Clara's Blue Slime

Clara found the recipe for this gloppy slime on Our Best Bites blog.

We got really excited about it and made it straight away.

The ingredients cost me around $1.50 and Clara did all the prep work.

We had lots of fun playing around with it.

When Jim wakes up from his nap I'm sure he'll love it too.

Blue Slime

1 teaspoon borax powder
1 1/2 C water, divided
4 oz (1/2 C)  Elmer’s glue, clear or white
food coloring

Add borax powder to 1 cup of water (I mixed it right in my 1 C measure) and stir to dissolve.
Set aside.  Pour glue into a medium mixing bowl and add 1/2 C water. Add a few drops of food coloring until desired color is reached and then stir to mix glue solution until smooth.  Pour the borax mixture into the glue mixture and watch the solids start to form.  Stir for a few moments and then use your hands to gather the mass.  The mixture will be very soft and wet.  Keep kneading until it firms up and feels dry.  Discard excess liquid in bowl. The more you knead and play with the slime the firmer it will become.  Store in a ziplock bag or air tight container and the slime will keep indefinitely.

Perfect Beef Meatballs

I love recipes that I can get my helpers to make.

Jimmy is my right hand man in all things involving pot stirring, meat breading and scooping.

This is Ina Garten's recipe for "real meatballs".

They're so simple and delicious.

She tells you to pan fry the meat balls in small batches.

I hate doing that, so I place the balls on a cookie sheet, drizzle them with olive oil and bake them 20-30 minutes at 350F.

Ina's Perfect Beef Meatballs
(adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style Cookbook)

2lbs ground beef (or 1lb ground beef, 1/2 lb veal, 1/2 lb pork)
1 C fresh bread crumbs (about 4 slices put through the blender/food processor)
2 Tbsp chopped parsley (1-2 tsp dried)
1/2 C freshly grated parmesan cheese
3/4 C water
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 extra large egg, beaten
olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl using your hands.
Form into 2 inch meatballs.
Place on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes, flipping and rotating the meatballs half way through cooking time.

Banana Almond Espresso Delight

This morning I felt like a blender juice and a coffee and this is what I came up with.

It's almost as good as having a delicious pastry and a coffee.

Jim has a banana with peanut butter on it every morning so I can't wait for him to try this.

He'll love it.

Banana Almond Espresso Juice
(adapted from Loveandlemons.com)

1/2 - 3/4 C chocolate almond milk
1 frozen banana (I chopped up and froze a few bananas the night before)
1/4 C almond butter
dash of cinnamon
1/2 tsp instant espresso powder

handful of ice (optional)

Blend all ingredients together.

Pulled Pork Pizza and a Perfect Salad Dressing

Tonight we had pulled pork pizza.

It was a success.

Stowe dough + Pulled pork, hot peppers, and sheep's milk cheese = amazing pizza.

Eaten with my new favourite salad dressing!!

House Dressing

1/3 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/3 C Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tbsp honey or brown sugar

1 Tbsp tomato paste (I used the Kusharee tomato sauce) 

1 clove minced garlic

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/4 tsp each basil and oregano, dried

1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

pinch pepper

pinch salt

 Shake all ingredients together in a mason jar.

Pulled Pork Tacos with Tangy Coleslaw

Pulled pork tacos are so good.

I love that they're spicy and fresh and creamy, filling and exotic all at the same time.

I bought a big pork loin and planned to make pulled pork with it but changed my mind and made tacos instead.

The tacos start similar to a pulled pork but the stewing sauce gets really built up with all kinds of flavour.

 The sauce has loads of citrus and smoky chipotle, rich tomato and garlic.

The pork then simmers in this sauce for almost 2 hours.  It will at that point literally fall apart.

Serve the shredded pork on warm corn tortillas with a coleslaw dressed with lots of lime juice on top.

Since younger family members don't appreciate heat as much as Jim and I do, I took out a piece of meat shredded it and left it mostly sauceless for them.

I also offered them simpler toppings of shredded carrot, thinly sliced red pepper and sour cream in place of the coleslaw.

Pulled Pork Tacos with Tangy Coleslaw

(The Neelys recipe from foodnetwork.com)

1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (or regular chili powder)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ( about 3 1/2-pounds) boneless pork butt, cut into 3-inch chunks (I used Pork Loin)
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 cup chicken stock
1 small can tomato puree
1 tablespoons honey
1 orange, halved and juiced
1 lime, halved and juiced

1 package corn tortillas, warmed
Sour cream
Coleslaw (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Mix the oregano, chipotle powder, cumin, salt and pepper together in a small bowl.

Season the cubed pork chunks with the spice mixture and put into a large Dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic, chicken stock, the tomato puree, honey, orange and lime juice, and the juiced orange and lime halves. Stir together with a wooden spoon. Put the pot on medium heat and bring the mixture to a simmer. Transfer to the oven and cook, covered, until the pork is tender and easily shreds, about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Remove the meat from the Dutch oven to a cutting board.

Meanwhile, shred the meat and add back into the pot with the sauce.

Serve with tortillas, sour cream and coleslaw.

Tangy Coleslaw

4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 small bag coleslaw or 4-6 Cups of shredded cabbage
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
1 carrot peeled, shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix vinegar, lime juice, oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add cabbage, parsley, carrot, salt and pepper.

Spinach Hummus: Application II

Today, I'm trying the hummus on a flat bread with lots of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and apple slices.

The kids are having alphabet soup.

Spinach Hummus with Apple Slices

My mother-in-law makes delicious apple-hummus wraps.

I frequently make them for myself for lunch.

Spread a wrap with hummus, top with shredded carrots, spinach and apple, then wrap it up tight.

Today I did a variation on that.

I added lots of spinach to my usual hummus recipe and used it as a dip for all the other components.

Add a apple, orange, blueberry and spinach juice and there's lunch.

Spinach Hummus with Apple and Carrot

1 796mls can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 lemon zested and juiced
1/4 C tahini
2 cloves minced garlic (optional)
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
pepper
2-3 large handfuls spinach
1/4-1/2 tsp cumin

Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor.


Serve with sliced apple, sliced carrots and pita chips or crackers.