we'd love to introduce....THE HUNGRY BABY!

Emily-Marie Persons Butler (a.k.a. "The Hungry Baby")  

born May 20, 2010 at 9:26pm

I admit I haven't updated in a while, and I apologize! 

The Hungry Baby decided to show up a few days after my law school finals! 

But The Hungry Hubby is now the Hungry Daddy (and a happy one at that!)

and although she is only eating "boobie milk" she does tend to make her opinions known about various cooking smells...

Don't you just love the raised eyebrow?

Mexican Coca-Cola: muy refresco

The first time I went to Mexico was a "girls trip" to Puerto Vallarta with my Mother and her mother - it was so much fun! 

Although I didn't buy any traditional touristy items, I did bring back with me a great love of Mexican soft drinks - the perfect accessory to my already well known, debilitating, addiction to Mexican food! 

("Addiction" is the best word to describe it - this baby is going to come out of the womb with the ability to order dinner in Spanish!) 

So, imagine my overwhelming joy when I discovered that my local Sam's Club now carries the elusive, glass-bottled version of Coca-Cola that bears the all important "Hecho En Mexico" mark!

If you have never tried Mexican-made Coke, I urge you to run, not walk, to your local mercado to grab a bottle of this stuff. 

What makes Mexican Coke different from regular American Coke? 

Two words: CANE SUGAR 

You see, (as anyone who has read The Omnivore's Dilemma can tell you) American companies use high fructose corn syrup instead of a "real" sugar, because it's cheaper to produce; because cheaper ingredients = cheaper production cost, there is more profit to be had! 

"But Coca-Cola is an American company! Why is the same product different when it is made south-of-the-border?" Want to know why? 

Coca-Cola has many bottling plants around the world. Each bottling plant gets the "secret formula" from Coca-Cola, but is responsible for putting in their own sugar and water in the mix. 

And in Mexican bottling plants, that sugar (thankfully) comes from actual sugar cane. A small change which creates a HUGE difference in the taste of the product. 

(And, if you ask me, the GLASS bottle makes a huge difference in the taste of the soda because it is a non-reactive container) 

 

Aren't they beautiful? (Check out the stickers with the nutritional content on them- those little babies make them legal for sale in the USA)

So, give yourself a treat and have one of these little beauties over ice today! 

(Soon, you will be like The Hungry Hubby and I, buying them by the case, and filling your laundry-room shelves with these tall, black bottles!) 

Single-Girl Sweet Potatoes

When I think back to when The Hungry Hubby and I were dating and the time that we were engaged (before having a man in the house meant a GINORMOUS increase in the amount of groceries I would buy) I ate A TON of what I called "Single Girl Sweet Potatoes". 

 

They are yummy, good-for-you, and they are one of the cheapest things you can make!

 

 

 

I have been known to eat S.G.S.Ps for any meal - they make a shockingly good breakfast too! 

 

 You will need: 

1 average-sized Sweet Potato per person

1-2 tablespoons of good butter

2-3 tablespoons Brown Sugar

Ground Cinnamon, for dusting

1. Take a fork and poke LOTS of holes in the sweet potatoes. MAKE SURE you poke holes ALL AROUND THE POTATO unless you enjoy "Exploding Single Girl Sweet Potatoes". Trust me on this. 

2. Put the Sweet Potato in the Microwave and press the "potato" button. (Seriously, when I was in college this little microwave function probably saved me from total starvation on more than one occasion.) 

3. When the Sweet Potato is done cooking, cut open, mash the insides with a fork, and add the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. 

EAT. 

The best thing about a S.G.S.P. is that you can eat them as an entire meal, or make them as a side dish. (They go well with Indoor BBQ Chicken Tenders!) 

And believe me, once The Hungry Baby is born I will be eating a lot more of these sweet potatoes to help me get back to my wedding weight! (I feel like a beached whale! 80 days to go!)

Nuoc Chanh - aka Vietnamese Limeade

This is The Hungry Hubby's absolute FAVORITE thing to drink in the whole world! 

The Hubby actually used to pick this up from our favorite Vietnamese place so often that I just HAD find out how to make it or go broke!

Joyfully, it's easy to make! 

(I'm sure once The Hungry Baby arrives it will be good mixed with some vodka or tequila too!)

you will need: 

6 Good-sized limes (yes, I said SIX)

2/3 cup Golden Caster Sugar 

3 Cups Boiling Water

Pinch of Salt

Ice Cubes

Fresh Mint (1 or 2 sprigs, plus more for serving)

Sugar Cane Swizzle sticks (for garnish when you feel Martha Stewart-ish)

1. Halve the limes, squeezing the juice into a glass jug;

2. Put the squeezed halves into a large, heatproof jug with the sugar, cover with boiling water; allow this mixture to infuse for 15 minutes (If you can not find Caster Sugar,  use regular sugar mixed up in the blender to make it even finer - but Golden Caster sugar makes a difference in getting the taste "just right"!)

