Fluffy Pancakes

I haven't cooked anything since Sunday as my son's been ill in the hospital. So since of fridge is at the brink of emptiness due to no shopping trips and food rapidly going rancid, I decided to go with a quick go-to breakfast. Pancakes! My children's 2nd favorite breakfast after Waffles and slightly nudging French Toast.

This recipe is very easy and you can make any variations you want to.

Fluffy Pancakes
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 t of salt, can be course or table salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 pinches of cinnamon
1 1/4 cups of milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter

Optional- additional salted butter for pan

Directions:
In a large bowl, sift or stir all dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center then set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine all wet ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and DO NOT OVER-STIR! Will result in flat, tough discs! We want fluffy!

Turn burner or griddle on medium heat. If using, add about a teaspoon of butter to a heated skillet/frying pan/griddle. Pour about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of pancake batter per pancake. Let cook until bubbles cover the surface of the pancakes. Flip over and cook for about a minute or two and repeat until batter is gone!

Enjoy! A big hit in our house :D

Medical Gamble

My lil man is feeling better!
Originally uploaded by YummySommer

So I thought my eldest son was suffering from a horrible cold last week. Since his condition seemed to get worse, rather than better by Friday, we took him to the Acute Care Clinic as the pediatrician's office is closed by noon on Fridays.

Their diagnosis was fluid in the lungs. Just give him his inhaler and watch his temperature and set up an appointment with the Chief Pediatrician on the following Monday. He seemed to get a little better. Even got up to play a little.

However on Monday on his appointment, the docs diagnosed his condition as a collapsed lung from a severe asthma attack!!! I felt like a horrible mother. I could I not recognized this earlier??? We gave him his inhaler regularly! I felt overwhelmed with guilt, sadness, and feelings of failure.

I went to the hospital after my husband came home, and say him hooked to an O2 machine. Memories of him only minutes old with tubes shoved up his nose, wires coming from every body part came flooding back. It was hard to take.

Since I have 2 other children at home, I could not stay the night with him, which made me feel even worse! I cried the whole walk back to the car. It was nice to come home to many messages from well wishers and other folk praying for my son's speedy recovery. It made me feel so happy and inspired to stay strong.

So the doctors at the KnderKlinik diagnosed his condition as a severe asthma attack and pneumonia! I panicked! But the doctors were very happy with his recovery. The next day, my son was off the O2 machine completely and promised to go home by Friday from the docs. It inspired HIM to stay strong, take his medicine without fighting, and do breathing exercises! I left him with his father that night, and the doctors told his father, who is German, that he is well enough to go home TODAY! I was so elated when I heard the news!!!

Jalen was prescribed all kinds of medication, but it was totally worth it. I told him that he's on his way to nerdom, because every nerd needs an inhaler. But hey, he'll be the cutest nerd ever!

We're planning a big dinner for him with everything he wants! So far it's BBQ chicken, hot dogs, bacon, broccoli, corn, roast potatoes, homemade vanilla ice cream, and cheesecake! I love him so much I am more than happy to slave in the kitchen for him.

While in the hospital, he said he wants to make me proud. Totally brought a tear to my eye. I love my little man. He's so awesome in every way :)

Because I'm worth it!

Ladies, we all can get comfortable in a relationship. I know guys do as well, but I'm talking to the ladies.

In the beginning, you dress to the nines all the time. Always made sure you wore your best lingerie and of course you wore sets. Hair was always done, toes and nails were perfect, etcetera etcetera. Let's just say you never walked around your mate looking a hot mess for a looong while.

So now fast-forward later on in the relationship. He's heard you fart, saw you pick your nose and teeth, saw you first thing in the morning and has caught a whiff of your morning breath a few times. So now you're wearing sweats even when you're not out for a jog, you have hair curlers in your hair for days, basically not the woman you once were.

