Teaching Her How

It's no secret with my family that I love to make chocolate chip cookies. And, I make a pretty mean one if I do say so myself. I have memories of making this same recipe with my mom when I was about three years old, the same age the Fifi is now. She has been more and more interested in helping in the kitchen lately and I am trying to have the patience and the time to let her learn what we are up to in there. I have been working in counting and having her get things from the cupboard.

Today I let her help me, and save for that one egg that was cracked and dropped on the table instead of the bowl, she did pretty darn well. Of course, I think she might be in it more for the spoon licking at the end. I can't really blame her though. By the way, this is the proper way to stand while eating cookie dough. In case you were wondering...

in the kitchen

Some weeks my 366 project takes on it's own theme without me even realizing it.
This week, it was all about food and happenings in the kitchen.

pretty purple left in the bowl after eating my salad with beets.

bananas in desprate need of being transformed into muffins.

basil, making my house smell good and the pasta taste awesome.

radish tails and avocado shells.

What's been on your plate?

play dough

It's the kind of weekend where there isn't much going on and the weather makes you want to sit inside, watch TV, play words with friends and drink hot tea all day long. Problem is, we have watched Cars about a million times and there isn't much else on the tube *until 3 or so when the football game starts*, there is only one iPod touch and I am over fighting with O about who gets to play it next and hot tea and kids just don't work very well.
So what's a mom to do?
I remembered a few months ago that I had pinned a recipe for play dough over on pintrest.
Supposedly, this is the best homemade dough recipe there is. Why not give it a whirl?

I didn't read the instructions all the way through and hadn't realized that you needed to actually cook the concoction after mixing up all the ingredients I started to get a bit nervous. I had a vat of goo that didn't seem to be thickening. One more quick trip back to the original post and I realized that you had to put the slop into a pan and heat it up until it thickens.

 

Good thing I have been working out because there was a heck of a lot of stirring involved. I was really worried the stuff was going to burn to the bottom of the pot. It didn't, but don't take your eyes or your spoon away for a minute.I also had it in my head that the boy would be able to play with it right away, but the finished product was almost to hot for me to handle and transfer into a ball and then into the bag.

O settled on three colors, red, green, and blue. I put about two cups of the mixture in each of the color batches. Each one filled a sandwich zippy bag perfectly. I think after nap time it should be at room temperature and ready for play.

black bean soup

I have been craving this soup for a couple of weeks now. This weekend I finally had a chance to make it for dinner. It is a perfect winter time meal. Great for dinner and perfect left overs for lunch. It is a quick and easy recipe to make, and oh so good. We had french bread on the side tonight, I also like it with cornbread.

Gather your goods:

one onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

2-4 carrots, chopped

10 slices bacon, chopped

1 can diced toms, I like the ones with other goodies, the hubs doesn't

1 tbls katchup

1 tbls Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tea chilli powder

1 14oz can of broth, chicken or veggie

4 cans of black beans, not drained

salt and pepper to taste

For garnish:

limes

cilantro chopped

green onions chopped finely

shredded cheese

sour cream

hot suace.

Here's what you do:

warm a pan and add in the bacon, stirring occasionally until it starts to let go of the fat

add in the onoions, saute until translucent, about 4 minutes

add in the garlic and carrots,

add the toms, katchup, worchestershire sauce, chilli powder beans and broth.

bring to a boil and then turn temp down to a low bubble.

allow to cook for 10-20 minutes

While the soup cooks:

wash and chop the cilantro and green onions

grate the cheese and slice the limes (I like about 1/4 to 1/2 lime in my bowl)

ENJOY!

3:366, a woman's work is never done

I think the reflection is my favorite part, or maybe her vacuuming form?

 
Vacuuming and taking care of 'baby'.

It's a tough job..

But as any mommy knows, very rewarding.

moments...

She pushed the bar stool over there all on her own, grunted and pointed and then tried to get up by herself.
Once I put her on the stool, she must have sat up there for a good 10-15 minutes re-arranging things.

She doesn't have a lot of words yet, but she sure does know exactly what she wants and how to figure out how to get it. atta, girl.

~~~~~~

Across the room, her brother sat perched on his own bar stool. He was dipping his pizza into ranch and honey and wearing his new cookie monster hat that is extra big and therefor, extra cute.

It is moments like these that make me so happy I have done a 365 projects.
Little moments that I will more than likely forget about next week, until I look back at my pile of photos and see it all again and smile.

baking prep...

We are headed into that time of year (or rather, we are there already) when there is a happy cake almost every weekend in celebration of someones birthday in our family.

My favorite cake to mix up for the occasion? Smitten Kitchen's, Chocolate Stout Cake. It so yummy, moist and just the right sweet.

What's your go to birthday cake?

cubano sandos

A few weeks ago I was out to dinner, drinks and a movie with my girlfriends and I had a cubano sandwich. It was so tasty that I have been craving one ever since so I decided to make one at home.

Want to make one too?

Ingredients:

Sandwich roll, a sweeter style bread is preferable

mustard

Swiss cheese was on the original, but I only had mozzarella and it was just as good

dill pickles

sliced ham

sliced turkey

bacon, pre-cooked

Ready?

Get out the pickles, the sandwich sliced ones are handy, but you can easily slice your own.

Mmm, bacon. I like to bake mine off in the oven. If you want to do it this way, line a cookie sheet with tin foil then place cooling wracks on them and lay out the bacon. It makes for easy clean up and flat bacon. Just don't do what I did and spill the grease out as you take it from the oven.

I was SO glad nobody was underfoot at that point last night!

Spread mustard on the rolls and lay out pickles, cheese, bacon, and deli slices.

 

It's looking good, but there is one more step before you dig in!

Place the sandwich on the griddle or frying pan with some cooking spray then place a frying pan on top in order to smoosh and weigh it all down.

Let it get all ooey-gooey good and warm. Flip once so that both sides get toasty.

look at all that melty cheese! And there you go, your very own cubano-sando. Cut in half and serve with some slaw or other creamy veg. I only had some mango around so I sliced that up and it went nicely on the side.

Enjoy!

218:365, ROARRRRR!

Totally blurry, but completely Fifi.

Things she is loving right now, peak-a-boo.

As well as de-organizing the kitchen for me...

 

nice booger-face

see, I told you she likes peak-a-boo.

This is why I call her Boomer. She is such a rowdy, spunky little thing. I love it.

I love you

and for your listening pleasure....

good eaters

afternoon snacking on summer time fruit

re fried beans and cheese, she's totally into it.

b-sprouts, garlic, prosciutto and some lemon juice. Saute and serve.

don't forget something nice to wash it all down with.

Cheers!