Day 3 | When Company Comes A-Callin'

We had very dear friends stay with us this weekend.

I know what you're thinking.  "You had COMPANY this weekend and you committed to a 31 day blogging challenge?  You are nuts girly!"  Well, yes I just might be.

Once upon a time I was a newlywed.  I had a kitchen full of brand new gadgets and gizmos, brand new cookbooks, and fairytale dreams of having our friends and family visit to enjoy perfect meals in a perfectly decorated house.  I would be dressed impeccably, of course, with every nail polished and not a hair out of place.  I did mention that this was a fairytale, right?

See, I made the rookie mistake of dreaming of a Barbie's Dream House fantasy instead of focusing on what is really important when loved ones come to visit.

Time.

Time is the most precious gift we can give to ourselves and to those we love.  It is free, it cannot be bought, and once it's gone you can never have it back.

My first forays at entertaining involved much planning, much shopping, much cleaning, and much weeping and gnashing of teeth.  I had hostess syndrome bad.  What this meant for me is that I labored hard to have everything perfect and I enjoyed very little.  I over-scheduled, over-estimated, and over-achieved myself into a hot mess.  And can I just say that no one is happy when the hostess isn't happy?

In one such planning frenzy 2 or 3 years down the road, someone offered me the best. advice. ever. 

"Just KISS." 

Keep It Simple Sister.

This is now my motto for all event planning, get-togethers, meals on the go, breakfast, lunch, dinner...you name it.

So my super special company this weekend?  I still cooked.  I wanted them to feel special and to enjoy some southern hospitality.  I did not go to the grocery store.  I did not purchase random fancy schmancy ingredients to cook up a buffet for an army.  I did clean my house.  And I did have a lovely, lovely time.  Time that was well spent and much enjoyed.

My menu made with ingredients from my pantry included...

Before they went into the oven.  Drooling already.

Fresh Homemade Cinnamon Rolls {With help from the bread machine.  Recipe courtesy of my Mama-In-Law.}  I started these the night our guests arrived.  The bread machine did all the work and left me with time to spend with our friends.

Dough:
1 cup water
2 Tbsp butter; softened
1 egg
3 1/3 cups all purpose flour {I swear by King Arthur}
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp regular active dry yeast

Filling:
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter; softened

Place all dough ingredients in the bread pan in the order listed.  Put on dough cycle.  Grease 9x13x2 baking pan {I used a Pyrex dish}.  Mix 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon.  Roll out onto lightly floured surface.  Spread butter onto dough with sugar and cinnamon mixture.  Roll up tightly and pinch seam together.  Cut into 1 inch slices.  Place in baking dish and let rise 1 - 1 1/4 hours or until doubled.

This is where I deviated.  I covered my baking dish with plastic wrap and popped it into the fridge overnight instead of waiting an hour for the dough to rise.  The rolls still rose and were happily waiting for me the next morning.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from pan and drizzle glaze over warm rolls.

I used Paula Deen's recipe for the glaze which can be found here.  We enjoyed the warmth and goodness of homemade cinnamon rolls minus the hassle of  kneading by hand, waiting for dough to rise, etc.

Thankful for a much needed cool front, I made chili for lunch.  This has been a seasonal favorite in our house since last Fall when Bethany shared it.  I didn't have all the ingredients on hand, so I made some changes to accommodate what we had on hand.

Beef Chili {adapted from Bethany's Turkey Chickpea Chili found here.}

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil {extra virgin if you have it}
1 cup chopped onion
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 lb ground beef
14 oz can chickpeas, drained {or 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, pre-soaked and ready to go}
14 oz can red beans {or 1/2 cup dried red beans, pre-soaked and ready to go}
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 quart beef broth {I use organic, low sodium}
4 oz can diced green chiles
4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp raw organic sugar {or brown, or white, or honey! They all work.}
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp onion powder

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic, and carrots and saute until carrots are tender and onions are translucent and beginning to brown.  Add ground beef and cook until meat is browned and crumbled.

Add all remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1-2 hours...or all afternoon if you like!  Garnish with lemon or lime wedges if you have them.

This chili is fabulous the first day and only improves every day after that...assuming your leftovers actually last more than 24 hours.

By early afternoon my kitchen looked like this...

