Sore Throat Remedy

It's cold and rainy and my boy minis have sore throats.  It's nothing like strep throat, more like a "I wanted to stay home from school until my mom told me I would miss my basketball game so I decided to go to school" sort of sore throat.  

I wanted to give my minis something to soothe their throats this morning before I shipped them off to school. So I did what I usually do when I need answers in my life, I did a quick pinterest search.  And what I learned was shocking.  And life changing.  

Marshmallows soothe sore throats.

It's as easy as that.  Got a sore throat?  Pop a marshmallow.

And I actually had marshmallows in the house leftover from one night when I caved and we had s'mores.

My minis swore they felt better after only 3 marshmallows each.  Who knew?!?!  But, being the dedicated mother I am, I decided to also brew the some sore throat soothing tea.  

Sore Throat Soothing Tea

• chamomile tea bag
• 1 inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled
• 2 lemon slices
• 1-2 tbsp honey
• boiling water

1.  Place all the ingredients in a mug and pour in boiling water.

2.  Let steep for 5 minutes.

If you are super cool, you would put this in a travel mug and drink it on your way to school.

And, yes, I let my minis watch a movie on the way to school today.  I justify it by saying it is the movie, The Lorax.  So, technically it's educational.  And I needed time to think about what the appropriate after-school snack on a cold, rainy day would be.

Pumpkin Muffins

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1.5-2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted slightly)
• 1 cup honey

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
2.  In a bowl mix flours, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  
3.  In a separate bowl, mix eggs, pumpkin, oil, applesauce, coconut oil, and honey.
4.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into well.  Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed.  DO NOT OVERMIX.  
5.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

And, since my mini looked so cute drinking his hot tea on his way to school, I decided to make our favorite tea to enjoy with our pumpkin muffins.

Chai Tea Latte

• 20 bags of chai tea (or 1/2 cup loose-leaf tea) (I used Tazo Organic Chai)
• 3/4 cup sugar (you can use more or less, depending on how sweet you prefer)
• 3 cups of water

1.  Put all ingredients into a pan.
2.  Heat to just boiling.
3.  Reduce to simmer and stir for about minute to make sure all sugar is dissolved.
4.  Cover and remove from heat.
5.  Let steep for 15-20 minutes.
6.  Strain the tea leaves.

This is to show you, use loose tea leaves.

I filtered with cheesecloth.

This is your chai tea concentrate, the equivilent to this that you would buy in the store.  Do not drink the concentrate, you need to dilute it with warmed milk.  Dilute it to your preference.  This drink is seriously tasty and cozy.

I am certain our tea and muffins will be served with a side of marshmallows this afternoon.  For sore throats, of course!

Lunches for the minis

This morning I was simultaneously making breakfast, packing lunches, and planning dinner in my head.  I looked at my minis and I realized, "good Lord, you people have to be fed every.single.day."  And lately, I haven't been getting a lot of love over these lunches I so dedicatedly pack every.single.day.  (As a side-note, I am pretty certain dedicatedly isn't a word.  Either that or I have butchered the spelling so badly that spell-check doesn't recognize it.  Either way, you get my point.  I am really freaking dedicated to packing these lunches).  So I realized I have two choices, I can either deal with the complaining about their lunches or I can up my game and pack something different.  And of course, being a loving mother that works so dedicatedly to keep my minis happy, I spent all day in the kitchen working on things for tomorrow's lunch.

I remembered a recipe from Runner's World that I have been wanting to try out.  My minis love my pumpkin muffins, but I am getting really bored with making them.  And since I love Runner's World magazine, I figured I would love Runner's World recipes.

I am going to tell you something that I wish Runner's World had told me before I started making these muffins....don't make these muffins.  They are horrible.  Eat celery instead.  There's more flavor in celery and you will save an hour of your life that you can never get back.  

But, for those of you that are curious....here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal (process flaxseeds in a coffee grinder)
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup egg substitute (or two eggs)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 4 tbsp honey
• 2/3 cup raisins (I used dried cranberries)
• 2/3 cup dark chocolate chips (my modification)

Directions: Mix all dry ingredients (except the raisins) in a large bowl. Combine liquid ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients all at once. Add raisins. Stir until thoroughly moistened but lumpy. Fill muffin tins, lined with paper or foil cups, to about 2/3 full. Bake at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes.
Serve with jam.  


Did you notice on the Runner's World website that they call these dessert?  I swear, if you ever serve these to me and call it dessert, I will punch you in the face.  OK, probably not.  But I may envision myself punching you in the face and then talk to the voices in my head the following day about, "OMG, can you believe she served me those muffins?!?!?"


Cute, aren't they?  They looked even cuter in the trash can.  

