Would You Rather...

these cute hand made peeps to decorate your house or the real peeps to sugar up your mouth?

Easy Party Favors

This was Enzo's party favor. Party favors are the bane of my existence because I never know what to give and always end up giving some junk plastic little something or other.

I saw a similar idea on 24-7-365 and thought; BRILLIANT meets EASY. It was to late for me to make as Valentine's and just perfect as a birthday party favor. 

All you need are lollipops.

And a picture of your kid holding up his/her fist.

I use Picnik to add text.  Make two holes and put the lollipops through. Easy.

Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Party Like a Preschooler

Today my first born turned four. I swear the balloons aren't chocking him on the picture above, it's just that he's sooooo excited to be four (can you see his little fingers?) that all he did today was scream with delight.

He also ate a ridiculous amount of sugar and shared the sugar wealth with his friends. We had over 100 people come out to celebrate Enzo's birthday.

Luckily Enzo planned the menu, which pretty much involved an insane amount of snack food and hot dogs.

Last year I meticulously planned the menu and spent forever cooking. This year I decided to start a new tradition, on your birthday YOU decide what you want to eat and what you want to share with your guests.

I started planning the menu with Enzo about 3 weeks ago, but actually, only got serious about it 3 days ago because I knew he would change his mind if given any more time.

Enzo's Menu

• popcorn from a popcorn machine
• hot dogs
• juice
• marshmallows
• cereal
• chips
• gold fish crackers
• baby carrots (the only vegetable he will eat)
• train cake
• ice- cream

Popcorn- We did get a popcorn machine and I am so glad we did because it tasted way better than microwave popcorn and the kids loved it.

Hot dogs- We bought 64 beef hot dogs  and 30 vegetarian hot dogs. Every single one got eaten. oops. Next time we need to get more.

Juice- I went for Izze because they're delicious and pretty, for the adults. For the kids I got juice boxes. There was also plenty of bottled water because it was a hot sunny day.

Marshmallows- Enzo loves marshmallows but I never really let him eat them because, well... they're kind of disgusting. He was adamant about having them at his party. I wanted to do something different with them and thought about making the marshmallow pops that I had previously blogged about.  I didn't have any lollipop sticks and had plenty of cupcake liners so instead we made them look like little cupcakes.

We dipped them in melted chocolate and then covered them in sprinkles and mini m&m.

The kids loved eating the top and leaving the rest behind... naughty kids (so predictable).

Cereal- This is another Enzo staple that he wanted to incorporate. When my husband was little he used to be able to choose whatever cereal he wanted for his birthday, a little change fromm the usual non-sugar cereal that his parents had lying around. So, in name of tradition I took Enzo to the store and let him pick a new kind of cereal. He went straight for the fruity cheerios, the ones that look and taste just like fruit loops.

chips, Gold Fish crackers, and baby carrots- were the easiest. We got a huge bag of tortilla chips lots of salsa, he picked the rainbow colored gold fish, and the baby carrots were a no brainier. We dumped it all in bowls and called it good.

Train Cake- Enzo is a trainiac.

so this year he got 2 train cakes instead of 1.

The secret to a great train cake is the pan. Seriously, so worth it.  Last year Christian spent HOURS and HOURS and even more hours that he didn't have, making a train cake from scratch. This year we fell in love with the pans.

The first pan can be found here and the engine pan can be found here. Both pans have their own recipes on the back of the pan and we went with those recipes because we wanted to make sure that the cake would come out of the pan. The recipes worked great. Last night we totally got a sugar high from decorating the cakes. Today Enzo got a sugar high from eating them, along with all the other treats he requested.

I think a sugar high is a perfectly good way to start your 4th year of life.

This birthday party was a success in part because of the wonderful folks at Foodbuzz who selected his party to be part of the 24,24,24 event. Do you know what Foodbuzz 24,24,24 is? No! Then go check it out right now, it's the most fabulous idea ever. Thanks Foodbuzz, you guys rock my world and yesterday you guys rocked the preschool age world too.

Simple Party Treats

I've been searching for some little and simple treats to make tomorrow for the party and am loving these.

chocolate party spoons by Delicious, Delicious, Delicious

marshmallow pops by the wicked noodle

Train Cake

Last year Enzo had a train cake for his birthday and this year he ordered the same thing. We call him a trainiac because of his addiction, but we respect it, so train cake it is.

Last year christian spent a long time making the engine, with jelly role cake batter, all from scratch and all super time consuming.  This year I ordered a train engine pan.

I got it in the mail and I am actually really surprised by how thick and sturdy it is. I'm excited to try it out.

