{recetas} Shrimp & Rice Noodle Soup

It's winter here in Minnesota. We finally have the snow to prove it. My crock pot and Dutch oven have been used enough to claim that winter is here in full force as well. They've been most frequented by soups, a true sign of fall and winter.

Today's soup is inspired by one of my favorite dishes. Pad Thai. I absolutely adore pad Thai. I found two local restaurants that serve a mean pad Thai. Sadly, they don't deliver. But the Shrimp & Rice Noodle soup is a good stand in.

I know I mentioned this exact thing in my last recipe, but the Hubs loves my Shrimp & Noodle Soup. He even said, "Not to say that your other stuff is bad, but the last three new recipes you've made have been amazing." Score one more for me! And, I had this delightful helper in the kitchen. Quite frankly, he is always in the kitchen with me.

What you need:

• 1 pound shrimp, raw
• 64 ounces chicken broth
• 6 tablespoons Tamari sauce (or soy sauce)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1.25 teaspoons sriracha
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 0.5 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 0.5 cup peanuts, crushed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 0.5 cup julienne carrots
• 8 ounces rice noodles
• salt
• ground ginger

What you do:

• Melt one tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Crack the two eggs into the pan and scramble them. When they're done, set them aside in a small dish.
• Heat the olive oil in your soup pot and cook the minced garlic for a minute or two. Add the chicken broth, fish sauce, sriracha, and red pepper flakes and bring to a boil.
• While waiting for the broth to boil, prepare your shrimp by taking all of the tails off and placing the shrimp in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with a teaspoon or so of salt, along with the ground ginger. Heat the last tablespoon of butter in a frying pan and cook the shrimp over medium heat.
• When the broth is boiling, add the rice noodles and carrots to the pot and cook according to package directions. The rice noodles I buy need to be stirred frequently and boiled for 4 to 6 minutes. I taste them around the 5 minute mark to make sure they're done to my liking.
• When the noodles are done, you can add the egg and shrimp to the pot and serve right away. Or, you can have a "build your own" soup bar, which is how it happens at my house. We use a salad tongs to place noodles in each bowl, then allow each person to add their own egg, shrimp, and crushed peanuts. Then, we use a ladle to add broth to the bowl.

{recetas} Venison Soup

Aah, soup.

Nothing beats soup on a cold winter day. Especially hot soup. And I mean hot. My husband usually lets an ice cube melt in his bowl of soup because I like it so hot. A meal that warms and comforts. That is what winter is about.

And since it seems like winter will be here forever, I may as well embrace it. Right?

Venison Soup

What you need:

1 pound ground venison

3 bell peppers (I got the stoplight), diced

1 package mushrooms, chopped

4 carrots, peeled & chopped

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

32 ounces beef broth

1/2 can diced tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

What you do:

First, wash and chop the veggies. Well, dice the onion and the peppers. I like to keep the onion pieces a little large so that I can easily avoid them while eating. I don't know to eat onion, but I enjoy the flavor that it adds to a recipe.

Put the onion and venison into a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil. Brown the meat and cook the onions until they are translucent. There isn't much fat with venison, so don't worry about draining. Instead, transfer the onions and beef to a large stock pot or dutch oven. I wish I had a dutch oven (don't worry, I put it on my birthday list).

Add everything else to the pot and let it simmer. I like to let my soups simmer for about 30 minutes. This is to make sure all of the vegetables are done, but also to allow the flavors to meld.

And when I'm feeling extra fancy, I add a few slices of avocado on top.

Cucumber Vodka

Ah, Pinterest.

I spend many an hour on Pinterest.

This cucumber recipe is probably one of the first Pinterest "projects" I have completed.

I finally made the move because I bought these fabulous Weck carafes from Crate & Barrel. They've been sitting on my kitchen counter, waiting to be used. I had re-pinned a "recipe" for cucumber water and decided that'd be perfect for the carafes.

Okay, side note. When I find something on Pinterest, am I supposed to make a link to the pin, or go directly to the original site and link to that? I just don't know... Anyway, this is the website of the pin. If I'm supposed to link to the pin, let me know!

