cooking

Cooking with the MIL!

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My mother in law is still in town, and we’re cooking together tonight! She’s Filipino, so she’s teaching me to make suman. It’s a sweet rice cake. The rice is cooked almost all the way in coconut  milk. Then it’s wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. There’s a lot of sugar involved too, so I wouldn’t call it a healthy snack, but it’s a yummy one!

It’s already pretty late tonight, and we’re still aways from being finished, so I won’t be posting the recipe tonight…just a few photos to whet your palate!

Suman Ingredients
Sticky Rice- We used brown sweet rice to make the suman a little more nutritious.
Rice cooked in coconut milk
Drying the banana leaves after washing

You’ll have to come back tomorrow to see the finished product! Have a great night!

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cooking

Kale, Coconut, and Farro Salad

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UPDATED 02/06/14

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll probably keep talking about it for the benefit of new readers. I recently committed to incorporating more grains and produce in our diet. Right now, I’m crazy about kale. I’ve always used kale in soups, but now I’m constantly popping kale tossed with olive oil and sea salt into the oven for a quick, nutritious kale chips snack. It’s the season for kale, and I’m taking advantage of it!

WHFoods has a great graphic breaking down the nutritional benefits of kale. It’s high in vitamins K, A, and C. It also contains needed minerals and fiber.

Tonight I made kale, coconut, and farro salad. Although it’s called a salad, it’s hearty enough, you could eat it as an entire meal on its own. Farro is a good source of fiber, complex carbohydrates, and protein. If you can’t go meatless, this salad would taste great as a side.

I obtained this recipe from my friend Nicole over at The Fresh Kitchen, who adapted it from Heidi Swanson. I’ve had it several times now at Nicole’s house, and it’s a favorite of mine. I think the sesame oil and the coconut really make the dish. It’s easy to make too, and really doesn’t take too long. I like this with al dente farro. Also, watch the kale and coconut closely while it’s in the oven. It’ll burn very quickly. I ended up making a little extra sauce at the end too, because I didn’t save enough to really cover it.

Nicole has graciously allowed me to repost her photo of the salad, because I overcooked my coconut and kale. =D So you can see her nice photo of how it should look. I will say that my slightly-overdone salad was still delicious. If I hadn’t tasted Nicole’s perfect salad, I never would’ve known mine had been toasted slightly too long.

Please note, the blog URL on this photo is no longer accessible. The brand new “The Fresh Kitchen” is at this address: http://thefreshkitchen.com/.
What’s your favorite way to use kale?
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life

Pumpkin cookies, our Thanksgiving menu, and sleep “training”

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Pumpkins may be associated with Halloween, but I think they’re still perfect around Thanksgiving time as well. I’ve got a batch of pumpkin cookies from a Martha Stewart recipe, ready to go in the oven…

I’m rather notorious for burning cookies, so I’m watching the clock right now. 🙂 The batter tastes delicious, so I think this recipe will probably be a hit in our home. I’m not making the icing though.

Today has been pretty much flat-out since I woke up this morning, except for the 20-turned-into-60-minute nap I had this afternoon. I needed it though. It refreshed me for this evening, or I’d be wiped out by now. My husband’s mom, brother, sister, brother-in-law, and two nephews are all coming for Thanksgiving. Besides the frantic cleaning and laundry (SO MUCH LAUNDRY, AHHHHH!), I’m trying to get ahead on the cooking/baking.

Our Thanksgiving Menu:

  • cornbread
  • sweet potatoes
  • roasted turkey
  • bread stuffing
  • creamed peas and pearl onions
  • cheesy vegetable gratin
  • cran-raspberry sauce
  • trifle
  • pecan pie

My MIL is bringing cornbread and sweet potatoes. I’m making the rest, except for the pecan pie. I bought the pie from a local stand at the Farmer’s Market called Vy’s Pies. Most of the recipes I’m following are from a Rachael Ray Thanksgiving edition magazine that I actually bought last year but never used.

I made the cran-raspberry sauce today. I also have bread in the bread maker that I’m going to leave out and let get nice and stale for stuffing.

Tomorrow, I’m making the veggie/potato dishes. Thursday, I’ll make the stuffing and turkey.

I’m a little overwhelmed by all the cleaning and organizing I still have to do around our home. And really…I just have one day left to do it. We’re going to a dinner party tomorrow night, so that means I have to get everything done by the afternoon.

Moving on from the cooking:

I know I mentioned recently that I’ve been really struggling with “training” Jeremiah to sleep better at night and in his crib. It probably hasn’t been too bad when I actually think about it, but when you’re exhausted, little things seems like a really big deal to me. I realized a couple of nights ago that all the work I’ve been doing is actually pointless. My MIL is staying with us for 2 weeks after Thanksgiving, and she’ll be sleeping in Baby J’s room, so he’ll be in the bassinet in our room. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before, but I’ll have to start all over again in about 3 weeks. When I first realized this, I felt like crying. But then I decided it was pointless to stress myself and Baby J out anymore. So the last few nights, I’ve let him fall asleep in our bed, and after his first feeding, I’ve been moving him to his crib. I’m going to take advantage of these two weeks to work on his naps. He usually only naps for 20 minutes at a time, which is obviously too short.

What’s on your Thanksgiving menu?
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