Recipe Links

We're getting Gazelle intense to pay off our new debt :(.  We hate debt.  We have three things to pay off.  A TSP loan we used for our down payment, a family loan we used for our down payment and our mortgage.  Ballparking 6 years to pay off if we stay in CA the whole time. I've written it down, so it must be true!  :)

We get takeout A LOT, so needless to say, we've wasted tons of money on food.  This week, we didn't get takeout at all.  It helped that I was sick and home all day, but I also meal planned, grocery shopped (spend $105 for the week) and made some good meals.  All my devices were dead, so I have no pictures, but here are the links.

They are both slow cooker recipes.  It's been super hot here, so that was the only option, other than grilling, which we did one night.  I'll include that recipe too :)

First up was Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki.  I used chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts and it was super yummy!  Definitely a keeper.

Next is Fried Rice.  Neil and I both agreed that this was actually really good, although the picture didn't look good.  One blog post mentioned the fact that the picture wasn't good, but still everyone who makes it loves it.  It uses leftover rice, so next time I'll make a double batch of rice earlier in the week for the Chicken Teriyaki and then keep 2 cups of leftover rice in the fridge for this recipe. This recipe called for chicken, but we had frozen shrimp we used instead and just put them in at the end.  It called for 4 T of butter, I might try 3 T next time and go from there.

The last recipe was Grilled Salmon I.  Just a good staple recipe.

Let me know if you make any of these.  What did you think?

Current Kitchen Loves

As we've pared down our kitchen, we've started to notice what's truly working for us and what isn't.  Simple things like Neil likes to drink out of pint sized mason jars and I like to use cups that stack so they don't take up much space.  To have a matching set of vintage (but familiar) Corelle dishes that don't weigh as much as our last Goodwill find. Both of us don't miss those at all. Without further ado, here are our current loves:

Butterfly Gold Corelle dishes.
I wasn't sold on this pattern, but I found exactly what I was looking for (4 each of dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, cups and saucers) on etsy AND then I found out it was LOCAL!  I was able to save $20 on shipping and once I saw them in person I couldn't be more happy with the design.  It doesn't scream feminine and the gold/brown color matches well with our beige and blue/green theme going on in the kitchen.  They also look really nice on our dark wood table. Neil particularly likes the cups and saucers, because they fit under is espresso machine and it has a nice handle.

Le Creuset Braiser in Marsaille
I love the color and I love making food in this! I feel so gourmet when I use it. :)

Ninja food processor/blender
I had a 30% off coupon at Kohl's and was able to get this for about $45.  With three different sized containers, it can easily be used as a mini food processor, or 2 blenders. The motor sits on top of the containers and is interchangeable.  Consumer Reports rates just as a high as a Vitamix!  After making sure it worked the way we needed it too, we've donated both our very old blender (free cycle) and our mini food processor (wedding gift). Neil uses it almost daily to make protein shakes, and I've made a smoothie or two, make hummus and chopped onions.  Very handy!

All Clad 6 Qt. Pasta Pot  
We have a 12 Qt. Pasta Pot that we never use because it takes SO long to heat up the water, but I really liked the quality.  The 12 Qt. has been relegated to the canning process and I use it for jelly making. I got a discount 6 Qt. Teflon pot from TJ Maxx, which was working well, but it was an ugly red and black.  Recently, I started noticing the Teflon was starting to wear, so on the lookout I went for a new pot to save up for.  The 6 Qt. was $99 on Amazon and then just yesterday our local small business kitchen store was having a 20% off the entire store.  While Neil took Arya to the beach, I headed over there, thinking it was probably too good to be true that they would have it as the same price as Amazon.  I walked in, saw the All Clad display and there was a 7 Qt. for $400!!  Just a WAY bit our of my price range.  I walked aimlessly around the store, a little disappointed and then a clerk asked me if I needed help.  I said was looking at 6 or 7 qt. pasta pots, but it was more than I wanted to spend, pointing to the $400 one.  She then pointed me to a display and there it sat!  The amazon one that was $99.  Guess what, it was $99 there too!  and it was 20% off, so I got it!  I used my Christmas gift card, so I ended up spending $16 cash on it.  It's awesome!!

