Beef "sausage" stick

This is a Christmas favorite for our family.

BEEF STICK (SAUSAGE)
5 lbs hamburger
3 tsp garlic salt
4 ½ tsp pepper (cracked)
4 ½ tsp mustard seed
5 tsp tender quick salt
2 tsp liquid smoke

1. Put in plastic, 2 gallon, ziplock bags.
2. Knead everyday in bag.
3. On 3rd kneading day, bake @ 150 for 8 hours. Turn at 4 hours.
4. While baking, meat should be placed on rack and sheet.

Store in ziplock or foil or you can freeze it.

It makes 3 – large, 4 – medium, 5 – small

For pictures click here.

Barefoot Contessa Brownie Mix

I bought this brownie mix last week because it was the only one I could find at the store that had no artificial flavors or colors (for Isaac's new food regulations). I made it last night. I was going to save them for today. But when Nate asked me (at 10pm) if I wanted some I agreed. Well, they are fabulous tasting brownies. They should be with 1/4 pound of real butter and real very dark chocolate chunks! They were so good, in fact, that I had two.
Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Suddenly I had a really bad case of the jitters. Apparently all that really dark chocolate had more caffeine than my body could take so late at night. I was up until 1:30 am.

But they were good brownies.

Don't eat it if you don't know what it is

Nate and I started the ingredients game when we were first married. Someone would get the container of food and ask the other to guess the ingredients in the food. It was always fun to actually be able to guess them all or remember from the last time we played. Food has some pretty weird stuff in it. Take vanillin (artificial vanilla) for example. It is derived from a waste product from paper mills! Gross. Artificial vanilla is in so many things too. Artificial colors are in even white foods (like marshmallows).

Well, now we look at the ingredient label for another reason. Isaac. Isaac has ADHD. He takes medication to help him control his impulsiveness and to be able to focus enough to do even basic things like tie his shoes, button his shirt, or write legibly. Well, we have tried every medication out there. And eventually they all stop working after a few months. So now, in addition to the medication, we are trying to tweak his diet to see if that will make a difference.

The first things we are taking out are artificial colors and flavors. Also really heinous chemicals like BHT and MSG. Now, this is so much easier than it would have been a few years ago. With stores like Whole Foods and organic food/brands available at even our local grocery stores, there are many choices. Still it has been a little be of a challenge. There are foods that I didn't think would be a problem, that I thought were pretty wholesome. Even fruit cocktail has artificially colored maraschino cherries.

So I've concluded that I won't eat it if I don't know what it is. I hope that this will help Isaac. I think our whole family will be healthier. The doctor says that it takes 6-8 weeks to really see the difference (I guess it takes a while to get all the nastiness out of your body). Meanwhile, I'm trying to use up all the fake stuff and/or replace it. I'm also going to have to be a little better about menu planning. Buying organic and shopping whole foods puts a much bigger dent in my wallet than the way I used to shop. I hope it works. The next step is to take out items with salicylates in them (even in good stuff like apples, grapes and oranges). There aren't apple substitutes out there, it would be goodbye forever. We'll see...

Summertime

and the living is easy. Grilling is one of my favorite easy ways to cook dinner. The kids love to light the grill. Shish kebabs are one of our family's faves too. Put it on a stick and kids will eat just about anything, well, maybe not anything, but a lot of things. This time we had teriyaki shrimp kebabs and some chicken satay. What's your favorite?

bread and jam for us

I usually don't ever make bread. The 5 or 6 times I've tried, it turns out like a brick. So I stick to other types of bread like sweet rolls, pizza, etc. (It's the same recipe, I know. But bread in a loaf never seems to work out.) Well, last night I started making bread on a whim (not a good thing to start at 9PM). I put it in the fridge overnight and baked it this afternoon. And....it actually turned out! It was a little salty because I used Hazel friendly soy margerine (which is salted already). But it was fluffy and the kids devoured it.

There is a hole in one loaf where Toby stuck his finger in. He wanted to see if it really was dense as a brick. Oh well, looks aren't everything. And maybe, since it worked this time, I'll actually try it again!

Pecos Shrimp and Sausage

Pecos Shrimp and Sausage
(See on plate in photo below)

Ingredients:
1 pound shrimp, peeled
1 link Andouille sausage (cajun), cut into 1/2" pieces
1/3 cup Cookwell Pecos 83 Marinade (or Bock and Brown Sugar) or any other BBQ type marinade
1/2 cup thinkly sliced bell peppers
1/2 sweet onion, thin sliced
1 Tbsp Adams Val Verde Rub (or other southwest style spice seasoning)
1 Tbsp oil

Directions:
Sprinkle rub on the shrimp. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook shrimp about 1 minute per side (DO NOT OVER COOK). Remove from pan
Cook sausage until browned then add veggies. Cook until crisp tender. Return shrimp t pan, add marinade and cook 30 more seconds. Serve over white rice or with The salsa rice recipe below.

Corn and Black Bean Salsa Rice

This dish can be made with store bought salsa or you can make the basic salsa from scratch. It tastes good either way, although my children prefer it from scratch. I always double the recipe and it lasts for 3 meals for our family. Without the tomatoes makes this side dish a little more versatile.

Ingredients:

1 cup Cookwell brand Corn and Black Bean Salsa (or any other brand) See substitution recipe below.

1 cup basmati or jasmine rice

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:
Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 1 quart sauce pan. Add rice, onion, garlic, and salso. Cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes. Fold in butter and cilantro. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Let stand 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Substitute salsa recipe:

1/2 can unseasoned black beans
1 cup corn
1/2 jalepeno, seeded and diced (optional)
1 plum tomato, seeded and diced (optional)

Directions:

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a pan. Add rice, onion, garlic, beans, corn, and tomato and jalepeno if desired. (I've done it both ways. I think my kids liked it without the tomatoes and peppers. It is just a different taste.) Cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes. Fold in butter and cilantro. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Let stand 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Count the ridges

Today, since it was Mother's Day, I made myself a strawberry torte. My mom used to make this all the time when strawberries were in season. The cake mix always made 2 tortes. That may seem like a lot. But divide that by 11 or more and no one gets more than a regular slice. Well, as kids, none of us wanted to get a smaller slice than anyone elses. So my mom would count those ridges on the cake and cut it so that everyone had the same number and thus the same size slice. We all double counted just to be sure. Anyway, just a little flash back as I was slice up this torte after dinner.

Sweet!

One of the things on my list of places to go has been Austin's Farmer's Market. So last weekend we finally got there. But we only had $8 in cash and it was the end of the day so we didn't get much. We got some baby carrots and beets. We ate the carrots on the way back to the car. Can I tell you, they were soooooo sweet!! We ate most of them before we got home. Even Hazel ate them, which is highly unusual for her. Those carrots reminded me of the gardens my dad planted growing up. It makes me want to get in gear and change my lawn into a garden if it would mean eating produce that good all the time. I try to buy organic when the cost isn't too different. And most of the time I've found the better taste is worth the extra money. It's a fine example of getting what you pay for. I highly recommend it. I've actually found some canned organic produce that is good too. Del Monte makes good canned green beans (which is nice because no matter how hard I try, half of my family still dislikes fresh and/or frozen ones; so we trade off). And our grocery store's own organic brand of unsweetend applesauce is awesome. Anyway, I still am amazed at how sweet those carrots were.

Another Sweet Deal

Put this on your calendar for Wednesday night: Baskin Robbins is holding a 31 cent scoop night in honor of America's firefighters. So take your kids out and get them a cone!

Don't Forget!!

Don't forget that tomorrow is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shops! I think I'll stop by a couple times!