Pumpkin Carving

With the pumpkins we picked from High Hill's Pumpkin Patch, Cornie's set to the task of carving them.

Cornie's completed design (with help from his momma). :-)

Kicking off FALL 2010 - Class Field Trip to High Hill Farm

Last week Cornie's preschool class had a field trip to High Hill Farm to kick off the Autumn season. It was a crisp and chilly fall morning that turned into a day filled with lots of fun for all of the kids, parents and teachers.

We had a brief tour of the farm, meeting and even petting a few of the animals: calves, goats, bunnies, sheep, and even peacocks. One of the cows just had her calf a couple of days ago and we had a chance to see it.
After the farm tour, we were off on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. What a treat to have a real cowboy on a horse, as a tour guide, leading the way. He explained the crops High Hill produced and how many cattle they cared for.

Once we reached the pumpkin patch, we each got to search and pick out our pumpkins. We visited the orchards and picked out some apples. On our hay ride back to the barn, we got to munch on them. The apples were very crisp, sweet and juicy!

The class ended the morning having lunch together; giving us parents a chance to gab. Afterwards, the kids kept busy playing on the huge display tractors or running around the hay maze.

What a fun day!

Bomdiggity Chicken Wings - Easy Dry Rub Recipe

When it comes to cooking, I love keeping it simple and easy. I am all for delicious food, but don't think I need to spend all my time in the kitchen making it. So this recipe definitely hits the top of my list for both ease in preparation and cleaning.

Ingredients:
12-14 Chicken wings whole or 24-28 chicken halved

Dry rub mixture:
8 tbsp Dark brown sugar
3 tbsp Kosher salt
1 tbsp Black pepper
1 tbsp Crushed red pepper
1 tbsp Chili powder
1 tbsp Garlic powder

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line cookie sheet with foil and apply thin layer of vegetable oil. This will prevent the wings from sticking as they bake and help for easy turning. Set foil and cookie sheet aside.

Place dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Coat chicken wings evenly with the dry rub and place onto foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake in oven for an hour. Be sure to check chicken wings every 20 minutes or so, turning them to prevent from burning/sticking. Once wings are fully cooked, remove from foil onto plate. ENJOY!

Live well and happy. :)

Chicken Soup for the Sick Soul - Recipe

With all of the Anderson boys in the house sick, there's nothing better than a hot and hearty bowl of chicken soup to warm their bellies. Here is a delicious and simple recipe that was handed down to me by my mother.

Ingredients for the almost home made broth -

16 oz Swanson's chicken broth, all-natural

4 cups cold water

1 lb sliced chicken breast, -organic

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup sliced celery

1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed

1 whole onion, peeled and sliced thick

Combine all above ingredients into large pot and set to boil. As broth boils, remember to scoop out all the foam. You want to keep your broth as clear as possible. Once broth boils, turn down to medium heat and let simmer until all vegetables are tender. About 15-20 minutes. Salt and pepper - season to taste. For extra bit of kick, throw in a small dash of chili pepper.

Noodles -

2 cups dry elbow noodles

In a separate large pot, add 8 cups water and 2 tsp of salt. Set to boil. Add your noodles and cook until slightly tender. About 7-9 minutes. Once cooked, drain and set aside.

Once the vegetables in your broth are nice and tender, remove your chicken breasts and slice or pull apart in thin strips. Set the chicken aside.

To assemble your bowl of chicken soup, place a 1/2 cup of the cooked noodles into a deep bowl, add some of the chicken broth with veggies and top with a large helping of chicken meat. For a refreshing topper, add some sliced cilantro and green onions. Salt and pepper, seasoned to taste.

Enjoy! Be happy and healthy.

Good Old-Fashion Pancake Recipe - Dakota Kelly's Grandmother's Recipe

My family woke up this morning with a craving for pancakes, but unfortunately our Jiffy mix supply was out. Never wanting to disappoint, I quickly scoured the internet for an easy pancake recipe and lucked out to find this one: Dakota Kelly's Grandmother's Pancake Recipe. If you're looking for an easy, good old-fashioned pancake recipe, that's fluffy on the inside, and brown and crispy on the outside edges,... THIS IS THE RECIPE for YOU! I've added some minor changes (adding 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and substituting white sugar with powdered cactus honey) to give it my own twist. The entire recipe below is sure to delight your senses with its fluffy crispness and warm inviting aroma of cinnamon! Enjoy!

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon powdered cactus honey (or white sugar)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups skim milk

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

Mix all dry ingredients well. Then stir in milk, egg and melted butter. Mix together well with as minimum stirs as possible. Pour about 1/2 cup mixture into hot skillet for each pancake. Makes about 6-8 pancakes.

