Everything on Sticks

It's been a week of family and food (and there's really nothing better than that!). Yet with my toddler who is getting progressively harder to entice with food, I'm always on the lookout for new things to get her excited about eating.

My mom is an artist, and therefore always seems to have random tidbits throughout the house that inspire Zara to do something new.

So
My mom came up with the idea of putting pieces of food on colorful or decorated plastic toothpicks (if your kid has a leaning towards violence this is not the trick for you). I found as long as the food was in manageable pieces and looked colorful and appetizing, it worked really well. I have pictures here of turkey, cheese and grapes. Maybe I'm behind the game with this suggestion, but it worked and we are back on the eating train...for now!

'America's Hometown-Thanksgiving Parade

Plymouth MA does something unique with their Thanksgiving parade, they hold it the weekend before Thanksgiving. This being our first year as Plymouth residents, we felt we had to be there. I of course felt I had to in turn tell you about it. The planning committee, as well as other local newspapers tout it as the second best Thanksgiving parade, just behind Macy's.
So how was it? Well it took a long time for the parade to get to us, and my toddler was a little restless. A couple of snacks and a flyover later, she was excited and the costumes through the years kept her entranced until Santa. Check out the photos for a peek inside what you can come check out next year!

Up cycled Mittens

While this post isn't about cooking with a toddler, it is an activity I have been doing with Zara that I think can be replicated easily

I have been racking my brain for some fun, do-it-ourselves projects to give to people for the holidays. I had come across making mittens out of an old sweater, and decided to tweak the instructions so Zara could help me make them.

I want to preface this with the fact that I can't sew. I can move a needle and thread in and out of cloth in a basic manner and I am a beginner knitter. So, no big challenges there.

I went to our local thrift shop and found an incredibly ugly 100% wool sweater. The colors were actually red green and white in a Nordic pattern. I wanted wool because if someone washed these mittens they would semi-felt and could be stretched back into shape. So I washed the sweater to see if it would shrink (obviously on low heat or delicate to do what I could to stop shrinkage). Then against the arm seams I traced my hand stretching out the thumb and let Zara carefully cut out the pattern. Be careful, you want to make sure you are cutting through the entire arm fabric to get two sides of one glove. If you cut along a seam, then you already have a finished 'side' that you won't have to stitch together. Do this with both arms to get a set of mittens, leaving the middle portion of the sweater for another project, or more mittens.

We then set the pieces aside and unraveled the sweater bits we weren't using for another project.

Using the longer pieces of yarn you have unraveled and a plastic tapestry needle, have your child thread the needle. They are huge and it's a perfect threading motor skill to teach! Once threaded start stitching together the pieces. I cut off the cuffs if the sweater wrists and stitched those as the cuffs of the mittens. It didn't take that long, and my first pair are a little wonky, BUT they will be nice and warm, and a great up cycle project to do with your toddler!

Jam Making Class

Last night I went to a jam making class with some moms. Sounds lame I know but I've been trying to figure out how Zara can help me make jam/jelly. This holiday season we're planning on making several themed baskets and I thought jam would make a fantastic addition. But it involves a lot of hot stove time, and peeling of fruit, and so on.

So I took a class where the recipes are from the early 1900's and they only use natural products. Sounds pretty good right? So I hitched a ride with a friend (thanks Jenn!) and we got to cooking. The jam was cranberry, pear and lemon. I'll provide a modified recipe below, but while peeling and yada yadaI realized, I can make this fun for a two year old! Since we were using cranberries, I'm having Zara give them a bath and to be on the lookout for white cranberries. While tart, they contain a higher amount of pectin which will help 'gel' the jam. While she does that, I peel and dice the pear, zest the lemon and squeeze out the juice into a pot that has 1 cup of water. Add 3 cups of sugar (also a gelling agent along with the lemon!) and then the cranberries that have stems and water removed. Bring to a rolling boil, constantly stirring. Once rolling boil has happened lower heat. At this point in time you can have your toddler bung in a tbsp of cinnamon and then mash the fruit with a spoon (under close supervision...obviously...it's still on the stove). Keep stirring until jam thickens and when you scrap against bottom of pan you can see silver (or whatever color your pan is) clearly. (About 15 minutes).

Now here is where you will need sterilized products. While the dishwasher can help with most of it, an old fashioned tip is to swipe the lid with bourbon, sounds good already right? You are going to need jars, lids, a funnel, a spoon and a knife, all sterilized.

Here is where you have a choice. If you like your jam chunky, skim off any white nastiness from the top of your mixture with the knife. Then funnel into jars. You know you have enough when you lay a knife across the top and the jam touches it. Use your spoon to top up and your knife to get rid of bubbles. Seal and put in dishwasher for 90 seconds (if using jars pictured below, if using other jars, either boil for 5 minutes OR turn the jars upsidedown for 5 minutes. Other option, if you prefer more of a jelly, use a jelly cloth or a cheesecloth to strain out the chunky pieces.

Okay a bit upside down but here is the recipe;
1 cup cranberries
4 pears, peeled and diced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

How Pear Juice Saved My Tuesday

So, I'm a mom. And sometimes that means I talk about disgusting things at seemingly inappropriate times (although it always seems appropriate to me...but I digress).

That brings me to pear juice. My daughter has been having 'poopy' issues, which have gotten increasingly worse, leading to constant screaming and trying to 'go'. I have tried almost every natural remedy to no avail. In all this trial and error process, she has stopped drinking (obviously not completely). Someone told me that if she doesn't want the prune juice, to try other 'p's'. Which brings me to this...pear juice. I tell her it's apple juice, she drinks it and well...she poops! The problem isn't solved yet but it is a definite improvement!

No Power

I was going to post about making celebration oatmeal chocolate cookies with you all today, but we don't have power and therefore aren't cooking. Instead I'll leave you with an amazing toddler tip.
When giving your toddler a juice box, flip up the ends to make it look like wings. When they take a sip have them hold onto the wings so they don't squeeze the juice box making the juice get everywhere. It's a rug saver. You're welcome.

Peanut Butter Success!

As I mentioned in my last post, today Zara and I planned to make peanut butter from scratch using a recipe that she can follow.
What you'll need;

whole unshelled peanuts
Vegetable oil
Honey
Mortar and pestle
Small mixer like a cuisinart

I shelled the peanuts into the mortar and pestle and my daughter crushed them. We then dumped them into the cuisinart, added 2 tabl of oil and 2 tabl of honey. Blend and serve. It is delicious, and might be this year's Christmas presents. She lived being involved with each step of the process and we talked about how peanuts grow.

Halloween and Blogging Fail

My goal was relatively lofty. To blog everyday and have a new recipe to share everyday from my daughter's second birthday until her third. Not surprisingly it didn't happen. Was it that sometimes cooking with a two year old leaves taking beautiful pictures to the wayside? Sometimes. Was it laziness? A little bit. Was it procrastination? Absolutely. For some reason, I could NOT get myself to get to the computer to sit down and blog daily. I had the time. I just didn't do it. So, onto more realistic expectations on my part. I'm going to blog. About food. It's going to be about cooking with kids (or how to involve your kids when you're cooking and making it more fun for them). I'm going to include pictures because I'm actually going to take them instead of talking about it. I'm going to link more. To things I write about, places I mention, projects that I talk about, etc. I'm going to try to make this blog easier for YOU, and me, at the same time. I'll thank me later I'm sure.

On that note I'll wish all of you a Happy Halloween and if you are on the east coast, good luck getting through Sandy. While I'm in the Cape Cod area and it hasn't been all that bad as of yet (and I'm thinking we've already had the bad wind), I know Jersey and New York is getting slammed. Good luck folks.

Tomorrow Zara and I will be making homemade peanut butter. We're both hoping it'll be a beautiful beginning to Christmas presents. We'll see. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun.

Not in the Mood

Lately I just haven't felt myself. I'm down in the dumps and just feeling plain, well, depressed I guess. It's affected my sleep, my ability to clean (which I guess is arguable anyway) and cooking. Is it the change of weather? Maybe, this is our first fall in Plymouth, and I'm a bit nervous about the winter, especially since we've only lived through the 'season' so far and lately I seem to have only run into crazies on the street. But I still find beauty in this place, even as the season is changing, and Z and I both love being able to walk where we want and have the water at our fingertips. We've also met some great people here, so it's not that either. I think mostly it may be that while I love staying at home, right now I don't feel completely fulfilled. It's like I'm stalled in some capcity, waiting for something to happen, although I'm not sure what 'that thing' is. Anyway, I HAVE been cooking and creating and all those sort of things, I've got a couple of recipes for you below, and I'll keep you posted on my funk, I'm sure it'll clear up soon!

