12 Days of Christmas Cooking

Soon to come.... Mom's 12 Days of Christmas Cooking.  I will be posting the 12 days of Christmas things that mom takes to work this year with their recipes. 

So far the possibilities on the list includes:
glogg or spiced cider                                                  orange rolls             
crackers and raspberry chipotle on cream cheese        molasses cookies
lemon pound cake                                                      almond pound cake
pumpkin ginger bread (with the candied ginger in it)     gumdrop cookies
caramel popcorn                                                         holiday rice crispy treats
coconut chex mix                                                        Swedish Tea Rings
divinity (weather permitting since it doesn't work right when it rains)
clementines, pistachios, and peppermint balls are on the list but don't have recipes. Duhhhhh....

Besides those listed above, I will try to add some other Christmas recipes we use each year like:
Vanilla and/or Cinnamon Milk                                     Pfefferneus

If there are others that I'm missing, let me know.

I already posted Mormor's Huge Christmas Eve Gingerbread Cookies recipe in October if anyone is looking for it.

Chicken Scallopini Recipe

Johnny Carino's and Costco both helped Cameron pay for a mission and college.  They also brought along the craving for their Chicken Scallopini and Italian Nachos.  

With their restaurants now closed in our area, he decided to fill the craving with some recipe searching and experimenting.  This recipe that he said I could post for him sounds good and he says it is. 

I still miss the Italian Nachos he would occasionally bring home from work that are some kind of fried wonton skin or noodle, but at least I have the memory.  Thanks Cameron.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts in Maple Syrup Recipe

This recipe brings up the reason for Mrs. Butterworths Syrup in our house.  Any ideas why???

Ok... Here's the answer. 

Uncle Jason, of course.  I'll have to comment more on that when I post the waffle/pancake recipe.

Hey Cameron,

Is this the recipe you used to cook all the time?  I think this is what you also used for a final or test in Culinary Arts in High School.  I googled the recipe and didn't find an exact match so it may have been one you taylored.  Lots of chicken breasts stuffed with things and covered in maple glazes but didn't see same recipe.  Anyway, if my memory is correct, this was good and you probably still make it.

Family Night Charts

This past weekend at Taft's house for Lilly's baptism, I saw our old Family Night Chart from years ago growing up.  It was a long cut out of a train for a family night chart that I'm pretty sure had hooks eventually for all 11 of us.  Papa cut it out of an old piece of plywood and we helped paint it.  The hooks were just teacup hooks and Mormor cut out circles from old margarine lids and wrote our names on them that we would move each week. 

Mormor put it up high enough on the wall so the older ones could change it but the little ones wouldn't constantly change it.

Grandma and Grandma had a flower pot with flowers that changed for each Family Night assignment.

Go figure, my family had a train for a chart with all the boys and mom's family had a flower pot with all the girls.

The template here is for what became our Family Night chart.  As I post it right now, it is kind of ironic that I took a broken clock to make our Family Night Chart since my sense of time is pretty much a broken clock.

Well.... I took a broken clock and cut out a circle with the assignments on the back and glued it in place.  Next I cut out a smaller circle with the names and pictures for each of us placing it over the minute hand so that it rotated when we used the thin

g on back to change the time.  I don't know if I'm explaining it right but its worked pretty well for us for years.  When I get to the point of taking a picture and uploading it, I'll attach a picture of it. 

So... Mom grew up with a flower pot... I grew up with a train... My kids grew up and are growing up with a broken clock... what will each of my children use for their kids???  I wonder what each of Mom and my sibblings use for their charts???

If any family gets a chance to take a picture of your own family night charts, I would love to post them.

Lunch Ideas

HELP!!!  I started rethinking lunches and need suggestions for lunches to send to school and maybe to mom every so often at work.

Ok, so PBJ and Peanut Butter and Honey are the start but have been the end also when we run out of homemade pizza pockets.  Please post other favorites that do alright in a lunch bag!  Thanks

Soy-Free Chinese Steamed BBQ Pork Buns Recipe

In the Soy-Free Chinese Chicken post, I mentioned our love for the San Diego Ranch 99 Grocery Store. 

Besides the back entrance walk up restaurant, there is another restaurant inside past the registers that has great food that is similar in serving size and value.  They have actually had Steamed Buns that they say are Soy-Free and my child hasn't reacted to, but soy is everywhere in this store so beware.  These buns are really good and like what we ate when living in China. 

