All Growed Up...

::sniffle, sniffle::

So our Tiny Chick (tm) is moving up to the 'big class' on Monday. She is leaving the 'baby building' of our daycare and moves up to where the 'big kids' are, even though she's going to the class with the tiniest folks over there. We checked it out and it's a fun room where she already started transitioning this week to... She apparently LOVES being there and play with dolls and BLOCKS and CARS and...and...( I love when she goes to ferret shock over toys and new things).

This is her official school pic from the start of December...she is even bigger now--over 35 inches tall if you can believe it, and she just passed 22 months.

WOW!

Okay, some serious blog overhaul is in order. I mean, really? Nothing since APRIL??? My attention span shrunk so badly that I can manage Facebook posts but nothing longer or more involved--or...waittaminite, I am raising a toddler. Riiight. That's it.

Anyhow, let's see if I can manage some posts here or if this poor blog I so faithfully maintained through the years would shrink into oblivion...I'd hate to do that, I put way too many good recipes up here.

For starters, it'd be nice to make this searchable/taggable...will see what I can do.

Sour Cream Pancakes

I whipped thesr up really fast Sunday morning from my newest favorite cookbook. They are light, fluffy and very,. very yummy tasting with lots of butter and real maple syrup. I also served fresh strawberries on the side, although The Chick went straight for the pancakes only, sans fruit.

You'll need:
1 cup sour cream
7 tablespoons flour (I used 4 TBSP all-purpose and 3 TBSP whole-wheat)
1 TBSP sugar (I used my homemade vanilla sugar, but simple granulated will do)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix sour cream and flour; small lumps are okay. Add sugar, baking soda, and salt as well.
2. Crack eggs in a small bowl, beat them gently, add vanilla.
3. Pour into batter and mix it until almost totally combined--little streaks of yellow are OK.
4. Drop onto heated griddle/pan that was greased by 2 TBSP of butter, by about 1/4 cupful. Flip after about 1-1 1/2 minute, cook about 45 seconds more.
5. Pile it up on a plate; add butter, maple syrup and any fruit. Be prepared to be asked to make a double batch next time.

Stupidly Easy Key Lime Pie

I can't belive I didn't make this earlier. For some reason I grabbed a bottle of key lime juice at the store the other day, and this recipe was on the bottle. I was like 'hey, this is easy', and after figuring out the crust recipe from another cookbook, I made this twice last week (the Husband requested it the second time, subtly by grabbing the graham cracker crumb box from the pantry and slamming in in front of me). Heh.

Here is what you need:

Crust: 1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (from box is OK)
1/4 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons of butter


Pie: 1/2 cup key lime juice
3 egg yolks
1 container sweetened condensed milk

Whipped cream for the top as desired

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Put graham crumbs in a bowl; add brown sugar and mix well. Melt butter in microwave and add to crumbs. Mix until it's evenly moistened (will take a while, make sure you scrape up real good).
Press crust into 9-inch pie form (glass and metal works about the same).
Make filling: pour condensed milk into bowl (can use same as you used for crust, just wash it out). Add key lime juice and egg yolks. Mix it well with a wire whisk. It will be yellow. Not green. Key lime pie is NOT green, 'k? :)
Pour into crust.
Put into oven and bake for 15 minutes.
Pull it out, set on top of oven, wait for 10 minutes.
Put in fridge and cool it. Filling will set during this process, so don't skimp on it.
Whip cream with a little bit of sugar, and serve big dollops on top. Feel free to go overboard, and add slices of key lime if you feel so inclined.

Let me know how it turned out!

Snowpocalypse- the Irving edition

A few pictures I took from our front porch Thursday night and Friday morning.
It's all gone now, of course, but while it lasted, it was beautiful and reminded me so much of my childhood back in Hungary with its long cold winters. It's really neat that Peanut could get snow twice in her first year: back at Christmas in DC and now at home. Yay!

2010!!

I neglected this poor blog soo much in the last months, it's not even funny. ::shameful look:: I'll try to get better with updating.

For starters, here are some photos from our Christmas vacation over in Maryland with The Husband's family. This was Peanut's first big travel via airplane (I was 6.5 months preggers with her when we flew to Hungary, but that doesn't really count)so we were a bit nervous, but she handled in like a champ.

So Happy New Year, y'all! Will be back with some yummy recipes soon, I promise!

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

This is very seasonal, very tasty, and quick to make once you have the ingredients on hand (also good for using leftover cooked rice). It comes out a bit denser than a regular rice pudding, but is perfect for this time of the year, and is especially yummy warm with a cup of spiced tea, coffee or chocolate.

1 can pure pumpkin
1 cup brown cane sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 cups cooked rice
1 can of evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, mix pumpkin puree, sugar and spices. Add evaporated milk and rice and stir well. Add beaten eggs, raisins and pecans.
Pour mixture into a 13x7 glass baking dish (I used a 13x9 as I don't have a 13x7). Now take a shallow roasting pan that is bigger than your baking dish, place the dish into it, and pour enough water under the dish so it comes up about 1 inch around it. Please in over.
Bake for 15 minutes and stir thoroughly.
Bake for 35-40 minutes more or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Very good served warm, but also delicious chilled, with some whipped cream on top.