Not Blessed Mama Cooks, Sometimes: Roasted Artichokes

Tweet You guys know I hate cooking. Hate is a strong word- but it's totally accurate. I've been cleaning all day, feeding children, dragging them places and doing errands and shopping and EVERYTHING and at the end of the day, slaving over a hot stove is not what I'm looking forward to. If I had the money, we'd be eating out all the time. I can't even lie and say I'm cooking at home to be healthier- it would be take-out every night if I could afford that shit.

WHEW! Anyway, I do cook, because my family needs to eat. Simple is best- tasty is good too. Not too long ago, I saw people mentioning roasted artichokes on Twitter. I googled a few recipes and tried it out- and oh my goodness, those things are freaking delicious. We've had them every week for about a month now. My daughter loves them- she loves them so much, she asked if we could make them and put them on my blog. She's such a sweetheart. Here they are!

These taste better if you have a little girl with dirty fingernails helping you- just FYI.

Grab some artichokes- chop off the top (about an inch) and then the stem, so they sit flat.

Drizzle some olive oil on a square of foil and put your artichoke on it. Peel the leaves open a bit if you can. The artichokes in the picture have flat leaves instead of being curled and pokey at the tip- these do not work as well, in my opinion. It's hard to get the leaves open, and the leaves were still tough and the heart was mushy at the end of the cooking time.

Drizzle some olive oil over the top of the artichoke. Then do the same with lemon juice.

Then spoon a bunch of crushed garlic over the top. Stick it down in between the leaves. Some recipes call for whole garlic cloves. I much prefer the crushed garlic because then you can eat the tasty bits with your artichoke leaves.

Throw on some salt and pepper, wrap 'em up tight, then stick those babies in a 425 degree over for about an hour and fifteen minutes. You can test one by pulling a leaf off and checking if it's tender enough. I haven't tried these on the barbecue yet, but I think they'd do great. 

Then eat! This is what the roasted artichoke looks like- nice and dark green and oh so tasty. (And this is the one with the pokey leaves.)

My husband, daughter and I have all fallen in love with these artichokes. Spawn#2 ate 3 the other night! I let her eat the leaves, and she gives me the hearts. I hope you give these a try- they're so easy to make and cannot be messed up (obviously, or I wouldn't be making them). 

And here's the little Chef making Hello Kitty waffles. I love that girl!

Not Blessed Mama Cooks, Sometimes: Jamba Juice Copycat Recipe

Tweet This is Spawn#3. He doesn't eat anything.

Waffles have to be toasted exactly the right way. Pizza can't have cheese on it, unless it's from 2 specific places. The list goes on and on. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that he would never drink my yummy fruit smoothies. 

BUT, he would drink Jamba Juice. Citrus Squeeze, to be specific. I searched out the ingredients and read a bunch of copycat recipes, and this is what I came up with. Turns out the secret was orange sherbet. 

Jamba Juice Citrus Squeeze: no banana, substitute strawberry

- 1 cup orange juice (I usually add a splash more than a cup)

- 1/2 cup pineapple juice

- 1 (scant) cup ice

-1 (heaping) cup frozen strawberries (toss a banana in there if you are so inclined- we all hate banana)

-1 (scant) cup orange sherbet

Blend away, and enjoy! It kind of depresses me to add the orange sherbet, but there's no way Spawn#3 would ever touch a strawberry, so C'est la vie. 

Will your smoothie look like a glowing cup of molten lava?
Only if you take a pic of it at night with the flash on.

Gone Fishin'

Tweet As you may have noticed, we have a few birthdays going on. We have one big party for the Spawn every April, and I'm preparing for it right now- well, trying. It is becoming readily apparent that if I cleaned more than once a year, the task wouldn't be so daunting.
Therefore, Not Blessed Mama will be on hiatus this week as she scrubs and cooks and cleans and is generally just miserable. I will miss all my mama friends dearly and look forward to reconnecting with you next week, if I survive.

Spawn#3. In a tree.

