Gingerbread Cookies

Y'all, I know what you're thinking: just another cookie recipe. But these are the BEST gingerbread cookies evvvaaaaah. I would eat them for dinner if I didn't have a child to feed and a husband who wouldn't really appreciate eating cookies as a meal. #ughgrownups

They are perfect for decorating because they are not very sweet themselves, so you won't feel sick from sugar overload. But I also like them without decoration, because they can stand on their own little delicious feet. Until I eat those feet off.

I'm your worst nightmare, Gingy.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 C flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

9 Tablespoons melted butter (that's 1 stick and 1 T)
2/3 C brown sugar
3/4 C molasses
1 egg

Mix all those dry ingredients together in a bowl (not your big bowl, some other random bowl). Enjoy the smell of Christmas and set aside.

Melt the butter (just do it ok), add it to your big bowl, then add brown sugar and molasses. Beat those together, then add your egg. Make sure they are thoroughly creamed together.

Add your dry ingredients in 2 parts; mix until combined (but no more than that; you don't want to overbeat your dough). Divide into two parts, pinch off a bite to eat, then wrap each part in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (preferably all day or overnight).

After that you can shape your dough in whatever way you'd like. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 6-8 minutes.

"Tico" Tacos

We eat the heck out of some tacos in this family. Mostly bc Ezra will actually eat them, usually without even complaining that he "doesn't like this dinner." They also make a pound of ground beef stretch over at least one round of leftovers.

A word of caution on crunchy taco shells: some of them are GROSS. And pretty much all of them are gross if you don't recrisp them in the oven before eating. We have a toaster oven that we love at least as much as a pet (sorry, Django) and use all the time every day. What I'm saying is, the next toaster that gives out on you, buy a toaster oven. It's what you need if you live where it's miserably hot for half the year. Ours is even mounted under the cabinet, so the countertop is free for storing Stephen's many coffee things  being covered in sugar, coffee grounds and toast crumbs  more food prep.

Not my best friend, but close.

Ingredients:
1/2 - 1 tablespoon oil
1 lb ground beef
1 baking potato
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 an onion
1 lime
1 can of unsalted black beans
taco shells (get Taco Bell brand shells if they sell them at your grocery store. They are the legit best.)
shredded cheddar or monterrey jack
cilantro

I love this dinner because all the prep work I have to do is making sure the beef is at least mostly thawed, chopping a bit of onion, and small-dicing a potato. So I do it during Ezra's nap. If you want to use fresh garlic, mince however much you'd like. I suggest 2 cloves.

About an hour before you eat, heat your oil on at least medium heat and add potatoes. Don't stir them too often, every 5 minutes max. Let them cook until they are almost done (which will take a while, 20-30 mins). Transfer to your toaster oven and bake them at 350 until I say so.

Now you'll brown your beef. Put it in that same pan you had the potatoes in, get it browning, and add the onion & your spices. Some of you may be used to "eyeballing it" on the spices when you season ground beef, and your eyes may bug out when you use this much spice. But if you eyeball it based on what you'd usually use for just a pound of ground beef, your tacos will be super bland, bc you're sticking a whole can of black beans and a whole potato in it. Be brave! Be bold! Push past the fear of over-seasoning!

Use the time the meat takes to open and drain those beans, and rinsing some cilantro. You can either pick off the leaves & just add them for garnish, or you can chop the leaves and stems and add them to your meat riiiight before serving.

Once the meat is cooked, drain the grease if you need to, then add the beans and turn the heat to low. Get those heated and juice your lime over those beautiful taco guts you're making.

Take the potatoes out and start toasting your taco shells. A WORD OF CAUTION: in a toaster oven, taco shells go from this:

to this:

in about 10 actual seconds. So KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR SHELLS. Also maybe buy extras if you have kids because they are so good at being crazy right when you should be trying not to burn your taco shells. #stopthrowingthings

Add the potatoes to your meat & fill up those beautiful, not-burned shells, and sprinkle some cheese on top. You could also add lettuce, tomato, and sour cream, but I think those are for people who don't care enough about meat.

Baked Potato Soup

I love when it gets cold enough for me to make this. I also love that it makes a ton of soup; I make it on our last day off before the week, and we eat on it for a few days. There is naaaathing healthy about it, but it's delicious and it's not like I'm making it every other week oh except I definitely just did.

