Sneak Peak (Toy Chest, Part 2)

This little guy and a few of his friends will soon find a home on the toy chest. Too bad the weather is so lame! I really wanted to finish the toy chest this weekend. Next week, hopefully.

Toy Chest, part 1

I've been itching to do a big project for a little while now. We don't have a dresser, so I was hoping to find a dresser to refinish. (Do I have experience refinishing furniture, you might ask? Well the answer is absolutely not! Start with a dresser? Why not?!) I stopped at a yard sale the other day and they had a toy chest for $5! I thought, "Perfect! This is way less intimidating, equally needed, will fulfill my itch for a big project, AND is only $5!" So I snatched it up!

Here are some before pictures. As you may or may not be able to tell, it needs a little TLC. BUT, just a little! It was pretty dirty. It still needs a little cleaning. And I hope Kaitlyn doesn't mind that her autograph is gone.

I think we are going to make it blue. I would like to do some sort of applique-ish something on it so it's not too plain. Any ideas? There are six panels on the front-I could do Elinor and Johnny's names and add as we go. Or some sort of picture? Seriously, any ideas?






Here's a "during" picture. And my hand is not deformed-just in an awkward position.


Last night I got the lid and front sanded. I have white paint dust everywhere (and I mean everywhere!).

Leave some suggestions! I'll post my progress!

Spinach Salad with Egg and Crumbled Bacon

(Serves 2)

Salad Ingredients:

• Flat Leaf Spinach Leaves (enough to fill majority of a salad bowl for each person)


• 4 Boiled Eggs


• 4 Strips of Bacon, cooked and crumbled


• 10 Grape Tomatoes

Dressing Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. Olive Oil


• 1 1/2 Tbs. Red Wine Vinegar


• Salt


• Pepper


• Dash of Oregano


• Spice mix of your preference

Wash spinach leaves and remove stems. Tear larger spinach leaves into bite size pieces. Place spinach into salad bowls. Cut boiled eggs into eighths and scatter over the top of spinach leaves. Crumble bacon and scatter on top also. Cut tomatoes in half and add to salad.

For the dressing, combine all ingredients into a small container with a lid. Shake vigorously and pour over salad. Enjoy.

*If you would prefer a healthier option, use turkey bacon.

Adapted from a Bob Green's Best Life Diet Recipe

Meatless Monday: Quinoa and Black Beans with Homemade Tortilla Chips

This recipe was another meatless big hit at the Frost home tonight. I cooked the recipe up and decided it needed a little something to make it more exciting. Solution: homemade tortilla chips to scoop it up with. We spooned up the quinoa into a bowl, added some cheese and sour cream and scooped away. Yum. Yum.

P.S. This one got high fives from the hubs again. It seems like I get more high fives from meatless Monday than I do other days of the week- go figure!

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I didn't have any, so I just added parsley at the end)
• Optional: 1/2 green bell pepper chopped ( I added this in)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic (and pepper if using), and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable (or chicken) broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

Tortilla Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Quarter corn tortillas.
Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
Bake 5 minutes. Flip over. Salt other side. Bake another 5 minutes.
Enjoy!

You could brush some oil on to make the salt stick better if you want. You could also add some other spices to make them a little more flavorful. I didn't think they needed it with this recipe. Delish!

Moroccan Salmon and Yogurt Sauce with Garlic-Ginger Couscous

Ok, so if I saw this recipe title somewhere, I'd probably say "that sounds involved or complicated" but let me tell you: in my opinion this was SO GOOD and EASY.

Andrew and I decided to do date night in last night and use some salmon fillets that I got on sale. It was so tasty. You should give it a try.

The yogurt sauce is a marinade and an after sauce. You marinade the fish in part of it and then use the remaining half to eat with it. I was a little hesitant because it is cool and a little different, but by the end I was dipping my broccoli, mixing it with my couscous and eating it with my salmon. I think I liked the sauce a little more than Andrew, but he thought it was good too. Again, it says to grill it, but we just used a hot skillet and it worked great.

