The Navy Wife Nibble

Today, after only three weeks back together, I became husband-less...again. The Monkey and I dropped off the hubby at the airport before 6 am this morning to catch his first of three flights today. Thankfully, this time he will only be gone for about a month for training out at sea. I must admit, although I'm comforted by the fact this separation is much shorter than our previous one of almost six months, it's still difficult. Most difficult for our son...

I've got to say, for an 8-year-old new Navy brat, he has handled his dad leaving so well. He knows that it's just "part of dad's job" and though he gets teary-eyed, he always puts on a brave face when giving hugs good-bye. It's after his dad has disappeared into the terminal that the little Monkey loses it. Seeing crocodile tears roll down his cheeks always breaks my heart. Although I know we'll all get better at handling these deployments and separations as a family, I know it will never get easy.

After such an early wake up, I knew that neither the Monkey or I would be going back to sleep when we returned home. The two of us sat together in bed, aimlessly watching cartoons, waiting for texts from my hubby confirming he was checked in and when he was about to take off. Shortly after getting his texts, I could see the sadness creeping over the Monkey's face. I needed something to get his mind off of his dad leaving until we received more texts to cheer him up. Then it came to me...the Monkey always likes helping make things and be the taste tester for Mommy's creations. So, I decided to make whoopie pies. Not just any whoopie pies, easy, kid-helper whoopie pies. I love making things from scratch, don't get me wrong...yet, when you've got a rambunctious 8-year-old boy who wants to help, but doesn't want to miss his Saturday cartoons that doesn't always work. These whoopie pies are made with a cake mix and a no-cook 7-minute frosting. Not a typical whoopie pie, but definitely one that could put a smile on my sad Navy brat's face....and that's enough for this Navy wife :)

Quick, Kid-Helper Whoopie Pies

Ingredients


Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease several cupcake pans. Mix the cake mix, oil, water and eggs.

2. Spoon a rounded tablespoon of batter into the bottom of the greased cupcake pans. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

3. Once the whoopie pie cakes are baked, transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool fully. While they're cooling, begin preparing the "No-Cook 7-Minute Frosting."

4.  After the frosting is prepared and the cakes have cooled, pipe or spread filling onto flat side of one cake and sandwich with another cake. Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
 
*No Cook 7-Minute Frosting

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup boiling water

Instructions
1. Mix sugar, cream of tartar, vanilla and egg whites.

2. Add boiling water.

3. Whip on high until mixture forms stiff peaks like meringue (approx. 5-7 minutes).

Green Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients


Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Be sure to have prepared your salsa verde prior to assembling your enchiladas. You could even do it the night before.

2. In a 9x13 greased ceramic or glass baking dish ladle a small amount of the salsa verde. Make sure that it coats the entire bottom of the pan, but is a thin enough layer that you can still see through it.

3. Heat the oil in a skillet. Using cooking tongs, pass the tortillas, one at a time, quickly through the oil, about 10 seconds per side. Place tortillas between paper towels to absorb excess oil. To assemble, put about 1/12th of the shredded chicken on each tortilla and a pinch of cheese. Spread one tablespoon of the Salsa Verde over the chicken. Roll the tortilla around the chicken and sauce and place in the prepared baking dish.

4. Once you've finished the process with all the chicken and tortillas, pour the remaining salsa verde over your rolled tortilla mixture. Be sure to cover all the tortillas as you don't want any of them drying out or burning in the oven. After you've covered your enchiladas with your salsa verde, sprinkle the remaining cheese over them and place the entire dish in the oven. 

5. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is all melted and bubbly. Top with sour cream if desired, eat and enjoy!
 
*Salsa Verde

Ingredients
1 lb. tomatillos, husked and rinsed (might have sticky residue, scrub outside lightly)
1 medium white onion, rough chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 jalapeño peppers
1 bunch cilantro
1 lime, halved and seeded
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Instructions
1. Place the tomatillos and jalapeños into a small pot with enough water to cover them. Boil until the tomatillos and jalapeños are softened, but not mushy. Once they've softened drain the water. Their color at this point might have changed from a bright green to a somewhat muted green, have no fear, the salsa will still be a lovely green color.

2. Put the softened tomatillos and jalapeños into a blender along with the onion, garlic, cilantro, and juice from the lime. Blend on high until smooth. Take some precautions when opening the blender after as this mixture will be still quite hot and could explode slightly when the blender top is opened.

3. In the same pot that you boiled the tomatillos and jalapeños in previously and heat the vegetable oil on medium-high heat. Once the oil is warmed, add the blended tomatillo mixture...again, take some precautions because the mixture will splatter and pop a bit. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt to taste.

With the summer weather in full swing, our little Navy family has been trying to stay cool. And I can't think of a better way to stave off the heat than with homemade ice cream.

Honestly, there isn't anything better than homemade ice cream. Not only can you cater the ingredients to your liking, it's virtually instant gratification (depending on how firm/frozen you like it). Being the happy homemaker that I am; making homemade meals and treats means that I can find myself  holed up in the kitchen while my hubby and the monkey occupy themselves. And as much as I love cooking for my boys, I do also want to spend time with them. So...sometimes that means finding slightly quicker fixes that allow me to spend more time with the boys, but not skimp on flavor or quality.

Ice cream is one of those things that, while I love making it, I don't always like how time consuming it can be. I've recently discovered that I can make deliciously creamy ice cream without the involvement of cooking a custard base, which is great since I'm making ice cream to beat the heat, not make more of it. Also, with it being strawberry season, why not showcase a farmer's market jewel in a tasty summer treat? So here it is...my homemade no-cook strawberry ice cream. Hope you enjoy it as much as my family has been...
Homemade No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream
Makes about 1 1/2 quarts ice cream

Ingredients  
1 lb strawberries, hulled and halved
1 cup sugar 
3/4 teaspoon fresh lemon (or lime) juice 
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt 
2 cups heavy cream

Special Equipment necessary: ice cream maker

** Since the ice cream is homemade and contains no preservatives it will remain good for only about a week...if it lasts that long ;)

Instructions

1. Prepare the brine by combining roasted garlic, water, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, sage and olive oil in a blender. Squeeze the juice from the key limes into the brine (reserve the citrus peels), blend.

2. Place chicken in a large, resealable plastic bag, or in a large non-reactive bowl. Pour the brine all over the chicken in the bag, or in the bowl. Add the (already squeezed) key lime halves. Squeeze out all the air from the bag and seal, or place plastic wrap over the chicken in the bowl. Refrigerate overnight - 12 to 24 hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry.

4. Carefully loosen the breast skin of the chicken. Spread the garlic-thyme butter evenly over the breast meat then smooth out the skin. Rub any extra garlic-thyme butter all over the outside of the chicken. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the chicken and place the crushed garlic cloves inside cavity. Place the chicken on a rack, in a roasting pan, breast side up. Roast for about an hour, until the juices run clear from the thigh when pierced with a fork. (Breast meat should have an internal temperature of 165°F, thigh meat should have an internal temperature of 175°F.)

Be sure to let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving. This preserves the chicken's juiciness.