Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Another tasty pasta recipe.  As my husband would say: "Good stuff Maynard."

1 C vegetable broth
12 sundried tomatoes
8 oz penne pasta, cooked
2 Tbsp pine nuts
1 Tbsp oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
a few handfuls of spinach
Parmesan cheese  to garnish

Bring broth to boil.  Remove from heat.  Place tomatoes in broth for 15 minutes or until softened.  Remove tomatoes and dice them.

Place pine nuts in a skillet.  Cook over medium heat until lightly toasted.  Add oil and red pepper.  Saute garlic 1 minute.  Mix in spinach and cook until almost wilted.  Pour in broth  and add tomatoes.  Cook until heated through.  Toss with pasta.  Garnish with Parmesan.

And little boy is still eating away.  His next new food was carrots and he loved them from the very first bite.  More please?  (Yes, I know, the above picture isn't orange and therefore isn't carrots, but isn't he cute?)

Boil or steam 2 C washed, peeled carrot chunks with 3/4 C water until carrots are mushy.  Puree with cooking water.  Add water if needed for thinner consistency.  Freeze in ice cube trays.

Lemon Blossoms

When we were in Idaho for Ben's wedding, I spent some time in the hotel with the sleeping baby.  Which means I spent some time watching the food network.  This recipe was on one of the shows and I knew we needed to try it - and it was delicious! Thank you baby for needing to go to bed and thank you cooking show for delicious food in my belly.

Mini-Muffins:
Yellow Cake Mix
4 eggs
3.5 oz box lemon pudding
3/4 C oil

Beat all ingredients together for 2-3 minutes.  Drop batter into a sprayed mini muffin pan.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  Dump baked muffins out onto a wire rack to cool.

Glaze:
2 C powdered sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
1/4 C fresh lemon juice

Whisk together all ingredients.  Dunk muffins into glaze via a fork stabbed in the bottom of the muffin so you can cover the entire muffin.  Return to wire rack to allow glaze to dry.  If desired, re-dunk muffins into the glaze (if dunking twice, double the glaze recipe).

I use the word "muffins" lightly.  But it seems wrong to call them cupcakes since that doesn't seem the right word either.  I guess that's why the cooking show named them "lemon blossoms".  I mean really, what's a blossom?

And because we are mean parents and insist upon vegetable eating, little boy got to eat his first helping of peas instead of lemon blossoms.  He was not impressed that first night, though he likes them now (after about 6 tries).

Baby Peas

Boil or steam 1 C peas with 1/2 C water for 6-8 minutes.  Throw water and peas into food processor or blender.  Blend until smooth, adding water as needed for desired consistency.  Freeze in ice cube trays.  This made 6 servings, so double it for a full ice cube tray.

Easter Dinner

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Easter, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ!  We had a lovely Easter - with a meal specially requested by my husband: ham and sour cream potatoes.  Not the healthiest meal in the world (though I did add a salad) but we can get away with unhealthy meals once a year.

My Easter boys!  Grandma made the bow tie for little Isaac.  It stayed on for over half of church - that's pretty good, right?

Not pictured is the adult's sweet potato.  My lovely husband took this picture for me but didn't know how much potato we got for dinner and how much needed to be saved for baby food.  Unlike baby, our sweet potato was not pureed and we added a touch of salt, pepper, and butter.

Ham Glaze (this is a very runny glaze.  Geoff thinks I should find a way to make it thicker but I quite like the glaze's flavor so I haven't played around with consistency):

Combine 1 can crushed pineapple (the small size), 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/4 C honey, and 1/4 C orange juice in a sauce pan.  Heat for 10 minutes.  Pour over ham and bake until ham is heated.

Sour Cream Potatoes:

30 oz hash browns (or 4-5 C diced potatoes)
1/4 C onion, chopped
3/4 C sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 C shredded cheddar cheese (if you use extra sharp cheddar, you can get away with cutting this amount back but still getting plenty of cheesy taste)
2 C cornflakes
1/3 C butter, melted

Mix onion, sour cream, soup, and cheese.  Stir in potatoes and mix well.  Press into a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Combine cornflakes and butter.  Evenly spread the cornflakes on top of the potatoes.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

And since the oven was going to be running for 1+ hours, I obviously needed to take the chance to cook up some sweet potatoes for us and the little guy.  And he ate those sweet potatoes like a champ!

