"Miso Blocks" Bento

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

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...

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

A Cuppa Chai

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!

A Very Merry Year: August

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

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!

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

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

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, 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

Singapore Sling

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

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...

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).