Bullseye Pops

THE KIDS are ALL Right

Photo Matthew Carden

Another share from Edible Marin Wine Country, I couldn’t pass up sharing this recipe!

When I sat down to write this issue’s Stone’s Soup Corner, I thought I had it all worked out. Melon soup was on the agenda. Perfect for summer— cool, refreshing and easy.

I usually clear my ideas with my 9-year-old daughter before I discuss them with my editor, but this time I never got around to asking her what she thought about this soup idea. Her reaction when she heard: “Mom, no kid is going to eat that!”

And she was right. I had lost sight of whom I was writing for. So, together, we brainstormed for a summer melon-y idea and came up with these creamy pops.

Food is at the center of so much of our lives and too often it becomes simply a chore. We shoo the kids away so we can get the cooking done, clean up and get on to the next task. But food should be fun, not stressful or humorless. That is why I like cooking for kids and silly grown-ups.

Sometimes on a hot day sharing a moment with a sloppy, drippy homemade pop is simply the right thing to do. Forget all the to-do lists and the dirty laundry, just for a moment. These Bull’s Eye Honeydew Pops highlight the ripest melons of the season. They are creamy, refreshing and dairy free!

Make an extra batch to keep in your freezer—it’s nice to have homemade pops ready for a playdate or family dessert on a hot summer night.

Bullseye Honeydew Pops

Yield: 6 regular-size pops or 24 ice-cube-size pops

3⁄4 cup full-fat coconut milk
1⁄2 cup sugar
6 large mint leaves (Mint grows wild, so go check your garden before

you buy it at the market.)
3 cups very ripe Honeydew melon flesh (about 1⁄2 a melon 24 fresh or frozen cherries
Decorative straws (cut to size) or Popsicle sticks

Extra Tools

Straws or wooden Popsicle sticks

Small pop molds (Note: pop molds look great, but an ice cube tray will work just fine.)

Add coconut milk, sugar and mint leaves to a small saucepan and warm slowly over medium heat, scraping the sides constantly with a rubber spatula. When the sugar is dissolved, remove pan from heat and cool mixture to room temperature.

Dice the melon flesh into small pieces and place in a blender. Drain the mint from the cooled syrup, then add syrup to the blender. Blend until smooth and frothy.

Place four cherries into each pop mold—or, if you are using ice cube trays to make your pops, place a stick or straw into each cherry and place 1 in each cube reservoir.

Pour the coconut-melon mixture around the cherries in each mold, then place a straw or Popsicle stick into the center. If you are using ice cube trays, carefully pour the mixture around each cherry in the tray.

Freeze for 4 hours or until firm.

edible marin & wine country summer 2013 | 53

Gingerbread Wishes

Happy holidays!!! I wanted to share our tradition of making a gingerbread house with you. Here are three different ones, the cute unfinished one is my daughter’s. she is using Golden Grahams cereal to create a thatch roof.
The house with the nerds rope wreath has been eaten!!! The others will be eaten this week.
Thanks for reading and happy new year from our houses to yours!!

Horchata – Rum Spiked or Not?

I wouldn’t normally write a post about Rum, but when I opened the box from Shellback I was inspired! First off the box was personalized just for me, how cool is that? When I opened it up, inside I found a very funny certificate (pictured) about the Rum.  The packaging was flawless, each bottle nestled in a pillowed covering and unharmed. “ Sourced from some of the finest Caribbean sugarcane, and blended with twelve spices and other natural flavors, Shellback is a modern rum for discerning palates.” The website is really fun….check it out!

I thought, how can I write about booze on this blog? Then it hit me…it’s holiday time and I bet you need a break, just a small moment of peace, something that the kids will like while mommy or daddy relax too.

Growing up I never had Horchata, that sweet, cinnamon-y, creamy frothy beverage. We had Knishes, Matzoh balls and occasionally chinese take out! Mexican food in the 70′s in Upstate NY was just not something we had.  Since I moved to the Pacific coast I have been introduced to so much fun Mexican food and Horchata is one of my favorites.

Some say Horchata has roots in Egypt, Spain and then Mexico, Some use almonds some use rice as the base, either way it is a deliciously sweet indulgent treat. Traditional Horchata is dairy free, made only with rice or almond milk.

If you can’t have milk this recipe is easily made dairy-free, just skip the milk and condensed milk.

So make up some tacos and Horchata and for dinner and spike yours with yummy Shellback Rum! The kids can have theirs too but make sure to keep the rum all to yourselves!

Horchata with a Twist

This recipe will come out best if you have a high powered blender like a Blend Tech or Vita Mix but you can use any blender or food processor.

