Homemade Naan Recipe

My goal this year is to start making our breads/starches from scratch. Not because I wanted to be Suzy homemaker, but because for the price of a loaf of bread I could get a bag of flour to make at least 3 of those loaves. I wanted us to try something new to pair with our meals, hence this recipe for Naan. This was easy to make and delicious. I made mini naans for Haidyn and bigger ones for Waymon for his lunch /to snack on. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ tsp garlic powder
• 3 cups flour, plus a few tbsp for workspace

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes .
   
   
   
   
2. Add salt and flour mixing thoroughly.
   
   
   
   
3. Knead dough on a floured surface for about 2 minutes forming a ball from the dough
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Put dough in a well oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel.
5. Put in a warm place to rise for 30-45 minutes. **don’t skip this step!  
   
6. Turn dough out onto a floured workspace and roll out until approx 1/8" thick. – **Don’t worry about making them perfect.
   
   
   
   
7. Heat up a  frying pan to medium-high heat, spray with some nonstick cooking spray and grill 1-2 minutes on each side. You may also use a grill/electrical grill.
   

Tuna Cakes: Introducing fish

I decided that it was time to introduce Haidyn to some fish. She’s had some selfish before so why not try some tuna. I don’t like to make our food any different from her because 1) she knows if she is eating something different and 2) it’s easier for me to make us all the same meal. With that being said, her first run with tuna was a success! So much so that she had thirds. Mixing the tuna into something that she already loved was important to me for introducing her to it, so I decided to make these tuna cakes. They were simple to make and great tasting too. For dinner that night, we paired these cakes with Greek yogurt Alfredo spaghetti squash and Waymon had them for lunch the next day in sandwich form. 

INGREDIENTS: 

•  2 cans canned light tuna (drained)
• 1 medium sweet potato, diced 
•  1 small white potato, diced
• 4 spring onions (green onions or scallions), chopped
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp paprika 
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4-1/2 cup ( roughly ) homemade bread crumbs- of course you can use store bought

DIRECTIONS:

1. Steam the potatoes until tender .
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Mash roughly, mixing in the tuna, onions, s&p, paprika , bread crumbs and butter.**you can add more bread crumbs to your liking **
   
3. Form the fish into patties ( about 2 in in diameter) 
   
   
   
4. Heat your pan to medium high heat and spray with cooking oil, cooking the cakes until golden and firm. 
                                                                                 
   

Haidyn Ten Months

LENGTH: 27 1/2 inches

LIKES: 

-Walking with her walker . She knows how to push it forward without anyone's help, which she is so proud of! 

-Pulling herself up onto things. It scares me more than it scares her now. 

-Singing songs ( or trying to) ! She's getting the hang of a rhythm 

 with all of the songs and trying to mimic our movement. 

- Clapping! She will clap for you for as long as you want. 

-Shrimp/lobster/crab. This girl has no problem eating sushi with us! It's so cute! 

- Rice. haha I don't know how much more Filipino my girl can get, but if you put rice in front of her you will see it all disappear in a matter of minutes. 

-Green juice. In my attempt to make our family healthier she loves drinking her daily green juice. No artificial juice for this girl! 

- Seeing Daddy come home. Waymon always surprises her when he comes home. 

- Laughing. She will scrunch up her nose as she laughs too. 

- Bubble baths! She loves to swim in the tub with all of her little bath toys.

DISLIKES: 

- Not being able to walk. Her independence is her biggest weakness right now. She wants to do more and she can't wait for it to happen to her. 
- The glass on our entertainment center. She hid her toys underneath and she doesn't understand why she can't grab and get them from up top. :) 
-Sitting in one place - she is a wiggle worm. 
-Being told no. She will say shake her head no right back at you. 

MILESTONES: 

-copies the sounds we make
-understanding more of our conversation
-she can support her own weight while standing
-she can stand by furniture ( and pull herself up)
- able pick up a toy off of the floor and return to standing
-picks up a toy with just one hand
-picks up spaghetti noodles/rice to eat

EVENTS:
-Daddy's 24th birthday! 
-Grandma Tracey and Grandpa Willie's birthday! 

DIY Valentines Day Treat Bags

I wanted to make something special for the girls in Haidyn’s class.  They are a small class so I figured there’s no harm in making special Valentines for everyone.  Almost everything I got was from the Dollar store and the most expensive thing of the treats was the gold fish! I debated on what I wanted to put all of the goodies in, but I loved the cute small owl bags I found. They have a draw string to keep everything in and it too bulky when the treats are in them! I've always wanted to do DIY treats and I’m so excited that I finally get to. I paired these treats with my Mini Red Velvet Cheesecakes. :) 

Inside the bag:

• Heart bracelets
• Heart slinkies
• Ring pops ( for the older kids)
• Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish
• Animal cookies
• Heart shaped Marshmallows

 Outside the Bag:
 I made name tags out of card stock and a little heart to say "Happy V-day Love Haidyn" . All of this was simple and fun . I didn't want to over think it all.

TOTAL COST OF VALENTINE’S : $9.00

I know I will have to get more creative when Haidyn gets into grade school on how to lower that cost, but I feel for under $10.00 I got a lot of stuff for all of her friends.

HAPPY EARLY VALENTINES DAY!!

Mini Red Velvet Cheesecakes

Haidyn's class is celebrating Valentines Day early so I decided that I would make treats for all of them. Now there is only 7 of them, but I wanted to make something special for her first Valentines Day. I know, I know it's just Valentines Day but you should have seen the look on Haidyn's face when I was making these.  Waymon and I made a great team making these bad boys!! I hope you all enjoy.

Ingredients:

Red Velvet Cookie Layer

• 1 and 1/2 cups and 1 Tablespoon  all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup  unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup  unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.
• 3/4 cup  light brown sugar (or dark brown)
• 1/4 cup  granulated sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature*
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon red food coloring (liquid or gel)

Cheesecake Layer

• 12 ounces  Cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons  Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup  mini or regular semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two 12-count muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. Making the red velvet cookie layer: toss the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
   
   
   
3. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed.
4.  Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.                                                
5. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined.
6.  Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed. Beat in more food coloring if you'd like the dough to be redder. The dough will be sticky.
7. Press 1 scant Tablespoon of cookie dough into the bottom of each cupcake liner. I say "scant" because otherwise you won't have enough to make 22-24 mini cheesecakes.
8. Bake each batch for 8 minutes to pre-bake the crust before layering the cheesecake on top.

1. Making the cheesecake layer: using a handheld mixer beat the cream cheese on medium-high until completely smooth. Add the yogurt and sugar, beating on high until   combined.                                                             



We gave the left over Greek yogurt to her for tasting :)

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium until combined. *DO NOT OVERBEAT !                 
3. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.                          
4. Place 1 Tablespoon of cheesecake batter on top of the pre-baked cookie. Make sure to spread it evenly on top of the cookie layer.                       
5. Return the mini cheesecakes to the oven  to bake for about 20 more minutes. Make sure  sure the tops of the cheesecake does not get too brown. The cheesecake layer should no longer jiggle when they're done.  Allow to cool for 30 minutes on the counter, then in the refrigerator to set for another 1 1/2 hrs.                                 
6. I added pink sprinkles to my cookies which is completely optional. I wanted them to be more themey.