French Toast with Love

Earlier tonight the boys and I were looking at fun food ideas online and ran across a picture of french toast with a cut-out heart filled with strawberries.  Aiden decided that he wanted to eat that immediately and set to work gathering up the ingredients.  He apparently forgot that we ate tacos only 20 minutes earlier!  Momma indulged him and he got Ehic on board as well.  So for dessert the boys had French Toast with Love!

French Toast with Love
1/4 cup Milk*
1 Egg
dash of Vanilla Extract
dash of Cinnamon
few slices of Bread
Sliced Strawberries
Maple Syrup
Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter

Preheat Griddle.  In a bowl combine milk, egg, vanilla and cinnamon. Whisk the mixture together.   Dip each side of bread in the mixture let excess drip back into the bowl.  Cook both sides of the french toast over medium heat.  Cut out a small heart from each cooked slice.  Fill the cut-out space with sliced strawberries.  Serve with Maple Syrup.

Note: *I don't usually measure my ingredients when I make french toast so I am estimating on the milk.  Be conservative with the milk.  In my opinion it is better to have to make more of the mixture than to soak your bread.

Printable Recipe 

100th Day of School

Aiden just recently started going to Preschool at the beginning of February.  He is loving his time there. Today his class celebrated their 100th Day of School.  He was so proud of his 100th Day crown.  He is so cute!

My oldest son, Ehric, is in 1st grade and his class also recently had a 100th Day Celebration.  Each student brought in 100 things.  Ehric brought in 100 Calorie Snacks (his idea) and even shared them with kids in the class who forgot snacks (he has such a generous heart)!   All the Kindergarten-3rd graders had a 100th today parade through the school as well.  He had a lot of fun that day!

Steaming Hot Oatmeal

Synchronicity was at play this morning in my kitchen. I had left over apple slices in my fridge from the snack Aiden didn't eat yesterday. I also had left over soaked raisins and brown sugar syrup from making Apple Dumplings last night. So I decided to use these leftovers to make a yummy hot oatmeal for breakfast. It was so warming to the soul on this very cold single digit morning in Maine!

Can you see the steam rising?

Apple-Raisin Oatmeal

Combine in a sauce pan: 1 3/4 cups boiling water, 1 cup Quick Oats, 1/2 cup Raisins, 1 small Apple diced, Brown sugar or maple syrup (add to your preference)

Cook over medium heat until oats are cooked (about 2 minutes). Put the oatmeal into individual bowls and then add a little bit of milk to each bowl. Stir to combine.

Note: I like to add slivered almonds or cut up walnuts to my bowl of oatmeal.

Printable Recipe.

Apple Dumplings

Yesterday when Ehric got home from school I asked him if he wanted me to make anything special to eat. He usually comes up with some pretty good ideas and yesterday was no exception. He said that in school they read a book that mentioned apple dumplings. So he said he was thinking all day that we should make some. So make some I did!

I had never made or had apple dumplings before last night. These reminded me of the baked apples my Memere would make for my sister and I when we were kids, but wrapped up in a pie crust. It took me a few hours to make this delicious dessert but it was definitely worth the effort!

Apple Dumplings

(Source: Classroom Cooking: Recipes for Teachers and Children by Jamien Morehouse (C)1978)

"a fairly time-consuming recipe...The pastry dough can be made a day in advance or packaged dough substituted."

Pastry:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup chilled margarine or butter

4 Tblsp lard or shortening

1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add butter and lard. Cut into flour with knives (or pastry cutter) until mixture is "sandy". Sprinkle 1/3 cup water over the flour and mix with a fork. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate.

Dumplings:

6 Red Delicious apples, peeled and cored

lemon juice

1/2 cup raisins soaked in water for 30 minutes or so

butter

brown sugar

Syrup:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3/4 Cups water

2 Tblsp butter

Roll the pastry to 1/4" and cut into six squares. Place an apple on each square, sprinkle with lemon juice and fill the hollowed out apple with raisins. Top with 1/4 tsp butter and 1/2 tsp brown sugar. Brush the edge of the crust with water, pull up the sides of the pastry, and pinch closed so the apple is completely covered. Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate half an hour.

Meanwhile make the syrup: combine the syrup ingredients in a heavy saucepan, bring to a boil over moderate heat, and boil gently for 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 425F. Brush the dumplings with some of the syrup and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake 30 minutes longer, brushing dumplings with the syrup every 10 minutes or so. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla icecream.

