Cold Brew Thai Tea or Coffee {and simple syrup} Recipe

I've said it once and I'll say it again, I love Thai iced tea! We hardly ever eat out, but when we have the treat of going out for Thai food I always get one. It goes perfectly with spicy food because of how sweet + creamy it is. I've always wanted to recreate this treat on my own but never found a tutorial easy enough for what I wanted. I didn't want to have to buy all the individual spices and prepare them, I wanted something in tea bag form or as close to it as possible.

A couple weeks ago I was browsing blogs in my feedly when I came across a recipe for blended Thai iced tea. The recommended a loose leaf Thai tea that I could order from Amazon, I had to have it! Ben ordered it for me and when it came I brewed it per the instructions as best I could. I brewed it hot at first and strained it through a coffee filter, then I tried making my own tea bags which worked great but was too time consuming for the amount of tea I wanted. Next I tried cold brew, which is how I make iced coffee at home. There are plenty of methods for cold brewing from what containers you use to how you filter it. I tend to use what I have on hand whenever possible, which is how I came up
with this method a couple years ago.

Cold Brewed Thai Tea, or Coffee 

(this will make a small batch, 2-3 servings)

What you'll need:

• 1 large glass jar with lid
• loose leaf tea or ground coffee
• large container to filter the tea/coffee into (preferably with a spout)
• mesh strainer++
• a coffee filter++ (I use paper, but you could probably get the same results with reusable)
• time + patience

Cold brew is a plan-ahead drink as it needs more time to "brew" 4 hours at least to overnight. I've never tried drinking it as soon as 4 hours though, I've always let it sit at least overnight. 

1st measure out your tea or coffee into your glass jar. About 4 tsp/cup for the Thai tea, use the same ratios you use for hot coffee for iced (I never measure, just pour). 

2nd Fill the rest of the jar with filtered water, add lid, turn over to mix and place in fridge for 4-8 hours. 

3rd- the next day pull your chilled jar out of the fridge to strain. Place the mesh strainer over your bowl and add the coffee filter. Pour the tea/coffee in slowly and let it drip into the bowl until you've filtered it all. 

4th. add 4 ice cubes to a tall glass, for Thai tea I put in a generous amount (probably 3 tablespoons) of homemade simple syrup (recipe below), you can easily add it to your liking at the end. Then I pour in 1/4 cup of half + half and fill the rest of the way with the tea. Less half and half for coffee. Cold brew is MUCH less bitter so if you aren't into super sweet drinks, you may not need sugar at all!

5th Rinse out your jar and place the excess back in the fridge for drink #2 or even 3.

++I've even made cold brew in our french press by pouring it into the press when it was done brewing in the fridge. This is helpful if you don't have a mesh strainer or coffee filters. I have not tried this method with tea yet, but now I might!

Homemade Simple Syrup, liquid sweetener

This is super easy, like whoa. It's even easier if you have a hot water dispenser. Most of you may already know how to do this but I'm adding it for those that may ask if I were to leave it out!...

What you'll need:

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

heat proof bowl (I use my pyrex measuring cup)

funnel

glass bottle 

This can be made at any ratio I just make it 2 cups at a time. As long as you make it 1:1 with the sugar and water it'll work fine. 

1st heat the water to just boiling (not necessary if you have a hot water dispenser, yay!)

2nd add the sugar to your heat proof bowl

3rd stir the hot water into the sugar continuously until clear, not cloudy. 

4th. Let mixture cool to room temperature. 

5th funnel into a bottle or jar of your choice (I reused a Torani syrup bottle)

Tah-dah! So easy and so nice for iced drinks. Enjoy!

DIY disposable tea bags- a quick tutorial

A series of events brought me to finding myself in need for a good way to steep loose-leaf tea. Prior to discovering a Thai tea that I HAD to have (I LOVE Thai iced tea) we didn't keep loose-leaf tea in the house. We mostly drink coffee and buy bags of our favorite varieties. Thus, I don't have a tea strainer/diffuser/thingy for my newly acquired tea.

First, I brewed it per the recommendations by mixing the tea straight into the hot water and then filtering through a coffee filter in a mesh strainer. This is similar to how I finish making a cold brewed coffee. It worked okay but takes a while for just one cup. So I googled DIY tea strainer and found a few tutorials that I adapted to make my own tea bags. It's pretty quick and easy but I only had time today to make 4 of them. 