Ok, maybe that's just me. My husband claims to love me anyway, and find me sexually attractive all the time. But I know he wished I tried a little harder. My over comfortability (whoa, that's a word!) made me, not him feel very uncomfortable with my appearance. As I said in the previous post, I was more concerned with my kitchen than myself. So what's the point of complaining if you're not going to do something about it. So I did.

Recently we got some extra money, and I asked if there was room in the budget for Mommy Time. He said go for it, which I believe in man-language means, " Please do you'll stop complaining to me!"

I didn't do some massive makeover. I just got my hair done--for the first time in YEARS-- and some new clothes. I also got my eyebrows threaded for the first time. Whoever said threading wasn't painful is a LIAR. OMG I was praying for the end. I hope it lasts!!! I'd rather deal with the quick sting of waxing!!!! But if it lasts, I'll endure the pain of threading!

So here is me in my home attire:
AAAAAH!




























After:
Honestly, I would never buy this normally...or have my hair this color. So that's why I did it :)


I doubt I will be able to keep it up. We'll see...

Sassy Mama- Wannabe!

So, I am way overdue for a new wardrobe. I bought 2 outfits last year after I gave birth to my son and before that I bought fat pants for my fat pregnant ass.

It's all my fault, though. I, of course, would rather spend money on my children's clothes, and to be honest, I do not have much of a choice with them growing like weeds and all. Also, extra money goes to cookbooks, good ingredients- ie going to the fish counter, butchers for meat and special markets- and items for my kitchen. And now that I am into photography, new things for the camera!

So, yeah, my food tastes better and looks better, but I just become more and more plain. It's pretty depressing, but finally yesterday I did something about it. My closet is full of jeans and plain t-shirts. Not much color besides a peach shirt here and a yellow dress there. So while I was shopping on www.hm.de I made sure to buy color, and clothes that I'd normally never go for.

I'm a mother of 3, slim, and not ugly, so I really need to stop frumping myself out. I also have an hair appointment tomorrow. I am too embarrassed to say the last time a professional did my do. So, I'm sort of going through a mini transformation on the outside as well on the inside. I can not wait to show off my new look to everyone. I hope it makes me feel like the sexy woman my husband constantly tells me I am.

Here's some of the things I purchased:

Visit hm.com

Visit hm.com

Visit hm.com

Visit hm.com

Cream Cheese Finger Cookies

Yummy! Great with coffee or tea after a long day. Or for breakfast if you roll like that. Don't act like you don't! This cookie is covered with powdered sugar, but isn't overly sweet and it melts in your mouth. Recipe from my Taste of Home Cookbook. Great cookbook full of recipes from home cooks. My favorite cooks of course :)

I refrigerated the cookie dough for a about 30 minutes before rolling them. I made my cookies a bit on the midget side as well ;) Add cinnamon for a nice spice-kick!

12 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 30 min.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
Dash salt
1 cup finely chopped pecans
Confectioners' sugar
Directions
In a small bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, sugar and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans (dough will be crumbly).
Shape tablespoonfuls into 2-in. logs. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Carefully roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks. Yield: 2 dozen.

Penne with Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic, and White Beans

I love me some Ellie Krieger. She's not only gorgeous and can cook, but she's also intelligent. She has a show on Food Network called Healthy Appetite, and it's absolutely the bees knees. She cooks healthy, flavorful food which will make you wonder why in the hell you used so much salt and butter in cooking. I have both of her cookbooks, and have cooked many excellent dishes from them. This one in particular is a favorite in our home. It's quick, frugal and flavorful. This season is the perfect time for this dish, so give it a try.


Here's the recipe from the website: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/penne-with-roasted-tomatoes-garlic-and-white-beans-recipe/index.html

I made a few changes, but do whatever you want. I've added chicken also in the past, but this dish is really filling and yummy on its own. You can also add some red chiles for a bit of a kick. My kids don't do spicy, so I just add a lil red pepper flakes for a lil spicy kick.