Vino Verde with Peppermint
How appropos that I bring you this as my first recipe after the above mini rant. I made this one late afternoon, it was hot, Z was simply tempertastic and I had just bought a case of vino verde (fantastic for those sticky summer months-it's a new, green wine that has a bit of a bubble to it!). I was trimming my peppermint that had exploded and a sprig fell into my glass. I went to take a sip without looking first and was greeted with a fantastic peppermint sented explosion. I highly recommend this combo. It's light, beautifully summery, and exceptionally satisfying.

Bloody Mary/Virgin Elizabeth
I know, it's a little strange that I have two alcoholic postings in a row, but I'm recording my recipes from August, and the beginning was obviously a little rough :-)
My sister was visiting, and we both LOVE bloody mary's, especially if there are good accoutrements added. SO, I had purchased siracha pickles, as well as all the makings for a bloody mary the night before her arrival, and we went to town. If you don't know what's in a bloody mary, here is my version (per glass);
-1 shot vodka
-3 shots tomato juice
-1 teaspoon horseradish
-1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
-1 tablespoon hot sauce
-1 squeeze of lemon
to garnish
-siracha pickles (3)
-nice stick of celery
-2 olives (I prefer garlic stuffed)
-lemon wedge
-2 cornichons
-dilly bean
Since we were making this in the presence of my daughter, we wanted to make her a special drink too, so we came up with this virigin elizabeth (obviously because they were sisters, and I'm a dork and love history).
-1 shot cranberry juice
-2 shots seltzer
-1 lemon wedge
-3 grapes
It was good, obviously not rocket science, and she loved it! She also had a red drink that had fancy things in it and we made a big deal out of saying cheers and clinking glasses.

Beet, Chicken & Peashoot salad
My husband had been traveling for several days and I needed a quick dinner to throw together for whenever he walked in the door (and we weren't sure when that was). I decided on salad and things I had in my fridge. Since I made my daughter chicken nuggets, I made a couple extra, and chopped them up and put aside. I then plated the lettuce (I use mixed with herbs) cut up an onion, tomato, some roasted beets and cheese. I put the chicken nuggets and pea shoots on top and voila! I quick and easy salad

Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta
Where I grew up, whenever someone wanted a quick and easy italian type meal, they would simply add ricotta. In a pinch it stretches the last of the pasta sauce, and creates a creamy, almost lasagna type meal. (Without the baking or the time). I was having one of those moments, where I had a half a bottle of sauce (I'm admitting to using bottled sauces) 1 sausage that had been cooked as part of another meal, and not a lot of inspiration. So I boiled some pasta, heated the sauce (I always recommend adding wine, additional fresh herbs and some cheese to created a heartier base to the bottled sauce) chopped up the sausage and then drained the pasta (leaving about 1/4 cup of the water to add to the sauce) and threw it all into the sauce. Once it was all incorporated, I added about a half a cup of ricotta and stirred, off the heat, until it had the consistency and taste I like. I suggest you taste and salt as you go. I don't like a lot of salt, but to each his own.

After a Long Weekend

Nothing says 'long weekend away' than coming back to an immaculate kitchen. It shows, well frankly it shows that I haven't used it. And while I enjoy my kitchen being clean, counters smellingly slightly of my lavendar cleaning product, there is nothing better than messing it all up again. While I still need to bring to you the entire month of August's cooking adventures, rest assured I have kept to my daily habit of cooking something new to bring to you. Oh, and I found the hookup from my camera to my computer, so pictures really ARE coming soon!

Nigella's Crustless Pizza
I really can't live without this recipe. I found it about a month ago and I think I've made it about 5 times since then. It's SO easy, it's delicious and I've only met one kid that didn't instantly love it. It also helps that it requires very little ingredients and once made the kids won't get your floors filthy with it (I know, you're thinking WHAT? Pizza that when dropped isn't messy?) Well yes, that is the absolute beauty of Nigella. Not only is she my absolute favorite cook, but she seems to inherently know and cook what I love, in a manner that I find easy and like to replicate with my own additions (or subtractions) in order to make it my very own. So here it is, Nigella's Crustless Pizza. I'm giving you my version of the recipe, hers can by found either on the food network or her own website.
-1 egg
-2/3 cup flour
-1 cup 2% milk
-1 cup cheese of your choosing (Nigella uses cheddar, I use a mixture of parm, mozz and whatever else I have)
-pinch of salt
-additional toppings of your choice
Preheat oven to 400F
Grease a pie dish
Mix together egg, four, milk and cheese. Add salt and any other herbs or seasoning you enjoy (as you may have gathered, I tend to use fresh herbs from my windowboxes, such as rosemary or oregano).
Pour this mixture into the greased pie dish and pop into the oven fro 30 minutes. Top with additional toppings, both Nigella AND I do not use tomato sauce, you can, obviously, tomato paste will also work, but you still get a 'pizza' without the mess if you omit tomato. Add fresh tomato, or pepperoni, banana peppers or garlic, you get the picture, then top with a little bit more cheese, really to your liking. Bake for an additional 2 minutes and...that's it! You've got a fantasticly glorious pizza that your kids and you will LOVE!

Panzella
I've heard this recipe called about a million different variations of the above word, and I'm sure there is a corret way to spell this. I'll find it...eventually. I LOVE good bread. In fact, bread and cheese may be my absolute downfall, so I almost always have a hunk of nice bread that is slightly off but not yet moldy, that I'm trying to figure out what to do next with. This is a wonderful recipe for that slightly older bread, that isn't turning it into a pudding which is my standard go-to. Give yourself about 30 minutes to marinate this salad once you've prepared it so that all the flavors have time to seep into the core of the bread.
-Hunk of old bread, 1/4 to half a loaf is best
-Peppers, either bell or banana, sliced to fork sized pieces, about one whole
-2 tomatoes diced thick
-1 small onion
-fresh basil
-fresh mint
-salt and pepper to taste
-squeeze of harissa paste
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/4 red wine vinegar
Slice up the bread and vegetables (and fruit). Toss into a bowl and add seasoning. Add oils, toss again and cover in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Toss before serving.

Mussels in White Wine
There are so many recipes out there to prepare mussels. And most of them are pretty good. I find I like to make mine up as I go. That way I'm always pleasantly surprised at the outcome. This last batch I made for a small dinner party where I was serving 3 kids under 6 and 4 adults. Needless to say I needed a lot of mussels, and they needed to taste delicious, but NOT of wine. So I modified my normal bottle of wine with about a half bottle and added other ingredients to ensure I was getting a tasty dinner.
-2 to 4 lbs of mussels. We go to a wonderful fish place that cleans them for free. It saves a lot of time and hassle since I have a tiny sink, but if you need to clean, it's really not that bad!
-1 head of garlic, peeled
-1/2 bottle of dry white wine
-1 tbl of olive oil
-1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
-1/2 stick of unsalted butter
-salt and pepper to taste
-handful of fresh tarragon to garnish
Add everything but salt and pepper, tarragon and mussels to a large pot (I use a dutch oven) and bring to a rapid simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes, taste, add seasoning to taste. Add mussels. Cook until the majority (if not all) of the mussels have opened. Plate, garnish with tarragon, serve. How easy is that?

A Sweet Way to Start

My daughter has recently become obsessed with lolilipops. At first I was really nervous about the whole thing. She tends to get really excited about them and shoves them in her mouth all at once, I was convinced she was going to choke, especially since she doesn't sit still. Then I got over that, and my new fear was that her teeth were going to rot out of her mouth, but she seems to be okay and I got over that. Now it's that every time we go into the local corner store, I can't get out of there without buying a lolilipop. I know, I know. Just say no. Well sometimes no doesn't work, and sometimes I just want the quick and easy solution. I think my daughter knows that. Did I mention she's into manipulating situations? I know, I know! My daughter is brilliant. Anyway, I've been cooking/baking/whatever a lot recently, and I thought I report of some of the kitchen endeavors.