I had a few people ask about my method when I instagrammed the process earlier today so I took pictures and decided to share the process here. 

Items needed:

• loose leaf tea (1 tsp per bag fits best)
• round paper coffee filters 
• scissors
• cotton string/yarn 
• stapler + staples

See below the photo for the steps....

1. Take 1 coffee filter and cut into 2 rectangles by cutting in half and then cutting the rounded edges straight. 
2. Fold in half "hamburger style" (anyone? anyone?...) to create a crease. Put 1/2 teaspoon tea on each side of this crease. 
3. Fold the long edges over the tea.
4. Then place your finger on the crease and bring the two ends together. 
5. place the end of your string at the top and fold one corner over, then place the other end of string and fold the other corner over it- creating a point. 
6. Fold the point over then bring the string up and staple the string to the tea bag securing it shut. 

Don't forget to find a little helper to untie your moccasins and drive trucks around the kitchen...it's crucial to the process...

{oh, hello to baby sister too}

I brewed mine and then put it on ice. I'm wondering now if I could cold brew this like my coffee. I'm just following the directions the Thai tea came with...

Tah-dah! Quick and easy, but also pretty messy (only because I tried putting in too much tea the first time.). Enjoy! 

Quick + Easy Fruit Cobbler Recipe {using cake mix!}

I'd like to come back from yet another inadvertent blogging hiatus (such is summer-time) with a delicious recipe that you should probably go ahead and plan on making tonight...which is right now. 

There are a few versions of this on the internet, but this one is the easiest in my opinion. It's not SUPER quick in terms of the baking time, but good things come to those who wait. 

My Great-Grandma's blueberry cobbler was always one of my favorites growing up. Buttery + sweet, perfectly delicious. Imagine my surprise when I asked my mom for the recipe a couple years ago and it ended up being this easy...

Ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix (I'm sure yellow would work just fine as well)
• enough fruit to cover the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. 
• 1 stick of butter

Seriously, that's it. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread fruit across bottom of 9x13 pan (this recipe can be halved as well, I use an 8 inch pie pan)

Sprinkle cake mix evenly across the fruit. Slice butter thinly and layer on top of cake mix. Don't stir, just let the layers mix when the butter melts. 

Bake until brown and bubbly. The edges will brown first, but don't take it out until the center is golden brown, even though the edges will darken. For my oven it takes 30-45 minutes. 

I've made this cobbler 4 times this year using blueberries (even straight from the freezer), fresh picked plums, fresh picked peaches and tonight's is a combination of peaches + blueberries. 

{blueberries + peaches}

You MUST eat it hot, topped with vanilla ice cream...unless you're having it for breakfast, then it's perfectly acceptable (and delicious) to eat it cold, straight out of the fridge. I'm all about desserts for breakfast. 

Enjoy!

EASY No-Bake Granola Rounds

In an effort to make a quick and easy breakfast or snack, I went looking for a granola bar recipe. I found quite a few that I took from and sort of worked out with what I  wanted to use in mine. No-bake was a must as the temperatures have been rising and I don't want my a/c unit to have to work any harder than it already is. Plus, it's pretty difficult to use the oven in my teeny kitchen with two kids running around.

Here is the recipe for my No-Bake Granola Rounds

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2/3 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup honey (or sticky sweetener of your choice)

1/4 cup or less chocolate chips

Stir the oats and coconut together in a large bowl. Then add the peanut butter and honey and stir until the oat/coconut mixture is evenly coated. Next time, I may use less honey as these turned out pretty rich. Although they pair with coffee perfectly. 

Most granola "bar" recipes call for adding the mixture to a square pan, so if you prefer this method use an 8x8 and then cut into bars when ready. I put mine in a muffin tin to make rounds instead of bars. That way I could just pop them out, no cutting. I pressed the mixture into each round and then pressed in chocolate chips on top. 

Let cool in the fridge at least 30 minutes to set, then cut or pop out and enjoy! I also stored them in the fridge to keep them firm. I'm not sure how well these would travel long term as the honey and peanut butter may get kind of melty when warm, but my husband loves eating them in the car on the way to work!

As always, let me know if you try these out. Enjoy!

