If you’ve been missing my casual cooking and recipe posts, I apologize. I’ve been trying to cook and haven’t had much time to try new recipes. But, I did find a new cookbook and it triggered a need to cook.
Now, if you know, you know I do not like celebrity cookbooks. I am intrigued by them, so I pick them up, but end up just putting them back without even trying to make anything. The only exception was Chrissy Teigan’s Cravings Cookbook. I was able to make a few recipes and they were pretty good. The peanut cluster bites in there were to die for!! Having said that, I also returned it to the library and haven’t bought it or picked it up again. There never has been a celebrity cookbook I loved enough to actually purchase it.
UNTIL NOW
For some people, who knew Snoop Dogg back in the day, this may seem so odd. How could this guy, of all people, write a cookbook? I did not. I did not discover Snoop Dogg until I was an adult, where I’ve also realized I knew his songs but had no idea it was him or who any of these artists were. So when I heard about it, my first thought was, “well duh, he’s like BFFs with Martha Stewart”. Who by the way, did help him with this. But I realize how this may be odd. But I promise, this book is worth it.
I picked it up despite my general dislike of celebrity cookbooks because every time I’ve seen him, he’s always so chill and seems down to earth and genuine. This book reiterated that to me. It’s full of good meals, several of which has simple ingredients I use on the regular. Even the pictures of his pantry and kitchen look nice, but they aren’t over the top extravagant. It was so amazing.
But the real test came when I tried to make one of the recipes. I chose the Pork Chops and Mashed Sweet Potatoes. I expected it to both take me a long time and make a lot of dirty dishes, but I was surprised to be proven wrong on both. It only took me about an hour to make, and far fewer dishes than I thought. I was pleasantly surprised. The entire family loved it too, so it was delicious as well.
And if you still need convincing that this is the best cookbook on the shelf, then allow me to share his quote on Biscuits and Gravy.
“If you’ve been Down South, then you’ve eaten this on plenty of day breaks. This is that real soul food classic. The key here is to get those biscuits fluffy. And that gravy, well thats gotta be like that humid air of a Dirty South Summer- extra, super thick.But eat too much of this and you might as well just take your ass right back to bed. This ain’t for the meek. It’ll put your ass right back to sleep.”
As I’m starting a new job and heading into the working parent world for the first time in a couple years, I thought it’d interesting to see the differences between my normal schedule now and my normal schedule then. To start with, I’ve been home full time with my kids for about 18 months now. This will also be the first time my kids are going to be outside the home while I work. Previously they’ve stayed with family, now they will be attending preschool.
I may discuss later some of the troubles I had finding childcare I trusted and was cost efficient whilst also finding a job that accommodated my family well. Right now, I’m just looking at daily life.
I’ll begin with our Full Time At Home Schedule.
6:30am Wake Up! the alarm goes off and I roll out of my comfy bed
6:30-8:30am Coffee Time!! I get my husband’s lunch out of the fridge, and make my cup of coffee. Then I sit down and drink it whilst I scroll through social media, check the news from the day before, etc.
8:30am Breakfast by 8:30 the kids are awake and breakfast can be served. Our morning meal is usually pretty light and informal. Maybe it’s fruit, or yogurt, or cereal. Nothing fancy.
9:00-12:00 Time to Clean The mornings are generally spent doing the cleaning tasks around the house. Washing laundry, vacuuming, doing dishes, so on. Once a week, I do a deep clean day that takes up most of the day.
12pm- 1pm Lunch I start Lunch about noon and then we eat.
1pm-4pm Afternoon Activity Sometimes this is a craft, sometimes it means baking cookies, or heading out to a museum or for a walk. We try to get outside if at all possible. Around 4, we start to head home to prepare for the evening.
4pm Tea Time I try to make myself a cup of tea in the afternoon to slow down for a minute. The children often bring me books to read to them as well. Its a few moments of quiet.
5pm-6:30pm Cook Now its time to begin preparing dinner, unless I’m making a crock pot dinner.
6:30-7:30pm Dinnertime
7:30-9:00pm Unwinding If anyone needs a bath, they get one, pajamas are put on, cuddles are issued. This is just whatever family play time is needed.
9pm Bedtime Sometimes this is only meant for the kids and we stay up later, but sometimes, everyone goes to bed. Especially if it’s been a taxing day and everyone is tired.
During the week I plan for an Outting, a Deep Clean Day, a Craft Day, a Walk, and a Pajama Day. After our schedule changes, this aspect of our routine will also have to change.
From the start the biggest changes I’ve noticed are that I am exhausted at night and have fallen right to sleep most nights. I even drank a soda after noon the other day and still fell right to sleep. This didn’t used to happen.
Working Full Time Schedule
5:40 am Awaken Alarm Goes Off and I fall out of the Bed and try to do a little stretching. About a week into working my leg started hurting and the only answer I can come up with is, I wasn’t stretching and being up on my feet all day gave my poor lazy leg a shock. So I make it a point to stretch my muscles to start the day.
6:00 am Dressing I get myself dressed, face washed, hair put up, teeth brushed. This takes the most time of the morning ordeal.
6:20 am Awaken Children I wake up the children, though this usually takes a few wake ups. They like to crawl under the pillows and go back to sleep. Then I start a load of laundry and feed the Cat
6:25 am Awaken Children 2.0 wake up the children again. Make my cup of coffee and get the lunches into their lunch bags.
6:35 am Brush The kids are forced out of bed at this point if not already up and dressed and teeth brushed. This takes a few minutes depending on how cranky they are that morning.
6:45 am Making Beds the beds are made and shoes are put on. I open up the blinds on all the windows.
6:50-7:00 am GET OUT THE DOOR We leave the house
7:00-7:45 am In Tranist
8:00 am- 5:00 pm Work
5:15- 6:00 pm In Transit Again
6:00 pm Coming Home We return home and Dinner is started.
6:30-7:00ish Dinner is Served We eat dinner. I’ve tried to find several easy 30 minute dinners so we are able to eat at a decent time.
7:00pm Individual Time One on One time with each kid. This looks different every day, but it is very important that it happens.
7:30pm Human Clean Time Showers/Baths. During this time is also when my partner does whichever cleaning task is designated for that evening.
8:00pm House Clean Time Laundry Folded from the morning wash, and the dishes from dinner are washed. My partner uses this time to spend some one on one time with the kids.
8:30pm Slow Down Reading time for the kids. A time to quiet down and get cozy.
9:00pm Kid Snooze this is kid bedtime, sometimes also grown up bedtime depending on the day.
9:30pm Deep Breath relaxing time for the adults. Read a book, do a cross stitch, paint, watch a show, etc.
10:30pm Everyone Snooze adult bedtime
As for our scheduled days like I had before they’ve been expanded to once a month instead of once a week. We have a good Deep Clean day one Saturday for example. Since the kids do crafts and play outside at school, they don’t have the need for that at home as much as before. So I will plan a baking activity or a craft for a Saturday afternoon, but not as frequently. I try to fit Outtings in twice a month, mostly for the time together as a family. I enjoy our family trips and I’m not willing to give that up. One thing that has stayed the same is that one day of the weekend is a Pajama Day, regardless of whatever else we may be doing. We all need that day of rest. I am also still meeting once a week to paint with friends, now over zoom, but I’ve been certain to keep that.
I’ve been interested to see what things changed with a more full schedule. Our screen time has dropped, as has my time on social media. This is a positive. I think the negative has been that I’ve had more trouble keeping up with writing and editing. I’m remarkably happy with how things are going however. I am loving my job and my kids love preschool. I miss having spare time to just nap, but I’m also more fulfilled. I’m struggling to keep up with writing and editing though and that is massive negative.
As I balance my time better and better, I will work my writing time back in. I am improving my time management.
Simple meal? Easy to assemble? Throw it in the crockpot? I’ve got the recipe for you!
I love a good crockpot recipe. Really, I have this love affair with my crockpot, it is my friend. I’ve made this recipe a few times and tweaked and adjusted it until it was delicious.
2-3 Chicken Breasts
1 can Diced Tomato
Broth
1 can Black beans
2 cups of Cheese
1 Bell pepper
1 Jalapeno
1 Onion
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 can Corn
I say 2-3 chicken breasts because this is dependent on how big your chicken is and how big your crockpot is. Adjust to size. You can put them in frozen and it’s no big deal. Add the tomato, beans and corn, just a can of each. Chop up the fresh vegetables. Add in the jalapeno and the onion. You can use whichever color bell pepper you want. I’ve used both green and red and they tasted just fine. Add the chopped bell pepper as well. Add the cumin and chili powder and a dash of salt and pepper. Add enough broth to cover the chicken breasts. Do NOT add the cheese yet. Save that for later. Turn on to high for about 3 hours, then turn down for another couple hours. Coming back to mix the ingredients every hour or so.