Be still my heart.

Listen, you can make this with another kind of potato, but you shouldn't make it with anything other than Yukon golds. It's just a fact, and I'm the one with the recipe. They're not expensive.

Ingredients:
a whole bag of Yukon gold potatoes (5#)
~48 oz reduced sodium chicken broth (a little more also works well)
a package of bacon (I prefer center cut -- less fat)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 an onion
1/4-1/2 t black pepper
1/4-1/2 t red pepper/cayenne pepper
1-2 C frozen corn
2 C heavy cream
shredded cheddar (for garnish)

Get out your big pot and pour the chicken broth in it. Start the heat on medium. If you like skin on your potatoes, congratulations, you're a grown up! If you're like me, peel the potatoes and cut them into what-will-be large bites. Dump them in the broth.

Mince the garlic and small dice the onion and add them to the broth. Also add the black pepper and the red pepper. Be adventurous! We use the half teaspoon of both and it's not too hot for me. Stephen adds more black pepper to his bc his love affair with black pepper predates our relationship.

As that's heating up, start cooking your bacon. I like my bacon very well done, but it's going in the pot, so you don't need to be too picky.

Once the broth starts to boil, turn the heat down to where it simmers, and keep it covered. When your bacon's done, crumble it and throw it in the pot.

Hey, beautiful.

When you're about 15 minutes away from when you want to eat, turn the heat up just a bit and add the corn. Let the soup come back up to a boil, then add the cream. Let the soup heat up again, then you're ready to go. Garnish with cheddar. You can also garnish this with extra green onions you may have in your fridge that will totally wilt soon if you don't use them.

You could also get sassy with some sour cream, but we're more traditional than that.

Beef & Snap Pea Stir Fry

Significantly adapted from this recipe.

I made this last week, and it was so yummy, I really wanted to eat it again. Right away. I was so sad there wasn't more, but I was glad bc there wasn't room in my tummy for more, but I probably would have tried anyway.

I have 3 different stir fry recipes I go to often. This one is super perfect for when your grocery store has a good sale on steak. I used NY strip for this last one, and it was incredible. HEB has a great deal on strips every so often, and I always stock up. bc I love steak like so much.

Marry me. Except not on a wooden cutting board ew.

Ingredients:
1 nice-sized steak, sliced thin
~1 lb of sugar snap peas (they're the puffy kind; the flat ones are snow peas)
1 Tablespoon oil of your choosing (but sesame is de bessst)
a thumb of fresh ginger
2 large or 3 small cloves of garlic
a few scallions/chives/green onions
1 C beef broth
1/2 C soy sauce
1-2 Tablespoon cornstarch
red pepper flakes to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon)
rice (or ramen noodles)
wonton strips

The great thing about this recipe is it stretches one good-sized steak into enough for our family (Ezra is required to eat 3 pieces of meat, so if your kids actually eat meat, you may want to go for two steaks). When I get home from with my like 8 or 9 steaks, I set aside one or two, slice them really thin, and stick them in their own little baggies. You can also freeze the sugar snap peas, but they keep for a while in the fridge too (I've often made them go a week or longer. It probably makes them a little sad, but I'm not a kind mistress to my food).

First thing to do is prep your ginger and garlic. Fresh ginger is not always necessary, but it is here. And it's cheap; don't be scared of it! Try to get some that's young-looking - the skin will look kind of translucent. Much easier to cut. Mince those together and smell. Yum.

Now you should start your rice, or make your ramen. If you're using ramen, don't use the flavor packets, but you could cook it in some extra beef broth. Now is also the time to blanch your snap peas. Heat up plenty of water in a pot; while that's going, get another bowl of nice cold water (the idea behind the cold water is to stop the cooking process quickly so the peas don't overcook). Once the water is boiling, toss the snappies in there and let em boil for two minutes, then drain them and plunk em in the cold water. You can leave them there for now.

Start heating your oil on maybe medium? Medium-high? We have demon burners, so mine's at like a 4, but it's hot enough to make the garlic and ginger sizzle and get fragrant in 20 or 30 seconds. Once it's smelling so yummy, give it a stir and add the beef. The beef should start cooking quickly, so stir it when it starts browning.

