Slow Cooker Creamed Corn

Recipe i followed: http://damndelicious.net/2013/11/24/slow-cooker-creamed-corn/

It makes perfect sense when you think of it of what "creamed corn" should be, it should be/have cream in it. I usually only really had the canned creamed corn where it basically looks like it's just in a thickened corn juice. Growing up, we had that with almost every dinner. Then with searching pinterest for recipes and such, i came across a bunch of homemade creamed corn recipes and always threw me off because they looked creamy and not like the canned corn i grew up with.

What made me lean more to this one to try first was just that it could be cooked in the slow cooker. Just throw everything in, cook, and then stir. It was actually pretty good. Surprised me that my bother actually liked it, he hardly seems that interested in anything new i want to make. Will keep the recipe for maybe later use, but i'll try other ones to find one that i really like.

Healthy Candied Yams

Recipe i followed: http://mywholefoodlife.com/2012/11/05/healthy-candied-yams/

The more i look at the picture, doesn't make it look that good lol.

I ended up doubling the recipe because i didn't think just one yam would of been enough for 4 people plus an extra plate for my dad's lunch for work. Anyways, I did mess up slightly with this. I have a hard time focusing on little things in recipes when my daughter is running around with hot things in the kitchen. The only thing i messed up on was that you were suppose to only put in about half the maple syrup in to mix and save the other half to glaze over at the end. I missed that little piece and ended up putting all of it in at one time, so didn't want to add extra to glaze at the end.

Pretty easy to make, easier if you are stronger at cutting yams. I had such a hard time getting it cubed up. Still managed since i got it cooked up.

I didn't really like these when compared to the usual candied yams i have, the ones with brown sugar and marshmallows. On their own not compared to anything, they weren't that bad. The orange juice stood out in the flavor and i think could of used less cinnamon. I don't know much different it would of been with the maple syrup glazed on top like it was suppose to be.

Won't be making these again.

Vanilla Coconut Chia Seed Pudding

I had seen things about chia seeds for some time now, but it's only been recently that i've actually gotten some to be able to try some recipes. It's still a little odd to eat them because of typically thinking that they are just used for those chia pets instead of eating.

The recipe for this was actually on the back of the package of the chia seeds. So this is what i did for this one.

1/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup vanilla coconut milk
1/8 cup honey

Mix together and then let it sit in the fridge for 2-3 or more hours to let it thicken.

I found it a little hard to mix the honey in because it was thick and doesn't just mix easily in with cold liquids, so maybe heat up the honey a little to make it a little thinner. Could even just not include the honey, i'm sure it's just for added sweetness.

It doesn't really get pudding thickness, but it's pretty good. It reminds me of tapioca texture, just slightly crunchy still if you chew the seeds.

It's easy, it's tasty, it's got good things for you from the chia seeds. I'm pretty interested in trying other versions of it. Already just wanting to try lots of different recipes using chia seeds.

Weekend Coast Trip

My mom and i and decided to take a weekend(well my mom's weekend,friday and saturday) trip to the coast with my daughter. My daughter loves car trips and going to the coast, luckily for where we live, it's just a day trip away when actually planned, just nice to spend a few days there instead of a few hours.

The trip down to Lincoln City was pretty basic. Got out about an hour later than my mom wanted to and ended up getting into town after dark, which my mom doesn't like driving roads like the ones we take in the dark. And since it was dark, we didn't get to do anything once in town, just hung out at the hotel and slept.

My mom didn't get very good sleep because my daughter was jumping around and wouldn't settle down, which is about normal the first night in a hotel. If she was to just sit in my bed and stayed there then it would of been fine most likely but she kept getting on and off my mom's bed and keeping her awake. Finally she ended up falling asleep late into the night and then woke up really early full of energy.

We started the day with breakfast from the hotel, nothing extremely special but was good.

 We brought our own mugs for coffee because my mom knew the hotel only had the little paper cups.

We had to actually make sure we went on the beach for a little bit while we had good weather, so we headed across the street to the beach. Got some fun pictures and someone walking by offered to take our picture, which is probably one of the only picture(s) of all three of us together. Next some pictures will be from our short bit on the beach.

Then after getting back from the beach, we started to get ready to drive down to Newport to go to the Ripley's museum, the wax museum, and the undersea garden. Kaylee, my daughter, was excited to go to them, wanting to see the museums and the fishies, but she DID NOT like it when we were actually at them. She is almost 4, so understandable i guess. She was also excited to see the sea lions but we all were disappointed that they were working on something so the sea lions weren't really close enough to see.

After trying to see the sea lions, we went to Ripley's first. Kaylee did alright at first, when waiting to get the ticket. once we were in, she wanted out. She liked the harp in there, but that was about it. Here's what pictures i took while there.

There were some new things there from the last time i was there and there was some things that was still the same. Same with the wax museum.

After Ripley's, we went to the undersea garden, there was going to be a feeding show going to happen, we had never seen it before so we went there instead of the wax museum for the second stop. Kaylee didn't really like going down the stairs and then something kept scaring her, i'm not sure what because each time she got scared was while she was by my mom and would come running to me. Don't think it was the fish because i got her to watch them and tried to get her to name them. Could of been that because i wasn't in view, but i don't know. We ended up not seeing the feeding because i didn't want to stay down there by myself and Kaylee wasn't going to last down there so my mom took her back up to look at the gift shop. I took a few pictures, but nothing really worth sharing here, if anyone gets interested, then i can edit this and add some.