USA Pan, small Jelly Roll pan, silicone covered
We make a lot of chicken nuggets, bacon and garlic bread.  Every time we use our big cookie sheets and every time we add a layer of foil to make clean up easier.  We'd save the foil for the next time, since we used the oven nearly every day, if not multiple times a day, but the cookie sheet is really too big for what we need and the grease from the bacon always got on the sheet, so we had to wash it anyways.  In comes this new pan.  It's about half the size as the cookie sheet and it has a silicone covering on it.  It's hard to explain, it makes the pan a little slippery, for instance the frozen chicken nuggets just slide around the pan.  Well basically, its nonstick and we've used it now for a couple of days and it's still clean, everything just wipes off!  We haven't even had to use water.  It is SUPER handy.

My Kind of Dessert!

During nap time today Neil and I made some chocolate mousse!  I was rather confused on how to make it because some recipes called for egg whites and some called for egg yolks.  Some called for semisweet, some for bittersweet. Being a dark chocolate fan, I decided to go with bittersweet and I went with egg yolks because it required less eggs.  The result was amazing!  I knew it would be.  I've always liked chocolate mousse at restaurants, but I've never tried it at home.  A newbie no more, I'm hooked.  The only issue is that I had to dirty 3 bowls to do it and once the chocolate, egg and whipped cream harden, it's hard to clean them up!  So word to the wise, clean out the bowls right away, you'll thank me later.

Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse
adapted from Taste of Home

8 oz. 60% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used and recommend Ghiradelli)
1/2 c. water, divided
2 T butter
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3 egg yolks
2 T. sugar

In a microwave, melt the chocolate, butter and 1/4 cup of water.  It should take about a minute.  Stir until combined and without lumps.  Cool for 10 minutes.

In a small saucepan, heat on medium heat and stir the egg yolks, remaining water and 2 T sugar until 160 degrees or until it's thick enough to coat the back of the metal spoon.  (Mine got pretty foamy, so I couldn't tell if it was getting thick.  Then I saw curdles, so I lowered the heat and whisked rigorously until it was all better, have a whisk close!)  Remove from heat and add the chocolate mixture.  Stir until smooth.

In an ice water bath, place the saucepan and stir and cool for 5-10 minutes.  Meanwhile, beat the whipping cream until soft peak form.

Once the chocolate mixture is cooled, fold in the whipping cream.  Distribute into 6-8 small dessert dishes.  (I used 4 8 oz. jelly jars).  Refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Basil Lemonade

Ooh,  Mother's Day was great today!  We woke early, had breakfast and then headed out to the Hillcrest Farmer's Market.  It's by far the biggest one we've ever gone too and it's always a fun time.  This time, I got to splurge a little bit and I got 4 truffles and strawberry basil lemonade.  Usually, the lemonades are super tart and sugary, so I wasn't expecting it to be too refreshing, but oh my, it was delish!

I decided I'd try my hand at making my own.  I adapted a recipe from Food52 and I love it!!  I made single serving, then a small pitcher full and lastly, a concentrated version to freeze and add water later.

1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup boiling water
3 cups quartered strawberries (about 16 oz.)
20 medium basil leaves, chopped
1 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 6-8 lemons

Juice the lemons until you get 1 1/2 cups, set aside.
Put the sugar in a heatproof bowl, pour the boiling water over the sugar and stir until combined, let cool.
Put 3 cups quartered strawberries into a blender/food processor, add the chopped basil and 1/4 cup of the sugar water.  Blend until really smooth.

To make:
Combine equal parts strawberry puree, lemon juice and sugar water (1 1/2 cups each). This makes a concentrate. To this add 3.5-4 cups cold water.  Serve with ice.

If make a single serving, put ice in a cup, add 3 T. each of strawberry puree, lemon juice and sugar water, add 1/2 cup cold water.

In the food52 recipe, they used 3:3:1or2 ratio.  I thought it needed more sugar, so I upped it.

UPDATE: After sitting in the fridge overnight, it tasted much more sugary than after I just made it.  I may try the actual food52 recipe next time.

Spice Storage!

We had to do some rearranging in our kitchen cabinets to accommodate our new OXO brand airtight containers.  I was never really happy with our spice storage, which was in the upper cabinet on the lowest shelf next to the stove.  We couldn't see what was behind anything and we had several multiples because of that.  

