Monday, January 23, 2017

Belgian Waffles

This Belgian Waffle recipe is extremely delicious! We normally have waffles left over for Kaspian for breakfasts in the morning before school, but after making this recipe, none were left! These turned out sweet, perfect texture and would be wonderful with some whipped cream!

Here is the original recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/true-belgian-waffles

Ready to eat!

Belgian Waffle Stack

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs, separated
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sliced fresh strawberries or syrup or whipped cream (or all of them!)

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder.
2. In another bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Add milk, butter and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until combined.
3. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.
4. Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions until golden brown. Serve with strawberries or syrup or whipped cream.

What we liked:

These were delicious!

What we didn't like:

Nothing, they are great, and worth the additional work!

What Kaspian thought about it:

He loved the waffles, he also loved making them! Astrid also enjoyed them. 

Next time:

No changes. 

Spicy Tuna Bowls

Tuna bowls are super easy, versatile dishes which can contain any toppings you choose We have never made spicy tuna before, but it turned out really easy to make and wonderfully delicious!
For our toppings, we chose cucumber, sliced green onion, avocado and roasted sesame seeds. We made the seared tuna with shallot ginger sauce before. You can find the recipe for the seared tuna using that link. Here, we will just focus on the spicy tuna.

Spicy Tuna Bowl

Seared Tuna Bowl


Spicy Tuna up close!

Seared Tuna Bowl

Seared Tuna

Spicy Tuna

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of sushi grade ahi tuna
2 sliced green onions
1 tablespoons sesame seeds
3 tablespoons sriracha (to taste)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons tequila (we didn't have sake...would imagine any distilled alcohol would work)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce (to taste)

Sushi Rice for the Bowl
cucumber sliced for topping
avocado sliced for topping

Directions:

1. Finely dice tune into desired sized pieces. We like smaller pieces, other prefer larger cuts.
2. Mix together all ingredients, leaving some green onions and sesame seeds to top the bowl with. Add items like sriracha and soy sauce to desired taste.
3. Prepare your bowl by placing the warm sushi rice on the bottom, top with spicy tuna mixture and any desired toppings. 

What we liked:

It was so good and quick and easy and honestly, better than some that we have had at Japanese restaurants. 

What we didn't like:

It was great!

What Kaspian thought about it:

Too suspicious to try. Astrid loved the rice. A lot. All over her. We seriously have to take her highchair outside to shake her and it off after we offer her rice. 

Next time:


Flatbread Pizzas; Pepperoni and Black Olives, and Artichoke Hearts, Red Onions and Pine Nuts

We have been really enjoying a lot of pizzas lately. Maybe it's because Pepperoni is one of Kaspian's favorite books, maybe it's because it's so quick and easy to make them, but we've been eating pizza-ish meals a lot lately. It could also be that we have had the ingredients to quickly make them and so the result is ... PIZZA! We made two different kinds using a flatbread that we bought, so the only thing we need to do is throw the toppings on and food is ready in 10 minutes! We expected the pepperoni one to turned out better, but the artichoke heart/Red Onion/Pine nut pizza turned out better It tasted sweet and all of the flavors went together extremely well. Any toppings can be used!


Ingredients:

2 pre-made flat bread

Pizza 1:

sliced red onion
3 marinated artichoke hearts, cut into quarters
2 tablespoons pine nuts
4-5 tablespoons marinara sauce (we used Bertolli)
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Pizza 2:
10 pepperoni
2 tablespoons sliced black olives
4-5 tablespoons marinara sauce (we used Bertolli)
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. If your flatbread pizza needs to be pre-baked, follow the package directions to do so.
2. Assemble the pizza by spreading the marinara sauce first, then sprinkling with cheese evenly across it. Lastly, add your desired toppings. Flatter toppings should go first to avoid toppling off the pizza.
3. Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

What we liked:

QUICK! And delicious. Turned out way better than any frozen pizzas. 

What we didn't like:

The thin crust was actually a little too thin and flimsy. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He was suspicious of our rectangular pizza creation. Astrid loved it all. 