So, I sliced my cucumbers (well, I peeled them first) and loaded them up in to the two Weck carafes. I filled one with water and stuck it in the fridge.

I went a little crazy with the other one...and filled it with vodka!

Supposedly the water will be ready in 2 to 24 hours....I'm excited!

Everything I've read about infused vodka says to wait 3 or more days. We're having some friends over for dinner on Thursday. I think that is the perfect time to try the cucumber vodka with a little tonic and lime.

What do you think?

this one is vodka -- the cucumbers
floated in the water

Linked up here.

*UPDATE* The cucumber vodka was delightful! I maybe left the cucumbers in the vodka for a day too long, but it was still a refreshing drink! (7/26/2013)

Updates & A Meal Plan

Truthfully, I don't have much in the form of updates. Except for the fact that I'll be 30 weeks on Wednesday and my toes are rapidly disappearing from view!

In the past week, I had 3 (yep, three) coworkers comment on my size and how I am bound to have a big baby. Luckily, I'm not one that is overly concerned with this. I am the size I am right now for a reason. Maybe I'll have a huge baby...his dad was 10.5 pounds...it wouldn't be that surprising.

I think what shocked me most was that people actually said something. Way back in the day (ok, less than 30 weeks ago) I had read an article titled "10 Worst Things to Say to a Pregnant Woman." One of those ten worst things was any sort of comment on her size. I recall thinking to myself, "who on earth would comment on a pregnant woman's size!?"

Oh, it happens.

One woman even said, "Weren't you due a couple of days ago?"  Haha, nope. Not 'til May! Like I said, the comments didn't really bug me. I've become a home for this little guy and if he needs me to be the size I am, then so be it! It's the fact that these women (all women that have children of their own) made a comment about it.

Anywho...on to the more important stuff. I planned to show off the super cool bookshelf my husband and I painted.  Except it didn't turn out that cool. And, the hubs did all of the painting. Apparently, I picked up the wrong kind of primer and it stunk. The hubs even got a headache. A full 48 hours later, the primer is dry and the bookshelf still stinks. I'm a little hesitant about putting it in the babe's room. Needless to say, I don't plan on sharing that project epic fail with you all.

And, the meal plan. Quite frankly, this week is a cheapo meal plan because we will only be home for dinner a handful of times:

Monday: Southwest Meatloaf, Scalloped Potatoes, Mixed Greens
Tuesday: Girls' Night (I'm bringing bread)
Wednesday: Birthday Dinner @ my parents' house
Thursday: Mushroom Gravy Slow Cooked Rump Roast
Friday: Super-Secret-Hubs-Is-Cooking-For-My-Birthday
Saturday: Venison Fajitas, Mexican Rice
Sunday: Chicken Pad Thai

Easy-peasy meal plan, but I'm pretty excited about it. Especially Friday's plans. I have absolutely NO idea what they include. I asked the hubs if I could pick up any ingredients for him. He said he'll take care of it (he's pretty awesome, FYI).

Anyway, time to play one of my favorite games:

Have you ever played Mastermind!? It is amazing!!

Salsa!

Just a short while ago I took a picture of the tomatoes my husband and I harvested from our garden. Aah, it was a lovely harvest. Tons and tons of tomatoes (along with a few cucumbers and a zucchini) came inside with us and it was decided that they would be perfect for salsa.

I would have preferred making more spaghetti sauce, but the husband was quite eager to make homemade salsa. It's not my favorite pair to chips as I much prefer guacamole. Luckily, our tomato plants still have plenty of tomatoes ripening away. Spaghetti sauce will be next, along with the first experience with the pressure canner.

I awoke early this morning with the dog (apparently he missed the memo about today being a non-work day) and got ready to head to the Fleet Farm and grocery store to gather a few items for salsa making. Okay, and pickle making. We made refrigerator pickles--no water bathing required--and I cannot wait to taste their dilly goodness tomorrow.

