A Very Cool (and Nerdy - in a good way) Gift

At work this year we drew names for Secret Santa's and my friend traded with a coworker so that she could be my Secret Santa. She had found a perfect gift for me that appeals to both my sci-fi nerd side and my foodie side - the ultimate book! It is The Star Wars Party Book: Recipes and Ideas for Galactic Occasions!

This book is really fun because it fully embraces the Star Wars Universe and covers everything from food to decorations to scavenger hunts to making pajamas. It has lots of good ideas if you have a kid that is into A Galaxy Far, Far Away or if you love to embrace your inner child.

I think my favorite in the book is a recipe for Clone Trooper Cakes - they look so cool and my son absolutely loves them too! I will have to try and make these sometime soon. They are cupcakes that have clone trooper faces on them - I am a little weary of the actual decorating, as I am not the most patient person when it comes to baking.

Another great idea is the Death Star Pinata. Who would not love to take a whack at the Death Star and have goodies come out. The fun thing with that is you could fill it with all sorts of things from candy to toys to erasers or anything small with a Star Wars theme to it. On the cover they show it being hit by a lightsaber - very cool!

Anyway, this book was the perfect gift for me - thank you Jaime and Aidan thanks you too. When I make the cupcakes, I will take some in to work too!!

A Morning At The Farm

We live north of Seattle above the Snohomish Valley - that is filled with farms. On one of my recent trips in to Snohomish, I noticed a large ad for Mountain View Blueberry Farms - U Pick Blueberries and was reminded of the fun I had last year taking my son picking (and eating). I checked out their website, found their hours and asked Aidan if he would be up to blueberry picking with Mom - he gave me a big YES!

Aidan and I got up around 08:30, had a good breakfast, covered ourselves in suntan lotion and then headed out to pick some berries! We were there for a little over an hour and picked about 3 pounds of berries (about $6.00 worth). We both had fun together and the weather was perfect for picking berries! The blueberry season will continue to the mid-to-end of August, so we will probably get the opportunity to go again!

Tips for picking fruit: Check the farm's website before you go! Lots of places only take cash and can be open at off days/times. Make sure you wear sunscreen and hats - my kid complains about being sticky, but a sunburn is not fun or safe. If you are going for a long time, make sure that you take water with you and some wet wipes for your hands. Picking the fruit right at the farm is a really nice outing for the family and the results are fresh fruits that you can all enjoy!

Here is a recipe for Fresh Blueberry Coffee Cake (from my trusted Southern Living Cookbook):
1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Glaze (3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon warm water, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract; combine all ingredients, stirring well)

• Combine blueberries, 1/3 cup sugar, and cornstarch in a small saucepan; cook over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes or until sauce is thickened, stirring constantly. Set aside.

• Cream butter; gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating at medium speed of an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

• Combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in almond extract.

• Spoon half the batter inot a greased 10-inch Bundt or tube pan; spoon on half the berry sauce, swirling partially through batter with a knife. Repeat with remaining batter and berry sauce. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until done. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from pan. Invert onto serving plate, and drizzle with glaze.

Sneaking In Veggies

Veggie Paste with Garlic - Marinara Base

My son is a very picky eater. During one of his doctor visits, the doctor asked him to name his favorite red food; his reply was strawberries - I was happy with that one! Then she asked what his favorite green food was. He thought long and hard (I held my breath) and finally came up with mint ice cream - sigh. Vegetables are not one of his favorite foods, although he will eat carrot sticks without too much of a fight (as long as they are not cooked). Dinner time can be full of challenges when it comes to feeding my boy!

When he was a baby, he ate anything that he was served - it was great! Then one day, he only would eat fruit, Cheerios and milk, so I had to come up with ways to sneak in veggies. What I came up with was a vegetable paste. It doesn't have the best color, but it tastes delicious and I use it in meatballs, soups, and pasta sauce. The best part is, he has no idea that he is eating veggies!

