December's Featured Blog of the Month

It's that time of the year- the time of the year where I like to get all crafty and DIYy and dream of the day when Lily and I can get creative together (at this time, she's not even interested in coloring). Whenever I browse through the posts on Whole Child Creative Curriculum, this month's featured Up-and-Coming Blog, I always mentally bookmark the great ideas Carla has on her awesome blog. Some fun recent entries are "Owl Finger Puppets and Rhyme" which includes a link to finger puppet-making instructions and cute rhymes to sing with your little one while you put on a show, and a fun and easy way to make your own homemade piñata with the aptly titled "How to Make a Piñata".

If you have kids preschool age, this is the blog for you- it's perfect for rainy days when you're stuck in doors, or for whenever you want a fun activity for your kids that's as creative as it is educational. There are even recipes you can do with your preschooler! Since it's the holiday season, I'm betting she'll be featuring plenty of fun Christmas crafts and projects for you to enjoy with your son and/or daughter.

So, stop by and show Carla some love for her rockin' blog!

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Simple Turkey Soup

Here is the second recipe in my Thanksgiving series, and will likely be the final one unless I come up with something else awesome. This one is pretty quick and simple as long as you have the stock ready. This would make the ideal quick lunch, at home or to-go.

Simple Turkey Soup

4 cups turkey stock (click here for recipe)

2 cups water

2 cups chunks of roast turkey

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 celery stalks, sliced

1 small or medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Saute the onion and garlic with the seasonings in the olive oil until fragrant for about 5 minutes. Add the turkey and veggies and stir around until coated with the aromatics for about 1 minute then add the stock and water. Boil until carrots are softened. Add seasoning to your liking. Ready to serve or store! Great with crackers and cheese or rolls fresh out of the oven.

This is super easy. You can even make it per bowl if you have everything right on hand; in fact, that’s what I did when I made a version of this with just the turkey, veggies and a little seasoning in broth. I simply boiled the stock then threw in all the ingredients, cooking for 5 minutes on high. Even easier!

I neglected to talk about the health benefits of turkey in my last post, so here’s that info now if you were wondering. First of all, not only is turkey particularly high in protein, but- as we all know –it contains a significant amount of tryptophan, which is notoriously known to promote sleepiness, when in fact there is no research that proves this. It also contains, selenium, B6 and B12, and is a good choice if you are on a low fat diet as it is not associated with the health risks that eating red meat is.

Now I want to talk about celery, which is actually a pretty amazing detoxifier. It contains a large amount of vitamin K as most green veggies do, and a fair share of folate, and vitamins A and C. Celery has cholesterol and blood pressure lowering benefits and acts as a strong diuretic making it the perfect addition to your detoxifying fresh-squeezed juice. In fact, here’s a really good recipe for your juicer if you happen to have one.

Detoxifier

1 apple

2 regular size carrots or 1 large one

2 celery stalks

1 small piece of ginger, approximately the size of your thumb

Squirt of lemon juice

Throw it all in the juicer according to instructions and top off with a squirt of lemon before drinking. Very refreshing!

I also just found out, according to WHFoods.com, that celery contains “coumarins that help prevent free radicals from damaging cells, thus decreasing the mutations that increase the potential for cells to become cancerous.” Pretty interesting! This is a vegetable that is often over looked and merely thought of as a “diet food” or filler for soups and stews, when in fact it is good for you in a number of ways. Makes a great snack with some peanut butter or pimento spread on top!

Lily loves celery with peanut butter on it; it’s the only way she’ll eat it actually! Celery is very good for your little one who has trouble eliminating due to it’s diuretic properties and large amount of fiber. If your young child or toddler (with teeth) has tummy troubles, give them a piece of celery to chew on.

Here’s a classic you may already know that your kids will enjoy:

Frogs on a Log

2-4 celery stalks cut into quarters

Cream cheese

2-4 green olives, sliced

Spread some cream cheese onto each celery section enough so that the little cavern is filled. Top with 4-6 olive slices as shown in the picture below. Serve as an afternoon snack.

Image courtesy delish.com

Kids will like the name and you will like that it’s healthy and easy to make. You could also use peanut butter and raisins instead!

Do you have any interesting celery recipes to share? Share in the comments!

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Spicy Shepherd's Pie with Turkey

So, since I hosted Thanksgiving this year, obviously I had plenty of leftovers. Especially turkey since I thought it was a good idea to get a 17.7 lb bird for 6 people (at least it was free from Shop Rite!).  But, no worries- I love leftovers! I made some yummy stuff with them, and here’s the first one!