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

2 quarts warm water

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups milk

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed

milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup rum, or to taste (optional)

Mix the rice and warm water together in a bowl, and let stand for about an hour.  Drain the rice and reserve the water for later use. Place the rice in a blender, add the cinnamon and process until a paste forms. (you may want to add a bit of the reserved liquid if it too thick) Return the rice to the water and let stand at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally as the water turns milky white.

Strain the rice through a fine strainer into a bowl or pitcher. Using cheesecloth in a strainer will give you the best results. Stir in the milk, condensed milk, vanilla until evenly blended. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Before Serving toss in the blender  or use a stick blender to froth.

Pour the chilled horchata over the ice, add  even amounts of rum to glasses.

For the kids OMIT the RUM!!

If you are looking for some other rum drinks check this out.

Perfect in Pink!

I usually plan my posts! I’m a very image driven person, unless I have a good photo to work from I don’t want to write. I worry that if I don’t plan my posts they may be lackluster or too boring. BUT…. today I made this and snapped a shot very quickly while entertaining kids!
Anyway I think the 95 degree day is getting to me. It’s hot as hell here and I’ve got two girls in the back yard soaking each other. They are on the swing spraying each other with the hose. So for better or worse you get a quickie post today.
I’m running food and drink to them out back, keeping them in the shade and hydrated.

This is what I came up with to drink on the fly.

Strawberry Lemonade Cooler
Depending on your blender you may have to cut up the fruit. If you have a Vitamix or Blendtech don’t bother cutting the fruit.

1 pint very ripe organic strawberries
2 cups Limeade or lemonade
4 ice cubes
Mint from the garden if desired

Wash and trim strawberries. Add to the blender with lemonade and ice. Blend.
Serve with a strawberry and mint garnish.

Home Sick

Shaved blueberries and ice.

No, it’s not warm out and we are not happily eating frozen treats. Unfortunately after a two-week school break we are home with Strep with a touch of Croup. I thought for sure after two weeks of hanging around the house, school would be a welcome relief, but no. Our Kidlet is under the covers with a horrible sore throat and terrible cough. She doesn’t want to eat, or sleep or do much of anything. (I thought I’d write something before I am totally stricken down with what she has, I am 50% there already) She isn’t eating, because the hot soup hurts and nothing else sounds tasty. The saving grace is our 5 dollar second-hand, unopened Hawaiian Ice Shaver. I picked it up one day at Goodwill, thinking to myself, “I really shouldn’t buy this.” It has turned out to be a life saver on hot days, and sick days! On hot days we make shave ice with flavorings and fresh frozen fruit. Sometimes we just shave fruit like frozen peaches, the kids love it!

Kidlet loves the cold ice on her sore throat and it is a terrific way to get liquids into her.  She must be part polar bear because this kid can put away ice like nobody’s business! Usually when little ones are sick they just want Otter Pops or Popsicles but I hate all that sugar and over packaging. This easy two ingredient recipe is a low sugar, no preservative way to get them hydrated. If you don’t have a shave ice machine you can pick one up over here for 24.00$. Check you local second-hand shop, you never know what you will find. You can also serve it up the caveman style by adding fruit and ice to a zip top bag and hammering away (but not on your tile countertops.)

Bottom line, get them hydrated any way you can because they will get better faster and be back to school in no time.

P.S. I take no responsiblity for the blueberry stains on the kid or all over the house!

Shave Ice for Sicky

If you don’t have a fancy shave ice machine but have a food processor, fit it with a thin slicer blade and throw in some frozen peaches or strawberries to get a yummy shaved fruit treat!

I think we are partial to blueberries because when they get shaved they look really cool!!

1/4 cup frozen organic blueberries or other fruit

about 6 ice cubes

Add everything to machine, shave away in to a large bowl.

Serve.

Hawaiian Shave Ice Maker

Hamantashen, to fold or to pinch? (that is the question)

Making cookies is always fun for kids but for us, these are especially exciting to make.  The familiar shape of the triangular cookies shows itself every March, it is the official cookie of Purim, a Jewish holiday geared toward the kiddos. (You definantly don’t have to be Jewish to make these!) We first tried a recipe that seemed to have good reviews but they came out too cakey, I needed another try and I knew exactly where to look for the perfect recipe.

