Watch Out For Momma!

Easter was yesterday and I hope you all had a great day, even if that meant just relaxing at home.  The boys got their Easter Baskets and the Easter bunny managed to put no candy in them.  They did get a few caramel filled and peanut butter filled eggs in the eggs for the hunt.  Peeps we're stuffed in there too.  (Do you know that Peeps make the best microwave s'mores?)

We went to brunch with The Greek's family.  That evening, he took us to eat ice cream at Ben and Jerry's.  I skipped the ice cream since I was still full from brunch.  The Ben and Jerry's here shares a storefront with a Mediterranean place.  So while we were there I picked up a couple of things for a light dinner later.

The boys each chose two flavors, one of which contained peanuts or peanut butter.  I try and stay away from peanuts.  I'm not really allergic but I feel better when I don't eat them.  It's the same with gluten.  The boys were trying to trick me into eating the peanut butter ones and I told them to remember who the cook was and that I'd get them back one day.

For a long time, my kids would eat any cuisine as long as fruits and veggies weren't included.  Made it nice when we would go out to dinner.  We even took them to Disneyworld for 10 days once and they didn't eat a single chicken nugget the whole trip.  They ate lamb and couscous from the Moroccan place, or fish or shrimp from the seafood restaurant.  Just no visible green things and other veggies.  They have gotten better the last two years but only with the mainstream vegetables.

Later last night I sat them down for a light dinner.  I had hummus and pita bread, which they love!  I had also bought some baba ganoush which I included on their plates.  After watching them wolf down one serving each, I asked them what they thought.  I got 2 thumbs up.  Then I said... remember when we were eating ice cream and I told you that I'd get you back?  Well baba ganoush is.....

EGGPLANT!!!!!

Their eyes opened wide and Rabbit looked like he wanted to throw up.  After a minute, he said I like the yogurt-y taste but I won't eat eggplant in anything else!  Neither one turned down a second helping!  For those that don't know, baba ganoush is a dip made with roasted eggplant, garlic, lemon juice and tahini.

Nearly all of us hide things in food and don't tell the kids but have you ever made anything and then told them the dreaded ingredient AFTER?  Let me know!

It's Easter! What's For Dinner?

What is your traditional Easter dinner?  Ham?  Lamb?  We're doing it easy this year and going out to brunch.  Maybe I'll post pictures if I remember to take them.

Whatever your main course on this holiday, nearly everyone ends up eating...EGGS!  I mean after you've colored a few dozen, you only have a few days to eat them before they go bad.  I've managed to avoid that this year (check out my other blog here).

Last year's Masterpieces!

Still, I love hardboiled eggs.  The boys love them either dipped into shoyu (soy sauce) or deviled, especially when Di makes them.  She gets all fancy and puts the yolk mixture in a cookie press and pipes them back in then tops them with paprika.  With me, I just kind of blob them back in with a spoon.  Not eye candy but they taste great.

I like hardboiled  eggs warm, sliced on buttered toast and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  They are a must in a spinach salad.  Then there is the simple egg salad sandwich.  My ex liked the eggs diced and chunky in the mixture.  I like mine very fine, grated or mashed fine with a fork, then mixed with just mayo, salt and pepper.  On white bread please with a little Tabasco on top.  Now I'm regretting not doing any this year!

What is your favorite way(s) of getting rid of those Easter eggs?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Vietnamese Roast Chicken

When I lived in California and we'd make a trek to the really big Asian store there, I'd alway make a stop at this little Vietnamese sandwich shop at the end of the strip mall.  I'm not even sure it had a name.  They had great bahn mi (sandwiches) and cheap too.  I think all of them were under $3.  This for fresh baked French rolls with your choice of fillings.  The thing I loved the best though, was their chicken.  I'd buy some to take home for dinner.  I've never had anything like it anywhere else and we eat a lot of Asian food.

There was a great sale on leg quarters recently.  I think they were 39 cents a pound.  So we bought about 10 lbs worth.  The Greek pulled them out of the freezer the other day and left them for me to cook.  I had tried to duplicate the recipe before, unsuccessfully.  I thought I'd give it another shot.  This time was near perfect!

