Food Friday-Mexican Pasta Salad

This is a recipe from my soon to be sister in law. We all loved it when she brought it over.

exican pasta salad recipe.


1 pound fusilli pasta
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large tomatoes, seeded, diced (4 cups)
3 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen, thawed)
3 large carrots, thinly sliced on diagonal, slices cut lengthwise into thin strips
1/2 large red onion, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 jalapeno chilies, seeded, minced
1 1/4 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper

Cook fusilli pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Rinse pasta with cold water to cool. Drain pasta. Transfer pasta to large bowl. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and mix thoroughly to coat. Add diced tomatoes, corn kernels, carrot strips and chopped onion and toss.
Mix mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and fresh lime juice in small bowl. Mix in minced jalapeno chilies, chili powder and ground cumin. Add dressing and chopped fresh cilantro to salad and mix to blend. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

**I added more mayo cause it's just better and more of the dijion mustard. I think i pretty much added more of all the spices to. I didn't put the hot peppers in cause i figured kids would be eating it.**

For more recipes, check out the Recipe Swap

It's my time of year

Oh hello there Autumn. I've been eagerly awaiting your return. It's been 365 days since we last embraced and I've been longing for your return, arms wide open.

It seems only right that I dive right in today and welcome you with my favorite things...sitting outside and a cup of vanilla decaf chai. It's a little ritual that you and I share every year. It's our little one on one at the end of a busy day. It's the time when we just sit and enjoy each other's company. I love the silence that you bring. The neighbors go back inside and take their dogs with them. All I can hear are the leaves falling and the crickets chirping.

I can't wait for all the memories we'll build this year. I look forward to crunching leaves, the books I've fallen in love with recently, and the art projects you've inspired. We've been walking a lot more around here lately. We've been spending afternoons in the park and we've been to baby blessings. We've been running with cousins and I just can't think of a better way to greet you.

Food Friday-Apple Pie pancakes

'Tis the week to be using up apples. Once again here is a recipe that I found online and didn't write down where I got it from. However, these were yummy.

Apple Pie Pancakes
1 large baking apple, peeled, cored, and chopped into thin bits
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice**
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar, divided (use more or less depending on the sweetness of your apple)
2 cups milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

Place chopped apple in a small mixing bowl and sprinkle with the apple pie spice and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Toss gently to coat and let sit while you prepare the batter.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine milk, eggs, oil, vanilla, and remaining sugar. Beat with a whisk until well blended and foamy. Add flour and baking powder and whisk quickly to combine, beating until most of the lumps are gone. Fold in diced apple.

Spray griddle or electric skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Scoop about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto the skillet. Cook until golden brown and bubbles on the top burst, then turn and cook the other side. Keep warm on a platter in the oven until all pancakes are done. Serve with butter and maple or caramel syrup, if desired.
Leftovers can be cooled, wrapped in plastic with waxed paper between the layers, and frozen.

**I didn't have any apple pie spice on hand so I made some using this recipe.**

For more recipe ideas check out the Grocery Cart Challenge recipe swap.

Songs on Repeat

House by the Sea Iron & Wine
One of These Things First Nick Drake
Cello Song Nick Drake
You Really Got a hold on me She & Him
Sex on Fire Kings of Leon
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa Vampire Weekend
Electric Feel MGMT
Mr. E's Beautiful Blues The Eels
Man Must Dance Johnossi
Pink Light Laura Veirs
Uh-uh-uh Hey Willpower
Modern Guilt Beck
starlight Muse

What's on repeat for you?

Food Friday: Banana Blueberry Bread

This bread rocks my socks! I know I have posted a lot of banana recipes, but I buy a lot of them with a little one in the house. He likes them and it's cheaper to buy them in bulk so I have to be creative with the ones that don't get eaten prior to being too ripe. I wish I could remember where I got this recipe but I copied and pasted it to my email many months ago without writing down where I got it from. This make 2 loaves and I always say I'm going to freeze one but my parents end up coming over the same days I've made this and so it gets demolished.
Make this today!

Banana-Blueberry Bread
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter — softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed banana — 3 to 4 medium
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries — washed
1 cup walnuts — chopped (optional)(I use pecans)

Move the oven rack to a lower position so that the tops of the pans will be in the center of the oven. Preheat to 350ºF. Grease the bottoms only of two 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pans.
Beat the sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl until creamy. Add the eggs, banana, buttermilk and vanilla, and beat until smooth. Stir in the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Gently fold in the blueberries and walnuts, if using. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake at 350ºF for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pans on a cooling rack.
Gently loosen the sides with a knife and remove from the pans. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Alternatively, wrap well and freeze the bread, removing from the freezer the evening before serving.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 90 Calories; 4g Fat (36.1% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 13mg Cholesterol; 96mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Things he loves

Tonight I was sitting in the rocking chair in Monkeyface's room waiting for him to go to sleep. He's doing this thing now where he wants to be rocked and then put in his crib but he doesn't want you to leave the room. While I'm sitting there, listening to Nick Drake, I hear him listing all of his favorite things over and over again until he finally lets out one final yawn and falls asleep. Things he loves:

the name of his best friend
Mommy
Daddy
push
apple
Granny
Papa
Susan (his teacher)
hand
door
eye
face
hair
over there? (pronounced o'er der?)
NO!!!!!
O'er Der?
Yes!!
repeat

I'm so proud of my little list maker.

Every morning when we go out to the car and every afternoon when I pick him up from day care, he points to various cars and asks me.."Where's mommy's car?" "O'er der?"
"no..." "O'er der?" "no..."o'er der?" "Yes!" He will then walk over to car. I love the little games he plays.

Just tonight he asked his dad to bring him his markers and when he did, he smiled up at him with this face and said "Thanks Daddy!"

I love the sense of humor that is developing.

Food Friday-Crispy Yogurt Chicken

I love Pioneer Woman's website. She has some of the best recipes and none of them have disappointed. This recipe is for Crispy Yogurt Chicken. I did not use parsley because I did not have any so I adapted it to my own liking. I also cooked enough for only 3 people instead of 1,000,000 (she has a big family).

Here's what I did:

3 chicken breasts
1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
Juice from half of a lemon
butter
garlic salt (though I think fresh garlic would have been better)*
Italian seasoning to taste
1 cup Panko bread crumbs

I mixed together the yogurt, lemon, garlic salt, & Italian seasoning. After washing the chicken and patting it dry, I rolled it in the yogurt and then the bread crumbs. Place in a greased casserole dish and top each chicken with a pat of butter. The butter is important b/c it helps the breadcrumbs to crisp. If you use drumsticks, just place the butter on the "meatiest" part of the chicken.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes and then uncover for another 15 minutes.

My little one was yumming his way through the meal.
*If you use fresh garlic, be sure to use salt on the chicken.

To see more recipes visit the Grocery Cart Challenge.

Happiness is...

hearing Monkeyface shout out for his Uncle Vern but pronouncing it "BON!"
baking apparently...banana blueberry bread, banana pudding, cheese biscuits...
unpacking the 2 boxes that were never emptied when we moved in 4 years ago
finding "new" clothes in those boxes
sleeping in on my day off
taking my son to see the monkeys in Costa Rica
playing on the beach
watching my 2 yr old be fearless-he has no problem holding his breath underwater and loves riding on escalators
hearing him sing the theme from Batman
the approaching weather of autumn. I'm ready for chai