"Enchiquitos"

One of my favorite recipes to make and eat is one I like to call "Enchiquitos". I adapted the recipe from one I found online nearly a year ago. I wrote down my changes, but didn't hang on to the original recipe, so I'm unable to give credit. These could be compared to the newly popular "baked taquitos" that are floating around the internet, but I surely prefer the name Enchiquitos. It's more fun to say and they are more of a combination of enchiladas and taquitos in my opinion.

Ben loves it when I make these...and honestly so do I. They are perfectly crispy on the outside but creamy and flavorful on the inside. I always try to make enough for him to have the leftovers for lunch the next day, he's told me that he's envied by co-workers on those days...which makes me very happy.

So, on with the details shall we?

Enchiquitos
Ingredients
1/3 Cup (3 oz.) Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup salsa
1 Tbs. lime juice
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 C chopped onion OR 2 Tbs. sliced green onion
2 Cups shredded cooked chicken (I cook up a frozen chicken breast in the oven a few hours prior)
1 Cup grated cheddar cheese
4-6 large flour tortillas
olive oil cooking spray
coarse salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare your bakeware by spraying generously with the olive oil cooking spray. Keep it handy, you'll need the spray again later. I use a 9x13 dish most often, but these can be baked on a cookie sheet.

First, heat the cream cheese in a microwave safe dish for 20-30 seconds to soften. If you have a pretty powerful microwave, try in 10 second increments. Mine's on the older side so I can go longer before making a splattery mess of things.

In a medium bowl combine the softened cream cheese with the salsa, lime juice (I use fresh squeezed), cumin, and garlic powder. Mix well. Next add the onion, chicken, and grated cheese. Combine well.

I prefer these with green onions, I really like green onions. I almost always have them around in a dish in my freezer. If you prefer white, yellow, or even red onions- take your pick or combine if you REALLY like onions.

Next, place about 3 Tablespoons of the mixture in the middle of a large tortilla. If you are using a baking dish you can make fewer enchiquitos and stuff them fuller, but I wouldn't recommend that if you are baking on a cookie sheet as the mixture will ooze out the ends while baking.

Spread the mixture out a bit and roll the tortilla tightly around it. Place it seam side down on your well oiled bakeware. Repeat until the dish is full, or you're out of mix. If you bake in a 9x13 dish and they are touching, the sides will be soft but the top and ends will be crisp. If you lay them out on a large cookie sheet with spaces between each one, they will be crispy all over- more like a taquito. I prefer to make them in a dish- enchilada style.

Spray the tops with your olive oil spray and sprinkle with the course salt. Bake (uncovered) in your preheated oven at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are crisp and the ends begin to brown. Note that they will be done quicker if you chose to use a cookie sheet instead of a baking dish.

Be very careful before eating as they will be VERY hot inside. I've been too eager on more than one occasion and suffered a burned mouth...it was worth it.

Serve with a side of sour cream and enjoy.

What's your favorite hybrid recipe? What's your go-to meal? I used to make a cheesy-chicken and rice casserole whenever a friend or family member had a new baby or was ill. Now I make Enchiquitos!

And, if you're in need of a way to reorganize your best recipes, check out Blurb Books cookbook options! We used Blurb to make our wedding album and I absolutely loved their book editor. It turned out beautifully, I would love to make a cookbook some day!

Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

Years ago a good friend of mine (Jamie, who I've referenced several times here, and many of you know) made us a teriyaki chicken and rice dinner that was to DIE for. When she offered to make a meal after Malakai was born Ben requested it specifically- same for when we had Desmond.

I don't have her recipe, and I don't think I could make it quite like hers anyhow, but I went searching for my own slowcooker recipe. I found this one on Pinterest and usually just change it to use what I have on hand. For example, I NEVER have red wine vinegar or ground ginger so I just leave those out and it still turns out delicious.

Here is my adaptation of this recipe, which is currently in my crockpot for tonight's dinner.

Ingredients-
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I toss them in straight from the freezer)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbs. oil (take it or leave it)

(Note: Jamie makes hers less spicy for us, but I'm pretty sure she usually includes sriracha sauce)

Directions-
Place the chicken in the slow cooker. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl, pour it over the chicken. Cook on low for 8 or high for 4 hours. I usually do the latter because often I forget that I want to do a crock pot dinner until around lunch time. Mornings are a bit nutty around here, I often don't get my coffee until we've been up for 3-4 hours.

