Zucchini Alfredo

With summer garden season in full swing there has been an increase in zucchini recipes on pinterest. Anything you've ever dreamed of doing with a zucchini and dozens of things I'm sure you haven't. I recently saw some pins that turned the zucchini into noodles and used it in place of pasta noodles. I LOVE spaghetti squash and to me the idea of another squashy noodle option was too good to pass up. However, I had a pinterest fail, didn't repin, and later couldn't find the pin I was looking for.

This week found me with a pile of zucchini goodness and no pasta recipe, so we improvised. Midkid is always asking for Alfredo sauce. He doesn't really care what's with it so long as it's covered in Alfredo. Butter, cream, cheese; can ya blame him for his love of all things Alfredo? When we say Alfredo sauce this does not include anything that comes from the supermarket in a jar. I have tried them all over the years and have decided that there is just no such thing as good jarred Alfredo sauce. I decided that if I was using veggie noodles I could be a little bad and use a cream sauce.

We shredded the zucchini. I have this super cool peeler that makes julienne slices while you peel. Makes things so much faster! We had 5 medium zucchini and peeled them to the seeds. My kids don't mind green on their plates, so I didn't peel them first, but you may want to. I put the shreds into a pot with some water to steam them a bit while I made the sauce.

Homemade cream sauces are incredibly easy. When I first started dating man I married the first meal I made for him was Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp. That Alfredo in no way resembles the sauce I make now, but I followed the directions and served it up and he never realized that I had no clue what I was doing. Unfortunately, I then had to prepare more meals and had to quickly learn as I went. But those evenings spent in the kitchen together are some of my favorite memories and years later I would sometimes postpone my meal prep just to have him in the kitchen with me sharing the events of our day.

But I digress. Cream sauces all start pretty much the same way. Chunk of butter melting in your pan. 3 TBS is probably a good guess, but I tend to just throw in a bit and go with it. Once my butter is melted I add some minced garlic. We love garlic, so a clove or two and then another for good measure. Once lightly browned you make a roux by adding flour. I'm sure there is some butter to flour ratio, but I just scoop some in and whisk it together. Start small and add a little more you want it to be a thick paste.

I took the picture before turning my heat down. I really hate having an electric stove. Add your cream or half n half, or in our case whole milk. You need something with a higher fat content, but I use whatever happens t be on hand, about 3 cups worth and whisk it in. I like to add a little rosemary and thyme. While it's warming together I add a splash of white cooking wine, but if I'm out we pass. The sauce should be thickening. Then we add about a cup of shredded Parmesan cheese and we even added a half cup or so of colby jack. Once the cheese is melted in we added the zucchini and mixed it up. I didn't think to squeeze the fluid out after steaming and I should have. It thinned my sauce up more than I cared for.

I add tomatoes from the garden and some cheese to make it pretty; we like color. The turkey is not a tomato fan, so I thought I was avoiding a battle by just leaving them off of his, but of course he realized he didn't have any and when eldest child called them watermelon he demanded some on his plate and actually ate more tomatoes than zucchini. I'm sure I'll never get him figured out. I'm sure it would have been good with chicken were there any thawed out, but I'm okay with a just veggie meal from time to time.

Isn't it pretty?

Better Than the Bakery Muffins

I made the mistake of buying a different cream cheese than usual during our last grocery trip. I won't call out the brand, but I was pretty grossed out. Finding it not suitable for spreading I decided I needed to bake it into something and hope to mask the flavor. I also had some fresh strawberries that were nearing the end of their fresh and juicy stage; despite my desire for cheesecake we opted to make my strawberry cream cheese muffins.

My first optical job was next to this little coffee shop and I pretty much lived off of their ham 'n cheese croissants (I'll share this imitation at a later date), veggie bagel sandwiches, and strawberry cream cheese muffins. Then one day I learned their muffin recipe was actually from a bag mix, gasp! Over ten years later I still feel duped. This take is born of that deception, surely, I could create a far better bakery muffin. The result is my go to muffin recipe. I can assure you that you will see it again in it's various incarnations, but the batter is the same only the adds ins are changed to protect the innocent. I should warn you that this is not a "healthy" feel good about your choices muffin; this is a you should only eat half, but what the heck you did the treadmill this morning and so what if your butt rivals Montana kind of muffin. After all, it's bakery style. I used to bring these in to man I married's office and while soldiers tend to be easy to please, these were always a favorite. 



