This week in my kitchen - Easter edition

It's Easter week!

Maya and I made some yummy "bird nests" treats on Monday. Fun, easy, and she loved the whole process!

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Bird Nests


3/4 cup butterscotch chips
2 cups chow mein noodles
candy eggs or jelly beans (we used Cadbury dark chocolate eggs)

Melt butterscotch chips over low heat and stir in chow mein noodles. Drop in piles on cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Make indentation in middle of each pile to form a "nest". When they're cool, place "eggs" in the "nests".

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At church this Sunday we're having breakfast together before the Easter service. I signed up to bring muffins, so I'll be taking these - one of my all-time favorite muffin recipes!



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French Breakfast Muffins

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg and beat well. In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk, mixing each time until just blended. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes. Mix together cinnamon and sugar. Roll muffin tops in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar mixture.

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Say what?

Ok, so I posted about this on my baby board when it happened last winter, but looking into my backyard this afternoon reminded me of this classic anecdote, and it still makes me giggle. I just had to relive it...

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I'm changing Maya's diaper in her room and Mark comes in. This is the conversation that follows:

Mark (softly): There's a body in our backyard.

Me: What, dead?!?

Mark: No, alive.

Me: That's called a person!

Mark: What's a person?

Me: What?!?

Mark: What?!?

Me: What did you come in here and say?

Mark (louder): There's a bunny in our backyard.

Me: Oh!


Turns out he was telling me quietly because he didn't want Maya to get all excited about the bunny if it were to run away before we had a chance to get to the window. (Which it did.) But I couldn't for the life of me figure out who would be in our backyard during a snowstorm, and why Mark would choose to label said person as a "body"!
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Ah, yes. Classic.

This week in my kitchen (Week of March 10th)

I haven't yet decided on my baking project of the week. It will likely be a batch of cookies...maybe peanut butter chocolate chip? Beyond that indecision, however, I do have two recipes to share again this week.

I was introduced to this one by Keara, and it's quickly become a weeknight favorite in our house! The chicken turns out so tender and flavorful, and the BBQ adds a nice kick.

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Easy Barbecue Crispy Chicken Melts

Prep Time:15 min
Start to Finish:45 min
Makes:4 servings

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup milk
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)


1. Heat oven to 425°F. In 13x9-inch pan, place butter. Heat in oven 2 to 3 minutes or until melted.
2. In shallow dish, stir Bisquick mix and pepper. Pour milk into small bowl. Coat chicken with Bisquick mixture, then dip into milk and coat again with Bisquick mixture. Place chicken in pan.
3. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170°F).
4. In small microwavable bowl, microwave barbecue sauce uncovered on High about 30 seconds or until warm. Spoon sauce evenly over chicken; top with cheese.

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The next one is a dessert I made for a family dinner on Sunday night. It's a slightly adapted version of a recipe from Great Food Fast, a cookbook by Everyday Food, a Martha Stewart publication. If you're a tiramisu fan and don't have the time to put into the full-on authentic stuff, this is an easy and satisfying alternative.

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Easy Tiramisu

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese (or reduced-fat cream cheese)
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cups strong coffee, cooled
2 packages (2-3 oz.) ladyfingers
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and whipping cream with electric mixer until fluffy. In 8-9 inch square or round serving dish, place one layer of ladyfingers. Generously brush with cooled coffee, moistening but not soaking the ladyfingers. Spread one-third of the cream cheese mixture over ladyfinger layer. Repeat layers twice more, ending with cream cheese mixture. Dessert may be refrigerated up to a day. Dust top with cocoa just before serving.

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Enjoy!

Lessons from life with a 3-year-old - An ongoing list...

#1 - Concepts often elude them.

(This morning as Mark is in the bathroom, Maya is laying on her stomach outside the locked door, peering under the crack at the bottom and yelling at full volume...)

"DADDY!! DO YOU WANT SOME PRIVACY?!?"



#2 - Reasoning with them is futile.

(Yesterday, after she requested raisins for her afternoon snack, and I walked by to notice that she had eaten half of them and left the other half neatly in one side of her bowl...)

Me: "Are you going to finish your raisins?"
Maya: "No, these ones are yucky."
Me: "They're yucky? Why?"
Maya: "Because I don't want to eat them."
Me: "Why don't you want to eat them?"
Maya: "Because they're yucky."
Me: "Ok, but why are those raisins yucky?"
Maya: "Because we should throw them away."
Me (taking deep breath, trying one more time): "Ok, what makes them yucky?"
Maya (shooting me an exasperated look): "Me!"

[I give up]

This week in my kitchen (Week of March 3rd)

Ready for another one? Well here it is, whether you like it or not!

This week's baking project is compliments of my friend and fellow baking addict, Stephanie, who alerted me to this Dorie Greenspan recipe last week. Tomorrow morning will find me mixing up these delightful-sounding muffins! I'll be sure to report on my impressions.

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Ricotta Berry Muffins


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And my dinner spotlight recipe of the week is one that I sampled at a Pampered Chef party last week (where I also placed an order for some fun new kitchen gadgets, much to my delight and my husband's chagrin). It's everything I like in a recipe - easy, tasty, and (as food should be) pretty!