I had read somewhere that keeping them in the freezer kept them longer. We don't put much in the door of the freezer, so we moved what little there was and moved all the spices over.  It freed up a bunch of space in prime real estate and made better use of the freezer door space.  It still is hard to see what's in there, but now it's only two deep and I just need to label them on the lids.  I was also thinking, I would just put them in order alphabetically, then I would be more apt to know where they would be.  

Project Life Dilemma! HELP!

I've spent the last few days looking at Project Life scrapbooking. Mostly from a new blog called eliseblaha.typepad.com. As a fan of Shutterfly and their ease of creating albums, I've definitely shied away from scrapbooking because of the inherent messiness and cost.  BUT, it would be fun to tangibly create something every week and to document/journal our lives a bit. AND, if I buy the cheapest set (which you use for the whole year), it would come out to $100.  Over 12 months, that's less than $10 a month.  And, it doesn't seem like it would be too messy. It's a conundrum.  I don't really need it, but it would be fun!

Opinions please!

2014 Easter Basket

I tried to make a pixlr board, but I could load any of the pictures, so instead I'll just list what we are going to give Arya for Easter this year. :)

I've had a basket like this for a few years, and I used it for Arya's Easter basket last year, so we're keeping with the tradition.

Next up, is a tiny little gnome.  It's about 3 inches tall.

Here's my favorite!  A jellycat bunny. They are so soft and machine washable.  She already has a white cat, so hopefully she'll like it.

Easter eggs with yogurt covered raisins probably.

 Not shown, a bunny book!

Toddler Friendly Meal :: 1

Daddy's Carbonara from www.food52.com

I grabbed a good looking cookbook from the library the day before our camping trip and stole peeks at it during our quick excursion to Julian.  The cookbook is pretty cool.  They are all contest winners from a blog called Food52 and the chefs are all regular home cooks.  While I like a bunch of them, I decided to try Daddy's Carbonara.  Arya's been loving peas and bacon lately, so I thought this would be a hit.  Also, I've never made REAL carbonara, I've always chickened out and made it with garlicky alfredo sauce instead.  I now can say I'm a convert.  Super easy and super good!

We halved the recipe and baked the bacon in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes.

Toddler verdict: Absolutely loved it!  She asked for thirds :)

My List

i found this list on Che and Fidel and was inspired to join in! 

I am...

making : camping lists for our day trip to Julian tomorrow

cooking : pre made chocolate chip cookie dough.  Arya's helping (and may be sampling the frozen dough!)

drinking : wine, E.V.E.R.Y. S.I.N.G.L.E. night

reading : Heaven on Earth…need some daily rhythm and discipline in our lives

wanting : to live a simpler life in a simpler place

looking : at school librarian standards

playing : with the play food for Arya (switching to wooden toys and less variety..it's working!)

wasting : too much time on Facebook, Gmail, Youtube and Pinterest.. vicious cycle

sowing : the seeds to save $50 next year and do taxes by hand.

wishing : we were closer to family

enjoying : the fact I took a vacation day tomorrow and don't have to go in for a 10 hour shift...

waiting : for the tax bug to kick me into gear about getting our taxes done

liking : having breakfast and tea ready in the morning by my honey

wondering : what Arya will look like when she's older

loving : Arya's long curly hair and the way she looks like a doll when her bangs are pinned back

 hoping : Arya will do good on the camping trip with no Curious George episodes!

marvelling : that we've been in San Diego almost 6 years!

needing : nothing really

smelling : the smell of cut grass the other day..divine

wearing : the same old colorful Keen shoes, have them in teal and pink.

following : soulemama and bluebirdbaby, like usual…going on probably 7 years

noticing : how dull our condo looks after living here almost 3 years

knowing : change can happen at any moment….and we're SO ready for it

thinking : I need to use my computer less

bookmarking : tiny houses

opening : my mind to meditation.  I can only do 2 minutes at max right now, but I do think it's helps.

giggling : that when I mention Daddy to Arya, she reacts with tickling hands and says "ticka ,ticka, ticka!"

feeling : like this life is doable

Cheesy Goodness x 2

I've been making Arya homemade macaroni and cheese for a while now, so much so that the post-it with the recipe that has been sticking to the side of one of our cabinets is sun bleached.  It's a pretty simple recipe, and I almost always have the ingredients on hand.

