One of my wreaths from my etsy shop got onto a random blog:
http://diyonthecheap.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-latest-love-burlap.html
I should have taken a better picture of that wreath. And it looks crooked in the picture. I guess I should get working on my etsy shop again.
We're still alive over here...
My husband just got a new job!!!!!!
We are so excited. In a bad economy like this it's been a bit rough, but after almost a year of job searching (and struggling) we made it.
So now starts the list of things that we need:
*A new washer that doesn't make banging noises on the spin cycle
*A car that holds more than 4 people (no we are not expecting any new family members) and that neither me nor my husband drove in college
*A vacation. We have not been on vacation together (just my husband and me) since long before my almost three year old was born. I can't even think of the last time we did anything just the two of us
*A maid. Just kidding (but wouldn't that be nice)
I think right now we are just relieved that we are finally going to be able to afford life.
We are so excited. In a bad economy like this it's been a bit rough, but after almost a year of job searching (and struggling) we made it.
So now starts the list of things that we need:
*A new washer that doesn't make banging noises on the spin cycle
*A car that holds more than 4 people (no we are not expecting any new family members) and that neither me nor my husband drove in college
*A vacation. We have not been on vacation together (just my husband and me) since long before my almost three year old was born. I can't even think of the last time we did anything just the two of us
*A maid. Just kidding (but wouldn't that be nice)
I think right now we are just relieved that we are finally going to be able to afford life.
Grilled cheese with butternut squash
I had such a busy past month that I'm really far behind on this blog from where I wanted to be. So I decided I needed another post today. And it's another food one!
I made this recipe for lunch today. It was really easy to make. I'm going to be honest, I didn't have very high hopes for it. I don't like grilled cheese sandwiches and this recipe calls for that gross soft tub margerine plastic that people seem to think is a butter equivalent. I also haven't had great luck cooking with butternut squash.
I think I have pretty much given up on attempting food photography. So if you're wondering why I am just posting pictures of the recipe book, that's why.
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sweet potato or butternut squash puree
1 tablespoon of previously mentioned plastic food substitute
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 slices of whole wheat bread
Nonstick cooking spray 1 teaspoon olive oil
I started this recipe by baking the butternut squash. I cut it in half and faced it flesh down on a baking sheet for 45-50 minutes at 400 degrees. I scooped it out of the skin when it was done and put it in the food processor until it was smooth.
I mixed 1/2 cup of the squash puree with 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese and 1/4 teaspoon salt. I should have added the plasic food substitute here but I left that out entirely since no one needs to eat that. I didn't think the sandwich would need any more flavor since the salt was being added to this mix. I spread half the cheese/squash mixture on one slice of bread and put a plain piece of bread over the top to close the sandwich.
I put the sandwich on a frying pan that was sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. The recipe says to put olive oil on the pan but I didn't think that was necessary because I was using a nonstick frying pan. I just grilled the sandwich until the cheese melted and cut the sandwich into little squares so my kids could eat them.
The result: I loved them. I thought the squash made the sandwich taste really good and I have never really liked butternut squash. My kids... well... to be fair, they don't like any sandwiches and never eat them. I also fed this to them just before nap time so there wasn't a whole lot I could have fed them that was going to make them happy. But when they get a little older I'm going to make this for them again because I thought it was a great alternative to regular grilled cheese.
As a side note, I packaged the rest of the butternut squash into plastic bags in 1/2 cup portions and stored them in my fridge to use for future recipes or more grilled cheese sandwiches.
Mac & cheese
I got this book for Christmas:
The interesting thing about this book is it encourages parents to puree vegetables and sneak them into foods your kids like eating. That's kind of the main idea of this cookbook.
Pros: You get your kids to eat more vegetables if they refuse to eat them. The recipes are quick and they tell you how long it's going to take to make each recipe. The ingredients are pretty basic and ones most people generally have around or could easily get.
Cons: I'm not super impressed with the recipes themselves. They are almost too simplistic to taste that good. Also, I was hoping for more recipes about how to get the vegetables to taste good. Hiding vegetables in food doesn't encourage life long vegetable eating habits. There's also no nutrition facts listed with the recipes. One minor complaint is that this book encourages the use of margarine from a tub. I refuse to cook with that stuff, but it's easy enough to just replace that with real butter when I make these recipes.
This is a good book if you don't know how to cook. Basically, it's for a very busy Mom who needs simple meal ideas that may or may not taste that great. There are some basic recipes for dinner and dessert ideas but nothing in this book is particularly outstanding. If you ever considered getting this book I would suggest just adding pureed vegetables to recipes your family already likes and it will probably work much better for your family.
