Deanna's Daughter

After an especially good nights sleep the girls woke up with big smiles and loads of charm.  If was a Friday so there was no rush and I decided to make some pancakes for breakfast.  ‘Oohh, thanks for making us pancakes Mama’, Marlow said at the table, ‘I’m very pleased!’.  ‘Yes’, added Waverly, ‘you did a good job, I’m very proud of you!’.

This should really be called ‘Cheating Jambalaya’ because I use a packaged spice and rice mix instead of taking the time to measure out all of the spices, an idea I borrowed from Real Simple.  I also put the onion and peppers through the food processor so that when you look at a steaming bowl of it, all you see is rice, sausage, shrimp and/or cubed chicken.  Easy – and it’s also easy to add hot sauce to your own bowl if you’re having this with kids.

Jambalaya

1 each, small red and green pepper, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1, 200g box Spanish Pilaf or Jambalaya Mix (I prefer Casbah’s 198 g Spanish Pilaf)

1 lb. barbecued sausage, cut-up (I use 2 Spolumbo’s Chicken Apple)

1 lb. raw, peeled and deveined shrimp

(substitute cubed chicken breast for either or use in combination, just saute it first until it’s no longer pink and then remove it from the pan until it needs to be added again at the end)

1, 19 oz/540 mL can of diced tomatoes

hot sauce as desired

In a good-sized skillet saute the onion, peppers and garlic in a bit of oil until softened – about 10 minutes.  Add the rice mix and spices along with the necessary amount of water listed according to the box directions – usually about 2 cups, and the whole can of tomatoes.  Simmer until the rice is almost cooked, stirring frequently, adding more water (or tomato juice or V-8 juice) as needed if you feel it’s getting too dry.

A few minutes before you serve it, add the barbecued sausage back in to re-warm and the shrimp, making sure it’s cooked until all of the pink is gone.

Add extra hot sauce as desired.

We usually have this with a tossed salad and it’s great left over as well.

I was in a department store with the girls, in the children’s accessories section.  Waverly was admiring some of the belts when she asked, ‘Are these for boys, or are they for people?’.

With the exception of greek or caesar salad, salads for the most part, just aren’t my thing – but I now think that in the past, this was just mostly due to time constrainsts.  Now that the girls are a little older, I’ve had a few extra dinner prep minutes to spend on things like salad and so I need to start writing these things down!  This one is from the new Best of Bridge.

Toasted Pecan and Citrus Green Salad

Dressing

6 T. grapeseed oil

4 T. orange juice

2 T. lime juice

zest of one lime

2 t. honey

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Whisk together all ingredients and use as needed for your salad.  This one recommends;

6 c. greens

1/2 c. toasted pecans, chopped

1/2 c. dried cranberries

Altogether, a very tasty salad – if they were all this easy, I would never buy a bottle of dressing again.

I had gone out for the evening and Brock was left to finish up dinner with the girls.  He gave them both a mini box of Smarties and they immediately started to practice their counting before they ate each one.  ‘Watch me! Watch me!’.  Apparently Brock got tired of this and tuned out so Marlow brought him back with, ‘Listen to me, old man!’.  He laughed so hard he had to call and tell me the story.

This is a tasty soup inspired by my good friend Rossana, and there are hundreds of variations on the internet if you’re interested.  I don’t think she needs to use a recipe but after the first couple of times that I made it, I wrote down exactly what I did so that I didn’t have to think about it.  The key is to cook the pasta separately, adding it right before you eat it, and to serve it it with freshly grated Parmesan.  This freezes beautifully, just cook some pasta and add it after it’s re-warmed.

Also, as a side note – if you want a pretty soup, take the time to chop the vegetables into evenly sized cubes, but if you must know, most of the time I put the garlic, onion, carrots and celery through the food processor.

Pasta e Fagioli

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion, finely chopped

4 good-sized carrots, diced

3 pieces of celery, diced

3, 32 oz/946 mL boxes of organic chicken broth

1/2 t. salt

1 t. fresh ground pepper

1 t. dried parsley

1 t. dried basil

3 bay leaves (remove them before you eat)

1, 28 oz/ 796 mL can of diced tomatoes

15 oz. dry beans (kidney, navy, Romano, lentils)

as much small sized pasta such as Ditali, shells, macaroni as you would like

Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pot and saute the garlic, onion, carrot and celery until softened, 5-10 minutes.  Add 2 boxes of broth, the tomatoes, the beans and the spices and simmer, stirring regularly for 2 hours.  At the 2-hour point, it’s usually reduced enough to need the third box of broth.

Simmer at least another hour until the beans are tender.  At this point you can remove the bay leaves and places whatever amounts you’d like (or all of it) into containers to freeze.  I usually package some up, then cook enough pasta for the ‘dinner soup’.  More water may need to be added if the soup is too thick.

Serve with freshly grated Parmasan, fresh bread and a salad.  Yum.