Luck 'o the Irish--a Treat for St. Patrick's Day

My girls love any reason to celebrate ANYTHING, so in the spirit of fun, I recently tested out this new recipe for St. Patrick's Day.  I'd never done anything outside of green "leprauchaun" milk in their cereal on March 17th, so these little bites were a great find.  Plus, they were from one of my Allrecipes acquaintances--Elizabeth made these with her Irish grandmother.  Aren't they cute?

 

Here's how you make them.  Find the recipe here on Allrecipes:

 

Grandma Mottle's Blarney Stones

 

Ingredients:

2 cups confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup milk, or as needed 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups dry roasted salted peanuts, finely chopped 1 pound cake, cut into bize-size cubes

 

Directions:

1.	Pour confectioners' sugar in a bowl. Gradually add milk, whisking constantly, until mixture has a thin frosting consistency; whisk in vanilla extract.
2.	Place chopped peanuts in a bowl. Line a flat surface or a plate with waxed paper.
3.	Dip 1 pound cake cube in frosting and roll cube in peanuts; place on wax paper to dry. Repeat with remaining pound cake pieces. I used salted dry roasted peanuts, and the delicious combination of the cake, glaze, and saltiness might make your little leprechauns want to kiss you afterward!

 

After School Sweet & Salty Snack

When my oldest gets home from school at 4:30, she's normally starving.  I'm always looking for fun and wholesome snacks to tide her over until dinner.  This one is GREAT!  My youngest and I made it together and it took no time at all.  It's sweet, salty, and full of everything we snack on anyway!
Recipe from Allrecipes.com.

Popcorn & Pretzel Sweet Snack Mix

Ingredients:

Original recipe makes 6 servings       

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

• Reynolds® Parchment Paper                                                                     
• 1 (2.9 ounce) bag microwave low-fat popcorn                                                                     
• 2 cups mini pretzels                                                                     
• 1 cup coarsely chopped roasted almonds     
• 1 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries                                                                     
• 1 (12 ounce) package premium white baking morsels (chips)                                                                     
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Line a 15 1/2x10x1-inch baking pan or large tray with a sheet of Reynolds® Parchment Paper; set aside.
2. Pop popcorn according to package directions; shake bag so that un-popped kernels fall to the bottom.
3. Pour popcorn, pretzels, almonds and dried cranberries into large bowl. Discard un-popped popcorn kernels.
4. Melt white morsels according to package directions. Stir in cinnamon; pour over popcorn and pretzels. Toss to evenly coat.
5. Spread evenly on parchment lined tray. Let set to harden, about 1 hour. Break apart large pieces. Store in airtight container.

 

 

Using Reynolds parchment paper makes cleanup a breeze!  It can also be used to serve it for parties or groups.  Cut it into squares and fold it into serving cups and you have an easy & portable hand-held container. I love parchment and keep it on hand at all times for baking cookies, roasting vegetables, and serving baked goods.

 

I can envision my middle-schooler and her friends devouring this recipe in 10 seconds flat! 

 

 

 

 

Munchies for Memorial Day

I know I've posted a lot about food and recipes, but we all have to eat, right?  One of my favorite simple sandwiches when Spring & Summer fruit is in season is a peanut butter and fresh berry.  My oldest daughter and I love these!  My 2 year old--I'm lucky to get her to eat much, although she will eat "shasbe-yees!" happily.  If you're looking for a colorful Memorial Day treat for the kiddos, consider this.  While you're explaining the importance of the day, you can mention that the red and blue berries mimic the colors of the American flag.  Patriotic food is good food!
It's so easy--take whole wheat bread, slather on your favorite peanut butter like the dark chocolate version above, place sliced strawberries and blueberries in the middle and voila!  It has less sugar than a regular PB&J and you could reduce it further by grinding your own peanuts into butter--but who has time for that?

These are great for breakfast, lunch, or cut into snack portions.  Enjoy, and happy Memorial Day!

National Peanut Butter Day (Can this be every day?)

IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME, PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!  I would have posted a link so you could enjoy hearing the sound, but I figured seeing it is enough to make it stick in your head.  To think, someone was actually paid for that.........

