Recipes and rambling

Here was dinner a few nights ago--the black bean lime salsa and sweet potato cinnamon fries recipes will be at the end of this post. These muffins were made without any eggs and they were pretty good and edible but nothing special. This was one day Jer sat down to dinner and looked like a hunted animal. :-) He liked the chips though.

Since I can't stand fiddling with picture order this post will be a bit random. Okay, I really love our house and the open concept, but I think we might have been a bit ahead of ourselves. When you have little ones it may be annoying to put a gate up for stairs on a two story but at least it blocks off half the house with ONE item. I have bought 7 of the above door locks and I actually really like them, but it's just a constant battle when everyone is here to keep all the doors shut and locked. Then Isaac discovered the dishwasher buttons do stuff if the door is kept shut and if not, he just climbs right on the door and proceeds to try and break everything. After spending half the day in front of the dishwasher trying to figure out what to do, I finally put velcro on it. He pulled it right off. Then I tried a huge plastic tub full of heavy electronics so he couldn't budge it. He didn't. He climbed on top of it and started pulling stuff out of the sink. UGH!! So another tub was added on top of the first and I am winning so far this morning. We'll see how long that lasts.

Although Isaac can actually walk pretty far now, this is the view I get a lot these days. I know one day I will treasure this picture but it is so frustrating sometimes!

My very first try at french braids--well, first try that turned out well enough to send them to school like this anyway.

Canteloupe anyone? We thought the ants were getting all the good ones but we've managed to get 10 perfect ones just this past week and we are up to our ears in canteloupe. These were sweeter than the first ones we had so yea for us. I am really excited about our garden next year. I love that I spent a dollar on a seed package and got at least $20 worth of canteloupe. Just ignore the cost of the soil we put in. :-)

Now I haven't dumped out my trash can potato plant yet but found this near the top a couple days ago. A teeny-tiny potato. And here are the two carrots that were found growing under our cantelouple forest. The big one was actually edible. Might try those again but not in the same place as canteloupe for sure.

And while I was trying to think where to find a dead little tree or some branches I cleaned my closet and found these lighted branches that I've never used. I just bought them because they looked so cool in my friend's house. :-) I stuck them in a vase and now the Halloween ornaments have a home.

First "green" smoothie. Romaine from the farmer's market with bok choy, bananas, and a touch of honey. Awesome!

Now for the best vegetable soup ever! Isn't it pretty?

I almost didn't make it because I don't have a wok, I have no cilantro, I didn't want to deal with steaming sweet potatoes but I am so glad I tried this out in my own way anyway. I think I will be eating the last of it today and I made it on Sunday. I know my family didn't like it but to be honest, only one of them even tried it. So that's not really fair. And that was Junior who just didn't like the crunchy-ness of the carrots. I guess I could have cooked those a bit longer. Anyway, let me get started with what I did:

Get your sweet potatoes cooked--I should've steamed them but I peeled and chopped them up, threw them in a pot and just cooked them like regular potatoes. Drain and set aside for later.

Chop one onion

Chop 10 garlic cloves

Dice 2 carrots

Add these with 2 tsp. cumin and a few TBSP water and in a wok (I just used my ole' saucepan), stir fry it just til tender (I think they mean til the onion is tender because the carrots are going to take longer and need more liquid). I believe since I'm wok-less, I was just stirring rather thans stir-frying. Everyone was asking what that B.O. smell was. :-) Sorry, but I have to agree that cumin is a bit like that. Don't worry, it doesn't smell or taste like B.O. at the end.

Next:

Chop one cup of bok choy (not the leafy part--save that for your green smoothie, just use the white part of the stalk--and if you think I knew anything about bok choy before using it this day, I assure you I did not--turns out it can be kind of awesome)

Chop one green pepper

Add these with 1 1/2 cups of real orange juice and stir fry 10-15 minutes. Or you know, just stir it. (I realized here I haven't said what temp to cook this at on the stove, I have no idea what is right, I think I used med-high, like a 6-7 out of ten). This is where I should've cooked it a bit longer really to get those carrots done.

Now add in three 15oz. cans drained and rinsed black beans, 4 cups vegetable broth, and those sweet potato cubes from earlier. You are supposed to add black pepper, and cayenne to taste. I didn't use much of either. Then you are supposed to top it with cilantro (didn't have so just ignored), green onions and salsa. I didn't add the salsa at all. I took one bite when it was all finished and I had added the green onions and was AMAZED! And the best part is, I had no room in the fridge to deal with it before church so I just left it on the counter. No meat, no dairy, no need to worry for a while. So freeing! The recipe also says to puree the whole thing if you want it smoother. I loved the chunks but maybe I could've tricked my family better if I'd done that. I don't care. I will eat the last of it today and my mouth is already watering. It's even good cold. It is just so flavorful and right when you get a touch of saltiness (maybe from the broth because notice I didn't add ANY), the sweet potato comes in and just makes it perfect.

Here are a couple other recipes that rocked!

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Fries

3 sweet potatoes

3 Tbsp water

3 Tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp salt (the original recipe said 2 TBSP but I still do not think that can be correct so I changed it)

1 TBSP pepper (or less--I didn't use that much)

Trim ends of sweet potatoes and peel if you want. Slice into fry-sizes and toss with rest of ingredients. Put on parchment paper (this is important!) and bake 10-12 minutes at 350. These were amazing! I just get tired of every sweet potato recipe calling for more sugar. Don't expect a sugar hit with these, the real flavor of the sweet potato comes through so it may not be to everyone's liking. But I think it was very flavorful and so healthy--just don't bunch them up, give them room to cook or some won't cook through and that's not so good....not that I would know anything about that. And now the...

Black Bean Lime Salsa

1/2 of a lime's juice ( I had two little limes so I doubled this recipe and used the juice from both)

2 chopped fine garlic cloves

1 diced tomato

1/2 diced onion

1 can black beans (drain, rinse)

1 c. cilantro torn or chopped (didn't have so just ignored again)

1 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. cayenne

1/4 tsp. sea salt

SO flavorful!! Loved it. It was very chunky but man was it addicting. I think it's the first time I used that balsamic vinegar. That's some good stuff. I was also so proud of myself at the oral surgeon's office the other day for the boys' check-up, I found this great recipe for green beans in a magazine but had no paper or pen, then I had the bright idea to take a picture of it with my phone. I need to get all my recipes on my phone because this was the most awesome thing ever--no typing, no writing, easy and instant access--I'm sure everyone does this already but it was a first for me! :-)