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About Melissa

Blogger about all things home at http://myhomebaked.com

The week in review

Posted by Melissa in Baking, Cleaning, Food, Garden, Recipe and tagged with ,

How is it Friday already? This week flew by in a whirlwind of gardening, doctor’s appointments, buying school supplies, and watching the Olympics. And playdates. Lots of playdates. So here it is Friday (I swear I thought it was Thursday when I woke up this morning), and the blog posts in my head are as yet unwritten, unpublished.

So here’s a quick summer-is-winding-down summary of my week for you:

Garden:

As a result of the drought this summer (and our neglect while away on vacation), we are now performing triage on our ragged lawn and garden. Our efforts to water the front lawn seem to be making a difference (let’s just agree not to talk about the weeds or the layer of pine needles). I have been hacking away at the wilted brown daylilies and miles of weeds that have overtaken the flower beds. My doctor told me I need to do more cardio, but I think my daily hour (or three) swinging a hoe is going to count this week. I planted some mums, spread some mulch, and have created many piles of yard waste to bag for pickup next week. And in a feat of superhuman strength, my husband single-handedly chopped down two-thirds of our overgrown hedge. Next week: more weeding, more mulch.

 

Do you have any great hints for maintaining your lawn and garden in the worst of the summer heat?

Cooking:

In the kitchen, I’ve been keeping things simple. Sunday night we were so wiped out, we ate popcorn for dinner. I jazzed up the popped kernels with a generous handful of grated cheese, leftover bacon, melted butter and salt. Mix it up and bake on a rimmed cookie sheet at 250 degrees for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese melts. Serve with Chocolate Banana Milk Shakes (from Mollie Katzen’s kid’s cookbook Pretend Soup).

Cheddar Bacon Popcorn

I also tried one new recipe from Kim Boyce’s Good to the Grain. With the illicit stash of cheap quinoa flour that I brought from Ecuador in my suitcase, I made the Banana-Walnut cake. My kids often say they don’t like nuts, but they sure liked the cake. It was lovely with a tall glass of iced coffee while catching up with a good friend. (It’s a super moist cake and keeps really well for a few days–two, at least!) I’ve got some amaranth flour to try next. Next week I’ll share a recipe for a cool Avocado Shrimp Roll–wonderful for a summer lunch or light supper. I need to make it one more time to get it just right…

Cleaning:

HAHAHA!!! By that I mean that things are getting pretty dusty–possibly even sticky–around here. The daily laundry routine has helped me keep on top of the dirty clothes, and I’ve managed to make the bed and do the dishes every day. I even broke out the vacuum and attacked the family room rug (and then issued one of my frequent bans of food in the family room–frequently broken by everyone, including me). But any serious cleaning is going to wait until next week. We’re expecting houseguests again next weekend, so I’ve divvied up my cleaning tasks throughout the week on my list at TeuxDeux.com. I love TeuxDeux because I can’t misplace my list! It automatically moves any items you haven’t crossed off onto the next day’s list–so easy.

How do you prepare for houseguests? Mints on the pillow?

Monday Menu

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , ,

After a month of travel to South America (kids, too!), it’s good to be home. The suitcases are unpacked, but I think we’re all looking forward to getting back into a familiar routine again. I plan to share some of our adventures with you soon, but first things first: We need to eat this week! The weather is soooo much hotter than it was in the Andes that I’m drawn to lots of vegetables and not much cooking.

Monday: Meatballs, hummus and pita; spinach salad

Tuesday: Avocado Shrimp rolls with avocado dressing (based on this recipe)

Wednesday: Something grilled and Chopped Salad with Feta, Lime and Mint

Thursday: Fettuccine with Guiltless Alfredo Sauce and lots of veggies (cook them right in the pasta water!)

Friday: Dinner out!

 

Last week on Home Baked

Weeknight Pad Thai

 

What have you been cooking during this hot summer?

 

Weeknight Pad Thai

Posted by Melissa in Food, Recipe and tagged with , , , ,

We don’t get takeout very often, but if we do, it’s likely to be Thai food. And though I love a good curry, there’s something so comforting about a container of Pad Thai. Salty, savory, sweet, sour, crunchy–a little bit of everything, without any one flavor dominating the others. Now that our kids are past their toddler years (and Mr. Nine has declared himself Too Old for the kids’ menu), even takeout is no bargain–one meal can easily equal a week’s grocery bill.

