Avocado Sandwich Spread or Dip

I am not going to call this an egg free substitute for mayonnaise, because you couldn't really use it to replace mayonnaise in recipes. It does make a very tasty sandwich spread though. So in our house we will be using it as an egg free, soy free mayo/ranch alternative. It also works great as a dip. This isn't so much of an actual recipe as a, "here is a vague outline of what I did, with some pictures and witty banter thrown in". So now go out there and adjust it to your own taste preferences and dietary restrictions.:)

The only downside to this is that avocado turns brown and I didn't add enough lemon juice to prevent it. If you make this, you have to use it quickly, or you have to get over that lovely shade of greenish brown (that always reminds me of Linda Blair) being on your sandwich or quesadilla.

All I did was throw 2 tbs of yogurt, two avocados (washed, peeled, pitted) and the juice of one lemon into the food processor. Then I added ranch dressing mix to taste. I've found packets of ranch dressing mix on the shelves that my met our dietary restrictions before, however....I did not love them. I wanted to...believe me, but it was just not meant to be. Try making your own, you can adjust the sodium, spices, and there are even dairy free recipes out there.

This made it's way into the kids muffin tin snacks the other day, check it out....

The theme was "A". A is for apple slices, avocado dip, and ants on a log. The kids gobbled this whole tray up in no time flat. I got the idea for serving it in a muffin tin over here, at Mama to 4 blessings, our homeschool blog.

Might I also suggest you try it on a veggie burger....good stuff!

Chocolate Covered Berry Cake In A Mug

My husband said I should name this "lawlberry chocolate cake", because I used Olallieberry preserves. I think we may actually call this "lawl cake" at home, however....should you not be a pack of sci-fi loving, gaming on a Friday nighting, never got a date to a real prom sort of person (speaking of which this cake would have been perfect for my prom night as it serves one), you can call it something else.

I used Olallieberry Preserves from Linn's Fruit Bin for this cake....what's that? You've never heard of Olallieberry? How sad for you! I grew up on them, Olallieberries are kind of like a blackberry, maybe a smidgen tarter, very excellent. Especially in pie...mmmmm....lawlberry pie. Well since I couldn't bring home a pie from California, I brought home these preserves. They are tart and fruity. Not too sweet. And eating them on toast, or in this cake, reminds me of my childhood.

The preserves have seeds. So if you don't like the idea of a seedy dessert feel free to use seedless raspberry or strawberry as they would also provide a hint of berry flavor. If you feel like being really fancy, mix up the batter in a separate bowl, pour half into the mug. Then add a tsp of preserves, a tbs of chocolate chips and then the other half of the batter. If you are making a vegan version of this cake make sure your chocolate chips are vegan...and use rice milk...huh duh.


Lawl Cake in a mug....

5 tbs flour
4 tbs sugar
2 tbs cocoa powder
3 tbs oil
3 tbs milk (rice, soy, almond...whatever you have)
3 tbs Olallieberry preserves
4 tbs chocolate chips

Mix together the flour, sugar and cocoa powder in a large mug.

Stir in the wet ingredients, mix thoroughly.

Stir in the chocolate chips

Microwave for three minutes.

Let cool

Eat

Hate me for telling you how to make a cake in less than five minutes. :)

This was received well by all, gooey and chocolaty with a hint of berry flavor, and without any thing to make my dear son turn red and puff up like a blow fish. Success! It is nice to be able to make a cake and not have a whole cake just sitting there....taunting ...and teasing. And even though this is supposed to be one serving, we all made and shared just one cake in a mug. A nice treat on a day when it is definitely too hot to be turning on the oven.

I feel I should also note, I am not being paid or compensated by Linn's fruit bin or any of the products I've reviewed thus far. It's just a brand that I really like....and should they happen to want to send me oodles of yummy goodies I wouldn't turn them down. However, as of this point that has not happened.

What sort of flavors remind you of your childhood or your hometown?

Egg Free Pumpkin Spice Waffles with Maple Yogurt Dipping Sauce

I'm a big fan of yogurt. I eat it every day. Sometimes as a breakfast food, other times I mix it into sauces, dips, desserts or use it as a garnish. You should never feel like you have to sit down and eat an entire bowl of yogurt to reap it's benefits, and neither should your kids. Even though my kids eat yogurt by itself, I still work it into their food other ways. It's packed with protein and probiotics that I feel good about giving them. This dipping sauce would also be fantastic with french toast, apple wedges, or even just licked off of the plate....as my son did. Seriously though if you saw how cute he was you would understand why I let him get away with it. While this is a great dish for toddlers, I feel I should note that you should never give maple syrup to your child before the age of one.