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Family-Size Baked Burrito (from Pampered Chef, although I've adjusted the recipe so as not to entirely need their specific products)

2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
3 cups diced, cooked chicken
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 lime
3/4 cup salsa
1 T. taco seasoning
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 1/2 cups shredded Colby & Monterey Jack cheese, divided
4 burrito-sized flour tortillas
1 can bean dip (I'm substituting a can of fat-free refried beans)
assorted toppings, such as lettuce, olives, snipped cilantro, and Avacado Lime Sauce (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 425. Squeeze juice from lime half into bowl, and add chicken, onion, salsa, seasoning mix, and garlic. Microwave mixture about 3 minutes, or until thoroughly heated. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese.

Arrange tortillas on a baking stone (or baking sheet) in an overlapping, circular pattern. (Tortillas will hang off the edges a bit.) Starting in center, spread beans over tortillas, forming a 10-inch square. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over beans. Fold edges of tortillas up and over the filling in an envelope fashion.

Arrange tomato slices in rows over top of burrito. Sprinkle remaining cheese over burrito, covering completely. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and edges are brown. Cut into rectangles and serve with toppings.

Avacado Lime Sauce: Mash 1 ripe avacado. Stir in 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 T. lime juice, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Drizzle over burrito.

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Enjoy!

This week in my kitchen (Week of February 25th)

Have I mentioned that I love to cook? Well I do. Trying out new recipes is such a treat, and baking up some bread or muffins is like stress-relieving therapy for me.

I like to have a baking project every week. This week, what with snowstorms, sickness, and lack of exotic ingredients, I turned to an old standby comfort treat...chilling in my fridge as I type this!

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No Bake Cookies

1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 tsp. vanilla

In medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter and cocoa powder. Heat to boiling and cook for 1 1/2 minutes (be careful not to over- or under-cook). Stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Drop by large spoonfuls onto wax paper-lined baking sheet and chill until firm.

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Yum!

As far as dinners go, I'm doing some soup and a good ol' spaghetti night, but I also went with our all-time favorite salmon recipe on Sunday night. We try to eat salmon fairly often because of the health benefits, and this is by far the best way I've found to make it!


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Spicy Southwestern Salmon

2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cumin
dash pepper
1 lb. fresh salmon filets, skin removed

Place salmon filets on broiler tray. Brush with olive oil. Combine brown sugar and spices and sprinkle over salmon. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until brown sugar mixture begins to melt. Reduce oven temperature to 400 and bake for 10-12 minutes more, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

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Happy eating!

It marches on

I've often had people tell me, "The older you get, the faster time flies." That wisdom fell on deaf ears during my childhood years, when the months between Christmases seemed endless and summer vacation felt like a blissful eternity. As I entered adulthood, however, I started to believe it. I remember clearly the year I realized that all of the college athletes I watched in televised competitions were younger than me. And now I'm feeling it even more as I approach a full decade of marriage, as it's now the professional athletes who are approaching retirement at my age, and as I discovered not long ago that this year would have been the last year I could have legally auditioned for American Idol. (Not that I ever would...or ever should...but you know, it's good to have options.)

And then there's the huge spotlight that glaringly and constantly points out the passage of time - parenthood. "They grow up so fast" is both the most overused adage that's spoken of this stage of life and the one that's most hauntingly true. It's incomprehensible to me that we've gone from making decisions about when to start solid foods to discussions about when to start preschool. How did this happen?

The other day, as I held my second-born, my sweet two-and-a-half-month baby boy, I watched as he woke from a short nap. As he stretched his chubby arms above his head, his chin jutted out in a look of sleepy, pouty-lipped determination. And I was instantly and unexpectedly transported back to another time, when I gazed down at another beautiful newborn - his big sister, now three years old, who used to make the same face when she slept. "Honey, look! She's doing the chin thing", I'd often call to my husband during those simpler days, when we had little else to do but stare at our little girl and coo in amazement at every expression. I smiled as my mind traced over these memories, and then my eyes misted over as I recalled another one...

Fast forward a year and a half from those days of early parenthood. My tiny newborn girl was now an active, precocious toddler. Those first few weeks of sleepless nights and working hard for smiles were distant memories as the same child now charmed and exhausted us with her happy busyness. One afternoon, as naptime was approaching, she uncharacteristically fell asleep in my arms as I rocked her on the couch in the living room. I gave an inward, "Woohoo!", gathered her up carefully and started a careful trek through the house towards her waiting crib, eager to settle in for some rest and relaxation myself. As I passed through the dining room doorway, though, I glanced down and stopped in my tracks. For my eyes had fallen on her sweet face; eyes closed, cheeks flushed, hair pushed clumsily behind her ears...and that chin...that sweet, silly chin shoved forward, with her lips forming that familiar pout from long ago. The realization of time's ever-quickening pace came crashing down right then, and I knew I was receiving a gift in that moment; both a glimpse back in time and a moment I'd remember the rest of my life. My baby was, for a fleeting second, my baby again.

I don't know how long I stayed there. My arms grew tired and my back ached. A group of teenage girls strolled by outside the window, laughing and yelling in the summer sunshine. And I stood beside my dining room table, tears falling from my eyes as I rocked my baby. My baby who could now run and dance and sing and give hugs and kisses. My now three-year-old baby who today shot me a confused look when I offered to help her switch to a different computer game after she was done with the first one. "I am playing a different game, Mama", she said. "When I was little I couldn't do it because I needed help. But I'm a big girl now." Yes you are, sweetie. I stand corrected. And I stand in helpless, bittersweet awe as I watch time pass by. It keeps marching, yes it does...