Katrina Cooks

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!!

2012-02-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

Next week I'm going to help with inventory for our Service Unit's cookies. Our Girl Scout Service Unit ordered 27,000 boxes, and I really want to see what that many cookies looks like! We deliver pre-ordered cookies next week, and start grocery-store sales on March 2nd (through 3/18).

A couple weeks ago, I signed up to try out a Girl Scout Cookie recipe contest. It was for food bloggers (check) and Girl Scout Cookie enthusiasts (who isn't?). Unfortunately, life got in the way, and I just couldn't get over to the Seattle office to pick up my cookies to recipe-test. However, I do still plan to try some of the ideas that I had for the contest, and I did just vote for my top-three favorite recipes from the finalists.

Here they are... go ahead; vote!

Click here to vote!

And, if you happen to be on a gluten-free diet, I tested recipes last year, and finally found a winner right here. Seriously, I made these with my Christmas cookies and was hounded for the recipe. It's the only one I found that used real ingredients (butter, not shortening and sugar instead of xylitol, etc.) and the texture and flavor are fantastic! I adapted the printable recipe from Becks' Delish blog, but other than that, didn't change much. You can get peppermint oil from your local cake-decorating or candy-supply shop.

Amazing Gluten Free Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies from Delish
from http://delicioushouse.blogspot.com

makes 3 dozen cookies
Active time: 30 minutes

Please keep the following two rules in mind:

1. USE GOOD CHOCOLATE.
2. Mint flavoring and peppermint oil are NOT the same thing. You MUST usepeppermint oil (available at your local cake- or candy-supply shop), because mint extract/flavoring contains alcohol and water which will seize up (totally ruin) chocolate.

INGREDIENTS
2/3 cup brown rice flour
2/3 cup sweet rice flour
4 tbs cocoa powder
2 tbs corn starch
1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
1 cup + 1/4 sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint oil (type used in candy making)
1 egg

1 lb good-quality semi-sweet chocolate (or milk chocolate if you prefer it)
1 tsp peppermint oil

First, mix together your dry ingredients - the brown and sweet rice flours,cocoa powder, corn starch, and baking powder. Then, beat butter on high (with a mixer) until pale and creamy, about 2minutes. Add in sugar, and beat on high until smooth, another 2 minutes (thisaerates the dough and keeps it from getting too heavy). Add egg, vanillaextract, and mint extract, and continue to beat until egg is incorporated, andbatter is light and smooth, 2-4 minutes. Then, with mixer on low, add in flourmixture until just combined. You can even stop the mixer once large crumbsform, and mix the last bit by hand with a spatula. You don't want to over mix,or the dough will become too heavy. Dough should be soft and pliable. Removedough from mixer bowl and place on a piece of wax paper, form into a log about1" thick, and roll it up in the wax paper. Set in freezer for 1-2 hours,until dough is very firm.

When you’re ready to bake… Preheat youroven to 350 degrees. Pull your dough outof the freezer, and cut it into thin slices - no more than 1/4 on an inchthick. Line a cookie pan with parchment paper. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.Cookies should be crunchy, but not burned.

Get out your fancy chocolate. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30second increments, until it's smooth, stirring between sessions. Add 1 tsp. peppermintoil (NOT mint extract. Mint extract will make chocolate seize and get hard). Now place a cookie in the chocolate, and gentlyturn the cookie over so it is coated with chocolate. Pick the cookie back up with a fork, andgently tap the fork against the side of the bowl, so any excess chocolatedribbles back into the bowl. Place cookies onto parchment paper, and let dry(you can refrigerate them or freeze them to help the chocolate set faster).

Happy Love Day!

2012-02-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Heart-shaped orange-glazed cinnamon rolls and strawberry milk for a quick Valentine's breakfast before school... Happy Love Day!!

'Tis True... Simple and Delicious!

2012-01-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe on The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle, and decided to give them a try on the last day of Snow Week (a whole week of Snow Days off of school)... I had all the ingredients, and these looked fun and easy. Sugarbelle advertised these as the "easiest cookies you'll ever make," and she was spot on! What I hadn't imagined was how fantastic they'd be. They're crisp on the outside, light and chocolatey, tender on the inside... and the sprinkles? Fun! I'm wondering how they'd be with a white or vanilla cake mix and cinnamon, then rolled in cinnamon sugar — Snickerdoodle-style... tasty, I imagine. I look forward to experimenting!

If you've not read her blog before, Sugarbelle's blog is amazing, and her cookies are pure art (and her recipes are the best I've tried). And, clearly, she's brilliant, since she makes these easy cake-mix cookies for school parties instead of taking her works of art to class!

So, here's the recipe... and, I only ended up with 28 cookies (she got 30).

Easy Cake Mix Cookies
(adapted a tiny bit from The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle)

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (she used Duncan Hines, the exact brand I had)
2 eggs
2 Tbs. flour
1 stick butter (softened)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (this gave them a slight chocolate-cherry hint - quite good - next time I'd go swap the vanilla and almond amounts)

Mix together in a bowl (I mixed them by hand - literally, with my hand), and use your handy cookie scoop (or make about 1-inch balls) and roll in fun sprinkles. Bake at 350-degrees F for about 11 minutes (I baked them right on my cookie sheets - ungreased - without parchment, and let cool on cookie sheets before removing to cooling rack. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Creamsicle Snow Cream

2012-01-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

http://katrinacooks.blogspot.com/search?q=snow+cream

Bûche de Noël 2012

2011-12-31T23:37:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to try the flour-less chocolate cake roll from Smitten Kitchen since I spotted it on Deb's blog, then I decided that it would be perfect for our annual Bûche de Noël. We've been doing them for about five years now, and the kids love to help (especially with the candy decorating...)

The verdict? This "Heavenly Chocolate Roll" is divine – rich chocolate that's light as air, delicious cream filling with just the right amount of sweetness. Really nice, much less rich than other recipes from year's past, and it turned out looking like a pretty log without any frosting at all!

Enjoy!

Heavenly Chocolate Roll

(adapted slightly from Smitten Kitchen)

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbs. hot water
6 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Spray parchment-lined jelly-roll pan with baking spray, preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Melt the chips in the microwave on 1/2-power for about 90 seconds, stir, 30 seconds more with hot water, stir and let sit to cool slightly. Beat egg yolks until pale and creamy, then slowly add in sugar and keep beating until "pale and ribbony." Eventually, add the melted, cooled chocolate.

Meanwhile, beat the 6 egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form, then add 1/4 into the yolk/chocolate mixture. When combined, fold the rest of the whites into the yolk/chocolate mixture, then pour into prepared pan. Bake for 15-17 mins. until soft and dry, but pick comes out clean. May seem undercooked.

Remove from oven to cooling rack (in pan) and cover with a damp towel (I sprinkled mine with 360-degree Double Chocolate vodka), and let cool 10 mins. Remove towel and sprinkle with:

1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder (sift over the cake), cover with towel and flip over, then sift another

1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa over the other side

Then, use the towel (re-sprinkled with water or vanilla or... Double Chocolate vodka) to roll the cake up. I rolled it lengthwise to get a longer, thinner roll, but rolling from the short side would be excellent with this recipe). Let cool (rolled up in the towel) until you're ready to fill.

Filling:

1 c. whipping cream
3-4 Tbs. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbs. Double Chocolate vodka

Beat all ingredients until it holds stiff peaks.

Carefully transfer the cooled roll to a serving plate, fill with cream and decorate festively! Happy New Year!!

Lego Ninjago Cupcakes for E's 5th

2011-12-30T23:55:00.000-08:00

So, better late than never, right? Erik's birthday was the 14th, but with all the other holiday hoopla, posting was on the bottom of the list. E adores LEGO Ninjago, and was getting carried away with grand schemes involving elaborate battle scenes on a cake. Of course, this is partly my fault, I know. Custom birthday cakes every year of your life makes you start to think that your mom can make simply anything you want!

So, I surfed the Web for ideas, and found a ninja cupcake theme that I liked. To improve on the idea, I decided to dip the top of the cupcakes in yellow candy melts and draw the eyes on with my black Food Writer pen.

And, so... Vanilla-orange cupcake ninjas getting dressed (and E's Prep & Landing elf cookies too)

I dressed them up with some orange-vanilla butter cream, tinted with AmeriColor paste dye (super red, blue, super black, or bright white) - I'd never used bright white before, but it definitely made a difference.

The ninjas were a huge hit

Huge. The boys loved the blue and black Ninjago ninjas best of all...

And, LEGO-colored balloons, a black (chalkboard paint-painted) pull-string pinata and LEGOs for building with on the table, plus crayons for decorating the butcher-paper table cover, rounded out this simple LEGO party.

Ninjago spinners had to make an appearance too, along with the English Muffin mini pizzas for lunch.

The aftermath... (not too bad, actually)

What's For Dinner?

2011-12-22T23:29:00.001-08:00

An amazing recipe from Joy, and I only changed it a little... added a little more oil and brown sugar since I was adding more chicken than she uses, and I used chicken thighs instead of breasts. My mom recently used this marinade on pork and says it was fantastic!

Joy's (slightly altered) Rosemary Grilled Chicken

2 Tbs stone ground, whole grain or Dijon mustard (preferably Plochman's)
1/4 c. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 c. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
10 chicken thighs

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the mustard, chopped rosemary, lemon juice, brown sugar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss the chicken pieces in this marinade until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate covered for 1 to 2 hours. Grill or bake the chicken in the marinade (baked lends more juiciness and extra sauce for rice or potatoes - or bread-mopping). Cook 10 to 15 minutes per side.

Servings: 6-8

Preparation Time: 2 hours
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Wordless Wednesday: Of Mice and Men...

2011-12-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

*Nearly wordless... I tinted the dough for the mice to be light brown this year, tinted the crowns gold and rolled yellow colored-sugar into them before cutting out. We did white cotton-candy (strawberry flavored) or white & pink non-pareils for the Santa beards since Joy is allergic to coconut, and most of the kids don't like it anyway.

Wordless Wednesday: Save A Turkey... Eat More Cupcakes!

2011-11-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

Choose Your Adventure...

2011-11-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

Remember those great "Choose Your Adventure" stories from the 80's? I loved those books as a kid. I also adore recipes that are flexible that way, and this one is; my friend Jamie made this for my bridal shower (back in 1995), and we've made it countless times since. It shares a name with a yummy dessert, but this Mississippi Sin is a savory (and delicious) appetizer.

Go forth and create!

Jamie's Mississippi Sin Dip

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 - 8 oz. brick of softened cream cheese

1.5 c. sour cream

1/2 c. chopped, cooked ham

1 can chopped green chilis (mild, medium or hot - your choice)

1/3 c. chopped green onions

1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Round loaf of sourdough or french bread

Additional bread, crackers, etc. to serve

Set the bread round aside, and combine all other ingredients in a bowl. To prep bread, slice the top off of the loaf, and hollow out the inside to make a bread bowl (leave 1/2-inch edge). Cut up remaining bread "insides" for serving. Next, fill the bread-bowl with dip, replace top, wrap in foil and bake at 350-degrees F for 1 hour.

* You can go with "light" on the sour cream and cream cheese, but don't go non-fat. Just don't do it. Non-fat cream cheese and cheese are just wrong; they are alien-like substances that should not be ingested. Ever.

** If you double the recipe (a good plan), you can bake the extra 1/2 of the dip in a covered casserole to refill the bread bowl with during your event.

*** Instead of ham, chilis and green onions, I've tried these variations with success:

Artichoke hearts, green onions, garlic (fresh tomatoes stirred in when taken out to serve)
Smoked salmon, minced fresh jalapeno, and replace cheddar with white cheddar
Chopped chicken, red onion, jalapeno, replace cheddar with jack cheese (cilantro and mango stirred in at the end)
Chopped up (cooked) Shrimp Scampi (frozen-box from Costco), plus fresh chives tossed in at the end.
Feel free to add whatever you think would be tasty!

