dirt don't hurt

The world of Pinterest is a good one, although I can see what was once an online place for your favorite things can turn into a bunch of garbage with people being mega-pinners. (If this stuff doesn't make any sense to you, ignore it and head down to the recipe!) But there are wonderful things to learn from Pinterest, and here is one that I found, tweaked, and instantly found crock pot bliss. The beauty of meals like these is that the ingredients are realistic, simple, and quickly go together. So when you wake up one day and the sun is shining and you just want to head out to enjoy what's there, plug this in and come home, adventure-worn, and walk into a house full of deeeelicious smells. Very grateful for the original post, here is my take on this "I can't believe this was made in a slow cooker" fajitas... Slow Cooker Fajitas 1 good sized onion, sliced 3 sweet bell peppers, sliced (those packs of yellow, orange, and red? perfect.) 1 1/2pound...

All it takes is a day of sunshine and I start to get spring fever.  And for whatever reason, spring fever for me inspires me to eat real, wholesome, from-scratch food.   I usually make granola in the oven, in huge batches and it takes all day.  I tried a new recipe and with a few alterations found a great combination of flavors for my kids.  And me.  It’s sinfully delicious.   Ingredients: ▪    1 Tbl olive oil ▪    2 cups rolled oats ▪    1/3 cup butter ▪    1/3 cup brown sugar ▪    1 Tbl honey ▪    1 tsp vanilla ▪    ½ cup chopped pecans ▪    2 graham crackers, broken into pieces ▪    milled flax seed (optional) Directions: 1. Heat olive oil in skillet.  Add oats and cook until oats are toasted but not burnt, about 5 minutes.  Remove oats to a cookie sheet to cool. 2. In skillet, melt butter.  Add brown sugar, honey, ...

This year because life with involved children is absolutely nutso, we celebrated Fat Tuesday on Monday. I made a dash for king cake and paczkis after dropping the kids off at school, and then between everything else ran to the grocery store to buy ingredients for what has become my FAVORITE SLOW COOKER DISH IN THE WORLD. Probably the universe. (I have thrown out slow cooker meals because congealed yuck makes me want to congeal yuck of my own.) It just so happens that it's a perfect dish for celebrating Mardi Gras, or really anything. Next week I might just celebrate Thursday. Or sunshine. Or waking up. Paired with plastic beads, zydeco music, and king cake (the paczkis are for breakfast tomorrow!), this has been the best Fat Tuesday on a Monday I've ever had. And so, I urge you all to celebrate something, sometime soon. This rocks. Fat Monday Creole Chicken 1 pack boneless, skinless chicken thigs 1 pound polish kielbasa, cut into bite sized pieces 5-6 green onions, choppe...

It was a total coincidence, I swear, that I learned the best fart statistics in the entire world the same day I made a delicious un-stuffed cabbage dinner. Seriously. It started when I picked up a fantastic book at our local library entitled "Do Sparrows Like Bach?: The Strange and Wonderful Things that Are Discovered When Scientists Break Free" (found here on Amazon.) Flipping through while my daughter attended story hour I came across a story on farts. Here's a bit of background: I love farts. Well, not smelling them, but I admit to having the sense of humor of a fourth grade boy. It all stems from two things: 1) Farts have been funny in every culture throughout the history of mankind, and 2) When I was little I was not allowed to say the word "fart" which made it all the more fun to sneak into my room, close the door, and say repeatedly into my pillow. (This is sadly true.) So coming across this article brought absolute tears of joy because I have now ad...

I was never quite sure why the colors of Halloween were orange and black. Is it the pumpkin that eventually rots on your front porch? Is it the orange teeth of the witch dressed in black? In any case, we're stuck with the color theme which is unfortunate for me because I just bought "rust" colored shoes with black soles that make me look extremely festive in October, but rather goofy the rest of the year. Oh well. If there's one good thing that comes out of this orange-and-black thing we've got going on, it's got to be this: my new favorite soup. Many thanks to my friend, Jennifer, for serving me her leftovers for lunch a few weeks ago. I am a changed woman! The results are in: Says my husband to the kids, "next time mommy gets grumpy, let's make her a pot of this soup because she can't stop smiling when she's eating it." I don't really care what the rest of the family thinks... Pumpkin Black Bean Soup (You can make this vegetarian if...

