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A very crafty mommy friend of mine always has these addictive pretzel treats out when we come over. She swore they were easy to make and that her little monkey loves to help out making these sweet treats so I thought we would give them a go. She was right, easy, low mess and super fun for the kiddos. Only three ingredients you can't go wrong, we used matchstick pretzels, quick melt chocolate and course sanding sugar. The entire project minus the time spent eating and munching and laughing along the way only took about 10 minutes. First we laid the pretzels out on some wax paper(makes for easy clean up), microwaved the chocolate in a glass bowl for 60 seconds then put the chocolate into a squeezy bottle and drizzled over the pretzels. Finally Tess sprinkled the sugar over the tops and we let harden for about 30 minutes before eating. Tess is so excited to show Daddy that she made "prentzels" for him - what a treat.
The first few precious tomatoes of the season are ready for picking. About to undertake a big renovation/addition to our house this summer we planted very little this year. Since our backyard will be one big muddy construction site I debated if I should plant anything at all but decided that I couldn't miss an opportunity to teach T about growing from seed. We started the plantings indoors in February and Tess has patiently watched and watered her plants over the past few months with loving care. Elated at finally getting a chance to harvest some of her crops, she immediately picked the first tomato and went to bite right in and enjoy it straight from the vine. Also ready were sunflowers that had grown a few feet tall, which are now pride of place on our dinning room table. Construction is likely (hopefully, all fingers crossed) to begin next month and we might not get to harvest the rest of our crops but at least we got a few early tomatoes to get us in the summer mood. Fingers crossed the watermelons are ready before all the craziness starts.
Summer is a great time to refocus on fresh produce and clean up our diets. I have been working on trying to rid my cabinets & freezer of all processed foods slowly eating up any boxed pasta and couscous mixes so we could make the transition to a no processed foods house. For the most part we eat pretty good around here, I soak my own beans, grow some of our veg, buy grains in bulk but there are still some processed foods that I am dependent on. Mostly they are "processed lite" from Whole Foods and not so "bad" but still I am always trying to make our meals healthier and more nutritious. Right now reading a few good books on clean eating. Terry Walters Clean Foods is a great resource for stocking a "clean kitchen" and it has some simple great recipes.I am also reading Alicia Silverstones The Kind Diet and was surprised to find that it's pretty good and not at all "clueless". I have started to incorporate raw meals once a week into our diet and my favorite go to books for recipes of the raw kind are Matt Amsden's RAWvolution and Julianos RAW the UNcook book. Here are pics of some of our sprout crops the greens on bottom left are broccoli and on the top a mix of arugula, radish, alfalfa and on the right a yummy assortment of pea spouts.
Happy 6 months little guy. The time has flown by and it seems like just a few weeks ago we were bringing home our tightly wrapped small precious (screaming) bundle. Although we can look back now and it all seems a quick blur the road to getting here was sometimes pretty rough. It took a few weeks to figure out that Theo had some major food intolerances and then it took some serious diet modifications to get him feeling better. I had to give up dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, and since I was already a vegetarian that left not a whole lot left to eat. Even taking vitamins or eating foods with any spices would upset his little belly - it was a boring few food months. Now he has outgrown all the sensitivities and I am back to eating my fair share of cookies, milkshakes and other non so good for you foods. Mommy & baby are happy, in fact the whole house is now full of laughter, love and all kinds of kiddo shenanigans. One little person, the whole universe.
Made up a batch of Easter sugar cookies in bug shapes. Tess thinks it is hysterical to chomp the heads and wings off of the bugs and say gross as she reaches for more to eat. This was the first time I tried the royal icing with meringue power. Usually we use pasteurized eggs so that the frosting is safe to eat without the risk of salmonella but I always find that the eggs because of the heat treatment won't whip up. I have tried using cream of tarter as a stabilizer but it still leaves the icing runny and with set up issues. I have mixed feelings on the meringue powder I found that the icing was a bit to frothy and sticky and lacked some of the gloss of my usual recipe. Definitely not as tasty but it was very easy to work with and spread. I can tell I need a few more rounds to get the perfect "safe" icing. With the way Tess & Matt are hitting these tasty little bugs I am sure I will have plenty of opportunities to perfect this recipe.
For the cookie recipe - see earlier post on Valentines Day cookies
For the icing recipe... stay tuned.
I have been wanting to try to sew one of those pillowcase style dresses for some time but just haven't gotten around to doing it. I've was actually worried that once I made one of these dresses I would get pillowcase dress crazy and then every photo of Tess from now until she went to college would be of her in one these. But with Easter right around the corner I thought it would be the perfect quick sew dress project. After searching for a tutorial I found one that looked pretty simple at Prudent Baby and thought I would give it a go. The dress is linen and cotton and even though it's not the most festive of dresses I am still referring to it as the Easter Dress. Last years Easter dress was black with small white dots so by my standards this ended up being practically a carnival of color. The whole dress from cutting fabric to completion look less than 2 hours and just as I feared I can't wait to make another one. They make the perfect summer dress and when the weather starts to turn you can layer t-shirts under them and wear them as tunics.
Materials:
Fabric
Bias Tape
Twill Tape for the tie
Chocolate cookies are a particular weakness of mine and my all time favorite recipe is from Tate's bake shop in the Hamptons. Goop posted the recipe awhile back and since then it is my go to recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookies. Here is that link if you are in the mood for the best cc cookie http://goop.com/newsletter/38/. I am always on the lookout for healthy alternatives to the foods I crave so when I saw the recipe for lentil cookies on the Cooking Channel's Spice Goddess I was intrigued and thought I would give them a try. I love the idea of a cookie that includes high protein,healthy fats and whole wheat. I modified the recipe a bit so that I could make them more of a breakfast cookie or healthy snack cookie. I'm calling my version a Health Nut Cookie. Here is the original recipe from the cooking channel http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/bals-lentil-cookies-recipe/index.html. For my modification I only used 1/4 cup of almonds and added 3/4 cup of walnuts (I'm a walnut fan). I also cut the sugar by 1/4. The final cookie was light and nutty - next time I might add a pinch of cardamon to give them a little more spice. You can't argue with a healthy cookie that actually tastes good.
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