Spicy Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

2 cups shredded roast turkey

2 cups mashed poatatoes

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 stalks celery, sliced

1 cup turkey stock

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

¾ cup grated shredded cheese

Chopped fresh parsley for topping

Preheat oven to 400. Saute the carrot, onion and celery in olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat until carrot is softened. Add the garlic and other seasonings and cook for about 1 minute more. Add the turkey and then flour until well mixed. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture thickens for about 5-7 minutes more. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add half of the amount of seasoning suggested above if you do not like it to be too spicy. 

Cookin'

About to go into the oven

Once mixture is ready, grease casserole dish and cover the bottom with the turkey mixture. Layer the top with the mashed potatoes, followed by the shredded cheese and parsley (or you could add the parsley after it’s out of the oven). Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until cheese starts to bubble. Let stand for at least 5 minutes before serving. Went great with leftover green bean casserole!

Fresh out the oven

Delish

This was extremely tasty, I liked it even better than the traditional shepherd’s pie with beef. Using turkey makes it much healthier since it’s a lean meat (unless you use mostly dark meat, but it’s still better for you than beef!). The mixture of seasonings is super aromatic and your taste buds will be dancing! The day after once the seasonings had settled even more, it tasted even better!

Lily found this a bit too spicy for her taste, although she dug the mashed potatoes with cheese. She opted for the leftover beets with broccoli and queso blanco (a new favorite) instead. If you have children who do like spicy food, try this! They will love it! Otherwise, just make it less spicy by starting with a ¼ tsp of the cayenne and go from there according to taste.

Enjoying her beets with broccoli (and actually offering me a bite with the hand you don't see extended towards the camera)

You could also use chicken stock if you did not think to make stock out of the leftover turkey bones. If you happen to still have some bones left, here’s a super simple recipe for turkey stock:

Ingredients

A pot full of turkey bones with some meat left on them

6-8 cups water (depending on how many bones there are)

1 tbsp olive oil (optional)

1 tbsp thyme

1 tbsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Throw everything in a large pot and boil for 30 minutes. Cook for an additional 1-2 hours over a simmer, enough so that it is still a bit bubbly. Drain broth and store in fridge for later use.

Check back tomorrow for an other leftover turkey recipe using the stock (can you guess what that might be?). Next week I should be back to my normally scheduled programming, including Meatless Monday, featured blog of the month, and a Friday Family Favorite! Thanks for reading!

How My First Time Hosting Thanksgiving Went

Well, my first time cooking and hosting Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be a success. Everything came out tasting good, nothing got burned, I made (almost) everything I wanted to make, and absolutely no one left my house hungry! We had my parents and our friends and their son over and everyone contributed something. My dad made the gravy, my friends made sautéed beets and rice and beans with turkey, my mom made candied yams, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and brought a pecan pie, and I made the turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, stuffing, and pumpkin cheesecake. Paul cleaned up :)

For starters we had a platter with spicy cold cuts like carrots and cauliflower, mozzarella with proscuitto, olives and cheese, accompanied- of course -by crackers. I also finally got to make these delightful-looking mini apple and brie quiches I'd been wanting to make ever since I saw the recipe in Eating Well last year. They came out very yummy and everyone enjoyed them!

So delicate and easy to make!

Handling a cold, sticky, strange-feeling, very dead and hairless turkey for the first time was an eerie experience indeed, at least at first. After I got over having to pull the neck out from inside the carved-out bird (I’m embarrassed to say I did not find the gizzard bag until after the turkey was cooked!) and got past a mini meltdown, things were pretty smooth sailing from there. I had expected my parents to arrive a bit early so they could assist me with preparing the turkey since I felt a bit clueless, but suffice to say, they did not arrive when I thought they would, so I had to “wing it” (Haha, get it? Get it??). I stuffed the bird with crumbled cornbread, chopped gala apple, fresh cranberries, turkey sausage, celery and a variety of herbs; I smothered it with canola oil, orange juice, lemon juice, and mixed herbs including oregano, rosemary, and sage; then, I let it sit in a trough of water with added orange and lemon slices and fresh sprigs of tarragon, rosemary and marjoram. 

The bird after 2 hours. Here's the recipe used

It didn’t take as long to cook as I thought it would, and when it was done it was beautiful! I never thought I could be so proud of something I cooked. The squeals of delight and mouths singing “mmm” around the table was enough to let me know I’d done it right. Honestly, I thought it could have been juicier, but for my first time, it turned out even better than I had imagined.

