Who is this Kitchen Diva?

I just scored a flank steak and made a marinade from scratch.  "You did what to a flank steak?" says me from two weeks ago.

Alright, I'm not good enough to be that cocky, but I have to admit that I don't even recognize my kitchen identity anymore.  I suppose I have realized a completely new side of myself, one who can cook, and enjoys it.  I am completely surprised at how quickly this transition has taken place.  I attribute my transformation to two things.

1.  I wrote it in this blog.  Any article, book, or DVD you read or watch about reaching your goals lists this simple step as necessary in your journey.  Write it down.  There is something very powerful about putting something into actual words, and I am now a firm believer that if there is an audience for those words, this step means even more.

2.  Allrecipes.com is absolutely incredible.  Let me elucidate:

  I picked a recipe for London Broil because flank steak is on sale this week.  I watched a video of the recipe.  That exact recipe.  It even quoted the authors original comments.  The author who is another Allrecipe user.  Do you have any idea how amazingly helpful this is?  I used to watch Rachael Ray, back when M was a tiny tike and went down for his first nap just before 9, allowing me time to sit my pregnant belly down and watch some morning TV.  I was always excited about her dishes - macaroni and cheese on a hamburger?  Heck yeah!  But inevitably, she used pots/utensils/ingredients that I just didn't have.  If I had those things, watching her cook the meal would have been invaluable.  At my fingertips, I now have access to recipes that I can pick based on my capabilities, then watch someone actually doing it.  This is so great for a novice chef!
 
  Members of the site also review the recipes, and give their tweaks.  This is also very helpful; if there is a part of the recipe that doesn't fit my style, I can find input on how to alter it.  Or, if it is just not for me, there are more recipes for the same dish that I can peruse.  I am very impressed with what I am getting out of this site.  My only complaint is that I only signed up for 6 months at the introductory rate instead of 2 years!

Here are a few recipes that I have made recently:

Spaghetti Carbonara  - I had no idea what this was, but if I see it on a menu in the future I will order it just to see how it compares.  The version I made was delicious; we all loved it, even M! I used linguini instead of spaghetti because it is easier for him to handle.  So good!

Lemon Pepper Catfish - I bought frozen Swai, which I now know is a white fish similar to catfish.  I had no idea when I bought it, I just knew it was white fish and my husband likes white fish.  I actually cut the fish into 'sticks' and used this recipe for the coating.  Again, this was a hit!  M loved them, and I even ate leftovers, which is pretty unheard of for me and fish.  Before kids, you would never catch me eating fish sticks, and certainly not making them from scratch!  Who am I?

Meatball Nirvana - I made these the other day for lunch, then we had them tonight for dinner.  Another success.  I have made the meatball recipe from the BLW cookbook, and those were good as well. 

Slow Cooker Pepper Steak - I only used one bell pepper because neither my husband nor I like them - or so we thought!  It turns out if you cook them right, they are a great addition to a dish!  Again, everyone liked this one.  I really liked that I could prepare it all in the morning when I had time, then in the evening all I had to do was cook some brown rice.  I may try it with egg noodles next time, though!

Chicken Enchiladas -I have made this twice already, we liked it so much!  I never would have thought to make a sauce this way, but it is so delicious!

So you see, I have not been blogging because I have been a cooking fool.  Pretty cool, right?  My husband commented while eating the pepper steak the other night, "So, this website is working out for you, huh?"  I said "You tell me!!"  He is impressed, which makes me super happy :)

Back to the Baby

  By focusing on what I am feeding the whole family, it has been really easy to incorporate healthy foods for J and not stress about her nutrition. Part of the appeal of BLW is that your baby has meals with the rest of the family, eats what the family eats (within reason), and this makes life so much easier!  So instead of having to keep track of all the foods J has tried, I just add foods in for all of us that she can eat!  I suppose this is made simpler by the fact that she has yet to refuse anything I've put in front of her! 

  The two foods that she is not too sure about are peaches and watermelon.  For some reason the watermelon was giving her some trouble and she gagged on it a few times.  I think maybe the consistency allows her to squish it into a harder piece, and then she has trouble swallowing it.  She will still eat both the watermelon and peaches, though.  She just doesn't seem as eager about them as some other foods, like banana and avocado.  Avocados were on sale last week, so we have had avocado every day, and banana is certainly an every day food.  We tried carrots finally; I was cooking this recipe, which we all loved, and I just boiled J's carrots a little longer and she seemed to enjoy them!  Strangely, though, when I reheated some in the microwave a few days later, they caught fire.  What is it about carrots that make them spark in the microwave, can anyone tell me? 

  J has had the pleasure of trying graham crackers, and she did superb with them.  She is really good now about knowing what is ready to be swallowed and what needs to be gummed a bit more.  This allows me to relax a little more at mealtimes! 

I Read the Fridge Today, Oh Boy

  After 2 weeks, I have finally finished updating my refrigerator (remember, #2 on my list).  Here is a before and after shot.

 It may not look like a huge difference, but it makes a big difference in our kitchen!  The pictures are all still there, they are just on the sides of the fridge making the front a usable work space.  I have always used wet erase markers on the fridge.  They dry so they don't smear easily, but just wipe off with a wet towel.  Greatest invention ever!

  In our previous system, we had two categories: 'To Eat' and 'To Make.'  Now that we are buying and eating a whole lot more produce, we are finding it helpful to also keep track of the 'perishables' such as pineapple.  The 'Left Over' column has really helped, as well as a new simple labeling system: with the wet erase markers, I mark the date on the Tupperware or baggie.  This way there is no guessing how old something is!  I used these magnet sheets to print out the labels (I have used them to print pictures as well - these sheets are awesome!)

