Tex-Mex Sticky Rice

As I mentioned on Friday, this is a recipe I came up with last week while trying to cook with only what I had in the pantry and freezer. Overall it was a success! Tasted great (though I might add more cumin next time, but I’m a huge cumin fan), hubby liked it in spite of the beans and had seconds and ate it for lunch the next day, and it reheated well. I was surprised at the texture – I was envisioning a less-sticky result, more like Spanish Rice, but I actually like it. It made a great one-stop taco filling that wasn’t falling out all over when we bit into the shell, and was great on its own too. It would be great with salsa and sour cream topping, and maybe a bit of shredded cheese. (None of which was in my fridge so I refrained from those additions. Next time…)

Tex-Mex Sticky Rice

1 lb ground beef

2 c uncooked rice

2 c frozen corn

2 c cooked baking beans

1 can diced tomato & juice

1 ½ c tomato sauce

1 pkt taco seasoning

1 T cumin

1 box (or 4 c) beef broth

1 c water

Use a 6-qt crock pot, or halve the recipe for smaller pots. Crumble the ground beef (uncooked worked great for me, but you can brown it first if you want) in the bottom of the pot – it’s important to crumble it or it will cook in one big lump. Layer the uncooked rice on top, followed by the frozen corn, beans, diced tomato, tomato sauce, spices, broth and water. DON’T STIR YET – the meat needs to sit on the bottom to cook for a couple of hours. Cook on low for 4 ½ - 5 hours or until rice is done, stirring after 2 hours and every hour following.

Quick Work Hack - Keeping Food Warm

Ok, don't tell the IT guys I'm saying this. But, you know an easy way to keep your food warm? Put it next to your PC tower. That thing gives off a lot of heat. Or at least the ones that really need updating (ahem) do.

I had whole wheat rolls and butter pats (saved from take-out) for breakfast the other morning. They were cold from the fridge, but after half an hour next to the PC they were nicely warmed up. I also use this method for keeping my toast warm (yes, it takes me so long to eat toast that I actually have to keep it warm).

It doesn't work that well for liquids, and certainly doesn't keep things hot. But for a quick fix, it works pretty well.

Looking Forward to the Weekend

It's been an interesting week. It started out great, then on Wednesday Max got sick, and on Thursday I got sick. Thankfully just a 24 hour bug, and though we're both a bit wiped out we're feeling much better.

And, it's almost 50 degrees out! (I'm pretending that it's not going to drop back to 20 tomorrow)

I have a nice lineup for the weekend - tomorrow is either a local fundraiser breakfast and tag sale, or playgroup. I'm debating playgroup only because it's two hours and he's always so tired after, which is great when he's healthy and I want him to go down for a mid-day nap, but not so great when he's already tired and recovering from a cold. Then on Sunday afternoon there's an ice show at a local school, and who doesn't love watching kids do figure skating?

For next week in blogland - I'll put up the recipe for this week's experimental dish - Tex Mex Sticky Rice. Hubby loves it, and getting him to eat anything with beans in it is a major accomplishment. Excellent! I also will hopefully have a little tutorial for skin care, if I can get some non-cooking time in the kitchen. (Cheerios are my best friend right now in the kitchen - they keep Max happy for a good 15 minutes)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Morning Nap

I'm home today with a sick little boy. Boo. I'm hoping it's just the cheese he ate yesterday (for the first time) and not a stomach bug. So while he's been taking his morning nap, I've been busy...

I started dinner: I put together a new Tex-Mex crock pot meal idea (inspired by the random things in my fridge and freezer), I'll share it later if it turns out ok.

I sorted through the linen closet: I organized our (many!) quilts into big bed versus little bed, same with the sheets, put a few sets of older sheets into the "project" pile, put two spare pillows into cute shams and put into Max's room to use as floor pillows, stowed away a few accent pillows that had been hiding in my closet, and rearranged the toilet paper and baby wipes that also live in the linen closet.

I sorted through hubby's dress clothes: I put all of the too-small items in the donate bin, as well as a black silk (and oh-so-80's) button down that really needed to go, and a navy blazer that he kept mistaking for a black one. I didn't double check him once and he got out of the house (to a formal event!) with black pants and that navy blazer.

I sorted through my closet: I had already gone through my current clothing, but I hadn't gotten to the miscellaneous stuff. So I sorted through extra winter accessories and brought some of them downstairs where they'll actually be used, pulled a few things from the donate pile that my mom might like, pulled some old t-shirts and tank tops from the donate pile that I'll cut up into fabric yarn instead, tidied the shelves, and put all of the linen closet type items into the linen closet (I know, what a weird idea).

I've done 2 loads of laundry: One of which was because of Max's upset belly last night/this morning. <sigh> I feel so bad for him. Thankfully he seems to be on the mend, no fever, his appetite is back (though we're keeping it light and pureed, no finger foods today), and he's been sleeping it off. Though the sleeping could be from the growth spurt he's been working on the last couple of days.

Poor bugger, it's tough having an upset belly. I'll go throw in another load of laundry, and check the crock pot. And if he's still out, maybe I'll sit down and read a little bit, or work on cutting up those old shirts.

