Easy French Dip Rolls

I'm officially addicted to pinterest and today I did my first inspired project from there, which was our dinner. I made these French Dip rolls and an Au Jus. It was awesome but I'd prefer with a different brand of crescent rolls if available since the pillsbury ones were a little sweet. Also I should've made the Au Jus further in advance. All worked out though and with salad and field peas it was perfect.

This is such an easy meal next time I'm going to have C and J do the roll construction. And it makes 16 rolls but after Daddy, C, J, E, and I were done eating and I remembered to get the camera out only 4 were left. And knowing Daddy I'm doubting those 4 will make it to morning the sign of a really good meal :)


Recipe Here

Dirt Cake

Always a favorite among kids (of all ages) I started thinking about making dirt cake with the kids. So with Ami here to help we went for it. And it was just as cool, fun, and of course yummy as I remember. C and J are definitely fans and we'll have left overs for a few days it looks like.

Hubby was amused when he came home to the flower pot which was actually a cake as well (even though it was almost midnight I still managed to pull it out of the fridge and add flowers for when he came in). We will definitely be making this again :).

We used this recipe as written and it was wonderful http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/dirt-cake-i/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 32 ounces chocolate sandwich cookies with creme filling

Directions

1. Chop cookies very fine in food processor. The white cream will disappear.
2. Mix butter, cream cheese, and sugar in bowl.
3. In a large bowl mix milk, pudding and whipped topping together.
4. Combine pudding mixture and cream mixture together.
5. Layer in flower pot, starting with cookies then cream mixture. Repeat layers.
6. Chill until ready to serve.
7. Add artificial flower and trowel. Enjoy!

Squash and more squash

I missed blogging yesterday since my mom was visiting (I will write about that in the next post) so I'm trying to catch up now.

First of all I've been trying to add some new foods to our diets. I enjoy cooking and we usually eat fairly healthy around here (well hubby and the kids do, I do have to watch myself on skipping meals), but recently our menu has gotten into a routine and I haven't tried as many new things as I have in the months past. So while at the store the other night I saw a couple nice looking squash. One was butternut (which I've used before but it's been awhile) and the other was spaghetti squash (I had no clue what this meant but figured it looked good).

Now I wouldn't normally recommend buying foods without a recipe in mind but this time it did work out well. My ICAN ladies gave me lots of suggestions what to make. I also learned that spaghetti squash actually looks like spaghetti when cooked! And it can be used as a healthy alternative for pasta.

So yesterday I used this simple recipe for the Spaghetti squash from one friend (the link takes you to her blog post of it and we left out the olives too) and then this whole foods Butternut Squash Soup recipe from Whole foods, shared by another friend. We ate the Spaghetti squash for dinner last night and had the Squash soup today (so the flavors could "marry" overnight.

The spaghetti squash looked odd and hubby made a few comments and was completely amazed it was squash when I was making it, but come dinner time even he wanted seconds. This has become a favorite in our house now. The kids were even asking for thirds and it was a tough call between that and dessert! And I felt awesome knowing it's so good for us. I can't wait to make it again and use it in other recipes.

The squash soup turned out great too and gave me an excuse to use my new immersion blender I got for Christmas (which I love). It was hearty and the right combination or salty and sweet. And it was perfect in this chilly weather.

Next cooking adventure planned is going to involve pumpkins and making something NOT sweet from them. I loved the pumpkin muffins and pies etc. from last month but definitely excited about trying something new. Also making all these squash varieties (yes pumpkin is technically a squash too) has gotten me excited about E trying real food in a couple months (or more depending on her). As I've mentioned before we're going to wait to 6 months on giving her anything other than breast milk and we are currently researching possibly doing baby led food introduction. The spaghetti squash and butternut soup would fit perfectly into this plan when the time comes. I wish I'd heard about all this with C and J but am glad they're both such good eaters now and so excited about new foods as well (hopefully knock on wood this will continue).

C and J also love to cook (as they showed with Ami today) so maybe I can have them help me making dinner in the future weeks (my babies are getting so big).

