The $250 Challenge

Tomorrow is the start of something new for my little family.

Hm. That was a little more punny than I intended.... Bummer.

But really. Tomorrow Hubster and I are embarking on a financial challenge to get our financial heads on straight and get a little more cash in our savings accounts. Here's the scoop:

We are allotted $250 cash for the month of January to spend on all incidentals and non-planned monthly expenses. You read that right. Our family of 4 will spend a mere $250 on diapers, wipes, food, gas, toiletries, eating out, haircuts, and everything else that is not a regularly scheduled monthly bill.

There are a few outside rules:

• Medical expenses: We have a medical flex account that covers doctor visits, prescriptions, dentists etc. We will use that if there is need. If it is not a flex-eligible expense, it comes out of the $250. 
• If I get a full time job during the month of January (it could happen), and there are NECESSARY expenses that come with it, those will be excluded from the $250. 
• Prepaid expenses will not be included. For example, Hubster has a massage on Monday we bought it with a Living Social deal like 4 months ago, so it doesn't count against the $250. The tip does. (o.0)
• There will be no purchasing items with Christmas money until February. Gift cards are OK as they are under the "Prepaid Items" clause. For the record we don't have any gift cards...
• All moneys not used for monthly bills will be directly funneled into our lowest credit card balance. After that has been paid off the rest will go directly into savings. 

I'm a little nervous about this. But more than that I'm excited. I'm curious to see what we will miss, but I'm more interested in what we don't miss.

So here we go!

Eggnog- Careful Your Clothes May Come Off

This is a standing tradition in my family. When I was small my dad would make eggnog every year. He would make some without alcohol for me, which was always my favorite. When people say to me "I don't like eggnog." I know they mean they don't like that weird stuff they sell at the store in a milk carton. This is nothing like that. This is all creamy, smooth and every glass you have makes you want more.

Over the years as people in my family got wiser about salmonella (and cholesterol levels got higher) the eggnog tradition went by the wayside. The cholesterol piece I can't help you with, but there are 2 versions of this recipe here. The first is the unpasteurized version the second is pasteurized. You pick. Then drink on my merry friends, drink on.

The recipe that my father used to make was straight out of the Joy of Cooking (circa 1970. You know before it got all healthy and still had Crisco in EVERYTHING). Have no fear. There is no Crisco in this divine concoction. The following is how I make it. I cut the amount of liquor quite a bit and people still tell me it's strong. In parentheses is the amount called for in the original recipe. If you make it that way you need to do 2 things:

1) Make sure you have plenty of hang-over remedy for the next morning
2) Take everyone's keys that is joining you for the evening.

With my disclaimer fully in place let's talk some nog.

Ingredients:
12 eggs separated
1 pound confectioner's sugar, sifted
3 cups of brandy, bourbon or rum (6 cups)
1 quart half and half
1 quart heavy whipping cream
Fresh nutmeg to grate on top

Beat the egg yolks with a electric mixer until light in color in a medium bowl. Add the sugar in four parts mixing well between each addition. add 1 cup of the liquor slowly and beat very well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. This will get rid of the eggy taste. Don't skip this. If you do it makes for nasty eggnog.

Take the mixture out of the fridge and beat in the creams and the remaining liquor. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into the liquor yolk mixture. Serve with nutmeg on top.

Pasteurized version


Ingredients:
12 egg yolks (I always save my whites for other things.Peppermint Meringues anyone???)
1 pound confectioner's sugar, sifted
3 cups of brandy, bourbon or rum (6 cups)
1 quart half and half
1 quart heavy whipping cream
3 cups pasteurized egg whites
Fresh nutmeg to grate on top


In a small saucepan, beat the egg yolks until they are pale in color with an electric mixer. Beat in sugar in 4 parts making sure that it is well combined between additions. Add the half &half. Turn the burner on low and while whisking constantly (I really do mean constantly. If you pause, you'll get scrambled eggnog. Not tasty.), bring it to 165 degrees. The mixture will begin to thicken like a custard. It should coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and let it sit for 5 minutes. The sitting part is important as that's when all the bacteria die. Add the heavy cream and the liquor and let it in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Beat the egg whites in a slightly chilled metal bowl until stiff, but not dry. Gently fold into the liquor mixture. Serve!