Note: I ended up having a lot of syrup left over. I saved it in a jar to use with oatmeal or pancakes.

Printable Recipe.

Celebrating Valentine's Day

Yesterday we started to prepare for Valentine's Day by making homemade cards for each other and for my son's classmates. Ehric made us each a mailbox to put our Valentine's cards into, which you can see above. We had fun stuffing them full of our homemade cards and a few candies, which were eaten on the spot!

Last night I baked these Chewy Ginger Snap Cookies for Ehric's Valentine's Day class party. Even though they were not heart shaped they were well received. My son's teacher emailed me this afternoon asking for the recipe for "the-most-delicious-ever ginger cookies." I would have to agree. These are some of the best ginger cookies I have ever had. I wish I could claim the recipe!

I was inspired by this recipe for Snicker Bears and decided to make some for the boys as a special Valentine treat. I made a few substitutions (all-purpose flour instead of gluten free flour and white sugar instead of cane sugar) so my bears didn't come out exactly like the original recipe, but they still tasted yummy and were still cute in their own way. If I made these again I would either follow the original recipe or find a good Snickerdoodle recipe.

For breakfast this morning I decided to make a heart shaped pancake. I mixed up my regular pancake batter then poured it into the pan which I greased with Wilton Cake Release. I sprinkled on some Rainbow Sprinkles on top and then baked it at around 400 degrees for maybe 20-25 minutes or so. I played around with the temps and time so don't quote me on this. We split this four ways and ate it with maple syrup. It was delicious!

While we were waiting for breakfast to cook Ehric and Aiden checked out their Valentine's mailboxes. They discovered that they also each had a little gift waiting for them as well. Here they are checking out their presents. Love must have been in the air today...the boys each decided that they liked each other's present better than their own and swapped gifts with one another with no bickering involved!

For lunch Aiden had a heart shaped grilled cheese sandwich. This made him very happy!

All-in-all our Valentine's was low-cost and low-key, but still special! I hope everyone had a great day with their families as well and didn't spend a fortune to show your love. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Cream Scones

This morning I wanted something warm for breakfast but not our usual standbys. I decided to finally use the Cream Scones mix that I made last month. I loved that all I needed to do was add the butter and the cream. Not having to mix everything up this morning saved me a lot of time. They came out so good and were so deliciously good!

Cream Scones

(from Family Meals: Creating Traditions in the Kitchen by Maria Helm Sinskey)

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tblsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp grated orange or lemon zest (optional)--I added orange zest.

1/2 cup dried currants (dried blueberries or other dried fruits can be substituted)--I added chocolate chips.

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup heavy cream, plus 1/4 cup for brushing

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest, if using. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture, and, using a pastry cutter or two table knives, cut the butter into pieces until it is the size of large peas. Add the currants and then the cream, and stir just until the dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gather it into a ball, and knead lightly until uniform. Pat the dough into a round about 1 1/2" thick. You can either use a round biscuit cutter or cut into triangles. Arrange 2" apart on a tray and brush tops with cream. Bake about 12 minutes. Serve warm.
Printable Recipe.

Bento Box Snacks

Since I have been researching healthier eating for myself I have been getting inspired to feed my family healthier too. I've decided that instead of sending my oldest son to school with granola bars and Gogurts that I will put his new Froggy Bento box to good use and send him to school with some healthier and more creative snack options. So far the change has been happily accepted! See what I've packed for the last two days below:
Yesterday's snack was cheese peeled from a Cheese Head Cheese Stick, Pepperonis and Kashi TLC Honey Sesame Crackers. Delish!

This morning I filled the Froggy Bento box with green grapes, a few strawberries, star shaped bread pieces, a wedge of Laughing Cow and a packet of Grape Jelly. I am particularly proud of this one!

Schnitzel

Last night my hubby made Schnitzel for dinner. Schnitzel is pork that is flattened, breaded and fried. My husband picked up this family favorite when he was living in Germany while serving in the Air Force. We don't eat it very often but when we do it is such a treat! We usually serve honey mustard on the side for dipping. Yummy!

