Banana Bread

Last Halloween, we weren't going to buy a pumpkin but on our way home from my parent's house, we noticed a sign that said "pumpkins $1". Who could pass that up? It was at this small tent set up in the parking lot of a small candle and craft shop. I had seen it there all summer but that was the first time we stopped.

A couple weeks ago, Kay and I noticed they were back so we stopped there after going to the library. I don't know where the produce comes from but there is a lot of it and the prices are really really REALLY low. We've started going there every week and I'm always amazed at how much we get for so little.

This week when we were checking out, the guy who I think is the owner said "You want some bananas for a dollar". Why not! He gave us two huge bunches of bananas and then said "I give you more if you can use them - no charge". 15 bananas is more than enough for us though!

So over the next week or so, we are going to post recipes using all of these bananas. The first thing I made was banana bread. Kay doesn't like banana bread and didn't even help make it this time (she is always at tennis) but Bill loves this recipe and he is very child-like at times so it counts as a child friendly food! I messed around with several recipes until Bill declared that it was perfect a few years ago.

I pulled this out of the oven just a couple minutes before Bill walked in the door. As you can see, one disappeared before I could even get my camera!

I usually make mini loaves but I only have 2 pans and this makes 4 and I didn't feel like doing two batches so I tried it in giant muffin pans and it worked great. Plus we don't feel as guilty eating a whole muffin (no matter how big) as we do when we eat a whole loaf!

Banana Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup milk (I used rice this time)

2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg beaters

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mashed bananas (usually around 2 bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon ground flax

Mix all the wet ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix the dry. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just mixed.

For small loaves or large muffins, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

For a regular size loaf, bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

The small loaves work a lot better than the regular size one.

Onion Rings

As you may have noticed in past posts, Kay doesn't usually like onions. That is one of her top complaints. A couple months ago I made green beans in mustard sauce with crispy shallots (I plan to post this if I can ever find the dumb magazine - it has to be in this house somewhere). I had the shallots sitting on a paper draining and Kay kept eating them. I was worried we wouldn't have any left for the green beans! Later when Bill called she said, "I like onions now"!!

I told her she would have to try onion rings the next time I made them. I made them, she tried them, and she loved them. Bill and I love them too. We could seriously pig out on these. Luckily they are not the kind of thing that I have time to make a ton of so we are forced to eat only one portion each.

I've spent forever perfecting this recipe and technique. I finally figured out how to bake them but have them taste like they were fried. I don't have exact measurements since it really depends on the amount of rings you are making. Also, they are really messy but completely worth it.

Onion Rings

Onions, cut into thick rings

Bowl one - flour

Bowl two - one egg with about 2 cups milk

Bowl three - 2 cup wheat germ mixed with basil and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Dip all the rings into bowl one, then bowl two, then bowl three. Place them on a paper towel on the counter.

Cover a baking sheet with the oil. Place it in the oven for 3 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven. Immediately place the rings on the pan and return it to the oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes. Flip the rings once about half way through.

If desired, lightly salt upon removing from the oven.

Kay: I never thought I liked onions but these really make me like onions more. I like how they are crunchy.

Dana: I do this same thing, minus the flour step, for eggplant Parmesan.

Cheese fries with corn by Kay

Yesterday, I asked my mom, after school, what we were having for dinner. She said that we were having leftovers. I don't like leftovers unless there is something in the refrigerator that I like. I asked her if I could make something because she had a headache. I said that I wouldn't make anything complex like Pinto Gallo or pizza. I wanted to have something like mini Potato Enchiladas that you would cook in the microwave.

Then I thought of Cheese Fries. I love Cheese Fries. I went in our refrigerator and found some corn. I then knew that my dad and I would have Cheese Fries with Corn. Here's the recipe:

Cheese Fries With Corn

2 potatoes
1/2 can of corn
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (original rice milk)
3/4 cup cheese (Queso and Cheddar)
salt and pepper to taste
salsa (optional)

First, peel the potatoes if you want. Then, cut into cubes. You can either roast or boil the potatoes. I boiled the potatoes because I wanted it to go quickly.

While the potatoes are cooking, melt the margarine in a saucepan over low heat. Add the flour and stir constantly for 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk 1/2 cup at a time. Whisk to combine. Then stir after it is combined. After all milk have been added continue cooking and stirring until it thickens.(about 5 minutes) Then stir in the cheese. Add salt and pepper if needed.