Cook Time:50 min
Yield: 4 (1 1/2 cup) servings

Ingredients
3 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1(15 ounce) can cannellini beans
1/2 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Slice each tomato into 8 wedges and discard the seeds. Put the tomato wedges and garlic into a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and a few turns of pepper. Roast in the oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

Drain the beans into a large colander in the sink. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain the pasta into the colander containing the beans, so the hot pasta water will warm the beans. Return drained pasta and beans to the pasta pot.

When the tomatoes are done, pick out the garlic cloves, squeeze the garlic out of the skin into a small bowl and mash with a fork, add 1 tablespoon on oil, 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper Pour the roasted tomatoes into the pasta pot, add the garlic mixture, the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the basil and additional salt and pepper, to taste. Toss to combine. Serve topped with the Parmesan.

How Clorox Bleach Saved my Sanity

I had an addiction to bleach. I had to use it ALL.THE.TIME! I used it so often my hands became very dry and brittle, so I had to stop. Although, when I got pregnant my germaphobia went through the roof. We had a bottle of bleach in every room. Yeah, yeah, it contains harmful chemicals, but everything will kill ya these days. I didn't go overboard either of course.

So my dear eldest son is still under the weather, and to prove it, this morning he shat himself and threw up all over the floors and himself at 4am. So I freak and luckily my hard working husband helped clean him up while I decided how the heck to clean everything. Then good ol' fashion bleach came to mind. And this morning I cleaned all the bathrooms, scrubbed every floor by hand with a cap-full of bleach, a little soap and warm water. And I used a nice scent, not the disgusting bleachy feet smell that I remembered from childhood! Until my children are free from illness, everything will be washed with a hint of bleach. Even my carpets. I scrubbed my carpets a few times today, as I always have to with 3 children, and the carpets did not fade at all.

Call me crazy, but I just want well children. Now if only I can give my son's kindergarten a good scrub down with bleach. Dang parents letting their sick children go to school!

Chunky Chicken Korma

My husband brought home a book from England called "Simple Curries", so I thought I'd give a few recipes a whirl. There are some things I do not like about the book, which is the use of jarred sauces. I know these curry recipes are supposed to be simple and quick, but I am a simply a from scratch kind of gal. I'm am sure there I can figure out how to make the sauces on my own, and that's what I will do. Or I'll search for a similar recipe online and put my own spin on the dish.

So Sunday night I made, Chunky Chicken Korma. It was delicious and not too spicy. My husband and I loooove spicy, but the kids do not.

Recipe:
2 chicken thighs
2 drumsticks
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 red chili, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh grated ginger, peeled
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1- 14oz or 400g can of coconut milk
2 tablespoons of greek yogurt
a handful of coriander/cilantro

Preheat oven to 200C/400F, Rub chicken with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large oven-proof skillet w/cover on the hob and fry the chicken until skin becomes golden on all sides. Remove from pan, and set aside.

Clean the skillet out with paper towel and return to heat. Add remaining oil, and sauté until onion becomes translucent. Add garlic, ginger, chili and spices and cook for 2 more minutes. Pour over the coconut milk and bring to a simmer, the return chicken to pan.

Cover and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Top up with a little hot water if pan becomes too dry. About 5 minutes before cooking ends, add yogurt and coriander/cilantro.


Add more chicken to your liking! Hope you enjoy as much as my family did.

MWF

The "Never Take for Granted" List

Everyone's heard this. No matter what language you speak, wherever you're from, whether you live in a hut or a mansion. You know, mama always said, "Never take anything for granted!" Boy I did not realize the how true this statement was until I became a mother! So, while trying to, well, take a poop- in the teeny half bathroom at that!- surrounded by a crying 1 year-old and and whiny 2 year-old, I decided this subject would be the perfect blog entry.


Top 5 list of things you should never take for granted. I'm a mother of 3- TRUST ME!

