Savory Buckwheat Crepes with Garden Greens and Chicken Filling

I made this dish a few months ago. I guess I found the recipe for the crepes on Pinterest or something. and then came up with the filling on my own. I thought it tasted really good. If I remember right, my boys weren't really into it. But I took the leftovers for lunch when I volunteered in Childwatch at the Y. My friend whom I work with thought it was pretty tasty. I had forgotten all about this dish, until she mentioned it a couple days ago. I was happily surprised to see that I actually managed to write down the ingredients and include the link for the crepes!

Filling:

Assorted Greens from garden (sweet potato leaves, mustard greens, kale)
2 Tbs each, minced parsley and basil
1/2 large onion
2 garlic cloves
Two chicken breasts from a rotisserie chicken, diced
salt and pepper to taste

So, I'm pretty sure that I sauted the onion and then the garlic until soft. Then added the greens and herbs and sauted for a couple minutes, then added the chicken until warmed through, and seasoned it.

I think I then made a sauce (either a white sauce with a roux, or thickened with corn starch) and infused with rosemary. I remember the rosemary was too strong, but everything else was pretty good.

Buckwheat Crepes

Thoughts on cooking this week

Okay, so it's been over a year since I've posted any new recipes. I've been busy with everything else in life. When I last posted, we had recently moved back to the States. A few months later, we moved house again, I had my fourth child, and ever since then I've been so busy with baby and older boys and all their activities, that I barely seem to have time to cook, let alone come up with, remember, write down, and post new recipes. I think I need to try to get back into it though, because I feel out of touch with my cooking these days. I've been in a rut, not knowing what to cook, and then I feel like I'm always cooking the same things. I've also resorted to a lot more ready meals or fast food than I would like.

A few months ago, I thought about trying to get a menu figured out for at least a week. I spent a while looking through Pinterest and my cookbooks. When I was finished, I didn't really have anything to show for it. I asked my husband to help think of ideas of meals to make. He didn't think I was serious. He told me that I've been doing this for the past 10 or 11 years, how could it be so difficult now to come up with ideas for what to cook. I lost it! I'm sure I was sleep deprived with an infant, and overwhelmed with everything else I had to do. I told him to try figuring out what to cook for our family every day for 10 years and see how he does! Until he did that, he couldn't understand! Okay, now I realize that I overreacted, but that's how I felt at the time. I have mommy brain: sleep-deprived-distracted-scattered-in-every-direction mommy brain. I have three boys and a husband who all have different tastes, and dislikes and desires for dinner food. I have to find a way to feed my family healthy, well-balanced meals that they will actually want to eat! That is not an easy task, and it gets more difficult as my boys get older and are more influenced by their peers at school (who apparently all eat packaged junk).

I look back fondly and longingly to the days when I could prep for a meal while my babies took their naps, and then quickly finish it up at dinner time. I think I had more time to plan and prepare. My boys weren't so picky, maybe the ingredients I had on hand were easier to use. I just had more time I think. Now I have school drop off, playgroups and volunteering, school pick-up, sports and scouts. My boys are getting to bed later now as well, so I don't even have as much time in the evening to plan and prepare. The list goes on. I know it sounds like I am complaining, whinging as they say in England. I guess I kind of am, but really I'm just trying to figure out why I struggle now, when before it seemed much easier. Things change, and I have to adjust. The past few months have been more difficult an adjustment than I anticipated I think.

I've discovered Pinterest a few months ago, and my clipboards are mostly food related. The last board I made is entitled "Weekly Menu." The idea is to change the contents weekly, to put recipes on it that I want to make for each week. I put a few recipes on there, and then I got sick, so I only used one or two that first week. I used a couple more this week too. It would be nice if I could keep up with this idea, but we'll see.

This past week, I managed to use my crock-pot once, on my really busy day: Thursday. I got all the ingredients together out on the counter the night before, and managed to get it into the slow-cooker before leaving the house at 7:15! It was a vegetarian sweet potato and quinoa chili. My boys all ate it, and didn't really complain about it. They don't even normally like sweet potato or quinoa, so I consider that a success. I figured if I cut the sweet potato small enough, they won't really notice what it is, and it worked.

