Blueberry-Lemon Bread

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into thin slices
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not thaw)
• grated rind from 1 lemon
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Lightly coat a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan with vegetable cooking spray.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, work the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like coarse crumbs. Mix in blueberries and lemon rind. Stir in the milk and eggs until well blended.
3. Pour into pan. Bake 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn onto a wire rack.
   
   Variation: For Orange-Raspberry Bread, use the grated rind from 1 orange in place of the lemon rind and substitute 1 cup raspberries for the blueberries.

Here are a few of the recipes that I have tried out lately. Most from the Real Simple website, which I love. Most of the recipes are things that I normally have in the fridge or pantry and are very simple!

The lemon feta chicken is from a blog that I just heard about. She is another stay at home mom who loves to cook and shares all of her recipes!

Justin is on this new eating regime and it is hard to cook for him. It is the paleo diet! Basically from the paleolithic era and everything is to be basically veggies and meat. No dairy, very little grains and starches! Because I am pregnant and pretty much want to eat everything in sight, this is difficult! Plus, trying to feed Mitchell during his toddler picky days is also a treat!

Lemon Feta Chicken

Lemon Feta Chicken

Ingredients:
thin sliced chicken breasts
butter (optional)
salt & pepper
garlic powder
Feta cheese
1-2 lemons

Directions:
Place chicken breasts in a sprayed 9x13 glass dish. I like to slice each chicken breast down the middle so they are thinner(like butterflying), but that's just my preference. (So they're wide, but thin. Hope that makes sense!) I cover each breast with a little butter. (This is optional!) Then sprinkle each piece with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Sprinkle with feta. Take a lemon and cut in half. With one half, squeeze over the chicken. Slice the other half and lay slices over each piece of chicken. Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes. I broil it for the last 5-7 minutes so the chicken and feta are browned slightly. Voila! Enjoy

Salmon Fillet with Citrus and Thyme

• 3-pound piece skinless salmon fillet
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• kosher salt and pepper
• 1 orange, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 12 sprigs fresh thyme

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375° F. Place the salmon on a parchment-lined baking sheet, drizzle with the oil, and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Scatter the orange, lemon, and thyme around the salmon.
2. Roast until the salmon is opaque throughout, 20 to 25 minutes. Using 2 large spatulas, carefully transfer the salmon to a platter and scatter the orange, lemon, and thyme on top of it.

Cooking!

Maple-Glazed Salmon with Pineapple

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 4 6-ounce salmon fillets
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 fresh pineapple
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 cups cooked white rice

Directions

1. Heat broiler. Whisk together the maple syrup and mustard in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Place the salmon in a foil-lined 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Season with the salt and pepper. Slice the peel from the pineapple half and cut it lengthwise into quarters, then cut each quarter into 1/2-inch-thick triangles. Scatter the pineapple and jalapeño around the salmon. Brush the salmon with the syrup mixture.
3. Broil for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the salmon flakes easily when pricked with a fork and the inside is the same color throughout. Serve the salmon and pineapple with the rice and drizzle with the remaining glaze, if desired.

Busy, busy, busy!!!

We're finally getting back into a routine around here since we are done with visitors for awhile. Or, at least for a week or so! MOVING!!! So much to do and so little time to do it all with a toddler to keep busy! I'm really trying to balance out the sorting, cleaning, organizing, and packing with a some play time also. It's actually starting to get hot outside, so we'll have to plan around the heat pretty soon, meaning that we'll have to be outside during the not so hot times of the day.
I have started my lists of what needs to really get done before the move. Justin just told me yesterday that he has to complete a checklist before they will give him his orders. Great! Now that I know what the problem has been, maybe now I can encourage him to get it done. We really can't move ahead very well until we get orders. Then we can actually find out more details about the move. I'm actually thinking that it may be a bit delayed since we will have to get passports and do the medical physicals before we can leave. Hopefully we can get this all accomplished before the baby is ready!!!