Tonight, I really felt like au gratin potatoes, so I went to Pinterest and then Allrecipes to see if I could find one.  I read a few of the reviews on the one with the most ratings and one of them said the sauce was the same as what she used to make macaroni and cheese.  Hmmm, could it be that easy, I thought?!?  I compared the recipes and all that was different was my macaroni and cheese had an extra half cup of cheese.

So, instead of using the au gratin recipe, I just used my macaroni and cheese recipe with different seasonings.

So without further ado,  here's my cheese sauce recipe that can be used for pasta or potatoes!

3 T Butter
2-3 T flour
2 cups milk
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
ground mustard (for macaroni and cheese only)

Melt the butter on medium heat in a saucepan. Once melted, add the flour and whisk continually for 1 minute. (add ground mustard for macaroni and salt to taste for both) Slowly add the milk, whisking continually to avoid all clumps.  Once all the milk is added, heat until it thickens up, whisking occasionally.  I usually turn down the heat a little, but sometimes I forget and it's O.K. Thickening takes up to 10 minutes.  Once it's thickened, dump the shredded cheese in and stir for 30-60 seconds.  Sauce is done!

Either add to a 1/2 lb of elbow macaroni or grease a 1 quart baking dish and slice 2 large russet potatoes (4 small ones) and some onion if you like. Layer the potatoes and onions down and season with salt and pepper generously.  Pour the sauce over the potatoes.  Cover with foil and cook at 400 for 90 minutes.

And for my gluten free peeps.  Here's another really good recipe.  I'm wondering if when someone wanted macaroni and cheese, they might be satisfied with cheesy potatoes instead?

A new chapter

Arya and I attended our first Waldorf Morning Glory playgroup yesterday.  It's specifically a parent-child group that meets with similarly aged children once a week for a semester.  It's a local Waldorf school, one in which we are seriously considering sending Arya too, even though it's going to completely drain our bank accounts every month to pay for it.  I don't know if words can describe how much I don't want to send Arya to public school in California.  All I ever see are bullies, kids who can't tell time, or read, or even write and can't do subtraction, let alone multiplication in 3rd grade.  Class sizes are over 35 and all the extra curriculars are being taken out to save money.  Teachers are stressed, kids are stressed, parents are stressed.

It's not what I want our family life to be like when Arya is school aged.

Getting back to the playgroup. Well…..it didn't go so great.  The teacher wanted us to participate in one thing and Arya decided she wanted to play with something else. The other little one, was quietly playing and Arya was practically running laps around him.  She's just a super active little girl.  Trying to get into everything she can't.  She's a "super active, I want to do whatever I want", 2 year old. :)  The teacher was very nice about it and made me feel pretty comfortable that she's 2 and she's going to act this way and as time progresses, she'll get better.

She did recommend spending more time outside, as she's seen really active kids really get immersed in an activity when they are outside.  Since we have had days off, we tend to get outdoors as a family a lot more, but I think as we start to slowly adjust her schedule to have more rhythm, daily outdoor time will be mandatory. We have noticed that when she's outside, she does play very well.  Not necessarily when she's at a huge playground and there is a bunch of stuff to do, but when she's at the beach and she only has sand, a bucket and shovel, or if we are walking and just picking up leaves and handing them to mama. If she's a big playground, she basically just runs from one thing to another.

I also took a couple cues from the Waldorf room and adjusted what we have in her play area.  She has a hodgepodge of play food that was kept in her play fridge.  The problem was, she couldn't independently open up the fridge.  I also think I had too much in there, all jammed in there in no order.  At the Waldorf school, they had 3 different foods, all pretty small and in little baskets, spoons, plate, bowl and cup and saucepans. She probably played for almost 40 minutes with that stuff.  She could access everything and played, played, played. Now, I've downsized her food for now, to about 10 pieces, and they all fit in a little shallow box, that's on an open shelf so she can reach it without a problem.

Lastly,  I've been collecting Waldorf books for a while.  Actually, I had some on my baby registry and I'm not sure I even knew they were Waldorf when I put them on there.  I've got some reading to do!

You are Your Child's First Teacher
Heaven on Earth
Beyond the Rainbow Bridge
Seven Times the Sun
All Year Round
Simplicity Parenting

Art Supplies for a 2 Year Old

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Our 2013 Photobook!

