One of the things I find most challenging as a mama is finding healthy things to make that my kids will eat and I feel good about feeding them…and that don’t take eight hours to make and are filled with exotic ingredients that are hard to find and cost an arm and a leg. Nowhere is this challenge more evident for me than in packing lunch for my kiddos for preschool/daycare. Our school is wonderful and does have a school lunch option but for a myriad of reasons, we’ve always packed lunch for them. One of my favorite little things to include are these Apple Zucchini Toddler Muffins. Adapted from a recipe by Super Healthy Kids, these tiny muffins pack a pretty good nutritional punch and they are super easy to make. Win! …
A Fall Classic: Pumpkin Bread
I had started out writing this post with a joke about pumpkin spiced everything this time of year but honestly, it just doesn’t feel right in light of all that is happening with the world. My heart is so heavy for the people of Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and everyone that feels less than or afraid everyday single day simply because of the color of their skin or their gender or who they choose to love. Sometimes it seems silly to write about things like baked goods when there are so many more important things we could be talking about. As I thought more about how to start this post, I realized that food is often a comfort – and not just in the eating of it. Food, for me, is so often about community. People coming together to share a meal and fellowship is one of the great joys and comforts of my life and I think community and comfort are things we can all use right now. With that in mind, I’m going to write about pumpkin bread today. And then I’m going to make a good cup of tea and sit down with those I love and eat. …
Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donuts
The Minnesota State Fair (otherwise known as The Great Minnesota Get Together) is a must go event for hundreds of thousands of Midwesterners each summer. Held the two weeks before Labor Day, it’s an annual celebration of summer, fun, and really, really good food. While there are plenty of things to do at the fair that don’t involve food, I would say that for many people, the food is the fair experience at it’s finest. This week, Lane and I are teaming up with six amazing fellow food bloggers to bring you a collection of Minnesota State Fair Copycat Recipes! These fantastic foodies have recipes for all of the great fair foods (see the links below) and we’re joining in with a new recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donuts. …
Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispies Bites with Dulce de Leche
Recently I’ve been looking for more ways to get my four year old into the kitchen cooking with me. He loves to help mix up cookies and chop veggies but as he’s gotten a little older, I wanted to find a cooking project he could do largely on his own. As I sat staring into my pantry yesterday, I spied a box of Rice Krispies and a bag of marshmallows and I realized, what could be easier than classic Rice Krispies Treats? Aside from the melting of the butter and marshmallow, those perfect little pillows of marshallow-y goodness really don’t require much in the way of kitchen skill. So there I was, all set to make a batch with my kiddo when he got home from preschool when I noticed the bag of bittersweet chocolate chips staring at me from the shelf below the marshmallows. And that’s when my plans took a quick turn. While I do intend to get my little guy in the kitchen to make some classic Rice Krispies treats soon, I decided in that moment that my chocolate craving was winning and needed to be addressed ASAP. Thus was born my new favorite indulgence: Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispies Bites with Dulce de Leche. …
Easy Glazed Lemon Bread
Like most people, every now and then I get a craving for something slightly outside of my regular food rotation and I need to have it now. When I was pregnant with my daughter, those cravings involved milk (not something I typically love) and veggie subs (so random). This past weekend, I was sitting in my kitchen and looked over on the counter to see a whole bag of fresh lemons that I had picked up at Costco on a whim. I was suddenly struck by the feeling that I needed to have some lemon bread as soon as possible. As I dug out my go to recipe for quick breads, I realized that there was one big hurdle to my lemon bread dreams: I was out of butter. Now, as a food blogger and home cook, that was a major oops. And since my husband was out running errands and I was home with the kids, my choices were to either take the kids to Target for butter or get creative and make something up. Since I’d rather suffer the consequences of an unfulfilled dessert craving than brave the craziness that is Target on a Sunday afternoon, I opened up my fridge and got to work. The result of that kitchen experimentation was this Easy Glazed Lemon Bread. …
Lemon Rosemary Shortbread
Well, it’s been a crazy few days around here. As many of you know, Lane spent the last week in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. In a fun twist of fate, we actually had booked overlapping trips and had great plans for a fun dinner out in the land of sunshine. Unfortunately, I was caught up in the spectaular Delta scheduling debacle last weekend and my flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix was ultimately cancelled and we didn’t make it to Arizona in time to reschedule. I decided to drown my sorrows in some baked goods. Enter: Lemon Rosemary Shortbread.
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Baking Substitutions-A Science Project
A slight hiatus from our normal Wednesday Good Food Reads, which I promise will be back next week.
Recently my 14-year-old daughter came to me about a science project she was going to do for her 8th grade science class. She had chosen to look at basic substitutions you could use while baking, as she is an avid baker. In fact I buy her a baking oriented cookbook every year for Christmas. (Clearly I’m winning at parenting as I’m definitely reaping those rewards!).
She worked diligently on this project one fall afternoon at the cabin. There was a lot of measuring, weighing, and even testing of resistance (it’s good to have a dad who is an electrical engineer and loves to teach scientific principle!). I had promised she could post her results on the blog when she had them written up, and now I am going to deliver. My only other contribution was to buy four different colored cupcake liners so we wouldn’t confuse the four groups. Read on for my daughter’s science project in her own words. Baking Substitutions: A Fun Science Project is below. Proud mom moment…hope you enjoy it as much as I did! …
Maple Granola with Quinoa and Cranberries
Today, I want to talk about granola. Maple Granola with Quinoa and Cranberries, to be exact. I have a long love affair with good granola. Yes, I will admit it. I am a total granola snob. None of that dry, crumbly and bland boxed business. When I was 16 years old, I spent the better part of my summer living at a camp on the beautiful west coast of Norway. In addition to immersing myself in local language and culture, I was treated to a season of amazing Scandinavian foods. From smorbrød (open faced sandwiches) to gjeitøst (Norwegian brown cheese with an amazing caramel like flavor!) and, of course, lefse, I loved every bit of it. One of my favorite meals, though simple, was beautiful local yogurt sprinkled with homemade granola and drizzled with some honey. …
Apple French Toast Bake
We just celebrated my very favorite holiday of the year, Thanksgiving. I don’t know about you, but for me it wasn’t just the Thanksgiving dinner, but also all of the other meals that made the weekend so special. I hosted the Thanksgiving holiday at my cabin, and that meant that I also needed breakfast for a crowd. Apple French Toast Bake is one I’ve been making for a few years, and is both adult and kid approved. And the very best thing about it? Not only is it foolproof, but you make it ahead of time!…
Fancy Carrot Cake Muffins
I’ve been craving something sweet lately. Something to fit with the spice of the fall season. Something simple that my whole family would enjoy. And then I remembered these Fancy Carrot Cake Muffins. And who doesn’t love great tasting baked goods full of healthy veggies?…