it’s been a busy one. This time last year I was getting used to the reality that I had a newborn. Now, that bundle of baby is a running, squealing, opening cabinets toddler! I still see some of my little baby in there, but everyday I know she’s becoming more of a little girl.

Towards the end of December I started thinking about what my resolution for 2012 would be. I am not any good at actually sticking to many of them but I thought that I’d give myself some goals for the year. I have been trying to get more comfortable in the kitchen and I have been enjoying trying new crafts so I think I can actually stick to this for the year.

It comes down to confidence. I, sadly, feel like I’ve been losing a lot of it recently. It’s time to start building some back up.

Goal #1: Make or use something new in the kitchen every month.

There are lots of recipes I see that sound good but I chicken out when I see an ingredient or a technique that I don’t know. It’s time to face them head on!

January’s Challenge - My husband and I wanted to do a smash cake photo shoot for Kelsey’s first birthday. I got it in my head that I wanted to make her a healthy cake. So began the research, then the obsessing. A couple of days before our first date (we had to reschedule because of weather) worrying about whether or not it would turn out alright and would it look good in the pictures got the better of me and I decided to order a little cake from Publix.

At the MacDill Enlisted Spouses Meeting, it was suggested that the theme for the potluck before the meeting should be to make something you’ve never made before. I decided this would be a good time to go ahead and try to make a cake from scratch. I even made the icing! The Banana Cake and Banana Glaze came out moist and tasty.

However, I do stand by my decision. It didn’t come out of the pan like I thought it would so I would have been panicking for the photos but it turned out just fine for the meeting. Kelsey even ate a little of it! (She hasn’t really been interested in any cake so far so I’m curious how our photo shoot is going to come out.)

My first cake and it's from scratch!

 

Goal #2: Try out a new craft or DIY each month.

This one may be a little trickier to keep up with but I’m going to give it my best shot.

 

Goal #3: Make a pillowcase dress for Kelsey.

Sounds easy, right? However, if you know me at all, you’ve probably just fallen off of your seat. I’ll wait for you to get back up. Why is it so shocking, you ask? Because it involves sewing. So, the first step in getting this one done is going to be to finally really learn how to use the machine my poor mother dragged half way across the country to take to me while we lived in Dayton a few years ago that I have yet to use.

 

Wish me luck and here’s to a great 2012!

More Pumpkin Pandemonium

Following up from my Pumpkin Fun and Yummies post, I finally did get around to roasting and pureeing a whole pumpkin. The day after Halloween I posted on Facebook that if anyone had an uncarved, small/medium pumpkin that they no longer wanted, I would be happy to take it off their hands. I had one offer and I picked it up the next day. Yay, for free pumpkins!

I chose the Fun Free or Cheap method of cooking the pumpkin. Since we don’t have a roasting pan, I put each half in a glass baking dish with water and seemed to be fine, having nothing to compare to, of course. It wasn’t particularly difficult (except that it turned out to be the first day of Kelsey getting sick and she was particularly cranky and needy) it just was a bit of a process. Now that I’ve done it once, I think I could streamline it a bit. Hopefully next year, I will be able to work while Kelsey plays by herself.

I poured an ice cube tray worth of  puree and froze it for Kelsey. I still haven’t tried it with her yet, but I’m thinking some “baby pumpkin pie” is in her future with Thanksgiving around the corner. I’ll mix some with a little cinnamon for her and see how that goes.

After that, I filled plastic baggies with 1 cup portions of the puree and ended up with 5 1/2 cups in the freezer.

The main thing I noticed was that it looks a lot different from the canned pumpkin. I didn’t strain it before freezing, but basically I should be fine if I just let it sit in a strainer for a little while before I use it.

It was a rough week with Kelsey sick, then me sick, throwing my back out, and we took a day trip to Sea World. I finally got around to making the first recipe with my fresh pumpkin to see how it worked out. I made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies this evening and they were delicious!

I used Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix instead of the individual spices but followed everything else. They were fluffy and tasted like pumpkin pie with chocolate, so good!

