Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't been up and blogging lately. I promise I will get back to it soon. Just like all my favorite TV shows, I'm taking a brief hiatus. I need some time to
Call Me Martha if You Must
but my name is really Jen. A little blog about my life with B, The Girl,The Boy, A Dog, A Turtle, A Frog, and A Fish . . . and what really matters most.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Hi! . . . atus. . .
Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't been up and blogging lately. I promise I will get back to it soon. Just like all my favorite TV shows, I'm taking a brief hiatus. I need some time to
Friday, March 16, 2012
Lookin’ for Luck? Then taste a rainbow . . .
But it is going to taste just like a vanilla cupcake. We love St. Patrick’s Day. We get busy in
March planning our Irish feast, making leprechaun traps, culling clovers, and
looking for pots o’ gold and rainbows.
Here’s one of our favorite places to find luck . . . in a cupcake.
The Girl and The Boy love these magical cupcakes and every time I
make them, people are amazed. When
they ask me how I do it, I like to say it is an ancient Chinese Irish
secret. (Any of you remember that commercial about the ring around the collar?)
I digress . . .back to the cupcakes. They are really easy to make, I’m usually
just too lazy, forgetful busy to explain it. So here goes . . .
You can use a box cake mix or this
recipe for Light-as-Air Vanilla Cupcakes.
The food coloring specifics come from a recipe from Family Fun Magazine.
Don’t forget to top them with a beautiful whipped cream cloud and maybe a gold-foiled wrapped chocolate coin. Any way you choose to make them-may
the Luck of the Irish always be with you!
Rainbow Cupcakes
Prepare your favorite box cake recipe or Light-as-Air Vanilla Cupcakes. Then divide the batter evenly into six small bowls. Dye each bowl of
batter a rainbow color using food coloring. See chart below.
Red
|
18 red drops
|
Orange
|
12 yellow drops and 4 red drops
|
Yellow
|
12 yellow drops
|
Green
|
12 green drops
|
Blue
|
12 blue drops
|
Purple
|
9 red drops and 6 blue drops
|
Preheat oven according to your recipe instructions. Line 16
cupcake pans with baking cups.
Evenly distribute the batter between among the cups, starting with the
purple, then blue, then green and so on.
I use a Tablespoon to get an even amount in each cup. After each spoonful, gently spread the batter
with the back of a spoon to even it out and cover the color underneath.
Bake the cupcakes according to your recipe instructions. Cool and
enjoy with a whipped cream cloud!
Source: Family Fun Magazine and leprechaun magic.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Violet Beuregarde’s Brown Butter Blueberry Bars
I have a friend who works for a local produce company. I’ll call her KT. She supplied us with about 12 baskets of beautiful blueberries a few weeks ago. So what to do with all these berries? I froze some and then spent a few
Don’t believe me . . . here’s the recipe . . . try it . . .
I dare you . . . but don’t call me when the Oompa Loompas arrive.
Blueberry Brown Butter Bars
Crust/Streusel
1 cup plus 5 Tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
3 cups plus 3 Tablespoons
all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons cornmeal
Filling
12 oz (about 2 cups) fresh or
frozen blueberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
dash of cinnamon
To make the crust
Line a 13×9-inch pan using the
foil sling method, leaving an overhang on opposing sides so you can lift the
bars out after baking. Spray the pan and foil with nonstick cooking spray.
Add the butter to a medium
saucepan set over medium-low heat. Melt the butter, swirling the pan
frequently. Once the butter has melted, it will start to bubble and foam.
Continue to cook (continuing to swirl the pan) until the butter turns brown and
smells nutty – be patient and watch carefully, it can go from brown to burned
quickly. Turn off the heat under the pan, and let the butter cool until
lukewarm.
In a medium bowl, whisk
together the butter, 3/4 cup of the sugar, and the salt. Beat in the egg yolks.
Use a rubber spatula to stir in the flour until completely incorporated. The
dough will be thick and stiff. Transfer about 2 cups to the prepared pan and
press into an even layer in the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough all over
with a fork, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or until
firm.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325
F.
Bake the crust for about 20
minutes, or until it begins to set, but has not yet started to brown around the
edges.
While the crust bakes, make the
streusel by combining the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and cornmeal with the
reserved dough. Use your fingers to mix until crumbly.
To make the blueberry filling
Combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon in
a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to
medium-high, and continue boiling until the mixture is thick and syrupy, about
5-8 minutes. Turn off the heat, and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
Assembly
Spread the blueberry mixture in
an even layer over the hot crust. Sprinkle the streusel over the top. Increase the
oven temperature to 350 F, and bake on a rack placed in the top of the oven for
about 25 minutes, or until the streusel is golden.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack and
cool for at least 1 hour (you can also cool in the fridge if you want to speed
up the process). Once cool, use the foil handles to lift the bars out. Place on
a cutting board, and cut into squares before serving. Store for up to a week in
an airtight container at room temperature.
Source: recipe adapted from Tide and Thyme.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Pudding Like a Night on the Sea
As part of
The Boy’s reading lesson last week we read Pudding Like a Night on the Sea by Ann Cameron.
It is a realistic fiction story about two brothers up to mischief. Julian and
Huey watch their father make a special pudding as a treat for their mother. Their
father says it “tastes like a raft full of lemons” and “like a night on the
sea.” The boys are supposed to wait for their mother to come home but they secretly taste the pudding thinking, “Well, a little bit won’t hurt.” And as we all know a little bit almost
always turns into A LOT! As punishment, their father says that there will be
some “beating” and “whipping.” Uh
Oh! But they end up having to make another pudding for their mother by “beating”
and “whipping” the eggs until their arms hurt. The illustrations are so colorful and the descriptions so
engaging, that The Boy was inspired to write down the recipe. He then typed and designed it on the
computer. Here it is:
The Pudding Like a Night on the Sea
Ingredients
*5 Lemons
*eggs
* sugar
* cream
Directions
Squeeze the
lemons. Put the yolks in a pan and the whites in a bowl. Beat yolks. Add sugar.