Next time:

Try different pizza crust!

Lime Garlic Tilapia with Roasted Carrots

We haven't had fish in a while, so we thought we would make this. It was quick, easy and delicious. We served it with garlic whipped mashed potatoes. We let the tilapia marinade in the sauce for about 30 minutes (mainly because we got distracted with children during that time). This recipe could be made with lemon just as well as lime, but we just did not have any lemon on hand. The carrots turned out really sweet and delicious, none were left for leftovers! We made this in a little dish because our oven broke and we only had our toaster oven to cook in for a while, but it turned out awesome!

Lime Garlic Tilapia

Served

Ready to eat!

Roasted Carrots

Tilapia with salt and pepper

Tilapia and lime butter sauce

Garlic Lime Butter Sauce 

Ingredients:

Tilapia:

2-3 full tilapia filets
1/2 cup of butter, melted
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime
5-6 garlic cloves, chopped or thinly sliced

Roasted Carrots:

4 large carrots, peeled and cut into about 1" pieces
salt
pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Tilapia:
1. Place tilapia into an oven safe dish,  we used 11" x 7" dish, but ours overlapped a little.
2. Combine melted butter, lime juice, zest, and garlic in a bowl. Mix and pour over the tilapia.
3. Bake at 375 F for 15-25 minutes until fish doneness is reached. The cooking time may depend on the thickness of your cut of fish.

Carrots:
1. Place carrots on a cooking sheet, sprinkle with salt and pepper and pour olive oil over them.
2. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. 

What we liked:

The fish came out perfect. The carrots were amazing as well. 

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was great!

What Kaspian thought about it:

He loved the carrots. Astrid loved EVERYTHING; enough to put the mashed potatoes in her hair!

Next time:


Saturday, January 14, 2017

Mini Bagel Bites

We are on a pizza making roll! We got little baby bagels and made pizza bagel bites. Way better than the frozen ones!



Naan bread pizza

We have issues making pizzas; the times when we have tried to make our dough and pizza, it has resulted in slight fires and smoking of the oven. (Our oven is still not working, but we have an awesome toaster oven into which this specific pizza fits). We used a naan bread that we bought from the store and toppings that we have picked out. This is super fast to put together and tastes a million times better than frozen pizza!


Ingredients:

2 naan bread
2 tablespoons of olive oil
pepporoni (the quanitity desired)
1/4 cup olives (as desired)
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
4 tablespoons marinara sauce (we used Bertolli)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Spread 2 tbsp of marinara sauce on the naan bread
3. Add 1/4 cup cheese
4. Add desired toppings (we used olives and pepperoni and meat pieces)
5. Bake for 10 -15 minutes until cheese is melted. 

What we liked:

Super easy and delicious. Was especially great dipped in Dion's ranch dressing. 

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was great! 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He actually loved the pizza!

Next time:

No Changes needed. 

Seasoned Tri Tip with Broccoli and Rosemary Potatoes

We bought a tri tip which was already marinating in sauce from Costco. It turned out super delicious. To complete the meal we made rosemary steamed potatoes and broccoli. Our oven actually appears to have broken, so instead of baking the broccoli we ended up making it on the grill.
Served

Very juicy tri tip

tri tip

Rosemary steamed potatoes

Grilled Broccoli

Ingredients:

2-3 lb pre-marinated tri tip
1 lb of fresh broccoli
1-2 lbs baby potatoes, quartered
1 tbsp rosemary, chopped
4 tbsps oilve oil, divided
2 tbsp tuscan garlic seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat grill to medium high.
2. Set potatoes to steam for 30 minutes
3. Sprinkle broccoli with tuscan garlic seasoning and 2 tbsp olive oil
4. Cook meat on the grill until desired temperature is reached, turning about halfway through (10 minutes)
5. Cook broccoli on the grill in a basket for about 15 minutes.
6. Combine steamed potatoes, rosemary, salt and 2 tbsp olive oil in a bowl and toss to coat.
7. Serve.  

What we liked:

The meat turned out very good. 

