Summer drinks: Watermelon slushee

We are having fun experimenting with summer drinks at our house. We've master the orange julius, iced almond coffee, and chai tea blended drinks. Yummm... Today we invented a watermelon slushee and it was delicious! Great mocktail for using up watermelon that has gone a little mushy.

Watermelon Slushee

4 cups seedless watermelon cubed
4 T sugar
juice of one lime (optional)
8 ice cubes

Put it in the blender and let it go. The longer you blend it the smoother it will be.

Enjoy!

Make something cool: Iced Orange Cookies

These are yummy and theoretically good for you since they contain whole grains. Good for Christmas or special occasions, they look fancy and taste great.  These are soft and cake-like cookies with a creamy frosting.

Iced Orange Cookies
From King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking

Dough
11 T unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 egg
1/2 cup orange juice (grate the zest before juicing)
2 T grated orange zest (rind of 1-2 oranges)
2 c whole wheat flour

Icing
2 c confectioners' sugar
2 T butter, softened
1 T grated orange zest
1/4 t vanilla
1/8 t salt
2 T orange juice

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Prepare the dough. Cream butter, sugar, vanilla, baking powder and soda, and salt in medium bowl. Beat in the egg, then the OJ and zest, scraping the bowl. Will look curdled. Add the flour, beating until smooth. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared sheets.

Bake cookies, reversing pans midway through until they are just barely beginning to brown around the edges, 10 minutes. Remove cookies fromt he oven and let them cool on the pans for 10 min before transferring them to a rack to cool.

Prepare the icing. Beat the sugar, butter, zest, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl until well combined. Beat in the OJ till the mixture is spreadable. Spread icing on the cookies when they are completely cool, using a generous 1 teaspoon icing for each.

Very Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my all-time favorite recipe for cookies. I don't even care that it is made with whole grains. It is that yummy. My family agrees. I like that you don't have to bring the butter to room temperature - it makes the whole thing go faster and allows me to make cookies spontaneously. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Good to the Grain

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Dry Mix:
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Wet Mix:
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 c dark brown sugar
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Instructions:

1. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (especially if using big chunks of chocolate). Can butter the sheets instead.
2. Sift dry ingredients together.
3. Mix together butter and sugars in stand mixer, just until butter and sugars are blended. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Add the four mixture on low until barely combined. Add the chocolate all at once (I add some chopped nuts too at this point).
4. Scoop mounds of dough about 3 tablespoons onto baking sheet about 3 inches apart (6 to a sheet).
5. Bake cookies for 16-20 minutes, rotating half way through, until they are evenly browned. Transfer cookies on parchment to cool on the counter. Cook the rest of the cookies.

And did you see that Amy posted her cheat sheet for her favorite recipes? She posts them on her fridge so she doesn't have to look them up each time. I think that is brilliant! And I've made a bunch of these and they are yummy. For real. Go make the chocolate cake right now. You will not be disappointed.

Walmart may be the best source of local produce?

Really? Potentially better than Whole Foods? Really? Hate them or love them, WalMart may be single handedly bringing back small farms. Really?

Interesting article from the Atlantic, where chef prepares side by side comparisons for discerning pallets with surprising results.

Valentine Goodness

I don't like to make a big deal over Valentines day, but it is nice to focus on your sweetie and tell them you love them. And the kids love holidays. It is crazy how much they anticipate each holiday. We started a tradition last year of having a fondue dinner together on Valentines and it was very fun. I made some chicken, asparagus, sweet potato fries, and pita triangles to dip in a cheesy gravy I made. And we cut up strawberries, bananas, apples, and brownies for a chocolate sauce that I made. It wasn't fancy, but it was very delicious and silly.

Sabrina liked it!

For those of you looking for a cheap and easy valentine for your kiddos check out this free printable valentine and little bookmarks. These would be so cute with candy hearts in celophane bags for class or teacher gifts. I love the owl theme!

More cute printable vintage valentines for you:

Or if you wanted to get fancy, you could whip up these a-maze-ing valentines:

Feeling crafty? How about making some tea towels?

Or maybe a beautiful wreath made out of fabric roses?

Or this adorable garland made from magazines.

 

Or leave your sweetie a simple note with heart shaped paper clips?

Have fun!

Cereal is for suckers

Ok. That was harsh. Sorry. But it is how I feel this week. I told my husband yesterday that I felt guilty eating breakfast lately because it is so *dang* good and it made me feel sorry for the masses that consume cold cereal daily. But I've never been a big fan of breakfast, so that may be a contributing factor.

I'm in love with oatmeal. Yep. You heard me. Oatmeal. But not your instant quaker oats, just-add-hot-water-and-stir oatmeal. I've officially become an adoring fan of steel cut oats. Cooked slowly on my stovetop until they are creamy and perfectly chewy and yummy.