We soon realized that our kitchen is much too small for large-scale canning. I could show you a picture of my kitchen at this point, but every picture I took today was taken without a memory card in the camera. Whoops. Anyway, we also noticed that our regular stock pot was not even close to large enough for boiling the salsa. The husband was a gem and offered his 3 gallon brew kettle for the task (I have plans to purchase a new one, a bigger one for him).

Today marked my first day of canning. I have watched my mother-in-law can cranberry jelly, but never had I completed the task from start to finish by myself.

Canning was rather intimidating. The tomatoes were overflowing on the counter. My normally large looking stock pot looked tiny. My kitchen counters were overcrowded in a matter of minutes. My hands quickly became pruned and the tomato juice rendered them itchy (possibly an allergy?). Husband chopped bell peppers, onions, garlic and jalapenos. The tomatoes held all of my attention. Blanching, peeling, blending half of the tomatoes, chopping the other half.

Canning was incredible. In a matter of hours, I will be checking the seal on each jar of salsa and will be able to store each one for up to a year. There are currently 10 pints of salsa on the counter. I'll consider the tomatoes free, since we bought a packet of seeds for a buck and that was in February (and we used about 30 tomatoes). The peppers, onion and garlic cost us just $7. Now, that is some cheap salsa! I'm not in awe of the savings alone. I'm in awe of the fact that my husband and I grew tomatoes from seeds and we will now be able to enjoy them for the months to come. Maybe I'll make some fresh tortilla chips and have a wonderful homemade snack some day.

This has provided me with motivation to can and preserve more. More pickles, spaghetti sauce (I never want to buy spaghetti sauce again because of this recipe), fruit, salsa, just tomatoes in general. I already am planning next year's garden. What should we grow? What should we preserve? What else can I provide for my family (so far it's just me and the hubs, but it's a family nonetheless)? And even though the kitchen is small, I won't shy away from canning.

{recetas} Cucumber Dip

The garden is producing cucumbers like mad.

And I love it.

The husband and I had a party to head to tonight and were in charge of an appetizer. I figured my mother-in-law's cucumber dip would do the trick, especially since I needed to use up those cucumbers. Por supuesto, I changed a thing or two. In reality, I didn't have a recipe, only a recalled conversation on how to make cucumber dip.

Yes. It is that easy.

Honestly, though, summer would not be summer without it.

What you need:

• Cucumbers (4 large, but you kind of have to judge by taste/consistency)
• 2 packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
• quarter cup water

What you do:

• Wash, peel and chop your cucumbers. I used cucumbers from the garden, and sent my husband (he's such a gem) to the store halfway through making the dip because the dip needed a few more.

• Put all of the chopped cucumbers in your stand mixer or in a bowl. Toss in the two packages of room-temperature cream cheese and mix. My dip was stiff. Maybe too chunky? So I added a quarter cup of water and turned the mixer on again (doesn't that thing make life easy?).

• Add the teaspoon of salt, garlic powder and pepper. I also added a few twists from the garlic pepper grinder because it's fun. This part, of course, is all to taste. My mother-in-law doesn't like pepper, so she doesn't add that. I think it tastes better that way. I also add more garlic that she does. Everyone has different taste buds, right?

 Serve with tortilla or pita chips and enjoy!

{recetas} Homegrown Tomato Sauce

As mentioned before, my husband and I were up north for a week. Before we left, we looked at our tomato plants and realized that most of the tomatoes would be ready to go while we were away. My parents came to the rescue, once again.

We had them stop by our house to check on/pick the tomatoes on our 15 tomato plants. Needless to say, we came home to a bowl full of tomatoes.

It has been rainy today, and for some reason, rainy days mean spaghetti to me. Okay, it was probably the bowl of tomatoes that were screaming "spaghetti sauce!" I performed the infamous Google search (do I say that in every post?) to find a recipe for fresh tomatoes.

As usual, I found exactly what I was looking for over at Smitten Kitchen ... easily one of my favorite cooking blogs! She had the most perfect, most customizable recipe I could find. So I went with it.

