Bagel Sunday

I did it!

I brought Bagel Sunday back into our lives!

Having tried to make bagels a few times before, I wasn't very optimistic, but with my latest infatuation with cream cheese, I figured I'd give it another go using a recipe from about.com and they worked.

Don't get me wrong,I'd rather pay a buck for a Noah's or Old New York Deli bagel, but these don't suck, either. 

Even more noteworthy, I may finally be mastering the yeast beast that's been my nemesis for years (although really,I think patience with yeast is more likely my nemesis...I hate waiting for things to rise!).

Lets see if  next week's batch is equally successful.

Recipe:

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/kosherbreadrecipes/r/bagels.htm

{Eat yo' veggies} muffins

Although our son has a healthy appetite and will try anything once, I am always trying to find ways to get his veggies in. There's only so many goldfish I'm willing to let him jam in his face. If only goldfish crackers were made with veggies. Sigh.

A friend of mine here has a picky eater, and she concocted some pumpkin muffins into toddler muffins packed with veggies that her son will actually eat. I decided I would try my hand at it too.

Here's what I came up with:

Eat yo' veggies muffins
 (adapted from Runner's World magazine)

2 1/2 cups  flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce ( replaced oil and butter and added sweetness)
1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup pureed or mashed cooked sweet potato
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk ( made by adding 1/2 TBSP lemon juice to lowfat milk and letting it sit 10 minutes)

Heat oven to 375&deg F. Grease 12 muffin cups or add paper liners.

Combine flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

In a bowl, whisk applesauce, sweet potato, egg, and buttermilk. Fold wet mixture into the dry; stir until just combined.

Fill muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

And as expected, Sal annihilated them. I will say, as an adult, these are not very tasty ( no sugar in a muffin? Puh-lease!) but for a toddler that doesn't know any different, these were the best muffins ever and earned me a gold star in his book.

If you try them, let me know how your kids like them. Feedback is always appreciated.

Baby Pancakes

With six chompers and one more currently working it's way in, Sal was cleared to start transitioning from purees to soft cooked foods after our most recent pediatrician appointment. And call me crazy, but I got excited about all the things I could start giving him. Visions of soft cooked carrot cubes & green bean pieces, peas, sweet potato & apple chews, shredded chicken and beef danced in my head.

His favorite meal thus far, aside from carrot zucchini oatmeal--he loves oatmeal like his mama-- are the baby pancakes I have been making. I call them baby pancakes, but they could also be considered vegan, I think. I'm no vegan expert, but I think that the absence of any animal products make these vegan. Maybe I should call them vegan baby pancakes--or not.

There's this whole list of foods that most pediatricians will advise parents to steer clear of for the first year, for reasons ranging from allergies to digestion issues to choking hazards. I'm doing my best to abide by the advice of my pediatrician, and keep Sal's diet milk and egg free til he hits that magical one year mark. Apparently egg yolks are okay--but we still haven't tried those. Living half way across the earth from the only health care I really trust is a pretty good deterrent for jumping the gun. Emergency services here are not as--how shall I say???--dependable or efficient. I'm sure that sooner or later we'll have a split chin that's gushing blood on our hands, and we will be forced to experience the local hospital emergency services, but for now, I 'm perfectly happy being cautious.

Anyhow, I've devised a couple of pancake recipes free of EGG and MILK...and bonus--they sneak in vegetables and fruit.

Boo-to the-yeah.

Thought I'd share em.

These are super simple to make and store well in a refrigerated airtight container for breakfasts, etc.  I take one out in the morning, tear it into bite size pieces, and watch Sal devour it.

 

CARROT OATCAKES

1/4 c. pureed carrots
1/4 c. pureed zucchini
1/4 c. Applesauce
1 mashed banana
1/2- 3/4 cup oats
1 tsp Cinnamon ( we love cinnamon!)

Mix together in a bowl. Let sit in the fridge once mixed, for two hours so that the oats soak up the water from the purees. The "batter" will be quite thick.

Spray pan with olive oil.

Heat pan over medium heat.

Spoon in pancake batter to make silver dollar size cakes.

Cook 1-2 minutes per side, or until browned.



PURPLE POTATO PANCAKES

1 cup mashed purple potatoes
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1 mashed banana
cinamon to taste
optional: chopped blueberries

Mix together in bowl.

Spray pan with olive oil or butter.

Spoon "batter" into silver dollar size cakes ( I had to use the back of a spatula to spread the batter out a bit)

Cook 1-2 minutes per side, or until browned.

Give a man a fish..

..and if it's NZ, he'll make Ceviche!

Nick and his pop played hooky from work one day last week and went fishing off the coast of Santa Barbara. One of the benefits of living where we do is definitely the proximity to the ocean, and the freshest fish, ever.


They brought home a bag of fish, and instead of doing fish & chips, NZ opted to make a super healthy (all raw ingredients) Ceviche, and it was to die for. Marinated in citrus juice, the juice "cooks" the fish..It's a wonderful appetizer, or if you're like us, throw in a bag of tortilla chips ( or homemade chips, will post those later) and make it a meal!

Nick's Ceviche

3-4 c. raw white ocean fish. Cut into small pieces, about the size of a dice.

2 c. chopped tomatoes ( same size as the fish)

1/2 c. diced white onion. Keep the pieces the size of an eraser head or smaller.

3 garlic cloves cut into small pieces. You want these to give flavor but not have big pieces in any one bite.

2 medium jalapenos. Same size pieces as the onion.

1/4 bushel of cilantro, finely chopped.

8-10 Lemons & limes

Add everything to a mixing bowl. Add citrus juice until it coats everything in the bowl. You don't want to have the ingredients swimming in the juice, but you also don't want them to be dry. Nick uses lemon and lime in his. 4 limes to every one lemon seems to be a good mix.

Wedding Cake: Final product

After a nightmarish baking day on saturday which lasted from 9:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. at my house and continued on well until midnight at my sister's house to complete the 12 inch layer.

We did it, we actually pulled it off with time to spare. Sunday was a complete 180 from our experience on Saturday...Thank goodness!

Set up was a breeze, the wedding was gorgeous, and I am thrilled that my sister and I kept our cool when the kitchen got hot and walked away from this experience happy and still loving each other.

More pics later, but this girl is T-i-r-e-d!

Wedding Cake: Day 1

My sister came over at 9:30 a.m. to get started baking a red velvet and cream cheese 3 tier wedding cake with me this morning. We have been anticipating this challenge for months, and today was THE day to get it done. We started off laughing, joking, picture taking...and then...It was one disaster after another. After spending 4 hours on the 12 inch round, we trashed it..There was no saving it, as the cream cheese in the frosting caused the cake layers to slide apart which would have caused each tier to lean like the tower of Pisa.

We ended up trashing 2 cakes today..and throwing the cream cheese frosting idea out the window once my sister realized that the heat and cream cheese do not mix. So, unfortunately, to save the cake and make one that will look and taste nice tomorrow, we made buttercream frosting to frost the remaining cakes.

Today was the worst day of baking, ever.

Stay tuned for round TWO tomorrow..Everything will come together and it's going to be gorgeous!