End of the School Year

Last Day of First Grade

I have been teary-eyed the last couple of days because my little boy is growing up way too quickly as another school year has come and gone and summer is officially here.  My son had a truly outstanding teacher this year and letting him go will be especially difficult.  To say this teacher went the extra mile, truly loves kids, made learning fun and created a wonderful partnership with me would be an understatement.  

Needless to say, my kiddo is very excited for camp, trips we have planned and the endless hours he will undoubtedly spend in the pool.  Here's to the start of sunny days, baseball games, popsicles and summer adventures.  

Rewind: First Day of School

A final video of my son's first grade glass as they end the year.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

I checked out "Desserts by the Yard" by Sherry Yard about half a dozen times before I actually made something in the book.  After drooling over the photos and examining the delicious ingredients and descriptions, I settled on the Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies.  You can find the recipe here.  To be honest, my son and I liked these cookies but they did not blow us away.  I think I need to make Ina Garten's Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars to do a comparison.  Stay tuned.

S'mores Cupcakes with Kahula

The kid in me is out and raging. Enter the most fantastic of all fantastic treats from childhood with a little grown up injected inside and you have S’mores cupcakes with a hit of Kahula. Somebody pinch me.

I first saw these cupcakes on Annie’s Eats and then it seemed like the S’mores influence was everywhere with S’mores cakes, snack bars, energy bars, candy bars, you name it. So, this has been on my must bake list forever and I finally got around to making them. The cupcakes shown on Annie’s Eats were beautiful and refined and I wanted mine to be more rustic and, for lack of a better term, sloppy. In my mind, that’s what S’mores are, sloppy kid food that are a mess to eat. That’s the fun of them and being a kid, permission to be sloppy and unrefined. I also have to be buttoned up in a corporate office all day so I like to take a more laid back approach to my baking.

So, I used the Annie’s Eats recipe but I put my own spin on it with the Kahula injection. I also made some minor alterations to bits and pieces to suit my palate.

Enjoy! AJ – xo

Pizza Night

Can we talk about kiddo eating habits? As a parent, I find myself having to find creative ways to get vegetables in my little man. Enter pizza decorating. Green peppers all of a sudden double as hair, sausage becomes eyes and a smiley face. Pizza with vegetables, to the little ones, becomes a lot more appealing when they can decorate it themselves. The added bonus is that you actually know all of the ingredients that are going into their little bodies and there is not partially hydrogenated weird stuff going in. Have you ever read the back of a frozen pizza package? Scary.

As for the adults, grilled pizza with sausage, onions, homemade sauce and dough is blissful. Once you have made your own pizza with fresh ingredients, you will forever cringe in the freezer section holding stack upon stack of frozen pizzas at the the grocery store. I know I am beating this point up a bit but I do believe that the best food is homemade. That is what this pizza is in addition to being one of many ways to introduce a kid to healthy food and fun cooking.

Enjoy!

AJ

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups warm (100 to 110 degrees F) water (If you are working with a cold stand mixer, you will want to have the water hotter to compensate for the cold bowl)
2 packages dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
2 teaspoons kosher salt

For prep:
1/2 cup good olive oil
Cornmeal

Directions
For the dough, combine the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add 3 cups flour, then the salt, and mix. While mixing, add 1 more cup of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough on low to medium speed for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it several times to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 equal parts and roll each one into a smooth ball. Place the balls on a baking sheet and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

If you've chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature. Roll and stretch each ball into a rough 8-inch circle and place them all on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. (You will be able to fit 2 pizzas on each 18 by 13-inch baking sheet.)

Pizza/Pasta Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 ounces tomato paste
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add in olive oil. Swirl around to cover the bottom of the pan. When oil has heated and moves easily when swirled (about 2 minutes), add in onions. Saute onions for about 8 minutes until translucent. Add in garlic add cook for 1 minute.

Add in crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper and oregano and bring to a boil while stirring occasionally. When bubbling, add in tomato paste and stir in until incorporated. Switch to low heat, cover the pan and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Check for seasonings and adjust accordingly. The sauce should be very thick and not runny at all. Leave it on for more time if necessary. Stir in parsley and taste again for seasonings. Let cool slightly before using on the pizza dough or serve right away over pasta.

