Captain Underpants

Little boys.

To all you mothers of sons, all I have to say is 'little boys' and you know exactly what I'm talking about.   They're silly, and naughty, and adventurous, and aggravating, and sweet, and totally hilarious all at the same time.

I have so much to learn from my little guys.  Things like how it's important to have fun and laugh. It's good for the soul, I say.

It would have been so much more responsible of me to take Christian inside to pee instead of just letting him pee off the side of the hot tub last night, but it would have been a lot more boring.  Plus, we all had a good laugh out of it. 

I could have just said 'no' to ice cream last summer because the ice cream truck had already come by, but it was so much more fun to chase it for 8 blocks and try to catch it.  Plus, the SpongeBob SquarePants ice cream bars tasted so much better. 

The bathtub rule could be 'no splashing,' but instead it's 'only splashing with the curtain closed.'  Yes, water still gets on the floor, but it's a really great excuse for me to clean the floor.  Win, win. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I tend towards being boring and grown up way too often.  I say 'no' much more than I say yes for really no reason at all and my children do have many, many rules.  But when I look back at my best memories, it's when I chose to look at life through my children's eyes and live life that way just for a moment or two.  I love their belly laughs and their silly jokes and how I always pause what I'm doing to listen to them laugh together.  Parenting is hard, but these moments make it all worth it.

A couple nights ago, I was having a gloomy January day until Christian came downstairs with four pairs of underpants on his head.  We all laughed off and on for the rest of the evening.  I still giggle when I think of it.

The color orange makes Christian happy.  When he got dressed this morning, he told his brother 'Jacob, this sweatshirt makes me look super cool.'  Even as I was preparing to write this post, I looked up and he was sitting in a bucket with his super cool orange sweatshirt and Batman mask on.   He was happy and quite content. 

I guess my point to this disjointed post is to remind myself to have fun!   To find joy in the simple things like laughing with my children and wearing the clothes that make me feel super cool.

Mediterranean Tilapia

My mom and I always have fun together.  Whether it's sledding with my kiddos, sharing fun cocktails in her beautiful garden or just chit chatting in the hot tub, we always have a great time.  Last May, she and I flew to visit my brother and his wife in Maine.  We slept in the same room and stayed up half the night giggling.  I felt like a little girl at a sleep over again.  How blessed am I to be able to call my best friend, Mom!

We also like to cook together.  As I've mentioned before, my whole family cooks (I'll tell you about my dad's incredible Indian food another time).  My mom always has a stocked kitchen and pantry, so it's never difficult to find something to make.  Several years ago, we invented this dish.  It turned out so well that I wrote it down so I could replicate it someday. 

Today's the day!  Mom is coming to visit me this evening.  I plan to make this for dinner. 

Several hours later.....This is how it turned out:

It was just as tasty as we remembered it. 

My boys call her Nona. 

Jacob's a ham...can you tell?

Nona was super cool today and made monster cookies with them. As Jacob was spooning the dough onto the cookie sheets I overheard him say 'This is fun! Mom never lets us do this part.'  It's true...I don't.  I'll change my ways, I promise.

 She even let them share the beater.  Man....I need to improve my game here!

I've been trumped.  Oh well, I suppose that's what I get for making flax bran muffins with my kids instead of monster cookies.  What was I thinking?  

Mediterranean Tilapia
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 medium red pepper, diced
12 black olives, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons small capers
1 teaspoon fish bullion
3 cans chicken broth
3-4 tilapia fillets, rinsed and patted dry
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
10-14 ounces cooked spaghetti

Saute the onion, red pepper, garlic, olives and capers in the olive oil until tender.  Add fish bullion and chicken broth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer this mixture while cooking the fish. 

Mix the flour and salt and some pepper.  Bread the fish fillets in the flour mixture.  Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.  Cook the fish until golden brown.  The fish should flake when pierced with a fork.  Try not to over cook the fish. 

To serve, spoon the broth mixture over spaghetti noodles in a bowl.  Lay a fish fillet on top of the noodles and top with Parmesan cheese.  Broil the dish for a few minutes until the cheese melts.

Rum Cake

My husband, Brad, walked into the house after work one day and after sniffing the air, bee-lined for the kitchen.  He grabbed a fork from the drawer, removed the dome from the cake stand and dug in to the special rum cake I'd made for him.  Leaning back on the counter with the cake in one hand and the fork in the other, he gave a satisfied smile and declared 'I love being an adult.'

