Chobani Greek Yogurt and Granola Popsicles

I have a confession to make.

I eat breakfast in the car.

Sometimes I drink a smoothie, but often enough I’m holding a bowl of something and trying to drive at the same time.

This is all while I’m racing to get Amaya to school on time (we’re on time at least twice a week) because getting ready in the morning is like the movie Groundhog Day. We start the same way every day and I can’t figure out how to do it right.

Now, if I have to eat breakfast in the car, wouldn’t it be nice to have something that didn’t require two hands? And included all my favorite breakfast foods?

Granola, yogurt, honey.

Now we’re talking.

I really only love plain yogurt, and I love Greek yogurt, except for that yoplait one because that stuff is made thick with GELATIN instead. What’s up with that?

Chobani has tons of protein and active cultures. The plain yogurt has a tartness that I can’t deny and when I taste flavored yogurts I find myself wondering if it’s really yogurt. I like it when I open up a package of Greek yogurt and I can see that thick cream. Yum.

I’d love to eat this in the car on the way to work. Popsicles for breakfast are awesome.

Chobani Greek Yogurt and Granola Popsicles (makes 3 Zoku popsicles)

• 1/3 Cup Chobani plain Greek yogurt
• 2/3 Cup milk
• 1/2 Cup granola
• 2 tsp honey or to taste
• extra honey for drizzling—optional

1. Stir together the yogurt, milk and honey. Pour a teaspoon of granola into the bottom of each popsicle mold. Place the popsicle stick in the mold.
2. Pour some of the liquid over the granola and when it reaches half way up the mold, add more granola (1-2 Tbsp per mold) and then fill it up with the liquid. Sprinkle the rest of the granola on top.
3. Freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Remove and drizzle with honey if desired. Serve.

For fun I also tried some non-Zoku ones, and the granola of course got soggy, but it was nice, like oatmeal. (I know, you’re thinking, Frozen Oatmeal? but it was chewy and good. I like the berries as well. This one was a better serving size for breakfast.

Let’s face it, I eat a big breakfast.

Chobani Greek Yogurt and Granola Popsicles, Non-Zoku version (serves one)

• 1/4 cup Chobani plain Greek yogurt
• 5 Tablespoons milk
• 1-2 tsp honey
• 1/4 Cup granola
• 2 Tbsp mixed berries (can be frozen)

1. Combine the yogurt, milk and honey in a small bowl. In a pint glass jar, layer the granola, liquid and berries. Place the popsicle stick and freeze for a few hours until firm.
2. To serve, run the outside of the jar under warm water for 10 seconds. Pull out the popsicle and eat.

 

Chobani yogurt is perfect for cooking and baking and freezing. I like greek yogurt much better than sour cream, even! I looked over the recipes for Chobani kitchen and found a Thai curry I want to try (which would be a REALLY great way to save some fat on coconut curry). You should check it out.

Do you use yogurt in your cooking? How?

This post is sponsored by Chobani. All opinions and content (except links) are my own.

the kid in me craves caramel

I know peanut butter is healthier. I know that plain apples are even more. However, caramel apples are and will always be the bomb. 

I'm in love with the caramel from Lulas. Their sea salt caramels are heaven. If you're ever in California and pass by Monyerey go get some chocolate and caramel (caramel chocolate, yum) at Lulas. You should also go to the Monterey aquarium  too (aquarium plus lulas equals fun).

What does the kid inside of you crave?

S’mores

  We recently went camping. Did you know, cooking over a campfire is really hard?

I mean, I love love love my dutch oven. But you know what I like even better?

An oven where I can turn a dial and know exactly what temperature it’s at.

I burned the hobo dinners a little. Then I undercooked the breakfast in a paper bag (which, I’m still skeptical about. Doesn’t the bag just catch on fire?) And when we wrapped sticks with cinnamon twist pillsbury dough (from the can), one side was burnt and the inside was raw. Not to mention the dough constantly untwisting and drooping into the fire. Putting them in foil to cook amongst the coals… not much better results. So I’m feeling extremely grateful that we have ovens and that firewood (or even coal) is not a necessity of every meal. I’ve been complaining about my electric stove because I want a gas one so badly, but really. I have a stove. With dials.