I knew this recipe was definitely worth sharing when I found myself drooling all morning at the prospect of a leftover lunch. But if that doesn't convince you to try this one, let my kids tell you their reviews. "Wow, I'm super picky and actually like this!" (I'll take it!) "I can't speak-- I think I've died and gone to chicken heaven." (Literally, this is what he said. Goofball.) "Can I have some noodles?" (She's two and 80% of her diet consists of pasta.) Says husband, "it's a keeper!" And says I, "holy moly , if this was any easier someone would have had to drop it off at my doorstep." Without further adieu: Easy roasted chicken and potatoes 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1.5 pounds redskin potatoes, cut into medium chunks 1/3 cup mayo 3 Tablespoons dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (we looooove garlic. I load it up but not everyone likes it as mu...

I don't know about anyone else, but my zucchini plants were a major bummer this year. Sure, I didn't give them the normally needed TLC, and sure I did find the world's largest weed (see photo) planted right next to them, but when it comes to zucchini, I always thought that you shouldn't take care of them because if you do, you'll be swimming in them for a month. But there I was, a failure of a garden year, and left with one gigantic zucchini, and a major hankering for a garden full of them. So I swallowed my pride and went to the store and actually bought zucchini in the months of August and September. It was a sad and sorrowful day. But it was so very worth it. When it comes to zucchini recipes, there are thousands. This one is my new favorite savory dish because a)it's super simple and b) my son's exact words were, "gee, mom, I thought it was going to be really gross but it's actually pretty good. Can I have some more?" And really, you ca...

It was a balmy summer evening. The faint sound of distant lawn mowers and children playing rang through the house loud and clear, for inside the home there were no sounds at all. Not even the sound of a tiny mouth chewing a tiny piece of zucchini. Food battles with children are just about as fun as ingrown toenails. For all of the begging and pleading and attempts to mask even the tastiest of vegetables, they still manage to sit there, arms folded, staring into space and not eating them. “It will make you grow strong!” we say. “It will make your hair curly!” we fib. “It will give you magical powers!” we lie. And eventually we just give in and hold nothing back. “You will eat this because I said so and I’m the boss and whatever I say you have to do.” But they still don’t eat it, because it’s something horrible like a green bean. Or zucchini. It all started during an afternoon of running errands cross county. When the troops got hungry (and maybe their mom was a bit hungry too), I o...

I have this terrible habit of asking my kids what they want for lunch. It's a bad habit because they will always, without a doubt, say three different things. I swear it's on purpose just to make their mother frazzle right there on the spot. One such episode happened just recently. "Ham and cheese," said one. "Chicken nuggets," said another. "Tortilla pizza," said the third. I threw down my fists and responded, "I am not a short order cook!" and they looked at me blankly because they had no idea what I was talking about. "Pick ONE" I demanded, still thinking they didn't know how lucky they were I didn't give them old, crusty bread and glass of spoiled milk. After much deliberation, they settled on tortilla pizza, a go-to standard of this house that originated somewhere in the mountains of New Mexico on a backpacking trip where bread would have been squished in my 40-pound backpack. Cooked over a campstove , it's a...

It is upon us, the great season of grilling and picnics. Every evening in small town USA, you can bet your bottom burger bun that there will be the sweet smell of charcoal wafting through the air as you smile, nod, and stir your potato salad. Swing sets will be creaking and soon enough, hoses will be squirting. Someone will yell "tag!" about the same time someone else finally gets close to digging to China in the comfort of their own sandbox. And we'll love it. I always start craving the good grill and macaroni salad when the snow melts, but it takes a few weeks to really get into the groove of remembering your outdoor cooking appliance. This is one of my favorite things to whip up in advance and store until the weather is just right and corn first starts showing up in the grocery stores (and not at outrageous winter prices.) Heat the grill, mix this up, smile, nod, stir your potato salad, and enjoy. Carolina Pork Chops Spice rub: 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp. onion powde...