Plum muffin tin pies
I love fresh fruit, and in the summer I tend to over buy whatever is in season because I love the smell, the feel and the taste of fruit, and I love that I can get such a variety of local fruit during this time because I know it won't last come winter. So with that in mind, I had a whole bag of plums that were really on their way out. I wanted to eat them, but I knew I couldn't eat ALL of them. We were having some people over for dinner that night, and I hadn't really thought of a dessert. I opened my freezer, cabinets and then voila! Was hit with an amazing idea. Mini plum pies. I had pie crust dough in the freezer. So how would I make these since I didn't have mini pie dishes? Muffin tin! Brilliant (My daughter gets it from me). This is what I used:
-4 medium sized plums (or however many people you are serving)
-1 pie crust cut into circles meant to be just a little bigger than your fruit (I used a cookie cutter I had)
-1 teaspoon of honey per pie + 1 tablespoon
-pinch of nutmeg per pie
-2 shots of Amaretto
-6 cloves
-crushed walnuts, 1/2 a small bag from the baking section
I cut out my dough (For 4 pies you'll need 8 circles) and set aside. I then lightly buttered a muffin tin. I then pitted my fruit. I did this by cutting the fruit in half and then edging my knife carefully around the pit into it pops out without much effort. I then set aside 4 halves (or 2 whole plums, however you want to do it). I covered the skin side with one of the dough circles. Add a teaspoon of honey to the pitted area and some crushed walnuts. Then place another dough circle and press two dough circles together. Place in buttered muffin tin with pitted side up. Continue to do this to each serving, creating mini pies. Bake in a 350 F oven for 15-20 minutes depending on the heat of your oven. While pies are baking, in a small saucepan, add 2 whole plums (or 4 halves, sliced), tablespoon of honey, Amaretto and cloves and let reduce for about 8 minutes. Set aside to thicken. When pies are ready pour sauce over and serve immediately. If you want to make the pies ahead of time, you can do so, I thought the sauce really added something special and brought out the flavor of the ripened plums. Therefore I would recommend you make the sauce right before you are about to serve which will also warm up the pies a bit.

Baked, Husked Corn
As you may have gathered, the summer is a time of overbuying produce in our house, and I had bought some beautiful corn at a farmers market. I wanted to cook it, but hadn't figured out what I was making for dinner yet. I also wanted Zara to help me shuck the corn and prepare it as this is something I have really good memories of as a child. So we pulled up the stool, and decided to shuck only partially so we could steam the corn in the husks (in the oven!). We first pulled off all the 'hair', as we pulled back the husk, as far as we could get it without detaching it. Then we rubbed fresh garlic, butter, salt, pepper into the putter. We then rolled each ear in a little garam massala spice mixture and then pulled with husks back up. We then popped a small amount of butter before we tied the top of each ear with a bit of kitchen twine. (We soaked the twine while we were husking). We then popped these in the oven for about 15 minutes at 375 F. DELICIOUS. Seriously, try it with whatever seasoning you want. I made it and then was inspired to make a curry, (which I decided as we were husking) which was delicious!

Chicken, Sweet Potato Curry
So not to sound like a broken record, but I had bouth a whole bunch of sweet potatos at a farmers market, and I had two leftover that had seen better days. As I was making the above corn, I decided they would be the basis of my curry. I had defrosted some chicken, and the chicken sweet potato curry a la Erin was born. I'm sure you can do this with whatever curry substitute you have (jar, pouch mix) but I really like to try to make mine if I can. I tend to take my inspiration from Madhur Jaffrey because I love her recipes and find them really easy to follow and are consistantly fantastic. I won't type out the recipe here for fear of copyright. But I used the Creamy chicken korma with almonds recipe. I takes 3 steps. It's amazing. But you can buy a pretty good korma mix in your ethnic section in the grocery store. I added sweet potato, chicken, ginger, onions and tomatos to mine!

Two Days in a Row!

So I'm actually posting two days in a row, which I consider a personal win. I absolutely have been taking pictures of everything I'm writing about, but of course, as soon as I do one thing, something else happens. I can't find the cord that connects the camera to the computer, so hopefully I'll find where that is soon, and post pictures. Anyway, to the food.

Fig Honey Cornbread
I wanted to make something sweet for a family I was dropping food off for (they had just had a baby), but not too sweet, and I wanted it 'to go' with what I was making them for dinner..(Empanadas). I always seem to have an overabundance of either cornmeal or those cheap Jiffy cornbread mixes you can buy at the grocery store 6 for $2 or something like that. So I decided I would make a sweet cornbread. I also had some green figs (which I am obsessed with during summer), which were starting to get past their peak, so I thought, why not mix these two fantastic things together, right?
So what do you need?
2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix. Make to box directions (obviously doubling for the two boxes)
6-8 whole green figs, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons good honey (or whatever you have really)
1 pinch of nutmeg
1 pinch of cinnamon
Once you've mixed the cornbread mix together, add honey, nutmeg and cinnamon. Then gently fold in figs. Bake to the box instructions.
If you like making things look a little fancy (and who doesn't) before you throw these in the oven, sprinkly a little cinnamon and sugar on top. This makes a sweet, slightly crunchy top. Amazing! Z helped me with every single part of this recipe. Instead of chopping the figs, we pulled them apart. It's messier, but who doesn't love messy with kids?

Amaretto Coffee
Okay, so this one is sort of a no-brainer, and it's not very child friendly (although it has been known to help make YOU more child friendly). I was having an...interesting day...full of temper tantrums and the like. I was exhausted. I was frustrated, I really need coffee, and a drink. I almost always have amaretto on hand. It's great to add to make a quick sauce for a dessert, and I love it over ice at night instead of dessert, especially in winter. Well I took a cup of coffee, made to my particular specifications (half and half, about a teaspoon) and added a good glug of amaretto to it. Oh My God. Amazing. There is this beautiful nutty flavor to the coffee with a little zing but not enough to make you feel tipsy, or, anything other than a little bit nicer to my child. Try it, you'll like it!

Baked Fish and Chips
I have a newish friend that my husband and I have been meeting each week for the past month or so to cook one another a type of cuisine. One of us hosts and cooks the majority of the meal and the other brings drink and either an app or a dessert appropriate to the cuisine chosen. The week that I recently hosted it was the opening ceremonies for the Olympics (I know this is a bit off). So we held an English feast. Being American, I thought it would be funny, if we did a take on fish and chips (instead of making a pie or a pasty). It helped that we happened to have fish and sweet potatos from a recent grocery trip.
What you'll need:
Dependent on the amount of people you are serving. We had 4, so I used 8 small pieces of hake
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
4 medium sized sweet potatos
1/2 cup olive oil
Beat egg and add water in small bowl
put flour in a small bowl
put breadcrumbs in a small bowl
Dip each piece of fish in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Put fish on a glass dish that is lightly brushed with about a tablespoon of olive oil.
Preheat oven to 400 F
Set fish aside when completed
Cut the tips of of each potato. Wash. Roughly cut potato. I recommend, cut in half, then in half again then half again. You should be able to cut the potatos in half one more time forming rough steak chips (or fries).  Put on a lipped cookie sheet. Add remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper (and whatever else you like, Old Bay? Steak Seasoning?) Pop chips and fish in the oven for 15 minutes. Check. My oven was finished cooking at this time, but it burns hot. I would check and then see if you fish and chips are done, if not, bake another 5-10 minutes as needed.

Finding Time

I know it often seems like an excuse that I "don't have time to blog daily'. And I have to be honest, before I had a kid, it would have absolutely been an excuse. I know tons of people who do so much everyday, and some days, I am that person. But there are days, days like today actually, when my child is so tempertastic that getting to the grocery store and back seems like a feat and a half and makes me long for the days that I was a working mom. (I mean really, getting to go to the bathroom by yourself, typing at a keyboard without a 'mommy hold me' whilst pulling on my arm, sounds like a dream!). But I chose to take this route, and most of the time, I don't regret it, but argh, the terrible two's are a time of testing one's sanity, working or not. So anyway, I haven't posted in a couple of days, use your imagination, I'm sure you will not come up with as many fantastical tempertantrum scenarios as what actually happened in real life. Go on, I challenge you :-)

Lemon Poppyseed Scones
I love scones. I mean I loved them before we moved to England, so, absolute dedication to my love of scones. I've made a ton of different types with varying success. So when I happened across a recipe that promised scones that didn't sit in the pit of your stomach, I decided to give it a go.  My husband's favorite flavors are lemon poppyseed (anything), so I decided that is what I would do as I had a ton of lemons on hand, and thanks to a recent trip to the Atlantic Spice Company, some poppyseeds.
What you'll need:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
2-3 tablespoons of poppyseeds (depending on how much you like them)
1 tablespoons of baking powder
1 lemon, zested
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks of chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (I would recommend 2% or whole, any more and you are introducing more water than milk into the recipe)
Preheat the oven to 375F
Mix flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, zest and salt together (can do in a processor, if you have been reading this blog, you know that I LOVE using my hands)
Add butter in batches and pinch together into flour mixture until you get a grainy feeling mix or 'meal'. Whisk together egg and lemon juice in a separate bowl. When they are combined add to the flour mixture. Now add the milk. This should form a sticky dough mixture. Flour your hands and a counter surface (or a large cutting board) and dump the dough out on your working surface. Knead dough until it is manageable and you can beat down to cut your scones. I like using cookie cutters so that I have a uniform shape (and I let my child pick out the cutter and cut them out). Make sure if you are using a cutter to flour it as you go. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. (I normally top the scones with some sugar and nutmeg before I put in the oven, but this is just my person preference)

Grilled Cheese with Pickle and Tomato
I have an affinity for grilled cheese, especially when I'm feeling a little nostalgic for New Jersey. (Not they they are related to NJ in any way, just my memories growing up I guess). I also love Branston's Pickle. It's an acquired taste, one that I picked up while pregnant in London. It was a craving that I can't quite get rid of. I love the vinegar taste. I thought I would make my sandwich a little more grown up, so I cut some extra sharp cheddar cheese, a tomato and buttered up my bread. I spread of layer of pickle on my sandwich and then arranged per my liking. It was delicious, and the crunch of the pickle and tomato was wonderful with the oozy cheese!