Camp food is somewhat glorious because you’re always hungry by the time you want to eat something. And smoke makes a gorgeous seasoning. So you put up with a lot.

The really perfect camp food, though, is s’mores. I’m slightly obsessed with s’mores, and I eat them at least once a week, cooked in the toaster oven. The toaster oven is perfect because the marshmallows are browned, liquid all the way through to the center, and the chocolate actually melts. So even this camp food is better at home. Here’s Amaya showing us her dirty hands after our s’more fest. “Charlie and the Chocolate Hands,” she says. I think it was her first joke.

I enjoy the classic s’more recipe, but I also like to mix things up a bit. Here are some more ideas.

For the diet conscious:

Anna’s Chocolate Mint Thins and 1 marshmallow. I was surprised how much I liked these.

For convenience:

Keebler’s half-dipped graham cracker/cookies with 4 mini marshmallows each (the size of these graham crackers are small, so mini marshmallows work better. It’s nice to not have to deal with little pieces of chocolate when you’re sitting at a campfire in the dark.

For the sweet tooth:

graham crackers, Reese’s peanut butter cup, and marshmallow. These are my favorite.

If you want to make these at home, I just set up my graham crackers, mallows, and chocolate on a toaster sheet pan, and hit 450 on the temp. Toast until the mallows are browned (about 5 minutes).

Fried Chicken Onigiri

I love picnics.
It’s summer, and we eat dinner outside about 5 times a week. We decided to go to the beach for lunch, and I was so excited to pack up my bento box.
What is it about fresh air that makes food taste so good?
I think eating with your hands makes food taste good, too.
The fried chicken pieces are good on their own, too, if you don’t want to wrap it up for a picnic lunch. I made plenty to share and my daughter still ate 5 onigiri on her own.
Fried Chicken Pieces (Karaage style)

• 1 lb chicken cut up into 1-2 inch pieces (depending on how big you want to make your rice balls) I used breast meat, but I usually prefer thigh.
• 1/2 C soy sauce
• 4 T mirin (rice wine vinegar)
• 1 T grated ginger
• 1/2 C cornstarch
• vegetable oil

1. Put the chicken in a ziploc bag with the soy sauce, mirin, and ginger. Exact measurements are really not very necessary here--- just splash it in and it will be fine. Let marinate for 20 minutes or so.
2. Put the chicken out on a paper towel-lined plate. Dry the chicken with the paper towels.
3. Put the cornstarch in a bowl. Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in a saucepan or fry pan over medium heat until very hot.
4. Dredge the chicken pieces in the cornstarch and put in the vegetable oil. Flip after about a minute and then remove from the pan after another minute. The crust should be golden.

Fried Chicken Onigiri

• Fried Chicken pieces
• 4 C hot cooked rice (short or medium grain only)

1. Wet your hands lightly with water. Clap to get the excess water off. Put about 1/3 cup of rice in your hands and put a piece of cooked chicken in the middle of your rice. Gather up the rice around the chicken and begin to rotate the ball of rice in your hands, packing it together and working quickly. You don’t want to press too hard to make it mush, but firmly so it sticks together. A circle is easiest for this, but you can make a triangle or other shape if you like. Don’t handle it too much or it will start sticking to your hands as well. It’s okay if you see some of the chicken sticking out!
2. Put a piece of seaweed or nori on the outside if you like. Wrap in plastic wrap if you are going to eat it later (so the rice doesn’t dry out). Keep at room temperature until you eat it. Will keep for a couple of hours.

I had the idea that I would like a little squirt of ketchup next to the chicken when I make it next time. I’m not sure if it would work, but I’m willing to try anyway!

Hands Up for Summer!

The Zoku quick pop maker came in the mail last Thursday, and I’ve been concocting all sorts of popsicle recipes in my head since I stuck the contraption in the freezer.

