Fish tacos. I made a breading mix from panko bread crumbs, whole wheat bread crumbs, a little bit of cornmeal, and a pinch of salt. We had some white cod, dipped it in egg whites, then coated it with the bread crumb mixture and lightly pan fried it in a skillet. I also chopped up some serranos and onions, and stuck that in the oven until they were slightly crispy. We top our fish tacos with the avocado, cilantro, and the crispy serranos and onions (we omit this bit of spice from the girls’ tacos). It pretty much always comes out yummy!
Oven Fried Chicken with Mashed Sweet Potatoes. It’s not a very colorful looking dish as it is all pretty much the same color, but I tell you, it’s really good! With this chicken recipe (and I throw in lots of extra ground cayenne pepper to makes our more spicy), I don’t even miss fried chicken at all!
Vietnamese Chicken Pho. I highly recommend trying this! And if you have any recipes you would recommend, please do let me know. I would love to try your recipe out and blog about it!
Week 11/5 – 11/9
Monday: Sushi Burritos (inspired by Sushirrito)
Tuesday: Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Cauliflower
Wednesday: Black Bean Soup
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Pizza night
What was your favorite meal you had last week and what do you have planned for this week?
The girls love snack time. It’s at 3:30 everyday. Most days, we just have some fruit or crackers, but on other occasions, we will have something a little special. This particular day we had to pick up some snacks from the Mexican market for True’s Spanish class, so we also picked a little pretty somethings for ourselves. Though we picked it up in the morning, they know they aren’t allowed to eat it until snack time, so you can bet they were counting down. In fact, I was too since I got a little something for myself. I think another trip to the Mexican market must happen again soon. The best thing about having a set time is that the kids know meal times is their time to eat, there isn’t constant snacking all day long because they get a snack time once a day (and this helps when we are out and about because I don’t really need to bring food to occupy them, unless it is a meal time, then of course we eat). Routines and schedules work for us and our snack times are planned into our days.
This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…
Glow is pretty much walking like crazy now. She is taking much longer trips on her legs! I’m not sure I’m ready for this yet. Eek!
Soul had no accidents this week. That is definitely something to be thankful about!
Praising God for giving me another year! My tally is at 31 and my heart is quite full (and so is my belly). My motto is calories don’t count when it’s your birthday. Don’t you agree?!
Monday’s back again in a few hours and the election is just two days away. Crazy! Then, Thanksgiving is in two and a half weeks… oh my! Seriously, can you believe that it’s already November?! I can’t!
Ingredients for broth:
1. 1-2 tbsp salt (I used 1 tbsp)
2. 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
3. 9 – 12 star anise
4. 1 tbsp Better Than Bullion chicken stock concentrate (no MSG)
5. rice stick noodles
6. 1 large brown onion
7. 1 large chunk of fresh ginger
8. (1) 4 – 5 lb. chicken: wash, remove giblets and discard, keep the neck for the broth (not pictured cause raw chicken ain’t pretty!) Directions for the broth:
1. Place the washed chicken (and neck), along with all the star anise in a pot, cover with water and start to boil chicken.
2. While the chicken is cooking, cut the onion and ginger (with the skin on for both) in half and char the onion and ginger over an open flame. You will start to smell the onion and ginger and the skin will burn. Let it roast for about 10 minutes or until you can smell the onion and ginger. This can also be done on a grill or in the oven until it is a golden brown.
3. Remove the burned onion and ginger skin and discard, then place the ginger and onion into the pot with the chicken. 4. Add the salt and sugar. Continue boiling the chicken until the chicken is fully cooked and the meat easily pulls apart from the bone. Takes about an hour.
5. Once chicken is fully cooked, remove the chicken and let it cool for a few minutes. Once it is cool, remove the meat from the bones and put the bones back in the broth and set to simmer. 6. Shred the cooked chicken and set aside. We like to keep the dark and white meat separate because Ben and I prefer the white meat, while the girls have no preference and could use the extra fat from the dark meat. 7. Add 1 tbsp of Better Than Bullion into the broth. Taste the broth and add salt if needed. The broth should have a slight sweetness from the chicken and not be overly salty like chicken noodle soup.
