Na-Na-Na Naan. Hey Hey Burritos

Sorry that song has been stuck in my head, and now it's probably in yours.

Naan (Indian Flat bread) is our new family favorite.  I bought some at the grocery store.  It was yummy, but it cost $3 for 2 small pieces. Being the cheapskate that I am, I went looking for a recipe.  I found this one here, but made some changes.

Directions:
Mix:
 1 cup hot water
 1/4 cup sugar  in a large bowl
Sprinkle 1 packet of active dry yeast on top and let stand for 10 minutes.
Add:
3 T milk
1 beaten egg
2 tsp salt

Gradually add 4 1/2 cups flour.  I mix it w/ my kitchen aid bread hook until it is smooth.  If you don't have one, you could knead it for 8-10 minutes on a floured surface. Place in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 1 hour.

Break dough into small balls.  Cover again with damp towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

Heat non-stick  skillet. Roll out dough balls flat and sprinkle (optional) with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.  Place on skillet and cook a few minutes on each side. (The original recipe grills them, but our grill is broken).  I tried cooking them in the oven on my pizza stone, but we all liked them better from the skillet. I want to try to make flatbread pizzas out of them.

Filling
Mix:
2 diced tomatoes
2 cooked chopped chicken breasts
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup Feta
2 cloves minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and mix.

As I'm typing this, I think a little lemon juice, olives, and cucumbers would have been great as well.  The kids loved it!  Seriously it was met with enthusiasm usually only reserved for food that comes with fries and a free toy.

Hubby likes to dip it in hummus.

UPDATE:  I ran out of white flour, so last time I made it w/ 3 cups of white and 1 cup of wheat.  Not one of my very picky kids complained.  I may press my luck and go half and half next time.  Also rumor has it that Costco has Naan (10 pieces for $2).

Linking up HERE.

Spring Nook Update

So on what date is it weird to still have your Easter Decor up?  Yesterday, I decided that May 11th was probably a good day.  I heart pinwheels and found some cheery double-sided paper that I thought would look great with my S-P-R-I-N-G letter blocks. I cut out a bunch of perfect squares in various sizes.  I thought it would be fun to bust out my circa 1996 decorative scissors to make it a little more fabulous. 

I made 3 to go in this fame and hot-glued flower buttons in the middle.

 I made 7 more and hot-glued them onto BBQ skewers and put them in a vase to make a pinwheel bouquet.

Tadaa!

Check out my pin-wheel wreath.

Linking up here

What's Really for Dinner

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've posted some fun recipes on this blog and am hoping that some of you are under the impression that I spend hours each day creating culinary masterpieces for my family. I haven't yet posted one of our family's most popular weekly staples-frozen pizza and a big salad. Depending on how hectic our week and if I have any coupons we might even eat it several times a week.
Freschetta Rising Crust Pizzas are our family's favorite- especially the pepperoni.  Last week I thought we'd try something different and I bought a Harvest Supreme and it was really tasty.  It has all of my favorite ingredients: feta cheese, Italian sausage, red onions, and sun-dried tomatoes.
They've come out with some new flavors that I haven't tried yet as well:
* BBQ Recipe Chicken
* Vegetable Medley
* Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom
* Six Cheese Medley
I'm most excited to try the BBQ Recipe Chicken.  They've also introduced pizza by the slice, in case you're dining alone or everyone wants there own flavor of pizza.
Click here for a $1:00 off coupon.
  FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™
Check out FRESCHETTA® on Twitter at @FreschettaPizza and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/freschettapiz…

Name Brand Formula versus Storebrand

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of storebrandformula.com for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

I like to call myself thrifty, but if I’m being completely honest, I’m cheap.  I clip coupons and use store brands more often than not.  If I can get the same quality for less, I see no need in spending extra money just for a label.  However, when my kids were babies and we were poor struggling students, I always used name brand formula.  I felt that it wasn’t worth it to save a little money when it came to risking my children’s nutrition and development.

According to a recent court case, I should have saved my money.  The U.S. Circuit Court upheld a $13.5 million false advertising claim against Mead Johnson, Enfamil maker, PBM Products, Perrigo’s store brand infant formula business, successfully argued that their formula contained the same nutrients at the same levels as Enfamil.  However, Enfamil was using misleading advertising campaign’s to convince consumers that they had a superior product.

 “As the litigation history of the parties demonstrates, despite having twice been restrained from disseminating misleading advertising, Mead Johnson continued to do so,” Circuit Judge Andre Davis wrote. “PBM cannot fairly compete with Mead Johnson unless and until Mead Johnson stops infecting the marketplace with misleading advertising.”