Vegetable Paste

Ingredients:
2 zucchini squashes
1 onion
1 package fresh mushrooms2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 can chicken or vegetable broth

• Clean and cut up all the veggies.
• Over medium heat, add some cooking spray or vegetable oil and cook the onions until they are translucent.
• Add all the other veggies and broth and simmer cook until the veggies are no longer firm.
• Allow the mixture to cool, then blend or place in a food processor; blend until smooth.
• Divide up into usable sections (you can use an ice cube tray) and freeze or use immediately.

Feel free to add any other veggies that you like! I don't add any seasoning to this, because I usually am seasoning whatever else I am adding this to (but you could always add garlic or other spices when simmering).

The picture above was taken when I made marinara sauce. I started by thawing some of the veggie paste, then I added some chopped garlic. The veggie paste in the sauce also helped thicken it a bit and added lots of good flavor too!

Marinara with Veggie Paste Hidden

The sauce turned out great and he never knew that it was full of dreaded vegetables!

Birthday Treats

This past weekend was my son's 8th birthday and I let him pick his favorite foods to celebrate. He is a funny kid and does not like to eat much - including cake. So for his birthday, we had his famous Tachos (Tacos and Nachos) for dinner and Mammy's famous homemade brownies for dessert.


Here is my Mom's recipe for making brownies - growing up, this was it (no box brownies ever). The first time I made these, I misread the instructions and added 2 sticks of butter - yuck! I had to toss out this batch and start over.

Brownies

2 squares (2oz) unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional - Aidan says NO to nuts)

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a square pan 8x8x2".
• Melt chocolate and butter together over low heat. Beat in (with spoon) sugar and eggs.
• Measure flour by dipping method. Blend flour, baking powder + salt, stir into chocolate mixture. Mix in nuts and chocolate chips. Spread in pan.
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until top has dull crust. A slight imprint will remain when touched lightly with finger.
• Cool slightly. Cut into 2" squares.

I love a light dusting of powdered sugar to top these off and a large, cold glass of milk!

The dinner was delicious - Tachos are always a winner in my house and the brownies too were a treat! The best part of the evening was celebrating my little boy's special day with family and friends.

Ho Ho Ho - Treats for Santa!

What Christmas wouldn't be complete without baking up some cookies to leave for Santa? I thought that this year instead of making tons of different types of cookies, that I would host a cookie exchange - then I would only have to make one or two different cookies, could share them and still have lots of tasty options!

Aidan and I got to work, he made Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies (with a little help from Mom) and I made Mexican Wedding Cookies. Both are favorites of mine and the Mexican Wedding Cookies always remind me of Christmas - I think it was the only time during the year when we made them, plus they look like snow balls. The Peanut Butter Cookies are pretty easy to make with kids and mine loves to push the kisses into the cookies!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
By Aidan

1 cup softened shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 package Hershey's Kisses

Mix all ingredients in order. Shape into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 15-18 minutes at 375 degrees. After removing cookie sheet from oven, immediately push a kiss into each cookie. Refrigerate cookies for a while to harden kisses.

Makes approximately 48 cookies (plenty to share with friends, family and Santa).

Mexican Wedding Cookies
By Greta

1 cup pecan pieces or halves
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

Place pecans in food processor. Process using on/off pulsing until pecans are ground. Beat butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup flour, vanilla and salt. Beat at low speed until well blended. Stir in remaining 1 cup flour and ground nuts with spoon. Shape dough into a ball; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

Shape tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls; place 1-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Let cookies stand on sheet for 2 minutes. Place 1 cup powdered sugar in 13x9 inch glass dish. Transfer hot cookies to glass dish and roll cookies in sugar; let cool in dish. Shift remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar over cookies before serving.

Makes 48.

Everyone brought a different type of cookie or bar and we had hot chocolate, coffee and egg nog to wash them all down. The assortment of treats included 5 layer bars, M&M chocolate chip cookies, German Chocolate bars, soft gingerbread, Snickers cookies, and peppermint sugar cookies. Everyone had fun and no one left hungry!