For the Love of Chai

I like a good cup of coffee. I even enjoy those froofy coffees like eggnog and caramel brulee lattes. But my passion? My Would sell my soul for a cup? It's all about the chai baby.  Here's the rub. I'm cheap. Like Scrooge cheap. Not about many things, but spending $4.00 for a cup of tea and milk...really? For that I could feed 40 people, if I gave to the right charity (which we do).

So for a while I bought the concentrate at Wal-mart (I know. Wal-mart. I promise that's once my paycheck allows me to honor my moral opposition to Wal-mart, I will. For now, deal with it.) It was WAY cheaper. But still the $4.00 for the box...seemed expensive after a while. So I started making my own. I've been through several recipes and I think I've found one that works. Here's the steep (get it?):

Ingredients:
2" of peeled ginger root cut into 4 pieces (it really needs to be real ginger root. Don't use powder. Trust me)
6 whole cloves
10 black peppercorns
2 whole star anise
4 cardamon pods
6" cinnamon stick
1/4 of a whole nutmeg- if you need to use ground (which I don't recommend), use 1/4 tsp
4 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar (this is Oregon Chai sweet. Use less if you want less sweet)
6 bags of black tea (I used 3 black and 3 black/green)
1 quart container to store it in

Put the water and the spices in a pot on the stove. Do not include the sugar or the tea. Simmer the spices for 10 mins. Remove the water from the heat and add the tea bags. Steep for 7 mins. Strain into container. Add the sugar and shake to dissolve.

I use a 1:1.5 ratio of tea to milk, but you do you. Enjoy!!

Our Advent Calendar

 I love Christmas. No really. I do. I am one of those people that still believes in Santa. Not the guy with the presents and the reindeer, but the spirit of him. Really I'm all about it.


A few years ago I bought this advent calendar on super sale from Target. It was damaged and it was after the holiday season, so it was super cheap. Previously it was blue. Which to me said "Christmas" about as much as the Easter Bunny. So this year while my in-laws were in town over Thanksgiving, I refinished it. They were here until the Monday after Thanksgiving so we roped them into helping us decorate. The advent calendar project was done in bits an pieces over a few days, so there are no pictures (sorry!). But here's the after:

I just love it. It says homemade, a little bit rustic and all family. Just the way I like it. Behind each door is a piece of candy for D, 2 M&M's wrapped up for K (Yes I encourage my children's love of chocolate. Sue me.), and a family activity card. Last year we did it with just candy for D since K was too small.


Each of the family activity cards is something that we can do together so we are building memories and not just eating chocolate. I printed out the cards on photo paper and then laminated them. This way I can use them for years to come. So far it's a total hit. Here's what we included:

1. Decorate cookies
2. Play a game
3. Make ice cream
4. Go out for a Christmas treat
5. Drink Apple cider
6. Read "The Night Before Christmas"
7. Drive around and look for Christmas lights
8. Color a Christmas picture
9. Go visit Santa Clause
10. Dance around to Christmas music (or any other music)
11. Have a camp-out in front of the Christmas tree
12. Call grandma and grandpa and sing a Christmas song
13. Make a graham cracker house
14. Dress up for dinner
15. Watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn
16. Read a Christmas Story Book
17. Make a Christmas craft
18. Do something nice for someone
19. Make a new Christmas Decoration
20. Play a Christmas game
21. Have breakfast for dinner
22. Build a snowman or hang up paper snowflakes
23. Tell your family you love them
24. Make a gift and take it to a friend
25. Make hot chocolate and stir with candy canes

These are put in to the house in (somewhat) random order. I admit I fudge this a little bit. For example the graham cracker house was put in on a special day so D's friends could come and do it with her. And read The Night Before Christmas is on Christmas Eve, because it's tradition. But other than that, random. 

