Our Mommyhood

Posts Tagged ‘Recipes’

But there are a few recipes that I’ve gathered over the years that I do find time to make on a pretty regular basis.

This salsa is one of them. It makes me ridiculously happy, so I thought I’d share it with you.

The best thing about this recipe is it can be tweaked to suit your tolerance for heat.

Over time, I’ve increased the heat by changing up the chiles and I use a ton of cilantro. If we’re having guests, I often take it down a few notches by cutting back on the chiles.

Here’s what you’ll need:
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 14 ripe plum tomatoes
• 4-6 serrano chiles
• 6-8 garlic cloves
• 1 small bunch cilantro
• 2-4 canned or dehydrated chipotles
• kosher salt
• fresh lime juice

Here’s what you’ll do:
Place the tomatoes, chopped onion, whole garlic cloves, and serrano peppers In a glass baking dish (I also added a few habaneros because I’m crazy like that.)

Roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the tomato skins split.

While the vegetables are roasting, remove the stems from the chipotle peppers (I often use dried chipotles, which I simply soak in hot water until they plump up).

Once the vegetables have cooled completely, remove the stems from the roasted peppers.
Place the roasted vegetables, chipotles, cilantro, and salt, pepper, and lime juice (to taste) in the food processor or blender and process until you achieve your desired consistency. (My food processor holds only half of the ingredients, so I do two batches.)

Transfer salsa to a bowl and allow sit for at least an hour. It takes a little while for the flavors to fully come together.

This salsa can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

If it lasts that long in your house, I’ll be amazed!

Nichole Beaudry is author of in these small moments, a blog about finding meaning and beauty in life’s ordinary moments. She and her husband, Craig, live in Northern California, with their two young children, Katie (4) and Matthew (1). They are currently working on baby number three.

By JJ Keith, Staff Writer, JJust Kidding, (@jj_keith)

A friend of mine recently solicited her mom cohorts to contribute to a recipe exchange. I’m not what you’d call a foodie, a gourmand or a partaker of epicurean delights. I find little to no pleasure in preparing food. Worse, I’m quite poor at both. I’ve never mastered cutting my meat with a knife and fork and thus seldom order meat in restaurants unless it is shredded and plopped atop some tortilla chips with some queso sauce. The finest meal I can imagine is an avocado sandwich, French fries and a beer. I do not have a subscription to Gourmet. I do not even have a subscription to Adequate Home Cook Monthly (which I think was the working title of Every Day with Rachael Ray).

But I care about getting healthy foods on the table for my family, including my toddler and my just-starting-solids baby. I subscribe to a farm share so every week my husband uses his lunch break to pick up bags of fresh organic produce that we must, somehow, turn into food for our family. Since those fruits and veggies are done and paid for, I work at using every last scrap of our produce box, even the turnip greens. I’m sure seasoned cooks do amazing thing with their shares, but me? I do my best.

Here’s the recipe I submitted to the exchange, and yes, I realize it takes some kind of moxie to call something with the ingredient “one box of mac n’ cheese” a recipe, but bear with me here.

Farm Share Mac

Ingredients

• One box of mac n’ cheese. I like Annie’s or Trader Joe’s, but that’s just a personal preference.
• Whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand. I like to use broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas and Brussels sprouts, but except for lettuce and potatoes, I pretty much just use whatever.
• Grated or crumbled cheese. I’ll take anything from fine Gruyere to slices of American. Cheese is cheese. It’s all good. You can even use blue cheese for a swanky European take on this American classic. (This is needed because the cheese sauce that comes with the mac is only enough to cover the included pasta and not the crapload of vegetables you’re adding to it.)
• Optional: Half a pound of ground grass-fed beef, bison or buffalo. Brown it with an onion and some garlic and add it in at the end.

Whenever the kids happen to both be asleep or unhazardously occupied, I jump into the kitchen and cut up my veggies. I bet vegetables are most delicious when freshly cut, but that’s not an option in my house. Let me tell you something about my toddler: at 5 p.m. she’s nobody’s sous chef.

I use a multi-pot with a steamer basket and pasta insert (this one), fill it up with water, throw the veggies in the steamer basket, put the lid on and then leave it sitting waiting to go. If I’m going to cook some red meat to go in it I pre-chop an onion and store it in the fridge.

I turn on the burner 45 minutes before my husband gets home. When the water boils I dump the mac in and cook it for 8 minutes. All the while my veggies are steaming. I pull off the mac and drain it and put aside little pile of veggies for the baby. He’s about six months old now so I just mush them up with a fork or a food mill, thin them out with breast milk (I literally walk around milking myself into a baby bowl while the pasta is boiling), and spoon feed him. When he gets a little older I plan to dice them up to make soft finger foods and give him some ground meat to paw at.

Lastly, usually once my husband is in the door and can take the kids, I mix the remaining veggies, cheese sauce, grated cheese, browned meat and pasta together. I fill out the plate with cut up fruit or a simple salad and VOILA: a healthy (albeit déclassé) dinner for four including two two and under.

By Betsy, Editor, Funky Mama Bird (@funkymamabird)

Like a lot of parents of toddlers I know, we are in the thick of potty training just now. I don’t know how it’s going for the rest of you, but my kid is stubborn. Kid has a bladder of steel and will actually hold all of his pee from the minute he wakes up until nap time when I put a diaper back on him just so he won’t have to go in the potty. Let’s not even talk about poop. Child can hold it for days when he’s so inclined. It’s frustrating to say the least.

So I looked at a few potty training books and they advised flooding the child with liquids, salt and sugar. Make him half to go, in other words.

