Kenna

My Blog Journey…

Welcome back to Cookbooks and Crayons!

In this blog post, I won’t be discussing a recipe that I cooked. In fact, I’ll be talking about what I learned from this blog-writing journey, how it will benefit me in the future and how successful I was in gaining readers.

There’s a plethora of cookbooks out there, ready to be read and cooked from.

I’ve thought about this blog often throughout the semester, and if I could go back and start it over again, I would not have focused on moms specifically. Yes, I am a mom, but I’m also many other things that demand my time. Moms are not the only busy people in the world, and I think I realized this somewhere along the way as I tried to reach a broader target audience with each new post. Although, I didn’t forget about my moms. Concerning promoting my content, rather than using Twitter as the primary promotion platform, I would’ve chosen Pinterest and Facebook because my content is better suited for the people who visit those sites.

My blog-writing journey has been amazing, and I have learned to much. It has given me more experience writing in a way other than technical or fictionally creative. As a person who wants to work in the publishing industry, I hope this will allow me to have a broader knowledge in writing styles and see value in different types of writing. Along with this, I have also gained knowledge on how to efficiently promote something on social media. I’m also happy that I’ll be able to note my experience using a content management system (CMS) on my resume. Using these new-found skills, I hope it will make me more desirable when applying for a job managing a company’s website or social media page(s).

Concerning the success of my blog, the week of February 11th proved to be my most successful with a total of 43 views and 17 visitors. My original post was my most popular post of the semester at 43 views. I think it was the most popular because it was the homepage that described what this blog-writing journey was all about. Additionally, I promoted that post on both Twitter and Facebook. To back up what I said, the majority of my readers came from Facebook alone. The readers coming from Facebook was over twice as many as the readers coming from Twitter. In all, I think the most surprising thing that came from this blog-writing journey is that I had people coming from WordPress reading my blog. Furthermore, some of those people even went so far as to like the post. So to those that liked my posts, that aren’t family or friends, thank you, and to my friends and family, thank you for reading as well.

It’s been a great journey.

Breakfast for Dinner…

Welcome back to Cookbooks and Crayons!

One of my absolute favorite things of all time is breakfast for dinner. I’m not sure who was in charge of designating certain foods to be eaten at a certain time, but that person and I would not be friends. If I’m craving french toast at seven at night, I’m eating french toast at seven at night. Additionally, eating breakfast for dinner is one of my best childhood memories; I cannot count how many times my parents whipped up some pancakes or breakfast tacos for dinner. It was amazing. That’s why I decided to carry this “tradition” on into my own family by making Chrissy Teigen’s, or John’s, breakfast sandwiches for dinner.

The breakfast sandwich did not survive long after this photo was shot.

The greatest thing about this recipe was how quick it was. It only took me 20 minutes in comparison to the 25 minutes that Chrissy’s cookbook told me it would take. Somehow, I got better at chopping onions throughout my blog-writing journey. However, throughout cooking this recipe, I did have to make some changes. There were six changes, to be exact, that I made to this recipe to both improve it and childproof it.

I found that cooking both the sausage patties and the egg on non-stick pans worked well too.
For the sandwich, I cooked the egg over medium to ensure that the yolk would burst while eating.

There were three ingredients that I left out completely when making this dish. To avoid spiciness, I disregarded both the red pepper flakes in the meat and the sriracha sauce at the end. I also left out the light brown sugar in the meat. I understand that one tablespoon is not much, but if you’re a parent of a two-year-old boy, you will understand any effort I make to avoid sugar before bed. To also childproof this recipe, I didn’t serve it to Easton in sandwich form; as delicious as it was as a sandwich, there was no way he could have wrapped his mouth around it to take a bite. Therefore, I scrambled his egg, served it with the patty and gave him a buttered whole-grain English muffin as a side. Furthermore, to improve upon the sandwich, I used a red onion. I found that the sweetness of this particular onion helped bring out a caramelized flavor in the meat (All Natural Regular Jimmy Dean). I also chose to toast the English muffin with butter and cheese in the oven before placing the egg and sausage on top to ensure that the cheese was gooey and melty. In the end, all these changes were worth it because 20 minutes after beginning my cooking, Easton and I were both in food heaven.

Happy eating!

The Golden Recipe…

Welcome back to Cookbooks & Crayons!

Macaroni and cheese– I don’t think it can get much more simple than that. As a busy parent, I probably make it about two times a week, sometimes as a side dish at dinner and sometimes as the main course for dinner. That’s the beauty of this dish; it is so versatile. Mac and cheese is kind of like the crock-pot of dishes; you can practically throw anything into it, and by the grace of God, it turns out alright. So, I tested out Chrissy’s macaroni and cheese recipe to see how it compared to the mac and cheese I typically cook, Annie’s Organic White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese (boxed).