It's done!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Arya's Birthday week

Arya turned two on Tuesday, January 14, and we had a very low key steak dinner with Grandpa and Grandpa Heller.  She opened a gift from Mike and Tricia and got a Berenstain Bears coloring book from Grandpa and Grandma. Thank you!! Since we had guests in town, Neil was able to take a day off from work.  She spent a lot of time at the beach in La Jolla, took a very long 4 hour nap, went to a German restaurant and had spaetzle on the 14th and the 15th.

Weekends 3/52

::weekends is a new series where I'll be documenting some of what we do on our weekends.  For us, that's Thursdays and Fridays::

This weekend was around Arya's 2nd birthday and we had Grandpa and Grandma Heller here to enjoy the great weather!  It's been an unusually warm winter and it hit 80 degrees in Coronado on Thursday, 1/16 (Happy Birthday Bridget!).  I'm not usually a beach kind of girl (as you can tell by me wearing jeans and a sweater to the beach), but I actually enjoyed myself and Arya had a good time too.  She played in the water, played with her sand toys and ran and ran and ran.  I've had this swimsuit for about 3 years now.  She's finally old enough to wear it!

Tea Time with Arya

Weekends 2/52

::weekends is a new series where I'll be documenting some of what we do on our weekends.  For us, that's Thursdays and Fridays::

Arya became the newest member of the New Children's Art Museum!  We had a free pass from the library that we checked out and it also allowed us to get 25% off an annual membership.  We decided to go and see how much she liked it before we shelled out the money, but she ended up having a good time and I really liked it. I see many more days at the museum with her!

Minimalist Mama Makeup

I've been looking for a simple routine that will make it look like I'm awake and have some color on my face.  After several Youtube videos and testing out different products, I think I've finally found something that works for me.  It's super fast and it makes me look like I tried to look put together. It provides a good enough day look, but it's also a good base to add a few steps if I have time. I've noticed I don't always do all the steps, so here are basics and the add-ons if I have time. I should also mention that I put eye cream on and moisturized my face beforehand.

The basics
for undereye (to get rid of my dark circles!)
Benefit Cosmetics Erase Paste in 1 Fair, use with finger --love this!
BareMinerals Broad Spectrum SPF 20 Concealer in Bisque / brush --used to use this on it's own, but now I need more coverage.

for eyes:
Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Painterly, use with finger -- love this!
Jordana Eyeliner
eye curler

for cheeks and lips:
NARS blush in Madly / brush
tinted lipgloss

Add-ons:
for eyes: Dark brown shadow in my eye crease / brush
mascara-rarely, but I do use it sometimes

for face: bronzer on my forehead and under my cheek bones to contour.

Special occasions:
I do have a few foundations that I will pull out every once in a while.  I would say I would use one of these maybe once a month, if that.
one is full coverage
one is a BB cream
one is a mineral powder

Naked Palette-If I ever want to play around the eye color, I have this palette to use.  I use a different dark brown shadow for my add-on.

The Holy Grail of Frosting

I have found it!  The illusive frosting that I've never been able to find!  Not to sweet, not too sticky, but still has that marshmallowy, cloud-like texture!  If the cake is kept in the fridge, then it's more like buttercream. And what's even better is that it called for ingredients I always have on hand.  No need to go buy a pound of powdered sugar like all the other recipes called for.

Here's what you need:

•  Tablespoons Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

For the recipe, follow the link!

I think it would be decadent on chocolate cake, but it was just as yummy on yellow cake.

Notes:  I started beating the butter/sugar mixture before starting the milk/flour mixture to allow more time.  I was never able to get all the sugar to dissolve, but that turned out to be O.K.  Next time, I'll try and get all the sugar to dissolve. Also, be sure the whisk the milk/flour mixture constantly.  I heated it up on medium and it thickened up really fast.  It took about 20 minutes for the mixture to get to room temperature.  I also tinted the milk/flour mixture to change the color, instead of the final product.

Super Yummy!!!

Weekends 1/52

::weekends is a new series where I'll be documenting some of what we do on our weekends.  For us, that's Thursdays and Fridays::

We feel SO SO blessed to have some days off together after 5+ years.  It definitely took some getting used to, but I think we've got a tentative rhythm that allows me to have my absolutely required alone time and Neil's absolutely required "get out of the house!" time.

Arya had a good time at Presidio Park.  We kicked the ball around, played with the leaves and played keep away with Arya with the frisbee. Another little boy wanted in on the fun too, so that was cute.