Gearhead Mom

Family Fun Fancy Treats

I stole this idea from a party last night to take to a cookie exchange today—ridiculously easy and yummy.  The coolest-looking ones are dark chocolate with mint M&Ms—the M&Ms have a green shimmery coating that make them look FANCY.  They didn’t have square pretzels at the store, so I had to settle for regular kind…
While looking for the “recipe,” I realized it was originally from Family Fun. 

Here’s a picture of all the yummy goodness.

Need A Recipe For Tonight? How About Creamy Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Soup

Downside to staying up all night with a kiddo with the stomach flu?  Umm, that’s fairly obvious.  Upside?  A day off work trapped at home with a kiddo who needed TLC, and time to clean the fridge of veggies in need of a job.  I had some sweet potatoes and a butternut squash I didn’t use for Thanksgiving, and some turnips and a parsnip from our organic veggie delivery.  I put them to work, and they collaborated on the soup below, perfect for tender tummies:

Ingredients:
2 tbs butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
half an onion, chopped
2 or 3 celery stalks, chopped
2 large sweet potatoes, chopped into 1 in. cubes
I butternut squash, cooked and chopped into 1 in cubes (I halved and cooked the squash in the microwave for about 6 minutes)
optional:  I had a parsnip and about 5 small turnips which I chopped and included. 
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp ground pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tbs maple syrup
optional:  I love the spice mix called garam masala, which approximates spicy chai seasonings.  I put about one T of that in, and a dash of cayenne pepper
1 box/carton chicken stock/broth
1 pint cream (+ milk to desired consistency)

Apple Brown Betty

In a crockpot? OK!

Ravioli with Pumpkin Sauce

I honestly can’t remember who gave me this recipe or idea, but it’s been an autumn favorite of mine for years:  Ravioli with Pumpkin Sauce.  The beauty is it can be vegetarian or not, and there are lots of possibilities in terms of making the recipe your own.  Here’s how I made it last weekend:

Wilton Halloween Cupcake Ideas

My sister is taking a cake decorating class and she sends me a weekly picture of her progress. Makes me really hungry for cake! I am glad she is learning since attention to detail has never been my strong suit. I make homely cakes and even stranger tasting cookies. My family loves me for it, or so they tell me.

Since Halloween is around the corner, check out these cute ideas from Wilton (maker of every cake decorating gadget extraordinaire). I like how even though they are pimping their products every step of the way, they give you nice step-by-step instructions on how to make each design.

Let’s be clear. I’ll never make one of these, but maybe my sister will? That’s a hint, G.

Picky Eater Tips

I wanted to write a top ten for Picky Eater Tips but realized that even though I’m on my second picky eater, I only have two great tips. So hey, um, readers? Feel free to fill in the other eight.

1) My four year old is a pretty adventurous eater, but has a tough time with new textures or sensations. I realized after many an uneaten packed school lunch returned that she just can’t fathom the idea of picking up a piece of cold, cut fruit. Slimy! Slippery! Cold! So now I cut it up and send it with a toothpick. I stab the first piece so that she doesn’t have to get her finger slimy trying to get the first one. Works like a charm. The fruit container now always comes home empty.

2) My 13 month old pretty much says no to food. Not that into it. Not that concerned with breast-feeding either. I am not sure what he runs on, but whatever it is, it keeps him RUNNING. He has always shunned jarred food and just about anything that comes in a sippy cup or bottle. One thing he does like is little alphabet pasta with broccoli Not exactly a wide variety, but it is a constant. To add a little extra, if I dip the spoon into a jar of baby food and then into the pasta, he’ll eat it. It’s only a few bites at a time, but at least he gets something other than broccoli into his little system that way. Bonus: G’s big sis LOVES jar food and will polish off just about anything but peas (who can blame her?).

OK, readers. Your turn!

That’s Some Good Grub

I think I’ve mentioned before how much I love my Best of Cooking Light cookbook. If not, I should say it all the time. It ROCKS. Every recipe I’ve cooked out of this thing has been a home run in my household. I made the glazed pork last night and both my one year old and my four year old devoured it. The sauce has all kinds of yummo stuff in it like brown sugar, raisins and orange juice, just to name a few.  I took the raisins off of Little G’s plate since it’s a bit of a choking hazard. I also skipped the capers and red pepper. Oh, and I used cinnamon instead of cardamom because I don’t have any. I served it with roasted carrots and Israeli couscous. Delish. I think my teeny, tiny Sy ate four pieces. If you don’t eat pork, I bet this sauce would be good on any sort of protein. Heck, I think it’d be good on cereal.

Bonus: it’s easy to make, healthy and looks fanceeeeee. Bon Apetit!

What Do Mermaids Eat? Why, Sushi, Of Course!

Our daughter’s sixth birthday was last weekend, and I won’t lie:  she’s been planning her Mermaid Pool Party at her grandmother’s house for six months.  What this means is that she has been “floating” ideas by me such as, “We can hang long pieces of blue and green material on the fences of Mammom’s backyard, so it feels like we’re underwater” and, “Hey, Mom, is there any way we could have a bunch of sea anenomes in the pool that go up and down in the water so we can swim around them?”  I have been nodding and absentmindedly agreeing, “Mmmm hmm,” until I realize what she has actually proposed.  Then I ask, Daughter, who are you?

Because she is the daughter of a mama who likes to entertain, but who thinks it’s a well-executed party if the beverages are on ice.  I don’t exactly have vision. 

