Cooking: Sunshine daydreams...wishful thinking

Stuck in my head all weekend!

Seriously, Sunshine, COME BACK!

We had about 1,000 inches of rain this weekend. So, joke, it rained so much that my driveway was a pond. And I live on the top of a hill. Foul, foul weather. 

Yesterday, the sun appeared for  14 seconds (while I was in church) and then back came the rain. 

Uhm...hello! It's MAY.

I am NOT complaining. We always need rain, my garden is going to go bonkers and I will be a happy camper tomorrow. Once the sun comes back.

This weekend we learned a valuable lesson in parenting...check the reason for the R rating of a movie before you spur of the moment decide to take your 12 and 13 year old daughters to it. On the up side, we confirmed we are a very open family.

 On the downside, Steve squirmed for two hours during The Big Wedding.

This week, we have a lull in the crazy. The calendar is empty until Friday. Of course homework will be ramped up as it is the end of the end. We can handle that. 

Casa Swann Breather Week Menu

• Pork Chops with Onions and Apples/sweet potato salad with mustard vinaigrette/balsamic roasted tomatoes/broccoli
• Crock pot chicken fajitas/ black bean/corn salad
• Salmon burgers/ roasted zucchini/ mashed maple sweet potatoes
• Vegetarians red beans and rice/ sauteed spinach

*We have cut back greatly on the amount of grains we eat. I have personally not seen a huge difference in weight, but I have seen that when I do eat them, I am immediately tired. 

Now if I could only get rid of our sweet teeth!

Cooking: A menu and a birthday

As I said earlier, April to me has always been "Karen's month". I felt a little awkward getting married days before her birthday in 1998. She has always been the candle burning brightest in our family.

A fun, kooky girl, she is affectionately known as Krazy Aunt Karen by her nieces and nephews.  She is the most stylish and funniest person I know.

I have always felt a little dowdy standing next to her. Like the hump back sister that is allowed in photos. Karen is gorgeous and always has been. 

Cooking: Soup is my one true love

We went to a couple of parties this weekend in our neighborhood.

They were really nice. However, we ate pretty much nothing at either one of them.

A few bites of dip and some delicious cookies. 

Needless to say, we did not get enough to eat.

That usually leads to cheese and crackers at about midnight.

 So by Sunday, we were not only starving but in need of some healthy food.

Cooking: Oh, slow cooker, oh slow cooker...you are my best friend!

The holidays are here! 

 

I am in the spirit in every way except buying gifts. 

I have bought a few, but nothing grand or exciting.

I miss having little kids for that very reason.

I am really excited, though, by how much fun I am having with my kids.

This morning for instance, we went and bought presents (Hershey Kisses and nail polish) for one daughter's friends after her plan to make them all cookies fell apart last night when we realized we needed about 100 cookies. We sat in the parking lot of Walgreens stuffing bags, tying them up and listening to and singing Christmas carols. I noticed the moment for once and it was really awesome.

This week, we are finishing up school for the year. Then the real fun begins. 

Marathon movies (did this Sunday and it was glorious), hot chocolate, starting finishing shopping, wrapping presents, making cookies and just having fun is the name of the game.

 Swim practice is our only obligation. Meals will be easy and hopefully in the crock pot

 The holidays are here.

Casa Swann Week Before Christmas Menu

• Tomato soup, frittata with mushroom, zucchini and red peppers, bacon,corn bread
• Crockpot bbq chicken sandwiches, oven roasted eggplant and zucchini,  sauteed kale, baked sweet potato for Momma
• Chicken Tortilla soup, Veggie tortilla soup
• Baked Chicken, sauteed kale, sweet potato biscuits
• Chili

Eating: How I stay warm

It was freezing in my neck of the woods this weekend. REALLY cold. I mean it dropped 40 degrees in 24 hours cold. I hate being cold, so I tried not to leave my house.

Now my oldest took the ACT this weekend (bragging is allowed on one's own blog!) and so I had to run her there and back. Other than that, I stayed home all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday.

And...I cooked. All day long. 