Toppings:

sweet italian sausage, casings removed, broken up and browned
yellow onions, sliced thin
fontina and mozzarella cheese

Pizza Grill Method:

Heat your grill to approximately 500 degrees.

While the grill is heating, roll the pizza dough out, brush lightly with olive oil, spread a layer of sauce on, sprinkle on generous amounts of cheese and add toppings according to your taste. Be sure to keep the pizza on a cornmeal dusted plate/pan in order for it to slide easily on to the grill. Also be sure to leave a generous edge so you are able to grab the pizza when completed.

Lightly brush the grill with oil, put the pizza on and close the lid. Grill the pizza for approximately 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is starting to turn a golden color.

Remove the pizza from the grill with a spatula and cut into several slices. Serve immediately.

Oreo Truffles

You have to love a person who follows a detox salmon recipe with Oreo truffles. Perhaps I should add hypocrite to my self-proclaimed study in contrasts title. Oh well, I never said I was perfect or consistent, far from both.

I was first introduced to these sinful darlings a few years ago by a work colleague. I remember tasting it in the hallway outside of my office and I think I might have heard angels singing when I took my first bite. Far from the truffles of French fame, these consist of ground up Oreos and cream cheese which are then dunked in chocolate. Bliss!

These sweet treats are now standard at all work holiday gatherings, showers and every other party we hold in the communal kitchen. Make them for your own work colleagues and I guarantee quick turn-around on those TPS reports. Enjoy! AJ

Ingredients:

1 package (1 lb. 2oz) regular Oreo cookies (not double stuff), finely crushed

1 package ( 8oz) cream cheese, softened

2-8 ounce packages milk or semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Method:

Mid 3 cups of the crushed cookies and cream cheese until well blended. Shape into 1-inch balls. It should make approximately 42 balls.

Dip balls into melted chocolate and place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Refrigerate 1 hour until firm.

Best Kiddie Sauce Ever!

I admit being skeptical about a sauce that everyone was raving about with just three overly simple ingredients. How can tomatoes, one onion and some butter be that great? Well, I stand corrected. This sauce is fantastic and the real story is that it is the magical combination that will get any difficult food you want into your little tike's mouth. Seriously, my little man is gobbling this stuff up like he has never eaten before in his life. Simply opening the fridge to take the leftovers out for dinner triggers a bouncing around in the chair reaction. Of course, then he devours it in about three minutes and I have my silent time for the night. Yes, three whole minutes is what I have these days and you know what, I will take it and say thank you very much!

So, about the taste. It is very subtle and light, yet inexplicably addictive. I think the best way to say this is that the simplified ingredient list really allows the tomatoes to shine through and pop in your mouth. The onion adds a delicate undertone and the butter provides some depth and heartiness to the tomato/onion combination. This is almost the peanut butter and jelly of the sauce world, uncomplicated, robust yet smooth and wonderfully comforting in it's unadorned form. Enjoy!

Adapted from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano)
5 tablespoons salted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Kosher salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 1 hour, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add Kosher salt to taste and keep warm while you prepare your pasta. If there are chunks of tomato still floating around, use an immersion blender to smooth out the rough spots. A big piece of tomato in a little unsuspecting mouth could cause a choking situation so please be cognizant of that.

Serve with noodles or in the case of these pictures for little mouths, bite size shells or elbows.

Black Beans and Rice

My life is a crazy tornado of activity. There is a routine, everything is structured and there is no sitting around. I am definitely one of those people who falls asleep before my head hits the pillow. This is by no means a complaint, I actually prefer the craziness, the more I do, the more energized and alive I feel.

