Family Bites

DIY: Ice Cream Sundae Kit

This is the last post in my homemade gifts/Canada Day entertaining series.  

We made this DIY ice cream sundae kit for friends.  We thought it would be super fun for them to take to their cottage.  All they need to supply is the ice cream, and they will be set for some sundae making fun.

I picked up some waffle cone bowls, sugar cones and assorted candies and repackaged everything in clear cello bags with colourful labels and bakers twine. I then made some homemade chocolate sauce, jarred it, and packaged everything together in a little gift box.  It was so simple to put together and the recipients were thrilled, which was the whole point.

We're all officially on summer vacation now and plan on spending the rest of this week curled up watching movies, play board games, roasting marshmallows and swimming. Come back tomorrow to see if you're a winner in the Cadbury bicycle factory giveaway.

Easy Chocolate Sauce

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons corn syrup
• 6 oz chocolate chips

Combine cream, butter and corn syrup in a small saucepan and heat until the butter had melted and the sauce is almost boiling.

Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until melted. Cool to lukewarm and spoon into glass jars.  Cover with a tight fitting lid and store in the fridge.  

To use, remove from the fridge and let it sit out at room temperature for 1 hour prior to serving, or heat for 15 seconds in the microwave.

 

Canada Day Party Ideas

 

Hot on the heels of my Oh Canada Cupcakes, I'd like to share a few more ideas for you sprucing up your patriotic parties this coming weekend.  If you are celebrating July 4th in the US or Bastille Day in France, feel free to add in a little blue somewhere to make each of these ideas work for your national celebrations.

I love the idea of sending guests home with party favours, and these little butter tart pies are a perfect option. They're easy to make and work as both an individual dessert and a take home gift.  I've shared my recipe how-to over on Party Savvy this month.

Edible centrepieces are a fun and easy way to jazz up your outdoor tables.  Made with items I picked up from my local dollar store, this candy creation is a great way to get your kids involved in the party planning.  The instructions are easy-peasy and candies can be eaten right off the topiary (if attached with toothpicks and not glue, of course).

Lastly, never underestimate the power of a paper Canadian flag.  Purchased or made, these simple decorations can make any food beam with national pride.

Do you have any holiday plans this weekend?  Are you hosting a patriotic party? For the complete Canada Day party head on over to Savvy Mom to see what we cooked up this month.

Oh Canada Cupcakes

Canada Day is this Friday.  I'm not sure how it got to be almost July already, but somehow here we are six months into the year and ready to honour our homeland with a patriotic party.

I put together these pretty cupcakes for the Savvy Mom party of the month.  A red velvet cake, topped with butter cream cheese frosting and decorated with an assortment of fresh berries just screams Canadiana. Further embellishments include colourful cupcake liners, tiered cake stands and fresh flowers.  These are a cinch to assemble and look so festive and seasonal on a table.

For the simple how-to, head on over to Party Savvy, or click here for the recipe and instructions.

DIY: S'more Gift Box

 

Summer vacation officially begins this week, around these parts anyways, so I'm sharing a weeks worth of summer entertaining ideas for you.  Not all recipes per se, but I have hostess gifts, party favours and Canada Day fare for any of your patriotic party needs.

Jackson wanted to make a s'mores kit for his lovely teacher as a small token of his fondness for her.  It's her very first year teaching, and while she receives one large class gift that all the kids contribute to, he wanted to put together a little something just from him.

I found a small (approx. 5" x 7") wooden box at my local dollar store which we painted with a light acrylic green, and used to hold a package of homemade marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate squares. Because we aren't sure of her summer plans, we included a loose recipe for s'mores made in the microwave, oven and over a fire so she would be able to assemble them wherever she may be.

In addition to a teacher gift I would definitely consider this for a summer party favour.  Send each of your guests home with a DIY s'mores kit and they will be certain to remember your party.  Do you planning on visiting friends at their cottage this year?  I would definitely take up a few of these boxes to leave behind as a thank you for you hosting you and your noisy kids.

Items Needed:

• Wooden Box
• Marshmallows (homemade or store bought)
• Graham crackers
• Chocolate squares
• Cooking instructions
• Decorative label and ribbon

Paint the box if desired.  Make some packages of marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate (package everything separately).  Type up some cooking instructions and package it all up with a decorative label and pretty ribbon. 

Cadbury's Bicycle Factory: A Giveaway

Keeping a stash of chocolate on hand is a summer must-do in our house because of our s'more infatuation. Thanks to the fire pit we purchased last year, our s'more making days are not relegated to camping trips and cottage visits only. A long bike ride followed by an evening of s'more making is just about my most favourite way to spend a hot summer day.

This week I have a great giveaway that can get you on your way to making s'mores as well.  Even better than that, is that you can also help to build a bike.  Let me explain.

Cadbury is generously offering THREE of my readers a prize pack made up of assorted chocolates and candies all packaged neatly in a bike basket. The bike basket represents an initiative by Cadbury to give bicycles to folks living in rural communities of Ghana, the country where the company sources their fair trade chocolate.  