I have also decided to give myself a domesticated challenge – I am going to make a pumpkin pie from scratch with my puree. I’m a little nervous, but hoping it turns out great. I found this recipe meant for using fresh puree and it has instructions for the crust so wish me luck!

I didn’t forget about the woman who gave me the pumpkin. We’ve had our fill of pumpkin seeds from Halloween so I roasted the ones from this pumpkin with just olive oil and salt and put them in a little decorated mason jar to give her as a thank you.

 

Changing Our Habits to Stretch a Dollar and Save a Minute

With one income now it has become more important to try to use our resources wisely were food is concerned. We definitely used to toss a lot more leftovers when we were both out of the house most of the day. We’ve also been trying to come up with ways  to spend less time cooking and cleaning and more enjoying time as a family, especially with my husbands odd workday schedule.

I accidentally came across The Frugal Girl and the first post was about using leftovers. I skimmed over it and she mentioned using her left over take out rice for rice pudding. This is just one example of something that ends up sitting in the fridge with the best intentions but nothing ever happens. I had never thought of that. We sometimes end up mixing it in to stretch the fried rice but, unfortunately, we usually end up throwing it out. We had some in the fridge so after a quick recipe search, I found this one and I have to say it was a nice little sweet treat that reminded me of home. (Next time, I’m going to try just mixing and right into the dish and oven. Some of the egg cooked when it hit the warm rice and water.)

We’ve been trying to intentionally cook to have multiple servings, which isn’t too hard since most recipes are for a small army and it’s just the two of us eating “big people” food right now.

One trick we’ve picked up along the way has been to combine slow cooker cooking with freezer cooking. We used to toss the leftovers in containers and in to the fridge. However, no matter how good the chilli is, no one wants to eat it for three days straight. It finally occurred to us to pop them into the freezer instead and we have it a few days or even a week or two later instead. My mother actually introduced this when she did a bunch of batch cooking and freezing when my husband had to go out of town for a month and a half right after Kelsey was born but it some how took us a few months to remember how well it worked out!

One of my new favorites for slow cooker recipes is The Crockpot Girls. They have videos along with recipes so you can see what it looks like.

We’ve also made a big batch of dahl and froze small portions along with stocking up on some frozen naan. We love this for those late night munchies, watching a movie after the baby goes down for the night.

We have also tried some freezer cooking recipes from Money Saving Mom. We haven’t ventured into too much batch cooking but our favorite so far has been Baked Oatmeal. Of course I also do a batch or two of something every 1-2 weeks of baby food which then gets frozen and pulled up as needed.

Following Crystal Paine’s, the Money Saving Mom, website has taught me a lot about being a little more efficient around the house and helps me enjoy my time at home which is why I’m excited to check out her new book, Money Saving Mom’s Guide to Freezer Cooking.

Interested in getting a free e-book copy? Visit her post about her offer, available until November 17, 2011.

What Can You Do with a Can of Tomato Soup?

While picking up some photos (most were free with a promo code!), I fell for a little “splurge” sale item today at Walgreens. Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup (10.75 oz) for $.59 each with in ad coupon (there is supposed to be a coupon in SS 9/11/11 and 10/2/11 but sadly my coupons are not organized at this point in time and I couldn’t find it). Here’s the thing though, I hate Tomato Soup and they were out of the Chicken Noodle. Only paying $.59 for each can, I figured if nothing else I would have something to give next time there was a food drive.

After thinking about it, I decided to check out www.supercook.com to see if there was anything I could make using the soup. I didn’t know there were so many options!

I’m thinking Grandma’s Easy Shells for the next MacDill Enlisted Spouses Club meeting.

This American Pork Rice Dish would be an easy one-dish meal and uses things we usually have on hand.

I’ve got everything in the kitchen already for Mom’s Easy French Dressing - I love French dressing but for some reason haven’t had it in forever.

Hmm… that’s already using all three cans. I think I’m going to have to go back for more!