It all started with this recipe Jason sent me, encouraging my healthful eating kick I've been on lately. It was so good, I even made some for breakfast on christmas morning. It was that good. And good for you. Stick to your ribs. Feel great all morning. Good. You should make it. I highly recommend that combo of dried fruit in the recipe, but might I suggest a couple of alternatives that will knock your socks off? Dried pineapple. Solo. Don't add anything else. Tastes like Hawaii to me. Then try some with dried figs and cranberries. A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I'm just saying - I don't think you can go wrong here. Even plain with 1/2 mashed banana and some cinnamon are quite tasty.

It is a commitment. You will need to spend 30 minutes making oatmeal. But it isn't hard. You can do other things. And I make a double batch and store it in the fridge and eat it all week. Slow down folks! It doesn't take that long to warm it up in the morning and you will thank me. You will.

You are welcome.

More fun ideas for the holidays

How cute are these little gingerbread houses? You can download a pattern and see the tutorial from notmartha here.  They are based on the recipe for these amazing gingerbread snowflakes from Martha.

Don't want to do all the work to make the houses and put them together? Buy these cute cookie cutters and be done with it. The cookies sit on your mug!

Need a partridge in a pear tree to round out your holiday giving? How about this beautiful linzer cookie?

Looking for some last minute knitting projects? These are two of my favorites that I've seen in the last two weeks.

I love this destroyed cowl. Pattern is a free .pdf on Ravelry here.

You can wear it long like this or around your neck twice more like a scarf.

Who wouldn't love these bunny slippers? CRAFT magazine offered up the free pattern here.

How about a quick project for a little kiddo in your life? Here's a free pattern for a felt crayon holder.

Are you inspired?

Peanut Butter Balls

We discovered these delicious candies this year. The kids love helping me make them and they are great little gifts too! Instructions are here.

Gyoza!

The kids and I made Gyoza tonight and it was very fun. Missa taught us how to make Gyoza last year at our MOPS steering retreat and I still dream about them. I came across a blog post about Gyoza and it inspired me to make my own. It was a bit of work chopping and folding them up, but the kids got into it and I just made sure we had plenty of time this afternoon.

And here are the results!


If you want to make your own Gyoza you definitely should. I followed the recipe here, but added a little sesame oil and shitake mushrooms. I didn't mess with the cabbage, just cut up the leaves and mixed them all in with pretty good results. But I made a sweet and sour sauce that Missa gave me to dip it in. Can't find it right now but can give it to you if you want. It rocks!

Here are two different videos on how to fold Gyoza:

Salmonberries

DSC08285
Originally uploaded by egerdahl

Uploaded our pictures from this summer to my new computer and they are so cool! I was playing around with my camera and took these pictures of the salmonberries we picked...yummy

Simple foodie pleasures

it is the little things that matter. today i had the opportunity to have a long lunch by myself and it was lovely. most people are uncomfortable dining alone but not me. i get the chance to slow down and think and savor. potato gnocchi with pesto cream sauce. ice cold sweet tea. almond cake with bing cherries and whip cream. delish. i was working through lunch but even that was nice because i had time and space to be creative.

Eating Real Food

I just finished reading Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" and I highly recommend it. It really changed how I think about what we eat and made me relax a little bit about weight and reconfirmed my commitment to being healthy generally. Like "Fast Food Nation", it describes in some detail how 'food' is processed and manufactured, highlighting how different grocery stores are now then they were when my great-grandmother did her shopping. Little in the store (except the perimeter) is real food. Even stuff you think is made of good stuff (like bread) is often highly engineered. But the most shocking part to me was how much of the nutrition info we are given has very little scientific basis. As a numbers person, I liked reading about the statistics and scientific process that goes into the underlying studies with the latest health claims. I walked away from the book trusting no one (not the FDA, not the American Heart Association, etc.) because endorsements are bought or negotiated. Much of the health claims on food aren't based in science. For example, the mini-wheats i've been feeding my family because they have a lot of fiber claim to increase attentiveness in kids by 20%. But Jason read that is compared with kids who have no breakfast! Eek. Makes me want to crawl in a hole. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist but we are setup to fail in so many (often sublte) ways.

The tenets of how he thinks you should eat are summarized here. They are quick and punchy principles that can't hurt as far as I'm concerned. Common sense but not always easy to do.

Ultimatly, it made me take my role as mom even more seriously. No more processed foods at our house, as much as possible. No cereal, crackers, bars, etc. I'm planning on baking bread, crackers, cookies, etc myself. And we'll eat fruit as opposed to fruit-like stuff for kids. I'd already done some of this, but I'm more committed than ever.

I'm even planning on baking bread and making my own yogurt at this point. Somehow high fructoce corn syrup made its way into our house in these products...eek. Kari recommended a book on breaking artisan bread in 5 minutes a day. Really. It just came from amazon, I'll try it out tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm really excited.