Peas, Carrots, and Mashed Potatoes

I made these cupcakes on April Fools Day this year. They are from just a boxed cake mix. But, the fun was in the decoration. For the Peas and Carrots cupcakes, I dyed the frosting green and applied green pea hard candies I found at the store and the carrots were orange starburst cut into squares. For the mashed potato cupcakes, I used the whipped frosting and piled it on high. The gravy is caramel sauce and the butter is a yellow starburst cut into a thin square.  I got the idea from this great book called Hey Cupcake.

Pick Me Up

Hopefully spring is on the way. Winter has been nothing to complain about this year, but I am longing for green grass and colorful flowers. I recently came across a little pick me up for any dish. I saw it on a show on the Food Network called Arti's Party. I have been dabbling in Indian food lately, so I made my first Aloo Gobi (curried cauliflour and potatoes). The first thing you had to do was make this paste out of ginger and garlic. This paste was super easy to make and can be put into any veggie, rice, or potato recipe. Not only does it taste great, but it will prevent you from getting any of the last colds of the winter, due to garlic and ginger have such great immune boosting properties.

Ginger and Garlic Paste

Enough peeled garlic cloves to fill a 1/2 C. container

Enough peeled and chopped ginger to fill a 1/2 C. container

1/2 C. canola oil

Put all ingrediants in a food processor and process until it looks like a thick paste

Can store in your fridge for up to 3 weeks in a closed container

A Little French Parenting Goes A Long Way

I just finished reading the best child rearing book ever, Bringing Up Bebe. It is about the differences in the way French and Americans raise their children. I have gotten so many good pointers out of this book. They talked about, how at an early age, french children help with the baking in the house. One of the most popular is something called gateau au yaourt (yogurt cake). By the age of 3 or 4 french children are making this cake entirely on their own (minus the oven part.) All the measuring is done using empty yogurt containers so it makes it easy for them. They can make the cake, but they cannot dig into it right away. Everyday around 4:30 the French have a snack, so the children have to wait until then to eat it. This book preaches teaching children patience and independence and this is just one example. Now if you know me, you know that I am a control freak. I am reforming, but it is a slow process:) So, the thought of letting my kids take over the kitchen and make a mess without my guidance was scary. But, I took a breath and told the kids that they would be making a cake for breakfast tomorrow by THEMSELVES. They were so excited. It was hard when I saw Maddy putting the dry ingrediants in without mixing the wet ones first. I cringed, but didn't step in. Eventually she noticed it on her own. The cake smells delicious and I am sure it will be good when we have it tomorrow, but more importantly, it taught some huge lessons for the kids and for me. The kids gained alot of confidence by doing it on their own and I gave away some control. Here is the recipe if you are brave enough to attempt it. They even cleaned up the kitchen when they were done:)

Gateau au Yaourt

2-6 oz. containers of whole milk vanilla or plain yogurt(use these empty containers to measure the other ingrediants)

2 eggs

2 containers sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

just under 1 container canola or veggie oil

4 containers flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 375

Combine all wet ingrediants and mix. Add dry ingrediants to wet. If you want you can add 2 containers of frozen berries or chocolate chips at this point. Pour into greased 9 inch round cake pan. Bake for 40 minutes. Sprinkle berries and powdered sugar on top to eat.

Happy President's Day

The last time I made something that a president loved it was back when GW Bush beat John Kerry in the presidential election. I am a die hard Democrat, so it killed me to have to make GW Bush's favorite cookies..... cowboy cookies. But, I made them as a good will offering to my Republican sister-in-law and her husband. They were good anyways. So, today, I wanted to make the Obama family's favorite snack, homemade granola bars. They are healthy and so good. Kids really liked them. I really respect what Michelle Obama is trying to do in America with her Get Moving program. I think it's great that they are sharing their healthy recipes with all of America.

Here is the recipe:

White House Granola Bars

6 tbsp. canola oil

2 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. sunflower seeds

1/2 c. honey

1/3 c. dark brown sugar

2 tbsp. maple syrup

pinch of salt

1 c. mixed dried fruit

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix oil, sugar, maple syrup, honey, salt, and cinnamon in a pot over low heat. Cook till combined..not boiling.

Mix granola, dried fruit, and seeds together

Add wet ingrediants to dry and mix.

Put in a greased 8 X 8 or 9 X 9 inch pan.

Cook 20-25 minutes and let cool completely before cooking.

* You could mess with the recipe by adding pistacios or any other nut, 1 tbsp of nut butter, or even chocolate chips*

French Toast Friday

We have a tradition in our house. Similar to Scone Sunday, we have French Toast Fridays. I love making french toast. Mostly because Jackson loves it, even though it has eggs in it. I have tried making baked french toast before but it never turns out as good as frying it. I do have a few healthy sneak-ins added to my french toast for a bit of a nutrition punch.

2 eggs

2 tbsp rice milk (or milk of your choice)

dash of cinnamon

1 small container of sweet potato or squash baby food

sprinkle of wheat germ

coconut oil

beat 2 eggs with milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and baby food ( I promise, they

won't taste the baby food)

Melt coconut oil in pan

Dip bread into egg mixture, put in hot pan and sprinkle top with wheat germ. Flip when ready and serve with syrup.