Chili simmering, rolls demolished, and baby food in progress {don't think I'm trying to revert to my over-achieving ways, it only takes 3-4 minutes to steam a bag of frozen peas}.

And, for purposes of full disclosure, my sink looked like this...

I'm enjoying that big cup of coffee right now.  That sink full of dishes is all the clean up I have to attend to...and most of that will go into Mr. Dishwasher.

So by "KISS"-ing my weekend I was able to sit back and enjoy time spent with friends and family and share wonderful meals that were a drop in the bucket all around.

Food for thought :: If you had company today, could you come up with something simple and delicious to share from ingredients you already have on hand?  If not, how close are you...could you find suitable substitutes or omit anything?

Check out all the other 31 Dayers here.

31 Days Cooking at Home | Day 2

Dinner last night.  Adapted from Simple Bites' Green Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk and Curry.

Cooking at home.  What you need to know...

Rule #1 :: There are no rules.

That might be a bit of an overstatement, but generally speaking it's true.  Cooking is not as much an exact science as it is an art.

This is freeing for 2 big reasons:

1. You don't need to examine your Pyrex measuring cup from all angles and hold it up to the light to make sure you have exactly 1 cup of water before pouring it into your pot of soup.

When you're baking you'll want more precise measurements.  But cooking...eh...not so much.  And truth be told, I don't spend much time on my baking measures either.

2. You can substitute to suit your needs and your taste.

I teach best by showing so here is how this all translates.

Remember yesterday when I mentioned standing in your kitchen with a stocked pantry and fridge yet clueless as to what to make?  I had one of those moments last night.  I knew I wanted to make something.  And then I remembered this recipe I came across last week.  So I pulled out my phone and looked up Simple Bites...and then I almost gave up on this recipe because the title states "With Coconut Milk".  And coconut milk?  Not in my pantry.

But for kicks, I looked at the list of ingredients anyway.

ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil (or unsalted butter)
• 1 tablespoon good quality curry powder, freshly ground
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 5 cups of vegetable stock or water
• 1 1/2 cups green lentils, rinsed
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

garnish options:

• fresh chopped chives
• yogurt
• pinch of curry powder

I had lentils, just not green lentils.  And I had everything else except for the coconut milk.  Seeing yogurt listed made me wonder...could I use the vanilla yogurt I have in my fridge as a coconut milk substitute?

I started Googling.  {When in doubt Google.  That can be non-rule number 3.}  From what I saw most coconut substitutes required coconut extract.  Not something I had on hand.  I thought about it for 2.6 seconds and decided I would try the vanilla yogurt.  Why you ask?  Well, for one thing the Hubster doesn't actually get to eat dinner with me except for twice a week...so truthfully only my stomach was at stake.  But the biggest reason I went with the yogurt was because I knew that it would still add sweetness, and even though my soup would be thicker in consistency, it would still taste good.

So I jumped right in.

Saute, saute, saute.  {Please forgive my old and much loved pot...she is looking quite tattered these days!}

Here we are after the lentils simmered for an hour.  They smelled fabulous.  :)

Then I blended in the blender.  Instead of blending all the lentils in smaller batches to have an even consistency throughout, I blended about 3/4 all at once, then returned the lentil puree to the pot with the remaining 1/4.  This left me with some whole lentils and a thicker soup which was hearty and filling.

 

I chose to garnish with fresh chives and a pinch of extra curry powder.

So.  What if I didn't attempt the curry soup?  Or even worse {cue dramatic music} what if it turned out bad?

If I never tried in the first place, I never would have learned that vanilla yogurt is a decent substitute for coconut milk.  

If it turned out awful?  I would have had bread and cheese and a glass of wine for dinner instead.  And I would still be telling you about it and why it was so awful.  Because the important thing was to try something new.

No matter what, I don't think there is anything that could have stopped my dog from licking the bowl clean.

And leftovers?  Already on their way to being devoured.  ;)

Check out all the other 31 Dayers here.

31 Days Cooking at Home

There is something satisfying about cooking for those you love.  To pour yourself into a fabulous meal and have it turn out wonderful…it's a beautiful thing.  And becoming a lost art.