So... a while back, we decided to try our own Pork Steamed Buns from scratch at home and after looking through cookbooks and websites and trial and error, came up with this recipe that works pretty well for us.

As an added note there is a third restaurant at the front entrance that is way too expensive and not usually too crowded so I haven't wanted to try it.

Soy-Free Chinese Chicken Recipe

We lived in Beijing, China years ago and love Chinese food.  But... how can we eat Soy-Free Chinese Chicken? 

A lot of experimenting and imagination and putting things together to make it work the best we could.  This is the basic template of a recipe I use and tweak it depending on what we have on hand.

The kid's and my favorite Chinese food is found at Ranch 99 in San Diego.  There is an awesome walk-in counter with hanging cooked ducks, heads and all, that is at the back entrance to the store.  There is always a line of Chinese people waiting when its near a meal time.  Do the walk up counter and it's cheaper than sitting down and being served.  I don't know the current price but for less than $5.00 you get a HUGE meal in a Styrofoam clamshell with noodles or rice and 1 to 3 choices of Chinese dishes.  I think it used to be $3.00 or so and the meal comes with soup and is plenty for one hungry guy or a couple normal eaters.

Soy-Free Page to Give Others for Dealing with My Child's Soy Allergy

My Child’s soy allergies

My child  is allergic to all foods and products that include soy-based ingredients

This includes the following ingredients on product labels

soy protein                soybean oil

soy flour                     partially hydrogenated soybean oil

soy lecithin                vegetable oil

lecithin                       soy sauce

These ingredients are found in many products, such as

Most grocery store sliced bread                 most chocolate (lecithin)

All margarine                                                            many body soaps, shampoos, etc

Crisco/shortening                                        most canned food (soup, chili, etc.)

Many condiments (ketchup, mustard)     frozen meals (lasagna, pot pies, etc.)

Many kinds of ice cream                            most asian food

Most snack foods (chips, crackers)           processed foods (sausage, bologna)

Most baked goods (cakes, cake mixes, cookies)

Oil coatings on fresh fruit                           most hot cocoa mixes

            PAM and nonstick sprays                          most peanut butter

            Most mayonnaise                                        most salad dressings

            Butter at restaurants(usually is a mix of butter and margarine)

            Many corn and canola oils (sometimes even though it says corn or other oil, in the small  

             print it has some soy oil mixed in)

            Most frozen poultry(enhancer and/or broth is soy)

            Most marinades

Other ingredients that may or may not specifically say “soy” that do contain soy and that Emily reacts to are

Natural flavoring                              broth               vegetable oil

MSG (monosodium glutamate)     lecithin           vegetable protein (TVP)

The types of food my child CAN have are…

Made from scratch                                       candy/treats without chocolate

Dairy products (milk, cheese, butter)        Mom’s White Bread (trader joes)

Some tortillas and tortilla chips                 Lays potato chips

Restaurant food my child CAN have  (restaurants that USUALLY don’t use soy products)

In N Out hamburgers (with ketchup & mustard instead of sauce) & French fries (they use cottonseed oil)

Salads with olive oil & vinegar dressings

Joey’s Only fish & fries

Filippi’s pizza

Bruno's pizza

Wendy’s baked potatoes with sour cream (not margarine)

This list is by no means exhaustive but should be helpful to assist with food for my child.

Chicken Meatballs Recipe

When we want meatballs, and chicken is all we have, this is what we use.  I wish I could just buy meatballs at the store, but have you ever read the ingredients in those things?  Soy is not the only filler, flavoring, and meat substitute used.  No wonder some of them have the texture and taste of sponges.  Still, the ease of using them and just smothering them in barbecue sauce sure would be tempting if we didn't have allergy issues. 

If I'm going to the trouble of making meatballs though, I definitely make enough to freeze for a couple more meals.  They freeze very well in gallon plastic zipper bags.

Baked Potato Soup Recipe A.K.A. LOADED BAKED POTATO INSIDE OUT, SOUP STYLE

Halloween is almost always a big pot of Potato Soup and another of Chili.  Potato Soup is really just a soup version of funeral potatoes but somehow is different and besides being good, is very filling.  Our recipe is adapted from the same recipe that seems to be on recipe cards from friends all over.  Michelle Stevenson and Lanae Waldron independently gave us the same recipe years apart.  A triple batch which is what we do on Halloween is pretty huge but fills my favorite BIG pot.