Browsing the blog archives for December, 2012.

Happy New Years Eve (and a Deceptively Delicious round up)

California, Healthy

Happy New Years Eve!! Tonight we’ll celebrate with the littles early and call our parents and then we’ll celebrate at midnight and call a bunch of friends on the East coast at 3am. Hehe. That means YOU, Talea! I am looking forward to tonight, but I’ll wait and show you all the silly fun tomorrow!!

In 2011 I set out to cook and bake my way through Deceptively Delicious. I made a decent dent in it, more than half of the recipes, and I kept making recipes from it this year. There are just a few I haven’t gotten to yet. It’s a fun book full of sneaky ways to add vegetable purees into everyday recipes, focused on getting your kids to eat them but it works just as well with husband and yourself! I’m not big on a lot of the healthiest veggies so I love to add them in to recipes! I know they’re there and I’m getting the benefits of them without sitting down to a plate of spinach, you know?

Here are four of the recipes I made a while ago, but just posted. All of them were simple and tasted great!

Deceptively Delicious - Quesadillas Deceptively Delicious - Quesadillas

There have been a lot of serious winners from his book in our house and a few not so well received dishes. This one though has become our oldest little one’s favorite snack. He asks fot it several times a week. Just before we moved to LA, I made this for him and a three of his friends and they inhaled it. For the record, none of those kids would ever eat squash or navy beans or even sour cream! (read)

Deceptively Delicious - Pink Pancakes Deceptively Delicious - Pink Pancakesread)
Deceptively Delicious - Pasta with Bolognese Sauce Deceptively Delicious - Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

I am the only person in the house that isn’t a big fan of spaghetti and pasta sauce. I actually kinda hate it. If I make it for the fam and I don’t feel like coking something else, I’ll eat it. Another exception is if we are visiting someone and they make it. Otherwise, noooo thank you. This sauce though? Not bad at all. I honestly didn’t mind it at all and I think it was the addition of the sweet potato puree that made it better. (read)

Deceptively Delicious - Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Deceptively Delicious - Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I was a little nervous to present these to the kids because they’re not big on raisins OR nuts in their cookies so these didn’t go ove too well with them, but a few of my girlfriends were over when I made these and they loved them! No one had any idea there was zucchini in them until I told them. You could add wheat bran or ground flax to these to really up the fiber without changing the taste! Or swap the raisins for dried cranberries! (read)

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Christmas Cookie Roundup

Domestic, Kids

There was a whole lot of baking going on around here this month but most of it was so pedestrian it wasn’t worth posting recipes of! I let the kids choose what we baked every time they asked to, so we ended up with A LOT of chocolate chip cookies and we did sugar cookies over and over and of course we made gingerbread maybe half a dozen times. They teamed up and decorated a gingerbread house together and there was much decking of halls and wrapping of gifts and watching of Christmas movies while I knitted on Christmas socks (as in, gift socks for Christmas, not Christmasy socks).

When I had a little time to steal, like say after they went to bed and before they got up, I tried out these recipes and they were all winners. Usually, I make batches and batches of cookies starting in mid-November so by Christmas I have a stockpile of 6 or 7 different kinds of cookies. Then I make assorted tins and bring them around to our friends and family as gifts. This year, I didn’t do that because while I had a handful of people that I could have brought assorted homemade treat tins to, it wasn’t enough for a the amount I end up with when I bake so many different kinds.

The funny thing is, the closer it got to Christmas, the more treat tin-worthy friends we were all making and by Christmas week, I easily could have given away as many as we would have had if I had just done my Christmas baking as usual. Oh well! Next year I will make lots!!

Here is the roundup of the four recipes I used this year.

