Spring Break in New Orleans

For Spring Break this year, we decided to drive on down to New Orleans.  We wanted to go somewhere we'd never been and that was within reasonable driving distance.  We had a great time!  The weather was beautiful (except for that one time in the swamp), the food was delicious, the city was beautiful and interesting, and the kids were well-behaved!  And if you want to go somewhere where you can eat lots of great food and get in enough exercise to offset it, let me suggest NOLA.  I thought I'd share a screenshot of my Fitbit email with my weekly stats while we were gone.

We walked a marathon plus!  I was really dreading stepping on the scale when I got home, but I didn't gain a pound, and now I see why!  We did have a car, and they do have public transportation, but we didn't want to pay for parking, the streetcars were mostly full, and the buses were never on time, so we walked a lot.  It's a good way to see the city anyway.

We rented a charming shotgun house on vrbo.com that was located in the Arts/Warehouse district.  It was nice having 2 bedrooms and a kitchen and the house had a lot of character.  And there was a cute coffee shop and cafe/juice bar just a couple of blocks away.  Here are some of the things we did.

• Audubon Zoo
• Audubon Aquarium
• Audubon Insectarium
• Cajun Encounters Swamp Tour
• Free Ferry ride across the Mississippi
• Shopping in the French Quarter, Magazine Street, and the French Market

We bought an Audubon package to save money which included the Zoo, Aquarium, Insectarium, and IMAX theater (which we didn't end up using).  A couple of tips on the Insectarium.  It's located in a federal building, so no knives, sharp objects, or other weapons are allowed.  Well, I had Caroline's Epi-pen and pepper spray in my purse.  At first, they weren't even going to let me bring in the Epi-pen, then they changed their minds.  They wouldn't hold the pepper spray and thankfully we had driven that day, so Mike walked the pepper spray a few blocks back to the car.  Then he got back and realized he had a multi-tool in his pocket.  Back to the car.  Then halfway back, he discovered he'd left his ticket in the car!  So he got a few extra steps in that day.  The other thing about the Insectarium.  DON'T skip the little multi-sensory theater.  We almost did because it didn't look that interesting.  I laughed so much!  It's a cartoon about bugs, but that's not all.  I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'll just say some of us were jumping out of our seats.  As for the swamp tour, I'd recommend doing that in warmer weather.  The alligators were hibernating (we saw one), and it got a little (ok a lot) chilly zipping down the river getting from one area of the swamp to another.  

Now, to the food.  Oh the food, the heavenly food.  I ate so much seafood, I was starting to worry I might have a reaction!  I was also feeling a little like Forrest Gump....Shrimp Creole, Shrimp and Grits, Shrimp Salad, Stuffed Shrimp, etc., etc. And lets just say I may have eaten one too many pralines.  Here are restaurants/cafes I recommend.

• Desire Oyster bar for Desire Oysters and Shrimp and Grits
• Central Grocery Store for the Muffaletta
• Crabby Jack's for Shrimp Creole
• The Rum House for the Rum House Salad (I've got to figure out how to recreate it)
• The Corner Muse for breakfast, coffee, snoballs and snacks
• Surrey Cafe and Juice Bar for breakfast and fresh squeezed juice
• Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets

Here are some highlights of the trip in pictures.

Bread Machine King Cake and Red Beans and Rice

We don't normally do anything special for Fat Tuesday, but I had a wild hair today and decided to change that.  I made my first ever King Cake.  I'd been thinking about doing it for a couple of days, then today I started to get a little stressed about everything on my plate.  I called Rick's Bakery to see if they had any and they didn't so I did it myself.  It really was a breeze.  I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and modified it a little and it turned out nicely.  To complete the theme, we had Red Beans & Rice for dinner.

Caroline was excited to get the piece of cake with the Baby.

Bread Machine King Cake (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

Bread
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbls softened butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
3 1/2 tbls sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

Filling
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbls melted butter

Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tbls melted butter
1/8 tsp vanilla
2 tbls milk, or as needed
purple, green, and yellow sugar sprinkles

Place the warm water, salt, butter, egg, sour cream, 3 1/2 tbls of sugar, flour, and yeast into the bread machine in that order.  Select the dough cycle, and start.  Check the dough after a few minutes and add more water or flour if dough is too dry or wet.  I had to add a tad more water.

