Tag Archives: Jennifer L. Cowart

What we’re doing for fun this summer: Summer Memories Timeline

25 Jun

If you’ve been a reader of my blog since last fall, you may remember my post about our Summer Vacation banner. It was not something I’d started on purpose and it turned out to be so much more than I expected. The kids loved it.

I had not thought of doing anything like it this summer, but then a few weeks ago I was reading a blog and clicked from that blog to another blog, and saw something that caught my eye: a summer memories clothesline-timeline.

Only problem is: I can’t find that blog I’d landed on, anywhere. I didn’t think I was going to do it, so I didn’t save it. I’ve searched the internet like crazy but can’t find it.

Anyway, after seeing this, it stuck in my head and as I drove around these past couple of weeks, it kept popping into my head. (When I drive from story to story, place to place, I drive in silence–I get a lot of thinking done this way.)

I decided to try a summer timeline for my kids, I thought they’d love it, but I didn’t want to use a clothesline because I didn’t think I could put it up very well in our house nor could I store it well afterwards. (I save everything.)

Instead, I chose to use banner paper ($1.99 roll of Doodle Paper from Christmas Tree Shops) and decorative packing tape ($2 at CVS) along with some little square pieces of paper for them to write their events on the timeline ($1 at CVS).

They saw me buy the Doodle Roll last week before school ended and right away they knew something was up. Alex asked me every day why I bought the Doodle Roll. They wanted to know when they’d be let in on my Top Secret project.

Finally, the last day of school came. With my work schedule I only had one hour in which to create my timeline but I’d planned it out pretty well so I knew what I wanted to do.

Here’s how it looked, I know you’re dying to see it, right?

Our timeline: a blank slate ready to be filled up with a record of our summer memories.

The only disappointment was that I wanted to print out a photo to put on the timeline of them from that morning on the last day, but my printer was broken, not working AT ALL so I couldn’t. However, the “blank slate” aspect of their timeline seemed very appealing to them; the fact that they had this entire space to fill up with things we were doing, places we were going, people we were seeing.

When they walked in on that last day of school, they gasped and ran up the stairs–it’s right at the top of the stairs– to see what the new project was. (We’re a very project-based family!) They were immediately so excited, and I was so thrilled.

Their biggest concern: what if the timeline isn’t big enough? Then what? My solution: we can easily add a section to it and remove the last square I put at the end as an example. They were pleased with that answer.

So we’re off and running with our timeline. Throughout the summer I’ll try to remember to post an update so you can see how it’s looking.

I have no idea how it will turn out, but isn’t that half the fun?

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Muffins on the brain

22 Jun

All I could think about was having another muffin!

I did.

I had muffins on the brain.

Ever since I did the peach muffin post a couple of weeks ago, all I could think about was making more muffins.

The following weekend I wanted to make the peach muffins again, but I decided it was too soon for peach. But, it wasn’t too soon for blueberry! I just happened to have fresh blueberries in my fridge.

I’m sure I have a blueberry muffin recipe somewhere. Probably dozens of them. But, I was lazy. I googled a recipe for blueberry muffins and I was not disappointed!

I was directed to my favorite spot: Allrecipes.com for “To Die For Blueberry Muffins” and they were.

To.Die.For.

It was the streusel topping that did it, I know. I’m a sucker for a cinnamon sugar topping.

Here’s the recipe. Try it yourself this weekend and see what you think. I know you’ll have muffins on the brain when you do!

Super easy ingredients. I threw in the whole pint of blueberries.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup butter, cubed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
  2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
  3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

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What’s for dinner Wednesday: Maple Glazed Pork Chops

20 Jun

Pork chops with maple and brown sugar glaze. Who wouldn’t love that?

Did you ever hear it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?

I think I’m well on my way down that insanity path.

My family doesn’t love pork chops. I’d almost venture to say some of them are close to saying they hate pork chops.

However, I really like “the other white meat” and I’m determined to find a recipe for pork chops that they like.

So every so often, I try a new recipe. I wait for the results, everyone says they don’t like them, and we move on until I find the next one.

