Stop...Hammer time!

First of all, apparently MC Hammer will be on Oprah today.  If you are in Boise, you can catch the replay at 9:00 PM on 24/7.   I wonder if he'll be wearing "the pants"?  I totally had some; a glorious mustard colored pair of MC Hammer pants.  And I was awesome.

Can't find them at your local store?  Make your own!

Fast forward 20 years.  I am completely out of the loop when it comes to current music, unless you want to know about the top artists on Kid's Place Live radio.  However, I wanted to share a music video with you.  I had forgotten about this until a friend posted it on facebook today; I've since watched it three times.  I think it's mesmerizing.  Tyler's coworker made the video and he is obviously very talented and very patient.   The band is Finn Riggins and they are from Idaho.  Watch and enjoy!

That's a lot of pom-poms!  I wonder what kind of stop motion video I could have made out of the scene in my house last night.  

Silly me, thinking the splash mat would contain the mess.  Even though it looks like a bug infestation worthy of the some major extermination, it's just a bunch of dry black beans.  The kids made a mess, but they were happy and busy, which allowed me to make two pans of artichoke spinach lasagna.  This recipe is a winner in our house, as the kids both gobbled it up.  Tyler said, "for lasagna, it's pretty good." Apparently he doesn't like lasagna.  Weirdo.  

I adapted the recipe from allrecipes.com.  We gave one pan to some friends, and kept the others for ourselves.  We get 12 portions out of one pan; one piece for each adult and one for the kids to share.  This means a total of 4 meals from one pan.  It freezes well, just make sure that you wrap it in parchment paper before wrapping it in foil so the tomato sauce doesn't react with the foil.  

Image via allrecipes.com

Artichoke Spinach Lasagna

adapted from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

cooking spray

9 uncooked no-boil lasagna noodles

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (the original recipe called for 1 TBSP fresh rosemary instead, but I found this added a strange flavor)

1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke

hearts, drained and chopped

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped

spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed

dry, or several handfuls of fresh baby spinach (the more the better!). 

1 (28 ounce) jar tomato pasta sauce

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese,

divided

8 ounces ricotta cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

salt and pepper

1 (4 ounce) package herb and garlic feta,

crumbled

DIRECTIONS:

1.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium-high. Saute onion and garlic for 3 minutes, or until onion is tender-crisp. Stir in broth and basil; bring to a boil. Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta sauce.

3. Mix together ricotta, egg and a dash of salt and pepper (I also add some dried parsley).  Add 1 cup of mozzarella.  

4.

Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with 3 cooked noodles. Spread one third of ricotta mixture over noodles.  Sprinkle 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over noodles. Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with artichoke mixture and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.

5.

Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly.  Broil for a few minutes if you like the cheese brown and crispy (mmm...) Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Today is brought to you by the letter C.

The alternative title for this post was, "A curry, a cookie and a cracker walk into a kitchen..." However, that seemed like it had the potential to be the opening to a really offensive joke.  I decided that a Sesame Street reference might be more politically correct.  Okay?  Good?  Alright, on with the recipes!



Curry

Curry photos are not very appetizing, so here's a photo of Morocco (via National Geographic)

So you have a fridge full of vegetables and no dinner plans...what to do?  I stumbled upon this Moroccan curry recipe the other night, and I'm glad I did.  I basically followed the cooking method and spice combination, substituting the veggies that I had on hand (cauliflower, broccolini, red and green peppers, onions and potatoes).  The results were very good the first day and even better as leftovers.  I planned to serve it with brown rice, but alas the rice cooker didn't come through.  The rice was still crunchy, even after adding more water and cooking for an extra 20 minutes.  I made couscous as a quick fix, which was a good accompaniment and probably an authentic side dish for a Moroccan meal.  Determined to conquer the brown rice challenge, a google search brought me to the answer: baked brown rice.   How come nobody told me about this sooner? 

Cookies

Remember the homemade nutella that was taunting me from the fridge?  It desperately needed a purpose, so I found this recipe for nutella chocolate chip cookies.  Yum!  Hadley was my sous chef, and she gives the cookies two oven gloved thumbs up.

Graham Crackers

image via Martha Stewart

Homemade graham crackers are delicious.  That is, unless you double the salt.  Then they are salty.  If you are willing to carefully measure all ingredients, these are definitely worth the time to mix, roll, chill and bake.  I usually use this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but decided to try Martha's version last time.  I think I like the flavor of the first recipe best, but the second recipe has a lighter texture that I enjoyed.  Try one and let me know what you think.  

Making an honest Idahoan out of myself

I live in Idaho, a state known for its potatoes.  Even my license plate will remind me, lest I forget.  I've always felt like a bit of a bad resident, as the russet is a rarity in my kitchen.  But last night, that all changed.

