an easy dinner recipe

Due to the impending arrival of baby #2, I've been trying to find some quick and easy dinner recipes. Although, to be entirely honest, I don't much like cooking, so I'm always trying to find quick and easy recipes that still allow me to prep a meal from scratch. (From-scratch meals are healthier, in my opinion.)

We have enjoyed this meal a couple times, but I recently was struck again at just how easy it is to prepare, so I thought I'd share it with you...

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken (breasts, tenders, whatever is on sale or in your freezer)
1 can cream of chicken soup*
1 small onion, diced
1-2 each veggies, diced (carrots, celery, whatever you have on hand)
1-2 tsp each spices (cumin, parsley, poultry seasoning, pepper, whatever you have on hand)**
2 tbsp flour (optional - to thicken)

Instructions:

Throw everything in the slow cooker, cover with water*** and cook on high 5-6 hours.

It's just that easy.

*If you truly want to be fully "from scratch," you could make your own condensed soup. I use Pacific Foods organic condensed soups because they use recyclable aseptic containers (no BPA).
**I omitted salt because most condensed soups are loaded with it, but you may want to taste test when it's done.
***Or chicken broth, but - again - be conscious of the salt content.

And now for the best part: the biscuits. (Were you wondering what happened to the dumplings?)

You could certainly use refrigerated biscuit dough and add pieces of it to the slow cooker in the last half hour, but I prefer to avoid the trans fats that are often found in pre-made baked goods. I used to LOVE those Pillsbury frozen biscuits (booooooooo trans fats!). Once, I tried making my own biscuit dough and freezing the little circles, but they got icy pretty fast and just didn't taste right. Then, I came across this recipe on the Organic Valley website, and find it works much better...

Make-Ahead Buttermilk Mix

Ingredients:

1 cup Organic Valley Buttermilk Blend (dry buttermilk)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour*
5 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
2 tsp salt

*I only had white pastry flour, so used it and then substituted 2 cups whole wheat flour for 2 of the white flour. It seems to work fine.

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together until well combined and store in an airtight container.

Any time you want biscuits, just put 1 1/2 cups of this mix and 3 tbsp frozen butter in your food processor and pulse together. Slowly add 1/2 cup milk and pulse until the dough just comes together. Drop small balls of the dough onto a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for about 13-15 minutes.

It's just that easy.

For the purposes of this recipe, you could add your dough balls to the slow cooker for "real" dumplings, but I like to bake the biscuits separately so I have the option of either pouring the chicken stew over a biscuit OR smothering a fresh, warm biscuit with honey and butter and eating it alongside the chicken stew. I may even do both.

(I apologize for the lack of photos with this recipe, but we usually snarf down the contents before I remember my camera.)

homemade lip balm

If the homemade lotion seems like too big a project to tackle at the start, try this: lip balm. It's ridiculously easy and will probably only take you about 10 minutes. No mixing is required.

For lip balm, the hardest part will be finding containers. You can buy lip balm tins or tubes online or at some natural food stores, but I prefer to recycle used tubes. In fact, if you visit your dentist regularly, chances are you can get some for free. My dentist always hands out a tube of lip balm, so I just ask my hygienist for their least popular flavor. At our last visit, she gave me 6 tubes of what she called "the most disgusting smelling flavor ever": Banana Split. (It was pretty gross.) Then, just empty the tubes, remove any labels, wash and sterilize them, and save them in a baggie until you need them. This process is definitely easier if you have a bottle brush and one of those microwavable nipple/Binky sterilizing bags.

After some experimenting, this has become my favorite lip balm recipe...

Ingredients:

3 tsp sweet almond oil
1 1/2 tsp cocoa butter
1 1/2 tsp organic beeswax
3-4 drops peppermint or spearmint essential oil

Instructions:

Combine the oil, cocoa butter shavings, and beeswax pastilles in a Pyrex measuring cup.


Set the cup in a small cooking pot with 1-2 inches boiling water and heat, stirring occasionally, until the cocoa butter and wax melt. Turn off the heat, and add the essential oil.

Prepare 3 tins or tubes. If using tubes, make sure you screw the platform or little cup all the way to the bottom of the tube. (This will make sense if you examine an empty tube of lip balm.)


When the wax is fully melted, carefully pour the oil mixture into the empty tubes. (It's a bit tricky to do without spilling, so I couldn't take a photo as the oil was pouring.)


Try to fill each tube to the top. You may have a small amount of the oil mixture left over (in which case, I top up whatever tube of lip balm I'm currently using). Let the tubes sit, uncovered, to cool.


As they cool, the mixture will solidify. Cap the tubes and store them in your refrigerator until you need one.


