Beets Beautiful Beets!

 Pretty finished plate of roasted beets and turnips, warm mustard green salad and rice pilaf (rice pilaf recipe not featured because i didn't make it...)  pre heat oven to 450, prep a cookie sheet or sheet pan with foil and a wire rack.



so, to begin, try to find a bunch of beets that are all relatively evenly sized. cut the leaves from the stems, then cut the stems and tops from the bulbs.

ugly buggars, right?

super gritty, wash well 

my audience, bellied up to the bar. 

 okay, the leaves, washed well, then dried. in a bowl combine two table spoons of oil, one teaspoon taco seasoning, one teaspoon Cholula Chipoltle Sauce toss the leaves until all are evenly coated and arrange on a wire rack over foil as so.

try to minimize overlaping

bake at 450, turning occasionally until crispy crunchy. cool on rack for as long as you can stand waiting... YUMMM 

So pretty!!

okay back to dinner, peel and halve the beets. 

trim and halve some turnips too, this is getting good!

 okay toss the beets and turnips in olive oil, one teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, and black pepper to taste. spread in roasting pan so they don't touch. drizzle any dressing left in the bowl over the roots.

no touchy, very important. 

 mmmmm chips.... so the chips come out, the roots go in, the temp goes down to 425 degrees, bake them for 50 minutes to an hour till they're tender.

mmm roasty toasty

 okay put the roots in a serving bowl, they are delightful just as they are. next we're going to supreme a grapefruit. very fancy...

ooooh lala

don't waste the juice from the bit of fruit clinging to the peel!

carefully...

not pictured here: me putting the yummy segments in a salad bowl.... sorry. so cut the grapefruit over the roasting pan so the juice drips into it, when you have all the sections safely removed squeeze the juice into the pan and whisk all the oil and beet juices from the bottom of the pan as so.  

scrape scrape scrape

oh look, there's the sections in the bowl hiding in the back ground. 

heat some oil in a wok and add mustard greens and thin sliced green onion.

once it wilts add the pan juices

turn off the heat and toss with the grapefruit sections.

pretty sesame seed garnish

adorable sous chef

 plate and done! 

Dark Chocolate PBJ cookies

here's a quickie:

oven at 350

1 cup sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp kosher salt
1 egg
1 tbsp dark chocolate coco powder
1 tbsp mexican vanilla
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour or gluten free all purpose flour
2/3 cup craisins (or strawberry infused craisins)


cream sugar, peanut butter, oil, and egg together, (remember to coat your cup measure with the oil so the peanut butter is easier to get out of the measuring cup!) gradually add other ingredients adding craisins last. scoop slightly rounded table spoons of dough on to cookie sheets and flatten slightly with a fork, they will spread and rise a bit so space them about 1 inch apart. bake at 350 for about 13 to 15 minutes, cool on the pan. enjoy!

oily measuring cup, promise. 

 mmmm nice and creamy.

 just look at that honey slide right out of the oily measuring cup!

cocoa powder ahoy! kinda strange looking cookie batter, no?

 okay, yes, i sifted the flour and the baking powder together this time.

 strawberry infused craisiny goodness.

only SO much and not a spot more!

 plop!

 squishy squishy

TA DA!! obviously this is a sort of backwards before and after picture. you get the idea. 

Cookie snacks

okay, so i know that thing one is only 8, but he's doing his best to eat us out of house and home already, i have a shining future of endless cooking in my sites! what i need is a bag of "boy food" that i can put in a free feeder in the corner, barring that invention i'm looking at making "cookie snacks" in varying flavors so that he can grab one on his own whenever he's so hungry he's threatening to eat his shoes. again. the basic recipe i'm working with at the moment is as follows: (i'm also going to try to make this blog a bit more usable as a recipe repository, stick with me) pre heat oven to 350 degrees 

ingredients:
1 cup whole, raw almonds
2 medium carrots chopped
1 tbs whole golden flax
2 ripe bananas
1/4 cup oil (canola, olive, or softened coconut)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1 tbs vanilla

1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 cup all purpose flour (or all purpose gluten free flour, not baking mix though)

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1 rounded cup old fashioned oats. 