Use It Up!

2011-11-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

Leftover Halloween candy? Candy "buy-back?" Make Halloween Bark... Ours was 1/2 a package of Trader Joe's Halloween Joe Joes (crunched up), one small bag of Halloween pretzels, about a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts, and about 6 mini (assorted) chocolate mini candies, plus mini bags of M&M Peanut and regular. Spread in a 9/13 pan (sprayed, or lined with parchment.

Then, melt 1 bag of Ghiradelli white chocolate chips and one bag of Wilton white Candy Melts, and pour over the candy/cookie/nut mix. Then, chop another handful of Halloween-sized treats (more M&M's, Three Musketeers, Snickers, etc.), and sprinkle over the top with a healthy amount of pepitas thrown in for good measure (and protein + saltiness), and you get...
Halloween Bark! Cut into pieces, package, and give to your friends!! Happy Fall. Ours made five sandwich-sized bags full.

Sweet, Beautiful Gnocchi - My Nonna would be proud...

2011-10-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

So, I'm on a mission to make homemade gnocchi sometime before the end of this month. I've even talked to a girlfriend about doing it together one weekend afternoon... and, I've found the perfect sauce to go with it. Ragu. No, not the kind in a jar, but the real ragu. I recently watched a late-night Channel 9 "Create" cooking show hosted by Nick Stellino, featuring Seattle's Jason Wilson, of Crush fame. They did his Pork Ragu with gremolata, and it looked amazing.

I was recalling the ingredients at the grocery the next day, and missed a few, so made the recipe my own, and it was fantastic. Especially with the packaged gnocchi from Trader Joe's.

I did a lot of things differently, including using a fantastic white wine in place of the red... and carrots instead of fennel and leeks, spicy peppers and green olives. I went with what I had — sweet onion, diced; celery and carrot, diced (all from Yakima Fruit Market); pork shoulder, sliced fresh garlic, white wine, chopped canned tomatoes... and the gremolata was Italian parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic and Spanish olive oil. Fantastic.

You'll have to trust me that it was phenomenal - the photo is terrible, but I plan to try it again this week!

Ragu

4 pounds fresh pork shoulder large-chopped

1/2 c Spanish olive oil

sea salt and Johnny's seasoning (bad, I know)

1/2 large sweet onion, small dice

3 medium stalks celery, small dice

2 medium carrots, small dice

2 stalks celery, cut into small dice

6 cloves garlic, sliced

1 c Portugese white wine

1 quart canned chopped tomatoes

Gremolata

Italian parsley, chopped fine (about 1/2 cup)

Garlic cloves, chopped fine (about 6 cloves)

juice and zest of one large lemon

Spanish Olive Oil (until it looks right)

Gnocchi package from Trader Joes (with red label)

And, we did some ginger cut-outs with Elsa when she came for a sleepover on Thursday last week. Love the fun decorations!!

First Bentos...

2011-09-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Fairly uninspired for me, but I'm short on time, and it's what they like at the moment, so...

Angry Birds for lunch...

2011-09-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

My children adore Angry Birds; Joel got them hooked on the game. And, recently, while looking for back-to-school lunch ideas, I came across the following recipe for Angry Birds bagels (on Babble), that made the kids chuckle with delight.

My salami and bagels weren't close enough to the same size, so I had to alter the design. I also made some yellow birds with slices of cheddar and my round cookie cutter (carrots for noses on the yellow Angry Birds. The eyes on all the birds was Laughing Cow spreadable Swiss cheese (which I also used to stick things on, and to spread the mini-bagels with first).

This lunch-with-friends was a hit, and I think those grouchy birdies had a lot to do with it!

Apple Pie (but not the eatin' kind...)

2011-08-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I was offered a taste of Apple Pie at a BBQ get-together a ways out in the country. Now, if you watch Justified on USA, you'll understand why such an offer might give me pause. But, the pause only lasted a brief second since these folks aren't the poisoning sort, and it looked tasty. It was, and they happily shared the "recipe." Our batch turned out delightful as well.

Apple Pie Liqueur

1/3 bottle of Everclear or vodka
1 can frozen Apple juice concentrate (100% pure apple juice only)
1/2 cup sugar
1 hefty pinch cinnamon
1 small pinch nutmeg
(and I added)...
1 pinch ground cardamom
1-2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

You could heat the sugar and a bit of the apple juice concentrate up to melt the sugar down. My method was far less civilized, as I poured the sugar into the Everclear bottle 1/4 cup at a time (using a funnel), and shook the ever-loving heck out of it. Then, I added the can of defrosted apple juice, the spices and the extract and shook some more. The pretty bottle of Apple Pie is now sitting on the shelf in our cool pantry... melding. The cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom settle to the bottom of the bottle, so you really don't need to even worry about straining.

It is especially fabulous mixed about 1/2 and 1/2 with some excellent, pure apple cider as a tasty cocktail, and we tried ours after just 24-hrs. Enjoy!!

Wordless Wednesday: Velvety Birthday Goodness...

2011-08-17T21:17:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 6th Miss M!!

2011-07-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday: Strawberry Fields...

2011-07-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

Birthday Cake Fudge

2011-06-20T16:38:00.001-07:00

Yes, you read that right. Birthday-cake Fudge. Fudge that looks and tastes like... birthday cake. Tasty and fun; which is just the sort of thing that we love around here. I found the recipe right here. Obviously, I used pink candy-coloring, rather than blue, and all the recipients thought this was fan-tabulous.
Thank you to Becky at Mrs. Bettie Rocker for the great idea and for posting the recipe! Here's the recipe to print:

Birthday Cake Fudge
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks margarine (yes, I did use margarine - which I'd not purchased in many years... but candy is fickle and so I stuck to the recipe for once!)
5 oz can (2/3 cup) evaporated milk
12 oz chopped white chocolate chips
7oz jar marshmallow creme
3 or 4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix (just the powdered MIX, not batter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Blue (or red, pink, orange, yellow...) candy coloring (oil-based color, not regular food color)
Rainbow sprinkles

Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with foil, leaving the ends hanging over the edges of the pan. Spray foil thoroughly with nonstick spray. Place the sugar, margarine, and evaporated milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, and let boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, and cake mix, stirring until chocolate chips are melted. Add vanilla and mix well. Working quickly, pour about 1/3 of the fudge in a bowl and add a few drops of blue candy coloring, mixing and adding until you achieve the desired shade. Pour white fudge into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Spoon colored fudge over the top, spacing it out. Using a sharp knife, draw swirls through the blue and white to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle the top generously with rainbow sprinkles before the top sets up.

Let sit at room temperature until cool, then place in the refrigerator until firm.
Recipe via Confessions Of A Cookbook Queen

Madeline Cookies

2011-06-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

So, when your parents name you Madeline, it comes with all sorts of great perks. Like, you just might have three hardback copies (and one paperback) of the original "Madeline" storybook. Plus, all the other Madeline tales by Ludwig Bemelmans.

And, there are also these great cookies called Madelines! Well, some people spell it Madeleine, but really, tuh-may-toe/toe-ma-toe! If you are little, and there is a cookie the bears your name, it must be named after you, so it's a Madeline Cookie, or "Madelines Cookies." And, it's a very handy end-of-the-school-year Thank You gift!

Which is why we baked up a batch this evening, and Miss Madeline herself wrote out as much of the recipe as her little Kindergartner-hand could take, before bedtime. Really, you must get yourself some sweet Madeleine pans and get baking, because these are fabulous.

(continued from 1st page) Add flour to whipped egg mixture 1/3 at a time, gently folding to combine. Then, add lemon zest (or orange zest), and pour melted (cooled to room temp) butter to batter and fold.

Spray Madeline pans with Pam Baking Spray (with added flour), and spoon batter into molds (mini molds = slightly more than a heaping Tablespoon). Bake 8-10 mins. for mini Madelines, and 12-14 for regular-sized Madelines, or until cakes are golden and the tops spring back when touched.

Invert onto cooling rack and immediately sprinkle with some of the 2/3 cup sugar (for decorating – ingredient # 8).

You don't need to know how to store them, because they'll disappear almost immediately.

***We have mini Madeline pans, and this recipe makes 30 of those. There are standard-sized Madeleines (you'd likely get more like 17 cookies...) and ultra-mini sized (so, you'd maybe get 4-dozen of those). You can get Madeline pans at most specialty kitchen-supply shops.

Other variations:
Chocolate: increase the sugar to 1 cup, and instead of 1 cup of flour; use ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder + ¾ cup flour. Leave lemon zest out as well, but dust with powdered sugar when mostly cool.
Cinnamon: Add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to batter with the flour.
Lemon: Replace vanilla extract with lemon, and drizzle with lemon icing (powdered sugar and lemon juice) when cool.
Fancy: Dip 1/2 of each cookie (the top of the shell) in melted chocolate or candy-melts and then sprinkles or colored sanding sugar.

Orange Delicious

2011-06-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

A delicious and refreshing accompaniment to a Summer Brunch get-together, from Jamie's sister-in-law, Anne... Enjoy!

Anne's Orange Yogurt

2 pints plain yogurt (strained for 3 hours or overnight) = 4 cups
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. chopped, toasted walnuts
1.5 t. vanilla
1/4 c. good honey
1 orange, zested
1/2 to 1 c. freshly squeezed OJ

Mix everything into the thickened yogurt, thinning with OJ until desired consistency. Garnish with orange sections, orange zest, raisins or walnuts if desired.

Long, lost recipes...

2011-06-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

I do not understand the desire to hoard recipes. In my opinion, not sharing a fabulous recipe is just wrong. And, just to prove that their is Karma in such things, I recently recovered three recipes that I'd lost track of over the years. How did I get them back? Well, from the good friend I shared them with of course! Thanks Jamie...

This one is a very tasty salad dressing, and I recently discovered that while Benihana serves it with green onion and carrot on lettuce, the sweet and sourness of this recipe goes amazingly well with strawberries and mandarin oranges!

Oh, and if you're going to go to the trouble of chopping, peeling, and then whizzing this up in your food processor, triple the recipe below (like I do) and make three cups instead of one, then give some away to friends (with the recipe of course!)

Benihana of Tokyo's Sweet & Sour Salad Dressing

1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. peanut oil
2 T. rice vinegar
2 T. water
1 T. chopped ginger
1 T. chopped celery
1 T. soy sauce
1 t. tomato paste
1.5 t. sugar
1 t. lemon juice

Blend all ingredients together with salt and pepper to taste, until smooth. Makes 1 cup.

Now, this is one that I was thinking about a few years ago and wishing I had the recipe again... I'd totally forgotten that I'd put it in Jamie's bridal-shower cookbook that we gave her. Jen and I used to whip up this dough when we (and Jamie) roomed together up at Western in the Cambridge Square Apartments. It's a super-speedy and tasty dough.

Cambridge Square Pizza Crust

1 pkg. yeast
1 c. warm water
2.5 c. flour
2 T. oil
1 t. sugar
1 t. salt

Dissolve yeast in water, stir in remaining ingredients and beat vigorously for about 20 strokes. Let rest for 5 minutes. Top and cook at 450-degrees F.

And, last, but not least... the punch that Jamie served at my bridal shower, and we served at the wedding. And, countless weddings and showers (baby and bridal) ever since. Technically, this one wasn't lost, since I posted it to Allrecipe.com years ago, but still, it was fun to see it and have it here.

Tart & Bubbly Wedding (and Shower) Punch

2 cans frozen cranberry juice (or 1 gallon in bottle)

2 cans frozen pink lemonade
1 large can pineapple juice (or 2 cans frozen pineapple juice - Hawaii's Own)

2 liters ginger ale (and cranberry ginger ale is great too)

In a large punch bowl, mix concentrates and juices. Add ice and slowly pour in the ginger ale.