Happy July 4th!

May every one have a safe and fun July 4th weekend!

Reading is fundamental. Reading is FUN! Our Reading Lists.

I enjoy reading. My parents instilled in me the joys of reading at a very young age by reading to us, and in turn, I've tried to introduce the joys of reading to my own child. I started reading out loud to him since he was still in my womb, tumbling around to the rhythmic sounds of my voice. Now at age 4, he continues to enjoy our weekly visits to the library to pick out his handful of books. It's amusing to watch him search and explore through the various aisles in the children's section and page through the many offerings there. And, as if he had discovered a pure treasure, his face would light up whenever he spotted THE book of the week. Then, with great pride, he'd carry his book collection up to the check out counter and proudly hand the librarian his selection.

Below is a small sampling of Cornie's favorites within the last 3 months:

THE LORAX, by Dr. Seuss

THE BIG BRAG, by Dr. Seuss

GREEN EGGS and HAM, by Dr. Seuss

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, by Dr. Seuss

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO, by Dr. Seuss

DINOSAUR VS. BEDTIME, by Bob Shea

DISNEY PIXAR MONSTERS, INC., Adapted by Cathy Hapka

THE CHOCOLATE BUNNY, by Rosemary Wells

BONE SOUP, by Cambria Evans

And, here is my reading list from the last 3 months:

THE NOTEBOOK, by Nicholas Sparks

THE WEDDING, by Nicholas Sparks

THE GUARDIAN, by Nicholas Sparks

DEAR JOHN, by Nicholas Sparks

THE SECRET DIARY OF ANNE BOLEYN, by Robin Maxwell

MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN, by Robin Maxwell

VANITY FAIR, by William Makepeace Thackeray

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, by Mac Anderson

USE YOUR HEAD TO GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR, by Harvey Mackay

48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE, by Dan Miller

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE RIGHT JOB EVERY TIME, by Lori Davila and Louise Kursmark

Happy reading!

Tammy's take on General Tso's Chicken

Here is my version of the favorite Chinese dish, General Tso's. This is a delicious and healthy dish that is so deceivingly simply to make. Paired with some rice and a good hot, or iced, cup of green tea, it's perfect for any dining occasion! For my version I'm adding freshly cut and cubed, sweet pineapples.

Ingredients:

1 pound sliced chicken breast, then cut into 1" cubes

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 egg, lightly beaten

black pepper, to taste

1 cup corn starch, or as needed

Sauce mixture:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar)

1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine

1 tablespoon raw cane sugar (or 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar)

3 tablespoon of chicken broth or water

3 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 teaspoon corn starch to thicken sauce

1 ripe, sweet pineapple, quartered, sliced and chunked

1 green or red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 medium onion, sliced

3 cups canola oil to deep fry chicken cubes

Directions:

Combine chicken cubes with beaten egg, soy sauce and pepper. Mix well. Into a large ziplock bag, add your corn starch. Little by little, add your cubed chicken mixture, allowing excess egg coating to drip off before placing into the ziplock bag; shaking to coat cubed chicken evenly with corn starch.

Heat your oil in a deep sauce pan to about 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook chicken cubes a few pieces at a time to prevent clumping. Fry until crispy (about 3 minutes). Remove chicken and place onto paper towels to drain excess oil.

Combine sauce ingredients into a small bowl, stirring well to dissolve the sugar and corn starch. Set aside.

Into a large frying pan or wok, add some oil, about 2 tablespoons. When oil is hot, add sliced onions, green pepper. Sautee until tender, yet slightly crisp. Remove and set aside.

Add your chicken into frying pan or wok. Quickly stir fry the chicken cubes until they are slightly browned, about 30 seconds. Move chicken towards side of the pan. Add your fresh pineapple chunks, about 2 cups, sauteed onions and green peppers. To your sauce ingredients, quickly give it a stir before adding that into the middle of your pan or wok. Mix all ingredients in your frying pan or wok well, coating the sauce evenly. For a thicker sauce, simply add a little more corn starch.

Enjoy immediately!

Live well and happy! :)

Spontaneous Banana Bread Recipe. . .

As with each visit to my parents, my mom generously sends home with me a car load of fresh, organic groceries. Since they were leaving for vacation to Jamaica a couple days after our visit this last week, we received an additional load of food; which, they were afraid, would have spoiled while they were away. So, a lot of bananas in too little time leaves me with overly ripe bananas that I didn't want to spoil and/or waste. Thus, here is my Spontaneous Banana Bread Recipe. I call it "Spontaneous" because in the spur of the moment the recipe was created with whatever ingredients I had available in my kitchen at the time. Hope you enjoy!