Vietnamese Roast Chicken

4 leg quarters
2 T sugar
1 T salt

Marinade
3/4 c Sweet chili sauce*
2 T fish sauce**
3T honey
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 inch piece of ginger, pressed, minced or grated

Combine the salt and sugar.  Place the chicken in a large bowl or baking dish and sprinkle evenly with the salt-sugar mixture.  Rub it in all over, even under the skin if you can.  Let sit for 30 min.

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together.  Drain the liquid from the chicken, cut slashes in it if you want, then mix well with the marinade.  I let it soak about 90 min but I think overnight would have been better.  Makes sure it is all coated and even put some in the slashes if you have them.  Every once in a while stir it up or flip the bag over if you put it in a bag like I do overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Put the chicken on a baking sheet skin side up.  Spoon some of the marinade on top.  Bake for about 25 min.  Check for doneness.

You can serve with rice and more chili sauce if you want, for dipping.

You can use thighs, drumsticks or wings.  You can try it with breasts I'm not sure how it would be with white meat.  I can't wait until it warms up and we can throw these on the grill!

*Sweet chili sauce - I use Mae Ploy brand.  I've seen it in well stocked grocery stores and almost always in Asian groceries.



**Fish sauce  - it's called by many names...nuoc mam in Vietnamese... nam pla in Thai...patis in the Phillipines.  It's watery and brown.  You can use them interchangeably.  Adjust to taste as different brands maybe saltier.  don't be put off by the smell, it really mellows out in cooking.  This can also be found in many grocery stores.

Here are some so you can see what I'm talking about

You Eat What?

I'm so tired but can't sleep until I post something, since I promised a post everyday.  So here is a quickie.  There are times in our lives when quickies are a good thing.

WHAT?

I love chocolate and baked goods as much as anyone but I can't eat them with abandon and not feel guilty the next day.  My favorite current no-guilt snack is...

NORI!!!!

For those of you that don't know, nori are sheets of seaweed.  Most people see them only in sushi but they make an awesome snack.  You can get them plain but my favorite has sesame oil and salt.  I buy them in big sheets and eat them like potato chips.  You can find other flavors too.  The kids adore the teriyaki flavored kind as snacks too.   I currently have some smaller packs of wasabi flavored ones.  Wasabi is the green stuff you get when you order sushi.  You are suppose to mix a bit of it with shoyu (soy sauce).   It is like Japanese horseradish and like regular horseradish will clear your sinuses in a second flat.

My sister owns a Japanese restaurant and we've seen customers pick up the whole ball with their chopsticks and eat it before we can stop them.  Believe me they never do that more than once!

Join me on Facebook too and check out this Facebook Friday Hop!

Tell me your go-to guilt-free snack!

Week 4 of Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop

The weekend is here and it's Blog hop time again.  These are the rules as listed on the hosts page:

1.  Please follow your hostesses My Grocery Game and The Advetures of J-Man and MillerBug.  Leave us a comment and we will follow you back! (If you already follow us on GFC, we'd LOVE it if you would follow us on Facebook.)
2.  Please follow our guest co-host who this week is One Blondes Ramblings.
3.  You don't have to post our button but we sure would like it if you did.  Not only does it help our hop grow so we can all get new followers, but each week we will choose a guest co-host and to be considered you must have our button somewhere on your site!
4.  You can link up blogs, facebook and twitter accounts - just be sure to specify what each link is.
5.  Hop around and find blogs that you enjoy.  Be sure to tell them you are following them from Finding New Friends Weekend Blog Hop so they can follow you back!
6.  Have fun!

Nothing Like Hot Fresh Bread From The Oven

I love bread and have been known to shamelessly devour more than my fair share of a fresh loaf out of the oven. A couple of years ago my mother in-law bought me a bread maker for my birthday (probably so I'd shut up about how much I wanted one!). Since then I've tried recipe after recipe and my dear husband has had to pretend to enjoy hard little pucks that were supposed to be nice fluffy rolls! I used to have a really good recipe for Portuguese Rolls that everyone in the house loved but I've lost it and haven't been able to find it so I had to restart my search for that perfect bread recipe. After trying 3 or 4 duds I ran across one online from a flour company (DUH!) that has turned out beautiful loaf after loaf. The first day I made this I think it lasted all of 3 hours in this house before every last crumb was devoured! This bread was so good that everyone thought I bought it from the store! Making it was super easy and used only flour, water, salt, and yeast. My husband doesn't enjoy most sweet things (or so he says as he eats half of whatever dessert I'm eating) so the fact that there was no sugar was a plus and since I'm counting my points for Weight Watchers I was happy to have no added oil/butter as well.

