October Baking

Hi all,

How is everyone?

I'm ok, though not feeling terrifical, due to an oncoming cold.  But all things considered...

I'm thankful for each new day - for opportunities to learn, be humbled, and draw closer to the Lord! :)

Lately, I've been accepting this cool October weather as the perfect excuse to bake!

You've probably noticed the theme in my posts by now...

I like to bake.

Here are 3 recent recipes I've tried:

Sunday morning I made blueberry muffins.
(I believe this was the recipe I used).
Changed it up a bit by using whole wheat flour in them.
Also for the topping: melted the butter and added oats instead of flour.

The only negative about the muffins was... that I got them in the oven too late and was consequently 30 minutes late for church! :P

Still working on those time management skills.

Molasses cookies.

MMMMMMMMM!!!!

(recipe).

These are so good. 

If you've never made molasses cookies you really must try. 

It's like a ginger snap, only chewy!

There were originally a whole batch of them but now the above picture is all that remains. ;)

And last, but not least:

Peanut butter cookies!

You can find the recipe that I used here. 
The only changes I made were substituting margarine for the butter and rolling the balls of dough in sugar before pressing them with a fork and baking. 

These are delicious, though they tend toward the dry side.

Also: if you make your cookies small, know that this recipe makes a lot of cookies.  (roughly 6 dozen in my case).



Well, that's all for now.

Hope you're having a Terrifical Tuesday! ;)

Que le vaya bien!

~Isabel

Happy Thursday to You

Happy Thursday!

Here's a Peanut Butter Chocolate Kale smoothie to bring some color into your day.

 

Ingredients (measurements are approx.):

• 1/2-3/4 cup frozen Kale...
• 1 & 1/2 or 2 frozen bannas
• 1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/2 cup sunbutter (or peanut butter)
• Melted chocolate (I used semisweet/milk chocolate) w/ shortening or butter if you like. or cocoa powder.
• Milk (I used regular but you could use almond or coconut milk)

Add 1st 5 ingredients to blender, then add a little milk.  Try blending and add milk as needed till smoothie is totally blended.  Enjoy immediately!

~~
ISA

Fall and Fish

This might sound cliché, and I know it's slightly premature, but I'm so glad it's FALL! :)

Welcome back:
Sweater weather and pumpkin flavor,
Mugs of hot water,
Slippers and chilly evenings,
And the start of a new semester!


[Side note: As I write this post, I am listening to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, an ominous and dramatic song which builds to a riveting grand finale. You can listen too, by clicking below:

Fall is a nostalgic time.

Entering this season, memories of previous autumns return.

Fall is a time of anticipation... for Christmas, the end of classes, concerts, vacation and more!

Soon it will be even colder and the leaves will fall.

And then comes snow!

Maybe I'm moving ahead too quickly with my seasons. :/

Yay fall!

Ok, enough of that.  On to more important things...

Like Salmon.

 

Today I'm going to tell you how to make a "Honey Mustard Brown Sugar Salmon."

 

It's a family favorite.

 

Even those members of our family who don't like seafood like this recipe.

So whether you are a seafood fan - or not - it's worth trying!

 

*This recipe is adapted from a separate salmon recipe (from allrecipes, I believe).

 

Anyways, here's our version.

 

Warning: I tend towards the "glug-glug cook" side, so the measurements are not exact.  Adjust it to your taste liking.

 

Ready?

 

Here's how you do it:

 

Get your approx. 1 pound of salmon (if frozen) and allow it to thaw in a zi.plock floating in a bowl of warm water.

 

Meanwhile, mix your sauce.

 

Sauce:

Approx. 1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar

Approx. 1/4-1/2 cup raw honey

" 1 Tbsp. Braggs amino acids

" 1 or 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Liberal amount of ground black pepper

Approx. 1 Tbsp. Spicy Brown Mustard

 

Mix all that together in a small bowl with a spoon or spatula.

 

Grease a glass 9x13 and preheat your oven to 375*F.

 

Lay your slab(s) of salmon in the pan and score them deeply and parallel with a knife.  This will help the sauce to get into the salmon.

 

Now pour/spread the sauce on the salmon. 

Make sure you get sauce into the salmon where you scored it so that the flavor really gets into the salmon.

 

Bake at 375*F for 15-18 minutes, or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

~~

ISA

Zucchini Pizza

Tonight seemed like a good night for a healthy, tasty dinner.

Something with cheese maybe?

 

But what?

 

We had a large zucchini in the fridge, so I decided to search for a good zucchini recipe.

I found a recipe for "Zucchini Pepperoni Pizza" and settled on that.

Minus the pepperoni.

 

And Mmmmmmmmm was it good!

 

Want to try it yourself?

 

Here's how I did it:

Preheat oven to 400*f.

Get a large Zucchini, wash it, and cut it into flat slabs.