White Chocolate Pomegranate Cookies
White Chocolate Pomegranate Cookies
I made these one afternoon for a ‘bring a snack’ style mini potluck with some mommy friends at Silly Goose. They went over well with both kids and parents, which surprised me because I didn’t think the kids would be into it. (read)
Butterscotch Triple Chip Cookies
Butterscotch Triple Chip Cookies
These were originally intended and baked up for my father and my dear friend’s brother. The kids always get to try new cookies even if the batch is destined for someone else – they liked these cookies so much they ate almost the entire first batch and once my husband discovered them, it was game over. I didn’t have enough left to send a decent package! Hilarious but nice to know when I have a winning recipe on my hands like this one. (read)
Cookie Dough Bites
Cookie Dough Bites
This is not a recipe, it’s 5 things you have on hand mashed together and rolled into balls. Oh and you can drizzle them with chocolate but I was taking them to the park and they are not very mobile once they’re covered in chocolate. This is the kind of treat I’ll whip up before bed for the next afternoon when I know I’ll have no time but the kids will be asking for something. Be careful though, the part of you that is still 6 years old will want to eat as many as you can get your hands on and if you have a 6 year old, you’re going to want to keep a close watch on these babies. (read)
White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread
White-Chocolate Cherry Shortbread
I usually only do one cookie for Christmas that involves white chocolate, but this year I was so smitten with two recipes I went for it. This is the second of the two. I’ve never used maraschino cherries in a recipe before so it was a first and it totally worked out! Definitely drain the cherries well after you chop them, too much liquid will ruin the recipe and the cookies wont hold together as well. (read)

More little pieces of our Christmas, this time, kitchen edition.

-decorating a gingerbread house in your Hello Kitty pearls and Tink costume is a must (duh)
-making fondant from scratch and letting your kids attack gingerbread people with them makes for a seriously fun afternoon
-gingerbread houses can never have too many teeth breaking candies stuck to them
-pancakes taste better when they have seasonally appropriate shapes
-everyone loves festive treat boxes (I’m glad I haven’t met anyone who hates them, anyway)
-cakes should be baked in tree pans, painstakingly decorated with homemade buttercream and handed over to the little ones for dessert
-3 year olds are seriously into baking (another duh)

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Chicken Parmesan

Domestic

Super, super easy weeknight dinner (or super lazy weekend dinner 😉 ) that tastes like you worked a lot harder than you did. My favorite kind!

We have had a pretty laid back but still busy holiday season. It was different spending the holidays with just the 5 of us (and some wonderful local friends) but there were a lot of pluses to it. At the end of some nights, meals like this were all I was able to muster. Thankfully, my husband and the littles loved them. Phew!

Chicken Parmesan

3/4 cup breadcrumbs
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 chicken breasts, halved
salt & pepper to taste
1 large egg, beaten
2 cups pasta sauce (homemade or jarred)
1/4 cup olive oil
6 ounces mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 400 (or broiler). Mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in beaten egg, then in crumb mixture, making sure it’s coated all over.

Pour the pasta sauce into the bottom of a baking dish. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the chicken breasts until golden (just a couple minutes each side). Then place the chicken on top of the pasta sauce.

Top each piece with mozzarella and bake for about 20 minutes or so. I always serve this with a plate of garlic penne because it goes so well with the pasta sauce, but really, you could use whatever side you like.

Chicken Parmesan
Chicken Parmesan
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Glass Etching

Crafty

I had been pinning etched glass projects for months on Pinterest before I finally picked up some etching cream and glass vases and tried it out. Now, I want to do this to ALL THE THINGS!

Glass etching is one of those things that seems a lot harder than it really is. The etching cream scratches the glass, so all you really need is a template and some glass. I printed out ‘LOVE’, ‘JOY’ and ‘PEACE’ and then used transfer paper to copy them onto contact paper. I used an x-acto knife to cut out the pieces and then stuck the contact paper onto the glass. It only took a few minutes for the cream to do it’s thing and then I wiped it off, removed the contact paper and voila! So lovely!

Of course, you can use any simple image you want! Anything you can easily cut onto contact paper would look sweet!

Just be mindful when you are applying the cream to the contact paper so it doesn’t drip! A little drip can ruin a whole project!

Glass Etching

Glass Etching
Glass Etching
Glass Etching
Glass Etching
Glass Etching
Glass Etching
Glass Etching
Glass Etching
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Christmas 2012

California, Kids

Here are a few pieces of our Christmas this year. Much excitement. Much fun. My husband and I LOOOOOVE playing Santa, absolutely one of the best parts of Christmas with kids! <3 Back soon with more recaps and fun recipes!