We ride bicycles for fitness and fun, but in Ghana bicycles mean access to education, health care and food. Cadbury has created The Bicycle Factory campaign and to date has sent more than 9,000 bikes abroad. When you receive your prize pack you just need to go online and enter the UPC codes for your products, and each candy package represents a bike part.  Together we can build a Family Bites bicycle, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

For more information, please check the documentary Wheels of Change 

EDIT: Congratualtions to Emma, Wanda and Johanna!  Winners have been notified via email.  Thanks to all for enterting!

 

Six Meals To Save Your Sanity This Summer

                      

You see lots of posts and articles floating around the interwebs these days about light summer cooking and how to beat the heat with the mercury is on the rise.  But what about meals that save your sanity?  You know, the ones you need when you've run out of energy, the kids are making you a bit buggy and you want something that will make everyone happy, including you?

1. Ice Cream Sundaes for Dinner.  

I don't think anyone ever died from malnourishment for eating only a bowl of ice cream for dinner.  Set out an assortment of toppings and let the kids go to town with a make your own meal they'll be certain to devour.

2. Let The Kids Cook.  Whatever They Want.

This might be hard for you, but let them make their own dinner.  Don't necessarily let them make yours or you might you end of up with a bowl of plain yogurt and a glass of warm tap water ( I speak from experience), but let everyone make their own dinner.  And when they come to the table with a peanut butter and aged cheddar sandwich, no veggies and half a can of root beer unearthed from the depths of the basement, just smile and say "That's looks interesting".  It won't kill them.

3. Popcorn is a Grain.

Popcorn and apple slices make an excellent dinner.  It's quick and easy and can be eaten indoors and out. Depending on the age of your kids, they might be able to make this on their own which is even better.

4. Cobblers and Crisps

'Tis the season to eat biscuit-topped fruit, so why not try it for dinner? It can be warmed, eaten cold and possibly topped with whipped cream.  No one will complain and you'll feel good knowing there was something nutritional in their meal.

5. Lettuce-Free Salads

Salads don't wow my kids, but grated carrot, chopped cucumber, celery slices, hunks of cheese, croutons and hard boiled eggs do.  Toss them all together in a bowl and call it lettuce-free salad night.  Again, no one will care.

6. Make-Your-Own-Anything-Bar

This is my kid's favourite dinner ever.  Make your own tacos, pizzas, baked potato, etc.  They love it all.  Like artists at work, place random ingredients on the counter, provide them with their canvasses and let them at. You will be amazed by what they create and what they think makes a good food combination.

 

Meal Planning Monday and Eggs Magda

I'm not ashamed to admit that we're not grilling every night.  

Simple dinners like this still have a place on our table despite the neighbourly scent of hot charcoal wafting through the backyards each night, and when I'm spending my Sunday afternoons whooping my kids at tetherball watching my boys play, it's hard to pull myself away from the competition fun in order to cook a fancy dinner. 

This week I still have eggs on the menu, but I'm also putting some fun seasonal foods on offer too.  Here is what's on our meal plan for dinner.  How about you? What are you cooking up these days?

Monday: Grilled pizza with leftover veggies and goat cheese

Tuesday: Egg fried rice 

Wednesday: Chimichurri chicken, warm potato salad with peas

Thursday: Mini Italian sliders with romaine and radicchio salad

Friday: Lobster rolls and salad with lime and avocado 

Those eggs you see above? They're knows as Eggs Madga, a slow scrambled combination of eggs, parsley, Dijon and brie. They were a hit with everyone including Ben, my non egg-loving boy, who declared them "nice", which is a strong compliment from an 11 year old who's generally too busy scarfing down the food to notice what's actually on the plate.

Scrambled Eggs Magda

• 10 eggs (see note)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Pinch of salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup of gruyere, grated (or brie chopped into small pieces)

Beat the eggs with a fork.  Stir in the salt, pepper, parsley, Dijon and Brie (gruyere).  

Melt the butter in a large skillet set over medium high heat. Add the egg mixture and cook, stirring gently with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Keep the liquid moving around the pan, turn the heat to low if the eggs seem to be cooking too quickly.

The eggs are done when they are creamy, thick and soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Note: We use 10 eggs because feeding two tween boys is akin to feeding five adults.  Feels free to use less if that works better for your family. 

Super Summer Salad

Babble asked their Top 100 Mom Food Bloggers to submit an original recipe and this Thai chicken salad was my contribution to the article.

Comprised of roasted chicken, tender noodles, crunchy peanuts and crisp veggies, this salad is bursting with ingredients that’ll make it a crowd-pleaser for all eaters around the table, picky or not. 

Because it can be eaten hot or room temperature, it's perfect for this time of year.  Pack it up in a large lidded bowl, or individual mason jars, and head out to the park for a picnic dinner.  Leftovers make a wicked lunch, too.

Visit Babble for the recipe, which can be found here.

 

Skillet Cornbread with Strawberries and Mint

See these strawberries?  They're not from Ontario. They are from California, where I imagine it must be a nice place to be these days with an abundance of local produce spilling off the stands at any of the local farmer's market.  