I made a couple of other meals like that this week, where I basically hide veggies and other "undesirables" into something they usually like to eat, and they will eat it. I put veggies and tofu into my taco meat mixture. My husband didn't even seem to notice the tofu, so that was a success. Today I made mini meat loaves, where at least half of the volume was not even meat, but a mixture of veggies (including bell pepper and zucchini.) Every body ate it, and enjoyed it! Success number two. I don't really remember what else I made this week, although one day we did have frozen fish sticks, but that's okay. All in all, this week went pretty well. My cooking wasn't perfect. I made some mistakes here and there, but I didn't burn anything! Hopefully I can remember what I've made that works, and find some new recipes to add to my artillery. Hopefully I can start using this blog more often, to help me remember all this, and someday I will have this cooking thing down to a science (at least for a little while).

Chocolate Zucchini (Courgette) Cake (Egg-Free, Dairy Free)

The title pretty much says it all. This is a great tasting, not too sweet, cake that is egg-free and dairy-free making it allergy friendly (for some), and vegan as well. Also, you only need one mixing bowl, and it's super easy to make.

Chocolate Courgette Cake
(Dairy Free, Egg Free)

Ingredients
4 fl. oz./ 100 ml oil
1 cup / 200g caster sugar
2 cups / approximately 300-330g grated courgette
6 fl. oz. / 150 ml water
2 tsp vanilla
1tsp salt

2 1/2 cups / 335g plain flour
1/3 cup / 35 g cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 Tbs / 1 fl. oz. / 1/8 cup vinegar (distilled white)

Preheat over to 185 C.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl combine the first six ingredients.
Sift in the dry ingredients.
Fold in until well combined.
Add the vinegar last, stirring until well incorporated.
Bake in prepared pan for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer tested in the center comes out clean.

Banana Oat Bars

What do you do with all those bananas that are too ripe and soft to just eat on their own? There's always banana bread, but it's usually loaded with fat and sugar, and simple carbs, and takes a long time to cook. I wanted to be able to make a quick and simple, healthy snack for my boys. These Banana oat bars fit the bill. My boys love them, and they make a great breakfast-on-the-run, or an after school snack. They make a great anytime snack really. These are also egg- and dairy-free which is great for those with food allergies. If you used gluten free oats, they would also be gluten free.

The other great thing about this recipe is that it's so forgiving. Add a little more oats if it seems too wet, try adding nuts, or seeds for more crunch. If you don't have ground flax seed/linseed, then you can use an egg. If you don't like raisins, add chopped dates or apricots instead, or just leave them out. Try different things. You'll find that after a few times, you won't even need to measure the ingredients out, just mix things together, spread it out on a pan, and bake! I doubled my recipe today, and baked it in a large baking tray with 1" sides.

 Banana Oat Bars

2 Medium very ripe bananas
1 Tbs ground flax seed/linseed
3 Tbs water
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs honey or other sweetener (optional)
2 cups rolled or quick oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch salt
1/4 cup ground almonds (or more ground flax seed)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dessicated coconut (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F and grease a 9 x 13 pan, or small baking sheet. In a small bowl mix the ground flax seed with the water and set aside. In a large bowl, mash the bananas then add the vanilla and honey. When the flax seed mixture is similar in consistency to a beaten egg, add it to the banana, and mix. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined. Spread the mixture evenly on prepared baking dish and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Let cool, then cut into squares and enjoy.

Angry Bird Party

For my son's 6th birthday we had an Angry Bird party. I had seen some of my friends' posts about Angry Bird parties they did, and thought it would be pretty simple. As with the alien party, I tried to get my boys as involved as much as possible. They sampled sandwiches, helped make the Bomb bird,  and made another poster with drawings of angry birds, and angry bird levels.

A few weeks before the party, I asked for boxes from my local grocery store. We used them to build angry bird towers, complete with bad piggies (I hadn't planned very well how to attach them, especially with the wind, so we only had one). After building the towers, the boys took turns throwing balls at them to knock the tower down.

 

 They especially enjoyed being the angry birds, and knocking the box towers down with their bodies.

 For the cake, I made chocolate cupcakes, and turned them into angry birds using different colours of fondant icing (and dried apricots for some of the mouths). The sling-shot is made out of carrot cake, with homemade apple fruit leather for the sling. I baked the carrot cake in a 9-in x 13-in tin lined with baking paper. After removing the cake from the tin, I cut a slingshot shape from it. I had a lot of fun making this cake, and was quite pleased with how it turned out. I let each boy choose an angry bird to take home, and they loved that.

