... like me, of course.
You'll need:
- one 7 1/2 ounce jar of Marshmallow Fluff, and I realize that I've posted a lot of recipes using it, which is embarrassing, in a way.
- one cup softened butter.
- one cup of icing sugar. So obviously we're talking about a VERY HEALTHY recipe, right?
- some vanilla - about 1/2 tsp. - and food colouring, if you don't want ivory icing.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until it's fluffy and creamy and then add the whole jar of Marshmallow Fluff, which will be a sticky pain in the butt. Reduce speed and add the icing sugar, vanilla and food colouring and mix it all together. Now turn your mixer back up (and why do you do it this way? So you don't send icing sugar flying all over your kitchen. Learn from my mistakes.) and beat everything briskly until it's fluffy and gorgeous. There you go.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Carrot Cake recipe...
.... is right here. Remember that icing sugar in Ontario is not gluten-free - my icing was made from regular white sugar, vanilla and cream cheese and it was GOOD.
I have a few more gluten-free recipes up here.
I have a few more gluten-free recipes up here.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
This Week's Menu Plan
Apparently this blog has just turned into a place where I keep my menu plans for the week. So be it, I guess - I have some big plans for posting recipes soon, having recently come out of a prolonged time where I was unenthusiastic about everything I was cooking, winter and its stodgy foods lasting for just a bit too long. Now, however, the sandhill cranes are back and the snow is melting and I feel like cooking again, spring's foods lasting for just a moment.
(so if you HAVE been asking me for recipes and I haven't been posting them, you can expect them this week. Likely.)
Saturday - It's always hard to strike the right note on Saturday nights, since we've generally a) eaten junk food for lunch and b) are exhausted from running errands all day.
Supper - Tex-Mex Turkey Wraps. This recipe came from a VERY frequently used book - Better Food For Kids. I've had it for years and still refer to it all the time, since it's such a handy collection of kid-friendly, healthy recipes.
Sunday - I like making a special breakfast on Sunday morning, but we also go to church before lunchtime, so it's a bit of a rush as I get up early to make breakfast AND gussy up. And then I like to make a nice, Grandma+Grandpa style dinner for Sunday night, which means that I spend Sunday cooking. But that's okay - I like cooking.
Breakfast - Brown Sugar French Toast. I'll be putting this together tonight and then throwing it into the oven as I head off to do my eye makeup, probably. And a fruit salad made of grapes (because I have grapes that need using up), banana and orange wedges. "Don't think that you need to have a different kinds (of fruit) in one salad, either," wrote Peg Bracken. "This isn't the Waldorf-Astoria. Three is quite all right." I've wanted to use that quote for AGES and NOW I HAVE.
Lunch - Tuscan Bean Soup, from the same Better Food For Kids book that I mentioned earlier. My kids, for the record, cheerfully eat all sorts of things that apparently other people's children refuse, even though I think of my kids as being monstrously picky. They've eaten lentils and beans from the time they were wee babies shoving handfuls of glop into their mouths, and so they just aren't weird to them. Don't ask me about mushrooms, though.
Supper - Oven Barbecued Chicken and Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese - both recipes from that free magazine that Kraft puts out, and a very handy magazine it is, too.
Deluxe Coleslaw and Glazed Carrot Coins, from that Better Food cookbook AGAIN. Handy!
A Chocolate Meringue Pie from April's copy of Everyday Food magazine, which I go through phases of really enjoying.
Monday.
Breakfast - Mango Slices, Scrambled Eggs and Bacon and some toast and then off to school with most of my kids.
Snack - My kids have that annoying, divided-in-half school day, which means that I have to pack two small meals instead of one jumbo lunch. Gosh, that's fun. Thank you SO MUCH, school board. And their snack will be, thrillingly enough, red grapes, Mini Oreos (since they have demanded them for weeks, poor bubs, and The Girl finally thought to write them down on the shopping list.) and cheese strings.
