AliBlog

Indulging my sweet tooth

Sweets received so far for my birthday:

• Birthday cake from Aunt Vic
• Box of chocolates from Jeromy
• Chocolate-covered almonds from Robey
• Brownies from Buddy and Elaine

Also, I know Marcy's bringing over a cake tomorrow, and Jeromy baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Anyone know if too much sugar in a mother's diet can affect a nursing baby?

Food Cravings and Hormones

Sarah wants to know what your food cravings and aversions were when you (or your wife) were pregnant. Go answer on her blog, then answer this one for me here: did anyone else have food cravings while nursing? I swear I have to eat peanut butter everyday when I'm nursing. Is the craving really correlated to the nursing - or am I just using the extra 600-calorie-per-day requirement as my excuse to eat peanut butter everyday? We may never know.

Alison's Rosemary Chicken Salad

I never remember to write down good recipes after I make them up. Probably because I'm not good at following recipes myself. Typically I see them as guidelines that I add to or subtract ingredients from based on what I like and what's in my cupboard at the moment. With that in mind, I give you these guidelines for a wonderful chicken salad I made up this weekend.

1 lb chicken breasts (or chicken tenders)
1 T dried rosemary leaves
2 T lemon-flavored olive oil
1/4 c. diced celery
1/4 c. diced pecans
1/8 c. diced scallions
3 T light Miracle Whip

Par boil chicken, rosemary and olive oil in large pan until cooked through. Remove chicken and let cool. Dice chicken and add remaining ingredients. Eat on toast or over a bed of mixed greens with honey mustard dressing.

JPs new Doodley, Toodley Pina Tequiladas

This just in from expert drink blender, Jen, who recently received a bottle of Tequipal Mango from us as a gift. Since I can't have any myself at the moment, maybe you can enjoy the recipe - though you'll have to have a well-stocked bar to pull it off.

In a blender:

• Fill with ice.
• 4 oz V-8 Splash Smoothies Tropical Colada
• 4 oz triple sec (orange curacao, grand marnier, cointreau)
• 4 oz Tequipal Mango
• 2 oz any silver tequila (milagro, cheap & smooth)
• 1 oz Malibu Rum
• Splash (count to 4) of Diet Sierra Mist

Blend till  S M O O T H

Enjoy!!

The recipe was sent via e-mail with the subject line, "DAMN FINE, NO SQUEEZING NECESSARY."

More than a Menu

I have been craving:

• Hot apple cider.
• French fries drenched in ketchup.
• Cottage cheese and pineapple by the bowlful.
• Triscuits by the boxful.
• Avocado scooped straight from the shell with tortilla chips.
• Hot pepper butter and cream cheese on wheat thins.
• Every single item on the Taco Bell menu.

Did I mention I'm pregnant?

When Life Gives Me Rotten Bananas

... I make banana cookies!

Yesterday I had four rotten bananas and a few hours to spare before the afternoon sun deemed my kitchen too warm for baking.

My sister-in-law Shannon has been asking for this recipe for months. It's originally from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, an essential basic cookbook for all proper, Midwestern ladies (egad am I  one of those?), but I've altered it a bit by cutting out the eggs and adding an extra banana. Here's my version:

Banana Spice Cookies

1/2 c margarine or butter
2 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 t baking powder
1 t vanilla
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t ground cloves
4 bananas, mashed
1/2 c chopped nuts (optional)

Beat margarine and bananas. Add half of the flour, sugar, eggs, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, soda and cloves. Beat until thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Stir in nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons on greased cookie sheet. Bake in 375-degree oven for 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Frost with butter frosting

Butter Frosting

1/3 c butter or margarine
4 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 c milk
1 1/2 t vanilla

Beat butter or margarine until fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of sugar. Slowly beat in milk and vanilla. Slowly beat in remaining sugar.

The frosting is essential. I dribble it on while the cookies are still hot, so it melts right over the top and makes a gooey mess all over the drying rack. Honestly, you could frost chicken liver with this stuff, and it would be good.

Also, make sure the cookies are good and brown around the edges. Usually, I like no brown at all on my cookies, but these are so moist that a little crispness on the bottom makes them even better.

First Official Waffle Monday

Earlier this month, after a full weekend of pestering Jeromy's mom for a waffle breakfast, she unwittingly obliged to make waffles for the entire family on the fifth Monday of every month. When she made the declaration, she thought she was agreeing to something impossible. But, experts in the Julian calendar that we are (and basic math for that matter), we knew we had her. January has five Mondays, we exclaimed, and we're marking it on our calendars!