This year the order has been

1. Do something nice for someone- we gave D's teachers $5 Starbucks cards and took balloons to the pediatrics floor at a local hospital. 

2. Drive around and look at Christmas lights- There are some people with REALLY involved lights. Wow!

3. Make Ice cream- We made vanilla gelato. 

4. Dress up for dinner- according to D this meant dress up in costumes, not be fancy. So here we are in our costumes:

5. Play a Christmas game! 

6. Tell your family you love them

7. Have breakfast for dinner 

8. Camp out in front of the Christmas tree
9. Play a game
10. Visit Santa- It was the first time K went to see Santa. It was D's second time (we missed it last year. K had just gotten out of her 2nd stay at the hospital, and I was in no mood to brave mall germs.) So cute!!
11. Make a snowman or paper snowflakes. Since there is no snow on the ground, we made snowflakes. Here's a little side note about that. First let it be known that D's favorite holiday is Halloween. For the snowflakes, I was cutting and she was unfolding. She suddenly exclaimed: "Owls and witch hats! Mommy thank you!!" I, of course, have NO idea how I did it, but I'll take the mommy hero badge just the same. Here's the witch hat snow flake:

I'll keep posting about the cards as we go through them. So far I'm so thrilled with this idea, I can't even tell you. 

The Perfect Holiday "Party"

I had an idea. 

I'm sure that your holidays are as busy as mine are. You know with all the fabulous parties, dancing the night away, designer dresses and the last minute trips to Europe for that hard to fins gift. Wait... maybe that's not quite right... 

Let's try this: days of screaming over sugared children, work Christmas parties, stealing precious moments for shopping alone and trying to hide presents in crazy places to keep them from prying small eyes (husbands included).

So here's what I thought- I send out holiday cards, so do my friends.  So I invited a few of my friends over one evening before life got mad crazy. They came over and we can drank wine, ate snacks, and addressed envelopes together. 

It was genius. We all felt like we checked something off our endless holiday To-Do, but this way we got to see each other and have real conversations, not just do a fly by holiday kiss-kiss. 

Best. Idea. Ever. 

It was such a success we decided that we are doing it every year. 

Now for the food:

I made baked brie wrapped in Puff pastry with apricot jam.

•  Gently roll out one sheet of puff pastry. Place a round of brie in the middle and put 3 Tbs of apricot jam on the top. Fold the pastry over the brie by overlapping corners. Brush with an egg wash and bake at 375 until the puff pastry is golden brown. Yum-o!!

I also made a brand new dessert. I really wanted a chocolate caramel something. So here's what I did. 

• I made a graham cracker crust and pressed it into a mini muffins tin. I baked it for 7 minutes at 375, and let them cool. I then piped chocolate flavored whipped cream into the crusts. Then I drizzled caramel sauce over the top. So. stinking. good. 

Never made caramel sauce? Here's how:

This is from Ina Garten. Love Ina. You can find the food network recipe HERE

Ingredients

·         1 1/2 cups sugar

·         1/3 cup water

·         1 1/4 cups heavy cream

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves about 5-10 mins. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F), about 5 to 7 minutes, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. You can also dip a pastry brush in water and use it to gently scrape down the sides. The mixture is SUPER hot so be careful!! Towards the end do NOT leave your stove, this can go from caramel to burnt nastiness super fast. Turn off the heat.

Stand back to avoid splatter and slowly add the cream and vanilla. The cream will bubble violently and the caramel will become hard. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. The caramel will dissolve and the sauce will smooth out, about 2 minutes. You can let it continue to simmer a bit for a thicker sauce, but once as it cools it thickens. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. 

Enraged Fowl!!

Okay, I meant Angry Birds. Actually I meant an Angry Birds party. My now three year old is obsessed with Angry Birds. So she asked to have an Angry Birds party. How could I say no to that?