Put all the cheese in one bowl for easy access.
Make sure to cook the pasta all the way through in this stage.
I decided to make my own bread crumbs for this recipe.
Easton, a mac and cheese connoisseur, would not stop asking if it was ready yet.
Rather than using the recommended time, cook until the top is crispy and golden brown.

There’s really no point in discussing whether or not Easton enjoyed the mac and cheese. Of course he did; it’s mac and cheese. Although, I did alter Chrissy’s recipe in two ways to make it more appealing to my child: I disregarded the cayenne all together, and I changed the noodles from plain shells to ridged elbow veggie pasta (to make it healthier). I always try to incorporate some kind of vegetable into mac and cheese whenever I make it. Some of my best hits with Easton has included: roasted and pureed butternut squash, peeled and pureed zucchini and mashed English peas. My favorite of those three is the butternut squash because I can put it in the oven and forget about it until I’m ready to make the food, and due to the taste and the color of the squash, Easton never notices it’s there.

However, back to Chrissy’s mac ‘n’ cheese– it was delicious. It was a hit with everyone. Although, I have a hard time saying it was worth the full hour it took to make compared to the 10 minutes it would’ve taken to make a boxed mac and cheese. Nevertheless, it’s great for parties. I had plenty of leftovers even after me, three others and my son all ate it. Additionally, to save time, I made my own bread crumbs which consisted of normal bread crumbs I already had, garlic powder, a hint of salt and pepper. Once sprinkled on top of the mac and cheese, I finished it off with garlic salt. It turned out really well.

In the end, it was a great recipe, but the fifty minutes I could’ve saved would’ve been even better.

A Perfect Breakfast…

Happy Sunday readers!

On Sunday mornings, one of my favorite things is a wholesome, home-cooked breakfast. There’s something perfect about starting your week off with good food. So, today, I tried out not one but two of Chrissy Teigen’s breakfast recipes: Cheesy Cheeseless Scrambled Eggs with Burst Cherry Tomatoes and Garlic-Roasted Bacon. These two recipes, especially together, are not just recipes you’re going to want to try, but they are recipes you need to try.

There’s no need to use a cast-iron skillet to roast the tomatoes. I used a non-stick pan greased with a thin layer of olive oil, and it worked perfectly.

The worst thing I can say about this recipe is that it took me 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes to make. However, 30 minutes for eggs, tomatoes, and bacon sounds like a pretty good deal to me, so that is hardly a complaint. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that the bacon is cooked in the oven. The bacon is always perfectly crispy and doesn’t cause the unwanted grease splatter when cooked this way. Another favorite, although this may differ with from mom to mom, is that it was extremely relaxing to make; I wasn’t rushing around like a mad woman. The bacon cooked in the oven while the eggs cooked over the stove top, and I, slowly stirring my eggs, read my book. This, my friends, is multitasking at its finest.

To add to this, there is nothing in this recipe that my child disagreed with. “Cheesy” scrambled eggs are always a hit, and what could be more of a hit than that? Garlic-Roasted Bacon. My child even ate the cherry tomatoes, making this dish a dream. The ingredients are simple, and the recipe is quick. My only note: one person only needs two eggs at most. There’s no need to use a dozen eggs unless you’re cooking for the family from Cheaper by the Dozen.

I may or may not be eating this recipe again for dinner. Until next time, happy eating!

If You’re Sick of Spaghetti…

Welcome back to Cookbooks & Crayons!

If you have a child of any age, you know that spaghetti is a staple food dish within the family dynamic. I don’t think I can go two weeks without making it at least once. Then, of course, there’s leftover spaghetti to eat for the week. With this said, it gets tiresome, and I crave more options. That is exactly what this blog’s recipe is– another option. Chrissy Teigen’s Lemony Arugula Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe is the perfect recipe to switch things up on any given night. To test this, I made the recipe three separate nights: on a weeknight, for a date, and for friends at a house party.

I recommend using a large soup pot for this recipe rather than a large skillet as Chrissy says to do. Cooking the bacon in this type of pot also saves your stove top from unforgiving grease splatter. After figuring this out, I don’t think I can cook bacon any way else.

As a mom, I think the best thing I can say about this recipe is that the ingredients, with the exception of the arugula, are every-day products that I always have in my fridge. This means I can make it any night without having to plan for it. This is a dream come true as I am a terrible planner. On top of this, this recipe was so quick and easy. The estimated time of 25 minutes was correct. If anything, I had extra time to spare. However, during the three times I made this recipe, I learned something in terms of making it tastier, quicker, and childproof.

