Southwestern Chicken Barley Chili

I've been making this meal for a while (in a part of our regular rotation, especially in the winter), and just decided to take a picture of it now.

Here is the source.

And here is the recipe:

2 tomatoes, diced
16-ounce can tomato sauce
1-3/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup medium barley (not quick cooking)
4 cups water
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
dash cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
1 cup cooked shredded chicken
15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-1/2 cups frozen corn kernels

In a large pot, combine the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, chicken, barley, water, chili powder, cumin, dried oregano and cayenne (if using). Stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer the chili for 40 minutes, until the barley is tender and chewy. Stir occasionally, while it simmers to prevent sticking and to make sure it stays at a steady simmer. After 40 minutes, add the beans and corn. Stir to combine and simmer for five more minutes.

Penne Pasta Dinner

I got this recipe from here, but, as usual, made some alterations. It was really good. It's so good you might want to lick your plate. Or somebody else's plate.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, minced
salt
1 pound ground beef
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, rinsed and chopped fine
16 ounces penne pasta

2-1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 (5 ounce) bag spinach
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
pepper

Heat the oil in a bit pot over medium heat until simmering. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the ground beef and cook.  Stir in the garlic. Add the tomatoes and (dry) pasta. Pour the broth and cream over the pasta. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the spinach a handful at a time and cook until wilted, about two minutes. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Thai Peanut Pizza

Here is our pizza for this week. It was really good. (Originally recipe found here, but I made alterations.)

I wasn't sure if I would like the cucumbers on the top, but they actually complemented the pizza quite well. All the ingredients came together really, really nicely.

Pizza Dough

1 cup shredded chicken

1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1 red bell pepper, cut into strips

3 green onions, chopped

2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 cucumber sliced

Peanut sauce:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons tamari

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Spread pizza dough on pan.

In a medium saucepan combine all the ingredients for the peanut sauce. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, 10-15 minutes or until thickened. Set aside to cool. 

Stir fry the chicken in some coconut oil and soy sauce until completely cooked. Spread peanut sauce over crust. Top with red peppers, green onions, cooked chicken and cheese.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with cucumbers.

Boeuf Bourguignon

This recipe is so freaking amazing. (The original recipe can be found here, but I've made some alterations. For instance, the first time I made it, I used the pearl onions that the recipe called for. It was a lot of trouble, so every time I've made it since, I've left them out, and it is just fine.)

It should be noted that my kids did not enjoy this meal. They usually enjoy almost 100% of the meals that I make. They are crazy not to like this.

• 16 oz. of bacon, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 lbs. stewing beef
• 4 sliced carrots
• 1 sliced onion
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 T flour
• 2-1/2 cups red wine
• 3 cups chicken or beef broth
• 1 T tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 lb. mushroom, quartered
• 2 T butter, divided

1. Saute the bacon in a big pot that you can put into the oven. (If you don't have such a pot, just use your skillet, and then transfer everything to a casserole dish.) Remove.
2. Brown the stew beef. Preheat oven to 325 F.
3. In the same pan, brown the carrots and onions. Toss the meat and vegetables with the salt, pepper and flour. Mix the tomato paste with half cup of the wine so that it will easily mix in. Pour that onto the meat mixture followed by the rest of the wine, garlic and herbs. Top off with chicken or beef broth and add in enough just to cover the beef. Add the bacon. Place in the oven and let simmer slowly for 3 hours.
4. Cook mushrooms in 2 T butter.
5. When the meat is done, add the mushrooms. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook for another 20 minutes. If sauce is not thickened, add flour accordingly. If it is too thick, add more chicken or beef broth.

This is so yummy. Seriously. Very, very, very, very, very, very yummy.

Black Bean and Quinoa Enchilada Bake

This was really yummy. (You can find the original recipe here.)

1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
2 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed,diced
1 red pepper, seeds removed, diced
1 orange pepper, seeds removed, diced
1 cup corn frozen kernels
Juice of 1 small lime
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups red enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Add quinoa and water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Cover quinoa and set aside.

3. In a large skillet, heat the tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add in the peppers and corn. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add the lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and cilantro. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

4. In a large bowl, add the cooked quinoa and black beans. Add the sautéed vegetable mixture and stir to combine. Pour in the enchilada sauce and stir. Add 1/2 cup shredded cheese.

5. Pour the black bean and quinoa mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining shredded cheese. Cover the pan with foil. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove foil. Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and edges are bubbling.

House Tour - Bedrooms and Bathroom

Upstairs we have three bedrooms.

