My Little Helper

Back in November with my mother-in-law.  Cute!

Flannery has been all about helping in the kitchen lately, from making her daddy's birthday cake, to making hot tea, to making macaroni and cheese, to helping with making lemonade.  I've been really impressed by how she'll stick with me throughout so many steps these days!  And she seems to get such a sense of accomplishment from helping.  Today, while she was stirring in the butter and milk, she said,  "I'm actually really making my own mac and cheese!"

She helped with every step along the way for making, frosting, and adding (gazillions of) sprinkles to her daddy's birthday cake.  And tonight, she even helped him blow out the candles!  (Happy birthday to Robi!)

The best part is that when she's helping me in the kitchen, we get to wear our matching aprons that my mother-in-law gave us back in November.  Seriously, those matching aprons might just win the prize for the "most adorable while still being useful" gift of the year.



How can you involve the children in your life more in chores and household tasks?  

Quick and Yummy Summer Simmer

I'm not a great cook.

My husband? He's a great cook. But me, I'm more of a baker. I like exact recipes with measuring cups and teaspoons, and, you know, predictable results.

But, I'm slowly figuring out a repertoire of yummy, easy, and healthy dinners that my family enjoys.

Here's one that we just love. (Warning, what my family loves may be very different from what your family enjoys! One of my daughter's first words was "tofood" for tofu, and we eat a lot of vegetarian dishes. But I think anyone would enjoy this one!)

I'm calling it a "quick and yummy summer simmer", but it's really just chickpea masala over rice.

Anyway, here are the ingredients:

Jasmine rice
Canned Chickpeas
Tikki Masala Sauce
1 fresh sliced tomato
a few sprigs of cilantro
some fresh leafy greens (we usually use spinach)


And the instructions:
Rinse and drain the canned chickpeas. Then put them in a large and deep skillet or wok.
Pour masala sauce over chickpeas.
Add 1 fresh sliced tomato to the sauce, and let the sauce simmer on low for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, steam your rice (My favorite way is in the microwave using a casserole dish with a heavy plate on top as the lid, just add at least 1/2 cup more water than the recipe asks for)

Then, when your rice is done, use the leafy greens as a base, spoon some cooked hot rice on top (this will wilt the greens a little, yum!), pour your chickpea masala simmer on top, and sprinkle on a few cilantro leaves.


I like to eat this with a side of fresh fruit like mangoes or berries.

Yum! In 20 minutes, you've got a tasty meal that looks just beautiful, too.



What's your favorite quick meal to make at home?

The Beginning of Bounty

Our little porch garden is really doing well, despite my tendency to forget to water it! It's pretty amazing! Luckily tomato and pepper plants seem pretty forgiving.


We've been enjoying fresh basil regularly, and this morning, we got the chance to eat our first bell pepper from our own garden. We had it for breakfast in some "garden eggs" (scrambled eggs with whatever fresh veggies we have on hand to throw in). Today, the scramble included tomato, bell pepper, fresh garlic, basil, and feta cheese. We had it with some bagel bread toast and watermelon. Tasty!



Our tomatoes are really coming along. It's exciting to see the red emerge slowly, and then suddenly they're ready! And so far (knock on wood!), no squirrels have bitten any of them.

We also have some fancy chili peppers of some sort. They are curly and cute, but I'm not brave enough to try one. I'm not a fan of spicy hot stuff.
Oh, and happy birthday to my wonderful father-in-law! My in-laws dropped by for an impromptu lunch today on their way back home from Virginia, and it was so nice to get to see them! When we visit their place next week, I'll try to snap a few photos of their garden...it's the real deal!



What are you growing right now? What do you want to grow soon? What do you suggest I think about for late summer/fall planting?

I love peppers?

I really don't like peppers, but, seriously, if they will grow despite my lack of a green thumb, I really must at least learn to appreciate them a little. Check them out...real peppers from my own back yard! (I took these the morning we left for our trip...sorry I posted them out of order. If you're kinda OCD like me, little things like that might drive you cuh-razy!)






What's a good family friendly meal I can make with all of my future peppers? Any ideas?

Secrets from the Kitchen

Today I made ratatouille in the crock pot. It’s cooking up now, and filling my home with a lovely garlicky aroma.

Mmmm, garlic.

Which brings me to my reason for posting today. Garlic. (Yup, garlic!)

For the first 30 years of my life, I peeled garlic the only way I knew how…the tedious, sticky, now-I-smell-like-garlic way. You know, I cut the garlic ends off and then picked away at the skin of the garlic until it was sticking to my hands and mostly off of the garlic clove.

But about a year ago, something marvelous happened. I saw Gaida De Laurentiis (on the Food Network) peel garlic. The easy way.

Can you believe it? There’s actually an easy way!

Here’s how she did it:

How to Peel Garlic
1. Cut the woody end of the garlic clove off first.
2. Then lay the garlic clove flat on a cutting board,
3. Lay a knife flat side down on top of the garlic clove
4. Push down on the flat side of the knife to smush the garlic clove briefly
5. The skin will now come off easily.

If you’ve never peeled garlic this way, trust me, it will change your life. It’s revolutionized my cooking. (Or at least made me a little quicker at the chopping stage of cooking, but, hey, I’ll take it!)

And it makes me happy to have little tricks to make things easier when I’m cooking. Like today, I actually used my garlic press. Another trick! A minute of chopping saved by a handy cute gadget!

Another little happiness boost!


What little time-saving tricks for work or home do you just love? (C’mon, it’s fun to share your expertise!)