 

For the rest of the food, I made Matilda sandwiches. I used a round biscuit cutter that fit inside the bread. The filling was either ham or cheese, but you could use any sandwich filling really. I cut triangles out of orange cheese for the beaks. For some of the eyes, I used sliced black olives, and some had halved red grapes. I used julienned dates for the feathers. Although it worked pretty well, the dates didn't go down very well with the party guests. Most of them didn't know what they were. If I make these again, I would either just use scraps of the white bread, or make strips with brown bread for more contrast.

 Another game we played was pin the fuse on Bomb. My boys helped design the bird and the fuses.

We also had a treasure/egg hunt. Each clue was on a piece of paper that formed part of a puzzle. on the other side of the  puzzle was a picture of the locker we hid the treasure box in. I placed the party bags and some kinder eggs in the treasure box. As usual, the treasure hunt was one of the more popular activities.

Alien Party

Several months ago, I had an alien birthday party for my son, and I am finally getting around to posting about it. I don't have a fancy camera, and I am not the most artistic person around, but I found/had some fun ideas I think someone out there might want to use someday.

As my boys get older, I try to involve them as much as possible in the planning of their birthday parties. I don't really care about everything looking perfect. I'd much rather have things that my boys helped to create. My son really likes aliens, and especially loves drawing his own alien creations. So when it came to deciding what his theme would be, it was a no-brainer. We looked through cake decorating books together and found a design he liked. To decorate, my boys drew aliens and planets on a banner of paper, and then we taped black alien eyes to balloons.

For the invitations, I cut out aliens my son had drawn and pasted them to some shiny card with the party information: 4...3..2..1.. Blastoff to x's alien party.

For the food we found a tutorial on how to make alien cupcakes, and then my son helped me make and decorate them.  I also made some green smoothies using this idea for a Toy Story alien milkshake.

I got the idea for the birthday cake from Gorgeous and Gruesome Cakes for Children. I changed the swamp monster into an alien eating an astronaut. The actual cake didn't turn out so well, it was quite dense, but I really liked how it looked.

For the games we did "pin the eye on the alien." My son drew the shape for the alien's body.

The best game of the day was our "Aliens in Underpants" treasure hunt.  When the children first arrived, we had each one decorate his own paper underpants. When they were finished, we hung them on the line. Then when they were busy building spaceships out of junk, I took the underpants, and hid them around the house next to a party bag with another original alien pasted to the front.  When we were ready for the treasure hunt, we announced that the pants had been stolen by aliens, and each child had to find his own underpants.  They loved this game!

Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Dairy Free, Egg Free)

My youngest son has a mild allergy to cow's milk and is eczema seems to flare up with eggs as well. Since discovering this, I have been using soy milk in all my baking, and have tried several dairy free and even egg free recipes and techniques. One idea I found was to use ground linseed as a binder in place of egg. Now that I have finally invested in a spice grinder, I have been experimenting with this idea with mixed results (the pancakes didn't turn out so well). After a couple of attempts, though, I have developed a recipe for banana oat cookies that are healthy enough to eat for breakfast, or any time of day. They aren't like the normal cookies that you would make with all the butter and sugar, but they are sweet, soft and chewy. Between me and my boys, the last batch I made lasted one day.

You will need a spice grinder, or some other way of grinding the linseed into a powder first. If you don't have one, you could try using one egg in it's place. I haven't tried this yet, so I don't know how it would change the recipe, but I'm sure it would work.

Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 Tbs ground linseed
3 Tbs water
2 medium sized, ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs honey
2 cups oats (I used porridge oats, similar to quick oats)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
generous pinch of salt
1/4 cup soy flour (or all purpose/plain flour)
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F/170 C fan assisted. Line baking sheets with baking/parchment paper, or grease them. In a small bowl combine the ground linseed and water, stir and set aside. In a medium bowl combine mashed bananas, vanilla and honey. In a larger bowl combine the remaining (dry) ingredients. Test the linseed mixture, it should be kind of gloopy (like the consistency of a beaten egg).  If it's ready, add it to the wet ingredients and mix to combine.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture, and stir until combined.

Using a round tablespoon (or small ice-cream scoop), scoop up the cookie mixture pressing it against the side of the bowl, then tap the spoon onto the tray to release the dough. It may be useful to grease the spoon with a little oil. Using the back of the spoon, gently press the ball down in the middle to flatten the ball.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are turning brown. Cool on a cooling rack, and enjoy!

Here is a video showing how I get the shape for my cookie. I made it originally for my coconut macaroon cookies that I haven't posted yet, but the technique is still the same.