Makes 2 loaves.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1/3 vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

3 cups mashed over-ripened bananas (about 7 and 1/2 small to medium-sized bananas)

3.5 cups all purpose flour

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup Craisins in blueberry flavor

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, add in your flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and mix well. In a another mixing bowl, mix melted butter and brown sugar. Beat in your eggs and add your mashed up bananas, along with milk. Add this banana mixture to your dry ingredients and mix well. Add in vanilla extract and fold in your Craisins. Mix evenly.

Pour into a greased 9- in. x 5- in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes, or until an toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Serve sliced and toasted with melted butter or... how my son likes to enjoy his, with a little scoop of cookies and cream ice cream. :)

Live well and happy!

2010 Notable News, Part 1.

It is already June! I cannot believe that we've almost completed half of 2010 already. It's been a pretty busy year with a lot of ups and downs - more blessings than not. Here's a quick recap of the last 6 months within our Anderson household.

January -

Had Cornelius' 4th birthday celebration, even though he was born on December 27th.

February -

We celebrated Chinese New Year's and home welcoming party at Anh 2 and Thu's house.

March -

New car for Mommy shortly followed by Mommy getting laid off from work. (No, there wasn't any correlation.) Allowed us a great opportunity for a visit up to see Ong Ba Ngoai in CT. Mommy launches her online store at www.tottotesbytam.etsy.com .

April -

Mommy invited back to work for the US Census.

Celebrated new addition to the extended family with the birth of niece, Olivia Reichel. Traveled up to Lancaster, PA to visit the Reichel family.

Ong Ba Ngoai came to PA to visit them and than VA to visit us for the following weekend.

May -

Daddy lands new job.

After 3 successful years, Daddy sells his business.

Trevor gets his driver's license.

Cornelius finishes his first year of preschool.

June -

Anna and Giam's family comes up to VA and CT for family reunion. And on to enjoying summer vacation, family time and more job searching for Mommy...

And to think it's only been half a year. I can't wait to see what the next 6 months will bring! Opportunities galore!

Japchae - Korean Glass Noodles - Tammy style.

Japchae is a Korean dish made from sweet potato noodles, stir fried in sesame oil with various vegetables, and flavored with soy sauce, and sweetened slightly with sugar. Typically it is made with beef, however, for my recipe, I am using chicken. Here is my version of this simple, yet, deliciously healthy dish.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets (already sliced thin)

1/4 cup sliced white button mushrooms

1/4 cup sliced red onions
1/4 cup sliced green peppers

1/4 cup broccoli diced

1/4 cup sliced carrots

2 Tablespoons diced garlic

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 Teaspoons thick soy sauce

1.5 Teaspoons of sugar

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 bag of Sweet Potato Noodles (or about 2 cups cooked noodles)

This yields about 2 servings.

(I am spoiled in the fact that our local grocery store has a full service salad bar where I can go and purchase the above fresh veggies already chopped at whatever amount I need. Maybe you will be lucky enough to find a similar salad bar set up at your local grocer?)

For the sweet potato noodles, I am using this brand. You can purchase this at a Korean grocer or an Asian store.
From the bag, I am using about 1/4 of the amount.

Cook this according to instructions on the bag. I added the pictured amount of noodles to boiling water for about 9 minutes, or until soft and pliable. Then I removed it from the boiling water, cold rinsed it and set it aside to drain.

Take your chicken cutlets and cut into thin slices.

Into a large, hot, non-stick skillet, add 1 Tablespoon of sesame oil, garlic, chicken, thick soy sauce. Stir well as you brown and cook the chicken. Once chicken is cooked thoroughly, add all the veggies and remaining garlic. Stir fry veggies until slightly tender yet still crisp. Continue to stir well. Mix in soy sauce and sugar (to taste). Add well drained noodles and remaining sesame oil.
Make sure you stir all the ingredients well and noodles evenly. Add additional soy sauce and/or hot sauce to taste. Can be served hot or cold, either as a side dish with rice or main entree.

Enjoy!

Live well and happy! :)

YouTube - Every one's doing it...

YouTube - With over 2 billion views a day, why not? Maybe some of these folks may even like what I have to say. If not, consider it a personal thank you for your visit and time spent. :)

So, without further delay:

www.youtube.com/user/TamsCorner

I will be putting together some cooking tutorials for quick, tasty recipes.
Starting with the following:
* Chicken Salad Delight Sandwiches
* Eggrolls, Tammy-style
* General Tso's Chicken

So please come back and visit!