Monday

Mom is here for the week and so much fun already! Mitchell has been a bit shy but I'm sure he'll be himself here pretty quick!
Need to research the island for houses. We have a website that does a really good job of giving the details, photos, etc for the houses on the island. We found one that we really like though it is 20 min from base. Justin talked with another Doc on the base and he suggested Porta Martine. So that is my next project of the day, to research the area and see what is available for houses! Happy house hunting!

Big boy haircut!

Friday night dinner!

Quinoa Taco Salad
1 cup quinoa
1 Tbs olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1-2 tsp chili powder
dash of cayenne pepper
half each red, green and yellow bell pepper,
chopped
1 15 oz can black beans, drained
3/4 cup diced tomatoes, canned or fresh
2 limes
s & p to taste
6-8 oz baby spinach cut into strips
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 cup cheddar or feta cheese
1 avocado, diced
Cook the quinoa according to direction. Saute the onion and then add the garlic and the spices. Saute for a couple minutes. Remove from heat and add the beans, quinoa, tomatoes, and juice of one lime. Season with the s & p and then chill.
Make the salad with the spinach and the cilantro. Separate among the plates and then top with the quinoa mixture. Top with the cheese and avocado and garnish with the remaining lime cut into slices!

From seed!

Even though we are moving, we decided to plant a few items that I really do like to use, almost on a daily basis. This is cilantro, from seed, since I need a lot of it for making salsa!

Bugs!

My sweet little boy has decided that he really enjoys looking for bugs and pestering them with the shovel!! We turned over most of the paving stones in the garden this morning looking for the big bugs. He and his daddy spend most evenings looking for bugs!

Happy digging!

Bush of rosemary

Mini Sweet Bell Peppers

Herbs

Oregano


Marjoram


Chives

The wonders of composting!

This is the second season that we have tried to grow a garden. The first was a miserable attempt due to the soil, or lack of, in our backyard. We started composting right away when we moved in a year and a half ago, and surprisingly enough, we now have great soil. We even have veggies growing out of the compost pile that we first started, but have now upgraded to using a trash can.
This is the swiss chard that really struggled last year and this bush, I just picked from last week and already, I can cut from it again!!

Chocolate Chip Applesauce Cake Recipe

Sorry! I had emailed the recipe to a friend and therefore didn't realize that I hadn't posted it. I think that I can justifiably blame it on the pregnancy, right? Anyhow, here it is:

Cake
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
2 cups applesauce
2 cups flour ( I use whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs cocoa

Topping
3 Tbs white sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips

1. To prepare cake batter, combine sugar, oil, eggs and applesauce. Beat lightly. Add dry ingredients and stir to mix.
2. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter.
3. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Bedhead!!

Can I just say that I love my son's out of control hair? My husband continually rolls his eyes with disgust due to the fact that he would love for me to cut Mitchell's hair and also, because we live on an Air Force Base and almost all of the boys have high and tight hair cuts just like their fathers!!!

This is the result of a neighbor bringing over jars of applesauce because she is moving. Chocolate chip applesauce cake. This is another of the famous Mennonite recipes from a favorite cookbook of my grandmother's. Neither does it have a strong apple or chocolate flavor. It is a very simple recipe though full of moisture and the nuts and chocolate chips on the top just make it a lot of fun to eat!

Applesauce Cake

Thursday Dinner!

This would be a chicken with duck sauce stir fry. My son loves bok choy and therefore I cook with it more than the average american. This stir fry has mushrooms, shallots, fresh green beans, ginger, garlic, and chicken. The sauce was a last minute throw together which was duck sauce, soy sauce, sherry, sugar and cornstarch. I had actually planned ahead today and sliced the chicken, and then marinated it in a bulgogi sauce that I found in the pantry. I also managed to prep and make the brown rice ahead of time. I usually end up making a white sticky rice due to lack of planning.

So here it is!

Here is to new beginnings! Starting now, I am going to really make it a goal to actually share my life and what the goings on really entail! So yes, it will be a little of this and that. I want to actually have fun with this, which is a shocker, but really, I am excited. Off to deliver a package to a friend, but we will continue with a mixture of my most recent goings on a little bit later today! Later!