Sometimes Kitchen Disaster Strikes

I have not had very good luck in the kitchen lately.  Everything I make turns out very poorly from yogurt to birthday cake and I am getting pretty discouraged.  When practicing for Munchkie's bday cake the initial trial run was horrible.  The outside was crispy and close to burnt while the inside was a formed uncooked dough.  Then when it came time to make the actual cakes for her party they all got burnt and I had to cut them all up to get the burnt pieces off.

Last night my inlaws were here and when everyone had gone to bed I realized that we had literally nothing for breakfast.  I had two overly ripe bananas and so decided to make banana bread for breakfast.  First I took it out once the toothpick came clean and when I went to get it out of the pan liquid batter came out.  Neat.  So I put it back in the pan and cooked it for another half an hour.  By this point in time everyone had been asleep for hours before me.  When we woke up, I put Munchkie in her high chair.  Got her all psyched up for bo-non-a bread.  Cut into the bread.  Solidified dough.  Literally dough.  

So then I cut off a couple pieces and put them in the toaster oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes in the hopes that it would cook.  Nope.  Basically just firmer dough with burnt edges.  Still not edible.  So then I had to go wake Chris up and send him to go get bagels for breakfast, which is what I was trying to avoid by staying up making banana bread.

So my lesson learned.  When baking, don't mess with the chemistry because I almost failed chemistry in both high school and college.  I was so tired that I made some mistakes and tried to mess with the chemistry of baking.  I only had two bananas and the recipe called for 3 1/2 so I added two chopped pears.  I then added an extra 1/3 cup flour because it was easier to put 2 cups in instead of 1 2/3 cups.  Then I dumped in baking powder when it was supposed to be baking soda.  Bad decisions.  It was supposed to be amazing banana bread.  If someone wants to make Flour's Famous Banana Bread and let me know how it goes when the recipe is followed I would appreciate it.

I finally was able to make something successfully tonight and it gave me hope that maybe I am not a kitchen failure.  We had bought a pound of ground buffalo a while back and defrosted it yesterday so I tried to think of something to make with it.  Much to Munchkie's Daddy's chagrin I decided to make meatloaf.  I don't know that I've ever had meatloaf and I've definitely not had buffalo so I did a quick search to find a recipe.  I looked at it, then decided to do my own thing.  I hate ketchup and that was definitely not going in or on anything I was going to be eating.  This is my recipe and it turned out delicious.  We both really liked it.

Hidden Veggie Buffalo Meatloaf

1 pound ground buffalo
1 bell pepper (not green, too strong of a flavor)
1 cup chopped carrots
1/4 onion
2 egg whites
1/3 cup bread crumbs (I crunched up 8 crackers)
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup shredded chedder cheese
1/3 cup marinara sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put bell pepper, carrots, and onion in a food processor.  Puree if you're like us and don't like chunks of veggies or just chop up if you don't care.
3. Once chopped add basil, garlic, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce and food process until mixed.
4. In a large bowl mix together puree mix, ground buffalo, egg whites, bread crumbs and cheese.
5. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray/oil.
6. Press mixture into loaf pan and then pour marinara sauce over the top.
7. Cook for 1 hour or until center of meat is 160 degrees.
8. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

And here comes my favorite part of recipes.  The nutrition information if there are 6 servings.
Calories- 178
Fat 4.9g
Cholesterol- 56mg
Sodium- 188mg
Carbohydrates 7.4g
Fiber 1.2g
Protein 24.9g

Little Girls Gone Wild: Why Daughters Are Acting Too Sexy, Too Soon

This is quite scary. Especially since I'm the mother of an almost-two-year-old girl. I don't want her to end up on a pole or in a rehab facility. I guess I need to start thinking about how I'm going to combat this.

Little Girls Gone Wild: Why Daughters Are Acting Too Sex y, Too Soon

Nakey Baby

I'm not in the best of moods this morning.  Not a lot has gone right in the last week or so.

First my computer died last week.  You press the power button and the power button lights up for 3 seconds, nothing happens and then the light goes off.  Cool.  For someone with a computer/internet addiction, this has been difficult to say the least. 