Schnitzel

boneless pork

Lemon Juice

Salt and Pepper

4-C Italian Bread Crumbs

Oil

Flatten the pork with a meat mallet. You want the pork to be kind of thin. Put the pork in some lemon juice for a few minutes. Heat up some oil in a frying pan. Remove the pork from the juice and then season both sides with Salt and Pepper. Dip both sides of the pork into the bread crumbs. Fry both sides of the pork until golden in the oil.
Printable Recipe

The above is how my family normally cooks Schnitzel. Last night we followed this Schnitzel recipe but made ours with seasoned bread crumbs instead of Panko. They came out fantastic, but we did miss the lemon flavor. So next time we will also soak them in lemon juice too.

Eggs in a Frame

Seeing this post about heart shaped 'Eggs in a Frame' brought me back to my childhood. I remember my Mom making this breakfast for my sister and I from time to time. She didn't use fancy cookie cutters though just a glass to cut a circle out of the middle. This morning I decided to carry on the tradition and made some star shaped ones for breakfast. They came out so good!

Eggs in a Frame

Bread-Cut a shape out of the center of the bread and then lay both the bread and cutout pieces on a hot griddle or pan

Egg-Crack the egg and pour into the center of the bread with the shape cut out

Cook the bread and egg on one side for a bit and then flip to cook the other side.

**You will notice that the stars that I cut out are missing. I sent them to school with Ehric for a snack.

Owl Spotting

Walking up the driveway with Ehric I happened to look up into a tree and spotted a Barred Owl. The tree is located right near our chicken coop so I think the owl was on the lookout for dinner. When I spotted it I immediately pointed it out to Ehric, and then ran in the house and grabbed my camera. I was able to snap this picture of the owl looking at us. I have seen owls close up at the local wild life park but never in my own backyard before. I am so excited!! Next time I see it I will be sure to call out "Who Cooks for you? Who Cooks for you all?" Maybe it will hoot back.

GF Waffles

Aiden said he wanted Maple Syrup for dinner. I said, "Would you like to dip something into the Maple Syrup?" We worked out a compromise...Waffles! Then I looked in the fridge and realized we didn't have any eggs! I decided to look online for some ideas and also looked over my usual recipe. I decide to take a stab at making up my own gluten free waffles (without eggs) with what I had one hand. I am happy to report that they came out great!

Gluten Free Waffles

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour

1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

1.5 tsp Sucanat w/some Cinnamon mixed in

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cup Blue Diamond Vanilla Almond Milk

1 tblsp Canola Oil

Preheat waffle maker. Combine dry ingredients. Then add wet ingredients. Whisk or stir to form a batter. Spray waffle maker with cooking spray. Add batter and cook until no longer steaming.

Note: Be diligent about spraying between batches. I found that these stuck easily when I forgot to spray.

GF Chocolate Chip Cookies

The boys asked if I could make Chocolate Chip cookies today. I decided to try this Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe but I made a few changes:

In place of the Gluten Flour mix I used 2 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour; and for the chocolate I used 2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. I added to the recipe 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp Almond Extract and 1 tsp cider vinegar.

Since the boys were impatient for cookies I made a small batch up first without refrigerating the dough first. The cookies took a little longer to cook than the original recipe said, but they still came out great. I have the rest of the dough setting up in the fridge for later.

The boys and I really liked these cookies. If you like your Chocolate Chip Cookies hard vs soft you will really like these! I can't tell that these are Gluten Free. I love that!

Ehric asked, "Can you make these again sometime?" Both boys enjoyed their cookies with some farm fresh milk (pictured above is Aiden). I guess these passed muster!

GF Crepes

This morning I was in the mood for crepes. I decided to forgo my usual recipe and make some gluten free ones; since I am experimenting with Gluten Free recipes lately. I found a recipe from Gluten Free Mom and let me just say these were really good! I have been eating crepes since I was a little girl and I thought these tasted and looked just like my regular crepes. Ehric had at least 3 or 4 of them, and when I asked how they were he said, "Amazing as always!" That just melted my heart! I will definitely make these again!

Notes: For the milk I used Blue Diamond Vanilla Almond Milk and for the flour I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour. I cooked my crepes in my cast iron crepe pan. This batch made 12 crepes.

GF Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie but don't eat it very often because it is a little time consuming to make the traditional way (with a full pie crust). I found this recipe the other day for a Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie that looked really easy to make and only has a top crust. So yesterday, I cooked up some chicken and today I made my version of the recipe since I didn't have some of the ingredients in the original recipe. I've included my notes and prep instructions below.