Well of course my kid is so stubborn he won’t even drink when we prompt him to, so I needed a new trick. After a lot of thought, I came up with a way to get my kid going: Salty, sugary, Potty Training Peanut Butter Cookies. These things are amazing and they also require a lot of liquid to get them down.

They are also completely dairy and gluten free and taste pretty good even when you aren’t trying to sneak extra milk down your child’s throat. I highly recommend them, but then again I recommend anything that has peanut butter in it, so you may need to try them for yourself.

Ingredients

Makes 6 large cookies

• 1 cup of natural, salted peanut butter – we use Teddy, make sure to get the one with salt
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Combine the ingredients in a small bowl
2. Divide into size balls
3. Place on a cookie sheet and flatten with a fork
4. Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes until they are crisp around the edges but still soft in the centers
5. Let cool and enjoy with about a gallon of liquid per cookie.

So easy even my toddler can make them, which he does when I measure things out for him. Give it a try with your potty trainee and see if works for you.

By Toni, Contributor, Hemp and High Heels (@tonisue)

One of my favorite things about reading other people’s blogs, is finding new recipes. I am a recipe addict. I love searching for and trying out new dishes. But, I have one major complaint that no one seems to be addressing: Taking pictures of food.

Oh man, there are some BAD food pictures on blogs out there. Let’s walk through the worst offenders shall we?

This set is what I like to call “Look at everything but the food” pictures. The pictures are all taken so far back, that I can’t see the food clearly. Instead, I focus on pan, spoon, stove, etc. These photos are the worst offenders.

Now, let’s look at where each picture went right or wrong.

-Picture #1 is taken under the stove light with a flash. There is a reflection of flash, and the darks are overexposed.

-Picture #2 is taken with no flash, but still under the stove light. It gives all of the picture an all-over yellow wash.

- Picture #3 is taken in natural light, but with the flash on. Here again, you get the reflection of the flash in the picture, and the darks are overexposed.

- Picture #4 has the best lighting. It is taken in natural lighting with no flash. However, great lighting still can’t save the composition in this photo.

This set is a little better. You can see that the photos are cropped in. However, the food is still in the pan, with the spoon still present. It takes away from the artistry of the recipe. The first picture is taken under the stove light with a flash on (Bad), the second picture under the stove light with no flash (better, but still not great), and the the third is taken in natural light with no flash. While it’s the best of the trio – it is still lacking mightily.

The last set is finally on the right track. The food is on a plate! But all four pictures need a little tweaking.

-Pictures one and two need to be zoomed in. Just like the first set, instead of focusing on the food, all I see is what is going on around the plate. The first picture is taken in natural light with a flash, and the second in natural light without flash. You can see what a huge difference that flash makes.

- The bottom two finally get it right, but need just a bit of work to make the photos look professional. The third is taken in natural light, but with a flash. Number four is in natural light, no flash. The fourth is the the clear winner, but to take your pictures to the final level, even this picture needs a small bit of editing.

This picture is focused on the food, which is where it should be. The lighting is natural. I brightened the highlights, sharpened the photo just a wee bit, and moved the colors from more yellow to more blue (blue negates yellow). You can clearly see exactly what I made, and aren’t distracted by the background.

No get out there and post your recipes! I can’t wait to enjoy your works of art.

By Working Mommy, Contributor, Lessons Learned (@lessonslrndblog)

The perfect summer party isn’t complete without the perfect ribs!! I mean, it doesn’t get any better than having over great friends to share conversation, beers and ribs (sometimes I think I sound more like a guy…but I promise you, I’m not!)!! The Man has a great recipe for ribs…and while I can’t share the EXACT concoction he’s come up with, I can share a few tips for great ribs!!

Tip #1 – MEAT:In order to have the best finished product, your have to start with quality meat. We have found that the best meat comes from specialty markets. Sure, the ribs you could find at Giant, SuperFresh or SafeWay will get you through…but you won’t be truly happy with the result! My favorite is Wegmans – and for those of you lucky enough to have one near you, take advantage of the meat department! Yes, it is a little on the pricey side…but it is TOTALLY worth it! Whatever you do – DO NOT get your meat from a bulk store like BJs or Costco…the quality and consistency of cut just isn’t there…and you will pay dearly for that in the end!

Tip #2 – RUB:The best ribs use a mix of dry and wet ingredients. Get your favorite barbecue sauce out for this one, folks! In this house we like things a little SPICY – okay, a LOT spicy – so our sauce in extra hot! The sauce should always be the first thing put on your ribs…this will ensure your dry ingredients stick. As you will see from the below picture, you really don’t have to worry about the bottom portion of the ribs – focus all of your efforts on the top. Apply a generous coating of sauce and then proceed with your dry ingredients. In our casa, we go with a combination of chili powder, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, garlic power and salt. There are plenty of pre-made rib rubs…so feel free to use one of those. Once you apply your dry items, put on another coating of sauce and another layer of your dry rub.

Tip #3 – COOKING: If you don’t cook your ribs in a smoker, a grill is your next best option. Unlike searing steaks, a super hot grill at 500 degrees is not necessary. You want to make sure you cook your ribs at a consistent 300 degrees. Check your grill every hour or so, just to keep any flare-ups in check. After 4-5 hours, your meaty goodness will be ready to eat! The most important thing to keep in mind is that this is not a quick process…raising the temperature on your grill will not make things move faster – it will only get you burned ribs…and no one wants that! Take your time, keep your cool and enjoy your friends. Once dinner comes around you will have the perfect centerpiece!

Tip #4 – EAT: You can now enjoy your ribs…YUM!!