Pesto Pasta
So you may remember that I have been trying to grow herbs in a couple of windowboxes with a varying degree of success. But my basil has exploded. I mean take over the entire windowbox exploded. So I decided to make pesto, because who doesn't love pesto? You can make this your own by adding ingredients (or omitting) as you like! So this is what I used (this time);
2 handfuls of fresh basil
1 tablespoon pinenuts
1/2 cup of parm cheese
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Blend all the above ingredients until combined
While you are doing the above, make the pasta per the box or your personal preference. When down drain, reserving about a tablespoon of pasta water. Add pesto to pasta and serve while hot. Add more olive oil if needed.

Easy Cooking with Kids

I think a lot about cooking. I've come to realize how much I love it and how much apart of my personality it entails. During my daily, hourly, minutely (is that a word? It should be) thoughts of cooking, I'm often thinking of ways I can cook that allow my daughter to help. I want her to help because to me, cooking is something that helps showcase your love and intentions. Think of the movie Like Water for Chocolate. Depressing, I know, but so true. Any emotion you have truly can come through in your cooking. Whether it's trying to impress new friends, making something beautiful for your loved one, or emitting fun for your kids, cooking is something that CAN be easy, and fun. Novel, I know. But that's my deep thought for the day. Not so deep, but exceptionally true. Part of the whole idea behind this year long project is to not only show myself that I can make something different, everyday, but I can have my child, during a developmentally difficult phase in her life (the terrible two's) help me make and eat these hopefully beautiful delicious things (unless I'm just making an alcoholic beverage, then, sorry, I've still made something, but I obviously needed a pick me up :-)!

Today I wanted to focus on things that I like to make for others. I have 3 recipes that are relatively easy, and can be presented beautifully and one, I gave as a gift to my father last father's day from my daughter.

Goats Cheese, Plum and Basil Brushetta
So this isn't a combination that I would have thought of naturally (well I would have, but I don't think most would). I had some beautiful cranberry walnut bread that needed to be eaten, I had just bought a large amount of unripe plums and the basil I had been growing in my windowbox had actually taken off. Oh, and we were going to a friends house for dinner, and I was bringing the appetizer, but my daughter had been throwing a fit for going on two hours. I looked in my fridge and was honestly stumped. I then had an overwhelming desire to eat one of the plums, knowing they were very unripe. So I cut a piece of the bread, dipped it in goats cheese and put some plum slices on it. Why? Because I love all of those things, so I figured, this would be a decent lunch!. And Oh My God. It was delicious. And not just delicious because I was hungry. Honest to God delicious. So I thought about it a little more, and started slicing my bread and arranging on a plate. I then spread some pepper crusted goats cheese that I bought at Trader Joe's, on the bread. I had let the cheese come to room temperature so it was easy to spread. I then sliced the plums thinly and lined each bread slice with about 4 pieces of plum. I then topped with basil and drizzled with a teeny bit of olive oil. These were SUCH a bit at the dinner! They were gone in under 10 minutes and everyone was raving about the idea. I felt exceptionally smug. I googled it to make sure it hadn't been done before. It hadn't. BOOM. I created a recipe that wasn't one I just modified. LOVE IT!
How did my daughter help? She spread the cheese and placed the basil.

Guac
So everyone has their verson of guacamole. And I admit fully that I have never been to California, Mexico, or any southwestern state (absolutely despicable, I agree. I'm trying to remedy soon). This appetizer or side dish is something that I've grown up with, and I love avocados. I just do. I could eat them on everything (and when I get them, I pretty much do). So my guac always is lightly seasoned, heavy of the green stuff.  I like the pop of color other vegetables provide, so I make sure when I'm making this to have some of these on hand for my visual requirements!
4 large ripe avocados
1 large nice red tomato (vine ripened if you can get it) chopped
1 medium red onion chopped
1 roasted red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 large lemon
Peel the avocados. An italian friend showed me the easiest way to peel a avocado is to score all the way around and separate the halves. Then peel the back off the avocado, leaving all of the beautiful green insides. Then when you are slicing, the pip will fall right out. Stick these all in a bowl and mash with a fork. Roll your lemon to get the juices flowing. Slice in half and take out as many pips as you can. Zest half the lemon into the avocados and then squeeze the juice out of both sides careful not to allow and pips to come out. Add chopped vegetables, omit those you don't like, add others instead, like corn! Salt and pepper to taste. My mom uses a lime instead of a lemon, it's personal preference, use what you like most! Now for a secret punch. If you are serving at an adult only party, add a splash of tequila for a kick!
So how did Z help? Mashing the avocados of course! She's starting to get the hang of the peeling as well!

Grandpa Greg's Granola
My dad loves granola. Loves it. I wanted to give him something unique for father's day from Zara, that she could actually say she 'made'. Then it came to me. Make him granola. It's something that she could really make most of, and he would LOVE it. (And if he loved it, I could give him the recipe to make himself! Double win!)
What will you need?
4 cups rolled oats (I use Quaker Oats)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried blueberries
1 cup sunflower seeds
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350F
Toss oats, coconut, almonds and sunflower seeds together. In another bowl, toss honey and oil together. Add wet mixture to oat mixture and toss, adding cinnamon and nutmeg until mixture is covered. Dump mixture onto lipped baking sheet that is covered with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes or until mixture turns a golden brown (and smells delicious). Make sure you stir the mixture every 2-5 minutes so it doesn't burn! Remove and cool. Add dried fruit and stir. Store in airtight container. I presented this to my father in a large mason jar that we had decorated together. It was sweet and delicious!

Black Bean Extravaganza

I always keep a lot of canned and dried beans in my cabinet. My siblings think it has something to do with me being the eldest and the fact that my mom also stockpiles (and my mom stockpiles because she grew up in the 60's...and probably that is what HER mom did...but I digress). So whenever I want something comforting, easy and inexpensive, I look to my bean supply and figure out what to make. In my last post I told you about a new bean salad, but my tried and trues have got to be Black Beans and Rice, Empanadas, and a new one to me (but not to my tastebuds) the taquito.

Black Bean & Cheese Empanadas
This is a GREAT recipe to give away, as it's a little time consuming to make, but I typically double the recipe and have enough little 'pockets' to throw some in the freezer, and have on hand for a quick meal or lunch for my husband to take to work. (He is leftover KING).
You can really add what you want and like to this mixture, obviously there are the basics. I vary this each time depending on what I have in my cabinet or fridge. This time my empanadas had:

• 3 cans of black beans, washed and drained
• green pimento olives. I use about 10 large sliced thin
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped finely but not minced (which is just my preference, mince away!)
• 1 large white or yellow onion, minced
• 2 packages of Goya Empanada discs. You can get these in the frozen section of your grocery store in the 'ethnic foods section' (ridiculous, I know, but there it is). These come in white and a reddish color. I've used both but find that the white looks a little more appetizing for savory.
• about 1/2 cup of vegetable oil for frying
• 10-20 cubes of cheese (I use pepper jack)
• 1 small can of chopped tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste

Add the beans, garlic, onion, olives and tomatoes to a pot and simmer for about 30-45 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat and let cool. While this is cooling, take your discs out of the fridge or freezer. These need to be cold but pliable. When beans have cooled enough to handle, take one 'disc' and put a spoonful of beans in the pocket and a cube of cheese in the center. Fold in half and press closed with your fingers being careful not to drip any of the mixture out (the first couple of times it will drip out, it's delicious, just lick your fingers). Then take a fork and press around sealed edges, then flip and do the other side. This ensures that the pocket is closed and makes for easier frying and transport. Do this to as many pockets as you are making. Add oil to frying pan, wait until oil is hot enough that when you stick a fork in it, bubbles form around them (small). Drop as many pockets in as you can without them touching in order to make flipping them over easier. They need about 2-3 minutes on each side. They should have a light brown color in various places on either side. Take out of the oil and onto a paper toweled plate. Let cool. Do this to all the pockets. Plate and serve! I usually serve with salsa and salad. These are also grate reheated. Just put them in an 250 F oven for about 15 minutes or until heated through. While the frying portion of this can be difficult to do with a 2 year old, preparing the bean mixture, and letting her press the fork to seal the pocket is a great way to include your child in the preparation of this portion of your meal.

