Jamaican Coconut Rice and Peas

My goodness! Believe it or not, I have yet to receive my Jamaican recipe cookbook in the mail!
(my mind's thought: What is going ooooon?!!)

So with the help of the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to get my hands on my Dad's famous Jamaican Coconut Rice and Peas! And now I get to share it with you all;) ...especially since it is probably the simplest recipe to follow!

I apologize ahead of time for my neglecting to take more pictures of this yummy dish...but Thanksgiving in my parent's house is filled with way too much excitement for me to focus on "food-picture-taking" :)

First know, that the normal measurement for rice:water ratio is 1 cup rice: 2 cups water. If you go this route, just make sure you don't drown the rice!

This is why I did the "water: one inch above rice" rule since I was cooking with coconut milk and water.

...anyhow, here is the rundown of the recipe:

4 cups of rice
1 can of pigeon peas
1 can of coconut milk
3 heads of scallion cut in half
1 bunch of thyme (to your discretion)
1 small Romano tomato diced into 4 or 6 pieces
A couple of dashes of pepper flakes (to your discretion)
Generous dash of your favorite seasoning (Do not use salt if you use seasoning!)

All of these ingredients go into the rice cooker at the same time. If you are cooking on the stovetopm, make sure you keep an eye on it and turn it off promptly just before the rice gets tender (No one like overcooked rice. Yuck!).

Don't need 4 cups of rice? Well, just cut all of the ingredients in half!

...just in case you were wondering what brand we use...

In goes the ingredients (most ingredients not shown taking the plunge, sorry!)...along with good ol' Lawry's Seasoning Salt. Our favorite!

...Nice, fluffy, and seasoned to perfection in the end!

If the rice comes out too sticky, you simply used too much water--to solve this problem let it sit in the pot a bit longer Hopefully, it will cook it through without overcooking it!

If the rice comes out feeling a bit uncooked to texture just let it sit in the pot a bit longer and add a small amount of water. The amount of water you put in will depend on how uncooked the rice feels to texture, so this step requires good judgement. :/

In my opinion, this recipe for me is a "try until you get it right" one because all rice pots cook at a different rate.

I used the Saladmaster Rice Cooker for this dish.

Enjoy!

Oh Joy! San Diego, Here We Come!

This Thanksgiving, we are so thankful for...

...the many family and friend's that we will be spending time with in SAN DIEGOOOOOOO!

THAT'S RIGHT! Looks like San Diego is on the menu for this year's Thanksgiving feast! Just when we thought it wasn't going to happen, Karlton got the news that he got the time off!

We are San Diego bound for Korey's first Thanksgiving....yay!

Things to do today before we are officially on the road to San Diego:

1) laundry.

2) more laundry...and clean up house!

3) purchase more baby wipes.

4) charge the camera.

5) pack our suitcase.

6) pack Korey's suitcase.

7) cook dinner.

8) bathe baby boy.

9) get some quick shut eye.

10) 4:00am-SAN DIEGO, here we come:) Gobble, gobble, gobble!

Blog-free until Monday the 29th!

Stir It Up!

As promised, my Monday blog posts will cover my exploring of the many Jamaican recipes found in the cookbook that I recently purchased (mentioned in this post).

Now, I'm no cook enthusiast (and definitely no connoisseur), but I figure if I devote one day a week to stir up a new dish, then maybe I will become the chef of my very own....home!

Before I continue on with today's post let me give you two reasons why there will be no recipe today:

Cue: somber music :'(

Ok, #1---my cookbook has not arrived in the mail yet! Blasted USPS...

and #2---we actually made dinner plans with some pretty fabulous friends of ours.

...with that said, let me leave you with this...my favorite Bob Marley song:

Thrifty Library

This weekend, the Edison trio decided to check out the local thrift shops to see if they could get their hands on fancy little things worth salvaging...

And we ended up at St. Vincent De Paul's Thrift Store!

There were seemingly endless aisles of thrifty goods that I could totally see in our new home:) However, due to pressed time (we were on our way to a friend's daughter's birthday party) we only parted with some festive items from these shelves:

BOOKS!


Kristen + a thifty library + Karlton pushing Korey in the stroller = Kristen in happy-land with an impatient husband.

That's right! I absolutely enjoy browsing (and ultimately purchasing) books from the shelves of Border's, Barne's and Nobles, Kinkos or even grocery stores!...but if I can find a way to get my hands on them cheap, I will buy as many as I possibly can! Take a look at the three books I bought today...for a whopping .25 cents each!

#1: The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

#2: Christmas in Plains by Jimmy Carter

#3: The Most Beautiful Gift by Jonathan Snow



Yes, I plan to read them all this Christmas:)

I purchased these these books in anticipation for the Christmas season! Since it is less than a month away I might as well start buying items to decorate my home, right? Our entry was is sort of naked right now so I want to spruce it up and make it the place in our home that screams, "Hey, look at me! Iiiiiiit's (insert holiday here)!" I plan to do this by having trinkets, books, and other decor that coorespond with the present season/holiday (Valentine's Day, Fall, Christmas, etc.) and do this year-round. Catch my drift?

The point of purchasing these books was to mock this look here.

Aren't those lovely looks?! I guess I'm ruining the surprise since I obviously haven't finished gathering all of my trinkets and decor, but...who cares.