Here is Ocean's bedroom before:

This is Ocean's room now:

The color is Hawthorne Yellow. There used to be a closet taking up the entire wall where her bed now is, and Vern took that out.

Another view:

She had that heart garland strung up for Valentine's Day, but it is down now.

A close up of what is on her shelves:

Again, using leftover mats and frames from my art show days.

This is Ezra and Peace's rooms:

This is Ezra's side of the room:

And this is Peace's side of the room:

It should be noted that I am not entirely happy with how any of these bedrooms turned out. They were just kind of thrown together, and this is what happened.

It should also be noted that instructions on how to make those paper stars that can be seen hanging in almost every room in our house, can be found here. Total cost to make one star was about 50 cents.

This is our bedroom:

Our room is not quite down yet. I don't know what it is that needs to be done yet, nor do I have any idea when we will do it, so I will post pictures of it now. It needs more stuff on the walls or something. We used to have large framed pictures of our pregnancies on the wall (I had thought it was a nice symbol of creation and fertility and love, all things I think a bedroom should encompass), and it seemed like a good idea with one picture, or even two... but now with three kids, and thinking of more, it just seems like overkill, you know? So, now our bedroom walls are naked (which I guess is also nice symbolism for a bedroom, wink, wink), and the frames we used for the pregnancy pictures are now being used to house the children's artwork in the dining room.

The bedspread is from World Market. The bed and dresser set (including the piece with the round mirror that is in Ocean's room) is from my dead grandmother.

Here's another view:

Note: I don't even like that picture hanging up over the dresser anymore, but I didn't have anything else to put there, and it was bothering me to see the walls so blank.

I guess I might as well show you the bathroom, which is also located upstairs, and then that will put an end to our house tour:

There's really not much to see here. I still need a bathroom mat.

Here's the sink.

And I guess that's it for the online house tour. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

I'll post some pictures of the outside of the house once the weather warms up.

House Tour - Going Upstairs

So, we have now seen the downstairs of the house. Time to go upstairs.

Here is what the stairs looked like before:

And this is what they look like now:

So, we pulled carpet off the stairs and painted the paneling white. It really helped to open it up, and not feel so much like a dark tunnel.

Then, I got it in my head that I wanted to do some stenciling on the stairs. So, I googled "stenciled stairs", and this was an idea that popped up. I'm not sure if I'll get sick of this in a couple of months or not, but I do kind of like the whimsical aspect of it now. It's not very well done (there's smudging) and you'd kind of think that one of our children did it, but it was actually me and Vern tag-teaming it... him holding the stencils, me painting.

Okay, so then we get upstairs, and we have this hallway that leads to the bedroom. I have a bunch of mats left over from my old art show days, so I decided to do this:

The color of wall is Labrador Blue, which was a color I saw and liked on Modern Family and looked up on this website (seriously one of the coolest websites ever).

The criteria for photos featured on this wall were that they be silly or sweet memories from our lives.

Seen above is Ocean eating corn at Sleepy Eye Corn Daze, which we try to go to every year. There's a picture of Vern and the kids riding the Tilt-O-Whirl during our vacation in Brainerd this summer. Baby Ezra being thrown in the air.

Three-year-old Ocean dressing up in our underwear. Me and Vern outside our apartment from when we lived in Colorado. Vern with the kids on Father's Day last year.

Peace in curlers. And then the one next to that is the kids in front of Al's Breakfast, which is where we go to eat pancakes after the first snowfall of every year. (Peace decides to fall down to be funny... it makes me laugh every time I look at it. That kid has my sense of humor.)

This whole layout, from picking out the pictures to placement to ordering the pictures to putting them in mats and hanging them up, probably took around 4 hours of my time... and it's amazing how quickly they become invisible. Like, you walk past them every day and you just don't notice them anymore.

Here is the mock-up layout I did beforehand, complete with measurements:

Alright, one more look down the hall, and then we'll head into the bedrooms tomorrow.

Breakfast Pizza

This pizza was a lot of fun to make, because I have never cracked eggs on a pizza before:

I got the recipe from here, but altered it a bit.

Ingredients:

Pizza dough
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
16 oz package of turkey bacon, crumbled
1 small onion, chopped
4 scallions, sliced
5 whole eggs
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread pizza dough on pan. Top with mozzarella cheese, bacon, onion, and scallions. Clear away toppings slightly in five areas to make room for the eggs. Crack eggs directly onto pizza. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until pizza is lightly browned and eggs are cooked to your liking.

House Tour - The Kitchen

Before we get on with the house tour, I need to tell you about what an awesome movie The Wolf of Wall Street is... it's a very good, very well done, high-adrenaline, surreal, fascinating flick. The running time is 3 hours, and it didn't drag once.

