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: Berry Crisp

For the past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to serve a sweet friend of mine, who has been in need of a little extra TLC, by taking her dinner.  My sweet friend is gluten intolerant so I have challenged myself to find delicious recipes that are within her strict dietary guidelines.  I have had so much fun doing this.  You would think that cooking for 6 extra people would be difficult but it really has been so easy and quite relaxing.  I don't know how else to describe it.  I have LOVED every minute of it and have found some pretty yummy alternatives to foods we eat all the time.  I will be compiling the recipes I have made along with some other delicious finds in a blog for my friend.  I am sure she won't mind me sharing the blog with you when it is finished.

With each yummy meal, I have tried to make a dessert that goes along with it.  I usually alternate between a fresh fruit dessert and a gooey chocolate dessert.  Yesterday, I made a creation that I know isn't new to anyone but it was so tasty last night at 10:00 PM that I have to share it with you.

Berry Crisp

I call this "Berry Crisp" because you could use any berry in it and it would still be delicious.  We happen to have raspberries so that is what I used.  I would just make sure to adjust the amount of sugar you use if you use a less tart berry, like a blackberries or blueberries. 

The only way this crisp is really different from other crisps I have made is that I didn't use flour in the topping.  Last week, I made my friend an apple crisp and used quinoa flour in the topping.  I didn't like the after taste that the quinoa left so I omitted that this week and actually enjoyed it better than my usual crisp topping.  

Ingredients:

4 cups berries (I used frozen berries from this summer; fresh would be delicious, too)

1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want your berries)

2 Tablespoon cornstarch 

1/2 cup melted butter

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375*.

Toss your berries with the cornstarch and sugar, coating the berries. Set aside.

To make the "crisp" topping, combined your oats and brown sugar.  Pour your butter over the oats/brown sugar and mix together.  It should be very clumpy.  If it isn't, add more oats until it is.

To assemble the dessert, I filled small jars 1/2 way full of the berry mixture and then topped them with the crisp mixture.  When you have both in there, you should have your jar about 3/4 full.  Leave some room so when the berries start bubbling they don't over flow.

I put the full jars onto a pan (to catch any runaway berry juice) and cooked them for about a half hour or until the topping was nicely browned.

Since I was taking these to my friend and not eating them right away, I let the jars cool for about 10 minutes and then capped the them with a lid and a band.

* I find that when I make berry crisp with just sugar, the juices are too runny.  The cornstarch thickens the berry juices giving it more of a sauce feel.  If you don't care for that consistency, omit the cornstarch and just use the sugar.  

*If you feel like you need more or less of the oats, sugar and/or butter for the topping, then adjust to what YOU like.  We like a lot of oats in our topping so I tend to put a bit extra in.

*Since I knew a jar portion would be too little for my hubby, I cooked his crisp in an cereal bowl that was oven safe and it was the perfect portion for him. 

I really am so grateful for the opportunity to serve and hope that I can always serve with a happy heart, even if it doesn't involve food :)

Loves

Sara Jane

Sara Jane: Pumpkins!

Hi friends!

From now until January, be prepared for way too much excitement in my posts.  Like I told you last Wednesday, I LOVE everything about September, October, November, and December.  I love all the food, the decorations and the overall excited/giving spirit that most people seem to have.  

I'm not sure if it is the changing of the seasons or what but I have had way too much happiness in me the last few weeks.  Its the kind of happiness that all you want to do is turn the music up way too loud to sing and dance.  Yesterday, I tried to channel that happiness into something productive for the blog.  

We have had this huge pile of wood sitting outside of our house since July.  A lot of it is wood we picked up from my in-law's house, the pallets were delivered to our house by a friendly neighbor, and then there are just lots of scraps of wood from some remodeling we've been working on.  Hmmmm, what could I do with all this wood???  PUMPKINS!

This project was so easy.  I went through our huge pile of wood...

and found a few random pieces that I thought would make cute pumpkins.  I also I had my sweet hubby cut a few little pieces for the stems. 

Then came the painting.  I had a few little helpers for this part.  For their pumpkins, they painted then entirely orange.  For my pumpkins, I did the first coat white.  When that coat was dry, I painted an orange coat on top of the white.  For the stem pieces, I simply painted them green.

