Cook. Craft. Enjoy.

Sunday Holiday Breakfast

Today has been a very weird day.  I haven't felt 100% so I really didn't feel like much - but we had Adrienne's winter concert at school so I didn't want to be too lazy.  I have to shout out that the concert was wonderful.  They really did an awesome job and I was very happy to go.

This morning, though, as I was feeling blah, I was standing in the kitchen looking around to decide what to make for breakfast, my eyes caught on the bread machine and I had a thought.  I know, let's make sticky buns!  So, bizarrely, I did. 

Dreaming of Spring

I know, I know, it's not even winter yet but I'm in the mood for something springy today.  Maybe it's because it was 32 degrees when I left the house this morning.  Or maybe it's because I had my snow tires put on today.  Or even maybe it's because my hands are freezing as I type this.  Whatever the reason, I have a good waffle recipe to share with you.

Bananas ...

Bananas seem to be the bane of my existence sometimes.  They're innocent enough, but give them a few days and they turn on you - brown and inedible (at least in this house).  I'm always trying to find something else to do with them so this week they ended up as banana scones.

Jam ... Yum.

Have you ever made jam?  Up until this summer I thought jam/jelly/preserves were just something best left to buying at the grocery store in jars.  I had no interest in canning or preserving and isn't that what you do with jam when you make it?

Ha! Wrong again.  My mom's been going through rough medical issues and back in March when she was going through yet another chemo treatment it was really difficult for her to want to eat anything.  Yet what did she want?  Toast with jelly.  Okay, sure, no problem ... um ... no jelly in the house <sigh>.  So I came across this recipe for strawberry jam and my obsession began.

3 ingredients.  That's it.  Strawberries.  Sugar.  Lemon Juice.  I halved that recipe that day and it made the most delicious jam we'd ever tasted.  I'm sure some of you are laughing about that - because you already know that fresh always tastes much better than canned but it was an eye opener for me!

So I started experimenting - and think I came up with my favorite.  Strawberry-blueberry.

I start usually with a container of strawberries (hulled and cut in quarters) and a container of blueberries (both washed of course!), add 2 cups of sugar and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice.  Boil it until it reaches 220 degrees (F) and yummy perfection is what remains.

It makes just enough to fill my little container there and that lasts us a couple of weeks.  Now that berry season is over with I'm debating using frozen and seeing how that turns out.   Anyone out there ever tried?

'ananas

I did mention yesterday that I had some bananas to be dealt with and even mentioned baking some cookies.  I printed out the recipe, went to the pantry and found out I had no Crisco (sigh).  That meant back to the drawing board (okay, the web).  What to make?  What to make?

Hmm.. banana bread?  Nah; didn't really have the time to let it bake (had to be to work at 11:00).  Muffins?  Yes!  And the kind I chose was Banana Chocolate Chip.  Now looking at the recipe, it only got 3 stars but that didn't daunt me.  I read the reviews (gotta love recipes with reviews!) and followed the modifications from one of the reviewers.

How'd they come out?   They were fantastic.  Very moist, not too sweet, and hints of chocolate.  Everyone that's had one has given their 2 thumbs up!

Scones .. Finally

This past almost month has been a busy one -- Spring Break being our busiest time.  The kids and I had an amazing trip to Pennsylvania (including the most bizarre snow storm as we almost didn't make it into the airport in Scranton).  Food-wise, craft-wise, it's been pretty boring around here but I've been having this bizarre craving for scones.

What kind?  I think my favorite has to be the pumpkin scones from Starbucks -- and while I've tried to make them before, that's not really what I was craving.  Flipping through one of my cookbooks last night I came across a recipe for Orange-Cranberry scones and knew that's what I was making this morning.

Have you ever made scones?  It's one of the easiest baked goods I think -- throw your dry ingredients together - stir in the wet - knead once or twice - pat it out into a circle - cut into wedges - bake.  I also like them because usually they're not too sweet - this recipe uses just 7 teaspoons in the dough itself and a small sprinkling on top.  Delicious!

(Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it yourself ... I'd recommend it!)

Ehh... Muffins

If you've noticed, I've done a little more baking than usual lately -- or I should say my kids have gotten into cooking and they've been doing a little more baking than usual.

This is another recipe from Muffins Galore by Catherine Atkinson that Travis tried out while my mom was here.  The title is "Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins" and use a chocolate muffin batter with a cheesecake-ish filling topped with almonds.

How were they?  Eh .. not memorable.   Amazingly they didn't have much flavor and didn't seem to be worth eating.  (Though refrigerating them seemed to help their texture.)  So, a recipe we won't be making again.  (Makes a great looking photo though!)

What else is happening around here?  Well, our beautiful new pool has not been getting the workout I thought it would -- Liam developed his first ever ear infection so he's been banned until at least Wednesday.  The weather has just been miserably hot (like 108) so we've all been staying inside as much as possible (and to the kids happiness they've been play Warcraft a little more than I would like).  Oh and speaking of Warcraft, Travis got his 2nd character ('toon) to 70 last night with a little help from me and another player so he's a happy camper.

Happy Monday all!

Banana Snack Cake

For lunch every day Liam eats a peanut butter sandwich with bananas, spicy hot cheetos and baked Lay's potato chips.  I'm not quite sure how that ritual started, but that's what's on his menu daily.  Once school starts we'll have to come up with another meal (peanut butter/banana sandwiches don't transport well) but for now I have to make sure to always have bananas in the house.

Always having bananas in the house also means several times a week we have old bananas in the house.  (Liam only likes them when they're yellow with no brown spots -- I think he gets that from me.)  So instead of throwing them away I really like to find good ways to use them.  Last week when my mom was here I assigned Adrienne to bake this cake while I was out running errands.

Looks pretty good, doesn't it?  Adrienne had a few issues with the baking of it (like spilling ingredients on the counter, not reading the recipe all the way through first, forgetting to preheat the oven) but even with the mishaps it came out good and we ate our way through it in a couple of days.

Muffin or Biscuit?

Travis has really started taking an interest in cooking lately.  Saturday it was our dinner (which I'll blog about later) and yesterday it was these muffins.

Last week I got a few new cookbooks from Costco including this one:  Muffins Galore by Catherine Atkinson.  There's several cookbooks in the series including Cookies Galore and Cupcakes Galore both of which I also own.  I like them because they have fabulous photographs and because they're published in the UK give a little different spin to desserts than those we usually find here in the US.

The recipe Travis chose looked simple:  Vanilla Chocolate Chip Muffins.  Just 8 ingredients and 4 steps ... easy, right?  Um, mostly.  The recipe has you cut the butter into the flour like you're making biscuits -- and then combining it all with the wet ingredients.  And yes, they did come out with a biscuity taste to them -- but that's not a bad thing -- just unexpected.  Guess if he makes them again I'll have to go to the garage and find my pastry blender.

Strawberry Bread

Last week I bought blueberries, strawberries and raspberries from Costco and while we've eaten most of them, yesterday the rest of the strawberries were looking a little sad and I knew I needed to do something with them before I had to throw them out.  A quick search online and I came across this recipe on All Recipes for strawberry bread.  Perfect!

I did change the recipe a bit (sub'd applesauce for the oil, cut down on the sugar, added vanilla and sub'd chocolate chips for nuts) but I'm sure without my changes it would be just as good.  Travis liked it so well yesterday he had it for a snack after school and then before bed.