Cook the corn in a saucepan or the microwave.

Drain the potatoes.

To serve, put the potatoes on a plate. Then add the corn on top or as a side. Add as much cheese sauce as you want. If desired, top with salsa.

Kay: I really liked this and so did my dad so he says. You could also use the cheese sauce to dip with chips. You can put whatever flavorings you like. You could put in tomatoes, cumin, chili pepper, or any kind of seasoning.

Dana (Mom): I didn't have any of this because I had a headache and because it has cheese in it but I was quite impressed that she came up with this and then managed to make a successful bechamel sauce!

Elephant Ears

Our weather is crazy this year. Yesterday we got tons and tons of snow. It took me over an hour to get to work when it usually only takes 20 minutes. I was only there a couple hours before I received a call from Kay saying they were getting dismissed early. Today we didn't get anymore snow but school was cancelled for the cold. It is -10 F without the wind! She didn't seem very upset about staying home today and I wasn't very sad either!

We've been wanting to post but everything we've fixed lately either wasn't very good or it was something that is already posted! This is kind of a recipe but not really.

After dinner tonight we were both craving something crispy. We had fajitas for dinner and the tortillas weren't very fresh so we fried them up and dipped them in a mixture of cinnamon sugar. They hit the spot!

Kay: These were really good. They didn't look like elephant ears but they tasted like them. I think these are healthier than the elephant ears at the fair.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

I noticed a very different feeling this year on Christmas morning. First of all, Kay slept in. Then when she did get up, we sat around for a little bit, made cinnamon rolls and then she opened her gifts in a very relaxed manner. That was when I realized the excitement-filled Christmas mornings were over. Then I thought of my parents and realized that even after Kay has kids, we probably won't be any closer to the excitement than they are. It was a little depressing but then Kay opened her MP3 player and got just as excited as she was with her puppet theater at 4 years old!

Also, we haven't reached the point yet where she insists on taking a shower and doing her hair and make-up before opening gifts (a phase that I remember going through)!

These cinnamon rolls are very easy. Bill and I used to have them way too often when we were first married. For some reason I quit making them and just thought of them again about a month ago. Kay really liked them (who wouldn't) so we decided to make them for Christmas breakfast.

This is an old Pampered Chef recipe. We use the same frosting (I mean vanilla syrup) as we used for the chocolate waffles but make it a little thicker.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

2 tubes of refrigerated crescent rolls

1/2 cup margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Separate the dough into 8 rectangle pieces and roll the seams together. Mix the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon together and spread the mixture on the dough. Roll each rectangle of dough going the long way. Cut each roll into 8 pieces and place into a deep dish baking pan so that the swirl design is facing up. Place the pieces close together. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with frosting of your choice.

Kay: These remind me of Cinnabons but you can make these at home and you don't have to eat a big roll. Mine looked like a Christmas tree when I put it on my plate.

Mom (Dana): It doesn't get any easier than this. Bill and I used to eat the whole pan ourselves so we were a little bothered to now have to share with Kay!

Chex Mix

We made chex mix last night for Kay to take to school today for their holiday party. But we woke up to everything covered in ice like this:

School was cancelled, we started vacation a day early, and we now have enough snacks to last us at least a week! We took advantage of this extra day and started to bring up some of our holiday decorations. Luckily we still have power. The neighbors across the street aren't as lucky and we are still nervous because our power lines look like this:

So if you are having weather like us, kick back and eat snacks! What else can you do?

Chex Mix

2 cups rice chex-like cereal

2 cups corn chex-like cereal

1 cup small pretzels

3 tablespoons canola oil

6 tablespoons honey or agave nectar (we used a combination of both)

In a small bowl, mix together the oil and honey until mixed.

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, combine the cereal and pretzels. Pour the honey mixture over the cereal and stir to coat.

Place the bowl in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring every 1 minute and then one additional minute stirring every 30 seconds. (Watch closely so it doesn't burn.)

Pour the mixture onto wax paper to cool.

Kay: This is really good. Right now I'm chasing my dog around the house so I think it makes me hyper!

Mom (Dana): I always mean to make this more often and keep small bags of it around for snacks. We would have loved to have told you what Kay's friends thought of it but oh well!