Clearly, I am bitter.  I hate wasting time on bad recipes and I hate throwing food away.  But, the determined mom that I am, I forged forward and tried homemade cereal bars.  I have been on the hunt for an alternative to these guys for months now, so I was very excited to try this recipe.

Homemade Cereal Bar Cookies

Author/Source:

Tricia @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1. 5 cups oats, ground (or oat flour)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (I used fresh milled hard red wheat)
• 1 cup white flour (I used fresh milled hard white wheat)
• 1 cup sucanat (brown sugar if whole foods isn’t your gig)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1.125 cups (9 ounces) organic jam (I used blueberry and apple)

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2.  Mix all the ingredients, except the jam, together in a large bowl. It is easiest to do this with your hands. 

3.  Once it is mixed well together (there should be no dry ingredients dust, but well incorporated) add half of the mixture to each of 18 muffin tins. Press the mixture into the muffin tins creating a bit of a lip as you would for a pie. 

4.  Add in 1 Tablespoon of jam on top of each “crust”. 

5.  Next, with the remaining mixture create 18 equal size balls. Smash each of the balls into a circle large enough to cover the top of each “cookie”. Add the disc to the top of the “cookie” and press the edges to meet the sides of the bottom dough. 

5.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly browned. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and then gently remove to a cooling rack. (I inverted a cookie sheet on top of the muffin tin, flipped the muffin tin and then turned the cookies over to cool a bit longer. Be warned, they are very soft when warm).

I filled the muffin pan with the dough....

And then pressed the dough into the pan.....

Filled with jam.....

Made a dough ball.....

...which crumbled apart.....

I had troubles with this dough.  When I tried to make the tops, they just crumbled.  So I did the best I can to get them to look "pie-like".  

Here they are baked.

Like I said, these were tricky for me.  To be honest, I was cranky and swearing while trying to get these put together.  I know that's hard to believe, because I am not a swearer, but lately I am becoming one?!?!  Maybe it's my subconscious trying to come up with a New Years Resolution for next year.  Anyway, I had little hope for these cereal bars, and guess what?!?!?!?!?  Oh. My. Delish.  Seriously tasty!!!  I can't wait to give them to the minis, I think they're going to love them!

And since I bombed on the first muffin recipe, I decided to make a batch of my stand-by pumpkin muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins (based on this recipe with some changes)

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1.5-2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted slightly)
• 1 cup honey

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
2.  In a bowl mix flours, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  
3.  In a separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin, oil, applesauce, coconut oil, and honey.
4.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into well.  Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed.  DO NOT OVERMIX.  
5.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. 



And these babies never fail to disappoint.

Finally, I thought I'd get all crazy and try something I have seen floating around on Pinterest.  


Frozen Yogurt Dots

• yogurt (I used plain greek)
• defrosted frozen fruit

1.  Fill a baggie with yogurt and fruit.  

2.  Mix well.

3.  Cut the tip off the baggie.

4.  Fill a dish with little drops of yogurt.

5.  Stick in a freezer.

6.  Once frozen, enjoy!

You could easily do this with any kind of yogurt.  We only eat plain greek yogurt, but if you eat flavored yogurt, you could easily use that and not add any fruit.  

That's it for the day!  I am hoping to dazzle my minis tomorrow with the cereal bars and their favorite muffins.  I am sure they will trump the kids bringing poptarts and oreos in their lunches!

Snacks for middle schoolers

I've been asked to speak to a classroom of middle schoolers tomorrow about the way our family eats.  I am way excited about this, mainly because, well.....I really like to talk!  And these kids pretty much have no choice, they have to listen to me.  In fact, if I catch one of them not listening, I am going to point and yell DETENTION as loud as I can. 

I am trying to figure out what to talk with them about, in hopes of inspiring them to rethink what they eat.  I think the biggest point I want to make is that our family believes that processing food compromises it's nutritional value.  There is no processing that can improve a food or make it healthier.  I also want to talk a bit about the environmental impact that eating processed food leaves, mainly from the consumption of fossil fuels in both the processing and the transport of the food.  And finally, I thought it would be fun to talk about labels and how the manufacturer hopes we interpret them compared to what they really mean.

I also want to prove to them that by giving up processed foods, we are not giving up tasty food that is fun to eat!  So I am going to bring them granola bars, muffins, homemade cheese-itz, and poptarts!  And, before you get all, "Heids McGhee, that isn't exactly health food" on me.  I know!  That's my plan.  I'm going to sucker them in with cheese-itz and poptarts and then force the beet salad on them.

Homemade Granola bars (recipe from marathonmom)

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/3 cup local honey

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 cups oats (not quick oats)

2 tablespoons wheat germ or ground flax seed

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Melt the butter, peanut butter and honey in a pot over medium to low heat, stirring constantly. Turn off the burner when melted.

