May 12, 2015
by Ashley
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Pad Thai

Paul found a Thai place in college that he went to at least once a week. I wasn’t introduced to Thai food until we started dating. This spicy yet somehow sweet dish is wonderful. If we make it without spice, the kids like it as well. We stay true to the dish we liked so much from college, only using tofu

Pad Thai

8 oz Rice noodles, medium sized
1/2 cup tamarind paste
1/2 cup boiling water

1 container extra firm tofu
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup sambal oelek (optional)
2 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 -4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 – 2 cups bean sprouts (or small package)
2 green onions
6 tbsp lightly salted peanuts, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime cut into wedges

Soak the noodles in cold water for at least 1 hour. Make sure they are covered completely.

Pour boiling water over the tamarind paste in a small bowl. Let sit for at least 15 minutes to loosen up paste.

Drain and dry tofu. Cut into thin slices. About an inch by a fourth inch. Set aside.

Combine fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Add sambal oelek (amount optional depending how spicy you want this). Drain tamarind paste through a sieve into this fish sauce mixture. Press tamarind paste to seperate solids from paste. Scrap paste from the bottom of the sieve and discard solids.

Heat vegetable oil in a wok. Add 2 scrambled eggs into the oil and let sit without touching for 2 minutes. Let cook through. Add in garlic and cook 30 seconds. Then add in tofu and cook 2 minutes. Add in softened and drained noodles and stir. Pour fish sauce mixture over noodles and saute about 1 minute. Add in sprouts, chopped peanuts and green onions and carefully stir. Try not to break the noodles.

Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges. If you want more heat, add more sambal oelek at this time.

May 9, 2015
by Ashley
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Portabella Mushroom Risotto

Risotto has become an easy, go to meal for us in recent years. We usually start off with our usual base, and then add in ingredients such as the mushrooms in this dish. It always comes out perfect.

Portabella Mushroom Risotto

(Usual Base)
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup arborio rice (short grain rice)
1/2 cup white wine (anything open is fine)
4 cups chicken stock, warmed
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
salt & pepper to taste

6 portabella mushroom caps
2 cups fresh spinach
2 tbsp chives

In a large sauce pan, bring chicken stock to a simmer. Heat a large, high-sided saute pan and add olive oil and onions. Saute about 5 minutes or until softened, don’t brown. Add in garlic and saute another minute. Add in cup of rice and stir. Add in mushrooms and saute another 3 – 5 minutes, until moisture is cooked out of them a little. Deglaze with white wine, stirring constantly. Slowly add in a half cup of stock, stirring slowly but constantly to make sure all rice has been incorporated. Let the stock cook into the rice a little while still stirring. This process will take a bit. Slowly stir in a half cup to cup of stock and stir until well combined before adding anymore stock. This will help the rice become creamy without adding cream.

When you have about a 1/2 cup left of stock, add in spinach, chives and parmesan before you add the last bit of stock. The stock will help wilt the spinach. Slowly stir everything and let cook down to creamy rice. Don’t forget to stir! This process usually takes 20 – 30 minutes. It seems like a lot of time, but it is worth it. Garnish with a little more shredded parmesan.

May 8, 2015
by Ashley
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Camp Breakfast Biscuits

Summer is approaching and we are starting to get excited! We are going to start taking the kids camping! We have most of our gear organized now, from tents and sleeping bags, to glow pets and cookware. Needless to say, Paul & I are most excited about the camp food we can make. Finnegan is excited about “nature tracking” meaning walking paths, and Isla…she is excited for smores. My little sweet lover.

So after a trip to Chicago to gather some of Paul’s old camping equipment, we finally feel ready. We are now collecting recipes that sound fun. Pinterest has been a big help, but a recent trip to the library also was fairly fruitful.

As the baker in our family, I felt a good breakfast biscuit recipe would be fun. I didn’t make this in a camp stove, but wanted to make sure the recipe worked before we try it outside.

