Time to step out of my comfort zone

I have felt trapped recently with my standard meals, most of which I have cooked since I was in middle school. To get out of my 'recipe rut', I have started to look for new recipes. Pinterest is my best friend for this task. This brings me to my next improvisation.

I tried this recipe tonight, a crawfish rice dressing:
http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2010/12/crawfish-rice-dressing-recipe.html

True to form, I have modified the recipe significantly. First, I used grocery store brand long grain white rice, not the specified brand. Then, I could not find cream of onion soup at the store. I may be blind, or it could just be that it was Sunday afternoon and I could only see about a foot of the humongous soup display at a time because it was so crowded. For the onion soup, I substituted dry onion soup mix combined with milk in the can from the cream of mushroom soup I used. As usual, then it snowballed. Because this substitution was so much less solid than what was originally called for, I was afraid the rice would be too mushy or the liquid would not absorb into the rice fully. SO- I cut the amount of chicken broth called for down to 1 cup from 1.5 cups. Additionally, the season is wrong for crawfish, so I used 1 pound of cooked, frozen salad shrimp, and more than doubled the amount of hot sauce called for. I also chose to omit the crab meat entirely. Once it was assembled, I finally put it in the oven. At the 1 hour mark, the pan was still very moist with liquid pools across the length of the dish. I chose to let it cook for another 15 minutes, checking after 5 minutes. I still had to remove the foil the last 10 minutes of cooking for all the liquid to be fully absorbed into the rice. The rice was a little mushy, but not inedible. After all that-it was super simple to assemble, and I think it has potential to be one of our family favorites. I will definitely be adding it to my repertoire on a regular basis. I will make a few further modifications, though. It needed more cajun seasoning and more bell pepper. However, instead of bell pepper, I think a poblano would add a better flavor. It could probably use a little more hot sauce too. It sounds like I like hot stuff, but that's not necessarily true. This dish had no heat whatsoever-If I thought he would eat it, I would feed it to my 3 year old. I am not sure, but I think the rice or the shrimp might have absorbed some of the heat. or something.

Bonus: It made enough for 2 meals for us!

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Additionally, for breakfast, I made this baked oatmeal today: http://www.sohowsittaste.com/2012/06/blueberry-raspberry-baked-oatmeal.html

I made it almost according to the recipe, closer anyway than the crawfish thing. I subbed honey for maple syrup and peaches for bananas and omitted the walnuts and raspberries. I think the walnuts would taste wonderful; I just didn't have any. If I'd had more time, I would've chopped some almonds and subbed those instead. As it was, the children were in the process of destroying my house and maiming each other, and I figured I should cut my losses and move on. All told, it also turned out awesome. I will definitely make this again as well.

So, today was exceptional in that I tried two new recipes and modified both on the first pass. I must be getting more adventurous or a better cook. or lazier. or maybe, just maybe, all 3.

Happy improvising, y'all!

Excuses, Excuses

I mentioned I intended to post every week, but here it is Friday again, and I have nothing to post. My excuse-The baby has been sick all week, so I am pretty much fried with no sleep and trying not to get sick myself. So far, so good, but you never can tell, right?

Since the baby's been sick, I haven't tried anything new. I've been surviving on routine, hoping for the best. The most interesting thing I can offer you this week is the tale of my Thursday evening after bedtime, when I half-heartedly attempted to prepare for a playdate at my house on Friday. I wanted to make the spider out of an egg carton craft, but when I tried to paint the egg carton, I failed to realize the petroleum in the styrofoam and the thinner in the spray paint would react together to dissolve the styrofoam. Fail. My poor husband sat there and watched me dissolve my project materials, after warning me, and didn't say anything nasty or condescending. Props to him!. :) Not to mention, the instructions for the craft DID say to use cardboard carton, not styrofoam. (Nowhere did it mention melting!) Besides, who reads instructions anyway?? So, we painted pumpkins instead. And had a BLAST, I might add.

Since I have nothing new to add and no new misadventures to speak of, besides Thursday's failed painting attempt, I will leave you with a bit of wisdom about parenting I found absolutely hilarious. Happy Reading! http://mommasaid.net/2011/10/10/parenting-proverbs/

See what I did there? I IMPROVISED a post. <cheshire cat grin>

I hope you have a great weekend! See you next week!

Chicken Ranch Tacos-Slow cooker style, with modifications

I am going to try to post about once a week, schedule permitting, and I will start with a very tame example of improvisation in cooking (don't want to get too crazy in the first post, in case you scare easily). Mostly, I just love this recipe and want to share it with you. It comes in the form of tacos-always a favorite in our house.

