Sara Jane: Thankful tree and Chicken Curry

November is always the month that I take a little more time to think about those things in my life that I truly am thankful for.  I know I'm not the only one because my Facebook feed is full of what everyone else is thankful for, too. :)  I enjoy reading what others are grateful/thankful for.  It makes me smile.

When my oldest, Penelope, was just a little baby, I started a thankful tree and have been doing it ever since.    It is nothing fancy.  I simply cut out a brown tree trunk with a few branches and then everyday in November, we each write something (or in Penelope's case, 5 somethings) we are thankful for on simple little leaves.  Our first tree was very small.  Now, with five of us writing thanksfuls on it, the tree has become quite large.  It takes up the entire side of my refrigerator.  Not the prettiest site to see but it warms my heart whenever I see it.

The tree looks quite bare right now but by the time November is through, our tree  (and refrigerator) is  overflowing with leaves.

Now, the fun part.  When November is through and it is time to put up all my fun Christmas decorations, we carefully take off all the leaves and put them in a labeled box.  Each year we have done this, I have simply put the boxes in storage.  This year, however, we are going to wrap the small box up and make it into an ornament on the Christmas tree.  I really think it will be fun to someday look at these when my children are grown.

Now that Penelope writes, it is really fun to help her spell out what she is thankful for.  

I can't leave with out sharing with you my favorite recipe.  Chicken Curry.  I never knew I liked chicken curry until several years back when we went to our friend's house for dinner and they served it. It was like love at first sight! Amazing! After this heavenly meal, the search was on for the perfect chicken curry recipe that I could actually make. While trying to use up a gift card at Borders, I found a rather intimidating Indian cookbook called The Complete Book of Indian Cooking.  It is now the ONLY curry recipe I use.  The recipe may look overwhelming at first, but don't be fooled. If you can follow directions, then you can make this recipe. The spices can be found at most supermarkets. I buy mine in bulk at a specialty store but I have also found them at Safeway and Albertson's (they just tend to be more expensive there).  If you really can't find the spices locally, try this ordering them online here.  The spices that are in this recipe are always in my cupboard now and I do buy them in bulk to make sure I ALWAYS have them.  I have made this recipe probably 100 times and have altered it a bit so I will give you my version of the recipe.  Here you go....

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
4 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves
6 green cardamom pods
1 piece cinnamon stick (2 inches long)
3 whole star anise
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed (If you buy already minced garlic like I do, I add 4 teaspoons)
4 tbsp mild curry paste
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp five-spice powder
3 lb chicken, skinned and chopped into bite size pieces 
14 oz. Canned tomatoes, chopped
4 oz. Creamed coconut (sometimes I add an entire 14 ounce can for a more mild, soupy curry)
 2 cups fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan at a medium high heat and fry the cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon stick, star anise, and curry leaves until the cloves swell.  About 5 minutes should do the trick.  You will know its ready when you can smell all the spices.
2. Add the chopped onion, and garlic and fry until the onion turns light brown. Add the curry paste, turmeric and five-spice powder and fry until the oil separates.
3. Add the chicken pieces and mix well. When all the pieces are evenly covered, cover and cook until the meat is nearly done. 4. Add the chopped tomatoes and the creamed coconut. Simmer gently until the coconut dissolves. Mix well. Fold in the chopped fresh cilantro, then reheat and serve hot.  I never find that this needs salt but if yours does, then add it.

We usually eat our curry over rice but lately it just feels like too much food so I eat it as a soup instead.  If you are feeling extra adventurous, try this naan recipe.  It is delicious and goes excellently with the curry.

We had extra tonight, so we gave some away.  

One last thing before I end my longest post EVER!  One month ago, we acquired our dog, Jack.  I have never really been a fan of dogs but seeing that my husband and children all wanted one, I thought it was probably time we get one.  We looked for months but couldn't find one that went well with our family.  Then one day, everything fell into place and Jack moved in with us. This dog is incredible.  He is gentle (well as gentle as a 105 pound boy can be) with the children and follows me everywhere.  He has melted my heart. So, today, I am thankful for my new buddy, Jack.  He has been the perfect addition to our family!

Sara Jane: A Bavarian Feast and Outdoor Waterbed

I will apologize in advance.  This is going to be a LONG post.  We have had a really fun week and I wanted to share all of it with you.

First up...the food (of course!).

For this week's Olympic meal, I made German food.  Normally, we wouldn't eat this type of a meal in the summer (we're mostly veggies around here) but we HAD to for the Olympics, right?

For our Bavarian feast, we had sausage, latkes, fondue and pretzels.  This is another rather time consuming meal but if you're up for it, I would recommend it all the way.  It was absolutely delicious!  

Here we go....

LATKES 

(Potato Pancakes)

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes, peeled and shredded (I use regular baker potatoes.  After I shred the potato, I set them aside in a bowl of cold water to prevent them from changing color.)