Lunch - Chicken Wraps - using last night's chicken - and coleslaw.
Supper - Ratatouille, homemade French bread, fruit salad and a Glazed Lemon Cake. These recipes come from the Silver Palate cookbook.
Tuesday.
Breakfast - Individual Baked Custards, Orange Slices.
Let me put in a good word for baked custards, a largely - and unfairly - forgotten breakfast food. They're very easy and nutritionally dense, which makes them nice for scrawny children or people recovering from an illness, and they're nicely gentle to eat. My recipe comes from The Breakfast Book, which I LOVE.
Snack - Glazed Lemon Cake, Apple Slices (dipped in lemon so they don't brown)
Lunch - Ratatouille Calzones, using last night's leftover ratatouille and packaged pizza dough.
Supper - Honey-Garlic Baked Salmon (the Better Food cookbook AGAIN!), Brown Rice and Chinese Vegetables.
Wednesday.
Breakfast - Baked Apples and Toast.
Snack - Baby Carrots and Green Beans with Ranch Dip, and a banana.
Lunch - Pizza from the pizza people. I will probably throw in a few mini Oreos, too.
Supper - Pasta Primavera Gregory - a nice, spring-y sounding recipe from the Silver Palate cookbook - and a Minty Cucumber Salad. I'm making Lemon Squares from the new Martha Stewart Cookie book, too. Mmm, lemon squares.
Thursday.
Breakfast - Muesli, which just requires me remembering to put it together before bed on Wednesday night.
Snack - A Lemon Square and a sliced kiwi. They're FULL of vitamin C!
Lunch -Rice and Lentil Salad, which I'll assemble on Tuesday night, a cheese string, and some whole grain crackers.
Supper - Tangy Pork Ribs in the crockpot - from the February/March issue of Taste of Home - mashed potatoes, oven-roasted asparagus, a spinach-strawberry salad with homemade poppyseed dressing, and a jello dessert that The Girl wants to make.
Friday.
Breakfast - Boxed Cereal. We have it on hand, but it's a bedtime snack most days. I'll throw some frozen blueberries in it to assuage my guilt.
Snack/Lunch - Green Sliced Veggie Salad, Refried Bean and Salsa Roll-Up, and Chocolate pudding with sliced banana.
And Friday night's supper can take care of itself.
(so if you HAVE been asking me for recipes and I haven't been posting them, you can expect them this week. Likely.)
Saturday - It's always hard to strike the right note on Saturday nights, since we've generally a) eaten junk food for lunch and b) are exhausted from running errands all day.
Supper - Tex-Mex Turkey Wraps. This recipe came from a VERY frequently used book - Better Food For Kids. I've had it for years and still refer to it all the time, since it's such a handy collection of kid-friendly, healthy recipes.
Sunday - I like making a special breakfast on Sunday morning, but we also go to church before lunchtime, so it's a bit of a rush as I get up early to make breakfast AND gussy up. And then I like to make a nice, Grandma+Grandpa style dinner for Sunday night, which means that I spend Sunday cooking. But that's okay - I like cooking.
Breakfast - Brown Sugar French Toast. I'll be putting this together tonight and then throwing it into the oven as I head off to do my eye makeup, probably. And a fruit salad made of grapes (because I have grapes that need using up), banana and orange wedges. "Don't think that you need to have a different kinds (of fruit) in one salad, either," wrote Peg Bracken. "This isn't the Waldorf-Astoria. Three is quite all right." I've wanted to use that quote for AGES and NOW I HAVE.
Lunch - Tuscan Bean Soup, from the same Better Food For Kids book that I mentioned earlier. My kids, for the record, cheerfully eat all sorts of things that apparently other people's children refuse, even though I think of my kids as being monstrously picky. They've eaten lentils and beans from the time they were wee babies shoving handfuls of glop into their mouths, and so they just aren't weird to them. Don't ask me about mushrooms, though.
Supper - Oven Barbecued Chicken and Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese - both recipes from that free magazine that Kraft puts out, and a very handy magazine it is, too.