Kaylee was also probably just getting tired. She barely slept and hardly ate breakfast, so it was probably getting food and nap time for her. My mom took her to the car and stayed there with her while i went to the wax museum. As my mom pointed out, it probably would of scared her anyways if she went in there. It gets a little boring to do things alone, but i still enjoyed getting to go again. There were new things and there was things that i wanted to get new pictures of since my last time there. Here's what pictures i took from there.

Probably could of taken more fun pictures but i didn't want to take too long with making my mom and kaylee wait in the car. Bonus picture of a not great selfie with Depp lol

After that we stopped at a mcdonalds drive thru to get food. then headed back to the hotel. After we got back, we decided to walk over to the 3 little shops by the hotel to see if there's anything we wanted, just a little more shopping. Probably bought more than we should of, i think i have a shopping problem at times and my mom doesn't often say no, especially when it comes to Kaylee. Anyways, got some things from 2 of them and then the third one was a snack/candy store. Got a little bit of candy, some ice cream, and a small thing of caramel corn.

We went back to the hotel, watched a few movies and my mom also went over to a close by chinese restaurant to get dinner. Had some AMAZING coconut chicken. My mom must of been exhausted because not long after she ate, she was passed out on the bed and nothing Kaylee did really seemed to wake her this time. After the movies were over, i watched american dad and family guy, once those were over i was able to get Kaylee settled down and we went to sleep.

Next day was time to leave. We packed up and left the hotel at check out, around 11 am. We didn't really have breakfast because we planned to go to one of the casinos to get food at the buffet. Once we parked and about to get Kaylee out, she started asked for a pair of sunglasses we got at one of the little shops because it was sunny out. We searched and searched the car for the bag of sunglasses, i got a few too, and we couldn't find them. Stressed my mom out a bit because we couldn't find them. I gave Kaylee the pair i had on me and we went to go eat. While eating, my mom thought that she might of left them at the snack shop we went to. We couldn't be for sure right then, so we just enjoyed the buffet. Kaylee enjoyed the ice cream she got to have.

My mom had been in contact with my dad who found the number for the snack shop and called them for us to see if they sunglasses were left there. Turns out they were. We were only about half an hour away from there so we drove back after eating to get our sunglasses back. I wasn't too worried about if mine were gone, but Kaylee missed hers.

These were the glasses that we had to go back for.

They have flip lenses that she says make her look like Mickey Mouse when flipped up.

I think that's about all to really share on here for this trip. here's some pictures of things we bought while there.

Top pair were the ones i already had from a different trip. the other 3 are my new ones.

Strawberry Chia Seed Spread

Recipe i followed: http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/clean-eating-strawberry-chia-seed-spread-recipe/

First off, had trouble finding the chia seeds. I wasn't too surprised by that. My mom ended up going to Trader Joe and found some there. Now i have a few things i can make with the bag my mom got. One being a chia seed pudding.

After coming across a bunch of things involving chia seeds and seeing the spreads/jams, i really wanted to try making some. Seems like such a simple way to make a spread and then you get added benefits of having the chia seeds in it. I have another strawberry one i want to try that is basically the same thing but different portions, just see if any difference.

It's pretty easy to make. A little disappointed in that the flavor didn't seem to be very strong. Might just be because i'm use to really sugary strawberry things. I did accidentally add sugar then rinsed it off when making this. I could of swore it said to do like a cup of sugar, read it again and saw it didn't after i added the sugar. Rinsed it off and i doubt it really messed with anything. But even the not super sweetness wasn't that bad, it just didn't have a majorly strong strawberry taste.

I'll try to remember to finish it before it goes bad, i don't really have a lot of things that i can put it on unless i start having more toast or something. Which i found some bread i really enjoy(the one pictured) that might make having toast a bit better, taste and for me wise. Also need to finish it off so i can make a different flavor to try other ones. we don't go through jam stuff very fast so i'll probably be the one who eats them mostly...Maybe i will just have more peanut butter and jam sandwiches lol.

Oh guess i'll say something about the texture since the chia seeds are what thickens it. It is different but not really a bad different, more of a i'm fine with it and won't even care once i'm use to it. I read that someone compared it to like when you have raspberry jelly/jam because they have a lot of seeds, not sure how much it's compared to blackberries which also have a good bit of them, i don't eat raspberries and hardly anything made from them, don't like them.

They do look weird close up. If not use to them, or sometimes maybe even if you are, a close up might not be the best thing to be able to eat them. Some people get completely turned off of eating something just based on how it looks. Like my family doesn't like when i add food coloring to just normal food, they say it makes the food less appealing. Going to include a picture of what i have for a close up, probably could of gotten closer but this is the picture i got of it.

Zucchini Soup

Recipes I followed: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/03/cream-of-zucchini-soup-1-ww-point.html

My mom really likes zucchinis so i thought i'd try this soup, but i ended up making it at a time my mom wasn't home because she didn't seem too interested in this since she's not big on soups. I had the stuff for it anyways, so i made it for myself.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, might of used more zucchini, ended up using a whole onion, and cloves of garlic are different sizes, so might of used more garlic than it says to use, and didn't add peper. Used a lot more sour cream than it suggests to use. Also used vegetable stock instead of chicken. Overall seemed fine.

It was pretty easy to make, i ended up blending it in the blender because my mom got new pots and pans and wasn't sure on trusting our immersion blender in them. So the blending was the hardest part really.

For taste, i feel like it was missing something. Not sure what, maybe if i added pepper, or maybe more garlic? The soup isn't bad, i just feel like it's missing something. Maybe cheese...I like cheese.

I did end up eating my first bowl with these crackers that my mom got for free. These:

It wasn't amazing to where these crackers were what was missing, but it was still pretty good.

Don't think i'll be making it again, but if you like zucchini and soup, i think it's interesting enough to try.