Nine times out of ten, I personally like the recipe.

A cookbook from Grandma Grello’s house. Lots of yummy looking recipes in here!

Today’s recipe is one of my attempts at tricking my family into liking pork chops. I got it out of a cookbook from Grandma Grello and I liked seeing her little notes and recipes stuck in amongst the pages as I went through it.

I figured that if they were smothered in maple syrup in brown sugar 1) I’d like them a lot and 2) they’d think they were pancakes. Or waffles. And like them.

I liked them a lot, they did not.

Shocker.

Back to the drawing board.

If you are someone who does enjoy pork chops and you also enjoy recipes of the “sweet” variety, you’ll be in luck with this one.

Try it out and see what you think.

I doubled the recipe for the glaze because I had a lot of pork chops, but I did not double the amount of brown sugar. That would have been too much.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup all purpose flour

Salt and pepper to taste

4 bone in pork chops (I used eight)

2 tablespoons butter or margarine (I doubled this recipe)

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons water

2/3 cup packed brown sugar (no need to double)

I sprinkled very generously with brown sugar!

DIRECTIONS

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine flour, salt and pepper.

Add pork chops and shake to coat (I could not do more than 2 at a time or they wouldn’t get fully coated.)

In a skillet, brown the chops on both sides in butter.

Place in an ungreased 13x9x2″ baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until juices run clear.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, (I used the same skillet)  bring the vinegar to a boil.

Reduce heat; add maple syrup. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; add to the maple mixture.

Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Place chops on a broiler pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Broil 4″ from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until sugar is melted.

Drizzle with maple glaze.

See? Doesn’t that look good? I served ours over brown rice.

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What’s For Dinner Wednesday: Chicken, Grapes and a Dash of Karma

13 Jun

I made this recipe for the first time in January 2003 and I marked it as being “Excellent” at that time. it was just as good this time, as it was then. At least I thought so.

It’s hard to find one meal to feed five people and have all five people like it. It almost never happens. Very rarely anyway. My goal is basically to find one meal that everyone at least likes one part of.

Last week though, I thought I had a winner. I was shooting for at least four out of five “likes” on this one. It was a recipe I’d first made years ago, out of the “Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter’s Cookbook” in 2003, and we loved it. I’m sure I’ve made it since then, but not recently and not since we’ve had all three of the girls. None of them remembered ever having it before.

Liz I was pretty sure on, and Caroline I was pretty sure wouldn’t like it. She hates apple juice, but I was hoping maybe the rest of it would win her over.

(I’ll give away the ending: It didn’t.)

Alex though, was a sure thing. I had considered the ingredients as always, when planning the meal: chicken, pasta, grapes and apple juice. She likes the pasta, the apple juice and the grapes. All those things, a lot.

I served the meal. I sat back. I waited.

“So?????”  I asked them.

Don liked it, I liked it, Liz was fine with it, but I couldn’t wait to get Alex’s review. I was expecting two thumbs up.

She hated it.

And this is where the dash of karma comes in.

Chicken, grapes, pasta….karma.

I said to her, “Alex, you love everything in this! You love grapes, you love apple juice and you love pasta! How could you not love this meal?”

She said, “Mommy, I do like all those things by themselves, I do. I just don’t like all of those things touching each other.”

BAM.

I hate when my food touches. If you look back at all my recipe posts, you can always tell when the dish being photographed is mine because the food is all spread waaayyyyy apart on the plate.

She’s already a mini-me. This just seals the deal. Her food can’t touch. I’m so doomed.

In any case, the dish is really yummy, as unusual as it sounds. You can use any color grapes or a mix of more than one color. I had green so that’s what I used. Here is the recipe. Give it a try.

CHICKEN WITH GRAPES

INGREDIENTS

4 small skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (12 oz. total) *I used chicken tenders.

Nonstick Spray Coating

1/2 cup white grape juice, apple juice or apple cider (this time I used apple juice, the last time I used apple cider.)