I Can't Eat Anything Besides a Smoothie Smoothie

(written by Kay)

Today, I had an orthodontist appointment . I had my braces checked. They didn't hurt when I went in. But, when I came out, I WAS IN SO MUCH PAIN!!!! We had Broccoli Potato Bake(which I LOVE) for dinner and I ate the potatoes but not the broccoli because I WAS IN SO MUCH PAIN that I couldn't eat any hard things. So my mom made me a smoothie. Here's a recipe that I call...

I Can't Eat Anything Besides a Smoothie Smoothie

1 cup soymilk

7 frozen strawberries

1/2 banana

4 tablespoon chocolate sauce

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.

I like mine blended extra long so I can't feel the seeds from the strawberries. It was SO good I almost forgot about my braces. EXCEPT when I touched my tooth with my tongue.

Zucchini Muffins

Here is another item from our Labor Day picnic. Kay didn't try these but they were so good, I'm posting them anyway! Believe it or not, this started out as a Martha Stewart recipe but I made a lot of changes. This is a very delicious way to use of zucchini if you are drowning in it like we are.

These are really moist so they won't keep more than a couple days. Therefore you might want to eat only these for dinner one night - just so you don't waste any of course!

I thought the sugar could be reduced by at least 1/2 cup in these. They get enough sweetness from the cherries. I left the recipe as is though.

Zucchini Muffins

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup silken tofu, blended until smooth

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray or line a muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, whisk together the tofu, sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the zucchini, cherries and walnuts. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin.

Bake about 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes then remove from the pan.

Tomatillo and Tomato Salsa

Today is Labor Day but we invited my parents over for a picnic yesterday so that we could sit around all day today and do nothing! My mom and I tried out several new recipes and we were happy with all of them. I hope to post most of them throughout this week. We'll see how that goes once our long weekend is over!

Today I'm starting with the salsa because it seemed to be everyone's favorite. I got tomatillos, basil, and approximately 9 million tomatoes in my CSA bag this week so this seemed like an obvious choice.

Here are some of the tomatoes I used.

Tomatillo and Tomato Salsa

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 pound tomatillos (remove husks and rinse under warm water)

4 large tomatoes

1 large onion

1 jalapeno chili (I used canned)

1/4 cup cilantro

Juice of one lime

Salt to taste

Finely chop the tomatillos, tomatoes, and onion. Combine in a bowl with the other ingredients. Place 1/2 the mixture in a processor and blend until smooth. Combine the blended salsa with the chopped salsa and stir. Refrigerate at least one hour to blend flavors.

Kayleigh: I thought this tasted OK but the tomatoes didn't taste the same as they do in the store salsa.

Mom (Dana): I thought this recipe made a lot but we only have a small container left. It is really fresh tasting (for obvious reasons). Don't worry - there's new zucchini and summer squash recipes to come as well!

Cinnamon Mini Muffins

We are lucky to have a water park in our town but not too lucky because it is really expensive. Fortunately, Kay has been invited by two friends who had free passes for her and also went for free with the school since she passed all her required reading books last year. Yesterday we had beautiful weather (not too hot) and she went with her friend Anna. Unfortunately, because it wasn't too hot, Kay didn't notice that the sun was burning her to a crisp. She woke up this morning looking very much like a lobster and feeling pretty sore.

Because I am so nice, I made her these mini muffins. I normally would have picked something a little less fussy but she looked so miserable that I softened. Plus, she offered to help. Somehow when we got the the fussy part of dipping them in butter and cinnamon sugar, she disappeared to reapply her sunburn lotion and conveniently didn't return until I was done. Hmmm...

But look how cute they are. Obviously worth it.

Here is one in Kay's hand so you can see how petite they are. Luckily the camera adjusted to compensate for Kay's red hue.

Cinnamon Mini Muffins

1/3 cup softened butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute or 2 egg whites)

1 1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk (I used rice milk)

1/2 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup melted butter or margarine

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottoms of 36 mini muffin cups. Mix the softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar and egg thoroughly.

Sift together the flour, nutmeg and baking powder. Stir the flour mixture and milk into the wet mixture. Fill the muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes.

Immediately dip into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Eat while warm.

Kay: The first time we made these, my mom and I both got burnt trying to get the muffins out of the pans. My mom got burnt first so while she was running cold water on her hand, I tried to get them out and got burnt too! These are really good though so now we are just more careful.