Deluxe Coleslaw and Glazed Carrot Coins, from that Better Food cookbook AGAIN. Handy!
A Chocolate Meringue Pie from April's copy of Everyday Food magazine, which I go through phases of really enjoying.
Monday.
Breakfast - Mango Slices, Scrambled Eggs and Bacon and some toast and then off to school with most of my kids.
Snack - My kids have that annoying, divided-in-half school day, which means that I have to pack two small meals instead of one jumbo lunch. Gosh, that's fun. Thank you SO MUCH, school board. And their snack will be, thrillingly enough, red grapes, Mini Oreos (since they have demanded them for weeks, poor bubs, and The Girl finally thought to write them down on the shopping list.) and cheese strings.
Lunch - Chicken Wraps - using last night's chicken - and coleslaw.
Supper - Ratatouille, homemade French bread, fruit salad and a Glazed Lemon Cake. These recipes come from the Silver Palate cookbook.
Tuesday.
Breakfast - Individual Baked Custards, Orange Slices.
Let me put in a good word for baked custards, a largely - and unfairly - forgotten breakfast food. They're very easy and nutritionally dense, which makes them nice for scrawny children or people recovering from an illness, and they're nicely gentle to eat. My recipe comes from The Breakfast Book, which I LOVE.
Snack - Glazed Lemon Cake, Apple Slices (dipped in lemon so they don't brown)
Lunch - Ratatouille Calzones, using last night's leftover ratatouille and packaged pizza dough.
Supper - Honey-Garlic Baked Salmon (the Better Food cookbook AGAIN!), Brown Rice and Chinese Vegetables.
Wednesday.
Breakfast - Baked Apples and Toast.
Snack - Baby Carrots and Green Beans with Ranch Dip, and a banana.
Lunch - Pizza from the pizza people. I will probably throw in a few mini Oreos, too.
Supper - Pasta Primavera Gregory - a nice, spring-y sounding recipe from the Silver Palate cookbook - and a Minty Cucumber Salad. I'm making Lemon Squares from the new Martha Stewart Cookie book, too. Mmm, lemon squares.
Thursday.
Breakfast - Muesli, which just requires me remembering to put it together before bed on Wednesday night.
Snack - A Lemon Square and a sliced kiwi. They're FULL of vitamin C!
Lunch -Rice and Lentil Salad, which I'll assemble on Tuesday night, a cheese string, and some whole grain crackers.
Supper - Tangy Pork Ribs in the crockpot - from the February/March issue of Taste of Home - mashed potatoes, oven-roasted asparagus, a spinach-strawberry salad with homemade poppyseed dressing, and a jello dessert that The Girl wants to make.
Friday.
Breakfast - Boxed Cereal. We have it on hand, but it's a bedtime snack most days. I'll throw some frozen blueberries in it to assuage my guilt.
Snack/Lunch - Green Sliced Veggie Salad, Refried Bean and Salsa Roll-Up, and Chocolate pudding with sliced banana.
And Friday night's supper can take care of itself.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Weekly Menu Plan
This is more for internal management then anything else, but if you're interested in anything let me know and I'll email you the recipe or post it.
Saturday
Supper - Sausages with Peppers and Onions in my new pressure cooker, which I'll be writing about on Monday.
Sunday
Breakfast - Berry Buttermilk Pancakes
Lunch - Turkey BBQ Sandwiches, Veggie Tray with Dip
Supper - Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken, Roast Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Candied Carrots, Broccoli Salad, Surprise Cookies - one of our VERY favorites. (from the new Martha Cookie book!)
Monday
Breakfast - Cheese Omelettes, Fruit Smoothies
Snack - Orange Wedges, Surprise Cookies
Lunch - Leftover Roast Chicken, Polenta Squares (The Baby LOVES these!), Carrot Sticks
Supper - Spinach Salad with Marinated Mushrooms and Ricotta Fritters (with gf Macaroni and Cheese for the kids as well)
Tuesday - APRIL FOOL'S DAY!