8. Cover and allow broth to simmer for at least another hour, but like with all soups, the longer it simmers, the better it tastes.
9. Strain the both and bring broth back to the pot. This removes all unnecessary bones and chunks. Can also skip this and when you ladle the soup into your boil, just be mindful not to let any chunks in.
10. When ready to serve your broth, bring it back to a boil, so it is nice and hot when you ladle it into your bowl.
Note: You are using the whole chicken, so the soup is a bit oily. We wanted to healthify it a bit and cut out some of the unnecessary fat, so we resisted eating it once it was done (I know it’s hard to do!), refrigerated it overnight so that the fat would harden and accumulate on top, then proceeded to scoop the fat out and discard.
Toppings for soup:
1. side of hoisin sauce (the dark colored one) and a side of siracha hot sauce (the red one)
2. chopped cilantro
3. chopped green onions
4. slices of lime
5. soybean sprouts
6. jalapeno/serrano peppers (we love spice!)
7. basil Directions to put together soup:
1. Prepare noodles according to the package.
2. Chop all your toppings you want for your soup.
3. Place cooked noodles in a bowl, add shredded chicken on top, and ladle some of the hot broth into the bowl. If you like, grind fresh pepper on top.
4. Garnish your bowl with all your desired toppings and enjoy!
A great thing about this whole blogging thing, is learning from and getting inspired by others. I first met Liz when I ran The Color Run with my friend Lance. She was on his team and I joined the team, not knowing anyone else, and when he was introducing me to everyone, Liz was so sweet and told me she kind of already knew me thanks to the internet. I tell you, when you meet a blog reader/, it’s like seeing an old friend again and you cut out all that weird awkward stuff and you just pretty much start chatting. At least that’s how it happened with Liz. Liz and I have hung out a couple times after and she is a great cook and baker! I was inspired by this recipe that she shared with me to start this new little feature… Reader’s Recipes!
She learned how to make pho from her grandmother and is so kind to pass the recipe along. It is totally legit and Ben and I love it so much! We’ve made it twice already and will probably make it a lot more once it really cools down over here. If you have never had pho, try it, it really is quite delicious!
Now, this is where you all come in. I would love to try more of your recipes! Do you have a favorite recipe you made up? Maybe something that has been passed down through the generations? Or just a favorite recipe of yours you like to make over and over again? If so, I would love for you to share it with me and I would love to try it and then share it with everyone else. Kind of like those recipe chains that used to go around. We are totally open to trying all types of food (and then healthifying when needed), but I would just love to try new recipes and then pass them along to everyone else. If you do have a recipe to share, leave the name of your recipe here and make sure your comment links up to your email. I will email you if I choose your recipe and you can share the entire recipe that way. I want to try and include a reader’s recipe in my meal planning at least once a week or once every other week, it will depend on my time and if I get a lot of suggestions.
I will make it, post it, and then link back to the originator of the recipe (if you have somewhere to link back to). If it’s something you fancy, then try it! I know some of you asked about this pho recipe when it was in our meal plan, so finally here it is. If you try it, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. I’m pretty sure you would give it a thumbs up too! Thanks Liz for being our first recipe!!!
So tell me friends, do you have a recipe that I could try?
They each had a clear vision of what they wanted to be for Halloween, they also made the decision for Glow. Brave’s costume was store bought and adjusted to fit her better and Glow’s was an oldie from True’s first Halloween. Soul wanted to be Spike from My Little Pony and True wanted to be She-Ra, so those two were made and those made up the characters for this year’s Halloween story.
We have been studying the five elements in a story (plot, setting, character, theme, and conflict) and together we wrote this little story. The bad guy was drawn by me in photoshop, but I copied a sketch True did. They named him and we worked together to develop the story. There was also some improv due to the fact the baby wanted crackers, but we think it all came together nicely. The girls are so proud of their acting and their story! The best thing is that they now know what the five elements of a story are.