I went straight to Claire’s old Preschool, the ECE Preschool at the Marin Osher JCC  A place where baking and kids is perfectly natural! They use tried and true recipes passed down from Bubi to Bubi and they really work.  If 100 preschoolers can make Challah or Hamantashen taste good then I know the recipes work! When I visited, the Director handed me an adorable colorful printout of the Hamantashen recipe. Let’s back up a minute, I know you are wondering what’s up with that weird name and why is the cookie shaped like a triangle?

The Origin of Hamantaschen

“Hamantaschen” is a Yiddish word meaning “Haman’s pockets.” Haman is the villain in the Purim story, which appears in the Biblical Book of Esther. In the story, Haman is the Grand Vizier of Persia and a rabid anti-Semite. When Mordechai, a Jewish member of the king’s court and relative of Queen Esther, refuses to bow down to Haman, the Grand Vizier plots to have all the Jews in the kingdom massacred. However, Queen Esther and Mordechai discover Haman’s plot and are able to foil it. In the end, Haman is executed on the gallows he planned to use on Mordechai.

Jews eat hamantaschen on Purim as part of the celebration of the holiday, which commemorates how Jews escaped Haman’s dastardly plans. One explanation for the triangular shape of these pastries is that Haman wore a three-cornered hat. (excerpt from http://judaism.about.com )

There are some other facts about Purim that the kids really love one is

There are four good deeds that people try to carry out at Purim time.

1) To hear the reading of the Megillot Ester (Book of Esther) at a group gathering. This developed into a custom several hundred years after the real event took place.

2) To enjoy an atmosphere that encourages celebration with food and drink.

3) Helping out at least two people who are less fortunate than we are (charity) by giving them gifts on the 14th of Adar.

It has also become a tradition (Machatzit Hashekel) to give 3 half-dollar coins to charity to commemorate the half-shekel given by each Jew in the time of the Holy Temple. This good deed is usually done in the synagogue.

4) Giving gifts to a friend who is not necessarily poor. These ready-to-eat gifts might take the form of a fruit basket (Shalach Monot), pastry or beverage.

The best part of Purim is the dress up, the kids dress as Esther, Hamen or any royal. Purple is often used in decoration because it is the color connected to royalty.  The celebration is kind of like Mardi Gras and Halloween all wrapped up in one, lots of sweets and lots of fun!

Now that the history part is out of the way we can get on to sweeter things..

This recipe was great to use, a parent form the school made it, I have no clue who, but thanks because it is so handy!

The traditional filling of the Hamantashen is poppy-seed but we love strawberry or apricot preserves. I also sliced up fresh strawberries and added a slice to each one for a fresh taste.  The method is much like making sugar cookies, you roll out the buttery dough and chill. The triangle starts with a circle, imagine that, stay in school kids, the wonders of math never cease! Use a cup or a round cookie cutter to cut circles, drop a bit of filling in and then from your triangle (recipe below)

Raw chocolate chip dough

I butter

There is a debate in the land of Hamantashen about the correct way to seal up the Hamantashen, to fold or to pinch. I was always a pincher but I recently tried a recipe from Cupcake Project, while her tashen looked and tasted good, her suggestion of folding was intregiung to me. Folding the dough can produce a beautiful cookie but we had problems. Our dough was cracking with each fold although our cookies came out pretty we were discouraged by the cracking.

When we used the recipe below we pinched, you may have to use some water on the dough to make it stick but the pinched ones came out perfectly! So I say, depending on the recipe, your oven and your skill level pinching may be the way to go. **Note- for gluten free see bottom of post.

Lizet’s Hamatashen Recipe

preheat oven to 350˚ƒ

4 1⁄2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Mix together in a large bowl

3 sticks butter (1 1/2 c).

soften in a bowl

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

beat eggs in a bowl, stir in vanilla.

add eggs to flour mixture, add butter, stir, then dump on clean surface, knead briefly until sticky.divide dough in quarters.  ( I wrap and chill at this point)

roll to 1/4 inch thick on floured board.

Cut circles using a cutter or cup.

Place 1 tsp filling in center of dough.

Fold or pinch 3 sides to make a triangle.

Leave some filling showing in center. 

Bake on cookie sheet about 15 minutes.

Filling: use jam, or mix 1⁄2 lb. Prunes with 1⁄4 c. strawberry jam in a food processor. Or try making your own poppy seed filling…

Mohn (Poppy seed filling)

2 c. poppy seed, finely ground

1 egg

1/3 c. honey or sugar

1 Tbs. lemon juice

1⁄4 c. chopped nuts

Wash the seeds well, them grind them in a food processor or place the seeds in a cloth and pound them with a mallet. Mix with the remaining ingredients. chill.

                                                                                  

 

Folding the dough on a cookie sheet avoids the transfer disaster.

