Summer: Kids in the Kitchen

Uncle Andy's smoked salmon and Ritz crackers got Erik to try cream cheese again. Which he loves now... So, after eating two batches of these this weekend, we had to make these with dinner last night.

Summer: Grilled Kabobs

He lit the grill, he sliced veggies and fruit and garlic, and he made a few kabobs. He loved the chicken, and the regular mushrooms, hated the shiitake (my gain there), and didn't choose any of the other veggies for his skewer. He did have some corn though. Someday he'll love more things. I'm ever hopeful. Regardless, it's only my job to provide the healthy meals - it's his job to eat them. 

The Walla Walla sweet onions and the grilled apricots were especially amazing, as were the pork kabobs. I also did oregano garlic potatoes and two small pork loins on the grill tonight for tomorrow's dinner, and they all look amazing. 

Radicchio, fennel, zucchini, white and shiitake mushrooms, apricot, sweet onions, potatoes and corn. 

Wordless Wednesday: Kids Making Lunches

Summer: Making Lunch for Camp

Summer: Kids in the Kitchen

E loves crepes. So much so, that the recipe is taped inside the kitchen cabinet where our pancake recipe is posted.

So tonight the dinner he chose to make and learn was crepes. He got a lot of spatula practice, and stovetop/hot pan practice, and while waiting for each to cook, he set the table and got toppings on like I do. Excellent. He was so proud of himself, and rightly so.

Summer: Kids in the Kitchen

Rainbow Pasta. They loved it. And, they still aren't big fans of pasta. Plus, it invoked teamwork, math, art (color mixing), and cooking.



I used the technique from this post: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/66782/easy-rainbow-pasta.


**And, luckily, no one but the kids will be eating this, since M's hair dipped into it during the picture... At least she's just showered too.

Summer: Kids in the Kitchen

Mads learning her favorite Caesar dressing. It was fantastic.

3/4 c. mayo
2-3  cloves crushed garlic
3 Tbs. Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
4 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste
Romaine hearts
Croutons

Bunny Pancakes

Samoas Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest: Dessert Antipasti

It's that time again... the Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest! And, this year because the Samoas cookie is turning 40

Samoas Dessert Antipasti - Kid-friendly, easy and scout-approved!

, the contest was all about Samoas. So, our troop decided to do some recipe science and kitchen magic!

First, I looked through the recipes that have won or placed for Samoas in the past (a critical omission on my part last year). Then, I picked up our free boxes of Samoas cookies and a coupon for a free pound of Darigold butter from the Girl Scout office so that we could start creating!

Finally, I considered a brilliantly fun and easy no-bake recipe that honors my Nonna's Italian roots... her grand-kid approved Chocolate "Salami," which is basically a salami-shaped roll of delicious chocolate confection, studded with yummy cookies and usually with dried fruit, nuts and other flavorings such as citrus zest, vanilla, coffee, or alcohol. The recipe that we created is a riff on this old, classic recipe (that sometimes even uses raw egg yolks). To keep it kid-friendly, we skipped any alcohol or raw egg, and since the Samoas cookie is so flavorful already (caramel, toasted coconut, and chocolate plus delicious buttery cookie), we let it shine along with some scout-favorite mini marshmallows to enhance the "salami" look.

And, to go with the Samoa'd chocolate salami, we also tried out a Samoas Marshmallow Crispy Treat which, after all 14 Juniors in our troop taste-tested two different varieties of each recipe, the girls decided that the marshmallow-cereal treats tasted most amazing as the "bread" for the chocolate salami, so we submit for the Samoas Only Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Contest...  our very own Samoas Dessert Antipasti! 

Samoas Dessert Antipasti 
(Junior-Scout Approved!)

Nonna’s Samoa'd Chocolate Salami

• 10 crushed or chopped Samoas cookies 
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 5 Tbs. softened, salted Darigold butter
• ½ cup dark chocolate chunks or chips, melted
• 1/3 cup mini marshmallows

Samoas Marshmallow Cereal Treat “Focaccia”

• 4 Tbsp.  (1/2 stick) salted Darigold butter
• One 10.5 oz bag mini marshmallows (equals 6 cups) 
• 6 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1 box of crushed or chopped Samoas cookies 

For the Samoa'd chocolate salami
Put 10 Samoas cookies into a zip-top bag, close it, and bash up the cookies with a rolling pin until they are about pea-sized chunks (or chop them up with a chef's knife), then dump into a mixing bowl. Next add the sugar, unsweetened cocoa and the softened (melty) butter. Stir all ingredients together, by hand, until combined.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour over the cookie mixture and stir a little, then add marshmallows and stir well.

Spoon the mixture onto (powdered-sugar covered) plastic wrap and shape into a salami log (with cooking-spray covered hands. Dust with more powdered sugar, and roll up in plastic wrap. Pop into the freezer for about 30 minutes (or refrigerate for 1-2 hours), and then cut it in slices to serve with marshmallow "focaccia."

For the marshmallow-cereal treat "focaccia" 
Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray. Put all 15 of the Samoas into a zip-top bag, close it, and bash up the cookies with a rolling pin until they are about pea- and marble-sized chunks. Separate out about ¼ cup of crumbs for the top of the “bread” and set it aside.

Next, in a large soup pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter is melted, add the bag of mini marshmallows, stirring to combine.  When the marshmallows are melted, remove from the heat and stir in the 6 cups of cereal.