This recipe was adapted from the Smitten Kitchen.

What you need:

• about 4 pounds of tomatoes (they don't have to be pretty!)
• quarter cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• half of a carrot, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 1 hot pepper (couldn't tell you which kind, we found the pepper plant growing the garden while weeding)
• 1 lb ground beef

What you do:

• First, you have to peel the tomatoes. This isn't something I have ever done before. I was concerned that it would be really difficult (it wasn't). All you have to do is boil a pot of water, then make a cross in the bottom of the tomato. Put the tomatoes in the boiling water for half a minute, then take them out a rinse with cold water. Peel and discard the skin. Easy-peasy.

• Depending on the size of your tomatoes, halve or quarter them. Remove and discard the seeds (this took the most time!). Because I don't care for super chunky tomato sauce, I blended them. I placed half of the tomatoes in the blender and blended on low for a minute or so. I removed those and added the rest of the tomatoes.
• While the olive oil heats in a saucepan over medium heat, mince the carrot. Combine the carrot, garlic and onion in the olive oil and cook for a bit (5ish minutes).
• Add the tomatoes to the carrots, garlic and onion and simmer on medium/low. 35 minutes is perfect.
• While the sauce is simmering, brown the ground beef in a skillet. Drain off any excess fat/grease.
• With about ten minutes left on the timer, add a half teaspoon of salt and a light sprinkling of basil to the sauce. Stir it up and allow to simmer a few more minutes, then add the ground beef.
• Serve over spaghetti noodles and enjoy!

Please excuse the iPhone pictures...I left my camera at my in-laws' house. Whoops!

While I slaved away in the kitchen, Finn made sure to rest!

{recetas} Just Your (above) Average Hamburger

Last night, I made some really tasty hamburgers and I wanted to fill you in on the little secret I have.

Okay, there are 2 secrets.

1. Lawry's Seasoned Salt. You don't need much, but it adds so much flavor!
2. Worcestershire Sauce (that is a pain to type!). Again, not a lot. Just enough for extra moisture.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• a few shakes of the following:
• minced onion
• Worcestershire sauce
• Lawry's seasoned salt
• garlic powder

The Steps:

• Plop the ground beef into a bowl.
• Shake a small amount of each of the other 4 ingredients (about half of your total amount) and mix it all up (I just use my hands).
• Shake another small amount of each ingredient on the beef and mix it again.
• Form the ground beef into patties. This is the step that I always mess up. My burgers end up looking a little bit like meatballs...too think, I guess.
• Stick 'em on the grill until they're done (according to your preference!).

Serve the burgers as you usually do. I prefer to have mine sans-bun, with a pickle and a dash of ranch dressing on top. My husband has his with Cholula sauce, a tomato and some banana pepper.

{recetas} Breakfast Popsicles

Breakfast is much more fun if you get to have a popsicle. Plus, I don't really like breakfast food that much, especially if it is at breakfast. Scrambled eggs for lunch or dinner would be fabulous. But for breakfast? No thanks!

While one of the girls I nanny was at yoga, the Deuce and I made a trip to my local thrift shop. Oh my amazingness. For the last few weeks, I had been looking around (at Bethesda and another thrift shop) for popsicle molds. Just a few days ago, I contemplated buying them new online.

But yesterday's Bethesda trip came through! I snatched the popsicle mold right up. I almost bought a set of 4 aluminum containers, but decided against it. As usual, I sent my mom a picture text to shower her my find for the day. She sent me hers. Including those 4 canisters. We are so much alike, it's unreal.

Anyway. Back to the recipe.

Breakfast Smoothie Popsicles.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups yogurt of your choice (I used Chobani's strawberry yogurt)
• 1.5 cups frozen fruit of your choice (mine was a blend of blueberries, blackberries and strawberries)
• a splash or two of lime juice
• 4 tablespoons Chia seeds (optional)
• a handful of spinach (optional; I didn't use spinach this time, but usually I do.)

The steps:

• Place all of the ingredients into a blender until smooth-ish. It won't be completely smooth, especially if you added the spinach and Chia seeds...or a super seedy fruit.