Breakfast - Oatmeal, which isn't very silly.
Snack - Half Bagel with Cream Cheese, Mock Sushi, Red Grapes
Lunch - At School.
Supper - Fauxberry Pie, Blueberry Fool
Wednesday
Breakfast - Whole Wheat Banana Waffles
Snack - Red Grapes, Whole Grain Crackers and Hummus
Lunch - At School - Pizza
Supper - Salmon Cakes, Baked Potato Skins, Green Salad, Purple Cauliflower, Baked Nectarines
Thursday
Breakfast - Poached Eggs and Toast, Fruit Smoothies
Snack - Applesauce, Pineapple/Carrot Muffins
Lunch - Hummus/Veggie Wraps, Grapes
Supper - Pasta with Rainbow Veggies
Friday
Breakfast - Cereal and Toast
Snack - Carrot Oatmeal Muffins
Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches, Starwberries, Baby Carrots with Ranch Dressing
Saturday
Supper - Sausages with Peppers and Onions in my new pressure cooker, which I'll be writing about on Monday.
Sunday
Breakfast - Berry Buttermilk Pancakes
Lunch - Turkey BBQ Sandwiches, Veggie Tray with Dip
Supper - Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken, Roast Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Candied Carrots, Broccoli Salad, Surprise Cookies - one of our VERY favorites. (from the new Martha Cookie book!)
Monday
Breakfast - Cheese Omelettes, Fruit Smoothies
Snack - Orange Wedges, Surprise Cookies
Lunch - Leftover Roast Chicken, Polenta Squares (The Baby LOVES these!), Carrot Sticks
Supper - Spinach Salad with Marinated Mushrooms and Ricotta Fritters (with gf Macaroni and Cheese for the kids as well)
Tuesday - APRIL FOOL'S DAY!
Breakfast - Oatmeal, which isn't very silly.
Snack - Half Bagel with Cream Cheese, Mock Sushi, Red Grapes
Lunch - At School.
Supper - Fauxberry Pie, Blueberry Fool
Wednesday
Breakfast - Whole Wheat Banana Waffles
Snack - Red Grapes, Whole Grain Crackers and Hummus
Lunch - At School - Pizza
Supper - Salmon Cakes, Baked Potato Skins, Green Salad, Purple Cauliflower, Baked Nectarines
Thursday
Breakfast - Poached Eggs and Toast, Fruit Smoothies
Snack - Applesauce, Pineapple/Carrot Muffins
Lunch - Hummus/Veggie Wraps, Grapes
Supper - Pasta with Rainbow Veggies
Friday
Breakfast - Cereal and Toast
Snack - Carrot Oatmeal Muffins
Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches, Starwberries, Baby Carrots with Ranch Dressing
Monday, March 24, 2008
A Carrot Cake For My Baby
2 cups gluten-free flour blend (one cup rice flour, 3/4 cup teff flour, 1/4 cup potato starch)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon (doesn't that sound like a TON of cinnamon? It really wasn't over-powering, though.)
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple (the kind without any added sugar)
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated carrots
Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9x13 pan and set it aside.
Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices into a bowl. Set it aside.
In a food processor, combine the pineapple, raisins, and 1/4 of the white sugar. Pulse for a little while - you don't want the ingredients pureed, but just sort of mushed together a bit. Set that aside, too.
With an electric mixer, combine the remaining white sugar, the eggs, brown sugar, vegetable oil, applesauce, vanilla and the pineapple-raisin glop. Beat until everything is well combined. Lower the speed and add the flour mixture, then add the carrots and beat just until everything is combined. Spread into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a butter knife comes out clean. Let cool and frost with a cream cheese icing (I used four ounces of softened cream cheese with 3 tbsp soft butter and 1/2 cup white sugar, well-blended.).
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon (doesn't that sound like a TON of cinnamon? It really wasn't over-powering, though.)