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Elf on a Shelf- Week Two

Kids

This elf of ours (Sparklez, for those of you following along) has had another busy week!

Day Eight – She was riding Barbie’s horse in the kitchen, and there were little pieces of carrot all over the place!
Day Nine – Sparklez was caught going for a ride on our ceiling fan in a paper cup!
Day Ten – She brought us a board game – Candyland of course! Right after breakfast we played three games and each of us (myself and Wee Ones #2 & 3 each won a game).
Day 11 – Playing a game of cards with one of her new Barbie friends! I wonder who won?!
Day 12 – She was trying to roast mini marshmallows over a candle using a barbecue skewer! Day 13 – Clearly, she’s been watching Daphne’s journey though potty training!
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Candy Cane Cookies

Domestic

This is yet another of those recipes that I hesitate to call a recipe. All you’re really doing here is adding crushed candy canes to your already winning sugar cookie recipe and even better – these lazy little treats require no chilling / rolling / chilling / cutting. You just mix it up, add the candy canes, form into balls and sprinkle more candy bits on top.

There are so many different ways you can switch this up. Either to make a fancy platter of essentially the same cookie but not or as assembly line food gifts for neighbors! You can change the base of this basic sugar cookie by adding cocoa for a chocolate version, adding cinnamon and nutmeg for a spice cookie version, or you can tone down the peppermint flavor of the cookie by using vanilla extract instead. Whatever your little heart desires really, as long as it pairs up with the candy canes. Another way to mix it up would be to use different kinds of candy canes. I recently bought a box of Willy Wonka candy canes, they are purple, yellow, green, red and blue swirly and have a Gobstopper center! There are about eleventy billion different kinds out there, you could make this recipe different with each dozen by changing the candy canes.

If you don’t have a solid sugar cookie recipe, use this one! It’s my go-to for sugar cookie cutouts and I have posted it before.

Candy Cane Cookies

Basic Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup + 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
3 cups + 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup superfine sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp peppermint extract
plus whatever kind of candy canes you want to use

Cream together the butter, sugar and peppermint extract. DO NOT OVERMIX. Beat in the egg, add the sifted flour and mix on low till you have a sticky dough. Done! This is normally where the chilling / rolling / chilling / cutting happens but with these, you stir in about 4 or 5 crushed candy canes and form 1/2 tablespoon balls. Top with more crushed candy canes if you like, I found that made them look really festive and the kids loved them!

Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cane Cookies
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Broccoli Gratin

Domestic

I absolutely hate broccoli. I know, I know. But I do. I usually make soup out of it and add either potato until it’s crazy creamy or I add cauliflower to mask the taste. Otherwise, I steam and puree it so I can add it to sauces and stews and still get a decent amount of it but I’m not about to just, eat a piece of broccoli. I hope one day I will, but I’m just not there. This recipe helped though! I can conceive of myself eating broccoli now!

I’ve seen recipes for broccoli gratin all over the place for years and years but it never really crossed my mind to try it – you know, on account of my hating broccoli. The kids love broccoli though and so does my husband and we all love cheese (it’s recipes like this that throw me off my vegan intentions – whoops) so I gave it a go. Holy moly. Super, super, crazy amazing good.

I had seconds happily (mostly because I wanted to eat the cheese sauce with a spoon), which I think is also how I learned that I’d eat broccoli if it was slathered in something delicious. Like this!

Broccoli Gratin

Cheesy Broccoli Gratin via Kitchen Comments

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon thyme
8 oz cheddar cheese
24 oz broccoli
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Broccoli Gratin
Broccoli Gratin
Preheat your oven to 400, then melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute. Add the milk and whisk till smooth, now add the nutmeg and thyme – and have your cheese and broccoli at the ready!
Broccoli Gratin
Broccoli Gratin
Remove your saucepan from the heat and stir in the cheese until it’s melted. Arrange the broccoli in a casserole dish (or whatever).
Broccoli Gratin
Just LOOK AT THIS. Ugh. It was so good.
Broccoli Gratin
Broccoli Gratin
Pour the cheese sauce over the broccoli. Slooooooowly to make sure it’s all coated.
Broccoli Gratin
Broccoli Gratin
Broccoli Gratin
Now toss the bread crumbs and Parm on top and bake for 20-30 minutes. Cool just enough to avoid burning your family/guests but serve it gooey!
Broccoli Gratin
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Red Velvet Fireplace Cookies

