Baptism and Carnitas. And Costco cake. Amen.

Our little snowflake got baptized!  It was a blessed, wonderful day.  Family, a few friends, and a small little service at our church.

Smiling at the camera?  The Spirit was with her

Since we were hosting family and anticipating feeding about 20 people after the service, I contemplated catering for about one single second before I thought, hold the phone, I can do it myself.  Upside:  Saving money!  Downside:  Doing it myself.


But no matter, Epicurious.com never lets me down.  And since I'm more of a novice cook I've found that life in the kitchen is easier if I stick to the following rules:

1) Choose dishes that can be made the night before 
2) Enlist the help of others 
3) Crock.  Pot.

The super-tasty, fuss-free menu:

Carnitas tacos with cilantro, cheese, red onion, and avocado

Mexican Chopped Salad with Jicama and Honey-Lime Dressing

Black Beans with Garlic, Cumin, and Cilantro

Costco Cake (duh.)

It was my first time cooking with jicama, and I'll definitely make it again.  Tastes like a cross between a water chestnut and an apple.  And I didn't have to go to a fancy grocery store to find it.  Who knew?  (Probably you.)

I would have taken a picture of the spread but I was probably too busy salivating over the Costco cake.  I mean, for $17 that delicious mousse-filled confection feeds 48 people (it says.  pay no mind to how big we cut our slices around here).  Last year when I was 9 months pregnant my dear sweet husband bought me an ENTIRE cake for my birthday.  Let's just say that the excitement about put me into labor right there.  My love for cake runs deep, and I'm obsessed with Costco, so the two together... it's just... I almost can't.  I cut off a tiny chunk to share at work and froze the rest but I was still eating a piece of cake every day until the baby was abouuuut 3 months old.  And even though I'm still huffing and puffing through the 30 Day Shred to work off the damage caused by that cake --> worth it.

(Almost as exciting as Costco cake?  The delivery of my first Stitch Fix box.  Have you heard of Stitch Fix??  Let's get fancy together.  Coming in December.)

Savory Butternut Squash Soup

Let's talk pureed soups.  What's not to love?  You just chop a bunch of stuff up, throw it in a pot, forget about it, and blend it to perfection.  It's a great way to get your veggies in, and there are tons of possibilities.

I used to ignore Butternut in the produce aisle but now we have kind of a Thing going on, seeing as how it costs less than $2 and lends itself really well to whatever spice you pair it with.  I've tried a few different recipes and came up with this one after a few tweaks.  (Some people like to roast their squash in the oven first, but I just prefer to cook mine in the pot because it's a little quicker.)  I try to make a big batch and freeze smaller portions in 1-quart bags for quick lunches and side dishes later in the month.

Savory Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed* 
1 onion, roughly chopped 
3-4 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tsp of dried thyme or sage 
1 tsp salt
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/3 cup half and half (or heavy cream, or milk, whatever you have in the fridge.  Or you can forgo this, but why?)

*Remember, the smaller the chunks, the faster it will cook.  But it doesn't have to be pretty!  Everything is getting blended so hack that thing up and forget about it

Heat 1 tbs of butter or olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat.  Add the onion first and cook until softened, about 4 minutes, then add the garlic.  Cook for just 1 minute more (so the garlic doesn't burn).  Add the thyme or sage along with the butternut squash and cook a few more minutes, until the squash is coated with the herbs and onions.  Maybe yours will look something like this

Next add the chicken stock, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes.  (Clean the rest of the kitchen.  Facebook something.  Intercept baby from making a beeline to dog's water bowl for 349th time.)  After 20 minutes, remove from heat and cool for a few moments.  Pour into the blender and just blend that sheet up.  Return to pot and add the cream for maximal swirly effect.

This pairs excellently with a rotisserie chicken and a loaf of rosemary bread (both from Costco, obvi).  It also gets raves reviews from my husband and the bebe, who slurps this up even when I throw in a dash of cayenne (the Free Range Fam likes it spicy!).  Even the chickens love some butternut scraps.  Win win win. 

So I took a blawg break

I'm sure you did not notice, but it's been a few months since my last post here at the Free Range Fam. While it is true that I've been busier than normal at work, and that we were away on a few trips, I also needed some time to get my blog mojo back on.  To re-focus on why I started this blog in the first place and re-direct where I want it to go, especially in the face of so many awesome-r blogs that have way better pictures of families who do more Fun Stuff than we do.

So that brings me to:  What do I want to share in this tiny corner of the interwebs?  What am I passionate about? 

Simple.

Well if it isn't the old chin-in-hand, circa 1994

Home cooking.

My faith.

Nutella.

Parenting.

(Not in that order, but you know, I'm just typing freely here.)

 So know that nothing you see on this site will be worthy of a Pinterest board (if you haven't figured that out already.  We keep it Real).  But my love for healthy* home cooking, among other things, runs deep, and it really excites me to share some of the better recipes I've tried/tweaked to make delicious and do-able for our family.  

Did not get the memo that this meal was delicious and do-able for her family

 

I hope to start crankin out the recipes soon, but in the meantime please excuse me while we dine on leftover Halloween candy and Nutella sandwiches.  Happy Fall.

