Burritos and Doughnuts

Steak Burritos

These really hit the spot. We had them once for dinner last week and we've had them twice this week. The obsession started after a visit to Chipotle in Kansas City during a fun weekend with the girls. I love meals where each person can build their burrito exactly as they like it. Here's a list of what we like to put in ours:

Marinated and Grilled Steak, cut into bite-sized pieces (recipe below)
Black beans (a can of black beans, drained and rinsed, heated on the stovetop with a little bit of water)
My homemade canned salsa (yet to be blogged, hopefully forthcoming)
Guacamole
Sour cream (left at room temp for about an hour before serving, and thoroughly mixed until it's pourable)
Cilantro Lime Rice (recipe below)
Red peppers and onions sauteed in olive oil (fajita style)

Steak Marinade

Olive oil
Lime juice
Salt and Pepper
(I also used a Southwestern Steak Seasoning.)

Cilantro Lime Rice (supposed to be a copycat recipe from Chipotle)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter
2 tsp. fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white basmati rice
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Lime

In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.

Apple Cider Doughnuts

I know better than to make my own doughnuts, I really do. I just couldn't help myself on this particular day. It was almost like kismet. I had to take a last minute trip to Quincy, IL for some supplies for a church activity coming up and noticed a doughnut shop advertising apple cider doughnuts. I had never heard of such a thing and was intrigued. Then I came home and checked my favorite food blog, smitten kitchen, and she had just fried up the very same doughnuts just days before! It was meant to be. It's not like I really had a choice. I'll just link to her recipe since I didn't change a thing, although I kind of wished I had fried them in shortening instead of oil like she recommends. I didn't read that part until after I made them. Tasty! I liked them better dipped in cinnamon sugar than coated in the glaze. And not only did the whole family love them, but they were fun to make, too!

In case you hadn't heard...

My mo mo mo mace

Guess who started preschool today? In fact she's there right now. She has been so excited. She has the same preschool teacher that Franny had, so she knows her well and likes her very much. I'm sure she's having a great time with centers and circle time, and whatever else they have planned for today.

I took her to lunch at McDonald's. One of my favorite things to do with Sophie is take her out to lunch. She is the cutest lunch date I've ever had. Today when I was finished eating my 89 cent cheeseburger (it's a pregnancy craving I occasionally get- I think it's the pickles), she said, "Good job, Mom." One time when we were eating lunch at Bellacino's, she started singing "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga. Something she must have heard from our neighbor friend Lydia because I'm not a fan. It sounded like this, "Ma ma ma ma ma ma, ma mo mo mo mace." So funny. She smiles at me a lot, asks me lots of questions, and tries to act like a big girl. I'd go out to lunch with her every day if we could afford it. I'm so into Mexican food right now.

I feel like a moron for not taking her picture with Miss Dempsay, but I'm sure I'll get my chance. She was a champ. Not at all afraid when it was time for me to leave. I'm excited for her. She really seems to relish any activity that is hers alone and not Franny's. Like her Friday morning dance class. When her dance class comes up, she often says, "Is it for me?" and I say "yes" and she says, "not for Franny?" It's pretty cute.

As for me, I think I'll go curl up somewhere with Sophie's five pound bag of Halloween candy and read my book. She doesn't need all that candy anyways. Come on, you know you do it, too.

I yuv trick-or-treating

People ask me why I don't dress up. That's easy. Who has the energy to dress themselves up after they get their kids ready? Okay, some of you do. But I will pass, thanks. :)

Our little town offers quite a bit of Halloween festivities to pick and choose from. We could be scheduled all day with trunk-or-treats, Halloween carnivals, and costume parades if I wanted it that way. We've tried them all through the years, but there is one event we've never missed and that is our ward trunk-or-treat. It always happens the night before Halloween and it never disappoints. Carnival-type booths, a cake walk, a little spooky cave, homemade root beer and then outside for trunk-or-treating. It was cold and windy this year. Franny gladly wore her coat but Sophie refused to wear one. That surprised me because Sophie out of our two kids has always been the one more sensitive to temperatures. As a baby we took her out sledding and the moment a little snow touched the skin on her wrist between her glove and her coat, it was all over and we had to pack it in. And now when I'm putting her in her car seat and the sun is in her eyes, she starts screaming like her clothes are on fire. She grin and bore the cold through about half of the trunks we were treating at, and then when I asked her if she wanted her coat, she said, "yeah!" like it was the first time I had asked her. Then she looked up at me and said, "I yuv trick-or-treating." I said, "oh you do, do you?" and she said, "yeah, I yuv candy."

On the way home I said, "Okay, somebody give me their bucket so I can have some candy." (Hungry Mommy.) Sophie says, "okay" and she handed me a bag of pretzels. Uh..nice try. I said, "thanks dear, but can you hand me the bucket so I can pick up something." Usually at this point she would say, "Mom, I'm not a deer!" But this time she must have been too focused on the kung fu grip she was using to keep me from taking her precious bucket. Then Franny said, "here you go, Mom!" and handed me hers, at which point I enjoyed a very nice mini-Twix and mini-twizzler pull apart. I yuv trick-or-treating, too.