Note: the reviews of the recipe on the site said they needed more sauce. Andrew and I only used 2 fillets and so we had plenty of sauce. If you were making 4 fillets like the recipe said, I would double the sauce recipe.

SALMON RECIPE

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• Juice of 1 lemon, plus lemon wedges for garnish
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the grill
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 6-ounce skinless center-cut salmon fillets
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, for garnish

Directions

Stir together the yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, coriander, cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Pour half of the sauce into a large resealable plastic bag; cover and refrigerate the remaining sauce. Add the salmon to the bag and turn to coat with the marinade. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the bag over once.

Preheat a grill to medium-high. Remove the salmon from the marinade and blot off excess yogurt with paper towels. Lightly oil the grill and add the salmon; cook, turning once, until browned on the outside and opaque in the center, 4 to 6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness. Serve with the reserved yogurt sauce and garnish with the herbs and lemon wedges.

Recipe from Food Network

COUSCOUS

We buy the container of plain couscous so that we can season it the way we want (and it's cheaper than the preseasoned boxes).

The container says 1 cup of water, 1 T butter and some salt- bring to a boil then stir in 1 cup of couscous, remove from heat and let sit 5 min. Fluff up with fork. So to make it a little more flavorful, I made added some grated fresh ginger and a clove of garlic. After fluffing up the rice, I stirred in some parsley. Yum!

Bloom Giveaway

Bloom is having another giveaway! Go check it out and enter to win yourself! I'd love to whip up a little something in these beauties!

Scrambled Eggs in Puff Pastry

Hi everyone. Thanks for inviting me to the domestic blogosphere. I will do my best to contribute worthwhile items. My first recipe comes from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. We made it last week. It was really yummy. It is a great way to use up left over ham.

ingredients:

• 7 large Eggs


• 1/2 t. Salt


• 1/8 t. Pepper


• 2 T. Unsalted Butter


• 2 T. Minced Fresh Parsley


• 2 (9 x 9 1/2 in. ) sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed


• Flour for dusting


• 6 oz. of Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (1 1/2 cups)


• 8 oz. of Ham (6 slices)

Instructions:

1. Whisk 6 of the eggs together with the salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a 12 inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling to coat the pan evenly. Add the eggs and cook while gently pushing, lifting, and folding them from one side of the pan to the other until they are nicely clumped, shiny, & wet, about 2 minutes. Quickly fold in the parsley, then transfer the eggs to a large plate and refrigerate until cool, about 15 min.

2. Unfold one sheet of the puff pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and smooth out the creases. Lightly beat the remaining egg and brush a thin layer over the pastry. Divide the chilled scrambled eggs, cheese and ham over the bottom half of the pastry, leaving an 1/2 - inch border at the edges. Fold the top half of the pastry over the filling and press down with a fork to seal the eggs. Repeat this process with the remaining puff pastry sheet, eggs, cheese and ham. Transfer both pastries to a rimmed baking sheet, wrap lightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

3. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the puff pastries form the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and brush the tops withe the remaining beaten egg. Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before cutting individual portions.

Here is the finished product. I think it turned out well and my kids even liked it. Notice the stylish paper plates. (I may have acquired a new love for cooking, but I haven't picked up any desire to do more dishes yet.)

Spelt Oatmeal Muffins

Absolutely delicious. Here is the recipe. I plan on making them again really soon. Plus, I got to use the spelt flour I got for my birthday and the wheat bran I picked up at the store last week. (I used oil and vanilla yogurt and some smashed up banana).