Finito!

The stuffing was my “bold” dish, as it was inherently fruity and contained an interesting blend of herbs and spices. The one thing I was disappointed in about it was (and this was my error) I felt I added too much lemon juice, although everyone else said they thought it was just fine. I really liked having the gala apples in it though, I must say.

The stuffing was based on this recipe

The green bean casserole was the traditional Campbell’s recipe, so no surprises there. The rolls were…as much as I hate to admit…Pillsbury, only because I wanted to keep that simple due to lack of oven space. The mashed potatoes I also kept classic and simple, making them with Idaho potatoes, butter, chives, garlic, salt and pepper. The gravy was light (in a good way), but very tasty and disappeared quickly. The beets were Lily’s favorite and very tender, and the turkey with rice and beans my friends brought was quite a treat since I don’t normally have that type of dish on T Day (I was glad they left the leftovers with us!). 

This was always my favorite growing up

You can't go wrong with mashed potatoes

Basic buttermilk rolls

I believe- other than the turkey –the candied yams were the star of the show; everyone loved them (except Lily, who was in a picky mood and decided to eat only fruits, rice and yams throughout the day) and they went quickly as well. Half of what Paul ate consisted of the yams. They were really buttery and sweet and topped with lots of marshmallows!

Yummmm...I wish I'd gotten a shot of the bright orange sweet potatoes underneath

For dessert, I only had the pumpkin cheesecake I made and I was mostly pleased with that. It tasted very good, albeit a little dryer than I wanted since I think I let it bake a little longer than I should’ve, but the other pies looked great too. The apple pie seemed to be the most popular; it had the most delicious golden crust and cranberries which made it extra sweet and tangy. We truly ate like kings and queens for this blessed day.

Mom's cranberry apple pie glistening in the sunlight

We enjoyed red Carter wine chilled with sliced oranges, a sweet white Qualitatswein, and a heavy red Italian wine my friends brought that made quite sleepy after only a few sips. I had four glasses and somehow managed to not even get tipsy (if only a bit tired).

The Qualitatswein- MERROW!

It was quite a day with Gozilla vs Mothra and Elmo in Grouchland on the tube to entertain the guests, gorgeous sunny weather, and lots of good people. Lily and my friend’s son, Louis, looked adorable in their holiday clothes! (Sorry to say i did not get single decent shot of them together!) I have so much to be thankful for, and I just wanted to share my gratitude with my readers and my experience in cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully I will get back on my A Game and start regularly posting again, so check back soon!

P.S. If you wrote an awesome post about how your Turkey Day went, please post a link in the comments! I would love to read all about it!

Meatless WEDNESDAY: Curried Acorn Squash Soup

Here is the recipe I had wanted to post for Meatless Monday this week, but due to a currently very busy schedule, here it is today.

Curried Acorn Squash Soup

Ingredients

3 medium or 2 large acorn squash, halved and seeded

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 to 4 teaspoons curry powder

2 tablespoons butter

3 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1 cup half-and-half cream

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350 degrees and put acorn squash to roast on trays or shallow baking dishes for 35-40 minutes. Once squash is nice and tender- enough so you can slide a fork into it –take out to cool. Meanwhile, sauté the onion and curry powder in butter in a medium or large pot for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, then scoop the squash out of the rinds and add to pot. Gradually add broth, mixing and mashing the squash as you go. Cook over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, or until the squash is very soft. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then put into a blender and puree, or blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in the cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper until well mixed and serve.

Cooking and mashing the squash

I added some crumbled apple chips as garnish along with an extra sprinkling of nutmeg. Some other garnish options are:

• Bacon bits
• Swirl of sour cream or plain yogurt
• Fresh chives
• Fresh sweet parsley
• Fresh apple slices

Lovely squash, pre-slicing and mashing and pureeing

These babies are hard to cut! Just look at the marks the knife left on my hand! Use the sharpest and sturdiest one you got when cutting these guys!

Lily playing with Bert and Ernie while I work my kitchen magic

As you can see, I did not have much success in cutting the squash up into perfectly halved slices, so don't worry if you have trouble too; they roasted just fine this way

Yum

This soup was amazing!!! I never had acorn squash before (usually butternut), but it tasted pretty much exactly the same as butternut. Acorn squash is full of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and lots of fiber. It also offers antioxidant and anti-inflammatory support andeven may help lower blood sugar. Squash in general is very diverse; you can roast it, sauté it, puree it, candy it, bake it….so many options!