Here are my tips: Instead of using pasta water, use 1/4 cup of heavy cream or milk (unless you’re dairy-free). Also, cutting the bacon prior to cooking it allows for uniform pieces and an even consistency throughout the pasta. I’m also one of those moms who says “screw it” to measurements, so just go ahead and grate a whole wedge of Marco Polo Parmigiano Reggiano and pour it in or dump the whole bag if you bought it pre-grated. Lastly, you might want to dump out about half of the bacon grease before adding the lemon juice mixture; have some mercy on your arteries. In terms of making this recipe childproof, it’s incredibly easy. Remove the one teaspoon of red pepper flakes. If you want the spice for yourself, I later added the flakes as a garnish and mixed them in. I promise you and your children will love this recipe.

Don’t forget to save the leftovers; it heats up great! Until next time, happy eating.

A Recipe You’ll Love…

Welcome back to Cookbooks & Crayons!

The recipe that I’m telling you about today is, by far, one of my favorites that I have tried from Chrissy’s cookbook: Chicken Lettuce Wraps! I will say, I had really high expectations for this recipe. I’m the type of person that orders a lettuce wrap appetizer as her entrée because they’re so good and low calorie. This dish is fairly common, but the flavors are never the same; some of the best places to order chicken lettuce wraps, that I have found, have been Pei Wei, P.F. Chang’s, and California Pizza Kitchen. So, when I tried this recipe, not only was I testing out how easy and quick they are but also how they compare to the restaurants’ renditions.

Instead of butter lettuce, I used green leaf lettuce, and it worked just as well. I will say, though, that it does fall apart much easier than butter lettuce, so I still recommend butter lettuce as Chrissy says to do.

To cut right to the chase, it was pretty difficult to find a way to make my child eat this recipe. Just seeing lettuce, he was repulsed. I found that rolling the chicken up into a tortilla then grilling it on the stovetop made it much more appetizing to him. I still can’t say he was crazy about the flavors. In the end, it was a chicken nugget night. Although, if your child enjoys Asian-inspired dishes or if your child is older than two, you might have a better chance at your child liking this dish. As I have said before, Chrissy really does love her spice; Sriracha is, without a doubt, a common theme in this cookbook. For this recipe, I do recommend either cutting the Sriracha out completely or minimizing the amount you use. If you do cut it out for the sake of your children but still want the spice, you can do what I did and add it on top as a garnish.

Despite having difficulties with getting my son to eat it, I enjoyed this dish immensely. It didn’t taste like P.F. Chang’s, Pei Wei’s, or California Pizza Kitchen’s, but this recipe was extremely good. It was a bonus that I made these wraps at home and knew exactly what ingredients I used. This recipe did not take long either; what took the longest time was cutting my bell pepper and ginger. Other than that, it was a breeze. It took me 30 minutes rather than Chrissy’s estimated 45 minutes, and it helped that I used the scissors from my knife set to cut the scallions. In all honesty, this is a recipe that I wouldn’t mind making as a second dish for myself. It also makes great leftovers. It might even be better the second day after all of the flavors have had time to meld. If you’re a meal-prepping mama, this recipe is for you. Conclusively, I give this recipe a solid 8 for how easy, quick, and delicious it is, but there is a two-point deduction for my child’s disapproval. Try this recipe out with your own children and tell me how they like it!

Until next time, happy eating!

If you like this blog…

Welcome back to Cookbooks and Crayons, Mamas!

Today, I will be telling you about one of my favorite blogs in the mom-blogger community, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. Before creating my own personal blog, Mel’s was my go-to blog whenever I wanted something quick and easy to cook. I still use it often to this day! However, what is the best part about her blog, you may ask? Mel not only provides quick and easy recipes, but she includes every single category known to man including drinks, salads and side dishes. Her blog is the family-recipe dictionary.

This is a photo of her website’s layout to display just how easy it is to navigate. She offers any category you can think of!

Two of my favorite things to cook in are my Instant Pot and my Crock-Pot. These two appliances, I believe, are a must-have for any busy mom. It is simply not possible to put a price on delicious efficiency. I’m not the only one who thinks so as Mel includes two categories designated to solely Instant Pot (or pressure cooker) recipes and Crock-Pot (or slow cooker) recipes. Just to keep up with giving my readers some tried and true recipes, I made Mel’s Instant Pot apple sauce, and I will tell you, it was a huge hit with both Easton and myself as a pre-nap and pre-yoga snack. I urge you to check out her website to find out how to make it for yourself!