This recipe was not as quick to make as I hoped, but it was worth the time to make. I enjoyed the filling tremendously and the topping was kind of like corn bread. I would make this dish again. It was so good on this cold Winter day!

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie

**Precook 1 lb of Chicken ahead of time.

For the Chicken-Vegetable Filling

First I prepped my vegetables.

2 cups of Broccoli florets (chopped)

25 Baby Carrots (thinly sliced)

1 small yellow onion (finely chopped)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

In a Dutch Oven I added 2 tblsp of Olive Oil and cooked the onions over medium heat until they were soft. Then I poured the onions into a bowl.

I combined the dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisked well:

2 tblsp rice flour, 1/2 tsp dried mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper

In the Dutch oven I add 2-3 tblsp of Olive Oil then poured in the dry ingredients. I cooked the mixture over medium heat for a few minutes.

I slowly added a 14.5 oz can of Chicken stock to the dutch oven and whisked well. Once the mixture was boiling I added in dried basil (a few shakes) and my prepped vegetables. I turned the heat down to low and cooked the ingredients covered for 12 minutes.

While the mixture was cooking I shredded my 1 lb of previously cooked of chicken. Since I didn't have sour cream I whipped up some cream (from our raw milk) with some lemon juice. I made about 3 tblsp of sour cream. I also preheated my oven to 425 degrees.

When the vegetables were done cooking I turned off the stove top. I added the chicken and sour cream to the dutch oven and stirred up the ingredients. Then I poured the vegetable mixture into a 9 x 13.

For the topping

In a small bowl I combined :

1/2 cup of cornmeal, 1/4 cup rice flour plus 2 tblsp, 2 tblsp tapioca flour, 3/4 tsp xanthan gum,

1 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt,

In another small bowl I combined:

1 tblsp honey, 3/4 cup raw milk, 2 tblsp olive oil

Then I combined the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I poured the batter onto the Chicken -Vegetable Mixture in the 9 X 13 and then carefully spread the mixture across the top.

I baked the dish for 30 minutes. Then let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.

Serves about 6.

Notes: I accidentally set my temp to 450* so my topping was a little darker than it should have been. Oops! So I pulled my Pot Pie out of the oven about five minutes sooner. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Since both boys are home today due to the snow I decided to bake a special treat this afternoon. I made Black Bottom Cupcakes*. Wow, I think I died and went to chocolate heaven! These are so rich and delicious; and I love that they have a cream cheese topping. The boys and I enjoyed these with a glass of milk.

*Note: In place of the sorghum, tapioca and rice flour I used 1 1/2 cups of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour. I also ran out of Baking cocoa so I used an 1/8 cup of hot cocoa mix. LOL! I cooked my cupcakes a little longer than I should have because I couldn't tell if they were cooked through since they are super chocolately. But they tasted awesome in my opinion! Once they cool I plan on putting a few in the freezer for another day.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I don't know what it is about Tuesdays and Wednesdays being the "official" snow days but that is the reality the past few storms. Since we didn't have to worry about our school routine this morning we all slept in a little later than usual. Well I at least layed down in bed later than usual. I am hopeful that we won't have too many more storms in our future since Punxsatawney Phil didn't see his shadow today. Supposedly we will have an early spring!

Lately, I have been running across a lot of Raw recipes and Gluten Free recipes. I've bookmarked a few that I want to try and have purchased a few pantry items so I can try my hand at them. This morning was the perfect opportunity to try Gluten Free Pancakes. I found a recipe and then tweaked it a bit to use what I had on hand. They tasted just like regular buttermilk pancakes to me, and the boys were oblivious to the fact they were not our usual mix and ate up a bunch. Here is the recipe I made:

Gluten Free Pancakes

Makes 20 4" Pancakes

1 1/3 + 3 tblsp Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Powder

4 tblsp Dry Buttermilk Powder

1 tblsp Organic Sucanat and Cinnamon Mixed

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum

2 eggs

3 tblsp Canola Oil

2 Cups of Water

Combine Dry Ingredients, then add Wet Ingredients. Stir to get rid of lumps. Cook on a hot griddle on medium heat. Flip when the first side bubbles.

Note: This recipe makes a lot of batter. It is also a thick batter. Next time I am going to halve the recipe.

Ehric and Aiden happily enjoying Gluten Free Pancakes!