Merry Christmas Everyone and Enjoy!!

Gingerbread Yum

This past weekend, my son asked to make gingerbread cookies - he can devour them like Cookie Monster. Since I like to cook with him, I thought that it would be fun. It seems that making and decorating gingerbread is quickly becoming a Christmas tradition and I am always on the lookout for things that can make decorating fun and easy.

I didn't have everything that I would need to make and decorate the cookies, so I headed out to the store and the seasonal isle. There I found a bucket of various cookie cutters and what looked like glue. It turned out to be squeezable white icing in a bottle by Wilton and has now become one of my favorite decorating tools - everyone loved it, from my 7 year old to my Mom and Dad. We used it to add mini M&Ms, sprinkles and nonpareils.

So once I had the necessary tools and decorations, I then turned to my bible - the Joy of Cooking for the gingerbread recipe.

Recipe from the Joy Of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, 1985:

Gingerbread Men

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Blend the butter and sugar until creamy.
3. Beat in molasses.
4. Sift the flour, then add all spices and resift dry ingredients.
5. Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture in about three parts, alternately with the water.
6. Roll the dough to any thickness you like and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
7. Decorate before baking with small raisins, bits of candied fruits, red-hots, marshmallows and citron; use icing and sprinkles after baking.
8. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes or longer, according to their thickness. Test for doneness by pressing the dough with your finger. I it springs back after pressing, they are ready to be cooled on a rack.

Icing

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
A few drops of water

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and water. Add a drop or two of food coloring and use to decorate cookies.

This year, I omitted the icing recipe and used already prepared, multicolored icings. We all had fun and even shared some with friends and family. I hear that Santa is very fond of gingerbread too!

Bake Sale Treats - Cheesecake Cups

Well it is that time of year again - time for school bake sales and holiday parties!

So what is easy to make and super yummy? For my son's holiday bake sale, I went with an old standby - cherry topped cheesecake cups. I also thought that this recipe would be easy to make with my son and would yield plenty of batter left in the mixing bowl for him to lick. I was right on both accounts!

Here is the recipe:

Cheesecake Cups

2, 8oz packages of cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
vanilla wafers
pie filling

1. Have cream cheese at room temperature, then cream with next 4 ingredients.
2. Place vanilla wafer in the bottom of cup cake papers (which have been placed in muffin tins) and fill 2/3 full with cheese mixture.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 - 20 minutes.
4. Cool.
5. Top with any type of pie filling you choose or leave plain.

Makes about 21 cakes.
Note: 1/2 can pie filling fills 1 recipe cheesecake cups.

These are always delicious and my favorite is using cherry pie topping on them. Over the years, I have also discovered that using a Kitchen Aid or an electric mixer to make a smooth batter really makes these even more tempting, plus my son loves to work anything electric.

So give these a try for your next office party, bake sale, dinner party or any other occasion!

Enjoy!

Making a Gingerbread House Kit

To get ready for Christmas, Aidan (my 7 year old) and I decided to make a gingerbread house together. I got this kit from Toys R Us for $9.99 + tax in the hopes that it would be easy and fun to assemble together.

First we read the directions and got a large cutting board to build it - I also thought that the board would allow for easy clean up. The pieces parts were packed well and everything was intact.

Next, we cut out the base part of the tray, kneaded the Royal Icing and applied generous amounts of icing to the front, back and sides. We then set a timer for 15 minutes and let it rest and allow for the icing to harden.

At the end of 15 minutes, we added more icing to the roof pieces and carefully attached the roof. Aidan held it in place for about 5 minutes and we set another 15 minute timer. After the timer went off, then the fun really started - decorating the house. The kit came with lots of candy and plenty of icing - it even included directions on how to make more icing if needed.

After decorating the house with the included candy, Aidan and I thought that it would be good to add something else (like sprinkles). We found some left over fundip from Halloween and sprinkled it over the house - it was perfect! Overall, it was fun and easy for the 2 of us to complete and I would recommend it as a fun way to spend an hour together.