Mom (Dana): Luckily Kay didn't remind me of the burning incident until after I made them this time or I probably would have changed my mind!

Strawberry Jam

Every year when I was young, there was one day when I would come home from school and find my mom and grandma in our kitchen canning. I remember tomatoes mostly and a big mess! The one thing I don't ever remember is being asked to stay in the kitchen and watch. So that is probably why the thought of canning food for later use is completely overwhelming to me!

Instead, I make recipes like this one, but only make enough for us to eat across a week or two. Plus, this recipe only takes about 30 minutes instead of all day.

Strawberry Jam

4 cups mashed strawberries (about 3 pounds whole)

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Mash the strawberries in a food processor in small batches so that everything gets pureed. In a large sauce pan (I use a stock pot - it boils up much larger than you'd expect) mix the pureed strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture up to 220 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring often. Transfer mixture to a jar and store in the refrigerator.

Kay: It is really good. It is better than the store bought kind. I wish the strawberries we got this year didn't have so many rotten ones so that we could make more.

Mom (Dana): You'd think we'd get tired of it but since we only get it once a year, we enjoy every last drop!

Pot Stickers

Lately I have stumbled across several cooking shows that are vegetarian or vegan. It is so nice to be able to watch a show and not have to think about how recipes can be changed to exclude the meat! It's a luxury I've never enjoyed before. And to completely turn everything on its head, for once, the meat eaters can take this recipe and substitute to their tastes!

Kay's favorite item at our friend's Thai food restaurant is chicken pot stickers. She always gets a special "Kay-sized" order when she goes there. Even though this recipe calls for sausage, I thought it was worth a try. I couldn't help asking if these were as good as the others and she actually said they were better! What a compliment!!

If you are like me, the mention of folding individual items into special shapes sends you looking for something else to make. But I promise, these are not hard and it goes really fast. Kay was able to fold them herself so if you have kids hanging around, put them to work and it won't take you any time at all!

Pot Stickers

(from Delicious TV)

For the filling, crumble 6-8 thawed vegetarian breakfast sausage patties into a bowl (it must be the patties, not the links). Add 2-4 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 chopped green onions and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Mix it all together with your hands.

Place a very small amount of the mixture on a wonton skin. Dip your finger in water and moisten the edges of the wonton. Fold the wonton over diagonally, forming a triangle. Then fold the bottom two corners in to the middle so that it looks like an envelope with the flap up. (Does that make sense? That's the best way I can think of to describe it!)

Place 1 inch of peanut oil in a skillet and fry the pot stickers until they are brown on both sides (2-3 minutes). Remove from pan and place on paper towels or a paper grocery bag to drain.

Dipping sauce:

Whisk the following:

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons white rice vinegar

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons green onion, chopped or cilantro

Kay: These were really really good. I liked them a lot. The pot stickers at 5 Star are my absolute favorite thing but these were even better!!

Mom (Dana): I try to stay away from fried foods since they really don't sit well with me but these were worth the splurge. I just had to make sure not to eat the whole batch in one sitting!

Maple Oat Bread

We've had very mixed reviews of our meals lately. Everything has been ok but nothing really stood out. Finally this bread changed that. We all were really surprised at how good this was. It is quite sweet so you definitely want to eat it as a snack kind of bread. The crust is a little crunchy but the inside is very moist. We had to really concentrate so that we didn't eat the whole loaf in one setting!

It comes from a book with a very unappetizing title and topic so I will link you to it here in order to give all due credit, but won't actually state the name!

Maple Oat Bread

1 3/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups soy milk blended with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup regular rolled oats
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9 X 5 loaf pan with cooking oil. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together until blended. In a medium bowl whisk the egg whites with the oil until smooth. Whisk in the maple syrup, brown sugar, and soured soy milk. Stir in the oats. Add pecans.

Add wet ingredients to dry and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour into pan, smooth top, and bake until golden brown and a tester inserted into center of loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool on a rack in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out of pan onto rack and cool completely before slicing. Freezes beautifully.

Kay: This bread tasted like corn bread and bananas to me even though it didn't have any cornmeal or bananas in it!

Mom (Dana): The soy milk and vinegar is used in place of buttermilk. If you eat dairy, you can use an equal amount of buttermilk.