But here in Ontario our "these-would-be-nice-days-if-it-was-November" rainy skies combined with the "when-did-we- move-to-Texas" heat have ensured that we haven't seen local berries yet.  In fact, the stores just started stocking Ontario asparagus last week, which makes me feel like I did when I lived in Europe, and I had to wait six months for the hottest movie to make it's away across the pond so I could finally see it.

I'm not going to let the same thing happen with my berries.  So I'm buying them in all their shipped-from-faraway-places glory and loving every bite.  I do realize that in your eyes this might make me akin to a pirating DVD downloader, but what I can say? If they aren't making them here then I can't buy them, and I can only eat apples for so many months.

My imported berries have made their way into salads, pitas stuffed with beef (um, thanks, Ben), morning smoothies and now they've found their way into a seasonal favourite: skillet cornbread.  In a moment of craziness I grabbed some mint from my nearby garden and added it in prior to baking.  Seems now like it wasn't such a bad idea after all, and I take comfort in knowing that something in the dish was locally grown.  I think. 

Skillet Cornbread with Strawberries and Mint

I love traditional cornbread in all it's white floury and sugar laden goodness, but this recipe is a little different.  The all-purpose flour is replace with whole wheat and the sugar is swapped out for a little honey instead.  Feel free to replace the mint with basil, or any other fresh herb of your liking, and definitely consider adding a large dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream to the top of your slice.

• 1 cup medium grain cornmeal
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons mint, chopped (about 12 leaves)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup diced strawberries

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Heat a 10″ cast-iron skillet in the oven for 10 minutes.

Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and mint in a large bowl to blend.  

In a separate bowl combine the milk, honey and egg.

Remove the skillet from the oven and add the butter.  Swirl around the pan until melted.  Pour all the butter into the egg mixture.  

Add the egg mixture to the cornmeal mixture.  Add the strawberries.  Do not over mix - the batter will be wet and runny.

Pour the batter into the skillet.  Bake until the edges are browned and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Cool in skillet for 10 minutes.  Serve directly from the pan.

 

 

 

 

A Few Things I'm Liking....

Posting will be a little lighter than normal during the month of June.  It's a busy month at work and at home, and I'm sending myself on a blogging vacation for a few weeks so I can keep up with everything else that's going on.  I'll pop in when time permits, but for now I'm going to leave you with a few things that I'm loving these days.

Iced Chai Tea:

I've been using my Chai Tea Concentrate to make iced chai chillers and chai tea popsicles in an attempt to beat the heat.  I follow the recipe exactly as it is, chill the mixture and pour into a glass of ice or into popsicle molds for a refreshing treat.  Give it a try, I'm sure you'll like it too if chai is your thing. 

Root Beer Floats:

This one is for the kids.  It's probably Jackson's favourite treat of the summer, thanks to my Dad's wife who made him one every! single! day! last summer when we were in BC.  I've been making them the good old fashioned way, with vanilla ice cream and canned root beer, but this summer we're going to attempt to make a homemade root beer version a la Gwyneth Paltrow.

Bon Appetit Magazine:

This magazine recently had a makeover and I love it!  I can't tell you how many pages I dog-eared on the last read, which was the third time I flipped though this issue alone.  The stories are interesting and many of the recipes are applicable to my every day life.  Expect to see many adaptations here in the coming months.  Oh, and the June issue showcased my very favourite tea towel which can be found at Ikea for less than fifty cents! I use it in the kitchen and once it becomes stained it becomes a car washing/dog paw cleaning cloth. 

Zoku Popsicle Maker:

I'm not going to lie - this isn't a cheap kitchen gadget to invest in, but once you have it I'm certain you'll use it all the time.  Mine was a gift, thankfully, and I can't tell you how many times I've pulled it out in the past two weeks.  It freezes almost any liquid (think coffee, tea, smoothies, and popsicle concoction) in nine minutes.  Nine!  There's no waiting around for the freezer to do it's job, for it sits on the counter and produces flavourful icy treats in less time that it would take to drive to the store and buy a popsicle.

Books For All:

I love non-fiction and food related memoirs sits at the top of the list.  The above books were all given to me recently and I'm loving them.  Especially Blood, Bones and Butter.  What an excellent read!

For the kids, it's been all about Nicholas these days.  If you have boys between the ages of 5-12 you should consider adding these books to your home library.  Each book is a collection of short stories about Nicholas and his friends.  They get into mischief of course, but it's all in good fun.  Originally written in French, they were recently translated to English and we've been reading and re-reading them for a few years.  

And if the kids aren't doing that, they love anything that's a "how-to" book.  Now that Ben is a blogger, he's been enjoying the creative writing book (so fun for summer vacation!) and Jackson is turning into quite the little cartoonist.

Summer Entertaining: The Bruschetta Bar

When I was flipping through the pages of the aforementioned Bon Appetit, I came across an article on making crostini.  "Hey, I do that!" I wanted to yell at the pages.  Seeing as I was ahead of my time, here's a link to the easiest and tastiest way to entertain this summer.   I promise you and your dinner guests (and the kids!) will love a make your own bar of any kind, but this one is really very easy to assemble.