But with a short trip down the Asian foods aisle of your local market, you can stock a few ingredients for a reasonable homemade Pad Thai whenever the mood strikes. You’ll need fish sauce (nam pla), rice sticks, and tamarind concentrate (but if you can’t find this your noodles will still be yummy–just add more lime juice). The rest are easily recognizable ingredients: brown sugar, green onions, limes, garlic, peanuts.

This recipe makes a large batch, enough to serve six as a main course. We ate a little more than half for dinner, and had several servings leftover for lunch. Sure beats another sandwich.

Weeknight Pad Thai

1 lb. Thai rice stick noodles

2 Tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. minced garlic

1/2 lb. ground pork (or choose shrimp or thin strips of chicken)

1/2 lb. firm tofu, diced in 1/2-inch pieces

5 Tbsp. fish sauce

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. tamarind concentrate

5-6 green onions, sliced diagonally in 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 cup finely chopped peanuts

2 Tbsp. lime juice

Other additions: bean sprouts, chopped cilantro, scrambled egg, fresh or dried chilis

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add rice sticks and cook for 7-8 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the fish sauce, brown sugar, tamarind concentrate and lime juice.

Heat oil on medium-high in a wok or large sauté pan, and add the garlic. Stir fry for a few seconds, just until the garlic begins to color. Quickly add the ground pork, raise the heat to high, and fry until all pink is gone. Add the noodles and mix well. Pour in the fish sauce mixture, tofu, green onions and 1/2 cup of peanuts (and any of the other additions you might have–if using egg, just push the noodles to the sides of the pan and scramble the egg right in the well). Keep tossing mixture until all the noodles are coated and everything is heated through, 4-5 minutes.

Serve immediately with lime wedges and a sprinkling of peanuts.

Cleaning the basement…AGAIN

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, Kids and tagged with , ,

These photos are embarrassing. I’m warning my husband right now: DON’T LOOK! If he has a mantra, it is “Mess is Stress,” and this mess would make his head explode.

Playroom or crime scene?

What is that stuff, you ask? It was one of Little Four’s Christmas presents, the Moon Dough Mega Food Club Pack. It will give your little darlings hours of fun molding little hamburgers and pizza toppings, but rest assured, the aftermath will make YOUR head explode. Then you have two messes to clean up. You should also know that they will drop the Moon Dough all over the floor, step on the crumbs, and track it all through the house. You will have to put those sneakers in the wash yet again.

I am not telling you not to buy Moon Dough. I just want you to make an informed decision. There has been a string of pleasant playdates (read: kids in the basement hacking this dough to pieces while parents are upstairs in relative peace) at my house in the past few months. However, all good things must come to an end, and I couldn’t face the basement disaster any longer.

Looks like someone was practicing his knife skills.

I salvaged a small portion of the dough and packed it and the accessories up and stowed them on a very high shelf. And then I vacuumed. And vacuumed some more.

Can we play a nice game of restaurant? Do a little coloring?

I would still like to make our mostly unfinished basement more hospitable for rainy day playing (or as an escape from the heat)–without actually finishing it. So I’m pondering the lighting (very poor) and I may survey the kids to find out what kinds of things they would play down there. Now that we’re past the toddler stage, there are all sorts of possibilities. Maybe a permanent art workspace. We have a very long shelf that could work for Legos. They could set up marble runs and leave them up. As Little Four might say, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we had a SWING?”

Monday Menu: Planning for houseguests

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , , ,

Summer always brings much-anticipated visits from friends and family, but if you don’t plan ahead, you can get overwhelmed and stressed out trying to feed all those extra mouths. I like to plan meals that are mostly made ahead (I don’t want to be in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun!), with lots of built in flexibility so everyone can personalize their plates (especially important when there are a bunch of kids in the mix). With a fridge stocked with plenty of beverages and healthy snacks (yogurt, fresh fruit and veggies), and a good stash of homemade cookies, you’ll be ready to enjoy your visitors!

Arrival day: Homesick Texan Carnitas, slaw, guacamole, and Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Panini Night: 2 kinds of good sliced bread, 3 cheeses (I like cheddar, provolone and Havarti), some sliced deli meat, thinly sliced tomato, arugula, maybe a jar of roasted red peppers or some caramelized onions. Set everything out in little bowls and let each person assemble their own sandwich. I don’t have a fancy panini press; I just toast them on the griddle and press them down with a cast iron skillet. Add a salad and some chips!