1 cup whole spelt flour
1/4 cup wheat or oat bran
1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups rolled oats, slightly chopped (or quick cooking oats)
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt (non-fat is OK)
1/4 cup vegetable oil or apple sauce
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin, or line with baking cups.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, bran, sugars, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir in dried fruit and oats.
In a small bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla and water.
Add buttermilk mixture to oat mixture and stir until just combined. Let stand for 15-20 minutes. You may refrigerate the batter, covered, for about a week at this point.
Spoon batter into prepared tins by heaping 1/4 cups (about 1/3 cup).
Bake for 20 minutes, until muffins are golden brown and spring back when gently pressed. Add 5 minutes baking time if batter is cold.
Garnish if desired.
Makes 12 large muffins

Meatless Monday: Fakes me Ryzi: Brown Lentils and Rice

Andrew and I have recently been trying to eat a little less meat. I realized yesterday that unintentionally I'd been making a meatless meal for the last 2 Mondays. So, I decided why stop now? Meatless Monday is born.

We had Fakes me Ryzi, or Brown Lentils and Rice, which is a Greek dish. In Greek: φακές με ρύζι, pronounced fah-KES meh REE-zee. It sounded interesting and I wanted to use my green, yes green and not brown, lentils in something.

It was really quite good. I love cheese so of course, I topped my bowl off with just a little bit of shredded Monteray cheese. Delish.

We made Naan to go with it (a little Greek-Indian fusion). We ended up scooping spoonfuls of the lentils up onto the flat bread and eating it that way. Well, everyone except my father-in-law. He ate his Naan with butter and strawberry jam and let us eat his portion of the lentils :)

Andrew loved it- he kept giving me high fives all during dinner. It was so rewarding!

P.S. I made half of the recipe and it fed three comfortably with leftovers. Also, I just added a whole can (about a cup) of tomato sauce + a teeny bit of water to give it a little more liquid to soak up.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of dried small brown lentils
• sea salt
• 8 cups of water
• 1 small vegetable bouillon cube
• 1 cup of long grain rice
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups of unseasoned tomato sauce or 3 tablespoons of tomato paste dissolved in 1 1/4 cups of water
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary (or 1 bay leaf, or 1 sprig of fresh oregano)
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup of olive oil (optional)

Preparation:

Rinse lentils under running water. Place in a large pot with plenty of cold salted water and boil over high heat for 10 minutes. Drain and discard water.

Add lentils, 8 cups of cold water, and bouillon cube to a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes and add rice. Reduce heat to medium-high and continue to boil, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Add tomato sauce (or tomato paste and water), rosemary (or bay leaf or oregano), grated carrot, chopped onion and garlic, pepper (and optional olive oil). When boil resumes, reduce heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes, until liquid reduces and is no longer watery (it will cook down to a thin sauce texture).

Remove pot from heat, cover with a clean dish towel, and let sit for 15-20 minutes until all or most of the remaining liquid is absorbed.

Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Yield: serves 10 as a side or salad; serves 6-7 as a main dish.

Naan Bread (without a grill)

I was first introduced to Indian Naan bread by Brad and Alicia (who also blogs here) when we went over for an Indian dinner one night. We love, love, love flat bread and so of course we were in love with this. Alicia made up the dough and Brad cooked it on the grill. It had those beautiful grill lines.

Well, Andrew and I wanted to make a flat bread to go with our dinner yesterday. We remembered the yummy Naan but were afraid we wouldn't be able to make it since we didn't have access to a grill. We decided that since tortillas are cooked on a hot flat surface and pancakes are too- why not Naan?

We cooked up our little breads on my electric skillet (which is one of the most wonderful kitchen appliances in the world) and they were beautiful and perfect! Not to mention delicious.

So, if you don't have a tandoor or a grill- don't be intimidated- you can still make a mean Naan.

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

OR

3. Heat electric skillet to about 300 degrees. Let it get very hot.
4. Flatten out one roll of dough very thin. Lightly brush one side of the bread with olive oil and place oil side down in the skillet. Cook 2 minutes. Brush the uncooked side with butter and turn over. Cook another 2-3 minutes. Butter the cooked side. Remove from skillet and continue until all naan has been prepared.

Alicia, is this the same recipe you have? If yours is different you should put yours on here.