Mix the filling sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a bowl and set aside.  Grease a baking sheet or line with silpat.

When the dough cycle is finished (mine was 1 1/2 hour), remove the dough and roll out to a 10 x 28 inch rectangle on a floured surface.  Spread the cinnamon mixture over the dough.  Pick up one of the long edges and roll into a log.  Place the rolled dough onto the baking sheet, seam side down, and form into a ring.  Moisten the ends of the dough with a little water; pinch the two ends together to seal.  Cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.  Mine took about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the cake until the top is golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Mix the powdered sugar, 1 1/2 tbls butter, vanilla, and just enough milk to make a smooth glaze.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack for about 10 minutes.  Spoon the glaze over the cake, letting it run down the sides.  Immediately sprinkle with alternating sections of purple, green, and yellow sugars.  Allow to cool before serving.

Red Beans and Rice (adapted from Family Fun Magazine February 2012)

Ingredients

1 tbls Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 16 oz can chicken broth
Bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp Creole seasoning, or more if you like it spicy
3 15 1/2 oz cans red beans, rinsed and drained
1 pound turkey smoked sausage, but into bite sized pieces
cooked white rice

In a large pot, warm the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and saute until they are soft and tender, about 8 minutes.

Add the broth, bay leaf, thyme, creole seasoning, and beans and bring to boil.  Partially mash the beans, leaving most whole.  Stir in the sausage, cover and reduce to medium-low.

Simmer covered for 10 minutes, then uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove the bay leaf and serve over hot rice.

The Great Souptacular

 

Today I'm linking up with Leslie at blondeambitionblog.com.  It's all about soup.  So after you're finished here, head over there and check out some other tummy warming comfort soups!  These are two Mexican style soups that I love.  The tortilla soup is a Rick Bayless classic.  I think I've mentioned before that our favorite Bayless cookbook, Mexican Everyday, is falling apart from use.  His recipes are sooo good.  The other is my Mom's Enchilada soup.  It's great for a cold night and always receives compliments.

Tortilla Soup (adapted from Mexican Everyday, by Rick Bayless)

Ingredients
1 large dried pasilla or ancho chile
1 15 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes and their juice
2 tbls olive oil
1 medium white onion, sliced
3 garlic gloves, peeled
2 quarts chicken broth
Salt
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large ripe avocado
6 oz Mexican Queso Fresco cheese
Tortilla chips
1 large lime

Toast the chile by turning it an inch or two above an open flame for a few seconds, until you smell the aroma.  Or if you don't have a gas stove, toast it for a few seconds in a dry pan on medium heat.  Break into pieces and put in your blender with the tomatoes and their juice.

Heat the oil in a large 4 qt saucepan over medium high.  Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until golden, about 7 minutes.  Scoop up the onion and garlic with a slotted spoon and transfer to blender.  Process until smooth.

Place the pan back on medium heat.  When hot, add the puree and stir constantly until thickened about 6 minutes.  Add the broth.  Reduce to medium low and simmer 15 minutes.  Taste and season with salt to your taste.

Just before serving, add the chicken to the broth.  Divide the avocado, cheese, and chips among your serving bowls.  When the chicken is done, pour the soup into the bowls.  Squeeze the fresh lime over each serving.