Corn and Bean Salad

Last night we had our Relief Society birthday party at church, complete with potluck refreshments. I always like to bring something healthy, to balance out all the delicious sweet cakes and puddings. This time, inspired by a Mexican style dinner we had over the weekend, I used one of my favourite recipes: a Corn and Black bean salad. However, it's rather difficult to get black beans in England, so I used black-eyed peas instead. The lime juice and fresh coriander really bring a freshness to this dish, and the chili powder and chili pepper give it a nice kick. After several people asked about the ingredients, I promised them I would post the recipe on my blog.  So here it is:

Corn and Black Bean Salad

1/4 cup apricot preserves/jam
1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp chili powder (or to taste, I think I used less)
3 Tbs lime juice
1 tsp salt (I used less)
1 can (about 2 cups) black beans,
1 can corn, drained
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (or a green chili)
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbs fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

Tortilla chips to serve

Mix the apricot preserves, olive oil, chili powder, lime juice, and the salt together in a medium/large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, and mix until well combined. Serve with tortilla chips.

Note: I would suggest starting with less chili powder and salt, then taste once all the ingredients are mixed together, and add more chili powder or salt as needed.

For those of you in England, I really like Aldi's tinned corn the best. It is inexpensive, yet very fresh tasting. Also, it is packed only in water. I bought a tin of corn from Tesco, which was packed in "sugared salt water," because I needed it in a pinch, and it was no good. The kernels were starchy and mushy, and not much flavour. I couldn't bear to use it in the salad, so made an extra trip to Aldi to get the good stuff.

Cumin, Lentil and Carrot Soup

I got a really good deal on carrots, and had a ton to use up. I wanted to make a carrot soup, and found this Spiced Lentil and Carrot soup recipe to try. I made a few changes, and it was delicious. All three boys ate it right up!

To start with, I wanted to have leftovers, so I made the recipe bigger (not quite double). Here's my recipe:

Cumin, Lentil and Carrot Soup 

4 tsp cumin seeds
pinch of chilli flakes
~1 Tbs oil
1 med to large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
~ 1 Kg carrots, washed and chopped or grated.
270 g red split lentils
~2 liters water or vegetable stock
squeeze of lemon juice
salt to taste

1.  Heat a large saucepan/small stockpot and dry fry the cumin seeds and chilli flakes for about 1 minute, or until they start to jump around the pan and release their aromas. Remove the seeds and set aside. Heat the oil in the pot, and then saute the onion and then garlic, until soft and golden brown (about 5 minutes). Add the carrots and continue to sweat the vegetables until the carrots are beginning to get soft. Add the lentils, and cook for a minute stirring.

2. Add the water or stock and half of the toasted cumin seeds/chilli flakes, bring to the boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 15-30 minutes, or until carrots and lentils are soft (it depends on how small the carrots are chopped/grated).

2. Remove from heat, and using an immersion blender, puree the soup. (You could blend it in batches in a regular blender as well.)  Season with salt and fresh lemon juice to taste.  Serve soup hot, garnished with the reserved cumin seeds.

Pirates and Pizza

My eldest wanted a pirate theme for his 5th birthday party. It being the summer holidays with three small children at home, things have been really hectic. So, I wanted to keep things simple. I made an ice cream pie in a 9x13 pan. Then I placed a skull and cross-bones stencil my husband to kindly made for me, on top of the ice cream, that had been sitting out for a few minutes to soften a bit.  Then, carefully, I sprinkled Oreo cookie crumbs on top. It's as simple as that, and you have a Jolly Roger flag cake.

My son also wanted pizza for his birthday. I thought it would be fun for the children to make their own pizzas, so I rolled out individual pizza bases the night before.placed the pizza bases on floured greaseproof paper (wax paper would work well too), layered the bases on a baking tray, and froze them. After making the first six pizzas today, I discovered that this works well, only if you remove the pizza bases from the paper while still frozen, and place them on a prepared pan (greased or sprinkled with cornmeal). Then you can put the sauce and toppings on. The first ones, I left on the paper to dress, and when they were finished, they had thawed and stuck to the paper, then stuck even worse in the oven. (oops, I should have known better).

Homemade Soy Yogurt

One of my favourite desserts is plain/natural yogurt with frozen or warmed berries and currants with granola. I love the tart and sweet together, and it's healthy enough that I don't feel bad eating it every night. I was getting my daily dose of probiotics from the yogurt and antioxidants from the berries, and I would feel good after eating it.