I'll try and keep the blog updated as we go on more new food adventures in the weeks and months to come

Melting and Rejoining the World

This week of being stuck home seems to finally be coming to an end. The ice is melting, stores are reopening, and we even got to have a nice visit from my in-laws today. I feel we're finally getting back to normal, just in time for the MLK holiday next Monday lol.

Well eventually all will return to normal. And hopefully we will be able to find local playgroups, and more activities for the kids out of the house to make the rest of the cold season fly by.

Today our main excitement was Ibu and Pak (my in-laws) coming to visit. All went really well. Ibu made some awesome ribs. The meat fell of the bone and was amazing. I must remember to ask her for her recipe it was awesome. Here's the simple awesome way she did it:

Ibu's Rib Recipe
-Use Babyback Ribs, and whatever fruit and veggies you have in your kitchen (make sure you have 1 P fruit)
-Put Meat, Carrots, Pomegranate, Shallots, Garlic, Onions, Apple, parboil them
for a minimum 2 hours until tender (this is what she used today, you use whatever you have of course)
-Everything cooks down except meat, take out ribs, discard fluid, baste in bbq sauce
-Bake in oven till sauce is dry or Grill on Low

So yummy and even the kids licked their plates clean!

The kids loved playing with their grandparents and everyone was pretty worn out afterward. Pak/Grandpa is flying back to Indo tomorrow. Hubby is taking him to the airport. It's sad to see him go but hopefully he'll be able to make it back for Hubby's graduation in May.

I am disappointed that due to the snow and ice hubby and Pak didn't get to put together an awesome gift the kids got from the in-laws, a brand new swing and slide set! But hopefully hubby will get it put up this weekend and that will bring another break from our cabin fever of the past week.

We did have one more exciting scary moment of the last day or so I will post on separately but overall this week has been nice despite being stuck inside. Now I'm happy to see all the snow melting and for us to be rejoining the world at large!

The Turkey- Grilled

During commercials for the GT game I'm adding one of the recipes from Thanksgiving, perhaps the most important recipe in fact....the turkey.

I am just adding the grilled turkey, though we had roasted as well, because this was amazing and we will definitely be grilling the turkey every year from now on.

Hubby made this, starting with this brine recipe. 
I have the edited version we did as follows which was simple but perfect!

Apple Cider-Brined Turkey 

Ingredients:

• 8  cups  apple cider
• 2/3  cup  kosher salt
• 2/3  cup  sugar
• 1  tablespoon  black peppercorns, coarsely crushed
• 1  tablespoon  whole allspice, coarsely crushed
• 8  (1/8-inch-thick) slices peeled fresh ginger
• 6  whole cloves
• 2  bay leaves
• 1  (12-pound) fresh or frozen turkey, thawed
• 6 cups Ice

To prepare brine, combine first 8 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until sugar and salt dissolve. Cool completely.

Rinse turkey with cold water; pat dry. Trim excess fat. Place a turkey-sized oven bag inside a second bag to form a double thickness. Place bags in a large stockpot. Place turkey inside inner bag. Add cider mixture and ice. Secure bags with several twist ties or use extra large Ziploc Bags. Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours, turning occasionally.

Remove turkey from bags, and discard brine and bags. Rinse turkey with cold water; pat dry. Lift wing tips up and over back; tuck under turkey. Tie legs together with kitchen string. Then cook as you want. Our choice was grilling with apple wood chips which gave a great mild smoky taste to the turkey.

And here's the result. It was the prettiest turkey I've ever seen and yummiest too :)

Our Thanksgiving Menu

Not much time to write as we prepare for the feast at our house tomorrow so I just wanted to share our menu for now. I'll add our recipes later and link the allrecipe ones:

• Turkey-We will be having two this year, one in brine and grilled by hubby and one roasted in the oven with stuffing inside.
• Stuffing-MIL's recipe I'll get after tomorrow
• Gravy-Made from scratch with Turkey Drippings
• Hawaiian Rolls-Packaged but hubby's favorite so a must have in this house
• Frozen Fruit Medley-This is a tradition of hubby's side, it's super yummy, refreshing as an appetizer, and the kids love it of course.
• Pineapple Casserole-Another dish from hubby's side, super simple and a kid favorite again. Will add recipe later too 
• Green Bean Casserole-Easy, classic again
• Mashed Potatoes-From scratch, potatoes, cream, butter, salt, chicken broth is optional  
  
