Grilled Corn and Cheese cakes

Grilled Corn and Cheese Cakes


2 cups fresh cooked corn, taken off the cob

3/4 cup shredded  mozzarella


1 cup plain breadcrumbs, divided

1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

1 tablespoon sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup sour cream, for serving

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In a food processor, pulse the corn into a chunky puree. Place in a medium bowl. Add the cheese to the corn and mix.  Add a 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, chives, sour cream, salt, and pepper.  Stir until combined.  Form the mixture into 9 balls and then flatten into patties, each about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 3/4-inch thick. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Coat the patties in the remaining 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and drizzle with olive oil. Place a grill pan over medium heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Brush the patties with olive oil and grill until toasted, 4 minutes on each side. Serve with sour cream and chives.

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I did these on the stove instead of the grill, since we weren't grilling anything else that night. I really liked them, something a little different than just plain corn, and great for summer!

New recipes

Thanks to Pinterest, I've tried new recipes every night for almost two weeks! We've had some really good success, and only a few tweaks here and there. It's really nice to try a few new things and mix up some of the usual stuff we eat. My house can be a tough crowd, especially when they're used to the same old, same old.

The two recipes I did last night are so simple, they aren't really "recipes".

The first was a roasted pork loin. I browned the pork loin on all sides in some olive oil on medium heat. Once it was done, I tossed it in the roasting pan, squeezed dijon mustard from end to end a few times and let that sit a minute (since it was still pretty warm from the stove). Next I added brown sugar up and down the pork loin and put that in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Pulled it out, let it rest for 10 minutes and it was perfect! Great flavor, juicy and a little different!

To go with that, I did a few roasted sweet potatoes. Tossed diced sweet potatoes in olive oil, sprinkled a little salt and sesame seeds and spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Roasted for about 30 minutes at 400. I pulled them out and drizzled a mix of soy sauce and honey, placed under the broiler for about 3 minutes. These tasted great! I would have liked to cook them about 5 minutes longer to crisp them up a bit but overall I was pretty happy with it.

Now, what to cook tonight...

Sleep walker

Last week, Jay woke me up when he got home at 2:30am.

Jay: Get up, you have to come see this.
Me: I'm tired, take a picture.
Jay: Just get up.

I grumbled and stumbled up the stairs to Hayden's room. He was fast asleep on his belly...naked from the waist down. I blinked. Yup, naked. We searched the floor, tested the bed for wet spots, nope. Finally I went into his bathroom and found the missing pants and underwear in the floor. Apparently he got up to go pee, didn't quite make it and took his pants off in the bathroom. He then went right back to bed.

At 7am, he came into my room (still naked).

Hayden: Where's my 'jamas?
Me: You took them off baby.
Hayden: No I didn't. You need to find them.
(pause)
Hayden: I COLD, mommy *shiver*

Yeah, I love this kid.

Chocolate Pound Cake with Fudge Glaze

This is a recipe I found on Pinterest and had to try, mainly because I had everything on hand. Here's the recipe, and at the end will be my suggestions.

CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE:


3 sticks margarine or butter

3 teaspoons vanilla

3 Cups sugar

1/2 Cup Cocoa

5 Eggs

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

3 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Cups Milk

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GLAZE:

1 1/2 Cup Sugar

7 Tablespons Milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoon Shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons Margarine

1/2 Cup Cocoa

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Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour bundt pan, set aside. Cream butter in large mixing bowl. Add sugar, beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Measure milk and stir vanilla into it. Add milk and dry ingredients alternately, mixing after each addition. Pour into pan and bake for one hour and twenty minutes. Let cool for ten minutes before removing from pan and allowing to cool completely before adding glaze.

1.For glaze, Combine sugar, cocoa, milk, shortening, margarine, and salt in heavy saucepan. Bring to a rolling , stirring constantly. Once it reaches a boil, allow to boil without stirring for two minutes, no more. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stirr until cooled just slightly. Spoon over cooled cake.

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For starters, I've never baked anything from scratch that didn't require 1/4 teaspoon of salt, so I definitely added that. I have also discovered that room temperature butter AND eggs result in a better pound cake. I'm not sure if I should let the milk come to room temperature as well, or if that's food poisoning waiting to happen. Every oven is different so I need to cut the cooking time by ten full minutes. I pulled it out five minutes early and it wasn't over done, but might have been better if I pulled it out at the ten minute mark. And for the glaze, I definitely should have sifted the cocoa first. But I'm not a baker by trade, so I'm still pretty proud of the work!

Crock Pot Coke Chicken

Last night I needed a quick and easy recipe for dinner, since I had somewhere to be and the boys needed to be fed! I found this on Pinterest (obsessed) and decided to try it out. I LOVE a whole fryer, because you can do so much with it, and there's leftovers for wraps, salads, etc.

1 whole fryer
1 medium onion
1 lemon
1 bottle BBQ sauce
1 can Coke

Add fryer to the crock pot. Quarter your onion and lemon, place in the crock. Pour the whole bottle of BBQ sauce on the chicken. Pour the can of coke over it. Slow cook 6 hours, be ready for it to fall right off the bone!

I actually did this on high since I was in a time crunch. Perfect!

Still not done, but trying!

Nothing happens quickly in our house these days, except messes. We're slowly getting Lila's room together, and this weekend I got to add some of the fun "finishing" touches, though the room is far from finished!

On her due date, we did her hand and foot prints for this sweet frame my aunt gave us. Once we got our pics from the photographer, a quick print finished up this little project. It looks SO good on the green walls!

I'm really excited about these frames for her wall. The two on the end I ordered a week or so ago, they are part of her bedding and I love the black and white against the green wall. The middle is a Creative Memories magnetic frame I bought FOREVER ago and totally forgot about. I found it two weeks ago when going through my scrapbook stuff and thought it would be perfect for her room. I didn't realize until the black and white frames came in that it was the exact same size!

We got this sweet little lamp at my baby shower but were lacking the shade that matched her bedding until last week. I love it! Now, to get the dresser to put it on...

Getting there

So. I've been back at work since mid-week last week, and we're getting through it. Next challenge? Getting through it more easily. This is all transition for all four of us (five including Oscar) but so far I think we've all had a reasonable number of meals and baths. Here's where my organizational skills need to kick in so I can keep things relatively clean and running at home, and meals planned. We've been pretty good about meal planning and shopping for meals instead of just shopping, but I have a long way to go before I'm where I want to be.

Logically, I'd like to be like my friend Val and use Sunday as my prep day for the week. Prep and portion out breakfast and lunch for me for the week, while meal planning for dinner and making sure Hayden has easy access to healthy choices for snacks. He's very independent of course, so if we have to help him get something he gets frustrated. I have gotten smarter and sliced the banana/pumpkin/zucchini bread after it cools and put it into individual bags so he can grab one when he wants one.

I have a cleaning schedule that I want to tweak, but it really only works if a) your house is totally clean to start and b) if you stick to it. Some days, it's nice to just sit down and do a puzzle with Hayden at 8 o'clock instead of folding laundry. So I do that. But when I skip a day of laundry, it's like it multiplies. We'll get it together eventually!