I think I mentioned last Christmas that I would love one of these, and someone out there heard me just in time for summer.

I was trying to think of refreshing, cool, and anything to get me clear of my overheated pregnant body.

The Zoku makes popsicles in about 7 minutes. I’m really not much of a do-ahead person, as in, I can’t get myself to stick juice in the freezer the night before I might need a popsicle. I want a popsicle. And I want it NOW. So I’ll go out and buy a popsicle before I think ahead for one.

The magic is in the base. You keep the base of the popsicle maker in the freezer. In the directions it even says, after you make your popsicles, just put it back in the freezer. No need to wash it after every use. YES! My kind of contraption. So it’s basically frozen all the time and you can make popsicles every day. 9 of them, actually (3 at a time).

You really need a pouring type of container because you want to get it right in the mold instead of all over the top like Messy Me.

The other ones we were more careful with. It takes very very little liquid to make these popsicles. Then wait 7 minutes or so until it’s frozen. This part was torturous. Seriously.

With the “super tool”, the popsicle slides out easily! Really. Easy as pie. It felt like some kind of trick. That’s my problem with popsicles. Half the time you can’t get them out of their molds. Not these. Plus they look like professional popsicles. Awesome.

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Although I received the Zoku for free, I was not paid or required to give any endorsement. (you can buy it HERE.) But I give it 2 hands up for summer. The kids enjoyed our bounty, and I am already planning my next popsicle recipe.  My fav is the watermelon ginger, but it may just be a pregnancy thing.

Watermelon Ginger Popsicles

• 1 C watermelon
• 1 T sugar
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 tsp fine-grated ginger (I used a rasp grater and frozen ginger)
• 1/3 C water

Blend up the ingredients and chill before pouring into popsicle molds.

Strawberry Orange Popsicles

• 5 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 C water
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T orange juice concentrate

Blend up the ingredients and chill before pouring into popsicle molds.

Mango Lassi Popsicles

• 1/2 C greek yogurt (or thick plain yogurt if you don’t have)
• 2 T sugar
• 1/3 C milk
• 1 C frozen mango
• 1/4 tsp kewda water (optional)

Blend up the ingredients and chill before pouring into popsicle molds.

Otai

I can feel summer on its way. I’m even melting a little.

Otai fits the season perfectly—a concoction of the best fruits of summer. This is a Tongan food, which makes it pretty common in Hawaii. We drank this up yesterday and liked the cool in our bellies. Coconut, watermelon, pineapple… This is what the word “refreshment” was made for.  

I’ve heard you can make this with mango, too. As soon as my tree gives us its bounty, I’ll be trying that out.

This is a drink that you slurp and eat in chunks. So you can justify it for breakfast, as I did.

Otai (makes a pitcher full)

• 5-6 C seedless watermelon, scooped out of the shell
• 2 C fresh pineapple, grated with the large holes of the box grater
• 1 can coconut milk (2 C)
• 1 can filled with cold water
• ice cubes
• sugar as needed

1. Mash the watermelon lightly. You don’t want it pureed—just chunky and juicy at the same time.
2. Mix in the grated pineapple. You can leave this out if you prefer, but I like the tang.
3. Mix in coconut milk and water and ice cubes. Stir thoroughly and taste to see if you want some sugar. I didn’t need any extra sugar because it was sweet enough. Serve very cold and you may need a spoon.

Secret Recipe Rice Krispy Treats

I went shopping on Friday to buy some foods I could eat for the “Eat Like Us for a Day Challenge”. Did you know cocoa rice krispies have soy and gluten ingredients? Did you know that SPAM is top 8 allergen free?

I made some strange discoveries on that day.

Like this: I made Rice Krispy treats and substituted coconut oil for the margarine/butter. Even though margarine is made with vegetable oil there is always whey or other milk products in there. (The exception would be a vegan butter spread like “Good Earth”). Even the one I found that was based on olive oil had soy in it. I didn’t want to pour just straight vegetable oil in, but coconut oil actually sounded tasty.

