Back on Facebook...

Well I'm back on Facebook and doing OK with how much time I've spent on there vs. on other things. Then again it's been a busy time as we had Jack's 6th birthday party with his friends on Saturday. I'll just say he and his friends had fun and we survived....Joey, his 2.5 year old brother, not so much. He seemed to be having a grand time but got way overwhelmed after an hour and just started having meltdown after meltdown. But I'll have to share then fun and photos from the day in another post. I can't believe he's going to be 6 next week!

Anyway with all the prep, day of and then come down from the party I haven't had much time to Facebook nor bake/ cook. Thursday I did make the lovely Apple Carrot Muffins listed below, again...less than 48 hours after I made the last batch. Jack and I love them! I think this week I'll be making a big pot of my own Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (good luck describing this recipe MJ) and a new chicken enchilada recipe.

Cooking and baking my way out of a Facebook addiction....Day 3

Apple Pie! This is another recipe I used last Fall as a result of excess apples. This was the 1st time I've made it since then and I tweaked it a bit. 1st I have to confess that I've never made a homemade pie crust...my grandmothers would shake their heads a bit if they knew. But the refrigerator pie crusts are so great and so easy to use. And hey, really before this I made very very few pies so this is great progress for me!
Again I started with another recipe I found on Allrecipes.com, and a very popular one at that with over 4,00 reviews. Here's the recipe as listed on Allrecipes.com (my individual changes are listed below that):

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople (and now by me with my changes!)

Ingredients
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

My changes this time around included:

• This was the 1st time I used Granny Smith apples which is now a new must! But I only needed 5 small apples...I can't imagine ever needing 8 like the recipe calls for.
• To the lovely caramel syrup mixture on the stove, I added about 1/3 of a teaspoon of cinnamon. I don't like strong cinnamon flavor but this gave it a nice and noticeable hint. And I also added 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla to this mixture.
• I also added about a 1/2 a tablespoon or less of corn starch to help thicken up the syrup just a bit as it is quite runny...some reviews added more to make it much much thicker.
• Oh and I also created my lattice pie crust top on a piece of wax paper before starting the whole process so that it was ready to go when the pie was all assembled.  And I also brush egg whites on the bottom crust before putting in the apples to help keep it from gettins soggy (so they say :).
•   I usually have some of the syrup left over so I don't have to worry about overflow (but I'm still chicken and put a pan under it so I don't destroy my oven.)

Cooking and baking my way out of a Facebook addiction....Day 2

Ah, yes this is of the recipes I discovered last Fall when we were over run by apples after our family's 1st trip to the apple orchard....though it really only uses 1-1.5 apples. Apple Carrot Muffins! I made it a couple times back then but haven't made it in months. I got the recipe from my favorite place to go for recipes or starting points for meals. When cooking I tend to look at several similar recipes and combine them as I like...baking I'm not so confident in doing that.

But with today's recipe I did buy more healthy bran flakes without raisins (had only 5g of sugar vs. the Raisin Bran with 17g of sugar) so I did add a 1/4 cup more sugar to the recipe. Also it's a must to sprinkle the tops of the muffins with sugar and a dash of cinnamon before baking. It gives the top of the muffins a lovely sugary crunch. And since there is so much other healthy stuff in them, a little extra sugar is worth it to make them yummy. And they are! Everyone in my family loves them...and today I made some without raisins and some with to please everyone.

Apple Carrot Muffins

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups raisin bran cereal (this time I used plain bran flakes, added 1/4c sugar)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar (plus 1/4 cup to make up for less sugar in bran flakes)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used less...maybe 3/4 of a tsp.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup finely chopped peeled tart apple
3/4 cup grated carrots (I use the matchstick kind and then throw them in the chopper to make them smaller)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (skipped this because of picky eaters!)

Directions
1. In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In a small bowl, beat the egg, buttermilk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apple, carrots and walnuts. Fill paper-lined muffin cups or cups coated with nonstick cooking spray three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.
Here's the link to the original recipe. FYI they look much darker than in the picture (sometimes I wonder where they get those pictures from.)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/apple-carrot-muffins/detail.aspx

I love this recipe and everyone else seems to as well since they are already almost 1/2 gone and I finished making them not more than 3 hours ago.


Update from previous recipe -Mardi Gras Dinner: It was a success except with my picky eater Jack. I think if I make a small section without tuna next time it will go over better since he said "Mommy, there are parts that I really like in this and parts I really don't like."

Cooking and baking my way out of a Facebook addiction....Day 1

After getting frustrated with myself for spending too much time on Facebook and too little time on other things, I "gave" (ha, forced) myself a one week break from Facebook. I started this last Saturday. Part of my plan is to try to more productively use my here-and-there spots of down time. And that time is here and there since I'm a stay at home mom of 2 boys. I wanted to find more things to direct my time towards that I would enjoy doing (not laundry) but would also still contribute to the household. So I'm going to try to bake and cook more. Now don't fool yourself, I'm no Martha Stewart or even Betty Crocker AND I have a picky 5 year old....so this will be pretty simple and basic much of the time.
And what a better way to hold yourself accountable to a new commitment than by proclaiming it to....well maybe 3 people? I've been away from blogging for so long and was never very consistent at it anyway, that I know that my hand full of followers have probably dropped me, understandably. But that's OK because this is for me. WOW something for me? What a crazy concept as a stay at home parent, or a parent in general.
So here starts my attempt to cook and bake my way out of a Facebook addiction! I still hope to spend some time there as it is my only way to stay in contact with many friends, but just with more balance....and happiness and sense of satisfaction over all.

So for the 1st official day of cooking and baking I made a recipe dear to my heart, but I had not made in a while. Mardi Gra Dinner...now don't let the title fool you, it is unspicy and unsouthern as you can get IMO. It's basically a cheesy tuna casserole with tomatoes. Unlike anything I'd ever had, and really the only tuna I was willing to eat as a child. It's something my Grandma Mary made when I was a child, which may have been part of why I was willing to eat it. She was magic in the kitchen. I'll probably be turning to her tattered recipe box a lot for this project :) So here's the recipe:

Marci Gras Dinner (Grandma Mary)
1/2 a stick of butter/ margarine (you know this is an old recipe because she says "oleo")
3 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
1 1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
1 1/3 cup instant rice (or I used 1 cup of regular long grain...or more)
1/2 tsp of oregano, cayenne pepper (though I know she never really used the cayenne pepper and I left it out as well.)
1 Tbs of parsley
1 cup of tomatoes (I used the onion and garlic kind and used the whole can)
1/2 cup of onion slices (I omitted this since I used onions above, we'll see)
2 cans of tuna

Cook the rice as directed, under cooking somewhat.
Make white sauce (with the butter, flour, and milk....lol she expects you know what this mean) add cheese.
Place rice in casserole, sprinkle with oregano, cayenne pepper if using it, chopped parsley, and salt and pepper.
Place 2/3 of the tomatoes over rice, top with onions if using them, and flake tuna over it all. Pour on cheese sauce. Add remaining tomatoes on cheese sauce. Garnish with paprika (which I skipped). Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes covered.