I will give a few of these recipes a try and let you guys know how they turn out. Reviews on Amazon complained that the pureed vegetables altered the taste of the meals at times.
Last night I tried this recipe:
I changed a few ingredients but I used this basic recipe:
Macaroni and cheese 1
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
4 oz (almost 1/4 cup) cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cook the noodles. Coat a saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add the oil, then flour and cook, stirring constantly until a paste is made, 1-2 minutes. Add the milk and cook until mixture is thickened, 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable puree, cheddar and cream cheese and seasonings. Stir until mixture is smooth. Mix with cooked macaroni and serve.
What I changed: I didn't add paprika because my spice shelf is a mess and I couldn't find it. I didn't add pepper because my husband doesn't like pepper. I changed the puree to one pureed avocado because it's what I had. I'm also concerned my kids aren't getting the DHA omega-3 they need since I don't like fish and therefore we never eat it. So avocado was the veggie of choice.
The results: For a really quick homemade macaroni and cheese, it was actually pretty good. My husband did complain that every few bites was extra avocado tasting (he hates avocado so that wasn't such a good thing) but I didn't notice that. My kids ate it just fine. It didn't turn the macaroni green- there were only a few green specks so that wasn't so bad. I didn't use the low or non-fat version of the cheeses or milk and that did make the meal a little heavy. If I had the non fat version of each of those on hand I would have used them instead.
Overall, if I'm in a hurry, I would make this meal again. It was very quick to make since I didn't have to bake it and most of the ingredients I usually have on hand. And since I REFUSE to serve my kids macaroni and cheese from a box, this is a good quick alternative.
The interesting thing about this book is it encourages parents to puree vegetables and sneak them into foods your kids like eating. That's kind of the main idea of this cookbook.
Pros: You get your kids to eat more vegetables if they refuse to eat them. The recipes are quick and they tell you how long it's going to take to make each recipe. The ingredients are pretty basic and ones most people generally have around or could easily get.
Cons: I'm not super impressed with the recipes themselves. They are almost too simplistic to taste that good. Also, I was hoping for more recipes about how to get the vegetables to taste good. Hiding vegetables in food doesn't encourage life long vegetable eating habits. There's also no nutrition facts listed with the recipes. One minor complaint is that this book encourages the use of margarine from a tub. I refuse to cook with that stuff, but it's easy enough to just replace that with real butter when I make these recipes.
This is a good book if you don't know how to cook. Basically, it's for a very busy Mom who needs simple meal ideas that may or may not taste that great. There are some basic recipes for dinner and dessert ideas but nothing in this book is particularly outstanding. If you ever considered getting this book I would suggest just adding pureed vegetables to recipes your family already likes and it will probably work much better for your family.
I will give a few of these recipes a try and let you guys know how they turn out. Reviews on Amazon complained that the pureed vegetables altered the taste of the meals at times.
Last night I tried this recipe:
I changed a few ingredients but I used this basic recipe:
Macaroni and cheese 1
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
Nonstick cooking spray
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
4 oz (almost 1/4 cup) cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cook the noodles. Coat a saucepan with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add the oil, then flour and cook, stirring constantly until a paste is made, 1-2 minutes. Add the milk and cook until mixture is thickened, 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable puree, cheddar and cream cheese and seasonings. Stir until mixture is smooth. Mix with cooked macaroni and serve.
What I changed: I didn't add paprika because my spice shelf is a mess and I couldn't find it. I didn't add pepper because my husband doesn't like pepper. I changed the puree to one pureed avocado because it's what I had. I'm also concerned my kids aren't getting the DHA omega-3 they need since I don't like fish and therefore we never eat it. So avocado was the veggie of choice.
The results: For a really quick homemade macaroni and cheese, it was actually pretty good. My husband did complain that every few bites was extra avocado tasting (he hates avocado so that wasn't such a good thing) but I didn't notice that. My kids ate it just fine. It didn't turn the macaroni green- there were only a few green specks so that wasn't so bad. I didn't use the low or non-fat version of the cheeses or milk and that did make the meal a little heavy. If I had the non fat version of each of those on hand I would have used them instead.
Overall, if I'm in a hurry, I would make this meal again. It was very quick to make since I didn't have to bake it and most of the ingredients I usually have on hand. And since I REFUSE to serve my kids macaroni and cheese from a box, this is a good quick alternative.
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