See the little helper hands? He could hardly stand to wait.

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cup AP flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
10 TBS butter, melted
1 cup milk, I prefer whole
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
----------------------------
1 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
6 oz cubed cream cheese

- Use room temperature ingredients, except the cream cheese or strawberries if you're using frozen ones. You want to make sure the butter doesn't solidify on you. And the cream cheese is easier to cut into nice little bits if it's been frozen for 30-60 minutes
- Pre-heat oven to 350° and grease your muffin pan including the top
- Combine dry ingredients
- In a second bowl whisk together sugar, butter, milk, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla
- Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, just under mix them
- Gently fold in strawberries and cream cheese, you will find your mixture is fluffy and airy, but quite thick
- Spoon into prepared pan. This recipe is designed to make 12 jumbo muffins, so once you've filled your pans you'll see additional batter in the bowl and think "What the french fries, over?!" Keep adding to your pan. Your cups will be full to about 3/4" over the top of the pan. On the other hand you can also make 18 smaller muffins by filling them to normal standards, but where's the fun in that?
- Bake 30-35 minutes; until golden brown and tester comes out clean. The muffin tops will all bake together a bit. If you like muffin tops this will make you happy because it drastically increases the top to bottom ratio of your muffin.
-Let cool about 15 minutes on a wire rack if you can wait that long, then remove from pan and enjoy.

The only happy form of muffin top.

Almost Wonder Bread Recipe

The kids have been asking for Wonder Bread. Having been a kid myself I understand the desire for that fluffy, white, nutritionally void, bread. I had once read that generally when you're craving store bought white bread it's the shortening you desire, so I needed to find a lighter, oily option that didn't make me feel totally guilty. So I took my go to bread recipe and looked to see what I could change to make it more kid appealing and then did a little research on white breads.

                             

Obviously the oats had to go, but I refused to revert to sugar in place of honey. Most of the recipes called for powdered milk, so we added that and played with the flour ratios. My first experiment didn't have enough whole wheat to make me happy, but it was super squishy. After a few more tries I think I have a good "kid" bread recipe to fall back on when the kids get bored of the ole standby.

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves):

2 cups warm water

1 TBS yeast

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup dry milk

2 cups WW flour

4-5 cups bread flour

- Proof yeast by combining with water and letting sit for 5 minutes
- Add oil and honey
- In another bowl combine dry ingredients. I start with 4 cups of the bread flour and add the extra later.
- Mix dry ingredients with wet. If it's still sticky add additional flour in 1/4 cup measurements. Higher humidity days will require more and dryer days will use less.
- Once combined knead for 10-15 minutes. Some breads I can just mix and go, but I find this one requires the kneading.
- Place in lightly oiled bowl and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes
- Lightly grease bread pans
- Divide dough into pans and let rise 30-45 minutes
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until golden
- Slather top with butter while still warm

I have a friend who says the measure of a good bread is the ability to roll it into a ball. I say "mission accomplished!"

Yum!

2 cu

Hashbrowns Waffle Style

I'm trying to have a lazy day today. Our past week has been so chaotic I just need to veg a bit. Unfortunately, I have a to do list that goes on for miles. I've done the easy things, sweep, throw in a load of laundry, play robot vs. pig with toddler child and I'm saving the lamer things like dishes for nap time. The boys and I did spend a little time in the garden. The excitement of finding new veggies ready to pick never gets old for them and I have to admit I'm always a little giddy too.

We have zucchini coming out of our ears and I feel like Bubba running through all the recipes to use it up, so when we dug up our potatoes I was excited for something new. When I think of potatoes I immediately go to hash browns. I love hash browns! Starchy fried goodness covered in ketchup. And recently I had heard you could cook hash browns in your waffle maker. How can you beat crispy potatoes with little pockets for my ketchup?!

So I dusted off my waffle maker and jump on it. I grated about 1 pound of potatoes. I leave the skins on, so it kinda makes my hash browns a shade of grey, but I prefer to keep those nutrients in tact. I rinse the potatoes and then squeeze them out in a cheesecloth or flour sack towel to remove the excess starchiness.

