Are You a Fan of The Game of Thrones? A Feast Fit for a King Part 1...

I am a huge Game of Thrones fan.  I’ve read the books multiple times.  I have the audiobooks so I can listen to the books during long car trips.  I’ve seen the show, and I’m quite impressed that HBO is actually sticking pretty close to the original story line (unlike other shows *cough*TrueBlood*cough*). 

Anyways, you can imagine my excitement when I learned there was an official Game of Thrones cookbook.  It’s called A Feast of Fire & Ice.  It is seriously a legit cookbook.  The recipes are based off of the various cuisines within the Game of Thrones world. 

I’ve wanted to test out the recipes for some time now, but lack of time has prevented me from doing some.  Some of the recipes require a bit prep time, and it’s really hard sometimes finding that kind of time with a 4yr old, 2yr old, and 10 month old trying to “help”. 

 Sansa Salad

This salad is easily a meal on its own, but it also makes a great first course with a smaller portion size.  I was unable to find edible flowers to garnish my salad with since it’s not the right season, but hopefully the next time we try this recipe I’ll be able to get my hands on some fresh ones.

7c Baby Spinach

1c Fresh Mint Leaves

1c Diced Prunes

½ c Candied Walnuts

½ c Fresh Lemongrass, thinly sliced

Optional:  ¼ c Edible Flowers (usually you can find these near the packages of fresh herbs in the produce section)

Raspberry Vinaigrette

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Toss and serve.  You can toss the dressing, or you can leave it off and let each person add as much as he or she wants. 

This salad was amazing.  I’m actually excited that we have leftovers plus enough ingredients left to make it again.  I think it would be great with some grilled chicken maybe even a feta or a blue cheese if you are looking to add more protein and make a full meal out of it.  It stands alone perfectly, and I only wish I could have gotten my hands on those flowers just to add an extra pop of color and texture. 

Its Been One of THOSE Kind of Weeks....

Ok, so I've been horrible at making meals for the family this week.  I've got a teething baby whose been screaming and refusing naps for days now, and we just started IEP month.  My middle child has a couple evals coming up along with her IEP meeting for school, and my oldest has his annual review coming up soon.  I'm exhausted, and honestly, its been one of those kind of weeks where I've given into the kiddos wants.  They may have gotten their way and had granola bars, cereal bars, cheese crackers, and other easy to grab foods on more than one occasion.  I would feel guilty about it except that I am too tired to care!

I did get a chance to prepare an awesome meal that is literally "fit for a king" today. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you are going to love the recipes I'll be reviewing and sharing tomorrow.  I have a lot of typing to do, but I'll leave you with an amazing teaser pic.

Quite possibly one of the best roasts I've made. 

Lemon Pepper Tilapia

I was walking through Sams Club yesterday with my three little ones, and it just so happened that they had tons of samples in every aisle.  You know its going to be a good shopping trip when you walk through the door and the first sample they have happens to be your kids favorite candy (M&Ms).  The kids had a blast, and were happily occupied while mommy shopped.  When you have 3 kids 4 and under, this is quite the accomplishment. 

Anyways, one of the samples they had was fresh tilapia.  I got a sample for myself, and it was amazing.  It must have smelled pretty good because my 2yr old and my 10 month old both decide to inhale that sample.  Whenever my kids try a new food and like it, I make a point of buying it so we can expand our dinner menu at home.  I asked the lady which seasonings she used, looked over how she prepared it, and then I went home to recreate the recipe. I had the seasonings, but realized after we were home I didn't have any olive oil.  I did have some coconut oil on hand, so I decided to use that in its place.

Lemon Pepper Tilapia

4 tilapia fillets
1tbsp coconut oil
lemon pepper seasoning
sea salt

Lay your fillets on a cutting board or on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle some lemon pepper seasoning and sea salt on each fillet and rub it in.  Turn each fillet over, and repeat.  In a skillet on med heat, melt the coconut oil.  Cook 2 fillets at a time.  You want to avoid over crowding the pan.  It makes for more even cooking.  Cook for 3-6 minutes, then flip and continue cooking for an additional 3-6 minutes (you may need to flip again if your fillet is thicker).  The tilapia will be flaky when it is finished cooking.

Like any true child, once I prepared the fish, none of mine wanted to touch it.  As soon as I had my own plate made though, they all swarmed me and ate all my food.  In the end, mommy still got them to eat something new, so I consider this a win for me. 

House Party and Kitchen IQ

Have you heard about House Party?  If you haven't, you are missing out!  It is a great website that offers up parties from various brands.  If you see a party you might be interested in, simply fill out an application.  There are activities you can do to increase your chances to be selected.  Hosts get a package of goodies to share with their guests.  Sometimes its samples.  Sometimes its coupons and/or rebates.  Other times its full size products.  Most of the parties that are posted require no purchase. 

