Strawberry Scones

Okay, get used to it. I think I'm going to start posting a recipe every week or so.

Last Friday, I made these delightfully delicious Strawberry Scones from Good to the Grain  by Kim Boyce.  It is one of my most beautiful cookbooks, though the premise of the book is  that she uses lots of different grains besides "flour" (like quinoa flour, polenta, kamut, rye, spelt, etc) and I rarely have any of those on hand, so I don't cook from this book nearly as often as I should - but everything I've made from it has tasted A-MAZ-ING.
Since I decided to make these last-minute, and didn't have any barley on hand, I had to alter the recipe, but it still tasted very yummy, and I think that my version was a little easier to "throw together."



Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup + 2tlbs whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp bk powder
1/2 tsp bk soda
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 stick cold butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
generous 1/2 cup strawberry jam
powdered sugar for sprinkling

1. Whisk or shift together dry ingredients, and cut in butter (like you're making a pie dough) until butter pieces are the size of rice grains or little peas.

2. Whisk together buttermilk and egg and add to dry mix, mix until barely combined.

3. Turn on to a floured surface and separate in half, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle. Pat each half into a disk, about 3/4" thick and 7" across.

4. Cover one disk of dough with strawberry jam. Top with the remaining pastry. Slice it like a pie, into triangles and transfer to a well-buttered baking sheet.

5. Bake for 22-26 minutes at 350 F, rotating the pan half way through.

6. Remove immediately to a cooling rack (or the jam will harden and you'll never scrape your scones off the pan if you don't move it while it's warm), and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

These were delicious served warm with a cup of tea for Second Breakfast, and only took me about 40 minutes to make, and 24 of those minutes they were baking. It's also one of the first times that my version looked like the picture in the book! I was so proud.

Leave a comment and let me know if you make them!

Cooking with Kids

I don't quite know how to teach my children to love cleaning. I don't know how to teach them to always share, and be kind to everyone. I'm trying, but it's tricky.
But one thing I do know how to teach them is the love of food.
Choosing, cooking, and eating food.

I love cooking and baking. It's a blessing, since I'm a firm believer in eating homemade food. So at least three times a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), in addition to desserts, breads, and other treats - I go into the kitchen and start cooking.
The boys don their adorable little aprons, and sit on the counter to "help" me.
It takes at least twice as long to do anything, and I have to spend a lot more time cleaning up afterward - but I let the boys do whatever they want to help.  They can stir, sprinkle salt, dump in flour, roll cookies in sugar/eat cookie dough - and when I'm chopping vegetables I give them each a butter knife and they get to cut up playdough on a cutting board.

Here are some pictures from the last week of the boys "helping" in the kitchen. Some days they just eat snacks and watch me cook. Some days they're in charge of adding all the flour to the cookies. 

I want them to enjoy being in a kitchen. I want them to appreciate that when they spend time with their food, it tastes better.

When we were in Uganda, we stayed in a house with several other Americans and had an African cook. She would start dinner, and hand her four year old daughter a knife. A real knife. A sharp, gigantic knife.
That little girl would sit and chop carrots, peel ginger, STOKE THE FIRE. 
And I kept thinking, "We don't even let second graders use forks in lots of Elementary schools in America."

Kids are capable. Kids can grow and understand their food. Kids can cook.
And that knowledge starts at home. It starts with parents expecting more from their children. These day we don't make our kids grow up until they leave for college, but people used to have lots of kids so they could help around the farm or running the home. If our kids weren't capable of doing things until they were 18, or even 12 - that seems like kind of a poor investment...

I don't need my boys to milk cows or do... other farm stuff...
But I want them to know and be capable of at least basic things like making cookies. Like growing tomatoes. And washing dishes.

I want them to be capable at a young age.
The way to do that, is to start teaching them at an even younger age.
And to feed them really good food, every day - even if they won't eat it every time.
And it helps if they have cute little aprons.
Seriously, they look so cute wearing their aprons, that I don't mind if I have to sweep the kitchen 6 times a day.
And actually, they like to help me sweep, too. So maybe I am making some headway in teaching them to love cleaning after all...

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Playdough

The boys have found a new favorite toy... game... thingy: Playdough!
I've made two batches now, and the only reason that I made a second batch was because they'd mixed all the colors from the first batch into an ugly purplish-brown.  {I used THIS recipe} the second time and I liked it more than the first batch I made. I wish I could use Jello or Kool-Aid, but I'm a 100% sure that if our playdough smelled like fruit, it would get eaten...

The boys are so funny with the playdough, and because they don't talk a lot, I have a hard time gauging what they're thinking while they play.
Micah loves to cut the playdough up with a butter knife into lots of little pieces, and he likes to squish things (like buttons, or cookie cutters) into the playdough.
Grey likes to pretend to eat it, flatten it with the rolling pin, and make shapes with the cookie cutters.
It's really interesting seeing how they use it differently!

