When all else fails -- comfort food

The words 'comfort food' may be an understatement.

I had hoped to fill the last few blog posts of glorious details of milk chocolate pudgy fingers, dark brown eyes, and little ringlets....

but instead - you get pasta. Cause that's all I got folks. One baby boy referral in past weeks has led to.... zip. zero. zilch. Floodgates opening turned into, well, not.

And, this week we received an email stating that wait times from DTE to referral had been extended for infant girls to 11-18 months. (we will be 11 months July 27th). When we signed on, the wait times for infant girls was 7-10 months with many receiving their referrals in 5-6 months. Which is why we banked on February 2011 as seeing her face. Then, conservatively, early summer. Now.... who knows! We knew it was coming as things were moving too slowly, just kinda hoped that we would be 'luckier' - but we've been told to go ahead and broader our expectations for longer.

So anyway, since Tony is home now, my desire to cook my heart out (literally) can be appeased without knowing that it would be me eating leftovers for 5 days straight after a real meal. Real as in = not from a can.

So my comfort food of choice is spinach. Some it's mac & cheese; me, I go for the super food. I give you one of my favorites........... eat your broken heart out:

Spinach Manicotti

You'll need:

• 1 pkg manicotti or jumbo shells (I think shells are easier to fill) - cook as directed
• 1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta (small container)
• 1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning (OR I add any fresh herbs I may have - basil, oregano, thyme)
• 1 (10 oz) chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeeze water out
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 egg white, beaten
• 1 jar favorite pasta sauce

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and boil pasta
2) Combine spices, eggs, cheeses, and spinach
3) Run pasta under cold water to stop cooking and then fill with cheese/spinach mixture.
4) If not using baking clay (which I do, surprised??) -- spray 9X13 with cooking spray.
5) Pour sauce over filled shells and bake for 20 minutes.

**there really is no way to mess this up and it is simple and oh, oh so good. Eat your heart out adoption process..... I'll just use spinach to bulk up my strength again if I have to.

**And yes - those are toasted hot dog garlic breadsticks. Cause we is just so-fist-if-i-cated like that. Keepin it real folks, keepin it real!!

**And P.S. - even if you aren't a spinach eater - you will love this. I MADE my 17 year old babysitter try it and she is now begging me for the recipe. My boys have also come over to the Popeye side of life and love spinach pastas and pizza. Green stuff that's good for you!

Bestie, BBQ, Beans, and Brownies

I can FINALLY share my pain!! I have been a single mom for about 12 weeks now as the hubs was getting bruised, bashed, and bullied at the police academy. I didn't post about it as well, there are crazy people on the net (not calling any of YOU crazy) - and didn't want said crazy person to know I was by myself for TWELVE.LONG.TEDIOUS.WEEKS. And while the troops at home were pretty well behaved, pretty helpful, and pretty satisfied with the lame excuses that I labeled dinners for those 12 weeks.... I am so, so, SO happy to have him home. And not just cause he takes off the stinky trash (vs. Seth and I throwing it in the back of the Expedition and hence forth having the stink of rotten chicken traveling around with us from now on). And not just cause he is the only one who knows how to iron in the house, and clean the bathrooms well. And not just cause I only cook real dinners when there are two adults who aren't satisfied with frozen pizza or ravioli in residence. But cause I missed my best friend and watching him wrestle, kiss, and play with the kids like I can't. Cause nothing replaces a Daddy. So Daddy, we are so glad to have you home with that badge on your chest, finally! So to celebrate, I am grilling out in true Southern girl fashion tonight. We are originally from the BBQ capital of the world - Lexington, NC. If you have never tried Lexington BBQ, DO. It is primarily a vinegar/ketchup based BBQ and is so moist and tangy that you will crave it. We have seriously had to made BBQ runs for friends in whatever city we were currently living in. And just to show how much I crave it - my oldest child went to the BBQ joint when he was 6 days old - as I couldn't stand being in the house sans pork for any longer than that. Without any more intro, here is our menu for tonight:

Lexington BBQ Style Grilled Chicken Lexington BBQ Baked Beans Coconut Brownies

Lexington BBQ Style Grilled Chicken

You will need: 2 cut up whole chickens (or I just buy a 10 lb bag of quarters when they are on sale) 2 cups cider vinegar 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil 3 T crushed red pepper 4 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper 1) Start in the morning (or night before) by marinating the chicken quarters. I usually pull the skin off to reduce those Southern calories. It's easiest to halve the above marinade recipe into two gallon zip lock bags and do half the chicken at a time. Turning occasionally throughout the day. Chill at least 2-8 hours. (I ran out of freezer bags so just used the rubbermaid, it infuses better with the bags, I think) 2) Remove and discard marinade. 3) Grill with lid on 35-40 minutes.