From Kathy, With Love...

2011-06-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

John's mom makes some of the very best food ever, and has many famous treat recipes... luckily, she (and Jamie, who I got these recipes from) are willing to share their recipes! Enjoy!

Kathy's Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Sift together:

2.5 c. flour

1/2 c. cocoa powder

2.5 t. baking powder

1.5 b. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

Cream together:

3/4 c. softened butter

2 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 t. vanilla

2 t. orange zest

2 c. shredded zucchini

1/2 c. milk

1 c. chopped nuts

Alternate dry ingredients with milk. Add zucchini last, and fold in nuts (if adding). Bake in a greased and floured bundt or loaf pan/s at 350-degrees F for one hour. Cool in pan for 15 mintues, then turn out on plate.

Drizzle with glaze if desired: 2 c. powdered sugar mixed with 3T. milk and 1 t. vanilla.

Kathy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

4 c. flour

1 c. quick oats

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

2 c. chocolate chips

Cook at 375-degrees F for about 8 mins. Underbake, as they still cook as they are cooling.

Pear-y Cute Bear Muffins

2011-06-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

Fun little critter muffins, very appropriate since the class's Zoo field trip is coming up soon...
I made these muffins (from Parent's magazine) last night for Madeline's Kindergarten class's snack. Being me, I altered them slightly (pineapple juice rather than OJ, and I added about an 1/8 tsp. ground cardamom too). Even though the pear slice "ears" sunk down into the muffins, Miss M still thought they were dandy, "That's OK, Mom, they can still be bears, or even gophers or walruses or something."

M's teacher emailed me to tell me that the snack was a hit today, and sent me a direct quote from one of the students, "If I grow up and end up being a storekeeper I would definitely put these in stock!" Adorable. And, Madeline tells me that her friend Drew needs me to print the recipe for his mom.

They really are as tasty as they are cute. And, of course, now that I've made them once, I know how I'd do the ears next time... I also added the faces right out of the oven, and put them back in for a minute or so, then tapped the melty chocolate-chip nose to "set" the almond mouth on the muffin. None of the faces came off before snack time either!

Happy Pi Day: Key Lime

2011-03-14T17:52:00.001-07:00

Happy Pi Day!! 3.14159... we love both Pi and pie around these parts, and always enjoy both on March 14th. Today, we had lunch with our buddies Karen and Alex at 1:59 because we're math geeky like that, and we made our own pizza pies. We followed this up with Key Lime Pie topped with strawberries, and whipped cream on the side. The Pi symbol on the top was the cut-out part from the top of the apple Pi(e) that I made too. It's sprinkled with Vanilla sugar.
I've been making this Key Lime Pie for years and it is beyond easy. You mix one can of sweetened condensed milk (I used the fat-free kind with the green and white label), 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup Nellie & Joe's Famous Key Lime Juice, and (my addition) the zest of one lime. You mix it up (by hand is fine) and pour it into a pre-made graham cracker crust. Bake at 350-degrees for about 15 minutes. Then, cool, top and eat!! A homemade crust and fresh-whipped cream would be extra-special, but this way (whipped cream in the spray can), works too.

These three pie (and pi) - loving kiddos all agree on the greatness of this pie! Enjoy!!

Sous Saturday

2011-03-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

They were beyond excited to get some knife time in tonight, and were very good at listening and minding. They also zested, pressed, stirred, juiced, toasted, buttered, drizzled, snapped, and set. Good team effort on an awesome dinner.
Gremolata for the Osso Bucco; delicious, and because he made it, the E man even tried the parsley-full (Green!) stuff. Love it!

Sous Chef Erik

2011-03-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

When it comes to the kids helping in the kitchen, Erik is far and away the more enthusiastic helper. Madeline can be recruited, but Erik seeks out the sous-chef position on a regular basis. And, I say "You're welcome," to his future spouse, partner, and/or roommates. The boy knows what fondant and pesto are... and the difference between Miso and Phở , and he's four. This can (hopefully) only bode well for the future.

Here's the boy rocking some old-school English Muffin pizzas (that were a huge hit at our Dr. Seuss party this week)...
And, using gum paste to apply flowers to Sophia's castle birthday cake...

Amethyst luster dust? He approves!

Happy 6th Birthday to cousin Sophia! Erik loved pasty chef-ing it up with this fun creation. Especially the fondant. And, I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy and fun fondant was to work with too... easy to mold and shape, and much less messy to transport this cake on a 2-hr car ride when covered with sweet, smooth fondant rather than Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

iLove

2011-02-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Family Fun magazine's crafts and ideas... so fun! We made a few of these iLove Valentine's for ♥-day! You just need conversation hearts (in boxes), Reese's mini-size peanut butter cups, paper, string, foil, glue/tape, scissors and their cut-out template... easy, fun and sweet!

Hey, Jelly Man!

2011-02-13T15:30:00.000-08:00

Our fabulous buddy, Gavino turned 6 last Monday, and today we're celebrating with him and his family. His cake-request this year? Jelly Fish. And, so...

I started out by looking at ideas online, then showed three cakes to Madeline and asked what she though we should do. She wanted to combine two styles into what we have here (which was my idea too, although she didn't know that). And, of course, we added our own flair as well, with all the decor ideas. The kids had a blast helping decorate... (all that candy, fruit leather and licorice)

And, in the end, Madeline said that it needed "bubbles from the jelly fish swimming," so voila!

The cake is 9x13-inch vanilla bean, frosted with tinted vanilla buttercream. The "Mama" jelly is a slice of cream-filled chocolate roll (from the QFC bakery), and the baby jellies' bells are each an end-slice of a Twinkie! The white tentacles are vanilla-sugar-sprinkled pie dough strips, and the other tentacles are Nerds ropes, fruit leather, slices of red licorice (Madeline's idea), and frosting. I hit all the jellies with a little Wilton tinted spray (purple) at the end.

Wordless Wednesday: After-school Snack

2011-01-12T12:05:00.000-08:00

*inspired by the folks @ Family Fun

Really? Cookies, again?

2011-01-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, because they are fantastic, and with Aunt Peggy's jam, they are heaven. Recipe is from Deb at Smitten Kitchen, right here. You're welcome!

Bûche de Noël - 2011

2011-01-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

Key-lime filled, tinted-whipped-cream frosted jelly-roll Bûche de Noël this year for 2011. I decorated it solo, since the kids were busy playing games with Grammy, Ukki and Papa.

It really is the very best recipe for a jelly roll, is from Daisy Martinez, and rolls nicely from either the short or long end (I used the long end for the Yule Log). I also trim the sides before rolling, which makes everything nice and neat.

Here We Go!

2010-12-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, Scooter!

2010-12-14T01:19:00.000-08:00

Four years ago, right about now, I was waking up and realizing that the 14th would be the day that Scoot would be joining us in the world. So, it seems appropriate that I'm still up getting things ready for his party day... and, that it's a very stormy night — in honor of the little stormbringer.

He wanted a "helicopter-drawing cake," and so here it is, in frozen buttercream transfer. He chose the many colors, and (with the help of his Papa) wants "pineapple cake with pineapple filling." The baking, etc. will have to be done later this morning, or in the afternoon... we'll see. Luckily, he and big sis will be a school for a few hours later today.

Happy Birthday, litttle E! You are my very favorite little fellow in the whole, wide world!

Santa in Ski Goggles & Nutcracker Mice

2010-12-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

Baked all weekend, and am just ready for some R&R now. Will post recipes (including one for the perfect Madeline cookies) when I have time (which might not be this week, judging from the calendar).
Italian Cucidatti (filled fig-orange-cocoa) cookies, Rugelach, Chocolate Cherry cookies, Play Dough cookie cutouts, Light Chai Shortbread Slices, Nutcracker Mice and Santa, Coconut Macaroons, Snickers-filled Peanut Butter cookies, Play Dough shaped-trees cookies, Madeline cookies, and Oatmeal Coconut cookies. That's all for now.

Hooray for Snow Cream!!

2010-11-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

Last year we never got the chance to make this, so today we got busy on making a batch right after lunch!

Vanilla Snow Cream

Freshly scooped snow from the backyard...

Snow Cream

Scoop up a big bowl of clean snow from your backyard, and bring it inside.
Take a cup of cream, half-and-half or whole milk, a couple Tbs. of sugar, 1 tsp (or so) of real vanilla (and 1/2 tsp of real peppermint extract if you have it). Mix it all up until the sugar dissolves.
Scoop snow into dessert bowls and pour "cream" on top!
Enjoy!! Delish! (Can also top with whipped cream and sprinkles or crushed candy canes for an over-the-top snow cream sundae!)
**I'm also tempted to try eggnog snow cream... doesn't that sound fabulous?!

A new look for an "old" tradition...

2010-11-20T22:52:00.000-08:00

I didn't have the supplies on hand to make our regular rafter of turkeys, so I improvised. I mixed up a white cake mix, and added about 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom and 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and baked them in brown cupcake liners. Then, I whipped up a batch of buttercream, reserved some white and added cocoa powder to the rest (and some extra-fine ground cardamom).
Then, I dug around in the cupboards. I had some Anna's ginger cookies — perfect for the tails, and these great "ghost shaped" Halloween Jet Puff marshmallows (orange, white and brown in the bag), so I used two brown ghosts for the turkeys wings and cut an orange triangle of marshmallow for the beak. The wattle was a dried cranberry, and I piped white on for the eyes, and green star sprinkles (sideways) for the pupils of the eyes. They were a hit with the kiddos and the grandparents! And, delicious too!!

Cupcake Love!

2010-11-15T21:11:00.000-08:00

Birthdays are coming up, and while I'll still be making Joel a cake (with lots of help from the kiddos), I decided to try some of Amanda's cupcakes. She's started up Sweet Charley B's Cupcakery in Olympia and is taking orders while trying to get a storefront opened. And, her husband works in Redmond, so was able to meet me for a convenient delivery.

We stopped at Jen's today for an early birthday celebration too, and I split the two dozen I bought so that she'd have a box. The Cherry Limeade's were delicious and as sweet as a super-tall Sonic Cherry Limeade. The frosting complements the cake perfectly. The kids adored these cute cakes and I thought the lime cake-base was spot-on—not too sweet, with an excellent flavor and texture.

The other dozen was Caramel Apple, and have a perfect vanilla cake-base filled with homemade apple-pie filling (Yum!) and topped with exquisite caramel frosting, then drizzled with caramel sauce. They were absolutely fabulous, and while I can never do as much frosting as is popular now on cupcakes... this frosting is hard to pass up.
Cupcake Flavors (and they're open to suggestions too)

Apple Pie
Candy Cane
Candy Corn (Yellow Cake with Honey Buttercream)
Caramel Apple
Carrot Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
Cherry Limeade
Chocolate on Chocolate
Chocolate on Vanilla
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Chocolate Malt
Chocolate w/ Peanut Butter Frosting
Coconut
Fauxtess Chocolate Cupcakes (like everyone's classic childhood favorite)
Fudge Brownie
Hot Fudge Sundae
Lemon Blueberry
Maple Bar (Butter Cake with Maple Frosting)
Mint Chocolate Chip
Mocha Chip
Pecan Pie with brown sugar butter cream
Orangsicle
Oreo Oreo’s
PB & J
Pumpkin Spice w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
Raspberry Cream
Red Velvet w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
Root Beer Float
Samoa (like the Girl Scout cookie... yellow cake, carmel frosting, toasted coconut and chocolate ganache)
S’Mores
Vanilla on Chocolate
Vanilla on Vanilla

All other frostings are made with a rich butter cream base to start.

**Note** Amanda is very allergic to strawberries. If you need a strawberry recipe please let them know in advance so they can find an alternate baker.

Call @ (360) 888-0416 or email zachandamanda@comcast.net to get some!