Something random: I always run my crock pot in the garage. Once our entire house (all 900 square feet) smelled of this recipe for days and I couldn't stand it. So I prepare it in the kitchen and then set it on top of my washing machine to smell up the garage. It's much more pleasant than pulling on a garlicky shirt out of the closet the next day.

Anyway, once it's done and I bring it in I throw together some rice. While the rice is cooking I take two forks to shred the chicken, sometimes right in the crockpot, sometimes I take it out and then add it back to the sauce. I stir it and let it soak up some sauce. Once the rice is done just spoon the chicken and sauce over a bed of rice.

This usually makes enough for Ben + I, plus a small portion for Kai (Des will try it for the first time tonight), and there is plenty left over for Ben's lunch the following day. It is still very yummy as a leftover. It's also incredible with a side of roasted or stir fried green beans, which is how Jamie served it to us that first time.

Enjoy!

apple salsa + a culinary tip

When Ben had to avoid just about every food on the planet, one of those was tomatoes. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal because he doesn't like them, however, the man loves salsa. Coincidentally, I came across a recipe via facebook post from Our Best Bites (who I won my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker from). Their recipe actually focuses on the main dish, but I was really only interested in the apple salsa.

Before I had never heard of apple salsa, just mango or pineapple, which are both too sweet for us. I've made this apple salsa several times now and have been working on perfecting it to what we want. I also referenced Rachael Ray's version for quantities since the other was more of a garnish. I made one batch where I used the food processor to chop all the ingredients, another time I  tried adding some fuji apples for a little more sweetness. After all the experiments I think I've finally come up with the best version.

Granny Smith Apple Salsa

4 Granny Smith Apples
1/2 small red onion
1/4 cup cilantro
1 small lime
1/4 teaspoon salt

Wash, peel, and coarsely chop the apples. I found that cutting with a santoku knife and then chopping with a mezzaluna worked well for this. Add to medium bowl.

Finely chop the onion or run it through your food processor real quick. Same can be done with the cilantro, but I just chopped it up with the mezzaluna as well. (When you have little ones you can't always rely on loud appliances). Add onion and cilantro to your bowl of chopped apples.

{these had me weeping uncontrollably}

Cut your lime and squeeze the juice into the mix. Salt to taste... I only measure salt when baking. Then stir it all up and enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips or over a spicy dish to give it a little salty sweet kick. Easy and so yummy!

Now here's my little "culinary tip". I actually read this in a magazine but I don't recall which one. Perhaps this is well-known and I'm just discovering it, but you can freeze fresh herbs! Exciting stuff, I know.

Cilantro comes in bundles of much more than I could ever use before it wilts. So this time around I washed it, plucked off all the little leaves from the whole bunch, and coarsely chopped it all. Then I chopped what I was going to use in the salsa a bit finer.

I added a little water to an ice cub tray, put the leftover cilantro in and added a bit more water. The water is really just to make it so you can actually remove the cubes. Then when you're ready to use it, just thaw and drain a few cubes! 

I'm always throwing out fresh herbs when they are no longer "fresh" so it'll be nice to have this trick up my sleeve to save the extras!

dairy-free peanut butter ice cream

It's been a while since I've posted recipes around here. Lately I've been trying new ones left and right. About a week ago Ben started a temporary diet, by his doctor's orders. For a month he's to have no dairy, eggs, wheat, tomatoes, or chocolate. I've been doing a lot of research and we've learned that wheat, milk, and eggs are in just about everything! Soy sauce- wheat. Ranch dressing- milk and eggs. Taco seasoning- wheat again! When I went shopping Ben called it a treasure hunt, and he  was right! I spent a lot of time reading labels and searching for ingredients and meal options to make sure he wouldn't miss the things he couldn't have too much.

Something that he's missed is an occasional bowl of ice cream with me in front of the tv when the kids bless us by sleeping at the same time early enough for us to have the energy to stay up and hang out before we go to bed too. First, I tried a "one ingredient" ice cream recipe that I found through Pinterest. It's made by pureeing frozen banana, and adding any flavor you want. Apparently a frozen banana is supposed to blend up into a nice soft serve. However, I have a really old food processor and it was much more work than it was worth to finally obtain the desired consistency.

