Mixing Bowl Kids

Applesauce Spice Bars

Friends, I'm almost out of that dark hole I mentioned a few posts back, and I couldn't be happier!  To celebrate, I've spent time in the kitchen this week, late at night, with a few Christmas tunes on play, baking away.  It was quiet, peaceful and just what I needed to relieve some of the tiredness from my weary bones.

One of my creations was a recipe I've been eying for a while.  The applesauce spice bars seems so untypical of what you might find this time of year, yet so seasonally appropriate at the same time.  I decided to add them to my Ten-Days-of-Christmas-Cookies feature, just for their yummy taste alone, but I also like how they look.  

I love seeing an assortment of goodies set out to nosh on when sharing a warm beverage during visits with dear friends and family.  The more variety, and flavour, the better as far as I'm concerned.  My boys thoroughly enjoy these and my little guy insist they pair perfectly with milk.  He's a wonderful cook, so I trust his seven-year-old opinion completely!

I'm sure you're all busy with holiday activities this week, so I wish you a wonderful, safe and happy time. Happy weekending everyone!

Applesauce Spice Bars, adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla

For the glaze:
2 1/2 tbsp heavy cream

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp light corn syrup

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup walnuts

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick spray and set aside.

~ Whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda and nutmeg and set aside.

~ In a medium saucepan, set over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add the brown sugar and stir until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and incorporate well.  Add the applesauce and vanilla and whisk until all ingredients are well blended.

~ Using a rubber spatula, blend the flour into the wet ingredients, mixing until the flour disappears.

~ Pour into the sprayed pan and bake for 23 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cook for 20 minutes.

~ While the cake is cooling make your glaze.  Combine the cream, sugar, butter, corn syrup, vanilla and walnuts in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Turn down to a simmer and cook for five minutes, stirring often.

~ Pour the glaze over the cooled cake and smooth with the spatula.  Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

~ Enjoy!

Chai Tea Cookies

 With only two short weeks left until Christmas I thought it might be fun to post a "Ten Days of Christmas Cookies" feature.  Some of the recipes will come from me, and some will come from a few new friends, met through this very space.  I'm looking forward to making and posting the recipes and I hope you enjoy them just a much.

The first is a creation I came up with after reading about Earl Grey Tea Cookies.  My favourite tea is Chai, and I decided to see if I could recreate a Chai Tea cookie, with whole wheat pastry flour and ground tea. They turned out yummy...warm and spicy and oh so fragrant.  So, without further ado, your first cookie recipe in the countdown to Christmas.

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Congratulations to Aimee Augustus.  You have won the Pink Princess Tea Party Set.  Please email me within 24 hours to claim your prize.

Chai Tea Cookies, my recipe

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tbsp ground Chai tea, from a tea bag

1 cup butter, room temperature

2/3 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

~ Combine the flour and tea in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

~ In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla.  Mix until the butter is whipped, approx. 3 minutes.

~ Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until just combined.

~ Place the dough onto a sheet of parchment and shape into a log.  Roll up and freeze in parchment for

at least 1 hour.

~ Preheat the oven to 350.  Cut the log into slices, about 1/2 inch thick and bake for 13 minutes on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

~ Allow to cool and enjoy!

Franken-Mallow Heads

Short on time this week (it's a busy one, isn't it?), I wanted to prepare something fun for all the kiddies, but specifically the preschoolers out there who are probably bursting with excitement over Halloween.   I think this would be a great food-craft for a class, home or church party and using nothing more than marshmallows, chocolate, pretzels and green food colouring this is super simple fun for everyone, including all your little chefs.

So, with Halloween just a few days away are you all ready and organized? What are your kids dressing up as this year? I'd love to hear your ideas....have a great day!

Franken-Mallow Heads

20 large marshmallows

20 long pretzel sticks

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tbsp table cream

green food colouring 

water

~ Place 2 tbsp of water in a shallow bowl and 5-6 drops of food colouring and combine well.

~ Place the marshmallows, one at a time, in the bowl and turn over to completely coat with the coloured water.  Remove and place on a cooling rack placed over a cutting board covered with paper towel to dry.

~ Melt the chocolate in double broiler, or heat-proof bowl set over a pot of boiling water.  Add the cream and mix well. 

~ Dip one end of the marshmallow into the chocolate and place on the drying rack.  The chocolate will be Franken-Mallow's hair.  Dip the end of the toothpick or a wooden skewer into the chocolate and draw eyes, a nose and mouth into the marshmallow.