"The Court has made it clear that national brand and store brand suppliers are entitled to fairly compete and advertising abuses will not be tolerated," said Perrigo Chairman and CEO Joseph C. Papa in a statement. "We also appreciate the Court's recognition that PBM could lawfully compare its products to national brand products."

If you are interested in learning more, please click here for more information

 

 storebrandformula.com

Summer Wreath

A while back my mother-in-law mentioned that she would like something patriotic for her front door for summer.  Here's what I came up with. I used ribbon and fabric, because I thought it would travel better than paper flowers.  Basically, These are all the same bows that I've attached to t-shirts, headbands and sweaters that you can find here on my fashion page.  (scroll down if you need to)

Linking up here.

I made the top 5!

I has having a crummy morning mostly involving my lack of AC despite have already paid loads of cash.  My mood steadily improved when I learned I made the top 5 on Iron Craft. I love how my 3-D wall art turned out, but it's got to be about the worst picture submitted. Score one for the bad photographer!
If you got a moment, please vote (click here)-although my money's on the belt made out of records.

Charms for an Easy Life

 

It’s my turn this month to host book club and I picked Charms for an Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons.  I worry that you might have over-inflated expectations if I tell you it’s one of my favorites, so I won’t.

It tells the story of 3 generations of smart and intelligent southern women during WWII.  Outspoken Charlie Kate is the local midwife and healer.  Sophia is her unlucky-in-love daughter and mother of teenager, Margaret. It reminds me a little of Secret Life of Bees and Saving Cece Honecut and everything by Fannie Flagg. If you enjoyed any of those, you should give it a read.

I’m naturally a book skimmer, but I made myself slow down so I wouldn’t miss anything.  Gibbons descriptions are funny.  Not “lol” type of funny.  The type of funny that is insightfully dry that will make you smile even hours later.  Here are some of my favorites:

She calls the local City News and Candy a “waiting room for the chronically pathetic” she talks about a minister and his “dollar prayer “and “white people who seemed to make their living automatically”, She describes the conversion of a first date by writing, “they were asking questions of each other with the rapidity of a school spelling match”.   I also enjoyed, “he seemed bright enough to have absorbed something form school, even if his home life has erased his slate each evening.”  There are dozens more. My friend Kammy has some of her favorite quotes here.

I read this book as a newlywed and identified most with the teenager Margaret, even though I not as smart as her, and I jumped at the chance to go away to college.  She and I were both born mentally 35-overly responsible and cautious.  We abhor silly frivolous girls, while still wondering if we might have more fun if we were more like them.

Now that I’m closer to 40 than 20, I identified with Sophia, even though my looks rank more in the  “girl-next-store” range than in the head-turning bombshell range.  Gibbons writes, “She had just recently begun the process of resigning herself to the slide from beautiful lady to handsome older woman, adjusting her lipstick from fire-engine red to brick, exchanging bright beads for pearls and stylish platform soles for pumps.  And by ‘process’, I mean just that; she had not fully committed her body to middle age yet”.  I could write volumes on how I can relate to this.  Comfort takes priority over style most days for me, but  every once in a while, I’ll wear my ridiculously high red platform heels, just to remind myself I’m not ready to join the AARP just yet.

My only complaint about this book is its brevity. The ending is satisfying, although a little abrupt and I would have loved to read an epilogue.

FYI The book was made into a movie.  It doesn't do the book justice, but it shows up on Lifetime once in awhile.

 If you’ve read it I’d love to hear your opinions on the following questions:

1. Purging is an ongoing theme throughout the book.  If you died tomorrow would you purge?

2. What do you think of Sophia and Charlie Kate’s choice not to force Margaret to go to college?

3. Could you have lived w/ Charlie Kate? 

4. Why are mother-daughter relationships so complicated?  Did Margaret and Charlie Kate have an easier time getting along, because they had a generation between them?  Why can no one drive you crazy like your mother, but there’s no one else that can comfort you like she can?

5. How romantic was “I gave you my artifacts”? What’s the most romantic gift you’ve ever received?

6.  Did the “charms for an easy life work?” What your definition of easy?

7. Healing is also a common theme in the book. In what ways did these women “heal” their patients?”

8. Thoughts on Charlie Kate’s reunion with her husband

9. Gibbons begins the book w/ the quote by Nietzsche. “Stupidity in a woman is unfeminine”.  How come men are lining up to date the smart girls? As a woman, do you feel pressure to hide how smart you are around men you are dating?  (When my husband and I were first dating, he came with me to an extra credit lecture.  After, he sincerely questioned me on my opinions. I had boyfriends that must have found me attractive, but that’s the first time (I was 23) I ever felt that a man-besides my father-appreciated my brain and it made me fall in love with him on the spot).

10.  What do you think of Margaret altering the soldier’s letters?

Linking up here.
If you'd like to read more about what I like to read click here.