Chicken Fajita Lime Marinade...

This is a fantastic marinade to kick your fajitas up a notch.

Fajita Lime Marinade

• Juice of 4 - 5 Limes
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp light molasses
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients together, pour into freezer size ziplock and marinade uncooked chicken in refridgerator for at least one hour. Remove from fridge and bring to room temp before cooking. Cook chicken over medium heat, spooning extra marinade over chicken until mostly cooked. Discard any left over marinade. Add sliced veggies (green bell pepper, onion, mild green chile and a red chile pepper) to the chicken and continue cooking until sizzling.

Serve with warm tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, sliced green onions and chopped tomatoes.

How to warm tortillas:

• Oven at 350, wrap stacked tortillas in aluminum foil and heat in oven 15 minutes or until hot.

Be sure to invite me over for dinner if you are making this, I'm good for the guacamole, sour cream, green onions and chopped tomatoes...

See? Doesn't that look fantastic!?

A

I Just Wanted Some Coffee...

These are pictures from the Bellingham Herald, where a car drove through the front of a Starbucks. I grew up around there, so it kinda hits close.

I've been to that Starbucks...multiple times. I have family members who are probably known by face and license plate number when going to this store. Praise God the injuries sustained were not life-threatening.



You can read the rest of the story here.

A

Mama, I Want THIS For Breakfast!!!

Actually, Bubbalu hates pancakes and waffles. Well, THIS week he hates pancakes and waffles. It changes frequently. Maybe I should try french toast?

Life with a toddler...

A

Squashalisciousness...

In an effort to increase freezer space, I am trying to use up some frozen butternut squash packages that I had on hand for baby food.

I looked for a quick recipe using the Birds Eye website (the brand of frozen squash I have).

Here's what I found:

Butternut Squash Soup

Prep time: 1-2 mins
Cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients-
1-12oz box Birds Eye® Frozen Select Cooked Winter Squash
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp chopped chives
1 cup Parmesan croutons

Instructions-
Combine the squash with the broth and bring to a simmer. Cook for several minutes, until the squash thaws, about 10 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Serve sprinkled with chives and croutons.

Did you see that!? Because it is only 12 MINUTES total prep/cook time, we are attempting Butternut Squash Soup for dinner. It's on the stove as I am typing, and will be transported to the crock pot, being that it's only 3:45.

*Mkay, so it is now after dinner, and the soup was nice and thick and yummy. I doubled the recipe, added parsley for looks and nixed the croutons for poor mans garlic bread ( toast with butter and garlic salt). We got two thumbs up from the husband too! I DO suggest not having it as the main course, unless you eat like a bird. We are not delicate waifs, and will be needing some staying power. Not sure what that will be yet...

Anyways, enjoy your squashaliscious soup, and let me know if you have fun variations...

A

Got Odwalla?

Mama, I LIKE this drink!

Anyone tried the Superfood drink? It's yummy in my tummy. Whoops, forgot that you are probably older than 2. I mean, it's nummers in my tummers.

Heh, I can't stop.

I need an intervention.

A

Beware! There is a White Chocolate Virus going around....

...and YOU might be next! It already infected my sister...

There is no antidote, no antibiotics that will cure this and no vaccine.

Oh well. Guess you have to suffer through it...

A

I Am a Mocha Traitor..

Previously I have written about my undying love of the Peppermint Mocha, especially of the Starbucks variety (I know, I know, all you Sbux haters out there, just hold your comments for now :).

I have drank extra chocolate mochas for my entire adult life...which isn't all that long, but anyways. I have an extremely complicated mocha order :

Venti (Decaf after 2pm), 6 pump chocolate, 3 pump Peppermint (yes, year round) no whip, extra hot, well stirred Mocha…..Please.

So. I was up in L-town for a couple weeks late in February and got to chatting with the new barista at the L-town Starbucks. By the way, they know my family better than I do.

I mentioned how I hated the gritty sludge on the bottom of every mocha, and that I order an extra pump of chocolate to make the mocha more sweet.

Well, she quickly shot down my logic, " We use a bitter chocolate, it isn't sweet at all ".

Alrighty then.

She then suggested a White Chocolate Mocha, which is a sweeter chocolate. Hmm. Never considered that. So, I gave it a shot (teehee, no pun intended).

YUM.

And, I don't have to order an extra shot of chocolate, any peppermint, and the sludge? It's gone! Woot woot! And, I order it nonfat, cause I am health conscious like that. It tastes yummy.

So, I am a mocha traitor. I switched allegiance to the white chocolate mocha.

Grande...no whip....nonfat white chocolate mocha

(Oh yeah, and decaf after 2 pm, cause I gotta sleep).

A

Lofty Nutritional Goals

I have been one of those Mama's who vowed nutritional perfection for her offspring.

Have been. Past tense. As in NOT PRESENT tense.

Sure I was the devoted breastfeeding, home babyfood makin' Mama. I fully intend to do the same for future kiddos as well.