Now, onto the tour.

When we left off, we were heading from the dining room into the kitchen:

So, now we enter the kitchen, and it looks like this:

Yes, there is a washer and dryer in our kitchen:

It's kind of nice having the washer and dryer there. As a couple people have told me, it's very European. I thought I would mind having them there, but I don't, and I actually kind of like it.

Here's another view of the kitchen:

I've always wanted to hang my kids' artwork (and my own, apparently, 'cuz I'm the one who painted the picture of those trees) on a line with clothespins, and I finally did it. So that's nice.

Here's another shot:

Oh, and another thing I did that I've always wanted to do can be found inside the cupboards. I finally labeled and organized some of the miscellaneous bulk items that we buy. This makes me very happy to look at for some reason:

And here's an interesting thing that you might not know... did you know that if you take green onions and stick the roots in a jar of water, they will re-grow? So, I keep some on our counter and I keep using them and re-growing them:

And here is a bird that is hanging above the sink:

Vern and I bought that on our no-kids get away on the North Shore, so it's a nice memory of that. I've also noticed that I kind of have a lot of birds happening in the house. I think there is probably some sort of bird in almost every room of the house. (Kind of reflecting one another, I guess.) And I've been thinking about my proclivity towards birds, and why that might be, and I think they might represent our family kind of finding its wings again and learning to fly.

Yes, that's cheesy, I know.

Monday, we'll head upstairs.

Valentine's Day 2014

We take a break from our regularly scheduled house tour to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day.

Here is our Annual Valentine's Day picture:

(We do a picture like that every year, same layout. Check here, and here, and here for years' past.)

Last year, we set up these treasure hunts for the kids. You know, where we leave a note for them, which leads them to the next note, which leads them to the next, which eventually leads them to a Valentine's Day treat. I could hardly remember doing that, until the kids started talking about how they were excited for the Valentine's Day treasure hunt.

So, the lesson here, is that if you do something magical for your kids once, they will remember it forever. And that is how traditions get started. But this is okay because I like traditions.

We write out the clues for the older two kids, but Vern draws the clues for Peace:

And then we had a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's for lunch (also a tradition):

And then Ocean set up a treasure hunt for all of us as well, at the end of which she had gotten each of us a treat. She got me Scotch tape, Ezra a slinky, Peace some toy, and Vernon got super glue.

All of wore red or pink or white today, but Ocean looks particularly festive:

And that has been our Valentine's Day so far.

Tonight, Vern and I are going to the romantic comedy The Wolf of Wall Street. Should be good.

House Tour - The Dining Room

So, we are now making our way into the dining room. This is how it looked before (going from living room to dining room):

And this is how it looks from that angle now:

And here is the dining room before:

And here is what it looks like now:

The only things I bought for this room were the curtains. They were from World Market and cost $30 a panel. (I do think I would like a new light fixture some day as well.)

Here's a view from the living room looking into the dining room:

The artwork that is on the wall was painted by my children. Ocean did the one on the left, Peace did the middle, Ezra did the one on the right. They painted pieces of tag board (30 cents each), and then I framed them. I had them use paints that matched the color of the curtains, so that way theywould integrate into the room. Total cost of those works of art = less than $5.

Here is a close-up of the paintings:

The dining room had a built-in bookshelf:

We don't own enough books to fill shelves like this, so I had to get creative. I ended up putting pretty much any miscellaneous item we owned onto these bookshelves.

I also wanted to highlight some of our favorite life memories...

Like, this is from when we were in that Davanni's ad. They gave it to us as a thank you:

This is a picture from when Vern and I went to prom together. I never had it framed and displayed before. It would have been cheesey to do this right after we got married, but now that we are in our latter half of our 30's, I think it is cool and kind of retro:

Here is that memory book I did for Peace:

And these Polaroids showcase two of Vern's food challenge attempts:

Here's another angle of the room:

And then this is the door leading into the kitchen (which is what we will cover tomorrow):

That's right, I framed a doorway with curtains. (Has it ever been done before? I don't know. I googled the concept, but didn't find much.) But why not frame a doorway with curtains? ("Why not" is a slogan for an interesting life, after all... and an interesting doorway.)

I liked the idea of having it reflect the curtains from the other side of the room. Remember the theme of reflection within this house? (With all these thoughts on reflection, you'd think we'd have a mirror or two hanging up.) But I also like the idea of thinking of reflection in terms of contemplation... because that is what we did when putting this home together. We thought about who we are, what we love about life, the memories we share... and this is what came out.

Tomorrow... the kitchen.