Just Jordan

For me, chickpeas are okay, but roast them and they are awesome. Here is the recipe from www.beingveganeats.com : 1 15.5 oz. can of Chickpeas  1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. onion powder olive oil, for coating chickpeas salt/pepper to taste hot sauce or other spices (curry) optional Cook at 400 degrees for 40 - 50 minutes. I used seasoning salt and used bacon infused olive  oil  given to us by our friends, the Clarkes. (If  interested  in purchasing your own you can see if there is an Oliv Tasting Room near you HERE  or just order online HERE .) The chickpeas were amazing done like this. We ate most of them last night, but I saved a few to try with a salad.

I may have blogged about these cookies before, but they are a hit around our house. I know they are good because Calder has been ANNOYING the heck out of me to make them ever since he found the Christmas cookie cutters in a box of decorations. Another good indication they are good is that I have seen my brother and husband eat a dozen in one sitting. My sister has probably also eaten close to that many as well, but she likes to sneak them when people aren't looking. It's like it doesn't count if no one sees! Calder did a fabulous job of being my helper. On Thursday he was with me every step of the way while we made the batter. On Friday, he stood by me and helped cut all the cookies out and then he decorated every single one with sprinkles. He only iced one - his first cookie you see him eating here. I wasn't ready to ice and he wasn't willing to wait to eat one! As I said on Friday, we were very busy last week and Sugar Cookie Friday was no exception. W...

This year I was able to grow 3 small pumpkins in our back alley. I was excited to bake with them. One got smashed while it was still on the vine. I was so disappointed (don't even talk to me about the squash that grew through our fence to the alley side and got STOLEN). Luckily, Hugh and Calder picked out 4 pumpkins to carve that were tiny. I scoffed at the size and promptly started cooking them, convincing Calder a bigger jack-o-lantern was better! I have never cooked pumpkin before, but my friend, Kerri inspired me to get on it. She had close to 40 little pumpkins in her garden! It was super easy and quick. I am not against canned pumpkin, but like anything homemade, the real deal just tastes better. So here it is. . . Gut the pumpkin. I didn't bother trying to get my hand in through the top (although my tiny hands would easily fit. My brother and sister call my hands "Carney" hands. . . Like I could be in some side show at a circus they are so small). Note Boon...

One of the things I love about fall is getting back into the kitchen. I HATE to have the stove or oven going in the summer, so I often try my best to save any baking for a rainy day. In the fall, it is cool enough to have the oven going without the A/C kicking in. I LOVE it! The last rainy day we had at home was in July. Calder invited his buddy Emery over and we baked cookies. I decided to do Snicker Doodles with them, because they are really hands on. The kids didn't particularly like stirring the batter, but they loved rolling the balls and decorating them. (You roll them in sugar and cinnamon and then we added sprinkles for a bit more fun!)  These cookies are SO good! They are definitely a favorite around our house. I was introduced to them by my Grandma Jenny. We were flipping through the 4H cookbook at her house years ago and she pointed them out. Grandma said that her mom, my great-grandma Carswell loved them. Thus, I renamed them :-) Grandma Carswell...

Calder likes his Play Doh, but up until this past Monday he would play with it only on occasion for approximately 15 minutes per sitting. On Monday things changed. He got a Play Doh Cars - Lightning McQueen set for Christmas and in the midst of overindulgence and spoiled rottenness we put it away with his other Play Doh stuff and completely forgot about it until Monday morning. The McQueen set was so great he played for 3.5 hours with it on Monday. Up until this point the only things to occupy Calder for that length of time were cars, monster trucks, or hockey. By the time Tuesday hit the Play Doh was dried up and worn out. If Calder was going to put in another long stint of playing, something had to be done. I ripped out  THIS  recipe I had pinned on  Pinterest  and with the help of a trusty assistant, we made play dough.  The green and red/pink are two separate batches. You can see the blue "Raoul" mold on the left and the completed "McQueen" car in fron...

My sister, Jes, bought a butternut squash in July and brought it to the lake. It never got eaten, so when it was time to close up the cabin in late September, I brought it home. It sat on a shelf in the pantry until Monday when I made some delicious soup. The timing was perfect as my sister and her boyfriend were coming for lunch!   I can not get over how long the squash stayed good. This recipe was taken from www.allrecipes.com . Here is the direct link . After reading the reviews, this is exact recipe for the soup I made: 2 tablespoons margarine 1 small onion 1 carrot 1 stalk of celery 2 medium sweet potatoes 1 butternut squash 1 box of beef stock Sour cream. Half butternut squash. Place it in a casserole dish with a bit of water. Microwave for appoximately 15 minutes. Finely chop onion, carrot, and celery (I used my small Kitchen Aid food processor - I can't cook without it!). Add to large pot with melted margarine. Saute. Peel and cube sweet potato. Add to...

The last few weeks I have been visiting Pinterest everyday (that link will get you to my boards). I can't help myself from admiring all the beautiful clothes and hair, drooling over all the scrumptious food, and having a bit of craft envy on many of the incredible projects people pin. On the weekend we had some apples that were getting close to losing their crispy edge and since I had received a flat of apples on Thursday from a band fundraiser at our school, the less crispy apples needed to go! I took to Pinterest came across  THIS pin and knew it was the one. My mother-in-law is an incredible baker and had sent some pre-made pastry for our freezer few months ago and this was the perfect project to use it with. These mini-apple pies were delicious. But they weren't quite what I expected. In fact, they tasted more like a tart. Pies to me are a bit more juicy (to use Hugh's word!). After doing a bit of reading I found out some apples are better than others for baking...

My Grandma Jenny bought Hugh and I two chickens for Christmas. She has done this for a couple of years and it works out just brilliantly for us. We NEVER think to purchase a chicken to roast, but when we have them in our freezer they always get put to good use. MEAL #1 Ol' Faithful This included mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and corn (1 can creamed mixed with 1 can kernel). Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. I didn't take a picture, but I am sure all of you can make a pretty smashing mental imagine of this meal! MEAL #2 Chicken Quinoa Soup I used two recipes from all recipes.com for my guidelines. I like to make soup by letting it simmer FOREVER, frequently tasting and going with the flow. You can the guidelines I used for the broth HERE and the soup HERE . Instead of noodles I used 1/2 cup quinoa and I added red pepper and parsley. By the time we finished the potatoes and gravy leftovers we had had enough chicken for the week, so I cut up what was left and threw it in the freeze...