Coconut Chickpea Soup!

Ingredients

1 coarsly chopped onion

2 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of ground cumin

1 medium tin of chickpeas, strained and rinsed

1 medium tin of diced tomatoes

1 medium tin of coconut

Salt and pepper



*zucchini (sliced thin)

Directions

1. Fry the onion and cumin with the olive oil in the pot over medium-high heat.

2. When the onion looks translucent, add the tin of diced tomatoes, with the equivalent of water and the chickpeas (and zucchini if you'd like). Simmer for about 40 minutes then add the coconut milk. 
Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
Enjoy!

Thanks to Jennifer Johnson for sharing this recipe with me! It was Delicious!

thai chicken curry with coconut and lime

this was so yummmy!

i used:

3 cans coconut milk 

chicken stock powder

2 tsp curry powder (maybe a bit more... to taste)

jalapeno chilis ( i used something kind of big and bright green and one that was really small and dark green, i'm not a chili pro.....sorry!) 

lime juice

salt & pepper

chicken breasts

green onion

cilantro

rice noodles

limes 

cucumber

mushrooms

to begin, i poured boiling water over the rice noodles and let them soften up. in a big pot i put the coconut milk and then added chicken stock powder into the three empty cans and then water and added it to the coconut milk in the pot, i added my chopped green onions and thinly sliced mushrooms and my seeded and minced peppers. i let that simmer for a few minutes (med heat) and then added chicken sliced really small into the pot, it will cook very quickly (maybe 5 minutes) meanwhile add about 6 tablespoons of lime juice, and salt & pepper add the drained rice noodles to the pot, taste it and season with more curry, lime juice, salt or pepper of necessary (it should have quite a kick!) I served it with extra limes, a plate of fresh cilantro and chopped cucumber that people could add in! Enjoy! (oh and this also fed about 10 people... feel free to use just one can of coconut milk/water and use less of everything else if you're making it for less!) 

cheese danish, kind of cinnabunnish

This recipe rocks, it came from a cookbook that my mom's work put out. A bunch of people from Children's Hospital collaborated and did this as a little fundraiser. So thanks Gina Fedel for this.... 

9x13 inch pan:

2 pkgs crescent rolls

2 (8oz) cream cheeses, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

3 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg white

1/3 cup sugar

cinnamon    

I'm not a big measure-r...  Tonight I only had one package of crescent rolls so here's somewhat of an idea of what i used, oh and I made it in a pie-ish or tart pan. 

1 package crescent rolls

1 package of cream cheese

some sugar 

an egg

a squirt of lemon juice

a spoonful of vanilla extract

some more sugar

some cinnamon

Heat oven to 350* (180* C) 

Unroll the package of crescent dough and cover the bottom and sides with dough, seal the seams. (My pack of crescent rolls had 6, i used four for the bottom of the pie pan and saved two for the top) Mix cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract together and spread over the bottom of the crust. Top with the rest of the dough, When I did the smaller pan and only used one package of dough I pulled it into a few thinner pieces and made a sort of

 checkerboard type  thing on the top, it was pretty and also not overly doughy which i found making the first recipe. Mix egg white, sugar and cinnamon and spread over the top layer.

 Putting a lot of cinnamon in it makes it taste super and also kind of cinnabon-ish. Bake 30 minutes for the original or about 22 for my twist. Serve and enjoy! 

So the Pickerill kids and I had this for dinner tonight, and Gloria was pretty sad, missing her mom and to try and ease her pain he said, "It's so yummy Gloria, when you eat it your head is going to splash with lava!" a few minutes later as she was eating it I asked if her head was splashing with lava and she said no... Lucas says, "Darn it, I got it wrong" 

fried rice

rice (brown or white, cooked)

butter

carrots/onion (<-- the basics, but add other veggies if you'd like)

soy sauce

eggs

(cashews can be good thrown in there too)

some meat (i used this pre-flavored shawarma meat that was already cut into thin slices) 

so cook your rice how ever you like. put a dallop of butter in your pan and saute the onions, carrots (i shredded my carrots) and any other veggies that you'd like (celery, sprouts, baby corn?) saute your veggies and then add your rice ( i prefer brown) and some soy sauce in a seperate pan spray it with some non-stick and crack a few eggs straight into the pan and then use your spatula or utensil to kind of slice up the egg so it's in smaller pieces throw that into your other pan and then cook your meat in the egg pan. i found a pre-seasoned shawarma box of meat that's really nice in the rice ( i really don't even know what kind of meat it is.. it's in dutch). let it all cook together for a bit, maybe add some salt and pepper and a few nuts. 

crepes

or "swedish pancakes" as i'd have called them before i moved to europe....

2 eggs

2 cups of milk 

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup of flour

1/2 tsp salt

whisk/mix all ingredients together....

put a dallop of butter in the pan every couple of crepes... cook/flip and so on. 

it's also good to cook up some bacon and have some kind of (preferably something white/light) cheese slices, torn into smaller bits. 

once you flip the crepe add the stuff that you want in the middle and then fold it in half (kind of omelette-like) :) SO good. & Most people have this stuff on hand, so it's super easy.... you just have to be patient in flipping..... 

brooke's favorite cookies

Brooke's favorite Christmas Cookies

2 c. flour

1 c. butter

1 c. cream cheese

mix ingredients & chill (preferably overnight, or a couple of hours) give a blob of dough to each person on a heavily flour'd surface and roll away. Not too thin. Cut out with cookie cutters, and sprinkle/press in TONS of sugar (the more the merrier). Colored Sugar & Red Hots are fun! Bake 10-15 minutes at about 375*...... have fun & enjoy! 

sunday soup

Well, all (almost all) the stores are closed here on Sunday, at least the ones within a reasonable distance of our house, so today I made some dinner with what we had in the kitchen and it turned out nicely. 

Some tomato-ey soup...

I started with two cups of cream and cooked it until it was frothy and then added a can of (maybe stewed?) tomatoes some basil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and macaroni noodles..... cooked it until the noodles were soft, it was yummmmmy!