I kept looking all over the web for a good recipe free of dairy and chocolate. I didn't find much that would be appealing to him so I decided to try on my own. We had some vanilla soy milk that he found too sweet to drink on it's own, so I started there and loosely followed a couple recipes that came with my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker (that I won a while back). So here it is...

Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Ice Cream

3 cups soy/almond/rice milk (I used a little of each)
1/2 cup non-dairy creamer
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/8 cups creamy peanut butter ("high quality", but not natural)

Blend peanut butter and sugar on low until creamy (Cuisinart's instructions called for a hand mixer I used my Kitchen Aid mixer).

Add milk + "cream" and mix on low until sugar is dissolved, 1-2 minutes. Add vanilla. I had to scrape the bottom of the bowl to mix in the peanut butter that stuck. Then add the mixture to ice cream maker for 25-30 minutes or per the instructions for your particular ice cream maker.

I fully expected the ice cream to be too icy because of how little "cream" I had to put in it. Once when I tried frozen yogurt it turned out too thin because I had used low fat yogurt. It was impossible to scoop once fully frozen. However, I think the peanut butter helped thicken this recipe up. I took a small taste and it is awesome! I'd eat this creamy dessert even if we didn't have limitations to worry about. If I were to make a different flavor I would adjust the milk to creamer ratio to use more creamer.

Let me know if you try it or if you have any recipes to share! My biggest challenge has been finding bread, so any help there would be appreciated as well. I plan on heading to Market of Choice this weekend to see what kind of options there are.

Thanksgiving Baking

It's been a bit crazy around here. I've been catching up on laundry and other household chores. Our house is coming back together quite nicely, it feels good. But now that my kitchen is clean, I'm ready to bake for Thanksgiving (which means I'll have much more cleaning to do all over again).

I just wanted to pop in real quick and share what I'll be making for tomorrow's dinners. Yes, dinners, plural. We have two every year, the joys of having most of our family in the same town. It's really exhausting, but totally worth it to get to see everyone. All of Ben's extended family and some of mine will be meeting Desmond for the first time.

Last year I made pumpkin rolls, which are really yummy but fairly time consuming. So this year I'm cutting corners a bit and making pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, adapted from this recipe.

What do you make/bring for Thanksgiving dinner?








P.S. don't forget to enter my current giveaway for a $20 credit to The Sunshine Stitch, ending Friday night. There's something for everyone on your shopping list!

pizza turned calzone: a whoops dinner

I have been meaning to prepare a homemade pizza for dinner for weeks now. Every time I remember, it's too late to give the dough adequate time to rise. Somehow Tuesday afternoon I remembered and all of the pieces fell together for me to get things done in time for dinner...at first.

I followed this recipe for the dough, except I only let mine rise once and it was plenty. Not sure why this recipe calls for twice. I was able to mix the dough and get it ready while Malakai played in his crib just after happily waking from a 3 hour nap. I then let it rise while we played and cleaned up the house a little bit.

For the sauce, I just sauteed 2 teaspoons or so of minced garlic with a little red onion. Then let it simmer with a can of plain ol' tomato sauce. I had a 15 ounce can and probably used about 12 ounces, but easily could have used less.

Next I shredded about 8 ounces of mozzarella cheese. I then took the raised dough and tore off a small chunk for a mini pizza for Malakai. It turned out fairly thick, but on my Pampered Chef baking stone it only took about 10 minutes to bake all the way through. This little cheese pizza turned out great, and it was so cute.

Speaking of the pizza stone, I had only used it once and it was over a year ago. I wasn't quite sure how to use it so I read up a bit online. I read that it should be seasoned with olive oil and be in the oven while it's preheating to 425 or so. I followed those directions and ended up with a house full of smoke from the oil.

whoops.

In preparation for the next pizza I got out the corn meal to keep the dough from sticking to the cutting board or pan. Except what I had purchased was corn starch.

whoops.

So I sprinkled flour instead, which is what the directions on the above recipe calls for anyway. I then rolled out the rest of the dough, added the remaining sauce and mozzarella as well as a sprinkling of parmesan + romano cheeses. Then I doled out the pre-sliced pieces of pepperoni.