The reality is in our society today we like things fast.  Sometimes because we are impatient, sometimes because we have kids {or bosses} that need our attention pronto, almost always because in our fast paced world we have worn ourselves ragged and are just too tired to even think about what we would cook, much less cook it.

31 Days Cooking at Home.  The truth is I cook at home every day.  And I am glad for it.  My family eats really fresh food everyday because I've learned how to keep it simple.

You don't like to cook?  Have a pantry and fridge full of food but find yourself standing around without any clue as to what to make? Don't know how to cook at all?

No worries.  We all start somewhere.

The kitchen and I weren't always friends.  In fact, we were barely acquaintances when my husband and I married almost 7 years ago.

Once when I was a junior in high school and my brother was a freshman we caught the kitchen on fire.  He was making french fries from scratch like our Granny taught us.  Only he didn't know how so I was directing him.  I was boiling water.  Only I didn't know how.  {I'm not even kidding.} So he was directing me.  Two distracted cooks a grease fire makes.  I can't believe we didn't get grounded.

Needless to say my kitchen knowledge did not deepen before I graduated high school.  I knew marginally more when I graduated college, where my meals mostly consisted Dr. Peppers and Little Debbie Zebras.

I tell you all this so that you understand I am not a natural-born cook.  I didn't learn how to cook overnight and I have failed plenty of times and still do from time to time.

So what changed?  How do I now successfully boil water without the fire department on speed dial?

I just jumped in and started. 

I've learned that in life sometimes the only way to make something happen is to try wholeheartedly to make it happen, with the understanding that it might not work, but even if it doesn't it's okay.  It's the trying and striving that matters.

You'll learn more from your trial and errors in the kitchen than you will from your favorite cookbook.  Or even your favorite cooking show.

So.  31 Days Cooking at Home.  Does it seem like a doozy to you?  Are you thinking "That's a loooooot of cooking at home".  My goal isn't to have you cook for 31 days straight with me {though you can if you want}.  My goal is to inspire.  To share some of my tips and tricks, and to help you see that cooking at home can be simple, fast, convenient, and {dare I say it} fun.

Check out all the other 31 Dayers here.

See you tomorrow!

Day 2 | What You Need to Know
Day 3 | When Company Comes A-Callin'
Day 4 | Dinner, Well Dressed
Day 5 | When All Else Fails
Day 6 | Pantry Basics  
Day 7 | Banana Bread Mini Muffins
Day 8 | Rockin' the Broccoli and Cheese Soup 
Day 9 | Our Daily Bread  
Day 10 | Chicken Lemon Soup & RAIN! 
Day 11 | My Freezer, My Friend. 
Day 12 | Everybody Has to Start Somewhere
Day 13 | Butternut Love.  
Day 14 | Fancy Biscuits 
Day 15 | Sic 'Em Bears!
Day 16 | Pumpkin Spice {Mini} Muffins  
Day 17 | Puppy Love {Cookies for the Pooch} 
Day 18 | Love For Cafe Mocha 
Day 19 | Stockin' the Fridge
Day 20 | Pasta Amore {Cafe Express Style}
Day 21 | The Best Chocolate Cupcakes.  Ever.
Day 22 | Yummy Beef Stew and a Confession

I'm Back!

Hey there!  It's been quite a long time!

I know.  I went MIA.  What can I say?  Life got busy and something had to give.  Thus it got seriously quiet here.

 

Handsome man.  :)

He is huge and he is 10 months old today!

At his 9 month check up he was 21.5 lbs and 29 3/4" tall!  And I swear he has gained as much as a ton of bricks and sprouted like a weed in the last month.  He is crawling e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e., refusing to nap some days, and teething.  2 new teeth broke through this week (one is his left front tooth!) and 2 more are just below the surface.  

Coffee is my very best friend.

But I have missed writing and sharing and so here I am.

Call me crazy, but I'm going to participate in the Nester, Chatting at the Sky, et al. 31 Days link up.  I figure there's nothing like a 31 day challenge to get me back to typing.  Nothing like jumping back in with both feet and possibly biting off more than I can chew!

For 31 days I will be exploring cooking at home.  Even though it's still eleventy-hundred degrees in Texas and doesn't feel at all like Fall, it is Fall none-the-less.  And there is nothing like a pot of something delicious simmering on the stove to usher in the season.  I hope you'll join me!