Have you ever tried to make waffles for 12 people? With only one waffle iron, it requires eating in shifts. Of course, with five kids on hand (including twin toddlers), shifts are pretty much a given regardless of the fare. Luckily, Bruce brought home two spare waffle irons, generously donated by co-workers, so we could all eat waffles together in a semi-orderly fashion (I did mention the kids, right?)

So tonight for dinner we had blueberry waffles and plain waffles with syrup or preserves, and susage and bacon on the side. In case you missed it, May and October also have five Mondays this year. We've marked them on our calendars. I'm sure Dee won't mind if you come along ... just bring your waffle iron.

Three Recipes

I love holiday comfort food, and these are some of the favorites I've had in the last week. Plus, I've been promising to e-mail the cabbage rolls and crab dip recipes to friends for years, so I'm finally typing them up and posting them here.

Our New Year's Eve party was wonderfully dippy, by the way. Everyone brought yummy, yummy dips to share (Mich, I finished yours for lunch yesterday). Let it be known, 2005 is the  year of the dip. Okay, on with the recipes ...

Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip
I first received this recipe from grad school friend Mir Haynes. She made a double batch in her crock pot and brought it for everyone to snack on during her MS Defense. She found the recipe online at this bed & breakfast recipe site.

14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 lb (8 oz.) crabmeat (I use imitation)
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened (I use low fat)
1/2 cup sour cream (I use low fat)
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp dry mustard (a squeeze of French's works for me)
pinch of garlic salt
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
paprika to garnish
milk, as needed

In large bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and garlic salt until smooth. Add enough milk to make mixture creamy. Stir in 2 Tbsp of the grated cheese. Fold crabmeat & artichoke hearts with cream cheese mixture.

Pour into greased 1 quart casserole. Top with remaining cheese; bake at 325 until mixture is bubbly and browned on top, about 30 minutes.

Cabbage Rolls
This is my grandma's recipe, and my mom makes it every year for the new year. I like to serve it with mashed potatoes.

8 slices of bacon
1 cup rice
2 onions
1 large green pepper
1/2 t garlic salt
2 T paprika
2 heads cabbage
1 t pepper
1 t salt
1 lb ground beef
1 lb builk sausage
2 eggs
2 cans sauerkraut (28 oz total)
2 cans whole tomatoes (at least 28 oz total)
1 can diced tomato (at least 14 oz)
1 c water

1. Cut bacon into small squares and brown over medium heat
2. Remove browned bacon and add one chopped onion, 1/2 of green pepper and 1 cup of dry rice to oil, and brown
3. Add garlic salt and paprika, return bacon to pan, and remove from heat
4. Remove whole cabbage leaves and par boil in large pan until softened (only takes abuot 5-10 minutes)
5. Mix beef, sausage, eggs, salt and pepper in large mixing bowl
6. Combine beef mixture with rice/bacon mixture and roll into cabbage leaves (this takes some practice. toothpicks help)
7. Layer cabbage rolls in large baking dish and top with sauerkraut, tomatoes, remaining onions and green peppers, and water (in that order)
8. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour
9. Simmer at 250-300 degrees for at least 3 more hours

Orange Julius This recipe comes from Susan's brother-in-law (I think). I'm sure the Orange Julius people would object to the uncopyrighted use of their name and the fact that this recipe is missing some secret ingredient or another. But it's good. And it's easy. And it's better than a milk shake. 1 c orange juice 1 c milk 1/2 c sugar 1 t vanilla 17 ice cubes Blend in blender. Drink with straw.

Best Meal of the Day

Look what Robey learned - drinking sugary milk from the cereal bowl. He's definitely my kid. If given the choice, I'd gladly eat breakfast all day long. I love oatmeal, raisin nuts and all the sugary kids' cereals too. And I'm especially fond of waking up to a steaming plate of bacon, eggs and fried potatoes, Bolen style.

Anyone who's ever spent the weekend with us knows that Jeromy makes the best breakfasts. From the single-pan breakfasts in Mississippi that seemed to feed dozens to the Sunday morning bluegrass breakfasts in North Carolina and the campfire breakfasts in Arizona, we've fried lots of eggs with lots of friends.

Tomorrow we'll be eating the traditional Christmas morning brunch with the Shaws - egg strata, monkey bread, fruit salad and cookies. It's a wonderful family tradition, and it's often my favorite meal of the holidays. Robey, I'm sure, will opt for the cereal. Or maybe the cookies.