Foodie Baby: Hummus on Whole Wheat

Yesterday for lunch I decided to make Piper a very basic hummus to see if chickpeas were her thing.  The recipe is below, but I had to capture the priceless sequence of faces as she discovered this new and healthy food.

At first she was inquisitive: 

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What's For Dinner? - African Chicken Stew

SPICY, HEAVY GOODNESS!! A really pleasant combination of peanuts, chicken, vegetables, and spice. Initially you taste the sweetness of the peanut butter, then the red pepper kicks in after a few seconds and really adds some zip! I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and the key to this one is keeping everything in one pan from start to finish (my dad and mom taught me that little trick). Deglazing the pan after browning the chicken and keeping all the yummys in the dish makes it that much better.

~Ingredients~

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1.75 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 large potato, diced
1 turnip, diced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp. salt
1 cup of water (keep adding if it thickens too much)
1 cup peanut butter
1 (15 oz) can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

~Instructions~

1. In a large metal (not Teflon or non-stick) skillet with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add chicken and brown quickly. Letting your infant think that she is orchestrating the whole ordeal is wise. No hurt feelings.

(That's some perfectly browned chicken!)

 2.  Chop up any other vegetables you wish to add.  I picked a turnip! Yum!  And it makes such a pretty picture!

3.  Remove chicken from the skillet. The bottom of the metal skillet should have brown crusty stuff that looks like it is stuck to the bottom of it.  These are the yummys.  Do not remove them.  Just go ahead and add a little more olive oil and add your garlic, onion, potato, and in my case, the turnip.  Saute for 2-3 minutes.

4.  Add the cumin, coriander, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt.

5.  Cut the browned chicken into bite-sized pieces.

6.  Mix in the water, but make sure you have a good scraping tool. Either a metal spatula or a pointed wooden spoon of some sort so that scraping the browned chicken off of the bottom of the pan is easier.

(It should be a warm brown color like this when the scrapings are in the mix)

7.  Add the browned chicken pieces.  Place the lid on the skillet and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

8.  Add the peanut butter and garbanzo beans and mix thoroughly.

9.  Let your infant experiment with radishes that you have prepared for a garnish. I was really prepared for her to spit them out and throw them across the room expressing that her mouth was on fire, but...

Radishes were a spicy success!!!

10.  Garnish your African Chicken Stew, serve with either rice or bread, and beverage of choice! After eating it with red wine, I would advise an ice cold beer instead.  But that's just my opinion.

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What's For Breakfast? - German Pancakes

I received an easy and interesting-sounding recipe for German pancakes this morning from Allrecipes.com.  Piper and I jumped on it of course, and it proved to be a really pleasant breakfast dish.  I didn't know what to expect as I had never even heard of German pancakes before, and here is how I would describe it:  A mellow, dense, filling, and somehow sweet (although I don't know how as the recipe doesn't call for any sugar) breakfast that oddly resembles a combination of flan, quiche, and French toast.  I may rename it Germench Fluichoast (pronounced DJUR-MENCH, FLEESH-OST).

First of all you must realize that it is far too early to be doing anything on a Sunday morning besides popping the bubbles surrounding your head while aimlessly wandering through the house with your first mug of coffee.

 Shake it off, now let's get started!

~Ingredients~

1.  1/4 cup of butter  (4 tablespoons), (I used real butter, not margarine)
2.  1 cup of all-purpose flour
3.  1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
4.  6 eggs, lightly beaten
5.  1/8 tsp. salt

~Instructions~

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2.  Melt butter in a medium baking dish.

 3.  In a medium bowl, mix flour, milk, eggs, and salt.

 4.  Pour the mixture into prepared baking dish, in the center of the butter.  It should look like this:

 5.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown!

 6. Drizzle with maple syrup....ENJOY!

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