• Pour the mixture into the molds and insert the popsicle sticks.

• Place the mold in the freezer overnight. Breakfast will be ready when you wake up!

Which was 10am for me today. I love summer!

Learn Something New

The old saying is true. You really do learn something new every day.

I nanny two little girls, ages five and seven. The five-year-old ("Five and a half, Miss Lizzy!...I can hear The Deuce say in her ever-excited voice) does not like chocolate. Yup. That's what I wrote. She does not like chocolate:

Me: "Why don't you like chocolate, dude?"
The Deuce: "I think it tastes like mud and dirt."

Well, okay then. But, that isn't the something new that I learned today. Keep reading...

After making homemade playdough this morning, we decided to continue with a cooking theme. Well, we switched to baking and decided upon the chocolate-free Snickerdoodle cookie. A yummy cookie, for sure, but not one of my favorites (because there is no chocolate, duh).

We planned on having a lunch date with my husband at a super local, super yummy pizza place. The cookies were coming with as dessert (because store-bought cookies are not nearly as good as homemade!). The older girl packed four cookies into a baggy and away we went.

The hubs was so happy to see Snickerdoodle cookies. You know what he said?

"That's my favorite kind of cookie."

And that, my friends, was news to me.

I promise I'm not a horrible wife...we just don't have cookies that often. Because if we're going to have dessert it will for certainly be a nice big bowl of homemade ice cream.

You really do learn something new every day. Today I learned that the hubs loves Snickerdoodle cookies. I'll be posting a recipe soon...and baking more of the hubby's favorite cookies!

{recetas} Lime Tilapia

This. recipe. was. delicious.

I found it using my wonderful AllRecipes app on my iPhone. It has what is called the "Dinner Spinner" and it is great! You can now add custom ingredients to the spinner, so I added tilapia, since that's what I had in the freezer.

Here is a link to the original recipe, but I modified it a little bit (that's becoming pretty typical for me!).

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon refrigerated minced garlic (making it easy on myself!)
• 1 tablespoon oregano (the dried kind, from those mini jars)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• minced onion
• a couple twists on the garlic pepper grinder
• 2 tilapia fillets
• 1 lime

*I did not add sugar or tequila.
*Instead of measuring, I used a small prep bowl and made sure the bottom of it was covered with the minced onion.

What to do:

• Put all of the ingredients into a small prep bowl (except the tilapia and the lime!).

• Place the tilapia fillets, one at a time, into the bowl. Be sure to cover each side with the marinade.

• Oh yeah, preheat the oven to 450 (this is always something I forget to do, and end up waiting for the oven after everything is prepared). Probably a good idea to prepare a baking dish: cover it in foil, spray the foil with a non-stick cooking spray.
• Place each fillet in the baking dish and "plop" the rest of the marinade on top of the fillets. Place a slice of lime on top of each fillet, and the extras around the baking dish.

• Cover with foil. Place in oven and bake until the fish is flaky (I think it took my oven about 15 to 20 minutes, with the foil off for the last 5).
• Serve with a salad (I had Caesar salad on hand, and it wasn't as weird as I thought it would be).

{recetas} Cucumber Hummus Cups

We had a fabulous father's day today, even though the tornado sirens have gone off and we have decided to spend the night in the basement. We were lucky enough to go over to my husband's aunt and uncle's house for a lakeside BBQ this afternoon (for the 4 hours it didn't rain today).

I was in charge of bringing an appetizer for the gathering and I decided upon Hummus Cucumber Cups. I wasn't sure on the name since I didn't have a recipe. There was only a little inspiration from my first year as a teacher. A parent brought these yummy snacks for one of the class parties during the year. The five- and six-year-olds didn't really care for them, but I adored them little snacks (and don't know why it has taken me three years to make them for myself!).

And. They're super easy!

Ingredients:

• cucumbers (no bigger than medium sized, otherwise they're hard to eat!)
• hummus (super easy to make from scratch, but I only had 10 minutes before we were to leave)
• any type of seasoning you'd like to put on top (I used Tajin!)

