Sunday, November 23, 2014

Veggie Frittata

Can I just say that I love fritattas?  They're easy, delicious, and acceptable for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  What is a frittata you might ask?  A frittata is an Italian omelet.  Although it is more like a crust less quiche than a traditional omelet.  This is the perfect meal for the holiday season when you have a million things to do and guests in the house.  It will seem like you slaved in the kitchen, when in reality it takes about 15 minutes to prepare and make this delicious egg dish.

Veggie Frittata
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/4 medium zucchini, chopped
  • 1/4 medium summer squash, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 c. cream or milk
  • 8 eggs
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  1. Preheat the broiler in your oven.
  2. Saute onion, zucchini, squash, and garlic in a large, oven safe frying pan for 5-10 minutes or until onions start to become transparent.
  3. Meanwhile scramble eggs with cream/milk in a small bowl.  Stir in Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.
  4. Evenly distribute veggies around the pan and pour the egg mixture over the top.
  5. Once the bottom and sides begin to set, sprinkle the basil evenly over the top.
  6. Place the pan under the broiler for 3-5 minutes.  The frittata is done when the eggs are golden brown on top.








I usually serve my frittata with bacon and toast with homemade jam for breakfast.  Or scones.  You can never go wrong with scones.  For lunch and dinner I like to serve it with a big salad and homemade bread.  I hope you enjoy this delicious, versatile recipe, and Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Thanksgiving in a Crock Pot

Hello all!  I've been MIA for a bit because we went on vacation to Costa Rica at the beginning of November.  With the Rowselettes!  That's right, they're officially international travelers with stamps on their passports and everything.  It was quite the adventure traveling with two 7 month old babies, but all in all we had an awesome time.  Here's a few photos from our trip:

The beautiful resort we stayed at for the first part of our trip.

The pool area.

Our casita deluxe.

Hanging with Dad in the hammock on our veranda.

First tropical drink in the hot tub with Archer.

Dad and Xander selfie.

Swimming at the Baldi Hot Springs Resort where we stayed for the second half of our trip.

There were 25 different hot springs pools with numerous water features!

We love our floaties!

Some nice people took a family photo for us.

All loaded up and ready to fly home. These Kelty backpacks were amazing for travel. Plus the Rowselettes really like them. :)

And now on to my newest recipe.  This crock pot meal is sooooo good!  So if you're craving Thanksgiving a little early, aren't headed home for the holidays, are just celebrating with you and you're significant other, or maybe you don't want to spend your whole day cooking, this recipe has got you covered.  I've seen versions of this recipe on Pinterest a million times, so decided to give it a try.  However, as is the case most of the time, I couldn't just make it the way everyone else does.  So here is my version of Chicken with Stuffing made in a crock pot.

Crock Pot Chicken with Apple Sage Stuffing
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 1 large turkey breast
  • 2 (6 oz) packages seasoned stuffing
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 celery ribs, chopped
  • 2 small green apples, chopped
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 c. plain yogurt (can be low fat)
  • 1/2 c. H2O
  • 16 fresh or dried sage leaves
  1. Saute onion, celery, and apple in a pan over medium heat until onions just start to turn translucent.
  2. Spray the bottom of the crock pot with olive oil spray and place chicken thighs or turkey breast in the bottom.
  3. Salt & pepper the chicken and then pour the onion, celery, and carrots on top of the chicken/turkey breast.
  4. Add the stuffing on top of the veggies.
  5. Mix the cream of chicken and mushroom soups with the yogurt and H2O in a small bowl.
  6. Pour this mixture over the top of the stuffing and top with sage leaves.
  7. Cook on Low for 4 hours. 
  8. Fluff the stuffing by mixing with the soup mixture and veggies.  At this point you can leave the chicken/turkey breast whole or shred it and mix the whole thing into a glorious mess of deliciousness.





I don't have any pictures of this meal after it's done because, let's be honest, most things that come out of a crock pot don't plate well.  That, and the fact that we ate it so fast there wasn't time for photos. ;)

Monday, October 27, 2014

Halloween Decorations

I know most of you probably already have your houses all decorated and ready to go for Halloween, but if not, here's a great way to get ready for the big day.  This is how I decorated my house, and I love it! 