I've been browsing blogs for more train cake ideas and I found some great ones.

I love the idea  from My Tiny Little Kitchen Creations of using the toy engines on top of the cake and making a train track instead. So much easier.

This round cake with tracks by Sashablablabla is also super cute and seems easy to make.

The Kitchen Critic featured the train cake tin on her blog and I'm so wishing I had one of these.

If you have any train cake ideas send them my way!

Birthday Giveaway

My boy is turning 4 on Saturday, CrA-ZY! Should I tell you all about how old I feel? I could. I could write a whole post about it and some, but I think instead I'll focus on just celebrating the fact that this little guy is the bestest little guy out there and I am so very glad he's my son.

I want to celebrate him every day of his life, and frankly so does he. He's been asking about his birthday party since his last birthday party. Now we're in the final stretch. The invitations are made, they look exactly like the picture above except with info about location, date, and time. The menu is pretty much decided, Enzo gets to decide the entire menu and so far it's an interesting one.

I need to order baloons, I'm thinking of a bouncy house, I need to figure out music.... so much to do, I love it!

This whole week I'll be positing about preperations for his party and fun food ideas. Come celebrate with us and if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

To kick of our celebration Enzo is giving away not one piece of cake but an entire cake for a fellow little foodie.

We found this lovely toy at Maukilo. They have the best and cheapest selection of HABA toys that I could find  and lots and lots of play food.

Maukilo is an easy site to navigate, which is key for busy moms. I found exactly what I wanted, ordered it, and they shipped to my house so fast. I was expecting the cake to arrive later this week but we already got it and have been playing with it every day since. Enzo is a fan of play food but I think the cake is his new favorite. Thanks for sponsoring this giveaway maukilo you guys are the bestest, just like Enzo.

GIVEAWAY RULES- 
prize- HABA BLACK FOREST PLAY FOOD CAKE
to enter the giveaway is easy.

• Leave 1 comment telling us what your favorite birthday cake is (I'm still not decided what flavor to make)
• For additional enteries you can follow us on facebook, twitter, RSS, or/and tweet, blog about this post. Just leave an extra comment for all the extra things you do.
• Giveaway ends on Enzo's birthday, Saturday March 27. Winner will be randomly selected and contacted via-email so make sure your comment links back to an e-mail address.

ready? set.... go!

Weeknight Pasta

Today was one of those days that I couldn’t get anything done. I was leaving all sorts of half done things in the wake of all the things I found myself promising to do for someone else.

After work I started grading, then left a pile of papers on the couch, and started washing the dishes. I took a break to start an e-mail, and let a boiling pot of water for pasta evaporate on the stove at 7:40 pm, because my good sense told me that dinner time was leaving the realm of acceptable time period. At the rate I was going, we were going to be eating dinner in bed.

Around 8 I finally cut up some mushrooms and zucchini, because I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long for those to sauté up in a pan, and I wouldn’t have to add them separately (which meant that I already knew, because of the day I was having, that I was going to be walking away from the stove when I should be lovingly stirring with my wooden spoon).

Mid slice through a mushroom, the girl comes trying to see up onto the counter, and she declares, “I don’t like mushrooms. I don’t want to eat mushrooms.” She had that special whine that only 3-year-olds have when they know you are going to make them eat mushrooms and are just letting you know now, so that you can expect a fight during dinner. I told her that it was not acceptable to talk to me like that, and after the next declarative sentence started, I took her to time out.

A few minutes later I went to get her and asked, “Why did Mommy put you in time out?”

“Because I was being annoying.”

Yes. Yes. That is so exactly right. The girl gets a point.

I cooked up my vegetables, and I had that voice in my head telling me, “Don’t crowd the mushrooms”, and I was crowding them. I was cooking up a mob of mushrooms and I had already thrown the zucchini in there just to get trampled on. Julia would roll over in her grave. But this dinner needed some shortcuts if it was actually going to make it in before the final call.

I popped open the bottle of Four Cheese Rosa Bertolli Sauce I got from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s program. Now, I have a particular dislike for bottled pasta sauce. I’m a pasta snob. But let’s get real, here. I was not having any sort of expectations about what this dinner would be. I was on the edge of having a major tantrum about not having been fed and quite willing to make the pregnancy hormones my scapegoat.

Once I got some pasta on a plate and started arranging my photo shoot, I got a phone call, so the man and the girl ate without me. This was the kind of phone call that was definitely keeping me from finishing anything. I missed the whole dinner.

I got off the phone, and their dishes were already in the sink. I sighed, took my photos, and sat down. And I tell you what. I FINISHED that dinner.