Lexington BBQ Baked Beans

You will need: 1 roll sausage 1 large onion, chopped 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup favorite BBQ sauce 1 cup brown sugar 3 cans pork-n-beans **I notoriously forget to take photos until I'm cooking mid-stream. So pay no attention to the ground turkey in the photo - but I didn't have an extra sausage to photo! This also explains the opened cans. 1) Cook sausage, drain. Add chopped onion, saute. 2) Add ketchup, BBQ sauce, brown sugar - simmer about 5 minutes. 3) Stir in beans and simmer another 5 minutes. 4) Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Coconut Brownies

You will need: 1 pkg fudge brownies - prepare as directed 10 oz sweetened, flake coconut 1 pkg chocolate and peanut butter chips (these have gotten hard to find - I had to use half a bag of peanut butter and half a bag of milk chocolate this time) 14 oz fat free sweetened condensed milk 1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 2) Spray 9X13 pan with cooking spray. Prepare brownie mix and bake 16-18 minutes. 3) Layer coconut, then chips, then sweetened milk. 4) Bake until chocolate is melty and coconut is beginning to brown. About 20-30 minutes more. Allow to cool before cutting. And now, dear friends, you know why my husband will always come home to me. Cause the above is the recipe that = true love on all counts.

Fresh Strawberry Bread

By request, my Mom's recipe. It really is almost more like a cake than a bread. So soft and yummy warm:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

4 oz. cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped small

Makes 1 loaf

1) Use 9 x 5 pan, grease and flour

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

3) Using electric mixer cream butter with cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time.

4) Sift flour and mix with baking powder, baking soda and salt.

5) Add flour to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix until just blended.

6) Fold in chopped strawberries.

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes. (Mine took a little over 60 minutes).

In the Kitchen - Pizza Marguerite

Since my last recipe post got more hits than most in the last oh, 2 years --- I am again veering off the adoption track into recipe land --- since at the moment - eating and cooking is far more fun than sitting and waiting for the phone to ring anyway!

Today's recipe is my go-to-when-we-are-starving-and-don't-want-a-can-of-instant-soup night. My kids still wont eat it but my meat&potatoes man loves it. For the kids, the pack of pizza crust comes with two - so I just make one a tomato sauce/ cheese regular:

It's a pretty basic pizza recipe but since I have had numerous friends and family email me multiple times asking for the recipe - here goes:

I didn't take a prep photo because it's about as basic as you can get:

1 prepared thin crust pizza - I love Mama Mary's Thin and Crispy. (You can find it near the pizza sauce/spaghetti sauce in Wal-Mart.)
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced
2-3 cups shredded mozzarella
1-2 chopped garlic
Fresh basil - fresh is a MUST
olive oil
shredded Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt & pepper

1) Start by brushing (or finger tip brushing) olive oil across the pizza.
2) Top with mozzarella cheese to cover all the way to edges. Don't skimp on the cheese, you're not using any meat - so that is how I get away from feeling calorie guilty.
3) Top with sliced Roma tomatoes and garlic

In my last recipe I had someone ask for clarification on the fresh garlic chopping. And again, I say - use FRESH ingredients and you will be SO much happier.

Start with a large knife. You'll have to get over your fear someday and let me just say - once you start using a large knife, cutting prep is far more fun and you get a little bit of that Rachel Ray feeling like you actually know how to cook and make millions of dollars at the same time. And I am a clumsy, messy cook and I haven't cut a fingertip off yet. Promise.

Place the garlic clove under the side of the knife and press or hit with your palm to crush the garlic. The skin will then fall away and you will have the peeled garlic perfect and clean without getting it under your fingernails.

