Singing Babies - My Son Loves This DVD

I recently purchased a DVD on an impulse buy at Marshalls. It was $4.99 and it showed babies singing nursery rhymes. My son loves nursery rhymes. The DVD was not what I thought it would be. I expected to see babies with music in the background. What they did was superimpose singing lips on the babies. As an adult it is a bit disturbing. My son however loves this DVD. Prior to this, I could never get him to sit and watch anything on tv for long periods of time. Now he sits and shouts out "baby" to the tv screen. He also brings me the DVD when he wants to watch it.

If you want to buy it online, it is actually more expensive: http://www.amazon.com/Singing-Babies-Nursery-Rhyme-Time/dp/B00005QTA5/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322322881&sr=8-1.

Since this is the first DVD he has watched, I am tempted to get the singing babies toddler tuneshttp://www.amazon.com/Singing-Babies-Toddler-Tunes/dp/B00006II6I/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_img_b. This buys me enough time to prep his bath, make his lunch or dinner without having him pulling to come and play with him.

Definitely worth purchasing.

Chickpea, Ham, Tomato Casserole

I was searching for a quick casserole to make the other night. As I scoured the Allrecipe site (http://allrecipes.com/) which I love, I became inspired by this recipe I found: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/zesty-rice-n-bean-casserole/detail.aspx. I didn't have all of the ingredients but it gave me an idea for a variation on this recipe. Here is what I came up with:

Ingredients
2 cups of instant brown rice
1 large can of diced tomatoes
2 tsp of minced garlic (I use the bottle of minced garlic)
1 tsp of chili spice
1 can of mushrooms
1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed (you can use kidney beans if you want, I only had a small can of chickpeas)
1 can of ham
1/3 of paneer (I was using it up in my fridge - this is optional)
1.5 cups of shredded cheese - I used the taco flavoured cheese because I had bought some on special
1 tbsp of cajun spice
1 tbsp of roasted red pepper and garlic spice
Note: use whatever spice you want to make it flavourful. We like it on the hotter side. One suggestion is to use flavoured diced tomatoes.

Directions:
Prepare the instant rice according to instructions

In a large frying pan, cook the garlic and mushrooms for about 5 to 7 minutes is some olive oil.
Add the tomatoes, chickpeas, chili spice and let simmer until the rice is down.

Once the rice is done, add it it the mixture along with the ham. I like to mash up the ham with a fork and pre - season it with the roasted red pepper spice.

Add half of the cheese, cover and simmer on the stove for about 10 minutes. I mainly did this because I wanted the paneer to soak into the juices. If you are not using the paneer you can take it straight to the stove if you want.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the contents in a 3 quart container. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and cook for 15 to 20 minutes in the stove.

I have managed to get three meals out of this (6 servings). These were large servings so you may be able to get 8 servings out of it but you will want to have a good side dish.

Bread Tomato Soup - Comfort Food for the Cold Weather

I had an extra loaf of bread this past weekend and I was interested in how I could use it up. The majority of recipes suggested French Toast. I had tried that before with wonderful results but it really isn't something you want to eat for dinner. I came across a reference for bread soup which intrigued me. This supposedly was created in Italy to use up old bread. I found the following recipe below:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/tomato-and-bread-soup/detail.aspx

This is a great website if you haven't tried it before. I only wanted to do 4 servings and it adjusts the recipe accordingly.

I have made this soup twice, each slightly different ways. The first followed the original recipe. The second I was going by memory so I forgot a few things. It still tasted the same way. Here is my version:

1 can of diced Chili tomatoes by Alymers - they are on sale for $0.99 right now at Price Chopper

1 tsp of minced garlic

1/2 loaf of french bread

1 1/2 chicken bouillon cubes

3 cups of water

4 to 8 tbsp of olive oil (see instructions below)

Slice the bread up into 1/2 inch slices - if you are using day old bread you can do this. I used week old bread today and I needed to microwave it first to cut it. I then tore it up into small pieces. The older the bread, the harder it is to do this. It still tastes good if you have large pieces of bread.

You will need a large stock pot - something you would cook pasta in or something that will hold 3 cups of water and the can of tomatoes.

I heated the pot and put the bread in it. The original recipe called for 4 tbsp of olive oil but I found this did not cover the bread so I added olive oil until the bread was covered. I then heated the bread until it was lightly toasted. I added a tsp of minced garlic and the can of tomatoes. I simmered for 8 minutes.

I then made three cups of chicken broth using the bouillon and added it to the soup. Simmer for 10 minutes.

This made four servings. If there are 2 of you, three servings if you like seconds.

If you want to make it vegetarian, use the vegetable broth.

You can add chili flakes but with the seasoned tomatoes you don't really need any spice.

Mattel Toy Outlet in Mississauga - Deals for November

As Christmas approaches, I recommend that you visit the Mattel Toy Outlet in Mississauga. You are guaranteed to get some great deals.

Here is the link to the flyer that was posted on Smartcanucks.ca  - http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/232429-mattel-toy-outlet-blowout-weekends-sept-mississauga-canada/

The scanned image of the flyer shows that in November there are deals up to 40% off. Starting this week they are open Friday (10- 7 ), Saturday (10-5)  and Sunday (12-5).I have arrived there in the past around 10:30. The place gets busy so I suggest going early. According to the flyer they re-stock weekly.

Happy Shopping!