A Letter to Littlest: 10 Months

You are becoming so expressive. I sometimes wish that I could freeze time, so that I could remember everything.

Dear Kenny,

Today you turned ten months old.  You've officially been outside of me longer than you've been inside of me.  Of course, that's not entirely true.  In these ten months, you've wriggled into my heart and daddy's heart in ways that we never thought possible.  So really, you've been inside of me from the start, and you never left.

I never thought that I would be one of those moms who admire their baby's every accomplishment, who looks at every new milestone as a sign of precociousness, but I am.  With every passing day, I see your new tricks, the way you mimic and babble, and I wonder how you learned all these things, and I wonder at the ways that God has enlarged my heart so that I can love you more than I ever thought possible.

It's not just you who, I love more, but everyone; especially daddy.  Our God truly is an amazing God.

I don't know how old you will be when you first read this letter.  Maybe seven or eight.  I hope Google doesn't go under before then because I really have no idea how to back up a website. I suppose at that point, you will not care so much for these heartfelt emotions or for the words that make me tear up as I write them, because I know that my words will never be adequate to express mine and daddy's love for you.  Most likely, you will be more curious about yourself.

Today, Littlest, you are so wiggly, busy and fun!  In the past few weeks, you have started communicating with me and daddy.  For example when I say, "I love you, give me kiss," you lick my cheek.

Miss Amanda, who takes care of you swears that you said "Bye Bye, Daddy" when Daddy dropped you off last week, but I'm not so sure.  What I do know is that you babble on and on, and when you finish, you look at me or at daddy with those big blue eyes as if you expect us to respond.  We just shake our heads at you because that makes you giggle every time.

You are starting to understand when things are funny (at least to you), and you have the most adorable belly laugh.  Daddy recorded it on his phone.  I'll try to load it to our computer so you can hear yourself in the future.

And you love to play games with me and daddy! Your favorites are give and take (where we hand you a toy, you take it and then hand it back and repeat) and feed mommy and daddy (where you offer us soggy graham crackers and we pretend to take a bite).  

You understand to not pull books off the bookshelf, and you mimic when we say "So Big" and "So Little" and you speed crawl to us when we call your name (well you start crawling our way, but you usually get distracted by a toy along the way).

What else are you doing? Well, you can now pull yourself up on furniture, climb one or two stairs at a time, attempt to feed yourself with a spoon (your enthusiasm in the task is excellent, but your execution is still pretty poor), drink water from a water bottle, and you sign "More" although we are pretty sure that you don't understand this either.

Most of all you are on the move.  Like lots of babies, you are so curious about the world around you.  You want to put every rock, dirt clod and pine cone in your mouth.  You want to touch every book, every paper, every tool, and be constantly close to mommy or daddy (as if you can help us sweep, dig a ditch, cook, or do work on our computers).

You also have two teeth on top and two on the bottom.  Your hair is coming in a lot thicker and its turning a little bit red.

This month you got to go to a wedding in Washington DC, and we spent a lot of time in the Smithsonian Museum.  You seemed to like looking at the gems, just like daddy.  Nana and Grandpa and Auntie Greta came down to Raleigh to visit us, and we had so much fun with them.  They love you so much, Littlest.

Every day you are learning and growing, and I cannot believe it was just ten months ago that you were born because I feel like you've been a part of my life forever.

Your daddy and I pray with you and for you every day that you will treasure Jesus above everyone and everything else, and that you will be a lover of God and of people.

We love you so much in all the world,
Mommy & Daddy

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Mango Lassi

One thing that I love about cooking, eating and the internet is that I feel like I'm transported around the world every time that I cook or eat something new.  It's like the ultimate budget vacation.

According to my coworkers in Bangalore, it is the very essence of hot right now, and the only thing that will do is a cold bath and cold drink.  The beverage of choice seems to be Mango Lassi (or beer, but I'm not about to try and attempt Indian brewing practices).

Sweet, refreshing, delicious Mango Lassi is perfect for a hot day.

While its not as hot here in Raleigh as it is in Bangalore, its hot enough for me to crave a cold beverage after a run, and in honor of my Indian Food theme week, I decided to attempt my first homemade mango lassi. 