  Yes, that's macaroni and cheese.  M loves macaroni and cheese.  He likes pretty much all pasta, he is a pasta-eating fool.  Mac 'n cheese may not be the healthiest food, but when you couple it with peas and watermelon, it is a treat.

  I have taken my menu planning to a new level as well.  I have joined allrecipes.com, (thanks Sally!) which has been great since I already use so many of the recipes.  I just never realized that the site had so many other great features like creating menus up to 10 days in length, tweaking recipes and saving them, and creating recipes from scratch with the ability to add them to your menus and shopping lists.  One of my favorite things on the site is something so small, but so huge: the site will display a whole recipe with directions and everything on a single screen, which means you don't have to scroll with dirty hands.  So helpful!  In addition to this site, I have started printing out our menu and keeping it on the fridge.  This helps take the guesswork out of all meals!  They are already planned with what we have.

  If there's one thing this blog has helped me do so far, it's get organized in the kitchen.  I never realized how overwhelmed I was, as someone pretty disinterested in cooking and suddenly in charge of feeding a family of four.  I feel much more comfortable now with my ability to do my job, and it feels good to have healthy goals and be able to accomplish them!

Our New Favorite Side Dish

  I cooked cauliflower for the first time tonight.  Success!  I found this recipe involving garlic, Parmesan cheese and parsley, all ingredients that we love, and was easy enough for me to try.  It was delicious!  At least I thought so.  The cauliflower did not come out soft enough for J, and M didn't like it.  But daddy and I sure did!  We will definitely be adding this to the sides list!!

Menu Planning

  I love the word 'planning.'  Since I am slightly prone to anxiety, I keep this in check by planning. When I first considered menu planning, I was excited to learn something new.  What I found, however, is that I already do this.  The basic idea of menu planning is to plan what meals you are going to make for a designated amount of time, then go to the store to get all the items you need.  This helps you avoid making a trip to the grocer every day or every other day, and saves money.  I thought that's what everybody did.  This is what I have done for as long as I have been grocery shopping.  So I was kind of disappointed when I thought I was getting a new system, when all I really got was a name for what I already do. 

  I am finding benefits of belonging to a site, though.  It has recipes.  I need recipes, as I don't have the creative mind to say 'Alright, what can I do with these ingredients I have?'  It also puts sides with the main dishes.  Great for one with an inexperienced palate.  Once you pick recipes, it generates a shopping list. I can chose how many servings I want to make, and it will adjust the shopping list accordingly.  Brilliant!  It also has freezer meals, which is great because we recently acquired a large freezer for our garage that currently houses ice packs and some ground beef.

  I am finding the recipes a little overwhelming so far, so I need to start slow and pick just one at a time for now.  I picked three last week and it generated a grocery list longer than my usual list for the whole week including household goods.  I can't just buy a ton of stuff to make one dish, especially if I don't know if we will like it, and the point is to not throw food away.  So the other thing is usually do is if I know I am going to make a dish with fresh parsley, I will also plan to make lasagna or something else with parsley so I can maximize my fresh ingredients.  This is not easy to do.  And I am not finding the site helpful with that.  In time I may be able to make this more feasible.

  I cut a lot of coupons and shop meats that are on sale.  I am on a budget, people!  I am not finding the site helpful with that, yet, but I can see there are features that can help me maximize my savings and make new, healthy dishes. 

  In summary, week one of menu planning involved just the menu planning I normally do.  I guess keep up the good work!

Rice and Beans!

  When I cut that cantaloupe last week, it was the perfect amount of squishy for J.  She loved it!  The first time I put it on her tray there was a mix of cantaloupe and peaches, which she eats but doesn't seem to favor.  She ate every piece of cantaloupe before touching the peaches!  I was impressed that she could tell the difference.  I know they don't look the same, but it just reminds me of how smart these little brains are even at such a young age! 

 

  She has toast with cream cheese for breakfast just about every morning because she loves it and it is easy, and we have been eating cantaloupe all week.  We always have bananas on hand, so we use those when we go out or I don't feel like making anything else.  I also bought some Gerber cheesy poufs, since we were at the store one day and I knew time for lunch was going to be tight.  I thought she could try something with a different consistency.  For some reason, when she crunches on them, it makes me laugh.  Maybe it's because she doesn't have any teeth yet, I don't know, but it cracks me up when she crunches on those things!

  The other night we were having jerk chicken with saffron rice and red beans, one of our favorite dishes, and since J shovels everything in her mouth no matter what size, I thought she could try some rice and beans.  (I am not ready to give her meat, but that is another post.)  I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of rice and beans this girl consumed!  She is great a great eater - M never really got down the rice eating thing!

  I still have not gotten around to roasting carrots or broccoli - that is how much time I don't  find in a typical day to do this stuff.  But I must!  We spend so much time eating, it is important to make sure we are eating good food!!

Cheesy Tuna and Corn Pasta Salad

Last week I made the Cheesy Tuna and Corn Pasta Salad recipe from The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook.  It seemed simple enough and I was looking for a way to incorporate more fish into our diet.  We will definitely be making this dish again, but it needs something.  We had leftovers yesterday, the first time my hubby had it, and he liked it.  He agreed, though, that it needs something... we just haven't figured it out yet.  Unfortunately M didn't like it.  J is not ready to try it.  In our house it will definitely be more of a side dish than a main dish, but it is nice to have a new easy side to add to our recipe list!