AND IT WAS!

I was so happy about that. Because I really wanted some treats on Friday, and I didn’t have gluten free cookie mix or even alternative flour on hand.

Everyone liked the addition of coconut oil to the Rice Krispy treats and I think I’m going to make that a permanent change. I just made the perfect food even better. Ha.

Rice Krispy Treats (top 8 allergen free)

• 1 bag marshmallows
• 6 C rice krispies
• 2 T coconut oil plus a little more for the pan

1. Prepare a 9x12” glass pan with a tsp of coconut oil, rubbing the bottom and the sides.
2. Pour the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl and nuke it at 100% power in the microwave for 2 minutes.
3. Pour in the rice krispies and 2 T coconut oil and stir stir stir until they’re combined.
4. Spread the mixture into the pan, cover, and chill. Cut into squares.

Black Bean, Corn, and Avocado Salsa

In honor of the Eat Like Us for a Day Challenge on May 14, I decided to find an actual recipe that I use that could fit with this challenge.

Well, I spent a long while at my cookbooks before realizing that I basically eat wheat, soy, and dairy at every single meal.

Yikes!

I was looking in the fridge and realized I needed to use a few ingredients and a light bulb went off in my head. YES!

Black bean salsa. I love to make this, because it’s easy, can be made in big huge batches, and people are always asking me for the recipe (which is funny, because, 'recipe? for salsa?’ I barely pay attention to measurements for this).

The girl can’t keep her hands out of it, as long as I don’t put too much hot pepper in it. This time I left it out entirely and when I turned around to get my camera, she was going at it with the spoon. Ha. And I thought salsa was just a good excuse to eat chips.

I usually use my food processor for the first half of the salsa, because I’m lazy and it’s way easier than mincing onions. Just make sure you PULSE properly instead of spinning it around and around, otherwise you’ll have tomato puree rather than salsa. But if you’re not lazy, like me, just mince everything. I let Amaya cut up the other half of the cucumber for fun (with a butter knife) to keep her busy. I also recommend putting in a papaya or mango or even pineapple if you have it around. I love the sweetness added to it. Then a minced jalapeno in there is counterbalanced so well.

Black Bean Salsa

• 1/2 red onion (or white/yellow is fine)
• 3 medium tomatoes (about 2 C)
• 1 T cilantro or to taste
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 cucumber (Japanese is best—thin and less seedy)
• 1 C black beans from a can
• 1/2 C frozen corn
• 1/4 t to 1/2 t salt (to taste)
• juice from half a lime
• 1/4 t sugar
• 1/4 t apple cider vinegar
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 avocado

1. Cut the onion into large chunks and throw them into the food processor. Pulse the onion until the bits are pretty small. Maybe about 10 half second pulses.
2. Core and chunk up the tomatoes and add them to the processor as well. Put in the garlic and cilantro. Pulse about 6-8 times until chunky.
3. Remove the mixture and put into a bowl. Cut the cucumber into small cubes and add to the mix. Rinse and drain the beans and heat up the corn to defrost. Put in all the ingredients except the avocado and stir lightly to mix them up. Taste and add more seasoning as needed.
4. Dice up the avocado and add to the salsa. Toss lightly so as not to squish the avocado.
5. Serve with corn tortilla chips (make sure they’re not cooked with soybean oil) for the challenge! Serves 6-8 people as an appetizer.

Follow the link to the challenge! Remember to join us next Friday, May 14th.

Sneaky Chocolate Cupcakes

Do you love the sneaky chef?  I go back and forth about this method, of trying to sneak vegetable and fruit purees into desserts. Today my son really wanted me to make cupcakes. I said I would and then I busted out some sweet potato puree and had him but it in the batter. I want to be a little less sneaky about what I feed him. YUCK! he said over and over again. Then he tried the cake batter and was all like, YUM!