1 tsp. instant chicken bouillon granules

1 tsp. cornstarch

1 cup seedless green and/or red grapes, halved

Hot cooked linguine (optional)

Fresh herb, such as oregano or thyme (optional) *I opted out.
DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse chicken; pat dry with paper towels. Spray an unheated large skillet with nonstick coating.

2. Preheat skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add chicken. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until tender and no longer pink, turning to brown evenly. Remove from skillet, keep warm.

3. Meanwhile, combine grape or apple juice or cider, bouillon granules, and cornstarch. Add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

4. Cook and stir two minutes more. Stir in grapes; heat through. Serve over chicken.

If desired, serve with linguine and garnish with herb. (I used wide egg noodles instead of linguine this time. No herbs.)

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Taking advantage of the things around us

12 Jun

Of the six hours we spent at the Great Outdoors Pursuit event on Sunday, I think four of them were probably spent in the spray park, a huge hit with our kids.

Summer gives us a great opportunity. The weather is nice and we get the chance to be outdoors more and to explore the places around us that we don’t often have the time to explore during the hectic school year.

Our parks and recreation department has something each summer called “The Great Outdoor Pursuit,” and it consists of outdoor family events from May through August. Each event is free, lasts the day, and the locations change. Families will visit seven different outdoor state parks and forests throughout the summer if they participate in all of the events.

The Great Outdoor Pursuit “seeks to connect families with outdoor public spaces and inspire active outdoor lifestyles while educating them about environmental and health issues,” and as a recent participant in one of the events, I can say that they definitely achieved their goals!

We were able to attend an event this past Sunday and we were there from 11 am to 5pm, outdoors and active the entire day. There was swimming, boating, a spray park, archery, bounce house, and more, all day long. You could turn in any electronic devices you no longer use, in a safe and eco-friendly manner. There was plenty to do and even though the event officially ended at 3, we stayed on location for two more hours.

The day cost us nothing other than a few dollars for hot dogs but we had such a great day. The kids were exhausted by bedtime, always a good thing, and they can’t wait to visit again or to try out the next event.

We may not be able to do all of the events due to schedule conflicts during the summer, but the events are there and open to the public and free.

It’s just another example of how you can have tons of family fun on a small family budget and not be sitting inside in front of the TV, computer or video games all day long.

With just a little bit of looking around, you can find events near you that can keep your family busy and active all summer!

 

 

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A word about Summer and The Whole Bag of Chips

11 Jun

We spend tons of time outdoors in the summer!

Summer is coming! School days are numbered now, down to the single digits, thankfully.

Summer is my absolute favorite time of the entire year. I love having my kids all home and I love having no set schedule. We spend lots of time together as a family, since the majority of Don’s time off as a school administrator takes place during July and part of August. It makes up for the zillions of hours he spends at work during the school year. When he went to work for a full day this past Saturday, I knew in my head that Summer is coming, and that made it an easier pill to swallow, knowing he’d be gone for the day on a weekend, normally our family time, but that soon we’ll have lots of time to spend together with him.

I started this blog on September 25 and since that time it has had over 15,000 hits. I am thrilled with the response it’s had.

However, like I said, it’s summer.

As a work-from-home-mom-writer, I find it hard to balance all the hours of computer time I have to put in with the time I want to spend with my family, but this year with them all in school all day, it was easy–I just type when they’re not here during the days, or when they’re in bed at night.

During the summer, not so much.

Therefore, during the next couple of months, until school starts again, I can make no promises as far as my blog posting schedule. Right now I post five days a week consistently, never missing a day.

I can promise you this: summer won’t be that way. I’ll be working my regular newspaper job as always, but the blog will be on hiatus temporarily, while we’re off doing our family thing.

Family First. Always.

If I have time to post I will, as often as I can, but I will not make a commitment to any type of schedule for the summer. I’m sure you all understand.

Enjoy your own summer, enjoy your kids tons and tons while you have them home. As we all know, it won’t always be that way. They won’t be little forever and we will wish we had this time again. Cherish every single minute, even the tough times. (Yes, my kids bicker constantly too.)

Happy summer!

