It's no Clif bar but it will do

Since I have been staying at home I have had a little extra time to find different recipes and experiments to try.  My most recent one is homemade granola bars. I had some trouble toasting the oats. In my bowl I added dehydrated fruit, almond slivers, bran flakes, and a honey and peanut combo. They turned out ok but I need some more practice toasting the oats.

Banana Almond Muffins

Do you ever have bananas that go brown in what seems like 2 days? This happens to me all the time. I'm not going to let them get the best of me so I made muffins.

Mint Madness

Here is the first of my mint experiments. I found a recipe for a fruit dip. Here is what you will need:

2 cups greek yogurt

1 tsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

12 fresh mint leaves, chopped

Happy Fat Tuesday

About a year or so ago I decided I wanted to be intentional in celebrating yearly events which included the Christian calendar as well as other American holidays. I read a book by Gertrud Mueller Nelson called To Dance with God and another one by Jennifer Trainer Thompson called The Joy of Family Traditions.  I wasn't at this point so much doing this in preparation of having my own family as much as wanting to celebrate with those that make up my community. It is already February and with all the transitions it has been hard to start this year with these new traditions. 

Will and I got the chance to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras last year and fell in love with the city. I think people move to New Orleans because they love to celebrate, sing, and dance. If you have ever been to any kind of Mardi Gras celebration then you have probably had a king cake. People usually eat king cake starting from Epiphany up until Ash Wednesday which is known as the Carnival season. It is the cake with a baby or a bean buried in it. I have read two different accounts of the reward of winning the baby or bean. One is that the winner gets to be king/queen for the day. They get to choose the meal and make the rules for the next 24 hours. The second review is that they are the host of the following year's Fat Tuesday Feast.  

We decided at the last minute to try and make our very first king cake to celebrate Fat Tuesday with our roomies. The history of the king cake has been that everyone would gather all their sweet and decadent foods right before Lent and indulge one last time before fasting and introspection. 

Ingredients to make our colored sugar sprinkles.

A little green.

A little shaking.

All the ingredients you will need to make a simply King cake.

Our bean.

Unroll the cinnamon rolls, fold them in half, and twist.

Ymmm! Our King Cake

Will found the bean and is king for the next 24 hours. 

Homemade Apple Cinnamon Rolls

One of the great things about living in a country with limited junk food means you have to learn from scratch. We made apple cinnamon rolls on our mini-election vacation. If you want to give it a try here is the recipe I used.

The dough rising in the sun.

The apple filling.

Jill's lovely hand rolling the dough.

Look at the team work in this rolling shot.

Our masterpiece

Homemade Apple Cinnamon  Rolls

Comments: They were more bready than sticky. I prefer my buns sticky but they were still pretty good.

Lentil Burritos

This has become one of our favorite in the rotation. Here is what you will need:

1 cup lentils, rinsed

2 cups chicken stock (we aren't true vegetarians so this is fine with us, but others may want vegetarian stock)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup chopped zucchini

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cummin

1 cup mild taco sauce

4 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded

8 flour tortillas

Bring water to a boil and add lentils. Simmer
for 20 minutes. Drain and add cheese.

Then add zucchini, onion, garlic, and
stir in taco sauce. We let ours simmer
until the veggies are tender.

We serve ours with homemade guacamole, sour 

cream, and lettuce. 

Comments: Ours are a little runny because I didn't use taco sauce I used the taco seasoning. I added too much water and really it is not the consistency that the recipe calls for. It still tastes really good, maybe a bit messier. 

A Night With The Family

Last night we had my brother and his family over minus one kid. We fixed veggie pizza with an asparagus base. We made sure to divide the pizza into appropriate sections. The girls only like cheese. My brother doesn't like onions and the rest Will, Kim, and I enjoyed.

Look at that toss.

Making the asparagus base.

Will added a little oregano and garlic to
the crust.

Before

After

After dinner we got out a map and showed the girls where we were going to be living for the next 10 months. 

Meg is so smart. She pointed to where
she lives.

We also showed her where Georgie lives.

Then it was on to fixing Uncle Will's hair.
Looks fun well not for Will. I love how
intent Holly is on getting his
ponytails right.

Homemade Veggie Sliders

I used to have an old roommate who loved veggie burgers. When I first saw one I thought how could that be any good, but I tried it and really liked it. I have recently decided to reduce my meat intake. I don't personally have anything against meat, but I felt like it was taking up a large portion of my diet. Will and I have started adding a couple of veggie dishes to our weekly dinner mix. I have really enjoyed it because I am learning how to make a variety of other foods. Without further ado here is the veggie burger/sliders.

Ingredients

1 can of kidney beans, strained, and rinsed

1 cup of oats

1/2 cup of flour

1 egg beaten

1/2 cup of mushrooms

1/2 cup of onion

1/2 cup of carrots shredded

1/2 cup of red bell pepper

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 tbsp of Worcestershire

1/2 tsp of salt

English muffin

I made some substitutions, but I will
tell you more about that in a minute.

Yum...garlic

You want it to be sticky but not too sticky.
I would put half the beans in the food
processor and  leave the other  whole.

Cook on medium heat for 6-7 minutes.

Here is the final product. I added avocado, cheese and sour
cream.

Here are the changes I made. I didn't have carrots or red bell pepper so I substituted an orange bell pepper instead.  I used bran instead of oats because that is what I had on hand. I put the bran in the food processor.

The sliders turned out really good. Next time I think I will trade the swiss cheese for some feta (mix it in with all the other ingredients). We had left overs and ate the others with a fried egg on top the next day which was really delicious.

Thursday Crepes

Add your favorite spreads or fruit.

We had crepes this morning for breakfast. They were so yummy! Will found the recipe online. He added cinnamon, all spice, a few drops of vanilla, and some sugar to the mix. If you want a more savory crepe make it as the recipe calls and then add toppings like: cheese or meat.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 
  
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
• Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
• Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.