Johnny Cakes
These are great little additions to a meal and can be made with the above, although I prefer to have them when having a large salad OR a soup or stew. But we were having some people over and I was CRAVING them. I happened to have a mix of them and just whipped it up. I find it's something that a lot of people haven't had before, but are familiar with the taste and texture so it feels comforting. A Johnny cake is basically a friend biscuit. You can either get a mix in the ethnic section of your grocery store, or make from scratch. They have a cornmeal and milk base and can be made flat or like a biscuit. Serve them sweet or savory and feel free to add cheese or herbs to the mixture to spice it up!

• 2 cups cornmeal
• pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoons of butter (I prefer unsalted)
• 1 cup milk (I use 2% because it's what I have in my fridge, use what you have, but I would suggest that the smaller the percent, the more water instead of milk you are adding to your mixture, so your cakes will have a slightly different consistency)
• hot water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying

Mix or cream (depending on if you are doing this via hand or mixer) the cornmeal, salt and butter together. I tend to do this by hand and use my fingers to do this as I like how it feels and I like the control I have over the batter. Add milk and a little bit of hot water (just to make the mixture a little more moist, but make sure it is still firm but pliable!!)

Add oil to frying pan and allow to heat up until when you put a fork in small bubbles appear around the fork. Drop in the batter by the spoonful and do about 4 dollops at a time (4 cakes). Fry for about 30 seconds and flip. Cakes should be a golden brown color. Transfer to a paper toweled plate and let cool. Serve when warm.

How did Zara help? Well she helped me mix the batter! While she doesn't LOVE getting her hands dirty, I usually add some cheese to this mixture so when she gets bored she can shred and then eat cheese!

Black Bean & Squash Taquitos
So we were going to a friend's for dinner and the theme was 'Mexican'. I had a bit of my empanada mixture left and I wanted to use it up. So I sliced up some squash that I had bought at a local farmers market (really any type of squash will do as long as you slice it thinly. I sauteed for just a couple minutes in some vegetable oil until soft and then I added my leftover bean mixture to heat through. In another pan I took a package full of corn tortillas and 'fried' each one until pliable, about 30 seconds. I then took them out of the oil and spooned some of the bean/squash mixture along the middle and rolled tightly immediately. I then placed into a long glass dish. I did this until all of my tortillas were gone. I then baked in a preheated 400 F oven for 25 minutes or until crispy. This is a fabulous starter or great as a main with a salad. How did my daughter help? Well she picked out the squash and as I sliced the squash I let her throw it into the saute pan (with supervision of course!)

Hot Hot Hot

Well this weekend has been HOT!. I'm sure not down south hot, or even New York City hot, but up here in the New England I expect a cooler summer. Well New England has not delivered. It's hot, muggy, and requiring several outfit changes for both myself and my child (I can't speak for my husband, he either likes feeling his own sweat, or doesn't sweat as much as we do...both possible).

Of course this didn't stop me from cooking and baking, especially since we are now hunkering down and trying to track all of our spending, live by a budget (oh-my-god. This is SO hard for us!) in order to see if we can save to have some sort of down payment so the mortgage people don't laugh at us when we go to get pre-approved...) So my cooking and shopping skills have come in handy, as has the ability to keep my daughter busy while cooking or actually helping me cook (which has become more of a reality the older she is getting.)

So while I'm catching up on what I've been making, I'm STILL making, and, the items are DELICIOUS. Be jealous.

Tortellini Caprese
This is one I stole from my mom, with modifications (as I think everyone should put their own stamp of what they are making depending on what they like, or are in the mood for).
This one is SO easy, SO tasty and everyone ate it. All of it. There were no leftovers. Did I mention Zara helped? Because she did. She actually made a large part of the stove-less portion of this dish. She was so excited and it was nice to be able to talk her through what I was doing as I was doing it and have her pay attention. So here goes;

• 1 package of frozen tortellini

• 1 container grape tomatoes (we actually used tomatoes that some friends brought us from their garden which was super appreciated and amazing. I need to get a green thumb. Maybe that will be my next project. I'll update you provided I haven't killed my violet...)
• Mozzerella Cheese. I used a nice chunk from a piece that was from the cheese section at the grocery store as opposed to the square hunk you can find by the string cheese. I just cut this up in small pieces about the size of a quarter, but to be honest I got a bit lazy and started tearing it by the end, which allowed me to have Zara help.
• 1 bunch of basil. If you can find both purple and green it makes a really beautiful plate, but use whatever you can get your hands on. Fresh basil is a must for this dish.
• Salt and pepper to taste

I made the tortellini per the instructions on the bag, then drained and put back into hot pot. I added the mozz cheese and let it melt and then threw in the tomatoes and salted and peppered. I made sure I seasoned to my taste then I added the basil so it kept it's color and didn't wilt. That's it. Delicious. So what did my two year old do to help? She tore up the cheese and threw it into the pot as I held it, she added the tomatoes and the basil. She also likes to turn the salt and pepper mills. So she really did most of the hard work!

Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes
My daughter loves pink cupcakes (and cake, and well, anything pink for that matter). So when I was cooking for a mom that had recently given birth, I decided to bring dessert, because, well if I had given birth I'd want dessert. Not only that, but we were having some people over for dinner that we had never had over before, so I wanted to make something Zara would eat, something easy, and something that was pretty foolproof to serve as a dessert, but looked impressive (and, something that Z could help me make).
So I used a pink or strawberry cake mix, made per the directions (although I always use a little less oil, just because, I do. I actually don't have a healthful reason for it, I've always done it, my cupcakes and cakes are always still moist and delicious, so I've never seen a reason to deviate.). I sprayed my cupcake tin, and then spooned 1/3 of the way full. I then added a frozen whole strawberry to the center of the cupcake batter, and added another spoonful of batter. I baked per the box instructions and voila! I decorated with chocolate icing (it was what I had) and then covered with pink sprinkles (per Zara's request). These cupcakes were beautiful looking and when you bit into them they had a pleasant burst of strawberry goodness. They were a HUGE hit not only from the mom and her older children, but the people we had over. Double win. So what did Zara do? She helped me mix all of the ingredients together. We do this together. I bought a small whisk and she uses that and I use a fork. That way I can ensure everything is mixed properly, and she can help! She also placed the strawberries in the center and added the sprinkles!

Chickpea Salad
Since moving to Plymouth I have joined a book club (I know, I know SO Suburbia) and there are a ton of different types of people who attend, that have different food tastes as well as requirements. One of the food restrictions is gluten free. Now this doesn't mean you have to only bring gluten free things to book club, but I always feel like if I can, then more people can enjoy more of the food. We were also at the end of the month and hadn't gone grocery shopping in awhile, and my husband had the car, so I was limited to what was in my cabinets. So I found two cans of chickpeas, and decided to make a summer salad.

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• salt to taste
• a good glug of olive oil (about 3-5 tbl)
• 1/4 cup parm cheese (I'm sure other hard cheeses would work well too)
• I've been growing some herbs in a windowbox, and decided to use all of them. So I used; a sprig of mint, chopped, a sprig of basil chopped, a sprig of oregano chopped and a handful of chives chopped. 

I mixed everything together and seasoned to taste. This was seriously so delicious!

Back...after a long drought

So I have no excuse for not blogging except that I have a two-year old who is Bossy Bossy Bossypants. (I now know why Tina Fey named her book that).

Good news IS, I actually have been writing down the recipes that I have made since my last post and now, and will sort of do what I did before (a trend? Maybe) of posting several recipes at once. I WILL post pictures (I have surprisingly actually been taking pictures, I'm just working off two computers and a cell phone, so I don't have my shit together to upload them right now...but they're there, so it'll happen...promise.