This cake is so simple and is what Sandra Lee would call semi-homemade.  The ingredients are easy to have on hand and it's always sure to please.  It'll make you want to grab a fork and rejoice you're an adult and can eat whatever you want.

Rum Cake
From Misti Fines

1 box plain yellow cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup white rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt pan or spring form pan with a hole in the middle.  (I've always had a hard time with the bundt pan sticking so I always use the spring form).  Mix ingredients together and pour into the pan.  Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out to a plate.  Pour sauce over the cake and cool 1 hour.

Sauce:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup water

Bring ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan.  Boil for 2 minutes.

Kaluha Pig

About a year and a half ago, my husband and I spent a week in Hawaii.  We had an entire week, just the two of us, to explore and enjoy the island of Kauai. 

My husband is quite the athlete and is always up for any kind of adventure.  He's fond of surfing as he lived in Southern California for much of his childhood.  We'd talked about going surfing while in Hawaii and we set the day we'd go.  I'm pretty sure it was a Monday. 

Now, I, on the other hand, am not an athlete.  Needless to say, gym class was my own kind of nightmare.  However, in the interest of trying to score 'cool wife points' I pretended to be excited.  At least I tried to pretend.  I woke up that morning, opened my eyes and thought 'Oh, no.  It's time.'  My stomach was in knots and I'm pretty sure my palms were sweaty.  Nervously, I mustered anything brave and macho in my being and we headed to the beach.  Surprisingly, I had a great time!  I only lasted a couple hours and I'm pretty sure the folks on the beach were having a grand old time laughing at my wipe outs, but it was all in all a good time.  And hopefully, I scored the points I was hoping for.

Brad's favorite thing to eat in Hawaii was Kaluha Pig Nachos.  Every restaurant seemed to feature them on the menu.  They all came with huge chunks of slow-cooked pork heaped on top.  I was determined to figure out how to make them for him when we got home.  

Kaluha Pig doesn't have Kaluha in it.  It's just what it's called.  There are many recipes I found on-line, but this version is the one that works best for us.  I'm sure it's not authentic, but hopefully, no Hawaiian's out there find my Montana version too terribly blasphemous. 

Start with a 3-5 pound pork shoulder blade butt roast or anything similar.  This one is just over 4 pounds.  It will feed us dinner at least twice and usually a lunch too. 

This is liquid smoke.  Many of us have heard of it, but most of us don't have it on hand.  It's easy to find in the grocery store, only costs a couple bucks and will last in the fridge for a long time. 

This is Hawaiian sea salt I bought on our trip.  The TSA folks at the airport had to search my bag to see what it was.  You can use a different kind of sea salt though.

 That's it!  Just three ingredients.  Place the roast in a large crock pot and poke a bunch of holes in it with a knife.

Evenly pour about 1-2 tablespoons of liquid smoke over the top and then sprinkle about a tablespoon of sea salt on top.

Cover it and cook on high for 5-6 hours or so depending on the size of roast.  If you want to cook it on low while you're at work, allow about 8-10 hours.  It should fall apart easily with a fork when it's done.

This meat is so tender and tasty with a slight smoky taste. There are so many ways to serve this.  Make nachos for your spouse, serve it over rice as we did last night, stick it in a sandwich or wrap, or make a casserole with it like I am tonight. 

Kids in the Kitchen-Bran Flax Muffins

 

Sometimes you hear parents tell their children 'You'll thank me for this someday.'  One such thing for me was cooking night.  We had cooking night from the time we turned about eleven until we left the house (which for all of us was after college).  At the time, I didn't thank my parents for this, but I certainly do now.  Were it not for the weekly chore of planning, preparing, serving and cleaning up after our 6:00 nightly family dinner, I don't know that I'd love cooking as much as I do now.  So...here it is....Thank you, Mom and Dad.  There.  I said it. 

I'd love for our boys to have the same love of cooking, but at the very least, I plan to teach them how to cook for themselves.  Last night was Kids in the Kitchen night.  They were gifted chef's outfits for Christmas and were eager to try them out. 

And in a house with boys, I suppose kitchen utensils do sometimes double as swords.  They couldn't help themselves.

Recently, I read about mise en place meaning to have everything ready to go before you start cooking.  Never is this more applicable to me than when kids are helping, especially when there's more than one. 

We had so much fun, though!  They each got a turn helping run the food processor, stirring the bowl and dumping ingredients. 

