felted fruits and veggies

So Ms. Megan taught me how to felt. I was pretty excited and decided to felt a gift of fruits and veggies in a handmade wooden bowl from Clay & Cotton. Trey made one of the blueberries and stated that it was quite therapeutic. Yes, jabbing a long barbed needle into something definitely has an effect on the soul. They aren't so perfect, but they are pretty cute.

Lunch, oh lunch...

I just had a parent ask me about packing healthier lunches. Even though I am not a parent I have to pack my lunch every day and watch several children either "poo-poo" their lunches or gobble them right up. There is definitely an art to lunch making. My mom used a cookie cutter to make everything appear more delicious. And a little note. That was until the age of 10 when I had to start making my own lunch. My brother never had to make his own lunch and he is a sophomore in college right now. I'm never going to let my mama live that one down. Anyway, I am posting several links below. Getting the child involved is definitely a good idea and a cookie cutter goes a long way!

Edible School Yard (Alice Waters)

The Renegade Lunch Lady

Laptop Lunches

Leftovers are always a good option as well. And variety...

I want this book...

I love Michael Pollan's take on food and eating. I've read all his books; I love them all. If only I could be Alice Waters and have all that beautiful food and ability to create yummy-ness at the tip of my fingers. Culinary School, anyone?

*Although I linked the book to Amazon, please support your local bookstore.

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.

My mini Christmas tree for what seems like a mini-amount of Christmas spirit. I am truly working on that. However, regardless of how little Christmas spirit I might have, I still will bake some Christmas cookies, Grandma Dorothy's poundcake, and anything else I might decide somebody else needs.

I came to the conclusion about a year ago that trying to make baked goods healthy (i.e. after about 10 attempts at healthy strawberry cake) is nearly an impossible task. If you are anywhere close to the south and you try to make strawberry cake without using strawberry jello, the people who eat it will not be impressed. Personally, when I bake I aim to please and make people smile, so I came to the conclusion that sometimes you just have to let go. A good lesson for me in life.

And with that, one of my favorite cookies for the Holiday season that breaks all my rules about not using hydrogenated oils.

Cinnamon Squares

Preheat oven to 350*

Melt in saucepan: 1/2 cup butter & 1/2 cup Crisco (yikes!)

Add to melted stuff: 1/2 cup dark brown sugar & 1/2 cup white sugar

Then mix in: 1 tsp. vanilla & 1 egg yolk (reserve egg white)

Add: 2 cups flour & 2 tsp. cinnamon.

Spread dough thin with hands onto cookie sheet. Beat egg whites until frothy and brush onto cookie dough. Sprinkle with sprinkles. The classic sprinkle is the non-pareils or sphere like sprinkles.

Bake 15 minutes and cut into squares while hot. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

for the love of tea....

I made this cute little tea cozy using this tutorial. It's for my mamacita for Christmas. We both LOVE our tea!

Banana Mango pancakes

Most people don't realize that tropical fruits are actually in season in the winter. If you live somewhere other than the continental United States you would be eating local if you made these delicious pancakes. If you don't, there is absolutely nothing local about it, so please forgive me. At least they still taste yummy.

Basic Pancakes (adapted from the original Joy of Cooking)

Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Gently mix the wet and dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix. Small lumps are okay. Cook on a hot buttered/oiled griddle.

Serve with pure maple syrup and butter.

If adding mango and banana, sprinkle diced fruit on top of pancake before flipping it. Pictured above.

Sprouts

I used to think Sprouts were blah, but in the past 6 or so years I have grown to love them. I think it all started when I would wander the aisles of Berkeley Bowl or Monterey Market and would come across microgreens or beans that I never could have imagined tasted good in sprout form. That changed things for me, and I would eat sprout and cream cheese sandwiches with tomatoes and avocado.

Today I found something as good, if not better, than veggie sandwiches with sprouts. It's called Sky Salad, and you can get it at Whole Foods. I guess the Sproutman creates these delicious sprout mixtures.

Sprout Salad

1 container of Sky Salad

1 meyer lemon (I fell in love with these in Berkeley, as well. I used to drive by Pheonix Pastificio*, a delicious pasta place with every kind of pasta imaginable, and there would be a sign outside the door about needing Meyers. For so long I had no idea what this meant, but after a little while I began to see these lemons everywhere. And lucky for me, they carry them at Whole Foods)

Good Olive Oil

Salt

Combine everything in a bowl. I wish I could tell you the proportions of olive oil to lemon (or vinegar) but it seems to be a science that I cannot express in words. I have been working on measuring it all so I can post it on this blog.

*Pheonix Pastifico also has the most amazing olive bread and almond macaroons that I have ever experienced in my entire life.