in a food processor grind almonds, carrots, and flax until mealy, add bananas and process until combined. scrape into a mixer bowl. this part is important, add the oil first, because after you measure the oil in a standard dry measure cup and pour it in when you measure and pour in the honey and molasses they slide right out instead of sticking, then add the vanilla. clever no? mix until combined and let rest while in a separate bowl you mix the baking powder, soda, salt, spices, and flour together. add the four to the mixer and incorporate completely, then beat in the raisins and craisins (or what ever dried fruit you prefer. add the oats last, and when they are completely mixed in use a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips. 

spoon slightly rounded table spoons of batter on to LIGHTLY greased cookie sheets and bake for 13 minutes. 

pecan dredged pork chops

this one is my husband's fault. well, fault so to speak. a few weeks ago he said, "you know i get tired of sweet pecans. everyone thinks of pecan pie immediately when you mention pecans, but i'd like to see them in a savory application, you know?" and that got the wheels spinning. so finally last night we had some pork chops, nice little sirloin chops about 1/2 an inch thick which, cut in two, were the perfect size to share with the kids. they're a bit on the lean side, so i usually dredge or bread them somehow and i had this idea, this peanut butter fried chicken, pecan crusted trout idea rolling around in the back of my mind. what i had in the cupboard was fresh pecans. now, this makes a difference because they are moist, roasted pecans have and entirely different texture, also they have no salt or oil on them. so in the food processor i put about 2/3 cup pecan halves, 1/2 cup home made bread crumbs (stale french bread a clove of garlic a pinch of salt), one teaspoon herbs d'provance, 1/2 teaspoon tarragon, a pinch of salt, and a bit of pepper, and a touch of flour, and ground it down to meal. i heated olive oil and a table spoon of butter in a large frying pan and then pressed the chops in the dredge, the nuts made it sort of, i dunno, paste like. any way i patted, pressed, patted then gently placed in the skillet over a medium high heat, about 4 or 5 minutes on each side, until they were browned nicely, then set aside on a serving platter covered with foil. for sauce i chopped 1/2 a fairly runty onion and about 2/3 cup of mushrooms and sauteed them in the juices from the chops, once they were soft i added about 1/2 cup of sweet vermouth and reduced until it was gravy consistency and poured over the chops. here's what we noticed: the breading kept it's crunch, and it's shape. it did absorb a bit of the sauce, but it still had a really nice texture. the chops stayed moist (the point of a dredge) and tender, and had nice flavor. i didn't season them other than what was in the breading mix. i'm thinking i'll try the dredge on chicken next, and see how it goes, but honestly it was so good on the chops that i might waffle on that and just stick to the sirloin chops.