A Very Merry Year: November

2010-11-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.

And, this month, I just happened upon a new recipe that involved wrapping peanut butter cookie dough around a chunk of frozen Snickers candy and baking until golden-brown. I immediately knew who I must make these cookies for—John. He loves peanut butter as much as I do, and loves candy as much as Joel, so these cookies are absolutely perfect for him.

Oh, and he loves cookies too; and we all love him. It even says so in the birthday card that Madeline made for John (complete with rainbow, sunshine, tent, and people). He's a great friend, a fellow cook, hunting partner, fabulous (and very organized) traveling companion (who drives very well on the wrong side of the road -and car- through crazy round-abouts in the UK and Ireland), my best friend's husband... oh, and Madeline and Erik adore him. So, what better for a gift than these over-the-top cookies...

Happy Birthday, John!

Snickers Peanut Butter Cookies
(adapted from here)
Makes about 26 cookies

Mini-size Snickers bars or large Snickers bar cut into bit-sized pieces
1 stick butter, room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
1.5 c. flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Either unwrap the mini Snickers, or unwrap and cut up larger Snickers. Freeze until the cookie dough is ready.

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment (or lightly spray with baking spray w/flour and wipe sheet with paper towel). Cream the butter and sugars in Kitchenaid until light and fluffy, then add peanut butter and combine, next add egg and vanilla, mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and blend to finish dough.

Scoop dough out of bowl with a large soup spoon, and flatten the dough in your hand. Place one frozen Snickers pieces in the center and wrap evenly, sealing around candy. Do about 6-9 cookies at a time. As many as nine will fit on a cookie sheet at a time as they do spread a bit. Keep additional candy in the freezer when you're not shaping cookies to go on a pan to pop in the oven. Bake for about 12-13 minutes. Cool on wire rack, and beware. These are delicious!!

Slow Food

2010-10-31T13:24:00.001-07:00

I recently needed to have dinner cooking while I was at the school volunteering in the late afternoon, and so I cooked up this keeper in the crock pot. It was originally from Allrecipes.com, but I've altered it so heavily, that it is now my own creation. And, there are no photos, because we scarfed it all down before evidence of the dish could be created.

Enjoy!!

Arroz Con Polo Limón

3 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or thighs
2/3 c. lime juice
4 c. chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. sea salt
4 Tbs. butter, melted
4 c. uncooked instant brown rice (= one box of Minute Rice - brown)

Put the chicken in the slow cooker; pour in the lime juice and chicken broth, add the garlic, cumin, pepper, and butter. Cover, and cook until the chicken is tender. Stir in the rice during the last 20 minutes of cooking time.

Cooks on Low 8-10 hours, on High 4-6 hours, or on High 2 hours if you pre-cook chicken in the microwave on 1/2 power for about 15 minutes, before adding to the slow cooker.

Serve with cubed avocado, diced onions, salsa, green chile sauce or sour cream on the side, fresh fruit, tortillas and a simple salad.

A Very Merry Year: October

2010-10-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.

This month has been very busy with PTA, Girl Scouts, and other volunteering in both M and E's schools, which is why the October cookies are just being baked today. And, appropriately, the recipients of this month's cookies are both Madeline and Erik's classes for their Harvest and Halloween parties, respectively.I found the idea for the skeletons in Family Fun magazine, originally "Gingerbread Skeletons," but I went with a cut-out chocolate cookie recipe off Smitten Kitchen for the cookie instead. The second cookie recipe is a classic favorite of ours: Playdough Cookies, which I chose for their great taste and their sturdiness. Multi-colored leaves for M's class, and plain pumpkins for E's (with orange icing). Preschoolers will be frosting the pumpkins, so delicate sugar cookies are not the order of the day!Happy Halloween!!

Peloton Cupcakes

2010-10-27T22:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Solomon!! This birthday dinner was the perfect opportunity to try out two healthier treats, side-by-side (literally) as Solomon's bike-race cupcakes.

First were Chocolate Beet Cupcakes as the road/race track. Yes, you read that right. Beet. And, yes, I really do love Solomon, he's one of the sweetest 4-year-olds I know (see, he needs no extra sugar!) These cupcakes have no white sugar in them, and they are delicious. I didn't trust the not-very-brown, and quite pink-ish batter of the original recipe, so I added one heaping Tablespoon of Scharffenberger unsweetened cocoa in with the flour in this recipe, and they were very chocolaty and delicious. I left the maple out of the cream cheese frosting too, going with vanilla instead, and these were great. The recipe is right here on Simple Bites.
I frosted lightly with the cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with black sprinkles (leaving a white "bike lane" stripe down the side), and topped with a racer (from The Cupcake Social on Etsy). They have the best supplies, and good prices. The liners are from TCS too. Love 'em!

Anyway, the second cupcake was the Chocolate Date Cupcake, which was the shoulder or dirt in this race, they they were amazing. They have no frosting, and they don't need it. They're sweet and chocolaty enough, and topped with chocolate chips and sugar (and nuts, it you want - we didn't), which forms a fabulous, bumpy topping of their own. Yum!

I of course, did not advertise the fact that the treats were filled with veggies and such, and all the kids gobbled up their cupcakes. Even Erik. My nearly-4-year-old. Haha Erik, you ate beets tonight. I'm totally going to sneak more veggies into your cupcakes now. Works like a charm.

The best part is that Solomon loved his cake! Happy Birthday, Somblin!! We love you!
Chocolate Date Cupcakes
(adapted from Allrecipes.com)

1 1/4 c. boiling water
1 (8 ounce) package chopped dates
2 c. flour
1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. butter (that's 1 and 1/2 sticks)
3/4 c. sugar (or 3/4 c. raw cane sugar)
2 eggs

Topping
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. white sugar (or raw cane sugar)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional - I did not use these)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the boiling water over the chopped dates in a Pyrex measuring cup. Set aside. Sift together the dry ingredients.

In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the dry stuff. Add in the dates with all the soaking liquid, and stir until combined. Scoop batter into approximately 21 prepared paper-lined muffin cups.

In an another bowl, combine the chocolate chips and remaining 1/2 cup sugar (and nuts, if you wish). Sprinkle mixture over top of each cupcake and bake for 21 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

TGIF: Monstertini

2010-10-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

Ooooohhh.... OK, so this drink isn't really blue, but inverting the colors on the image gave it a fun, spooky look. If you want a frightfully delicious martini for your Halloween party, try a "Monstertini" (or maybe "Sour Pear Monster" is a more accurate name). I think I made this up, although I haven't searched for recipes yet... I was inspired by an orange rock-candy swizzle I picked up recently, and a sale on Odwalla Monster C, so mixed in a martini glass:

Monstertini (AKA Sour Pear Monster)

1 part Sour mix
1 part Absolut Pears
1 part Odwalla C Monster - Citrus C

In this case, the sour and Citrus C were cold from the fridge, so I skipped the shaker. I used one shot of each, but you could mix in larger quantities, and the rock candy swizzle was orange flavored, so that added to the drink. Tasty. Happy Friday, and you're welcome.

Super-star Bento!

2010-10-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Hi Hats for Jamie and Conor's Birthdays!

2010-10-20T10:03:00.001-07:00

When I saw Hi Hat Cupcakes on Bakerella's blog, I thought of Jamie. She loves chocolate-dipped soft-serve ice cream cones, which these cupcakes resemble. And, even though Jamie is in Japan for her birthday this year, I still felt the need to make these cupcakes, because I'm crazy like that. The only problem is that I have a lot of cupcakes now to get rid of... but, I think that will be easy enough to remedy.

Anyway, on to the Hi Hats! When I first read this recipe, I wondered about the physics of dipping the tall piped-on marshmallow "frosting" into the melted chocolate coating—really, how could that work?? And, it turns out that (for me at least) it was a comedy of errors...

Dip...

Really? Is this working??!

Wow...

Umm... no. Dang it!

Then, I put the pre-dipped cupcakes in the freezer for about five minutes while I let the melted chocolate coating cool completely (it was a little warm, but not hot before). And, then, it worked like a charm!

See? Beauty!

Oh, and since the chocolate cake here is gluten-free, and one of the recipients of these is a gluten-free and egg-free gal (unless the egg is baked into something), I made a handful of cupcakes with a chocolate ganache topping too (and some Halloween-y sprinkles for fun)!
Recipes are from Gluten-Free Girl, right here, and Bakerella (and Martha Stewart, really) right here and here.

And, best of all, they made for some happy kiddos this afternoon at Conor's 2nd birthday party!!

Pumpkin Spice

2010-10-09T11:12:00.001-07:00

I made my mother-in-law's pumpkin bread, in mini-muffin form, for Madeline's class last week. They were a huge hit, and her friend Sgian said, "Madeline, these are the best muffins I've ever tasted! Thank you for bringing them!" He's such a little sweetheart.

He has good taste too, because they really do make amazing Pumpkin Spice muffins — moist and flavorful, with an excellent texture. And low fat too. Plus, to me, they taste like home. I imagine that's to be expected after enjoying this recipe during the holidays over the past seventeen years.

So, pick up some pumpkin and get these in the oven!

Amazing Pumpkin Spice Muffins (or Gramma/Lora's Pumpkin Bread)
makes 32 mini muffins, plus 8 regular-sized muffins

1 and 2/3 c. flour
1 and 1/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice

Mix the dry ingredients and then add:

1 c. pumpkin
1/3 c. oil (I used canola)
1/3 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Beat until combined, then bake in lined (or sprayed) muffin tins at 350-degrees F for about 17-22 minutes, depending on the size of your muffins (mini or standard). Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Sunny Autumn Morning

2010-10-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

"Miso Blocks" Bento

2010-09-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Erik's lunch on Thursday. He calls tofu "miso blocks" because it's the yummy little blocks in miso soup. This bento took about 3 minutes: Organic baked tofu (teriyaki flavor) from Trader Joe's, hoisin sauce, sliced pear and carrot (from the Farmers Market). Mmm...

A Very Merry Year: September

2010-09-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.

September is all about Back-to-School, and the snap of Autumn in the air, so I adapted my favorite Pumpkin Cookie recipe to Pumpkin Madelines! Sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, fresh out of the oven, they are delish. And, we gifted all but one of the nearly seven dozen to: Madeline's bus driver (she said, "Wow! Pumpkin Madelines now? Boy, did I choose the right route to drive. Thanks!"), Grammy, Ruifen (Grammy's friend, who gave us some great hand-me-downs for Erik, from her son Yuyu, as well as a dress for M, and cool shirt for E from her recent trip to China), Jen and family (who reciprocated with some delicious apple bread), plus Ms. Terri's family. Phew!
And, we also made Cake Pops yesterday, and gifted those to all of our buddies who roasted hot dogs over the campfire with us last night. Ruifen, Yuyu and Grammy also got some clowns and pumpkins to go with their cookies. To learn all about making Cake Pops, check out the book Cake Pops by Angie Dudley, or go to her blog at www.bakerella.com.
For their part, the kids had a blast making the pops, and nearly all of them loved eating 'em too!

Healthier Fall Baking...

2010-09-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

The recipes that I adapted are posted. Others can be found at WeightWatchers.com...

Mixed Berry Muffins with Broiled Marshmallow Fluff "frosting"
(inspired by Weight Watchers Blueberry Streusel Muffins)
(3 POINTS)

1 large egg
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. reduced-fat sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. 1% milk, divided
1 c. flour
1 c. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
2 c. mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, etc.)
1 small jar of Marshmallow Fluff

Preheat oven to 375ºF, and line 16-24 muffin pans. Beat sugar and egg until light and fluffy, then add sour cream and vanilla. When combined, add the dry ingredients, and half the milk to the mixer bowl, then blend. Add the remaining milk, mix, then fold in berries and scoop batter into muffin cups. Bake for about 35 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

Pipe Marshmallow Fluff on top of muffins, then broil until golden brown.