 

 

If you're making sausage pizza, get your frozen sausage out now and start browning it in a pan.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, place your zucchini slabs on a greased tinfoil covered cookie sheet.

Sprinkle slabs with salt, pepper and oregano.

 

 

Slide your zucchini into the oven and set timer for 15 minutes.

 

 

 

Now get out your pizza sauce and mozzarella or (cheese of choice). 

 

 The sausage should be fully browed by now.



After the 15 minutes is up, remove the zucchini from the oven. 

Top with sauce, cheese, and lastly sausage.

 

Slide it back into the oven for another 15 minutes or till cheese is melted/browned to your liking.

 

 

The finished product: 

 

 

 

What an awesome way to use those overgrown zucchini from your garden!

One zucchini easily feeds 4 people.

This turned out to be a quick, easy and delicious summer dinner.

 

So what are you waiting for? 

Go find yourself a monster zucchini and make yourself some pizza!!! :)

 

 

Buenas noches!

 

~

ISA

Coconut Chia Pudding

Today, I decided to put one of my Pinterest pins to good use! :)

I found the recipe for this healthy dessert on kitchenconfidante.com, though I omitted the sugar since our coconut milk was already sweetened.
And the idea of adding Mango was inspired by a separate pin.

Here's how I did it:

Coconut Chia Pudding

First, pour approx. 12oz of sweetened coconut milk in a glass and add 1/3 cup chia seeds.

Stir until well combined.

Place glass in fridge to chill.

Next, peel & cut 1 mango, and chill in fridge if desired.

Now wait 2-3 hours

(though I didn't wait quite that long)

for your chia seeds to expand.

Ta-dah!

Your pudding is finished!

Pour it into bowl(s), top with mango, and enjoy!

 

The finished product was delicious! 

It's like tapioca pudding, minus the dairy.

And the mango chunks added phenomenal flavor.  

 

 

 

 

 

G iordano's

And now, I'd like to give a plug for Chicago style deep dish pizza.

If you haven't had real deep dish pizza: you, my friend, are missing out.

The above pictured pizza was delicious.

G!ordano's stuffed cheese pizza.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

I personally helped with the consumption process. :) 
 
 



 

Alex

And lastly, here's a picture from a month or so back of

Alex, a Silver Laced Polish rooster.  

A docile but noisy rooster.

I guess you could say "His crow is bigger than his bite." ;)

 

 

Hope you're having a splendid summer!

 

Muy sinceramente,

 

~

ISA

 

 

 

Lemon Tea

I don't know if it's is allergies or a cold, but I'm experiencing a bit of a runny nose/soar throat right now and, needless to say, I'm not particularly enjoying it.

But there are some good things about being sick.

If you're extremely sick (at the moment I'm not), you get to stay home and sleep in!

And no matter how sick you are, you can always drink Lemon Tea!!

That's my favorite soar throat remedy right now.
Lemon tea is so simple to make:
Hot water + fresh lemon juice + a spoonful of raw honey. 
And it's so warm and soothing. 
The steam is good for the sinuses and the lemon/honey soothes a soar throat.
True, it's not permanently soothing.  Which is why you might end up drinking cup after cup of "lemon tea".  But extra fluids can't hurt when your body is fighting a virus/cold/flu.
Just don't overdo it on the honey if you're gonna drink a bunch of tea.

So what else have I been up to?

Well a lot of things.

Hemming and hawing.  Planning.  Spending time with extended fam :)

Working.  Walking.  Staying up too late.

And as always, a little bit of cooking/microwaving... hehe.

Microwave Single Serving Brownie 

(Picture taken before microwaving).

This brownie was chocolate-y and delicious.

 

 

 Mexican Chip Dip

1 can Refried beans, (1 cup-ish) sour cream+taco seasoning, 1 can tomatoes with green chiles, and some shredded cheddar cheese.

Yummmmmmmmy.

 

 

 Microwave English Muffin pizza.

This was disgusting. 

I think that some things are worth taking the time to bake and follow a recipe, and it would seem pizza falls under this category. :P

 

 

 

Well, that's what I've been up to.

 

How about you?

 

Hope you are having a superb summer. 

 

Enjoy what's left of it, don't get sick, and if you do catch a cold- DRINK LEMON TEA! :]

 

¡Que le vaya bien!

 

~

ISABEL

A Quick Hello

Hello!

You thought I'd fallen off of the face of the earth, I bet?

Nope.  I'm still here!

I've just neglected my blog terribly.

Anyways, this is going to be a short post, cuz it's late and I don't have much time.

It's been a busy few months.

Hard to believe summer is here... how time flys!

So much to be thankful for.  God is good.

I want to introduce you to our little flock!

This short clip is all I'm gonna post for now.

Meet Gucci, Alex, Rhubarb, Tiffany, and Strudel!