If you want a fun resource for learning, check this site out! This song especially helped them learn the five elements of a story. This site has many more fun songs and resources to use for various subjects. Be prepared to hear your kids rapping the songs throughout the day! We have plans to head out in our neighborhood for some trick-or-treating and the girls also get to go to ballet dressed in their costumes. They’ve been doing lots of counting down for Halloween and they are pretty excited that the day is finally here. Happy Halloween friends!!! What are your plans for the day?
The girls have a Halloween party at enrichment classes tomorrow, so part of today was spent getting some treats ready for their classmates. We bought the silly-scary eyes at the craft store, cut up some black card stock in the shape of a head (the top part), punched holes for the arms of the eyes, and then the girls wrote a cute little message. Tada! Kids always love quirky things like these. They also get to wear their costumes to school, so there is a whole lot of jubilation over all the fun they will have tomorrow.
I’m sure plans for Halloween have changed dramatically for many of you on the East coast. I have been constantly checking online for updates, since we don’t have a television, and have been praying for all those affected by this insane storm. I’m hoping (and praying) you all are safe friends!
I heard True say that to Soul the other day and how true it has been lately. She has been one tough cookie to deal with of late. I don’t know if it’s a really late onset of the terrible two’s, but she has been leaving me (all of us) feeling so overwhelmed. Her obedience has not been “right away, all the way, with a happy heart.” Lately it’s been… no, no, and NO!!! She’s definitely a firecracker. I seriously tell everyone to pray for her and for me because we haven’t been getting along lately. No joke. Actually, she doesn’t get along with anyone. I’m hoping this attitude of defiance passes quickly.
This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…
This week was the first time Glow ever cried when I told her, “No.” It was so sad, but for her own good.
True really wants to learn to sew. She says next year, she will make her own costumes.
I so want to make these cloud magnets. They would make cute Christmas presents!
This would be so cute for when the cold weather hits. I have carpel tunnel so my hands need these!
My sister has got some serious skillz. Yes, with a z because she is just that amazing.
This week has been tough as a lot of people in our church family are going through some really difficult circumstances, but I am so thankful to God for the grace that has been poured out regardless during this time of suffering. This Sunday is our church anniversary and if you anyone is in the L.A. area and would love to drop by our gathering, we’d love for you to join us!
Thankful that next week is November. I love November!!! Turkey and stuffing, here I come!
We went to the craft store this week and there was all this Christmas stuff up and the girls said, “Mommy, why do they have Christmas here? It isn’t even Halloween yet.” My response, “It’s because they want to make money.” I wasn’t sure what else to tell them. Maybe I should have told them that they didn’t want to procrastinate and then it would have led to discussion of a new vocabulary word (and hopefully they would learn procrastinating is a bad thing). It baffled their mind to already be decked out for Christmas. Are the Christmas decorations already up at your local stores?
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
Fish tacos. I made a breading mix from panko bread crumbs, whole wheat bread crumbs, a little bit of cornmeal, and a pinch of salt. We had some white cod, dipped it in egg whites, then coated it with the bread crumb mixture and lightly pan fried it in a skillet. I also chopped up some serranos and onions, and stuck that in the oven until they were slightly crispy. We top our fish tacos with the avocado, cilantro, and the crispy serranos and onions (we omit this bit of spice from the girls’ tacos). It pretty much always comes out yummy!
Oven Fried Chicken with Mashed Sweet Potatoes. It’s not a very colorful looking dish as it is all pretty much the same color, but I tell you, it’s really good! With this chicken recipe (and I throw in lots of extra ground cayenne pepper to makes our more spicy), I don’t even miss fried chicken at all!
Vietnamese Chicken Pho. I highly recommend trying this! And if you have any recipes you would recommend, please do let me know. I would love to try your recipe out and blog about it!