Gramma's Pumpkin Muffins
(2 POINTS)

Crackle Spice Drops and Chocolate Cupcake Brownies
(both recipes are 1 POINT/treat)

Crackle Spice Drop Cookies
(adapted from WW)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 stick butter
2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a mixing bowl, on medium speed, beat butter with brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla extract; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and spice.
Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into powdered sugar to coat, and bake until golden, about 8-9 minutes. Make 3-dozen cookies (1 cookie/serving).

Blueberry Streusel Muffins
(3 POINTS)
(adapted from WW)

2 1/4 c. flour, divided (1/4 c. for topping)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 large egg
1 c. sugar, divided (1/4 c. for topping)
3/4 c. reduced-fat sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. 1% or skim milk, divided
2 c. blueberries
2 Tbsp butter, melted (for topping)

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Place 16 muffin liners in muffin tins.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg with 3/4 cup of sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and beat until thoroughly combined; blend in vanilla extract.
Add half of flour mixture and half of milk to sugar mixture; beat until just combined. Add remaining flour mixture and milk; beat until smooth.

Fold in blueberries and fill each muffin liner using large scoop; set aside.
To make streusel topping, in a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup each of sugar and flour. Pour in melted butter and combine with fingertips. Divide crumb mixture over muffins; gently press into top of muffin batter with fingertips.

Bake until slightly golden and a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool in pans for about 10 to 15 minutes and then transfer muffins onto racks to cool completely.

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Picnic

2010-09-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

A Cuppa Chai

2010-08-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we visited my brother and his family in Bellingham, and prior to departure, I conferred with Mary-Claire about food. I had a lot of egg yolks left over from the birthday cake's Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and planned to make Ginger Creme Brulee. And, M-C planned something equally divine to do with the rest of my fresh ginger (and a bunch of her own spices and tea). This chai tea was a big hit because Joel is not a coffee fan, and the kids adore chai.

I (of course) altered the recipe a bit (had to add star anise, which makes chai for me!), but here it is! I also did crazy things like emptying out a bag of tea (dry) and then adding ground cloves and cardamom (the only kind I had on hand) to the bag and re-stapling... hey, whatever works!

Easy Chai Tea
(adapted from Real Simple magazine)
8 cardamom seeds
8 cloves
4 black peppercorns
3 cinnamon sticks
2 - 1-inch pieces fresh ginger, sliced
2 star anise pods
2 cups whole milk
2 cups water
6 bags black tea (Darjeeling or other)
sugar to taste

Crush the spices, then place in saucepan with milk and water and bring to boil. Remove from heat and steep for 10 minutes. Strain into 4 cups and add about 2 tsps. sugar or agave to taste to each (or let your guests sweeten their own).

Wordless Wednesday: Glorious Gluten Free!

2010-08-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

A Very Merry Year: August

2010-08-09T13:21:00.001-07:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.

This month was a double-header...

We have a little buddy named Alexandria who loves to hang out with the kids, most especially with Madeline, and whenever "tea party" or "restaurant" or anything related is played, she's all about "Lemon Cookies," so I had to make some lemon cookies for the little sweetheart. I found a promising recipe on the Weight Watchers site, and it's great — really lemony, a little sweet and soft. They're called Lemon Cookie Snaps, and I modified the recipe by adding at least 2 Tablespoons of lemon zest, since I had a very large lemon, and nonfat Greek yogurt instead of light sour cream. Extra zing is always a good thing!
Alex's Tea Party Lemon Cookies
(adapted from Lemon Cookie Snaps recips on WeightWatchers.com)
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 large egg yolk(s)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp (or more) lemon zest, finely chopped
1/4 cup(s) reduced-fat sour cream, or nonfat Greek Yogurt which is what I used

Mix dry ingredients, set aside. Cream sugar and butter, then add egg yolks, lemon juice and zest. Combine well. Finally add Greek Yogurt OR sour cream and mix. Add flour mixture, mix and then scrape onto plastic wrap. Fridge for 2 hours up to 24, or pop in the freezer for 30 mins. or so. Tear off 1 Tbs. pieces, roll into balls and flatten with fork (in a criss-cross pattern) dipped in sugar on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Should make about 30 cookies — 2 cookies are a serving at 3 POINTS total.

And, second, our friend Miki had baby Rhys on July 21st, so among other baked and dinner treats that we delivered to her family last week, we also made a couple dozen of The Pioneer Woman's Oatmeal Crispies for Miki. Oatmeal is good for milk production, and a nursing Mama needs to be able to eat said oatmeal with one hand... hence, cookies!!

Pickies

2010-08-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, we had "Pickies" pretty often for lunch. This meal consisted of whatever fruits and veggies, protein, etc. that mom had on hand, cut into pieces, and served with toothpicks (hence the name "Pickies"). Nick and I loved it because we could choose what we wanted, and because we got to use picks to eat with.

Yesterday, we shared this plate of Pickies - baby carrots, Miso blocks (baked Thai tofu cubes), halved black grapes, plum tomatoes and cubes of mozzarella. Oh, and Madeline picked fresh mint for a garnish. It was lovely.

Sparkly, Pretty Girl!

2010-07-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

So, how do you follow a 7-layer, 9 pound rainbow cake for your girl's second 5-yr birthday celebration? Well, with a very large mermaid cake of course. Courtesy of Family Fun, we had a decent map of how to construct this cake, although I wanted to use more cupcakes (the easy-to-serve to preschoolers factor). We also chose to add arms, hands and a nose to our mermaid girl, and (of course) accessories and some edible flowers (Nasturtium, Borage and Squash blossom) to jazz her up!

The girls loved helping decorate, and they both had some great ideas to embellish this gal (shells, necklace, bracelets). Their favorite decorating item was the Wilton gold edible "glitter" stars. They are really cool, and looked neat in the mermaid's hair and on her tail. I used my new favorite Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe to frost her, and needed one and a half batches. The tail took 3.5 rolls of Necco wafers, and I covered it with Wilton green edible spray since M wanted a green tail. And, I'm very thankful that I had this heavy-duty white poster board with my craft supplies because this sparkly, pretty girl was way too big for anything else. Miss M, and all her school buddies loved this mermaid gal, and she was really fun to make. Check out more specific instructions on Coolest Birthday Cakes right here.

Madeline's Super-duper "Super Epic" Rainbow Birthday Cake

2010-07-27T01:44:00.000-07:00

What to make for a rainbow-loving girl who is turning five? Well, a seven-layer rainbow cake, of course! I got the idea here, but I had to add a pink layer since that's how our Madeline sees the rainbow — it always includes pink!

And, in an effort to cut back on the butter just a little, I used a Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe from here instead (two batches, total), and let me tell you, it's the best frosting I've ever tasted. Not just ever made, but ever tasted. It's that fabulous! I ended up using about a batch and a half in the end. I added chocolate extract, vanilla, a touch of almond, and a little orange-flower water, so the flavor was complex and excellent.

It was good to have 20 people to share this cake too, it weighing in at 4 kilograms and all... really. I weighed it. There was about 9 oz. of batter for each layer before baking, plus the frosting, so it's understandable.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

(adapted from The Domestic Goddess)

5 large egg whites
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 lb. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp. chocolate extract, 1/4 tsp. almond extract, and a splash of orange flower water

1-2 cups confectioners’ sugar (optional for sweeter version, taste as you go)

Method:
Mix the egg whites, sugar and salt in a double boiler set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture is hot to the touch – about 3 minutes and the sugar has dissolved (until you can't feel sugar-grit in the whites).

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated. The frosting might get to a point where it looks curdled, just beat on low speed until thick again, about 5 minutes more (be sure not to overbeat it) . Add extracts and mix until combined. Taste the frosting – if the taste is sweet enough for you – you’re done. If you like it sweeter, add up to 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar to sweeten. Tint with gel icing color as desired (not liquid coloring).

If using frosting within several hours, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature in a cool environment. Or transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator, up to 3 days. Before using, bring frosting to room temperature, and beat on the lowest speed with the paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Yield: about 5 cups

A Very Merry Year: July

2010-07-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

This month, our cookie gift goes to Miki, who is due any day now with her 3rd kiddo, a boy — Rhys (the traditional spelling/Welsh spelling of Reece). Miki loves candy like Heath bars in her Cold Stone ice cream, so I thought of adding toffee bits to chocolate chip cookies. There was a "Brickle Drop" cookie recipe on the bag, but I took the excellent name and looked for a proven recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog. Deb never fails me, and this recipe was no exception. I altered it a bit, of course...

Happy Birth-month Miki! We can't wait to meet your newest little "brickle."

Brickle Drop Cookies
adapted from Crispy, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies on Smitten Kitchen

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/3 cups Heath toffee bits and 2/3 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

3. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.

4. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time (for giant cookies) or a tablespoon at a time (for smaller cookies) onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

5. Bake larger cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for smaller ones (check your cookies before they’re done; depending on your scoop size, your baking time will vary) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Wordless Wednesday: Rainbow Salad

2010-06-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Singapore Sling

2010-06-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Jamie mixed us up some Singapore Slings last night while we were all prepping dinner... they were dangerously delicious!

Jamie's Singapore Sling
(makes 2)
2 shots cherry brandy
1 shot triple sec
2 shots Cascade Mountain gin
2 shots pineapple juice
1 shot lime juice
1 shot grenadine
And, Club Soda to fill the shaker...
serve over ice, and beware!

Pepita Fig Berry Nut Granola

2010-06-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

I love the kids' cookbook, Salad People by Mollie Katzen (of Moosewood Restaurant fame). I've gifted the book to a few kids in the last couple years, although our copy here is from the library. Today, after school, we decided to make the granola, which we (of course) adapted. Neither of our kids like to eat oatmeal, so there's a method to my madness here... I hope it works!

I love that Salad People has really clear steps, for kids to follow along...

Madeline loved measuring things in to the bowl,
and mixing the dry ingredients with her hands

Erik loved snipping the figs with kid scissors

And, in the end, we got some delicious and beautiful granola!

I must admit though, I did adapt this recipe according to Deb's granola recipe from Smitten Kitchen (so less oil, some cinnamon, watching the baking time...) — her recipe is right here.

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes... Mmm...

2010-06-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to Joel... Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from Big Red Kitchen were a hit (although I used my own recipe for pancakes, and added maple extract to the cream cheese icing).

Inspired by Sesame Street...

2010-06-17T01:52:00.000-07:00

We have a scratch-and-sniff book about Sesame Street characters figuring out how to eat all their favorite fruit at the same time, hence, a rainbow fruit salad! Madeline named off things we needed to pick up at the grocery on Tuesday, and then Wednesday morning, she was ready to assemble. Strawberries, peaches, bananas (although pineapple next time!), kiwi, blueberries and purple grapes! Divine... I especially love that making it was her idea/request, and that she was so very proud of her creation. She even dished up a hefty portion for me on a dinner plate, complete with a fork and a spoon. Why a spoon? "Oh, Mama, you need the spoon to get those grapes. Otherwise, they just slip away from you — they are just foolish!"

Guava Brigadeiros

2010-06-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

I spotted these Brazilian candies on The Cookie Shop blog the other day, and they were a fun little project for the kids and their buddies today. I used guava jelly instead of strawberry jam because that's what I had, and yes, that's just the kind of gal I am. I also had Vietnamese coffee in the pantry the other day when I ran out of my standard Joe's Dark Roast from TJs ($2.99/lb. can't beat that). Clockwise from the top left are: Madeline's, Erik's, Aura's and Rowan's. The ones in the middle were mine.

Last Lunch

2010-06-11T18:08:00.001-07:00

M's final packed lunch for a year — half day Kindergartners don't take lunch, and neither do summer camp kids. So no school lunches until first grade...