The recipe that I started with was this one from Cooking with SJ.  She is an Indian Blogger who I've been following for some time now.  Everybody should go visit her site, because her food is the best.  I should have featured more of her recipes this week, but I would never adapt the main dishes.  They are just to good.  This is the only recipe that I would dare to tamper with and mainly because I understand the joy of ice!

The first time I tried mango lassi was at the World Street Kitchen Food Truck in Minneapolis (or the food truck as my coworkers called it, as if there was never another worth considering).  It was a hot day, and we stood in line on hot asphalt in business attire for about 30 minutes before ordering.  While I almost always drink water with meals (particularly meals out), this was the world's easiest upsell. I got the Mango Lassi with my meal, and at the time it felt like the best $4.00 I had ever spent.

Mango lassi is extremely sweet and creamy and has a surprisingly aromatic flavor (it turns out this comes from the cardamom). On a hot day, nothing refreshes as well as this does.  One thing that is important to note is that I would classify Mango Lassi as a drink not a smoothie, but it is blended and it does contain fruit and dairy, but it has a much more liquidy and less wholesome quality to it.

Another important thing to note is the blend time.  I said two minutes with an immersion blender.  You might have one of those $14,000 blenders that also prepares meals and changes your child's diaper.  In that case just a few seconds will do, but mangos are very fibrous fruits, and a mango lassi is creamy not granular, and you don't want little bits of fiber killing your joy.  

The only bad thing about Mango Lassi is that you will find your drink is gone before you want it to be as you can see in the picture below.

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Mango Lassi

by Hannah Rounds May-8-2014

Mango Lassi is a perfect beverage to cool you down at the end of a long hot summer day

Ingredients

• 1 Very Ripe Mango- Diced
• 1-3 Tablespoons (depending on your preference) Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Plain Yogurt
• 1/4 Cup Milk or Water
• 4-5 Cubes Ice
• Pinch Cardamom

Instructions

1. Blend milk, yogurt and ice until ice is crushed (about 30 seconds)2. Add mango, sugar and cardamom and blend until smooth (about 2 minutes)

Details

Prep time: 3 mins Cook time: 2 mins Total time: 5 mins Yield: 1 Generous Serving

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Naan Bread

Naan, Naan, Hey, Hey, Hey...Good Bread!

Did you notice the food pun in the caption? It's supposed to refer to the song that you hear at baseball games (for a history of the song which I have not verified, read this blog).  

Speaking of hilarious food puns, I'm going to do my first ever giveaway on this blog.  Whoever most accurately describes my humor in the comment section of this blog post wins ten bags of my charisma valued at $19.99 each and one exclusive picture of Littlest.  To help you understand just how valuable of a prize this is, I present to you the second most adorable picture of Littlest that I took today.  Just imagine how great first prize will be.

How can you resist those big blue eyes? You cannot.

Now that I've tempted you with a giveaway, provided link bait to another one of my posts, and generated value add content, I've almost completed my blog post to do list.  The only things left are to provide a second outbound link (Here's one to my favorite Buzzfeed of the week), and describe the drool-worthy food featured above.

Onto the real purpose of this blog post (is the recipe the point, or the link bait? You will never know).

Let's talk about Naan bread for a minute.  When most people eat Naan or a closely related flatbread cousin, they think, "I want to eat all the bread!!!!"

It's so delicious that for a long time, I thought that there must be some complicated trick for making it.  It turns out that it requires no trick at all.  Not even patience, which for those of us still growing in our Fruits of the Spirit, this is a great thing. 

For something that is incredibly simple to make, its perfectly divine to eat. Many areas of the world are more well known for their bread making expertise, but I think that India has gotten the shaft on that front.  I personally believe that Naan is the best unsweetened bread experience, anywhere, ever, period.

The soft chew of the interior and light crisp of the air bubbles make this bread the perfect texture.  Naan has all the flavor of freshly baked white bread, but the exact perfect density of the bread along with the complete lack of crust thrusts the entire Naan into exclusive space that it shares with only the interior of a French baguette.  Yes, the part that I tear out and bunch into a ball before eating. You do that to, so don't lie.