What we didn't like:

The fact that our oven is no longer working :( 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He loved the potatoes. He tried the broccoli but was not too into it. Astrid also loved the potatoes. 

Next time:

No changes needed. 

Pistachio Crusted Chicken with Shallot Garlic Lemon Quinoa

This was a quick dish that we put together for dinner. We split the chicken breasts in half lenghtwise to make them thinner and ensure that they would cook faster.
The quinoa we made in our new multi-cooker! We had a Tim3 machine one, but it got recalled, and even though we submitted everything for the recall back in November, we haven't received a new one yet. So, we went to Costco and got an Aroma multicooker (which has a sushi rice button! Very excited to use that in the near future).

We also made a simple green salad with cubed cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh dill and parsley all with a mixture of olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. This resulted in a refreshing green salad which went well with the rest of dinner.


Shallot Quinoa with Pistachio Crusted Chicken


Ingredients:

Quinoa:
1.5 cups Quinoa
1 shallot, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 lime

Chicken:
2 chicken breasts cut in half to make them thinner
1/4 cup chopped pistachio nuts
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
salt and pepper


Directions:

Quinoa:
1. Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil into multi cooker. Add shallots and garlic. When softened, add rinsed quinoa and chicken stock. Cover and cook (we had a quinoa button on our multi cooker!) When ready, add the rest of the olive oil and juice of 1/2 lime. Toss and serve.

Chicken:
1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Place chicken into an ovensafe dish. Spread dijon mustard over chicken, Season with salt and pepper. Add pistachios.
3. Bake for about 25-30 minutes uncovered until chicken is done. Serve

What we liked:

Easy and delicious dinner

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was great. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He liked the quinoa. Astrid also loved all aspects of this meal. 

Next time:

No changes needed. 

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Chair Re-upholstery

Our chairs were looking pretty yucky. So one day we just decided to re-do them. We got some fabric from hobby lobby. Our criteria for fabric was that it be easy to wipe down. We got the pneumatic stapler tool from Harbor Freight and some staples and spent 2 night redoing the chairs. We would have been done in one evening, but one of the chairs needed a new seat completely, which we cut out using a jig saw from a piece of plywood and two chairs needed new cushioning, which we cut out from 1" cushioning we got from hobby lobby. On the super broken chair that needed plywood, we double stacked the cushioning to make it super comfy.
The overall process was pretty easy and after we got the hang of the folding and pulling tight it was fairly simple.

We purchased 2 yards of fabric and that was enough to cover 6 chairs with fabric left over. We were lucky because 1 yard could be divided into quarters and each of those covered our chairs perfectly.
We did 4 of the same chairs and then 2 mismatched ones.

After

Before

New in the front, old in the back

Old 





Flax Seed Warming Pillows

For Christmas, we made some flax seed heating pillows (some with lavender in them!). They were really fun to make! We got flax seed from our local Sprouts and the materials from Hancock Fabrics a while ago. The flaxseed we got is a little moist, so the first few times they are warmed up in the microwave they may be moist, but after that they should be dry. The pillows are great for sore muscles and stay warm for up to an hour under covers. If desired, they can also be stored in the freezer and used as a cold pack when needed. We used all cotton fabric and string in order to make sure they would not melt in the microwave.
We sewed up 3 sides (inside out) on the sewing machine, on the 4th side, we left a hole enough to fit in a funnel to get the flax seeds in there.
After filling with flax seeds (and lavender (optional)) we sewed up the hole on the sewing machine as closely as we could so the ridge would not be noticeable.

Final Product

Our Gifts!

Wrapped in a bow!


Sewing machine setting

Sewing machine setting 2

Sewing machine setting 3

sewed on 3 sides

empty pillow

open hole for flax seed pouring

Flax seeds

material 

material

Aquaponics Green House

We are currently in the process of building a green house which will house our aquaponics system.
We have currently put up our frame for the green house, still need to put up the side walls and doors, then it can be covered in plastic. The greenhouse will hold growbeds made out of IBC totes and fish tank from the food grade IBC Tote.

Here is what it currently looks like 12/8/2016: