Recipes

January 3rd Avocado Egg Toast

Saw a great idea on Foodnetwork this morning and decided to try it as a great alternative for breakfast, lunch or afternoon snack.  It is healthy, has the good type of fat and a nice amount of protein.  I toasted a couple of pieces of whole wheat bread, smashed 1/2 of a nice ripe avocado on the slices, sprinkled with a little salt and some lemon and then topped with slices of a hard boiled egg topped with a little more salt and some pepper.  It was delish!

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I need some easy things to make for breakfast so I don’t default to cereal, high in carbs and sugar. I like to scramble eggs, but some mornings I do not have the time to sauté the vegetables to make the eggs interesting and more nutritional. Plus, I like cheese with my scrambled eggs and if I want to cut some bad fat and calories, I need to add cheese less often.  So having avocados and hard boiled eggs on hand make this a great alternative that is so easy to make in the mornings.

Substitute the toast with pita bread and this would be easy to pack for lunch.  Take the ingredients to work and make it when you are ready to eat it.    I like it and plan on using it often.

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We’ve moved our blog from wordpress.com

We moved our blog from thebeautyofsisters.wordpress.com to our new website, thebeautyofsisters.com.  Please excuse our mess while we are under construction, I am struggling with designing the new site to be a regular website as well as a blog.

We moved for more accessibility.  WordPress.com seemed very restrictive both in using it and in trying to find other blogs we would be interested in following.  It was not that intuitive.  I hope designing this website proves a little easier and offers more options for designing and sharing content.

This is a creative project for Laura and I.  We are trying to challenge ourselves to be more creative.  We are constantly designing projects to help us improve our photography, be more conscious about food selection and creating great menus, and learning to be in the moment.

It would be great to have a ton of followers, but it is the process that I am getting the most out of.

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Daughters and Chicken Noodle Soup: Two really awesome joys.

I sit here at the computer while my 17 year old makes homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch without a recipe.  Life is good.

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I did not really start cooking until she was about 8 and I realized that if I continued that way we were going, she would only know how to warm stuff up.  She would not really know how to cook, with recipes or without, because I mostly just put stuff together that needed to be warmed up.  So I started watching foodnetwork and realized that I loved to cook.  When Devin was 10, I made her responsible for one meal a week.  She could take the easy route of prepared food like canned soup every once and awhile, but I let her know I wanted her to learn to cook.  I got a couple of cookbooks specific for children and off she went.  She made pad thai as one of her first attempts.  From there she took off and I am so proud that she makes stuff up, cooks without a recipe and trusts her ability to combine ingredients.  She makes all kinds of meals now and rarely follows a recipe.

She is really great at asian sauces.  Over time, we have tried all kinds of recipes that we find in magazines, cookbooks or from watching America’s Test Kitchen.  I am working on a cookbook complete with photos of the preparation and final dish so I can print and bind it as a reminder of our favorite “family” recipes.

it just does not take that much effort to build family traditions, empower your kids to be self-sufficient while building their confidence.  A little thought, a little planning, a little creativity…..I cannot say how much I have enjoyed cooking for and with her these past 9 years.  I am proud and thrilled to know that she will grow up to be a skilled, creative and accomplished cook.

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I like canning.

It is relaxing to can.  I love to look at the jars sitting on the shelf, and I am tempted to not use them so I do not deplete my source of visual enjoyment. The latest addition to my shelf is Green Pepper Relish.  I harvested 13 green peppers from the garden and I needed to preserve them, so here is the product.  The recipe is very easy.

12 green peppers and 6 onions with 6 hot peppers (optional)

Chop peppers and onions in a processor and pour boiling water over them and let stand.

In a large pot, mix and boil
3 cups vinegar
3 cups sugar
3 TBLS salt
1 TEA celery seed and 1 TEA mustard seed.

Drain peppers, add to vinegar mixture and boil again.  Pour into properly prepared jars and process 10 minutes in a water bath canner.

Voila!! Yummy over cream cheese served with crackers, a relish for hot dogs and any number of other uses.

Green Pepper Relish

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