So, with the whirlwind of activity, getting healthy meals into my little guy's mouth is not always easy. The key is in the planning and reheating is my friend. I use the weekends to do the grocery shopping and make as much as possible ahead of time. Sometimes though, I have to throw things together at the last minute because I do not always plan well. To that end, rice and beans are my friend. I keep a stock of canned beans in my cabinets and pasta and rice are always on hand. Beans alone will not make the little man happy but throw in some rice and something bright like an avocado or tomatoes and we are in business. Bonus is that this meal will last a few days and I am of the mind that if a child eats the same thing a few days in a row, he will be just fine.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked white rice
1 15 oz can black beans drained
1 teaspoon salted butter
1 medium Spanish onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 fresh lime juiced
Cilantro (Optional)
1 whole Haas avocado, pit removed and sliced lenghtwise

Method:

Make the white rice according to package instructions.

While the rice cooks, in a skillet, melt the butter and cook the onions over medium heat until soft. Add in the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add a little salt and pepper. Add in the black beans and cook for about five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, the lime juice and chopped cilantro if desired.

Serve with the avocado fanned out over the bean mixture and salt and pepper top to taste.

Kiddie Train Cake

So this was my first serious attempt at decorating a cake in some other manner than just doing the two layers with frosting on the sides and in the middle. I have one word for anyone who wants to do cake decorating, practice. I look at the very talented crew on Ace of Cakes and the difference between them and me is that they do that all day everyday. Granted there is some serious artistry and talent that goes into their cakes but practice is what separates the men from the boys when it comes to most cake decorating.

One of my pet peeves with elaborately decorated cakes is taste. I hate it when I see a beautiful cake, take a bite and want to gag. Dry cake with no pop in the taste is so not cool. Of course the recipe for this cake came from the folks at Cook's Illustrated because you know I will always do what they say. I did modify their recipe a bit because I was facing somewhat of a sugar shortage and I love the taste of sour cream in a cake and I had to add it. Let me say that the cake itself was amazing but extra special mention definitely goes to the buttercream icing that gave new meaning to icing on the cake. This recipe, which I was skeptical of because it contains four eggs, is truly the apex of buttercream frosting; buttery, rich and not overly sweet as you will find in the supermarket pre-made tubs.

One final note, yes, my son flipped when I presented the cake to him for his 4th birthday and I would definitely recommend this for little tikes everywhere on their birthday. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from "The Next Best Recipe", from the Editors of Cook's Illustrated:

Yellow Layer Cake (Makes enough for one train mold or two layers)

1 3/4 cup plain cake flour, sifted
4 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1 recipe vanilla buttercream frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray train cake mold or two 9-inch cake pans with Baking PAM.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs in one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each egg and beat for another 2 minutes. Beat in the milk, sour cream and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix together until just combined. Mix the batter with a rubber spatula until fully combined.

Divide the batter equally into the two cake pans or pour all into the train mold. If using the cake pans, bake for 20-25 minutes. If using the train mold, bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is light brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before removing from the pan. Invert the cake onto a large cutting board for frosting if using the train mold.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 pound (4 sticks) salted butter at room temperature

Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt in a double boiler over simmering water. Whisk mixture gently and constantly until it is thin and foamy and about 160 degrees.

Beat the egg mixture with a paddle attachment at medium-high speed until light, airy and cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter one stick at a time until fully incorporated. Beat at high speed until all lumps have been eliminated and mixture is light and fluffy. Buttercream can be covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days.

Spiced Apple Pear Sauce

If apple sauce tasted like this when I was growing up, I would have eaten a lot more of it! I had about a million left over apples and pears from one of my baking extravaganzas and when a girl has a million apples and pears, she makes apple pear sauce. Don’t just feed this to your kids although you will definitely be able to move them along at a faster pace by dangling this in front of their salivating little mouths. Slather it on pork or chicken, mix it in with stuffing, warm it a bit and put it on ice cream. For a quick dessert, take some leftover pie pastry, put the applesauce in with some sliced apples on top, dot with some brown sugar and butter, fold over the sides and poof, crostata to go! I like my applesauce chunky but if you are a pureed type of person, throw it into a blender or mash it with a potato masher when it is done cooking.

Recipe:

4 to 5 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Half Granny Smith apples and half Jonagold apples were used in this recipe)
3 ripe Bosc pears
Juice (about 2 teaspoons) and zest from 1 small lemon
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons Kosher salt

Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks.

If you want a more pureed sauce, mash with a potato masher.

Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated.

Lasts up to one year in the freezer.