Finally! A (mostly) healthy snack!

Starboy pitched a fit when I said no to a second bowl of yogurt for lunch, but by sitting down with him and starting to snack, I totally suckered him into eating carrot and zucchini sticks with homemade organic ranch dressing from Deliciously Organic.

So, not a low dairy meal, but it's a start, for a finicky toddler.

Reading Roundup

Here are a few things I've been reading this week.

Could Antibiotics be a factor in childhood obesity? NPR (Aug. 22, 2012)

Memories Lost: A Son's Regret, the Atlantic (Aug. 21, 2012). A reminder to document your parents' stories to preserve your family history and their memories.

Simon Says Don't Use Flashcards, Well Blog / Tara Parker-Pope (Aug. 23, 2012)

Let's Have a Meeting, Roger Ebert's Journal (Aug. 24, 2012). Comments on Brevity.

What's Lurking in Your Water?, Natural Home and Garden magazine (Sept./Oct. 2012)

Reading Roundup

Here are some things I've been reading this week.

This is my favorite thing I've read in a long time: The Terrible Tragedy of the Healthy Eater. Northwest Edible Life (Aug. 1, 2012). A very hilarious snapshot of life right now.

LA City Hall has a breastfeeding room now. LA Daily News (Aug. 14, 2012)

The new book Bullied is out. It started here.

Gluten and why it makes you fat. (File under: I'm doomed.) Huffington Post. (Feb. 18, 2012)

Women are taking back natural birth in Brazil. MSNBC

GMOs and food safety. (File under: We're all doomed.) Deliciously Organic (Aug. 12, 2012)

Sherpas, K2 and a new book, "Buried in the Sky." Extraordinary rescue of a Sherpa by a Sherpa. The Madeleine Brand Show (Aug. 14, 2012)

Doodling improves information retention. Smashing Magazine (Aug. 3, 2012)

City of Needles sets world record for hottest rain: 115 degrees. Pete Thomas (Agu. 15, 2012)

Reading Roundup

Here are some things I've been reading lately.

• Silicon Valley says Step Away from the Device (July 23, 2012 / NYT). "The concern, voiced in conferences and in recent interviews with many top executives of technology companies, is that the lure of constant stimulation — the pervasive demand of pings, rings and updates — is creating a profound physical craving that can hurt productivity and personal interactions."

• "Overparenting lite" is a healthier way to go than "toxic overparenting," Madeline Levine says in the NYT opinion story Raising Successful Children (Aug. 4, 2012).

• Preschool Children Who can Pay Attention More Likely to Finish College (Science Daily, Aug. 6, 2012)

• Tinkerlab posted some great reads to spark your family's creativity.

• Audiobooks.com is a "Netflix" for audio books, written up in MacWorld a long while back.

And, file under "more alarmist food news" (AKA: Oh God, what can't we eat NOW?!):

• "Organic" is profit-making so of course large companies are grabbing pieces of it as fast as their hands can stuff their pockets. They're calling it "Big Organic," and there's a race to approve non-organic ingredients as okay for foods labeled as "organic." Read the (gross, but not surprising) story "Has Organic been Oversized?" (July 7, 2012) from the NYT here.

• Some olive oil is not olive oil (NYT). I'm late to this story, but thoroughly fed up with the deception in food labeling that we permit in our country. Related stories from non-news sources here and here—I haven't checked the research background of those related sites.

• Agave is not good for you, according to the Real Food Forager. Old news, new writeup.

• Starbucks has a lot of complicated, non-organic, processed, ingredients in its food, according to 100daysofrealfood.com. A LOT. The Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake reportedly has 75 ingredients. Michael Pollan wouldn't recommend it, I'd guess.

Hot weather meals

After making the mistake of boiling and processing jelly on the hottest day of the year so far, there was no way I was going to get involved in anything else like that for dinner. Not even pasta.

And considering all Starboy wants to eat these days is cheese, bread, O's and yogurt, you have to get creative around here.