Today for lunch? Bubbalu snorfed down a whole packet of Easy Mac.

That's right. I admit it openly, Easy Mac. I luv this stuff. It is yummy, easy to make, and did I mention the cheese? Why does it taste so much better than the now outdated box with cheese powder packet? I cannot describe the allure of Easy Mac with enough kind words.

Bubbalu has become increasingly picky with his food. From what I read and have been told, it is perfectly normal for a 14 month old to do this.

Bubbalu had some catching up to do his first year of life. Being born extra small and coming home tipping the scales at 5 lbs meant a LOT of catch-up. He ate with a vigor I though not possible for such a tiny human. Holding him off on solids until 6 months was NOT easy. Still, I prevailed, and on his 6 month old b-day, rice cereal was offered. It was a hit. His look seemed to say, "Mama!? What IS this stuff? GIVE ME MORE." He ate most things I offered gladly, yet stayed at less than 10% (and sometimes 5%) body weight. At about a year he sailed to 45% and the parents rejoiced. He's normal. He's nourished. His brain is growing. We should get a medal.

Fast forward a month. Yes, staying at the 40ish % and eating picky. Hard to get used to.

I have to wonder: is it strange that my child has only eaten a total of 3 peas in the last week to satisfy his veggie quota? The fruit quota is met with applesauce and maybe the juice that was on the cut up mandarin slices that were spit out. And those dehydrated "toddler friendly" fruit in that baby isle? The look Grandma got from Bubbalu was, "lady, you have GOT to be kidding me".

My child ate Easy Mac for lunch. Spit out one dehydrated fruit morsel and sucked down some whole milk.

Alrightly then.

A

Favorite Find Friday : Egg Perfect Egg Timer

Favorite Find Friday is new blog feature for VintageDutchGirl. Enjoy.

I LUV me some eggs. I am always looking for ways to get more tasty protein without powders or specialty drinks. Eggs help me with that, and they are tasty. Ok, slightly high on the cholesterol and fat scale, but more on that later. Hard boiled eggs are convenient, portable and easily stored. I can lose track of time easily and I used to have ugly green rings on my hardboiled egg yolks....

Enter the Egg perfect egg timer...



The claim "cooked perfectly every time" is TRUE.

Instrutions : You just pop that dealy thing into the pan with however many eggs you want. cover with water and put over heat. The timer changes color so you know when to take them off heat for perfectly cooked eggs. The color changes from the red shown in the picture to a burgundy to show how cooked they are (or denaturizing of the enzymes, which is irreversible. Impressed that I remember my cell bio? I am! ). I wait for complete burgundy, take em off heat and put em into a cold water soak. I leave the egg timer in the pan for the cold water soak. It changes back to red when the eggs are cooled, so I know how long to soak them. Brilliant.

I use hard boiled eggs on my salads for protein. ( I have been known to throw interesting foods over shredded romaine. Cut up chicken nuggets anyone?)

Oh yeah, to decrease the cholesterol content, just pop the center out and eat the egg white only. According to wikipedia.com :

• The egg white consists primarily of water (87%) and protein (13%) and contains no cholesterol and little, if any, fat.

So there you go. Protein perfectly cooked without cholesterol.

That being said, I'm hungry for lunch. I'm gonna go whip me up a funky salad.

A

They Are Multiplying...

So, ummm, yeah. I have SEVEN Coffee-mate Creamers in my fridge right now.

SEVEN.

And I am the only one who drinks coffee at our house. I can explain... it is a tale of thriftyness and obsession.

First of all, I found that making boring brewed coffee with flavored creamer in it takes WAY less time than pulling 2 shots (OK, 4) and steaming milk for a daily AM mocha. Being that I am kinda busy in the morning with Jude, I needed to switch to brewed coffee.

My dear sister got me hooked on flavored creamers. Usually I am a boring French Vanilla kind of gal, but then Hazelnut caught my taste buds. A whole new world of flavors was opened to me.

Naturally, when fun seasonal flavors turn up in the dairy case I get excited.

I tried Pumpkin Spice hoping to mimic Starbucks autumny Pumpkin spice latte, but no go. I must admit that it was International Delight, not Coffee-mate...I know, how dare I shun my brand of choice... I hang my head in shame.

For Christmastime I tried Eggnog (one of the current seven), Gingerbread latte, and my favorite...Peppermint Mocha. As most people know, Peppermint Mochas are my Starbucks drink of choice. I spotted the holiday peppermint mocha creamer in Safeway, and looked at it with stars in my eyes and declared my undying devotion.

During the entire month of December, my heart beat a bit faster just walking by the dairy case. Would they run out of my beloved creamer? Would today be the last day it was available? What if they don't have it the next time I'm here? I started buying 2 at a time, thinking surely that it was the last time I'd see them and I'd better be stocked up.

