Food Lush

My Favorite Cookie Swap Contribution AND Reader Help: Roll-out Cookies

by Caitlin

Ahh, cookie season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Especially if you're in the Larger Pants Selling Business, and if you are then maybe also call me because I'm predicting I'll need your help soon.

For much of my childhood my parents' friends had an annual cookie decorating party around the holidays. It's one of my most dear childhood Christmas memories, and in my adult years I've longed to recreate it.
It was such a wonderful treat to go over to their house and spend an evening sitting at a table covered in a rainbow of colored frostings, sprinkles and candies as bin after bin of sugar and gingerbread cookies in various shapes appeared non-stop.

Joyce, prolific hostess, spent weeks baking hundreds of cookies. She'd freeze batch after batch until the evening finally arrived. She made a simple sugar frosting which she'd color with food coloring and pour into muffin tins - a great strategy. We each had an area to work in, and after using little paint brushes and loading our cookies up with decorations galore we'd carefully place them on wire cooling racks to dry. Some were garish, loaded with as much extra sugar as possible, others we took our time on and were little works of delicious cookie art.

Angels, trees, stars, candles, gingerbread people small and large: We loved that the shapes were familiar year after year, but what excitement there was if she debuted a new shape! For several years she even made special gingerbread house pieces for my brother and I to construct. Those gingerbread houses are what first taught me about royal frosting and that there was such a thing as sugared violets. Some flowers were edible?! 12 year old Caitlin was in awe. 

A marvel our hostess was.

Over the past few years I've longed to recreate those wonderful memories. I've collected various sprinkles, jimmies, sanding sugars, and adornments. My baking cabinet is full, and my husband rolls his eyes at the mention of colored sugars. The truth is, aside from the issues of first not having the space, and lately not having the time, a major inhibiting factor is that...I'm afraid of cut out sugar cookies. I haven't had good luck with them in the past. I don't quite have the technique down, and I don't have any recipes I love.

I need your help, dear readers! How can I achieve a roll out sugar cookie that will keep it's shape, that carries the frosting and decorations well while still imparting a little taste, and which won't break your teeth to bite into? A sugar cookie that looks as good as it tastes: That's what Santa can bring me.

These two recipes look promising, but I've got a little Rollout Cookie PTSD. So much work, and what if it's not worth it?

Gingerbread Snowflakes

Holiday Sugar Cookies

(Photo from Epicurious)

Dear readers, can you help?

And! In return I offer you my favorite cookie swap contribution:These molasses crinkles. My grandmother always made molasses crinkles so I'll always have a soft spot for them, but they were specifically requested for a party last year and this recipe did not disappoint. Spicy, sweet, chewy, they are true holiday perfection.

I'm supposed to be attending some cookie parties soon, and (spoiler alert, friends!) I'll be bringing these to both. They were a huge hit last year, and why mess with a favorite? My secret trick, as with all cookies, is to underbake them slightly to retain that chewy softness. They'll still cook a bit when you take them out, so leave them a little shiny on the tops.

Also, find a fun, festive, cocktail napkin to unfold and display them on, and people will think you're more put together than you are.

(Photo: me)

Guilt-Free Dessert: Vegan Chocolate Cream Pie

by Sarah Anne

I feel kind of lucky, living up here in the great expanse known as Canada, for many reasons. Currently, the most appropriate reason is that I celebrate Thanksgiving TWICE. Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, and much to my husband's joy, I usually throw a second one in there as soon as I see my American friends and family getting ready for it. I am completely unable to resist the call of stuffing, gravy, and mashed potatoes. Even the thought of those flavours has me salivating as we speak. 

I tried to 'scale it back' this year for both events, since in the past I've made three appetizers and a whole expanse of vegetables, carbs and protein...for two people. Last week I was proud of myself, I narrowed it down to stuffing, potatoes, a vegetable, gravy, and a protein. And dessert. Oh boy dessert. Have you all had enough of it yet or are you still with me?

