Candied Cinnamon Vanilla Pecans

Sweet, salty perfection.

Candied Cinnamon Vanilla Pecans

4 cups pecans

1 egg white

1 tsp vanilla 

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 250 and line baking sheet with parchment.

In small bowl, mix sugar, salt and cinnamon.

In large bowl, mix egg white, vanilla and water.  Whisk until frothy. Stir in pecans and mix well.  Add sugar mixture and stir until coated.

Pour mixture onto baking sheet and spread evenly.

Bake about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Cool completely and break up clumps.

Cookies and Cream Cookies

What better way to eat Oreos than crammed into another cookie! These turned out great.

Cookies and Cream Cookies from Sing For Your Supper

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup + 1 Tbs granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbs milk (I used almond)
1 1/2 cups Oreos, chopped.

Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.  Beat together butter, sugars, salt, vanilla, soda and powder until well combined.  Add egg, beating until smooth.  Scrape sides of bowl and beat again until smooth.  Add the flour, mixing in completely.  Stir in milk and then the Oreos.

Drop cookies by rounded spoonful onto prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart.  Bake 11-15 minutes, until light golden brown and a bit darker around the edges.  Remove from oven and cool.

No Hurry Vegetable Curry

I don't know about no hurry, because it took forever to prep the veggies for this one.  All in all it is pretty good.  Not knock your socks off fantastic, but a perfectly fine veggie-ful dish.  I served over rice.

Adapted from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, p. 124

No Hurry Vegetable Curry


1 Tbs. olive oil
2 large carrots, sliced on a diagonal
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
8 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can white beans or garbanzo beans
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Add the carrots and onion and saute until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, curry powder and cayenne, stirring to coat.

2. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a 3.5-4 qt slow cooker (mine is a 6 and it worked fine).  Add the potatoes, green beans, white beans, tomatoes and stock.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

3. Just prior to serving, stir in peas and coconut milk and season with salt.

Brown Sugar Brown Butter Cookies

These cookies are beyond delicious, and would be even better with some heath bar or chocolate chips added.  Lucy can tolerate low doses of dairy now, so I can cook with and eat it.  After going over a year almost completely dairy-free, it's nice to have the freedom to not have to constantly watch every bite for hidden dairy.  I still try to keep it to a minimum, but these cookies are worth the splurge.

Here's the recipe from The Novice Chef.

Brown Sugar Brown Butter Cookies

ingredients:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 cup unbleached flour, plus 2 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For rolling:
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

directions:

Heat butter in small saucepan, over medium heat, until melted. Continue cooking butter, whisking or swirling the pan as needed, until the melted butter takes on a light golden brown color. There will be small flakes of dark brown on the bottom of the saucepan. Remove butter from heat and transfer to a small bowl immediately. Let cool until the bottom of the bowl is no longer warm to the touch, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

In a shallow bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons brown and granulated sugar. I used my fingers, but you could also use two forks. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Add 1 cup brown sugar to bowl with cooled, browned butter and mix until combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined and there are no lumps. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Roll about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough into a ball using your hands. Then toss the dough in the brown/granulated sugar mixture. Place on prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.

Pinterest

Frosted Cake Batter Blondies

I found this off Pinterest and just had to try it.

Frosted Cake Batter Blondies
-1 white or yellow cake mix, or funfetti mix
-1/4 cup vegetable oil
-1 egg
-1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk)
-1/2 cup white chocolate chips
-1/2 cup mini marshmallows (I omitted)
-1/4 cup sprinkles (unless you used a funfetti mix)

Preheat oven to 350.  In large bowl, combine mix, oil, egg and milk.  Stir in chips and marshmallows. Batter will be thick.  Spread in prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, until center is just set.

Frosting:
-1/2 cup butter, room temp (I used Earth Balance dairy and soy-free spread)
-2 cups powdered sugar
-1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
-1 Tbs milk
-sprinkles

Mix butter and marshmallow fluff until smooth.  Slowly add powdered sugar, mixing slowly.  Add milk and mix on medium until smooth.  Frost cooled blondies.   Top with sprinkles.

I got antsy and put the frosting on while the blondies were still warm, so they didn't firm up as well as they should.  They're super rich and sweet, so a little bit will go a long way but they are oh so tasty!

Getting my You Know What Together

Having a child, multiple animals, a husband, a home and a job mean that I don't have the time or energy to waste being disorganized and/or inefficient.  My days off, once spent sleeping in, lounging on the couch or going to the beach, are now spent cooking, cleaning and running errands.  Yay for being a grown-up!

Here's pretty much the bare minimum goals I need to meet:

-Keep Rich, Lucy and myself well-fed with a balanced, mostly nutritious diet (this includes meal-planning, couponing, grocery shopping and cooking)
-Keep pets fed, healthy and happy

-keep the house free of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)
-Keep myself sane and fit by making time for running

In Charleston, it was just me and Rich and we had a lady that cleaned the house every other week.  All I really had to do was light cleaning during the week.  I never cleaned the bathrooms, mopped, etc.

Fast forward to moving back to Arkansas, and we lived with my parents.  They have someone that comes once a week to clean and mom cooked dinner every night.  Yeah, we got really spoiled!

I knew the fly by the seat of my pants wasn't going to work once we got settled in our new place.  I needed a plan. I needed to get organized.  Since I'm the kind of person that likes to read 4 books and 18 blogs about something before I actually do said thing, I started reading.  I came across Flylady and that's what I've been using.  Basically, it works on the premise of not procrastinating, developing daily routines that keep things under control so you don't get overwhelmed and have to spend whole days cleaning.  I printed out a schedule, added in tasks specific to our family (ie brushing the dogs), and got started.  I tweaked it for a couple weeks and now I have a pretty good system down, with the bulk of my "chores" done on my days off, Monday and Wednesday and the weekend.  Now the house stays mostly clean all the time, and CHAOS stays away :)  For example, my morning routine involves wiping down the bathroom counter and sink everyday and a quick swish in the toilet with a brush. That way the bathroom never gets filthy.  On workdays, I usually chop/prep the night before and put ingredients in the slowcooker before I leave for work.  My nightly routine involves laying out clothes for the next day, packing the next day's lunches.  It is a lot of work, but it's also nice to feel like things are under control.  Gone are the days of waking up, wondering what to wear, what to eat and running around like a crazy half-dressed person in the morning trying to get ready. 

Meal planning and the slowcooker are wonderful.   I plan so that I can cook on my days off, and eat leftovers or slowcooker meals on my workdays.  Rich picks Lucy up from daycare and gets home before I do so he can put simple things in the oven (like potatoes), then we can eat when I get home. 

Running-this has been a tough one because my Wednesday runs have gotten longer and are now too long for me to comfortably push Lucy, plus she gets bored on anything more than about 4 miles.  I feel guilty about it, but wind up taking her to daycare for halfdays on Wednesdays while I run and grocery shop.

Getting my $h^! together is definitely a process, and there are some mornings that the toilet doesn't get swished. But overall it's working and makes life so much easier.  Anyone have any other tips to keeping a family and household running smoothly?