It took me longer than waffles I had to let it go through two cycles. You can see how it's not cooked through.

But once they were finished it was awesome! It felt like a complete meal with a little fruit and yogurt.

And in case you missed it this week I did an interview on the Diaper Pin and you can read a little about my cloth adventures here.

Ice Coffee ala Pioneer Woman

I never used to be a coffee drinker and then I opened my cloth diapering store and then girls downstairs offered it up in every way imaginable. And before I knew it I not only had a two cup a day problem, but I only drank good fancy coffee. They created a monster! And then I moved to the Midwest and I'm convinced that they do not know what good coffee is. No, Starbucks does not count! It may largely be the person making it, but whoever is teaching the coffee making course around here is dropping the ball. There are times when I just want to push my way behind the counter and do it myself. But I was kindly gifted and espresso machine for Christmas and it's saved me a lot of headache and money, though I still feel the need to order my beans from out of state. It just makes me happy. No if only I could get Kalidi flavored syrup too, then I'd be in heaven.

Now that summer has hit with a vengeance it's hot and miserable making, so ice coffee is a far more appealing idea, but even knowing the tricks of making it with minimize ice meltage you still melt some cubes. And then I was introduced to the Pioneer Woman's iced coffee recipe. I tell ya she's a genius! I only did a partial batch, but it was every bit as satisfying as I imagine a full batch will be. Of course I will be making it sooner than if I had done the uber batch.

1 1/2 cups of coffee grounds, this was the last of my cache

8 cups of water, this was the capacity of my pitcher

Highly scientific, huh? Look at the sludge:

I used my Pampered Chef mixing pitcher and it worked great because while it was chilling in the fridge I could pump it a few times when I opened the fridge for something else and mix up the lovely coffee. The turkey kept asking for juice and taking it out. He'd be sorely disappointed and I'd eat him with how crazy he'd be with a little caffeine. I'm sure the pitcher will always have a coffee taste to it, so I'm making it my coffee pitcher and the boys will rue the day they broke my other two. No juice for you!

I let it set overnight it came to about 17 hours, but who's counting? I used a flour sack towel and put it in a strainer over a bowl and drained out the grounds. I made sure to twist the towel and squeeze out every last bit of that precious coffee.

And now the grounds are ready for the compost heap.

Don't you just want to dive in to the little reflective pool of caffeinated goodness?

Pioneer Woman mentions using sweetened condensed milk and this is where she had me. I LOVE sweetened condensed milk. I'm quite sure than when someone says something is better than sex then they must be talking about sweetened condensed milk. It's thick milky sugary goodness in a can. So I made sure to add not one, but two heaping spoonfuls on top of my coffee. After all, this is my treat to me. Then we fill the cup up with milk. I like whole milk and one of these days my rear is going to regret it, but oh well.

I love these reusable cold cups. Not as much as the double walled ones we have, but I need replacement straws since my child decided to chew the straws to bits. We use the for smoothies almost everyday and now for ice coffee.

We had a crazy week full of appointments and running around and this was just the pick me up I needed. Even had enough energy for an extra round of air karate fighting with the little boy.

Cheers,

Pita Pockets at Home

There is one tiny grocery store in the little town we live in and it is far from fancy. I often feel like my shopping list is more like a list of demands for a potential negotiation or wishful thinking. There's a whole section for dozens of instant oat meals and not a single cylinder of steel cut oats. Another shopper once laughed at me while looking for coconut oil. So I've taken to ordering the "frilly" things on line or stocking up when I make it into "town".

Another item missing from the shelves of our local market is pita pockets, little fluffy discs with a pocket for stuffing full of numminess. Luckily I make most bread items myself, so why should pitas be any different? When I decided I had to have curry chicken salad I also decided I needed pitas to put it in and it wasn't enough to find a recipe, but I had to spin it my way.

 1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

-Combine water, oil, salt, and honey, then add yeast.
-Slowly add flours, I always start with the whole wheat and then add my white flours. This way if I don't need the full amount I get all the whole wheat and less of the white. Once combined knead for a few minutes till soft and elastic.
-Place in a lightly oiled bowl , cover, and rise until doubled, about 60 minutes
- Punch down and divide into 8 pieces, roll each piece into circles about 7" in diameter.
-Leave discs on the counter and cover to rise about 25 minutes.
-Pre-heat oven to 500°, I have a wire rack I place in the oven, but you could place them directly on the oven rack. Cook for about 4 minutes. You have to watch them closely because it doesn't take long and if they get too brown they are too hard to fill.
-After removing from the oven place them in a damp towel to cool.

