August

In August we moved into our new home! Hurray! We started hosting weekly Sunday dinners with as much family as possible. In addition to regular Sunday meals we have hosted Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and many birthday celebrations. We are now branching out to invite friends over for dinners, but so far we have only done that once.
I enjoy trying new and old recipes out on such a large audience.

Long time no see

Thanks Erin for reminding me there are people who come to my blog even if I'm not always one of them. I guess I'll just start uploading pictures that I have and let you know what I've been up to this past year.

Banh Mi

This sandwich is one of my new favorites. I had these for lunch 3 days in a row while I had the ingredients. I didn't make the meat shown here. Perhaps I will do that the next time around. It is just such a delicious blend of flavors. I highly encourage you to find one of these to try. Just watch out, they can be a little on the spicy side if you aren't careful.



The recipe for the pickled carrots and daikon can be found here.

For the rest of the ingredients I used the following:

A hoagie bun (not crusty enough)
Teriyaki chicken (not homemade)
English cucumber
Cilantro
Serrano chile (no seeds or membranes)
Hoisin sauce
Sriracha hot sauce (teensy bit)

Another Find

I didn't make these, but I bought them along with the chair. I'm so excited to watch these once we find a VCR. I love these! Only 50 cents each!

A Chair Makeover

Before:



This project came after a trip to the local thrift store, CCA. Lincoln had played a little too rough on one of our dining room chairs and it had been irreparably damaged. While at CCA I found this chair and a little footstool and decided these would be the perfect items to try to recover in fabric. I was wrong. The chair was very difficult to recover because I couldn't take the seat off. It was glued on. So I found an alternative way to sew directly onto it. I'm glad I'm done because I will never do that again. What a pain! I used a curved upholstery needle and lots of time to get the thing done.

After:

Chicken Noodle Soup

I saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's blog and decided to give it a try. There were some bumpy patches, but once I tasted it I had no regrets. So good. You can find the recipe here.

Macaroni Casserole

Ok, almost done for tonight and I haven't even gotten to my chair redo. I am posting an Allan family classic. I don't eat the celery, but I couldn't make it without it. It would seem wrong.



Ingredients: I don't think I used a recipe so I will give the approximates

16 oz. cooked, drained and cooled macaroni noodles
1 can tuna
3-4 celery stalks
8 oz. grated cheddar

The sauce is made by mixing equal parts mayo and mustard. It should be heavier on the mustard flavor so add more mustard as needed. It should also be on the dry side. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Delicious salad to accompany any BBQ.

Crepes!

Seriously, how many food posts in a row do I have to do before I get to a craft I worked on? I guess it's good I have my appetite back. I think we made these on Christmas, but Chris has no idea and I don't feel like researching any further. They turned out really well, the first ones we made were a little on the thin side so we had to experiment to get them just the right thickness for our tastes. We ate them with leftover huckleberries from summertime in Wyoming. I don't remember what else we found....bananas, chocolate, strawberry jam, etc. Just check out the rim of the plate to see.

Tortilla Soup

This soup turned out to be a very large recipe. My large pot was almost overflowing. The nice thing was we didn't have to feel bad about loading up our bowls with lots of the bulk of the soup rather than lots of broth. Mmmm....all of these food posts are making me hungry.

3 Tbsps olive oil
4-6 corn tortillas, diced
1 Tbsp of cumin
2 Tbsps of chili powder
1 Tbsp of minced garlic
1 large onion
a large handful of cilantro leaves
2 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp of cumin
2 Tbsps of chili powder
8 cups chicken broth or stock

OPTIONAL ADD INS:
2 cups frozen corn
1 (14 ounce) can black, pinto, or
Kidney beans
leftover shredded chicken

In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add tortillas and saute until beginning to brown. Add cumin and chili powder and saute for one minute. Meanwhile, combine in the blender the garlic, onion, cilantro, and tomatoes. Puree until smooth. Add tomato mixture and chicken broth to pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes and up to one hour. Add any optional add ins for last few minutes of simmering. Serve soup with tortilla chips, cheese, avocado, cilantro, sour cream and lime wedges.

Inari Sushi

While on a visit to my family in WA I went to a local Asian Market to pick up some seasoning for my sister. I also took advantage of the opportunity to look for Inari Sushi wraps, sushi rice, and sweet rice. I found the Inari wraps in the refrigerated section of the store. They even had some seasoning to add to the rice. I discovered Inari while I was in Hawaii 6 years ago and whenever I see sushi for sale I look for it. It is very difficult to come by. Now you can look for it when you are out. It turned out great! I was also happy to find some Chinese BBQ Pork to make it a full meal. So good, and another item I can hardly ever find. What's up Texas?! So as you can see, they are orange pouches made from soy. You stuff them with rice and sometimes they have sesame seeds. The soy pouches are wet and sticky, but oh so yummy! The sushi is best dipped in soy sauce and wasabi with a little pickled ginger on top. The BBQ Pork can be dipped in hot chinese mustard, ketchup and sesame seeds. I know, probably not so authentic, but good.

Indian Fry Bread

Watch out! There may be quite a few updates coming. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's been a while since I posted anything here.



Indian Fry Bread:
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 1/3 cup warm water
Vegetable oil for frying

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the water and knead the dough until soft. Roll the dough into ¼ inch thick, then cut the rounds 4 inches in diameter. Fry the bread in 2-3 inches of hot oil until puffed and browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels. (Can put powdered sugar in a paper bag and add hot fry bread to be coated.)

Guacamole

After years of eating restaurant/store/packet prepared guacamole I finally discovered that my favorite guacamole is homemade by me. It's perfect! You add what you like and leave out what you don't like. I leave out onions for me and tomatoes for Chris. The ingredients for my guacamole are as follows:

2-3 avocados
1 serrano chile pepper, (chopped, remove seeds and ribs)
1 clove garlic (pressed or chopped)
1/2 lime (juice)
a pinch of kosher salt
cilantro (chopped)

Spaghetti Squash Tossed with Olive Oil, Avocado and Parmesan

Ok, just a couple more posts for today to catch up. I found this recipe here. It was very delicious. Not terribly filling, but so so good.

Green Onions

This summer I watched The Next Food Network Star and learned some handy tips from Melissa D'Arabian. One tip was that after cutting green onions you can put the roots in a glass of water to regrow them. I gave it a try and it worked great. It isn't something you can do forever, but I used them several times so I really felt like I got my money's worth.

A Summer Hat

I made this hat for Fiona in anticipation of a trip to Wyoming. Although the weather would be much cooler there than summer in Texas, I knew we would be spending much more time outside as a result of the lovely weather. I used one of Fiona's other hats as a pattern and chose some fun colors to create a reversible sun hat.




It ended up being a little small for her head, but we made it work.