Here is the recipe for my pumpkin spice waffles.

And here is the recipe for maple yogurt dipping sauce

2/3 cups organic vanilla yogurt
2 tbs maple syrup
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Just mix it all together and have at it.

Simple Meals and Chili Ten Ways

I went to the farmers market this weekend and picked up some produce along with a lovely ciabatta bread. I brushed it with a mixture of melted butter, crushed garlic, and cayenne pepper, then sprinkled it with parmesean cheese and toasted it in the toaster oven. So simple, so good. White bread is a sometimes food...... but if I'm going to eat it, it might as well have butter and garlic on it.



I served it up with a spinach salad, topped with strawberries, feta cheese, and a light vinaigrette.

Chili Ten Ways
brought to you by Bubba Mc chompsandcries

Among my finds at the market were bell peppers, and zucchini. Perfect for a vegetarian chili, which turned out to be just the right thing to make this week. You see, my son at his best will eat a wide variety of foods, with his favorites being beans, rice, and yogurt. At his worst however he narrows down the foods he will eat into two groups, chili.........and things he will tolerate if mixed with chili. And this week he has been sick, and teething. So in my effort to get him to eat a variety of foods I have come up with ten ways to serve chili. This will work well if you also have a toddler who refuses to eat anything but chili....or possibly also if you just have a bunch of leftover chili, which is the more likely scenario out of the two. You can serve chili....

1.) Topped with cheese, sour cream, avocado, and crushed tortilla chips.

2.) On a baked potato.

3.) Over nachos.

4.) As enchilada filling.

5.) In redneck casserole. That's chili in a casserole dish topped with tots, baked, and then sprinkled with cheese.

6.) Mixed in with spaghetti sauce.

7.) Mixed in with mac and cheese.

8.) Over rice.

9.) As the filling for a shepherds pie sort of dish. Chili, topped with mashed potatoes and baked.

10.) On a grilled cheese sandwich.

There you have it, not gourmet, not revolutionary, and most of these recipes involve potatoes.....I just noticed that. However, I never said I was a chef. Just a mom out to prove that you can eat well on a budget.

Pizza on Chapati Bread

I have a busy week coming up. That has nothing to do with this pizza, but I thought I'd throw it out there. Quite possibly you will see less of me, also quite possibly due to being wired on adrenaline you will see much more of me because I will wake up much earlier/stay up much later than I really should. If that is the case you may also find me in a corner blubbering near the end of the week, with a broom in one hand and a to do list in the other.....corner blubbering after the children are in bed is my usual method of coping when I take on much more than I should.

Ok, so maybe I was wrong...I can figure out one way my crowded schedule has to do with this pizza. This meal is much quicker to throw together than traditional pizza, and now that I have all the ingredients on hand (I made extra chapati) not only can I have pizza in minutes, but most of the toppings are excellent on salad, so I can work my way through the big tub o' organic baby spinach I have in the fridge for quick lunches. I may even throw some spinach on the pizza today for my lunch...mmmmm.....lunch.

Chapati is a whole wheat flat bread. I first discovered it in an Indian cookbook. It doesn't come out like naan, it is thinner and crispy, more like a tortilla. I thought it worked perfectly as a thin crust pizza, and I will definitely remember this pizza in the summer months when it is too hot to turn the oven on! It is also super cheap to make because it is basically whole wheat flour, salt, and water. If you look up chapati recipes you may find some that also use white flour, heated water, I even found one that used potatoes, but I like the simplicity of ingredients in this recipe. I used olive oil for mine because my little ones need the fat and calories it provides, however I don't believe oil is traditional......I could be wrong though...

Chapati is also a great recipe for kids (not the frying part), because it involves mixing, stirring, and rolling. And when served as pizza kiddos have a grand time picking out their toppings.


Chapati
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup water
2 tbs olive oil

Stir the flour and salt together in a bowl. Add the water all at once, and mix it in thoroughly. Add olive oil until the dough can be easily shaped into balls (took me about 2 tbs). Divide dough into four pieces and shape those pieces into balls. Roll them flat and cook in a HOT skillet one at a time, turning once. It is important not to grease the skillet or add oil, these are cooked in a dry skillet. If you wish, you may brush them with melted butter once they are done cooking.