You will have perfect little pitas you can use to make chips, sandwiches or gyros.

Homemade Cheesey Crackers

Ages ago I found the Smitten Kitchen recipe for making Goldfish crackers at home and it was an instant hit. The kids love goldfish and I love easy and I've been hard pressed to improve upon her recipe in any way. I do make mine with only whole wheat flour, but it's hard to want to make a change from , "throw it all in a food processor and turn it on". Even with the help of a toddler or two the whole adventure happens quickly. He enjoys pushing the pulse button and even with the safety measures I find I immediately unplug it once I'm done with it. He's so crafty I just know if ever a child could circumvent the Cuisinart it would be my 3 year old. He keeps me on my toes and I find myself walking into rooms and taking inventory on every way he might possibly wreck havoc. He's destined for great things!

We made these crackers again several weeks ago and the turkey decided he needed farm animals instead of fish. I love that I have the time and patience to just let him do his thing. The more I come to terms with having a child who is most likey ADHD and on the Autism spectrum the more I learn about my son and just living. We have our routine, but we don't have to live by the rules of the time clock and I don't have to match my life to pictures in magazines. So what if you cut out half the cow with the bunny and have flour up to your armpits. By being home and slowing down I've learned to enjoy every moment, each smile, each laugh, each tear, and just let it be. I mourn the moments I lost being caught up in things that seemed important then and now are trivial. But I'm making up for lost time these days. This life; it's simple, but it's mine. And anyone who thinks I'm a bad mother obviously doesn't read the blog.

Speaking of cheese here's a silly kid joke from midkid:

What goes ha ha plop?
- someone laughing their head off 

*groan*

I'm Back!! And I'm bringing Quinoa Pancakes With Me

So after nearly a month without a computer and Internet I'm excited to be back among the blogging. I must say that being unplugged leads to a far more productive mama. In my absence I have spent more time in prayer, been able to reorganize, cooked, cleaned, sewn etc. My house has been cleaner and running a bit more smoothly without my time being consumed online. I do, however, need it to earn my income, so I guess my lesson is that I need to get better about balance. One of my time saving, don't I feel smart tricks is preparing breakfasts in advance. The boys are happy to reheat burritos and run out the door or to toast some waffles and slurp up a kefir smoothie. We can get several days out of a double batch of my quinoa pancakes. Some mornings I can barely pull myself out of bed let alone prepare a healthy, warm, and filling breakfast, so having a stockpile of breakfast items in the freezer is very helpful.

If you're not familiar with quinoa you should take some time to get acquainted. Quinoa is a grain, but it is high in protein. It has a slightly nutty texture and taste, plus it's very filling. The speech therapist brought food flash cards for the turkey this week and we had a good laugh over the fact that he didn't know what french fries were. This is not saying he's NEVER had french fries, but it's such a rarity it's just not on his radar. He does know what quinoa is and will eat it prepared in a variety of ways. One of his favorites is quinoa pancakes. They cool up nice and thick and are great for those breakfast for dinner nights.

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 TBS honey
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 TBS oil
1 cup cooked quinoa

optional 1 cup fresh or frozen fruit, raisins, nuts, bananas, pumpkin puree, applesauce etc. It's really easy to add things your family enjoys.

- Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon)
- In another bowl mix milk, honey, eggs, vanilla(if using purees and them now)
- Whisk together wet and dry mixtures, until just combined
- Fold in quinoa and any add ins
Batter will be lumpy

Pre-heat griddle and drop 1/4 cup of batter to make pancakes. I have a size 20 spring loaded scoop that is perfect for portioning pancake batter, but a 1/4 cup measuring cup works good too.

We serve ours up with applesauce or apple butter and a side of fruit. I don't have to feel guilty because I know the boys are getting a nice serving of protein, their bellies will stay full till lunch and they aren't hyped up on sugar as they head out to school. We love to make these with pumpkin puree and use clove instead of cinnamon. We usually re-heat them in the toaster oven, but even microwaved these don't get soggy.