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple (the kind without any added sugar)
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated carrots
Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9x13 pan and set it aside.
Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices into a bowl. Set it aside.
In a food processor, combine the pineapple, raisins, and 1/4 of the white sugar. Pulse for a little while - you don't want the ingredients pureed, but just sort of mushed together a bit. Set that aside, too.
With an electric mixer, combine the remaining white sugar, the eggs, brown sugar, vegetable oil, applesauce, vanilla and the pineapple-raisin glop. Beat until everything is well combined. Lower the speed and add the flour mixture, then add the carrots and beat just until everything is combined. Spread into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a butter knife comes out clean. Let cool and frost with a cream cheese icing (I used four ounces of softened cream cheese with 3 tbsp soft butter and 1/2 cup white sugar, well-blended.).
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Califlower Soup
My kids are really very cheerful about eating vegetables, it must be said. There was no magic trick that we performed, aside from a) serving them a wide variety of vegetables all through their lives and b) eating a wide variety of vegetables ourselves. So all three of my kids were very enthusiastic about this soup, while your kids might not be. It's a VERY yummy soup - flavourful and creamy and good - so perhaps your munchkins will love it, too.
Heat up some olive oil in a largish saucepan. Chop up an onion and cook until soft in the oil. Add:
1 head of chopped cauliflower
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups milk (I used a bit of cream as well that I had in the fridge and it was very nice)
And that's it! Let it simmer until it's tender, which should take about 15 minutes. Now you're going to pureer it in batches in your blender or with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. You can grate some Cheddar on top if you like.
Heat up some olive oil in a largish saucepan. Chop up an onion and cook until soft in the oil. Add:
1 head of chopped cauliflower
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups milk (I used a bit of cream as well that I had in the fridge and it was very nice)
And that's it! Let it simmer until it's tender, which should take about 15 minutes. Now you're going to pureer it in batches in your blender or with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. You can grate some Cheddar on top if you like.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
This week's menu...
.... a study in over-reach. Lunches are easier when the kids are home and I tend to become verrrry relaxed about breakfasts, too. They're lucky there's still fifteen feet of snow on the ground and I can't send them outside to forage.
Tonight:
Three homemade pizzas (and a mini gluten-free one, too)- right now, I'm thinking one with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce (we eat too much of that stuff), goat cheese, chicken and broccoli, one vegetarian with feta, and one VERY STANDARD PIZZA with turkey pepperoni and green peppers. Guess who eats that one. Anyhow, those pizzas are likely going to be mentioned in this week's Kitchen Party post, complete with lovely pictures, so stay tuned.
And then we're making homemade Twinkies, which I'll write about later this week.
Sunday
Breakfast - These mini maple cinnamon rolls. Lordy. I'll have to get up at 6 to get them ready before church, which is sort of sad. Oh, and some fruit salad, so we don't get scurvy.
Lunch - A big Greek salad.
Supper - Cabbage Rolls, scalloped potatoes, peas.... and some pink fluffy mini cupcakes because it's Barbie's birthday and we're celebrating.
Monday
Breakfast - A bowl of cereal. I like making hot breakfasts for the kids when they're off to school and I don't get to see how much else they eat during the day, but it's March Break and I'm probably going to have a headache AND a certain cereal company has watches in its cereal right now, which my kids have decided they need more than ANYTHING. So cereal it is!
Lunch - Open-faced egg salad sandwiches with goofy vegetable faces.
Supper - Vegetarian 3 Bean Chili and a Yeast Corn Bread Loaf
Tuesday
Breakfast -Poached Eggs on Toast and some orange slices. My kids love poached eggs, which is kind of odd, since poached eggs are the grossest member of the egg family.
Lunch - Quesadillas and some sliced mango
Supper - Pork Tenderloin with Garlic-Orange Vinaigrette and Sauteed Spinach, Brown Rice, and Roasted Tomatoes
Wednesday
Breakfast - Cereal again! Or oatmeal.