Forget licking the fingers, this one had my kids literally scraping their plates with their forks and asking for more, which is scary because kids don't normally do that unless the food in question is full of sodium, fat, sugar, or all of the above. For me, it all started with panko flakes. If you've never heard of them, check out the breadcrumb section at the grocery store. That's where they live, those japanese-style breadcrumbs. They are pointy and apparently not made from the crusts of bread, just the insides, and the texture is totally different and delicious. You can panko bread just about anything, and just about anything will taste better. Maple Walnut Chicken (recipe adapted from Betty Crocker ) 4 chicken breasts, sliced in half so that their flat (or you can pound them if you've got pent up frustrations) 1/2 cup maple syrup (fake stuff is just fine) 2 Tbl mayo 1 Tbl dijon mustard 3/4 cup panko flakes 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts Materials needed: 2 shallow d...

If you've never had black beans that didn't come from a can, here's a secret: they are actually black. I find the dull brownish color from canned "black" beans as appealing as that syrupy goo that it is packaged in, but I fully admit that I call on those cans quite often. Because as it turns out, I'm a blackbeanaholic . I put them in hummus , on my tossed salads, in cold salads, in warm salads. I re fry them and spice them to soup. But my most favorite way to eat them is right out of the ol ' crock pot, scooped out with a salty tortilla chip. Making beans sans-cans was always something I was afraid of. The soaking just turned me off, as if that one extra step of doing, well, nothing, was too difficult to juggle. It wasn't until I later learned the beauty and ease of cooking these babies in a crock pot, and my world has become beautifully bean-y. Your house will smell fabulous. Your kids will say, "mom, what's cooking? It smells soooooo gooo...

Some of the best done jobs come out of necessity. From great need, came great triumph all through history. Centuries of people have overcome and succeeded all because they were forced to do so. And that's exactly what happen with dinner on Saturday. Somebody (and I won't mention who) accidentally purchased an extraordinary amount of chicken and somebody else (again, not naming names) wasn't happy with the clogging of the freezer. And so, chicken for dinner. It just so happened that the big bag of chicken was purchased at a mega mega mart, and along side the flock in my cart I had also purchased a ginormous bottle of honey. Why? Because I had a fleeting wish of healthily feeding my family this natural and delicious sweetener instead of sugar and in true American form, bigger is better. Especially at a discounted rate. So there I was, swarming with chicken and honey. I opened the pantry to a waft of of last year's garlic hitting me like a pound of kielbasa, and ...

I have this recipe for black bean hummus that I just adore because not only does it taste good, but I have this everlasting crush on black beans. I just love them. Cold, hot, refried , ground up, you name it. A recent kick of this recipe has me scrounging for cans in the back of my pantry, trying to dig up a can of the black variety. One day my daughter, age 8, asks what I'm looking for and says "yuk. I don't like black bean hummus. Can't you just make regular hummus?" Hmm , ok . I didn't find any black beans anyway. I did, however, find a can of great northern beans, which I simply used in place of my ol ' favorite. And the kid ate an entire bowl of it. "This is the best hummus ever, mommy!" eat eat eat eat eat eat eat "Hey mom, what is hummus made out of?" I began to list the ingredients and she about fell out of her chair at the mention of beans. "You mean there are BEANS in here? Like the kind I don't normally like?" ...

As some of you may know, we have standard traditions that we do on the first day of each season. For the first day of summer, it's a campfire. Fall is a small pot of applesauce. Winter is hot chocolate in the dark. And spring, lovely spring, is planting seeds. Only this year's first day of spring was so lovely, that we packed our lunch, put on our boots and spent a big chunk of the day at The Wilderness Center , one of our most favorite places. We fed the geese and the fish, and for once I wasn't attacked by a large bird. It was already a good day. We picnicked on the tower, to the sound of spring peepers, blue jays, crows, and more. Even better, the babe slept for the last 2 miles, so we didn't have to drag her away from stopping to pick up every pine cone and rock. It was a very good, nearly perfect day. But the next day, we had to carry on our tradition. This year: egg heads. We've done these in the past, and the dog has eaten them before we truly got to enjoy th...