Use the knife to rock back and forth over the peeled garlic. This is by far the best way to chop something. Just place the tip of the knife on the cutting board and rock the knife back and forth over it until it is in tiny pieces. You may have to wipe the knife off and then cut it some more as it likes to stick to the sides, but you get the idea.

Do the same with the fresh basil. Roll about 3-4 leaves into a basil 'cigar' and then rock the knife over to cut into small ribbons.
4) Sprinkle the garlic, fresh basil, kosher salt, and pepper over the entire pizza. Top each tomato with shredded Parmesan (although you can leave off if you don't have any) While I'm at this step --- please - throw away that shaker of Parmesan you have in your fridge. Go ahead and admit it, it doesn't have any taste anyway. Buy a bag of shredded instead for your spaghetti and recipes. I always have a bag on hand in my chiller, it lasts forever.

Sometimes I drizzle a little olive oil over the top of the tomatoes as well, sometimes I don't, just to leave the extra calories off. It's all good either way.

**Take note of how dark my pizza stone is - it is slick as can be from about 1,459,352 chocolate chip cookies, 2,346 potstickers, and at least 368 pizzas baked - with no bottoms burned to date.

5) Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes. Just until the cheese is meltey and gorgeous.

Ta-Da. Pizza Marguerite. That my family requests when they come and visit and my husband says even beats out the one at Carabbas. And that's high praise my friends, high praise indeed.

In the Kitchen - Baked Potstickers

So in case you haven't noticed - I started a little page to the right where I can store my favorite recipes. I LOVE to cook and try new things. And then I LOVE to hold food in front of my husband or kids demanding "taste it! no really, taste it!!!!!"

Maybe that's why I specialized in feeding therapy with the babies so I can do the same to them vs. torture my husband. At least I did go through training to find out how to hold a spoon in front of a toddler's mouth for 45 minutes while they scream and refuse to eat. Fun, fun. As an added, 'about me' fact, in my hospital internship, I gagged stroke victims with 9 inch frozen Q-tips dipped in the most sour substance available (to increase swallowing muscles). How many of you still think being a speech therapist is a boring job now?!?

So on to my first official recipe post - yeaaaah!!! This one is actually a modified Pampered*Chef recipe that the fam and I have fallen in love with. It takes a little time (maybe 20 min prep) but is fun for the kids to help out with.

Baked Potstickers w/ Red Jalapeno Dipping Sauce

Potsticker Ingredients:

• 1 can (10 oz) chunk white chicken; drained
• 1/4 cup grated carrot
• 1 tsp peeled and finely grated ginger root
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 tsp onion flakes
• 1 garlic clove, pressed

• pack of Wonton Wrappers - found in produce section

Let me add here: if you have never used fresh garlic and/or ginger - DO. It is very cheap - the above little chunk of ginger cost 12 cents. And the taste is just so much more amazing than the powdered or even canned versions.

Just in case you have never used ginger (which I hadn't until this recipe). You first peel the skin back on a bit, leaving a 'handle' for you to hold onto while you grate on a fine section of the grater. Watch out not to grate your fingertips. That hurts.... big time.As far as fresh garlic goes - either use a garlic press so you don't have to peel the outside skin off - which I did for this recipe. Or you can smash the garlic clove with the broad side of a knife, peel away the outside peel, and chop really, really fine. Which is how I use garlic in most recipes. (and for those pro chefs out there -- sorry for the elementary cooking lesson but I have some younger readers I know would be emailing me to ask how to do it!) Fresh garlic makes the biggest difference in ALL my recipes.

2. Once you get the mix together. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

3. Time for the fun - filling the Wonton Wrappers. Keep a bowl of water nearby to wet your fingertips, and dampen separated Wonton Wrappers so they will close easily. Spoon a tsp (or little less) of the mix into the center of each.

You then can choose to fold your potstickers into any design you would like. The three I like to make are a tootsie roll, an envelope, and one where I bring up each corner and pinch the diagonal sides together to form a kind of flower. The kids love making these. Just make sure your edges seal or the mix will seep out while baking. Arrange on clay baking sheet. You don't have to have room between as they wont expand.