• Deviled Eggs-My mom is bringing these. Ingredients: Eggs, Mayo, mustard, dill relish or salad cubes, paprika on top optional. If you're from the South this doesn't require a recipe it's just a combination of the above to taste
• Sweet Potato Casserole-My mom is bringing this too and makes a really good one. I will upload her recipe after tomorrow.
• Cornbread Dressing-Another one of my mom's recipes I'll add later. This can be made vegetarian as well if needed.
• Pecan Pie-Pretty straight forward again we use a recipe similar to this one though usually with more pecans added. 
• Hot Apple Cider-Mom's combo again
• Pumpkin Pie-From Scratch using the recipe I mentioned earlier this week and fresh pumpkin puree
• Cranberry Sauce-Fresh made not canned (super easy to make again)

Hope you all have a wonderful meal and more importantly a wonderful time celebrating with your family! May your holiday be filled with lots of love and many things to be thankful for!

Chili Day and Sweet Night

Horrible pun I know but when a friend mentioned having chili today and then the gloomy rain came in with a chill in tow it just seemed to be meant to be. So I made homemade chili for dinner and it turned out perfectly.
I used this recipe for "Flatlander Chili" and the only change I made was a little less Cayenne since I didn't want it to be too spicy for the kids.

The kids ate all their's and hubby ate till he was too stuffed for dessert so it definitely went over well and I will be making it again. And I remembered to take some food pics since I was proud of it lol. Second one is with sour cream and cheese.

 And as mentioned earlier I made the Pumpkin Muffins too. The recipe is only supposed to make one dozen but it made 1.5 for me as you can see. We had to wait a bit after dinner to have room but these were amazing too and we have tons left over. It's a little bit heavier muffin so could easily be a breakfast option on the run (most likely will be hubby's breakfast tomorrow).

Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin

The kids are having afternoon snacks so I wanted to take a sec to share some of my cooking endeavors thus far this week. The theme is pumpkin!

Nothing too exciting but I finally made my own fresh pumpkin puree so this house will be canned pumpkin free this year. I can tell you from tasting it definitely makes a difference and it's so simple to do.

All you have to do to get your own fresh pumpkin puree
-Cut a sugar pumpkin (aka pie pumpkin) in half
-Scrape out the seeds and most of the pulp with a spoon
-Place them open side down in 1/4 water in a glass baking dish or roasting pan (I did both since I had 3 pumpkins) 
-Bake at 350 for 45-60minutes (check with fork to see when you can easily pierce)
-Then Scoop out the Meat (pretty much everything but the peel) and blend or use a food processor to puree
And you can use this in place of canned pumpkin in all your recipes (Also can be frozen or will keep in the fridge 5 days).

If you want a more detailed explanation check out this site. It also has pictures and if you don't want to use the oven you can microwave or cook the pumpkin on the stove top

So I now have an abundance of fresh pumpkin puree in my fridge and freezer and plan to get more before the holidays are past so I can save it for other times of year. I also think in several months it might be good for a baby food option for E. You can also do the above instructions to any squash type vegetable which adds even more food options.

Anyway so I cooked the pumpkins Saturday night and Sunday made Pumpkin Pies with this recipe:
Reading the comments you'll see this yields closer to 1.5 pies so I added 1 egg, used 2 cups of pumpkin, and 2 crusts and ended up with the perfect amount for 2 pies
Also I added a full tsp of cinnamon and only a pinch of cloves and it turned out perfectly taste wise too, it also tasted fresher from the fresh pumpkin. The only difference I noticed was they seemed lighter color than pies using canned pumpkin but it was still nicely orange and looked like pumpkin pie so it's not really an issue.

