berry manilow

last night, somewhere sometime a little after Ot and Et both went nicely to sleep around 7:30, i excused myself from the house for the most peaceful 20 minutes i've had in a while. blackberries grow unchecked up and down our street and we have two blueberry bushes in our front yard. so i went scavenging.

a bushel and a peck.

blackberry vines are mean things. they grab your clothes and have large and teeny thorns that really sting.

i would say that probably only 10% of the blackberries are ripe which means we'll be swimming in these guys for the rest of summer! now i just need to find some recipes to cook them into. i am thinking a cobbler for the weekend would be pretty ideal and i want to look into this making-your-own-icecream thing that everyone seems capable of doing these days.

cobbler and homemade icecream, heck yeah.

TGIF peoples!

Mildred and Dildred - A Locally Owned Tucson Toy Store

My mom and I stumbled upon this great toy store at the La Encantada shopping center in Tucson, AZ. It was filled to the brim with charm both inside and out. Although they had a lot of the usual suspects when it came to their toy selection, they had lots of cute books, wooden toys, puzzles, and trucks made out of recycled plastics. They have free arts and crafts and storytime hour every Tuesday http://mildredanddildred.com/events/. It seemed to be a very "hands-on" environment where they don't discourage your child from trying out a toy or two. There was a play kitchen and train table to keep your kids busy while you shop. Although I don't typically get up to that side of town when shopping, I might make an exception here and there to hit this cute store and maybe pop in for Storytime with Mildred! Maybe I'll see you there!

Charm factor: YYYYYY (6 out of 6 hearts)
Standouts: Curious George tea set
Purchase: Complete set of Frog and Toad books - $14.99
Minuses: Pricey; kind of a hike from central Tucson
Staff: Helpful and friendly
Overall rating: YYYYY (that's actually 4.5 out of 6 hearts)

- Megan

Cookie Cutter Banana Pancake Dippers

As quick and easy as any other pancake preparation, using an aluminum cookie cutter as a mold adds much charm and makes the pancakes perfect sized for picking up and dipping!

You'll need:
- Spray cooking oil

- Open face aluminum cookie cutter(s)

- Batch of pancake batter with 1 thinly sliced banana folded in (my recipe can be found below)

And go!

1. Start by coating the interior of the cookie cutter with the spray oil (this will ensure the batter doesn't stick when it's time to flip) and spraying the skillet

2. Place cookie cutter with its "cutting" edge directly on your hot skillet

3. Pour batter directly into the cutter, about 1/4" to 1/2" deep

4. Cook until you see little bubbles appear in the batter, plus 30 seconds

5. Use a tea towel or lightweight potholder to grasp the cookie cutter and lift up, the pancake should ease out of the mold and will now be sitting on its own in the pan (see image)

6. Flip to brown opposite side

7. Serve with dipping sauce of choice

Below is a picture of my little guy, Otto, dipping his banana butterfly pancakes in some no-sugar added blackberry sauce from Apple Annie's (a local southern AZ farm with amazing jellies, syrups, salsas and relishes).

My recipe:

The recipe I use is a barely re-worked version of the Joy of Cooking "basic pancakes" recipe. I've reduced the size of the batch by half without reducing the quantity of banana so mine end up crazy banana heavy; I also combined some of the stirring steps (in the original version you mix all the dry stuff together, then all the liquid, then combine - but I find that if you work fast there's no need to do this in 3 steps and dirty extra bowls); and we use whole wheat flour instead of of all-purpose.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 & 1/2 TBSP sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cups milk

1 & 1/2 TBSP butter or unsalted butter

1 jumbo brown egg

1 big banana sliced very thinly

Optional - a wee splash of vanilla, almond extract, pinch of nutmeg, and/or cinnamon

1. Preheat skillet on med/low (just under the halfway mark on the heat dial) for about 3 minutes

2. Throw all ingredients in a bowl and briskly stir with a fork until combined

3. Follow the above recipe and you'll end up with dipping pancakes!

-Lindsey

Which Fruits and Vegetables Should I Buy Organic? The Dirty Dozen

Heard about the dirty dozen? These are the 12 fruits and vegetables that are considered the "dirtiest" (meaning most pesticide-ridden) and that should (as recommended by experts, I'm just relaying the info here) be bought organic whenever possible. Even though I'd heard of the Dirty D, I never took the time to find out which fruits and vegetables they were. Except today I did and here's the list:

DIRTY:

• apples
• bell peppers
• celery
• cherries (good to know, this time of year I'm so tempted but I'll hold off for organic)
• grapes (imported)
• nectarines
• peaches
• pears
• potatoes (whoa, very good to know)
• raspberries
• spinach
• strawberries

Then again, there is also a list of fruits and veggies that are considered clean enough whether you buy organic or factory-farmed:

CLEAN(er):

• asparagus
• avocado*
• banana*
• broccoli*
• cauliflower*
• corn*
• kiwi*
• mango*
• onion*
• papaya
• peas*
• pineapple

* indicates fruits/vegs that are widely available organic and from personal experience don't really cost that much to buy the organic version (at least in the southwest US where I live). So, I don't think this CLEANer list will affect my past shopping habits as far as stopping buying these items organic (fresh and frozen); I'm going to keep doing just that. However, I'm super-happy to see asparagus and pineapple on the CLEANer list because they are not as readily available organic and are both favorites.

Here are a couple of website stories that get deeper into this information (and that I used as sources):

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737389/page/2/

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-12-Most-Pesticide-Ridden-Fruits-and-Veggies&id=73473

-Lindsey