While that's cooking, whisk together broth, soy sauce, and cornstarch. Once the steak is just cooked, add the red pepper flakes, then the snap peas, then the broth concoction. Give it a good stir. Once the broth starts to boil, turn off the heat and add the scallions. You're done!

Yay so yummy! I serve it on a bed of rice with wonton strips on top. You can find these at HEB on the salad aisle by the croutons. They are stoooooopid yummy. srsly. I use them to bribe my kid to eat his meat.

Marry me also. #bigamist

Okay that's all.

Recipe Week!

I have been so dang serious all the time on this blog for a lot of months ugh. In Real Life, I'm not a super serious person (in fact, a considerable percentage of my speech is made of cartoon references, which was also true before I had kids).

So, I decided to do a week of my favorite recipes! I won't take pictures because (as I've said earlier) I just don't take pictures of my food. In my opinion, making food look really yummy on camera is a gift not many people have, and I don't want to add to the internet's many, many kind-of-sickening pictures of food that is probably not sickening at all. Maybe I'll add stock photos of things, like sugar snap peas!

Thanks, Google!

If you want to try out some new recipes, follow along! Some will be quick, some will be simple, and some will not even have cumin! You should still try the cuminless ones, even though cumin is what makes the sun shine warm on your face and arms in the summer, the bright green leaves clapping in the wind... sorry, I was transported by my love. of cumin.

Stay tuned!

Hi. My name is Michelle

And I'm addicted to sugar. Like, the-same-as-I-was-addicted-to-cigarettes addicted. If you've never been addicted to something other than food, you may think this is kind of silly. But I remember quitting smoking, and this is just like that.

[An aside: sometimes I feel like I'm airing out my dirty laundry on my blog, but, truth be told, food addiction is pretty tame laundry, even though it's wrapped in shame.]

You know, I limited myself to one or two cigarettes for months before I was able to completely kick the habit. Months. Miserable months. I just didn't know how to let go of that sweet, sweet nicotine. [Stephen laughed when I used that phrase earlier this evening. He just doesn't know.] Honestly, I was only able to quit because of the patch and a big reward for being smoke-free for a month. I still had a few slips since then.

I even tried a cigarette a while ago (it had been years since my last slip), and the hunger to smoke again returned, almost fiercely. Man, something in me is set to addiction mode.

So I really am that kind of addicted to sugar. The hide the goods, be controlled in all other areas, contain it as much as you can, that kind of addiction. It's open-and-shut; I need to get rid of this. I can't contain it. I don't have the self-control. I have to go cold turkey and be okay with maybe never being able to have sugar again. Oh sugar, I love you! How can I leave you?!? There is something wrong with me.

Jesus, here's my mess. I just can't even anymore.

Women's Retreat Recipes

Here are the recipe's I used for the food at the women's retreat:

Buttermilk cupcakes (for the nutella cupcakes; also minus the sprinkles, obvs)

Nutella frosting

Spice cupcakes

Buttercream frosting (I added 1.5 teaspoons peppermint extract)

The apple pie filling was a family recipe I'm not allowed to share, but here's the recipe for the gluten-free crust I made (I used Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose)

The Slow-Cooker spiced steel-cut oatmeal

Smoked paprika vinaigrette

Cilantro-lime ranch

Sunrise punch

I didn't do dinner, so you're on your own with that one.

The breakfast casserole is 12 eggs, 1/2 bag tater tots, a sprinkle of black pepper, and a covering of cheddar cheese. Throw it in a 9x13 and stick it in the oven at 350 for ~45 minutes. Easiest peasiest.

That's it! :)

Eep!

Sorry for the dead airwaves, friends. Doing the food for our church's women's retreat had my schedule full beyond reason. Last week I did nothing but take care of mine and Ezra's basic needs (Stephen fended for himself!) and food planning and prep for a weekend of feeding 125 women.

I want to tell you some things I learned.

I learned that, if you consider your service as a gift, it can be hard to not be offended when people don't receive it that way (like asking for something more, like hot chocolate, when you literally made over 100 cupcakes, 3 apple pies, gluten-free brownies, and gluten-free lemon bars).

I learned just how emptied I can be. Praise God, I came to the end of myself. Because, for heaven's sake, I needed to know.