3. Stir in the salt into the lime-sugar infusion

4. remove the lime halves and pour into the glass jug once mixture has cooled enough. Add ice cubes to the jug.

(side note - the lime halves taste good frozen with sugar, and they also make your kitchen smell good if you run them in the disposal!)

5. Serve over ice with fresh mint leaves and sugar cane stick. You can leave your limeade, covered, in the fridge for a few days - but it has never lasted that long here!

Easy Pasta Primavera

Ok. I'm sure you and The Hungry Hubby are getting a bit tired of pasta, but I'm pregnant and baby wants PASTA!

This is my "cheater" version. I'll put my "real" version up eventually, as I'm still perfecting it!

3 cups GF pasta

16 oz bag of mixed frozen veggies (or leftover steamed broccoli, or whatever) 

Velvetta 2% (It's what we had on hand, and it melts well) 

1. Boil the pasta

 2. Add frozen veggies for the last 7 minutes

3. Drain pasta and veggie mix, return to pot over "LOW"

4. Add cut-up Velveeta and mix it till it melts (just eyeball the cheese, I've been wanting a TON)

EAT. 

It's good. And it's FAST. 

Butter makes the world go 'round

Look in your fridge. 

Even if you don't consider yourself to be a cook, chances are you have butter in your fridge on a regular basis. 

(and NOT margarine!! If I ever willingly buy margarine I give you permission to commit me to a nervous hospital. That stuff is gross.)

But what kind of butter?

Most people believe that there is no difference between type of butter and another - and no difference between butter and (gasp!) margarine.

But there is. 

THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE

The Hungry Hubby could open an otherwise barren icebox and think he was in Heaven as long as there is "good butter" waiting there for him. 

At the moment, we have THREE different types of butter on hand.

1. We have your basic Land-O-Lakes Unsalted butter that is reserved only for baking and greasing baking pans. 

 

This is the easiest to find, I can easily run into any grocery and grab this. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

2. Pulgra European Style Salted Butter. 

This is what I consider REAL Butter. It comes in blocks, not sticks. AND IT'S SALTED. If you've never tried REAL salted butter, you don't know what butter is. You are missing out. 

 

Trust me on this. 

3. The newest addition to our little dairy family has been Kerrygold Irish Butter. Kerrygold is sweeter than normal butter, mainly because of the extra sweet cream they add to the mix. 

 

This is different than any other butter we've tried (and we try them all- which probably doesn't help The Hungry Hubby's attempts to keep his "sympathy belly" under control, but you have to have SOME luxuries!)and it's wonderful on breakfast goodies. (I just finished gobbling up some Gluten-Free frozen waffles DOWSED in Kerrygold. Oh. My. Goodness.)

Quality ingredients make quality dishes. Even if you are just making some plain pasta, the addition of "fancy" butter makes it a gourmet meal. 

I also want to add an important "honorable mention" to the mix. 

AMISH ROLL BUTTER

 

This is BY FAR The Hungry Hubby's ABSOLUTE FAVORITE butter in the whole-wide world. 

The only reason we do not have Amish Roll Butter in our pantry right now is that WE CAN'T FIND IT! 

Over the summer The Hungry Hubby and I moved to a new city and have been unable to find this delicious goody. (In our old city we could only find it in ONE TINY STORE.)

The First time I brought this butter home (which was the first time I made a foray into the realms of "fancy butter", I found the The Hungry Hubby happily eating a huge round of "that really good cheese you bought". 

Confused, I checked the fridge. 

The Hungry Hubby had sliced a huge round off the log of butter in the fridge! HE WAS JUST EATING A HUNK OF BUTTER! 

Even now, if we had some in the house I wouldn't be surprised if I found little bits chipped off the log. He loves this stuff that much! And did I mention it's AMAZING in scrambled eggs? because it is. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

So, expand your horizons. Go get yourself some REAL butter!!!

 

 

 

GF Chocolate Crinkle Cookies for Valentine's Day!

Ok, so I have not been cooking much this week- alot of repeat meals, leftovers, etc. The Hungry Hubby and I have been passing a FANTASTIC cold to each other! 

My amazing Hungry Hubby made sniffly, pajama-clad, coughing me a very romantic dinner last night (Filets! WOW!)

So, to return the cooking favor I made him some Chocolate Crinkle Cookies! Yummy!

(Adapted from CuisineNie)

2 cups sugar (I used half white and have brown sugar, but only because we didn't have enough plain sugar)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup hershey's cocoa powder
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups Pamela's Gluten-free, all-purpose baking mix
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
powdered sugar

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar & oil. add cocoa; blend well. beat in eggs and vanilla. 

2. Combine baking mix, baking powder & salt; add to cocoa mixture blending well. 

3. Cover; chill at least 6 hours. 

4. After dough has chilled, heat oven to 350. 

5. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. 

6. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. 

7. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched. remove from cookie sheet; cool on wire rack. 

makes 4 dozen.