A Few Dinners

Tonight's dinner (scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, biscuit):



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Pork roast, green beans, and au gratin potatoes from earlier this week:



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Pot roast from last night:



On the plate:



For the pot roast I put an onion cut into wedges into a dutch oven, the roast, potatoes cut into sixths, baby carrots next. Then I put seasonings (salt, pepper, parsley, Italian seasoning), diced tomatoes, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and about 1/2 cup of chicken broth into the pot. I put it in a 325 degree oven for 3 hours but it could have been in the oven for at least another hour. The flavor was pretty good but it wasn't as tender as it should have been. Ah well.

SpongeBob SquarePants Birthday Cake

This is sort of a guest post. I baked the cake and mixed the frosting colors but Mr. Mary Cooks did the decorating. He did such a great job and I am totally impressed by how awesome SpongeBob looks! From what I've seen in internet searches over the past couple of weeks, this is one of the best ones out there (and maybe the best one that doesn't use fondant). Okay, enough bragging! Our daughter wanted this cake for her 3rd birthday and she is over the moon happy about it. Let's take a look, shall we?

First, my husband printed out a template to use for the shape. He scaled the image so SpongeBob's body plus his pant legs would fit within the dimensions of our 16" square cake, knowing he could use the trimmings to make up his arms and legs.



Then he used black food coloring (we use gel food coloring for cake decorating) and a q-tip to stencil the location of the eyes and mouth on the cake.



It's frosting time!





Our daughter is sharing her birthday party with our friend who may be allergic to chocolate (it still is to be determined) so we had to make brown frosting instead of just using chocolate frosting. Here are the pants getting frosted on to the cake.



The almost 3 year old takes a frosting break. (AKA opportunistic cute child photo)



Now he frosted SpongeBob's shirt white.



He did the eyes and the teeth white. He also added the yellow legs and arms.





Next up was red. My husband used this for SpongeBob's tongue, as shown below.



SpongeBob's tie is also red.



Black is up for the mouth.



Outlining makes a huge difference in this cake, as you can see below.



SpongeBob's feet are next.



Finally, the sponge pores details.



It's all done! It is a thing of beauty. I can't wait to take it to the party tomorrow!

Thai Green Curry Salmon

Tonight for dinner I was inspired and decided to make salmon in a Thai style. I had a can of pre-made green curry in my pantry. After opening it, I tossed it in favor of making my own.



Start with some nice salmon. I used salmon steaks but fillets would have been better. It's still beautiful, even after two months in the freezer.



You need green curry paste, coconut milk (light is okay), bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, fish sauce, brown sugar, and chicken broth.



Pour the coconut milk into a pan. I swirled it around as I poured so it would look beautiful.



Add the green curry paste. How much you add depends upon how spicy you like your food. I added about 1 teaspoon but if the kids weren't going to eat this I would have added about 1 tablespoon!



Bring it to a boil then turn it down and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.



Add 3 tablespoons of beautiful fish sauce. Sure, it looks great but it smells awful. Try not to contemplate how they make it.



Add two tablespoons of brown sugar. Stir to incorporate.



Add 1/3 cup of chicken broth. I used homemade.



Lay the salmon down into the pan. You can also use chicken that has been cut up into bite-sized pieces (in fact, that's how I usually make this).



After the salmon has cooked on one side for 10 minutes, carefully flip it over and let it cook for 5 minutes.



Add bamboo shoots - strips are best - to the pan.



Add some drained straw mushrooms. I use the pieces (broken) because they're way cheaper than the whole mushrooms. Heat the mixture for about another 5 minutes or until the salmon is cooked.



Serve!

This was very tasty. I am missing the Thai basil leaves which would have made the flavor better but I didn't have any on hand (I had everything else). You want to serve it over calrose (sticky) rice.

Rolls!

So, my rolls turned out all right. They need more flavor but they were pretty.

These are waiting to be baked in the oven:



Here they are cooling on racks:



Finally, here they are in a bowl waiting to be eaten!



I took them to the party and brought a lot home. That's all right; the only fault is they're a bit bland. But that's all right for saucy things since you can use the roll to sop it up!

I used this recipe from Hillbilly Housewife:

Family Bread

* 4 cups warm tap water (not hot)
* 2/3 cup non-fat dry milk powder (instant powdered milk)
* 1/3 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
* 2 packets or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 1/3 cup melted margarine or oil
* 12 cups (approximately) white or whole wheat flour or a combination

The first thing you need is a big bowl or clean dish pan to mix this up in. I use a huge metal bowl that is made of stainless steel. But I used to use the same plastic dish tub I washed the dishes in. I would wash it with a little bit of bleach, rinse it really well, and then dry it completely. In some ways it worked better because it fit on my lap more conveniently due to the rectangular shape. But the shiny stainless steel one does look more like I know what I'm doing. So much for appearances.

So anyway mix the water, dry milk powder and sugar in the dishpan or bowl. Add the yeast, sort of sprinkled on top. Allow the mixture to sit until the yeast dissolves some, this will only take a couple of minutes. Add the salt, margarine or oil, and flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until it gets too stiff and then dig in with your hands. When the dough is in a nice cohesive ball, turn it out onto a floured kitchen table or counter. Or if you are using a dish pan, you can just leave it in there.

Now start kneading the dough with all of the love you have for your family. Press the dough and send big love vibes into it. Stretch the dough and impress all of your compassion and generosity into it. Remember why you love your kids, and your spouse and your mom or you dad, and just put it all into the dough. Knead it like this for a full ten minutes. Add more flour if you need to as you go along.

Coat the dough with oil, about 2 tablespoons of it, and put it into the bowl or dishpan. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap and let it set in a warm place to rise for about an hour or so. It should double in bulk. It may take up to two hours on cool days, or in the air conditioning, so be patient.

Punch down the dough by literally pressing your fist into the center of it. Divide the dough into 4 equal lumps. Coax them into loaf shapes and place them into large (9 by 5-inch) well oiled loaf pans. If you don't have enough loaf pans, use casserole pans or cake pans, or whatever. Cover the dough with a cloth or more plastic wrap and let it rise again. It should take less time for the second rising. When the dough is risen up enough, bake the loaves at 350° for 40 minutes.

You can tell the dough is done if you turn it out of the pan and thump the bottom with your finger. It should make a dull hollow sound. If it doesn't sound hollow, put it back into the pan and cook it some more. Makes four loaves.

Lots of Meals!

Sorry I've been away. I've been cooking, really! Here are some dishes cooked up over the past week:

Pork chops with rice and broccoli (also Mae Ploy sweet chilli sauce - delicious!):



Roasted chicken and potatoes with peas:



(I actually have a step-by-step for this that I should post.)

Sloppy Joe Ghoulish Goulash (this was for Halloween and so yummy!):



Au gratin potatoes with smoked sausages and green beans:



Chicken in Creamy Pan Sauce (a Kraft recipe and, honestly, not that great), green beans, and rice:



The Pioneer Woman's Best Lasagna Ever with Texas Toast (I LOVE this recipe):



Finally, I made my toddler a bento lunch for tomorrow. It's so cute and way more balanced than her lunches usually are. I think I'll stick with this!