I learned how carefully I must watch my thoughts when I'm tired. Of course a college girl's "worst night of sleep in [her] life" involves going to bed at 11 and waking up every 2 hours until 8am. She doesn't know that I never ever get a night of unbroken sleep, and that I just got kind-of-five-hours of sleep so I could get up and make breakfast for her. I shouldn't expect her to know that, and I shouldn't be bitter that she's a college student and not an exhausted mother who's overextended.

I learned that it really is sad when I refrain from speaking love and blessing in my friends' lives because it makes me vulnerable to them. I never have had super-close friends, and I think this is a big reason. I love having close friends, but I honestly believe no one would want me as a best friend. And I really am okay almost all the time with all my friends having closer friends than me.

I learned that there is still joy to be had when you have nothing left.

I learned that, when the rubber meets the road, the Holy Spirit is there to help me not be a horrible person to others (even as the battle rages inside).

I learned that people really like to eat breakfast casserole with ketchup, and people will come ask you even though 3/4 of the women have already gone through the line and surely someone would have asked before, right? RIGHT?

See what I mean up there? I have no grace. I mean, okay, I have a very teeeeeensy amount. Just enough to not be snotty out loud. I suppose that really can be summed up in that I learned that college students just don't realize that the woman who's been in the kitchen LITERALLY FOREVER (I went there) probably doesn't need another person coming and asking for something. Eat your casserole and you're welcome.


BUT

I learned that some people will come help you even though it isn't their turn to help or they're stressed about getting back and studying.

Some people will go out of their way to compliment your cooking and ask for the recipe.

Some people will tell you it makes them feel loved (happy day!) and give you a hug.

Most of all, I learned that women really, REALLY like liquid creamer. ;)

PB & C Pie

So I thought I should share with you a lil recipe I "cooked" up over Thanksgiving. I've always been a sucker for peanut butter and chocolate together, and I've never wanted to actually, you know, expend more energy than necessary in making something. The great thing about this recipe is that it makes two 8" pies - one for your guests and one for you. :)
And remember, I don't do food pictures, so imagine something rich and delightful in your mind.

* either 2 store-bought graham cracker crusts, or 2 8" tins with a graham cracker crust recipe you got from somewhere else
For the peanut butter layer:
* 1 full cup peanut butter (I like the kind that you grind yourself. It really tastes like peanuts and isn't too creamy or too crunchy.
* 8oz cream cheese
For the chocolate layer:
* 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
* 1.5 C heavy whipping cream
* 1/4-1/3 C sugar (depending on how sweet you like your stuff. 1/3C will be quite sweet.)

Instructions:
* I usually nuke me cream cheese on a lower power to get it softer. Don't actually make it hot: the goal is roomish temp.
* Mix peanut butter and cream cheese until homogeneous. Yes, you were going to use that word after high school biology. Divide and spread in pie tins. Don't freak out if your mixture isn't sweet. In fact, be worried if it is.
* Melt chocolate chips with half the cream (make sure when melting that the heat is low and you stir often. Burnt chocolate is not enjoyable to any of your senses. Some people successfully melt chocolate in the microwave but I'm terrified of my chocolate losing its temper. See what I did there?)
* While your chocolate is melting, beat the other half of the cream until you think you'd probably call it whipped. There's leeway in this recipe for an actually whipped cream or a kind of whipped cream. E was already asleep when I made this, so it was whisked instead of whipped. Still yummy.
* When the chocolate is mostly melted, turn off heat and add sugar. Stir until homogeneous.
* Add chocolate mixture to whipped cream and beat until homogeneous again.
* Divide and add to pie tins on top of peanut butter.

IMPORTANT: The chocolate needs to set, so you need to make this pie the night before. Seriously though, it takes like 12 minutes.
IMPORTANT: I don't like Cool Whip. I think it's really weird and yucky to my mouth. But you can use it at your own risk.

P.S. I ruined the predecessor of this pie by trying to melt chocolate and then mix it with marshmallow creme. The texture was genuinely gross [Stephen said like mud without the grit... ;/ He then was reminded that women are allowed to get offended at someone else for essentially repeating what they just said.] I was trying to make it lighter without becoming too light, but I now know that this pie is meant to be so very rich, and to be eaten in little, heavenly slivers.