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The Power of Marketing and Advertising: Peach Muffins

8 Jun

We can thank a radio commercial for inspiring me to make homemade peach muffins!

Those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook, you may have followed this story last week through my status updates and I know you’ve been waiting for this recipe to post, but those who are not, it’ll be new to you. So if you’re aware of it, bear with me.

Last week I was running between stories for the newspaper, when I heard a commercial on the radio for Honeydew Donuts and their peach muffins. We have several Honeydew Donuts right in our area, and I love their peach muffins!

I was hungry. Starving, really.

I was going to get myself one of those peach muffins, ASAP.

I got out my gift card. I got ready to go to the next closest Honeydew. I could taste it.

But then, as I drove some more, I got to thinking, “I have frozen peaches in my freezer. I could just go home and MAKE peach muffins. Then, instead of having one, I’d have lots of them. Everyone could have one. They could be today’s after school snack and then tomorrow’s breakfast.”

I talked myself out of the Honeydew trip.

I put away my gift card and went home.

Only problem was, once I got home, it was now 1:30. I was of course, still starving and of course, I had no peach muffin and I had no recipe to make them either.

When one is starving, as I was, one chooses huge lunches. Well, at least I do. So rather than having a little peach muffin for lunch, I had Eggs Benedict, minus the ham/Canadian Bacon, since we had none.

As I sopped up my Hollandaise Sauce with my English Muffin, I browsed the internet for peach muffins. I came across this one on Allrecipes.com. When I read the summary from the original cook, it said, “just like peach cobbler in a muffin,” and I knew I’d found my recipe. I was sold.

These muffins were super-easy to make. My frozen peaches were already peeled and sliced. I get them for smoothies from the frozen food section at Aldi’s and I’d used half the bag for smoothies earlier in the week and had half the bag left. It was the perfect amount. All I had to do was chop them up.

My favorite thing though, about this recipe: it made 16 muffins. With a family of five, one dozen never seems to be enough. With 16 it was perfect. The girls and I all got to have one after school, and then we all had one or two for breakfast the next day, too. I even had enough left to give some to my friend Donna to try out.

I highly recommend this recipe. It got thumbs up from everyone, and I totally recommend using the Aldi’s frozen peaches if you don’t have fresh ones, (or try out whatever frozen peaches you have near you).

****OMG: Just as I’m about to post this recipe, I notice that it says you can also make this into a bread, two loaves!! I’m SO doing that next time! This is the best recipe EVER!!!!****

Enjoy!

Because this recipe yields so much, you need two good-sized bowls for mixing your ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 2 cups peeled, pitted, and chopped peaches (or in my case, Aldi’s frozen peaches)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease 16 muffin cups.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, eggs, and sugar. Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture just until moist. Fold in the peaches. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups.
  3. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
    **For the two loaves of bread you can “increase the baking time to 1 hour at 350 degrees F and use 2 loaf pans.”***UPDATE: On June 17 I used this recipe to make one loaf bread and three mini loaves as end of year gifts. It worked out great!! I cooked the mini loaves until a knife inserted in the center came out clean, and then I continued on with the larger loaf until the same. The entire baking time was approximately one hour.***

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Balsamic & Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

7 Jun

Besides the new recipe for cauliflower, this was also the first time I’d used Panko bread crumbs.

Veggies are great side dishes to your main meal, but finding new ways to cook them is always a challenge. A while back, I came across this recipe for Balsamic & Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower from the EatingWell website. Since I love both those ingredients, I thought I’d try out the recipe. I liked it, Don liked it, but the kids didn’t love it. They thought the balsamic was too strong, but did I mention that I liked it?? I’d make it again, but provide an alternate vegetable for the kids.

Additionally, Panko Bread Crumbs: am I the only person on the planet who had never used them before?? I love them!! They have so much more crunch to them than regular bread crumbs do.

This meal was a meal of chicken thighs, which I don’t buy often because they’re fattier than some of the other kinds of chicken parts I buy, but every once in a while I just want a change so I buy them.

Anyway….here is the recipe for the cauliflower. If you try it, let me know what you think!

