Mounds Cake!!!

I made this for my mom's birthday. She declared it to be her MOST FAVORITE CAKE IN THE WHOLE WORLD. Not that she's biased to my cooking or anything.

Ingredients:

1 box devil's food cake mix (and what you need to make it)

1-2 cans coco lopez cream of coconut (depending on how coconut-y you like it)

1 container cool whip

shredded coconut - about 3/4 of a cup or however much you want

1 king size chocolate bar - shavings

Directions:

prepare and bake cake in a 9 x 13 pan.

remove from oven, poke holes all over.

pour coconut milk over cake and then cool.

frost with cool whip then cover with shredded coconut.

garnish with shaved chocolate.

serve or refrigerate.

Grilled Romaine Salad

It sounds downright bizarre -- grilling lettuce? Putting half a heart of romaine directly on the grill? Really? When my sister-in-law told me about it, I thought she was nuts. I searched online and found bunches of recipes with rave reviews. There are many many different variations on this, and a quick search of "grilled romaine salad" will get you all sorts of ideas on how to dress it up. Here's a basic recipe that makes enough for two people.

GRILLED ROMAINE SALAD

1 heart of romaine lettuce

Extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and/or lemon juice

1. Preheat a grill to medium high.

2. Rinse and pat dry the lettuce. Cut it in half lengthwise. Brush the entire surface (the cut side and the uncut side) of the lettuce lightly with the olive oil.

3. Place the lettuce on the grill and turn it over every minute or so for about 4-5 minutes total. The lettuce should be a little charred, but not burnt. Some of the leaves at the end will be a little wilted.

4. Slice across the width of the lettuce and put it on a plate. Sprinkle with just a tiny bit of sea salt (and/or drizzle a little lemon juice over the leaves) and serve warm.

We grilled up some chicken breasts that were only sprinkled with a little bit of seasoned salt and put slices of that on top of the salad along with some shaved parmesan-romano cheese curls. It was EXCELLENT. The salad didn't need any sort of dressing at all. The original recipe we followed had instructions for a citrus vinaigrette to put on top, but I think that would have hidden the yummy smoky flavor. This would also be excellent with grilled steak, shrimp, or pork, I bet. Some recipes called for grilled vegetables to be added as well. Ooh -- I bet grilled corn on the cob would be delicious to cut off and sprinkle on top! I'm all pumped to try this again with all sorts of different variations.

Here is the salad before I devoured it in about 20 seconds flat:

Here is the lovely man who did the vast majority of the cooking of this meal:

Aaaaand here are my knucklehead children who wouldn't even try a bite of the salad. I think Petey ate a bit of the chicken, but I can't be entirely sure. I was too busy exclaiming over our culinary brilliance and stuffing my face to notice what he was doing.

Garden Rice Salad

I admit this recipe sounds odd. My mother-in-law is always trying to come up with recipes for foods I will actually eat when I'm at her house and she knows that wild rice and cucumbers are high on my list of favorites. Who knows where she found this, but it was amazing. I made it with peanuts for a picnic we're having tonight that includes vegetarians, but it is also yummy with chicken. (Erin -- I know you're going to barf when you see wild rice as one of the ingredients, but I bet you could substitute plain white rice or even brown rice.)

GARDEN RICE SALAD

Lettuce*

1 package/box long grain & wild rice mix

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 cup sliced celery

1 cup quartered cherry/grape tomatoes

1/2 cup diced cucumbers (I peeled it first.)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts OR 1/2 cup cooked cubed chicken

Seasoned salt and pepper to taste

All you have to do is cook the rice and cool it down. You could even do this the day before if you are as organized as my mother-in-law. If you're like me, you make it at the last possible minute and then chill it in the freezer to help speed the cooling process along. Anyway, mix all the ingredients together in one large bowl and viola! Chill it until you serve it.

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* I used sliced hearts of romaine, but the recipe didn't specify type. The recipe also doesn't specify how much lettuce to use, so I just used one romaine heart thing and it turned out great.

No-bake Nap Cookies

I made these while my kids napped this afternoon, hence the name. I saw a recipe on the back of pomegranate-flavored Craisins (my 16-month-old, Peter, is addicted to them) and modified the recipe a little to match my (1) laziness, (2) supplies, and (3) older child's picky eating habits. You see, while Peter is addicted to pomegranate-flavored Craisins, my three-year-old, Charlotte, will only eat the cherry-flavored kind. We should probably buy stock in Ocean Spray at this point. Anyway, here is the recipe with my modifications:

NO-BAKE NAP COOKIES

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 12-ounce package of white chocolate baking chips (I could only find 11-ounce packages!)
3 cups chow mein noodles (FYI - a 6 oz. package is about 3 cups)
1 cup cherry-flavored Craisins
1 cup granola cereal (nothing this plain existed at Publix, so I bought vanilla)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted (though I didn't toast them)

1. Line 2 large baking sheets with waxed paper. (I only had cling wrap, and that worked just fine.)

2. Combine honey and cream in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until bubbly.

3. Add chips; cook, stirring until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.

4. Combine noodles, Craisins, granola, and almonds in a large bowl. Believe me when I say a LARGE bowl.

5. Pour cream mixture over noodle mixture. Stir until mixed and coated. I dove right in with my hands when the silicone spatula proved worthless. It was kind of a calamity, so don't make this with your toddler unless you have a really high tolerance for messes.

6. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets. Let stand until completely set. Store loosely covered. Makes 30 clusters. (Well, I only got 27, but my tablespoonfuls were heaped awfully high and there had to have been at least one or two cookies worth of mixture stuck to me after I finished hand-mixing them.)