May I present:

The turkey pinwheel.

Slices of turkey rolled with cream cheese and sliced. Presented as "party food." This likely would be prettier if it weren't 89 degrees in the kitchen. But A/C is expensive and the hot season is just beginning, so we're sucking it up a little here.

That wasn't enough for dinner though, so O's were requested. Then yogurt. Then a jam sandwich. "But no. turkey."

Enter the Hidden Turkey Cracker appetizer: Water crackers, whipped cream cheese, a thin slice of turkey, more cream cheese, jam.

He complained, but he ate it all, and some grapes.

And a juice ice pop. Man, is it hot today.

Tree Sandwiches

Starboy says these look like Christmas trees. I can't argue. This is a departure from our frequent triangle butterfly sandwiches, that often bring him to the table when he "isn't hungry."

Car Eggs revisited

I figured out a way easier way to make car eggs. Duh.

Pumpkin pancakes with (shhh!) spinach

One of the recipes I really like for Starboy — and it's great for adults, too — is for pumpkin pancakes with cornmeal. I hacked the recipe to include spinach, so it's an even better breakfast or snack for the choosy toddler. Auntie Optimist likes these, because they don't make her feel hyped up on sugar for the rest of the morning.

Starboy likes his with vanilla yogurt, and traditionally he stands in his tower and eats them at the counter "like a cookie" while I take on other kitchen tasks.

The best part is that they freeze well, so I make up a recipe or two, then freeze them for a future quick breakfast that's a little better than cereal. I store them between waxed paper, then place in a zipper bag or a plastic container.

Pumpkin Pancakes (with spinach)

adapted from The Toddler Bistro Box

this recipe does even better when the batter has a chance to soak for 15-60 minutes (or overnight), which softens the cornmeal

Sift together into a large bowl:

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1 pinch nutmeg

dash salt

Stir in:

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (I use canned)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp orange zest (can be left out but much better if left in)

1 egg

Mix in:

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup peeled apples finely chopped OR raisins OR walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup frozen organic chopped spinach (optional)

Use only 2-3 Tbsp of batter per pancake on a hot, buttered or oiled griddle. I use a cookie scooper.

Serve with:

Maple syrup, fresh fruit or vanilla yogurt.

Serves: About two adults and one or two kids. Make two recipes for four adults and three kids. Make three recipes for six adults and three kids.

Almost No-Knead bread

Good grief, is this recipe a disaster. So many raves about bread in five minutes a day, inspired by Jim Lahey's recipe from the NYT, and I want so much to be that family! Fresh bread! Nourishing through the creative artistry of your two, thoughtful hands!

I've tried this recipe only three or four times, with a mixed range of mediocre results. And nevermind that it takes me a full five or 10 minutes to figure out when to start the process in order to get bread by dinnertime, without doing any of the steps in the middle of the night. I found the recipe improved with two tablespoons of sugar added (not so granola, I know, but I was worried to try honey and the flavor is so lifeless without it).

This try was the best so far: the yeast responded, the dough was alive and playful, the finished loaf light and hollow with a pleasant tone. At every step it looked as it was described, except— it is very flat, yielding a thin slice and I have no idea why. Oh except I just realized this minute: Maybe if I used a smaller pot, I would get more of a boule that is taller than wide. Duh. I may be using an 8-qt dutch oven and that may be too big?

Also, there are so many air bubbles I wonder what else has gone awry in the process. I used to work with a guy who was big into bread baking—he had starters all over his tiny kitchen and living room, on top of the TV armoire—and he had a bread guru who advised him. After a successful loaf, my friend would scan in a slice of bread, and email it to the guru, who could tell him what should be adjusted in the process simply by the shape and placement of the air bubbles.

I'm glad that guru is not around to evaluate this loaf. I don't think I have time for the litany of advice he likely would offer.

Techman deemed it a success, however, and it has made for good snacking throughout the weekend with some almond butter or peanut butter, or as toast.

