Stickers

One thing that is a fact of life at our house is stickers.  Gigi loves them, and now that she can peel them off herself, they are everywhere.  They appear in unusual places.

There used to be two others here but they've rubbed away.

And not so unusual places . . . if not annoying places.  Guess you know who's going to be peeling those off!

We both realize that before we know it, there will be no stickers surprising us as we pick up around the house, no one rushing to the door when we come home.  So we're enjoying it.  

I just included these pictures for the grandparents :)

Aren't they sweet?!?

The Details

A few months ago I bought this calendar at Target.  One of the reasons I bought it was so I could write what we are having for dinner on it so A-Dub wouldn't eat the same thing for lunch.  Kind of silly I know, but I feel like if poor thing has no say whatsoever in what he's eating for dinner he at least has a right to know in advance what he'll be having.  Also I thought it would help us keep track of activities, meetings, dinners, etc.  A lofty goal for us, but hey, it's worth a shot.

I should have taken a picture of it blank.  I didn't think about that until I was uploading pictures.

When I actually went to write on the calendar it made me wonder, as I often do, DID ANYONE THINK TO ACTUALLY USE THIS PRODUCT BEFORE THEY SOLD IT?!?!?!?

Look how fat the marker is compared to how SMALL the boxes are!

Aaarrrrrrrrgggggg!  That totally annoys me.  It even has a row where I could write our meals, but I can't fit any reasonably-lengthed dinner in there.  Chicken Parmesan on Sunday.  Indian Chicken on Monday.  A-Dub isn't going to know what "Indian CH" is. 

Heaven help us if we dare have more than one thing going on on Thursdays because there is only room for dance.

Extreme close-up.  Look how small the box is to write the number, which makes it encroach on the "mine" row.

Why didn't they order fine-tipped dry-erase markers to go along with this?  I have really neat handwriting, and it is almost illegible using this marker.  

It annoys me because as great a store as Target is, I get so frustrated with their lack of attention to details.  I realize they are wildly successful and make tons of money but how much more would they make if they did not make LAZY mistakes like this.  That, and better inventory management.  They are always out of everything--it drives me insane.  One time I was grocery shopping at our Super Target and they had no onions.  Onions!  On a Saturday!  They should be ashamed of themselves.  

I realize I could go out and buy a fine-tipped dry erase marker but the point is I shouldn't have to.  The one that went with the calendar should be appropriately sized.  As an accountant all I can think about when I notice things like this is how much money they are turning away by not being able to manage their business and products better. 

Okay, I feel better now.  Off to buy a fine-tipped dry erase marker!

Original Recipe: Jambalaya

A few years ago when I first started actually making dinner for Gigi and A-Dub every night I realized I needed to dramatically expand my cooking repertoire.  There are a few cuisines that I had always been too intimidated to attempt making on my own.  One is barbeque.  I have yet to tackle ribs.  I hope to one day!  I have actually cooked a brisket though.  Baby steps.  Another is cajun.  My mom would make gumbo, but that was pretty much the extent of cajun food I had seen being made.  But I had always wanted to try.  Gigi couldn't eat shrimp, so I thought I'd try jambalaya with chicken and sausage.  I did some research on food network and some other websites but I couldn't find anything that sounded just right.  I asked my friend Cherie, who is from New Orleans, if she had a good recipe and she said she did, but it didn't have tomatoes in it and I wanted mine to be red!  So I decided to cobble together my own recipe using the ones that I'd found that sounded okay.  It was actually good on the first try!  A-Dub and Gigi gobbled it up.

Jambalaya

1 pound chicken breasts or tenders, cut into chunks
1 pound andouille or smoked sausage, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 cup Uncle Ben's converted rice
1 tbsp "Cajun" seasoning (Emeril's or other - mine is the Kroger generic kind)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can chicken broth
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

Normally I use regular smoked sausage but this time I found andouille sausage, which I guess is what is traditionally used. 

Cut the sausage into thin-ish slices.

Slice your chicken into bite-sized chunks.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Don't taste it though, it's raw chicken!



Instead of a can of chicken broth, I decided to use my "Better than Bouillon" to see if we noticed a difference.  I am pleased to say we didn't! 

Also it is way, way cheaper.  I just made 16oz (2 cups) according to the directions on the jar.

Dice up your "trinity" (that is what they call green bell pepper, onion and celery in Cajun cooking).

Heat a large pan over medium heat.  Add 1 tbsp olive oil, and cook your sausage.  Remove from the pan and place on a plate.

Add the chicken (you shouldn't need more oil) and cook until it's not pink.  You don't have to cook all the way through.  Remove from the pan and add to plate with sausage.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil if needed.  Add green bell pepper, onion, celery, garlic and cajun seasoning and cook until tender.

Add rice and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly or else it will stick.

Add chicken broth, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Return sausage and chicken to the pan.  Stir it up!  Add bay leaf.

Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Cover, and reduce heat to low.  Cook for 25 minutes.  When time is up, remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes.  Resist the urge to take a peek!  When 10 minutes are up lift the lid and voila!  Don't forget to remove that bay leaf!  Hopefully it will have floated to the top.

Stir it up to combine.

Jambalaya, Cheerios, broccoli and carrots.  What a dinner!

Note:  If you want this to be hot, add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.  You can add it to the chicken or when you add the cajun seasoning. 

Recipe Review/Remodel: Mix-In Muffins

I found this recipe years ago on the food network website.  I tried to look it up recently, and couldn't find it.  I'm pretty sure it was credited to "Food Network Kitchens" as the author, so I don't feel as bad about posting it here.  I have made these many times and the only thing I changed was to add an extra 1/4 cup sugar.  They needed to be a little sweeter, especially when you're making them with just blueberries.  Oh, actually I also doubled the amount of "mixins."  I like my baked goods to be chock full of blueberries, chocolate chips, etc.  These muffins bake up light and fluffy and for a long time they were the only way my sweet Gigi would eat a blueberry (now she will also drink smoothies).

Mix-In Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups “mixins” (in this case, 1 cup blueberries and 1 cup strawberries)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Wash and dry blueberries and strawberries.  If I am making just blueberry muffins I typically use a whole container of this size (a pint?).

I wash my blueberries with soap and water using one of these mesh sieves.  I have noticed it takes that powdery look off of the blueberries and makes them pretty and shiny.



















 See how pretty they are now?




Measure out one cup.  



Chop strawberries into approximately blueberry-sized pieces.





Measure out one cup.

I made the muffins on Sunday morning so they would be hot and fresh out of the oven.  So I washed and stored my fruit the night before.  That is why the rest of the pictures will be dark and not very good--because I was making them at 6:30am!



Look who came to help in the kitchen!



 In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk together. 

 

 

 




In a medium bowl melt butter and whisk together with sour cream first.  




Then add egg (after the sour cream has cooled the butter down so you don't cook your egg) and vanilla. 

 

Stir butter mixture into flour mixture until just combined.  Don't stir too much or too vigorously, or your muffins won't be light and fluffy.




This batter is thick and will not run easily like other muffin batters.  

 

Then add “mixins,” see note* below.  




Divide the batter among muffin cups, filling each about 1/2 full.  

 

 

A heaping scoop from a soup spoon is the perfect size.





Bake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, 18-20 minutes for regular size muffins, 15 minutes for mini-muffins.

*Flavor the basic muffin batter below by adding, for example: 2 cup fresh blueberries; 1 chopped banana and 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips; or 1 cup toasted almonds, 1 cup dried cranberries, and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract; or 1 cup chopped drained canned pineapple and 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut.

1 batch = about 24 muffins; 36 mini-muffins

Yummy!