**NOTE

When we made these goodies with for our third grade class we needed a gluten free recipe. I tried a pie dough mix and it was terribly unsuccessful. As you can see it the photo they were like sand and not folded or pinched, we just dug out a space for the jam..

One of the moms made up a batch of GF cookie dough from Pure Pantry sugar cookie mix and it worked really well for the Hamantashen. I only have a photo of our ugly ones because the better ones got gobbled right up!

Ugly duckling gluten free cookies

Baked Typefaces

 I couldn’t resist sharing this amazing post for all you font freaks and cookie monsters out there!  I found this cute post over here…  Even more baked typefaces. What a cute and creative idea, keep being creative!!

Making Chocolate at Home

Homemade Chocolate

If you follow me on Facebook you may have seen a small post about “healthier” chocolate a few weeks back. I did promise that I would write-up the recipe, so here it goes. I have been on a Valentine’s kick, so to add to it I thought this would be a great time to make up a batch of this chocolate and wrap it up for your kids.

Recently I have been on a fitness craze, after eight years of writing about Toddlers and kid food I realized I had forgotten all about my health! I decided to start working out and making sure all my health ducks were in a row! I had a sneaking suspicion my thyroid was really out of wack and I was right, I got that all squared away and have enjoyed having my energy and motivation back again! That said, let’s eat chocolate!!

Now that my daughter is older 8 1/2  (I still consider her a toddler, but don’t tell her that.) We spend less time in the kitchen because she is busy with activities, friends and taking care of her doggie, Peepers and Violet the rat! When we are in the  kitchen I try to make it extra fun and something she really wants to do. We both love chocolate so when I came across this easy way to make chocolate at home I knew we had to make it.

In all my searches for healthy foods on my latest online obsession, Pinterest I keep coming up with a cute site called Chocolate Covered Katie she is a darling girl who makes healthy low-fat vegan desserts. I found her Chocolate recipe and had to make it. The ingredients are easy to get, you may already have them in your house!! I like her ideas, I do modify them a lot or just use them as inspiration, couldn’t we all use some of that?

Next time we make this we will add chopped salted almonds, mint extract or toasted coconut.

Ingredients for Hot Chocolate Bars

Here is my version of

Hot Chocolate Bars

Next time we make this we will add chopped salted almonds, mint extract or toasted coconut.

I like Scharfenburger cocoa powder or as pictured the Organic  Gaia is nice too. We happened to have some cute chocolate molds but you could use silicone cupcake molds or just plain old paper ones.

 This makes about 6 – 2 inch chocolates.

(gluten-free)

 

• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 4 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil (Trader Joe’s now carries this)
• 1/4 cup  light agave nectar
• 2- 3  drops stevia
• optional: extracts, cocoa nibs, rice Krispies or other add-ins

In the microwave melt coconut oil in a small bowl. Coconut oil has a very low melthing point you will only need about 15-30 seconds to melt it.  Add agave or/and stevia drops. Stir, add cocoa powder. (I do not add water or milk as she suggests.)

and add 3-4 Tbs water or non-dairy milk if only using stevia

Stir, stir, stir until it gets thick. Pour into any flat container (or candy molds or smash between layers of wax paper or in Ziploc bags). Refrigerate until solid.

Tip- If you add too much agave the texture will change, try to keep the measurement to 1/4 cup.

 

 

 

After Battle Chocolate Cake

Recently my daughter has been reading like crazy, big books, the kind with lots of pages!  The kind I didn’t read until I was in my 30′s! She is voracious, she eats books!  My husband got her a book by Patricia C. Wrede called “Book of Enchantments,  it’s a book of short stories by the author who wrote a great series about dragon nappings…and a princess.

From The New Book of Enchantments

“Cimorene, the princess who refuses to be proper, meets her match in the not-quite-kingly Mendanbar. With the aid of a broken-down magic carpet and a leaky magical sword, the two tackle a series of dragon-nappings.”

In the back of the book the author wrote a recipe for Barbarians on how to make a chocolate cake.  The way  she  wrote it is so cute (see below) it’s basically a bunch of barbarians making a cake using their swords and doing the mixing in a helmet!  They chop the chocolate with a sword and cook the cake on the fire. We made it in a real mixing bowl, although Claire was looking for a shield to bake it in!  The cake was simple and delicious we all loved it! I am showing both recipes, the normal folks version and the original Barbarian version below.

