Broccoli Cheese Soup

1/4 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2-3 cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 C water + 1 chicken bouillon cube

2-3 C milk

2 TBS cornstarch, mixed w/3 TBS cold water

1/2- 1 C cheese, grated

Sautee onion and garlic a little butter. Add broccoli & water/chicken bouillon. Cover & cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add milk. Turn up the heat a little, but not too much or it will curdle/separate. Add cornstarch water, a little at a time, while stirring. When it has begun to thicken, add cheese & turn off heat. If it doesn't get as thick as you want, add more cornstarch water (never add just cornstarch powder to something hot.) If it is too thick, add more milk.

Kung Po Chicken

This dish isn't spicy, but very flavorful. If you want it spicy, add red pepper flakes.

1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 TBS fruit juice (apple, pineapple, grape, etc)

2 TBS cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

2 TBS oil

4 spoons peanut butter

4 TBS soy sauce

2 TBS vinegar

1 C water

4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger

3/4 C frozen peas

red pepper flakes for spicyness (optional)

Combine juice, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Add chicken pieces. Stir to coat well. Let it sit for 15 minutes. Heat oil in frying pan. (Mine has high sides, which makes it nice when stirring.) Add chicken. After chicken is cooked thoroughly, add peanut butter. Stir it around to help it melt. Combine the rest of the ingredients. Add to frying pan. Stir until combined. If too thick, add a little more water. Add frozen peas. Cook until peas are warm. Serve over rice.

What I made last week

Chicken Adobo over rice, with a side of carrots

White sauce chicken enchiladas

Angry pasta

French onion soup & breadsticks

Lemon parsley potatoes, turkey, carrots

Pepperoni pizza

Grandma's casserole

Chicken Adobo

*Rob at food like this on his mission in the Philippines. Rob said I need to work on this recipe because it tasted too soy saucy. Christopher said the chicken was too spicy & traded each piece of chicken for a carrot circle.

boneless skinless dark chicken meat, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 C soy sauce

1/4 C vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

Cook all ingredients together (and COVERED! though not w/a tight cover) until liquid is absorbed. Took about 25 minutes on medium heat. Stir occasionally. Serve over rice w/ a veggie. There won't be a sauce, but the flavor will be so strong on the chicken, you will need to eat it over rice.

Angry Pasta

*This recipe came from an Italian couple in our ward a couple years ago. The first recipe is the original, the second recipe is what I did this week.

Angry Pasta (because it is spicy)

8 oz bacon, cut to bite-sized pieces (I did this before I cooked it)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb fresh red tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

red pepper flakes to taste

1 lb penne pasta

Cook bacon, drain most of the grease. Add garlic, tomatoes, and red pepper flakes (not too much at the beginning). Cook down tomatoes. Taste. Add more red pepper flakes if needed. Serve over cooked penne pasta.

Angry Pasta a la Marseille

2 cans western family petite diced tomatoes w/ chipotle peppers (flavor also good in chili)

1 can tomato paste

8 oz bacon, cut into bite-sized pieces (I did this before cooking)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb penne pasta

Cook bacon, drain most of the grease. Add garlic, canned tomatoes and paste. Stir, cook until heated. Serve over cooked penne pasta.

Homemade babyfood

I know 4 months is a little early to start a baby on baby food, but he was begging for our food as we were eating and it was a way to keep my husband from feeding the baby ice cream. (My husband loves feeding the baby with a spoon.) So we started with rice cereal. This morning (a week or so later) we added pumpkin! (It is suggested by experts to start a new food in the morning-a new food a week- in case there is a reaction, it will show up before the doctor's office closes. They also suggested starting with veggies...especially yellow ones+halloween=pumpkin.)

Instead of carving our 25 lb pumpkin, we drew a face on it, then a week later cut it up, cooked it, pureed it in the blender and have tons of pumpkin for: babyfood, pumpkin pie, cookies, bars, muffins & bread.
Note: since you have to add water to blend it (preferably the water you cooked it in), it will make your recipes more liquidy than a store bought can...you might need to tweak recipes. side note example: my husband made pumpkin cookies following a recipe for store bought canned pumpkin. It was really liquidy. He made one pan of cookies and they came out like pancakes!?!?! For the other pans he made pumpkin bars. It turned out great! We frosted them with a cream cheese frosting and everyone loved them.

Back to baby food. I use my blender to blend cooked fresh or frozen veggies. Never used canned...too much salt. Also, never make your own carrots (there are a couple other veggies too... beets...spinach...hmm....you'll have to look it up yourself)...they have too much nitrate for a baby. Buy this kind...or just don't give it to your baby...I never gave carrots to baby #1...there are so many other kinds of veggies.

Fruits: I use fruits I've canned myself-no sugar added, just blend them up too. Obviously bananas can be mashed by a fork. Watch out...they stain horribly.

Freezing baby food: Many people freeze homemade babyfood in ice cube trays. I use 4 oz bottle liners. This might last 2-3 feedings (maybe 4 in the beginning). When I want to defrost them, I give them a "hot bath." (put the bag in hot water...just make sure it doesn't cover the top...then water would get in and veggie would leak out.) I have 10 4 oz bags in our freezer right now. I think they stay good 3-6 months.

To make babyfood thinner (for younger babies): add water
To make babyfood thicker (for older babies): add rice cereal

Only serve the amount you think the baby will eat and throw away leftovers. Apparently there is some thing in baby saliva that makes the food bad after an hour.

I give him pumpkin at breakfast & rice cereal at dinner, 1/2 way inbetween nursings. I also have a small bottle of water nearby if he seems thirsty. When we add another veggie, I'll add lunch.

When your baby is 4-6months old, ask their pediatrician for info on feeding babies (how long to wait before serving cheese, yogart, meat, honey, etc.)

Possible feeding order:
Rice cereal
pumpkin
yams
frozen peas
frozen green beans
applesauce
peaches
pears
bananas

Has anyone made their own rice cereal??

Fr, frog

We did F & R worksheets.
He learned how to write his name all by himself!!
Here are the frog books we checked out:

• Tadpoles and frogs by Anna Milbourne (Information about frogs-not too many words on a page. Some pictures are photographs, some are drawings.)
• Jumpy, Green, and Croaky: What am I? by Moira Butterfield (Guess the animal according to the clues.)
• Jump, Frog, Jump by Robert Kalan (I think the drawings look like they were done by a kid, and I don't think the story is accurate (do turtles eat snakes?) but my little guy loved this story and saying "jump, frog, jump" over and over again.)
• From Tadpole to Frog by Anita Ganeri (Follows the life cycle of a frog (and gives a timeline). Briefly mentions that frogs mate and then the female frog lays eggs (no further questions were asked, I just read what the book said.))
• Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel (Sort of a chapter book or book of short stories of these characters.)
• Too Many Frogs! by Sandy Asher (My little guy loved loved loved this book. Shares a message of politeness. Check out the facial expressions.)
• A Frog in the Bog by Karma Wilson (Pros: rhymes and has nice watercolor pictures. Cons: Weird story. Why would a frog eat 5 slugs? and then they all crawl out? weird.)