Smith's First Haircut (what?!)

What?  Smith is almost 3, how is it his first haircut?  Well...it's his first professional haircut.  Here's the deal...Andrew started cutting Smith's hair when he was 3 months old.  We thought it was too much trouble to take a 3 month old to get a haircut, so Andrew just did it himself...and kept doing it himself until this week.  Finally, Andrew was like enough already with the giant mess and instead, took him for a man-date to get a haircut. 

 

Waiting for his turn at the guy salon (barber?  What do I call it?)

 

He's seriously ready for this haircut.

 

 

 

 

Lookin' good!

 

Perfection!  Blue eyes, dimples, killer hair...he looks kind of like someone I know...someone who is on reality TV...who am I thinking of...

 



Recipe for Grilled Lemon-Cumin Chicken with Charmoula Sauce

Chicken seasoned from a lemon-cumin marinade, grilled, and served with flavorful Charmoula Sauce

Every summer, my post about How to Make Juicy Grilled Chicken Breasts turns into one of the most popular posts on the blog, and chicken breasts are something I cook far more during grilling season than I do at other times of the year.  I'm always looking for ways to make grilled chicken into something special, and when I was flipping through an old cookbook and saw a recipe for Chicken with Charmoula Sauce, I remembered how I loved that sauce on Steamed Green Beans and Carrots.   I experimented with a marinade that I thought might bring out some of the lemon and cumin flavors in the Charmoula, and the result was this recipe that several people gobbled up when I tested it.

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First Day of School

Tuesday was my kiddos first day of preschool for the year.  It's hard to believe this is Kensington's third year!  They only go two days a week but they love it, and I just love their school.  This was Smith's first year...and he was really, really excited.

 

Sweet girl all ready to go!  Ms. Amanda and Ms. Naomi are her teachers this year.  Sweet girl was excited about seeing all of her friends again and ready to go.

 

This is Smith's mug shot picture.

 

That's better!  There is Smith excited about his very first day of preschool!  His teachers are Ms. Michelle and Ms. Wendy.  Lord help them, this boy has some energy.

 

Backpack on and ready to go!

 

They did great on their first day!  Kensington made new friends right away, did great with her work, loved her teachers...a champ.  Smith managed to make some new friends (although he has told me approximately 1,456 times that he's not happy Nixon isn't in his class), he came home and recited his class rules, and was the first one to fall asleep on his nap mat and the last one to wake up (my big sleeper!).

 

We're looking forward to a great year of preschool!



Recipe for Grilled Eggplant, Grape Tomato, and Feta Salad with Amazing Basil, Parsley, and Caper Sauce

Even if you don't make this salad, don't miss the Donna Hay-inspired Basil, Parsley, and Caper Sauce!

For anyone who saw the title of this recipe and said "I don't like eggplant," I need to remind you of my discovery that grilled eggplant is really one of the best things about summer.  I was never an eggplant fan until I started growing the thin Japanese Eggplants in my garden, and cooking them on the grill.  If you've never had grilled eggplant, you've never really had eggplant!  However, if I can't possibly talk you into eggplant, then you still should try the Amazing Basil, Parsley, and Caper sauce that we used as a dressing in this recipe.  The sauce recipe and the inspiration to combine it with grilled eggplant came from Donna Hay's New Food Fast, and this is another one of those summer herb sauces that would be good on nearly anything.

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Labor-ing

On Labor Day, we had a family party at my aunt and uncle's house.  It's our official "last swim" of the summer (which was odd for my kids because our house is already decorated for fall and they thought summer was long over...).

 

Yes...best pic of me and my kids.  Pitiful.  K is eating chips in the background and Smith is hiding behind me.  Oh well.  Love them!

 

This is his "it's too hot to pose for pictures, Mom" face.

 

But it's not too hot to play volleyball with Uncle Seanie.  These two had the best time playing together (as usual).

 

My family always plays volleyball at a swim party.  I'm pretty sure everyone secretly talks behind my back about not having me on their team.  I don't mind though :).

 

Our Sweet P!

 

The grandparents (love them!)

 

 

Silly, splashing girls

 

What a tough boy he is!  He's showing you his knee where a big old bee stung him.  He was such a trooper...the best medicine for a bee sting...a chocolate chip cookie.

 

Sweet boy!

 

That's it!  Uneventful pictures but a great Labor Day weekend!

 

 



Five-Spice Steak Strips CrockPot Recipe

Day 210.

Two hundred and ten! eek!

Yesterday, I had some projects to tie up, miles to run, laundry to fold, and a kid with a double ear infection.

I forgot to turn on the crockpot until about 3pm. It completely slipped my mind. I did it, though. But the meat I cooked would have been much, much better if I had plugged it in earlier in the day and let it stew, or better yet if I had had the meat sit in the fridge overnight in the marinade.