Not Blesssed Mama's Unwanted And Unsolicited Product Review: The Ove Glove

Tweet Last night I was having a bit of a rough night. I was a little off.  I decided (stupidly) to make Not Blessed Daddy buffalo wings to thank him for being patient while I had my crazy mom's group over. (I love you ladies, do not be bothered that I called you crazy. Readers, when N.B.Daddy walked in the door he had a crowd of rowdy ladies ready to throw dollar bills at him in exchange for some sexy dancing- he promptly ran into the bedroom, mortified and maybe even a little scared).
ANYWHO, I decided to make him real buffalo wings, deep fried and tossed in rich, buttery sauce. Which is a lot of freaking work, but I am a good wife. So I dragged out the big fryer, cleaned it, fried some wings and put a big bowl on the stove to melt some butter . I turned the burner on, as I always do, but I guess I was a bit scatterbrained. I was tired, and getting a cold. I left the bowl on too long, and when I quickly shut off the burner and poured the hot sauce in, THE BOWL EXPLODED. It didn't just crack, it shattered and pieces flew everywhere (no Mamas were harmed in the making of this post). It was wonderful. Shards and sauce dripped down below my one big burner. I picked off some pieces with the tongs, trying to spill as little of the sauce as possible. But what about the little pieces that I couldn't get to?

ENTER THE OVE GLOVE!

I have to say something awful. When my grandmother gave me the Ove Glove a few years ago for Christmas, I laughed. I thought it was another silly As-Seen-On-TV item. But I cannot tell you how many times I have used that thing! It is legitimately useful. We've used it with the BBQ, I used it with this wonky Wilton huge cupcake pan I got (that cooked everything really unevenly), and now it came into play during The Great Hot Sauce Debacle of 2011. You can even see in the photo the orange stains from the buffalo sauce. 

So Ove Glove, I salute you. You are truly a wonderful product and you have protected my fingers well on many occasions. Therefore Not Blessed Mama gives you a big thumbs up. 

I'd like to add that before I wiped up all the hot sauce, I tried to hard boil a pot of eggs on the same burner- causing the hot sauce to ignite. I mean, it was really on fire. I pulled the pot off with tongs as flames were shooting up around it and threw a wet towel on. It took a few seconds for the fire to go out, and I tossed some water on top of the towel. Very scary indeed. But the really super duper best part of this is that I put the pot of eggs onto a different burner to finish cooking, and boiled all the water out of the pot- not noticing until I heard it sizzling and hissing. I tell you, it was a rough night. 

Disclaimer: I did not receive a free Ove Glove (or anything else for that matter) to write this post, and it is really starting to get irritating. Come on companies, send me free stuff. 

Things I Love.... And Don't

Tweet Things I Love...
1. A quiet rainy afternoon, curled up in a comfy chair with a good book and the window open to listen to the soft droplets fall.
2. Cooking and enjoying a delicious, relaxing dinner at home with my family.
3. Having a date night with my husband and going to the drive-in to watch movies- childless!
4. Cuddling up with my little ones at bedtime to tell stories, snuggle and laugh. 
5. The warmth of a purring kitten curled up between my feet.
6. The laughter of a good friend during a long phone conversation.
7. The excitement and promise of the holiday season, and the joy of sharing it with my loved ones.
8. Kind neighbors who are thoughtful enough to call when my car light gets left on.
9. A big, cozy, comfy, warm sweater.
10. My beautiful, healthy family. 


Things I Don't Love
1. The Spawn getting muddy and wet within 2 seconds of walking out of the door on a rainy day.
2. Burning dinner and having my husband ask me why I burned the dinner. 
3. Wasting $14 to watch 2 lousy movies at the drive-in while I freeze my arse off.
4. Being forced to threaten the Spawn with bodily injury if sleeping does not immediately commence. 
5. The psychotic cat biting, attacking and licking my feet while I try to sleep. 
6. My friends being too busy with their hectic lives to listen to me complain about my hectic life. 
7. Stores forcing me to start my Christmas shopping the day after Halloween. 
8. Neighbors who give me the evil eye because my kid spilled nail polish in their driveway- once!
9. My new big, comfy, cozy sweater stained with a batch of homemade goo.
10. My crabby, sniffley family. 

What are you loving and hating lately?

Not Blessed Mama Cooks... Sometimes

Tweet So, what's for dinner tonight, my dear Mama friends? In our house it's.....

frickin' nothin'.
Not Blessed Daddy has been working out of town during the week for a while now. And while he is a lazy ass bump on a log doesn't always help out at home, at least there is another adult in the house. Another adult to distract the screaming, crazy, relentless, lovely Spawn. Single Mamas, I salute you. It sucks major ass to be the only adult around. It's hard. Lately I have been so tired- the house is suffering, the cooking is suffering. The Spawn don't seem to be suffering, but I did find a pig's head on a stick in the backyard. Oh wait, that was in a book.
About the cooking.... I thought I'd share another of my super simple recipes that the Spawn are just loving lately. 