1. Taking a poop in peace- When you become a parent, you will have little people surrounding you throughout the day. And they especially feel keen to follow you in the bathroom. Everything in the world of baby seems to come a halt or go out of wack when mommy or daddy needs to take a poop. They'll scream, draw on you, mess up the toilet paper rolls, turn on the water, cry and cry for mommy, just do everything they can cause they know you are temporarily stuck on the toilet.

1a) Taking a shower in peace. See 1

2) Cleaning the house and it staying clean. I do not know how many times a day I clean the same thing over and over and over and over. It leaves some rooms neglected for days and or years! I vacuum so much downstairs that I maybe vacuum the upstairs 2 times a month! And after you clean, some kid comes over and destroys whatever you did. My baby angrily re-clutters a room. Angrily, too. Like he's saying,"Bitch I put these toys and DVDs all over the floor for a reason!" So yeah, cleaning becomes an all day, seemingly meaningless task.

3) SEX! Kids are cock-blockers and the more they destroy your home and nerves the least likely you'll want to have sex in fear of making another one.Well, unless you're trying to have another one..

4) Peacefully shopping. Whether it's clothes shopping or grocery shopping. One child is climbing in the meat case, another is stuffing a cucumber in their mouth, the other stuffing their face with candy they "found". Don't get me started on shopping for shoes. Shopping online comes in handy, but it takes you the better part of the day with all the interruptions from the little ones!

5) Blogging. It took me almost 5 hours to make this simple post! Cooking, cleaning, 'discussions' with hubby, children, etc.

If there is anymore anyone would like to add, feel free.

I am a very, very proud mother of 3 and I love it. They're hilarious and smart children who just happens to make mommy and daddy's life a tad crazy sometimes. But we still love the little devils. They're utterly and truly amazing and I will most certainly not take for granted the fact that I have my little people in my life!

I'm actually interested in things!

So for years I've been trying to find my niche.

Until I discovered cooking. Yes, folks, it's another blog entry about my love of all things culinary, with a slight twist.

I've been browsing through Flickr and the more I browse the more I want to challenge myself and buy a DSLR camera so my photos will look even better.

I've been searching and searching for the best way to show off my food on camera and it seems like the solution is DSLR as you can better textures and it capture natural light than the point and shoot camera that I have. So after a few days of searching and searching I found a nice DSLR for an ok price. I will most certainly have to purchase a new lens, but I'll wait and see how my and my husband's budding photography career goes.

Here's the baby I want: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001TDG8PI/ref=oss_product

I hear it's user friendly for beginners like me! So let's see how it goes!

Why I take photos of my food

Taking photos of food. What's the point unless it's for an article or cookbook?

Well the reason I started was thanks to my lovely husband. About 2 years ago when I really started getting into cooking and try new things and techniques, he thought it'd be an excellent idea for me to start taking photos of my food; especially as I tend to cook new things all the time. So we started taking pictures, then he was like, "Hey, why don't you post the picture on Myspace?" I was reluctant to do it because I am very, very shy about showing off my culinary "triumphs". Besides, what may seem like a culinary triumph to one may seem like a plateful of slop to another person. I didn't want my food ridiculed by the mean people of the world. Haha. But I did anyway, and I got some pretty nice reponses.

So I moved on from Myspace to Facebook and thought about once again posting pictures. I did, however I never click Publish, I just posted them almost 'secretly'. People found the photos on their own, and then again I got some nice response. Every now and again I'd click Publish, then maybe 10 minutes later I'd delete the photo from the News Feed. Why? Because I am very protective about my passion. I know it's silly, but I'm a silly gal.

So recently I found that I can add certain people to view photo albums, so I added a few people here and there and keep my posted pictures on the News Feed. Weird, but it's how I can ease my food into everyone's world (feed). Soon all my friends will be able to see.

Also after we purchase our new dining table, I will host dinner parties at my place to help with my culinary confidence. I've had people over who were amazed by my cooking and it always makes me happy. It's almost better than an orgasm, really. This something I am truly passionate about and am happy to share with others.