Molten Chocolate Cake

aka Lava Cake
aka delicious heaven

I've wanted to attempt a molten cake since we were first married. A few months ago a friend asked if I had a recipe. I had looked around a lot and seen different versions, but had never made any. I decided the Martha Stewart recipe was worth a shot. I finally made it a few weeks ago for a joint birthday bash for Brad and Tor. It was magnificent. I didn't get a picture, though. I made it again last night and tried to take a picture but it didn't work so well. Basically, the cakes are delicious but I have not yet figured out the presentation. The best I could do is take a picture while still in ramekins. The recipe calls for muffin tins but small ramekins work just as well and are perfect for individual servings.


Go here for the recipe.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

I've been looking for a recipe for a long time. I finally found one in my cook book from Basic Food Prep in college. That was a fun class. Anyway. here is the recipe:


2 cups flour
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. baking powder
2 T. vegetable oil
1/2 c. hot water (120-140 degrees F)

Combine dry ingredients. Add oil and work with hands until oil particles are dispersed.


Add water, stirring with hands to make a soft dough. Divide into 1” balls.




Flatten, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand for 10 minutes. Roll on floured surface until very thin and 10-12” in diameter. Cook on ungreased frying pan or griddle over medium heat until brown spots appear, about 30 seconds. Repeat on other side.





I like this recipe for cafe rio-esque salads. I feel like the tortillas were a little too dry to actually use them like regular tortillas. Maybe if I added more water? But they are SUPER easy to make!

Way Cute Growth Chart

No, I didn't make this. I wish. I think it's so cute. I'm going to make one of my own in a color scheme that fits Nathaniel's room. I got this idea from this blog. I have a little time though, My kid probably needs to be able to stand before I can measure him!

Quinoa Chili

I got this picture and recipe from Bloom. I didn't have time to grab my own camera because I was too busy eating. It was de-lish! We picked up some quinoa at the Whole Foods store this weekend. I love it in the Quinoa Butternut Squash dish that we make, but this was super good as well! I didn't have a green bell pepper in the house, so I used part of a zucchini and it was really good! I may do zucchini and pepper next time together. Man, do I love quinoa. Yum!

2 cans kidney beans, rinsed & drained (or whatever beans you like)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoon salt
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup quinoa, rinsed in warm water &
cup frozen corn
1 can tomato sauce, low salt (about 2 cups)
1 cup water
Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onions, and sauté until tender. Add salt, garlic, pepper and spices; sauté for 5-10 minutes. Add rinsed quinoa and stir in. Add corn, tomato sauce, and water to onion/quinoa mixture. Simmer together 20 minutes. Add beans to the pot and simmer another 15 minutes. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, sliced avocados or whatever else you like to put on chili. Makes 6-8 (1 Cup) Servings.

lemon cream cheese frosting

Yesterday, I made my Easter bunny cake. I don't really love traditional frosting- it's too sweet for me. So, I made a lemon cream cheese frosting that was really smooth and good. It isn't super thick so it wouldn't hold together a layered cake, but I think it would be really good on cupcakes!

8 oz softened cream cheese
5 Tbl. softened butter
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (fresh is best)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice and vanilla together in a bowl until creamy. Add in powdered sugar in parts and mix in until smooth.

silly Easter sock bunnies

The other day I was at a cupcakery with my sister-in-law, Jamie, and her two kids Carter and Lily. They saw these little sock bunnies at the store and were making them hop around. Lily wanted one. So, I decided to make a little bunny family for them. They're goofy but kind of fun to make.

You'll need:
scissors
rubber bands
socks- they recommend children's socks. I had one baby sock and two low top socks
beans- I used lima but they recommended lentils
ribbon
cotton balls, fabric to make the face and or googly eyes
hot glue gun

1) Fill the sock with beans just past the heel. Tightly close with a rubber band.

2) Make a head by securing a ribbon and/or rubber band to make a head.
3) Cut straight down the center of the top of the sock to make ears. Round the corners.

4) Cut out noses, teeth and eyes. Glue on to the face.

6) Glue a cotton ball onto the back to make a tail

These are silly but fun! I hope they like them! I'll be bringing them over to them tonight.