Like my kangaroo cookie cutter? A few years ago, I got this awesome pack of animal shapes on sale. I still haven't used them for actual cookies, because sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies just aren't high on my list of favorite desserts. But with little boys who love frosting, I think they're going to get a lot more use in the next few years....

I wanted to get pictures of the playdough when it was fresh and the colors weren't mixed, but the boys were "helping" me make the playdough, and literally snatching it -still warm- out of my hands, and immediately squishing it into other colors.
Ah well, I guess that's what Playdough's for: playing with, and not photographing. Whatever. Babies. Sheesh.

Click to vote? They reset the numbers a few days ago, and we haven't climbed back up to the front page yet.

Triplets

We love our new house so much. Our big yard, yellow Maple tree, and sandbox. But we especially love our new neighbors! The family who lives below us have a little girl is 3 months older than the boys, and Grey and Marty (as Elanor calls Micah) have a new best friend. 

The three of them are so funny together. Half the time, the boys follow her around or bang on her window yelling "De-dor!" ("Elanor!"); and half the time they refuse to look at her or let her touch them.  She loves to hug them, and they can never decide if they want to be hugged or not. They hate being taken off-guard though, and usually don't mind a hug if I yell "Give Elanor a hug!" right before she grabs them.

Because they look like they could all be little blond siblings, I always think that they look like triplets as they run around the yard. But she's the perfect kind of triplet, because we get to play - but I don't have have to change her diaper or feed her lunch, or try to take care of all three of them when they're tired or sick!  But we all play in the same yard, and if the windows are open, we can hear when they're outside, and go join them.

Grey loves to climb in and out of the tipped over car, it's more fun if it's an obstacle course than if it's just a boring ol' vehicle.

Aren't all three of those babies looking cute in their long sleeves and high-top sneakers?
Yesterday was the first day that I felt like it really might be autumn, every other day seems like a fluke. I usually put the boys in long sleeves in the morning, and have to change them into short-sleeves by noon. Yesterday was chilly and perfect. It was a long-sleeves-all-day kind of day.
How was your day?

Photo A Day: Sept 16 - 22

Sun: Teaching Grandma and Grandpa how to use the iPad. // Mon: Washing berries for some fresh jam

Tues: Homemade Chili and Cheesy cornbread for dinner. // Wed: Blowing homemade bubbles, and being adorable in fall clothes and chubby cheeks.

Thurs: Poor Micah was sick today, so we spent the day snuggling on the couch and watching Blue's Clues. // Fri: We had a tea party Second Breakfast with our neighbors to celebrate the anniversary of the Hobbit for Tolkien Week.

Sat: The boys are now obsessed with "helping" me in the kitchen. They wear their aprons, sprinkle salt, and fling food around the room (while trying to help stir, of course) every time I cook.
Ah well, I'd rather they wanted to help cook than not, and soon enough, I'll be able to let them make dinner! Muwahaha!

Micah smiles as Grey nuzzles him. // Brothers gotta... kiss? // Drinking their morning cup of peppermint tea. After every sip they go, "Ahhhh." // Grey has a dandelion bouquet.

Oh, my little boys.

Micah loves to climb trees. // Helping me cook, again. // Strawberry scones for our Second  Breakfast. // YUM.

I love picking out the colors for a new project. // We get lots of hugs from our new little friend. (P.S. Check out our new neighbor's blog! I think you'll spot some familiar faces!) //  Helping cook. (ALWAYS.) // Playing in the sandbox.

Drooling over the "fall" entries in my seasonal baking book, Green Market Cookbook. // My perfectly tidy house! I don't want to let the boys out to make it messy! // This one. He is my favorite. // Micah and Grey, wearing Daddy's shoes.

Quiet Books {Book Two} Pages 1-2

More quiet book pages! Just what you've asked and begged and waited for!
Ahem. Or not.

But here they are regardless.
As I previously mentioned, I am making two parellel quiet books at the same time, but they are different.
Mmm... mostly.
Okay, admission: These pages are pretty much exactly the same as the first two pages in my other quiet book. So if you want to know how to make the flowerpots go {here}. And to see all my posts about quiet books go {here} or just click on the Quiet Book label at the end of the post.
There. Lots of links.

Okay, the Circus Tent:  This was to parellel the barn. You can open and close it and there are animal finger puppets inside. I've actually been done with this page for over a month, but I didn't want to post it... because I don't love it. It's my least favorite page I've made, because the animals are SO CRAPPY. I used three different sewing machines trying to sew them and things kept jamming, freaking out, and being otherwise terrible. So. 

I don't love the animals. But I do love the tent. I made the tent by cutting out the shape in white, and sewing on red stripes. After that, it didn't look quite right, so I added the random stripes of other colors and the purple bunting. And I used all contrasting thread (though you can't tell in these pictures), and it made it look really crazy and fun. 