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 cups 1-inch-thick slices cauliflower florets, (about 1 large head; see Tip)
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
  2. Toss cauliflower, oil, marjoram, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Spread on a large rimmed baking sheet and roast until starting to soften and brown on the bottom, 15 to 20 minutes. Toss the cauliflower with vinegar and sprinkle with cheese. Return to the oven and roast until the cheese is melted and any moisture has evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes more.

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What’s for dinner Wednesday: Garlic Chicken and Shrimp

6 Jun

An internet search provided me with this recipe. We all enjoyed it!

A lot of times when I post a recipe, it’s not something I’ve just made this week. Sometimes it’s something I had a while back, took a photo of and waited to post it. This is one of those recipes. We had it in November and I’ve been waiting to post it ever since!

Way back in November I was sitting one afternoon trying to think of something different to make for dinner. We had pasta, shrimp and chicken on hand so I did an internet search for recipes using chicken and shrimp, and on About.com, under the “Southern Food” category, this recipe for Garlic Chicken and Shrimp came up. It can be served over rice or over pasta.

It was delicious and got a thumbs up from everyone all around, which is rare.

Here is the recipe so that you can try it out too!

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 to 3 boneless chicken breast halves or tenders, about 1 pound
  • 1 pound large shrimp
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 4 medium cloves garlic, smashed and minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil, or 1 teaspoon dried leaf basil  (In my opinion there was too much basil, I’d use slightly less next time.)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, or 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning or seasoned salt blend

If Alex gives a recipe a thumbs up, you know it’s got to be good. She’s a tough customer. She hates chicken but loves “strimp” and pasta, so this was a winner in her book.

DIRECTIONS

Lightly pound chicken between sheets of plastic wrap to an even thickness. Cut in strips about 1-inch wide.

In a large skillet, melt the butter with olive oil. Add garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and seasoning. Heat over medium low heat and add the chicken and shrimp. Cook the shrimp and chicken mixture, stirring, for about 10 to 15 minutes, until cooked through. If shrimp are small, add a few minutes after adding chicken. Serve with hot cooked pasta. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.
Serves 4 to 6.

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Product review: Wilton Holiday Air Insulated Cookie Sheets

5 Jun

These cookie sheets were wonderful when I made my cookies last weekend!

For Christmas this past year I received a set of two Wilton Air Insulated cookie sheets from my sister in-law, Jessica. I couldn’t wait to try them out, but then we traveled back home, I put them away, and forgot all about them! I haven’t made a ton of cookies since Christmas either, but whenever I did, I forgot I had these new cookie sheets to try out.

Then, last weekend when I was making the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies for our friends’ Memorial Day Weekend cookout, I went to pull out a cookie sheet and there they were. Still wrapped in their original plastic.

I was so excited! Something new to try! It was like Christmas all over again as I unwrapped the plastic and took them out. They were soooo smooth and shiny.

Yes, I do get pleasure out of the small things, like shiny cookie sheets.

On the Wilton site, these cookie sheets are advertised as “Two quality aluminum layers sandwich an insulating layers of air for perfect browning without burning,” and can I tell you, that’s exactly right?

I can’t wait to use these cookie sheets again, and to get a few more of them!

These baking sheets did a fabulous job with our cookies! I wish I had about four more of them (they came in a set of two.) They were different from my old ones because they were heavier, being that they had the air insulation component to them. They were also flat all around except on one end, which is the end you grab onto when you pull them out of the oven.

But, my favorite thing of all had to do with my very first impression of them when I took off the plastic: they were smooth and shiny, and that allowed the cookies to literally slide right off the pan.

Of all the dozens of cookies we made that day, not one single cookie stuck to the baking sheets. There were no cookie remnants left on the sheet after you scooped the cookies off, no mess to clean, really.

Nothing burned, nothing stuck, the cookies cooked evenly all around and got that lightly browned edge that I love so much. They were perfect.

I am in*love* with these cookie sheets and I absolutely recommend them to anyone who is a cookie baker. I can’t wait to use them at Christmas time when I bake all those cookies for my trays!

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