Today is a silly day where "we" recognize peanut butter so I'd like to share some fun ideas that go beyond your typical PB&J.  Although, those are delicious and I like to eat them for breakfast at times with my coffee.  Makes me feel like a kid again!  But then I snap back into reality and realize that peanut butter doesn't count as a fruit or a vegetable so I have to be an adult and eat better throughout the day.  It's so worth it!

If you haven't experienced Peanut Butter & Co's blends, allow me to introduce you to our favorite:

Our Favorite Peanut Butter

It takes a normal PB&J to the next level, makes a PB&Banana divine, and is heaven on a spoon.  Or a Nilla wafer.  Or a pretzel stick.  Goodness, I could eat this on anything and it would improve it.  I find it at the local SuperTarget, but it is sold in many grocery stores now.  The White Chocolate and Cinnamon versions are also.........sublime. (Can you tell how much I love peanut butter?)  Here is their website if you'd like to take a peek: http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/

Peanut butter recipe #1 for you to make and share: 
Allrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-jelly-thumbprint-shortbread-cookies

An insider tip:  Once you get your dough rolled, use the back of 1/4 or 1/2 measuring teaspoon to make the indentation.  You'll have a perfectly round hole to fill with your choice of jam or jelly.  Thumbs don't always make picture-perfect cookies--but there isn't anything wrong with that either.  These would also be good with a slice of banana filling the hole then drizzled with the peanut butter.  Go Elvis!

PB&J Thumbprint Cookies

And another breakfast idea for all of you PB&J enthusiasts:
Allrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-jelly-oatmeal-pancakes

This recipe does require some tweaking because as written the batter is very runny.  I added some ground golden flaxseed (1/4 cup) and allowed it to sit for 15 minutes.  That did the trick.  Want to know the secret to how I made these round and pretty? 

PB&J Pancakes

I used my daughter's mini egg pan:

When I know I'll be photographing the finished product, I have to get creative sometimes.  This pan makes fabulous eggs for sandwiches, perfectly round pancakes, and other recipes where you want a good circle.  I don't recommend making an entire batch of pancakes with it, because it's very small.  It's also an excellent intro pan for kids who want to cook.

Back on topic:  What is your favorite way to use peanut butter?

Kids in the Kitchen--Harper's First Baking Experience

My girls are 9 and 2, and I love to have them in the kitchen with me when I'm making a recipe they can help with--no chopping vegetables, or pizza cutting yet, but there are lots of things kids can do in the kitchen, even from a very young age. 
A little background on me:  My mother never took the time to teach me how to cook, and once I got married, my husband had an idea that no one would ever be able to feed him like his mother did (has this happened to you?).  I do have a stubborn streak, so this was exactly the motivation I needed--plus, we had to eat something!
How do you start when your background consisted of frozen food and takeout?  I scoured magazines and cookbooks from the library for a few years, and managed to make some things that made it on the "I'll eat this again" list.  There was also the "great fish tragedy" which we'll just leave in the past.  I researched home cooking on the web and stumbled upon Allrecipes.com (yes, this is the second post mentioning this site, and no, they don't pay me for it!).  One thing I could do was follow a recipe, and slowly, I began to build my cooking repertoire.  Now, I love cooking for family & friends, have complete confidence in the kitchen, and plan menus just for fun in my head.
That was a long-winded way to say that I believe it is important to have kids in the kitchen from a very young age.  My oldest daughter was 2 when she began helping me, and now my youngest daughter is following in the same tradition.  They are in the picture above--and they are precious!

Our Cookie Project

Harper recently helped me bake Lemon Leaves, delightfully crunchy little cookies.  I mixed the dough and after it chilled and was rolled out, the fun began.  I put Harper on a stepladder (she's tiny) and showed her what to do.  She seemed so excited to have a project!  She was able to carefully dip her cutter into flour, and then pressed it into the dough.  She would then hand me the cookies to be placed on the cookie sheet, ready to be baked.  Or, as she put it, "HOT!!"

Focused Determination

She was so proud!

I left the lemon pistachio topping off of half the batch since it isn't kid-friendly. Harper was definitely more interested in eating these, and I believe it was due to the fact that she helped make them. If you notice in the picture below she still has flour on her little elbow. She's normally an extremely picky eater, but with this being such a success, maybe we'll tackle roasted veggies next!

(I know they were cookies!).

She approved of the finished product

How did you learn to cook, and what have your kids learned from you so far?