** let me also say I am an addict for clay baking products. I have a large sheet pan, a brownie pan, a lasagna pan, a casserole dish, a mini pan, and a muffin pan. Have I said I love the clay baking products!?! The bottoms don't burn and cookies come out puuuuurfect as the clay lets heat go all the way through the food and cook evenly. That and clean-up is so easy - you just let cool, rinse with water, and scrape the food right off without having to soak and scrub. I have tried my potstickers on a regular baking sheet when I was making 2 batches at the same time and the baked-on-clay ones were much better - just watch out for bottom burning on a regular sheet.
**Notice how the pan to the right is twice as dark? It's because I have used it twice as long and it is now naturally twice as slick. It's called 'seasoning' and the older/darker a pan is - the better it is to cook on.

4. Bake until the edges start to crisp a little and potstickers are golden brown. Around 12-14 minutes.

Dipping Sauce Ingredients:

5. To make the dipping sauce, which is fantastic, you will need:

• 1/2 cup red jalapeno jelly
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 T soy sauce

Microwave 30-40 seconds at a time, stirring to melt jelly. Whisk or stir until well blended.

** this makes a decent amount. The kids like to dip their potstickers into plain soy sauce so Tony and I always have left over sauce. I use to halve the recipe but then found it refrigerated well so I now make it and store it in an oil salad dressing or glass bottle. This sauce is SO good on rice - don't let the jalapeno jelly throw you off - it is really a great mix. Spicy but sweet.

Serve with white rice and sauce. And I promise you, you wont have leftovers. Which is good because the wontons don't warm well the second go round.

** for anyone on Weight Watchers - I ran the points based on my modified recipe and it was 8 pts for 5 potstickers.

If you try it - let me know what you think! I've had great reviews as I have taken these to many different functions and they have always been a hit.

Bloggy Christmas Cookie Exchange

Oh, I am such a sucker for anything sweet...

My adoption buddy at "My Crazy Adoption" just started her 1st annual Bloggy Christmas Cookie Exchange and hey, anything that does not involve me putting any brain cells into a real post, but keeps my peeps coming back to visit every once in a while - I can go for.

So here is the simple, but glorious, chocolatey cookie dessert that I promise you will thank me for. Cause every time I make it, everyone loves it and I get the credit, although my friend Amy actually shared the recipe with me. So go ahead, make it simple and then rake in the compliments for the easiest taste of Heaven ever:

Cookie Dough Heaven:
1 large refrigerated choc. chip cookie dough roll (or two regular size)
1 cream cheese (or low-fat version)
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Press 1/2 of the dough down in a 9X13 pan until covers most of bottom. Mix cheese, egg, and sugar and spread over the top of the dough. Drop crumbles of the remaining dough all over top. (it wont cover it all, that's fine). Bake around 30 min or until cookies on top are beginning to brown. Best when served room temp.

And.... as an added bonus - my famous homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe -
A few years back, I had a cute little questionnaire where I asked the boys questions about their mom. What do you love most about your mom? She makes us cookies. What does your mom do best? make cookies. What is your favorite thing that your mom cooks? Her cookies.

Mind you, they were interviewed separately. So I'm thinking that a little extra effort for the homemade variety has scored me a few brownie points. However, after typing the above, I'm preeetty sure that the first lady now has me on her hit list and will be contacting DSS to report my poor parenting - as everyone knows, we should not show our love through our food.

Home-Made Choc. Chip Cookies:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 1/4 cups a.p. flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 cups semi-sweet choc chips (1 if you want to taste the cookie, 2 if you are a chocolate addict like me)

Preheat to 375. Mix sugars, butter, and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Batter will be stiff. Stir in chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto baking clay, 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes.

**to me, the secret to a perfect cookie is the baking clay. It allows the heat to go through the cookie instead of charring the bottom or having hard bottom, soft top cookies. It's just perfect - thank you Pampered Chef...

Thanksgiving Milkshakes and White Chicken Chili

So, as an update to my "why? why? whine" - the holiday went great. Wed night we went as a group to Riverbanks Zoo for the Lights before Christmas. It is always so much fun but at 39 degrees, it was a little nippy and we were feeling kinda idiotic! But the kids had a great time and we had fun getting to know our new neighbor and her two boys (that my boys love playing with).