I read once that our lips are the most absorbent part of our body. If this is true, then we should definitely avoid lip balms with unpronounceable chemicals in them. Even if it's not true, we're licking and eating off our lips all the time, and who would want to eat those products? For pennies a tube, you can make your own safe and effective lip balm. If you try it, let me know what you think.

homemade lotion

I had been meaning to try making my own body lotion for awhile, but when a friend decided to give up commercial lotions this year, we got together for a lotion-making party. It was surprisingly easy - and this recipe makes a surprisingly good lotion! We live in the desert, so dryness is an issue. I also have extremely sensitive, allergy-prone skin and I've always had trouble finding unscented, heavy-duty lotions that last all day. Well, it's not an issue anymore because this one is fantastic. It's like a light and fluffy body butter, but with all-natural, organic ingredients at a very reasonable price. If you can buy the ingredients on sale, then a large jar will only cost you a couple bucks.

And did I mention that it's all-natural and organic? I could go on and on about the dangerous chemicals in commercial lotions, but if you're considering making your own then you probably already know about them. Let me just say that it's especially important for infants and young children (primarily males) to avoid the phthalates found in most baby products today (lotions, shampoos, powders, etc). A recent study in Europe has found that lotions and sunscreens that contain phthalates will essentially demasculinize baby boys. It's pretty scary.

Here's a quick how-to, using my favorite lotion recipe from this great book...

Ingredients:

6 oz organic olive oil
2 oz organic coconut oil
1 oz (about 4 tbsp) organic beeswax (I prefer pastilles)
10-20 drops essential oil (optional, for fragrance)
1 cup water (distilled or filtered)

Have the following items ready:


A glass Pyrex measuring cup and a small cooking pot with about 2 inches of water in it.


A mixer (or a blender). I make my lotion in my parents' kitchen because they have this pretty little thing.


Another measuring cup with the 1 cup of filtered water in it. You will also want to have one more cup of water ready (in any non-metallic, heat-proof cup) for heating your mixer/blender (more on that in a minute).

Also make sure you have a container ready for your finished lotion. This recipe makes about 2 cups, so I just use a clean glass pint jar with a reusable lid.

Instructions:

Start heating up the water in your cooking pot. Pour olive oil into the Pyrex measuring cup until it reaches the 6 ounce line, like so:


Next, pour in the coconut oil until it reaches the 8 ounce line:


Add the beeswax:


Place the Pyrex dish into the cooking pot. As the water begins to boil and heat up, it will slowly melt the beeswax. Keep an eye on it and stir occasionally. It will take about 5 minutes to melt the pastilles (and probably longer if you use chunks). During the last couple minutes, put the two containers with filtered water into the microwave for 1-2 minutes.* (If you do not have a microwave - or are anti-microwave - just heat up all the water on the stovetop, then pour a cup of it out into a measuring cup and save the rest in the pot.)

*Note: The original recipe calls for using 1 cup tepid water. However, our first batch of lotion leached quite a bit of water. Upon further research, I discovered many people say that both the "oil phase" and the "water phase" need to be the same temperature during emulsification. Nuking the water for a minute or two helps quite a bit, but I'd like to get a candy thermometer and try making some lotion with both phases the exact same temperature to see how that works.


Once the wax is totally melted, turn off the heat and add the essential oil if you are using it. You may need to experiment a couple times to find the right amount of scent you prefer. I'm pretty sensitive to fragrances, so I only use about a dozen drops. Current favorite oil of choice = plumeria.


Once everything is heated, do the following as quickly as possible... Pour the extra cup of water into your blender or mixer and swish it around to heat up the bowl (so your wax doesn't solidify as soon as you pour it in). Empty out the water and pour in your oil/wax mixture. Turn on the mixer/blender and slowly add the 1 cup of heated filtered water.


The oil will start emulsifying (turning to cream) almost instantly.


Continue mixing until all of the water has been incorporated. You will have to stop a couple times and use a spoon to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Also make sure there is no water at the very bottom of the bowl. At some point during the mixing, I begin to doubt it will thicken sufficiently, and it always takes just a bit longer than I think it will. You don't want to overmix, but don't worry if it takes a few minutes to look right. You're shooting for this:


Pour the lotion into your container and gently stir to remove any pockets of air. Let the container cool on your counter before putting on the lid. As it cools, the lotion will thicken more.


Since the ingredients are natural, you should only keep this lotion at room temperature for 4-6 weeks. (I use up my jar in about a month.) You can also store it or any extra jars in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

A note on cleaning: Be careful to wipe out all bowls and cups with rags or paper towels that are disposable, because you don't want to pour a bunch of wax down your drain.

I really enjoy this lotion as the original recipe is written, but you can vary it with different types of oils, additives, and scents. Sometimes I will add a touch of vitamin E for its benefits, and may start experimenting more. There's another recipe in the book for a cocoa butter lotion that is thicker and super-moisturizing - I usually make it at the same time (you don't need a mixer for it), and love it on my hands after gardening, on my feet at night, on the growing baby belly, and even on the under-eye area overnight.

