Next up- Jicama

To continue with my plan of trying new veggies, we had some jicama this week.

What is jicama, you ask?  Jicama is a crispy, sweet, edible root that resembles a turnip in physical appearance, although the plants are not related. Jicama has been cultivated in South America for centuries, and the vegetable is quite popular in Mexican cuisine. Jicama has a unique flavor that lends itself well to salads, salsas, and vegetable platters. The roots can sometimes grow to be quite large, although when they exceed the size of two fists, they begin to convert the sugars that give jicama its sweet flavor into starches, making the root somewhat woody to the taste. 

I decided to give Emeril a shot and try one of his recipes.  I used Emeril's recipe for Jicama Slaw.  I had enough jicama for this one recipe, so there goes my whole trying to make two dishes from the new veggie thing.  [Note to self- Next week buy more of the new veggie.]

All in all, the end result was tasty.  I liked the taste and texture of the jicama, but would like to try it with a more traditional slaw recipe.  Emeril's addition of the cumin just really threw the flavors out of whack.  As Matt said it best, "There was just no pop to the flavor."


In addition to the jicama slaw, I tested out another recipe from my new favorite site, Weelicious.  I made their baked zucchini coins.  While mine looked nothing like their picture, they were darn tasty.  Matt said that if I let him, he'd eat the entire plate of them.  Yay!  One more to add to the recipe collection.

Weelicious- Baked Zucchini Coins

Jessica- Baked Zucchini Coins

Crazy Cooking Sunday!

I got bit by the cooking/baking bug yesterday.  This was due in part to my new favorite site, Weelicious.  The majority of the food was meant to be frozen for Miss A to eat a later times.

First up were Apple Banana Muffins. 

They were so easy to make and easy to bake!  Matt has been gobbling them up and Miss A enjoyed hers too.

 

I kept up the momentum and moved on to Spinach Ricotta Bites. 

 
I used a little more spinach than the recipe called for (you can never have too many greens), but they still turned out great!  Miss A had some for lunch today and she loved them!

On deck next were another batch of Broccoli Cheese Bites.  (I got this recipe from www.wholesomebabyfood.com)
I made a batch of these a few weeks ago and she's been gobbling them up.  This little girl LOVES her green veggies!

For the grand finale I made a batch of Brown-wees.

I made them in my Perfect Brownie Pan, which I LOVE, by the way!  They are pretty tasty, but a little dry.  I'm sure they'd taste great with ice cream or whipped cream.  Ooh, I might have to buy some cream and make some fresh whipped cream.  I plan on making them again soon, but I will use applesauce in place of the oil to hopefully make them a little less dry.

I love finding new recipes to try.  Especially ones that I share with Miss A (and freeze too)!

Sweet Beet Cookies?

I've decided recently that we need to expand our horizons.  I want to make sure Miss A is exposed too all sorts of different food and culture.

Here's my plan- Buy a new vegetable each week to try.  There are so many different vegetables out there, yet we all seem to stick to what we know and what is easy.  Each week when we go to the store or the farmer's market, I'll pick up an item and go from there.  Once I know what I have that week, I'll have to do some research and figure out a recipe for the veggie.

I started this last week with red beets.  Sadly, I can't ever remember having eaten beets.
I knew beets were going to be the first veggie, so I set out to find a creative recipe.  I came across Sweet Beet Cookies on a website I found recently.


The cookies weren't tough to make (I do have a war wound from the battle with the grater) and are very colorful (due to the lovely beet coloring).  They tasted best fresh out of the oven.  The following day, they were like chewing on leather.

Not a bad first try for beets.  I think I'll end up trying them again.  I am looking forward to trying other beet colors.

This first week experiment also helped me realize that I need to come up with at least two ways to prepare the veggie.  Just in case one fails.  ;-)

Getting with the program

It's been awhile since I've done the blog thing.  I'm going to try to pick it back up again.  We're now settled in our new abode and getting back into the swing of things.

Here's a brief run down of what you've missed-
April 2010-
-Fredericksburg house sold
-Matt comes back to VA from 3 months at sea
-We drive across the country in two cars with two weasels and a 6 month old
-We move into our new place on Coronado Island
May 2010-
-Matt's 32nd birthday
-We go on an Alaskan cruise (courtesy of Matt's sister and brother-in-law)
June 2010-
-We finish up the Alaskan cruise
-Jessica searches for a job
July 2010-
-Matt gets promoted
-Jessica finds a job
-Arwyn goes into daycare
-Arwyn gets sick multiple times (due to daycare germs)
-Matt and Jessica get sick (thanks to those daycare germs)
August 2010-
-Jessica works from home
-Arwyn is out of daycare
-Matt heads out to sea
September 2010-
-Jessica still works from home
-Matt comes home from sea

And that's where we pick things up....

Such is life....

I've been bad about posting in the last few months.  I guess that's what happens when your spouse heads out to sea, you have a 4 month old to take care of, a house to sell, a home to pack up, and a quest to find a new place to live on the other side of the country.

Once we get settled in the new abode, I will be sure to update my blog more frequently.  I also realize that I need to update the picture at the top of the blog.  Babies grow and change to quickly!

Til then......

Hot Potato! Hot Potato!

Well, more like Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato!  It just doesn't sound as good with "sweet" instead of "hot."
Yep, we started our next solid food- sweet potatoes!  Arwyn isn't as crazy about these as she is bananas, but can you blame her?  She does like them, though.

One fun thing about sweet potatoes is that they show up great in pictures!

Since it's been so cold outside, we've been hanging out inside mostly.  The dogs are hanging out inside more than usual as well.  With them being inside so much, Arwyn has definitely gotten her fill of weasels for awhile.  Arwyn is now so used to the dogs that they can go sniff right in her face and she doesn't even flinch.

That's one thing we are looking forward to in San Diego- SUNSHINE! We're hoping to get a house with a decent sized fenced in yard, so the dogs can just hang out all day.  We can't wait!

Here's Raj saying "Hi Arwyn!"

The Great Snowpocalypse!

Is it a rule that whenever our spouse leaves town, the weather has to go all haywire and make things near impossible for us?  This is the second snow since Matt left!  Thankfully, we have some great neighbors who have been shoveling my driveway.  Although they've shoveled my driveway, I think I'm going to have to shovel part of the street as well.  The snow plows likely won't make it to our neighborhood until tomorrow, and they do a crap job plowing our cul-de-sac.  So, in order to actually be able to get anywhere next week, I think I'm going to have to shovel a path from our driveway to the plowed portion of the street.  :-(

Several hours into the snowfall

 There's no sign of stopping!

 The final amount!

Snow like this makes me so ready to move to San Diego.  No snow, not much rain, low humidity, and tons of sunshine!  I am now understanding my brother's strong desire to move there as well.

Fun Snowfall Tidbit-
According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.  The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922.  The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.

Arwyn and I kept busy by baking cookies and working on her "tummy time."

We were supposed to go to a Superbowl Party today, so we made football and helmet sugar cookies.  I think we'll give them to our neighbors who shoveled the driveway instead of eating them all myself.  I think they turned out pretty neat!

 

YUMMY! 

Arwyn kept me company hanging in her bouncy seat.

What a proper little lady!  Already crossing her legs.