~ Stick pretzels into the sides of the marshmallow (for the bolts) and allow to completely dry.

~ Enjoy!

Witchy-Finger Sandwiches for Halloween

October has moved along at quite a clip and Halloween is finally just a few days away.  My children, like yours I'm sure, are getting excited and the countdown for costume-day has begun.  I was never much of Halloween fan myself when I was a child (I always wore the oddest costumes!) but I have a new found appreciation for it now that I'm seeing the day through the eyes of my boys.

So, as we've prepared for all the fun, spooky food has been at the forefront of my mind.  I've been planning a few fun things for, and with my boys, like these Witchy Finger Sandwiches. My youngest and I worked on these "bewitching" fingers this past weekend and they were easy-peasy to assemble.  So much so that once I demonstrated the process he went to work on the remaining pieces of bread.  I rounded everything once it was rolled and together we adorned the fingers with their long, painted fingernails. My quick-thinking husband suggested we add a ring to the third finger for authenticity,  so I grabbed a spider and put it in place.  Such a fun project for us to work on together! 

I have a few more gruesome goodies to share with you this week as we get ready for the upcoming weekend.  In the meantime, try tucking these into your young ones lunch this week, or serve them with a steaming mug of soup for dinner and I'm sure your meal will be a howling success.  Have a great day!  

Witchy Finger Sandwiches
yields: one hand

5 slices of white sandwich bread, crusts removes

five almonds (optional:painted red or black with gel colour-paste)

filling of your choice: peanut butter, jam, nutella, cream cheese, tuna etc.

~ Remove the crusts from each piece of bread and roll flat with the rolling pin.

~ Spread or top each slice with your choice of filling (I used peanut butter) and roll lengthwise into a thin log.  

~Round the tips, then score the bread with a sharp knife where the knuckles would be.

~ Add the almonds (you can paint them first with gel colour or food colouring) and stick them into place by adding a dab of your filling to the back of the almond before placing it on the bread.

~ Enjoy!

Ghoulish Goodies are Coming

We're feeling very Halloween'ish around these parts.  Decorations are in place, bats have been cut out and are ready to be hung, the mini graveyard planted and costumes have finally, finally been decided upon.  While we still have a bit of work to do on that front - like sewing some parts of one and making and designing pieces of the other - we're mostly organized and very excited for next weeks festivities.

Because Halloween is such a kid-friendly day I've decided to spend the next week featuring recipes and ideas for fun Halloween fare to make with your kiddies.  Most little ones (and big ones too!) have a class party or some sort of event to attend this time of year, and making treats or food to take along is almost always an essential part of the week...and it's really fun too!  I have yet to meet a young one who isn't excited to work on some spooky edibles.

The first idea I wanted to share is something I've done for the past three or four years for my boys' class parties.  So simple to prepare and made with nothing more than a slightly hollowed out pumpkin lined with a few lettuce leaves, this seasonal staple is then filled with a container of delicious homemade or store-bought dip.  Embellish with a big spider and surrounded with an assortment of crunchy veggies for dunking, and your festive food is ready to serve .  I think we can all agree that there is enough candy floating around at the end of October and this provides a great treat while keeping the kids eating as healthy as possible.  For extra fun, I like to place these goods on a tarnished silver tray as it reminds me of something I might find in an old haunted house.  

Are you ready for Halloween?  What are you handing out this year?  Have a lovely, lovely weekend friends!

Carrots and Canada

Here's a little something you may want to add to your Thanksgiving dinner this weekend.  But it not, that's okay, because this is a good addition to any meal anytime, so it can wait for a less formal occasion if you choose.  I took a cue from one of my favourite Canadian chefs, MIchael Smith, and made a recipe without using a "recipe".  So I have no quantities here, just a list of ingredients and you can use them in the way that works best for you. 

Growing up I was never very fond of cooked carrots.  Boiled until mushy, they just weren't appealing to me.  My boys feel the same way, so I've started roasted them, and oh, what a difference.  The natural sweetness comes out when they're roasted and the edges crisp slightly and they're quite tasty.  Once sliced and coated with the remaining ingredients, they take little effort to make, as the oven works it's magic.  These are great for entertaining and large family dinners where you don't want to spend all of your time working in the kitchen.  Alternatively, I tend to make these when the homework pile is sky high and my attention is needed somewhere other than the kitchen.