Let's face it. There are a million mac and cheese recipes out there, and still, our kids like the stuff from the box better. It drives me crazy, that they would prefer neon orange powdered product and little Spongebob shapes, but I can't complain about the convenience . Our Meatless Monday pledge, though, has forced me to make dinners that are good and hearty enough for the whole family, all the while being healthy. And we know that as good as that neon orange stuff is, it probably isn't the most wholesome thing we can put in our mouths. This has been my go-to mac and cheese recipe for a long time. We haven't eaten it in a while because of the baby being allergic to dairy, but for the rest of the gang, I'll be whipping this up soon. It's pretty easy, I must admit, and you can even prepare it in the morning and stick it in the refrigerator and bake it off just before dinner. It may not be open-box-add-mix convenient , but it's pretty close. McAllister Mac ...

OK, OK, I know it's not Monday. I'm late this week, due to travels around the country and around the county. (There's a post here , on the Mamazina Blog, that sums it up.) But don't let that distract you from what is probably my favorite vegetarian (VEGAN, no less!) recipe. This one is so easy and so delicious, even my son will lick the bowl. In honor of him... Bowl-licking baked rice and beans 1/2 onion, chopped 1 Tbl olive oil 2 garlic cloves, chopped 3/4 - 1 can beans (I love Great Northern for this one) 1/2 cup black olives (optional-- i put it on 1/2 the casserole for myself) 1 Tbl soy sauce a little peppa ' 1/2 tsp paprika 1/4 tsp dried basil 1/4 tsp dried oregano 1 cup white rice 2 cups water Saute onion in oil until translucent. Add garlic, cook one minute more. Mix all ingredients (including sauteed onion mix) in a large bowl, the dump into a greased casserole dish. Or be lazy like me and just mix it all in the casserole dish-- still works. Bake at...

We had a very long discussion on Facebook , my friends and I, trying to figure out what I could call tofu so that my kids would eat it. It seems that the word "tofu" has gotten really bad press over the years (at least in my house), mostly because of my husband who thinks it is the world's worst culinary ingredient. "You've never had it prepared well." I responded. "I'm not eating it," he replied. And I imagine under his breath he was mumbling "where's the beef?" But beyond his opinion, the word "tofu" is a terribly unappealing name. Toe and Foo. Together, it's nearly a one word euphemism for toe jam. (I reckon that's where the name probably originated.) This being a Meatless Monday , I was going to make it anyway. From a Cooking Light book, I prepared Fettuccine and Tofu with Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce, with a few adjustments, as these things go. I was all prepared to tell the kids I was making "ve...

Because our eating schedule in this house is as random and varied as I could ever imagine, with running from here and there to a dairy allergy, there's just no way we could give up one single item for Lent. If I gave up coffee, I would probably die. Literally. And if the kids gave up candy, what would I feed them when they're really tired but we just need to press through a couple of more hours? If we gave up fast food, we'd starve. I can't deny this. So using this Lenten season as a time of sacrifice is really, really hard for us. This year, to make things attempt to go smoother, I decided that we, as a family, are going to eat our normal meatless meals on Fridays (fish allowed), and for the next 6 weeks are going to subscribe to Meatless Mondays. Heard of this movement? You can check it out for yourself at www.meatlessmonday.com , but essentially the thinking behind it all is that if we ate meat one less day a week, we could not only improve our health, but also ...

We ended our New Year's Eve toting home a child sick with the stomach flu. A late night turned into a really late night (I was up until 4:30...and not having much fun, unless your twisted idea of fun is changing bed sheets multiple times.) But some things happen for a reason. Our New Year's Day has been nothing but rest and quiet, a relaxing start to a new year. With the rowdiest member of the family down for the count, I got to spend time with my oldest daughter, reading books and making crafts. Usually when we attempt such things, there is a spontaneous sword thrust into our chests or a paper airplane comes zooming through the air. (Really, did I birth Max and Ruby??) But today, oh today, at 6:30PM we are still in our pajamas. We have only eaten soup all day, if you don't count the Popsicles I just fed the sickie etc. Table strewn with paper scraps, twigs, and bits of wire, there's a beautiful craft in the corner that will remind me of this strangely odd and strange...