After Battle Recipe (last one known to man)

We decided to make the cake for New Years Eve and to also give out the recipe on some old-looking paper to the kids to take home. We stained the paper with a soggy tea bag and let it dry overnight. We printed the original recipe on the front and the normal folks version on the back.  We then burnt the edges to make it look old, it was a family affair we all sat in the driveway and worked on burning the edges, it was lots of fun!  It really brought me back to middle school when we tried to made our book reports look aged.

Quick After-Battle Triple Chocolate Cake-Barbarian Version

First, round up the prisoners and have them make a good fire. Pile shields around it to hold in heat.

Assemble Ingredients

Butter the size of a good spear head

A good big fistful of brown sugar

A big fistful of white sugar

A couple of eggs

A good splash of vanilla

Secret Magic Ingredient

Milk from a chocolate cow

A small fistful of cocoa

Two or three fistfuls of flour

Pinch of salt

Two pinches soda

Hunk of chocolate, hacked to bits with second-best sword

 

Pick a small shield and clean it, then grease it up good.  Sprinkle a little flour and save it for later.

In somebody else’s helmet, beat butter and brown sugar and white sugar together-make sure helmet is clean before using! Add eggs and beat some more. Add vanilla and Secret Magic Ingredient and beat it all again.

Stir flour, cocoa, salt, and soda together in whatever is handy. Add to batter, alternating with milk. Beat real good. Stir in chocolate pieces.

Dump batter into greased shield. Bake next to fire while gathering loot. Give helmet back to sucker who let you mix cake in it; promise him first piece if he gets too mad. Eat warm while counting loot. Serves two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick After-Battle Triple Chocolate Cake – Normal Folks Version

One adjustment – we used cocoa to prepare the pan instead of flour.

Preheat oven to 350 ˚F

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

2 Tablespoons blackstrap molasses

2/3 cup chocolate milk (1 tbsp. chocolate syrup to 2/3 C. milk)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 6-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

 

Grease and cocoa a 9″ x 9″ pan

In a large bowl, cream butter or margarine until fluffy. Add brown sugar and white sugar and mix thoroughly. Add eggs, vanilla, and black strap molasses, beating well after each addition

In a separate container stir flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda together. Beat into butter mixture, alternating with the chocolate milk. Beat for 1-2 minutes, and then fold in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into greased and floured 13″ x 9″ pan. Bake 35-45 minutes. Cake should be sort of flat and solid, not light and puffy. (Don’t over cook it though) Let cool before cutting, or the pieces will fall apart and the gooey chocolate chips will get all over everything. Sprinkle powdered sugar or top with whipped cream. Serves a lot more than two, even if everybody really likes chocolate.

 

* * * * * From Patricia C. Wrede’s “Book of Enchantments” * * * * *

 

Apple Stuffin’ Muffins

Mini muffins with a strawberry and mint leaf in place of real leaves

Besides driving, working and entertaining, parents are always running right alongside their toddlers: making meals, doing dishes, and trying to keep everyone from getting grumpy.  The best way I have found to offset the constant running in circles is to be prepared with nutritious snacks.   I promise you that these are so quick and easy that you will WANT to make them, instead of feeling like it’s yet another chore.

This is a really flexible recipe.  You can change ingredients here and there and still get great results.  Add a small dot of cream cheese on top for more protein, or leave out the butter or replace it with a vegetable based non-hydrogenated margarine.  These muffins are extremely forgiving, so get to it and make a batch now your kids will thank you!  What are your kid’s favorite healthy afternoon snack?

 Apple Stuffin’ Muffins

Makes 24 mini muffins

Here’s a great after-school snack for a hungry kid or any other member of your family. These are perfectly sweet with a strong apple flavor when you use homemade applesauce.  The better the apple sauce the more flavor the muffins will have. No time for making applesauce, add diced fresh apple to the recipe for a stronger flavor.

Ingredients     

3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom (optional)

3 tbs butter

1/8 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup fresh applesauce 

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

Optional. 1/2 apple peeled and chopped very small

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray, set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl, set aside.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter on high for about 30 seconds; add sugar, applesauce, egg and salt to bowl.  Mix well.

Pour the apple mixture over the flour mixture.

Gently stir in the flour until just incorporated, do not over mix.

Fill the muffin tins about half full with batter.

Bake for 8-9 minutes for mini muffins.

Note: For 6 standard size muffins bake 15 minutes

Tip:

For evenly sized muffins, a mini cookie scoop works wonders, get one at your baking supply or craft store.

Optional Add-ins:

Small shredded carrot or zucchini, currants, chopped dates, flax seeds, quick oats, peanut butter, diced banana, shredded cheddar cheese

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