1 medium onion, diced

1 egg

2 Tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, plus 1/2 to 1 cup more for cooking

Directions:

Combined oil, onion, egg, flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, and about 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.  Add drained shredded potatoes until combined.

In a skillet, add enough oil to be about 1/8 inch thick on the bottom.  When the oil is hot, using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop cup fulls into the oil.  I usually only cook 2 or 3 at a time as to not overcrowd my skillet and lower the oil temperature.

Cook the latkes until they are a deep golden brown (about 2 to 3 minutes per side).  When they are done, remove them from the oil and drain on a paper towel.  Sprinkle with salt.

If you are not going to eat them right away, keep them warm in a 200* oven.

Traditionally, these are served with apple sauce.  I prefer mine by themselves.

These pretzels are delicious.  I searched and searched for a good recipe for pretzels and found one several months ago.  It is mostly the recipe I am about to give you but I can't remember where I found it.  I changed a couple of the amounts of ingredients.  It is a very basic recipe that I have never had turn out badly.  Try it.  You won't go back to your old method...I promise!

HOMEMADE PRETZELS

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 Tablespoon of yeast

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 to 4 1/2 cups of white flour

1/2 cup baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475*.

In a large bowl, combined the water, yeast and sugar.  Let proof for 3 to 5 minutes, or until frothy.  Add flour, one cup at a time.  If, after you have added the 4 cups of flour, the dough seems too sticky, add another 1/2 cup.  Knead dough for a few minutes until nice and smooth.  You can let the dough sit or use it right away.  

In a large pot, boil 4 cups of water (or about half a pot full) and 1/2 cups baking soda.  Add the soda to the water BEFORE you turn on the burner.  If you add the soda to the water after the water is boiling, you will have a huge mess.  Trust me :)

When you are ready to begin, cut off small (about golf ball size) pieces of dough.  Shape them how you like (sometimes we just do pretzel sticks, especially if we are dipping them into cheese) and drop them into the boiling water/soda.  Boil them for about 30 seconds.  Most of the time they will float to the top when they are ready.  Again, do not put too many in the pot at once.  A few at a time.  Once they are done boiling, place them on a greased cookie sheet.

When your sheet is full, cook them in your preheated oven for 8 to 9 minutes, until golden brown.  When they come out of the oven, you can brush them with butter (or not) and sprinkle salt (or cinnamon sugar) on them.

My kids love pretzel dogs.  If you want to give those a try, simply wrap a regular hot dog in a rope of dough, boil for 30 seconds and cook for 8 to 9 minutes.

Sorry folks.  I don't make my own sausage.  I wish I did but...I don't.  We buy our favorite sausage at our local grocery store and cook it until it is ready.  Its that simple.  

As for my fondue recipe, I simply used the cheese from my mac and cheese I made here.  

Just in case you were wondering what was going on while I was making this delicious dinner....

Bea found some water AND dirt! Lovely!

Next up...I've seen the outdoor waterbeds all over Pinterest lately so I thought I would give it a try, too.

Here's what I used for my waterbed.  Gorilla tape (next to the duct tape at the store), 2 heavy duty shower curtains and a pair of scissors.

If you have an old water toy that has one of these nifty hose hook ups, cut it out and use it on your waterbed.  It made filling it SO much easier!

To start, I laid my shower curtains out flat on my family room floor, one on top of the other, and then I started taping. It took about 30 minutes to tape the entire thing together.  After taping each side, I would then tape the inside too to prevent too much leaking.  When I got to the fourth side, I cut a small hole out for my hose hook up, placed the piece in the hole and taped all around the hook up.  Then I finished taping the fourth side.  Before I began filling the bed, I went back over my tape job to make sure I didn't miss anything.  Then I started filling.

After a good 20 minutes of filling, the bed was finally ready for the kiddos to play on.  

At first, the kids just enjoyed laying on the bed.  I purposely put the waterbed in the shade so it would stay cool.  It was perfect.

 Then a leak sprang.  No worries, Bea was there to catch all the water.

 After a few hours, we did need to refill the bed but it was totally worth it.  If you have the time, I would definitely recommend making your kids one of these before the summer ends.  It provided hours of fun for my babies.

Sara Jane

Allison: Trying To Find My Olympic Spirit

Hello, hello!  I try every week to come up with a greeting more creative than that, but I never can.  Oh well... I'll go with it.

This week has been all about the Olympics at my house.  As I have mentioned before, I am a VERY patriotic person.  I LOVE MY COUNTRY, and would defend it to the end.  But...  I have never been a huge fan of the Olympic Games.  There!  I said it!  I know... strip me of my patriotic title.  Something about sports taking over the television for multiples days just doesn't sound all that appealing to me.  That being said, I will always tear up every time the National Anthem is played with an American standing on the podium.  Go figure.

