Sweet Potato Fries

I love sweet potato fries but whenever I've made them at home they're not nearly as good as the ones you get in a bag at store . . . but those don't ever make quite enough for us.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and I can't wait to try it!  Although I must admit that although you know I love mayonnaise, I am NOT a dipper of french fries in mayo.  Gross.

http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/guaranteed-crispy-sweet-potato-fries-sriracha-mayo-dip/

From their website:

Here’s what you need to do …

Gather your sweet potatoes.

Get some corn starch.

Also get some olive oil.

Cut your sweet potatoes until they’re a medium thickness.  Not hugely thick cut and not shoestring.  Preheat oven to 425°.

Throw a Tablespoon or two of cornstarch into a plastic bag.

Dump a handful of sweet potatoes into the bag with the cornstarch.  Twist the top of the bag so it forms a balloon with some air inside and shake the fries around until they’re lightly coated with the cornstarch.

Put your coated fries on a non stick cookie sheet.

Drizzle 2 Tablespoons of olive oil over the fries.

Using your hands, make sure the fries are well coated.

Arrange them on the sheet again, so they have space between each fry.  The less fries on the pan the better they’ll cook.  Too many shoved together and they’ll never get crispy.  They’ll just steam.  Pop the fries into your preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile you can make the dipping sauce.  Mix together 1/2 cup of mayonaise with 1 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

You can adjust the proportions to taste.  Mix it up and taste it then adjust as you like.

Check the fries after 15 minutes, flip them over (you might have to use a spatula depending on how “non stick” your pan is) and return to the oven if necessary for another 5 minutes.

If you prefer your fries, deep fried throw them in the deep fryer at the highest setting for a few minutes instead of sticking them in the oven.

Halloween

Oh boy, what a crazy week!  Halloween being on Monday was tough, because we had 2 parties on Saturday, our church's "Fall Festival" (a Halloween carnival) on Sunday night, the kids' school Halloween Walk-Around (they get in costume and go trick-or-treating at local businesses) on Monday morning and then finally our neighborhood Halloween carnival on Monday night.  Of course the kids' Halloween parties were on Monday afternoon so I was at work for approximately 3 hours.  Also of course, I signed up to make Halloween cookies a month ago and didn't really factor in when I was going to make them!  But I'm a woman of my word . . . and thanks to Flickr, I found some really cute cookies I wanted to make.

Okay so my witches look like frogs.  My witch cookie cutter needs a serious upgrade.

And I also did bats.  They were super easy.

We're still majorly into princesses and Gigi made a perfect Snow White.  Love that foot hanging in the background!  That's Bobo.  My friend at work suggested that I get Gigi a Halloween bucket shaped like an apple.  I loved that idea but couldn't find one anywhere so I made it.  I guess I'll save that blog post for next year when it's more relevant!

Bobo was a dwarf.  Non-specific, just dwarf.  People kept asking me if he was Shrek.  He wasn't happy about his hat.  I knew a beard wouldn't fly.

This was the best picture I got and it really annoys me that his hat wasn't styled cute!  It was super cute and my mom made it and the vest and belt.  Thank you Mom! 

I was in love with this guy's costume!  Wish I'd gotten a picture of him and his astronaut big brother.

These two were attached at the hip all night.

Love that these two brought the girl power!  Supergirl (in pink) is my goddaughter and she is as sweet as can be.  Her sister is Batgirl and she is so sassy!  She cracks me up.

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too!

Broccoli and Cheese and Chicken and Rice

Every time A-Dub's mom comes over to babysit she brings this Marie Callender's casserole (that I cannot show you a picture of because they use flash pictures on their website) and my kids apparently adore it.  So I was thinking well, if they'll eat it, surely I can make that at home, better.  It's just broccoli-cheese-rice casserole with chicken. Since broccoli is one of A-Dub's favorite foods (seriously, it's right up there with spinach), I know as long as it is in our entree I won't get flack for the dish, no matter how much butter and Velveeta is in it.  Plus, it's gluten-free (if you use gluten-free chicken broth and cream of mushroom soup, which I found here on Amazon)!  Plus plus, it is super easy to make.  The only bad thing is that it kind of takes a long time to bake.  No matter, I made it the night before and warmed it up in the microwave for the kids the next day.  Even easier for me.


