For MLK Day we wanted to eat some southern food. We visited Pappadeaux and enjoyed some gumbo and po boys.
Archive for January, 2010
Martin Luther King Day
January 18, 2010Young Indy
January 16, 2010
We held Adam’s birthday party in January so that it didn’t conflict with the holidays. What fun! This was Adam’s first “friend” party and we had a great turn out. We chose an exploration, Indiana Jones type theme. The kids wore hats and ate using old fashion tin cups, plates, and spoons. The tablecloth was burlap. They enjoyed an obstacle course, playing with a parachute, and a rousing game of dodge ball. The chocolate cake had cookie dinosaur bones on it!
Sipping Chicken Soup with Rice
January 10, 2010Maurice Sendak wrote a delightful book about chicken soup with rice. Here is our favorite January recipe:
Ingredients
Serves 8
- 1 whole chicken (3 to 4 pounds), skin removed
- 1 1/2 pounds (9 to 10 medium) carrots, peeled and halved crosswise
- 1 pound (5 to 6 medium) parsnips, peeled and halved crosswise
- 4 celery stalks, thinly sliced crosswise
- 2 large onions (about 1 pound), , halved and sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
- Coarse salt
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
- 6 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
Directions
- In a large soup pot, combine chicken, carrots, parsnips, celery, onions, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, and 1 teaspoon coarse salt. Add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium. Simmer partly covered, occasionally skimming and discarding fat from surface, about 1 hour.
- With a slotted spoon or tongs, remove chicken, carrots, and parsnips from pot; set aside. Pour remaining contents of pot through a fine-mesh sieve into another large pot; discard solids, and bring broth to a boil. Add rice and white part of scallions. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer, uncovered, until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, remove chicken from bones, and shred into bite-size pieces (discard any fatty or discolored parts). Cut carrots and parsnips into bite-size pieces. When rice is cooked, return chicken, carrots, and parsnips to broth in pot; add green part of scallions. Season generously with 5 to 6 teaspoons coarse salt. (To freeze, see note.)
From Everyday Food, October 2006
January means citrus
January 5, 2010
Around here, in sunny Arizona, we don’t get snowflakes in January (although I still decorate in blue and white), we get citrus. We love our lemon and orange trees. Harvesting this time of year is always so rewarding. We start making our favorite lemon recipes. Here is the ice cream…
Lemon Ice Cream
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. whole milk
1/3 c. fresh lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons)
1 c. whipping cream
1/2 t. vanilla
We make it in an ice cream maker.
Happy birthday Rainey!
January 5, 2010
Happy New Year!
January 2, 2010
We took a trip to Southern Arizona. We saw Tombstone, Bisbee, and the Desert Museum. In Bisbee, we took a tour of the Copper Queen Mine. You put on the gear, load up on a train, and travel deep inside a copper mine. What an adventure!