This is not adoption-related

BUT IT WAS SO DELICIOUS SERRRRIOUSLY.

This. I think I'm the only person in the world who makes roasts in my slow cooker that turn out between meat and shoe leather in texture, but surely I'm not the only person. Right?

Anyway, I wanted something delicious to do with a roast that was on sale, and I decided to do this recipe (heck yes I linked to it twice. Is how we do.) If you offered me a thousand dollars right now, I still wouldn't be able to tell you which roast cut it was for sure. But it was $2.38/lb.

Anyway, I also used a can of both Campell's French Onion Soup and Beef Consomme (because it's towtally better than lame old broth), and a great can of dark beer called Old Chub. It's the best beer I've ever had from a can. Plunked it all in our slow cooker, set it on low, and it was done in 5 hours' time or so. I'm guessing you can tell when it's done because, you know, the meat is cooked.

Anyway, since our HEB doesn't have hoagies (do they? I've wandered around looking), we used bolillos, which we toasted in our toaster oven (how can anyone live without a toaster oven?) with slices of provolone.

I wish, oh how I wish I could make you be able to take the deliciousness from the other side of the screen. But if you have a chance, try this recipe. You will only regret it if you lose all self control, eat way too much, and then feel icky afterward. Not that that has ever happened to me.

Fundraising Friday

Hey all!

Sorry about neglecting the blog for a lil bit. We have our Spiritual Challenge Weekend (our campus fall retreat) this weekend, so we've been preparing for that. Our elders have also allowed us to hold a bake sale benefiting our adoption while we're there. Feel free to pray that we sell everything I've made because HOLY COW I MADE SO MUCH.

Here's a list!
-oreo truffles
-E.L.Fudge truffles
-cookie dough truffles (don't worry; they're eggless)
-fudge brownies
-marble brownies
-turtle brownies
-lemon bar cake
-lime bars
-chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing
-spice cupcakes with buttercream icing
-gluten-free/dairy-free lemon bars
-gluten-free/dairy-free/eggless chocolate chip banana "bars" (cake-like)

I was going to try and toast my own pumpkin seeds (yum, right?!?) but I ran out of time.

Vanilla Spice Cake Fake

Sometimes in life, there are hills we don't want to climb.

Homemade cakery is one of mine. The box mix isn't bad enough for me to put the effort into trying to make a cake. I don't even know if it's hard to make homemade cakes. I'm just not "there" yet. Maybe someday (probably not).

But let me tell you, I wanted to make spice cake for a church meal I'm helping with. I was going to have spice cake daggggnabbbbittttt. But there were no box mixes. Whatev, I've got spices and like to experiment on the people I love! This found its way into my basket as my base cake mix:

Totally not getting paid for this. Call me, Duncan Hines!

I opened the package and it was so vanilla-y-smelling. I had a moment. And then I added:
1 teaspoon ginger (I'd recommend a little less ginger, but I'm not a huge ginger fan.)
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 heaping teaspoon cloves
1/4 heaping teaspoon nutmeg

It turned out really well! The spice tones down the sugar factor of the cake, so you don't feel overwhelmed after putting frosting on the top (I make my own of that, okay? Everyone has their thing). Just perfect for fall. Next time I'd consider putting a teensy bit of molasses in it because it's delicious.

Oh the other thing: it was definitely Ezra approved. We had his first sneaking-pieces-of-sweets-off-the-table incident, leaving quite a lopsided cupcake. I well; I suppose I'll have to eat that one. Tooooo baaaaaad...

Sorry for the drama... and Nutrition

Sorry; I can be kind of an emotional downer sometimes. It's not all weeping chez Muenich, I promise.

Sometimes, I'm researching instead of crying. ;)

So, for those of you considering international adoption, or even for fostering, the Spoon Foundation is a great resource for understanding the impact of malnutrition, nutrient deficiencies, and the like. It's also a great resource for ideas to help your kids to get back on track nutritionally.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a big believer in brain chemistry and behavior. I'm also a big believer in helping your kids get their biochemistry balanced and on track. I suppose what makes me nervous is my bio kid already being a picky eater. Or I'd say E isn't a picky eater per se; it just takes him a long time to try new foods - he needs to see things and hold them (and give them to Django) a few times before he'll put it in his mouth. It sure helps when something's on my plate and I'm eating it, but it's no guarantee that he still will. So I really hope I can get Ezra to be more open-minded about food, since I'll need baby A to eat nutrient dense (and sometimes very un-candy-like) foods for his/her own health and development.