Then my 6 month old developed eczema about 3 months ago, around the same time he started sucking on his hands and drooling a lot. I thought that maybe he was teething, but he still has no teeth. After speaking with a few people, and looking things up online, we suspected a possible milk allergy/intolerance might be contributing to his terribly dry, red skin. Since I breastfeed, I cut dairy out of my diet for a week. His skin improved quite a bit, but cutting out dairy also meant cutting out my probiotics, and I was definitely feeling the effects. So, I ate some yogurt a week later, and the next day, my boy's eczema flared up. So, I quit dairy products again, and started searching for a way to get my probiotics without dairy.

I found a few recipes online for soy yogurt, which were all about the same. I ended up using this recipe. Of course, I've made a couple changes. I used a non-electric yogurt maker that I was given a few months ago. I also prefer to heat the soy milk on low heat in a saucepan instead of in the microwave.

I've attempted to make yogurt before, but it never quite turned out.  This time I bought a natural soy yogurt from the grocery store to use as the starter. I also bought a candy thermometer, which means that I can add the yogurt at the optimal temp to ensure it sets. The yogurt maker I have is essentially a large thermos with an insert to set the container on. I pour boiling water into the thermos so the water comes ups around the container of yogurt a few inches. Then I cover it with the lid, and wait for 10-12 hours.   I was so excited when I opened up the yogurt contained to find this for the first time:

I successfully made soy yogurt. As you can see, it sets pretty solid, and I prefer a more creamy texture, so, as shown at the top, I use a stick blender to make it smooth and creamy. Then I enjoy it with berries and granola, and my tummy is happy.

Coconut Oatmeal "Macaroons"

I had some leftover sweetened condensed milk sitting in the fridge that needed to get used up. Since I didn't have a recipe, I made up my own. I just mixed some coconut and porridge (quick) oats together with the sweetened condensed milk, and baked in the oven.

This is just about the easiest cookie recipe ever, super quick, and they were really tasty. You could also argue that they are somewhat healthy, with some calcium and the oats :) They turned out crispy on the outside and soft, dense and chewy on the inside. I didn't actually measure anything, but here's a guesstimate:

Coconut Oatmeal "Macaroons"

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup dessicated coconut (unsweetened)

1/2 to 3/4 cup porridge (quick) oats

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet/baking tray with non-stick baking paper (or grease the pan). Mix all ingredients together until combined. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough onto the pan. Bake in oven for about 10-12 minutes, or until the edges start turning brown. Cool on wire rack, and enjoy.

Makes 12 cookies.

Winger's Dinner

My hubby's birthday was last week, and I surprised him with a Winger's Bar & Grill inspired menu. He'd been asking for wings for a while, and since that's one of his favourite places to eat in Utah, I wanted to make it as authentic as possible. I searched the web for some of the recipes, and just made up the rest. The recipes below are the ones I made, and are really just estimates. Here is the menu:

Chicken wings, this was a great recipe. The wings turned out really crispy just like they had been fried.

Winger's Original Amazing Sauce. I decided on this recipe as opposed to the Franks hot sauce recipes, since I didn't want it to be too hot for the boys.

Blue Cheese dipping sauce: 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup yogurt, Tbs chives, 1/4 cup crumble stilton cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

Potato Skins: Take small bakes potatoes, cut in half lengthways and scoop out the flesh, leaving just a little left in the skin. Top with crumbled bacon and grated cheese (you could spread pizza sauce on first if desired). Bake at a high temperature (about 400 F) until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream and chives if desired.

Raspberry Lemonade. This was a bit hit.

Asphalt Pie: (It's impossible to get a good quality mint ice-cream in the UK, so I decided to make my own. I didn't measure the ingredients out. Maybe someday, I'll try it again, and measure the ingredients to make a real recipe. It was REALLY good).

Oreo crust: oreo crumbs, and enough melted butter to get oreo crumbs to just start to stick together. Press into a pie dish or round cake tin. Bake in oven, 350F for about 15 minutes.

Mint chocolate chip ice-cream: Mix 1/2 bar of grated mint flavoured chocolate (Lindt intense mint), with 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk, and about 1/4 cup milk.

Whip one container of heavy cream with about 1/4 cup milk until soft peaks form. Mix a small amount of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then gently fold the rest of the cream in until well combined. Pour over the cooled Oreo crust, cover and freeze until solid (a few hours at least).