{see how nicely everything seems to be coming together?}

I was nervous about transferring the pizza from my wooden cutting board to the hot baking stone in the oven, and rightfully so. It turns out the dough had stuck to the board. As I tried to pick it up, I was worried about making a hole in it, but there already was one despite how thick I had rolled it out.

whoops.

Ben + I went back and forth about what to do. I tried picking it up with two spatulas, then using both hands, all while Ben was holding the cutting board over the open oven. We were both trying to figure it out while stifling laughter. I was simultaneously about to laugh + cry. I didn't know what to do.

Next,  I tried flouring a thin plastic cutting mat and sliding it underneath the raw pizza. I got it about halfway and it wouldn't go any further. I told Ben that we were either having uncooked pizza for dinner or a giant ball of messy dough + cheese. Then, I realized...that's kind of what a calzone is.

I decided to fold the pizza in half in one last ditch effort to save our meal (and quickly because Ben had to be out the door for worship practice in 30 minutes). I was able to fold it over, quite messily, but it worked. Then I scooped up the dough with both hands while Ben held the cutting board over the oven and I quickly dropped it on.

SUCCESS! So far.

{this picture exhibits all of my feelings in that moment}

{Ben thought it necessary to take a photo of the weirdness as it baked}

I set a timer for 15 minutes and quickly googled how to bake a calzone. It turns out they're supposed to bake at a slightly lower temperature, so I switched it down to 400 and watched carefully. I took it out around 12 minutes or so. It was cooked all the way through!

Since my original plan hadn't been to make a calzone, I had way too much meat and cheese in the middle. I also hadn't sealed the edges properly, so when I cut it  the cheese + sauce came flowing out.

whoops.

Meanwhile, Malakai is chomping away at his perfect little pizza and I'm wishing I would have just made a bunch of tiny pizzas and avoided this issue altogether. That, or used more flour.

When Ben + I finally sat down to eat we were pleasantly surprised. As messy as the whole thing was, and as disappointed as I was that it didn't turn out as planned, it was VERY good!

What kitchen bloopers have you experienced lately?

Christmas Breakfast: "Camper" Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe is an  obsession of Ben's side of the family. From what I can remember, it originated with Ben's grandma while camping out at the lake. Now, camping in my family consisted of tents and a very small arsenal of supplies, especially for cooking. Ben's family mostly camped in cabins and trailers out at Triangle Lake. For those of you who cook over a camp fire, despite it's name, this recipe requires an oven.

Camper Cinnamon Rolls are addicting and making them is fairly quick and super easy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 package (12) brown + serve rolls

Set your oven to preheat to 450 degrees.

Cut each roll in half twice (quarters).

Mix the cinnamon + sugar together.

Melt the butter and drizzle over quartered rolls. More butter makes for gooier bites, less makes for crispier bites.

Sprinkle the rolls with the sugar + cinnamon mixture  and stir to coat evenly.

Bake on a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides) for 2 1/2 minutes, turn with spatula, then bake for another 2 1/2 minutes.

Be careful as they will obviously be very hot. Eat fresh!

On Christmas Eve we ate them right off of the cookie sheet! Then I made them on Christmas morning for my side of the family for the first time. I think they liked them, as we went through 2 1/2 batches and we also had our traditional lefse!

Enjoy!

a first: turkey applesauce meatloaf

A couple of weeks ago, in an effort to find protein rich finger foods for Malakai I decided to attempt meatloaf. He had eaten meatloaf at his Grandma's before, so I though I'd attempt something of my own.

I adapted this recipe from one I found at Wholesome Baby Food, a GREAT resource for homemade baby + toddler foods. I always go back there when I need new ideas.

I adapted the recipe to use ingredients I had in my house.

Here's what I used:

1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup wheat germ
dash of dried basil
1 egg

I didn't actually have any breadcrumbs, so I toasted some bread + crumbled it up. Then I mixed everything together in a bowl and added it to a greased (olive oil spray) loaf pan.

Then I put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I must confess that my first try was a bit interesting. I don't have a meat thermometer, so I cut into the meatloaf to make sure there was no pink before pulling it out of the oven. I also used more applesauce + forgot the wheat germ so it was a bit too juicy.

If you or your little one prefer more spice try adding salt + pepper or whatever your favorite spices are as this recipe is very mild, bordering on bland for the adult palette. Malakai enjoyed it, with some ketchup at first, but then he ate it alone. He needs ketchup every once in a while to coax him to try something new or just to eat in general.