2. Pour in the cup of oats and the wheat germ/flaxseed. Stir til combined.

3. Wait til it cools and stir in the coconut and chocolate chips. Or, if you’re impatient with things like this, like I am, go ahead and dump it all right in. The result will be a more uniform chocolate taste.
4. Pour into foil-lined 8 X 8 pan and stick in the fridge.

5. Once cooled, flip out onto cutting board and cut to the size you like.

I have had several people ask me what natural peanut butter is.  Not Skippy.  Not JIF, either.  You want the ingredients of your peanut butter be peanuts.  No sugar.  No hydrogenated anything.  No salt.  If you buy a jar of natural peanut butter, the oil may separate from the peanut butter, so stir it a bit each time.  We grind our own peanut butter at our local organic market.  Most small organic markets and Whole Foods have a peanut butter grinder.  Not sure how to operate it?  Just stand next to the machine with a dumb look on your face and eventually a cute little salesgirl will come over to show you how to use it.  Once you start eating fresh-ground peanut butter, you will never settle for JIF again.

I also changed this recipe to use dark chocolate chips.  I found some the other day and embarassed myself by doing a happy dance in the store.  Use dark chocolate chips with the highest percentage of cacao, or if you're a real badass....use raw cacao nibs.  Probably not a shocker, but I prefer the dark chocolate chips. 

If you can find it, use LOCAL HONEY!  When you buy honey in the store, it's been processed and pasteurized, which means all the good enzymatic qualities of the honey have been zapped!  Local honey is an antioxidant, contains vitamins and minerals, and can be used to treat allergies, digestive issues, cough syrup, or as a topical salve.  Support your local farmers and buy local honey!  I get my honey from Miz Bee Haven.  Seriously.  Miz Bee Haven.  How cute is that?!?! 

Since my minis love my pumpkin muffins, I thought I would bring some of those to share with the middle schoolers as well.  I think we will talk a bit about processing flours and how we should strive to only use whole grain flours.

 Pumpkin Muffins

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1.5-2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted slightly)
• 1 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl mix flours, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, pumpkin, oil, applesauce, coconut oil, and honey.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into well. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. DO NOT OVERMIX.
5. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.I've had a few people ask me about coconut oil.  I try to use coconut oil whenever possible.  Recent studies have shown that the health benefits of coconut include improving hair & skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, lowers risk of heart diseases, manages high blood pressure, manages diabetes, prevents cancer,  and improves bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.  (source of information)  So, try to use coconut oil.  If I were making these muffins for myself, I would eliminate the vegetable oil and use 2/3 cup coconut oil. However, my minis don't like any coconut taste in their pumpkin muffins, so I use grapeseed oil as well in addition to the coconut oil.

I am also bringing my homemade cheese-itz.  The shocking thing about the homemade version is that they are chock-full of CHEESE!  These are really tasty and always a big hit, so I think the students will really like them.

Homemade Cheez-itz (from New Nostalgia)

• 1 cup flour
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small squares
• 1 (8-ounce) bag grated extra-sharp 2% Cheddar cheese (preferably orange)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Combine all ingredients.  If you are fancy and have a food processor, pulse until crumbly.  If you are like me and think you are fancy but really aren't, combine with your hands.

2. Add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. I needed a lot more water than 4 tablespoons, I used probably more like a full cup of water.

3.  Form into ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

4. Place dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper, and roll out to 1/8 inch thickness. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet, and, using pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut into 1 inch squares. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

4. Bake for at 350F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven when crisp and just starting to brown. Let cool and serve.

Look at all that CHEESE!!!!!  And do not even think about using pre-shredded cheese.  Get your cheese shredder out and start shredding.  It's good for the biceps!

And, I plan on sealing the deal with these kids with my homemade poptarts.  These are so good, they'll never settle for a store-bought poptart again.

Poptarts

• 2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pats
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) milk
• 1 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
2. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender or food processor until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. If you’ve used a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
3. Whisk the first egg and milk together and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything is cohesive, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary.
4. Divide the dough in half (approximately 8 1/4 ounces each), shape each half into a smooth rectangle, about 3×5 inches. You can roll this out immediately or wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Assembly

1. If the dough has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes.
2. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even 9″ x 12″. [You can use a 9" x 13" pan, laid on top, as guidance.] Repeat with the second piece of dough. Set trimmings aside. Cut each piece of dough into thirds – you’ll form nine 3″ x 4″ rectangles.
3. Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough. This will be the “inside” of the tart; the egg is to help glue the lid on.
4. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, keeping a bare 1/2-inch perimeter around it. Place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press the tines of a fork all around the edge of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining tarts.
5. Gently place the tarts on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart multiple times with a fork; you want to make sure steam can escape, or the tarts will become billowy pillows rather than flat toaster pastries. Refrigerate the tarts (they don’t need to be covered) for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.