My plan is to start serving these kinds of foods now in the hopes that, by the time we have baby A, E will be enthusiastic about helping his little sibling eat well. Fingers crossed!

BLW

So, Ezra is ten months, three weeks, and 3 days old. And he's still almost exclusively breastfed. Really, I think it's mostly my laziness combined with my always-changing schedule. Nursing is so much easier than preparing foods for him to try, putting him in his little seat, and watching him throw them at Django (we've had to start separating them so Ezra actually attempts to eat and Django doesn't get fat). He refuses purees (which is fine), and often meal times are squish-this-item-and-smear-that-item times.

I know food under 1 is just for fun, but he's still just not that interested in food. Dr. Attachment-Parent (oh, you know, that guy) says babies will eventually start "mooching" off your plate, and that's when you know they're ready to try food. Well, E's come up to see what we're doing as we eat, but any time I hand him a piece of food, it goes from one hand to the other, back to the first hand, and then gets dropped as he toddles off in search of more interesting toys.

He'll eat things like whole grain crackers and yogurt melts, but I'd like for him to eat real foods and, you know, vegetables and such. It's really not so bad, and I'm sure he'll be eating plenty of foods before I know it, but sometimes I start feeling like I'm never gonna be able to leave him for more than a few hours for the rest of my liiiiiiiiife!
...ahem. I start feeling a little trapped. So, you brilliant mommas, you. Any advice?

Mini Garden Time!

I just planted some seeds for a teensie garden. I've been wanting to do a real garden, but the start-up costs seem prohibitive. I know it's not really all that much, but I'm not positive I'll stick with it, and we're running a very tight ship around here to save for bringing home a very important person. So $15 is plenty to spend for now!
I just put cilantro, lettuce (green leaf - Stephen's fav), chives, broccoli, and rosemary to germinate. I picked those because we eat them all the time and I could feasibly plant them now. Hopefully we'll at least get some herbs to use and recoup what we spent, maybe?

I've got them indoors in a cheapy little plastic greenhouse seed-germinating-peat-pallet-thing (I'm sure the actual name for it is much shorter). If any of them sprout, I'll take pictures. The packets promise they will, but I'm skeptical. I started to take a picture of it now, but it would essentially be a picture of dirt. So... yeah.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

Srsly, what is this stuff? I mean, I only have one recipe that calls for it, but I don't enjoy feeding people I like weird things. Anybody seen/come up with a substitution/make-your-own for this goop?

In other news, I'm making up my own potato soup recipe this week. Wish me luck!

Noodle Stir Fry à la Our Best Bites

I'm always on the look-out for something non Tex-Mex. Because everything I ever make ever ever is Tex-Mex. I'm good at it. We love it. But I've been full of ennui in regards to my culinary habits. Which means I was stuck in a rut. [Ennui is a great, great word.]

In comes Our Best Bites. Whom I love (even though we don't always agree). This noodle stir fry really was quick. And tasty. And I'm pretty picky about my sauces (especially Asian ones; I went through a three year period where I could not eat any type of Asian food.) but this one was yummy.

The only thing I cannot vouch for is putting cilantro or lime juice or sesame seeds on. Or adding chicken. I've been trying to help us lower the amount of meat in our diet without the hubs noticing. So far, so good. I didn't miss the meat, nor did I miss the lime or the cilantro or the sesame seeds. In my oh-so-humble opinion, the wonderful women at Our Best Bites are little too in love with cilantro and lime juice. I love me some cilantro, but (if you remember the Asian Lettuce Wrap debacle) sometimes you have to know when to say, "no."

Seriously, the next time you're at the grocery store at 5:30 and you're already kind of hungry, this is great. I will add a caveat that I only allow myself to buy one specialized ingredient per meal (sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, red chili sauce), and this one has quite a few if you don't make Asian food ever. But I had everything but the red chili sauce. I'd estimate that it came out at LESS THAN $1 PER PORTION! Pretty sweet.

