Recipe - Smoky Lentil Soup

Smoky Lentil Soup

Adapted from Wiliams-Sonoma's Smoky Lentil Soup recipe

photo from Williams-Sonoma

• 3 bacon slices 
• 1 shallot, diced 
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick half-moons
• 1 celery stalk, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika 
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed 
• 4 cups chicken broth 
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 
• Sour cream for garnish 

Cut the bacon into lardons, then brown in a sauce pan.  Remove the bacon and drain on a paper towel.  Add the shallot, carrot, celery, garlic, and paprika to the bacon fat and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add the tomato sauce, lentils, and broth.  Cover and cook on medium heat until the lentils are tender, about 35 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup, but make sure that it remains a bit chunky.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour soup into bowls and garnish with sour cream and bacon.

 Serves 4.

Recipe - Chicken Stroganoff using leftover Turkey Gravy

Chicken Stroganoff using leftover Turkey Gravy

After Thanksgiving, my grandma sent us home with a ton of turkey gravy.  Unfortunately, the gravy outlasted the leftover turkey and mashed potatoes and since I'm a gravy fiend, I didn't want it to go to waste.  Using the already-thickened gravy eliminated the need for adding flour to the sour cream at the end.  My family doesn't like onions or mushrooms, so I omitted them, though you could certainly include them to make this a more robust meal.  Here is the recipe I concocted that my gravy-averse husband enjoyed:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Paprika, to taste
Onion powder, to taste
1 1/2 c. turkey gravy
1/2 c. sour cream
Buttered noodles

Cut the chicken into 1-inch strips.  In a large skillet, brown the chicken in the olive oil and season with paprika and onion powder to taste (I used about 1 t. paprika and 1/2 t. onion powder).  Once the chicken is browned, add the gravy and heat through until hot and bubbly.  Stir in sour cream and heat for 2-3 minutes until warmed through.

Serve over hot buttered noodles.

Serves 4.

I served this with sauteed haricot verts and it was yummy!

I hate Halloween.

Over the past few years, I have come to absolutely hate Halloween.  The shallow reason is because I'm a bit arachnophobic and all the fake spiders that people use to decorate give me the heebie-jeebies.  My flight-or-flight response is seriously on hyperdrive for about 1 month out of the year!

Then there's the inevitable litany of "Mommy, can I have a piece of candy?" "Mommy, when can I get a piece of candy?" "Mommy, I want a piece of candy." "Mommy, if I'm good, do I get a piece of candy?" "Mommy, where's the candy?"


But on a deeper level, the true reason why I hate Halloween is that it has morphed from a fun holiday where kids dressed in cute costumes and visited the neighbors while trick-or-treating.  Now, Halloween has become a celebration of the gruesome (a 7-year-old girl with a "slashed" throat), the violent (a 3rd grade axe murderer), the evil (all sort of satanic beasts), and the hypersexual (low-cut Cleopatra dresses on 10-year-olds).  I don't want my children to have any part in that, and frankly, they don't either -- they are literally afraid to walk or ride their bikes past some of the homes in our neighborhood because of the ghoulish images they have displayed.  And when I see young children dressed like pirate wenches, murderers, and "mature" characters, I worry about them.

Over the past couple of years, my family has phased out the American "Halloween" experience.  It's difficult, since my children are exposed to it at school and around the neighborhood, but at home, there is nothing scary to be seen.  Our house is decorated for autumn and instead of "Halloween," we have started celebrating the more traditional "All Hallows' Eve."  And frankly, my kids don't seem to miss it at all.

How we celebrate All Hallows' Eve:

• We decorate our house for autumn, which is convenient since the decorations last through Thanksgiving.
• We'll visit the pumpkin patch to play and take cute photos, but we don't carve pumpkins.   (mostly to avoid messes and injuries)
• We have a little family celebration with seasonal food and treats.   (This year, we had butternut bisque, corn bread, and caramel apple cider cookies)
• Our children dress like saints, in honor of All Saints Day
• We allow our children to trick-or-treat at a few of our neighbors' homes, just to say hi.
• We spend the rest of our Halloween evening inside, having family time and distributing candy to the neighborhood kids.

Help Support Children's Hospital of Orange County!

Enjoy early holiday shopping with Celebrating Home and yummy treats from Tastefully Simple and help Children's Hospital of Orange County!

My oldest son and I are raising funds for the annual CHOC Walk in the park, benefiting Children's Hospital of Orange County.  Our fundraising effort is our way to saying "Thank you" to everyone at CHOC who has helped diagnose and treat his Failure to Thrive, pancreatic insufficiency, and ADHD/ODD.  These special people include gastroenterologist Dr. Idries, Nurse Practitioner Robyn Robinson, geneticist Dr. Zadeh, neurologist Dr. McIntosh, nurse Barbara who helped with his EEG, and everyone at the lab who had to suffer through trying to give him a sweat chloride test 3 times.

25% of the proceeds will be donated directly to Children's Hospital of Orange County. 

To order from Celebrating Home online, go to www.celebratinghome.com, click on "Shopping with a party code?" and enter TanaJimenez333004.

You can order Tastefully Simple products at www.tastefullysimple.com/web/sschmid and enter my name as the hostess when you place your order.