Domestic

I have wanted to make these little darlings since I first read about them last year! So cute! Since I was bringing mine to a park date with my favorite mommies ever, I skipped the chocolate and royal icing fire in the fireplace and opted to just decorate the mantle. They were a hit with everyone we shared them with because they were equally as tasty as they were adorable! True story!

I do try to avoid using food coloring when I can, though I admit that I always add it to my frostings. To me, it’s just one of those ‘time and a place for everything’ kind of things and I think the time for artificial food coloring is anytime you’re making royal or buttercream icing (though I will also say that I’d never use anything other than Wilton food color gels – if you’re going to do it, you may as well do it right). So in this case, I thought about using beet puree in place of the food coloring, but it would change the texture of the cookie completely and possibly make them unusable. So, food coloring it is!

Loads more cookies coming your way this month, pinky swear.

Red Velvet Fireplace Cookies – via Diamonds for Dessert

1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1 tablespoon food coloring
green, yellow and red gummy bear hands and feet (just cut the nubs off with kitchen scissors)

You don’t need me to tell you how to make these, but I will anyway. Ha! Just mix the flour, sugar, salt and cut in the butter with two knives. Usually, like with red velvet cake I strive for beet puree instead of red food coloring but it totally messes with the texture of the cookies. Just use let this be the day you throw food coloring caution to the side, k? Thanks!
Now roll out the dough to about 1/4″ thick, give or take a little and trim off the edges, then cut into 3″ x 2″ rectangles.
This part is a little tricky, so pop the dough in the fridge for freezer for a few minutes first. Then cut out a smallish square in the middle of the bottom of each rectangle to make a fireplace opening. I made some bigger than others to see how different they’d look after I decorated them! I baked them at 325 for about 15-20 minutes.
I had some extra dough so I rolled it out and cut out some candy canes!
Once they were cool, I dipped the tops in melted white chocolate and then piped melted green chocolate to hang like a string of lights! You could use royal icing, but they’d be a little more delicate that way. I dusted the entire cookie in sanding sugar and attached the gummy bear nubs to the still-wet green chocolate.
Super, super cute right?!
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Elf on a Shelf – Week One

Kids

The kids are over the moon with excitement that Santa has sent us an Elf on a Shelf!! Wee One #2 has been hoping and wishing for one since she first heard about their existence in the fall. The girls have named our elf Sparkle and she’s up been to all kinds of hilarity the first week she’s been here!

Day One – we woke up to a breakfast of teeny tiny pancakes! She tried her best to make us a feast, but I made some bigger pancakes for us.
Day Two – She was spotted on the kitchen counter reading a new storybook with some Barbie friends!
Day Three – Sparkle loves being in California, here she is sunning herself with a makeshift umbrella she made from a barbecue skewer and a cupcake liner! She also filled my favorite pie plate with graham cracker crumbs for her own personal beach!
Day Four – Sparkle got up early and tried to make coffee, but she made a mess instead!
Day Five – This was the day before advent began, so Sparkle brought us a lovely wooden advent project! The girls painted the wooden Christmas tree and cabinet and all 25 of the little ornaments! They had a lot of fun getting it ready, we do a few different advent countdowns and the kids really get into it (ok, ok, we all really get into it).
Day Six – Sparkle brought her own tree from the North Pole to decorate! It now has it’s own shelf in the living room!
Day Seven – We woke up to a very odd scene on Sunday morning. We found Sparkle crammed in a mason jar in the kitchen, with Wee One #3’s Cinderella doll suspiciously sitting beside it. Did Cinderella get jealous of Sparkle and stuff her in the jar?! *gasp* or did Sparkle get scared of Cinderella and hide in the jar? We’ll never know!!
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