Oh, I can't forget Korey! These are his new Christmas books...also .25 cents each:)



So the next time you pass by a thrift store...take a look-see:) You may be surprised by the things you find:)

Wrappers, Wrappers Everywhere!

It's that time of year!


Earlier today, to give Korey a change of scenery, we hopped in the car and went to Target! I absolutely love perusing the aisles there in my spare time--even if I have no plans on buying anything;-) Target has almost everything I need, including groceries! Who wouldn't agree with me here? Which is why it is in the top three of my "favorite-places-to-do-a-little-shopper's-therapy" list! Oh, joy!

The first thing I went for when I got the "Holiday" section were the wrapping papers. And, boy oh boy, there are endless barrels of rolls to choose from this year! The rolls pictured above are the Premium Wrapping Papers and are going for $4 and/or $5 each...pricey for a roll of paper, but worth it if you are into glittzy and textured gift wrapping. If you've never gone the textured route, give it a go this year--they are sure to glam things up. I can't wait to start wrapping my loved ones' gifts with the rolls that I purchased. Oh, and Korey was a great shopping buddy--especially when it came to the various rolls that I took the time in showing him.

My bay-bay is a handsome lil' man! Gosh, he's beautiful......

....*ahem*, anyways, I plan to go back at the "butt-crack-of-dawn" (couldn't resist that line, sorry) on Black Friday to grab a few more items that were a wee bit out of our price range...Yay! I'm TOO excited for BF to arrive! Aren't you?! Ok, let's get through Thanksgiving first, right?

Jeez, I feel like the woman in those new Target commercials...

like this one.

Short but sweet tangent:

Try as I might, I am having a difficult time finishing (and posting) the little projects that I have been working on this past week. As I stated here, it gets crazy around the house while hubby (I hate that word) is at work. Especially since my baby boy needs so much of my attention:) In fact, I've gotten up a total of four times to tend to his needs since starting this post...and finally with great success! He is down for his afternoon nap and I get to have some "me" time before starting dinner.

Soda Flowers

Earlier last week I went grocery shopping and purchased those delicious cream sodas that come in the glass bottles....no, I couldn't resist...

Several days later, after Karlton and guzzled them down (mmm!), I had them piled up in the recycling bin ready for trash day when I decided to pull them out last minute:)...I promise I'm not a hoarder! I just happened to remember a post that I had read from a blog that I absolutely love. I went ahead and did the same thing to my bottles that they did with their bottles, but I put a little twist to them...er, a sand twist in this case:) Take look at their post that inspired me by clicking here.

After rinsing and drying out the bottles with a bottle cleaner I filled them up with sand ($3 from walmart!) and put a flower in each of them (also $3 from WM!)---they are artificial but I think fresh flowers look (and smell) much better! Korey fell asleep...I think this project bored him.

The finished look! (I apologize for the terrible lighting!)

I love my new coffee table centerpiece...now our wedding album has company!

What centerpiece does your coffee table have?

Jamaican Mondays

You may be wondering what I mean by "Jamaican Mondays" so allow me to explain:

You've undoubtedly heard of the worldwide infamous Taco Tuesdays, right? Well, I've decided to create a weekly family tradition that simply hits close to home. My parents, born and raised in Jamaica, brought us up on this mouth-watering cuisine and since I am no longer able to get my hands on their cooking I thought it would be smart to master it! Especially while Korey is still in diapers! I am going to attempt to prepare a Jamaican dish every Monday night whether it be an appetizer, entree, dessert, or drinks! If all else fails, I promise I will post something related to the title of this anticipated family tradition. I'd love to expose my son to the Jamaican culture so that he knows where my side of the family came from. After all, he is half Jamaican:)


To no ones surprise, I am no masterchef (yet..lol), so I plan to purchase this book from Amazon.com tonight to start reading up on some of the spices that I should begin to stock up on. Mind you, not only am I going to have to stock up on spices, but I'm also going to have to read up on my measurements...normally when I cook at home I season with the "eyeball it" approach. This cooking by-the-recipe may slow me down a bit but I'm game!

Crafty SAHM?

Being a stay at home mommy (SAHM) does not mean that I must remain restricted to the lonely indoors. Sure, it started out that way, but over the weeks I have slowly built the confidence and mommy courage to take my son outside for simple walks around the block or to the local shops and malls for a little shopping therapy (yay, us!). Truth be told, I was very a very Nervous Nellie when it came to driving Korey around simply because I knew I wouldn't be able to comfort him if he started being a fussy lil' monkey.

But that's all in the past now:

Thanks to the Safe Fit Day and Night Musical Mirror (long title for a product, ey?) that I have purchased, not only does it allow me to safely see Korey at all times without putting the both of us in danger but it gives me peace of mind. What a relief!

Our car rides normally end up in the parking lot of a Pier 1 Imports, Target, Micheal's, or the Hobby Lobby! The more I meander the aisles of these shops, the more I feel like a kid in a candy store and realize that my attention is continuously being drawn to these crafts, cookbooks, and home decor! I definitely need to make the time to find my niche when it comes to the "arts and crafts" arena. Maybe I can become an oil painter? Or a home DIYer...oy, the thought of DIYing makes me nervous, but I can save so much money that way. Agreed? Once I start crafting I will be sure to show you guys what I do.