Elvis loaf aka: Peanut butter Banana Bread

(Thanks for the catchy name suggestion, Mom!)

Since Bubba is over a year now it is ok to give him peanut butter. The other day I gave him some peanut butter toast for breakfast and he loved it. So much that he barely touched his banana, one of his favorite fruits. So I got an idea. Peanut butter banana bread! I enlisted my brother Tim's help since we would be modifying his banana bread recipe. Here is what we came up with:

3/4 stick of butter

3/4 cup of brown sugar

3 eggs

2 bananas

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream the butter and the sugar.

Add the peanut butter.

Add the eggs.

Add the dry ingredients.

Mix well.

Oops! We were so excited we forgot to take a pic of them in the muffin tins before baking! 

But I'm sure you know what that looks like :)

Bake at 325 for about 20 minutes.

Ta-da!

Bubba loves them!

Pot Stickers

Another of my brother Tim's specialties. Usually my Tim and I made an untraditional Thanksgiving dinner, the day after Thanksgiving. One year we decided to try potstickers and the recipe has evolved over the years. As usual I will let Tim describe his methods...

This one's undergoing continual refinement, they're still not as good as my favorite Chinese restaurant's (have to try rice flour one day) so the ingredients and their amounts should be taken very liberally.

For the filler, I used a packet of ground pork meat, ginger (about the size of my thumb), chives (a lot), a splash of wine, about 2 tsp of corn starch, sesame oil and various spices (off the top of my head: onion powder, garlic powder and white pepper). And this time, (remember, continual refinement) I blended it in the Cuisinart; very messy, but much better consistency than trying to finely chop the ginger. 

The dough is a very simple recipe. It's a two-to-one ratio of flour to warm water. So I think I started with 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of water, but I almost definitely made more because a package of ground meat goes along way. (Don't overstuff! You'll see why)

So anyway, knead the dough until it's a nice consistency but not sticky.

Pinch off a bit of dough with some flour and a bowl of water on standby. Flatten out the bit of dough and cut it in half into two triangularish shapes.

This one looks nice but it and some of it's brothers were massive,
which makes them too doughy, and they leaked

Place a spoonful (no more) in the center and fold (somehow)

Cut off the extra bit of dough that will form around the edges. This also creates a nice seal.

Squeezing out the last bit of dough

Heat oil in a wok (peanut oil plus a splash of sesame works best), high temperature and when hot throw in 2 or three potstickers and fry them for about a minute.

Then, (this is the tricky bit) add some water (I'm still working on how much, best results seems to be less than 1/2 a cup) and cover the wok immediately.

To make sure the meat's completely cooked, I recommend leaving them in for at least ten minutes. If they're not browned when you uncover them, you've added too much water. fry them a little longer uncovered. Between batches you may have to dump out or even scrub the wok (another reason we don't overstuff)

For sauce, Teriyaki and a little chili oil works nice. Or Hoisin if you prefer sweet

Bubba says "No chili oil for me, thanks. Not after that time with the over spiced mushrooms!"

Crepes

My husband is a night owl. Usually when he is up late it was because he was grading papers or playing Halo on Xbox live. One morning I noticed an email from him. It said "We have got to get this set of pots and pans!" and had a link to the Orgreenic site. 

Normally he is not an infomercial person, and does not really like to cook so I was surprised that he even paid attention to the commercial at all. But the video was quite impressive. With no cooking spray they could swirl and egg around in the pan with out a spatula and slide it off in to the plate. At one point I think they blow on an egg with the pan flipped at and angle and it magically flies out.

Our pots and pan set has been dwindling down to almost nothing. As the teflon on one gets a chip I throw it out, but hadn't really replaced any. And since we found out we were moving we thought "Great! We'll just toss out the crappy pans and buy a new set at the new place. Less packing!" So the other day when I saw one of these pans at the end of the aisle at Walmart it seemed like the perfect opportunity to "test" out these pans before buying a whole set. Now for the next couple of weeks it is my mission to "beat the crap" out of this pan to see if they are really as amazing as they look.

Anyway my brother Tim and I decided Crepes would be a really good nonstick test for these pans and it worked well because we had a lot of little left over smoked and grilled meat in the fridge, but not enough of any one thing to make a bigger meal. That's why crepes are great, you can throw almost anything into them. 

Here is what you'll need for the batter.

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup water

4 tablespoons oil

1 cup flour

a pinch of salt

Mix all the wet ingredients together.

Then whisk in the flour and salt.

Add a little oil to a pan and heat it over medium high heat. When the oil begins to bubble add about 1/4 cup of batter. Quickly swirl the pan around to form a circle of batter.