Cinnamon Palmiers by Kay

This Saturday, my friend, Anna, came over and Mom had Cinnamon Palmiers in the oven. Anna and I were doing our homework and then she spotted my new voice alarm. We started to scream in it and held down the play button. We laughed so hard, Anna fell when she was trying to get to the bathroom.

Then Mom said that the palmiers were ready. She made about 15 of them and there were none left when I wanted one 2 hours later. Anna had about 3 because she liked them so much. I knew what regular palmiers tasted like so I knew I would like them. I think next time we make them, we should roll chocolate chips in them and then put cinnamon on top of them.

Cinnamon Palmiers Recipe by Kay

1 package of puff pastry, thawed
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pre heat oven to 450 degrees. Open puff pastry and roll lightly with rolling pin to seal the seams. Spread the cinnamon sugar mixture over the pastry. Lightly roll with the rolling pin to seal it into the dough.

Fold 1 long side to the middle. Fold the other long side to meet in the middle with the other side. Now fold in half again so the 2 folds are on top of each other.

Slice into 1/2 inch pieces. Place on pan with cut side up. Bake 6 minutes. Flip the cookies and bake 4 more minutes.

Mom(Dana)- This recipe is for a full package of puff pastry. I only made half a recipe this weekend. These are really good. Bill said they needed more sugar but then he ate most of them!

Apple Crisp Without the Apple

During the Fall, I fix apple crisp several times a week. Bill and I love it, as do my parents so if you see apples in the house, you can be pretty sure an apple crisp will materialize within 24 hours!

It seems unfair, though, to fix a dessert over and over that Kay doesn't like. She really likes the topping but we won't let her eat that and leave the apples so she usually chooses to go without. So I decided to try to make a granola bar that tasted like the topping to the apple crisp.

These were enjoyed by everyone and came pretty close to the flavor I was looking for.

Granola bars

2 2/3 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup dry milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Heat the oil, honey, syrup and vanilla in a pan (or in the microwave) until heated through. Add to the dry ingredients. Press the mixture into a parchment paper lined 9 x 13 pan (it didn't reach all the way to the edges). It should be about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow it to cool completely and then cut into rectangles.

This gave me about 25 bars. The edges were too tough and so I cut those off (and then proceeded to eat them anyway!).

Kay: These were good. They had a lot of cinnamon which I like. It was a little chewy though so they made my tooth hurt a little but I still liked them.

Mom (Dana): We like granola bars in general and these were easy enough to make that I'm going to try to do this instead of buying so many of the boxed ones. I'm sure these are also more healthy than most at the store!

Spinach and Corn Quesadilla

Sorry for the bad picture but I was a little too hungry to mess around with the camera! Tonight was a soccer practice which is always crazy. Now that it gets darker sooner, Kay has to leave for practice at 4:30 so we have a very small window for dinner. In my rushing around today I burnt our dinner. Great! I ended up throwing together French toast which we shoved down our throats before running out the door.

During practice I was looking through a cookbook that my friend loaned me. I wasn't very happy with the book overall but one of the recipes gave me the idea for these quesadillas. They were a perfect healthy snack for after practice.

Spinach and Corn Quesadilla

1/4 cup sliced onion

1 tsp olive oil

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup corn

6 oz baby spinach, sliced

1/2 cup cheese (any kind)

flour tortillas

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, corn, and half the can of pinto beans. Cook for about 3 minutes until heated through. Add the spinach and cook an additional 3 minutes until slightly wilted.

Mash the remaining pinto beans.

Heat another skillet over medium heat. Place one tortilla in the skillet. Spread some of the mashed pinto beans on the tortilla. Top with some of the vegetable mixture and then enough cheese to hold it together. Place another tortilla on top.

Cook until the cheese begins to melt and the bottom tortilla is lightly browned. Flip it and continue cooking on the other side until heated through. Cut into wedges with a pizza cutter and then top with salsa.

Depending on how full you make them, this will make 2-3 quesadillas.

Kay: These tasted ok but they have onions in them which I don't like. Next time I want mine made without the onions.

Mom (Dana): The amounts in this recipe are based on the leftover corn and spinach that I had in the fridge. For dinner, it should be doubled. As far as the cheese goes, monterey jack is probably the best choice. We had a little wedge of Havarti, though, and that worked fine.