Seriously, again.

Taco Soup

Sorry for the vaycay from blogging. I'm just not a reliable person; you're going to have to deal with it.

So I've started this thing where I add up how much a meal costs and figure out how many meals we're getting out of it. Because something may be good, but if it's like 8 bucks a person, it's not very helpful in the long run, you know? It can become a birthday dinner or something of the like.

So I made this taco soup. And it was REALLY good. I also have this thing about making stuff for the first time without a recipe. And another thing where I don't want to taste the dish until we're both eating it. [I get it: that's weird and unreasonable. I do what I want.]

So I did that with this taco soup. I make a pretty mean chicken tortilla soup (I've been trying to recipize my favorite meals I make in desperate hopes that someday, somehow, someone else in this home will know how to cook enough to follow a recipe), so I used that as a rough template. I just had one big, big gamble. Taco soup is made with ground beef, yes? Well I used chicken broth instead of beef broth. I'd never tried HEB's beef broth and was not prepared to lose a good amount of leftovers at the beginning of the week, when I need them most. Of course, after I did this, I thought I could be ruining it anyway with some bizarre beefy-chickeny concoction. I mean, who wants ground beef stuffed inside a chicken breast? That's gross.

I guess that's another reason why I don't taste it. I know I'd just forge ahead with the disaster anyway. But the weird thing was, it wasn't a disaster. And it was relatively cheap! $17 for 8-10 servings (8 if you eat like me; 10 if you eat like I should). That comes to between $2.15 & $1.70 a plate, which is fine for our budget. If you wanna shrink that down by $3.50, don't have the chips. You could fry some chopped corn tortilla strips or something. But seriously, Stephen was bewildered at how good this soup was. I think it was so good he forgot that at least a third of the time I do "my thing," the results are so-so, and probably every one out of five is inedible.

I will give you a recipe, but you're one your own with the spice levels. I don't take pictures of my food because I don't.

Taco Soup

64 oz low sodium chicken broth

1/2 of one of those bigger cans of crushed tomatoes (sorry for the lack of specificity)

4 T butter (actual butter)

1 lb ground beef (I used 93/7 so I didn't have to drain)

1 red bell pepper

2 slices onions (I used one because my husband has a thing about onions)

2/3 cup rice (I used white this time; I'll probably sneak in brown next)

1 cup corn

1 cup black beans (I kind of love "making" my own beans)

2T flour (for thickening)

generous amount of cumin

good bit of chipotle chili powder (I think the chipotle part is really good, but use a good bit more if you're just using regular chili powder)

dash of paprika

lots of black pepper (for the hubs)

couple pinches red pepper (also hubs)

a sprinkling of minced garlic bits (I'd say optional)

a bit of cheddar and

a handful of El Milagro chips (try to find some not-crazy-salty chips) and

1t sour cream for garnish

Whew! That looks like a lot! But it really doesn't feel so bad. It cooks in one pot, so that helps.

1. Melt 2T butter in a large pot of med-med-low heat (my oven's on 3/8, but I have gas (teehee)). Brown ground beef in pot and chop bell pepper and onions while this is going on. Add other 2T butter and add pepper and onions. Saute for a couple minutes.

2. Measure out rice and add. Give it a few hiss-stirs (stir, wait for hissing, stir again), then add beans and corn. Stir a bit.

3. Keep out 1.5-2 cups broth, then add rest to pot. Also add crushed tomatoes and stir. Turn up heat to a healthy medium.

4. Microwave broth to get a warm-but-not-boiling. Measure out a T of flour and get out your awesome tiny whisk (I hope you have one; I love my little whisk! Ezra loves to hold it while I cook. Well, hold it and slobber alllll over it.). Start shaking the flour in a bit at a time while totally rocking your whisking powers. I think I put around 3T flou, but I honestly have no idea. Once you've got some seriously floury broth, add to pot.

5. Add the spices to your heart's content.

6. Walk away for a half an hour. Okay, you may need to occasionally stir.

7. When your rice is good n cooked, you're ready. Get out your most fabulous, gigantic bowls. Fill em up with soup, sprinkle some grated cheese, and roll out the sour cream. I'm not a big sour cream fan, but the dollop is important. So please, do it. I tried to keep the dollop for presentation, but it didn't work out. So I stirred ours in. Srsly, so good.