Everyday Wheat Bread

Many moons ago I started making bread for my family and while everyone enjoyed fresh baked bread on the side of meals the recipes left much to be desired when it came to being able to use the bread to make sandwiches or french toast, etc. I then set out to find a recipe that included whole wheat flour, didn't require the specialty extras like wheat gluten, tasted good and could hold up to a sandwich prepared by the man I married. Shouldn't be to hard right? It took me nearly 2 years. But now that I have it figured out life is great and my children no longer look longingly at rows of bread in the grocery store as we cruise on by.

There is something soothing about making bread by hand. Sure I let my happy purple Kitchenaid do most of the grunt work, but I love the feel of dough working between my hands and the counter and thinking of the generations of women before me who have prepared bread for their families in similar fashion.

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cup warm water
2 1/2 TBS yeast
1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
1 cup oats (rolled, steel cut, etc)*
3 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt

*I really love the texture of steel cut oats and if you choose to use them I suggest adding them to the water and letting them soak a bit before adding the yeast.

In your mixing bowl add your water and yeast and let the yeast proof for about 5 minutes. Then add the oil and honey and mix it in well, letting set for another 5 minutes.

In another large bowl combine oats, flours, and salt. Mix well and then add to yeast mixture. Stir well. I use the dough hook attachment and just let it run until the dough is mostly combined. Depending on the humidity I sometimes have to add more flour, but this can be done while kneading.

I've been known to skip the kneading step all together if I'm in a hurry or feeling extra lazy. I just let the mixer mix longer. But if you're kneading this is where you turn your dough unto a floured surface and knead your little heart out for about 10 minutes or until the dough is soft and elastic.

Lightly oil a large bowl and place your dough in to rise. I love using my Excaliber food dehydrator's bread rising setting, but whatever method you use is fine. Dough should double, usually within an hour to an hour and a half.

Knead dough a few more times and then shape and place into 2 loaf pans. Bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Place on wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan to finish cooling.

I always cut the first heal off and eat it with butter while still warm. It's my special mommy treat for doing all the work. It's my little red hen moment.

Pizzarific Pull Apart Bread

I was a hold out and then this week I gave in to Pinterest. My biggest concern was that it would be a total time suck, my next was that would never have a good idea of my own ever again. Like Facebook I couldn't resist forever, so I'm now a member of the pinterest community and exploring what pinning means to the masses. I found this and thought, "nummy I must make!" But of course it needs my own spin. My favorite pizza comes from a little place in Anchorage known as Moose's Tooth. They have the best whole wheat crust and bread sticks and this pizza called The Backpacker. The Backpacker is pizza meant for veggie lovers. Don't get me wrong I love me some meat, but this pizza is delish; spinach, sun dried tomatoes, cloves of roasted garlic, artichoke hearts, olives, and chunks of feta, with an oil based sauce. Very Italian! When I crave pizza this is where my memory goes and my mouth waters. It's like home! So my pull apart bread is going to reflect this gourmet pizza.

Starting with my bread. The original poster used canned (gasp) dough. I have  a recipe I pilfered that I use most of the time to make pizza dough. We have homemade pizza regularly and this is my go to crust, so we're going to use this. I will say that I use honey instead of sugar and usually it's of the raw local variety. For this recipe I mixed some pizza seasoning into the dough when adding the flour. Adding Italian seasoning or the herbs included in these seasonings would have the same affect, which is flavor throughout your bread.

Entering the assembly stage I discovered we were out of olives and feta. *pout*

Once the dough had risen I rolled it into little 1" balls. I placed the little balls into a pan that i lightly coated with olive oil and sprinkled sun dried tomatoes, fresh spinach, mozzarella cheese, roasted garlic, and chopped artichoke hearts throughout. It's layering and alternating and making sure it's all placed evenly. Before going into the oven it looked like this:

I baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. I originally did 20 and eldest child took it out of the oven. The picture below reflects that 20 minute doneness. You can see it had to go back in to reach golden brown, but my vultures, urm, children pounced before I could get another picture.

I consider it a success if it gets inhaled and this did. I look forward to playing with the fixings. We love BBQ pizza and Hawaiian and sausage etc, so I foresee lots of combinations.

