Chili Glazed Tofu

Oh me oh my, I had my first adventure with tofu yesterday.  I bought it a few weeks ago and finally I had the nerve to try out the recipe from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.  It turned out quite well but I was a bit squeamish at first at the odd texture:  it is crunchy on the outside like fried chicken but soft and creamy on the inside.  The sauce turned out alright, but it would probably just be as easy to use some sweet and sour sauce over them instead. 

For the tofu:
28 ounces of soft tofu
3/4 cup of corn starch
1/4 cup of cornmeal
salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons of canola oil

1.  Cut the tofu into 'fingers' and spread out on paper towels over a cookie sheet to get some of the excess juice off.  Leave on the towels for 20 minutes.

2.  Place paper towels on a plate and then place in oven at 200 degrees.  This is so you can place them on the plate after they are done frying. 

3.  Mix cornmeal, salt and pepper, and cornstarch together in a shallow dish.  Coat the tofu with the mixture pressing and rolling it on.

4.  In nonstick skillet heat oil up and place about half of your tofu fingers into the hot oil.  Cook until golden brown on each side about 10 minutes.  Once done place on plate in oven. Add oil to pan and finishing cooking the rest of the tofu.

5.  For the glaze mix together in a small bowl 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of rice vinegar (I just used apple cider vinegar because I didn't have any rice), 1/3 cup of sugar, 4 garlic cloves minced, 2 teaspoons of asian garlic sauce, 2 teaspoons of cornstarch.  Add mixture to a hot skillet and simmer until reduced to almost half.  Add 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro and pour mixture over tofu. 

6.  Enjoy. This dish would be good with some fresh steamed vegetables and rice. 

Grandma Margaret's Orange Drop Cookie Recipe

This was another first try at cookies from my Grandma.  I have a terrible time actually following recipes precisely and I usually switch things up so a recipe never turns out the same twice.  For the frosting I used butter instead of Crisco and then added a teaspoon of orange extract for more orange flavor.  When I make them next time I'm going to see what happens when I use butter instead of crisco in the cookies and I will use the extract in the cookies as well so they have a stronger orange flavor.  My husband likened them to soft animal crackers-a compliment, I think.  Enjoy.

Ingredients for the cookies
1/2 cup of Crisco
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon of orange zest
1/2 cup of orange juice
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Directions:  Preheat oven to 375.  Mix Crisco, sugar, salt, eggs, orange zest, orange juice.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  Drop by spoonful onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. 

Frosting:
1 Tablespoon of Crisco
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 cup of powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt

Directions:  Mix all together until smooth and frost cookies while still slightly warm if desired. 

***lemonade and lemon zest can be exchanged for the orange juice if desired***

Accessories for the Nursery

Well, this should be the last official post about baby room decor, until I actually get my tush in gear and make something.  I'm thinking making a baby lounger would be awesome, although it will probably just end up being a golden retriever bed.  Once I pick a color scheme and just go for it I think the room will come together. 

Good Old Martha, can you ever let us down?  Oh that's right you've been to prison.  Link here.

Cute little lounger with directions here.

What a cute little rug.  Link here. 

So cute, but Colby will pull these off once he can reach.  Link here.

To measure...here

Yes, yes more baby rooms

Okay, I apologize for all of the baby rooms, I'm sure those of you that are reading this, yes I know readership is limited (hello Maggie, Chelsea, and Tyler) I will soon be getting back to actually doing things, but for now here are more inspirations for Colby's room.  By the time I get his room done he'll be a teenager and probably won't let me in to paint a cute little bunny mural. 

This is probably something more doable for Colby's room.  Link here.

Maybe just some stripes?  Link here.

This is a super stylish room, a girl can dream, right?  Link here.

Loving the tent! Here's the link.

Wall Murals

Well, I'm still on this decorating kick for Colby's room and pretty soon I'm just going to have to start into it and let it work itself out, but for now I'm trying to accumulate all of my options before I decide.  So far he's got all different wood tone furniture and light green walls-other than that it is a blank slate.  So here's some murals I'm debating about:

This is one of my favorites-a bit retro it came from here.

Perfect for Minnesota, eh?  Came from here.

I love this book, but monsters may be a bit too scary for Colby...it came from here

Or possibly I should go for something more simple.  From here

Nursery Wall Art Ideas

Yesterday I went into a cleaning frenzy-it was one of those fits where everything in my eyes was cluttered, mismatched, and out of place.  Usually when I get in one of these moods my husband will return from work to find the living room furniture moved into wacky configurations and the wall clock in a new spot, which really bugs him.  I managed not to move any living room furniture; but I did move a bookshelf up to Colby's room since we had previously been storing books in diaper boxes under the crib.  So now I have a refound desire to make Colby's room a more cheerful place so I've been looking for some ideas for wall decor so here's some of my favorites so far. 

The first three pictures are great and come from weandthebean.com, looks like it's time to get my paint brushes out:

Found here

Found here

Free Paper Toys

Free paper toys-basically little play figurines made of paper-great to entertain kids while waiting for the doctor, dinner, or whatever comes up.  I just ran across these yesterday from the freebies section of pocketyourdollars.com which has coupons and deals and it is found at madebyjoel.com.  From briefly looking at his sight he's been featured on Martha Stewart and also has a book out.  I'm sure when Colby is older we'll print some off.  The website is here .

madebyjoel.com

madebyjoel.com

madebyjoel.com