These are the ingredients needed to make Mel’s Instant Pot apple sauce. To find out how to make it, check out her website!

Another thing I feel that Mel does extremely well is that she included a section to find recipes that adhere to any dietary restrictions that you or your child might have. My child, in particular, decided early on that he hates meat, so I often visit her “meatless” section for him. I, myself, am lactose-intolerant and gluten-intolerant, so I visit her “dairy-free,” “gluten-free” and “gluten-free adaptable” sections for myself. Her website is so easy to navigate. I can find exactly what I want to cook and what I want my family to eat in a matter of minutes rather than scrolling through Pinterest for an hour.

This is a list of all the available dietary restrictions that Mel offers on her website at the click of a button.

So, until next time, go check out Mel’s Kitchen Cafe! She knows what she’s doing.

Yes, It Really Has Broccoli…

Welcome back fellow Mamas!

I know I said last time that we would be reviewing Chrissy Teigen’s “Everything” Chicken Sandwich (and we will), but today, I’m going to be telling you about a recipe that legitimately made me feel as if I had struck gold. Frying chicken is not, in any way, my forte; I burnt it every single time, and when the chicken wasn’t burnt, it was so under cooked that I swear it was still clucking. However, when I do manage to properly fry the chicken, I will give it a review. For today though, I will be reviewing Chrissy Tiegen’s Sour Cream and Broccoli Baked Potato Cakes. If you think playing hot potato with your child is fun, you’ll really love this cooking this recipe.

Mix broccoli florets, mashed russet (Idaho) potatoes (no skin), Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, sour cream, an egg, salt and pepper in a bowl.

I will begin by saying this: All my life, I’ve been sticking potatoes in the oven on 425 for close to an hour. Oh, no, no, no. Did you know that if you stab your potatoes with a fork (as usual) then wrap them in a damp (paper) towel before placing them in the microwave for 12 minutes, your potatoes will be perfectly cooked? I didn’t, but now I do know, and my life is forever changed because of this. Thank you Chrissy Teigen, am I right? Also, to not have to deal with the plate, the water and the salt, I used Birds Eye Steamfresh Broccoli Florets. However, if your child is anything like mine, the idea of eating broccoli is nothing short of repulsive. This makes my life a little bit more difficult, so instead of leaving the broccoli florets whole, I diverged from the recipe, chopping the florets before squeezing out all excess juice and water through a permeable rag. Doing this, the broccoli was perfectly camouflaged once the cakes cooked. Even better, you never would have known it had broccoli in it; the taste was nonexistent. It was all the health benefits of broccoli without any of the broccoli taste. To be quite honest, it tasted like a tater tot, and we all know our children won’t turn down a tater tot if its offered.

Instead of frying in canola oil, I used olive oil on the first try, but after that, I just used butter which worked just as well.

All in all, this recipe held true to the amount of time Chrissy said it would take; it did, indeed, take an hour. Although rather than taking just 35 minutes of prep time, it took me 45 minutes due to the couple extra steps I took with the broccoli. The remaining 15 minutes is dependent on how many you cook. If you have a small family like mine, you will have a whole bowl of premixed potato cake mix, great for quick dinners or lunches the rest of the week, but despite this recipe calling for an hour of your busy-mama time, I was not strapped. I had plenty of time in between steps (such as while cooled) and during steps (such as while the potatoes and cakes cooked) to do what I needed to do. This recipe really was a dream, and I felt plenty comfortable giving these to my son as a meal along with some fruit. Pertaining the garnish, I much preferred the cakes with it; the extra flavor of the sour cream and chives was just what it needed, but Easton did prefer it without the garnish.

Garnish with the potato cake with a dollop of sour cream and chives. Helpful tip: It’s quicker if you cut the chives with scissors instead of chopping.

In the end, Chrissy Teigen’s Sour Cream and Broccoli Potato Cakes were a 10/10. They allowed me to be flexible with my time, and my toddler absolutely adored them. Maybe this recipe even deserves a 15/10 for smuggling broccoli and giving me the tools for quick and easy dinner/lunch options the rest of the week. Great job, Chrissy!

Until next time, happy eating Moms!

This Might Get Cheesy…

Welcome back Mamas,

As you can guess from the title of this blog post, I will be reviewing Chrissy Teigen’s Cheesy Guacamole. However, before I begin, I would like to give my first impression of the cookbook as a whole: My goodness, this girl loves spice; even looking at these recipes, I’m reaching for a glass of milk. If you love spice, and you aren’t a weakling like me, you will love this cookbook. Aside from this, these recipes look mouthwatering; I wouldn’t mind making any of these recipes solely for myself. Although, that’s not why we’re here, are we? We’re here to see if Chrissy’s cookbook stands up to the standards of a busy mom by judging how much time it takes to make it and if our toddlers will eat it.

