Memoirs of a Moorings

So Long Summer...Hello Fall & Back To Blogging

The lazy days of summer are officallly over and I'm dipping my toe back into the world of blogging. We are slowly settling into the school routine two weeks into the school year. 2nd grader LOVES school and Littlest is so ready to go to school already. Hard to believe that Fall starts tomorrow.

Summer was grand. There were lots of snuggles from Littlest. Lots of water play & pool time. Lots of watermelon. Multiple trips to Chick-fil-A. An impromptu adventure to the Point Vicente Interpretive Center where there are sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and we learned quite a bit about the migration of whales and the former Marineland. The boys loved it. So awesome to be able to take a 15 minute drive to the ocean, enjoy the great outdoors and have fun for free.

 
I'm also getting back to my domesticated roots. Lots of cooking and organization going on. Last night's dinner was a family fave: Floretine Stuffed Chicken. Not even sure where I got the recipe. Found it during my first year of marriage when I was a stay-at-home wife. It's easy and tasty & absolutely no seasoning involved other than spaghetti sauce. Give it a try!

Floretine Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 bone-in chicken breast halves, with skin
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, combine the spinach, Parmesan cheese and onion and mix thoroughly. Stuff the cavity of each chicken breast with 1/4 of the mixture. (NOTE: Bone-in split breasts usually have a little cavity; if one is not naturally present, use a sharp knife to make a slit in the side of the breast.)
3. Lay stuffed breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish, and cover with the sauce.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and tender; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

I've also been pinning myself happy over at Pinterest. So many wonderful ideas and recipes. It's like a creative soul's dream land. I've decided to try my hand at one Pinterest idea a week if time permits. I've already completed some Pinterest-inspired things around the house so I'll be posting those in the near future.

 

Taste of My Childhood

"One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste."  ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

About two weeks ago, the weather was unseasonably warm here in Southern California and out of no where I had a taste for my grandmother's Kool-Aid Pie, which she used to make during the summer months. I haven't had it in decades. My grandmother, a New Orleans native, who is now 89 years old always had something cooking or baking when we came to visit.  She was an awesome cook, but it was her desserts that were among my faves including her sugar cookies and lemon meringue pie. She doesn't cook or bake like she used to and many of the recipes have been forgotten by her.

I was sad to to find out that her Kool-Aid pie was one of the recipes that she couldn't quite remember except for the homemade crust...which I wasn't quite ready to conquer yet. So I googled the recipe and ran it by her.  Happy to report that reading the ingredients to her jumpstarted her memory.

I made it and was immediately transported back to childhood. This is a yummy and easy recipe to make. My grandmother only made lemon (but it can be made with various Kool-Aid flavors.) My sister has already asked me to make another.

KOOL-AID PIE

INGREDIENTS:

1 package Unsweetened Kool-Aid, any flavor
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 ounces Cool Whip or other non-dairy whipped topping, thawed
1 prepared graham cracker crust

PREPARATION:

In a large bowl, mix the Kool-Aid and sweetened condensed milk until thoroughly blended. Fold in the whipped topping. Pour into graham cracker crust. Chill until set.

Sweet Treats

“Forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate.”

Not perfect...but delicious indeed! I should have taken a picture of our little guy with red all over his face and fingers to prove it.
Recipe here.

Grannie's Sugar Cookies

"You can say this for ready-mixes - the next generation isn't going to have any trouble making pies exactly like mother used to make."  ~Earl Wilson

If there was one thing I loved about growing up, it was my grandmother's sugar cookies. And especially during Christmas time. She would add sprinkles and make them into lovely little Christmas shapes. Lately, I've been craving them big time. So I called her over the weekend and asked for the recipe. Of course, she didn't have to go look anything up in her recipe book. She had it all memorized. I followed her recipe to the letter. They weren't horrible, but they didn't quite measure up. Hers were always slightly crispy on the top and bottom. I made mine too round. So I'm on a mission to find a cookie cutter like hers. And I'm not giving up until they taste just like hers! There was one little kid who found those cookies irresistible!