The Steps:

First, cut off the ends and slice the cucumbers to about the thickness of 1 inch.

Next, use an appropriately sized measuring spoon to scoop out the middles of each slice, making a cup.

 Use a spoon or two to scoop some hummus into each cucumber cup. Sprinkle the top with your seasoning of choice (or leave them plain!).

Sorry for the blur! Oh, the phone camera...

{recetas} Taco Casserole

I found this recipe on All Recipes and modified it just a little bit. I made it awhile ago exactly how the recipe states, but I like to modify recipes a bit. I do it, mostly, to see if I can. Someday, someday, someday, I would like to be able to cook without a recipe. Practice makes perfect, right?

Here are the ingredients I used the second time I made this recipe:

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 can sliced olives
• 1 package frozen corn
• 1/2 can tomato soup
• 1 can southwestern style diced tomatoes (they're Target's brand and have diced tomatoes, chiles, garlic and jalapenos...I think)
• 1/2 box of elbow noodles
• enough shredded cheese (colby/jack) to cover the top (didn't measure!)
• enough tortilla chips to crush over the top
• a few sprinkles of garlic salt (to taste)
• a couple shakes of Tajin (to taste) -- found at a Mexican market
• 1 packet of taco seasoning

The steps:

1. Cook the noodles to "al dente" status. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. While the noodles cook, brown the ground beef and add the taco seasoning according to the package directions.
3. Add the olives, tomato soup, diced tomatoes and frozen corn to the skillet with the beef. Sprinkle on some garlic salt and the tajin (if you want to/have it).
4. Drain the noodles and pour those in the skillet as well. Mix it all together, then pour it into a 9x13" casserole dish. Cover the top with shredded cheese and bake until the cheese melts (or for 30 to 35 minutes if your dish sat in the fridge because you had to go to class and you made it for your husband to heat up later. Just sayin').
5. Serve it in a shallow bowl (or on a plate, whatever works!) and crush a few tortilla chips over the top. My husband likes to add a spoonful of sour cream and bit of salsa to the top of his. Me? I like it just as it is.

I think it is really tasty and think you should try it!

Project: Organize #?

I haven't organized anything in a really long time, which is a bummer. I get such a sense of accomplishment after organizing a part of my life.

I do, however, have an idea for what I would like my next Project: Organize project to be. Project: Organize #1 was a huge success. I truly enjoy the new look of my pantry. It has made cooking that much more enjoyable. Project: Organize #2 was also pretty awesome, but not as fun to complete.

For Project: Organize #3, I would like to complete the office. The one that is filled with all of our "stuff." The one that has an almost empty closet, but a door that doesn't open all the way. To fix this, we really do just need to organize.

Good thing it is my last day of work for the summer and my projects can begin!

Not Everyone Likes a Milkbone

I can't tell you why, but Finn does not like Milkbones. At all. In fact, we tried to use Milkbones as a way to get him into his kennel at night, and every morning we have seen them hidden away in his crate. Wouldn't he eat one or two if he liked them? He doesn't like treats!? What? That's ludicrous. Being that he is a puppy, treats are kind of a "big" part of training. Well, not super big, but big enough.

Since he is as cute as he is, I decided to make some treats for him... and it was very easy. I only needed a few ingredients (5!) and a super cute cookie cutter to make these treats. I can't tell you where the recipe was found, I found it in an old recipe box that was given to me (which was pretty neat, by the by).

Here is everything you need:

I forgot to take a picture of the milk!

2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon honey

First, mix the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, peanut butter and honey until it is well combined. Once that is well mixed, add the dry ingredients. Mix this, too, until it forms a nice dough. Roll it out on a floured surface to the thickness of about a quarter inch. Use a cookie cutter to make fun shapes for the biscuits (I used an old aluminum pan to make a bone shaped cookie cutter).

Needless to say, Finn loves these treats! I even gave some to my K-9 sister (Mad) and my puppy nephews (Duke and Louie). They liked them, too!

