Hummus

We wanted hummus, so we made it ourselves one day. So fast, quick and easy! Delicious.
We always have tahini on hand so the only thing we really need to buy special is the chickpeas.
Making your own hummus is so quick and easy and it's always fresh.

Here is the base recipe that we used: http://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/

It's great with some chips, or carrots, or celery to dip in with!

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can chickpeas
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons water
Sumac powder for serving

Directions:

1. Add everything into a blender (we use the NutriBullet) and mix!
2. Place into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with sumac powder and serve!

What we liked:

So quick, easy and delicious!

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was great!

What Kaspian thought about it:

He LOVES hummus. Even more than his sister. 

Next time:

No changes. 

Chicken Gnocchi Soup - ala Olive Garden

We recently bought some gnocchi at Costco and have been having fun with new recipes. We also have a recipe to make gnocchi, but we haven't quite gotten there yet.

This was a really great soup. It wasn't quite like Olive Garden's, but it may have been even better in some regards. We also didn't like the soup as much as a cream sauce with spinach and pine nut gnocchi recipe, but it was fun to try something different. We can definitely see this recipe as being great for a colder evening or a nice rainy day.

Here is the original recipe: https://therecipecritic.com/2016/09/creamy-chicken-gnocchi-soup-olive-garden-copycat/

Close up

Prepared!

Served!

Goodness in a bowl!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
½ cup celery diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half
1 14 ounce can chicken broth
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup fresh spinach leaves, chopped
1 cup diced cooked chicken breast (I used rotisserie)
1 16 ounce package potato gnocchi
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pot add butter and olive oil.
2.Over medium high heat sauté onion, celery and garlic until tender. Add the flour to create a roux and cook for another minute.
3. Slowly add the half and half and chicken broth and stir until it starts to thicken. Add the thyme, carrots, spinach, chicken and gnocchi.
4. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until gnocchi is cooked and soup is thickened.
5. Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

What we liked:

It was a fun new recipe

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was good. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He liked the gnocchi, although he mostly wanted them out of the soup. Astrid loved everything.

Next time:

I am not sure if we will make it again. While it was fun to try, it didn't really seem as memorable to make again 

Banana Nut Muffins ...with chocolate!

We have made these muffins twice now. The first time we made them using just the base recipe. They turned out delicious. They do come out a little brown, but I think that is because of the amount of butter in them. It seems like a lot, but it is really worth it.
The second time we made them, we added chocolate chips - this made the muffins even better! From now on we will definitely do this modification more often! We also added a little bit of coconut flour (just for fun!) There didn't seem to be much taste difference, it seemed maybe a little sweeter. But, it could be a good mix in for those with dietary restrictions in regards to the amount of flour they can have. Wouldn't recommend substituting too much with the coconut flour, but a small amount turned out just fine.
Also, we did not separate the banana to mush a part of it separately. We just put all of it into the stand mixer. This seemed to work out fine and we still maintained texture in the muffins as we wanted.
This recipe does seem to make more than the original recipe suggests...seems like all the muffin/cupcake recipes do! Not sure if it's because we are at altitude here or something else. We ended up making 36 mini muffins and 12 large muffins.

Here is the original recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/banana-nut-muffins-recipe-1915828

With Chocolate chips!

Attempt #2 with choc. chips

Original Recipe

Original Recipe Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray with oil 2 muffin tins. (We would also do a mini muffin tray with the 2 muffin tins - you should have enough batter.)
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. Add the bananas to an stand mixer fitted with a wire whisk. Whip the bananas and sugar together until mixed. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and continue beating.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Remove from stand mixer.
5. Add in the nuts and chocolate chips.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway.
7. Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean about 20 minutes. The mini-muffins will need less time - test with a toothpick. It should be 12-15 minutes for them. 

What we liked:

This is a great recipe. The muffins are really delicious especially with the chocolate chip additions!

What we didn't like:

This recipe does feel like more work than others though. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He loves the muffins. SO does Astrid! - especially the chocolate chips. 

Next time:

It would be fun to add some sugar crystal sprinkles to the top of the muffins for prettyness. 

Astrid Hair Days

There is a lady at Astrid's Daycare that does awesome hairstyles! Here they are.
Astrid won't let us touch her hair, so we get to really enjoy it when she comes home with these fun creations on her head :)

Meringue Whipped Cream Cake aka failed french macaron fix

So we tried to make macaron cookies...such as here, however, they uummm didn't go as planned.
They just didn't puff up as they should have and the dough was just simply the wrong consistency. So, rather than scrapping the attempt, we converted them to a cake :)
Instead of meringue dots, we made 3 rectangles to bake for the cake layers. And the ones, we did attempt to make into meringues that kind of failed, we used as the cake decorations.
For the frosting we used just whipped cream.



It was a fun experiment and although was not the meringue cookies we were going to was a fun cake dessert! :) 

Apple pie cake

We have made this apple pie cake before, but this time we added some modifications - mainly just added raisins and nuts. It turns out great every time and is a great use of apples - even ones that are have been laying around for a while (maybe wrinkly but still good!)

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
3 apples - you can peel them if you want, but don't have to
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup nuts (we used pecans) 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Beat eggs and sugar in a stand mixer. Slowly Add flour.
3. Mix in apples, raisins and nuts by hand.
4. Spray a pie pan and pour pie cake mixture into it.
5. Bake for about an hour until toothpicks comes out clean. 

What we liked:

Super easy to make and great use of apples!

What we didn't like:

Nick actually didn't like the raisins...he thinks they are too squishy!

What Kaspian thought about it:

He is not a fan of pie cakes. However, Astrid loves them!! But then again, she loves any sweet!

Next time:

Leave the raisins out for Nick. 

Cherry Rosemary Chicken with Couscous

We made this a few days ago. The cherries go sooo well with the chicken and it's a super easy, fun and quick recipe. The result is very delicious and it looks beautiful also!
In addition, it made for great lunches for the next day as well.

The original recipe for the cherry rosemary chicken is here: http://heatherchristo.com/2016/08/08/rosemary-cherry-balsamic-roasted-chicken/

Rosermary Cherry Chicken with Couscous!

Out of the Oven!

Yum couscous!

Ready to bake!

Ingredients:

Cherry Rosemary chicken:
5 small chicken breasts (we used frozen)
6 fresh sprigs of rosemary - leaves taken off the stems
2 cups pitted cherries - cut in half
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt

Couscous:
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups couscous
2 tablespoons butter
salt or other spices - we used a tuscan garlic blend (about a tablespoon) 

Directions:

For the chicken:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
2. Place all ingredients into an oven safe dish and mix together.
3. Bake for about an hour or until chicken has cooked through. For us, it was about an hour since we put them in frozen.

Couscous:
1. Bring water with butter and spices to a boil.
2. Add couscous.
3. Turn off heat and cover. Let stand for about 5 minutes and fluff with fork before serving. 

What we liked:

The flavor combination was pretty incredible. The time to prepare was also very short. It took the longest to pit the cherries, but overall the prep time was minimum. We used the rosemary from our garden! 

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was great. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He liked the couscous (Even with all the spices!) 

Next time:

No change! This is a great dish!