When your chicken has cooked through, pull it out and shred it up. Re add the now shredded chicken and now add the cheese and any additional salt or pepper you think it needs. If you love spicy and it’s not got enough of a punch, add a dash of cayenne. Mix all together. Turn down to keep warm and let it sit until that cheese is good and melted.
Serve hot. If you wish to garnish with cilantro and a lime wedge, do so! I put extra cheese on top, but that’s because I also love my cheese a little too much. Tastes pretty good with tortilla chips as well, extra tasty if you serve with those hint of lime tortilla chips.
Soup is delicious any time of year, but right now, if you are still cold and the chill sets in after the sun goes down, I guarantee this recipe will warm you right up!
Meal prep, how are you going to handle it? You’ve got a busy morning and you don’t want to throw pop tarts at your kids on their way out the door. What do you do?
One of the things I do, is use preprepared casseroles and quiches. Both of which are pretty simple.
The casserole first, only has a handful of ingredients. Gather together a tube of croissants, eggs, cheese, and whatever veggies you like. Mix together the veggies, cheese and egg in a bowl. Place the croissants in a dish rolled up and poor the eggs mixture on top. Place in 350° oven for about 30 minutes. Pull out and allow to cool completely. Cover securely and put into the freezer. When you intend to eat it, put it back into the oven for 20 minutes or so until it’s good and warmed through.
For the quiche I use a store bought pie crust. This is even more straightforward. Its eggs, meat, veggies of your choosing, and cheese. Whisk all ingredients together and poor into the crust. This one goes in an 350° oven for about 20 minutes. Same thing, cover securely and place in the freezer. When you pull it out to eat, warm it in the oven about 20 minutes.
Both of these I would prep and eat within a week or two. This is not a save forever in the deep freeze kind of situation. But on the morning of, it makes breakfast easy. Pop it in the oven and get everyone dressed and everyone’s teeth brushed while its warming up.
I got Chrissy Teigans new recipe book and guys, I actually love it. I generally don’t go for celebrity cookbooks as they tend to be full of expensive ingredients or tedious processes. We are on a budget, I can’t afford mutton. And I have kids, I don’t have time for a time consuming recipe.
I was so pleasantly surprised with the kinds of recipes I found in her book. I also liked that she included both her parents in the book with childhood recipes they made for her growing up. I seem to have horrible luck making Thai food, but this is almost making me want to try again. I tried probably the easiest recipe first, these peanut clusters.
Perfect for Christmas! For real. If you have a Christmas party or family gathering to attend, these are literal perfection. And pretty quick to make as well. And they are yumm-mmy! So delicious. Of course, I love peanut butter and just nuts in general, so they can’t go wrong. Everybody, go snag this cookbook. It really is the best. You can purchase it, or, probably find it at your local library. Get to snacking!
My grandpa used to make this amazing soup that tasted so perfect it’d make you lost in a moment of bliss. He, of course, never wrote the recipe down, and then he forgot what he put in it. I tried for years to recreate that perfect flavor but failed, again and again. Finally, I’ve gotten close enough to satisfy me.
Cajun 15 bean soup dry beans
Half the cajun soup seasoning
Kielbasa
Chicken or Beef broth or bullion
Garlic (to taste)
Lemon Pepper
Paprika
Cayenne
Cumin
Parsley
Salt and Pepper
Lemon Juice
Chopped onion
Diced Tomato
I use the bag of cajun bean soup, but set the flavor packet aside.
You will need to soak the beans overnight, or if you forget like I do half the time bring to boil for 10 minutes and then sit for an hour. The beans will need to be cooked for a couple hours. One of my secrets is that I don’t cook the beans in water. I use half broth and half water, or I’ll drop a bullion cube in the pot if I don’t have any broth. After the beans get underway, get to chopping the other ingredients. Add the meat after the beans have been cooking about 30 minutes, but hold off on the veggies.
After about an hour on the stove add the tomatoes and onions, spices and lemon juice. I don’t measure the spices, to do so would be a disgrace to the way my grandfather cooked. Then it’s just a waiting until the beans are fully cooked through. Probably about another 45-60 minutes, but just keep checking until the beans are soft. Keep warm until you are ready to serve. It also warms up nicely for leftovers.
This soup is perfect for a cold day, or a warm day, really it’s perfect for any day! My kids love it, my husband loves it and it warmly reminds me of my grandpa. This is delish family recipe that really doesn’t cost much and makes a good quantity.
If you’re anything like me, you have probably worried about your kids getting all the nutrients they need to thrive and grow. How do I get them to eat healthy stuff? I’ve actually been surprised by some of the things they will eat, all I had to do was present it to them. Like peas for instance. I don’t like peas, so I never bought them until they were called for in a recipe and my kids ate every last one. Who knew?