Wordless Wednesday: Kid Food

2010-06-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Frozen Buttercream Transfer

2010-06-06T17:53:00.001-07:00

Aura and Rowan were having a combined birthday party this year, and they both love Transformers. So, ever the pesky friend, I told Miki about this fabulous new thing I'd learned about... the frozen buttercream transfer (FBCT). And, then I found a handy little graphic to use for tracing that included everyone's favorite Autobot, Optimus Prime, and a female Autobot, Elita One. But, since I'm just crazy enough to think that this sort of thing is fun, I went to Miki's last Friday to help her try this new technique.So, armed with a print-out of the image, we prepared buttercream, tinted it the appropriate colors, taped the image to a sturdy plastic cutting board, covered it with plastic wrap, then started tracing.
First, you do the black outline of all the detail, and then you fill in with the colored frosting, filling the image in from front to back. Then, you push the frosting down with a off-set spatula, and even it out, and pop it into the freezer.

When you are ready to use it, you just lay it on top of your frosted cake, and peel the plastic wrap off. Miki did Happy Birthday Aura & Rowan too, and you have to remember to reverse images and text since the image is flipped. There are some great videos on You Tube that demonstrate how to do the FBCT.

Miki did chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, grouped them into a "cake" and frosted with vanilla buttercream, then popped the transfers on (we added colored frosting as background to the letters so they'd be easier to manage). It's a technique I'll be using in the future for sure. I can just see a cake covered in Madeline and Erik's transferred artwork... now that would be cool!

Wordless Wednesday: "Miso Block" Noodles

2010-06-02T02:08:00.000-07:00

A Very Merry Year: June

2010-06-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month with something lovely from my kitchen.June is all about thank yous — we have several overdue TY's, and what better way to deliver them than customized fortune cookies?! These were relatively easy, quite tasty, and very fun. The kids were pretty impressed. So, who are they for? Well, you'll just have to wait and see if you get a delivery of them!

Fortune Cookies (adapted from Allrecipes.com)
24 assorted fortunes or other messages printed on 1/2-inch x 4-inch strips of paper (I adjusted the margins on a Word doc and printed them out).
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp. vanilla (I used vanilla powder, plus 1/4 tsp. almond extract)
1 dash salt
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar

Preheat oven to 375-degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a Silpat sheet (trust me, greasing the pan is WAY more trouble - I managed this time, but will take a different approach in the future). Whisk the egg whites and vanilla until foamy, but not stiff (I hand whisked). Then, mix in the flour, sugar and salt. Put one teaspoon (measuring spoon) of batter on cookie sheet for each cookie and spread it into a mostly circular shape, approximately 3-inches in diameter. Put three on a sheet (max) at a time and bake for 4-5 minutes, until outer edges are golden and center is pale ivory. While one sheet is baking, prep the second.

Remove from oven and quickly place one cookie on a wooden cutting board, upside-down. Place fortune in the center of the cookie and fold in half, then place the folded edge over the rim of a coffee mug, and pull the pointed edges down, one on each side of the cup. Repeat with other cookies. If the cookie gets too hard to maneuver, put back in the oven to warm up again. Put cookies in muffin tins to cool so they keep their shape.

Tastes Like Home

2010-05-29T22:09:00.001-07:00

Bellingham is our other home. It's where Joel and I began, it's where we graduated college, and is the first home we moved away from together. And, it took a long time for us to feel like this was home. Even after we bought our house, it took a while for here to be home instead of feeling like B'ham was still the place to be...

Luckily, we've come to love our current home very much and feel very connected here as well. And, we also have some very close friends North of Bellingham and family in Sudden Valley, so we get to enjoy fun times with wonderful people on our visits back there.

One of the many nice memories of B'ham is Village Books and the Colophon Cafe. And, thankfully, I've also got a little cookbook of theirs. I made their African Peanut Soup this weekend, and it is as lovely as I remember — spicy, complex and delicious with ginger and garlic, peanuts, tomato and chile. Trust me, it's a top seller. And, the recipe is even online right here. Really, I wouldn't steer you wrong. I do, however, cut the tomatoes in half since I like this less tomato-filled. But, that's just my preference. Try it! Even if Bellingham was never your home, but especially if it was!!

Baking With Grammy

2010-05-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Making pulla with Grammy is always a good time...

from the kid-sized rolling pin,

to cutting out "Pulla Men" shapes,

to adding golden raisin buttons, eyes, noses and mouths.

The Best Waffles Ever.

2010-05-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

So, there's this wildly popular blog by the name of Orangette that you've probably read before, and Molly at Orangette also has an amazing book called A Homemade Life (read this book - it is wonderful!). I recently started reading the book, and love it. It's fabulous writing, and great recipes. We had her French Lemon Yogurt Cake last weekend, and it was amazing. Glorious. My favorite lemony cake ever. The recipe is online right here. And, along with marvelous desserts, she has numerous salad and vegetarian main dish recipes on her blog, as her husband is vegetarian.

And, this weekend, I tried one of the two waffles recipes that she recently posted here. I meant to do the overnight version, but ended up going to bed without making the batter, so... I tried the "morning of" recipe, and Oh. Oh, heaven. I've been looking for a waffle recipe that would rival the waffles the kids had eaten (and we'd tasted) at a cafe in downtown Olympia that is now out of business... they were the best waffles I'd ever had. Crisp on the outside, even after being adorned with butter and syrup and devoured by the kids. The remains that we tasted on their plates were still outside-crisp and inside-tender and delicious after 30 minutes of brunch eating... crazy good.
This is exactly what I was looking for, and it's not surprising that this recipe is often referred to as the Waffle of Insane Greatness. I'm interested to try the overnight recipe now since Molly at Orangette thinks it's superior. Either way... whip up some waffles this weekend!!

Farewell, LOST

2010-05-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

In honor of the series finale tonight, we had coconut shrimp, lemon sole, rocket salad with lemon, and mango-pineapple smoothies. And, earlier in the day, I made these:
Yep. I'm a dork. But I'm OK with that. Plus, I was making a gift bag for our buddies who adore LOST and would get a kick out of these. If you want to be a dork too, check out the easy labels and boarding passes right here.

"Pie. Me, o my. I love pie!"

2010-05-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

Name that movie quote... it's one of my faves.***

I made fresh peach pie this afternoon with the kiddos, and as ever, they loved it. The recipe called for blind baking the crust first, then cooling and adding the filling to bake for 30 mins, then the topping for another 30. A bit fussy, but it turned out to taste just like Summer!

We also made these...

... when I was little, and my mom made pie, we always made these tasty treats. Always. And Nick and I got to make them. Basically, roll out the dough scraps, brush on soft butter, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar, roll up, have mom slice, then bake until golden and delicious! Perfection. The kids love 'em!

*** From the movie, Michael with John Travolta. I love that he's an angel. He's such an excellently hilarious angel. A sexy, cigarette-smoking, bar-brawling, two-steppin', line dancing, pie eating sugar-fiend of an angel that is... and the song (according to IMDb) sung my Andie MacDowell:

"The Pie Song"
Music by Steve Dorff
Music by Lyrics by Roy Blount Jr.
Published by TNT Music Publishing, Inc./Techwood Music, Inc.

Lyrics:

Pie
Pie
Me oh my
Nothing tastes sweet, wet, salty and dry
all at once o well it's pie
Apple!
Pumpkin!
Minced
an' wet bottom. ("Wet Bottom" is Amish Shoofly Pie)
Come to your place everyday if you've got em'
Pie
Me o my
I love pie!

Farmer's Market Magic

2010-05-17T01:49:00.000-07:00

I love the Farmer's Market. The variety, color, freshness, beauty, and I get to talk to farmers. That's always fun.
And, then I get to make a salad like this. This is magic salad. 17 different varieties of greens. A simple homemade orange vinaigrette, which means that I can tell the self-proclaimed "salad-hater" in our household that I've found a bunch of awesome new lettuces for him to try to see if he likes any of 'em. Guess what?
He tried. This is huge. Huge, I tell you!
But, did he like?
Yeah!! "These are Awesome!! Look at me, trying new foods. I'm getting to be a big boy. Hey, Mama, I love these new lettuces."
He cleaned his plate, and had seconds on the salad. Like I said, Magic Salad! He devoured the wild mushroom bucatelli, and the melon too.
What does the sister think? "Finally! I told you that salad is awesome, and you finally know!! Thank Goodness!"

And, the Beat Goes On...

2010-05-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

I say, when you're on a roll, just go with it... so, here's my rendition of Margarita Iced Tea! In the midst of running errands, Erik and I shared lunch at Taco Time the other day, and I was pleased to discover their delicious "Margarita Iced Tea." It was perfect. Black tea with "that great margarita flavor you love," not too sweet, and very refreshing. But, at $1.89 a pop for 16 oz., frugal me isn't going to keep buying it. Then, today I found margarita mix and cold brew Lipton tea bags on sale at the grocery. Mmm... You're welcome.

Do you love the re-use of my Taco Time cup?? So green of me...

Margarita Iced Tea
2 bags cold-brew Lipton tea
16 oz. cold water
4 oz. margarita mix
1/2 glass crushed ice

Brew the tea for 3 minutes in a tall glass. Pour over ice in another large glass (about 3/4 of the cup) then add the limey goodness (about 1/4 of the cup - I really eyeballed it). Stir. Add the rest of the tea as you sip (and adjust to taste). Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: Margarita Cupcakes!

2010-05-05T17:53:00.001-07:00

A Very Merry Year: May

2010-05-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month (or so) with something lovely from my kitchen.This month's treat is Margarita Cookies, yes, that's right. And, how appropriate for the month of Cinco celebrations. I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, right here (you can sub the tequila with orange juice, or 1 tsp. lime juice and 1 tsp. agave nectar whisked together).

And, luckily for Madeline's fabulous preschool teacher, today is also National Teachers' Day. So, Terri's getting a dozen, fresh out of the oven. They're buttery, citrusy and light with a tender crumb and the slightest hint of salty sweetness. Mmm... "They're awesome!" declared my favorite little male sous chef. Indeed they are, Erik! They're so good, we're also sharing these gems with a few other lucky friends... And, they are pretty too. The little flecks of orange and lime zest are bright in the buttery little circles, and the edges are sparkly with sugar and margarita salt. In fact, these are going to be added to our regular holiday baking rotation for sure. Whip these up - you won't be sorry!

Rr is for Rainbow!

2010-04-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Rainbow Jello that is... this week Madeline's class is studying the letter Rr, so we made a big batch of rainbow-striped Jello blocks to share with everyone. Thankfully, she's in a school where that's still allowed.

A Very Merry Year: April

2010-04-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month (or so) with something lovely from my kitchen.

This month's cookie is Snickerdoodles, and they go to our friends up North in lovely Lynden—Jerrie, Troy and Archer. We love to visit them, often, and the kids adore their "big kid" Archer, who is now in high school. These cookies are off in the mail for a cinnamon-cardamom-sugar treat (sorry, I had to mess with the recipe a little). The cookies are fabulous too.

And, with this recipe I discovered that you can make your own Baking Powder using Cream of Tartar and Baking Soda—2 parts to 1 part. Which, coincidentally, is the ratio in most Snickerdoodle recipes for soda and cream of tartar, which I had an expired tin of, so... I subbed baking powder and the cookies were fabulous. I may never make them with cream or tartar again!

Holy Flapjacks, Batman!

2010-04-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

I've been searching for a great pancake recipe for a long time. In high school, in South Africa, I found a wonderful recipe in a library book about Au Pairing. But, of course I lost that recipe long ago, and the source is a bit far away. And mixes really don't do it for me. I mean, I've used mixes and they are okay, but... I think I must've been spoiled in my formative years with awesome pancakes.

