Harmony Bowls

Any time Crystal comes to visit we eventually end up talking food. She said that her friend Kara makes what's known as "harmony bowls." So I investigated a bit and found that there are entire restaurants dedicated to such a thing. Kara sent me the quick and dirty on creating them (I put them in here verbatim) and two dinners into it and the family is loving them. I also found that Kara is a ridiculously good cook so head over to her blog and search the tag food to see a whole host of delicious meal ideas.

You start with Tempeh but you could use 
tofu or chicken as a substitute.

Mexican Harmony Bowl

·         Tempeh – 1 package, sliced thin and sautéed in olive oil until browned, I cut it smaller for the kids after cooking it.

·         1 can black beans

·         Veggies of your choice – I normally slice up a red, yellow or orange bell pepper, add some thawed corn or even zucchini

·         Taco or enchilada sauce (salsa also works)

·         Brown or white rice

·         Cilantro

·         Avocado

·         Shredded cheese

Cook rice according to instructions. Heat the beans in their juices until warm and soft. Slice up your veggies and stir fry them a bit so they’re cooked but not soggy.

Grab 4 bowls, add the rice first, then the beans in a little of their juices, then the veggies, then the tempeh (make sure it’s still warm) – about 4-5 slices in each bowl.

Top with the fun stuff – cilantro, sauce, sliced avocado and cheese.

 

We had this one last night with a peanut sauce I made from scratch.

Stir Fry Harmony Bowl

·         Tempeh – 1 package, sliced thin and sautéed in olive oil until browned

·         1 can white beans

·         Veggies of your choice – I normally use broccoli, carrots, squash and zucchini

·         Brown rice

·         Asian peanut sauce or soy sauce

Same instructions as above (just a few less ingredients).

Peanut Sauce

·         1/4 cp peanut butter

·         3 Tbsp brown sugar

·         2 Tbsp rice vinegar

·         2 Tbsp soy sauce

·         1 Tbsp sesame oil

·         2 minced garlic cloves

·         1 tsp red pepper flakes

·         1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

Whisk it together (heating in the microwave will help it combine) and drizzle over your bowl.

Thank you Kara! You're the best!

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Dinner-time from the Kitchen of P-Diddles

Yep. You heard it ladies and gentleman. It's another month and it's time for the infamous chef to once again awe us with his insurmountable talent. With the menu this past weekend, we were graced with the following:

Spinach, Strawberry and Mandarin Orange Salad topped with Breanne's Poppyseed dressing.

 Sesame Teryaki glazed wild caught salmon

 Wild rice with pecans and dates

And for dessert we had a Magic Vanilla Puddling Cake where you dump syrup on the top of the batter before baking and it magically sinks to the bottom, mixing with the batter and results in a floating cake a top a sea of brown sugar pudding! Double yum!

Tea time for BOYS!

 With 4 full place settings, you only have to refill

 half as many times in the course of one party.

Who doesn't like to have a tea party? Especially two little boys whose parents partake in the act every afternoon for real?!? Thanks to Curious George, little boys can have a tea party with something that isn't coated in pepto pink princess poo! 

 Learning to carefully* pour.

*(Ha! Yea right! Emphasis on learning.)

Yes they are eating a handful of chocolate but at least they are drinking water...

Gramma D sent this as a Valentine's Day treat for the boys and we have had tea party after tea party and a partially soaked floor ever since! If you have boys that you think might like to join the fun, then keep an eye out for this set. Amazon has it but you can find it for less around town. Just ask D. I am sure she will disclose it's half price secret location for those of you in the Atlanta area. (Rumor has it that one can find this jewel splashed in the infamous sock monkey motif as well!)

Winter Beach Party!

Aeneas is decked out with his swimming stuff, ready to dive into the pool.

It is customary for Miss Melanie to host a Winter Beach Party in January each year for her little pupils. And it's something that the boys look forward to for weeks leading up to it. So she cranks up the heat, gets out the water stuff and has the kids dressed for summer. It's always so funny to hear what the kids expectations for such a thing were. I heard several things from the kids that were worth repeating: "I thought we were going to have a real beach inside our school!" "Why isn't the pool filled up with water?" (Yeah right!)

Here is Miss Melanie and Aeneas making an "Ocean in a Bag": super gooey hair gel with an assortment of sea creatures and shells. Miss Melanie claims she forgot to wear her suit that day. ;)

There has been such good weather this January despite it being Colorado, that most of the girls were on the playground in the melting snow in nothing more than their suits and some pants if you can believe that! Colorado kids have a bit thicker skin than this GA girl for sure.

Football and BBQ

Patrick chose BBQ ribs, white bread and coleslaw for his last Daddy and Son cooking lesson. And there's nothing that goes better with BBQ than some football. So it was one recent Sunday afternoon that we did just that. Of course we had to play in the snow, under the beautiful blue skies before we could possibly sit down to the TV. Thanks buddy for taking me back to the South! Maybe you can take a lesson or two from your Deda and Uncle Zeebee to learn to do some REAL BBQ one day. I will gladly buy you a smoker in return for it!

The Creepy Crawlies

You may become a science project if you accidentally fall asleep on the couch at our house! Watch out!

2 Nights of Dinner: Stuffed Poblanos

I was visiting a friend a few weeks ago and I watched her take last night's dinner, dump it into a blender, add some broth to it and serve it to me for lunch. It was some of the best soups I had ever had and she just whipped it out just like that. She said it was a recipe from Martha Stewart called Stuffed Poblano Peppers. It was so good, the kids scarfed it two nights ago when I served it over rice with a salad and then when I blended the leftovers in the blender for soup and cornbread the next night, they scarfed that too. Keep your eyes out for Poblanos and try it the next time you want something easy, quick and delicious, two days in a row! They are spicy but  mellow out when cooked to something the kids could handle. Justin said he would have liked a little more cheese but with just a cup in the recipe it makes it pretty healthy as it is. I didn't miss it and thought it was the perfect amount. Let me know if you like it.

Marcel the Shell

Because there isn't a cousin out there that won't think this guy is cute and ridiculously funny! Show this to your kids and tell them P and A sent it!