weekend odds and ends

this weekend has been all about simple times with the kids. we are just starting to box things up for the move in 2 weeks. we are resting up for a weekend in Portland next weekend, moving the following, and my parents will be visiting the weekend after. so this weekend was intentionally boring (but in a really good way). some odds and ends...

i made blackberry cobbler and boy did it turn out amazing! instead of making the cobble (<-- o_O) i placed trader joes buttermilk biscuit halves on top of the blackberry filling (which was just blackberries, sugar, cornstarch per Joy of Cooking's directions). the glaze was agave & sugar. baking happened Saturday morning and by bedtime every last crumb was gone.

hubs does not like fruit-based desserts so he got the leftover biscuits. have at!

Otto woke up at 5:30 am both days because he is a lunatic. Saturday was my day to sleep in. this morning i got up with him and we played potato heads, legos, blocks, and pirates all morning.

and upset in the barn.

and paper animal crafts.

not to be left out of the yummy food eating, Et dined on sweet potato puree. she loves to eat!

now we are waiting for our homemade almond/cinnamon ice cream to set and are heading out to pick more blackberries for a topping. eat eat eat eat eat! and pack pack pack pack pack. hope your weekend is treating you to as much good food and sweet faces as we've got going over here ♥

you should totally make biscotti

biscotti is your friend! make biscotti! i just found out recently that people don't realize how super easy it is. it's sooooo easy! and soooo nom! plus you can feel all european and cool telling people stories that start like this, "the other day when i was making biscotti..." (even cooler if you're smoking a long black cigarette at the time and your story is about how you almost peed on LL Cool J).

right? anyways... otto helped me make biscotti just last week and it turned out awesomeballs! we even used whole wheat flour and still awesomeballs!

so this recipe is modified but not a whole lot from the Joy of Cooking "reduced fat classic biscotti" recipe -->

what you need...
3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla

what you do...
1. Preheat oven 375' & grease a cookie sheet
2. Get everything measured and ready cause you're gonna throw it all in a big bowl at once
3. Throw everything in a big bowl at once
4. Stir until smooth (confession: towards the end I use my hands to really get the last bits mixed in)
5. Flour your hands and shape dough into 2 cylindrical rolls, each about 12" long
6. Place on cookie sheet apart from each other and press so they're flatter (but not super flat)
7. Bake 25 minutes
8. Let cool like 5 minutes, cut into about 1/2" slices (I do this on the cookie sheet, but my cookie sheets are soooo not precious)
9. Lay the slices flat on the cookie sheet
10. Bake 10 more minutes

is all! they are so easy and sooooo good... you know who agrees with me? Dr. Freakincute!

Dr. Freakincute kinda needs a haircut but i don't want to! i'm hoping if i hang in there long enough they'll do some kind of side sweep thing and he can grow it out longish.

returning to the biscotti --> you can also mix in pretty much anything you want. we've used dried cherries, dark chocolate shavings, raisins, butterscotch chips... i know Rebecca made them recently with white chocolate & macadamia, um yeah!

ok, go forth and bake! smoke long blag cigs! steal my LL Cool J story and tell it like it's your own! oh, and have an awesome weekend!

xo,

lindsey

Pudding With Green Beans

"Eek!?"

Well kind of. More like, "Errrk?".

This post was supposed to be called "Pudding Like Your Dad Used to Make" because when I was making Otto's dinner tonight I decided to whip up some instant Trader Joe's pudding mix & throw in sliced strawberries & Annie's chocolate chip bunnies (a twist on my dad's classic banana 'Nilla Wafer pudding parfaits).

Gosh dang my dad used to make some freaky deaky pudding! Anyways, mine is good too, and a bit healthier I guess since I use organic rice/soy/or cow milk and organic berries and Annie's bunnies.

Yeah, Yeah, Get to the Green Beans...

Otto's bowl was berry and bunny free (probably tmi but since he's been eating fruit and fig bars all day I thought his diapers could use a break). On a lark, I tried sprinkling raw green been bites from his dinner in the pudding and he gobbled it up!

I always taste these little food experiments of mine when I'm feeding Otto something that sounds totally appalling and disgusting. Well guess what: pudding with green beans is actually kinda sorta yummy.

It's always easy to forget how sweet veggies actually taste. Green beans don't = rainbow sprinkles, but they're a nice sweet little crunchy gift from nature just the same.





Well, whatever, just thought I'd share along w/ the cute pics! No recipe here cause it's pretty much just what it is: PUDDING YUM!

-Lindsey

Zora's zucchini muffins

It has always been so fun cooking with Zora. She gets really into it, and says the greatest things while doing it.

For awhile, we made these mini muffins at least once a week, froze them, and then took them along with us on playdates. Big hit!

While making these one morning, I wrote down 4 consecutive statements of hers - these just came out one after another:

"It's all googly" (when stirring the wet ingredients into the dry)

"Yuck! It smells like sugar, but it doesn't TASTE like sugar!" (when I let her try a bit of cinnamon from my fingertip).

"This will take a lot!" (referring to how much stirring is necessary to get it thoroughly mixed).

"Wow, look at the fork, it stands up!"

That is the great thing about cooking with kids - they are really making so many observations, and are just fascinated with the process.






Here is our recipe, if you want to try it yourself!

ZORA's ZUCCHINI MUFFINS
makes 4 dozen mini muffins or 2 dozen regular sized

3 eggs
1 cup oil or applesauce or a mix (we do 1/2 oil 1/2 applesauce)
1 cup sugar (white or brown or a mix - we do a mix)
2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 large zucchini)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour (we do a mix of whole wheat and unbleached - 2/3 regular and 1/3 wheat)
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp (or less) salt

Preheat oven to 350

line muffin tins or spray HEAVILY with organic pam spray - these will stick to the tin, if not.

Medium bowl - beat the eggs, then mix in oil/applesauce sugar. Combine with grated zucchini and vanilla (all wet ingredients)

Large bowl - combine all dry ingredients

Mix them all together now in the Large bowl

spoon into muffin pans - well greased or lined! (Zora is really good at this part).

Bake for 14 minutes (mini) or 20-24 minutes (regular sized) - you will know they are done when your child says, "wow, those smell good." I frequently bake until that perfect smell hits - that is the true gauge.

Freeze half of them for later - these freeze really well.

Enjoy! Zora has 3 at a time (of the minis).

ps. we have a KinDer Perch, and find that this makes cooking so much fun. We highly recommend it.






http://www.tinybirdsorganicbabytoys.com/cgi-bin/item/WickedDecentKinderPerch/search/Wicked-Decent-Kinder-Perch-Learning-Tower