So here's what we did:

My little angry bird

 This is my brother-in-law wearing the pinata after we busted it

Piggy cupcakes

The birthday girl's cake

The cake display

Balloons on a string

We served some hot drinks and warm food. Then we went outside and threw some birds at some pigs. It was so much fun I am not sure how we are going to top it next year....

Hormonal Insomnia

Every so often I can't sleep. At bedtime I am suddenly a wide eyed owl that simply cannot rest. Strangely enough this seems to happen about once a month. I wonder why that is.... :p

Anyway. I have taken to completing craft projects during these times of midnight unrest. I guess they aren't all bad as some pretty cool things have come from them. This is the latest.

I took a canvas that I found at a local hobby store and used my handy 40% off coupon. Gotta love those things!!

I painted the sides brown to go with the sign and I then covered the front in Modge Podge. Then I lined up sheets of craft paper to create a backing. Another layer of Modge Podge. Then I used my Cricut to cut out all the words in different styles and fonts. Covered THAT in Modge Podge. And finally, added another layer of Modge Podge in the end.  Let it dry and hung it up. 

It is one of the first hings you see when you come into our house and I get so many compliments on it. :)

A Little Ladybug, a Whole lot of Fun

My baby isn't a baby anymore. {sniffle} She turned one and is now a toddler. May I ask you, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!?! Crazy. Well every one year old deserves a stellar party, so here are some pictures of hers.

The guest of honor- the ladybug herself

   The sweet table                               .

The "rose" bouquets. LOVE dressing up cupcakes

                           The party favors

This is an up-close of the banner I made. 

It was a picture of her for every month for her first year. 

Between the pictures it spelled out "Our Special K". 

That's what we call her. Special K. I love my Cricut machine!!

Gifts galore!

                            The smash cake. 

The birthday girl enjoying her cake. 

If you didn't know her cake was red and black...

this would be horror movie material. 

But I still think she's adorable. 

Hair Bows. Hair Bows Everywhere

I have two girls. No wait. I have two girly girls. and we have more hair bows/flowers/clips then their little bathroom can handle. So what happens? Pinterest happens. I saw these cool bow hanger things on there and HAD to make my own version. So here it is:

What you need:

wood frame in at least an 11x13

Landscape fabric- it isn't fabric at all, is wire mesh you get in the garden center of Lowe's or Home Depot. 

Picture hanging wire

Small eye screws

2 wooden dowels-.25" size

Hot glue

Wire cutters

I started with cheap WOOD frames from Wal-mart. They really need to be wood or the paint doesn't stick. I did a coat of white spray primer (sorry no pic) and then 2 coats of  paint. Don't ya just love that blue!?!? 

While the paint was drying I cut the landscape fabric to match the size of the glass in the frame. 

Then I used hot glue to sandwich the "fabric" between the frame and the dowels. You have to hold it there for a bit to make sure the dowels don;t pop back up when you let go.  (Don't ya love the picture of my cast?? Stupid broken wrist.)

Then hammer a starter spot for the eye screws. 

Screw in the eye screws and then attach the picture wire. Wrap it up nice and tight. 

And hang your bows!! Easy as pie!

Yummy Tea

I don't remember where I got this. But it is SO good. It's been hot (for Idaho anyway. Nothing like Phoenix) here, and I've made this about 9 times. It seems like I make it and then it's gone. Maybe there's a hole in my pitcher.... ;)

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp. whole cloves
• 6 black tea bags
• 3-4 C. apricot or peach nectar
• Sugar or honey, to taste (optional) I use the Kerns nectar, which is really sweet, so no sugar for me. 

Instructions

In large saucepan, simmer water, cinnamon stick and cloves 15 minutes, covered. Turn off heat and add tea bags. Steep 5-7 minutes, depending on the strength you prefer. Remove tea bags and add nectar. Add sugar or honey, if desired. Strain to remove spices. Refrigerate until cold, or serve warm

A Pretty Cool Deal

So there are many way cool things about living here in Idaho. The weather (97 is hot. In Phoenix, that's a cold-front), my sisters (7 minutes door-door), Sun Valley is close enough for weekend trips, and now one of my oldest friends!!