The best part about homemade naan is the ease with which you can make it.  It's a single rise dough, so you can go from dough to bread in about an hour and a half max.  Additionally, the ingredients are so...normal.  There is not a special thing on the list (unless you don't eat yogurt or keep yeast on hand).

Do yourself a favor and make this bread today!  You will thank me.  Oh, and if you comment below this post, I'll send you a free bag of charisma too.

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Homemade Naan Bread

by Hannah Rounds May-7-2014

This is the easiest recipe for delicious homemade naan bread, and it contains no weird ingredients at all.

Ingredients

• 2 Teaspoons Yeast
• Generous 1/2 Cup Warm Water
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 Cup Full Fat Plain Yogurt
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 3 Cups Flour + More For sprinkling

Instructions

1. Combine Yeast, warm water (1/2 cup only to start), and sugar in a large mixing bowl and allow yeast to bubble for about ten minutes. Caution- If your yeast isn't bubbly its dead (or you might have killed it with too hot of water. Start over now, or you will feel sad).2. Add egg, olive oil, yogurt and salt to the yeast and mix thoroughly.3. Slowly add the flour until you have to knead with your hands. To add all three cups of flour you may need a bit more warm water. The dough should be moist but not sticky, and it should be fairly easy to knead.4. Set your dough aside for a minute, give your mixing bowl a quick rinse, then rub the interior with some oil.5. Put your dough back in the bowl, and cover your dough with plastic wrap. Place the dough in a warm location and allow it to double in size. On a warm day this could be just 45 minutes, but on a cold day it could take two hours.6. Divide dough into 6 sections, and roll each dough to about 1/4 inch thick on a well floured surface.7. Heat butter or olive oil in a very hot skillet.8. Add one dough section to the pan and let it cook for about 45-90 seconds (long enough for large bubbles to form but short enough so it doesn't burn). Flip the bread and let it cook for about 30 seconds on the other side. Repeat with the rest of the dough, adding more oil to the pan when necessary.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 2 hour Yield: 6 Naan

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Sweet Potato, Spinach and Lentil Curry

Sweet and Mellow vegetables combined with aromatics and heat to create a heavenly lentil curry.

Recently, I learned about "Wonderpot".  No, this is not something that you can now legally buy in the Mile High City (pun).  Rather, this is a one pot dish that was pioneered by Budget Bytes. Basically, you throw all the ingredients into one large pot, let it simmer and your dinner is magically delicious (much like a bowl of Lucky Charms only, you know, satisfying).

Even though I love to cook, easy and satisfying is something that I am for most week nights. These one pot wonders are a serious sanity saver and since they are on the site Budget Bytes, I assume they have low cost per serving too.

Since its Indian (or British as the case may be) Food Week here on Crowdsource My Dinner (Did I announce that yesterday? It is.), I've decided to make a "WonderPot" of sweet potato, spinach and lentil curry. Lentils lend themselves really well to wonderpots, because they require simmering which means they have plenty of time to absorb the yumminess from other flavors (such as coconut milk, onions and garlic).

This is definitely the easiest recipe that I've created in a long time, and one of the most delicious. The flavor of this wonderpot is out of this world.  Creamy sweetness from the coconut milk, tender chew from the lentils, a little bit of acidity from the tomatoes, spicy and herbacious goodness from the aromatics.  

When I first started throwing ingredients into a pot, I worried about was that this would end up being mushy, but the lentils held their shape and texture really well, and created a distinctly non-mushy texture (the opposite of mushy is crunchy, but this is decidedly not crunchy).

Enjoy!