My hub told me, “She loved the sauce. She ate it all.”

2 points.

Actually, the sauce was lovely. I admit, it wasn’t chemically like most of the bottled white sauces I’ve tried. I might be able to lay down the snobbery for a couple of weeknight pasta saves.

Weeknight Pasta

• 1 lb short tubular pasta
• 1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced into coins
• 6-8 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Tbsp butter or 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 bottle of Bertolli Four Cheese Rosa sauce (or other desired “pink” sauce)
• 1/2 C cream or milk
• 4 roma tomatoes, sliced

1. Boil pasta according to package directions (reserve 1/4 C water after boiling)
2. While pasta is cooking, heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add oil or butter as desired. Put in mushrooms and zucchini and saute to desired texture. I like to brown my mushrooms slightly.
3. Add tomatoes and stir until skins are slightly wilted.
4. Add pre-made sauce, 1/2 C cream.
5. When draining the pasta noodles, reserve 1/4 C water from the pot. Put water in the bottle and shake it around to get the rest of the sauce out of the bottle. Add to the pan.
6. Mix with the pasta and serve (or just serve sauce on top, as desired).

Family Bites: Roasted Garlic Edamame

I made this recipe up as part of the Newman’s Own Family Bites snack category. I had recently eaten some garlic edamame at a nearby restaurant, and thought, “I could make this.” This is not a thought I usually have at restaurants, but I was motivated enough to try because we always have tons of edamame in the freezer.

My girl will eat frozen edamame, because she doesn’t like to wait for me to heat it up. This gives me the shudders, so she usually eats the one she pilfered from the bowl while she’s waiting for me to steam them.

This was so easy, and really satisfied my late afternoon salt craving. I can be kind of a garlic fiend, so don’t think you have to use as much as me… but it does taste so good. She had no trouble finishing off the bowl so you may want to make a separate batch for yourself.

Roasted Garlic Edamame

1 cup frozen edamame in their shells
2 Tbsp salted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced or pushed through a garlic press
1 tsp Braggs liquid amino acid or soy sauce

· Heat butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat until melted and just beginning to brown.
· Add edamame and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until edamame are heated through and garlic is browned.
· Add Braggs liquid amino acid and toss. Remove from heat and serve while still warm

Family Bites: Carmelized Onion, Sausage, and Apple Pizza

When my husband was a kid, his mom decided to experiment and see if the family would get sick of pizza if she made it every night for dinner.

Guess who got sick of it first?

I love having pizza for dinner. Sometimes it can be a hassle to make, but I’ve pretty much got the dough recipe down and the result is worth it, because the girl will eat it. I feel way better about pizza I’ve made vs. pizza we’ve bought. Less greasy, less preservative-filled, and good ingredients. I totally believe in fresh mozzarella.

My sis-in-law does pizza and movie night every Friday with the kids, at home. Once a week is doable. And we always make enough for leftovers.

This recipe was born out of the Newman’s Own Foodbuzz Tastemakers program, where I got to try several different products. My mom actually came up with the apple slices. Gorgeous. I knew I had good cooking genes. Sausage was a natural accompaniment with its salty balance.

Here’s a link to my favorite pizza dough recipe. It’s chewy, crusty, and no rolling out necessary (just pulling and stretching). But if you’re short on time, I find refrigerated pizza dough to be acceptable. Hopefully you’re lucky enough to live next to a Trader Joe’s and can get a good one.

Ingredients:

• pizza dough for 1 15x12 cookie sheet pan
• 1 C of Newman’s Own Sockarooni Pasta Sauce (or other red sauce)
• 10 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 green apple, cored and cut into thin slices
• 1 onion sliced thinly
• 2 italian sausages, casings removed.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unroll the pizza crust over a greased cookie sheet. Press to fit.
2. Blend 1 C of Newman’s Own Sockarooni Pasta sauce in blender for 10 seconds. Pour sauce over the pizza crust, spreading evenly. Leave a 1 inch border around all edges.
3. Sprinkle or place cheese over the pasta sauce.
4. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Cook apple and onion, stirring constantly, for 12-15 minutes or until caramelized. Set aside.
5. Cook sausages in same pan, breaking up sausage into small crumbles. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes.
6. Scatter cooked apple, onion, and sausage over cheese. Place pizza in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes (until crust is lightly browned). Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Split Pea Shamrocks

Dana from MADE is a genius. These split pea shamrocks are amazing! She made them for decoration but I'm thinking of making some, in not so thick vinyl, to give to people as a Saint Patrick's day gift with my favorite recipe of split pea soup attached to it.  What do you think?

Visit her blog to find the tutorial on how to make these.