More Egg White Recipes

My hubby is making Carbonora again (or Cheesy Pasta with Bacon and Peas, as my boys call it). So, I am yet again looking for recipes to use all the leftover egg whites for. I found a couple of posts that have a few ideas listed. Haven't actually tried any of these yet, but they look good, and it's always good to have a list of ideas handy.

Recipes to Use Up Leftover Egg Whites from David Lebovitz' blog. I think I'll try the Coconut Chocolate Macaroons today.

Hughe Fearnley-Whittingstall's egg white recipes look really good too. I will definitely have to try some of these next time.

I'll let you know how they turn out (if I get around to it).

Snack Time: Popcorn

Popcorn is one of the easiest and healthiest snacks to make. It also provides entertainment for a good block of time. You don't even need an air popper or any other fancy contraption to make your own popcorn. All you need is some oil, popcorn kernel and this:

A large pot with a lid, and a stove to cook it on. My boys love to stand on stools and watch the popcorn pop (a glass lid is good for this). After the popcorn is done, I'll pour it into a large bowl, and then we have fun finding shapes in the popcorn. Some popular ones are an octopus, a hedgehog, dogs, and rabbits. We've also found one that looks like an octopod, a flower fountain, and an elephant riding a bicycle.

Home-made stove-top popcorn

1-2 tsp oil (one with a high smoke point like veg oil or coconut oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pot)

1/2 cup popping corn

Heat the oil in a large pot on the highest heat until the oil just starts to smoke. Pour the popcorn in, and cover the pot. Immediately start shaking the pan back and forth, or in circles across the burner and quickly as possible. The object is to keep the kernels and popcorn moving so they don't burn on the bottom of the pan. Keep shaking the pan until the popcorn is nearly finished popping (you'll hear a couple of kernels popping every couple of seconds). Remove from heat, and immediately pour popcorn into a large serving bowl.

You can add different toppings to the popcorn at this point, like melted butter or salt. However, we just eat it plain.

Enjoy! If you make some popcorn too, let me know what fun shapes you found.

Transformer Cake

For my son's 4th birthday this year, we had a Transformer party. Most of the party food was just normal stuff (no red and purple coloured foods for me thank you). Of course, I always try to have some healthy food with all the junk food. I served vegetable sticks and tortilla chips with hummus dip, fruit slices, and cheese sandwiches. For the adventurous eaters, I made Bahn Mi with teriyaki chicken. For anyone who's wondering, the Bahn mi is our favourite baguette sandwich.

We also had cake and ice-cream. For the cake I made a two layer round zucchini/courgette cake, with a cream cheese frosting. Before adding the icing sugar, I separated two small amounts of the frosting mix from the main, and added blue or red food colouring to each.

I copied and enlarge this picture of the Autobot logo, and printed it up, and glued it to the back of a cereal box. Then, using an exacto knife, I cut out the sections of the picture to form a negative image stencil. (I had to leave a couple of strips to connect the middle triangle).

After layering the cakes, with cream cheese frosting, I spread a thin layer of white frosting on the top. Then I placed the stencil on top, pressing it down to ensure total contact.

Then using a palette knife, I spread the blue and red (OK, so it's pink) frosting on top of the stencil as shown below.
After carefully peeling the stencil off the cake, I ended up with this.
To finish it off, I filled in the gaps and frosted the rest of the cake with the white frosting. You could use a straight frost tip and a piping bag. Since I had neither of those on hand, I used medicine syringe dispensers. They were a bit of a pain to keep refilling, but the size of the tip was perfect for filling in the small gaps. After filling in the gaps and outlining the logo with the syringe tip, I used a palette knife to frost the rest of the cake.

Here is the end result. I was pretty excited that it turned out so well.

The ice-cream was also homemade (unfortunately I didn't get a picture if that), but it was pretty good. I found this recipe for ice-cream that doesn't require a machine, and I just had to try it out. I made strawberry ice-cream and cookies and cream ice-cream. Since I didn't have quite enough Oreo cookies, I even made the chocolate cookies from scratch.

I tweaked the recipe according to the ingredients I can get in the UK, but was basically the same.

Home-made Ice Cream without a machine

1 container single cream (284 ml)

1 container double cream (284 ml)

1/2 to 1/2 cup (8 0z) milk (optional)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

flavours/topping/mix-ins of choice

Whip the creams and milk until stiff peaks form (it's best to use an electric whisk or mixer if you have one). In a separate bowl add the toppings to the sweetened condensed milk. If you want two flavours, divide the condensed milk into two bowls first. Fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture, until combined well. Place mixture into a freezer safe airtight container and freeze6 hours or until firm. If you are using an ingredient that is rather heavy (like my diced strawberries), they tend to sink to the bottom. It's a good idea to mix the ice-cream after a couple of hours, when it is more solid, but still mixable.