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Sweet Potato, Lentil and Spinach Curry

by Hannah Rounds May-6-2014

This one pot wonder curry is as easy to prepare as it is delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 Very Large Sweet Potato- Diced
• 1 Can Full Fat Coconut Milk
• 1.5 cups Stock (vegetable or chicken)
• 1 Medium Onion- Diced
• 3 Cloves Garlic- Minced
• 1 Can Diced Tomatos
• 3 Tablespoons Garam Masala
• 1/2 Teaspoon Tumeric
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Lentils Rinsed
• 2 Cups Packed Spinach
• 1/8 Bunch Cilantro
• 1 Dollop per Bowl Greek Yogurt

Instructions

1. Soak lentils for at least 45 minutes then rinse them.2. Add sweet Potatoes, tomatoes, stock, coconut milk, onion, garlic and spices to a pot and bring it up to a slow simmer for 20 minutes.3. Add lentils and allow pot to simmer 20-30 more minutes.4. Add spinach and allow it to wilt (2-3 minutes)5. Serve curry with yogurt and freshly chopped cilantro (and naan bread or rice are nice side choices)

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 55 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 4 Servings

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Chicken Tikka Masala

Proving once again, that Britain may have turned a culinary page, I introduce you to the creamy, scrumptious bowl of curry goodness... Chicken Tikka Masala.

I used to think that movies/TV and other non-reading media were horrible methods for learning, then the internet happened.  It turns out that you can learn a lot from the TV, as long as you are paying attention.  The reason I never paid attention was that "educational" TV is boring. However, food shows are very interesting!

For example, several months back I learned about the curry tradition in Great Britain from watching The Supersizers on Hulu.  It turns out that despite the British tradition of making just horrible foods for literally centuries the Indians have been trying to fix Britain's palate one dish at a time.  Thank goodness for India is all I have to say.

Recently, Great Britain actually named their national dish to be Chicken Tikka Masala, which is only a little ridiculous considering it definitely was not developed in Jolly Old England, but they do consume a lot of curry dishes there and Madhur Jaffrey started a decidedly British curry revolution.

Whether this falls into the category of Faux-Indian or just Indian food, Chicken Tikka Masala is one of the easiest, most scrumptious, velvety pile of tantalizingly spicy goodness that you will ever have the pleasure of eating.

Honestly, this is not a spicy dish, but it is aromatic.  The spices and flavors have the power to transport you to your happy place, where nothing can interrupt quality time with a bowl of Yum!, Chicken Tikka Masala's texture is velvety, almost creamy.  And when the whole thing is piled high on a bed of basmati rice and topped with cilantro, you know that things don't get a whole lot better this side of heaven.

Traditionally Tikkas are cooked in a Tandoor, but I have been working with this recipe from Foodie with Family for two or three years now, and I think the crockpot method is the best method that I've come across.  Despite the fact that the crockpot does most of the work, this is still a bit of a time consuming dish, so be sure to set aside a bit of prep time and don't just plop everything in the crock pot and hope everything comes out all right.  I've never gone wrong with this dish, make it and love it today.

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Chicken Tikka Masala

by Hannah Rounds May-5-2014

A scrumptious, velvety smooth, tomato and chicken curry, made easier by some love from the crock pot.

Ingredients

• 8 Thighs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs- Diced into 1/4" pieces
• 1 Cup Full Fat Greek Yogurt
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 1/2 Teaspoon Coriander
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon Allspice
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
• 1 Teaspoon Tumeric
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 Medium White Onion- Diced
• 6 Cloves Garlic - Pressed
• 2-3" Fresh Ginger Grated
• 24 Ounces Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 Jalapeno- Finely Diced
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Half and Half or Cream
• 2 Teaspoons Corn Starch
• 5 Tablespoons Butter

Instructions

1. Mix yogurt and all spices2. Marinate chicken in yogurt mixture for at least 30 minutes3. Melt butter, then brown chicken4. Add chicken/butter mixture to a crockpot along with all remaining ingredients except half and half and cornstarch.5. Cook on low for 5-6 hours, then add half and half and cornstarch6. Cook on low for another 45 minutes then serve with rice, peas and cilantro

Details

Prep time: 45 mins Cook time: 6 hour Total time: 7 hour Yield: 6 Servings

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Food Puns

Welcome to the first ever addition of Food Puns by the Crowdsource My Dinner Family.  Where I take pictures and add captions and you laugh.

First up the Mad Scientist has been working on canning a few things lately.

Actually, it's his mother's jam, but she gave it to us :)

He's also been working on voice activated dinnerware.  When he calls it, the cups runneth over.

Meanwhile, I learned that while the Mayan calendar has ended, I still believe that we are near to the end of the world...