These biscuits turned out really well. Created into a breakfast sandwich on this morning, but will be served with butter and homemade jams the next.

Camp Breakfast Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup instant dry nonfat milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cups water (plus a little extra)

*This recipe was originally doubled. I have revised it to be half as many biscuits.

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add in olive oil and mix well. Can be reserved in a plastic bag at this point and water added as needed. Mix well until dough comes together. Add small amounts of water if the dough is too dry. Cut biscuits with a biscuit cutter or empty clean tin can. This will yield about 15 smaller biscuits.

This is where my recipe differs from the original. Place biscuits on a silpat and place in a preheated 400°F oven for 15 minutes or until browned.

If making these while out in the woods, you will need to use a dutch oven to bake. Arrage the biscuits on the bottom of the dutch oven, close together. Place lid on dutch oven. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes using 13 coals on the lid and 6 underneath. Bake until the biscuits are the same golden color on the top as the oven version. Rotate oven in fire often to prevent biscuit bottoms from burning.

From the book Lip Smackin’ Car Campin’.

May 5, 2015
by Ashley
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Barley & Lentil Veggie Burgers

I am not a vegetarian, but sometimes I can go for a good veggie burger. I have tried to make different veggie burgers in the past, but these are the ones I usually go back to. They are worth the time and effort and they freeze well. I usually eat them plain or with a topping, but recently tried melting mozzarella on top and spreading tomato sauce on a wrap for lunch and they were great!

Barley & Lentil Veggie Burgers

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup dried lentils

1/2 cups pearl barley
1 1/2 cups water

Olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup carrot, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp kosher salt, divided

1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 large eggs
3 tbsp canola oil, divided

Bring 1 1/2 cups water and lentils in a saucepan to a boil. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until lentils are tender. Drain. Split cooked lentils in half in a large bowl and half in a food processor. Process until smooth. Add processed lentils to whole lentils in large mixing bowl.

Bring 1 1/2 cups water and barley in a separate saucepan to boil. Cover and simmer for 35 – 50 minutes until tender. You may need to check to see if cooked through.

Drizzle olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and carrot; sauté 6 minutes or until tender, stir frequently. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add tomato paste, cumin, oregano, chili powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 1 minute, stir constantly. Add onion mixture to lentils. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, barley, bread crumbs, parsley, pepper and eggs. Stir well. This can be refrigerated at this time or cooked immediately.

I like to make the patties smaller, so about 1/4 cup of mixture per patty. Heat half of the canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Repeat.

Based off of Cooking Lights recipe.

In Cooking Light they serve these veggie burgers with a fruit salsa, but I served mine with a yogurt & cucumber sauce.

May 3, 2015
by Ashley
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Sweet Pea Soup

Yes…another pureed soup! It is wonderful and worth a try. Oh, and super easy.

Sweet Pea Soup

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 10oz bag frozen sweet peas
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 1/2 cups chicken stock

Garnish
Fresh cracked pepper, olive oil and a teaspoon of yogurt.

In a large sauce pan, heat up olive oil and saute onion for about 2 minutes. Add in frozen peas and seasoning. Saute another 2 minutes. Add in chicken stock and let come to a boil. Carefully transfer soup into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour back into sauce pan and bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and cracked pepper. We also added a teaspoon or so of yogurt swirled throughout.

April 30, 2015
by Ashley
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Homemade Croutons

There are many things you can make with my Everyday Bread recipe. Sandwiches, french toast…really it is just like any loaf of bread. But there is something about fresh baked bread that I love.

I had a 3 inch loaf leftover and needed some croutons to go with a salad. So I made these!

Homemade Croutons

leftover/remaining loaf of bread (could be either store bought or homemade)
granulated garlic
olive oil
kosher salt

Preheat oven to 400°F. It is hard to say exactly what the measurements of this should be. It really depends on how many croutons you would like to make.

