i tell you what, despite all the  obsessiveness about perfection that martha stewart possesses and the holier-than- thou persona, that bitch can bake! i whipped these little yummies up in 10 minutes, popped em in the oven, and had them frosted with a cream cheese frosting within an hour AND i had four 2 year olds running around my house like little screaming banshees. i am not trying to give myself a butt pat here, i’m trying to convey that they were easy peasy and delicious. for the children i sprinkled a few colorful little candy bits on top, but the rest of them got a generous shaving of espresso dark chocolate. the wilsons will be coming over on sunday, and these will be dessert

martha stewart recipe- banana cupcakes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired.

cream cheese frosting

1 cup powdered sugar

1 stick room temp unsalted butter

1 8 oz. pkg room temp cream cheese

1 t pure vanilla extract

beat all ingredients with hand held mixer about 1 minute. done.

it seems like the chore of trying to figure out what is for dinner each week is getting to me. i dont know if its because i’ve been sick lately (thanks daycare kiddos!), or because its the holidays and its a mad rush to try to get the infamous perfect gift (give up-it doesn’t exist), make the house pretty, bake for my peeps and still function in my day to day life as wife and daycare provider extraordinaire (back pat) , but man, by the time sunday rolls around i’m exhausted and have no kitchen creativity left to muster up. which unfortunately is the day that i am supposed to create a week of meals and go grocery shopping.

in times like these, i tend to make easy dinners that require no real thought or measuring. some sort of tacos or taco salad, a pasta dish with a quick garlic-olive oil- cheese sauce, homemade mac + cheese, roasted chicken breasts and a salad,  or frittatas.

for those of you not in the know, frittatas are similar to quiche but without the crust and with a lighter eggy texture. we always have a dozen  eggs on hand, cheese in the fridge and some sort of veggie or meat that can be thrown in. really, the sky is the limit here. we have had bacon + gruyere frittata, 3 cheese frittata, scallion and sausage frittata, broccoli+ sharp cheddar frittata, and last night- asparagus and goat cheese frittata. add a green salad and some toast and you have a quick and very respectable dinner. even kiddos like them, my daycare kiddos eat them up like nobody’s business. today, chloe said “yay, i love the friddadda! ” and did a little dance when i told her what was on the lunch menu. and she ate 3 slices. i shit you not.

the basic recipe goes like this…

basic frittata recipe

6-8 eggs, the more eggs you use the thicker it will be. if its just daniel and i i do 6 eggs, if we are feeding some friends, i do 8.

1T olive oil

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup half +half or heavy cream

1/2 small yellow onion, diced

1 cup some sort of cheese

heat olive oil in nonstick skillet over med heat. add diced onion and soften about 6 minutes.

while that is cooking, scramble up eggs in a large bowl, add milk + half and half, pinch of salt and pepper. add cheese and combine. add whatever else you want- cooked bacon, chicken, sausage, veggies, scallions, leeks, whatev.

when onions are done pour egg mixture over onions and stir slowly for about 3 minutes. cook over med heat until mostly set, about 7 minutes. the middle will still be runny and jiggly.

place in 375 degree oven and bake about 8 minutes until set, take out and sprinkle a little more cheese on top, turn oven to broil, return to oven on top rack and broil until top is a golden brown in spots.

do not leave the frittata unattended in the oven while broiling, it will burn baby burn. remove and set on stove top to cool at least 5 minutes. after it has cooled, invert onto a plate or cutting board.

important note***before you place skillet in oven make sure you remove the rubbery handle cover or it will melt in the oven and make your house smell incredibly unpleasant and toxic for 3 days. or so i’ve heard…

brrr…its cold out there! the car told daniel that it was 20 degrees this morning @ 7:30. 20 degrees! there are rumors of snow in chico  and i’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we will wake up one morning this week and see white on the ground, but we’ll see…

when its cold outside, my tummy says it wants chili, so chili it is. i have an old stand by recipe that i made for the first time many many moons ago, and whenever i make it i try to switch it up and bastardize it a little and see if i can improve on the original. in this case, it was a success! i added chipotle in adobo, cinnamon, and unsweetened cocoa. i know the last two additions sound weird, but when you add a little of them to chili they add depth and a little something that makes you go, hmmmmm? chocolate and cinnamon are two vital ingredients in mole sauce, so its really not strange at all. trust me, i wouldnt lie to ya.

ground turkey and black bean chili

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

2t salt

2T olive oil

1 yellow onion, small dice

1 jalapeno, seeded and veins removed , minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2- 2 lbs ground turkey

1T cumin

2t paprika

2T dried oregano

3T tomato paste

3c peeled and diced canned tomatoes

1/2 of a  beer or 1/2 c red wine (i used sierra nevada torpedo, any lager will work)

3 whole dried bay leaves

2T chili powder

1/2c h20

1T chipotle in adobo sauce

1/2t cinnamon

1T unsweetened cocoa

heat oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven over med heat. add onion and jalapeno and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. add garlic and cook 3 minutes. add ground turkey and cooked until almost done, 10 minutes or so. it will continue to cook while the chili bubbles away so it needn’t be completely done. add all the spices and cocoa and cook 2 minutes. add the chipotle in adobo, tomatoes and paste, beer or wine, and h20 and give it a stir. toss in the bay leaves. close lid up and bring just to a boil, then remove lid, reduce heat to med-lo/lo and let cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. you just want it at a low simmer, so if med lo is too high just knock the temp down a notch. if while cooking it becomes too thick for your liking just add another 1/2 cup or so  of h2o. we like ours stand-a- spoon-up- in- it thick, but this may not be your preference….

serve with cornbread, sour cream, shredded sharp cheddar, freshly diced onion, cilantro, scallions, crushed up fritos, or avocado slices.