Dough Pops

Growing up this was a bit of a treat for us. Our version of fry bread could be why I have a carb addiction. No Atkins for this girl! True fry bread has native roots and is often referred to as elephant ears at the fair where they're covered in powdered sugar; yum-o! Our adaptation yields different, but equally satisfying result. We make them as a snack or as a side for a meal.

Ingredients:
51/2-61/2 cups flour
1 package yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
2 1/4 cups milk
2 TBS sugar
1 TBS butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
cooking oil

In your mixing bowl combine 5 1/2 cups of flour and yeast. I use my Kitchenaid bowl.

In another microwave safe combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt. Heat in microwave for about 1 min. You want to heat the milk and melt the butter. It should be about 120 degrees.

If it's too hot you will kill your yeast. Stir this mixture and add to your mixing bowl. Stir till combined. The dough hook on my Kitchenaid is my best friend.

It's important for little helpers to directly supervise the mixing process.

If the dough is still sticky add more flour in 1/4 cup increments until it's soft, but elastic. Then turn out on a floured surface and knead for about 2 minutes.

Now no waiting required! You do not need to let the dough rise. The yeast will puff them up while cooking.

In a skillet heat your oil over medium heat. I like coconut oil. It doesn't get the burned smokey taste of vegetable oils and it's a smidge healthier. I like good fats! I start with about 3 TBS and add a little more as needed. You don't need a ton of oil.

While your oil is heating take small chunks of your dough and pat them into about 3 inch patties 1/2 inch thick. I don't go crazy trying to get them to look pretty and even and round. If this is your style feel free to portion them all equally.

Then put them in your oil and fry them until golden brown and then flip them over to brown the other side.

Enjoy! They're best when warm and can be sprinkled with parmesean cheese and herbs, cinnamon and sugar, or powdered sugar.

Mock Chicken Noodle Soup

We've had the crud around here the past few days. I'm one of those lucky people who gets an allergy flare up and then ends up with a full blown sinus infection. The things that I learned to use in Alaska don't work as well here. It seems as though the littles have the same "weak genes" as their dad would say. We're surrounded by runny noses and plowing through our wipes stash. When you need to battle the sickies you call on chicken noodle soup to save the day. Unfortunately we're several days past needing to go to the grocery store, so we're chickenless. I do, however, have lots of yummy home canned chicken broth and the reality is that's the important part of chicken noodle soup anyway, so we threw together what I refer to as Mock Chicken Noodle Soup. It's about as quick as opening a can, but is more comforting and tastes better too.

2 cups of water
1 quart of chicken broth
2 cups of egg noodles
half bag of frozen veggies
2 tsp salt or to taste

Take it all and throw it into a pan except the salt and bring to a boil. Let boil for about 5 minutes, then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Depending on how salty your broth is you may want to add salt before serving. I don't add much salt to my broth, so I end up adding a couple tsp.

Even snotty faced babies like it:

Albino Carrots

I think parsnips are a very underrated veggie. The boys call them albino carrots. They have a nuttier flavor and texture than their orange cousins, though their waxy peel can be a little off putting. But I get excited when I find them in the produce section and always bring them home. They generally find their way into soups and being sliced into veggie chips. Last night I found I had macaroni boiling and no true plans for something that resembled a vegetable to go on the side. This is where failing to plan my week's menus bites me in the keister. The man I married would argue that homemade mac 'n cheese can stand on it's own merits, but let's remember that were he still here I'd still have to be the voice of reason and growing boys need more than cheese alone. Quick rummage through the kitchen and...

Hello parsnips!! Now it could be the giant bowl of Halloween candy, but my sweet tooth has been in overdrive lately and I needed something sweet. How does one make parsnips sweet? Cover them in honey of course! So we took a couple tablespoons of honey and a couple tablesppons of coconut oil. That happened to be what we have around, but I would have used olive oil or similar. I've also been craving ginger (there may be cookies in my future) so we threw in about a 1/4 tsp of ginger and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Mixed it all up and coated our diced carrots and parsnips, there were about 3 parsnips and 3 carrots all medium sized. The macaroni was baking on 350 so they went along for the ride. About 30 minutes later we had a nummy side that the toddler child even ate before touching his macaroni. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but it was pretty and autumny. I love when a pleasant side dish can be just as quick as steamed broccoli, but seem like so much more.