MY FAVORITE Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are a bajillion different recipes for chocolate chip cookies out there – and they’re all essentially the same: flour, sugar, leavening, binding agent, fat, chocolate chips. And I haven’t fallen in love with a single one of them. (Though my mother’s are really really good, and I think she just uses the Nestle recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag.)

After years of tweaking this and that, trying different recipes and methods, and deciding that it was never going to happen and that my chocolate chip cookies would always be lacking a something, I did it. I got all of my favorite elements in one chocolate chip cookie. It’s soft, chewy, chocolaty, rich… ahh. Not only am I sharing my recipe, I’m going to share the breakdown of how this bad boy, er, cookie recipe works so that you may also tweak and change a cookie recipe to suit you. Because you should always cook something you like, otherwise it’s not worth it.


Jessie’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup quick oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine butter and sugars, beat until creamy. Beat in egg and almond extract. In a separate bowl, whisk or sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and oatmeal. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by Tbsp full’s onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheet for 1 minute before transferring to wire cooling racks. Makes 2-3 dozen.

Now, let’s break this down.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened Butter should always be softened to ensure even distribution and keep cooking times consistent. Melted butter will alter the cooking time, generally lowering it, as well as making the cookie spread (read, thinner cookie). Keep in mind that with large batches of cookies if you use melted butter, it will have started to re-solidify again by the time you get to the last dozen and you will need to alter the cooking time. You can substitute margarine with essentially the same result. You can substitute liquid oil and have a crumblier cookie. I don’t recommend substituting with yogurt or applesauce since it will cause a different texture and rise, and affect the flavor.
1/2 cup sugar White sugar is lighter tasting than brown sugar and keeps the cookie from being too densely flavored, allowing the chocolate to ‘speak.’
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar Brown sugar gives the cookie depth and additional richness of flavor. I find that it helps with the ‘melt in your mouth’ factor.
1 large egg The egg acts as the binding agent. You need some sort of binding agent or the cookie will crumble apart. You can substitute egg whites only (2 whites for every 1 egg called for) for reduced calories or if for some reason you don’t want yolks. I have not tried other binding agents, though I have heard of people using flax seed or vegan egg replacers.
1/2 tsp almond extract Almond extract enhances the flavor of any chocolate baked good. I use it instead of vanilla flavor whenever I use chocolate. Trust me.
1 cup flour I use white, all-purpose. You could substitute wheat, but it will not bind as well. When subbing wheat for white in baked goods it’s best to work your way down in a ratio to make sure that it will still work. For example: use ¾ cup white, ¼ cup wheat, and if that works then try ½ cup white, ½ cup wheat, etc. You may need to increase the amount of butter or add a tiny bit of milk as wheat flour results in drier dough.
1/2 tsp salt I guess this could be optional, but the salt offsets the makes-your-teeth-hurt sweetness to make the cookie more palatable.
1/2 tsp baking powder This is the leavening agent in this recipe. If you want a puffier cookie, increase the amount by ¼ tsp increments until you get the desired rise.
1/2 tsp baking soda In cookies, baking soda is generally used more for tenderness than for leavening, as baking soda needs to react with an acid to create bubbles and act as a leavening agent, and there is very little to no acid in a cookie recipe.
1/2 cup quick oats This gives the cookie more bite and substance, aka chewiness, as well as increasing the tenderness. The quick part is important, quick oats cook faster and incorporate into the cookie rather than maintaining their form like you would want for an oatmeal cookie.
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips I actually use 1 heaped cup, so not quite 1 ¼ cups, just because I want to pack in as much chocolate chips as I can without the dough falling apart. 1 ¼ cup was just a little bit too much, the dough couldn’t handle it.

Heat oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Parchment paper is a cookie maker’s best friend. It keeps the cookies from sticking, and the paper provides a bit of insulation from the pan, keeping the bottoms from browning as much. You can find it in the store next to the plastic wrap and foil.

Combine butter and sugars, beat until creamy. Beat in egg and almond extract. Yes, beating the sugar and butter first makes a difference. It results in more consistent dough, and the butter protects the sugar a little bit from the moisture of the egg and extract, keeping the sugar from ‘melting.’ In a separate bowl, whisk or sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and oatmeal. If your baking soda or baking powder has any lumps whatsoever, sift. You do not want to bite into a piece of that stuff in the middle of your delicious cookie. Blech. Sifting or whisking the dry ingredients together makes sure that the dough is uniform. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips. Try not to over-stir at this point. You want the chips combined and fairly evenly distributed, but if you over-stir then you’ll get a tougher cookie.

Drop by Tbsp full’s onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Sometimes I’ll roll the tablespoon full’s between my palms to make a ball first to make a really consistently round cookie. Or you could use an ice cream scoop. Or you could just not care if they’re perfectly round, that’s what I usually do. Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes. Every oven is different. Mine bakes a perfect cookie in 11 minutes. You want the cookies to rise ¼ - ½ of an inch and be set around the outer edge when you pull them out of the oven. Let cookies cool on sheet for 1 minute before transferring to wire cooling racks. This allows the cookie to gently cook for an additional minute, firming up the bottom and letting the cookie flatten out (they do not stay puffed). Also, a hot cookie does not transfer well, they fall apart and make a mess on your spatula. Makes 2-3 dozen. Depending on how much dough you eat… though I don’t recommend eating raw egg, blah blah blah.