About six years ago, Miki made her mom's recipe at the office when different teams were planning breakfast for everyone. They were divine, and she gave me the recipe. But, when I made them, they weren't the same. However, last Fall when she made them at my house, again, they were heaven. So, I thought maybe it's just me and pancakes – bad luck. Or, maybe it's the fact that food is nearly always better when someone cooks for you! I do feel the need to tackle Miki's mom's recipe again though... clearly, there's something I'm missing there.

But thankfully, this morning, I tried a new recipe for pancakes that is easy, makes light and moist pancakes, and they are utterly delicious. The trifecta of perfection. This is my new recipe. Mmm... And, a good thing too, since Madeline adores pancakes. Seriously, she's always begging me to make them, and would eat them for every meal if she could.

The Best Pancakes Ever
(AKA Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes, not adapted at all from The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond)
Makes a dozen 4-inch pancakes

1 c. sour cream (I used light, they were fab)
7 Tbs. flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Butter and real maple syrup

Heat a cast iron pan over medium low while you make the batter. Do not be impatient (like me) and turn the heat up, although these cakes are good even if they do get a little charred. Anyway, in a medium bowl, mix together the sour cream, flour, sugar, soda and salt. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs and vanilla, and then pour this into the sour cream mixture. Again, mix until just combined.

Melt about 1 Tbs. of butter in the pan, and then cook the pancakes. Be patient. They are worth the wait. Delicious!

Happy Earth Day!!

2010-04-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day tomorrow! Just one of the ways that we do our part to make this a greener world to live in...School Lunches!

Reusable lunch sacks

Bento lunch boxes with reusable picks and dividers

And, reusable cotton sandwich and snack bags (and I made a new stash today with fabric scraps and Velcro strips that I had on hand). And, if you don't have time to make your own, and have the cash, the folks at ReUsies make some beautiful reusable sandwich and snack bags. Just click here to buy online from their site or find a retail store near you!

Math in the Kitchen: Sequencing

2010-04-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

Popsicles by the numbers...

Gather banana (and other fruit - berries), Popsicle sticks and molds (or ice cube trays, etc.) and juice (preferably sneaky 100% veggie/fruit juice)
Peel banana, slice, stick on stick.
Put in mold.
Pour in juice and toss in other fruit/berries.
Cover with foil to secure sticks, then freeze.
Enjoy!

Munkki = Doughnut

2010-04-18T00:59:00.000-07:00

In Finland, you'd request a munkki (Moonk-KEY) if you wanted a doughnut, and Vesa loves 'em. And finding Finnish-style jelly doughnuts here is very hard with the nasty artificial filling that even the "good" doughnut shops use. So, for Ukki's birthday I made a doughnut birthday cake with both filled (seedless raspberry jam) and glazed (raspberry glaze with "essential cane" raspberry sugar sprinkles) munkki. Stack 'em up, sprinkle with raspberries, and you have a fantabulous birthday cake!

Erik loved helping cut out the doughnuts and sprinkle on "just a touch more flour, Mama," when we rolled them out. Madeline built a great barricade between the living room and kitchen when I was cooking the munkki too. Because, 350-degree scalding oil and small kiddos do not mix...

Happy Birthday to Ukki! His birthday was Friday, but what he wanted to do for his celebration was go geocaching with us and out to Mexican for lunch (the other diners at the restaurant were coveting the pretty stack o' doughnuts too.) Mmmm... They were tasty!

Oh! And, I used the recipe from right here. Under the High Chair is a great foodie blog, and Aimée (a former pro/chef in the kitchen) is now a writer, editor of Simple Bites, and mom to two preschool-aged boys. Check out her blog. Oh, and these doughnuts really were worth the trouble. Krispy Creme's got nothin' on these babies!

And finally, do you remember this? Well, this month I'm going to choose the cookie recipient by lottery... Just leave a comment on this post, and tell me what your absolute #1 favorite cookie is, and you'll be in the "hat" to be chosen by random chance to receive the April cookie giveaway! One of the kids will be drawing names or number (of the comment) from a hat on Wednesday evening, 4/21. Best of luck!!

Well Chuffed...

2010-04-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Both the kids have really gotten into being my sous chefs for any meal prep, and Madeline is well chuffed with her improving knife skills (and the fact that she even gets to use a knife). Last night we made "miso block" (AKA tofu) stir fry, and the kids loved pressing the tofu too.

We threw in, one whole block of extra firm tofu, about 1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, 1/2 a red bell pepper, some brocolli, three small zucchini, and two small baby bok choy. Sesame oil, soy sauce, agave nectar, ginger. Yum. Easy peasy as Jamie Oliver would say.

I think that he'd approve of our "naked" meal served up with brown rice.

Speaking of which, the kids love his new Food Revolution show (ABC 8-9pm and 9-10? it was both this week, Fridays). They already knew of him from my cookbooks (I use his recipes often), but they are hooked now. And why not? He is a charming sweetheart.

Oh, and did Erik actually eat this? Well, of course he did. It was dinner. He ate the rice, miso blocks (tofu), mushrooms, and brocolli. He left the peppers, zuke and bok choy on the plate, and that is fine by me.

Soup's On!

2010-04-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better (or easier) than homemade soup? Really, chop/prep the ingredients, combine in soup pot, and simmer on the stove while you do other things. Easy! And, homemade soup tastes infinitely better than anything out of a can. Plus, there is way, way less sodium in soup you make yourself. Oh, and it happens to be a sneak-tastic way to get my veg scrutinizer to eat vegetables that he otherwise wouldn't willingly try. So, since Easter, I've made Potato Leek, Creamy Cauliflower, and today... 4B's Tomato Soup (Erik despises tomatoes).

Potato Leek is easier than pie, and my mom's fave. She actually prepped that one after Easter brunch by chopping up about six potatoes, and three large leeks (all, even the green part), tossed them in my soup kettle, and covered with water. It simmered for about an hour, then I seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper, and whirred it up in my blender in batches. Voila! Dinner full of veg that E wouldn't usually eat (well, the leeks anyway).

I did the Creamy Cauliflower in similar fashion, cleaning and separating into florets, one head of cauliflower. I tossed that into a hot soup pot with 2 Tbs. of butter and about 1/3 cup of tiny star-shaped pasta. I browned that up, then added hot water to cover and simmered until the cauli was soft. Then I tossed in a can of navy beans (with bacon) for about 10 mins of simmering, a little garlic, celery salt and pepper, and whirred batches in my blender. Erik inhaled two bowls and said, "Hmm... I guess that I do like cauliflower. I thought I didn't."

(clockwise in pic: 4B's tomato regular and creamy, E enjoying his soup, E prepping cheese sammies to go with leek onion soup, and creamy cauliflower with cheese crisps)

And, so... on to an actual recipe! The 4B's is a popular restaurant chain in Montana, where we had this fabulous soup with Jamie and John on a summer road trip, nearly six years ago. I found the recipe online, posted by a local paper in Havre, MT. I'm going to follow it pretty closely, except for the cream part. To lighten up this one, I'm going to employ my trusty blender to "cream" the soup. My second reason for the blending is to get Erik to love tomatoes (which he's already informed me that he doesn't like and won't eat). Blending those tomatoes will make the soup creamy, yummy, and chunk-free!

4B's Tomato Soup (adapted from the recipe posted here, plus, I doubled the recipe since I had enough ingredients to do so!)
2 28-oz. cans of diced tomatoes (I used organic)
18 oz. chicken broth (I used low-sodium)
4 Tbs. butter
4 Tbs. sugar
2 Tbs. chopped onion
2 pinches of baking soda

Combine ingredients in a soup pot, bring to a low boil over medium-high, and then reduce to low to simmer for one hour. Then comes the cream part...

2 c. half and half - (and being doubled, if you are following the real recipe, this should be 4 c. half and half or cream - yikes!)

Heat the half and half in the microwave until nearly boiling, then add to tomato mixture (not the other way around) before serving.

I blended about 1/2 of the tomato mixture in the blender first, than added some of it back to the pot, which made the soup creamy without all the fat of the 4 c. of half and half (I only used 2c.), then add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!! I also separated a completely creamed amount out for Erik, and left the chunkier soup for the rest of us, so E's did have more of the half and half in it as well.

The verdict... Erik LOVED the creamy version of the 4B's soup! And, I think that tossing in a handful of carrots to simmer for the hour (for sweetness) and maybe blending in white beans would lend creaminess without the fat of half and half and add protein and vitamins — I'll definitely try that next time!

Move Over Martha!

2010-04-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

Move over Martha, Madeline's in town! I told Miss M to arrange the starfruit (her fave) and strawberries however she wanted on this platter, and here's what she did...

... makes a Mama proud! She's got the eye. And, E's busy sampling the fruit as well...

And, at Grammy's the day prior, M was thrilled to practice her knife skills ala Jamie Oliver!

Erik is always the first to volunteer for sous chef duty, and hopped up to the sink to wash scallions.

A Very Merry Year: March

2010-03-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

The third recipient is...

Our friend Jessica, whose birthday was early this month, and who is as sunny and fun as these cookies! We used our Playdough Cookie recipe, and I shaped her name into cookies and a few other cute shapes too, then we "pasted" them onto a card with powdered sugar and water (edible glue) for her birthday card! I used rum extract and vanilla in the dough rather than just vanilla. They were fab (oh, and Madeline also fashioned the planets in dough, which the kids ate themselves. Happy Birthday Jessie Bear!! We love you!

Coconut Heaven — and 15 Years!!

2010-03-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

It's a tradition of sorts for Joel and I to have a Pepperidge Farm coconut cake on our anniversary. There have been years that we've had a different "birthday" cake or pie, but usually it's coconut, and there are always candles. Always. This year, I decided to bake a coconut cake, complete with cracking a fresh coconut. It was fabulous...

And, my sous-chef-in-training LOVED using a hammer in the kitchen!

It was pretty fun when Erik and I realized that one of the pieces broke into a "C" shape during the cracking, hulling and peeling process!

Fresh Coconut Cake
(recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, April 2010)

Batter
5 eggs (at room temp)
1 c. unsalted butter (room temp - I used 1/2 salted and 1/2 un.)
1 c. whole milk (room temp)
3 c. sifted cake flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla

Frosting
3 egg whites (at room temp)
2 c sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 c. hot water
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 fresh coconut, husked, peeled and shredded (use your food processor) about 3-4 cups

Cakes: Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Let eggs, milk and butter stand at room temp for 30 mins. before beginning. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Prepare 3 8-inch pans with parchment in the bottom and grease & flour all pans. In Kitchenaid, beat butter for 30 seconds, add sugar and vanilla and beat on medium about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Then add flour and milk alternately, beating on low until just combined. Batter should be satin-smooth when ready. Divide between three pans and bake 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, then remove from pans to cool completely.

Coconut: Pierce eye of coconut to drain coconut milk, then strike all over with hammer, on a towel until husk cracks. Remove husk, and then peel brown skin from coconut meat with vegetable peeler. Shred coconut with grater attachment in your food processor.

Frosting: Combine sugar, cream of tartar and water in medium pan over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved. Cover and bring to boil, then boil 2 minutes. Attach candy thermometer and cook, without stirring until 240-degrees F (5-10 mins). If your candy thermometer is broken and you let this reach 250 (like I did), the frosting will be less fluffy/lower in volume, so test that thermometer and keep an eye on the syrup. Meanwhile, in Kitchenaid with whisk attachment, beat eggs until frothy, then add the 1/4 tsp. salt and beat on high until stiff peaks form. When the syrup is 240, stream it into the eggs whites with mixer on low. Beat in the vanilla and increast spped to med-high. Beat until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).

Assemble cake by layering frosting and cake layers, then frosting the whole cake with the remaining frosting. Finally, apply the coconut to the top and sides of cake with your hands quickly and press down to "stick." Enjoy!! Serves 16.

