I am so excited about the Friday Five this week! Today I get to share my obsession-COOKBOOKS! And I’m going to tell you my five must have favorite cookbooks. And best of all, we have a cookbook GIVEAWAY-just in time for you to plan your Cinco de Mayo party! Keep reading and enter to win below!
Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
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The Whole30 is over for me, and although I am eating a much more healthy diet (give me all of the fruits and vegetables!) I am finding that a little indulgence goes a long way, and is SO needed from time to time. Take these Double Chocolate Olive Oil Brownies for example. Each brownie has a crackly top, a fudgy, chewy interior, and chocolate for days. And they’re made with my secret weapon from Queen Creek Olive Mill! Bet you can’t eat just one! (head directly to the bottom of the post for your new favorite recipe).
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I’m not gonna lie, sometimes feeding my daughter is tough. She is the sweetest, funniest little girl in the world but at 18 months old, she’s also a tiny tyrant when it comes to food. If it isn’t a fruit, yogurt, bread, or cheese, she isn’t having any of it. I’m fairly certain that if it weren’t for those handy pouches with veggies mixed in, she wouldn’t get within 10 feet of a vegetable. It breaks my food blogger/veggie loving heart just a little. So, in an attempt to get my daughter to eat something other than cheese, I recently came up with these delicious little Veggie Quinoa Cakes. They’re easy to make (and freezable!) and packed with protein and veggies, making them a great option for the entire family!
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I got the sweetest text last month. One of my friends told me that her eight year old daughter was wondering “if that girl who makes really good cake” could come over and bake with her over the Christmas holiday. And when asked what she wanted to make, the answer was German Chocolate Cake. Yep, sounded good to me! This post chronicles their (super fun) day. The food isn’t styled, the lighting isn’t perfect, there was no thought given to composition, but hopefully it encourages you to get your own kids into the kitchen. It’s amazing what they can create!…
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! …
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?…
You know those friends who have your back? Those friends who, when you hint that you might be able to use some of the extra rhubarb from their garden, give you not only rhubarb, but also a split of their rhubarb plant to plant in your own garden? Well, Amy and Peter are those friends. Amy recently gave me a whole arm load of rhubarb, not to mention a rhubarb plant that then got planted in my backyard! The only thing Amy asked in return was to see what I made with the rhubarb. Well, that sure was easy, I made this Cherry Rhubarb Crisp! So now my WHOLE family thanks you, Amy and Peter!…
I tried to come up with a catchier name than Cabin Burgers, I really did. But the truth of the matter is, this is the meal that the kids beg for when we head to the cabin, and thus they have always been called “Cabin Burgers”. The name just stuck, boring or not. And although the name may be boring, this burger is anything but……
***Happy 4th of July***Happy 4th of July***Happy 4th of July***Happy 4th of July***Happy 4th of July***
Happy 4th of July all of you loyal readers! We had actually decided not to do a 4th of July post since both of us had family events to host. However, that was before stumbling across an amazing post by Lady Behind the Curtain! Who is that you ask? Well, a fellow blogger that I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with through social media. She creates unbelievable food and gives great entertaining tips.
One of her latest creations was a stars and stripes pie that was just calling to me! Anyone that knows me, knows that I am the least Pinterest-y person around. I never decorate for holidays (minimally for Christmas-and really only because I have kids), I’ve never made cute little kids projects (even though I have 2 kids), and I’m not at all crafty! A patriotic pie? With stars and stripes? Laugh if you will, but just you wait-I think I actually pulled this one off!
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Celebration indeed! This Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake will make everyone want to celebrate!
Ahhhh, vacation. Yep, that is right, vacation. Much needed, well-deserved, greatly enjoyed. Don’t we all love going on vacation? Well, my in-laws have decided to “winter” in Arizona 5 months of the year, truly living the ultimate vacation. Unfortunately that means that they aren’t always available to celebrate my youngest child’s birthday on his actual birthday date (in February). No problem, he’s now old enough to understand that not having grandma and grandpa here on his birthday just means presents in the mail (so awesome) and another celebration at a later date (even more awesome). Who doesn’t love another celebration?…