Original Plan/Recipe:
I attempted this recipe: http://pedersenfood.blogspot.com/2011/05/chicken-ranch-tacos.html. The first time I made it, I used the directions I found on a Pinterest pin (where I originally saw it-I spend a LOT of time there. You'll see.) which were already modified. The pin's modification were in keeping with my improvisational spirit-I don't cook much on the stovetop with two small children. That's a recipe for disaster anyway you spin it. They called for 1 can of broth, chicken breasts, packet of ranch and packet of taco seasoning in the crock pot for about 3 hours.

Practical application:
I wanted leftovers to make at least one more meal out of the chicken. Sometimes, increasing the recipe does not translate to exactly twice the ingredients and can end in a disaster. Plus, we all know Pinterest suggestions usually don't have the correct measurements, if they are specified at all. Thankfully,a disaster was not in the cards this time. I used almost 2 lbs of chicken, 32 oz of broth since I didn't have a can but an oversized box of broth in the pantry, and I wanted ALL the chicken in the liquid so it wouldn't dry out. I used 2 packets of ranch and taco seasoning though and let it cook for about two hours longer, about 5 hours total. It turned out awesome, I must say.

Additional modifications:
The second time, I bought a bag of frozen chicken (10lbs) and used 3 packets of each ranch and taco seasoning. I used enough water to cover the chicken (no broth because I didn't have any). I didn't measure at all. I cooked it on high for the first 3 hours and low for 2. It still turned out tasty as ever. I kept out what we'd eat in two days and froze the rest in 1-day portions. Score for bulk cooking! Double score for bulk cooking with almost no extra work!

Today, though, I tried the recipe with water instead of broth and pork roast instead of chicken. It tasted even better as pulled pork carnitas.

YUM!

Welcome to my improvised life

Hello, and welcome to my new blog!

I have so much to talk about, but I'll start with introductions and background. First, I am a stay-at-home mom by sorta choice, and sorta necessity. I'm not that good at it, but I do the best I can and hope my children will collect the best of what I have to offer them. I have 2 boys, aged 3 and 8 months, and a husband who was (and still is) my high school sweetheart. Aww...I know-how sweet! And yes it is. Most of the time. Anyway, I am a perfectionist who has lost the ability to achieve perfection at the hands of two small children but who still valiantly tries to make everything work. I attempt many things. Most, I accomplish, but some not so much, and just about everything is modified from the original plan because I didn't have something I needed, or I ran out of time, or something went awry. Somewhere along the path of getting older, I've lost the art of planning thoroughly. It used to get on my nerves. Now, I feel it just makes my life that much more interesting. That's what I tell myself anyway. My mother was a working mother until I was in high school, when she was able to stay home and help me organize my life. I inherited some of my perfectionism from my mother. She was a great cook and an awesome housekeeper. The rest I developed on my own. I am organized, mostly, but I need to be cleaner. I would like to add that I used to be a housekeeper to rival my mother, but then I got married-then I had kids. I could probably stand to work out a little bit too. These are my sometimes goals. My all-the-time goals are to ensure my children survive to adulthood relatively well-adjusted and to feed my family in a healthful manner (mostly) on less than $500/month. To do this, I have had to adjust my cooking style, my cleaning style, and my organizational style and planning skills.

When I was single, no planning was really necessary. I could go to the store or run errands when I wanted. For that matter, I could sleep or use the restroom when I wanted too. Money was pretty easy to manage. Either I had it or I didn't, and I bought supplies accordingly. If I left the house, I had an errand list and a grocery list. I usually got my act together pretty easily and was able to do everything I wanted exactly how I wanted. When I got married, more planning was required, especially about money, but the rest was pretty much the same. When I had kids, it all went to hell in a hand basket. One was a struggle, but two is almost impossible. It takes an act of congress for me just to leave the house. If I leave without a plan, I'm toast. It's going to be a horrible experience, and we will probably miss a meal or a nap or both. As a result, I now plan meals for 1 to 2 weeks, including lunch and snacks as well as breakfast, and write a grocery list sorted by aisle. I still have my errand list, but it is now itemized. I pack the diaper bag as soon as I return home from each trip to ensure everything is ready to go long before I actually leave. Shoes have a home, as do keys, and that home is enforced religiously. I keep a fairly regular schedule so naptimes are easier to work around (although still a problem). You'd think this would ensure success. Sadly, I have had to leave a whole basket of groceries because I realized at the checkout I did not have my wallet. I have had to turn around to retrieve mail that needed to be posted that day, and I've returned home without key items on my grocery list. There is a saying that children steal your brain cells, and I totally agree.

All of these occurrences of non-perfect-ness have led to my improvised lifestyle. Examples include: Trying to make muffins and have no eggs, just use applesauce. No applesauce? Let's try to make some. The shower needs cleaned because the in-laws are coming. No cleaner? I saw somewhere baking soda paste works-let's try that. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. These are tame examples, but it sums up my thinking process. This is why I started this blog. I hope you enjoy my misadventures in housewifery. Welcome aboard!