I've seen Circus trains in other books, but I think I made this idea up 100% by myself. So I am kind of proud of that. 

 *Pats self on back*

And The Flowers in the Flowerpot:
This page is exactly like the other Button-on Flower page I made, so for the How-to, click {here}


I hope your weekend is lovely, and I also hope that you have a second breakfast today, in honor of The Hobbit (only one of the greatest books of all time.)

Spaghetti and Meatballs

 I rarely post recipes, even though I make at least two meals a day from scratch, every single day. Honestly, the main reason that I rarely posted recipes in the past is that my last apartment had a dark and depressing kitchen, reminiscent of a dungeon. 
Which means that every picture I took of food looked awful.
But my new kitchen is full of light and beauty and happiness. So I've been taking pictures of our food, and including them in our Photo-A-Day every week, and I've gotten lots of questions about what we eat.

So here is a recipe for you. This is one of our most time-consuming meals, to be honest, but it's also one of the most delicious and rewarding.

If you are making your own marinara, make it before you start the meatballs.
I usually make my own sauce, but you can definitely use a jar of spaghetti sauce. And if you add a few freshly sliced tomatoes, onions, and herbs - it tastes homemade!
Here's {the recipe} that I used in these pictures, although I halved it and I also blended up about 2 cups of the sauce in the food processor after it cooked, to help make it smoother.



These meatballs are really forgiving, you can add inexact measurements of whatever you have on hand. Don't have parsley? Add some basil! You hate ground beef, and only eat white meat? Ground chicken it is!

Mix in a bowl (using your hands):

1.5 - 2lbs of ground beef
Half a bunch of chopped parsley
1/2 cup parmesan (a handful)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (a handful)
1 egg
3-4 cloves diced garlic
1/4 of an onion, diced itty-bitty (I usually just use a bit of the onion that I diced up for the sauce, and don't cut up a second one, although - I think everyone in the world who is not crazy can agree - the more onions the better.)
1 tbls of "fancy mustard" (a squirt of dijon or grainy mustard or whatever you have on hand)
salt & pepper to taste
a pinch each of paprika and chili powder, maybe some red pepper flakes...

 Roll the mixture into golf-ball sized meatballs (or smaller - depending on your preference) - you should end up with 15-20 meatballs.
You can refrigerate or freeze the meatballs at the this point if you want to eat them at a later date.
Also, freezing them for 5-10 minutes before browning helps them stay together.

When you're ready to use the meatballs:
Preheat your oven to 350 F
Brown meatballs in a pan over medium heat - with a bit of olive oil, but don't bother cooking them thoroughly.

Pour 1/2 cup or so of marinara into a baking dish that all your meatballs will fit into. Place your meatballs on top, then cover with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for 40min - 1hr, until the meat is cooked through, and serve over your favorite pasta.


Sorry there are no pictures of the process, my hands were covered in meat, and my personal photographer was nowhere to be found! :)
Good luck!
Please leave me a comment if you make the recipe, and let me know how it turns out.

And in case you're wondering: This is the exact recipe that I use if I'm making hamburgers, too. I just pat the meatballs into patties and grill them instead!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Utah State Fair

Nothing quite says "State Fair" like goofy photo-ops and  corndogs.

Growing up in Minnesota, the State Fair was kind of a BIG DEAL, but this was the first time that I'd been since living in Utah. We had so much fun, spent too much money on terrible food, and someone who wasn't a baby had a tantrum... but more than anything - it got me excited for next year! This year was great, but next year will be even more fun as the boys get older.

The first thing we did was go to a mini-farm for kids. They got to "feed" statues of animals, plant seeds, harvest vegetables, collect wool and eggs, and -the boys' favorite- ride tractor-trikes. It was awesome!

Then we got to see and pet all the animals. It was really neat, since the boys have seen pictures of animals, but they'd never really seen goats, or pigs, or bunnies. They loved it!

 That mean goat bit Grey's hand. Grey didn't cry, but I had to pry the goat's mouth open to get his fingers free and then Grey smacked him across the nose. It was so funny!

Micah loved that baby cow, but it was hard to get a picture. He'd run up and touch it and then dart away.
Pretty much, the pigs were gross.

 

Then we decided to splurge... on PONY RIDES!

 

It was hard to get good pictures, because the ponies never stopped. The boys were put on and taken off of moving animals... But they LOVED it, especially Micah.

They were both really good at holding on and sitting still, and didn't want (or need) us to help them stay steady. They were sad when we left and Micah kept waving at the ponies after we left.

Overall, it was a really great day. Next year though, maybe we'll bring sandwhiches... that 6$ corndog doesn't look like much, because it wasn't. It was terrible! 

And the lemonade wasn't too impressive either. 

But the ponies did not disappoint. They were worth every penny.