I followed the recipe exactly as it's posted here the first time and since then I've changed the toppings and cooking times a bit to my liking. Instead of sesame seeds I've put parmesan and oregano, poppyseeds, and my mother in-law has requested jalapeño peppers and cheddar on the next one. This bread comes out nice and crusty outside and soft and chewy inside. I've altered the cooking time for our oven a bit, the first time I did it for the full 25 minutes the bottom was a bit too dark for my tastes so I've lowered the cooking time to 20 minutes total. If I'm adding a cheese on top I wait till there's only 10 minutes left before adding it on top so that it doesn't burn. The only downside to this recipe that I've found is that it calls for a starter that you make the night before so you've got to plan ahead and make it before bed.

Since I've had such success with this recipe I made a Sourdough Starter from the same site today. In 5 days I'll hopefully get to make some nice tangy homemade sourdough bread... I'll let you all know how it goes!

Seafood Couscous Paella

I don't often use recipes and even when I do, if it becomes something I make regularly, then I just eyeball things and do things "to taste".  The exception would be baked goods.  Which is probably why I don't bake very often.   We have an awesome place near here called Ubake.  I cheat and buy my stuff from there.  They even sell holiday cut out cookies for every occasion.  I buy them (and their frosting too) and let the kids decorate them and I'm the best Mommy in the world!

Snowmen and Christmas Tree Cookies

Anyway, what I'm getting to is...I tend to just throw things together.  So my "recipes" aren't hard and fast.  I am more conscious about measurements, but it's ok to tweak them to fit your tastes.  More or less salt or sugar.  A different herb or even veggie, most times is perfectly ok.

Tonight we were thinking about dinner.  Tomorrow The Greek's grandson comes over so we are having chicken, since he really likes chicken.  Our meat choices in the freezer were chicken wings and rib eyes steaks.  I always keep frozen seafood handy to throw into my noodle soups, so I decided to share them tonight and make The Greek something different.  I guess it needs a name so I'll call it:

Seafood Couscous Paella

1 - 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 c dry white wine ( I use dry vermouth)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (opt)
2 bay leaves
1T dry oregano, crushed
1t dry basil, crushed
1 heaping tsp sugar
1-2 T sriracha or ketchup
2c of mixed seafood *
2/3 c couscous (not the israeli one the small stuff looks like crushed grain)

Saute the onion and garlic until light brown,, you can use Pam or olive oil or nothing.  Add the can of tomatoes and everything else before the seafood.  Turn down the heat and let simmer for 30 min or more.  If you need to add more liquid then wine or water or even chicken or clam broth will work.

After simmering, taste and adjust seasonings. then add the seafood.  Mine was frozen so I covered and let it come back up to a boil.  You can do the same for fresh too.  Check the amount of liquid it should be about the same amount as couscous.  If not add more and bring to a boil. Stir in the couscous, cover and take off the heat.  Let it sit for 5 min. Stir again.

You can put more couscous in this if you want a more grainy consistency, just make sure the liquid to couscous ratio is about 1 to 1.  I'm watching points so purposely kept the amount of carbs low.

You can garnish with green onion or cilantro.  Even a sprinkling of parmesan would be good.

I was discussing this with The Greek and you could also add sausage, chicken or even bacon might be awesome.

*I used a combination of frozen mixed seafood, frozen shrimp and imitation crab.  The frozen mixed seafood varies. This one has baby mussels, calamari, shrimp and imitation crab.  You can also substitute fish, real crab legs and clams, either in the shell, whole or chopped.  Of course any fresh seafood works too.

This is actually a quickie version of my bouillabaisse recipe.  That one doesn't call for couscous, just serve some good sourdough bread for dunking.