menu staples: side dishes

There are a few side dishes that are staples in our menu planning. They are things we don't even have to look up a recipe for because they are so simple and yet very delicious. Here are some of the things we love:

Green Beans with Sesame Seeds: 


green beans
garlic
olive oil
sesame seeds
salt

In a pan on the stove (we use a stir-fry pan) put some fresh green beans and water, and steam them until they are almost tender. Then drain the water and add a little olive oil and a couple cloves of freshly crushed garlic and a little salt. Let them saute in the pan a few minutes while you toast some sesame seeds in another pan on the stove. When the sesame seeds turn golden then add them to the green beans and toss it all together.

Grilled Red Potatoes:

baby red potatoes
butter
salt

Wash the potatoes and half or quarter them depending on size. Lay them in the middle of a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Add pats of butter on top and then salt generously. Then pull up the sides of the foil and fold over, and roll in the ends, so that the potatoes are in a pocket. Use another piece of foil to make a double layer so it doesn't leak if it gets poked. Put them on the grill for about 20 minutes. (We often forget about them and leave them on longer). Turn the packet over half-way through. Be careful when you're opening it, there's a lot of steam inside!

Chipotle Copy-Cat Rice:


1 c. basmati rice
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1.5 c. water
3/4 tsp. salt
1 lime
fresh cilantro

In a heavy sauce pan heat the oil, then add the rice and juice from one lime. Stir it around for about a minute. Add the water and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, cover the pot and turn the burner down to simmer, and leave it alone for about 25 minutes. When the water has all been absorbed, add a handful (or however much you want) of chopped cilantro and give it a good fluff.

marshmallows

I've never been much of a marshmallow person.

Sure, I love a roasted marshmallow or marshmallows floating in hot chocolate as much as the next person.

But just pop a cold marshmallow into my mouth for enjoyment? Never.

Until this morning.

Last night I happened upon a recipe for springy, fluffy marshmallows.

After about an hour of kitchen time whipping in the mixer and cooking at the stove, keeping close eye on the candy thermometer, then spreading out my white ooey gooey goodness into a pan and letting it sit overnight...

Then after turning my sheet of marshmallow onto the counter, sprinkling it with powdered sugar, and dicing it up with my pizza cutter...

I'm left with these small morsels of heavenly sweetness.

I'm officially a marshmallow convert.

PS. This is definitely not a cooking project I recommend you do with a small child. Mine were peacefully tucked into bed when I set out on this culinary adventure.

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Think these cookies look amazing?





Want to bake some yourself? Well grab your nearest two-year-old assistant and follow this recipe (found here):

Ingredients:
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. butter, softened
2 c. rolled oats
2 eggs
2 tbsp. molasses
1 tbsp. milk
1 (12 oz.) pkg semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat together brown sugar and butter until well combined. Add oats, eggs, molasses, and milk; beat well. Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture; beat until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop dough and drop about 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 13 minutes  (Mine cooked for 15 minutes.), until just starting to brown around the outside. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets (I had to let them cool on the cookie sheet more like 4 mintues. Otherwise they were too soft to move.). Remove and cool on racks.

Makes 24 giant cookies (For me it made 18.)

Adapted from source: Great Harvest Bread Company


***

Camille had a hard time understanding that she wasn't allowed to eat a cookie for dinner. I know, tough love. But we did taste one right out of the oven. And let me tell you, they are the best.

i'm no baker...

...and I'm usually a procrastinator. But today I baked something ahead of schedule!

I wanted Camille to be able to bring treats to school for her birthday next week and I've been trying to think of the least messy (but still tasty!) goodie for her to share with her friends. So I decided to bake some

MONSTER COOKIES!

I had seen a super simple recipe on another blog and decided to give it a try. All you need is:

*1 Betty Crocker Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies mix

*1 Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookies mix

*1 bag of M&M's (I used mini's, and probably only about half the bag)

*and the ingredients used to make the cookie mixes (water, oil, butter and eggs)

Dump it all in the mixing bowl and give it a good stir. My plan was to use the mini M&M's to put each child's first initial on each cookie, so I left out the M&M's while I was mixing the dough.

After rolling balls of dough and putting them on the cookie sheet, I used the M&M's and created their initials, putting them as close together as possible since I knew they'd spread out when the cookie baked.

Then I baked them! Hmmm, they didn't turn out quite as cute as I'd hoped.

Still good enough to eat, for sure, but for the rest of the batch I decided to mix in the mini M&M's. So I did...

Much better, don't you think?

All this, and I'm 10 days ahead of schedule! She doesn't need to bring them until next Thursday! After tasting one (mmmmm!) the rest got popped into the freezer for safe keeping.

Now all I have to do is remember to bring them next Thursday. Wish me luck!

 

P.S. Impressed that I baked something? Check back later this week and just maybe I'll have another super simple baking lesson for you. I'm planning on making a strawberry poke cake for Camille's birthday brunch on Saturday!

Real Popcorn

I'm sure many of you have had microwave popcorn. But how often do you make real popcorn? At our house, popcorn of the micorwave variety has been banned. Instead, we break out the good ol' Orville Redenbacher Popping Corn. Mmmmm. I have yet to perfect the art of popping corn. Growing up, my Dad was the expert, although my Mom also makes a mean bowl of popcorn. Aaron has since learned how to make it. Me? I just like having them make it for me!

So tonight, when we decided to have some popcorn, I jumped up and grabbed my camera. Following my Dad to the kitchen, I proceeded to photograph each step of the corn popping process.

So here's how it goes, according to my Dad...


1. Pour pop corn into a 1/3 cup measuring cup.


2. In a meadium sauce pan (ours is a 3 quart, we think) pur in just enough veggie oil to cover the bottom. Turn on the burner to mediumish.



3. Drop in three kernels of corn. Wait for all three to pop.

4. While you're waiting for the three to pop melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave.

5. Pour in the rest of the popping corn, and tilt the lid to vent a bit. Give it a shake every once in a while

6. Pour it into a bowl.

7. Pour the butter on it. Shake some salt on it. Give the bowl a little shake.

8. Enjoy!

I personally really like to eat my popcorn with a glass of orange juice on the side. Unfortunately we don't have any right now.

You should also know that our computer's keyboard is now nicely greased because I am eating popcorn in between writing sentences.

Now, go throw away that microwave popcorn and get yourself some real stuff!!!