1 cup rice (not Minute Rice--my favorite is Uncle Ben's converted white rice)
1/2 of an onion, chopped (1/2 cup to 1 cup)
florets from 3-4 broccoli stalks (3-4 cups)
8oz package Velveeta (the itty bitty baby one)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
few pats of butter
1 lb chicken (approximately)
1 10.5oz can cream of mushroom soup (gluten free if applicable)
1 14oz can chicken broth (gluten free if applicable)
2 cups cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a large-ish casserole dish with a pat of butter.  In the casserole dish, first you will layer rice.

Then onions.

Steam your broccoli in a Ziploc Steam bag for 3 minutes. 

Unpaid product endorsement:  thank you Ziploc for giving me Ziploc Steam Bags!  I use these ALL the time.  Whenever I need an easy vegetable side-dish I throw broccoli, green beans, zucchini and squash or just about any vegetable in a steam bag with a little salt, pepper and butter.  When you're done, throw the bag away.  If I were going to serve this broccoli as a side dish I would cook it for 5 minutes but since it is going to be cooked in the casserole dish it doesn't have to be cooked through.  Layer broccoli on top of onions.

Cut Velveeta into cubes,



and layer on top of broccoli.   

Then a few pats of butter.  Okay, I know a "few" means three and I did eight.  It's a pretty big dish.  Add teaspoons of salt and pepper.

Slice your chicken into small-ish cubes.  I made mine slightly smaller so when I feed it to Bobo I don't have to pick through, find the chicken and cut it into smaller pieces. 

Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper and mix up with your hands. 

Layer chicken over butter.

Glop cream of mushroom soup right over the chicken.

Pour whole can of chicken broth over mushroom soup. 

My original recipe called for 1-1/2 cups chicken broth, which I believe would be 12 oz.  Since my can was 14 oz, I used the whole thing.  I believe this required me to bake the casserole a little longer so it was the consistency I wanted it to be, so keep that in mind as you are cooking.


Mix everything up with a spoon.  Be sure to dig all the way down to the bottom so the rice is incorporated well into the liquid.

Cover and bake for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, take it out of the oven and stir it up. 

How soupy is it?  Mine was still pretty soupy, so I decided it needed 10 more minutes before I topped it with cheese.  Also, my rice wasn't cooked all the way. 

After the additional 10 minutes it was a firmish consistency.  Top with 2 cups of cheddar cheese and bake for 10-20 minutes, until cheese is bubbly on top.  Oops!  Almost forgot to take a picture with cheese on top (because I know you need to know what it looks like to put shredded cheese on top of a casserole . . . sheesh!).




Yum yum!

Notes:  Next time, I think I might stir some cheddar cheese in the dish.  The Velveeta was yummy and creamy, but I like that good melty cheese texture that cheddar has.  I might just do one cup of cheddar on top and one cup of cheddar in with the rice.

She has her knees in her sweater because she was cold.  It's finally fall!

ABCs

Gigi is kind of obsessed with the ABC's right now and she is practicing them a lot in school.  Her teacher had her tracing the letters of her name which gave me a great idea--I should make her an ABC tracing sheet!  I know these are readily available everywhere but I didn't find one exactly like I wanted for free so I made my own.  If you would like to try it out, be my guest.  You can't beat the price!

Click this link and it should pop up.  Click "download original" in the upper right corner and you will be able to print.

ABC Tracing Sheet

This Boy . . .

Loves reading books . . .

Likes to sneak in the pantry to play . . .

Has the sweetest tummy . . .

Walks around holding a sock in each hand . . .

Enjoys cooking . . .

Goes behind this chair to play peek-a-boo . . .

Is a little climber . . .



Likes to make a mess . . .

 Is even cute when he's fussing . . . 

Looooooooooves milk . . .

Is my big eater . . .

Has the sweetest smile . . .

Has stolen his mama's heart!

Bobo was sick the other day and we got to spend the whole day together.  I intended to be productive, but instead we watched movies and snuggled and played (and took pictures) all day.  I have never been so happy to be unproductive!