Loving Cook's Country

I've gotten hooked on my new magazine subscription to Cook's Country (from America's Test Kitchen). I've heard great things about it from different people, and have had a chance to try several recipes. Chad's very supportive, and although he doesn't like everything I make, he will always give me his honest opinion. And if the meal doesn't turn out perfectly he'll say, "I'm just grateful that you cook for me. I'd rather have you try new things and have them be a little different, than have you not cook at all." So, what have we tried? In order as shown above: Southern-Style Skillet Cornbread (loved the texture and full cornmeal flavor, but unlike Southerners, I like my cornbread to have SOME sugar in it!), Tangy Apple-Cabbage Slaw (sweet, tangy, spicy, and no mayo), Texas Chili Con Carne (I actually added beans to this no-bean chili; amazing flavor), Cider-Braised Pork Chops (I loved this one; great apple flavor, and perfect texture: tender without being too soft), Creole Fried Chicken (reduced the spices by half for the kids and regretted it; fried chicken was a first for me--splattered oil everywhere!), Crispy Parmesan-Pepper Pork Cutlets (really yummy, and the kids gobbled these up, pepper and all!).
It's been really fun trying one or two new recipes a week. I think the best thing about this magazine is that (aside from being ad-free, and featuring"normal" food with accessible ingredients) it teaches you the reasoning behind the recipes' steps/ingredients. And I'm learning a lot about technique, and the purpose of different ingredients, plus there are a lot of neat product reviews in there too (I just stocked up on 99-cent Ghirardelli Chocolate Syrup Brownie Mixes because they got the best rating...you know, if you don't want to make brownies from scratch).
I'm really looking forward to trying a couple new twists on our Thanksgiving dinner. And maybe I'll have to try that Hot Fudge Pudding Cake...

Another baby shower cake

I think I need to charge more...November 3, 2009

Preschool

We're a little late starting. It is November after all. But most of Bree's little friends are in organized preschool at the local schools, so I didn't have any mom's to organize trade-off preschool with. Until Calan tested too advanced for his city's free preschool. Yay for being too smart! So now Bree has a preschool buddy, and Amy and I are taking turns teaching the kids on Mondays and Wednesdays for 2 hours. This Monday was our first day, when we learned about cows, A, 1, and squares. We read books about cows, colored pages of A and 1, cut squares out of play dough, and made pictures of cows by pasting white and black squares onto paper. I was impressed by these 3-year-olds' attention spans. They're both still hesitant when it comes to coloring and attempting to trace and write, but that will come with time as their confidence grows. And I'm having fun too! Now when people ask if Bree is in preschool, we can say yes. Bree really does get excited about learning, and loves playing with Calan, so it's a win-win.

Where'd you get their costumes?

Bree wanted to be a "pretty witch" for Halloween, so I figured I would make her costume so it would be exactly what she wanted, with the added bonus of it being sturdy enough to last. So I'm at the fabric store, looking at the costume material, which is all on sale, and I'm thinking I'm going to be a smart frugal mom doing the homemade costume thing. Oh no. I had to pick the most expensive material they had, and didn't realize how the yardage would add up until at the checkout. Oh well. I was really proud of how beautiful it turned out. And holy cow, was that hat difficult to make! On the up side, Mason's costume only cost me about $5, since my mom made the wig out of some craft fur, and I got the old clothes at Salvation Army for less than $1. So everyone loved Bree's beautiful dress, and when they asked me where I got it, I got to smile modestly and say, "I made it." (And hopefully she'll want to wear it again next year; I made it big enough on purpose!) But I have to say, that Mason got the majority of the smiles and laughs and "He is so cute," and "Did you see the little Frankenstein?"

Keeping the tradition alive

October 26th, 2009

Suckers for Story Time

I've started taking Bree to the preschool story time at the library every Wednesday, and she loves it. Today they had a Halloween party where everyone brought treats to share. Bree and I decided to make chocolate suckers with one of those Wilton candy mold kits. Bree really got into squeezing different colors of candy into the molds. And even though she was excited to share with her story time friends, she was very clear that one of the witch suckers was for her.

"Homemade" Honey Buns

I'm a big fan of donuts. I'm also a big fan of cinnamon rolls. When I saw a certain episode of "Unwrapped" (those evil food shows!) that unveiled the technique for making those honey buns that come prepackaged, I had a brilliant idea: just make up some cinnamon rolls, then instead of baking them, deep fry them! Genius! So okay, I took a major shortcut, and used Pillsbury cinnamon roll dough to test my idea. But I'm telling you, you have to try this if you want the best of both the donut and cinnamon roll worlds. Just heat the oil to 350-375 (if you don't have a thermometer, you'll have to do a test roll). Flatten the rolls so they'll cook all the way through. Getting the oil the right temp is the trickiest part: too hot and the outside is finished before the inside. Not hot enough and the roll will absorb too much oil. It's best to use a deep fat fryer. Oh, and be sure to mix up some extra frosting so you can coat the rolls on all sides. Sooooo yummy!