Fried Rice

1/4 C soy sauce
1/4 C brown sugar
Sesame oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chopped serrano chile
4 C brown rice, cooked
salt and pepper1 1/2 C thinly sliced daikon radish (we got a daikon radish.  I think it tasted pretty similar to normal radishes so you could use those instead)
1/3 C fresh basil
1/3 C fresh mint
1/3 C fresh cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges

To make sauce: Combine the soy sauce and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil in a small saucepan.  Simmer 2 minutes or until reduced to 1/4 C.  Set aside.

Heat sesame oil in a large skillet.  Pour in eggs.  Cook, stirring once.  Remove from pan.  Add more oil to pan.  Add shallots, garlic, and chile.  Cook 1 minute.  Add rice, cook 3 minutes.  Add back in the eggs, soy sauce mixture.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Top with radish and herbs.  Serve with lime.

Original Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine Aug 2011


And now some Isaac stories:

Isaac is officially a little boy.  We gave him his first haircut and with the loss of his cute wispy baby hair I've had to admit that my baby is gone, replaced by a giggling, running, hugging, goof of a boy.  It breaks my heart how fast he's grown but he is so fun and so silly that I suppose it's ok.

His number one hobby is books.  I'll be playing the piano, or working in the kitchen, or on the computer and he'll periodically walk over and hand me a book.  We then read that book three or four times in a row as he cries when we get to the last page so we immediately start the book over which immediately brings a smile back to his face.  His number two hobby is trucks.  They are doing some construction on a road across from our house and Isaac will go stare out the front window to watch.  I think all mothers of boys need to be blessed with construction out their window.  It brings some wonderful moments of peace.  This hobby of trucks brings us to his third word.  He started with mama and dada a month ago and just recently added vroom vroom.  Is he a little boy or what?  I mentioned his love of books and crying on the last page.  There are a few exceptions to that rule.  We never get to the last page of books with pictures of trucks anymore.  Once we see a picture of a truck he holds the page corner down so that we can't turn the page.  Then he sits there saying vroom vroom.  What a goof.

Well, I'm afraid no picture of the little one today.  The camera battery is dead and if I wait to post this until after it's charged, it will probably take another week, the rate I'm blogging (I had uploaded the stir fry picture a few weeks ago with intentions of blogging, hence why we have that picture and no picture of Isaac).  So imagine a cute, wild boy attacking a dog while carrying a book in one hand.

Christmas Goodies!

In Christmas tradition, we have filled the house with ample amounts of sugar loaded treats.  In addition to the two cookie recipes below, we made toffee and oreo truffles.  Fortunately for my waistline we gave most of the treats away.  But as always, Geoff, a healthy example I should follow, nibbles at the treats on rare occasions, leaving me to binge to my hearts content until I go to bed still tasting sugar on my tongue.  Now, if I filled the house with salty, cheesy treats the roles would be reversed.  In fact, for Geoff's birthday yesterday rather than end our meal with dessert, we instead indulged in seared mozzarella - delicious.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1 spice cake mix
1+ C chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients.  Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.  Delicious.  And easy (a must when your little one has bronchitis and an ear infection).

Grasshopper Mint Cookies

This recipe was chosen because I couldn't run to the store until after naptime and so I needed something I had all the ingredients for.  And it was delicious.  I guess this is the year of the boxed cake mix for Christmas goodies. 

Cookie bottom:
1 Devil's Food Cake Mix - I didn't have devil's food, I used triple chocolate or something
1/2 C oil
2 eggs

Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs together. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-9 minutes.

NOTE: the peppermint frosting recipe and the chocolate topping recipe made enough for a double batch of cookies (2 cake mixes worth)
Peppermint Frosting:

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 Tbsp. milk

2 C powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

Green food coloring

Cream the butter.  Gradually add 1 C of the powdered sugar.  Add the milk, extract, and food coloring.  Gradually add the remaining C of powdered sugar.  Add more powdered sugar for a thicker consistency, if desired.  Spread on cooled cookies

Chocolate Topping:

2 1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 c. butter

Melt chocolate chips and butter together in a double boiler OR in a microwave (30 second intervals, stirring in between - do not over-microwave.  It shouldn't take more than 1.5-2 minutes). Spread melted chocolate on each cookie.

Merry Christmas!

BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Happy Birthday to this little monster!  This morning Geoff looked at Isaac and said, "One year ago, your mom was going 'eeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhh'." He thought it was funny.  He got a flat face and a "thanks, dear" in response from me.  You could hear the eye roll dripping through in my voice.