Sneaky Chocolate Cupcakes- yields 20 cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sweet potato puree
• 1/2  cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup baking  cocoa
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. heat oven to 350*
2. line muffin tines with cupcake liners
3. beat all ingredients with electric mixer on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
4. bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

chocolate cream cheese frosting

• 1 cup cream cheese
• 1 cup Nestle Quick
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Whip with electric mixer on high for 1 minute.

enjoy!

I want to make…

THIS.

They were in the paper today. Am I really turning into the kind of woman that justifies cookies by saying, “THEY HAVE WHEAT FLOUR! THEY’RE PRACTICALLY HEALTH FOOD!”

Yes. Yes I Am.

Broken Glass Jello

I have a feeling that this will be one of those treats that will become a tradition. Enzo will brag about this to his college buddies when they're telling your mama is so cool jokes to each other (is there such a thing?) "oh yeah, well my mama is so cool that she used to make me broken glass Jello every year for my birthday."

His birthday passed two weeks ago, I know, but I just came across these pictures and I can't decide which is sweeter, his look or the dessert.

I made this last year for his preschool class and then made it again this year, like I said, a tradition in the making.

For a detailed recipe of broken glass jello visit the food librarian.

Corn Cob

Amaya loves corn. On the cob. She loves to pretend she is like Mickey Mouse, who she saw eating corn on the cob like a typewriter in a cartoon. She doesn’t care one bit about strings in her teeth.

Plus, there are these things going for corn:

1) it has butter on it

2) it’s sweet

Basically, it’s her perfect food. But I am a foodie genius, and I made it even better: FURIKAKE! (with the butter) If you’re not familiar with furikake, it’s a Japanese “all purpose” seasoning to go on rice, with a little seaweed, salt, sesame seeds, and sometimes other variations. This one we had has some fish flakes in it. I promise you, kids (and plenty of adults) really like this stuff. In a Japanese grocery store it’s easy enough to find a whole aisle dedicated to furikake. Amaya loves Hello Kitty brand while I prefer the more straight adult stuff, with black sesame and roasted seaweed. Try a few out. There’s even Natto furikake. For the corn, I just spread on butter while it was hot, then sprinkled on the furikake. So easy and so good.

Now she wants to marry corn. I swear, when I was making her wait while I took the pictures, I did not prompt her to pose at all.

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

Fried Cheese balls

These are like mozzarella sticks only shaped like a ball.

A couple weeks ago we found ourselves with more fresh mozzarella than we knew what to do with. We made pizza a couple times, we put it in soup, and  then we decided to fry them up.

Fresh mozzarella is awesome but my son was kind of grossed out by the wetness and didn't want anything to do with them fresh. Frying them up took them to a whole new level of deliciousness (like most things fried).

From start to finish (minus the frying part) my son was able to help me make these.

1. First put while flour on a cup and have your child roll the freshh moszzarella in it to coat with flour.
2. Then whisk together 2 eggs with a tablespoon of milk and coat the floured mozzarella with the egg mixture
3. Next have your child roll the mozzarella on breadcrumbs. I normally have italian seasoned breadcumps around but this time I didn't. I just added 1 cup of bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of italian seasoning and some garlic salt. I mixed that all together in a shallow pan and had him room the  mozzarella around.
4. I fried them up in hot oil very quickly, just to toast the breadcrumbs on the outside.
5. He liked his with ketchup. I like mine plain. Anyway you have it it's totally good.