It's so simple and makes such a big impact.  I used the Martha Stewart brand window statics and wall stickers from Michaels in my windows.  But you could easily create your own with black paper and a stencil.   
And let's not forget the pumpkins!  I actually grew 5 of these pumpkins myself!  It's the first time I've been really successful at growing pumpkins.  It was so exciting to be able to carve my own pumpkins for Halloween.  The one in the middle in the back is my mom's that she bought.  We had a pumpkin carving party, and she helped me carve my pumpkins.  She did the one in the very front, which I think looks awesome. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Homemade Ginger Beer

If you're as much of a fan of Moscow Mules and Dark & Stormies as I am, then you know how expensive it is to buy ginger beer.  It's roughly $7 for a four pack of bottles.  That's more expensive than regular beer!  So I was super excited when a friend of mine told me it was super easy to make my own ginger beer.  He directed me to this recipe by Tori Avey.  I gave it a go, and was pleasantly surprised by how delicious and fizzy it was.  And since it cost me roughly $1-$2 to make two whole liters, I'll be making my own ginger beer from here on out. :)



Moscow Mule
  1. Pour 1-2 shots of vodka and ginger beer over ice in a copper cup.
  2. Squeeze one lime wedge into drink and stir.
  3. Enjoy!
Dark & Stormy
  1. Pour 1-2 shots of dark rum and ginger beer over ice in a low ball glass.
  2. Squeeze one lime wedge into drink and stir.
  3. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Roasted Chile Tomato Salsa

At the moment I have a plethora of tomatoes sitting in my garage that are all ripe.  This is due to an early hard frost and subsequent harvest to try to save as much from my garden as possible.  So what to do with all of these delicious tomatoes?  Normally I would make a whole ton of vodka or regular pasta sauce.  However, that is a rather time consuming process, and with two little ones demanding my attention, that is a no go this year.  Instead, I've been making batches of fresh salsa.  There is a little, local farm stand not far from my house that I frequent during the end of summer and early fall.  It is so close that the Rowselettes and I usually go on a bike ride to visit it.  They had some amazing Anaheim chiles this year, so I decided to use them in my salsa.  This stuff is seriously good!


 
Roasted Chile Tomato Salsa
  • 6 medium Anaheim chiles, seeds and ribs removed
  • 1/2 large red onion, cut into quarters
  • 2 jalapenos, seeds and ribs removed 
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 c. fresh cilantro
  • 1/2 large lime, juiced
  • 12 small to medium tomatoes 
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees farenheit.
  2. Place Anaheim chiles on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil.
  3. Spray the peppers with olive oil spray and roast for 15 min.
  4. Once the peppers are done, put all ingredients except tomatoes in a food processor.
  5. Process on high until all ingredients are finely minced.
  6. Add tomatoes to food processor.  
  7. Process on high until tomatoes are liquefied. 


In case you weren't sure what an Anaheim chile looks like, this is it. :)




The smell of the chiles roasting is amazing!









My favorite part about this salsa is how easy it is to make!  You can even roast the chiles a few days ahead of time and store them in a resealable bag in the fridge.  This salsa will be good for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, but I doubt it will last that long. :)    

Side note: It was recommended to me by another blogger to increase the size of my photos.  What do you guys think of the larger pictures?

Monday, October 6, 2014

Burt's Bees Mama Bee Nourishing Body Oil

Occasionally I find a product so awesome, I just have to share it with you all.  So today I'm going to give you the low down on this Burt's Bees Mama Bee Nourishing Body Oil
I've been using this body oil since I had the Rowsellettes, and it has worked wonders on the stretch marks I got from breast feeding and my c-section scar.  My scar, while still visible, looks really good.  My husband keeps commenting on how you can hardly see it anymore.  I attribute this mainly to the Vitamin E oil in this product.  Vitamin E is traditionally known to help minimize scarring. 

But the really amazing thing is how it has virtually faded away my stretch marks to nothing in the 6 months I've been using it!  As a person who'd never had stretch marks in my life, it was rather disheartening to wake up one morning with a plethora due to my milk coming in for breast feeding.  I vowed not to let it get any worse and started using this oil.  And sure enough, within a couple of months, I could see a vast improvement in the appearance of the stretch marks.  Hallelujah!  I love you, Mama Bee Oil. :)
      

Monday, September 29, 2014

Garden Vegetable Soup

What do you do when your garden looks like this?


You make a delicious vegetable soup!  I actually made a couple rounds of this soup in August, which is when this picture was taken.  Unfortunately we had a super early hard freeze this year, around the second week of September, so now my garden looks like this:


We even covered the whole thing with tarps, but alas, my garden was toast.  The worst part was that I lost all of my mounds of basil. :(  We were able to save everything else by picking it and bringing it indoors, so harvest time came early this year.  Such is life when you live in Montana.  However, I'm sure a lot of you still have gardens burgeoning with vegetables, so here's a great way to use up some of those goodies.