For baby:

Mash up about 1/4 cup of roasted squash with a fork or in a food processor with a few tbspns of breast milk or formula. Voila! Kids and tots should enjoy some roasted squash with butter; sweeten it up with a little agave syrup if they have sweet teeth!

The lovely end result

What Lily had: mashed squash (which I'm sorry to say she did not enjoy) and left over chicken noodle soup

"I'm thirsty, Mama!"

Have a happy Thanksgiving! Let me know if you decide to use this recipe and tell me how it goes!!!

Meatless Monday will post tomorrow!

Hello, fellow meat-free Mondayers! I am feeling a little under the weather today and had quite a full weekend, so I did not get to write a post for today and don't plan to today since I want to rest and focus on work and taking care of Lily. I will try to post something tomorrow (since I have a really delicious acorn squash soup recipe that will make a great first course this Thanksgiving!) or some day this week so please check back! Please look at past Meatless Monday options for your animal-friendly meal tonight!

November Cookies: White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I used to work at a Crabtree & Evelyn a few years ago and they sold cookies like the ones in the recipe below; they were my favorite! I figured I could try and make them myself, so here is a version that uses whole wheat flour and less sugar than most cookie recipes. The tartness of the cranberries with the delicate white chocolate makes them sweet enough, and the whole wheat flour and oats add the whole grain goodness that make these cookies guilt-free.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

    ½ cup sugar

    ½ cup packed brown sugar

    1 cup butter, softened

    2 large eggs

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    ½  teaspoon salt

    1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

    1 ½ cups rolled oats

    1 cup dried cranberries

    1 cup white chocolate chips

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the sugars, butter and vanilla together until smooth, then add the eggs one at a time. Bit by bit, add the dry ingredients to the wet, beating until well blended. Once the flour has been added, add the oats and then lastly add the white chocolate chips and cranberries.

Preheat the oven to 350. Drop rounded spoonfuls of cookie dough onto ungreased baking sheets in rows, at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-15 minutes in oven on center rack until golden brown. Allow to cool before serving and then enjoy.

Once again I did not have an image of them readily available, but this picture courtesy cookingchanneltv.com looks a lot like how mine turned out the last time I made them

Cranberries are a well-known diuretic that help prevent urinary track infection, and help your bladder in general. Because of this, they are great for helping flush out your system if there are toxins in your body you want to eliminate; I suggest giving some to your baby or child after they’ve had vaccines to help remove toxic preservative chemicals left over from the initial shot (apples and lemon juice are also verygood to help draw out the aluminum found in most vaccines). Cranberriesalso contain a fair amount of anti-oxidants, vitamin C, manganese andfiber. They’re also in season now, and these cookies would even make a great treat for after your big Thanksgiving meal this year.

These cookies are great for little ones the same way the Honey, Flax ‘n Almond Cookies are since they use whole wheat flour; honey can also be used in place of sugar if you want, just use about 25% less (3/4 cup).

Here is a bonus recipe since it’s flu season now and my little Lily has a little cold right now, giving her the runniest nose I have ever seen. Since she hasn’t quite mastered soup yet, I made her some chicken broth-infused pasta for dinner yesterday which she gobbled up, and it genuinely seemed to make her feel a lot better. Here it is below:

Lily-style Chicken Noodle Soup

1 cup chicken broth (preferably organic)

¼ cup small-shaped pasta (I used alphabet shapes)

1 clove garlic, diced

1 tsp olive oil

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil in a small pot for about 3 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then add the pasta and cook until fairly soft, or to your child’s preference. Serve the pasta strained from the broth, but still very wet. Add a little grated cheese like Parmesan (Lily’s favorite) to entice your tike even more, but just a little as the dairy could make their phlegm thicker. You can also add chopped veggies, like peas and carrots, to this soup; I would’ve, but not only was I out of any ready-to-use frozen veggies, but Lily has also been quite picky due to her little cold. You can keep the broth for other uses, or just drink it yourself (I gave it to Paul since he’s been sick too, hence why Lily now is and why I most likely will be by the weekend d%@%it!). 

Num-num pasta

My little sickface. She likes to take her bibs off now as you can see

Do you have any sick-busting recipes you’re kids enjoy that you’d like to share? Tell me about them in the comments! Have a great weekend!