I have a problem with syrups. Pure maple syrup is expensive and very high in sugar and other maple syrups, like Eggo, isn't even really maple syrup...it is mostly high fructose corn syrup with maple flavoring (yuck). So, I made a compromise. Log cabin make a brand called

All Natural and it's brown rice syrup. It is less sugar, has no fake sugars in it, and tastes good.

Happy Birthday Dad

I dedicate my blog today to my dad. The master of the grill. No one makes a better brat or hamburger on the grill than my dad. Like I said in an earlier blog, food is love. My dad has alot to do with that and since this is a food blog I would like to share some of my foodie memories of my dad with you. When I used to come home on break from college my parents would ask what I would like to eat. Most times, it was a cheeseburger on the grill. I grew up in a home where both of my parents cooked. I have memories of my parents coming home late at night from a night away and them having a plate of what they called eggies and noodles. It is what it sounds like. I can still smell it when I think about it. It was their "drunk" food:) I also remember them running their bread through the grease from fried pork chops and sprinkling it with salt and pepper. My dad is infamous for getting you to eat more than you intended to. Maybe it's the greek in him. The first time Don met my parents, my dad made brats, per my request. After 2 brats , Don was done, until Dad said, "Hey Don, aren't you gonna have a 3rd?" Even though he was stuffed, he did. This was his first time meeting my parents and I think he was trying to impress them. Every holiday I try and cut and hand out dessert. After I make the first cut, my dad takes over, the pieces are never big enough:) Speaking of holidays, my mom and dad used to do them together. They would each make a certain thing. Now, with my mom gone, my dad does it all himself. He does a fantastic job. Not that I ever doubted him. He is even trying new things. He made mushroom stuffing a few years ago. Now don't even get me started on holidays, especially Chrismas. The amount of food my dad puts out is crazy, but so appreciated. He puts out a spread of snacks in the afternoon. All pretty much homemade stuff, than a huge dinner (usually prime rib), dessert, and if we would stick around late he may even pull out a sub or pizza. Growing up we all got a birthday dinner. Now, this was not some restaurant you went out to...it was a "What's your favorite, homemade dinner you wanna eat for your birthday?" We still do it, as much as possible, today. Don will always ask if I wanna go out on my b-day and I usually opt for a family dinner at home. Since retired, my dad has been a food quest....the best meatloaf. He tries combining different recipes, trying different ingrediants. Everytime I see a meatlof recipe, I immediately think of him. Seeing that he is the king of the grill, he is also the king of all tailgaters. If its a Badger game or Brewers game, more times than not, he will be tailgating or just bringing brats for everyone else. And donuts or what he calls sweet rolls,still happen every Sunday, if someone is there to buy them for.

I could go on and on, but what this all boils down to is soul food. It is the heart and soul he puts into his food that makes it special to me. It's in my genes too. Thanks for the great memories Dad, I love you and Happy Birthday.

Sunday, Scone Sunday

So, we have Cereal Saturday and now we are onto Scone Sunday. Sunday has always been a special breakfast day for me. When I was little, my mom loved the musical Flower Drum Song. There is a song from it that she used to sing me: "Sunday, sweet Sunday, with nothing to do. Lazy and lovely, my one day with you." I now seem to take the lyrics to this song pretty literally. Growing up, my Grandpa Kerch used to come over every Sunday after church and bring us coffee cake. He would stay and visit and play cribbage with my brother. After a while my mom had to break the news to him that 3 little kids, prefered donuts over, the more sophisticated, coffee cake. So, it was donut Sunday from than on. It is a really beautiful memory I have of him. Apparently, my grandpa had a great food reputation of his own in FDL, but that's another story for another day. My husband's family always had what they called Farmer's breakfast on Sunday. It was eggs, hashbrowns, toast, and bacon. Can you tell Don grew up in the city, seeing that this to him is a farmer's breakfast:) So, I always try to make something a little more substantial than cereal on Sunday. I even set the table, like I would dinner. This mornings menu was gluten free orange scones, yogurt parfaits, turkey sausage patties, and fresh orange/grapefruit, strawberry juice. I started at 8:3o and we were eating at 9:30. Really not too long of a prep time for all that food. The scones were to die for. I cannot even describe how good they were. I had never even tried a scone until a few months ago. I love them because they seem like just the right amount sweet. I served them with butter and raspberry preserves. This recipe is from the allergy free bakers handbook. Here is the recipe:

1 (6 0z. container of greek yogurt 2 tbsp. double acting baking powder

3/4 c. orange juice 1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. orange zest 1/3 c. canola oil

3 cups basic gluten free flour mix 2 tbsp. rice milk

3/4 tsp. xanthan gum sugar

1/3 c. organic sugar

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

-Whisk yogurt, oj, and orange zest in one bowl

-In another bowl, whisk flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking powder and salt

-Add OJ mixture to dry and add canola oil, mix. Mixture will be lumpy

-Flour a work surface and turn out dough, turn out dough and split into 2 pieces. Flatten to about 6 inches thick and cut into 6 pie shaped wedges.

-Put on baking sheet and brush with rice milk and sprinkle with a little sugar

-Bake on the center rack for 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Don gave them 9 out of 10 points..and the only reason it wasn't 10 was because they were not donuts:)