I have made versions of this pie before and have always been a fan, but something about the crust from this recipe from Alissa over at Girl Makes Food caught my eye. Coconut, oats, coconut oil and real maple syrup? Sounds delicious. The filling was just as impressive with only three ingredients: silken tofu, dark chocolate and maple syrup. I admit that I added a little espresso powder to it while I blended, and a little vanilla extract just to give it a bit more interesting flavour, and it worked out beautifully. . 

Alissa's photos are far nicer than mine, but they didn't come out too shabby! I would recommend being gentle when toasting the crust as I think mine got a bit too hard, and be sure to oil your pie pan. Mine stuck like crazy but, rest assured, we persevered. 

The best accoutrement, however, was the generous helping of vanilla whipped coconut cream that we dolloped on top of each slice. There are a ton of recipes out there for coconut whipped cream, but as I didn't have the patience to actually follow one to a T, I just kind of winged it. Low and behold it worked!

Want to risk it like me? Try this: Chill a can of full fat (FULL FAT people! Don't do low-fat, please. I'll cry and it won't work.) coconut milk overnight and when you're ready, without tipping it, open the can and scoop out the thick cream that has settled on top. Toss it in a chilled bowl, or the bowl of your mixer and whip away until thick. I added a bit of maple syrup, one tablespoon at a time, and a dash of vanilla powder. I'm sure a tiny bit of vanilla extract would work as well.  Of course you could always try Alissa's recipe, or Angela's, or Ashley's - alliteration much, Sarah? The whipped cream was delicious, light and lasted in the fridge for the most part until our pie was finished, which didn't take long if you were wondering!

I also recommend using a good quality dark chocolate, and be sure that the tofu is very smooth before adding the melted chocolate to it. Truly folks, I'd challenge anyone that said they 'hated tofu', you know who they are, to try this and tell you they hated it. It came together in a snap, and we ate it just as quickly, with little guilt. The ingredients are great and you don't have to worry about feeding your kids artificial sugars or too much of the real thing.  The whole pie has a few tablespoons of maple syrup total, yet it is still sweet and rich without being TOO much of a good thing.  

Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants and can increase important blood flow to the heart and brain. It also has high concentrations of magnesium, iron, copper and potassium.  The copper, magnesium and potassium can help protect against cardiovascular ailments while the iron can help prevent anemia. Coconut milk is a great option for those that cannot tolerate, or do not choose to consume dairy. It is also potentially good for the immune system thanks to its high lauric acid content, not to mention it has healthy fats that can boost metabolism.  While widely contested, I do think that the tofu can be considered a healthy ingredient as well.  It's a source of iron, calcium and manganese and has been shown to help reduce cholesterol.  Not to mention, it's a source of protein! See? Dessert CAN be good for you!

Do you have any desserts that you feel are 'lightened up' or aren't quite a bomb of sugar and butter? I love both of those things, but sometimes it makes it a bit easier to enjoy if I know it won't tank all of my hard work!  Do you worry about these things? Or just go for it when it comes to dessert? Let me know if you try this and what you think!

Cooking with kids

by Elsha

My older kids are four and almost three, and they LOVE to pretend to cook. I imagine that they would also love to help me actually cook, but I don't let them. I used to attribute it to age, four isn't nearly old enough to help with the cooking, right? But my four-year-old nephew helps his mom cook, as does his three-year-old brother. When my dad is cooking he'll let my kids help him. Apparently it's just me keeping them from helping more in the kitchen. 

This has made me curious.Do you let your kids help you cook? What age do you start? What kind of responsibilities do they get? I don't know if I'm ready to deal with their "help," but I don't want my kids to end up in college not knowing how to do anything but boil spaghetti noodles. Tell me how it works at your house!

Stovetop Popcorn: Simple, Easy Snack

by Jess M

Not to brag, but my children have said that I make the SECOND-best popcorn ever. First place will always go to movie theater popcorn with it’s layers and layers of drippy butter-like topping served in enormous cardboard buckets. But at home I make (almost as good) popcorn for an easy after-school or movie night snack.

And, really, popping it on the stove is not that hard. I know! I used a microwave and those folded popcorn packets for years too, but this is surprisingly easy (as our mothers and grandmothers roll their eyes at me/us).