Cut loaf of bread into even bite sized cubes. Put the cubes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle a little granulated garlic and kosher salt over the cubes and pop them in the oven for about 5 – 7 minutes. Check to see if they are starting to get a little crispy, turn them and bake another minute or so. Keep an eye on these so they don’t burn.

April 29, 2015
by Ashley
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Quick & Easy Potato Salad

Leftovers can work so well for this recipe. I made my Garlic Red Potatoes the other night, and used the leftovers to make this great potato salad. It came together in minutes!

Quick & Easy Potato Salad

2 cups chopped Garlic Red Potatoes leftovers (or cooked red potatoes)
4 tbsp mayo
2 tsp grainy mustard
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 stalk celery
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 slice bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced and broken in

Mix all together and enjoy. Taste to see if needs any salt or pepper. Super easy!

April 28, 2015
by Ashley
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Chocolate Covered Strawberries

When we can find really nice looking strawberries that are big and really juicy, I will make this as a dessert and the kids go wild. Isla truly would like to eat only the chocolate, but I force the strawberry down as well.

I feel like it is something special but still something a little better for us than a regular dessert. They are quite easy to put together, and really an impressive looking dessert if you are having company over.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Large, washed strawberries
Milk & Dark Chocolate bars

4 oz of chocolate to every 1 pound of strawberries

Chop up the chocolate into pieces and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir together. This should be enough to have melted the chocolate completely. If not, microwave in 30 second intervals so as to not burn the chocolate.

Dip washed and dried strawberries in chocolate and cool on a silpat or parchment lined plate. Put these in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

April 27, 2015
by Ashley
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Turkey, Apple & Sweet Potato Meatballs

Kids can be really picky. Vegetables and fruits sometimes get tossed by the wayside on those picky days. Sweet as my kids are, the aren’t always sweet about what I try to feed them. I just have to hide veggies and fruit in their food so they will eat it. I hid vegetables in pasta sauces and fruit smoothies. I saw a version of this recipe in a cookbook meant for children, and decided to try it. I usually don’t make any recipe according to the directions, so this is version of the original.

They actually watched me make these meatballs, and still ate them up.

This is a great recipe that should work as a finger food for your toddler as well as a dinner for your whole family. Finding a recipe for everyone can sometimes be difficult, but this one is really good. Serve with rice or pasta and a vegetable side.

Turkey, Apple & Sweet Potato Meatballs

20 oz ground turkey
1 apple, peeled and shredded
1 sweet potato, cooked and peeled
1 tbsp fresh basil
salt & pepper, to taste
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 small onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Mix all ingredients together. Swirl about 2 tbsp olive oil in a dutch oven or nonstick pan. Make meatballs and place them in the hot pan. Watch to make sure they don’t burn on the bottom. Flip the meatballs and add in a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. I ususally make my own, which I will share in the future. Put a top on the pan and let cook for 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.

Based off of a recipe from First Meals by Annabel Karmel

April 24, 2015
by Ashley
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Broccoli, Spinach & Zucchini Bread Balls

Feeding kids has definitely changed the way I look at recipes. I still make things that we made before having children, but I have to make kid versions of some of our favorites. I also have had to find different ways to incorporate veggies into their foods. Broccoli is a favorite of ours, but even steamed broccoli can get old. That is why I decided to try out these bread balls.

Bread balls are very popular in this house. If I make anything in the ball form, they are likely to get eaten. If you don’t have a cakeball maker, this recipe can easily be made into a mini muffin. Mini muffins would be about the same idea as these bread balls. This is another great option for a lunch for Finnegan and a lot of green vegetables added. He loves them!

Broccoli, Spinach & Zucchini Bread Balls

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup broccoli, cooked and diced
1 cup zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp olive oil

Mix all of the dry ingredients with the vegetables. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix everything together. Heat up cake ball maker and spray with cooking spray. Add in 1 tbsp of batter to each hole and let cook for 4 minutes. Check to make sure cooked through. These freeze well and can be heated up in less than a minute in the microwave.

If making muffins, bake in a 350°F oven for 15 – 20 minutes.