I bought Chinese Five-Spice Powder a few weeks ago, when I found myself in the grocery store all alone. I love grocery shopping alone. I get a mocha from Starbucks and wander each and every aisle, and always find something "new" that I didn't know I needed, or something that I wanted but didn't take the time to properly scout out. Some people like massages. I like solo-grocery shopping.

Lydia, from The Perfect Pantry, has a marvelous write-up about the wonders of Five-Spice Powder. I found it in the Ethnic section of my regular grocery store.

The Ingredients.

1-2 pounds thin steak meat (I used flank steak)
1/4 t kosher salt
1 t Five-Spice Powder
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t black pepper
6 cloves minced or chopped garlic
2 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat-free are GF)
1 T white wine vinegar

The Directions.

In a small bowl, mix the dry spices. Rub the mixture on all sides of your meat.

Put the meat into a ziplock bag and add the chopped garlic, soy sauce, and white wine vinegar. Seal the bag and refrigerate for as long as possible; preferably overnight.

I did not do this. Your meat will taste better if you do.

When the meat has fully marinated, cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 5-6. This is very thin meat and will cook quickly, since there isn't much liquid. If you are going to be out of the house for a while, add 1/2 cup of beef broth. I used my 6qt Smart-Pot, and it was not really enough food for it; this would work best in a 4qt.

Slice the meat thin and serve over rice with vegetables, or on top of a spinach salad. We had our meat on top of salad.

The Verdict.

Since I didn't put the crockpot on until 3pm, my meat had very little flavor, except for the very outer skin. We ate it, and it was fine, but it could have been much, much, better. I have meat leftover, and am going to re-rub it with the spices and let it sit for a while, then chop it up for fried rice to have for lunch.

CrockPot Ginger Beef with Onions and Garlic

Day 214.

Good morning! I can not wrap my brain around the fact that it's August already.

August!

We had this for dinner last night before heading to the park for a community concert. It was a rather chilly night, and I was glad that we had some hot food in our bellies before heading out.

The Ingredients.

--1-2 pounds beef strips
--1/2 cup broth, white wine, beer, or apple juice. I used chicken broth.
--1 yellow onion, cut in rings
--1 whole head of garlic, peeled
--1/2 t ground black pepper
--1 inch peeled and grated ginger

The Directions.

Spray the inside of your crockpot with cooking spray, or put a bit of olive oil in the bottom. Add your meat. Chop up the onion, and peel all of the garlic. Throw that into the pot. Add the ginger and black pepper. Top with whatever liquid you plan on using.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, depending on how thick of a piece of meat you are using, and whether or not it's frozen. I used fresh beef strips and it cooked VERY quickly on low---it was completely done after 6 hours.

I should have used a smaller crockpot. This is a good amount of food for a 4qt. If you are going to use a larger crockpot, consider adding a whole cup of liquid.

The Verdict.

I served this over brown rice pasta. I was pleased with how tender the meat was and how the garlic caramelized. I'd make this again, but in a smaller crockpot. my 6 qt was much too big for this amount of food. The meat wasn't spicy, and the kids ate it fine. I didn't offer them any of the garlic or onions.

This will give you stinky breath. Consider yourself warned.

Recipe for Meat, Tomato, and Mozzarella Stuffed Zucchini Cups

"Cups" made from giant zucchini slices and filled with a meat, tomato, and mozzarella mixture.

 
(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  It's monster zucchini season here and last Friday I spotlighted Monster Zucchini and Basil Strata.   This recipe for zucchini Meat, Tomato, and Mozzarella Stuffed Zucchini Cups uses "cups" created from slices of overly-large zucchini, and this is another of my very favorite things to make when the zucchini gets out of control.  Enjoy!)

Despite the rather messy plating job, I'm excited about this new way of making stuffed zucchini by slicing an overly-large zucchini into two-inch slices, then hollowing out the slices to make zucchini "cups." Normally I'm a fan of round 8-ball squash for Stuffed Zucchini, but this year my 8-Ball squash hardly produced anything. Meanwhile, my regular zucchini plant kept producing zucchinis that were too big, causing me to get creative. Don't you think hollowing out a zucchini cup like this and filling it with meat and cheese sounds like a delicious way to use zucchini? Zucchini is definitely on surplus status around here, so there may be some other zucchini recipes coming up this week as well.