Chocolate (Oreo) Cookies

I can't remember exactly where on-line I got this recipe, and I didn't include the frosting, just the biscuit.

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons butter, at room temp

1 large egg

Mix the dry ingredients together, then beat in the butter and egg.

Place the dough by rounded teaspoons onto a baking tin lined with parchment paper, and flatten slightly.

Bake for 9 minutes at 375 degrees F (190 Celsius).

If using in the ice-cream, place required amount of cookies into a bowl, and crush with the end of a rolling pin.

6 Minute Chocolate Cake

My mom discovered this chocolate cake recipe in my Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook when she was here after the birth of my second boy. It has since come to be my go to chocolate cake recipe.

As the name suggests it only takes about 6 minutes to mix together (from scratch). Other pros about this cake, you use a minimal amount of dishes, all the ingredients can be found in your food storage or store cupboard, and it's a great cake to make with your kids. Not only is it really simple, but you can talk science as you watch the vinegar react with the baking soda, and since there's no eggs in it, you don't have to worry about salmonella when you lick the spoon and bowl afterward!

Since I found the recipe online, I figured it was okay to copy here. There is a chocolate glaze to go with it, but I never make that, just the cake. I made the last batch into cupcakes, which work well, but it's even easier to mix it all in the 8x8 pan.

6-Minute Chocolate Cake

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup cold water or 1 cup brewed coffee
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions:

Prep Time: 6 mins

Total Time: 31 mins

1. 1 Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. 
   
3. 2 Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into an ungreased 8 inch square or 9 inch round baking tin.
4. 
   
5. 3 In a 2 cup measuring cup, measure and mix the oil, water or coffee and vanilla.
6. 
   
7. 4 Pour the liquid ingredients into the baking tin and mix the batter with a fork or small whisk.
8. 
   
9. 5 When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. Pale swirls will occur where the vinegar and baking soda react. Stir just until the vinegar is even distributed throughout the batter.
10. 
    
11. 6 Bake for 25-30 minutes. Set aside the cake to cool.

Asian Noodles and Teriyaki Chicken

I've really enjoyed gardening the past couple of years. Even though I have a very small space to work with, I try to make the most of it. Gardening this year, however, have proved a bit challenging. I've planted a tomato plant, herbs and a couple of pepper plants in pots on the patio. My pepper plant hasn't fared too well, since my two year old decided to try his pirating skills on it. Every pepper that might have even had a chance has been pulled off. As I was taking a picture of it, the little terror himself came and pulled the entire plant out of the pot. I realized that this was not the first time this happened as I discovered a load of buried treasure (About 5 more very immature peppers were peeking their little heads out).

I've used the planter strip in the front garden to plant lettuce and other greens, and I've battled with the neighbourhood cat using it for a litter box. The plants in the little strip next to the fence in the back have done really well though. I've especially enjoyed the pea plants and the spring onions. My boys loved eating the peas straight out of the pod, and the snow peas have done really well. It's not enough to feed my family every night, but I love being able to make a meal with home grown food.

Yesterday I used the snow peas and spring onions as inspiration for my Asian noodles and Teriyaki chicken.
I didn't measure anything, as usual, but I'll do my best to estimate.

Teriyaki Chicken

For the marinade I combine about 1 inch piece of fresh ginger grated, 1-2 Tbs Orange Marmalade (Apricot preserves works well too), 1-2 Tbs rice vinegar, about 1/4 cup soy sauce, a dash of sesame oil, and water in a food storage bag. Taste the mix, and adjust according to taste if necessary. Remove the skins from about 6-7 chicken thigh and drumstick pieces, and place in the bag. Leave in the fridge to marinate for a few hours.

While preparing the noodles, preheat the oven to 350 F, place the chicken with marinade into a baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake covered for about 20 minutes, then remove foil, turn the pieces over and continue to bake until cooked through, another 10-15 minutes.

Asian Noodles

Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Blanch about a cup or so of edamame, for a few minutes, remove from the water with a sieve or slotted spoon. Then blanch 1 julienned carrot, and about 1 small head of cauliflower florets, and then some snow peas. Rinse the blanched veggies in cold water to stop them cooking. Then cook 1 package Medium Chinese Noodles (or other Asian noodle, soba or udon would work well), according to directions. Shell the edamame.