Popcorn on the Stove

1-2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1⁄2 cup popcorn kernels

Use a medium to large sized pot; I use a 4 quart stainless saucepan. Add the vegetable oil, enough to thinly cover the bottom. Put a few kernels in the pot while the oil heats up over medium-high heat. Cover the pot with a piece of foil with a few vents cut into it.
When the oil heats up and those first couple of kernels pop, add the rest of the popcorn kernels and cover back up with the foil.

As it cooks, shake the pot a little bit so that the kernels and popcorn on the bottom don’t burn. After a few minutes you’ll hear the popcorn pop, and when the popping slows down you know it’s about done. Pull it off the stove quickly so you don’t burn it.

Dump the popcorn in a large bowl, drizzle with melted butter and salt and serve! 

(Photos from: me)

The State Fair of Texas and All the Fried Food in the World

By Julie

There are many things for which the State Fair of Texas (yes, capitalized) is known, but perhaps none so much as the cuisine. Which, in this case, is a fancy word for fried everything. Literally. And it is awesome.

I haven’t been to the fair in many years, so when I had the chance to partake this week, I jumped at it. They have a contest every year to crown winners in new food categories, and the list of champions is long, distinguished, and deeply weird. There have been fried bacon, fired butter, and fried coke. Sensing a theme here?

So I did my own little taste test of decadent delights. My criteria for selection were as follows: it had to be unusual and it had to have enough tickets to buy it. Let Fried Fest begin!

Let me just state from the beginning that all of these foods, ones tasted and ones left for another day, look remarkably similar because they are all created on the principle of “let’s see what bizarre thing we can wrap in dough/dip in batter and fry to oblivion.” Nothing wrong with that.

I started off with the fried banana pudding because I saw it and remembered I’d seen a coupon in the guidebook for it. Savings at the fair? Yes, please. My judging panel consisted of myself, my 4 year old daughter, and my dad. Our conclusion was that this was pretty good, basically a banana cream fried pie. The whipped cream frosting was the best part, in my opinion. My dad said that it would really be better with some crushed up vanilla wafers inside to give it the full banana pudding experience, and I wholeheartedly agree.

A bit later, we were joined by my husband (who’d been off on his own fried food expedition, and more on that in a moment) to try the fried pineapple upside down cake and the fried “taste of autumn” pumpkin pie. The cake was just a canned ring of pineapple battered and friend, and was incredibly difficult to eat with only a flimsy plastic fork. The pineapple just slid out of the coating and refused to be severed by said fork. The pie was ball shaped and merely filled with pumpkin pie filling, so it wasn’t all that spectacular and I have no idea why it required a special “taste of autumn” descriptor. It was merely fine. I guess I just prefer my pumpkin pie chilled.

Now, my husband had wandered off in search of this year’s best taste winner, the fried jambalaya. He said it was tasty, but that it was predominantly a disc of fried rice and couldn’t really find any sausage or seafood in it, as one might expect in jambalaya. He also said it was fairly teeny in portion.

All that said, the winner of the day was a classic: the good ol’ corn dog, a fair staple since forever. Whether you’re a purist and go for a good slather of mustard, or a renegade and cover yours in ketchup (like my daughter, whom I don’t even know anymore, because ketchup?), you cannot go wrong with a corny dog. So good.

And there you have it, my 2012 State Fair of Texas food roundup. If you’d like to join my next year, please being prepping your arteries now.

{Photo Credits: blogs.observer.com, sidedish.dmagazine.com, and eatsblog.dallasnews.com. I actually took my own photos, but my computer and camera are currently conspiring against me.}

Allergy-Friendly Halloween Treats

by Jen L.

My son is allergic to peanuts, so Halloween in our world is a little different.  We have to be vigilant about checking his candy and even more careful about homemade treats.  Our preschool is one that doesn't allow homemade treats for class parties. I understand the policy, really I do, but it still makes me sad that it has to be in place. It means gobs of store-bought icing atop a dry cupcake most of the time.  But I digress. 

So many store-bought candy mixes have candy that contains allergens.  Peanuts aren't the only culprit--lots of folks are allergic to dairy, which rules out chocolate. (HOW SAD.)  This year, I'm trying to be allergy-friendly, but also creative, with my candy choices.