I like formulas and structure, so I made one for their lunches. Breakfast is usually a light meal, fruit or scrambled eggs or something such. Dinner they eat whatever my husband and I eat, which is sometimes a big hit and sometimes not so much. Lunch is the meal focused around them and their likes. So of course I hyper focused on it for a while and panicked about their food groups. I had to come up with something that put my mind at ease.
They get a protein, a fruit, a vegetable, a grain, and on occasion a sweet with every lunch. Dairy is usually covered in one of these categories, as would be fats and carbohydrates. Sugars are in lots of other foods we eat so I don’t think they need their own special place on the plate. This covers the food groups pretty thoroughly. We don’t eat exclusively organic, or gluten free food, or stick to a strict diet. For everything in our kitchen I try to buy as close to the source as possible. For instance I only buy meat sourced from farms in the state I live in. This is pretty easy for meat and produce, but I do also buy noodles and canned tomato sauce. I’m nowhere near the point of making my own. We try, but again, we are not a perfect family.
The protein is generally the main course so to speak. Be it a grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets, or a bean burrito. This of course has a lot of variety and options that can change according to what they are into eating at the time. I have not had a problem yet (big YET here) with my children insisting on one specific meal and refusing any other food. Right now, my oldest loves alphabet soup, so we eat that more often. A few weeks ago it was hotdogs. So we mix it up, and they get the variety.
Fruit is pretty much straightforward. I give them a handful of fruit with their meal. I let them pick out the fruit at the grocery store, and they always eat all of their fruit portions. This will change by season and what is available. Bananas though are a staple. We always must have bananas.
Now vegetables are a big variable I am more lenient with. By that I mean I let things slide by as “veggies” when I know they really aren’t. Potatoes are not actually a vegetable, neither are cheese sticks or tomatoes. Corn is a veggie so popcorn totally counts right? My son likes black olives and pickles. So yes, I will serve him cheese stuffed olives and he loves them. They also love hard boiled eggs, and I will serve them an egg with their lunch even though an egg would be a protein. Some actual vegetables they like are peas, like I said before, carrots, green beans, and edamame. My oldest likes peppers and I will feed him those jalapeno poppers, which probably isn’t the healthiest way to eat jalapenos but it’s an excuse for me to eat them too. I still haven’t gotten them to eat broccoli though, so we are definitely a work in progress.
Grains usually come in the form of crackers. Sometimes cornbread or toast, maybe a roll. Nothing fancy by any means.
Now sweets are only for special occasions. Those occasions are I suddenly got an urge to bake 😜 I’ll make cupcakes or cookies and they’ll get a dessert with their lunch for a couple days. This isn’t often as I find sweets addicting, unnecessary and unhealthy. But even I can’t resist cupcakes all the time.
So an example meal I’d serve my children would look something like this: mac & cheese, strawberries, a whole grain roll, green beans, and if it was the occasion, a chocolate cupcake cut in half.
This big thing here is variety and exposure. Keep giving them lots of healthy options, even if they seem stuck on one food. So if your child is stuck on eating alphabet soup every day, serve their soup with some green beans and grapes. Try to get them involved in the food process. Allow them to choose the fruit they want, or the crackers they want. You might be surprised by what your kids will enjoy eating, I know I was!
It’s still Fall, and I’ve still got pumpkin! I love a good cookie, and I of course love pumpkin, so I made some Pumpkin Cookies. For these cookies, in addition to the ingredients I also used a mixer, a cookie sheet and non-stick cooking spray, a spoon, spatula, my measuring cups and a glass bowl.
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 Egg Yolk
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
14 tbsp Butter
Preheat oven to 350°. My oven takes its sweet time warming up, so I have to do this right at the beginning or it won’t be warm enough when I need it.
In a mixer or large bowl stir together all ingredients except the butter, flour, and sugar. Once everything has been thoroughly mixed, add the butter, one little bit at a time and make sure it gets good and blended in. Then add 1/2 cup of the sugar, setting the other cup aside for later. Now for the flour, slowly add to the bowl allowing each bit to become fully incorporated. This part is where my spatula comes in handy. You know how sometimes when using a mixer stuff gets stuck up on the side of the bowl and doesn’t get together with the rest of the ingredients? Take that spatula and scrape the sides down to reintroduce it to the mixture. Flour does this a lot. After you’ve gotten all the ingredients made into a dough remove, cover the bowl, and refrigerate for about an hour. This step is not 100% mandatory if you are in a rush, but it does make handling the dough 100x easier.