Somebody asked me the other day if I enjoy making lotions. I had to admit that no, I don't really love the process. However, it's easy, it saves you money, and the peace of mind in knowing you're not slathering poisonous chemicals all over your (and your child's) body definitely make it worth it. Give it a try, and I bet you'll have a tough time going back to commercial lotions.

the 2012 spring garden: additions

Every year, we seem to make a few more changes to our house and garden. Some day - hopefully - we'll be finished. But this year I'm excited to say we FINALLY fixed up the front patio. It had been all empty, ugly dirt planters and a poorly-executed plywood wall (enclosing the garage) for the past 4 1/2 years, and I was always embarrassed when people came to the door.

But NO MORE.

First, we removed the plywood wall and replaced it with block to match the other walls. Then, we filled in two of the dirt planters so I could actually put furniture out there. The remaining planters became my new herb garden and my husband's mini-pond. We also put in a watering system and plants along the front of the house. A mesquite tree installed last fall is not looking so hot - time will tell if he survives. The last task will be to clean up/replace the existing gravel, but that will probably be a project for next spring.

Here are some photos:





Oh, I almost forgot another important addition: a fence for my garden - complete with gate! No more stepping over the doggy barrier and falling into broccoli plants for me!


And, lastly, a small berry planter on the east side:


As always, I'm trying to enjoy these garden additions as much as possible before the weather shoots up to 100 degrees. Given our nation-wide crazy warm winter, I expect that to be any day now.

yogurt

I've been meaning to attempt yogurt-making for awhile, and after coming across a ridiculously easy sounding recipe I decided to give it a try.

Yogurt!

It turned out fairly well. There are definitely things I think I can do to improve it, and from what I've read it really takes a lot of trial and error to make it just right. One thing I didn't realize when I made this batch is the importance of temperature. The recipe I used didn't say much about monitoring temperature, but further research suggests that is a key part of the process (so I will include it when I describe the recipe below).

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon whole organic milk
1/2 cup starter (yogurt with active cultures)

Notes on ingredients: Whole milk is not necessary, but will make a creamier yogurt. Many people say organic is a must, and some prefer non-homogenized. If possible, avoid ultra pasteurized milk (raw would be great if you can get it). For the starter, it is possible to find pure bacteria cultures, but the easiest method is to use some store-bought yogurt or previously made yogurt, as long as it has "active cultures." If using homemade yogurt as a starter, you'll have to go back to a store-bought starter every 4-5 batches or so... at least, that's what the experienced people say.

Instructions:

Pour milk in a clean crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. (You need to heat the milk to 180F, at which point apparently there is some kind of change in its protein structure to allow for coagulation and also to kill off "bad" bacteria.)

Turn off crockpot and let it sit on your counter top, covered, for 3 hours. (To reduce the milk's temperature to 110-115F.)

After 3 hours (or once the milk has hit the proper temperature), add starter culture. Do not aggressively whisk or stir the yogurt starter into the milk - you want to mess with the milk as little as possible. I just added the starter, then used a whisk to gently swirl the yogurt in with about 2-3 circles. Some people recommend removing a cup of milk, swishing the starter into that, then pouring the whole thing back into the crockpot.

Once the starter has been introduced, wrap the covered crockpot in a big towel and let it sit on the counter for 8-10 hours. (Ideally, it should stay at 110-115F during this time. One fellow turned his crockpot on low or "keep warm" for 5-10 minutes a few times in order to maintain proper temperature. It will depend on the temperature of your kitchen and how well insulated your crockpot is.)

That should be it. Transfer your new yogurt to clean, sterilized jars and store in your refrigerator. I got 3 and a half pints of yogurt out of 1/2 gallon of milk.

There are all sorts of extras you can do to your yogurt, from adding vanilla and maple syrup or other flavors to letting it drain in cheesecloth for a thicker, Greek-style yogurt. (I tried the cheesecloth thing, but I must have used too many layers of cloth because my yogurt didn't drain at all.)

Since my husband enjoys taking strawberry yogurt to work in the morning, I'm testing these on him this week:


It's basically 1-2 tbsp of pureed organic strawberries (with a dash of sugar), then 4-5 tbsp of the yogurt. I anticipate having to tweak these to his tastes, but I'm hoping they work out because they are healthier and much cheaper than store-bought flavored yogurts. The next step will be getting our incredibly picky toddler to eat my yogurt - if it doesn't look right, he won't touch it.

If you like yogurt, give this a try - it really was sooo easy - and let me know how you do!

