Presentation of Our Lord Snack

I put together a fun snack today in honor of the Presentation of Our Lord. I was inspired by this lovely tea.

Warm Milk 

The white symbolizes Mary and Joseph's purity.

Pretzel

Simeon's arms folded in prayer.

Cheese Dove 

The doves Joseph brought in offering at the temple.

Olive

Black represents Anna as a widow.

Candle

Represents Jesus being "a light of revelation to the Gentiles".

Strawberry Heart With Toothpick

Mary's heart pierced with sorrow.

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St. Brigid Irish Soda Bread

My friend shared her delicious Irish soda bread recipe with me for the feast of St. Brigid and is graciously allowing me to share it here.  It is sweeter than some of the more traditional recipes, but that is how we like it!  I halved the original recipe and cooked it in a round cake pan to make it more like scones (original version below).

Irish Soda Bread
2c flour
3/4c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 c raisins
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 egg
1 c buttermilk (or 1T lemon juice w/ milk to equal 1c)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

Whisk dry ingredients together, and wet ingredients together seperately.  Mix together.  Dough will be sticky.  Place in pan and bake at 375 for 25-30m in pie tin or baking sheet, or 45-50 in loaf pan.

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Feast Day Food: Kid Friendly Figgy Pudding for St. Edmund Campion

Today is the historical feast of St. Edmund Campion.  While he may no longer be officially celebrated in the U.S., I am a professed Anglophile and couldn’t help adding in his feast day to our celebration rotation.

St. Edmund lived during the protestant reformation in England and served as a priest to the underground Catholic church for many years before we was finally caught and martyred.  I have such respect for a man who risked death to bring sacraments to the faithful and to keep the church going in such times.

I always try to make some sort of snack or dessert for feast days but couldn’t seem to find much for St. Edmund.  Inspiration hit, and I decided to make figgy pudding, a dessert both liturgically and seasonally appropriate.  It originates in 16^th century England, so may have been around at the time of St. Edmund.  I wasn’t too keen to try the “traditional” versions of figgy pudding that can be both time consuming, and a bit repellent to a modern american palette.  I managed to dig up a few modern interpretations that caught my eye.

(Figgy) Pudding Cookies @ The Actor’s Diet

Figgy Pudding Butter Cookies @ Food 52

Figgy Cobbler @ Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen

Simple Traditional Figgy Pudding @ Food Viva

Figgy Pudding Smoothie @ The Blooming Platter (Vegan but can easily adapt to non-vegan)

Figgy Pudding Baked Oatmeal @ Foodtastic Mom

The version I made is adapted from the Figgy Pudding at Gourmet Mom On-the-Go and is more a muffin or dense cake than a "pudding".

Kid Friendly Figgy Pudding

6T butter, softened, whipped
3/4 c molasses
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk (or 3/4c milk w/ lemon juice mixed in to make 1c)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
zest from 1 lemon
2 c all purpose flour
1 c dried figs, stems removed and chopped finely
1/4 c dates, chopped finely

Add molasses, eggs, and buttermilk to the whipped butter, mixing well in between each addition.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Add dried fruit and mix well.  Pour into your baking pan of choice and bake in a 325 degree oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

My 5 ramekins took about 40 minutes.  I'm assuming muffin pans would cut the time by quite a bit.

Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!

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Simple Black Bean Cilantro Burgers

So here's the thing. We've gone VEGAN here in Chez Watje. Well mostly. It's kind of complicated, but that's an explanation for another post. The main thing to know here is that we've been looking for simple vegan meals that don't break the bank, don't take 3 hours to cook, aren't spicy, and don't feature vegetables prominently due to the boys in the house and their veggie-hating gag reflexes. In case you were wondering, that "simple" criteria rules out pretty much every vegan meal featured on Pinterest...

In desperation, and lack of groceries, I decided to make some black bean burgers using some leftovers ingredients from other meals this week. The verdict? Quick, easy to make, and nobody gagged. In this house we call that a win!  Even though this doesn't have the texture or taste of a regular burger (or even a store bought veggie burger!) this will have a permanent spot on our dinner rotation!  Even if your family hasn't taken the crazy train to vegan town, this is a great healthy meal that even the carnivores will (might) enjoy. 

Ingredients

1/2c onion

1/4c corn

1/8c cilantro
1 can black beans, drained

Egg Replacer - 1T flax meal + 3T water (whisk and rest 5min)

1/4c salsa, mild

3/4c bread crumbs

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp lime juice

Add onion, corn, and cilantro to a food processor and chop to desired texture.  Add black beans and repeat.  Add mixture and remaining ingredients to a bowl and combine.  Form patties, remembering that these will not shrink like meat patties.  Cook 5 minutes each side and enjoy!

Serves: 4-5

Feast Day Food - Kielbasa and Potatoes on the Feast of St. MaximilianKolbe

I've been trying to incorporate more saint inspired recipes into our daily dinners lately whenever possible. As a busy homeschooling mom, my criteria is that it either has to be as easy as one of my go-to meals, or a twist on something I already make.

To celebrate the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe, I decided to try an easy looking recipe that has been in my "To Try" file for ages. It was quick, tasty, and led to a great conversation about the polish saint who inspired it. 