Tea Party

Yesterday my amazingly talented friend, Ana Paula, threw her daughter, Ms. Mila, a tea party to celebrate her first birthday.

She is extremely detailed oriented and the food was delightful, little sandwiches, scones, mini-cupcakes, and a variety of teas.

The party was girls only, which I loved. As soon as the boys invaded it was a different atmosphere. those boys have to ruin everything, no wonder they have the cooties. Maria Aurea, my baby girl, loved all the fuss. I might have to borrow this idea for her first birthday.

Ana Paula you are a goddess and Mila, you are one lucky girl.

Happy birthday pequena.

Sandwich Heaven

I say, when you don’t have time to make dinner, make sandwiches.

No, I’m not talking about PB&J or ham and cheese (although there may be days when this is perfectly acceptable), but real sandwiches. The kind where you pretend you’re eating a picnic in some French countryside with your love. And no kids in sight.

Except that you have kids, and your spouse is coming home late tonight, and there’s no way you can fix dinner with your daughter pulling on your pant leg because she’s bored.

So you make sandwiches.

We had sandwiches twice this week. I asked Jake to pick up 2 loaves of garlic sourdough because I wasn’t even going to bother baking bread. Un-uh. No way.

The ingredients are important. Real tomatoes—the kind that you can see the red all the way through, preferably local. Brie cheese. Roasted peppers. Garlic cloves. But these ingredients need no dressing up—they’re fabulous without much work.

Everyone assembles their own the way they like it. My daughter stuck with brie on a slice, with a few tomatoes and lettuce on the side. We tricked her into eating roasted pepper by telling her it was a baked tangerine (why this made sense to her, I’ll never know).

The second night we ate sandwiches I sliced up some sausage and heated them up in a pan for the hub and girl, and sliced some cold tofu for myself. I made my sandwich based on my Vegan friend’s favorite sandwich (he was drooling just telling me the assembly). I ate three in no time at all.

The best part? No dishes, except the ones we ate on.

Roasted Veggie w/ Brie (serves 4)

• 12 thin slices of sourdough bread (or other bakery bread)
• 12 slices of brie cheese (rind removed if you prefer)
• 2 yellow, red, or orange bell peppers
• 8 cloves garlic
• sliced tomatoes
• sliced avocado
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 370 degrees. Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Cut bell peppers in half. Remove seeds. Place bell pepper halves cut side down. Rub or brush the outside with a bit of olive oil.
2. Separate garlic cloves and rub with olive oil as well; also place on cookie sheet.
3. Bake until peppers are soft and skins are browned. Remove from oven and place bell peppers in a plastic bag for a few minutes to sweat the skins. Remove skins. Cut peppers in half again.
4. Serve vinegar and oil on the side and assemble sandwiches (sandwich pictured has: roasted garlic spread on bread, tomato, avocado, roasted pepper, brie, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.)

Vegan Lover (makes 3 open faced sandwiches)

• 3 thin slices of firm tofu
• nutritional yeast (about 1/4 C)
• 1 T olive oil
• sea salt (fine ground) to taste
• 3 Tbsp hummus
• sliced avocado
• sliced tomato
• 1 Tbsp Ume plum vinegar (or other vinegar if you don’t have)
• 1/2 C radish sprouts
• 3 lettuce leaves
• 3 slices of good quality bakery bread

Assembly. Split ingredients into 3 servings. On top of 1 slice of bread layer the ingredients as follows: drizzle olive oil, sprinkle salt, spread hummus, press avocado slices, sprinkle yeast to taste, place tomato slices, sprinkle more yeast, place tofu slice, sprinkle more yeast, place sprouts, drizzle ume plum vinegar, top with lettuce leaf.

Note: nutritional yeast is VERY good. It’s salty and light tasting. I keep it around for vegan cooking, but I often add it whatever I’m cooking (soup, stew, sandwiches, etc) to give a little savory flavor. My closest comparison is chicken bouillon in flavor, but not really like that. You can find it easily at a natural foods market, often in the bulk section. They look like yellow flakes and melt very easily on the tongue.

Green Eggs and Ham- Celebrate the Suess

 

Dr. Suess is being celebrated this week all over the country.

Yesterday was his birthday.

Today I found a tutorial on how to sew green eggs and ham on MADE that had these adorable costumes.

I want to make some green eggs and ham for Enzo to play with

I also want to make Mariko's  green eggs to eat.

and a long long while back I wrote a post on how I often feel like Sam-I-am trying to get Enzo to try new things or just eat in general.

This feeling has not changed but it's amusing (and kind of depressing) to revisit my anxieties.