We met on Jr high and became good friends in high school. I hit him with my car (long story that culminated in stupid teenage behavior. It's a good thing that I didn't kill him). He and I share the same twisted sense of humor and like most of the same things. Then he moved away (Jerk). And not a little away- he moved FAR away. Several States away. And left me to fend for myself in the world of high school friendships. Lucky for me, I'm extremely likeable. HA!


We clearly kept in touch and it just so happened that he was planning on moving here about a month after we did. And it has been way too fun to see him again. It's even fun when he the the hubster spend all night playing "Let's make fun of Sarah". It seems to be a favorite sport around here lately. Did you know that they even share the same birthday? Different years, but the same moth and day.  


The best part his son and D totally get along and play so well together. It's sweet. 


The two of them (he and his son) came over for dinner and games tonight and it was a blast. We had super tasty chicken and RK Treats for dessert. I botched the RK treats (hey... we all have those times when we mess up.) For the record, when your children ask you: "When will I EVER need to know about fractions and multiplication?" The answer- when you double a batch of RK treats. That's when. If you can't multiply a fraction (like me tonight) you get treats that are still good, but could be WAY better. Sigh


But let's talk about the chicken. My sister came by as I was putting it together and when she walked into my house she said "What smells so good?" Then she informed me that I needed someone to taste the couscous. How could I object? She loved it and we devoured almost all of it. Which is impressive since it was a whole chicken, a bunch of Israeli couscous and vegetables. 


The original recipe was from Anne Burrell. I love her. Classic food with a it of sass. I feel like that fits my personality...except I'm way more on the sassy side. What I would give to go to a Anne Burrell cooking boot-camp. I've considered purposefully cooking bad food to get on America's Worst Cook, but can never bring myself to do it. Bad food is such a sad thing...


Anyway- you can find her recipe HERE, but this is what I did to it (never can leave it alone, can I):

Ingredients

• 2 whole garlic bulbs
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 large bunch thyme, leaves only
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 5-6 pounds chicken parts (skin on/bone in) I used a pre-cut up whole chicken

Couscous:

• Kosher salt
• 2 cups medium-size Israeli couscous
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, sliced thin on the bias
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups red wine
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 to 3 cups chicken stock
• 
  

Directions

Chicken:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Remove most of the outer wrapper, but kept the cloves together. Cut the tops off the the garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Roast them until they are soft when squeezed, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once cooled, squeeze out the garlic cloves from the wrappers. 

Put the garlic in a food processor with the lemon zest, lemon juice, thyme, cumin, crushed red pepper and salt, to taste. Add some olive oil and puree into a loose paste. Massage the mixture all over the chicken pieces and let sit for at least 1 hour.

Couscous:

Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil, over medium heat. Add the couscous and cook it until it's about 2/3 of the way done, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and reserve.

Coat a large saute pan with olive oil and a little butter over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and brown it on all sides. Careful the garlic will burn pretty easy!!

Remove the chicken to a plate. Drain the fat from the pan and add the onions and celery. Season with salt, to taste, and the crushed red pepper. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.  Cook the onions and celery for 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the cooked couscous, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. 

Transfer the mix to a baking dish. Nestle the chicken, skin side up, in the couscous and cover with foil. Add additional chicken stock to keep everything moist.

Roast the chicken for 20 minutes, covered, then remove the foil and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Little Feet. Little Shoes.

I love Pinterest. There are so many ideas on there I could get lost for days. This is one that I found for my little squirts. A mini sized bench for them to sit on to put on their shoes. I tried to find the original pin, but no such luck. Sadness. 

They love it. But I think I love it more. Especially when we tell our one year old to go put her shoes on and she backs up to the bench with her little diapered butt. I just want to eat her. 