Enter the Hasselback potato:

image via joythebaker.com

Have you heard of these?  They also go by Swedish potatoes.  No, still not familiar?  Well, it's time you get acquainted; Tyler called these the best potatoes he's ever eaten.  They would make a totally easy but completely impressive dish to serve to guests.  Basically, you wash, dry and slice potatoes (but not all the way through!).  Stuff some sliced garlic cloves in between the layers, top with pats of butter, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake at 440 for 60-75 minutes, until the insides are fluffy and the skins are crispy, basting every 15 minutes with the olive oil and butter that has dripped into the pan.  Enjoy!  

Let's make a deal

I made 32 sweet potato and black bean burritos tonight.  It all started rather innocently, when a friend posted a recipe to her facebook site.  Some googling led to the conclusion that these burritos would be good, and that I'd want to have leftovers.  Thus, I decided to double to the recipe.  And while I was boiling, peeling and mashing, why not try a second recipe with similar ingredients?  It all sounded like a great idea at the time, but I started to have second thoughts when my kitchen looked like this:

So, here's what I made:

Moosewood Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos (I made these more or less as written)

                       and

Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos  (I left out the water, subbed black beans for kidney and increased the cheese)

Also, I made corn and tomato quinoa as a side dish.  (I subbed corn for the black beans, and cooked the quinoa the easy way.)

A few tips:  

- Sweet potatoes are hard to peel, due to their strange shapes.  Case in point:

I didn't notice it at the time, but it appears the two in the top right are getting a little frisky.  Ah, young potato love.

To avoid this, I cut them into chunks and tossed them into a pot of boiling water, cooking until tender.  When they are cooked it is really easy to just pull the skins off.  I did this and chopped the onions last night to make things easier today.  My cooking time is dictated by how long the kids nap, so anything I can do ahead of time is helpful. 

-Canned organic black beans are expensive.  At our grocery store, they were $1.89 a can.  I needed the equivalent of about 8 cans, so this would have added up quickly.  Instead, we buy bulk dried organic black beans.  They are significantly cheaper, plus there is no worry over BPA from the can.  To cook them, I rinse (but don't soak) the beans, put them in the crockpot, fill with water and cook on low until tender.  I started them last night around 10:00 PM, and at 11:30AM they weren't quite done, so I turned it up to high.  By 12:30 they were perfect.  Even though they cook for a long time, the electricity cost is minimal (about $0.01-$0.02 cents/hour).  If you have leftovers, just freeze for later use.  

Before:

and after:

I gave Hadley the extra (uncooked) beans in a large mixing bowl.  She played with them, scooping, stirring and pouring, for about 45 minutes!

- The extra burritos were frozen individually on a cookie sheet, then dropped into freezer bags.  They will make an easy and quick lunch.

 

So, here's the verdict:  We liked both recipes, but the second recipe won 4:0.  The Moosewood recipe tasted earthy and healthy (which it is).  The flavor was very good, and I think the addition of cheese would have made it more popular with everyone.  The allrecipes.com version sounded strange to me (soy sauce and mustard...?) but it worked well.  I did add the spices to the onions near end of the cooking time, as this helps bring out the flavor.  The kids both ate this burrito really well.  This is good, since we now have a freezer FULL of burritos.  

Which brings me to the deal making...

Have you visited Ana-White.com?  While Tyler cleaned the kitchen tonight (thanks Ty!), I wasted time scrutinizing several of her building plans.  I don't have the tools, knowledge or drive to make any of her projects, but I'm thinking maybe I could bribe somebody into doing it for me...

image courtesy ana-white.com

I've wanted to buy a learning tower for a long time, but they are very expensive, and way too big for our little house.  I think Ana has found the perfect solution.  The materials cost about $20 and she has designed it to fold, so we could store it in the laundry room when not in use.  So, who is looking for a fun weekend project?  I'll cover the cost of materials and compensate you in food (burritos, perhaps?  Maybe a chocolate cake?).  Let's make a deal!

Sweet Potato Cakes (aka sweet potatoes with pecans and goat cheese)

We've learned that adding the word "cake" to any food makes it automatically more appealing to Hadley.  We made these for dinner tonight, as a side dish to grilled chicken.  I think they could certainly hold their own as the main dish alongside a green salad for a great vegetarian meal.  Tyler had very low expectations, and in fact had me make him a baked russet potato instead.  He doesn't like sweet potatoes, nor does he like goat cheese.  However, they looked good enough for him to sample a bite, then another, and another.  At the end of the meal he said it was one of the best flavor combinations he had tasted in a long time!  Easy, delicious and the whole family enjoyed it- I think we have a winner!

The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, but I changed it a bit.  Here's what I used:

1 chopped apple (braeburn) in place of the celery
Skipped the parsley
about 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
2-3 TBSP dried cherries instead of cranberries ( I didn't actually measure any of it)

Otherwise I made the recipe as written, except the potatoes took about 25-30 minutes to roast on the first side, then an additional 10 minutes after turning.

My picture isn't as pretty as hers, but I promise that it was really yummy.  I'm looking forward to eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, although I may have to fight the kids for them!