So, in honor of Canada and a Canadian chef, I hope you enjoys these carrots.  Several of my friends who visit here from other countries have asked why Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving.  I did some research in order to come up with an exact reason, beyond what I knew, and below is a little history lesson for you. Have a lovely weekend friends and I'll be back on Tuesday. 

PS - I've just realized that the last three posts all showcased orange food.  I'll try to introduce a new colour next week! 

Canada celebrated the first Thanksgiving 43 years before the United States did (1578 vs. 1621).  Long before the first European settlers arrived in North American, the farmers of Europe held celebrations at harvest time to give thanks for their good fortunes and abundance of food.  When they immigrated to Canada they brought that tradition with them and so we celebrate, with thanks, for a successful harvest. The date of the Canadian Thanksgiving has changed over the years.  It used to be acknowledged on the last Monday of October, but now it is the second Monday of the month, which is closer to the start of the harvest season.  While the true holiday lies on the Monday of the long weekend, most Canadian families eat their dinner on the Sunday.

Oven Roasted Carrots

Large carrots (approx. 8-10)

Olive oil

Honey

Grainy mustard

Kosher Salt

Fresh ground pepper

~ Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

~ Peel the carrots and slice on a bias.  Spread evenly over a half-sheet baking pan.

~ Combine olive oil, honey, mustard and salt (using the quantities that work for you) in a glass measuring cup and stir well.  Pour over the carrots and toss lightly with your fingers.

~ Ground pepper over the carrots and place in the oven.  Bake for approx. 40 minutes or until the carrots are fork tender with a slight crisp.

~ Enjoy!

A Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Treat

I've made this coffee-cake style treat for a friend of mine who is becoming a first-time Mama this week. We're meeting up for lunch today and I wanted to give her something that she could either pop into her freezer and save for her post-baby days, or gobble up right away with her husband while she waits for her little one to arrive.  Either way, I think she'll enjoy this seasonally-inspired cake.  

So easy to make and delicious to eat, this recipe is a Fall favourite for my family.  I always make this up as a loaf, but this time I changed things a bit and used a spring-form pan to make coffee cake.  The flavour can be customized with the addition of chocolate chips, nuts, cranberries, crystallized ginger, etc. Regardless of how you prepare it, I'm confident you'll enjoy it.  I've doubled the recipe and made one for my family as well, so you could do the same and freeze one for a later date if you like.  And if your children are really lucky you might let them have this with some sliced apples for breakfast one morning (not that I would know anything about that).

Have a great day!

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Cake, my recipe

1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg or a mix of cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1/4 cup yogurt1/4 cup olive oil or canola oil, plus for more for greasing the pan
1 cup pure pumpkin (fresh or canned)
1 cup of one of the following: chocolate chips, dried cranberries, crystallized ginger, nuts or coconut

~ Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Oil a loaf pan
 
~ In a bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg.
 
~ In a large mixing bowl, whisk sugars, eggs, yogurt, oil and vanilla. Add in pumpkin puree (and optional ingredients if using) and mix well.
 
~ Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
 
~ Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
 
~ Bake in pre-heated oven for 1 hour (40 minutes if you make the coffee cake version) or until tester inserted into the middle of loaf comes out clean.

Apples!

Friends, thank you for all of your great comments over the past four weeks during the A to Z Lunch-Box feature. It was such great fun for me to work on, cook for and put together for you, but I must confess that I'm happy to be returning to more spontaneous posting now.  I'm currently working on the printable list of the feature, which will include some of your alphabetical suggestions as well, and I will upload it to the left hand column of this page sometime this week. Oh yeah, I'll also announce the randomly-drawn winners of the small foodie prize packs within the next few days and get those off to the winners very soon.

But for now, it's all about the harvest season and the apples.  Oh, the apples! We went apple picking this weekend, in the damp, dreary weather that has been blanketing Ontario for the past week or so, and it was great.  The boys, of course, had to climb the apple trees to reach the "best" ones, so a lot of exercise was incorporated into the apple picking, and for seven and nine year old boys, that's never a bad thing. My thirty-three year old self enjoyed the fresh air and active morning just as much as they did, and lugging fifteen pounds of apples in my arms was a nice little muscle-builder on it's own.