Yogurt Concoction

My Japanese mother watches Japanese shows about health, particularly about superfoods, ingredients that work with your body in natural ways to boost immunity, strength, and even stature (supposedly gelatin is very important for this). I usually chuckle a bit when she shares her supported-by-the-medical-community knowledge, but really I should be listening a little more closely, since she’s one of the healthiest people I know.
One food that I did adapt into my regular routine was her yogurt regimen. I think it was definitely more about taste and less about health benefits, but it’s easy to see that it’s good for you.
This concoction contains a fair to large amount of protein, calcium, good mono-unsaturated fats, living cultures for your intestines, nutritious fiber, and a little sweetness for an energizing morning meal or afternoon snack. Another element of this is “oligo sugar” which is some sort of honey-like sugar syrup that supposedly is not digested by your body like regular sugar, so therefore adds no calories (even though it shows that it has calories on the nutrition label). It is carbohydrate free. Supposedly, it also is very good for your intestinal tract. I say all this with not much scientific knowledge about this product, and my endorsement is only that it tastes good (like not-too sweet honey, and none of that strong-honey taste), and my mother believes in it. You can find the stuff at Japanese markets easily enough.
If you don’t have any, agave syrup is just as tasty. The whole concoction tastes sweet, has pleasant mouth feel, a slight tang, and a strong nuttiness, which I love.
My mother believes that the banana is just as important as the rest of it, but I forget now what the Japanese doctors say about it. She’ll probably call me up to tell me later.
To the original recipe, I added my own touch: the granola. I think it’s very important to have the granola. I always put it in. I received a tastemaker opportunity through foodbuzz to try their Special K granola, and I was happy to see that it’s lower in fat than most granola out there. Granola is, for some reason, always loaded with fat. It doesn’t stop me, but it lowers my portions. I just like a little granola in there for crunch. This granola, especially, is VERY crunchy, and tasty. No soggy granola in my concoction today.
Yogurt Concoction (serves 1)

• 3/4 C PLAIN yogurt (I doubt it would taste good with anything else)
• 1 T powdered milk
• 1 tsp tahini paste
• 1 T slivered almonds
• 2 t wheat germ
• 1 t oligo sugar/boso honey or agave syrup
• 1/4 C granola
• 1/2 banana, sliced

Put all ingredients except the banana and granola in a bowl. Stir well. Add banana and granola and serve.

Banana With Peanut Butter- OCD style

My son is going through that phase where his hands can't be dirty or sticky. He washes his hands multiple times a day. Even OCD toddlers need to eat so I figured out a way in which he can enjoy eating bananas with peanut butter without getting peanut butter on his fingers.

I use a straw to make a hole through the banana. Then I put a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter in a little plastic baggie and squeeze the peanut butter inside the hole. It's a banana filled with peanut butter.

Fried Cheese Wontons

What's that?
The only thing better than cheese is fried cheese?

I know.

I believe in healthy, make your bowels run regularly food, but I also believe that any food you make has to be GOOD food. If you want to have a healthy relationship with food, and your kids to have that as well, I do believe you just have to eat good food. And fried food has its place.

I do not want to raise a daughter that has to scrutinize the fat content on her nutrition labels (although checking for organic and non-chemical ingredients if okay) or blot her pizza with a napkin before she eats it. I do not want a daughter that thinks she has to fit into size 2 jeans and wonders whether her arms have too much muscle to look feminine.

I want a daughter who thinks McD's food is disgusting but doesn't hesitate when a plate of fried cheese wontons are passed her way. And that same daughter is going to think that kale salad is gorgeous and mushrooms belong in her dinner. And she'll also believe that the best cookies are ones made in her oven.

Real food is real good.

My brother and I used to fight over these. My mom only made them if she ran out of filling for gyozas but still had more skins left. These were the first gone at the dinner table (even though I love gyozas).

Fried Cheese Wontons

1 package of wontons, gyoza skins, or mandoo wrappers (usually about 25-40 skins, depending)
1 8 oz block of sharp cheddar
water as needed
canola or vegetable oil

Cut the cheddar into 1/2 inch square pieces.

Wrap each piece in a gyoza skin as shown. Keep some water in a small bowl and run a wet finger around the outside edge of the skin to make the edges stick when you wrap it. Put a little water on the final edges as you wrap it around to really seal it.

Heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a pan (amount of oil depends on the pan-- if you are making less than 10, use a very small fry pan) over high heat. Not the highest setting, but close.

Once the oil feels very hot, place the wontons in the oil and fry until golden. Flip once (about 2 minutes each side). The trick is to fry it hot enough that the wonton fries up quickly but doesn't let all the cheese melt out. The cheese will melt out if you leave it in the oil for too long.