Pasta Night: Asparagus, goat cheese and lemon pasta (I realize this menu leans heavily on Smitten Kitchen recipes, but they’re always reliable!). Cook extra pasta and leave it plain for the pickier kids who want plain marinara or just butter and cheese. My kids like the goat cheese but pick out the asparagus. Garlic bread (use a big 1-lb. loaf of soft Italian bread to feed a crowd) and a simple tomato salad.

Breakfast ideas: Doughnut Muffins (that’s what my kids call them because I make them in regular muffin tins) and smoothies; Spinach and cheese strata or Baked French Toast and bacon; Overnight Orange Rolls and Velvet Scrambled Eggs with Fresh Herbs.

Last week on Home Baked

Unclogging the sink

Stenciled Star Wars Cake

Monday Menu: Vacation at the Cottage

Unclogging the sink

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, DIY and tagged with , , ,

Nobody tells you just how much of adulthood revolves around plumbing. Is there some sort of plumbers’ lobby that has conspired to keep us all in the dark? Honestly, Plumbing 101 ought to be a required high school course, or maybe one of those 8th grade electives. The course would include such topics as how to plunge a toilet and unclog the drain in a sink or shower, the difference between a septic system and the city sewer, and what not to put down the garbage disposal. Without this knowledge, you buy your first house, and shortly thereafter, the shower drain stops up, leaving you standing in three inches of water with shampoo in your eyes and no clue how to fix it.

In case this has ever happened to you, I’ll share the few tricks I have learned (from You Tube, the guy at my local hardware store and Heloise) for remedying that slow drain.

Here’s the handy little tool that the hardware store man recommended:

It’s cheap and it works, assuming your drain is just clogged with hair, soap scum, and other mysterious gunk. Oh, and it’s green! No need to pour Drano or other harsh chemicals down the drain.

So here’s what you do. Get some paper towels or rags, a bottle of white vinegar, a box of baking soda, and put the kettle on to boil. If you have rubber gloves, this is a good time to wear them. Slide the Zip-It down the drain as far as you can (don’t let go of the little handle, of course) and jiggle it around. Slowly pull it out and wipe the nasty hairballs and black stuff on the paper towels. Repeat from every angle, until you aren’t pulling anything out of the drain anymore. Shudder dramatically, wad up the disgusting paper towels and throw them away.

Next, shake some baking soda down the drain (maybe 1/2 cup) and chase it with a cup of white vinegar. Finally, pour the kettle of boiling water down the drain. Chances are, your drain will be clear at this point and you will feel like a home improvement hero.

If not, I guess you’d better call a real plumber.

Stenciled Star Wars Cake

Posted by Melissa in Baking, Food, Kids and tagged with , ,

You guys know I don’t have any actual training in cake decorating, right? Whatever I do is self-taught, and I’m always looking for ways to simplify. So when my best friend asked me to make a small cake for her Star Wars loving son because she couldn’t find one at the grocery store bakery, I gave it a shot. I scrolled through pages and pages of Star Wars cakes on Google Images, many of them elaborate sculpted R2-D2s or giant Millennium Falcon models. I knew I wasn’t going to drape anything in fondant or pipe complicated patterns. (Have I said this before? I don’t like how fondant tastes, so I don’t use it.) Then I saw this cake and this cake. I decided the cake needed to be blue and say “Star Wars.” Anything else would be the proverbial icing.

Luckily, I had some of this food color spray left from another cake, and I decided to experiment with a stencil. I printed out the Star Wars logo and cut it out with a craft knife. I laid it gently on the frosted cake, sprayed a couple light coats of blue, and very gently lifted off the stencil. We found a Darth Vader candle at the party store and called it good. (Oh yeah, there’s some sparkling sugar scattered there as “stars.”)

 

If you can find a graphic that you can cut into a stencil, you can put anything on a cake to fit the birthday boy or girl’s interests. Don’t trust your piping skills (or lack thereof)? Stencil it!

Monday Menu: Vacation at the cottage

Posted by Melissa in Food, Monday Menu and tagged with , , , , , ,

We don’t have a cozy little lake cottage, but maybe you do? We have a couple weeks free in August if you need someone to make it look lived in…

But seriously, sometimes the most frugal (and relaxing) family summer vacation option is renting or borrowing a cottage, cabin or condo for a week. It’s not an all-inclusive resort, but it does have a kitchen. With a little planning ahead, you can have easy, budget-friendly meals and not break the bank by eating out every night. Here are my top five tips for an easy week of home cooked meals on vacation:

1. Make a menu. Keep it simple. What are your family’s favorite–but easy–meals? Make ingredients work double duty whenever possible.