To preface this recipe, Geoff said I should title this post "Most Delicious Cake Ever".  Apparently it was delicious, chocolaty, and moist.  And for my part, I will say that for a cake it was pretty good (I'm  not a huge cake fan).  I will also warn, the batter is super, super runny.  Not a problem usually but be warned: don't try to use the spring form pan.  That would be a disaster.  Batter would flow out all over your counter.

Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Filling:

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C flour
3/4 C cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 C milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 C boiling water


Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly with a whisk or electric beater.  Stir in the boiling water.  The batter will be very, very, thin.


Coat 3 8-inch round pans with spray, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and spray again.  Divide batter evenly between pans.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes in the pan.  Dump cakes out to a wire rack to finish cooling.


Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.  If needed, level each layer.


To assemble cake, layer as follows*:
Cake
Cream Cheese filling, leaving 1/4 inch margin around the edges
Cake
Cream Cheese filling, leaving 1/4 inch margin around the edges
Cake

Frost the top and sides with chocolate buttercream.

Cream Cheese Filling

1 C cream cheese
3/4 C butter
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
6 C powdered sugar



Beat the cram cheese and butter with an electric mixer for about one minute.  Add the vanilla and beat for another minute.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar, about 1/2 C at a time.  Once all the sugar is added, beat on medium speed for two minutes, until fluffy.
 
 Chocolate Buttercream

1 C butter
1 3/4 C cocoa powder
6 C powdered sugar
1/2 C + 3 Tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla

Combine the powdered sugar and the cocoa. In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer for about one minute.  Reduce the speed to low and add the sugar/cocoa about 1/2 C at a time.  Halfway through this process, add the milk and vanilla.  Once all the powdered sugar/cocoa is added, beat at medium speed for about two minute, until fluffy.

*As mentioned, I only had 2 round pans so I thought I could use a spring form pan as my third pan.  This was a mistake.  A messy mistake.  Fortunately the cake spilled out all over my counter rather than all over the oven.  I was able to salvage most of the batter from the spring form pan, dividing it between my two round cake pans

Original Recipe from The Nonpareil Baker.

Now, you will have to indulge the string of photos.  He's just so cute, I have a hard time only choosing a few photos.  Plus, we all know you're actually here to see the little boy, not to see the recipes.

He was really concerned about so many people singing to him.  He didn't even notice the cake, let alone the candle.

We finally had to point out the cake to him.

And then it was all business.  No time for smiling, no time for jabbering, just constant and methodical eating of cake.

Isaac would have happily just played with the wrapped boxes.  Who needs to open them?

A big smile when he sees a car from Grandma and Grandpa.

Excuse the runny nose.  He's had a cold.

Cute boy with a "5 Little Monkeys" finger puppet from Grandma and Grandpa.

Fun blocks from Po and Ted.  And after we showed him how, he started ineptly putting blocks together.  A little engineer in the making (or as Dilbert's doctor would put it, I'm afraid he has "the knack").

Happy Halloween! - Reeses Smores Bars

I've had my eyes on this tasty treat for sometime now but was waiting for a good opportunity to make it without poisoning my husband who is allergic to peanuts.  Tragic, I know.  They were amazingly delicious, as could only be expected from such good ingredients.

1/2 C butter, softened
1/2 C  brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 C graham cracker crumbs
16 peanut butter cups, regular size
1 1/2 C marshmallow fluff - good luck trying to measure this.  I just eyeballed it

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, beat well.  With the mixer on low, stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, and graham cracker crumbs until mixed.

Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish lined with parchment paper.  Press the peanut butter cups into the dough, then spread marshmallow fluff on top.  Press the remaining dough on a non-stick surface into the shape of an 8x8 square (I used my silpat mat for baking cookies).  Flip the dough square over ontop of the marshmallow fluff and peal off of mat.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the edges just start to brown.  Cool bars for 2 hours to set.  Lift parchment paper out of pan and cut into squares.  Enjoy!


Thanks The Sweet Life for such a delicious recipe!

And finally, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The dragon, the princess, and her knight in shining armor.  Isaac thought the sword was sooo funnny.  I'll try to put up a video of him giggling hysterically at being poked with the sword.

Tina looking sullen wearing her Halloween pumpkin.

And finally, our Halloween tree.  I was crafty, I know this is shocking.  And ask Geoff, I was so proud of my Halloween tree.

Bombay Coconut Stir Fry

Reading through this recipe, I was a little concerned that it would be too spicy so I was a little conservative on the spices.  This was a mistake.  The food was delicious but FAR from too spicy.  When I make it again, I will use the full amount of spices called for, perhaps even a little extra.  My favorite part of the recipe was the mustard seeds.  I loved the little bit of crunch they gave the dish.