Ingredients:

1 polish sausage

Onion

Garlic

5 potatoes

Beer or cider

Pan fry the sausage until browned and remove from the pan. Sauté the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté another few minutes. Add the potatoes and pan fry until tender. Optionally, at this point you can add some beer or hard cider to tenderize the potatoes and add an extra depth of flavor. When the potatoes are finished, return the sausage to the pan and heat through. Serve and enjoy!  Pair with a salad or add in some veggies for a complete meal. 

Source:
Inspired by Mom Foodie

Green Chile Chicken Cheddar Soup

It's been raining all week now that we are solidly in our area's monsoon season. One particularly rainy day, I had a craving (or as my mom always called it, a "granito") for some warm comfort food. For me, comfort food is what I grew up with - New Mexican cuisine. I started to make some green chile chicken enchiladas and realized that I didn't have time.  Instead of layering my sauce in a casserole to make that delicious dish, I adapted it a bit for a yummy soup that was done in half the time.  The result was a creamy delicious dinner that the whole family enjoyed. If your littles are chile wimps like mine, leave the chile out and add a bit individually to the grown up bowls.

Ingredients

3-4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, boiled and shredded

4T butter

4T flour

4c milk

1c shredded cheddar

Green chile, roasted, peeled, and chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a saucepan, heat butter until melted and add flour to make a roux. Simmer until light brown and slowly whisk in milk. Simmer on low and continue to whisk until creamy and thick. Add cheese and whisk until incorporated.  Stir in chicken, green chile, and salt and pepper. Let cool a bit before serving. 

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30 Minute Homemade Pizza

Yesterday, we had one of those evenings where nothing sounded good at all.  If we weren't watching our budget, I would have suggested ordering a pizza or going out for fast food.  Trying to control that instinct, I searched the fridge for an easy meal and came up empty handed.  When I noticed some leftover rotisserie chicken, I decided to make a quick pizza.  I hopped onto Google and searched for an easy at-home pizza crust.  While my husband is an excellent baker, I limit myself to quickbreads and cookies.  I have never tried to make bread or use yeast in any way.  Thankfully my husband had some leftover yeast in the pantry so I was able to pull this crust together quickly.  This is not a gourmet pizza crust by any stretch of the imagination.  But if you need a quick, easy dinner that will satisfy both parents and kids, this is a great option!

30 Minute Homemade Pizza Crust
1 (.25oz) package active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 c warm water
2 1/2c bread flour
2 T olive oil
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let rest for 10 minutes.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Beat until smooth and let rest another 5 minutes.  Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface and transfer to pizza stone or baking pan dusted with cornmeal.  Add toppings and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Source: All Recipes

Red Beans & Rice

We enjoyed our Mardi Gras on Tuesday, feasting on lots of yummy treats including some not so beautiful looking beignets and king cake.

For dinner we ate Red Beans & Rice, one of our favorite yearly traditions.  This recipe makes a LOT so I was able to freeze quite a bit.

Red Beans and Rice

1lb red beans
7 cups water
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped and minced
21oz chicken broth
1 1/2lb sausage, chopped
2 T creole seasoning ( I used cajun)

Combine all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 9 hours.  Serve on top of hot cooked rice.

Source: Green with Love

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Favorite Food Fridays

I had a food blog several years ago which I used as a platform to try out all the cool recipes I came across online - back when I had time to experiment!

Ever since I started homeschooling I have learned that simple and easy is better when it comes to cooking!  I'm working on putting together a personal cookbook for myself full of all our family favorites (which tend to be the quick and easy ones anyway). I'll be sharing them here on Fridays as I cook through them to double check the recipes!

I try to use real food as much as possible so you won't find a lot of "cream of" style recipes. That also means I don't shy away from real butter, bacon, etc. in my recipes!  Hope some of these are helpful for other busy homeschool moms!

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Snow Sweets

We don't get a lot of snow here in the desert southwest, so when we do, the kids get pretty excited. Not me. Snow beat me up once when I was a teenager in the form of a tobogganing accident and I have never been able to forgive it. Plus it keeps me from wearing flip flops. So yeah, not a fan.

On Tuesday, however, when I woke up to a wintry wonderland, I was uncharacteristically excited!  We have been listening to the Little House on the Prairie series in the car and one thing I have wanted to do since I was a little girl was make snow candy like at the Sugaring Off Dance in Little House in the Big Woods. 

I immediately searched Pinterest for a recipe and set out to make some. A little too much sugar for 7:30 in the morning? Perhaps. But the snow around here can't compete with the desert sun and is usually melted by noon so I wasn't taking any chances. Plus, the kids didn't seem to mind. (Shhh, don't tell anyone but we made Snow Cream too!  Both recipes below).

Snow Candy

1/4c maple syrup

1/8c sugar

Pinch of salt

Flat container of fresh snow

Heat mixed ingredients in a saucepan for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly and pour in a thin layer over the snow.  Let set and enjoy!

Snow Cream

2c Fresh snow

1/4c sugar

1/4c milk

1tsp vanilla

Mix all and enjoy!  Adjust amounts according to your desired taste and/or consistency.

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