Chase has always been my helper in the kitchen but lately I’ve been trying to think of ways to give her a little more responsibility and some new experiences. At dinner tonight she asked about dessert. I hadn’t planned on it but then I remembered a lone box of pudding leftover from something. I think I bought it to try to tempt Avery into eating something but she decided firmly against pudding some time ago and isn’t budging on that one. So I offered it to Chase. I told her that she could have some dessert if she would make it and she was really eager to make something for everyone to enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posts Tagged ‘Cooking’
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
Puddin
Thursday, July 28th, 2011
Dinner :: I Made It
Like as in I made it through Thursday without going to Chipotle. I’m feeling a little inspired by the July/August issue of Everyday Food (thanks dearie for letting me borrow your brand new issue.) There’s a nice recipe in there for rice salad. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly (shocking) but I improvised a little and followed some general guidelines. A little spicy, a little salty, a little sour, a little sweet. I didn’t have any jalapenos so I put some red pepper flakes in the dressing, I subbed red wine for rice vinegar and I added some blanched, chopped green beans.
My kids wouldn’t eat it but they did eat the component parts and Avery ate some chicken and declared it tasty so I’m thrilled. It was realyl tasty. I served it along side some random chicken parts that I found in the freezer. That’s the kind of well thought out menu we’ve been enjoying this week. At least it’s nice to have summer’s bounty to fall back on. As of last night we were one melon down and one to go and two days until the next market day. On Saturday somebody remind me that we don’t need to eat a whole watermelon every. single. week.
There are a bunch of recipes in this issue that I want to try. Including the BLT soup which is like gazpacho with bacon crumbled on top. Sounds like a can’t miss to me. We’re under heat advisory but I’m still making soups. I make this soup whenever I don’t make it all the way through the corn. I also want to try the baked fried chicken and macaroni salad that calls for a hardboiled egg in the dressing. Oh, and there’s a two page spread on sangrias.
Happy Friday before I forget. Here’s a little bit of pretty for you. Chase likes to pick flowers at the grocery store to make our kitchen smell bootiful. Who would begrudge that?
Rice Salad (From Everyday Food July/August 2011 p.14)
1 c long-grain white rice
3 med carrots grated
1 mild green chile (like anaheim), seeded and chopped
1/2 c chopped fresh parsley
1/4 small red onion, diced
1 T rice vinegar
1 t sugar
Cook rice and transfer to a large bowl. Add carrots, chile. parsley, onions, vinegar and sugar. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
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Monday, July 25th, 2011
Cookie Time :: Hunka Chunka Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I bet that if you go back through the archives you’ll find 10 posts about cookie time. But this is it. The definitive chocolate chip cookie. I finally went to the source. You know who knows about cookies? 10 year olds (though I could be a year or two off on that… she’s pretty mature and I kind of still think of myself as not far off of 10 so it’s hard to say). Awesome 10 year old neighbors that are handy in the kitchen and can write out a recipe too. You have one of those, right?
Honestly, I liked my chocolate chip cookie recipe but it had orange zest in it and it was too flat for Ben’s liking. We all agree though that these are the best true chocolate chippers. You can find the original recipe here but the version that I was given calls for 2 2/3 cups of chocolate chips and 1/3 cup of toffee bits so that’s what I used and it’s a delicious variation. I’m telling you that girl knows what she’s talking about. Best cookies ever! (From Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids by Jill O’Connor)
Also, I had no idea that there was so much gas station bathroom lore out there. You guys are awesome.
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Monday, July 11th, 2011
Make It :: Mayo
Being picky about mayo is inconvenient. Wanting a specific brand in a specific size (read: not in Costco-esque restaurant quantity) means always making a special trip to buy it, running out or settling for second best. So I started making it. It’s not hard but here’s what I learned.
One batch is about enough to last us a summer week which is about how long you can store it for. I’d have to tinker with cutting back the recipe for the winter but in the summer we’re always making potato salad, BLT’s and just generally seem to go through it faster.
I like storing it in a jar like the one in the picture. It’s convenient, the glass is easy to clean and I feel like there’s less of a hurdle to everyone getting with the program of homemade mayo. It’s very much like using a regular old jar from the store.
Your oil (and probably your eggs too) should be at room temp when you start. I used to store canola oil in the fridge because we never use it. I tried to make mayo once using cold oil… I figured this one out the hard way.
I use Julia Child’s recipe from Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. 2 egg yolks + 1 whole egg, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of dijon mustard, salt and pepper. You whiz all of that together in the food processor and then slowly stream in a scant 2 cups of canola oil with the machine running. Once it starts to emulsify you can pour faster or hand it over to your assistant to finish up. If you don’t like to see the flecks of black pepper in your mayo use white but it doesn’t bother me. Then jar it up, pat yourself on the back and use it just as you would use your store-bought mayo.
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Monday, June 27th, 2011
Cake! Let Them Eat It.
I came home the other day with a serious hankering for a piece of chocolate cake. But it wasn’t so serious that I wanted to spend the afternoon in the kitchen. My grandmother used to make a quick chocolate cake that you just cut out of the pan… nothing fancy. Read the rest of this entry »
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Monday, June 6th, 2011
Bubbles and Berries
So, I saw this a while back and thought it was a totally brilliant idea. I’ve been looking and looking for just the right container and couldn’t seem to find one. Finally today I found an old Coleman cooler with the right kind of spout on it so I bought it. It’s way less cute than the one in the picture but perfectly functional and the bubbles work too! Read the rest of this entry »
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Monday, April 4th, 2011
Soccer, Sauce and Silliness
Spring soccer clinic started last weekend. Saturday morning was utterly miserable, dark, cloudy and wet but we got out there. There were many tears. There was much hand holding. There was much encouragement. There were threats. Eventually she played. And when she played she got in there and loved it! When we got home I asked Ben if I was the crazy mom on the sidelines. Probably the fact that I had to ask for feedback because I was so excited that I mostly can’t remember anything is not a good sign. I just didn’t even know that I had that soccer mom in me. Someone needs to tell her to simmer down. Read the rest of this entry »
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Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Franks and Beans!
Another failed experiment but I’m not taking it too hard. I don’t even like baked beans but I got it in my head that I really wanted to make some and that they would be goooood. That and I had a bunch of “ingredients” that I needed to use up. I poked around the internet a bit but turned up almost nothing that didn’t start by opening a can of baked beans. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
Stand By Your Pan
Since it’s only Tuesday and we’ve already eaten more than our fair of pasta and rice I decided to change it up a little tonight. We had chili and cornbread or corncake depending on how you want to spin it. In my opinion, that doesn’t make it sound more appetizing but there’s no accounting for the tastes of a four year old. Read the rest of this entry »
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Monday, December 6th, 2010
You Can’t Catch Me I’m The Gingerbread Man
The tremendous quantity of gingerbread that we made and froze is now all baked! There stares the gingerbread boy from inside his glass prison. Don’t worry I’ll liberate him one day soon as I can’t seem to keep my hand out of the cookie jar.