the darker side of parenting

i've been kicking this blog around in my head for a while, and even now i hesitate to post it. i'm going to admit to some serious weakness here y'all and i'm not joking so sit down. my children are a blessing. everyday they teach me about God's love and His ideal relationship with His children. so often i see the sweetness inherent in their little souls and i am humbled more than i can say. but it's not all rainbows and basking in grace induced bliss, sometimes it's dark. sometimes i'm pregnant (often in fact) and hormonal or post partum and depressed, or to be brutally honest some times i'm just purely human and i just feel myself starting to break. our oldest child, if he were thrown to the wolves of a public school would probably be termed "special needs". we say he has "his little thing goin' on" and, well he's a challenge. that small boy saved my life, so i owe him big time and it's a good thing too because that fact pulls me back from the edge. a lot. being a parent is hard. being a spouse is hard. i give and receive more love on a daily basis than i have any right too, and still it's just a hard job. and so there are those dark times. times where i just want to puke so hard i'll die because i'm doing the first trimester roller-coaster again and instead of loving my family vacation with our best friends i stare at the waves and try to imagine how it would feel if.... if.... if maybe through completely uncontrollable circumstances tristin was pulled away. and what i'm trying to to is imagine that it would hurt. because at that time, in that dark scary time, it doesn't seem like it would. there are days when i just need a quick nap. the baby has been up all night teething, i pushed to get that extra bit of house work done, the crazy pinwheel that is my brain wouldn't stop spinning, and so i haven't slept in what feels like days and i just need sleep. and all the house is quiet and the babies are so close.... and he has one of his bizarre explosions. some noise just gurgles over and he just can't get a grip. and i just want to choke him until he can't make noise any more, because God help me at that moment i really do want just a little something, just a scrap of sleep, to keep me going more than anything else. it's selfish and i know it but i just want some blessed oblivion. or i want to read a news article, and pretend like i'm an adult for a few minutes but our second son has seen a bug/animal/dust mote in the air and wont stop asking questions even after i have tears in my eyes because i need to do something for myself but i can't because in their way children are thieves and they steal from you. time. sanity. health. peace. it's a price. all things bright and beautiful have a price. our beautiful Liturgy says it every week "a sacrifice of praise..." looking for the ray of light? so am i buddy, so am i. the thing is, it passes. you force yourself to breathe. you remember "let Us make him in Our likeness, and image" and you find a way to let it go. just for a minute. you look at that tiny face and see your Saviour and even if you can't truly be a better person you can act like one. i don't want pity. i don't deserve it, plus it makes me uncomfortable. i just want to be honest. i just want to get it out there. i'm human. i fail. i hate. i envy. i get bloody furious. but i also pray. and so the darkness comes and goes like the tide. it never completely takes over, but it also never completely leaves, because even if you can't see it you know that it's going to come knocking again. and all i can do is thank God every night for giving me this struggle, and giving me the strength to fail, and get back up. and giving these sweet boys such boundless forgiveness in their hearts. i've been pretty active off and on with the pro life debate (can you call it that? the proper term escapes me) and i see all these people going back and forth about when IT is a person or not, that all children are blessings, that all life is beautiful... and i feel like YES BUT but but.... it's like my Tanta used to say "you add some salt, because the salt helps you taste the sugar" and i think that one of the things that is being stolen from us crusaders for the family is honesty. this job is hard! it sucks! it's dirty and gross and it hurts. these little people come into your life and take everything, it's hard to be happy with out them, they can absolutely crush you with a single gesture (the baby only wants papa/mama he doesn't want me, all he does for me is cry), and you only have a measure of control for the rest of your life because just because they turn 18 doesn't magically mean you're not a parent any more. yes, it's beautiful, but who ever said that meant we couldn't admit the ugly parts? so here it is, my Achilles tendon, i'm putting a big red target right on it. i have four boys. i might have more, God willing. it's hard. sometimes i don't want to do it anymore. i'm often tired. sometimes i lock myself in the bathroom and call my husband so i can cry and threaten not to come out till gets home. it's a mess. a beautiful, wonderful, awe inspiring mess. on the other hand don't be surprised if you read in the local paper some day that i was booked for finally punching someone in the nose for saying "four? oh my, you have your hands full!" because it's a mess, but it's MY mess damn it, and i love it. i did it on purpose. and don't. you. dare. tell me that i shouldn't have had this many, or that maybe i better stop. if you really believe what you say you do, and you really think that God has your best interest at heart, then if he says to you "one, more honey, you can do it, i promise" how can you say no? how do you dare turn your back on that? let's get with it people, it's called faith, and either you have it or you don't. and that darkness? it's there, but it's not ever lonely, because i always have someone there with me, and all i have to do to see Him is grab one of my kids. if i can catch them.... 

Peanut buttery cookie goodness

Okay peeps here it is the official Roundtree Cottage approved gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. I've been playing with this one for a while. 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 ripe banana, 1 cup peanut butter, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional but why not?), 1 rounded teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 to 1/8 cup golden flax seeds (to taste). Slice the banana thinly, cream together with sugar, add egg and beat until thick and creamy, add vanilla, peanut butter, salt, and baking powder. Mix well. Fold in chips and flax seed, rest in fridge for 20 minutes. Spoon drop onto baking sheets about 3 inches apart using small soup spoons. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes, enjoy! You can grind the flax if you want, or use flax meal, but whole golden seeds is what i had. If you're going the flax meal route cut back a bit. Ima warn you now, the batter looks odd, but it's SO GOOD. In cooke form that is, i did't dive into the batter once, and i'm not makin that up to look cool. It is some freaky lookin batter y'all. But don't take my word for it, try it! 

gettin' real

we're having pop corn for dinner. that's all. really. because holy humidity it's hot up here y'all. if you're wondering if this is where i turn it all around and this becomes a recipe for really awesome pop corn with bacon and hot sauce, it's not. sorry cat lady, you're gonna have to get your recipe for POP CORN elsewhere (because really???) also, if you're thinking "golly, i bet she does something really cool, where she uses corn kernels and oil and salt and teaches the kids about blessed Saint Hemma of the eye afflictions " no. just no. stop it. i'm taking a night off, the kids and Austin are watching cartoons, and i see a nice cold beer in my near future. this is real life in the cottage, just incase you were wondering. oh, friday we'll probably have filet mignon with sautéed mushrooms and some fancy something on the side, but today it's summer and we're here to relax.