When everything was nice and dry, I distressed the wood with a piece of sand paper.  If you don't like that look then just omit this step.  Next, using my glue gun, I glued a piece of thin wire, which I curled, and the green "stem" to the top of the pumpkin.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  When I finally dig my harvest decorations out of the attic, I will decorate with leaves but for now, these will simply sit on my mantle as they are.  They brighten up my living room....I LOVE them!

I never feel like my posts are complete until I share with you a favorite recipe.  Today, I thought I would share with you a recipe my sister-in-law, Micky, gave me.  Gingersnap Pumpkin Pudding.  I have seen several recipes similar to this one but I have not liked any of them as much as I do this recipe.  It is always a hit when I have it at parties.  I use it mainly as a dip for gingersnaps or fruit although I am positive you could eat it by itself.  It is absolutely delicious.  We have it several times during the fall.  If you love all things pumpkin, you must try this gingersnap pumpkin pudding!

GINGERSNAP PUMPKIN PUDDING

Ingredients:

* 1 3/4 cup cold milk

* 1 package instant cheesecake or vanilla pudding mix (the small box)

* 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

* 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

* 3 gingersnaps, crushed

* 1 cup whipped topping

Directions;

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix together for 2 minutes.  (I use my electric mixer for this part).  Stir in the canned pumpkin and the pumpkin pie spice.  Let stand for a few minutes or until soft-set.  Fold whipped topping into pudding.  Sprinkle the crushed gingersnaps on the top. 

There you have it folks.  Have a great rest of your week!

Sara Jane

Sara Jane: Eating from the Garden

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all having a fabulous week so far.  

While I was out weeding my herb/salad garden this week, I noticed I had some beets that  needed to be picked.  They were huge.  Probably the biggest beets I have ever seen.  Down the row, I also saw some beautiful lemon cucumbers that were ready.  Two of my favorite garden foods.  What to make???

My SIL introduced me to this little piece of heaven a few years ago and now we have it all the time.  During the summer, you will ALWAYS find a few logs of goat cheese in my refrigerator JUST for this salad.  It is delicious!

Ingredients:

*2 large (or three medium) beets, peeled, cubed, cooked and cooled (I cut mine into 1-inch cubes, boiled for about 15 minutes or until I could stick a fork in it easily and then cooled in an ice bath.)

*1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

*2 regular cucumbers (or 5 lemon cucumbers), peeled and cubed

*Goat Cheese (since we like Goat Cheese a lot, I would use 3 ounces per salad.  Use as much or as little as YOU like)

* 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

Directions:

In a large bowl, toss together the cucumbers, beets and red onion.  Splash the vinegar on top (again...if you want more, use more; if you want less, use less).  Break your goat cheese into small pieces and distribute throughout the salad. Finish with salt and pepper.

After making this yummy salad, I decided to make a sandwich to go with it to.  In my refrigerator, I had a huge bag of basil from our local CSA.  Pesto!  I have never made pesto before but I know I love it.  One of our local bakeries makes a delicious walnut pesto so that is what I tried to make.  I looked through a bunch of recipies on line but nothing caught my eye so I decided just to go for it and experiment.  Here is what I did.

Pesto

Ingredients:

*1 1/2 to 2 cups basil leaves

*2 T minced garlic

*1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (Not a traditional item but it was the only cheese I had :)

*1/2 cup walnuts

*1/2 t salt

*1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

I crammed as much basil into my little Cuisinart Food Processor as possible, dumped in the garlic, shoved in the cheese and walnuts and somehow managed to get the top on.  Once I turned on the food processor, I drizzled the olive oil through the top opening.  It seems like you are using a lot of oil but it doesn't actually come out to that much.  Keep adding oil until it is to a consistency that you like.  I like my pesto with a little crunch so I don't do it as fine as others.  

If you have made too much pesto and need to do something with it, try freezing it.  Instructions here.

Okay, so my pesto is done.  The rest is simple.  

My favorite sandwich at one of our local grocery stores, Harvest Fresh, is a turkey sandwich with pesto and sprouts.  I didn't have any sprouts on hand but I did have some left over cucumber that I thought would give the sandwich the perfect crunch.  Here is how I assembled my favorite sandwich.