I'd like to say it was my plan all along

This past Christmas, I promised my mother-in-law a knit hat to help keep her ears warm during those frigid Iowa nights. (Or days, perhaps. We don't really do "frigid" here in the desert - it's been in the 70s for weeks - but I hear some places can have highs in the single digits.) When they visited last Thanksgiving, she and I even went to the local yarn shop to pick out something she would like. I was eager to finally start another knitting project.

But, for some odd reason, every time I sat down to start the hat, I had one problem or another: wrong size needles; wrong length; casting on difficulties; etc. After starting and unraveling the project at least 5 times on 3 different sets of needles, I finally got it right. At least, I thought I got it right.

Turns out, you should always, always, ALWAYS trust the gauge listed on the yarn. I didn't, so I inadvertently cast on too many stitches. Like 9 INCHES too many. By the time I realized my mistake, I was too far into the project to be willing to unravel it. I kept going, hoping I may find a way to save it in the end. However, since the hat was now too wide, I used up too much yarn, so had to finish it early. Like 2 inches early.

The result? As my husband described it, through tears of laughter: "yarmulke for a giant." It was pathetic, and no amount of stretching or blocking could restore it to any normal 'hat' shape.

Since the yarn was quality and the colors were pretty, I considered different ways I could use the, uh, 'project.' After much deliberation, I finally came up with the following:


It's not perfect, but it works. And if my mother-in-law's ears aren't warm, at least her tea will be.

Alas.

I shall attempt Round 2 in the near future.

orange harvest

We have a large orange tree in the garden that is at least as old as the house (early-1970s), if not older (this area was an orange grove before they converted it to a neighborhood). It had a rough life with the previous homeowners -- it was insufficiently watered, it was never harvested or fertilized, most of its leaves were choked out by a cat's claw vine that was allowed to grow all over it, and when they finally pulled off the vine it was not given any sun protection.

Needless to say, the poor thing produced no oranges our first winter here. I even thought it was dying. But each year, as I better learn how to care for it, the tree is becoming healthier and producing more and larger fruit. I'm not sure if it will simply decline with age, but I am looking forward to seeing how well it produces in this coming year.


Over the past couple weeks, I have slowly been harvesting all the oranges of this season. (Just in time... new buds are already forming!!) Many oranges were split, possibly because we installed a block well around the tree mid-summer, drastically increasing its irrigation halfway through the year. Several of the largest oranges were eaten by birds (foul birds!). And then many others were nice, juicy, medium-sized oranges. Our tree is one of the Arizona Sweet varieties, so the oranges make ridiculously delicious juice. Last year, a friend and I just juiced all the oranges. This year, I'm juicing most of them, but also wanted to try something different...

ORANGE MARMALADE!

I love this spread. Though traditionally made with Seville or bitter oranges, marmalade can also be made with sweet oranges. I did some research, combined a few different recipes, and came up with the following for my first batch. It turned out quite well. As soon as I get over this darn cold, I'm going to make a second batch.

Ingredients:

6 large oranges
1 lemon, zest finely grated and juiced
2 1/2 cups water
2-3 cups sugar
4 1/2 tsp low-sugar pectin
3 tsp calcium water

Instructions:

Scrub the oranges and remove a small slice from each end. If you have a mandoline, cut the oranges into 1/8-inch slices, removing seeds as you go; stack the slices and cut them into quarters. If, like me, you have to do it the hard way (a mandoline is now on my wish list), first quarter the oranges and remove any seeds, then thinly slice each quarter.


Place all the pieces in a large pot, pour in the water, and squish with a potato masher to release some of the juice. Cover and let sit overnight.


The next day, add the lemon zest and juice, bring the mixture to a boil, and then simmer until the rinds are tender, about 30-60 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit again.


On the third day (I actually did the previous step in the morning, then this final step that night), measure the amount of fruit and juice in the pot. Mine came out to about 6 cups. Return to the pot and add the sugar, pectin, and calcium water. If you want to get fancy, you can also add a pinch of ground cloves or a couple tablespoons of fresh ginger. Bring to a boil and cook until the marmalade gels, about 30 minutes. Stir frequently. Remove from heat and cool for another 5 minutes, stirring to release air bubbles. Skim off any foam.


Can using the boiling-water method. Ladle into hot, sterilized canning jars (4-oz or half pint are best for marmalade, though I ran out so had to use 1 pint jar also) and try to release any trapped air. The orange rinds seem to like trapping air bubbles all over the jar, so perhaps use a sterilized knife to poke them out. Process for 10 minutes (make sure you keep the pot covered, unlike in my photo above; I thought bubbling water would be more dramatic than a lid), remove from heat, and let the jars sit in the water for 5 minutes more. Cool on the counter for several hours, check your seals, and store for up to 1 year.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 pints.

I might experiment with some spices for the next batch. I'd also like to try grapefruit marmalade, since my parents have about a million grapefruit trees on their property and, really, how often can you find grapefruit marmalade in American stores?