**** this recipe is really easy to change up, you can substitute pinto or kidney beans, ground beef or beef chunks. if you prefer vegetarian, use pinto and black beans and you could add zucchini and carrots. really, anything goes. if you dont like the taste of chipotle, just leave it out. same goes with the jalapeno, if you are scared of a wittle heat, leave it out (wuss).

okay, i dont follow any recipes when i cook, i just throw this and that together and it usually comes out this side of edible, but this should roughly do it….

gruyere and sharp cheddar mac and cheese with a panko crust

2 cups shredded sharp or xtra sharp cheddar
1 cup shredded gruyere
1/2 small white onion, minced finely
3 T unsalted butter (if you use salted butter dont add any extra salt to the recipe)
3 T flour
3 cups warm milk, warmed on stove top over med low heat
Barilla brand elbow noodles (about half the box)- cook until only al dente, about 5 minutes- it will continue cooking in sauce
salt + pepper to taste and 1 pinch of cayenne

topping

1/4 cup panko- japanese bread crumbs
3 T melted butter
pinch salt

add panko crumbs to melted butter and add a pinch of salt

for the bechamel- put 3T butter in pot and heat over medium until it melts. add the minced onions and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. add the flour and stir, cook for 3 minutes. slowly pour in the warm (must be warm or the bechamel will break) milk, whisking constantly to get a smooth consistency. let cook for 5 minutes until thickens. remove pot from heat and dump in cheese, stirring until thoroughly mixed and melted. taste and add salt and pepper if you need it.

add cooked macaroni noodles to sauce and toss to combine. pour in baking dish, and sprinkle panko crust evenly over top.

bake @ 375 for ten minutes. if topping isnt browned nicely, broil for 2 minutes. stay close, the topping will go from golden brown to burnt to a crisp VERY quickly.

let sit at least 5 minutes to set and then enjoy!

Just checking in. I know this isn’t much but wanted to see if people were still here.

I couldn’t sleep anymore so I finally got out of bed at 8am, pissed because I was really looking forward to sleeping in. Then I get on the couch to watch some TV, only to find out its really 7am instead of 8am due to the time change. Awesome.

hey y’all. I know its been forever since our last post but as is customary around here, we’ve had too much stuff going on. We might get into the nitty gritty of our summer a little later but we need to get this out of the way first.

We’re selling the Volvo. As sad as it sounds, we just needed to get something new and worry-free. So tell all of your friends in or around Chico that we’re selling the Volvo. To be completely honest, we’re not looking to make a butt-load of cash on this one, we just need to get rid of it. So here we go:

2000 Volvo V40 Turbo for sale as is: $3000 OBO

• dark blue-grey wagon
• 114,000 miles
• a/c, nice wheels, roof rack, 6 disc cd changer
• has an oil leak that needs to be fixed, and the timing belt needs to be replaced.
• we love this car but we just bought a new car so we don’t want to put any money into it…
• low blue book = $3650 but we are selling it for $3000 OBO, AS IS

PS
So apparently, when I’m bored I change the theme of this blog…even if there hasn’t been a post on here is more than a month. Oh well. If you don’t like it, too bad. But I hope you do.

yes, i know there is still plenty of summer left, triple digit weather will be around for another couple months, but we feel like our summer is already long gone and spoken for. it goes a little something like this…

this weekend i go shopping with the mom in sacramento, next friday we fly to seattle for branden’s wedding, the following weekend we have a wedding here, the next weekend daniel has scotty k’s bachelor party, and then august 25th we have camping at french gulch (near whiskeytown) with family and friends. whew! we are exhausted just thinking about it. where does the time go?

my friend anna has been canning all sorts of yummy stuff all summer, and damned if i’m not out of town every flippin’ time they are getting the girls together for some wine, snacks and canning. is everyone’s summer this crazy? its like, though we are busy and hanging out with friends and family, we are still missing out on so much. i haven’t seen many of my chico peeps in a long time (too long) and i miss you guys.

i know that since most of you have kiddos and so many of our lady friends are teachers, that summer is THE time to get out and go go go. so tell us, what are your plans this summer? and are we invited? and when should we get a game night with some flip cup going on @ chez reardon??? how does september look…? i’m serious here, we were devastated that we missed out on jen’s 30th birthday bash AND the flip cup. seriously crushed. i rule at that game.