Lemons, and cream. Put on the stove. Stir fast. Whip the egg whites. Mix into
the pudding.
Not much to
go on but priceless, don't you think?
So we looked
up a lot of other recipes and came up with this:
The part
that mattered most? We all made it together-The Boy squeezed the lemons and whipped
the cream. The Girl learned to separate the eggs and beat the whites to a stiff
peak. Then we all put our parts together to make this:
Beautiful,
foamy, tart, fluffy, and it tasted like "a whole raft of lemons floating at sea".
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
A Hero, Nonetheless.
I have been struggling with writing posts this week. You'll have to bear with me while I focus on something serious. I promise I'll get back to the fun stuff but I can’t post
something frivolous while I watch the news and hear story after story of the
devastation of this past week in Indiana, Kentucky, and other parts of the world. It reminds me of the things that matter most; that life is so precious and all around us are heroes in everyday clothes.
One such person is Stephanie Decker.
One such person is Stephanie Decker.
Her story is very public and
has spread like the tornado that destroyed her home, but not her family. She is the mother who protected her
children with a shield of her own body from two roaring tornadoes. It cost her
part of both legs. She told the
news that she is not a hero.
"I call myself a mom," she said. "I love my kids…I wanted to do anything I could to protect them. I think any parent would."
She is right about being a parent and loving her kids but, she is
not right about doing what every parent would because everyday, there are
people who take their kids for granted, who do not love their children or
hold them close, do not shield them from the harms of life. Instead, they neglect
and abuse them. So, I want to thank
Stephanie for being a hero of the best kind. Thank you for showing us an
example of the brave, true unconditional love all parents should have. You are a hero in my book, Stephanie Decker,
nonetheless.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Downton Abbey and Once Upon A Time
This is the
first Sunday evening I have truly missed Downton Abbey. Last weekend, I was all distracted with my date with Oscar. Now I’m really sad to see the season
end. I am sure The Girl is happy to see my faux accent end, though. I must say,
the part that brought tears to my eyes was the kitchen maid, Daisy’s story-so very
sweet and she deserves to be special to someone. Don’t you think?
I am not at all sorry to see Sir
Richard leave and I loved the parting words of Lady Crawley, “Do you promise?” And even O’Brien broke her tough shell a
bit. Most of all-Matthew and Lady
Mary-finally!!!!
Well, it is going to be a long wait but until then we’ve got Once Upon A Time and I’m a sucker for
fairy tales.
Turns out The Girl
and The Boy are too. Although, The
Boy may tell you it is not his favorite show but you might see his nose
growing because he’d be lying.
Sunday evening rolls around and we all snuggle up to watch what is going
to happen in Storybrooke, Maine this week. Will the Mayor/Evil Queen prevail over good again? Does Emma know that Mary
Margaret/Snow White is her mother? What other tricks does Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin
have up his sleeve? It is all so
intriguing, frustrating, and familiar.
We love it and I think you will too. Check it out and let me know what
you think.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
If Life Gives You Apples . . .
After a week’s worth of lunches. This is what I’m left with.
I hate for them to go to waste. I feed some to The Turtle
and after awhile, even she gets tired of them.
Well, The Boy and I are reading Farmer Boy by Laura
Ingalls Wilder.
Real book form! Best part? This was my actual copy from when I was in third grade. The Boy thinks it is hilarious to see my handwriting claiming the book as my own. |
Anyway, Almonzo’s mother packs the dinner pails for school
with crispy apple turnovers, “plump crusts filled with melting slices of apple
and spicy brown juice”. So this
gave me an idea . . . Apple Hand Pies!
Now I know it is not very Martha of me, but I did not make
my own crust for these pies-I like to “get ‘er dun” as Mater says. I keep some pre-made store-bought
versions in the freezer just for this type of thing. I don’t have a favorite
brand-I just get what is on sale looks like a good quality piecrust and
I am not ashamed; especially when I have such a warm, toasty way to welcome The
Girl home from school.
I bet you are wondering how I made them so cute? I have this handy thing from Pampered Chef, called the Cut-N-Seal but you can just use a circle cookie cutter.
Apple Pie
Filling*
2 Tablespoons butter
6-8 apples (any variety) peeled, cored, and chopped into
small pieces
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
½ - 1 cup water
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Stir in the apples, lemon, sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. Cover and
cook, stirring occasionally until the apples have softened and begin to break
down, about 10 minutes.
Add water and cornstarch to pot and bring to a boil. Cook
until desired thickness.
Cool and assemble pies.
*Filling can be made ahead of time and stored in freezer.
Assembly
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
I used two rounds of pre-made pie-crust to make about 12
hand pies. Working with one round
at a time, lay out dough on parchment paper and cut out shapes using circle
cookie cutter. Place a heaping
Tablespoon of filling in middle of each circle (only half of what you cut
out-these are the bottoms). Keep a small perimeter bare around the edge. Place a
second circle on top of the first and use your fingertips to seal the
edges. You can then use the tines
of a fork around the edge of the circle. Repeat with the remaining mini-pies.
Place the pies on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Beat an
egg with a 1 Tablespoon of water for egg wash. Brush the tops of the pies with egg wash and sprinkle with a
cinnamon sugar. Using a knife, make a small “x” in the middle of pie so steam
can escape.
Bake for about 10 minutes. Try to cool because everyone will
be snatching them up, burning their fingers and tongues in the process.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)