Playdough

Anyone have a homemade playdough recipe to share??

Thanks!

Yummy...

This is what happens when you make a pecan pie without the egg yolks! Our neighbor is allergic so I usually just omit the yolk and things turn out fine. Surprisingly, it still tasted really good! Huge thanks to Christina for posting the vinegar info. I let as much of the goo burn to a crisp as I could without burning down the place and then soaked a rag in vinegar and left it on the rest of the mess. It cleaned up pretty well!

Thai Stir Fry Recipe

Funny how this is turning into a recipe blog...

Thai Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Chicken or Tofu

Ingredients:
approx. 1 c. fresh chicken pieces/strips or 1 c. cubed tofu (we've only ever used tofu in this recipe, and it is goooood)
2 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 3 T. soy sauce (this is the marinade for the meat)
3 cloves garlic
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced thinly into matchstick pieces (so you can pick it out when you eat it- no one likes a crunchy piece of spicy ginger...well maybe some of you do)
1 c. shiitake mushrooms sliced (I loathe mushrooms so I omit these)
1 red bell pepper (I've substituted green)
2-3 c. bean sprouts
8 oz. very thin dried rice noodles (or vermicelli, rice stick, glass noodles, whatever you want to call them)
1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
approx. 2 1/2 T. oil for stir frying

Stir Fry Sauce:
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. fish sauce (I use oyster sauce because that's what I always have on hand)
1 tsp. sugar
1 T. lime juice (I use lemon for the same reasons as above)
1/4 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1-2 tsp. chili sauce

Soak noodles in warm water for about 10-20 min. just til "al dente." Not totally squishy because you'll cook them more when you fry them.

Marinate meat in cornstarch/soy sauce mixture and stir to coat. Marinate while noodles soak.

Combine all stir fry sauce ingredients in a cup and set aside. Drain noodles, toss with some oil and set aside. Heat a wok or large frying pan over med-high. When hot, add 2 T. oil and swirl to coat pan. Add garlic, ginger, meat (with marinade), mushrooms and a few T. of the stock. Stir fry 5 min. or until meat is cooked. If pan becomes dry, add more stock. Add pepper (I usually throw in something else green- beans, broccoli, peas, whatever we have) and more stock if necessary. Add noodles plus stir fry sauce. Use two forks or tongs to mix in noodles. Add bean sprouts last and fry for another minute.

Recipes aside, I need prayer requests for the next 3 days as Matt will be in Wichita and I will be home alone, solo-parenting 24/7! Thanks to those of you who've offered to hang out with us!

Now I'm off to buy some UTEE (thanks to my hubby's permission!). :)

Mac and "Cheese"

Alright, my mom got us a really great cook book for Christmas with all sorts of yummy vegan recipes in it. I know, what you're thinking... vegan? I use real butter instead of margarine so it's not really all that vegan but the recipes are great. Believe me, I had my doubts, but we tried this one and it was great. It uses nutritional yeast which is not the same as brewers yeast. It's yellow and flaky and you can buy it in bulk at the MERC but the new grocery store down town has it for almost 1/4 of the price. Please, if you try this recipe don't tell the people who eat it that it doesn't have cheese in it. We both knew what it was before we tried it so we'd love to know what someone would think who didn't realize there wasn't any cheese.

Cook 3 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup margarine (or butter) over low heat. Beat in 1/2 cup flour with a wire whisk and continue to beat over a med heat until it is smooth and bubbly. Whip in 3 1/2 cups boiling water (I put the water in my kettle when I started the butter melting and it was ready just in time), 1 1/2 teasp salt, 2 Tbs soy sauce (I think next time I'll only use one), 1 1/2 teasp garlic powder, and a pinch of turmeric. Beat well
The sauce should cook until it thickens and bubbles. Then whip in 1/4 cup oil (the recipe doesn't specify so I used canola) and 1 cup nutritional yeast flakes.
Mix sauce with noodles and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until the "cheese" is melty and yummy looking.

Stephanie's Black Bean Hummus

Wow, I finally made this today and it's great. Thanks for sharing the recipe Stephanie, hope you don't mind I posted it.
Black bean hummus

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans; drain and reserve liquid (I used dry beans and cooked them)
  
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mince garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Add black beans, 2 tablespoons reserved liquid, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, and cayenne pepper; process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.

Another great use for bananas

I love bananas! I used them for the first time in my french toast batter...it was so good! I simply substituted a mashed banana for most of the milk. Do you all have any good recipes using bananas?

Store-bought Crackers: Just say No!

So far, I have tried three cracker recipes from the Super Baby Food Book (definitely a good use of time and money!)--the teething crackers, cheese crackers, and peanut butter in the crackers...so far, we are 0 for 3 with Riley liking them. In fact, she spit out the cheese cracker all over the kitchen floor tonight. She LOVES any store-bought cracker she has ever been given. Any cracker recipe ideas that are sure to please an 18-month old?

Cold Weather Fare

I am in need of tried and true soup recipes. We already have a beef stew, chicken noodle, and chili that we love, but if you girls have any different favorites that you couldn't live without, pass it on. Yay for snow! I think they're saying 2-6 inches!

Great Granola

Thought I'd start this out with a recipe from Antonia! It's easy and healthy and provides breakfast for my hubby without me getting up early to prepare it (cause we all know that won't happen).

Combine:
2 C. whole wheat flour
6 C rolled oats
1C coconut flakes
1 C wheat germ

Blend:
1/2 C water
1 C oil
1 C honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 Tablespoon salt

Add blended liquid to dry ingredients and mix. Spread on 2 greased cookie sheets. Bake 1 hour at 250.
I add ground flax seed (about a cup) to the mix. I also put crasins in it after baking. Almonds are nice in it too, chop and toast along with the granola.

Welcome to Ribs & Rubies!

Kind of a strange name, huh? When Jennifer and I were contemplating what to name the site, we turned to scripture for inspiration and a creative title. We looked at the usual Proverbs 31 and Ephesians 5 for what the Bible says about women...women who are married and have children. We liked the verse Prov. 31:10 because it states that a woman of noble character is worth more than rubies...something all women, wives and mothers or not, should strive for. And then, as wives, we liked the Genesis passage that explicitly describes how God created woman: from man, bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh.

So there you go. Ribs and rubies. Who we are, and what we desire to be. We are a group of housewives and mothers who want to share with each other our joys, our challenges, our triumphs and our shortcomings. We want to be candid with each other, stay in touch with friends from afar, and possibly make new friends! We are all connected somehow and while its okay to give this blog address to whomever you wish, authors will be limited to those given the rights. If you'd like to be an author, contact Jennifer or Christina.

This housewives and mothers forum is to give us a chance to discuss family, children, health and wellness, our Christian faith and spirituality, nutrition and recipes, homeschooling and education, home management, homemade and handmade projects, and any other rants and raves.