My favorite treat for Halloween has and always will be the ghost lollipop:

Now these are very fancy, using cute ribbons and white fabric.  My version is a little more "budget," if you will, using a Kleenex and a ribbon or a piece of yarn.  I draw the eyes and a little "O" mouth (so it looks like he's saying "boo" with a Sharpie.  I typically use Tootsie Pops for these, but in order to eliminate chocolate, I'm using Blo-Pops this year.  These will be taken to preschool for their Halloween carnival.

For trick-or-treaters, we always make sure to buy candy we like to eat, just in case we have leftovers.  We like a lot of non-chocolate stuff, so that's a pretty easy task.  This year, we're going with Chewy Lemonheads.  They are delicious and the individual-size boxes are the perfect size to tame your sweet tooth.

I read an article recently in which a woman said she gave out juice boxes to trick or treaters.  That seems like a great idea!  We always go trick or treating down Main Street in our town and we ALWAYS have to stop for a drink because my son gets so thirsty.  Giving out little juice boxes seems like a great candy alternative. And of course, there are tons of non-edible items you could hand out...but Halloween is such a candy holiday that I can't break from the tradition.

What type of Halloween candy or treats are you giving out this year?

 

(Photo credits:  ghosts-- DisneyMike on Fllickr   Lemonheads--Candy Warehouse)

Living Without A Microwave

Editor's note: Welcome Jess M., to the Food Lush family! We're thrilled to have her join us and if you'd like to get to know Jess better, follow her on Twitter.

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by Jess M.

Recently we decided to get rid of our microwave. It was big and bulky, took up a lot of counter space, and we didn’t feel like we used it all that much. Sure, we reheated leftovers or melted a little bit of butter, but overall I felt like most things we used it for could be done another way.

So, we bought a toaster oven. (The Oster TSSTTVMNDG Digital Large Capacity Toaster Oven) We have three kids and so actually a lot of meal prep involves heating up frozen kid foods: corn dogs, nuggets, french fries, pizza. With the toaster oven, these things are ready quicker than they are when you cook them in the regular oven and you don’t have to heat up the whole kitchen just for a single corn dog.

There are some “accessory” items that really help with our conversion to toaster oven life:

• I bought a set of small Pyrex dishes for food storage. We still use the plastic ones, but if it’s something I know we’ll reheat in the toaster oven, like macaroni, I can go ahead and store it in a smallish Pyrex dish.
• We have a quarter sheet pan that came in a set with some half sheet pans and it is the perfect size to fit in the toaster oven.

• Food Service Foil Sheets. My husband laughed at these when he saw me bring them home from a Costco trip, but they are so convenient. They are just the right size for my quarter sheet pan so I don’t have to tear/cut/waste regular sized foil. And they keep the pan clean so I don’t have to scrape off cooked-on cheese every time we have a snack.

Have you lived without a microwave? How do you melt your butter?

 

 

(Photos from: Amazon)

What My Child Agreed to Eat: Chicken Wontons

By Julie

My daughter is becoming a pickier eater by the day. No matter how I prepare chicken, it just doesn’t measure up to her standards (read: pre-made nuggets only). Forget pork chops. And seafood doesn’t exist until it is in stick form. All of this gives me headaches. Repeatedly.

So on a recent trip through Costco, I was somewhat surprised to see her eagerness to try CJ mini chicken wontons. I say slightly because it was a free sample, and since she’s my child, it’s highly unlikely that she would turn it down. But I digress. She happily ate the morsel and deemed it “yummy.”

Now, I am not so easily convinced and did not take her little culinary adventure as a sign that the pickiness was abated. Oh no, I’d seen this before.  Many times, she would taste something, promise to eat it, and then wouldn’t come near it once the food of note was actually on the table. I wasn’t going to be suckered so quickly this time. And then, the sample lady got involved: “I’ll bet if she eats another one, she’ll be sure to eat them at home.” Gee, thanks, Sample Lady.