Live well and happy!

Chicken Salad Delight - Tasty and Healthy Recipe

Here is an easy and tasty recipe for Chicken Salad that even my finicky son loves! Like most kids, he goes through phases where he refuses to eat his veggies. So this is one good way of packing in the veggies so that he won't mind eating it. Plus, it's easy to make! I pick up a full rotisserie chicken at my local Costco for only $4.99.

Chicken Salad Delight

2.5 cups chicken breast meat (or dark meat if you prefer)

1 cup mayo ( I prefer Hellmann's) for creamier mixture, add more mayo

1 tablespoon yellow mustard (French's)

2 tablespoons sweet relish

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped/diced mix of sweet red and green peppers

1/4 cup chopped/diced celery

1/4 cup chopped/diced gala apples

couple dashes of cayenne pepper - to taste
couple dashes of kosher salt - to taste (or if you are truly asian...dash of soy sauce!)

Mix all ingredients above in large bowl and spoon onto your favorite selection of bread. Recipe makes for 4 good sized sandwiches.

Something about the sweet, salty and crunchiness that makes this so yummy! If you want more of a crunchiness, add some red Baco bacon bits.

My son loves this recipe for chicken salad and I hope your tot will too. Enjoy!

Totes and more totes!

It's been almost a month since I've launched Tot Totes by Tam and I am still working and developing a design series to pitch to the local baby and children boutiques. In between job searching, reading Dan Miller's book, filling tote orders and everything else involving home and family duties, there's just not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do. How does one know if they have Adult Attention Deficiency Disorder? I know I need to just better manage my priorities and focus on the most major at hand. However, easier said than done...

Inspiring the "Green Thumb" in Your Tot...

I've always had a love for planting and gardening. There's such a reward from eating the fruits (or veggies) of your labor. In this, I've introduced gardening to Cornie at a very young age. He would love to help me in watering the plants and flowers, pulling out weeds and tilling/digging in the soil. Last year, he planted his own tomato and pumpkin plants. Pumpkins which we used to carve our Jack O'Laterns this past Halloween. This year, instead of buying the tomato plants as seedlings, he wanted to try growing them from actual seeds.



We came across these Buzzy seed kits at our local Target store. You can get each kit for $1. The one type comes in a silver pouch with tomato seeds and the other in a little 2" clay pot. You can select from a small variety of vegetables to grow in the clay pots, but we chose sweet basil, tomato and red peppers. Since it was our first time using these, I decided to try both the kits out. The kits come with a dirt pellet and you simply just add water, fluff and place the seeds. We planted the seeds last Sunday, April 11th. From the silver pouch, you can see all the little seedlings growing like crazy! The seeds that we planted in the little pots are just barely sprouting.
<----- There's got to be over 20 plants in there!





There's about 6 basil plants there ------>






The sweet peppers and tomato plants that we've planted in the clay pots have not sprouted yet. Hopefully, they will soon.

Each day Cornie checks out his little plants and gets all excited at how much it's grown from the last time. It's so fun to see his enthusiasm. If all the plants survive, along with the pumpkin seeds he's already planted in the garden outside, we will have quite the harvest this year!


<------Cornie collecting pumpkin seeds from the remains of a Jack O'Latern of the previous year.

Online store today, world tomorrow...

In the past week, I've launched an online store via www.TotTotesbyTam.etsy.com and completed some new tote designs. This week, I am working on my own website, TotTotesbyTam.com. However, being the great web guru I am not, I'm playing around on iWeb too much and feel it may be awhile until the site will be to my liking and fully up and functional, connecting all of my entities to one convenient site. Ahead of me, I still need to finish my business cards, label design and sales pitch to present to all of the local specialty boutiques/shops catering to babies and toddlers. I better get to focusing and carrying through, one objective at a time.

The Inspiration...

You never know who, or what, will inspire you. That's why I simply adore the movie Julie & Julia, and am now inspired enough to take actions on my own dreams; joining thousands, if not millions, of other mom bloggers out there in the internet universe, trying to create my own brand and launching my site, Tot Totes by Tam. My new mantra, "I blog, there for I am!"

Inspiration is all around you. You just have to choose to see it and have the courage to act on it, and pray for the discipline to follow it through.

The Motivation...

Like most moms, my child, my baby, is my number one pride and joy. Every little thing he does amuses and captures me. And like most moms, I only want to offer and provide him the best ...in everything! In that, may this blog and all the activities within be dedicated to all moms (and dads) who aim towards that one parental, universal goal.