Garden Vegetable Soup

  •  2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/2 small red onion, chopped
  • 1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, or 22 baby carrots, chopped
  • 1/2 large bell pepper (I used a yellow pepper)
  • 1/2 large zucchini, chopped
  • 1/2 large yellow summer squash, chopped
  • 22 green beans, cut into 1/2 in. pieces
  • 1 can diced tomatoes (My tomatoes weren't ripe yet, so I used canned)
  • 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cans V8 juice
  • 1 cup farfalinne pasta or other mini pasta
  1. Chop all veggies into the chunk size you prefer for your soup.
  2. Heat a dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat and add oil.
  3. Once pan is heated add onions, garlic, celery, carrots, and bell pepper.  Saute for about 5 min.
  4. Add zucchini, summer squash, green beans, and Italian seasoning.  Saute for another 5-10 min.
  5. Add diced tomatoes with their juice.  Scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
  6. Add the chicken broth, V8 juice, and mini pasta.  
  7. Bring to a boil, turn down, and simmer for ~20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 




Yummmm!  This soup is so delicious!  I made a crusty loaf of bread in my bread machine to go with it for dinner.  It was the perfect light summertime meal.  And such a great way to use up some of that bountiful harvest from your garden. :)


As you can tell, this is a minestrone type soup.  It would be equally delicious made with some white beans, such as cannellini.  And if you want to take it up another notch, throw a Parmesan cheese rind in before you simmer.  The cheese rind melts completely, but doesn't really make the soup cheesy.  It just adds a whole other flavor level that is simply fantastic! 

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

I'm Back!

It has been a long time since I've posted.  With two bouncing, baby boys in the house things have been a little crazy of late.  If I can get laundry done and put away before it needs to be done again, I count myself accomplished.  I've actually made quite a few recipes I wanted to blog about, but just haven't found the time to write them up until now.

I'm going to make a serious effort to post once a week in the future.  Otherwise my desk will be covered in sticky notes of things I need to blog about. :P


I will be posting on Mondays, and for the time being it will probably be mostly recipes, as that is the crafting I have time for these days.  If I get really caught up, I may post twice a week!  But let's not get crazy just yet.  And now for some shameless AWing of my babies...

The Rowselettes are now 6 months old!  I can hardly believe it.  It feels like far longer than that, and also like time has flown by all at once.  They've hit some major milestones such as sleeping through the night, Archer is talking like crazy and has discovered his feet, Xander is rolling over both ways (and about to crawl any minute, I'm sure), both are teething and Archer has his first tooth.  They're starting to be able to entertain themselves, which has allowed a sense of normalcy to come back to our home.  Well at least as normal as it can be with twin boys now a part of our family.

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old
 
Thank you for sticking around in my absence after the babies were born.  It's been quite the adjustment, but we're all figuring it out together. :) 

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Grapefruit Peppermint Hand Scrub

It's that time of year where we want to be outside as much as possible.  And usually that involves yard work and gardening, which can make your hands seriously grimy.  I found this great hand scrub from Kate over at The Gaines Gang.  It really helps get embedded dirt and muck off of your hands after a day of working in the yard.  And it smells amazing!  Make up a batch of this for yourself and your garden loving mom.  She'll think it is an excellent Mother's Day gift. :)

Here are the 3 ingredients you will need:
  • Sugar
  • Method Pink Grapefruit Dish Soap
  • Peppermint Essential Oil

Fill your container 2/3 full with sugar.


Add dish soap to the sugar and mix with a butter knife.  Go easy on the dish soap when you first add it.  I put way too much in and ended up having to split my scrub into two containers.  Which was okay, since I then had one for my mom and one for me. :)


Keep adding sugar or soap until you get to a paste like consistency.  Add 5 drops of essential oil and mix.


I used a decorative candle jar as a container for my scrub.  Since the jar was already so pretty, there was no need to add any extra decoration.  

This scrub worked so great!  I think I may make some for my dad for father's day using regular Dawn dish soap, since it is blue and awesome at cutting grease.  He is a golf course superintendent, so between doing maintenance on machinery and taking care of the golf course, his hands can get really dirty.  I think I will make his a nice lemon orange scent. :)