I'm also thinking of maybe doing a video of some of the recipes to show you all how easy they recipes are, and how most of the time, my two year old is in the kitchen with me, often helping.

Goats Cheese, Leek Omelet.
So we have a friend that recently had a baby, her second, and totally to her credit she is rocking it. Making it look super easy (and might I add, making me feel even more like a super flustered mom...oops!) :-) I invited her over for lunch so our kids could play together, I could her baby and she could...eat...relax...whatever. I made the kids a quick lunch and wanted to do something quick, healthy and delicious for us, that I could cook in under 5 minutes including prep. I had bought some fabulous leeks at the Stephen's Field farmers market last week and wanted to use them before they got all soggy, so I washed and trimmed the leek and then chopped it up and separated (as that is how I like to eat them). I had bought a trio of goats cheese from Trader Joes (because I knew my husband would be traveling a lot this month and I LOVE goats cheese, and he hates it, so...yay for goats cheese!) which I decided to crumble into the omelet. I beat 2 eggs together, added a little bit of half and half, salt and pepper and put in the pan. It took about 2 minutes, I flipped it over diner style to get it nicley yellowey brown on both sides and served with a green salad. It was delicious, she said I should be a chef, my inner ego glowed, I told myself I HAD to start blogging more regularly. Then I promptly forgot.

 Potato / Onion Pizza.
This is a momma Mell-Taylor staple, I feel like I've mentioned this before, but no, I haven't. Okay, so refer to one of my previous posts for potato cheddar pizza. It's pretty much the same thing ( I obviously make a lot of pizza) I use store-bought pizza dough, although making pizza dough yourself is fairly painless, I just find that with Zara, I need the extra minutes not in the kitchen, and voila! Store bought is the way to go for me. So store bought dough. Work it with a little flour to stretch, I don't use a rolling pin primarily because I don't have one, but there is something about getting your hands into the ingredients and really feeling them, makes me love cooking that much more (and really, if I'm honest with myself, makes me love watching those I love liking the food I serve). So stretch out the dough to how you want your pizza to look, knowing that when you cook it, the dough will shrink a little bit (if you know how to not have it do that, PLEASE, let me know!). I then sauteed potatos and onions on the stove (which is different from before, but I wanted Z to help me stir) added some garlic, salt and pepper until  the potatos were cooked through. Cook the pizza dough with some olive oil for 10 minutes. I added some rosemary and had rubbed garlic on the dough before I cooked. Remove from oven, remove rosemary and added potato, onion mixture. Cook for 20 minutes until the dough looks pretty 'done' but not burnt. (Do all this cooking on a cookie sheet.) Remove pizza from cookie sheet directly onto the rack. Cook for 10 minutes. Take out of oven, then grate some parmesan cheese over the top, slice and serve.

Ginger Tangergine Curd Pie in a cookie crust.
Okay I know, this actually sounds pretty disgusting. Bare with me. My husband loves fruit curds. Especially lemon and key lime. Fruit curds are my least favorite dessert. Ever. Never met a fruit curd I liked. (And I am a dessert person). So when I came across Stonewall Kitchen's Ginger Tangerine curd at the Atlantic Spice company, I sort of did a double take. I like those two flavors...a lot. So I bought it (it didn't hurt that it was 25% off) and it sat in my cabinet. Then we were having people over for dinner, who were relatively new friends, and if you know me, you know I like to have all my courses covered when you eat at my house (appetizer, main, salad and dessert). SO, I was sort of flustered looking through my cabinet where I came across rainbow chip cookies that had seen better days and the aforementioned fruit curd. And an idea popped into my head. So I made a makeshift cookie crust. This is EASY, I actually do it everytime I have old cookies in our cabinet, which is surprising how often that is. We tend to buy cookies in bulk when Z decides she likes something, and then she is instantly over it, we really need to STOP buying in bulk obviously!  Anyway, you crush up the cookies (put it in a plastic ziploc bag, let your child crush it. Z LOVES it!) add some sugar, I tend to vary the amount depending on the type of cookie. This time, I added about half a cup of sugar, which I sifted through with a fork. Then I added about 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Stir together and then dump into a pie dish. Press down with the bottom of a spoon (Again, I like to use my hands and then my knuckles, because I like to feel (and test) my food). Put in the fridge for 10-20 minutes to let chill and set. Take out and I just added the curd right from the jar. Ghetto? Sort of. Amazing. Absolutely. DO it. Buy this stuff. It's amazing. I am a fruit curd convert (almost). And, no baking. Double amazing.

Argh...

So the last several days have been temper tantrum abound, following an almost completely sleepless night. Needless to say I'm exhausted, slightly short tempered, as is my entire household. When I ask my daughter what's wrong she replies "NOTHING!" I'm realizing that must be my answer when my husband asks me what's wrong. It's really weird to see yourself coming out of your child's mouth.

Because of the short tempers, cooking as been a little less experimental and more comfort and easy. Therefore the next couple of homemade items below may seem less than fantastic to you, but pretty freaking awesome to me.

Pasta with turkey, onions and scallions in a cream sauce. We had a half a pound of ground turkey in the freezer that I had been meaning to make burgers out of, but frankly I was sick of the idea of eating a burger, but I wanted to 'clean out the freezer' before we went grocery shopping again. Therefore I needed to cook what I had. Which consisted of the turkey, two scallions, a tomato and of course, garlic and onions. So really I just browned the meat, added some salt, pepper and cumin (because I like it). As I was doing this I cooked a pound of the little kids pasta ibambini (again, it was what was in the cabinet). I then added the onions and garlic to saute with the browned meat. I then chopped up the scallion and tomato, added it to the pan. Then finished with a cup of half and half and a half a cup of the water the pasta was cooked in. I tasted to check the seasoning and then added the pasta to the pan and stirred together to incorporate. It was DELICIOUS. We have been eating it for about 3 days now. Still no complaints. I consider that a pretty good dish. On my do again list.

Zipper Bananas. My mom has this story about my sister being a 'spirited' child. Actually she has a lot of stories about this. Since my child is also a 'spirited' child (I prefer spicy or sassy) these stories are told often when the family gets together, much to the disdain of my sister. But really what the stories are about is 1) you, as a mom WILL survive this and 2) look how amazing the spirited child is, despite what doctors, teachers, etc. have said, they are actually the sensitive, directed child, who, in all practicalities, will probably be the most successful (sorry Alex). Anyway. The story that relates to the recipe I created while thinking of this story is this: when my sister was about 2, she asked my mom for a banana, but since she didn't really talk, my mom thought she indicated she wanted a banana. So my mom peeled it for her, and gave it to her. My sister FLIPPED. My mom was frustrated. It terms out my sister wanted to PEEL the banana herself. My mom sewed the banana back up, so my sister could peel it. It always makes me smile, and I've now myself had several similar instances. Although not with something as easy as a banana, which Z won't eat. So, in an effort to get her to want to eat a banana, I peeled one side of a banana, but left the peel on, and made a slice where I peeled it. I then inserted marshmellows and chocolate chips in a pattern that looked like a zipper. I then put the peel over it and put in the stove in a bit of tinfoil at 250F for about 5 minutes. I then let Z 'unzip it' and there was this lovely gooey chocolately banana mess. She LOVED it. (I did too) Voila! Zipper Banana.

English Muffin BLT. So yesterday because I was running off to see a movie with some other moms (I know, I know, I turning into one of those moms, but don't knock it when you need some 'without child' time.) I had some bacon in the fridge, some english muffins and had the requirement of dinner being done in less than 20 minutes. So I put the bacon on parchment paper (easier clean up) on a baking sheet at 425 F for 15 minutes, and cut up tomatoes. I then toasted the english muffins and added mayo which I had added wasabi and lemon juice to, to give it a kick. I then just made standard sandwiches with mayo mixture, tomato, two slices of bacon and arugula, then a bit more mayo. That's it. I served with grapes. Bit hit. Easy, and not just a BLT.

Sanity Eating

I'm going to post the items that I made during the first 6 days of July as part of the 'make the terrible two's away' project I'm trying to work through. So far it seems to be going well (although my posting is a little lack luster). I'm convincing myeslf that I will take pictures of tonight's creation, so hopefully I remember before we dig in and make a complete mess of it!

