Friday, March 26, 2010

Working Moms Recipe of the Week

Risotto
Number of Servings: 6
Prep to Serve: 1 hr 15 min (30 minutes active)

Ingredients
2 chicken breast halves
2 T butter
4 c chicken broth
2 c uncooked Arborio rice (short-grain)
½ small onion, diced
1 t salt
1 (8oz) pkg fresh mozzarella, cut into ½-inch cubes
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
¼ c fresh basil, snipped
Parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Place chicken breast in a greased baking dish and bake in oven for 45 minutes or until done through. Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, add butter, chicken broth, rice, onion and salt. Bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer and cook, uncovered, 45 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Cut chicken into bit-sized pieces. Stir chicken, mozzarella and tomatoes into the rice. Stir in basil. Serve with Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top.

Notes: To make vegetarian, omit chicken and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Submitted: Mindy Brooks, from Southern Living Magazine

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Working Moms Recipe of the Week - March 19, 2010

Hawaiian Pork Chops
Number of Servings: 4
Prep to Serve: 25 min

Ingredients
4 boneless pork chops (½ inch thick)
1 T plus 2 t lime juice
Cooking spray
4 round slices of pineapple, coarsely chopped
1 small red onion, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine pork with 1 T lime juice and let sit 10 minutes. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat; coat with cooking spray. Add pineapple and onion; cook 4 minutes or until tender. In a bowl, combine pineapple mixture with remaining lime juice – cover to keep warm. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; place in skillet. Cook pork 5 minutes, flip and cook 5 minutes or until done. Serve pineapple mixture over chops.

Notes: You can also BBQ the pork.

Submitted: Mindy Brooks, from Cooking Light magazine

Monday, March 15, 2010

More Kids Volunteer opportunities

This is a follow-up from a meeting we had a while ago on volunteering with your family.

Hands on Portland now has a new program, thanks to a mom who identified the need for more opportunities for age 4 and up!

They now have a new Volunteering with Kids page and a Teen Volunteers page. There are also lots of Spring Break opportunties.

We are heading to the beach this weekend for SOLV's beach clean-up (yurting with Lora's family). If you want to join us at Nehalem Bay State Park for the day, get in touch.

Happy Volunteering!
Darcy

Gardening

Gardeners,

We want to combine your love of growing things, spring fever, and your desire to help those in need. Mark you calendars for April 15th and May 20th.

This is an inter-agency effort here in the 1900 Bldg., including BPS, BDS, BES, Water, Fire, & PBOT in partnership with IRCO (Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization). We are planning two charitable events -- vegetable plant swaps and sales. These will benefit refugees and immigrants in Portland, via IRCO. The goal is to assist immigrants and refugees in getting started with growing some of their own vegetables.

Here's how it works:
1. You are encouraged to start extra vegetable plants from seed in the coming weeks. Now is a good time to start them inside.

2. On the 3rd Thursdays in April and May (April 15th and May 20th), bring your extra veggie starts to the 1900 Bldg, 4th floor kitchen.

3. You can take one plant for free for every plant you donate or you can buy the veggie starts your colleagues bring in.

Here's how it benefits refugees and immigrants -- The extra plants that aren't swapped or sold will be donated to IRCO for them to distribute to those in need so they can grow some of their own vegetables this spring and summer. The money raised will be used to buy trowels, gardening gloves, and other gardening tools, and distributed to those in need by IRCO.

If you have questions, please contact Rebecca Esau or Chris Scarzello.

We hope you'll participate either by planting seeds now and donating the starts, or coming to buy some veggie starts!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

St Paddy's Day - Working Moms Recipe

Irish Stew

Ingredients
olive oil
3 1/2 lbs lamb, cubed (or beef)
1 T flour
1 c water
1 lb frozen pearl onions, thawed
2 1/2 c beef broth
2 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 T fresh, chopped thyme
1/2 c fresh, chopped chives

Directions
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat; brown the lamb. When lamb is just brown, sprinkle the flour over and mix until flour is moist. Remove lamb to a large Crockpot. Pour water into the skillet and scrape up the bits; pour into Crockpot. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Cook on low for 5 hours.

Notes: Serve with crusty bread or in bread bowls.

Submitted: Mindy Brooks

Friday, March 12, 2010

St Paddy's Day - Working Moms Recipe

Brown Soda Bread
Number of servings: 1 loaf
Pre to serve: 1 1/2 hr

Ingredients
Cooking spray
2 1/2 c whole-wheat flour
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c steel-cut oats
2 T brown sugar
1 T wheat germ
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 c low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 F. Coat loaf pan with cooking spary. Line pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with cooking spray. Combine flours and the next 6 ingredients (through salt). In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk and egg; pour into flour and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes or utnil a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert bread on a wire rack; cool completely. Remove parchment paper and slice.

Notes: Make together as a family. Older kids can measure (good math practice) and younger kids can stir.

Submitted: Mindy Brooks, from Cooking Light Magazine

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Working Moms Recipe of the Week - March 12, 2010

Quick Italian Soup
Number of Servings: 6
Prep to Serve: 35 min

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (½ c)
5 c hot water
I box Hamburger Helper Lasagna
1 can (14.5 oz.) tomatoes with juice
1 c frozen cut corn
1 small zucchini, chopped into big chunks (1 cup)
Shredded Parmesan

Directions:
In a large stock pot cook beef and onion over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in hot water, contents of sauce mix pouch from Hamburger Helper box, tomatoes and corn. Bring to boil, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in contents of uncooked pasta pouch from Hamburger Helper box and zucchini. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer. Sprinkle each serving with shredded Parmesan cheese.

Notes: Recommend serving with French bread.

Submitted: Julie Rawls

Monday, March 8, 2010

March Mtg - Toxic Free Families

Our March meeting will be held this Thursday, March 11th at noon in the Blazed Alder Room on the the 3rd floor of the Portland Building (1120 SW 5th Ave).

We will have two guest speakers, Jen Coleman from the Oregon Environmental Council and Caran Goodall from Metro. They both specialize in helping families reduce their household toxics and find environmentally friendly solutions. Caran will teach us about healthy alternatives and provide some household cleaning recipes. Jen will give an overview of family related toxics policy and how we can advocate for our children.

We hope you can join us!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Working Moms Recipe of the Week - March 5, 2010

Cornbread Casserole
Number of Servings: 4
Prep to Serve: 30 min


Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic, minced
1 bag frozen veggies (peas, carrots, corn, etc.)
1 tomato, chopped
cumin, chili powder and salt to taste
1 box cornbread mix

Instructions
Preheat oven 400 F. Heat olive oil over medium heat; sauté onion and garlic until opaque. Add frozen veggies and heat through. Add tomatoes and spices; heat through. Spoon veggies into a greased casserole dish. Prepare cornbread according to directions on the box; pour over veggie mixture. Bake according to cornbread directions or until top is slightly golden.

Notes: You can use tomatillos or salsa instead of tomatoes.

Submitted: Sandra Wood

Thursday, March 4, 2010

some urbanMama events and activities

hi cityMamas ~

There are some urbanMama events and activities I thought you might be interested in.

April 1 - Working Mama Lunch at Al Amir @ 12:30

April 8 - SW (sub)Urban Mama meet up and wine tasting; KORKAGE in Hillsdale @ 6:00

ongoing - running groups

I am organizing all three of these events so feel free to contact me directly if you have questions. Or just sign up in the comments! Courtney