Birthday Bash(es)

The days keep rolling by, and Amy, my friend/houseguest has been here almost a month now. It's been an adventure in keeping house and domesticity. Amy has been so easy to live with and I know being here has been kind of a mix between drinking from a fire hydrant and having cold water thrown on you first thing in the morning. Life with three little ones is busy, and she has taken to it well. Having another woman in the house has been fun for me, although it's meant a lot of talking so by the time I sit down to blog I feel sort of word-less. Hence the lack of posts.

Last week we celebrated Sweet A's birthday- I can hardly believe she is already three years old. Her middle name is Prentiss, after Elizabeth Prentiss, although she still thinks it is "Princess" and plays the role to the hilt. Her transformation from toddler to little lady is a delight to watch! Her family party was last week...pictures below.

Tonight we are having a birthday party for my two sisters-in-law, who also happen to have birthdays on the same day as my daughter. We are doing a Thai dinner, a replica of a Gourmet Club dinner we hosted way back when. Many ethnic recipes are perfect examples of whole food meals, because they don't include the processed foods we have here. I've included the recipes in today's Whole Food Recipe Review (ETA: which may be a Saturday post).

Starting the day with Homestead Creamery Strawberry Milk (all natural, I'm sure...)

Opening some family presents...Playmobil in her own pink box. I think she likes the box more than the toys!
A morning of dress up...my wedding shoes are her favorite accessory

An extended family party, shared with Granddaddy

Our friend, Amy who carries a great toy with her all the time


Off to do some birthday decorating...will post some Thai recipes soon.

Friday Whole Food Recipe Review

Today I have one lone recipe, and no thanks to me because this week was absolutely crazy (but good- I hope to write something else this afternoon with details). It's actually two-three recipes that make up one dish. My good friend, Sarah, sent this my way. I was in a Gourmet Dinner Club with her before we moved so her recommendation carries more weight in my book. Here's what she has to say about it:

Speaking of the food reviews I tried a new More with Less recipe recently that we really liked. It was Creamed Chicken with Corn Bread Dressing, pages 186 and 187 in my edition. I used crumbled whole grain bread in place of croutons in my version. I really like dressing but tend not to make it except for "special" occasions, this one was so easy though and the crunch of the walnuts just put it over the top in my book. It caught my eye 'cause I happened to have half a pan of leftover cornbread and some chicken breasts on hand that day. I think I'll start a little leftover bread bag in the freezer with any bits and pieces of leftover bread we end up with to have on hand for this recipe.

Enjoy!

Whole Food Recipe Review

Creamed Chicken with Corn Bread Dressing
(Original Recipe Source: More with Less Cookbook)

Combine in a saucepan:
About 2 lbs. giblets and bony chicken pieces
1 qt. water
seasonings as desired
Cook 1 hour or until meat is tender. Remove chicken and take meat from bones. Reserve meat and broth.

Dressing:
Combine in a large bowl:
4 cups cornbread, crumbled
1 3/4 cup croutons (see below)

Melt in skillet:
1/4 cup butter
Add:
4 stalks celery
1 large onion, chopped
1/3 cup walnuts
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 cup minced parsley
salt and pepper
Saute until tender and add to bread mixture.

Brown in skillet:
3 oz. pork sausage

Add to bread mixture along with 1 cup of reserved chicken broth. Combine and turn into a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with sausage drippings. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes. Use reserved chicken meat and broth to make Creamed chicken. Serve over dressing.

Creamed Chicken

Heat in skillet or heavy saucepan:
1/4 cup butter or chicken fat skimmed from broth
Add and saute just until soft:
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
Add, stir, and cook until bubbly:
1/4 cup flour
Add:
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk (I'm guessing you could substitute broth for the milk)
salt and pepper to taste
Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened.

Add:
2-3 cups diced cooked chicken
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
Heat through and serve over cornbread dressing.

Croutons
No real recipe here, but I just dice up old bread, drizzle lightly with olive oil, and toss with garlic salt, italian seasonings, or whatever I have on hand. Spread on a baking sheet (cover with parchment paper if you want easy clean-up), and toast in the oven for 10-20 minutes.

Exchanges

I'm sticking with a theme here today. They say life is a series of exchanges and if so, it certainly describes my week. Mostly I've exchanged sleep for throw up, going out for reading books to coughing kids, and relative peace for whining. However, in the spirit of thankfulness, now that it's the end of the week we've exchanged most of that for health. We've exchanged cool days and jackets for hours of sunny play outside. I got a haircut that helped me trade out my unruly-starting-to-get wavy/curly-post-pregnancy hair for a cut that works with those waves. On the table is a consideration to trade our rental and purchase a home to renovate. I exchanged my nap for hours of pouring over old Cottage Living magazines to help me as I drew up some ideas for those renovations. I'd forgotten how much I love those magazines. So, not a lot of "normal" over in our corner of the world, but God is good all the time.

So, for this week's WHOLE FOOD RECIPE REVIEW I have some small offerings in the form of exchanges.

Homemade Baking Powder

This is a great way to avoid the aluminum in traditional baking powder. I was delighted to run across this as a culinary improvement vs. a health benefit, although it serves both purposes. I didn't know that much about cream of tartar before searching the internet but a cursory search didn't pull up any red flags when it comes to health. I did find a lot on the benefits of cream of tartar, but here is some basic wikipedia info for you.

Arrowroot in place of cornstarch

If you are avoiding corn products, this is a good natural substitute for the traditional thickener. Funny- I'm referring to cornstarch as the "traditional thickener" but arrowroot is actually the more traditional choice. Crazy mixed up world we live in.

General list of substitutes

There is a lot of junky stuff on this list that would never qualify as a whole food, but also some useful info...use at your discretion.

The best exchange of the week...remember last week when I mentioned these?

Homemade Mounds Bars and Peanut Butter Cups

I was dubious about a sugar-free chocolate dessert, but they were just as good as everyone suggested! After reading through some of the comments, I decided to make them in mini muffin tins and even that size was a little too much to eat in one sitting. That's what I love about real, quality food: most of the time it is so satisfying you don't need to eat a lot of it. I also made some peanut butter cups by mixing up some real peanut butter with a little coconut oil and honey, and layering the chocolate, pb, and then chocolate. I'm going to make them again today in actual peanut butter cup molds which will provide a smaller size (and the ridged edges so everyone will be fooled). The only other thing I should mention: they are messy!

I'll leave you with these...

trying to make a sick baby happy

trying to play Battleship (it occupies them for a long time, and they have no idea what they are supposed to do)

happy to be outside

growing up too fast