I threw them into the fridge to make sure they cooled and set in time to take them to dinner at our friends' house tonight. Based on the portions I sampled during their creation, they are AWESOME. I bet the kids will love them, but then again nothing is ever certain with those goofballs. Cross your fingers. At the very least, Charlotte can pick out the Craisins and eat them. Here is a shot of the cookies before I stuck them in the fridge. Note the baby monitor next to the baking sheets!

Peter's 1st Cooking Adventure -- Banana Bread!

My 14-month-old son, Peter, has recently learned to climb up on the chair my almost-three-year-old daughter, Charlotte, stands on when she "helps" me cook. He insisted on standing there while I made banana bread this morning using Erin's recipe that she posted ages and ages ago.

The bread is still in the oven, but I'm going to declare this a "success" event because Peter and I had so much fun cooking. No, he didn't really help, and it was kind of awkward because I had to use only the part of the island counter out of the reach of his chubby little arms. He was enthralled by the mixer though, and he looked super cute cuddling the plush dog puppet* (given to his big sister by Joslyne's parents at Halloween in 2009). I'm 99.9% sure Peter will wolf down the banana bread when it comes out of the oven, but his sister, of course, will refuse because she is the pickiest eater alive. Sigh.

Here is Peter inspecting the overripe bananas we used. You get a much better flavor from the bread if you use nasty, stinky bananas -- trust me!




And here is Peter cuddling with the dog puppet. He may not have a permanent security item, pacifier, or thumb to soothe him, but he really likes cuddling with stuffed animals. And he adores baked goods. I have a feeling we will be eating this banana bread while cuddling some stuffed animals together later!




*This dog "barks" when you squeeze down on its mouth. I learned last night NOT to put Peter to sleep in his crib with said barking dog because when he rolls over on top of it in the middle of the night, the resulting "bark" heard over the baby monitor wakes me up out of a sound sleep and kind of freaks me out. Lesson learned.

Demetri's Pad Thai

All hail my Hot Husband -- For he has made Pad Thai!!!!!!!!!!

We got the original recipe here, but Demetri altered it and it turned out AMAZING. As good as a restaurant! Also, I know this recipe looks long (10 steps! Gasp!) but it's not as hard as it looks.

1 box regular (or GF) pasta - linguini-width (or fried Pad Thai rice noodles)
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup soft tofu)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup cabbage, roughly chopped (optional)
additional veggies of your choice (we* used sugar peas and baby corn)
2 cups bean sprouts
2 green onions, sliced
1/3 cup fresh coriander/cilantro (we used cilantro)

PAD THAI SAUCE:
3/4 Tbsp. tamarind paste (available at Asian/East Indian food stores)
1/4 cup hot water
3 1/2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 to 2 tsp. chili sauce (to taste), (we used 1/2 tsp)
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. peanut butter

OTHER:
3-4 Tbsp. oil for stir-frying
2-3 Tbsp. vegetable or faux chicken stock

Preparation:
1. Bring a pot of water to and cook noodles 2 minutes less than package direction (noodles will finish cooking in frying pan)
2. Dissolve the tamarind paste in the hot water. Add the other pad thai sauce ingredients and stir well to dissolve the sugar. Don't skimp on the sugar (you need it to balance the sourness of the tarmaind). Reserve.
3. Place large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 Tbsp. oil plus the garlic and red onion. Stir-fry 1 minute to release the fragrance.
4. Add the cabbage and the stock. Stir-fry 2 minutes.
5. Push ingredients aside and add 1/2 Tbsp. more oil to the center of the wok/pan. Add the eggs (if using) and stir-fry briefly to scramble them.
6. Add additional veggies if using.
7. Push eggs aside and add a little more oil to the middle of the wok/pan. Now add the drained noodles (and tofu, if using) and 1/3 of the sauce. Stir-fry everything together for 1 minute using 2 utensils and a tossing motion.
8. Add a little more sauce and continue stir-frying in the same way for 1-2 more minutes, or until the noodles begin to soften and become sticky. Reduce heat to medium if noodles begin to stick and burn.
9. Add the bean sprouts plus the remaining sauce. Stir-fry to incorporate everything together for 1-3 more minutes, or until noodles are done. Noodles are cooked to perfection when they are soft but still deliciously chewy and a little bit sticky.
10. To serve, scoop noodles onto a serving platter. Sprinkle with the green onion, coriander/cilantro.

* and by 'we' I mean Demetri

Chop Suey - American Style!

I got this recipe from the blog, A Year of Slow Cooking. This woman cooked in her crock pot every day . . . for a year! And that's, you know, TOTALLY AWESOME. I altered her recipe slightly (left out the bacon and used ground turkey instead of beef). This recipe was not only delicious, but it was the perfect comfort meal for mid-winter. It's also wicked kid friendly!

1 pound lean ground turkey, browned and drained

1 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 can water (empty tomato can)

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 jar prepared pasta sauce (I used Classico Marinar with Plum Tomatoes)

1 (16-ounce) package pasta of your choice (I used gluten free brown rice rotini pasta)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, brown turkey the and onion all together until the meat is no longer pink. Drain well and put in crock pot.

2. Add everything else into the pot except for the pasta and cheese.

3. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or high for about 4* hours. Stir in the raw pasta and cook on high for approximately 20 - 30 minutes, or until pasta is bite-tender.

*Mine was totally done, complete with pasta, in 4 hours