They have so many applications, cut into triangles and dip into hummus, use in place of naan with curry, eat plain brushed with butter, or even as pizza. I melted some butter, and mixed in cumin, cayenne and minced garlic. I brushed the butter mixture on top of the chapati, and added diced red onion, feta and olives. I heated my pizza in the toaster oven, but the hubster and I both agreed this would also be good without the toaster oven bit.....of course you would have to like onions as much as we do. :)

Vegan Black Bean Cornbread, a Lesson in Perseverance, and Not So Vegan Butter

I can't remember where I got the idea for this from, I've googled away most of nap time to no avail....sigh. I can tell you that this is a great recipe for the kiddos, because it is basically measuring pouring and stirring. I love baking vegan goods with my three year old, because she gets the satisfaction of licking the spoon, and I don't have to worry about food poisoning. Also it works with most cornbread mixes and recipes that I have tried, so feel free to use your own favorite mix. I was just tired and reached for the nearest box.

The dry stuff:
1 box, bag, recipe, cornbread mix....except I think that Jiffy uses lard...so probably not them
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp Chili powder
1/4 tsp creole seasoning
Dash o' cayenne

The "secret" ingredient:
1 can of Amy's black bean soup

Mix together all of the dry ingredients, and stir in the soup. At this point you can actually taste the batter, and adjust the seasonings to your taste. I would have used more cayenne, if not for my kids. Pour into a greased muffin pan and bake @ 375...mine took about 25 minutes, however my oven is 20 years old. I am guessing it might take 15-20 minutes in a newer oven.

Learning with butter....because everything is better with butter

What you'll need
1 somewhat attentive three year old
heavy whipping cream
1 small Tupperware or other food container with a tight fitting lid

First we practiced saying perseverance. Next I explained that perseverance is when you keep on doing something, even when it gets tough, or takes longer than you thought it would. Then I explained how we were going to make butter out of heavy cream. We filled our Tupperware 2/3 of the way with cream, and she shook it until the slosh sloshing of cream turned into the thud thud splashing of butter in buttermilk. It all took about ten minutes, the cream will get thicker and thicker, until the solids separate from the liquid and you will have some buttery stuff surrounded by a watery mess.
She persevered, and was rewarded with muffins and butter that she had made (almost) all by herself. I wish you could have seen the sparkle in her eyes when she presented her dish to the hubster, priceless. Alternatively this lesson can be adapted for a group of children by letting them each take a turn shaking, and explaining the benefits of team work and taking turns.

Make it Pink

We don't like to use red dye 40 in our house.........we also don't like lawsuits, so I will leave it at that. Unfortunately DD's favorite color is pink, not only that but if you ask her what her favorite food is she will smile and say "Pink!" (ok so she doesn't so much say it as she throws her hands in the air and sings it).....sigh. To top it off she has asked for a pink princess party for her birthday. Luckily beet juice makes a fantastically sickening pink hue when added to frosting.

With Valentines day coming up I thought it might be fun to post some of these pink treats.

Pink Fizzy Drink

DD is allergic to sulfites, this means no juice (among other things). If she weren't I would probably just serve a mixture of cranberry juice and seltzer water and call it good....but then I wouldn't have thought of this drink.

2 small scoops of raspberry sorbet
6 oz seltzer water

Scoop the sorbet into a cup and pour the seltzer water over it. The sorbet turns the drink pink, and gives it a delightful refreshing fruity flavor.

Pink Fruity Flower Toast

This is another sweet treat, it can be made even more simple by using no sugar added strawberry jam....but I really like the chunks of fruit, so we make it from scratch. :)

1 box strawberries
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
Juice of one lemon
water
Cream cheese

Chop the strawberries into small pieces and heat in a sauce pan on medium low with water (a very little bit like maybe 1/4 cup if that), lemon juice, and sugar, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile toast bread and cut with flower (or heart) shaped cookie cutters. Once the strawberry mixture has reduced and is all gooey and sweet and tangy remove it from heat and stir in the cream cheese. Spread this on your flower toasts. If it is too watery you can let it set in the fridge before using.....I know, I know, the picture is not a flower...and it also does not make you want to eat, but it works on toddlers...so, you know, give me a break.

Beyond these two treats beet juice can be added to things that are not going to be cooked* to create a fantabulous pink hue.

*Hummus, sour cream, yogurt, frosting, and mashed potatoes just to name a few.