Addison really did not want anything to do with this Santa character. He is the same Santa that has been there every year since we moved here and is just so sweet. I really think he may be the real thing. Santa talks to each child as long as they want, is patient with parents who take about 15 shots of their wiggly kiddo, and is just the cutest man ever. I had convinced her to get within spitting distance of him to tell him that she wanted a Barbie for Christmas. I misspoke and said "you have to tell him you want a Barbie and he will give you one for Christmas." Didn't think of adding, "on Christmas a month from now." So she lets me sit on the arm of his chair for the picture and then holds out her little hand as if to say "alright dude, hand over the Barbie". Then we get a little 3-year old tantrum as we walk away with her screaming "Barbie, my Barrrrrrbie". Little misunderstood, sweet child.


Thursday we had the best dinner at our new friends Chuck and Lauren's. Awesome food and even better, they asked us to play NERTZ!!!!!!! T and I lit up like the Christmas lights! To those outside of our old small group, Nertz is just by far the best and most fun card game EVER!! It is also a game that everyone in SC either doesn't know how to play, plays at my grandma's speed, or hates! So this was our first challenging Nertz game in about 5 years. (We were sorely out of practice and got our butts beat but didn't care at all.) No T tantrums that night! The icing on the cake of that evening is that Chuck and Lauren also have 3 children which played so nicely with our 3. It was nice to have someone else who completely shrugs off the child who peed in their kitchen, the playdough and popcorn in the carpet, and a trashed bonus room. Real bonding!!

Fri. I woke at 6:30, was at Wal-Mart at 6:45, Charlotte by 8:00 a.m. and returned home after the hour and a half drive and loads of caffeine consumed all day at an early 11:15.....P.M. It was great to have our yearly shopping trip bonding with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin. We had a blast. Love those yearly Steak-N-Shake milkshakes!!

Sat. we hosted a cook-out with a friend of T's and met his wife and girls. We had planned to watch the Gamecocks game but gave up on them at halftime. Good thing we don't really care!! It was fun but after Wed-Fri., I was running on empty. No matter how much caffeine I drank. Then we had a birthday party to go to last night. T had invited other friends over this evening, Sunday. But as I lay paralyzed on the couch, I told him, "you have got to cancel tomorrow night." I realized that with 4 days off, I had barely seen my children face to face and really missed them. That and all day they had been asking, "when can we put the tree up? Why is it that everyone else has decorations up and we don't? When can we make the gingerbread house?" I felt like a heel. A tired, cracked, crusty, old woman's heel. Yuck.

So today we put up the trees (one for us, one for them, and an itty-bitty one for Addison). See, I'm smart like that - they decorate theirs so mommy can have her perfectly placed balls and absolute balance of cranberry strands and OCD spaced ornaments. Theirs is absolutely hilarious. I think if they added just one more ornament to the front, it would probably topple over. We may just find it face down tomorrow morning...


We ended the evening with White Chicken Chili (yum,yum) and the Tinkerbell movie on Disney. And I am going to bed a happy woman. Thankful, happy, and utterly exhausted. So I decided to write this blog at 11:00. Makes sense doesn't it???

As an early Christmas present, here is the Chili recipe:

2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 cups finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground coriander
2 (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chilies, undrained
1 cup water
2 (15.5 oz) cans cannellini or white beans (rinsed and drained if needed)
1 (14 oz) can fat-free chicken broth
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 cup (or more to taste) Monterey Jack shredded cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (we had to use the dried and it was still great)

** Heat a skillet over med-high heat. Coat with spray or olive oil and brown chicken until done but still moist.
** In large soup pot or Dutch oven, brown onion in oil or spray over med-high heat. Add garlic and saute 2 min. more before adding all spices. Stir in chiles, reduce heat to low and cook for about 10 min. Add chicken, water, broth, beans, and bring to simmer. Cook an additional 10 min. Add hot sauce to pot immediately before serving. Serve with around 2 T cheese over each bowl and tad of cilantro. Great with corn muffins.

** only 5.9 grams of fat per 1 cup serving. How's that for an early Christmas present?? Just trying to balance out the milkshake, folks.