Green Beans and Almonds

I love to cook for people. I think one of the best ways to bless someone is to deliver a hot meal that's been lovingly prepared. Do you know a new mom, someone who has lost someone special to them, or someone going through tough financial times? Call them and tell them not to plan anything for dinner - that you're bringing them a meal. It will knock their socks off. Here's one of my favorite sides to deliver.

Green Beans and Almonds

2 Cups of fresh green beans

1/4 cup sliced almonds

2 Tablespoons butter

a couple shakes of your favorite salt-free seasoning (I use McCormick's garlic and herb)

Fresh ground black pepper

In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add almonds and seasoning, and cook about 5 minutes (enough to lightly toast the almonds). Add the green beans, and toss to coat with the butter and the seasonings and almonds. At this point, I go two ways. If I want the green beans to be more crunchy, I just cook them uncovered until they reach my desired consistency. To give them more of a steamed consistency and meld the flavors better, add about 3 tablespoons of water to the bottom of the pan, and place a lid on top. Check them every couple of minutes. Just before they're done, remove the lid to let the water steam out. Enjoy!

Teacher Gifts

This is such a great idea! Let me know if you need any last-minute coffee cozies, and I'll whip them up.

Free Mulch

We have tons of projects going on in our backyard. I've been adding up the amount of mulch or other ground covering (pebbles, pea gravel, etc.) we'd need, and it's enormous. There used to be a place in town that had a pile of free mulch, but it's no longer there. So I did some reasearch. I called a local landscaping company that trims and removes trees and stumps. They deliver free mulch when their truck is full. But you have to take the whole load. It was a lot more than I imagined, but we've already made a huge dent in it, and we've offered it to our neighbors who are using it as well. Need a ton of mulch? Call your local tree-trimming company.

Today's Garden

In addition to the basil chicken, we just enjoyed our first cucumber yesterday. Yum! Hannah loves cucumbers, so we were equally excited. Several have asked about our enormous mulch pile. It is very slowly dwindling. We offered it to all the neighbors, and they've helped themselves. We mulched the garden, and now we're preparing a giant planting bed around the perimeter of the back yard. We'll use it for Hannah's pool, a future swingset, and our Adirondack chairs and fire bowl. We haven't made much progress, so I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Can't wait to use these green beans in my green beans and almonds recipe!

2nd cucumber almost ready to pick

mulched

Sticker Prompts

My nephews helped me demonstrate this idea. Grab a handful of plain white paper (I keep a pile of printing mistakes by my printer and often use the back for doodling) and some fun stickers. Put the sticker somewhere on the paper, and have the kids draw a picture around, but including the sticker. It's fun to put the stickers in an unlikely place. For example, I put a sticker of a t-rex at an angle toward the middle of the page. My 5-year-old nephew decided the t-rex was climbing a mountain. Since there was at least half of a page underneath, he drew all sorts of underground life (worms, bugs, tunnels, etc.)

Want to take it further? Turn the paper over, and draw squiggly lines to create a puzzle. Cut along the lines, and voila! Don't be jealous of my amazing drawing skillz. =)

Creamy Basil Pesto Chicken

My basil plant in the garden has gone crazy. In the past years I've let it get too tall and stalky, and the basil is useless. So I'm trying to harvest it regularly so it continues to do well. I wanted to create a dish that was mainly basil since it's one of my favorite flavors. Just as I don't follow patterns well in sewing, I highly prefer to just dump and throw things into a pot instead of following recipes. Wonder what that says about me. =) The problem is, when I love something I've created, I often forget what I did the next time I want to recreate it. So I'm trying to be better about writing things down. This was dinner last night, and I loved it. If you're a huge basil fan too, try it out and let me know what you think.

Creamy Basil Pesto Chicken

3-4 Tablespoons of basil pesto (recipe to follow)

1-1/2 cups of half and half (you could use heavy cream or even milk instead)

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 chicken breasts

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add butter and olive oil. Meanwhile salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts. Saute them in the skillet for 6 minutes on each side or until cooked through. In a mixing bowl, combine the pesto, half and half, cheese, and salt and pepper. Pour into the pan, and let cook over medium-low heat until the sauce thickens (approx. 5 minutes). Serve over your favorite pasta (I used 1/2 box of penne cooked al dente).

Alicia's Basil Pesto

Huge bunch of basil (probably about 2 cups)

1/4 cup chopped pecans

2 garlic cloves

kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

olive oil (approx. 1/2 cup)

In a food processor, pulse basil, pecans, garlic, and 1/4 cup olive oil until finely ground. Add olive oil to your desired consistency. Then season with salt and pepper to taste.

You can use this pesto on pasta, to marinate chicken, or spread on crusty bread. You can add flavors as you wish to make it spicy, sweet, or more garlicy. =)

Silly Lunch

Every week or so I get the privilege of pulling out my pre-K teacher ideas with my nephews. Last week my two middle nephews (ages 3 and 5) came over for the afternoon. I had a picnic lunch planned and packed, but the weather was HOT, and the allergens were in full force. So we ate inside instead. I searched for some fun ways to dress up a regular picnic lunch, experimented, and here's the result. Please feel free to copy!

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (flatten with a rolling pin, use a cup to cut into a circle, then add ears (the cut-off corners of the sandwich). I peeled a carrot with a vegetable peeler for hair, added strawberry and chocolate chip eyes, a blackberry nose, and an orange wedge mouth. Make sure to serve it with ranch to dip the "hair."
A side of applesauce topped with sliced strawberry stars, red raspberries, and sprinkles.

We had very little leftover. =)