*please disregard the Nutella sandwich comment

Homemade Pita Chips

I always seem to have baggies of leftover pita bread at the bottom of my fridge.  I get Trader Joe's pack of 8 Whole Wheat pitas, which are nice and soft and perfect for egg salad, but then they get a little hard after a few days and I tend to ignore them.   Now, the chickens will practically stab each other's eyes for a nibble of some leftover pita, but it feels a little wasteful so I turned to the interwebs to see what I could morph them into.  The answer?  Pita chips (...mind-blowing, I know.  Stick with me).  The thing with making homemade pita chips is that they are SO STINKING EASY and more delicious than bagged pita chips.  Every time I make these I slap my forehead and think, oh my gosh these are so good and why do I not make these all the time??  

Homemade Pita Chips

2-4 pitas, cut into wedges
olive oil
Trader Joe's Garlic Salt*

*Unlike the usual powdered garlic salt, this is a grinder of sea salt, garlic, onion, and parsley.  Saves you from having to season with salt and garlic separately, and is delicious on, oh I don't know, everything.

Preheat oven to 375.  Cut pitas into wedges (about 8 pieces per pita), brush with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt, and bake on baking sheet or pizza stone for 13-15 minutes.  


While they are delicious alone, these are perfect for dips and in soups.  They also tend to fill you up and spruce up whatever you've thrown together for dinner.  Like, 'we were going to just have broccoli soup for dinner, which is a side dish.  But now that I've added these homemade pita chips, it's a Meal.'  Bam.

Couponing Wannabe

I am such a couponing wannabe.  I've watched Extreme Couponing with my jaw on the floor ($600 of groceries for less than $10?!) and I've read blogs where moms talk about how they use coupons to save hundreds of dollars per year on their families' grocery bill.  Who doesn't like to save money?  Sign me up, I say.  Why haven't I gotten into this sooner?

Well, Sara, because to be a successful couponer you need to be 1) disciplined 2) organized and 3) good at Excel, and I am none of those.  For the ultimate grand supreme couponers, sifting through coupon mail-outs and plotting each purchase is practically a part-time job.  And, well, I have a part-time job.  But it's not the end!  There is help.  And it comes in the form of Totally Target.  

This wonderful website spells things out for the organizationally-challenged among us.  It tells you when things are on sale and provides the links (when applicable) to each item.  Like today, it tells you how to get free Lindt candy bars.  Or a one-year subscription to Elle magazine for $4.50 with the promo code "totallytarget" (Isn't that what a single magazine would cost?  I'm sold).  

My other can't-live-without coupon fave is Coupon Sherpa, the Best App in the History of the World.  Because it saves you actual money.  If you are an outlet mall junkie like me (Banana Republic Factory Store, anyone??), you need to download this right now.  Stores like Kohl's, Gap Outlet, Carter's, Hobby Lobby, and countless others almost always have some sort of 10-30% off coupon on any given day.  They're always adding new stores, and a lot of the coupons can be used online as well.

I'll admit that most of my coupons are for "wants" rather than "needs" (I'm still waiting for broccoli coupons), so using coupons does not really make or break our family's grocery budget.  But I really feel like I'm Sticking it To the Man when I whip out my Coupon Sherpa and save $0.18 on that piece of felt at JoAnn Fabrics.  It turns out that you CAN use coupons while also not turning into a person who hides toilet paper under your kid's bed.  No spreadsheet required.  

3 Ingredient Pancakes

I love me some breakfast food.  When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I think about is what I'm going to have for breakfast.  Since I'm not much of a snacker it's got to hold me over until lunch.  And some mornings, the Kashi just doesn't cut it in the delicious department.  So I started tinkering with pancake recipes and settled on this as my weekday go-to:

3 Ingredient Pancakes

1 banana

2 eggs

1/4 cup oatmeal

optional but encouraged:

*splash vanilla

*dash cinnamon

(*the addition of which would technically make these 5 ingredient pancakes, but just.  go with it.)

Combine all ingredients in the blender and puree until smooth. Pour onto greased griddle on medium-low (careful!  they'll burn at any higher temp) until bubbles form.  Flip and cook about 1-2 minutes more or to desired doneness.  Serve with peanut butter (a banana's best friend) and/or syrup.

I make these abouuuut every other day.  No joke.  They are that good.  And super healthy unless you are like me and go overboard on the melted peanut butter syrup.  This makes enough for about 5-6 smallish pancakes, and you can easily double/triple the recipe and freeze the rest for a week's worth of breakfasts.  Also a good way to use up overripe bananas!  Nom.

6 Month Update

Ohhh to have a 6-month old.  

I'd heard from a couple parents that the 6-month mark really starts the golden age of babyhood, and so far it has proven to be 100% true.  (Warning:  Super mushy baby love post, just so you know what you're in for.)  

Newborns are sweet and cuddly and wonderful in their own way, but it's SO much fun to see what makes her laugh and start to see her little personality coming through.  Is there anything better than having your little one squeal with excitement simply because you walked into the room?  

 

Not sure what I did to deserve this little snowflake.  People are always telling me, "enjoy this time.  It goes by so fast."  So if you come to my house during the day, you'll probably see the evidence of me trying to do just that (dishes in the sink.  Laundry in the bedroom.  Clutter in the bathroom).  Because the days are long but the years are short, and I want to savor every precious minute with her while she still thinks her parents are the Coolest, Funniest People on Earth.

 And did I mention the gloriousness of chubby baby CHEEKS?  (OK I'm done.  But sometimes I just can't handle it.)

We love you, sweet pea.  Happy 6 months.