Two slices of your favorite bread (mind is a honey wheat bread).  Pesto on one slice of the bread, mayonnaise on the other slice.  I grabbed some butter crunch lettuce from the garden, added a few turkey slices, then added my cucumber, a few slices of red onion (from my previous salad), slap it all together and you get this...

I have to say, this sandwich was so fresh and tasty.  Even my husband, who is not a huge turkey fan, really enjoyed it.

Finally, I couldn't leave this post without telling everyone how excited I am for Allison and her sweet little Norah.  Whenever anyone I love has just had a baby, I am slightly jealous of them only because I know how wonderful those first few days can be with a sweet little newborn (I do, however, know, first hand, how hard they can be so I am not too jealous :).  Beatrix was by far my snuggliest baby (and she still is) and I LOVED every minute of it so I hope you (Allison) are getting some restful snuggle time in with your sweet new one.

I thought I would share with all of you how to make my favorite little girl head bands.  With Penelope, I didn't really use a lot of stuff in her hair.  I'm not really sure why but it just wasn't my style then.  With Beatrix, however, I went all out.  I had a hard time finding headbands for her little head though so I decided to try and make them.

I had some wonderful pictures to show you all, step by step, how to do this but I have misplaced my card reader (in the last 10 minutes) and cannot figure out where it is.  If I ever find it, I will post the pictures.

All you need to do to make the greatest headbands ever is first to find a cute elastic (I found some at Joann's).  After you have your elastic, measure the babies head and subtract about 1/2 to 1 inch from that total (depending on how tight you want it to be....don't make it too tight, please....I hate seeing lines on babies heads from where their headbands were too tight).  Cut your elastic to the number you have figured out.  Using a hot glue gun, glue the ends of the elastic together.  It is seriously as simple as that.  I have received so many compliments on my girl's head bands.  They are also perfect because you can clip flowers or bows directly on the headband instead of the hair (just in case your cutie pie baby doesn't have hair).  My older daughter uses Bea's headbands still when she has her hair up in a pony.

I have another headband trick I wanted to show you but I'm afraid I'll have to wait until I find that stinkin' card reader.  (It is just one that I can't really explain without pictures).  Oh, I thought you might also like to know that Beatrix has misplaced my keys as well.  As soon as I get off this computer, we are going to have a search party for the keys.  Sometimes all you can do is laugh!

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

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

Allison: Cookie Time!

Hello!  Welcome to another Tuesday!  Today I thought I'd bake a little, to switch things up.  I have a bunch of crafts for the girls' rooms to share with all of you, but I think I'll try to space them out a bit.  I can't wait to show off what my husband and I have done to a dresser I rescued from the dumpster at our old house.  I just need to decide what color I want it first.  Decisions, decisions...

But for today, I thought I'd share a recipe that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  I love when a search on allrecipe.com produces a new add to the "cookie" section of my cookbook.  This recipe will also be our July installment in grandpa's "Cookie of the Month" club that I started last month.  Did you miss that post?  Check it out here.  This month will feature the White Chip Chocolate Cookie.  I love chocolate, but I'm not always a fan of chocolate cookies.  That is not the case here.  This cookie is moist, and rich and pretty much to die for.  Here's the recipe (my changes are in parenthesis):

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1 cup butter, softened (1/2 cup butter)
2 cups white sugar (2/3 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. white sugar)
(1/2 cup-3/4 cup peanut butter)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups white chocolate chips (1/2 a bag or so)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, (peanut butter) and sugar until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture.  Fold in the white chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes (mine took 9 minutes) in the preheated oven, until cookies are set.  Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

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I usually alter the sugar in most of my recipes, and still find that they're plenty sweet.   I also thought that 2 sticks of butter was a little crazy, so I reduced it to one and added some peanut butter to balance it out.  Can you really go wrong when adding peanut butter?  I also used a small ice cream scoop to get them on the sheet.  Hence, the very round cookies.  :)  I have used this recipe as written, and I'm not going to lie... the butter and sugar do make a difference.  But they're still good this way, and I don't feel so bad sampling one or two.  :)  These cookies are so easy and sure to satisfy any chocolate craving.  

After making these, I realized that they really have nothing to do with summer or summer projects, but that's okay, right?  Does anyone ever object to cookies?  I hope you try this recipe and love them as much as I do.  Maybe you could snack on them while reading one of Lisa's book recommendations.  :)  Have a great week!!

Allison