Enchilada Soup (by Mom)

Ingredients
1 tbls olive oil
1 lb chicken breasts
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic pressed
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup Masa Harina
3 cups water
1 cup enchilada sauce
16 oz velveeta
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat.  Add chicken breasts and brown 4 to 5 minutes per side.  Set chicken aside.  Add onions and garlic to pot and saute for about 2 minutes.  Add chicken broth.  Combine Masa Harina with 2 cups water in a medium bowl and whisk until blended.  Add to onion mixture with remaining water, enchilada sauce, cheese and spices and bring mixture to a boil.  Shred the chicken into bite size pieces and add to soup mixture.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes or until thick.  Serve with shredded cheese, crumbled corn tortillas, and salsa.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia

I'm using Chia seeds in my daily smoothies.  Sounds funny doesn't it?  I've been joking that maybe it will help my hair grow (another after 35 problem for me, thinning hair).  Apparently Chia seeds are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, protein, and fiber.  Who would have thought?  I bought some from the bulk jars at ONF and use 1 tablespoon per smoothie.  They grind up well in the Blendtech and don't add any flavor, so I don't notice them much.  Their fiber content and the fact that they expand when wet, help you feel full.  I have found that to be true.  I do feel full, but not overly so like I do when I eat gluten.  It's day 5 and my gut (that's such a weird word, but there's no better way to describe it I guess) feels fabulously empty, in a good way.  I hope I remember this when the Girl Scout Cookies come in.  That's it for today.  Must.get.something.done.now.

Holiday Catch Up

I took a little blogging break while the kids were out of school so I'm playing catch up on some of the highlights of the Holidays.  Here we go.

I won a cookie contest!  My cookie recipe was chosen by a local baker as one of the top 12 in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette 12 Days of Cookies contest!  I won free Hiland Dairy milk for a year!

The girls made more Gingerbread Houses.

We made Christmas cookies.

We wrapped and decorated presents.

We opened fun presents.

We spent time with family.

We played a new game.

We played in the snow.

And finally, the girls got haircuts in preparation to go back to school.

And now, back to reality.  Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving and Shredded Brussels Sprouts

It's been a fun Thanksgiving weekend so far.  We went to Oklahoma to celebrate with the family.  Wednesday night, Caroline and my great-niece Kiley made cookies.

And here's Kiley's sister Kendall.  She's learning to walk, but she doesn't walk, she runs! 

Thursday morning we had fun prepping food and watching the Macy's parade.  We ate at noon and all of the food was delicious as usual.

Caroline and my great-nephews Samuel and Easton

My sister's pecan pie

pumpkin

Okay, so we like pie...

Mom's dressing.  It's the best.

My sister asked me to make salad and Brussels sprouts.  I made a warm bacon dressing spinach salad.

 For the Brussels sprouts, Mike found a recipe on allrecipes.com that he thought might go over better than the regular little cabbage heads.  So I made Shredded Brussels Sprouts.  I modified it just a tad because the original recipe called for pine nuts and I didn't have any.  They were actually very tasty! 

Shredded Brussels Sprouts

1/2 pound sliced bacon
1/4 cup butter
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, shredded ( I used the slicing attachment on my food processor for this)
3 green onions, minced
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Cook bacon until crisp, drain, and reserve 2 tbls grease, crumble, and set aside.

Melt butter in the pan with the bacon grease over medium heat.  Add the Brussels sprouts and green onions to the pan, season with the salts and pepper.  Cook over medium heat until the sprouts are wilted, about 10 - 15 minutes.  Stir in crumbled bacon right before serving.

Ghostly Shepherd's Pie and other Goodies

This one's from my magazine archives ya'll.  I'm a sucker for those little specialty cooking magazines at the checkout.  I pulled out the Halloween themed ones to look through and found this recipe in a Fall 2001 Pillsbury Come & Eat magazine.  I didn't even have kids back then!  Well, actually there was a kid on the way.  I'm not real thrilled about using jarred gravy, but it's better than burgers and fries at the fast food joint right?  The original recipe called for using mashed potato flakes also, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that.  I put Mike on potato peeling duty and we had homemade.

Ghostly Shepherd's Pie

1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 can Italian Style diced tomatoes, undrained
1 12 oz jar home-style beef gravy
Mashed Potatoes (I mixed in 1/4 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 cup grated parmesan to these)
1 egg slightly beaten

Heat oven to 375.  Spray large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium-high.  Add ground beef and onion; cook and stir until thoroughly done.  Drain.

Set aside 12 peas for garnish.  Add remaining frozen vegetables, tomatoes and gravy; mix well.  Bring to boil.  Reduce to medium-low heat.  Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until veggies are crisp tender, stirring occasionally.