How do you get your toddler to eat new foods?

Freezer Jam in Freezing Weather

Over the summer we picked about 2 pounds of strawberries from the raised beds in our yard. I knew with having just moved in a couple months prior that I wouldn't get to using them anytime soon so I froze them. Well, here it is, the end of fall and I finally got to making some strawberry freezer jam.

I attempted strawberry freezer jam a couple years ago and had let the berries sit in the fridge too long. It was a bit of a waste as the jam turned out fairly sour. I've been hesitant to make jam again since then.

I let the berries sit in the fridge for a day to thaw out naturally. They were a bit mushy, but not as bad as if I had tried to thaw them out quicker. Which really didn't matter so much since I was going to mush them up anyway. I did it the lazy way and put the berries in the food processor instead of mashing them myself.

Then I just followed the directions that came with the pectin. I love freezer jam for a number of reasons, number one being that it has a fresh fruit taste compared to canned jam. I also prefer making it because there's no cooking or canning involved, so it's really quick + easy. All you need is berries, sugar, + pectin.

The jam turned out much better this time. My mom always makes freezer jam and it's a treat to have a PBJ when we visit. I was so excited to have some of our own. I used 2 plastic containers she had given me last time I tried making jam and a frosting container, which she also often uses.

An unseasonable treat, but a treat just the same. 

another dessert recipe

I think it's a little funny that almost all of my posts about cooking have to do with desserts. I don't usually make anything worth sharing for dinner. Except this soup I just discovered, but I didn't actually "make" it. Anyway, it's awesome- go buy it. But first, keep reading about these cookies I made...

On Friday night Malakai was still recovering from an upset stomach that we are now thinking came from him trying curry (not hot) for the first time. Poor kiddo. He went to bed early, so Ben + I were trying to figure out what to watch on Netflix.

Meanwhile, I had a mad craving for chocolate but only had some milk chocolate chips I had just grabbed at the grocery store. So, of course I busted into those. While I was eating them I discovered a recipe on the bag. One that was quick + easy and I had all the ingredients for. I decided to do some last minute night time baking to satisfy my sweet tooth. Ben even helped me make them, which I believe was the first time he's ever baked with me.

They're called shortbread rounds and they are teensie bite-sized little goodies. We learned quickly that they are very addicting.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup butter, softened. 
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups unsifted flour
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips (we used the Guittard ones, they're nice + fat)

Only 4 ingredients, I count that as awesome! Especially when working in my mini-sized kitchen. 

Since my decision to bake them was last minute, the butter was straight out of the fridge. So I put it on the oven racks while it was preheating, like I did with the cream cheese for my pumpkin rolls. Unfortunately this time, I got side tracked and they melted quite a bit and made a terrible mess in my oven (that might still be there). Ben said it smelled like pancakes. It could have been worse. 

I put all 4 sticks of butter in my mixer and the realized that 4 sticks is 2 cups  and I was certainly not trying to double the recipe. So I threw the extras in a tupperware container for later, but not too much later. Perhaps baking at the end of the day is not a good task for my tired brain to take on. 

Anyway, you beat the sugar with the butter with an electric mixer. Then you slowly add in the flour until blended. The dough should be a bit crumbly. Next add in the chocolate chips and mix by hand. 

{ridiculously wonderful dough to chocolate chip ratio}

Then, using the palm of your hands roll well rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough in to 1 inch balls. ( I flattened the first batch because I didn't know what the heck I was doing). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees. I always set my timer to the lowest time when I'm baking so if I can't get to them right away I have time time before anything gets burnt. 

I made these cookies again today (I put that extra butter to good use quickly!) and I wanted to try other types of chocolate chips. I happened to have dark chocolate, mint, and white chocolate in addition to the milk chocolate. So instead of mixing up a cup into the dough, I scooped the dough into the palm of my hand, smooshed the chips into it and then rolled them up in the middle to make a variety of flavor combinations. 

Let the cookies stand for 2 minutes before removing from the sheet. You can opt to dust them with powdered sugar. We did some with + some without and preferred without. 

{then try your hardest not to consume them like popcorn}

Super quick, very easy, and totally yummy little treat. 

Enjoy!