With as much passion as I DON'T enjoy the Olympics, my good husband DOES.  Of course.  So, I try not to whine too much while the t.v. is on and give him these few days to watch all the "sports" (ping pong... really?) he can handle.

Today I thought I'd try to support my husband and his love of the games, by making something "British" for dinner.  He might pass out at the thought of me even making dinner, let alone something to celebrate the Olympics, but that's okay.  I like to shock him every now and then.  For my British dish, I thought I'd make shepherd's pie.  I've made it before, and it really is the perfect dish.  Anything that is topped with mashed potatoes and cheese has to be amazing, right?  But I thought I'd try an idea I saw on Pinterest, and make mini-pies.  I had some pie crust in my freezer, so it was really a no-brainer.  I mostly followed the recipe found here.  I did make a few changes.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots  (I left carrots out this time, but did add corn that was already in the fridge.)
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/3 cups instant mashed potato flakes or buds (I used about 5 small-medium potatoes that I had in my pantry.  No fake potatoes in this house!  I probably should have used a couple more.)

No judging my stained muffin tins.  :)

Start by peeling, cutting and boiling your potatoes.  While the potatoes were boiling, I took my pie crust and cut out circles using a cookie cutter.  I probably should have used 2, because 1 crust only filled 9 muffin tins.  But, I figured I'd go with it and just add any left over filling to a normal dish.  I baked the crust for 7 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven.  

While the crust cooled, I sauteed some onions, and then cooked up the ground beef in the same pan.  I then added the soup, ketchup (which I couldn't even taste later), pepper, peas and corn.  

While that simmered, I took the potatoes, mashed them (adding the milk, butter, salt and pepper), and put them to the side.

I then spooned the beef mixture on top of the pie crust, followed by a topping of mashed potatoes and a sprinkle of cheese.  

Finally, stick the tin in a 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese is sufficiently melted and gooey looking.  Yum!

**I did end up having enough filling to make a separate "pie" in a glass pan, and topped it with the remaining potatoes and cheese.  Obviously this was my first time trying this recipe with pie crust.  :)

Can you really argue with these results?  :)  He said they were very good, and I have to agree.  Totally worth the heartburn that I'm sure will hit soon.  I may always add a crust to my shepherd's pie dishes in the future.  The flaky crust was the perfect compliment to the meat and potatoes.

I hope you're all enjoying the Olympics and feeling your American pride swell just a little for our amazing American athletes.  Have a great week!!

Allison

Lisa: Easy Art and Sloppy Jose`s!!

Hello, once again! Summer is cruising right along at our house!  We are trying to squeeze all the fun we can out of our short break time here!  Between camps and parties and road trips, we are sure enjoying the warm weather and all the chances to be outside.  But on the days we can't be outside, my children (at least most of them) enjoy crafts and creating!  One of the things that we have found to be fun is using the bright summer sun to trace pictures.

 It is super simple and helps my children who don't think they are very good artists to be creative!  What we do is to tape a picture onto a window that has a lot of sun coming through.  Then place a thin paper over the top and also tape it to the window.  (We used a piece of paper from a sketch pad but I think printer paper or most plain white papers would work.)  Then just have the children trace the outlines of the picture and presto change-o, you have art!

   
I wish I had a picture of the originals!  It is fun to see how they compare but oh well!!  It is fun for the kids to color these in like they would a coloring book.  Using water color paints is fun, too! 

********************************************************************************

As I said on Friday, I really hate to turn my oven on in the summer so I thought I'd show you another recipe I came up with that helps to keep our poor air conditioner from over heating in the summer: Sloppy Jose`s!!  I can't exactly remember how it came to be but there was some discussion about Sloppy Joes and I thought that I could probably come up with something that had a Mexican flavor to it!  And thus was born the Sloppy Jose`!

Sloppy Jose`s
1 lb. ground turkey, browned (you could use ground beef but we prefer ground turkey!)
1/2-3/4c. salsa
2 t. cumin
1t. chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1c. shredded cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, etc)
1/2 c. cilantro
1/4c. sliced green onions
6-8 large burrito sized tortillas

Combine in the same skillet used to brown the meat the salsa, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper.  Let simmer for a few minutes.  Add cheese and let cook until cheese is melted.  Remove from heat and add cilantro and green onions.  Take a tortilla and place about 1/2-1 c. of the meat mixture in the center of the tortilla. Fold up one half and then fold over the edges all the way around the meat until you have encase the meat in the tortilla shell.

 Repeat with remaining meat and tortillas.  Next, heat a skillet to 300-350 degrees.  Spray the skillet with a cooking spray like Pam and place meat filled tortillas on the skillet seam side down.  Spray the tops of the tortillas.  Flip when they are golden brown (about 5-7 minutes).  Serve with sour cream and salsa or just eat plain. 

These are such a hit at our house!!  I hope you enjoy!

 Lisa