I got selected for the Kitchen IQ party!  You have no idea how excited I am to be hosting this party.  I love kitchen gadgets!  It's the perfect party for me.  Here's a list of goodies that I will receive for hosting this party:

1 Angle Adjust Manual Knife Sharpener

1 Apron

1 Cutting board

1 KitchenIQ kitchen tool

Knife skills bookmark

Recipe booklet

Kitchen IQ Rebates

Coupons for Cabot Cheese

Cabot Cheese recipes

All I have do is invite my friends over for an afternoon of food and fun.  I'll show off what I received, and share coupons and recipes.  It's great for us because we get to see and try products we haven't heard of before, and its great for the company because it gets their products and name out there. 

Check out this link to see more info on this party!

http://www.houseparty.com/event/kitcheniq

Seriously, if you haven't done it yet, sign up for House Party today! 

Quick (and easy) Swedish Meatballs

Most of the time, I prefer to make my meals from scratch.  I don’t always get the time to do so.  I have three young kids, and sometimes I don’t have the energy or the time.  Other times I just don’t have all the ingredients needed to make a full meal from scratch, so I rely on some convenience products to help speed up the process a bit.  This is happens to be the case tonight.  I really wanted to make Swedish Meatballs, but I didn’t have time to make my own meatballs.  I also didn’t have any heavy cream in the fridge.  I did have a few other products in the house though, so I came up with a quick version.  While it’s not the traditional recipe, it does taste pretty good in my opinion.

Quick (and easy) Swedish Meatballs

1 can cream of mushroom soup (10-3/4oz)

1/2c sour cream

1/3c milk (2% or whole)

1tbsp dried parsley flakes

1tbsp onion powder

1/2tsp black pepper

1/4tsp sea salt

1/4tsp nutmeg

1 bag frozen meatballs

Combine all ingredients minus the meatballs in a bowl.  Place frozen meatballs in a skillet and cover with sauce.  Heat covered on medium, stirring occasionally.  These are great served over cooked egg noodles. 

Lactation Cookies

I thought I posted this recipe a while back, but I guess I didn't.  I came up with this recipe when I was trying to create a tasty cookie recipe to boost my milk supply. 

Lactation Cookies

½ c butter (1 stick)
¼ c coconut oil
1 c. brown sugar (**I make my own…. See note at the bottom for recipe**)
½ c white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 c oatmeal
1 ½ c flour
3 tbs flax seeds
12 oz of bittersweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips (I used Hersey’s milk chocolate for my first attempt)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Beat butter, coconut oil, and sugars together.
Add 2 eggs and vanilla, and then beat well.
Next add baking soda, oatmeal, flour, and flax seeds. Mix everything well.
Finally add your chocolate chips.
Bake for 8 minutes. Cookies should be brown around the edges and looking somewhat doughy in the middle. If the middle looks too doughy, bake for an additional 1 minute.
Let cookies rest on pan for 3 minutes. This will cook the center a bit more, but not burn your cookie. Cookies will be soft, so carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

**Homemade Brown Sugar**
1 tbsp Molasses
1 cup white sugar

Mix together. The mixture will look clumpy at first, but keep mixing. After a couple minutes of mixing it will start resembling brown sugar.

COLORFUL Sensory Rice

We are pretty big on encouraging sensory play in our house.  My 2yr old daughter has albinism.  She is visually impaired, so I try to find ways to get creative with our sensory play and arts and crafts time.  One thing she is really getting into is playing with dry rice.  By making it bright and colorful, it is easier for her to see and manipulate with tools.

Sensory Rice

1c white rice

1tbsp white vinegar

4 drops food coloring (more or less depending on how intense you want the coloring to be)

This is a great recipe to have your kids help with!

I used sandwich sized plastic baggies (the kind that seal, not the fold and tuck baggies).  They are the perfect size for 1 cup of rice.  If you are making a larger batch of one color, use a bigger bag.

This recipe is very easy.  Place rice in the bag.  Add the vinegar, then the food coloring.  Close the bag and make sure it is sealed properly.  Then you can shake it.  Make sure all the rice has been covered by the vinegar/food coloring mixture.  Once it is covered, lay it out on a cooking sheet to dry.  Make sure to spread out the rice so it dries faster.  It will take about an hour to dry, longer if you use more rice. 

We made 4 cups total and used 1 cup of rice for each color (red, blue, green, and yellow).  You can keep the colors separate, or mix them all together for rainbow rice.  You can use it to make a sensory sandbox, or use it in place of glitter or sand in arts and craft projects.  The best part about this recipe that this is an edible recipe.  You can dye your rice and use it to make some creative, kid friendly, rice recipes.  Follow the instructions for dying it, and once it is dry store it in an air tight container.  Cook as per the instructions on the original bag of rice.  Obviously if you plan on eating it, don’t let your kids place with it before you cook it.