A couple years ago Fairy got this Nonstick Mini Baking Set and it has been frequently used in the toy kitchen. The other day the girls pulled out the recipe cards that came with it and were determined to really ‘bake’ with their miniture set (it is oven and toaster oven safe). So they packed up the whole thing and took it to Gammy’s. If you want to bake… that’s a good place to go. Her cupboards are stacked with every ingredient you might need for an impromptu baking session.
The first recipe they tried was the Breakfast Cake (ie Coffee Cake). It was very yummy, the pan worked well and the cake slipped right out. They can’t wait to try another one.
I hope everyone is doing well. We’ve been battling some of the bugs going around atm. Who isn’t? So things have been fairly quiet around here. We’ve managed a bit of school in the past week. Right now we are covering some basic social studies concepts… community, culture, traditions, etc.
This week we read the book Everybody Cooks Rice, after which we had to cook some rice of our own. This is what I refer to as "Left Overs" Fried Rice and everyone in our house loves it.
2 cups cooked rice
1.5 cups cubed cooked meat (ie left over chicken or pork)
1.5 cups thawed frozen peas or mixed veggies
1/2 small red onion chopped (usually left over from another meal)
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
soy sauce (to taste)
Saute the onions and garlic in a large pan (wok) with cooking oil or butter. When the onions are starting to turn clear, add the rice and fry for a couple minutes. Add the meat, veggies and soy sauce. Cook until warmed through.
Mmm… baking day… yummy apple bread…
INGREDIENTS
1/4 c. butter
1/2 t. salt
1 c. sugar
1 c. orange juice (can substitute with juice of choice)
1 1/2 T. milk
2 c. flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 – 2 c. chopped apples
1 t. baking soda
Topping:
1 t. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
DIRECTIONS
Mix all ingredients together (except topping ingredients) and place in greased loaf pan. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of loaf. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
I am not in the mood for any more baking… especially considering we still have tins of Christmas cookies left. So instead of the Snowballs I had thought about making this week… we instead made stuffed apples/apple dippers.
I do not have an exact recipe for this. It is more of a ‘to taste’ sorta deal but super easy and I highly recommend it! This was a childhood favorite of mine.
Apple Dipper Filling: Mix approximately 1/2 a stick of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/4 cup of honey.
Core an apple (if you do not have a corer – just slice the apples and serve with dip on the side).
Stuff the apples with the filling.
Slice the stuffed apples in thick slices.
Serve with extra dip.
Enjoy!
Just a quick post this morning. Before Grandma and Grandpa got here yesterday we made a big batch of pumpkin muffins. YUMMM!
And here is the evidence of the kids helping. LOL! They haven’t quite figured out how to mix without flinging stuff out of the bowl. Size of bowl, size of spoon, sitting on a chair, sitting on the table… it just doesn’t matter. Oh well, they were happy to help clean up.
The recipe is on my Pumpkin Pumpkin post.
I thought I would share the book Bug wrote this week. I tried to stay out of the story creation and just do my part taking dictation so it is a Knight Story as told by a 5 year old boy. It is a very thrilling story and a cliff hanger, as per Bug’s implicit instructions (he explained that the story was done for now… the rest is for book two). I didn’t scan the final page which simply reads, “To be continued…” but just so you aren’t left hanging too long I will assure you he is already outlining books 2 and 3 in this series. Book two will be sent to print shortly. BTW – I believe the landscape and character creation to be highly influenced by Lego Catalogs. (You can click on the 4 arrows in the bottom right corner to make the slide show full size – and therefore legible. The pause button is helpful too 😉 ).
Nothing like homemade Apple Pie! Both Bug and Daddy share a love of pies and this one is a very close second on both their lists… Pumpkin always takes the top spot.
To get the kids really involved in the pie process I had them use the Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer to prep the apples. Note: this fun little gadget does 2 of the 3 so named things quite well… it leaves a lot to be desired in the peeling category though (unless you have a perfectly shaped apple). I don’t normally use it for pie apples but the kids had fun with it and the girls really liked eating the springy, twisty, sliced apples.
Ha! This was one of the baking episodes that you get started only to realize that you are missing some key ingredients. My husband refuses to buy in bulk. Just not his nature and I will agree tends to lead to wasted food (at least around here). He prefers to shop on a daily basis. I’m not going to complain since he does do all of the grocery shopping! But it does mean my pantry and fridge are fairly meager looking, especially in comparison with my mom’s which is always busting at the seams, leaving her ready to cook anything on a moment’s notice. But back to the cookies, I ended up having to cut the recipe in half to pull it off.
These are our favorite cookies. Everyone likes them (cooked or right out of the bowl) and their oatmeal and grape nut content allow me to ‘believe’ that they are practically a granola bar and therefore good for you ;).
Grape Nut Cookie Recipe
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) margarine
2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 c. Post Grape-Nuts cereal
2 c. oatmeal
1 c. dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, etc.)
DIRECTIONS
Mix flour and baking soda in small bowl. Bear margarine in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed to soften. Gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition. Stir in cereal, oats and fruit. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in a 375 oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely on wire racks.
Umm… baking day! This is quickly becoming our favorite day around here. It is laid back and quiet. Everyone has some time to do their own thing in the morning (I can actually get some laundry done) with me calling the troops into the kitchen every so often to help. Yummy smells and yummy treats.
To go along with our Week Two activities we made our own butter. Of course we started by getting a loaf of bread going in the bread machine (ohhh do we love our bread machine). Then it was an epic battle of man vs machine. We poured a little bit of heavy whipping cream into a mason jar, the rest went into the mixer bowl with a bit of salt. And they were off. Guess who won? The boy! I was actually amazed at how he never tired of shaking that jar (just shows the boundless energy of a 5 year old boy).
For those of you who try this, you know you have butter when the cream transforms first to thick whipping cream (forms peaks) and then to what I can best describe as scrambled eggs in milk. It will totally pull away from the sides forming solid clumps in the middle, in a pool of buttermilk.
After I strained the butter I couldn’t bring myself to just throw away the buttermilk so instead I googled ‘Buttermilk Recipes.” I found one for ButterMilk Sugar Cookies that I highly recommend. We didn’t make the glaze but the cookies were very yummy with a more cake like texture.
What a yummy way to cook with veggies! We made Carrot Cake to correspond with our Veggie Unit this week.
This is an old family recipe and a favorite of mine. Hard to argue with a Cream Cheese frosting. Bug got to help Gammy with the carrot chopping by using the food processor. Pretty cool! And the girls helped me with the mixing while eating their weight in carrots.
Carrot Cake
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. mazola oil
4 eggs
2 c. flour
2 t. soda
3 c. grated carrots
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 t. vanilla
dash salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
Icing:
1 4 oz. package cream cheese, room temp.
2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. butter
powder sugar
DIRECTIONS
Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour into greased and floured 9×13 pan. Bake in 300 oven for 1 hour or until done. Let cool. Blend all icing ingredients together and frost on cooled cake.