A special shout out: Thanks to you pitting my avocados, no fingers were lost in the process of creating this recipe.

I know, guacamole isn’t necessarily a meal. To be honest with you, I wholeheartedly disagree; it’s the type of appetizer that you eat absentmindedly, not realizing the quantity that you’re eating, but when the main course arrives, you’re too full on guacamole to even consider eating anymore. This is exactly what happened to me tonight. Moms, this recipe is genius; it really is. I cannot begin to describe the amount of self-control I had to summon in order to let it sit for the hour it requires to let the flavors meld. It has every texture and flavor that I could want in guacamole, and the sharp cheddar cheese was an ingredient that I never thought of in the past but could never go without now.

However, on to giving it a busy-mom rating, this recipe claims to be 10 minutes of prep time and an hour added to that to let the guacamole sit. This sounds great, right? As a mom, 10 minutes is easy to spare when it comes to preparing a “meal.” Though, as I said, my chopping skills are subpar at best; between cutting avocados, tomatoes and jalapeños then mashing and mixing them, this recipe took me forty minutes of prep time. I bought pre-cut onions, cilantro and bottled lime juice to even save myself time. Mamas, this recipe is really simple to make and great, but if you can’t multi-task or you don’t plan on eating this alone with chips (or pretzels in my son’s case) for lunch or dinner, it might be difficult. On this note, I ended up making two batches, one for me and one for Easton. I personally loved the original recipe with the jalapeño and cayenne, but if you can’t handle that much spice, I recommend doing what I did for Easton’s batch. For Easton’s batch, I completely skipped the ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and instead of doing half a jalapeño, I only did ¼ (with zero seeds) in order for the flavor and crunch that I loved so much to still be present!

All in all, I give this recipe a busy-mom scale rating of 9/10. This recipe is amazing, but I counted off for it taking longer than I expected and for having to adjust it to Easton’s toddler pallet. I really recommend throwing this on top of a black bean burger; if you try this, leave a comment because I keep dreaming of it. Another option? Throw it on top of Chrissy’s “Everything” chicken sandwich, to be reviewed next on Cookbooks & Crayons.

Until then, happy eating Moms!

Let’s get cooking…

Hey Mamas,

We don’t know each other, but we go through the same thing every morning, afternoon and night. No, this isn’t some kind of riddle, but it is a struggle that a lot of us moms go through. We find ourselves scrolling through Pinterest pining for “quick and easy” recipes and walking the isles of Barnes and Noble scanning cookbooks, thinking to ourselves, “These recipes sound really great, but I’m too busy to transform into a full-fledged chef.” Although, there are also times where the recipe does seem quick and simple, but we know that no matter what we do, our child is not going to eat it no matter how much chocolate we use as bribery. It’s not worth the struggle anymore.

My name is Kenna, and I don’t classify myself as a working mom or a stay-at-home mom. I empathize with all mamas. As a full-time student in her 20s, I can spend up to eight hours on campus one day but only an hour on other days. Although, no matter how much time I spend away from my child, one thing never changes: my high demand for quick and easy (preferably healthy) meals that both I and my child will eat. However, we all know how far and few these recipes actually are, and there’s only so many hours in a day that I can sit scrolling through Pinterest. So, without further ado, this brings me to the point of creating this blog.

This is me and my two-year-old son, Easton Lucas!

A lot of cookbooks classify themselves as “family friendly,” “easy” and “quick.” Though, this is not always the case, and do not even get me started on how big of a lie the estimated prep/total time for a recipe is. I’m not Julia Child nor am I Gordon Ramsey. Shopping at Williams-Sonoma and owning an expensive knife set does not grant me a degree from Le Cordon Bleu or magically gift me with culinary skills. I’m not capable of creating full-blown recipes (although I am known to throw in my own twist), and I cannot quickly chop an onion without quickly chopping off my finger in the process. So, here on this blog, I am going to tell you my experiences cooking through cookbooks to see if they are everything a mother hopes and dreams of, easy and quick. I am going to time myself to see exactly how long it took me to cook the recipe, test to see if it’s toddler-approved and tell you how to toddler-proof the recipe if need be. I’m going to give them a mom-rating.

Let us begin with a busy mom herself, Chrissy Teigen, and her cookbook, “Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat.” Did she keep her fellow mamas in mind while writing it?