Tapping Trees

This "winter" (if you can even call it that in Minnesota this year), my husband and I tapped our silver maple trees. I had the idea when we first moved into the house, but didn't realize until this winter that any maple tree can be tapped. Not just sugar maples. Sweet! We have three silver maples and tapped two of them. It was extremely simple and unbelievably awesome.

First, my husband drilled a hole into each of the two trees. We had to drill at an angle so the sap would run more fluidly. In the photo, you can see the metal spile in his hand. This is put into the drilled hole and then tapped a couple of times so it is secure.

On the spile is a small hook to hang the bucket and lid. If the trees are tapped at the right time, the sap will start flowing immediately. Unfortunately, with the crazy winter we had this year, we had tapped too late. It was warm enough during the day, but wasn't getting cold enough overnight.

After the first night, we didn't think we'd get any sap. In fact, from one of the trees, we didn't. Not even a drop. That was a bummer, but we did end up with quite a bit from the second tree. Our spirits were lifted! You can store sap in the fridge for up to a week, so we had to boil rather quickly.

It was so interesting. Sadly, I didn't get to be present for the boiling portion of syrup making for very long. My aunt called with a delivery, and I needed to be there. I left my husband to the boiling and didn't get any pictures. BUT! We made syrup! Six whole ounces of syrup!

The only thing I can say is that homemade syrup is amazing. And I can't wait for next winter to tap the trees again!

BBQ Chicken & Roasted Vegetables

I know, I know. It's not summer yet, but the zucchini and yellow squash looked SO good at the store the other day, I had to get a few of each.


I can only give you my plans right now, because I don't have my camera with me (I really need to get better about bringing it everywhere!). I will have pictures for you, though because both parts of the meal turned out fabulously!


I started the chicken early because my plan was to use the slow cooker. Oh, before I get any further. I have another novice moment. And (digital age, anyone?) Facebook helped me out. The original plan was to make pulled pork sandwiches. I headed to the market to buy a shoulder roast. Couldn't find one for the life of me. I searched high and low (well, in the pork section, anyway). I settled on chicken because it was there. Each night, I spend some time looking at my news feed on Facebook. And there, right in front of my eyes, was a picture of a butt roast. Funny! I saw those when I was shopping for the shoulder roast. So, I clicked on the picture and read the caption. It informed me that a butt roast is actually the shoulder. WHAT!? I could have gotten the pork and been fine. Ugh. Thanks, Facebook.


I put all the chicken in the slow cooker and dumped a bunch of BBQ sauce on top (21 ounces, to be precise). Cooked on high. The chicken was fabulous. And, what's better is how easy the recipe was!


The vegetables. Ah, the vegetables. I cut them all in the small chunks (zucchini and squash into half-moons, peppers into squares) and let them soak in some water for a bit. I tossed both in olive oil and sprinkled it all with garlic salt and a little pepper. Then it was to the baking sheet and on to the oven. 350 degrees for about a half hour. They were so summery and delicious--I plan on making them again (soon!). 

Crock Pot Tacos

I love tacos, especially chicken tacos. I also love my crock pot (well, crock pots...I have three). I just finished throwing dinner for tonight in the crock pot and now can go on with my day (working on organizing project #2, laundry, typical house stuff..). The chicken for the tacos will be done in four to five hours, it's that simple!

Here's what you need:

• 4 frozen chicken breast halves
• 2 cans diced tomatoes and green chiles (we use the Rotel brand)
• 2 tablespoons Cholula Sauce
• 1 cup salsa (I blend it beforehand, but that is totally optional)
• 1 cup chicken broth

Here's what you do:

• Place the frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot.
• Add everything and stir it up a bit.
• Set your slow cooker to cook on high for 4 to 5 hours. Be sure to check and stir it up once in awhile. When the chicken is done, use forks to shred the chicken while in the crock pot.

This makes a pretty "wet" taco, so I use a noodle scooper (does it have a real name?) or a slotted spoon to scoop the chicken onto tortillas. I serve this with homemade Mexican rice (not store bought...it just doesn't taste the same!) and margaritas.