Then we came home and had a video chat with my Dad and two youngest sisters in California so they could see the girls in their costumes. Franny was super-chatty, showing them each and every individual candy. Meanwhile Sophie was on the floor next to us, not at all participating in the video chat and ravenously eating piece after piece of candy, probably anticipating the candy could be taken away from her at any moment. (Mean mommy.) When did she learn how to open her own wrappers? Some of my favorite parts of the video chat was when my Dad asked Franny for some of her candy and she laughed and laughed and said, "No, I can't give it to you in the computer!!!" At one point she was trying to get Annie's attention to show her a candy wrapper with a skeleton on it and Maggie put her face really close to their computer's camera and said, "Hi Franny, I'm here too." Franny said, "Oh, Maggie," with a little chuckle and sigh. Then as we were signing off, my Dad said, "hey franny" and gave her a little salute with his hand and said, "Wonder Woman salute!" She said, "No, no, this is Wonder Woman salute." And she put her hands on her hips and posed like this:


It was awesome. Then we washed the half a can of Aqua Net and glitter spray from their hair and cuddled up on the couch to watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I like scary movies on Halloween, and that's about the scariest I'm willing to show my kids. (We fast forward the dementor parts.) Sophie fell asleep within five minutes, like I knew she would. (She very recently gave up naps because she starts afternoon preschool on Monday!) Franny told us she gets an upset feeling in her stomach when she's scared, and then she said, "but I like scary." She takes after me. Then she asked us to skip to the part when Lupin turns into a werewolf, something she never should have seen in the first place, but Bobby dozed off and I was making dinner. I said no and luckily we were all asleep before that part came anyway. It was a great night.

He doesn't kill people?

I get updates each week from Babycenter.com, on the progress of my baby's development. Franny seems really interested in the development of our unborn baby, so I called her in from breakfast to check out the picture in this week's update. (I'm seventeen weeks along and we still don't know for sure if it's a boy.)

Here's how the conversation went:

Franny: Does he love me?
Me: Yes.
Baby brother's not mean?
No.
He doesn't kill people?
(struggling to maintain a straight face): No, honey.
Does baby brother wear diapers?
No.
Does he wear clothes?
No.
Does he wear jammies?
No.
That's kinda weird.

Cream of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

My mom used to make me Campbell's Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese when I was a little girl. And I remember eating it once or twice at my best friend Annie's house. Her mom Phyllis has always been so good to me. So I have wonderful memories of this dinner as a kid when it was a bit chilly outside.

So when I saw this recipe for Cream of Tomato Soup on Smitten Kitchen, well, I knew it was just what I was looking for.

This recipe was in fact "adapted" from the recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen, but in no way do I believe it to be an improvement. I used garlic instead of shallots. I had garlic on hand, not shallots. I think shallots would have been better. I skipped adding the brandy or sherry that is called for in the recipe, and I believe I used light brown sugar instead of dark brown. Sometimes it's just not worth an extra trip to the store, you know what I'm saying? For the grilled cheese I used sourdough bread purchased the day before from Panera (OH YEAH.) and medium cheddar cheese.

Cream of Tomato Soup
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes packed in juice, drained, 3 cups juice reserved
1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Pinch ground allspice
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups chicken stock, homemade or canned low-sodium
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and cayenne pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450°F. Lined rimmed baking sheet with foil. With fingers, carefully open whole tomatoes over strainer set in bowl and push out seeds, allowing juices to fall through strainer into bowl. Spread seeded tomatoes in single layer on foil. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Bake until all liquid has evaporated and tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes. Let tomatoes cool slightly, then peel them off foil; transfer to small bowl and set aside.

2. Heat butter over medium heat in large saucepan until foaming. Add garlic, tomato paste and allspice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened, 7 to 10 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Gradually add chicken stock, whisking constantly to combine; stir in reserved tomato juice and roasted tomatoes. Cover, increase heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, to blend flavors, about 10 minutes.

3. Pour mixture through strainer* and into medium bowl; rinse out saucepan. Transfer tomatoes and solids in strainer to blender; add 1 cup strained liquid and puree until smooth. Place pureed mixture and remaining strained liquid in saucepan. Add cream and warm over low heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Off heat, stir in salt and cayenne. Serve immediately. (Soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Warm over low heat until hot; do not boil.)

I also recently learned how to can. I mean to make a post about my recent canning efforts complete with recipes, but I make no promises. Only because typically when I promise to write about something on this blog, I don't follow through. Anyway, this applesauce recipe is so awesome! If I'm not careful, we could burn through all this applesauce in a week. And I used a lot of apples for this!

Autumn Apple Sauce
found on Epicurious

I used mostly McIntosh, with a few of the following: Granny Smith, Gala, Honeycrisp.

8 assorted apples (i.e., Rome, McIntosh, Royal Gala, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup fresh apple cider
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick (3 inches long)

1. Peel, core and cut the apples into large chunks, tossing them with the lemon juice to prevent discoloration.

2. Place the apples and remaining ingredients in a large, heavy pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover partially and cook until apples are very tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover the pot and cook 5 minutes more.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and discard the cinnamon stick. Coarsely mash the apples with the cooking juices. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate, covered, until ready to use, up to 5 days.

Then I just processed them using a water bath canner for fifteen minutes.

This is how we do it in the midwest.

Well, it's not how I do it.

You wouldn't see a kids' carnival game like this where I grew up.

I guess they like to start 'em young around here.