So.... last week I walk in to Safeway, grocery list in hand, Jude in grocery cart. My creamers are in the entry-way dairy case ON SALE. No, wait... Not on SALE, on CLEARANCE. The axe has fallen my friends, the holiday season is officially over in the creamer world. They were $2.09 each, and they are regularly about 4 bucks each. Also, notice on the picture above the little extra 75 cent off coupons? Some creamers had one sticker and some had 2.

In total I bought 4 Peppermint Mocha creamers for a total of $3.86. Yes, that is super thrifty.

I also already had 2 creamers in the fridge from the last week I was in Safeway and stocked up, and the 1 Eggnog in the back that was being shunned (sorry to say NOT my favorite), so a total of seven creamers in the fridge.

My dear friend Maria came over Sunday night and opened the fridge door and bust out laughing. I HAD to explain why I had seven creamers lined up in the fridge.

Also, notice the Starbucks Peppermint Syrup next to the creamers? It is good. My sis gave it to me for Christmas.

Then, she gave me some more....



What? I'm not obsessed!

A

Sticks to yer ribs..

Being that it was a cold and snowy morning here in Seattle, I decided to make a warm yummy something for lunch. After searching around I found a recipe for Baked Oatmeal in one of my tried and true cookbooks from the family...



These cookbooks are treasures. They contain all the favorite recipes from my Mom's side of the family. They are usually easy to understand, easy to prepare, and especially easy to consume.

There is a section of recipes from my Great Grandma Malena with things like Stroopwafels, Ice Box Cookies, Dutch Apple Pie, and good old Fried Chicken.

Another interesting section is Dutch Recipes. I must admit I haven't tried many of them, being as I can't pronounce most of them without Grandma K's help. Try it for yourself:
- Advokaat

- Vet Bollen
- Banket
- Boter-Koek
- Gevulda Speculaas
- Taai-Taai
- Rogge Brood
- Balken Brei

Well? Howd ya do?
So, I'm a-thinking I need to attack some of these recipes soon to preserve them. I don't want Jude to grow up never having tasted the yummyness of Banket with sprinkles at Christmastime.

Baked Oatmeal
Preheat Oven to 350. Mix together:
1/2 C. Oil
1/2 C. Sugar
2 Eggs

Add:
2 C. Oatmeal
1 C. Milk
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix well and bake in a 9x9 pan for about 40 min.
(Original recipe Uncle Orlin & Aunt Judy H)

I (of course) tweaked the recipe a bit, the posted recipe includes my tweaks.



Mmmmmm....yummy. Notice how uneven it is? I may have taken a fork to it after the little one was in bed and couldn't witness his Mama eating it right from the pan.

So, being that it tasted so good, I tweaked it again and came up with this:




I didn't add the spices this time, and instead added dried cranberries, raisins and chopped dried apricots and prunes. We'll see what Jude thinks of this tomorrow for breakfast.

A

How I Order at Starbucks

First, I decide I want (I mean NEED) a Starbucks addition to my day. Usually I need a Starbucks addition when I am out & about, shopping or running errands, and usually with friends or family. I prefer to consume coffee with those who will support and encourage me in all of my endeavors.

Where I live I happen to have 3 Starbucks in my backyard. Options are always nice.

The main one is usually quite busy, being that it is a 24 hour store. It is comforting to know I could pop in there any time of day or night for a jolt. Because I HAVE been known to be up and about at all hours of the night. Ok, I’ve been there once after 11pm with my Mom to sit and chat. Wild and crazy, that’s me. Students usually have that place crowded and tend to stare a bit at a non-college Mommy with a SUV stroller.

Starbucks #2 is in Barnes & Noble in their Mezzanine section. I have never been to this one, although I could see using it in the future if Mama just NEEDS. A. BREAK.

Starbucks #3 is a smaller store and is usually my store of choice. It is stroller friendly, and they remember Jude’s name, and my order (is that a BAD thing? I mean, that they remember me? Am I THAT notorious?) I did have to avoid it for a good 3 months while I waited for a new barista to be trained. I deferred to Starbucks #1 during that time of leave. I can report the aforementioned barista is now an excellent maker of mochas.

I happen to have a rather complicated order. It varies day to day, depending on how busy the store is, how crabby I am, or who I'm with (I don't want to scare them). My preferred order is:

Venti (Decaf after 2pm) 2%, 6 pump chocolate, 3 pump Peppermint (yes, year round) no whip, extra hot, well stirred Mocha…..Please.

Yum.

I also try to smile REALLY big while I order, and sometimes I say that I am just testing them.

But hey, it’s an expensive drink, I should get what I want. It is pretty sad that all of the little squares on the cup/sleeve are filled in AND they have to write on the cup as well. I used to give a specific degree, but I thought it was pushing it a leetle too far.

At least I'm not like SOMEONE I KNOW who happens to ask for a specific number of ice chips in her iced mocha drink :) Yeah, you know who you are, and I KNOW you read my blog :)

So, what about everyone else? What's your order?


A