Cook until the edges begin to curl and it is no longer wet in the center.

Flip then cook for about 30 more seconds.

Just like the infomercial it slid out of the pan nice and smoothly! If this pan holds up we may have to buy the whole set after all.

Nice stack of crepes waiting for filling.

I put left over smoked chicken, some bacon, and cheddar cheese in mine.

Fold the sides over and Ta-Da!

Bubba had smoked chicken and corn with a cut up crepe. Looks like he liked it! 

(They taught him to do "Touch Down!" which now since he gets every one else to do it too, he often starts "The Wave" at the dinner table when he is happy with his meal.)

3 Ingredient Healthy (sort of) Cake

A while ago, I noticed a new recipe from one of my favorite recipe blogs Kirby's Cravings. This is usually my go to site for mug cake recipes, but this one intrigued me. It was for a 3 ingredient healthy cake. My mom is sort of a health nut lately so you always have to let her know what is in everything you make so she can calorie count it on My Fitness Pal which is a free calorie counter website. I did if for a while, but then I decided I don't care about calories. Besides Bubba has me run around so much now that he is totally mobile walking, crawling and climbing that I burn a lot of calories a day. Plus I'm on the "I share my food with the baby diet" which means if we have something he really likes he eats all of his portion and then half of mine cause I don't want to get up and cut up some more for him, so I let him have mine. Anyway this healthy cake sounded like something good to make, the original recipe called for chocolate cake mix, but all we had was white cake. I figured it would do just fine, and my husband likes white chocolate better than regular (weirdo), but I couldn't resist adding some mini chocolate chips I found in the pantry so I'm not sure how healthy it ended up.

1 cup lowfat greek yogurt

1 cup water

1 box cake mix 

1 cup of mini chocolate chips- (this would be the not healthy addition to the recipe)

Hmm. Looks like cake batter...

Pour in 13x9 baking dish and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Not too bad! They came out a little like a mix between blond brownies and cheesecake.

Giving up my superpower

I can still change a diaper at lightning speed, and in the dark no less. But my power to get Bubba to sleep in 15 minutes or less is slowly fading.

There have been many methods that we have used to get Bubba to sleep over the past year. From bouncing, to the sling, holding his hand through the cradle bars, controlled crying (this one was the worst, and only was tried a couple of times because I became convinced all it did was have him scream til he passed out rather than "teach" him to go to sleep), and finally our current method: let him run around in the playroom after bath until he looks really tired, then take him to bed and let him pass out nursing, then sneak him into his crib and escape.

This last method has been working great for many months now. We get a little extra time to play, no one fights and I get a couple minutes of snuggle time while he falls asleep. Except one small problem. I have to wean Bubba.

I have psoriatic arthritis and the meds are not something I can take while I breastfeed. Bubba has already switched to whole milk with meals and eats like a champ, so I am not worried about that part. He actually only nurses to go to sleep, so only 3 maybe 4 times a day. Its also been longer than I originally planned to breast feed anyway. He is over a year old after all. Before he was born I said until the first tooth comes, then I'll switch to pumping.  But when Bubba's first tooth came, he never bit me. So I figured, ok no problem, this is easier than pumping anyway. It wasn't til his fourth tooth that he bit, and just like they said to, I firmly said "No." and ended the nursing session. It only happened one or two more times before he got the hint and stopped.

Another reason I kept going was, Bubba still has never been sick. Once we thought he might catch a cold that was going around the house, but a few coughs and that was it. Magic milk!

But the real reason it has been so hard to give it up lately is that with milk I can get Bubba to fall asleep so easily. It's kind of lazy on my part I guess, but it is tricky when nursing is a source of food, and comfort. I could always rationalize it by saying to myself, well maybe he is still hungry, or thirsty and I can't deny him food. But lately I noticed even if he had lunch 5 minutes before nap he will still nurse, so it is mostly comfort thing.

I decided on a plan but have been stalling because I remember what getting Bubba to sleep was like before I got him to nurse to sleep. I figured that the first week I would get him to sleep without nursing for afternoon nap, then next week we will work on morning nap, and finally bed time, which I imagine will be the hardest.

So now my effort to get Bubba to sleep for one nap a day with out milk began. Here is my log of how it went.

Day One: Went by with out incident. We were out late the night before so Bubba slept in, and ended up skipping his morning nap which meant by afternoon nap he was really tired so I gave him is nuk and blankie, then lay him in the crib, patted his back for a minute and out like a light. This just may not be so bad.