Thank you in advance for your support!

 

Imagination Movers Birthday Party

My son wanted an Imagination Movers party for his 3rd birthday, which put us into a bit of a quandary.  First, they don't make Imagination Movers party supplies and most of their memorabilia consists of costumes and CD's.  Second, even if they made IM party supplies, we wouldn't buy them because for personal reasons, my family does not support Disney financially.   So I was on my own!  Fortunately, I still have some creative juices left to flow, so here's how I planned the party all by my little old self:

INVITATION
I'll have to scan one in, but here's the text:
Mover Dominic has an IDEA EMERGENCY!
(photo of Dominic making an Idea Emergency face)
Dominic needs your help to make his 3rd birthday a great one!
When:
Where:  The XXX Family Think Tank
RSVP:
Let's Brainstorm!

DECORATIONS
My husband is a teacher, so I found some gears and used his overhead projector to magnify them onto red, yellow, and blue posterboard.  I put the gears on the walls to make our house resemble the Idea Warehouse.  I also made a poster that says "What's Your Favorite Snack?"  and added photos of foods from the song.





FOOD
Since Mover Dave likes pizza so much, our main course was pizza.  The other food was from the song "What's Your Favorite Snack?"  I made some labels to put on the bowls that said:
- My favorite snacks are the ones that I can pick out, like BAKED TORTILLA CHIPS and a healthy SALSA DIP
- My favorite snacks are GRAPES, they're great!  Pop them in my mouth and my tastebuds celebra-a-ate!
- My favorite snack is LIGHTLY SALTED POPCORN.  Stovetop or microwave, it comes out nice and warm.
- My favorite snack is FRUIT, fresh and cool.  I love it in the morning, even better after school.



We used a publicity still of the Imagination Movers for his cake.  If the image is copyrighted, a lot of places won't let you use it, but the publicity stills will work.



ACTIVITIES
- Imagination Movers music played in the background.
- I decorated our mini trampoline with balloons and put a sign on it that said "Mover Dave's Big Boingy Bouncy Bouncer" from the Captain Terrific episode.
- And of course, we played "Pin the Tail on the Burro."
- The kids got to decorate cardboard guitars from Oriental Trading, then jammed to Imagination Movers Live in Concert.

FAVORS
I made coloring books out of the coloring pages on the Playhouse Disney website.  I put those, crayons, and moustache glasses (from Sneeze and Thank You) into a Boring Brown Paper Bag (from Hiccups).  Each kid also got a Mini-Mover nametag that I made from the Playhouse Disney website.




Needless to say, he loved his party!

P.S.  When I sent his thank you notes, they said "Thank you!  Because of you, I had a rockin' 3rd birthday!  Another Idea Emergency solved!"

Gymnastics has been getting more diverse for 20 years!

Nice article, but this guy is way off: Orozco, Leyva Show Changing Face of US Gymnastics.


Yes, he is correct that our current national gymnastics teams are diverse, but he's forgetting so many amazing gymnasts from the last 20-25 years.  Here are just a few:  (I only included Olympians for the sake of time)


Mohini Bhardwaj - 2004 Olympian, Indian-American
Amy Chow- 1996 and 2000 Olympian and multiple medalist, Chinese-American
Trent Dimas - 1992 Olympian and medalist, Hispanic
Annia Hatch - 2004 Olympian and medalist, Cuban-American
Ivana Hong- World Championships Competitor, 2008 Olympic Alternate, Chinese and Vietnamese-American
Allyse Ishino - Asian-American
Corrie Lathrop- 2008 Olympic Alternet, born in China
Jair Lynch - 1996 Olympian, African-American
Betty Okino - 1992 Olympian and medalist, born in Uganda
Tasha Schwikert- 2000 Olympian, African-American
Kevin Tan - 2008 Olympian, Chinese-American
Chainey Umphrey - 1996 Olympian, African-American




Not to mention a HUGE number of NCAA gymnasts!

Random Review - Pelican Bay Dips

I dropped by a church fundraiser this past weekend and when I walked by their display of soups and dips, I couldn't pass up an opportunity for a little taste!  They offered a variety of dips from Pelican Bay and I couldn't resist buying their Hot and Cheesy Basil Balsamic dip mix and their Honey Garlic Buffalo dip.

We love cheese, we love basil, and we love balsamic vinegar, so when they're all combined into one dip, it's a winner in our house!  All you do is add the mix to 1/2 cup of softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup of sour cream.  You layer in the mixture in a small baking dish with 4 slices of provolone cheese then bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  (I used 2 slices of provlone and some shredded parmesan).  The dip was delectable!  Even my 3-year-old loved it.  Each box makes two bowls of this yummy, hot, cheesy goodness.



The Honey Garlic Buffalo dip was not a flavor combination that I ever would have imagined, but boy, was it good!  The sweetness of the honey compliments the spicy buffalo flavor and makes a really enjoyable dip.  This is a cold dip, so you just blend the mix with sour cream and mayo (I prefer just sour cream), chill, and serve!  I will say that this dip does have a bit of a kick, so be careful with the kiddos.  My 3-year-old said that it makes his tongue "itch."