Corn Pie. This is a dish that one of my best friend, Natalie Pilato's mom makes. She obviously makes it better than I, and Natalie and I have made this countless times trying to come up with the recipe to make it just like her mom. I made it pretty near perfect the other day, and it is easy, healthy, vegetarian and very VERY kid friendly. It's on par with a quiche. If you know how to make that, then you're more than halfway there. I like garlic in pretty much anything, so if you don't, omit it, add something else, I've always found the point of my cooking and sharing is to adapt the recipe or idea to be something that YOU love and will make and eat over and over again and SHARE with family and friends, because really, that is what makes eating so much fun. So I'll give a quick rundown of the ingredients as I actually have this written down like a recipe (crazy, I know).
The list:
3 large or medium eggs (your preference and depending on how big your pie dish is)
1 store bought pie crust (unless you're feeling adventerous, then make your own)
1 small onion chopped or minced
1.5 tbls of flour
1 tbl sugar
1 clove garlic
1 tea. salt
1 cup half and half or heavy cream (depending on how you like your custard-try it with half and half first if you're unsure)
2-4 tbls melted butter
1/2 bag of frozen corn (probably about 1.5-2 cups worth)
Knob of leftover cheese

Heat your oven to 375 F. Beat eggs. Add onion, flour, sugar and salt together, covering all onions. Add half and half and butter. Mince garlic and add. Cover the bottom of the pie crust with the corn and then cover with liquid mixture. We always have some cheese in the fridge that should be eaten...stat. I add the small knob (probably 1/4 cup) to the pie and incorporate into the liquid.  Bake for 50 minutes and then let stand to cool. Serve when warm not hot. I like this pie cold or warm, you decide!

Potato Cheddar Pizza
This is one of my mom's go to's. It easy SO tasty and never lasts more than 5 minutes on the table. It's a really easy dish to make ahead of time and bring to a friend's house for a dinner app, or to serve as dinner itself with a salad.

Take store bought dough. Work it out to make it into the shape YOU like your pizza to be. Use flour when you are stretching out your dough, it'll help from getting dough stuck to your hands and will keep it's shape better. Preheat over to 350 F. Put onto baking sheet that has been rubbed down with olive oil or sprayed with Pam. (Don't over spray, it's just gross). Add a little olive oil all over the pizza and bake for 10 minutes. In the meantime slice up some potatos (like 5 medium) and one small onion. Saute until potatos are soft. This can also be done ahead in the oven if you are so inclined (I always forget to prep). Take dough out of oven and spread with potato onion mixture. Bake for another 10 minutes. Take out and add one clove of garlic thinly sliced and some fresh rosemary if you have it on hand. Add Cheese. I prefer a cheddar mix for this one, and it's what I normally have on hand has my daughter eats it like candy, but really use whatever you like and have on hand. Mozzerella works, Montery Jack, the cheese does affect the taste of the overall pizza, so think about what you would want on a baked potato, and use that. Cook pizza for about 5 minutes and then transfer pizza from baking sheet directly to the oven rack. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Let cool and serve. Again, this one is also good cold AND fantastic with the addition of some Frank's Red Hot Sauce or Chilula.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Grilled Tomatoes.  We were going to a BBQ, I wanted to bring something really tasty, sort of unique, that would feed the veggies in attendance or work as a tasty side and bring out the taste of a burger. So I bought some of the cheap tomatoes that are medium sized. Cut the top off on an angle forming a cone inside the tomato. I then took two packages of plain goats cheese and added a handful of chives, a handful of oregano and some salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate then fill the tomatoes. (Adding a teaspoon of olive oil helps).  Chill for about 10 minutes to set. When you're ready to grill take out of the fridge and grill 5-7 minutes. Serve!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza. I wanted to bring an app to the aforementioned BBQ, I love making pizza and I heard that the husband host LOVES buffalo chicken. So after looking in my kitchen for something easy to make that could be made out of things I already had, I decided upon this. I really made it up as I went along, but everyone seemed to love it so...here it is...
Store bought dough. Use flour to shape dough however you like your pizza. Cook chick until just cooked through in the oven. I used 3 chicken fillets and reserved the rest of the package for a future dinner. Rub olive oil on dough. Place pizza dough on cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 10 minutes. Marinate chicken and onions in Franks Red Hot Sauce. Take pizza out and smear blue cheese dressing on the dough as you would using a red sauce. Add chicken, onions, marinated hot sauce and one clove of minced garlic. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. Add about a cup of cheddar cheese and cook for 5 minutes. Slide pizza off cookie sheet directly onto oven rack. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve. This was HOT, and amazing. Alter according to your heat preference.

Ramen Peas and Chicken. I needed to make a quick cheap meal in a pinch. I always have a massive amount of ramen noodles on hand because frankly the noodles are easy to cook, my daughter loves them, and if you don't use the seasoning packet, you can control the taste AND sodium level (bonus!) So I cooked two packages of Ramen, used frozen peas (it was what we had on hand), fresh peppers, garlic to taste. I cooked noodles according to the package and set aside. I then stir fried the vegetables and when they were cooked I scrambled an egg in the middle of the pan. I added the cooked noodles and added soy sauce, a pinch of cumin, chinese 5 spice and ginger. The soy adds all the salt you need. I cooked until the taste was to my preference and then served while still piping hot. For my husband and I added a splash of Siracha sauce to amp the heat level.

3 Quinoa, sausage, onions and scallions. I decided last minute that when I picked my husband up from work I would bring dinner and we would watch a Cape Cod League baseball game just over the bridge. It was friday, I thought it would be relatively relaxing, and there is a large green space. So I looked in the cabinet, saw I had a quinoa mix and started to go. I had defrosted some sausage earlier so I cooked that in the oven for about 20 minutes on 350 F while I sauteed and cooked the quinoa mixture. I then cut up 3 scallions, a half a small onion, a clove of garlic, a tomato and tossed in a handful of raisins (for that sweet and savory thing. My husband really loves it). I then added everything together with some oregano and covered in a travel dish. I then packed some microwave popcorn, grapes seltzer and rice cakes and ran out the door. Dinner made in 20 minutes flat, and it was fantastic. Husband and kid both want the same meal again. Plus the 3 types of quinoa with all the different color veggies made the dish beautiful.

Turning Terrible Two

My daughter recently turned 2, and with it came the screaming, fake crying, no-ing and all that comes with it (or comes with it starting at 18 months!). So in order to keep my sanity, and to give me something to look forward to as I am trying to make sure I'm not raising a vampire (did I mention she bites?) I started making something everyday. My plan was to share it daily on this blog, but I'm obviously awful at posting on a regular basis, so I'm going to put 6 of the 'item's I have made since her 2nd birthday, and add until hopefully I 'break even' and can start adding them daily as I do them (with pictures, since I'm bad at that too, but all in good time...right?)

So since Z turned 2, or starting on her actual birthday I made:

Two tiered cake. I have a picture, so I'll re-edit the blog when it's not almost midnight so you all can see what it looked like. She asked for a pink and speckled cake (she can talk really well, I didn't think I ever used the word 'speckled' but apparently I must, or Yo Gabba Gabba does. Anyway. I baked two cakes, both Duncan Hines (I think-I know, I'm awful not making my cakes from scratch....who has the time really. I TOLD you I have a 2 year old right?) One was Strawberry and the other Funfetti. I let them both cool and then I topped the funfetti (or the bottom layer) with chocolate icing and then covered with M&M's. I then put the Strawberry cake on top and chilled it. The next morning I covered in vanilla icing and then used M&M's to make a 2. It was a HIT! We had a couple of friends over to celebrate, and while I don't think the kids actually ate any of the cake, the parents did, and Z liked blowing out the candles and SEEING that there was pink and speckled cake, so mission accomplished.

Lemon water. The next day was HOT. I was thirsty, Z was thirsty and she was refusing regular water. We ran out of seltzer and frankly, it was too hot to go to the store as Will had the car. SO. I cut up some lemons (novel, I know) put them in a pitcher (washed of course) and added water. Brillant right? I know I know, just send the genius award to me now.  She loved it, there was no added sugar (although that obviously never stops me, see above) and it was extra refreshing. It has now become a staple in our fridge. Your welcome.

Herby Eggs. My sister came to visit and stayed for an extra bonus morning. So I made eggs. And since I am trying to have a green thumb (since to this point I have basically managed to kill anything that isn't violets) and growing a couple of window boxes full of herbs, I decided to cook with the herbs from there. So we gathered a bit of just about every type of savory herb out there. And threw them into the eggs. I don't know about you, but I'm a big, big fan of eggs. My family eats them a lot. I grew up eating them a lot. I like them. And therefore am a little particular about how they're made. For instance. if scrambled, I require that a splash of milk or half and half is added. They need to be seasoned well and NOT over salted. They should be slightly runny but not gross. So they were cooked just so, and then, I added herbs. Delicious. What herbs do you ask? Well, oregano, basil, chives and thyme. I think there may have been a little tarragon thrown in there as well. I'm not sure.