To choose a good coconut, make sure it feels heavy for its size (compare others), and shake it. You should hear the coconut milk sloshing around inside. If the one you pick is bad, return it to the store for another! Really, the fresh coconut is worth the trouble (we had fun doing it).

Magically Delicious!

2010-03-18T01:41:00.000-07:00

That's right, it was a magically delicious St. Patrick's Day. We adore Ireland, and so our family was decked out in green today, and we invited Margo (a fellow fan of the Green Isle) over for dinner. Here's our before and after...

I did real Irish Soda Bread (not the American version), a rustic apple tart (a common dessert we found in Ireland), and of course, corned beef with cabbage, carrots and tatties (cooked with one chopped up Golden Delicious apple and 1/2 a bottle of Blonde Ale)! After dinner, I chopped the corned beef and potatoes up to turn into hash tomorrow morning.

Rustic Irish Apple Tart

Preheat oven to 400-degrees F

3 peeled, cored, sliced Granny Smith apples and
1 peeled, cored sliced Gala apple
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbs. flour
cinnamon to taste

Mix up your filling, and let it sit while you prep your crust. When crust is ready, dump apples on crust, even out and then fold the edges of the crust over around the perimeter of the pan. Bake until golden brown and fragrant (I have no idea how long I baked this... really... I use my nose to tell me when baked goods are done (I do keep an eye on them of course to prevent burning).

1.25 c. flour
1 cube cold butter
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. cold water

Cut butter into flour and salt, add water to form dough. Roll out and transfer into 12-inch well-seasoned cast iron pan.

Cat In The Hat Cake

2010-03-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

Well, of course there was a cake for the Dr. Seuss party! Although, technically it was a jelly roll (thank you for the inspiration, Amelia Bedelia ala Peggy Parish!). The frosting is tinted whipped cream (with powdered sugar and vanilla), and the brim of the hat was formed from my favorite Play Dough cookie recipe.

Cat In The Hat Cake adapted from
Daisy Martinez (Daisy Cooks!) Brazo de Gitano, or "Gypsy's Arm"

Vegetable cooking spray
¾ cup sifted cake flour (you can make your own with corn starch and flour*)
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
For the filling
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whipped cream cheese at room temperature
One 17-ounce jar guava jelly or 1.5 cups strawberry jelly

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven 350° F. Grease a 13 x 18-inch jelly roll pan with vegetable cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper or waxed paper. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a bowl with a handheld mixer) at medium-high speed until foamy. Add the sugar gradually in three batches and continue beating until very fluffy and pale yellow.

2. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the eggs in three batches, folding each one into the egg mixture with a rubber spatula until just a few streaks of white remain. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer, making sure to poke it into the corners. Bake until the cake is golden brown and it feels spongy not tacky to the touch, 14 to 16 minutes. After the cake cools to the touch, roll it up (starting at the shorter end) and let it continue to cool rolled up (makes it easier to roll with filling later).

3. Make the filling: Beat the heavy cream and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a bowl with a handheld mixer) until it is fluffy. Add the vanilla and continue beating until the cream holds soft peaks when the beater is lifted from it. Add the cream cheese half at a time and beat just until blended into the cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4. Line your work surface with a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Invert the cake onto the paper and lift off the pan. Peel the paper off the top of the cake. Spread the jelly in an even layer over the cake, leaving a ½-inch border around the edges. Do the same with the cream cheese mixture. Starting at one of the short sides, roll the cake up into a compact roll, working gently to avoid tearing the cake or squeezing the filling out. Set the cake seam side down on a serving platter. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 1 day before serving.

5. To serve, pipe tinted (and sweetened) whipped cream onto the "hat" in alternating red and white stripes. Add cookie brim. Enjoy!

*Basically, sift all-purpose flour, then measure out 1 cup. Remove 2 Tbs. of flour and replace with 2 Tbs. of corn starch, then sift several times. Measure out the amount you need. To make 2 cups of cake flour, it would be 1.75 cups all-purpose and .25 cups of corn starch.

Kitchen In Hand!

2010-03-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I spotted this fabulous tutorial for a roll-up kitchen play mat on the Balancing Everything blog, and immediately thought of my niece Sophia. She has a great play kitchen in her bedroom (that was her mom's when she was little), but a roll-up kitchen would be perfect to take to her dad's house on the weekend. Or leave there on a shelf. Really, she could take it anywhere she wanted... in her bean teepee in the summer even.

So, with her 5th birthday looming in the very near future, I got my trusty helper to assist with construction. He loved it!

To round out the gift, I commissioned my friend Jen to crochet a soup pot and some bowls to go with the kitchen. She did all of the pieces free hand, and they are beautiful. I love the soup kettle. It's perfect! And, being the fabulous gal she is, Jen made some bonus produce as well!

I used wool felt, backed with cotton and hand stitched the kitchen elements to the "counter" with charcoal gray embroidery floss. Oh, I also increased the dimensions of the kitchen to 28" x 13" (before sewing) since I think my printed-out template must have been larger than the original tutorial. My burners are a little more than 5.5" in diameter.

I added a bag of a dozen felt mezzaluna ravioli (or empanadas, wee pastries, or cookies), and re-purposed a Gelatiamo salted caramel gelato pint to hold four brown circular felt bean bags (filled with lentils) that can be scoops of gelato for Sophia's bowls (or cookies, brownies, pies, burgers...) — I was going for general shapes that could easily be something else. If only managing a real kitchen were so easy!

I'll be making more of these for other wee ones for sure!! My kids need one for their playhouse too. Again, the "recipe" for this one is right here. And, if you need a fabulous soup pot, bowls or produce, just contact this gal by leaving a comment on Twist & Loop.

It was just so fun that I had to make one for Gramma too! E helped with this kitchen mat as well, and he preferred the dark blue to the gold of Sophia's. Personally, I love the cotton backing fabric, and the style of the burners which I copied directly from M & E's wooden play kitchen.

I do! I like them, Sam I Am!!

2010-03-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

The coolest Green Eggs around... from Jamie & John's chickens (from CC I think...) — we get eggs, the chickens get our slugs, and everyone is happy!

Dinner tonight: Green Eggs & Ham (I used neon green food color since any other "green" wouldn't fly with E), turkey ham and baked sweet potato fries.

They did! They liked it, Sam I Am!!!

Madeline's Choice Bento

2010-02-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

Dill tuna salad, cheese Sun Chips, a "really big" carrot, and banana.

A Very Merry Year: February

2010-02-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month (or so) with something lovely from my kitchen.

The second recipient is my good friend Margo, whose birthday is this month, and who adores coconut. She's also out of work at the moment, and could certainly use the extra cheer for her birthday. So, I made my favorite light-as-a-feather, delicious coconut cookie crisps for her. Happy "New" Year, Margo!
Coconut Snowball Crisps
(adapted from Everyday With Rachael Ray December 2008)

3 large egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 c. powdered sugar
2 c. sweetened shredded coconut
2 c. Rice Krispies cereal
1/4 c. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 200-degrees F (they bake for one hour). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Beat egg whites and salt on medium-high speed of mixer with whisk attachment until thick and foamy, then add sugar and once incorporated, beat on high for about 5 minutes (until firm and glossy).

In another bowl, toss together the additional three dry ingredients, then fold the coconut mixture into the egg whites when ready. Scoop with small cookie scoop into parchment-lined sheets. They can be fairly close together since these cookies do not spread at all, and are basically drying out in the 200-degree oven for 1 hour (until firm and dry to touch).

Twist & Shout!

2010-02-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

In 6th grade, pretzels were the first recipe we tackled in Mrs. Gill's Home Ec. class. We followed that with scrambled eggs and coffee cake, at which point I was going crazy with boredom. My mom pointed out that to most of the kids in my class these recipes were probably new and exotic... so I soldiered on. Then, something wonderful happened. Ms. Feek took over the class mid-year. She was a former chef from New York and she was fabulous. We started making croissants, bagels, chocolate mousse, roasted duck... whatever we wanted to learn about. She also had us find our own recipes, write up grocery lists, and manage our kitchen team. I learned a lot in that class and took it in 7th and 8th grade as well.

Yesterday, I made pretzels for the first time with the kids, but not with Mrs. Gill's recipe (which I long since lost).

The new recipe I found is from the King Arthur Flour site, and it's lovely. The kids (including Aura and Rowan) scarfed them down, and this will easily be a first solo recipe for the kids when they're older. Good thing too since Home Ec. isn't even offered in junior high anymore... The kids got very creative with shapes yesterday, and Mad ended up with this "snail" that she took in her bento today—filled with cream cheese.

King Arthur Soft Pretzels (16 pretzels)
(adapted from the King Arthur Flour web site)
Dough
About 2 cups warm water
2 pkgs. regular instant yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Topping
1 cup warm water
4 tablespoons baking soda
coarse, kosher or pretzel salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat till well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, till it's soft, smooth, and quite slack. Oil the dough and place it in a bowl, cover, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Prepare two baking sheets by spraying them with vegetable oil spray, or lining them with parchment paper.Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into 16 equal pieces (about 70g, or 2 1/2 ounces, each). Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. While the dough is resting, combine the 1/2 cup warm water and the baking soda, and place it in a shallow bowl. Make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved; if it isn't, it'll make your pretzels splotchy.Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28 to 30 inches long), and twist each rope into a pretzel (or other shape). Dip each pretzel in the baking soda wash (this will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color), and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown, reversing the baking sheets halfway through.Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but it's covering 16 pretzels. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

Spring Preview...

2010-02-19T23:13:00.000-08:00

"Spears" - AKA asparagus... Erik actually ate two spears of this. Victory!! He also inhaled two bowls of "Grumbly Bean Soup" this week. He like edamame (or Grumbly Beans) so that's what I called the Split Pea Soup I made on Tuesday. It has no edamame in it, but he doesn't know that. He LOVED it. Sweet. He also isn't aware that I discovered a sneaky cauliflower recipe in one of the Moosewood cookbooks today at the library, which I'll be making next week. Bwahahahaha!!
We ate the Grumbly Bean Soup (or Hernesoppa in Finnish) on Laskiaistiistai (Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday) along with Shrove Buns. These tasty treats are called Laskiaispullat in Finland and are cardamom sweet rolls (similar to Challah) sliced in half and filled with almond paste (or raspberry jam) and sweetened whipped cream. In turns out that Erik adores almond paste, and there is zero problem getting him to eat that.

Heart-y Scones

2010-02-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

The kids helped whip up some heart-shaped orange-vanilla scones for Valentine's Day brunch. Along with bacon and fruit, it was a tasty little meal.

The finished product! Mmm...

Ready for the oven...

Mixing...

Erik loves the pastry blender... and the Microplane (he's irritated that I won't let him us the Microplane alone).

Wall*E is One Tough Cookie!

2010-02-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well, Wall*E turned out great, in the end, and tasted fabulous, and G loved him! However, he lost his head three times, one arm entirely, and his neck just got shorter each time he lost his head.

Erik loved snipping the black licorice for his "tracks," and Ro was pleased with the base and tracks made of rice Krispie treats. The body was lemon poppy seed pound cake, and the head was wafer ice cream cones and macaroon cookies stuck together with melted white chocolate. Next time, I will frost the head and neck with buttercream rather than the cream filling from the center of the cakes (but this time I lost my fave pottery bowl and half our frosting to the floor *crash!*, so had to improvise). I think the moisture from the filling (used as frosting) contributed to the last two face-plants. The previous head falling was due to my use of cookie stick as support rather than the dowel that replaced it (that Joel cut and sanded for me).

Light & Creamy Whipped Filling
1 c whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks with sugar and vanilla
3 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
Add the cream cheese half at a time and blend
1 8-oz. tub whipped cream cheese

Fill jelly roll, cake layers, or use as frosting (but not on a wafer-cone Wall*E head!)

Happy 5th Gavino!!

Surimi Bento

2010-02-05T12:10:00.000-08:00