There are how to pictures somewhere, but I don't know where. The general idea is get squat legs and leg attachments from Home Depot. Screw them to a piece of scrap wood that is about the right size. Buy foam from Joann's that matches your board size. Hot glue the foam to the board. Cover with fabric and staple gun like mad on the bottom pulling the fabric tight. Screw the leg attachments to the board. 

Love your bench. 

If you make one of these leave a comment with a link to a picture! I want to see them!

Holy Amazing Vegetables Batman!!

Okay. It's no surprise that we eat meat-free on a regular basis. Actually we were just saying last night that we wanted to be meat-free more often. Like more than half the dinner meals being vegetarian would make us happy.

We made a new veg meal tonight -roasted veggie enchiladas. And HOLY COW! It was fabulous. Like so good. Like "What is everyone else having? Because this is all mine" good. Like "Excuse me while I make out with my dinner plate" good. And careful people that make out session might need an adult rating. Yes. Really. That good.

So thanks to Pintrest I found this recipe. If you would like to see the original click HERE. But as always I never leave a recipe alone, so here is what I did to it:

Roasted Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

1 Jalapeno seeded- but with ribs in, cut into matchsticks

2 red bell peppers, cut into matchsticks

1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 medium onion, halved and slivered

1 cup corn kernels frozen

3 T vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

4 garlic cloves, minced

salt and black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 cups red enchilada sauce

1/2 pound baby spinach leaves

9-10 corn tortillas, halved

2 cups shredded cheese- I used pepper jack

sour cream (optional

sliced scallions (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a large shallow roasting pan or rimmed cookie sheet.

Place jalapeno, red bell peppers, cauliflower, sweet potato, onion, and corn kernels into a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the cumin and minced garlic over top. Add a generous pinch or two of salt and black pepper, then  mix everything together. After everything is coated well, spread the vegetables evenly on to the cookie sheet. Roast for 30-40 minutes until vegetables are tender and begin to brown. Stir or shake the pan every 15 minutes for even roasting.  Remove pan from oven and drop the temperature to 350.

Prepare an 11x8 baking dish with nonstick spray. Spread 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce into the bottom of the baking pan sprinkle with a little cilantro. Add a layer of tortilla pieces, to completely cover the sauce. Top with 1/3 of the vegetables, a handful of spinach, and 1/3 of the cheese. Add more sauce. Keep layering just like that until you've used it all. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes. The cheese is melted and everything is heated up and bubbling in that oozy goodness. Try not to make out with it yet. It's hot.

Let it sit for 5 minutes and cut into squares. Serve with sour cream and scallions, if desired.

Tofu- The Beauty of Bland

The hubster and I do meatless Mondays. Many of those Mondays include tofu. I know, I know. Tofu. The most dreaded and bland food known to man. I get a ton of questions about how to make tofu tasty (or in some cases how to make it into food). Here's my answer:

1. Press your tofu.  This allows all the water to get out of the tofu. This is important because then it will soak up your marinade in a flash it also increases it's density so it is more meat like.You can do this one of two ways. 
1. Lay out about 3 paper towels on a sheet pan. Take your extra firm tofu out of the package and put on the towels. Toss another pan on top and put a hefty cookbook on top of the pan. Careful to not have the book be too big. It will split your tofu. Sad.  Let it sit there for about an hour. 
2. Cut your tofu into four thick slices. Wrap those in paper towels and then place the sheet pan/book combo on top. Let it sit there for about an hour.
   
2. Marinate it. 
1. Tofu is bland. Like crazy bland. Like if it were a superhero, it would wear a cape and a mask and be called Captain Bland. Add some flavor. Marinate it.
   
3. Make the outside crispy.
1. You can fry it after putting  alight coat of flour and egg on it. In that order: flour THEN egg. Fry in a pan with about a 1/4" of oil in it. 
2. Broil it. 

