"Fruit on a stick"

I feel a bit lame posting this, since it's probably the most obvious, non-cooking recipe ever invented. But it satisfies my kids' culinary and creative needs, so perhaps it could be useful to share.

If the name doesn't give the game away, it's, well, fruit on a skewer, or as my daughter prefers to call it, 'fwoot on a stick'. My kids don't have any problem eating fruit, so I must have been in one of those desiring-extra-work-for-myself moods when I came up with this one, because it's a pretty constant demand now on the snack list. Thankfully, getting it onto the skewer only takes about a minute, so no biggie.





As for ingredients, you need a bamboo skewer and, well, whatever fruit you think you can get onto the skewer. I've used apples, oranges, mandarins, grapes, various berries (strawberries are especially great for their bright colour), pineapple, banana, kiwi fruit, pear... I did manage to get lychee on there once but only by peeling it really carefully so as to minimise tears in the flesh. Basically anything solid enough and able to be easily cut into rough cube shapes will work. I sometimes add a few cubes of cheese as well.




I haven't branched out beyond fruit, but have a feeling certain vegetables could be successful - perhaps some blanched carrot, fresh peas, cooked pumpkin cubes, leafy greens, steamed zucchini, cooked potato... As I see it, the biggest draw-back to using veggies is the fact you'd have to cook a lot of them in order for them to be edible and/or soft enough to get onto the stick, which brings them from the realm of quick snack and into the proper meal category. But for a creative twist on left-overs, might just be a hit. Will let you know...

Quinoa and Black Bean Chili

SO HEALTHY AND SO YUMMY! The toddler finished most of her bowl and gave it a "thumbs up." Then, she promptly started singing, "Where is Thumbkin?"

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 tablespoon minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes; set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, and cumin; cook and stir 1 minute to release the flavors. Stir in the tomatoes, black beans, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeno pepper, chipotle pepper, and oregano. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
3. After 20 minutes, stir in the reserved quinoa and corn. Cook to reheat the corn for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the cilantro to serve.

Fruit Popsicles

When your strawberries haven't gone bad, but are a bit too shriveled to eat by themselves, make popsicles!!!

Chicken Souiza Cornbread Bake

Chicken Souiza Cornbread Bake (from Allrecipes.com)

Paul loved it, and Sosi even ate a few bites (though I don't think she was a big fan of the Green Chiles). After reading the reviews online, I made a few changes. Sorry, no time for pictures, as this is probably one of the last big meals I will cook at this house. Everything is getting sold tomorrow!

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn
• 1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup egg substitute I used 2 eggs
  
• 1 (8.5 ounce) package corn bread mix
• 
  
• 2 1/3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
• 2 tablespoons canned green chile peppers, chopped I used 3/4 of about a 5 oz. can
  
• 1 (4 ounce) jar chopped mushrooms, drained Didn't use
  
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat sour cream Used 1/2 cup plus 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) package Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Melt margarine in a small skillet over med-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until tender, 4 to 6 minutes; set aside. In a large bowl, combine corn, cream style corn, salt and eggs. Beat in muffin mix. Fold in cooked onion mixture. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake the cornbread mixture for 10 minutes before adding the mixture from Step 3.
   
3. In a large bowl, combine chicken, green chiles, mushrooms, sour cream, salt and pepper. Spoon over corn mixture to within 1 inch from edge. Sprinkle top with cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.

Shout Out

A "Shout Out" for Jenny's post on Sausage & Veggie rolls. They are sooooo easy and you can literally use anything you have on hand. Great for a potluck or playdate. I just made a mixture in the food processor, and they turned out super yummy!

Cooked potatoes
1/4 of a bag of defrosted sweet potato fries
1/2 of a bag of defrosted turkey meatballs from TJ's
a few scoops of spaghetti sauce
1 egg
1 pkg. Puff Pastry

birthday cake!

my first born turned three last week, which is just insane for me to process. to commemorate the anniversary when i officially became someone's mama, i decided to make my first tiered cake, and i wanted to use fondant icing because it looks cooler then frosting. but first, let it be known that i'm not a baker. i can barely even function in the kitchen (thank you rice cooker and toaster oven!). but i love me some martha stewart and i love to flip through cookbooks, so i thought that i could have a go at it. being the nerd that i am, i researched several how-to's, studied old recipes, and watched some reality cake shows for form and method.

it turns out that it was really fun and wasn't difficult at all. rather than posting the recipes i used, i'll just talk more about the procedure, so you guys can use your own favorite cake/batter recipes. (i don't have a lot of pictures of each step, as my hands were usual covered in shortening, flour, sugar, etc.)

let's start with the frosting first:

i used martha stewart's buttercream frosting recipe. it was simple enough and quick to make in the mixer.

then i made the cake:

i used a simple yellow cake recipe from cook's illustrated that i divided into 3 six inch pans. after i let them cool to room temperature, i leveled out the tops with a serrated knife. then i put a dallop of frosting in the center of the cardboard circle that i would place the cake on. this secures the first layer onto the cardboard (which helps when i'm layering on the frosting). then i slathered frosting on the top of the first layer, placed the second layer upside down (as in, the top that i leveled was now kissing the first layer), slathered frosting, and put on the third layer, also upside down. then i coated the cake with a "crumb coat," which is a thin layer of frosting all around the cake that picks up the crumbs. i put the cake in the fridge for an hour, so that the crumb coat could get sufficiently hard. then i frosted the entire cake.

and here's the fun part, the fondant:

initially i was just going to go the easy route and buy some premade fondant, but i was consistently reading that boxed fondant tastes horrible. so i found a good marshmallow fondant recipe and went with it. i made the fondant the night before i made the cake, because it needs some time to sit, like a dough. it was super fun to make, and was like play-dough for adults. i didn't add any coloring until the fondant had rested, and then i portioned out how much fondant i would need for the cake and the polka-dots and kneaded in the coloring. after you have your desired color, you roll it out (i used a non-stick roller, but if you want to use your wooden rolling pin, have lots of confectioner's sugar on hand, which acts like "flour" to keep the stickiness at bay. once you have your rolled out fondant, you lay it on top of the cake (the buttercream frosting acts like a glue), and smooth it out with your hands. then using a pairing knife, trim the bottom excess. i cut out the polka-dots and "pasted" then onto the cake, with water as the glue.

i made the cake the day before the party, and the great thing about fondant is that it seals the moisture of the cake inside, so when we celebrated, the cake still tasted fresh and moist. we ate the entire cake over the course of 3 days.

serious you guys, if i can make this cake, then you guys can make this cake, and probably much much better than i! but it was a lot of fun to create and there was that gratifying feeling of making something for my own child. i like to think that's why the cake tasted so yummy, and even mark who doesn't have a sweet tooth continued to snack on the cake in the following days. i'm looking forward to the next celebration where i can bake another cake!