P.S. These are just as good with a leaf of spinach around the cheese, or even cream cheese. I have a plan to make some with apple and cream cheese.

Peanut Butter 'n Jelly Scones

I decided to stretch my sugar days to the whole Thanksgiving weekend, and these scones were calling to me after I checked out the Safeway recipe web site.

Amaya helped me make them. She pushed the buttons on the food processor, dutifully ate as many chocolate chips as possible while I was measuring other ingredients, and brushed the tops of the scones with cream before they went into the oven. I kept calling them "cookies" and they practically were. Not as much sugar and butter as cookies, a plus, and they still had a nice cookie-like texture and reminded me of peanut butter blossoms. They did have a definitely peanut butter and jelly sandwich taste going on. A PB & J that was very tender in the middle and crisp on the edges.

Amaya was going to town with the scone dough, and I could not keep her from eating it. I probably got at least 1 less scone because of her dipping.

We shared with our friends next door and the batch was gone almost immediately. One of the girls said that this was the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. She may have been exagerrating. A little. They came out looking a lot like thumbprint cookies but tasted much much better. I don't like thumbprint cookies because they are too sweet. The peanut butter in these helped keep the salty sweet taste in balance.

I want to try these with half wheat flour next time, and maybe make a double batch, so I could have a few left over for later.

Peanut Butter 'n Jelly Scones (from Safeway's Holiday Recipes)

•  3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, chilled
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels (optional)
• 2/3 cup whipping cream, divided  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
• About 3/4 cup strawberry jelly

1.Combine first 4 ingredients in a food processor. Pulse briefly until combined. Add butter, and pulse to make a coarse meal. Add peanut butter, and pulse briefly to disperse evenly. Be careful not to overmix.
2.Transfer dough to a large bowl. Add chocolate morsels, if desired. Make a well in center, and add 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. whipping cream and vanilla. Stir with a fork just until dry ingredients are moistened. Knead dough in bowl 2 or 3 times to incorporate dry ingredients in bottom of bowl.
3.Drop mounds of dough using a 1/3-cup measure onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Smooth tops, and brush scones with remaining cream. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Make a deep indentation in center of each scone using thumb or the back of a small spoon; fill each with a scant tablespoon jelly.

4.Bake at 425° for 18 to 20 minutes or until scones are lightly browned around edges. Cool completely.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

Last night at 10:30 PM I came across this great blog called Ali's Cleaner Plate Club where I read about making your own microwave popcorn. Say What? You mean I don't have to stay there stirring the popcorn on the stove top for 10 minutes and hope they don't burn? You mean I don't have to feed my kid the nasty store bought microwave popcorn with the fake butter, because I'm TOO lazy to stand there and stir the popcorn on the stove top? Rad!!!

For morning snack Enzo and I tried making our own microwave popcorn and it works. Second time around he made it solo from start to finish.

He scooped 1 ice-cream scooper worth of popcorn into his little paper bag, folded the top down, and pressed the popcorn button on the microwave. Voila! Seriously, that easy. I also tried adding a bit of oil and salt before popping and it works just as good except that the bag gets greasy.

1. Add popcorn to a paper bag. I get these little hello kitty bags from the dollar store. You can use brown paper bags.
2. Add a tiny bit of oil or butter if you'd like
3. Fold the top just a tiny bit. You can add scotch tape. We didn't and it was fine.
4. Put it in the microwave and press your popcorn button and listen for it until it stops popping.

We love popcorn in our home and we love how healthy of a snack it is(without oil and butter, of course)

some facts about popcorn according to these guys.
-Popcorn is a whole grain that contains 40 or more nutrients.
-The germ in the popcorn kernel contains all of the B complex vitamins, plus vitamin E, Riboflavin and Thiamine.
-Popcorn has more protein than any other cereal grain
-Popcorn has more iron than eggs, peanuts, spinach, or roast beef!
-The hull and outer layers are rich in iron, phosphorous and protein.
-Popcorn has more phosphorous and fiber than pretzels

Go make yourself some popcorn!