2. Make a couple of freezer meals ahead of time and bring them your cooler. If you have the space, bring your slow cooker.

3. Find out whether there’s a grill at your destination. Burgers, hotdogs, brats…and s’mores for dessert!

4. Don’t forget to stock supplies for easy breakfasts and lunches: cereal, muffins, sandwiches, yogurt, fruit.

5. Do plan a meal out if you can!

Monday: Arrival day…something quick for dinner! Pasta with cheese and pepper, salad.

Tuesday: Marinate some chicken in the morning…grill it in the evening. Make sure there are leftovers. Asian Cabbage Salad (make the dressing at home and bring it in a jar), maybe some oven fries.

Wednesday: Crockpot pulled pork sandwiches (make ahead, freeze, and reheat in the crockpot while you’re at the beach).

Thursday: No work: Leftover Asian Cabbage Salad with grilled chicken strips. If that’s too healthy, open a bag of chips. Maybe take 10 minutes and make some Fruit Crumble.

Friday: Grill again! Steak, hotdogs, maybe some fish? Potato salad would be nice (bring small new potatoes that don’t need peeling, add a mustardy vinaigrette). S’mores!

Last week on Home Baked

Empty the basket!

Hummus

Monday Menu: The Grilling Edition

 

Do you like to cook when you’re on vacation?

Empty the basket!

Posted by Melissa in Cleaning, Organizing and tagged with , ,

Home decor articles are forever recommending baskets to contain the inevitable clutter of life. The trouble with baskets, however, is that eventually they fill up, the clutter escapes, and you’re pretty much right back where you started. Sure, clutter in a basket looks better than clutter drifting over tabletops and skittering off into corners.

But when I can’t stand the overflow for another second, I empty the basket.

Lip balm, sewing supplies, cough drops. Earphones, charging cords, hair accessories. Coupons, pens, Post-Its. Legos, checkers, bouncy balls. Not pictured: candy wrappers, junk mail, assorted trash.

Oh, and that’s where all the Christmas cards went!

I put everything away. I recycled the junk mail and tossed the garbage. I shelved the books and returned the Nerf gun to its rightful owner, repeating for the 73rd time that weapons don’t belong on the hall table.

It’s not much of a tablescape (who invented that word, anyway?), but at least it’s clean.

Hummus

Posted by Melissa in Food, Recipe and tagged with , , , , ,

We’re watching the first season of Mad Men these days (don’t spoil it, friends), and just saw the episode where Pete Campbell exchanges a wedding gift–a ceramic  lettuce leaf and red pepper atrocity of a “chip and dip”–for a shotgun. Now how will they serve the sour cream and onion dip?

While it’s hard to beat a good sour cream and onion dip (with a bag of Ruffles), it’s not exactly a snack I’d feel good about offering on a regular basis. Enter the bowl of hummus. I’m sure hummus was unheard of by most people in the Mad Men days, but now it’s everywhere, and every grocery store has competing brands and multiple flavors. Roasted garlic! Red pepper! Mild! Spicy!

Hummus, pita chips and baby carrots was standard fare at playgroup gatherings when my kids were toddlers. My kids still love hummus, and we do, too. I like to make my own, because it’s easy and significantly cheaper, especially when I start with dried chickpeas instead of canned (though canned work perfectly fine). I also know exactly what’s in it, and can season it to our taste.

I usually cook beans in the slow cooker, preferably overnight. It takes about one minute of prep, and the next morning you can let it cool and divide the cooked beans into containers to freeze or use right away. It takes half of a one-pound bag of dried chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) for a single batch of hummus. No need to soak ahead of time, either–10 hours on low and they are just right.

Some people prefer to remove the skins, but I find it an unnecessary step.

Rinse 1 lb. dried chickpeas, and put them in a slow cooker with 8 cups of cold water and 1 Tbsp. kosher salt. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, until the chickpeas are tender. Use about half of the cooked chickpeas for the following recipe. Freeze the rest or make falafel to go with the hummus!

Hummus

3 cups cooked chickpeas

3/4 cup-1 cup cooking liquid or water

juice of one lemon

1/2 cup tahini

2 garlic cloves warmed in 2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 cup fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor (start with the smaller amount of liquid and add more if necessary) and process until smooth (or leave it a little chunky if you prefer). Taste and adjust the seasoning.