So, now that we're home with bags and baskets of the luscious apples you see above, I need to put them to use.  We're going to store some for snacking and lunch-box packing, but the rest are going to be used in some tried and true recipes, as well as some new ones I've found after a bit of on-line searching:  

Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

Endive, Apple and Walnut Salad

Apple and Cranberry Chutney

Oh, and I can't stop thinking that I want to make homemade sausages....chicken or turkey with apple and sage.  Doesn't that sounds good? And how fun would it be to let the boys grind some meat and create one of their most favourite foods from scratch!

Happy Monday everyone....have a great week!

V is for Vegetable Pancakes

Last Friday, I made my weekly trip to the Farmer's Market with a friend of mine.  We walked around and around the stalls in wonder at the colour, smells and selection we had before us.  Apples were available in abundance, peppers were sold by the half-bushell and the tomatoes, unfortunately speckled with small black marks as a result of this past summer's substantial rainfall, were begging for someone to take them home.  All were appealing to me, but none as much so as the butternut squash. 

 Butternut squash is my favourite vegetable (although it is technically a fruit) of the Fall season, and this weeks obscenely large squashes had finally made their appearance at my weekly market.  And for just two dollars - yes, that's right, two dollars - I brought home a squash large enough to feed my family twice.  How wonderful is that?

So, with my butternut squash peeled and ready for use, I set out to make a savoury pancake after hearing all about them last week on this show.  With the exception of blinis and latkes, I don't have much experience with this type of quick-bread.  My pancakes are usually glistening with some maple syrup or honey, fresh fruit and nuts.  But this version used two kinds of vegetables, spices and sour cream - and I think I now prefer them to the former variety I loved.  

Delicious when served warm, with a topping of sour cream or plain yogurt, these little flapjacks also make for a great addition to the school lunchbox.  Use whatever vegetables you have on hand, or the ones I've used in this recipe, and I don't think your little chefs will be disappointed. Encourage them to help you with this one by allowing them to grate their veggies.  My guys love using the box grater - it seems to make everything more fun.  To protect their little fingers, try piercing your veggies with a fork and move the veg along the blades that way so fingers don't get caught on the surface.

I might suggest making these other market goodies, while they're still in season and available.  How about zucchini and carrots or sweet potato and red onion?  Maybe even Yukon gold potatoes and celeriac or squash and apple?  I think all of these combinations would work nicely as well. Do you enjoy savoury pancakes?  How about your children?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and wish you all a great day!

**For the winner of the book giveaway please scroll down to yesterday's post!

Vegetable Pancakes, adapted from this Paula Deen Recipe

1 cup grated butternut squash

1/2 cup grated white onion

2 tbsp butter

1/2 whole wheat or all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

oil for the pan

~ Melt the butter in a saucepan set over medium high heat.  Add the squash and onion and cook until golden, approx. 10 minutes.
~ While the veggies are cooking, combine the flour, baking powder, garam masala and salt in small mixing bowl.  Combine the egg and milk in a glass measuring cup and blend well.  Set aside.
~ When the veggies are finished cooking, add them and the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.  Combine well.
~ Drizzle a small amount of oil into the pan the veggies were cooking in.  Add large spoonfuls of the pancake mixture to the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side.  Serve with sour cream or yogurt.
~ Enjoy!
 
 

S is for Soup Love

Truly one of life's most comforting foods, soup is the quintessential Fall meal.

Whether used to cure the common cold, provide warmth for small, chilled hands or solace a weakened soul, this practically perfect food is wonderful for family gatherings, weeknight dinners and school lunches. 

We eat all sorts of soups, both vegetarian and meat based, and have consumed three different types in the past six days.  Little kitchen helpers can easily assist you with your soup making, which makes it even more enjoyable to eat, knowing the preparation has been a family affair.  It's a wonderful activity on a cool Sunday afternoon, and whether they chop the vegetables or add their own secret spice blend (see note below) to the pot, they will be eager to lap it up when their hands have assisted with the creation of your soupy goodness.

Here are some recipes I've added to my "soup recipe" queue:

• Hearty Mushroom Soup
• Apple Cheddar Soup with Sage Croutons
• White Bean and Pasta Soup

And, my most favourite soups to cook and eat - both are pure perfection really:

• Julia Child's French Onion Soup
• MIchael Smith's Beef Stew

What soups are your family enjoying right now?  Please do share and if you have any recipes worth sharing send them my way as well.  Happy First Day of Fall!

(Note: Give your children the spices you have that will complement the soup you are making.  Allow them to create their own "secret spice blend", using their own quantities of the spices you've provided. They will love this, I promise you).