Sprinkle the bottom of the prepared pan with some of the crushed Samoas. Mix the remaining Samoas (from the bag) into the marshmallow treat mixture (this takes a strong arm, or four Junior scouts and one leader). Next, scoop the marshmallow mixture onto the crushed cookies in the 9x9 pan, press gently to even out, and then top with the remaining ¼ cup of Samoas crumbs. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes until firm, then slice into thin “bread-like” chunks and serve topped with, or alongside, chocolate salami.

Melting the Darigold butter and marshmallows in copper pots (Samoas caramel is made in copper pots! That's a fact!)

Prepping the four versions for taste testing... 

More sugar? Less sugar? More marshmallows? Fewer? A whole box of Samoas? 

And, the winning recipe... to combine the chocolate salami with the cereal-treat "bread" with less sugar (but more Samoas). Cookie season is their favorite!! 

Trial Run: Spatchcocking

Erik said, "No, mom, we need a bigger turkey than that. This one's so wee." I pointed out that it's a chicken. It was delicious, and I'll make avgolemono soup today!

Wordless Wednesday: Honey Cashew Homework Fuel

Cub Scout Sous Chef

He needed to plan some meals, and make some meals (dinner... coming up tonight). He enjoys it, and both of the kids have become boastfully proud of "Great Gramma Irene's Pancakes" which is awesome.

Ready!

Let the lunch-making begin! We're ready for September 2nd. We love our Easy Lunchboxes (http://www.easylunchboxes.com/) that I learned about five years ago from my friend Erin, and they are available on Amazon right here. I use my silicone heart-shaped cupcake molds (too fussy otherwise) for separating items like cheese, meat, crackers, and veggies in the large section of the boxes sometimes.

Erik likes his as "Lunchable-type" meals, where Madeline is pretty happy with a PB&J or a salad. We like the Mini Dippers containers for sauces and dressing in the lunchbox containers since they are not leakproof. One of my favorite dipping containers are simply reused dressing containers from Starbucks salads (also used to nuts and dried fruit in their Protein Boxes). 

We always use reusable snack containers of various types too, are trying the Fuel brand this year. And, we've got some Wrap-N-Mat wraps for sandwiches that were a gift... we'll see if those work for us. I might pare down a bit more, but I'm looking forward to taking baby steps to involve the kids in making their own lunches on a more regular basis this year! Here we go!! 

Wordless Wednesday: Candy Crush Pops

Dirt Cake

So, the most fun part of this dirt cake was the root-beer flavored gummy worms from Oriental Trading. I've (amazingly) only made dirt cake once before in my life, and that was before I had kiddos.

This time I intended to make it for our Halloween dinner party, but didn't get to it, so made it the following evening.

Vanilla pudding, light Cool Whip, crushed chocolate Oreos and WhoNu? sandwich cookies (which are fantastic, by the way - I like them more than Oreos), all layered and served up with the worms!

Luckily, we did have some last-minute dinner guests to enjoy this with and they had two servings each. It was a hit and very easy to whip up.

Wicked Witch Treat Mix

So, instead of adding the cute witch hats to a batch of my Wicked Caramel Corn (which would be tasty), we went even easier (but very tasty) with a batch of air-popped popcorn (4 cups? 6 cups?), several cups (maybe 3-4 cups) Rice Chex cerals, 2 cups (or so) of pretzels rods, and about 1 cup of broken pecans mixed together then tossed with one 14-oz. bag of melted Wilton white candy melts, 1/8 cup of orange sprinkles and 1/8 cup of black & orange Halloween nonpareils. I really mostly eyeballed everything in my large rectangular roasting/sheet cake pan. That's how we do things around here. Thankfully, it worked out for us. 

We think the pretzel rods look like broomsticks, and the Chex a little like bristles. One child may have suggested that some wicked witches crashed their brooms - oh, the imaginations! Hmm... regardless, this is a tasty and cute treat mix with our witch hats tossed in bags for friends to enjoy!

A Touch of Magic!

Last year on Pinterest, there was this sweet holiday snack mix with Chex and M&M's and pretzels and some other items, including adorable Santa hats made from dipping Bugles in melted red candy melts, then white sprinkles on the bottom and a mini marshmallow on top. Totally adorable. It was on the Cookies & Cups blog, and I never ended up making it, but my lovely friend Heather gifted some to me. Maybe I'll make some next year — check it out — her photos are light-years more lovely than mine!

So earlier this week, when Erik requested Bugles at the store, I bought some and then remembered those adorable Santa hats, and thought of making witch hats by dipping Bugles in dark chocolate. When we got home, I found that we had green candy melts and butterscotch chips, so we melted both in the microwave, I filled small Ziploc bags with a little of each and piped circles onto parchment paper for the hat bottoms. Then we dipped the Bugles in the melted candy and popped them onto the (slightly hardened) circles.

The kids loved helping with these, and I think that they will be adorable mixed into a new concoction of my Wicked Caramel Corn with Chex and pretzels and nuts (and maybe some Halloween-colored M&M's). Cute and sweet, just like these two!

Angry Birds for lunch...

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!

Sous Saturday

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!

Hooray for Snow Cream!!

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

1. Scoop up a big bowl of clean snow from your backyard, and bring it inside.
2. 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.
3. Scoop snow into dessert bowls and pour "cream" on top!
4. Enjoy!! Delish! (Can also top with whipped cream and sprinkles or crushed candy canes for an over-the-top snow cream sundae!)
5. **I'm also tempted to try eggnog snow cream... doesn't that sound fabulous?!