Baby Sweet Potatoes

Wash, prick, and cover 2 sweet potatoes with foil.  Bake until very soft.  Remove foil.  Cut open potatoes and use a spoon to scoop the flesh of the potatoes into a blender or food processor.  Blend with water until smooth.  Use as much or as little water as needed to reach desired consistency for your baby's age (I didn't measure, but I would guess I used 1/2-1 C of water).  Spoon puree into ice cube trays.  Cover with plastic wrap and freeze.  Once frozen, pop the sweet potato cubes out of the trays and store in a labeled freezer bag or container.  Thaw as needed.

Two sweet potatoes made me 2 full ice cube trays of puree.  And cost me a mighty $1.20 to make.  Take that Gerber.

Rice Cereal

I'll admit, I personally didn't try this one out.  And it kind of looks bland and yucky tasting.  But one little bub-o at our house is loving his rice cereal!

Mix 2 Tbsp rice cereal with 3-6 oz formula to reach desired consistancy

Hmmm . . .

Whoa!  What was that?

!

Whatever it is, it's fun to spit out.

What a fun game this is, Mama.

Spicy North African Pork Tenderloin

1/4 C roasted red bell pepper (make your own by broiling halved red pepper until skins start to blacken.  Put broiled pepper in a sealed bag or tupperware for 10 minutes.  Remove and discard skins)
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice, divided
1 Tbsp sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)
1/4 tsp salt, plus some to sprinkle on pork
1 tsp cumin, divided
1/4 tsp coriander
2 garlic cloves
1/2 C greek yogurt
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 1-lb pork tenderloin, sprinkled with salt

Combine bell pepper, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp juice, sambal oelek,  1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin, coriander, and garlic in a food processor.  Process until smooth.

Combine yogurt, mint, 1/2 Tbsp juice, and 1/2 tsp cumin.

In a large skillet, brown salted pork in a little olive oil for 6 minutes, turning to brown all sides.  Put pork in baking dish.  Pour bell pepper mixture over the pork, turning pork to cover all sides with the bell pepper mixture.  Bake at 425 for 11 minutes or until it reaches 145 degrees.  Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.  Serve with yogurt sauce.

Original Recipe from a Cooking Light Magazine (I think it was last September's magazine)

Pi Day 2012

Another year has passed and once more we were forced to eat pie in massive quantities.  How I love that peculiar little number that gives me such a splendid excuse to binge on pie once a year.  As always, we hosted our annual pie day party.  The pie line up featured lemon meringue, oreo, key lime, peach, pecan, berry cheesepie, banoffee (a brilliant combination of bananas and toffee), and caramel apple.  All were delicious.  I made the lemon meringue, oreo, and key lime (recipe here).  And as a bonus, tune in later this week for a german chocolate pie!

Oreo Pie

9 inch chocolate pie crust (I just bought mine, but I've made them before.  Just combine 1 C oreo crumbs, 3 Tbsp sugar, and 1/3 C melted butter.  Press into a pie pan and bake at 350 for 10 minutes)

8 oz cool whip

4 oz cream cheese (I buy the 1/3 fat kind, Neufchatel cheese)

4 oz instant chocolate pudding, prepared according to package instructions

Beat cream cheese and 1/2 of the cool whip.  Spread into pie crust.  Pour prepared pudding over cream cheese mixture.  Spread remaining cool whip over pudding.  Garnish with oreo crumbs and cookies.

Super easy!  And when you're making 3 pies, cleaning the house, and tending a 4 month baby, at least one of the 3 pies needs to be easy to make.

Lemon Meringue

1 Baked pastry shell (see my favorite recipe here)

3 eggs

1 1/2 C sugar

3 Tbsp flour

3 Tbsp cornstarch

dash of salt

1 1/2 C water

2 Tbsp butter

1-2 tsp lemon zest

1/3 C lemon juice

Separate egg yolks from whites.  Set whites aside for meringue, allow them to come to room temperature.  Beat egg yolks with a fork and set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, flour, cornstarch, and a dash of salt.  Gradually stir in 1 1/2 C water.  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly.  Reduce heat and cook for 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat.  Gradually pour 1 C of hot filling into the egg yolks, whisking the eggs constantly.  Return egg yolk mixture to the saucepan.  Bring to a gentle boil.  Cook and stir 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in butter and lemon peel.  Stir in lemon juice.  Keep warm.

Meringue:

3 egg whites

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

6 Tbsp sugar

In a large mixing bowl, combine egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar.  Beat with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Gradually add sugar while beating on high speed for about 5 minutes or until whites form stiff, glossy peaks and all the sugar has dissolved.

Pour warm filling into pie crust.  Top with meringue, spreading to the edge of the crust to prevent the meringue from shrinking.  Bake for 15 minutes.  If desired, broil for an additional 1-2 minutes for browner meringue.  Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.  Chill 3-6 hours before serving.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book