I made homemade from scratch brownies, bread, chili, and a garlicky greens soup that made the bread just perfect. My house smelled great, my kitchen was toasty and I was happy. Sunday we continued cooking and made homemade pizza. We all piled onto one sofa (we have three, but all need  to lay on each other for some reason) and watched the Grammys and Napoleon Dynamite. Fun!

Homemade pizza is the best!

Last week I mentioned that I was cooking all Pinterest pinned recipes all week.
I did for the most part and they turned out great!
Here is a small review. 

• Warm butternut squash and chickpea salad- very delicious if you ask me. Too many chickpeas if you ask everyone else. Cut the chick peas in half and you will have a hit. The savoriness of the tahini balanced the sweetness of the butternut squash and it was easy to make.
• Spaghetti squash with garlic shrimp-my mouth is watering just typing this. It was the best thing I have made in a long, long time. Uses large shrimp and they cooked up beautifully!
• Bread- it wasn't on the menu, but I made it saturday...It was easy, got great reviews and disappeared in about 6 seconds. I grow rosemary in my garden and I think it made a big difference.
• Soup- the soup I made was my own recipe, but I got inspiration from pinterest.  

As often happens, our plans changed. I started a new job and was tired on Thursday and so we ate out. Friday, my husband took me on a fun date to a fancy restaurant and to hear a band with some friends. We were wild and stayed out until 10pm. Crazy, I know.

This week, it is Valentine's day and so I am making dinner special for my peeps. We are having something I hate to cook, but they love to eat. Bacon wrapped chicken. Nothing says love like a vegetarian with texture issues touching a dead pig AND a dead chicken (or 4 in our case). True love, I tell ya.

Happy Valentine's Day...hope you spend it surrounded by the ones you love.

Casa Swann Valentine week menu

• Homemade oven sweet potato fries, salmon, sauteed collard greens
• Bacon wrapped chicken thighs, butternut squash hash browns,  spinach souffle
• Baked chicken, squash and tomato casserole
• Tacos
• Dinner out with friends
• Nachos with chicken

Food: A quick recipe

We went to a cooking/eating class last week.

Like we need lessons in either...

But we did have a fun salad, which I tried to replicate at home on Sunday.

Grilled Romaine is lovely, but not something you have every week.

Of course, I thought I had all the ingredients and of course, I did not.

So, instead of parmesan crisps...

I improvised and made grilled feta. 

Recipe below.

Tanya's Made up grilled feta

1 block of feta cheese

olive oil

black pepper

crushed red peppers

1/2 tsp. basil (dried)

6 cherry tomatoes (sliced almost all the way through)

One a sheet of foil (large enough to make a packet around the feta), place feta. Drizzle with olive oil (about 1 1/2 tsp. or use the technical measurement of "count to 2"), sprinkle with basil, grind black pepper a few time and as much crushed red pepper as you think you will like. We like spicey, so I out about 1 tbl. (Counted to 3). It was really spicy, so proceed with caution.  Add the tomatoes,wrap up in foil and place on a medium grill for about 8 minutes. Serve on a salad or as a dip. Would really taste lovely with apples or pears as well. 

Reheat left over cheese in oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. YUM!

This was absolutely delicious and we still have about half left after eating it for dinner and lunch (with crackers...pesky kids ate all the fruit).

I wish I had taken a photo...but let me just tell you...when you eat it you look like this...

It is that good!

Food: Preparing for the winter months

I always get skinny in the winter. 

It's weird. The more clothes I need, the skinnier I am.

Summer, fat as mud.

I think it is the amount of soup I eat in the winter. I have said before how much I love soup. 

I am truly a freak about it.

My  husband is going to be at his breaking point soon, but until then...

We want SOUP!

Casa Swann's storing up for the winter menu

Butter nut squash soup (I made it already...AMAZING!) with spinach biscuits

 Chicken Enchilada Crockpot soup

Venison tenderloin, sauteed kale, roasted sweet potatoes

Mexican Tortilla Pizza (Chalupas for all you Texans)

Tomato Tortellini soup

To counteract all this healthy soup, the girls and I will be making cookies, cookies and more cookies.

Ginger Molasses, chocolate swirl, snickerdoodles and something with some serious heft are all in order. As is eggnog and maybe a lovely cake. Baking is a holiday tradition after all!

via landolakes.com