My Picky Little Eater

"As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices:  take it or leave it."  ~Buddy Hackett

I hate to admit this but as a child I was a bit of a picky eater. It didn't help that my mother, bless her lovely soul, wasn't much for cooking. And that she stocked the house with foods I wasn't hot on like: cream of wheat, oatmeal, bananas, raisin bran. So imagine my amusement when I run across this article in the New York Times titled, "Picky Eaters? They Get It From You."

My husband will eat just about anything except for green beans or anything with tartar sauce--oh yeah, and he's not a fan of mixed veggeis. But othe than that, anything is pretty much game. His son, on the other hand, drives me crazy with the faces and the pushing away of plates when he's not happy. He won't eat typical things that most kids eat like: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hamburgers, chicken pot pies, chocolate chip cookies that are not soft, certain brands of oatmeal cookies,

Down through the years, I've definitely expanded my repetoire food. Here's hoping my little one does too. Be sure to check out the article if you have a picky eater. Interesting stuff there.

Veggie Time

"I think food is almost like a history book to other lands and other cultures, . . . whether it’s spices,or preparation, or utensils. . . . I think it’s a history lesson all at one table sometimes.” ~Unknown

I'm constantly concerned if Rhyan is getting enough fruit and vegetables--even though there are some days that I fail miserably. So here is my latest effort to make veggies fun. Did he love it? Absolutely not. I put the plate in front of him and he looked at me like "what am I supposed to do with that?" And then he pushed the plate away--far away. *Sigh*

He's a big dipper now, so I included some salad dressing and of course ketchup for dipping. After I named all of the veggies--the red bell pepper mouth did not go over well--he seemed somewhat interested. Surprisingly, once he got to dipping, he took two bites of everything--except the bell pepper and the tomatoes which he just licked--he took one bite and acted like he way dying. So perhaps we'll try this one again.

Anybody got any suggestions for Veggie Time plan B?

Made With Love

"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." ~Sophia Loren

Growing up, I LOVED the TV show, "Leave It to Beaver." I adored its simple wholesomeness. Its focus on family. And yes, I'm going to admit this, I loved June Cleaver and still do. I know it was make-believe, but I loved the way she kept a clean and organized house, the way she greeted her kids after school with milk and cookies and sent them off to school with a warm breakfast in their tummies.

I'm far from June Cleaver, (though I do like to wear an apron in the kitchen) but I do hope to inject some of that simple wholesomeness into my own mothering. To that end, I made heart-shaped chocolate waffles (with some chocolate chips thrown in for good measure) this weekend for the guys. They loved them. I could hardly wake up Sunday morning before my little one was asking for them again.

I think this just might become a weekend tradition--June Cleaver-style!

Cupcakes and Culinary-ness

Growing up, I was surrounded by great cooks. My father is a genius in the kitchen. Love his shrimp fried rice and fried chicken! My grandmother's cooking and baking is divine--my favorites include her sugar cookies, Kool-Aid pie, lemon meringue pie......oh, I could go on. I'd run out of fingers counting the number of aunts who know their way around the kitchen blindfolded and can still manage to whip up a delicious meal. As a kid, I stayed far away from the kitchen during prep time. I was intimidated by all the boiling pots and the seasonings. So it's a miracle that I can cook now much less bake from scratch. I didn't start cooking until I was own my own--and then I would end up disappointed at the outcome--often due to the fact that I thought cooking meant using every single seasoning you had. Oh, praise the Lord for cookbooks and marriage. Without them, I would have never learned to cook.

I marvel now that I'm the one donning an apron and whipping up yummy desserts in my own kitchen. Mmm...red velvet cupcakes. A miracle indeed.

Menu Plan Monday-Jan. 15

So like I said here I was going to jump on the Menu Plan Monday train. And already I feel such a relief knowing what I'm going to cook for the whole week. I would pull something out of the freezer in the morning, but have no idea what was going to become of it. Thanks to Laura at  I'm An Organizing Junkie for one bright idea! Here's what momma has lined up in the kitchen for this week.

Monday - Salmon croquettes, rice pilaf, corn on the cob
Tuesday - Slow Cooker Adobo Chicken, red potatoes, green beans
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Southwestern Chicken
Friday - Chicken Enchiladas
Saturday - Gone to a wedding
Sunday - Spinach lasagna, salad & rolls
 
For more yummy dinner ideas check out Laura's Menu Plan Monday's lineup at I'm An Organizing Junkie.