I hope that you enjoy the recipe, and that the explanation helps with your baking adventures!

Note: I edited this at 9:30am on 2/16/11 to change the oatmeal type to quick oats rather than rolled. If you had already printed out the recipe, please note the change.

It’s a Good Day, Woo!

Today’s been a good day. It was a not-so-great night (3 wakings, and screaming) so when Max decided to go back to sleep at 6am, I joined him. We slept in for an extra hour and a half, and since I’d showered last night and hauled it though the morning routine I was only 45 minutes late to work. Thankfully I have a flexible schedule most days. I generally work through my lunch hour and leave early so I can run errands before picking Max up from daycare. Today I’ll just work through my lunch hour and leave at the normal time. The extra sleep was wonderful, and totally worth any extra hassle this morning. Woo!

And… It’s 40 degrees out! I don’t like winter for more than two weeks (hence one of the reasons I lived in San Diego for four years), and with all of the extra snow this year I’m sooo ready for it to go away now. Our roof (along with everyone else’s) has been leaking from ice backing up into the gutters and seams, the back gutter will need replacing because the weight of the ice has broken it and… well, I’m just done with snow and ice. The 40 degrees today reminded me that it’s going to melt, and spring will come! Woo!

And… I got an email from my local library this morning saying that the book I had requested arrived and is ready for pickup today - right after I finished the previous book in the series which is in my purse ready for return. No lag time between books, and only one trip! (And… I’ve actually had time to read lately, can you say woo!)

And… I brought chili for lunch and I was thinking it’d be nice to have some bread to dip in it - and my coworker brought in the rolls that I had ordered from her son’s fundraiser. Tasty, and made by the kids which is just too neat (with help from their awesome cafeteria ladies). Woo!

And… well, I think that’s about it. I already celebrated Valentine’s Day yesterday with hubby and Max – we went out to breakfast at our favorite diner and Max had his first ever blueberry pancakes (no syrup). He went wild, double handed fistfuls, shoveling it in (versus his usual single handed eating), it was hysterical.  It reminded me of that Family Guy episode where Stewie has pancakes for the first time and becomes addicted…

It Hasn’t Really Changed

I mentioned the other day (or maybe a bit longer ago than that) that now that I’m a mother I’ve learned so much more about my grandmothers and their mothers.

I was over at my grandmother’s house and I was laughing at how every time I have a gas bubble or a twitch in my gut my first thought is that it’s a baby kicking. I’m not pregnant, but such a lot of energy and thought was focused on my stomach area for such a long time that sometimes I surprise myself by forgetting that I’m not pregnant anymore.

Grandma vaguely remembered the feeling, and reminded me that breastfeeding isn’t foolproof against conceiving. Apparently a distant relative of mine had twins in January and another (single) baby in December. Three in a year! Eek! However, she also said that her mother nursed each of her children until they were at least two, and she figures that’s probably why she and all of her siblings are about two to three years apart in age.

Nursing until two? That’s not so new afterall!

I’ve been finding the ‘controversy’ around breastfeeding versus bottle feeding interesting. I can see needing to defend bottle feeding, it’s not the natural way of doing things and uses supplements instead of the real deal, etc. etc. But having to defend nursing? How else have babies been fed for thousands of years? It’s not like this is a new concept. Jeez. Also, as Grandma pointed out, it was one of the very few contraceptive methods available.

While I was pregnant my husband prepped me for a possible argument with his family. Namely, his grandmother and his mother. Apparently the fights they used to have were very heated and caused a lot of frustration and hurt feelings. I have a feeling that it didn’t help that it’s a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship. His grandmother was firmly in the formula only camp, and his mother was firmly in the breast milk only camp. (Heaven forbid that either could let the other make their own choices, but I shouldn’t talk since my mother-in-law and I don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things either…)

Personally, we nurse and bottle feed. When I’m around Max nurses. When I’m not he gets a bottle. I’m not sure how long I’ll nurse him for, I figure we’ll play that by ear. (He tends to be a nipple biter so I have a feeling when his teeth come in he’ll have to say bye-bye to the boob.) I don’t have anything against bottle feeding, though I do prefer nursing for the immunity boost, that it’s perfectly formulated just for him, and frankly it’s easier and faster to whip one out than it is to prep a bottle. Max is not a patient baby, so every second counts.

And you know what else hasn’t changed? That everyone has their own opinions on how a baby should be fed. Grandma, after telling me for months that Max should drink cow’s milk and not really understanding the whole dairy-makes-him-gassy thing (how can a child from a long line of farmers not be able to drink milk?), admitted that her mother and every female relative had a very strong opinion on how she should feed her children - and that it drove her nuts. So she ignored them and did what worked best for her and her kids. And they turned out just fine after all.