Once the dough is chilled, remove it and grab that remaining cup of sugar. I spray my cookie sheets with a cooking spray to avoid sticking, in this case, that was a good idea. With a spoon, scoop out a portion of dough, roll it into a ball and dip it in the sugar. I put the sugar into a bowl to accomplish this. Then place on the cookie sheet, press down gently to flatten a tad, and that ball of cookie is ready to go. Repeat until you are out of dough.
Place in oven for 10-13 minutes. Once they get good and baked, remove and let cool, then enjoy!
This batch of cookies is a lesson in following directions. I read the description and it said, “pumpkin flavor that is subtle and sweet”. I thought “What? No! I want powerful flavor. I want the pumpkin to reach out and punch me in the nose!” So I scooped extra pumpkin puree into the bowl and stirred it up. They still turned out okay. They did taste good, and the kids ate them happily. Unfortunately they were incredibly dense and thick, more like a squash bread than a cookie. My kids got it all over their hands and faces because they were sticky. It was a mess. All of this I attribute to my winging the instructions and not simply following the recipe. So follow the directions, cookies don’t need extra pumpkin puree.
When we got married, I was given a Pioneer Woman Cookbook as a wedding gift. At the time, she was just bursting onto the big stage and had quite the buzz. Being that we lived in Oklahoma then, her popularity was amplified. Everyone loved her and loved that a rural Okie had made it big. Shortly after, she opened her Mercantile and groups of ladies started making trips to visit. She was only a short drive away after all.
I never really got onto the bandwagon. Her kitchenware is indeed pretty, but I wasn’t going crazy over her. Her recipes looked delicious, and the book itself is well designed, but the recipes also looked involved and too time consuming, so I never used it. Until now! I finally used my Pioneer Woman Cookbook!
My husband loves chicken pot pie, and so do I. However, I’m also slightly lazy and would buy those frozen individual pot pies for sudden cravings. But, he convinced me I needed to make it from scratch, because of some unseen magic that makes him persuasive.
I was surprised actually by how simple it turned out to be. I did cheat a little bit though. She made a pie crust from scratch, and I did not. She also probably used fresh picked veggies from her garden, I used some frozen, some fresh. None of them homegrown however. I also doubt I used the right baking dish. It was in the midst of this that I suddenly realized I couldn’t find my deep pie pan and had to opt for a casserole dish instead. I did have to use a pot, to cook the chicken, then a skillet to mix all the ingredients, and then the baking dish for the oven. So clean up was a little intense.
I also forgot to snap a photo before I dug into it. But this way, you can see the yummy filling! And believe me, it was yummy! It had the perfect savoryness and crispyness. I’m going to say, yes, it was more difficult than popping a frozen pot pie into the oven, and more messy as well. But I will also say, yes, this was infinitely tastier too.
So, on the whole, I’d still give the recipe a thumbs up because it did taste so good. It’d loose a couple points for the number of dishes I had to wash afterwards. But for a warm, delicious fall dinner, it is worth it!
Really you can add any mashable fruit and it’d be yummy. In addition, this is the simplest thing to do to add some fruit to your kids diet. Today we are making Pumpkin Pancakes, or as my husband calls them, Pumcakes.
When I said the easiest thing, I mean, the easiest thing. Mix up your pancake batter just however you normally do. So, if you say, make a dairy free pancake, make that batter! We do not however, So I just whipped up some regular plain pancakes. (Pro tip for those of you using a baking mix, if you add a dash of oil, a dash of baking powder, and a splash of vanilla it really elevates your pancake experience. I do not remember where I heard it though) After you’ve mixed your batter, add a cup of pumpkin puree and whisk together. (Like I said, you could add a cup of banana, or even maybe a butternut squash here and it’d be fine. Really anything you can squash and make a puree of)
I like to use my cast iron skillet for pancakes, but of course, you don’t have to. Make pancakes as normal. With the pumpkin added, they took about 5 seconds longer than plain pancakes. Which isn’t long, but long enough I made a mess flipping one too early.
Now, let’s say you don’t have smashable fruit, like blueberries. These are not blueberries, as I’m sure you can tell. Those are chocolate chips. I have a weakness. But the principal is the same. Make plain batter and sprinkle the blueberries in after you pour it into the skillet. Also makes yummy pancakes.
Just have some fun, do a little experimenting, make a few messes and enjoy your cooking!
Dose of Sunshine 