For the dressing combine about 1/3 cup oil (I used a combination of vegetable and rapeseed oil), a few Tbs rice vinegar, grated ginger, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and apple juice. Just add a bit of each at a time, keep tasting it, until you have the desired taste. It should be stronger than you want it to taste, as it will be thinned out among the veggie and noodles.

When the noodles are cooked (should be aldente), drain and rinse with cold water. Combine the noodles, blanched veggies, and 3-4 Spring onions thinly sliced. Then add the dressing mixing thoroughly. Serve cold.

Snack Time: Fruit Ice Lollies

With my older boy in school now, finding healthy and tasty after school snacks has never been more important. Many parents bring snacks for their children to eat straight after nursery, and N would often stare longingly at the treats they were given. Usually it’s sweets (gummy, boiled, etc), chocolate, biscuits/cookies, crisps, and ice cream from the ice cream van. My favourite are the gummy sweets in the shapes of teeth and toothbrushes, very ironic. Anyway, I have the challenge to have healthier snacks that are appealing enough to the boys to keep them from demanding what the other children have. The next few blogs are going to be some of our favourite healthier snacks.

I often just bring some crackers, maybe some squares of cheese and fruit. Once in a while I pack some chocolate buttons (small circles of chocolate about equivalent to a chocolate chip). Four is enough to make them happy, and then they’ll eat their crackers or other healthier snack I packed with it.

I always try to have homemade ice lollies on hand, for when they start asking for ice cream. To make homemade ice lollies, you need good ice lolly molds, and the best I’ve found are the ones from IKEA. I’m sure you could find similar ones elsewhere, but they have all the important components: basically, the individual molds sit in a stand. This way, you can make a whole batch, and then use one or two at a time. The molds where they are all attached are no good.

To make fruit ice lollies (Popsicles), I make a fruit smoothie with either fresh or frozen fruit, then pour the smoothie into the molds. My smoothies vary depending on what I have in the house, but usually consists of fruit (bananas, mango, blueberries and strawberries all work well), some natural/plain yogurt, and milk. If I have it on hand, I also like to use some silken tofu (gives it a real smooth texture and adds protein). The quantities of each are really to taste. Just add what you think is good, blend it all together (I use a stick blender), and then taste, and add anything accordingly. The consistency needs to be runny enough to pour easily into the molds.

I’ve also made chocolate ice lollies, which my boys (especially the younger one) love. For that one, I use a bunch of bananas, a bit of yogurt, milk and cocoa powder. If it’s not quite sweet enough, you can use a bit of powdered chocolate milk mix as well.

These are so much better than regular ice-cream, and my boys love them.

Smothered Burritos, Take 2

I've been asked to share my smothered burritos recipe from my week in food last week. I was looking through my older posts and discovered that I did write up a recipe for smothered burritos, but the ones I made last week were quite a bit different. The basic idea is the same: meat, rice, and beans. However, I tend to change it up every time I make it depending on what I have on hand. Unfortunately for those of you who like to know exact amounts, I don't usually measure. That's kind of the great thing about burritos though, you can put in pretty much whatever you want (within reason of course), and in the ratios that you want or have, just taste as you go.

Last week, I used my leftover rice pilaf, which already had some onion and garlic in it. I also used leftover roasted chicken, shredded or chopped into small pieces. I then cooked up some black beans. If you want a vegetarian version, just leave out the meat. For the black beans I used about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of dried black beans, soaked overnight. Drain the beans, and place in a saucepan or pot. I like to add Mexican type spices to my beans while they cook (this time I put in a couple dried chilies, about 1 tsp cumin seeds, a couple garlic cloves, and a cinnamon stick). Next time I'll leave out the cinnamon stick, I thought it was a bit too much. Cover the beans with a couple of inches of water, bring to a boil for a few minutes and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for a couple of hours, or until the beans are soft, then drain. Of course, if you don't have time to cook the beans, you could always use canned black beans.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the rice, chicken, and beans. Add some of the "enchilada" sauce (which you can find the recipe for on the first burritos post), and some plain yogurt if you like (about 1/2 cup or so). Season to taste with chili powder, cumin powder salt and pepper. Add anything else you think it might need (minced onion, green onions, olives, grated cheese, fresh tomatoes). Last time I added onion and fresh tomatoes. One time I even added so chopped avocado (which was good, but didn't freeze very well). Be creative, but taste as you go, and you can't go wrong.