Day Two: I went to work on the condo and my mom was watching him and he is used to her putting him in the crib awake to go to sleep, sure he fusses, but she sits in there with him til he falls asleep and sneaks out.

Day Three: Bad. Bubba marches up and down in his crib trying to climb out. He bangs his head on the bars, he does head stands (more like tripods), he throws his blankie and nuk and screams. Finally after an hour he flops down and closes his eyes.

Day Four: Better but not great. Bubba cries a bit then lays down, but pops back up. He still tries to climb out and throws his blankie and nuk. I decide to lay on the floor next to his crib (doesn't this one sound familiar!) As if he remembers as well Bubba sticks his hand out through the bars and reaches out to mine. I take his hand and with my other put his nuk back in and give him his blanket. We lay there for a minute holding hands through the bars and he closes his eyes. Only about forty minutes this time so maybe there is hope.

Day Five: Not so good. Fifty minutes. It may have been the diaper change in the middle of it that extended everything. In the beginning he lay down and took my hand though the bars. "This might just be the easiest day yet", I thought. "Psych!" was his response.
He thrashed to the side and jumped up, paraded around the crib with his blankie then tried to climb out by bracing his feet on either sides of the corner. It was scary how high he got! We may have to get him out of the crib sooner than we planned. A toddler bed seems safer than falling on his head. Finally he sits down puts his nuk in his mouth and picks up his blankie. He tickles his favorite corner of the blanket against his nose for a while. In a minute or two, "Timber!"  He slowly droops forward and falls asleep in a crazy baby yoga pose that is a mix between downward facing dog and child's pose. A moment or two later he sighs, stretches, and flattens out to his belly as I make my escape.

Day Six: An easy day for me! Back to the condo to do some work, so Grandma is the lucky one again today ;)

Day Seven: Luck number seven?  Heck no! Sixty-one minutes before I get him to sleep.  (Not that I was counting or anything.)  Not much crying this time, but still the usual parading around the crib, throwing blankie and nuk overboard, thrashing, sticking his feet through the bars, and trying to climb out. The annoying part is he "asked" to go to bed. I took him to the playroom to burn off any extra energy, and before his feet even touched the floor he screamed, climbed deeper into my arms, and waved toward his room. (Bubba waves "night-night" every time, but rarely does "bye bye" it seems to confuse him) Anyway he gave the signal, but when I put him in bed he had a surge of energy. He must be sneaking Mt. Dews or something.

They say it is a process. I have been through this "process" before. Last time he was younger, and there was more crying, but this is really close to the battles we used to have before Bubba fell into the pattern of nursing before going to sleep every time. I guess time will tell, but I am not looking forward to next week when we start "no milk" for morning nap as well.

Scrambled Egg Muffins

Somehow we ended up with 4 dozen eggs in the fridge. They were on sale last week so my mom bought 2 dozen, then my brother's friend rents a house that is on a "smallish farm" that has chickens, so if you give him empty egg cartons, he will bring you eggs. This week he happened to bring 2 dozen. In addition to these 4 dozen eggs there is a dozen (or most of one) in the fridge at our condo that my husband has yet to bring here. (Since we moved to my parent's in our transition to Wisconsin, and my husband has been remodeling our condo, he has been bringing small coolers of food from our fridge as there is space for it in my mom's fridge.) Anyway we have 4 (basically 5) dozen eggs to do something with so I decide to make my Scrambled egg muffins which will use up 8 eggs in one shot.

For the batter:

2 cups Bisquick 

1 cup milk

2 eggs

For the egg filling:

6 eggs

generous sprinkle of each:

parsley

thyme

basil

oregano

pepper

1 cup of shredded cheddar

Mix together the Bisquick, milk and 2 eggs.

In another bowl mix the 6 eggs and spices.

Shred some cheese.

Add about a tablespoon of Bisquick to the muffin tin (I used popover tins, a bit bigger and deeper so I didn't have to mess with multiple batches, it was getting close to nap time)

A generous pinch of cheese.

A bit of egg mixture. (probably 2 tablespoons)

Top it off with some more Bisquick.

Pop in the oven preheated to 350 for 25-30 minutes. Make sure to put a pan underneath to catch any drips. These can rise quite a bit.

Done when a tooth pick comes out clean and they are golden brown on top.

We even got mini muffins from to "drips" the catcher pan.

Enjoy!

Bubba took a bite and smiled. He ate a couple of pieces til he realized, "Hey, there is egg in here!"  Then he wouldn't eat anymore. Lately, Bubba only eats egg in quiche form. (sometimes)

Oh well. They can't all be "Bubba approved".