A little Chicken or shrimp
Salt and Pepper
1 1/2 C onion, diced
1 1/2 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cinnamon
dash ground red pepper
1 C frozen peas and carrots
1 can light coconut milk
2 C rice
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

For the coconut rice:  Combine rice, coconut milk, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 3/4 C water in a large pan.  Bring to a boil, stirring the bottom of the pan occasionally.  Reduce heat and simmer with a tight lid for 15-20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed (stirring the bottom occasionally to avoid sticking).  Remove from heat and let sit covered for 5 minutes.  Rice can stay warm and fluffy for up to 1 hour if left covered.

Salt and pepper chicken or shrimp.  Brown in a little bit of olive oil, turning once.  Remove from pan.

Over medium heat, heat additional swirl of olive oil (if needed).  Add onions and cook 2 minutes.  Add salt, pepper, curry, mustard seeds, cinnamon, and red pepper.  Add 1 1/3 water and peas and carrots.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 4 minutes, reducing heat as needed.  Return meat to the pan and cook 1 additional minute.  Serve with rice and garnish with cilantro.

And now, we are long overdo for pictures from baby's trip to Austin, TX, where the natives don't mess around with football.  I'm pretty sure the whole town closed down during the football game and it was illegal to wear any color other than burnt orange.

We took Brewster to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory.  It was awesome.  We watched ice cream being made, sampled dozens of flavors, and then we each got a dish of our favorite.  Baby was the star of the show.  We held him up to the windows to see down into the factory and workers waved and stopped working to see the cute little monster. (Why a monster, you ask?  Because of his innate ability to destroy.)

We gave baby his first ever ice cream (first dessert, for that matter).  It would be a crime to take him to  blue bell and not let him try some of their creamy goodness.  We gave him peach ice cream and daddy snuck him a few bites of his chocolate.

Here we are at the state capital.  Does visiting make us real Texans?

And finally, the whole reason for the trip to Austin:  seeing the bats.  Austin has the largest urban colony of bats living under this bridge and every night they fly out at dusk.  You have to get there an hour in advanced to have a decent spot to sit.  So we let the wild wiggle boy wiggle around while we waited for the bats.  No pictures of the bats, I'm afraid, it was too dark for our camera to get anything besides blackness.

Tomato and Egg Bake

This was super yummy, and even Geoff liked it (and if you had asked him 5 years ago when we were first married he would have told you he disliked tomatoes and squash).  So give this a try, even if you think you have picky eaters.

2 C red onion, chopped
1 1/2 C red bell pepper, diced
1 lb yellow squash, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1/2-1 C cooked quinoa
1/2 C thinly sliced fresh basil, divided
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 C milk
3/4 C Gruyere cheese, shredded
3 eggs, beaten
small chunk French bread baguette
2 beefsteak tomatos, sliced

Preheat oven to 375

Saute onion in a little oil over medium heat.  Cook 3 minutes.  Add bell pepper and cook 2 more minutes.  Add squash and garlic and cook 4 more minutes.  Combine vegetables with cooked quinoa, 1/4 C basil, thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, and the black pepper.

Combine remaining 1/2 tsp salt, milk, cheese, and eggs.  Stir with a whisk.  Add milk mixture to vegetable mixture, stirring until just combined.  Spoon into a greased baking dish (11x7 or 9x13).  Arrange tomato slices over quinoa mixture.

Place bread in a food processor and pulse into crumbs.  Toast breadcrumbs on the stovetop in a little olive oil.  Sprinkle bread crumbs over tomatoes.  Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until browned.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 C basil.

Baby Pumpkin

Today I saw pie pumpkins in the store.  We rarely get the pie variety of pumpkins so I was tempted to buy one (or two) just because we may never see those pumpkins again.  However, when I made baby pumpkin it was in the middle of the summer and there were certainly no pumpkins in the store, so I used canned pumpkin.  Much to babies dismay, I was particular in making sure it was just canned pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling. 

1 large can pumpkin
¾ cup milk
1 tsp. fresh ground cinnamon
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. The recipe I was following instructed that you heat the mixture to 160 degrees.  I did so, but I don't know how necessary that step was.  Cool.  Freeze in ice cube trays.

And now, our final post with pictures from Maryland.  On one of my last evening there, we went and picked 10 pounds of blackberries and 5 pounds of rasperries.  It was a delicious evening.  And I got the smashed blackberry stain, courtesy of one Little Boy I know and love, out of my shirt.  The following morning we had banana pancakes with fresh berries on top.  Delish!

This Desmond smile looks just like a little Robbie grin.  All he needs now is a bright yellow mario shirt.