Ham, Garlic Broccoli Quiche. Whenever our fridge is getting a little empty, or we have a ton of leftovers to use, I usually turn to a quiche. (I told you, we love eggs). It's relatively quick, very easy to make in a pinch, doesn't require a whole lot of ingredients and is nicely flexible. Oh, and it's pretty easy to not mess up. Since Z is on a ham kick, and since I had for some reason decided to buy stock in deli ham that week, I needed to use some of said ham in a different way, so we weren't all sick of it. I turned to my handy dandy store bought pie crust (I buy Stop & Shop brand. If I'm feeling extra fancy, I'll add some herbs and/or spices to the crust to give it something extra. But I didn't this time :-) I beat 4 medium sized eggs, spices and about a cup of half and half together. I grated about a cup and a half of whatever cheese I had in the fridge (cheddar mix and parm.). I lined the pie crust with 4 slices of deli ham. I then added the odds and ends of frozen broccoli I had on hand (I keep several bags of frozen veg in the freezer for when I'm making a quick meal for Z.) and crushed some garlic over top. I added the egg/milk mixture then the cheese. I made sure the egg and cheese mixture were a bit mixed. I then baked for 50 minutes in 350 F degree oven. I let sit. This quiche was fantastic, the garlic gave it a beautiful bite and it made all of us feel a little bit better about eating ham for the 3rd day in a row. And what's great about quiche it that it's fantastic hot or cold. So Will took it to work the next day and Z and I had it for lunch as well.

Lemony Pasta Salad. Because we were having a big party for Z on a saturday, I wanted to make sure I had enough food for everyone without breaking the bank. One of the salads I made (Ahead of time, of course) was a lemony pasta salad. I had a lot of lemons, pasta salad is an easy go-to to feed lots of people. Most pasta salads either have a creamy base or use mustard, so I decided to improvise. It was amazing. I'll make it again. (and we ate it for about a week afterwards with no complaints, so I consider that an epic win). Cook pasta how you like it. Add a bit of olive oil and stir around so pasta doesn't stick together. Grate two lemons. Then use juice of said lemons. Add half a container of cherry tomatoes, a whole green pepper chopped in manageable pieces and a red onion (also chopped into fork-sized pieces). Season with salt and pepper. I added a container of feta because I love it and the cheese allowed me to under salt (which I am notorious for doing) as it added a lot of salt on it's own. I added basil to taste. (Fresh, from my 'garden'. I feel like Martha Stewart!).

Lentil Salad. This is a salad from my childhood. I'm sure it's gone through many iterations, but I always try to conjure this taste memory I have from a party from when I must have been 4 or 5. My parents loved throwing and going to parties, and like us, always fed lots of people good food on a budget. Lentils are fantastic for doing that and really soak up flavor and dress up really nice as the other veggies give a nice color pop. I cook two bags of brown lentils with about 2 cups of water per one cup of lentils. I bring lentils and water to a boil, stir and then simmer until lentils still hold together but are chewy not crunchy. Drain add olive oil and baslamic vinegar. I always free hand this, it probably ends up being about a half a cup of olive oil and the same for the vinegar, but you can add to taste and if you make this the night before it really soaks up the flavor so that you can play around with it to get it just right. I then added a jar of marinated artichokes (because they are my sisters favorite AND add salt to the dish), half a container of cherry tomatoes, a whole green pepper diced. A can of sliced black olives, a whole large red onion diced and two cloves of garlic, minced. Stir and let sit. The day of serving add fresh herbs, I used thyme, but have used just about anything in previous 'makings'. This is a GREAT vegetarian (vegan?) dish.

Well that takes us up to July, so I'll post the rest hopefully tomorrow. I promise to start taking pictures so that you can see how delicious these are and maybe want to make them for yourself.

Ketchup

Lately it seems the only thing I can get Zara to actually eat is ketchup. Yes, it's disgusting. Yes, I feel like a pretty bad mom letting her consume it. But after an hour of desperately trying to get her to eat the accompanying eggs, french fries etc., which ends in tears and frustrating (on all fronts really), I give in, and hope that the next meal, or a snack will actually get eaten, and it normally does. I guess what feels so incredibly weird about the ketchup phenomenon is that she USED to eat. A lot. She was never motivated by food, but I knew I could expect her to eat something during each of the three meals. But all of a sudden she has decided not to eat during her mealtimes. Don't get me wrong, she eats, and she is healthy and all the regular signs of normality are there, but she just rejects most food until we eat, and so I've decided to offer food as I normally does, but if she doesn't act like she is going to pick at it, I put it back in the fridge until later when I eat, or when she asks. I put out snacks, but she's obviously going through some type of shift. As for ketchup, I'll put it next to her plate (when the meal calls for it), but if she finishes it and asks for more, I no longer replenish it until she has eaten what is on her plate. Does that make me a mean mom? Maybe. But even the most natural and 'healthy' ketchups are still just a condiment, not a meal.

SAHM

So now that I've become a SATM again I find myself exhausted, overworked and underpaid. And I have to say, I absolutely love it. It's weitd when you spend your adult life going, what should I be doing, feeling sort of lost and unsure of every career choice you make and then BAM, you know why you exist. I'm not saying that I find changing diapers my life-changing end all be all career. But I do love seeing my daughter everyday. Teaching her things and raising her to be, well, like me. It's inspiring when I see her get something, or to find out how much she loves art and to show her museums, and help her find new ways to be creative.

This time has also really given me the chance to figure out, what it is I actually want to be doing. I'm writing again, and feeling like a person instead of a automatron. I'm also starting to get some of my old habits that I didn't realize I missed, like making menus and cooking. I'm trying to do at least one creative thing with Z a day in order to keep both of our minds flowing. A couple of days ago we made shamrock cookies from scratch, yesterday we made smoothies. Today? Who knows! The possibilities are endless. Anyway, I guess more on this later, I'm hoping to post on this a little more regularly, as well as make this a little more focused (and maybe funny, we'll see if my humor actually comes out).

Last Day Looming

Today is my last day at work. Everyone is asking me how I feel and to be honest, I feel...bored. I'm putting in the time, but have handed over all of my work with my very last project meeting yesterday. So today I have...nothing to do. And you really wouldn't think it were so, but there's only so much web crawling you can do before you can't think of anything else to search for (or are just tired of looking at screen).

This evening I'll celebrate. We're going to pop some champagne and I may even make a quiche...maybe.

I've even planned out what Zara and I will do next week, and you can bet your bottom dollar it involves field trips! Art! Music! Making messes and playing in dirt. I'm so excited.

Stay tuned for more on my foray into my next career, I think I have a brilliant plan.

I Quit!

After 7 months of self-abuse I have quit my job. I'm elated, I'm freaking out, I'm totally unsure as to what this means next.

I spent most of my working career doing some form of IT project management (except for this last job, which I marketed myself as such, but was not taken onboard to do such...) but went back to school to do something completely different. So why did I fall back into this career, that I didn't really like before I went to school? (I mean I liked the money, I liked the power, I did live SOME aspects of it, the ins and outs of getting a project out the door, seeing a really fantastic functional specification (sigh)) but those things weren't enough, and I went back, initially to get a MSc in Anthropology, focusing on audience identity in a museum setting and its relation to education. I then went back to get a PhD, which I didn't finish, for many reasons (and my horrible sentence structure is NOT one of them).

So now I've quit my job, and I'm at a crossroads. What next?

We've decided to take our child out of daycare so that I can take a more interactive role in her life other than getting her dressed in the morning and putting her to bed when I get home, showing her things about art, music, science and history before she has to go off to traditional education (I guess she never REALLY has to do that..but she does...really).  So I'll be doing that, and also taking steps to do the next part of my life. To really figure out what is best for me, for my family and for my career.

I've thought for many years about teaching. Will I be good at it? At what level? I've never pursued it because frankly, it didn't pay enough. And I grew up in a household that always thought if you can't do...you teach. But, I'm second guessing that. I've lived in the world of those 'that do' instead of teaching. And let me tell you, there are plenty of idiots who think they do...but don't. I'm tired of being a follower who 'acts' as a leader. I'd like to try to actually be a leader. To do something for others, and to lead, to actually lead instead of follow. So maybe I should be teaching. It will allow me to try something new, to eventually complete my PhD.

PS-Zara's hungry is alive and well. Zara's Brew came out this Christmas (to family members only). What's next? Well look for more at farmers markets...near me...