I'm actually out of fajita seasoning, but you get the point.

When I'm not studying apocalyptic literature, I'm focusing on more temporal matters, like cleaning up after dinner.

In reality, I store my leftover food in reusable containers which is why a single roll of Aluminum foil has lasted over 3 years.

And of course, I'm trying to teach Littlest to adopt all my favorite past times, but he seems ambivalent.

Baby with ice cream... You're welcome.

Leave your favorite food pun below for a chance to be featured in the next addition of Food puns.  Whenever that might be.

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Spinach Salad with Ginger Carrot Dressing

Colorful food is fun to eat, and dressing makes it delicious!

My college years were salad glory days.  Our dining hall made some pretty incredible food, all things considered, but the salad bar was the stuff of legends.  It had spinach, iceberg lettuce, soy beans, tofu, little baby corns, carrots, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, boiled eggs, hummus, and on and on and on.

It was popular to take two large bowls, fill one with veggies and dressing and use the other as a lid and shake the salad up for an even distribution of dressing and salads.  Like a McSalad Shaker, only big, and with more than three ingredients.  

While most people used a two handed approach to shaking the salads, I distinctly remember having a cross country teammate who bragged that he could shake these bowls with one hand... and he could. I was impressed.

However, his bragging about his salad shaking ability (shaking what his mama gave him as he put it) often prompted competitions of machismo which inevitably resulted in the other competitor dropping salad everywhere.  Our poor dining hall workers.

These days, I wouldn't be nearly as impressed with the size of his hands or his salad shaking abilities, because for a few months, I worked with a guy whose hands were the size of kleenex boxes.  He could probably palm a basketball the same way I can palm a softball.

As I was going to say, before I so rudely interrupted myself with reminiscing is that post-college, I never thought I would be able to make salads nearly as well as I did in college due to a lack of an appropriate salad bar.  

I don't know about you, but I don't think the 8 foot by 8 foot kitchen shared by four women in my first post college home wasn't exactly conducive to industrial sized salads.  I pretty much gave up salading altogether.

That was until I started reading food blogs about a year ago, and I noticed recipes for salads.  And the recipes weren't just dump everything into a bowl and shake.  It was actually a thoughtful combination of a reasonable number of ingredients.  "Self, you can do that," I thought to myself, and I could.

I didn't have to buy the entire produce section, just enough ingredients to make me a healthier person, and the rest could be rounded out with things I already had on hand.

This salad comes close to one that I would have eaten in college.  Just a basic bowl of crisp delicious veggies, with the crunchy addition of uncooked ramen.  It's really the dressing that makes this a salad worth sharing.  Rather than being primarily cream or vinegar based, this one is actually aromatic based, so its a really unique flavor.  The dressing is a combination of onions, garlic, carrots, ginger, fish sauce, vinegar and sesame oil pulsed together until it becomes a sauce.  The flavor is what would happen if ceasar dressing and ponzu sauce got married and had babies, but in a good way.

Be warned, you will want to brush your teeth after this one.

Like all salads, the best way to eat this would actually be to add some meat to the salad, but for the purpose of the post, I kept it simple.  I hope you enjoy!

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Spinach Salad with Ginger Carrot Dressing

by Hannah Rounds May-1-2014

Enjoy a delicious salad with an aromatics based dressing

Ingredients

• 2 Carrots - Finely Grated- Divided
• 1 Red Onion- Finely Sliced- Divided
• 1 Clove Garlic- Pressed
• 1.5 Inches Ginger Peeled
• 1 Teaspoon Fish Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
• 1-2 Teaspoons Rice Vinegar
• Up to 2 Tablespoons Water
• 3 Cups Spinach
• 1 Yellow Bell Peppers- Diced
• 1/2 Cucumber- Thinly Sliced
• 1 Package Uncooked Ramen Noodles

Instructions

1. In a food processor combine 1/2 of carrots, red onion, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, sesame oil and vinegar. Pulse until smooth. Add water if necessary.2. Toss vegetables with dressing and enjoy

Details

Prep time: 14 mins Cook time: 1 mins Total time: 15 mins Yield: 2 Servings

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