At one point, I realized I'd been literally cornered.  Roman, the dog, had taken up kitchen real estate as well.  Some folks give me a hard time for letting my dog in the kitchen, but I love it.  He keeps me company and I never have to clean up anything I drop.  He's pretty johnny on the spot with any spills and such.  It's a symbiotic relationship I suppose. 

They could hardly wait for the timer to go off.  Jacob's eyes were glued to the stove timer and he was slightly disgruntled when I had to add an extra five minutes since they weren't done.  Patience, little grasshopper, patience!

To pass the time, they had a little wrestling match. 

Finally, after 20 excruciatingly long minutes, they were ready!  Jacob loved them and has eaten about 6 of them since yesterday.  Christian, unfortunately, didn't love them.  I'm not surprised as they are certainly health muffins, but I was hoping.  We had a great cooking lesson nonetheless.  One day, they'll thank me for it.

 

Bran Flax Muffins
From the back of the Bob's Red Mill Flaxseed Meal Bag

1 1/2 cups Flour
3/4 cup Flaxseed Meal
3/4 cup Oat Bran
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups carrot, shredded
2 Apples, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup Raisins (optional)
1 cup Nuts, chopped
3/4 cup Milk
2 Eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Mix together flour, flaxseed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Stir in carrots, apples and raisins (if desired) and nuts.  Combine milk, beaten eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl.  Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.  Stir until ingredients are moistened.  Do not over mix.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Yields 15 medium muffins.

Wedding Cake: Practice #1

As mentioned in a previous post, my dear friend, Delani, is getting married in a few months.  Since semi-successfully attempting a Go, Diego, Go Rescue pack for my 3 year old's birthday last March, I've dabbled a bit in celebration cakes.  Delani and her fiance, Christian, asked me to make their wedding cake, which is quite an honor.  A couple months ago, she sent me a photo of the cake she'd like to have.  My first thought was, 'Wow...I'm gonna have to practice.'  It's a beautiful cake and I want her and her new husband to have exactly what they want.  My confidence level, however, wasn't exactly where I'd want it to be. 

Today was her Christian's birthday.  I thought 'great opportunity to practice their cake!'  Ordinarily, I wouldn't make a dude a filigree black and white cake with a ribbon around it. 

Yesterday, I made three sour cream 9 inch chocolate cakes, wrapped them well and froze them.

Today was the rest.  First, I decided to try out a raspberry cream for the filling.  It's basically sweetened raspberry puree folded into whipped cream.

Next, came the frosting.  I chose a cream cheese frosting that I've made before.  As I was putting it together, I recalled not liking this frosting recipe for some reason.  Why I made it again anyway is beyond me. 

The reason I didn't like it is because it was difficult to work with for a couple of reasons.  I'll spare you, but next time, I won't use this recipe again...unless I forget why I don't like it.  A note in the cookbook might be a novel idea don't you suppose?

My first attempt at fondant was last summer for my nieces first birthday.  My neighbor gave me a neat marshmallow fondant recipe.  It worked like a charm over the cream cheese layer.  The next step was to secure a black ribbon around the bottom edge with a couple pins.

Next up...the piping.  It was 7 degrees outside yesterday so I combined my outings so I didn't have to leave the house more than once.  I'd planned to purchase some meringue powder to make some royal icing in the hopes that the piping would go more smoothly that it has in the past.  The store didn't carry meringue power.  I certainly wasn't going to go somewhere else, so I asked the young fella at the bakery.  He said they did have it, but he didn't know how to sell it to me because it was in bulk...then he asked me to come back another time.  I'm sure I blinked a couple times before responding kindly that I didn't want to come back because for one, I needed it and for another, it's cold outside.  He blinked back at me and said he'd make a call and see what he could find out.  Ten minutes later, he handed me a small tub of what I needed with a price tag for $0.10.  At first, I felt bad that he had to spend the time for a measly dime.  That is, until I remembered how many thousands upon thousands of dollars we've spent at that store over the years. 

All this to finally tell you that I didn't even use the meringue powder.  Turns out, I didn't buy enough.  Maybe I should have splurged and spent two dimes. 

Instead, I found a butter cream recipe that worked just fine.  The piping was freehand.  I'm glad I'll have the opportunity to work on it and make it look smoother and more uniform.  However, for a first try I am pleased with the result. 

It sounds like everyone liked the final product.  Whew!!!