I tried to make the onions nice and sweet so Kay wouldn't notice. It didn't work! Next time I'll probably do the onions in a separate pan so she can have hers without. Spoiled!

Roasted Marshmallows

Ha ha!! Ok this isn't really a recipe but it is something that Kay likes to cook and eat so technically it does fit into the scope of this blog!

Roasted Marshmallows

Large marshmallows (the more the better)

Long sticks

A bonfire

Put your marshmallow (one or two) on the end of a stick. Hold your stick in the fire. Toast to taste. Eat quickly and repeat.

Kay's aunt and grandma like their's black. Kay and her dad prefer them lightly brown.

Kay: I like mine lightly brown but on the top of the marshmallow, it turned black. Yesterday, my family came over and we had a lot of fun and ate a lot of marshmallows. That picture is of my dad.

Blueberry Muffins

Every summer I get so jealous of all the great ingredients everyone seems to be getting from their local farmer's market. Unfortunately, we don't have anything like that around here. The few farm stands we do have are not very thrilling and I actually find better produce at the grocery store. One of the few exceptions is blueberries. My mom stumbled across a small stand in a neighboring town a couple year's ago and now we anxiously await their appearance each year.

This recipe falls under the category of foods Kay likes to cook, not eat. But that is ok because her dad absolutely loves them so it just leaves more for him!


This is a Martha Stewart recipe. Most of her recipes, although they taste good, I find to be way too fussy and detailed for my patience (or lack thereof). This one is very straight forward though.
Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup softened margarine
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Place the blueberries in a fine sieve and dust with 1 tsp of the flour mixture.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the margarine and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, beating until combined. Mix in the vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, add the reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add the milk, beating until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.

Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until the muffins are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn the muffins on their sides and let cool.

Kay: The only reason I like making them is to surprise my dad and to eat the batter without any blueberries.

Dana: Forget about letting them cool. I ate one almost straight out of the oven!! Two notes about the pictures. First, all we had were Halloween liners. Also, today was carnival day at day care and Kay got her face painted. I don't want anyone to think she walks around with a filthy face!

Kay's New Cookbook

This is a book review by Kay. I got a new cookbook this summer called Kids Can Cook: Vegetarian Recipes. This book has many things that are vegetarian but are still like regular food. They have breakfast, soups, main dishes, desserts and even party dishes. It shows you how to set the table and what the utensils are. During the recipe it puts the things you need through the recipe instead of all at the top.

I have already made a lot of things out of this cookbook. They have all been healthy for you and easy to make. I have made about 10 recipes and I liked them all.

I would recommend this book for any kids learning how to cook or even kids that already know how.

A really easy recipe that I've made twice now is cheese dollies. Here is the recipe

Cheese Dollies

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Oil a baking sheet. (We used parchment paper instead).

Mix with a large spoon:

1 cup flour
1 cup grated cheese or soy cheese
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk or soy milk

Drop by tablespoons one inch apart on the sheet. Set the timer for 7 minutes and bake until lightly brown. Remove from the baking sheet while warm.

We also sprinkled paprika on top of them. This makes 16 but we cut it in thirds because we were just having a snack. I made this all by myself and it was easy.

Mom (Dana): Kay has a lot of cookbooks but this is by far the best. The foods are very basic but good. The macaroni and cheese and coffee cake were our favorites so far but all of it has been good.

Kettle Corn

Summer is here and I am slacking something terrible! Our meals have been less than inspiring but we have had a few tasty snacks at least. Now that all our TV shows are over for the season, we have gone back to watching movies. And what is a movie without some popcorn?

I'd never had kettle corn until I was an adult but now I am hooked. Bill made it this time around (with Kay's help of course) and joked "Aren't you going to take a picture for your blog?" So of course, I did!

Just ignore that mess on the counter. Like I said, it is summer!


Kettle Corn

2 T vegetable oil (if using the Whirly Pop)

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 cup white sugar

pinch of salt

Have all ingredients ready as well as a bowl before starting. Heat the oil in the Whirly Pop for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and kernels all at once and stir constantly. Once the popping slows, pour immediately into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt.

Kay: I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom (Dana): If you are using a regular pot instead of the Whirly Pop, I think you need about 1/4 cup of oil. If you want more of a caramel taster you can use part white sugar and part brown sugar.

I hate to admit it but I can probably eat a whole batch of this by myself!