Lunch - Spinach Pasta Salad with Feta, The Girl's specific request. When I'm doing menu planning for the week, she sits right alongside me making her own list of things I should cook. Very helpful.
Supper - Black Bean Burritos, since it's a busy night.
Thursday
Breakfast - Oh, guess. I might make french toast if anyone balks at cereal.
Lunch - Almond Butter and honey sandwiches, carrot sticks and baked apples.
Supper - Chicken Spinach Manicotti, Tomato, Zucchini and Red Onion Salad
Friday and Celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.
No, it's not actually St. Patrick's Day, but the actual day falls within Holy Week NEXT week and so we're celebrating early.
Breakfast - Lucky Charms, the official cereal of St. Patrick's Day at OUR house. And green smoothies.
Lunch - I haven't thought of anything amusingly theme-y yet. Ideas? (I'm thinking I might just make potato soup.)
Supper - Glazed Corned Beef Dinner (from the slow cooker, my dear friend), something cabbage-y, Irish Soda Bread and I THINK this country rhubarb cake.
Tonight:
Three homemade pizzas (and a mini gluten-free one, too)- right now, I'm thinking one with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce (we eat too much of that stuff), goat cheese, chicken and broccoli, one vegetarian with feta, and one VERY STANDARD PIZZA with turkey pepperoni and green peppers. Guess who eats that one. Anyhow, those pizzas are likely going to be mentioned in this week's Kitchen Party post, complete with lovely pictures, so stay tuned.
And then we're making homemade Twinkies, which I'll write about later this week.
Sunday
Breakfast - These mini maple cinnamon rolls. Lordy. I'll have to get up at 6 to get them ready before church, which is sort of sad. Oh, and some fruit salad, so we don't get scurvy.
Lunch - A big Greek salad.
Supper - Cabbage Rolls, scalloped potatoes, peas.... and some pink fluffy mini cupcakes because it's Barbie's birthday and we're celebrating.
Monday
Breakfast - A bowl of cereal. I like making hot breakfasts for the kids when they're off to school and I don't get to see how much else they eat during the day, but it's March Break and I'm probably going to have a headache AND a certain cereal company has watches in its cereal right now, which my kids have decided they need more than ANYTHING. So cereal it is!
Lunch - Open-faced egg salad sandwiches with goofy vegetable faces.
Supper - Vegetarian 3 Bean Chili and a Yeast Corn Bread Loaf
Tuesday
Breakfast -Poached Eggs on Toast and some orange slices. My kids love poached eggs, which is kind of odd, since poached eggs are the grossest member of the egg family.
Lunch - Quesadillas and some sliced mango
Supper - Pork Tenderloin with Garlic-Orange Vinaigrette and Sauteed Spinach, Brown Rice, and Roasted Tomatoes
Wednesday
Breakfast - Cereal again! Or oatmeal.
Lunch - Spinach Pasta Salad with Feta, The Girl's specific request. When I'm doing menu planning for the week, she sits right alongside me making her own list of things I should cook. Very helpful.
Supper - Black Bean Burritos, since it's a busy night.
Thursday
Breakfast - Oh, guess. I might make french toast if anyone balks at cereal.
Lunch - Almond Butter and honey sandwiches, carrot sticks and baked apples.
Supper - Chicken Spinach Manicotti, Tomato, Zucchini and Red Onion Salad
Friday and Celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.
No, it's not actually St. Patrick's Day, but the actual day falls within Holy Week NEXT week and so we're celebrating early.
Breakfast - Lucky Charms, the official cereal of St. Patrick's Day at OUR house. And green smoothies.
Lunch - I haven't thought of anything amusingly theme-y yet. Ideas? (I'm thinking I might just make potato soup.)
Supper - Glazed Corned Beef Dinner (from the slow cooker, my dear friend), something cabbage-y, Irish Soda Bread and I THINK this country rhubarb cake.
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