Honestly, most of the time I wing it. I just toss a bunch of stuff into a bag and throw my pressed tofu in. Embrace your inner-chef. If it tastes terrible, order pizza!  But if you aren't feeling your inner Ratatouille, here are two of my favorite tofu recipes.

Sweet Mustard Glaze-

• 1/4 cup vegetable stock
• 1 large shallot thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 Tbs tomato paste
• 2 Tbs honey
• 1 Tbs dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme (1/4 tsp dried)
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 lemon zested
• 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
  
• Bring the stock to a boil. Add the garlic and shallot. Boil for about 7 mins or until the veggies are soft. Add the remaining ingredients and boil until it becomes thick and dense. Remove from heat. Brush on the tofu and broil. 
• Great with sauteed collard greens!!

Tandori Spice

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2" piece of ginger peeled and sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 lime juiced
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves minced
• 1 Tbs curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• Pinch cayenne
• 1 tsp salt
  
• Combine the garlic, ginger, zest, lime juice, cilantro, curry, and cumin in the bowl of a food processor. Process until everything is very fine. Add yogurt process again. Pour into a glass bowl or a plastic zip-top bag.
• Add the tofu and marinate for 15-20 mins. 
• Broil and serve with rice.  

Alton brown did an episode on tofu. I think it's worth a youtube visit. HERE

Let's talk about THIS!

No really. Let's talk about this dish. This crunchy, light, a little bit spicy, INCREDIBLY easy meal that has me mesmerized and wanting more. I had it for dinner last night and lunch today. So good. I could eat this for days...wait I have. :p


If you like coconut: it's up your alley. If you are all about the (hidden?) veg: this is where it's at! If you're into seafood: I've got your number. Trust me. You'll love this. And for my vegetarian readers, toss in some marinated pressed tofu, and you've got it goin' on!


I pulled this from Pintrest. (Warning! Rabbit trail alert!) I love Pintrest. No really I do. I love it that I can bookmark things and then find them later with out looking through the 50 saved web pages I saved. I love that I don;t have to feel like my Chrome bookmark bar is as cluttered as my junk drawer. I just simply love Pintrest. If you like to check out my boards, you can HERE. OK. Back to the divinity of this dish.


Like I said I got this from Pintrest, but I never leave a dish alone. EVER. It drives my hubby a little mad actually. He'll like a dish the way I made it last time, but this time it's a little different. Rarely bad, but always different. So here is my take on this yumminess. (If you would like to see the original recipe click HERE)

Ingredients

• Marinade-
• 2 tablespoons fresh garlic minced or pressed
• 1.5 tablespoon fresh ginger peeled and minced (or grated)
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup olive oil1 
• 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined (about 36 shrimp)
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• Rice-
• 1 cup water
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
• 4 shredded carrots
• 2 cups diced peeled mango (about 2 mangoes)
• 1 1/2 cups diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

Combine the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Add shrimp; toss to coat. Cover and chill 1 hour.

• 
  
• Rinse the rice under running water to get out some of the starch. (Warning! Diatribe ahead) Rinsing rice is not something I see a lot of people do, but it is so important. Especially when you know you are going to have left overs that you will eat the next day. We've all had that nasty super hard super starchy refrigerator rice. It's gross. Spare yourself and rinse your rice. It will make it tastier and fluffier. Just do it. 
• I threw my rice coconut milk and water into my rice cooker. But if you do this, know that coconut milk is bubbly stuff. Do yourself a favor, throw a towel under it to catch drips. Or put it on a cookie sheet. Either way, avoid drips. 
• Add your veg, herbs and lime juice. Salt it to taste. 
• Prepare your grill to medium-high heat. Thread shrimp onto skewers. If you are using metal ones, fine. If you are using wooden ones, soak them for 20 mins first. You should put three shrimp on 2 skewers. The skewers should be parallel. Doing it this way makes flipping them so much easier. 
• 
  
•  Place skewers on grill. Grill 3 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done. 

Throw the shrimp on top of the rice. Enjoy!