Venison Pho

Now that I'm not pregnant, I'm not scared to try new foods, and Jesse and I have recently gotten into the Pho thing. Today, I'm trying a crockpot recipe and looking forward to coming home to delicious delicious noodle soup. I've never used lemon grass before in my own cooking, and I'm excited!

(This recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen. So you know it's gonna be good.)

2 onions, minced

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 TB olive oil

4 cups chicken broth

4 cups beef broth

2 cups water

1/4 cup fish sauce

2 TB soy sauce

2 TB sugar

1 stalk lemon grass, bottom 5 inches, bruised

4 star anise pods

4 whole cloves

2 pounds blade steak, trimmed. (We just used a couple venison steaks, because that's what we had.)

salt and pepper

8 ounces rice noodles

Garnishes! (This is the best part!)

2 cups bean sprouts

1 cup fresh Thai basil or regular basil

1 cup fresh cilantro

2 scallions, sliced thin

1 fresh Thai, serrano or jalapeno chili, sliced thin

lime wedges

1. Microwave onions, garlic and oil in bowl, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 5 minutes; transfer to slow cooker.

2. Stir chicken broth, beef broth, water, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and lemon grass into slow cooker. Secure star anise and cloves in cheesecloth or teabag and add to slow cooker. Season meat with salt and pepper and add. Cover and cook until meat is tender (9-11 hours on low, 5-7 hours on high).

3. Transfer meat to cutting board - cut into bite size pieces. Let soup settle 5 minutes, skim fat. Discard lemon grass and spice pouch.

4. Stir in the noodles, cover, cook on high until noodles are tender (time will depend on thickness of noodles.) Stir meat back in, serve with garnishes.

Monday Menu!

Monday is grocery day, and I'm a little crazy so every week I make a menu and snack list for the week. I don't plan what meal we eat on what day, because I like to stay a little bit spontaneous. Here's the ideas for the week:

1) Braised steak, butternut squash soup, baked zucchini chips
2) Burritos: Homemade refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers
3) Chicken & rice, baked carrots
4) Baked chicken legs, garlic baked broccoli, sweet potatoes
5) Spaghetti Squash

Snacks/desserts: baked oatmeal, candied almonds, rice pudding, baked apples

We'll see how it all works out. I'll post recipes if it's good! What's your on mind to eat this week?

Spaghetti Squash

We took the plunge and tried spaghetti squash. It makes a visually different spaghetti, but it turned out very tasty. And it was EASIER than noodles!

I halved the squash (I used two) and threw it on a lightly oiled pan and baked it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I was shooting for 30 minutes, but life happened.

Then cooked up my beef (1.5 pounds)/jarred spaghetti sauce (1.5 jars) while shredding the insides of the squash.

Mixed it all together and let it simmer 5 minutes to soften up the squash the last little bit.

The husband B, notorious picky eater, ate it right up! And my kids were done before I had time to settle the twins. Next time I'll try to get a picture so you know what to expect. :)

Dutch Quesadillas

We have this favorite story about our maternal grandmother, about how our grandfather hated pizza because whenever she made it, she made "Dutch" pizza, with all the leftovers on it - mashed potatoes, peas, whatever was in the fridge.

Last night, after eating the Tomato Soup, my husband made us some Dutch Quesadillas -

• Hot Jalapeno relish
• Provalone cheese
• Bacon

Fry up the quesadillas and dip in barbeque sauce. They were amazing. Spicy, smoky, cheesy.

What else have you Dutched up recently? ;)

Easy and Delicious Tomato Soup

Who doesn't like tomato soup?! (Okay, I know Eve doesn't, but she's weird.)

I'm not too big a fan of canned soup, but I'm also busy, and if it's not easy, I don't make it right now. Which is why I'm a huge fan of this tomato soup.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 medium sweet onion, coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes in their juices, preferably San Marzano

1/4-1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1/3 cup heavy cream

Warm the olive oil and butter slowly until butter foams, add the onion and garlic and salt and pepper.

Add the broth, bay leaves, basil and chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the tomatoes start to fall apart. Encourage this with some poking and prodding.

Remove bay leaves. If you don't have an immersion blender, cool before blending, but I'm in love with my immersion blender, so maybe you should just buy one. Blend thoroughly. Add the cream (you can just use milk as well) and any additional salt and pepper needed and serve!!

I make a double batch and freeze half before adding the cream. Then, on days like today, when my menfolk are sick and raspy all I need is some cream and I can just magically produce a crockpot full of soup with no effort. :-)

Baked Oatmeal

Okay, so I know baked oatmeal is a fad, but I'm in. It's good. I've been experimenting for a few months and I think I finally created the perfect baked oatmeal. It's a snack food around our house, and we love it! I think the best thing about it is how versatile it is. It's so easy to substitute different fruits and nuts depending on whats in the house.

2 cups rolled oats
3 Tbsp chia seeds (optional)
1/4 cup ground flax seeds (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar or honey
4 Tbsp butter, melted
2 cups milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup toasted chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 chopped apple

Mix oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add next 5 ingredients, then stir well. Stir in fruit and nuts. Pour into buttered 8x8 baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until set. Serve as is, or with cream.

Miraculous Nap = SNACKS!!

My children napped today. All four of them. I did an amazing thing. I put away clean dishes, I started a load of laundry... and I made snacks. Delicious snacks. Please excuse my horrible iPod photos... it was handy.

#1: No Bake Cookies

I used the recipe from here.

1 cup Almond Meal
1/4 cup Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup Coconut
2 Tbsp Ground Flax
2 Tbsp Honey
2 Tbsp Coconut oil.

Mix and form into balls. It made around a dozen... it is hard to know because I kept eating the dough...



#2: Coconut Fudge Truffles

Used the same recipe from a few weeks back. Adapted from here.

1/3 cup Coconut Oil
2/3 cup Almond Butter
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Cocoa
1 tsp Vanilla
Shredded Coconut

Mix first five ingredients, refrigerate until mixture is slightly stiffened. Then form balls in (approximately 1 tsp) and roll in coconut. Store
in the freezer!

#3: Chia Seed Energy Bars

I've been reading energy bar recipes and this is a compilation of a bunch of them... so I don't have a base recipe I went off of.... 

25 Whole Dates (pitted) 
1/2 cup Whole Almonds
1/4 cup Chia Seeds
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

Pulse all ingredients in food processor. Add more dates if the mixture is too dry. Press into a waxed paper lined container (I used a 6"x8" Pyrex) and chill. Cut when they are chilled. Mine were initially too crumbly, but I added more dates and they are a much better consistency! :)