Here is what they look like rolled out....

....with the filling added.

Ready to bake.

Adorable.  And tasty. 

Wish me luck!  I am hoping middle school isn't as traumatizing for me as it was the first time around!

A dinner for the minis

Mr. McGhee will not be around this week, as he is busy working.  And, while he's working, I am stuck at home with the 3 mini McGhees....and to be honest, there is no place I would rather be!  I don't know about you guys, but I am a homebody and I've got 3 minis that still argue over who gets to sit on my lap.  I have got to make sure I enjoy these years, right?!?  So, this week, while the minis are in school, I will be working hard in the kitchen to make "kid choice" snacks, dinners, and treats. 

Here's the thing, cooking for kids is a balance between giving them healthy options, but also giving them options that they will actually eat.  I was blessed with minis that eat fruits and veggies first.  Our struggle with the minis is getting them to eat meals.  This week, I am hoping to rework some meals to make them appealing to the minis, but still nutritious enough to satisfy me. 

First up is bread.  I have heard that my readers' minis are resisting the original honey wheat bread recipe that I posted.  I have to admit, I kind of get where your minis are coming from.  Because I am determined to make my own bread, I decided to try a new honey wheat bread recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. 

• 1 1/8 cups water
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Whole Wheat setting, and then press Start.               

OK, now don't anybody go and have a stroke, but I didn't use 3 cups of whole wheat flour.  I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and one cup of bread flour.  Bread flour on the left, milk powder on the right.

And, the shortening.....yes, I used shortening even though I am morally opposed to anything with the word hydrogenated on it.  I think shortening is gross and has absolutely zero nutritional quality to it.  However, if it can do something to the texture and flavor of the bread to make it more palatable for the minis, I will give it a try.  I do plan on reworking this recipe and trying to substitute coconut oil for the shortening, but for this round....I did use shortening.

You should have seen me in the store buying shortening.  I did one of those look both ways, make sure nobody was looking, sprint down the aisle, grab the shortening, shove it in the cart behind the swiss card, beets, and organic apples and pray to God that nobody sees it moves.  Honestly, I was waiting for an announcement to be made over the PA system at the grocery store, "Heids McGhee is a fake, she has just been spotted with shortening". 

I can't bear to look at the label to see how many ingredients are in the shortening, but I promise you it's processed.  Hydrogenation is a process in which the food industry adds hydrogen to unsaturated fats to make saturated fats.  You want to avoid hydrogenated food as much as possible. 

So, the verdict is....the bread is yummy!  Even though, nutritionally, I am not thrilled with the trade-offs I had to make, the minis love it.  In fact, the oldest mini said, "Mom, this tastes just like Great Harvest bread.  Mom!  Mom!  Mom?  Why are you crying.....?"  Yeah, I totally had a moment.

I also wanted to have a delish snack ready for the minis when they came home from school today, so I made a couple batches of muffins.  I followed this recipe. 

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1.5-2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted slightly)
• 1 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl mix flours, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, pumpkin, oil, applesauce, coconut oil, and honey.
4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into well. Mix just until the dry ingredients are absorbed. DO NOT OVERMIX.
5. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
I didn't add the pumpkin in step 2.  After step 4, I divided the batter into 2 bowls.  Into one bowl, I added pumpkin, into the other bowl, I added mashed bananas.  I also added chocolate chips.  See?  I totally know how to kick back and let loose. 

And, for dinner tonight we had taquitos.  In our house, taquitos are definitely a "kid choice" dinner.  I had an unfortunate experience with taquitos when I was pregnant with my oldest mini, so I really do not enjoy eating him....yet, he loves them?  That doesn't make sense to me?!?!?  I followed a recipe from our best bites. 

Creamy chicken taquitos

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken (for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken!)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas (and actually, flour ones are really good as well)
kosher salt
cooking spray

1.  Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

2.  Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge.

3.  Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

4.  Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

5.  Then roll it up as tight as you can.

6.  Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

7.  Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

A word of advice....DO NOT forget to sprinkle the kosher salt on top.  I have forgotten before, and there really is a difference in the flavor. 

I served it with a side of black beans.

1/2 medium sized onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 TBSP olive oil

1, 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup water

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp salt

pinch cayenne pepper for a little heat

1. Heat olive oil in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add your onion and saute for 3 minutes, until beginning to soften and turn translucent.
2. Add garlic and stir constantly for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
3. Stir in your black beans along with the water.
4. Add your cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and cayenne. Stir, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer the beans for at least 15 minutes, but up to 30 minutes

Looking forward to this week!  I've got some neat things planned that I am hoping the minis love!  And, for those of you worried about Mr. McGhee, I will make sure I find a way to get him my delish home-cooked food, no drive-through for him!