Lemme know if you try this. Also let me know if you make it better. I love that!

Crushes

...on blogs. The thing about my crushes is that they don't last long (and this is across the board; when I wasn't in love with my husband, I would have crushes on guys for like a day or two. Activities hold my attention for a little longer, but not much). Here's hoping I'll continue to pursue both of these activities.

The first one is Our Best Bites. I've cooked several of their recipes, and they are fresh and delicious (and sometimes quite spicy, which is great for my husband). The only downside is that they aren't always meant for young moms - LOTS of chopping involved. Lots. Ezra is often good during the time I need to prepare for dinner, but he can be a bit capricious. So, I've been trying to chop what I can beforehand, during a nap or the night before. Still, I'd love some fresh meals where I don't have to chop/dice/slice 5 or 6 different foods.

The second one is Shabby Princess. Now I actually a little hate "shabby chic" because it takes the cheapness out of household items that look cheap. And I hate lace and rose-printed fabric. I'm a modernist, whatever. The name aside, this website has lots of free downloads for digital scrapbooking that look really great! And they have ones that are good for boys without being trite (look, I don't like football, and neither does my husband. I'm unwilling to presuppose that Ezra will. He may, but it'll be his choice).

So that's that. I've been flirting with Jamie Oliver's cooking, but his recipes use an awful lot of pancetta. Just sayin.

Recipe Review

So, I've been on a food kick (heck, I'm almost always on a food kick). But I find myself all-too-often cooking the same types of things with the same dang spices (as in, do I have b.o, or am I excreting cumin from my pores?).

So, a website was recommended to me (thanks, Rachel!) with lots of good recipes, and by good I mean, a little different for me, but not including wacko ingredients (orange juice in my black bean soup? I don't know about that). So I thought I'd tell you about some of them!

The first one we tried was the Asian Lettuce Wraps. You should check out the pictures on their website, they actually flatter the food. I almost never cook Asian food because it used to make me horribly nauseated. But something happened around my third trimester, and I'm cured!

Anyway, I did a couple of things different from the recipe (you'll quickly notice that I never EVER follow a recipe exactly, even on the first go. My rebellion rearing its head.) - the biggest difference is that I didn't make the drizzling sauce. I wanted to see if they were good enough without this extra step (and the extra calories). Verdict: plenty tasty without! Yay!

The second big change was I substituted romaine lettuce for iceberg. Stephen has nothing but contempt for iceberg lettuce (he honestly will not eat it), and I thought, what the heck? Why not go for something with actual vitamins in it! So romaine it was. Verdict: eh. The big ole vein (what's it actually called? not a stem... a spine? ugh this is how I know I'm tired. I can't remember anything) in the middle makes it a little tricky to roll. I think I also made mine a little full, so that added to the difficulty in eating. If you don't mind iceberg, maybe the ease would be worth it.

The more minor changes: 4 cloves of garlic is a lot in this household. I used two. Verdict: I think I'll do three next time, because I didn't notice the garlic. But hey, garlic is one of those bully flavors; it's kinda nice to make him support others rather than hogging the attention. Two was just fine. I also took out the sesame oil (it wasn't worth it to me to buy just for this recipe) or the mushrooms (blech!). I didn't miss either. I also used chicken breasts that I cut into itty bitty cubes, cause I couldn't find ground chicken while hustling through HEB at 10:30pm. Worked great.

Honestly, when I first tasted my wrap, I thought it was kind of icky - it was too green tasting, like chlorophyll. Then I realized what it was: the cilantro! I took it out and BOOM - SO MUCH BETTER! Verdict: NIX THE CILANTRO. I adore cilantro so much, but in this recipe it's a big no. BUT Stephen didn't notice it or mind. He really loved this dish! We ate on it for several days as well, maybe four meals all-told, which is a huge bonus for me, since the recipe calls for lots and lots of chopping, which means a good bit of time.

All in all? I think this will be added to our monthly rotation. I just need to make sure and chop all the ingredients during Ezra's first nap, including the chicken. Once everything is chopped, it's an easy, yummy, healthy meal. Yay!

One question, though, for you chefs out there: ginger. Am I doing something wrong, or is it just really difficult to mince well?