Well, lo and behold, she did eat the second one and declared it as good as the first. And so a bag of chicken and cilantro mini wontons came home with us. They jury is still out as to whether the house 4 year old will actually eat them in a mean, but that’s OK, because I had a sample, too, and they are mighty tasty. I’m not the biggest fan of cilantro, particularly as a major flavor, but the taste was quite subtle and complimentary to the whole bite. As a bonus, they’re only 50 calories a serving and they’re made from all natural ingredients. I’ll call this a win win situation.

{Photo Credit: cjfoods.com}

Little Monster Party Sandwiches and Cookies

By Tara C.

Last weekend I helped host a Little Monster-themed baby shower for my sister, whose first baby (a boy!) is due in November. These "monster" sandwiches came together much faster than I expected. We copied the idea from this Little Monster 1st Birthday Party. We made two plates of sandwiches--one with lunch meat and cheese and the other with cheese slices or herbed cheese spread.

I used a combination of wheat and white breads, which I cut with a biscuit cutter. For the cheese slices, I used a scalloped-edge cookie cutter. Both are shown below. If you don't have cutters like these, you could just use the back of a glass to cut the bread and cut jagged "teeth" in the cheese slices by hand.

The olives are pinned on by toothpicks, which also help prop up the sandwiches on the plate.

Aside from a Little Monster-themed shower or birthday, I think these sandwiches would be fun at Halloween, too.

I also made little monster sugar cookies as party favors. The cookies were cut out with the scalloped cookie cutter shown above. I am not much of a cookie-decorator, so the candy eyes I found at the grocery store really helped.

I put each cookie into a cookie sleeve in a bread basket to give to guests as party favors.

(Peek-a-boo!) More Little Monster shower pictures can be found here.

(photos from: me)

Laptop Lunches and Some School Lunch Ideas

By Tara C.

I have been using Laptop Lunches for packing my three kids' school lunches for the last couple years and I've been pretty happy with them.

(image from: Laptop Lunches)

A Laptop Lunch is a plastic bento system that is lead, BPA, phthalates and PVC free. It's not shown in the image above, but one of the containers has a lid so that liquids, like applesauce or yogurt, won't leak into the rest of the lunch. I like the fact that I don't need any plastic baggies or disposable containers. And since I feel obligated to fill every container, I think my kids end up getting a little more variety, too. My only complaint about the ones we bought a few years ago is that the containers are pretty small and shallow. If you squeeze a whole sandwich into the main compartment, it's hard to get the outer box to close. But, it looks like the newer models have addressed this. The size is different and there's now a larger compartment available.

My system is to hand wash the containers every night, pack the lunches, then stack them in the fridge until the next morning. Packing lunches in the morning just doesn't work for me. I usually run the containers through the dishwasher over the weekend. My kids drink water with their lunch, so I don't pack a separate drink. They use the water botles that they keep in the pocket of their backpacks.

As Julie mentioned recently, packing lunches that your child will actually eat can be a challenge. My kids are also at three different schools this year, each of which has different rules about the foods allowed. My third grader's school does not allow nuts. My toddler's preschool has a strict policy against sending potential choking hazards. This means no hotdogs, popcorn, raw carrots, or whole nuts, and grapes and cherry tomatoes must be quartered. Keeping track of who will eat what AND who is allowed to eat what kind of gives me a headache. As a result, it's really easy to get into a rut and send the same foods every day.

These lunches are pretty typical for us. Maybe not exciting, but typical.

Turkey rolled up with toothpicks, applesauce, orange, (plain) pasta (photo from: me)

PB&J sandwich, more oranges, mixed berries, pretzels (photo: me)

Other lunch ideas include:

• Mac&cheese
• Mini-bagel pizzas
• Quesadillas
• Waffle "sandwiches" made with toaster waffles and filled with cream cheese or   peanut butter and jelly
• Bean and cheese burritos
• Waffled sandwiches
• Crackers with squares of cheese and lunchmeat
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Edamame

I need to remember that dinner leftovers can be a good option, too.

The Laptop Lunches website is a great resource for new lunch ideas. Their 365 lunch ideas are organized by season, which is a nice feature. You can also subscribe to receive a weekly menu.

I think all my picky eaters would like this lunch:

Crackers, yogurt, blueberries, granola (photo from: Laptop Lunches)