So we gently scaled her vision of the Mermaid Party way, WAAAY back.  Because I thought the pool itself provided enough of an “underwater” feeling, and Mammom said no to sea anenomes. But I did have one good idea about the food.  As Missy would say, I sort of geeked out on it.  Besides fishy crackers, I pondered, what if mermaids ate sushi?  Sushi made out of fruit roll-ups, Rice Krispie treats, and gummy worms? 
My crazy little idea was actually easy to execute, and with crowd-pleasing results: 

High Chair Suggestions?

One of our Twitter followers, @lynhuffman, asked me what my favorite, affordable high chair is. In all honesty, I loathe high chairs. We don’t use one. We just use one of those little attachable chairs that fit over an existing dining room chair. $19.99, easy to clean, easy to take with us to Grandma’s (although she has one, too). We actually have two since we so often have other kiddos over for dinner. Love them.

So anyway, what are your thoughts, fabulous readers? Any favorite high chairs to suggest to Lyn?

Thanks!

Easy As Pie Crust

We went peach picking yesterday and came home with eleven pounds of peaches. What did that mean? That meant pie for dinner! Well, okay, we threw in some other stuff, but no one cared. We were all focused on waiting for the pie to cool down enough to devour it in one sitting.

Let’s be clear, I am a haphazard baker at best. The words Pie Crust alone put my hair on fire. That’s where my mom’s pie crust comes into play. Actually it’s her old friend Sally’s recipe, but my mom has carried the same ratty 3 x 5 card around for over 40 years. If they were still in touch, I’d send Sally a letter myself, thanking her effusively for the most BRILLIANT RECIPE ON EARTH. All four ingredients. What’s the secret? No butter. Yes, you heard me. No. Butter.

And guess what, it makes the best, flakiest, most fantastic crust ever (Hyperbole? Me? Never!). I almost feel guilty when I make it - like I’m cheating right in front of Martha Stewart’s eyes.

You want that recipe? Yeah, I bet you do.

Homemade Chicken Stock

My sister-in-law is allergic to MSG, which is in, oh, just about Everything in a package. The marketing machines have come up with more clever titles these days, but as this site mentions, it’s there: monosodium glutamate, enzyme modified, anything fermented, anything protein fortified, anything ultra pasteurized, autolyzed yeast, barley malt, broth, bouillon, calcium caseinate, carrageenan, flavoring, natural flavoring, gelatin, hydrolyzed oat flour, hydrhydrolyzed vegetable, malt extract, maltodextrin, natural flavors, pectin, plant protein extract, potassium glutamate, sodium caseinate, soy protein, soy sauce, textured protein, whey protein, yeast extract, yeast food.

Did you catch that Natural Flavors part? That sh*t is in everything.

So anyway, what’s my point? Oh yeah, I like to have my in-laws over for dinner a lot and therefore have to keep those nights in a 100% MSG-free zone. My sister-in-law pointed out that she can’t have even organic chicken stock because of the “natural flavors.” I happened to be serving a roast chicken the last time they were here, so after they left I just threw it into the crock pot with some water and anything else (non-MSG related, thank you) I could find in the fridge and made my own stock. It made a LOT. My sister suggested I freeze it in one cup increments in plastic bags (Alton Brown says to freeze it in plastic bags flat, then store them vertically after frozen). Instead of using plastic bags, I’ll be using up all those little breast milk freezer bags I have cluttering my drawers now that my pumping days are coming to an end. I’d really like to burn that pump to the ground, by the way.

It’s Ice Cream Time

Sy only asked for one thing last Christmas, and that was an ice cream maker. She’s a weird kid. Of course Santa got it for her, and she was psyched. She got the Cuisinart one; it’s a piece of cake to use. In fact, she got the same one we used to have but got rid of in our last move since we no longer used it. I just LOVE buying the same thing twice. So satisfying.

Anyway, the other day my friend Lisa invited us over to make chocolate ice cream. She has the same ice cream maker and used the easiest recipe ever and it was tasty! Just throw one package of instant pudding (we used the hippie organic kind) and 2 cups of milk and Bob’s your uncle, you get thick, malt-y tasting chocolate ice cream. Because you use pudding, you don’t have to chill it forEVER after you take it out of the ice cream maker. The kids were thrilled. So were the mommies, come to think of it.

Fud

My almost ten month old baby only ingests breast milk, tri-tip and Triscuits. For real. Is he from outer space?

Cheater Truffles

So I went to a party last night and the hostess pulled out a tray of lovely, homemade truffles.

Yum, said I.
Homemade, said she.
Homemade? What!? I sputtered with a mouth full.
Oh yeah, she laughed, it’s crushed Oreos mixed with cream cheese dipped in chocolate.
You don’t say… as I tried to nonchalantly steal another.

They were tasty. Not too sweet like a regular truffle usually is and looked just as fancy as their richer counterpart.
You can get the recipe here.

Bored? Go Make Some Butter

Sy and I were looking for something fun to do after Baby G went to bed last night. So we decided to make butter. I cleaned out a larger glass baby food jar, got out the heavy whipping cream and a pinch of salt and we were off. Just pour the cream somewhere between halfway and two thirds full, add a pinch of salt, screw on the lid, turn on some music and start shaking. Sy ran laps around the house shaking her jar to the music until she collapsed in a heap, begging me to take a turn. Pretty soon after some vigorous shaking on my part, the liquid started to thicken up. We made sure to open up the jar every few minutes to check our progress. The butter never gets super duper store-bought hard, but definitely spreadable! The leftover liquid is buttermilk, by the way. Sy added some purple sprinkles to it before we put it back in the fridge. I can’t wait to use it on our toast this morning.

My cousin told me that if you use a larger jar, you can add a (preferably clean) marble and it speeds up the process big time.