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South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-Up for July 2012 (Low-Glycemic Recipes)

Kalyn's favorite Phase One Recipe for July 2012 was Grilled Lemon-Cumin Chicken with Charmoula Sauce

Everywhere I've gone lately people are talking about how July has gone screaming by, and now it's over!  I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels a sense of dread when the summer months are approaching the end, but now that I don't go back to school in the fall, I consider August and September to both be part of summer.  That gives you plenty of time left to try some of these tasty Phase One Recipes I've posted on Kalyn's Kitchen or found on other months during the month of July.  Summer foods are so easy to make diet-friendly, so I hope you enjoy some of these drool-worthy dishes while summer is still hanging on!

(You can use the label Low-Glycemic Recipe Round-Ups to see all the posts like this one.)

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Chinese Cucumber Salad Recipe

An unusual and delicious salad to make with garden cucumbers.

(Updated with better photos and instructions, July 2012.)  When I run across people who are somewhat indifferent to cucumbers, I always wonder if they've ever had fresh-from-the-garden cukes, which I think are one of the most delicious things about summer.  When cucumbers first start to appear, I just wash them, slice in half, and eat with a little salt.  Later in the summer when they start to be abundant I might make a cucumber salad like this one.  The recipe came from a cookbook I've for years, called Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, and Other Good Things.  It's a book with some unusual and interesting ideas for using up garden veggies, and this cucumber salad was definitely a winner.

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Smith Faces

 

 

 

 

 

 



CrockPot Spanish Braised Chicken Recipe

Day 211.

The kids and I went to the "good" library over the weekend and I checked out a bunch of cookbooks. One of the books was put out by Cook's Illustrated, and was called The Complete Book of Poultry.

There are probably a good five hundred recipes in this book, but narrowing down what I was going to attempt first was rather easy---I had all the ingredients in the house for this one!

The Ingredients.

1 T of butter (not pictured)
4 large chicken breast halves
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 t dried thyme
3 bell peppers, sliced (I used red and orange)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced in rings
1/2 cup cooking sherry (you could use apple juice)
2 t orange juice
12 large green olives, chopped

The Directions.

Plug in your crockpot and turn it to low. Add the butter to the bottom of the stoneware insert. Add the chicken--my chicken was frozen, but thawed would work, too. Add all of the dried spices to the chicken. Cut the peppers and onion, and chop or mince the garlic, to add to the mix. Top off with the cooking sherry and orange juice. Chop up the green olives, and sprinkle them on top.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I cooked our chicken for 6 hours, and the meat was cooked, but still a bit dry inside. I chopped each breast in half, and added it back to the pot for another hour. The chicken was then quite juicy.

The Verdict.

All four of us enjoyed this dinner. The kids dipped their chicken into barbecue sauce, but they always do. Adam said it was one of the best chicken dishes he'd had, and was pleased with the moistness of the breast. I enjoyed the peppers, onion, and olives a lot.

There was a lot of juice left in the pot---I'm thinking you could easily put in 6 breast halves.

Soccer!

Once upon a time, Sheaffer said on Face Book, "hey, anyone know anything about 3-4 year old soccer"...we all said "no, who wants to do that?" and then we all formed a team.  Not quite sure how that happened but thus...a team of 3 and 4 year old coed soccer players united under the supervision of Coach Andrew (who is still unsure how he got that title, didn't he play football or something?) and formed a killer team...the Gators.

 

This is Smith before his sister's practice.  Isn't he cute?!  I love him!!

 

We arrived early to set up...Kensington was super excited!  I just adore her shin guards and soccer shoes.  And yes, I actually had to go to Target and buy her shorts.  I realized she couldn't practice in a dress.

Love them!

 

Smith loved practicing with K before the big kids arrived.

 

 

She was doing awesome at this point.

 

One of her besties Ebby Lee came all fresh and ready to go (just wait until the end of this post...).

 

Ebby Lee's mama was looking so good that I wanted a pic to show how cute and preggers she is.  Baby #3 is due in November and she looks fabulous!  (PS: I've named the baby...her husband hasn't 100% agreed but I'm going to call him that regardless...).

And then practice started...and Kensington had a total meltdown...sigh...what's a mom to do.  We just ignored her and let her sit there.  She was doing so great before everyone arrived and then she just couldn't do it.  She was a hot mess.  She says this week will be better...that post is still unwritten.

 

Smith was running around and sweatin' like a fool.  You would have thought he was the one at practice!

 

All my girlfriends!  Aren't they so cute!  Nikki, Narci, Andrea (also preggers), Erika (with baby Shay named), Rachel, Manda, Lori and Karla.  Love them.  Love, love, love them.

 

Coach Andrew going over his post-practice stuff. 

 

The kids enjoying their snacks.

 

And Ebby Lee post practice.  Did she play tackle football at some point and I missed it?  Miss Girly Girl even has dirt on her face!  She practiced hard!

 

The gators are fierce!  It's going to be a fun season!