Cooking Spree

I'm on a roll! When I was on Pinterest, I found a whole treasure trove of recipes to pin. Hurray!

On Saturday, I made Snickerdoodle Apple Bread. One word: Yummy! Oh and the smell of the house while it was baking. . . . Delightful!

Snickerdoodle Apple Bread

(http://cookiesandcups.com/snickerdoodle-apple-bread/)

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 Granny Smith Apple, finely chopped

Cinnamon sugar topping
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray. Line bottoms and up the ends with a strip of parchment paper (for easy removal) and spray again. Set aside. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Set aside. In a bowl beat butter, both sugars and cinnamon for 2 minutes on medium speed with an electric mixer., scraping sides as necessary. Add in both eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until smooth, again scraping sides as necessary. Turn mixer to low and add in flour mixture and milk alternating additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix until just combined. Finally add in apples and stir until just combined and pour batter into prepared pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for topping and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake for 50-55 minutes until bread is set and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

(I did it again! The kids can be quite distracting while cooking. I forgot to add the cinnamon to the sugar/butter mixture. Ha ha ha! I am bound to get a recipe complete right one of these days! I didn't realize it until I was typing up the recipe. That explains why I had a 1/2 tablespoon sitting on the counter unused. Ha ha ha!) 

Cooking Therapy

I accomplished one of my "self" goals for February- trying at least one new recipe that sounds good. 

I find cooking fun and relaxing, but I just have not had the time and fortitude to do much lately. There are two major reasons: 1) During the school year, we spend a lot of time in the evenings doing homework. If I wasn't a working mama, then I probably would have more time to prep for dinner before picking the kids up from school. As it is hubby much rather attempt to cook, than be stationed at the homework table. So we have been having quite a bit of fast food, hot dogs, cheese toasties, cereal, and pizza for dinner. I usually get a chance to cook on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. 2) I just celebrate 11 weeks with the "boot of doom" (aka walking boot). I found out in mid-February that the problem is that I seriously messed up two ligaments in my ankle. Thankfully no surgery, but more time in the boot. I go back to the foot doctor in about a week and a half. Maybe I will graduate from the boot, maybe I will be sentenced to more time. Hopefully once I graduate, I will have some PT to strengthen my ankle since it has be immobilized for an extended period. Needless to say, I have been doing a lot of sitting on a stool when attempting to cook in the kitchen.

Back to the food, I was looking around on Pinterest and found some yummy recipes. Last night I experimented with two new recipes: One Pan Greek Chicken and Garlic & Herb Cheese Bombs. Both turned out fairly well. I will probably tweak a few things next time I fix them, but definitely keepers. I have included the link to the original recipe, but have made my changes and notes to the recipes below.

One Pan Greek Chicken

(http://damndelicious.net/2015/05/30/one-pan-greek-chicken/) 

Ingredients 
1 1/2 pound small red potatoes, quartered
1 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons light olive oil
Freshly ground salt & black pepper, to taste   

For the marinade:
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1/4 cup light olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon oregano
Freshly ground, salt & black pepper, to taste

Instructions
In a gallon size ziploc bag, combine chicken, oil, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper. Marinate for 20-60 minutes, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade. While chicken is marinading, preheat over to 400 degree F. Lightly oil backing sheet or coat with nonstick spray. Place potatoes and green beans in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and paper, to taste. Top with chicken in a single layer. Place into the oven and toast until the chicken is completely cooked through, about 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately. (Note: I had about half of the amount of green beans. Unfortunately, there was not a good selection of fresh green beans at the store. I also forgot to add the oregano to the marinade.)

Garlic & Herb Cheese Bombs

 (http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2014/08/garlic-herb-cheese-bombs.html)

Ingredients (20 bombs)
2- 7.5 ounce cans refrigerated biscuits
4 ounce Mozzarella cheese, cut into 20 cubes
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Separate biscuits. Place on cube of cheese in the center of each biscuit. Carefully wrap the biscuit dough about the cheese and seal. Place seam side down about an inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the cheese is melted. While the biscuits bake, mix the butter, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder together and set aside. Remove the biscuits from the oven and immediately brush with butter mixture. Serve warm. (Note: Place cheese bombs on the middle rack of the oven. The bottoms get a bit crispy if on the bottom rack while cooking the chicken recipe above. No matter how long you have been cooking, you can always learning something new. Ha ha ha!)

Have you made any new recipes lately that you would like to share? 

February Goals

I have not pondered my February Goals as much as I should. I have a feeling that it is going to be a LONG month. So it may be best to go simple. In my last post I reviewed my progress on my January goals. I am hoping to be more successful this month.

Health Goals
- Drink more water.
- Eat more veggies.

House Goal
- Continue working on cleaning and organizing the south end of the the great room.

Family Goal
- Encourage the family to turn lights off when they leave a room and unplug chargers for electronics when not being used.

Self Goals
- Cook a new dish that sounds good to me.
- Write a letter or two. 

Other things on the agenda for this month- three birthdays, maybe a movie, hopefully the library, lots of homework, hot chocolate, and hopefully more healing.

Win Some, Lose Some

I have not accomplished as much as I had intended for the month of January. 

I have done the best with my "House Goal." My goal was to cleaning and organize the south end of the great room. It was more challenging that I had anticipated and the southeast side got the most attention.  There was stuff on the desk dating back to 2013. In a few of the boxes, I found stuff from 2010 when the world seemed to crash around me. As I was going through stuff- filing, shredding, recycling, and saving- I realized why I never finished each time I started. It was hard, really hard at times. I did find some good memories, but I also found some stuff that I would have preferred hidden. The itemized bill from mom's funeral, the memorial print-out from grandpa and mom's funerals, the bill from mom and grandpa's gravestones (purchased on the same day), the booklet from grandpa's funeral, and more sympathy cards that apparently were not with the ones that I stumbled upon back in November. Even 5-1/2 years later it still is hard to process at times. 

Southeast corner- January 31

Southeast corner- January 1

My "Health Goals" basically crashed and burned, but it is not too surprising since I am still rocking the walking boot. I messed the tendons up eight weeks ago today. The boot and I have been friends for the last seven weeks. I have no idea when I might graduate. I check back with the doctor on Friday, if it still is not any better they will schedule an MRI to check for torn tendons. So needless to say, I have not met my five pound goal and I have not had the chance to strengthen or stretch my injured ankle.

My "Family Goal" has been come and go- reading more. I have done quite a bit of reading on the Kindle, but nothing notable enough to really mention. Princess and I read Piper Green and The Fairy Tree. It was a really cute story! We are looking forward to reading the second one. Pumpkin has been burying himself in Minecraft books lately.

The last goal was "Self Goal"- having a girls day adventure. Once again the boot and weather deterred me. We have had some snow, which makes it very difficult to walk with the darn boot (especially when you cannot see what is beneath the snow). The boot has made me more of a home body than normal. 

Well, I will need to mull over my February goals for a bit. Have you accomplished any goals that you set for the new year?

January Goals

I didn't do so well last year, but I am willing to try again. Each month I intend to set a few goals for myself. 

I gave up on New Year's Resolutions quite a few years ago. I find that smaller chunks are more attainable to reach.

So here are my January goals:

Health

• Strengthen and stretch my hurt ankle/foot
• Lose five pounds and maintain

Home

•  Tackle cleaning and organizing the south end of the great room

Family

•  Read more to the kids

Self

•  Have a least one girls day adventure