Monday I made Pumpkin French Toast for Breakfast. This is super easy and a very yummy treat for the holidays when you're not doing a huge meal. I found the initial recipe here
However that recipe seems to be a more subtle version and the pumpkin taste is almost lost (though that could be a good thing if you want to make your kids' breakfast a bit healthier and don't want the pumpkin taste). We did want the pumpkin taste though so I used 3/4 cups of pumpkin puree instead, and added Pumpkin Pie Spices (Ginger, Nutmeg, Allspice) instead of the nutmeg alone, along with the recommend cinnamon. I also added a tsp of Vanilla and a dash of clove and it was amazing! Especially with Whipped cream with a cinnamon sprinkled on it.
Pumpkin French toast mixture as I adjusted it: Beat together the following then dip 8 slices of whole wheat bread in it and cook on Medium heat in a frying pan with butter, Serve with Syrup, Whipped Cream, or Powdered Sugar, or eat them on their own. You can also add white sugar to the mix if you want a sweeter toast without topping.

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice or (Ginger, Nutmeg, Allspice)
• A dash of ground Clove

Wish I had pictures of the pies and french toast but both were quickly devoured by my family. I'll try and get pics when I make them again which I'm sure will be soon.

Anyway continuing on the Pumpkin path I will be making Pumpkin Muffins tonight (would be today but I'm out of baking powder). Here's the recipe. I'll let yall know how it goes.


BTW All the above will make your house smell amazing and definitely put you in the holiday mood :)

Christmas Cooking

I will do a longer update on Christmas later with pics but for now this will be more on the cooking. Overall Christmas was wonderful. C is still getting better and better which is our biggest Christmas blessing. Both kids adored their presents and were yelling, "Happy Birthday Jesus!," "Santa Claus is coming!," and "Merry Christmas" throughout the house for the past few days.

Christmas Eve we began the day with Hot fried Apple Pies, which my sister sent, which were so yummy. I made a couple homemade Chicken Pot Pies (one of which the kids and Daddy, mostly Daddy devoured in one sitting), we still have another pie saved for tomorrow. Recipe


I also made my snickerdoodles for Santa which were awesome too. I have done this the last couple years but I think snickerdoodles will be one of our future holiday traditions for sure.
Snickerdoodles


Christmas Day Daddy made our traditional
Eggs Benedict Brunch. Not the best pic, but
so yummy.

No Recipe here, just Poached Eggs, toasted English Muffins, Canadian Bacon, and Hollandaise Sauce (lots of Hollandaise).

This one is definitely a holiday tradition and we will be having for New Years Morn as well. :)


Then I made Baked Potato Soup and Apple Pie for Christmas dinner. It was the perfect comfort meal for the end of the long wonderful day. Didn't get a pic of the soup but here's my pie which I'm a little proud of.
Isn't it pretty :)

And here's the Recipe Link












Overall a very yummy couple days in the Baker Household. Hope you enjoyed looking :)

Dec. 15 Beginning the Blog

Hi! I'm working on making this blog to share moments and memories with friends and family. I am very busy with the holidays right around the corner currently but will hopefully be updating and sharing more soon.

This week is our week after Daddy's exams (he's working on the last year of his engineering degree). Now he's out till January which is wonderful, especially since we are now busy with Christmas preparations.
C started coming down with a cold Sunday and horrid congestion hit yesterday. She's in high spirits and on an antibiotic which will hopefully knock it out soon. Also cross our fingers but J doesn't have it yet.

Our to do list this week includes lots of Santa and general Christmas shopping, a followup doctor's appointment for Mommy, and a photo appointment hopefully late enough in the week both little ones will be healthy. I bought custom outfits for the kids from an amazing seller on etsy.com for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the Christmas ones arrived yesterday. I am amazed by this seamtress' talent and will upload pics of the outfits after I get holiday cards out, as to not ruin the surprise. I plan to use her for Easter heirloom outfits as well and could never find such amazing quality items at such affordable prices in store.

My mother-in-law is currently staying in town, which is at times a blessing and at times scary. I am trying to make the most of her help and be honest with her if she happens to overstep some boundaries so hopefully we won't drive each other too crazy. Today we will probably have dinner at her place depending on how C's feeling. I also need to get to the grocery store for some holiday recipe shopping. I'm currently craving Snickerdoodles and cider.

As a "Baker" I think I'll end this post will end this post with a recipe for some good snickerdoodles. Enjoy!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Snickerdoodles-II/Detail.aspx
Snickerdoodles :
Ingredients-

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions-

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the shortening and 1 1/2 cups of white sugar until smooth. Stir in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the batter until blended.
3. Roll the dough into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned, but still soft.