Add a beaten egg to your prepared mashed potatoes.  Spoon beef mixture into an ungreased 8 x 8 baking dish.  With large spoon, make 6 mounds of potatoes on top to resemble ghosts.  Place 2 reserved peas on each for eyes.  Bake 20 -25 minutes or until potatoes are set and thoroughly heated.

Last night and this morning, we had parent teacher conferences at both schools.  I'm on the hospitality committee at both and we provided dinner and breakfast.  I brought these pumpkin streusel muffins to Addie's school.  The house smelled wonderful while they were baking.  Find the recipe here.

For Caroline's teachers I made my old standby Sausage Spinach Quiche.  And from the picture you can tell I used a store-bought crust.  Oh the horror!  I don't like doing that, but I was trying not to be Superwoman and make things a little easier on myself since I was baking for two schools this time.  Find this recipe here in an old blog post.

Baked Potato Soup

Mike has been out of town on business all week, so I wanted to have a home cooked meal for him when he gets back tonight.  He's generally a healthy eater and always says he'd much rather eat at home than at a restaurant, so a solid week of eating out is not something he enjoys.  He may not be hungry, but it will be here just in case.  I don't remember where I got this recipe.  I've been making it for at least 11 or 12 years, because I remember sharing it with my co-workers when I worked full time before kids.  There's a restaurant in Tulsa called Charleston's that has the best Baked Potato Soup.  I remember wanting to try and make something similar at home and this is what I found.  Normally, I serve the Bisquick Red Lobster style cheddar garlic biscuits with this soup.  I didn't have Bisquick, so I used this recipe instead and I think I like them better.

Baked Potato Soup

4 large baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper (don't substitute black pepper, the white really makes this recipe)
4 green onions, chopped and divided
12 sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used turkey)
1 1/4 cups cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
8 oz sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash potatoes and prick several times with a fork; bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour or until done.  Let cool.  Cut potatoes in half, lengthwise; scoop out pulp and set aside.  Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth.  Cook one minute, stirring constantly.  Gradually add milk; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and is bubbly. Add potato pulp, salt, pepper, two tbls green onions, 1/2 cup bacon, and 1 cup cheese.  Cook until thoroughly heated and stir in sour cream.  Add extra milk, if necessary, for desired consistency.  Serve with remaining green onions, bacon, and cheese sprinkled on top of individual servings.  Serves 10.

What's in the Box Wednesday?

Ever wonder how much water you use in the mornings?  Well, it's a lot.  We woke up to no water.  Apparently there's a sinkhole in front of one of my neighbor's driveway and a water line busted.  Yay.  Thank goodness I had some bottled water left over from soccer season.  So far, I've gone through around 5 bottles.  And that's just getting the lunches ready, washing the fruits and veggies, getting the animals and kids water, washing hands, etc.  I hope it's fixed soon, but from the looks of things outside, I'm not holding my breath.  The things we take for granted!  Today Addie's lunch, pictured above, has a hard-boiled egg in the shape of a bear face, edamame, kiwi berries, raspberries, pepper jack almond Nut-Thins, and chocolate covered pomegranate arils.  I used a mold for the egg, which you can find here at Amazon.  It's so easy to do and the girls think they are cute.  Just peel the egg while it's still hot, place it directly in the mold, and keep in the frig overnight.  The kiwi berries are something new for us.  Addie loves kiwi, and Mike found these at Sam's.  They taste just like kiwi, but they're bite-size and don't require any peeling.  I found the pomegranate arils in the bulk bin at ONF.  Addie says they are delicious!

Caroline's lunch has a bunny hard-boiled egg, shelled edamame, raspberries, Annie's organic cheddar bunnies, and a Bequet cinnamon swirl caramel also from the bulk bins at ONF. These are so good!  They are handmade in Montana and come in yummy flavors like butterscotch, celtic sea salt, chocolate, soft caramel, and several other flavors.  I even tried the Chipotle.  Well, have a great day!  I'm going to see how long it takes until I try to turn the faucet on again.