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.
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