Not Blessed Mama's Famous Pasta

1. Boil spaghetti.

2. Put in a bowl with parmesan cheese.

3. Eat!

This dish will be a favorite in your house, I promise! It doesn't seem to go over so well at potlucks and on the holidays, but we love it anyway. 

Do you have any simple, easy, quick recipes you'd like to share? Because you KNOW I need them!

Not Blessed Mama Cooks! (sometimes)

Tweet Mamas, let me be honest with you- cooking isn't my thing. I do cook- we try and eat at home as much as possible, and only eat out on the weekends once or twice. But I really don't enjoy it. At the end of the day I'm getting tired, the house is getting messy (or already is a disaster), Not Blessed Daddy's home and things are generally just chaotic and busy. The last thing I want to do is slave in a hot kitchen over a meal that will be either inhaled in 30 seconds or picked and prodded and rejected. Needless to say, simple meals are generally preferred. One pot? Excellent.  Few ingredients? Yahoo! So in that spirit, I would like to share one of my favorite recipes. It's simple, easy, tasty and the ingredients are probably already in your cupboard. AND it's Filipino. You see, N.B. Dad is Filipino, and I figured it would be nice for him to eat some food from his childhood. I knew I would never stack up to his Mama, but I was okay with that- until he asked me to make this dish to take to the in-laws the other day. As I told my brother-in-law, "Do you have any idea how intimidating it is to make Filipino food for your in-laws when you're white?!" They all raved over my Chicken Adobo,  and I hope it lived up to their stringent standards. 

it doesn't look like much, but you'll love it!

CHICKEN ADOBO

ingredients: 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup vinegar, 1 cup water, 2 Tbs brown sugar, 

1 Tbs chopped garlic, 3 bay leaves, black pepper, chicken thighs

1. In a pot, combine soy sauce (low sodium is good), vinegar (I use white distilled), water, brown sugar, chopped garlic (I use canned!), bay leaves, a dash of black pepper, and as many chicken thighs as you like. I used about 3 lbs. the other day- the leftovers are excellent, so don't worry about making too much. I prefer boneless/skinless, but that is not the Pinoy way- we compromise with skinless, bone-in.
2. Boil like crazy for 30 minutes and don't turn the heat down until you hear the pot boil over. Frantically hope dinner is not ruined
3. Okay, okay, number 2 was a joke. Well, it's what I do- but do as I say, not as I do. Gently simmer for about 40 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. You want it bubbling, but not a rolling boil. Check broth after about 25 minutes. Add water if it's too strong- but it should be tangy. It will be soupy.
4. Eat! Ladle the sauce over rice. 

This recipe is super easy and hard to mess up. I don't even measure the ingredients anymore, just dump it in and cook away. I hope you try it and enjoy it!

And if you have any quick, easy recipes (especially for the crock pot), comment below! My family will thank you for it. 

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Tweet As you may have heard, Not Blessed Mama is not much of a cook. I do cook, all the time, but i don't really enjoy it. As I've said before- if dinner is something other than potato chips, I'm pretty happy (although don't get me wrong, Spawn#1-3 would be perfectly happy to eat chips 24/7). A while ago a friend told me about a Rachel Ray recipe she tried. She gave it a thumbs down, but I love weird food (especially easy-to-make weird food) so I gave it a try. It's basically just a pb&j sandwich fried up like french toast. Rachel recommends serving with maple syrup, and said friend deemed it too sweet- noooooo way. I love this recipe! I don't think I'd want to eat it as a meal, because with syrup it is sweet. And that's exactly why I like it- it really satisfies your sweet tooth but also gives you something substantial to eat at the same time. Now I may not go as far as Ms. Ray and claim that this recipe is good for you- but if you use natural peanut or nut butter (we like freshly ground), all fruit jelly, some decent bread and real maple syrup.... well, it's not that bad for you. More nutritional than say, a piece of cheesecake I'm sure. Next time you're craving something sweet that's simple, fast and easy to prepare, give this recipe a try. And if you're disappointed- blame Rachel, not me!