Then just two days later I woke up, went downstairs, turned the water on to brush my teeth.  A trickle came out and then nothing.  After multiple times turning all of the different faucets on and off, I realized that it was true, we had no water.  This continued for four days.  Four days without running water.  Nothing like no running water for you to realize that constant internet access is not a basic necessity of life.  Running water however, is.  At least there was a lot of snow outside, we melted snow on the stove in our lobster pot and then used that to flush the toilet, give the dogs water, etc. I decided that simple living is not all that it is cracked up to be, at least not for me.  I enjoy taking a shower, having clean clothes and washing my dishes in a dishwasher.  The return of running water after literally shocking the frozen pipe with a pipe defibrillator was a very happy day.



http://www.rohitn.com/images/green/water_faucet.jpg

Today another disastrous thing happened in our life.  I actually think I might rank it almost as high as having no running water.  This is how I was greeted with this sunny Monday morning.

I heard Munchkie awake and calling out so I went into her room. (Background: Because we are not morning people, we have been getting out of bed, handing her a couple books, and going back into our nice warm bed.  She has enjoyed this, reading quietly in her crib for sometimes over an hour.  In fact, the mornings that we have to go somewhere she is usually crying for books as we are getting her ready.)  I hadn't put my glasses on and so couldn't actually see anything.  I walked into her room, grabbed a few books, and turned around to hand them to Munchkie.  In my extremely blurred vision I could tell something wasn't right.  I said "this cannot be happening" and ran into my room to get my glasses.  Munchkie Daddy said "what is going on?"  I replied, "I need my glasses because I don't believe what I think I just saw." 

After rushing back into Munchkie's room I realized that the terrible image I had barely seen was even worse with clear vision.

Munchkie had unzipped and pulled off her pajamas.  She was then working on her diaper and it was only attached on one side.  Apparently this morning Munchkie woke up and decided that she knew how to use a zipper and remove clothes.  How can this be happening to us?

I then was in the kitchen making some breakfast when Munchkie came walking into the kitchen, pjs off to her ankles and dragging behind her.  Diaper off and in her hand.  Unbelievable.  She did this yet another time, this time walking around with nothing but the rice paper liner from her cloth diaper stuck to her leg before I took the nakey baby upstairs and got her dressed for the day. 

What are we going to do now?  I am so fearful that we are now going to wake up to a complete mess every morning.  Because Munchkie's Daddy doesn't like buttons, almost every single pair of pajamas are zippered.  That way it's easier for Munchkie's Daddy to put on, and now easier for Munchkie to pull off.  Fantastic.

When things go wrong, start cooking

I had a very specific schedule planned out for this morning.  When Munchkie woke up I was going to get her, do my 20 minute exercise DVD with her "assistance," shower and make it to church for Sunday School.  Due to my schedule and our traveling I have not been able to go to our church since the beginning of December.  Isn't that crazy?  We really wanted to start participating more at church and we haven't been able to because I've been working.  When I woke up, went downstairs and started to brush my teeth, the water just stopped.  I turned the faucet off and on and nothing.  Nothing from the kitchen sink either.  Oh boy.  There went all of my perfectly scheduled plans.  No water= not good.  You don't realize how much you use rely on water.  I can't shower, I can't brush my teeth, I can't wash my scrubs (which are all dirty and I have to work tonight), and I feel amazingly dehydrated since I have limited water to drink. 

So when I get frustrated or stressed, I like to cook/bake.  Even though it meant that I would end up with dishes that couldn't be washed I decided to make something for breakfast.  It ended up being tasty.

I chopped up a couple tomatoes, sweet peppers and 4 cloves of garlic.

I sauteed the garlic in 1 teaspoon of olive oil and then added the peppers.  After they got slightly soft I added the tomatoes and about 1/4 cup black beans.  I know this may be weird, but I push the veggies around the outside of the pan and then pour the eggs in the middle to cook for a little bit.  I used 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites that were scrambled with a dash of milk, chili powder, paprika, cumin and freeze dried cilantro (bad choice, wish I had fresh).

Then I added just a little bit of shredded cheese once everything was cooked.

Munchkie's Daddy had his in a wrap with hot sauce to spice it up more.

I just put mine in a bowl with some more cilantro.  Munchkie and I were supposed to share, but she decided that she didn't want any once we sat down to eat it. 

And so she ended up with a more toddler friendly breakfast.

This ended up being so filling neither one of us could finish it!  Quite yummy I would have to say.  I think it made our lack of water just a little more bearable.  Now the water can decide to start running at any time.  That would be nice.