Easy Tomato and Eggplant Soup (hit the farmers market for the eggplant) would be good with some homemade croutons. This Very Quick and Easy Tuna Casserole is another potential potluck item, I would add some Italian spice mix and, hey, canned tuna is on sale at Walgreens this week, too! Finally, Shipwreck Stew for the crockpot; it’s a little heavy on the onion for our tastes but great with the cooler weather starting to come in.

That is already four more cans. Yep, I see another run to Walgreens this week. Maybe I can find that darn coupon.

Pumpkin Fun and Yummies

I was so excited for Halloween to roll around this year. I’ve had Kelsey’s little cow costume since befre she was born so I’ve been looking forward to seeing her in it for just as long. I was also looking forward to taking her to a pumpkin patch. She started walking the week or so before we went so I was hoping she would want to pick up the pumpkins. No luck there, but for some reason she really liked grabbing the stumps of the vines. At two different patches she at least got to touch them and other new sensations like straw and we got some great pictures.

Clothes:

In the picture on the left, Kelsey is wearing a pumkpin headband and holding a candy corn doll that my mother-in-law crocheted for her. In the picture to the right, I used my Ribbon Flower technique with some Halloween ribbon in a pinwheel on top and a glitter pompom for a Halloween hair clip and found a little pumpkin iron-on patch to decorate a onesie for an inexpensive Halloween outfit paired with other clothes we already had.

In the middle, she’s wearing the cow costume we got half off the November 1st last year and I added a ribbon to it. We already found two costumes for her for next year for $5 each at Old Navy! I now get to spend the next year planning our family costume.

Pumpkin Carving:

We made sure to pick up some pumpkins for carving and the Thursday before Halloween we finally got around to doing them. It has been a while since we’ve carved pumkins and I forgot how much work it is, but we had a good time anyways. I found a jack-o-lantern template I liked online then redid the teeth so they would resemble Kelsey’s little grin, with two teeth on top with a gap and two little ones on the bottom.

She likes to finger paint with her food now so I thought she’d have fun playing with the pumpkin goo but it turns out she’s not a fun of the mess. She poked it a couple times but wanted nothing to do with it touching her. At least she had a good time with the spoon. She did, however, still manage to get it all over her, even her hair, and even sat in it!

As my husband did the final carving, I sorted all the seeds out. I had never made roasted pumpkin seeds before so I thought this would be a good opportunity. After looking around for recipes/instructions online I decided to go with the following. I’ve been snacking on them daily!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• Spread pumpkin seeds out on a baking sheet to dry overnight.
• Drizzle olive oil and use your fingers to stir and coat all the seeds.
• Sprinkle cajun spice mix over all of them.
• Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hr 15 min.
• Store in an airtight container.

Yummies:

Earlier in the month, we had a Make It, Bake It, Grow It Auction as a fundraiser for MacDill Enlisted Spouses Club and I decided to make this Libby’s Pumpkin Cranberry Bread recipe as mini loaves. I had raisins on hand so I decided to use them instead of cranberries.  I made 2 plain mini loaves and 3 with raisins and still had enough for a regular loaf for us to keep. I also used the Kitchen Aid mixer by myself for the first time – talk about becoming domesticated!

The plain ones sold pretty well, but not as many takers for the raisin ones. Who knew there were so many people that don’t like raisins in anything? The loaf we made for ourselves at the house did not last long.

Next up for pumpkin fun? I am going to attempt to make pumpkin puree. I haven’t decided which method I’m going to try yet between these two sites. Wish me luck!

• The Pioneer Woman: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/make-your-own-pumpkin-puree/
• Fun Free of Cheap: http://www.funcheaporfree.com/2010/11/saving-craving-savings-tip-of-day-even.html

In addition to using some of the puree as baby food I’m hoping to try a pumpkin recipe or two. Who knows? I may even attempt a pumpkin pie from scratch with my Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix!

I hope you had a great Halloween weekend and are enjoying Fall where ever you are!