Enjoy the tacos!

For those of you that were wondering, this is the recipe I was working on when I had a homeowner novice moment and met The Gas Man. Ay, ay, ay.

The Gas Man

Did I ever feel like a home-owning novice today. Goodness. Here's the full story:


I was making a recipe in the slow cooker that called for chicken stock. I glanced at my newly organized pantry and realized that I was out of chicken stock and chicken broth. Oh no! Luckily, I did have chicken bouillon cubes. Now, I've never prepared the cubes in water on their own. I normally just toss a few into the crock pot. I thought I'd give it a shot, so I put a chicken bouillon cube in a saucepan with a cup of water and turned on the stove. Hooray, it worked!


I poured all of the other ingredients into the slow cooker and then added the ... can I call it "homemade" broth? to the slow cooker and went on my way. No biggie, the recipe was turning out and smelling wonderfully!


I went about my business: checking email, putting the laundry into the dryer, cleaning off the dining room table. Then, about twenty minutes after finishing the "broth," I headed into the kitchen for a little lunch. I looked down at the stove and HOLY EXPLETIVE the stove was still ON. Quick, quick, quickly I turned it off and turned off the crock pot and the dryer (what if my house blew up!?).


If you know me at all, you know I can be a paranoid person. So, I called the gas company and talked with the woman in the call center. She decided it necessary to send a tech out to check out my house. She also made me even more nervous by asking me all of these questions, then having me open all of the windows in the kitchen, dining room and living room. She told me to not turn anything on or off (including lights) and to leave the house.


Ugh.


An hour and fifteen minutes later, the gas man came (thankfully...I was getting cold, after having been outside the whole time) and said the air was clear in the house. He said there is no issue at the furnace, water heater or dryer. He checked the gas oven and stove. All was well.


And, all is well. My toes are a little cold and the house hasn't warmed back up. As tedious and annoying the whole process was, I have to say that I am happy that I called. I'd still be worried (a full hour after the gas man left) had he not come out and said everything looked OK.


AND! Look what I found in our garden from last year (no lie, these pictures were taken today):

There's only one of them, but this is where we had onions planted last year. Needless to say, winter has been pretty odd in Minnesota this time around!

My New Favorite Soup Recipe

I have a new favorite recipe and, as the title suggests, it's for soup. Really yummy soup.

My original plan was to make Beef Barley Soup using this recipe, but I found the recipe in the morning and wanted to eat the soup that night. And, there just wasn't the time in the day to hit up the grocery store. I didn't have the chuck roast, but I had stew meat. I didn't have the barley, either. So, I improvised. Big time.

Here is what I had (and what I used):
-Stew meat
-Frozen carrots
-Frozen peas
-Frozen green beans
-Vegetable oil
-Bay leaves
-Beef broth
-Beef bouillon cubes (only two of them!)
-Garlic and peppercorn grinder

Here's what I did:

First, I browned the meat using a small amount of vegetable oil and a generous supply from the garlic and peppercorn grinder. If you don't have this fantastic grinder, I suggest you pick it up. It is a great addition to a lot  of meals. I especially like it on scrambled eggs and in my homemade spaghetti sauce.

At the same time, I poured a little more oil into a stockpot and dumped in a fair amount of frozen vegetables (in writing this, I've come to realize that I did not measure a thing while making this soup...whoops). I didn't use a ton of green beans, because they're not my favorite. In fact, next time, I think I'll leave them out. I did, however, use a lot of peas and carrots. YUM!

I can't tell you how long I cooked the vegetables...when the carrots tasted mostly done, I added the beef, broth and two bouillon cubes. I sprinkled on some more garlic pepper and dropped in two bay leaves. I probably simmered the soup for 15 to 20 minutes and served it right up, with homemade rolls. It was delicious-and Mr. Husband thought so, too!

I'm sorry this isn't written like a normal recipe with clear cut measurements, steps and cook times. I plan on making the soup again this weekend, so I'll pay more attention to the details.