But I don't think it's half as easy or successful as Pioneer Woman's garlic bubble bread. I'm also very intrigued by this Irish soda bread recipe, which I discovered at about hour 20 of the 23-hour no-knead process. (They said it was no-knead, they didn't say it was quick.)

Veggie Fries - O Mag's Parmesan Zucchini Fries

Well, after yesterday's carrot fries, I definitely had to try the Parmesan Zucchini Fries in the same article of the latest O, The Oprah Magazine. Because: Parmesan, salt and dill, what's not to like? The results were incredible. (I can't find the recipes online, but I will update this post with links if I do.)

This one was a little more involved, but totally worth it.

Preheat the oven to 425˚. Cut 1 1/2 lbs zucchini into thick fries.

Now you're going to make up three dredging bowls of various mixtures. A pie pan works great, or a proper breading tray set, or, cereal bowls. From left to right:

Bowl one: 1/2 cup AP flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper

I used the rice flour I just got for the other recipe. Like I'm going to go through a whole box of rice flour this year? Hey and it's gluten free. Oh wait. But then you add breadcrumbs. Nevermind.

Bowl two: 3 large eggs, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, all whisked together.

Techman thought these were too salty overall, so you could leave out the salt here.

Bowl three: 1 1/2 cups Panko or plain breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 1 Tbsp chopped dill, 1/2 tsp salt.

I used freshly shredded parmesan here, and I'll be honest: It didn't go very far. I probably doubled it and a few fries at the end were a bit cold and naked. Ever since reading about cellulose in pre-shredded cheese at the grocery store, I've tried to shred my own. Despite the fact that I loathe the grater.

Also, I do not use Trader Joe's panko, because it has a weird consistency, sort of like....gravel. So I used regular breadcrumbs here.

So, you're going to dredge the zuke sticks in the bowls in order, 1,2,3. Try to drain the egg off in bowl two, or bowl three gets unruly pretty quickly.

Place the sticks on a baking sheet with new parchment (trimmed to size, to avoid a dinner date with your friendly, neighborhood fire brigade), keeping them from touching each other. Bake 15 minutes, rotate the trays, then bake 7-12 mins more.

These were DELICIOUS. And go to town eating them, because as soon as they cool they get sort of soft and mushy. They are slightly revived with re-baking, but this is definitely not a make ahead snack.

By the way, Starboy had utterly no interest in these whatsoever. I think he was afraid of the crunchy consistency. Ah well, more for me!

Parmesan Zucchini Fries

April 2012 • O, The Oprah Magazine

pg. 169

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs zucchini, trimmed and sliced into thick fries

Pie plate one, stir together:

1/2 cup AP flour (or rice flour)

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Pie plate two, whisk together:

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp kosher salt (optional)

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Pie plate three, stir together:

1 1/2 cups panko or plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated or freshly shredded Paremesan cheese

1 Tbsp chopped dill (optional)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425˚. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment, taking care to trim the excess draping over the side so it does not burn.

2. Set up your three pie plates as described above.

3. Working in batches, first dip zucchini sticks in flour, shaking off excess. Transfer to egg mixture and and toss until coated. Let excess egg run off , then coat zucchini in panko mixture.

4. Arrange sticks, without crowding, in a single layer on your prepared baking sheet. Bake 15 mins then rotate the pans. Continue to bak until panko coating is golden and crisp, 7-12 mins more.

Veggie Fries - O Mag's Carrot Fries

The latest issue of O, The Oprah Magazine arrived in my box this week, and pages 169 and 201 have a couple of — it turns out — delicious vegetable fries recipes. I tried the Parmesan Zucchini Fries, which were outstanding, and the carrot fries, which also were good and Starboy actually ate some. I can't find the recipes online, but I will update this post with links if I do.

See the how-to after the jump.

Car eggs

Every morning Starboy and I have the same conversation:

Starboy: "I want some Os. I want some Os wit milt."

I haven't mentioned this before, but Techman's side of the family runs a pretty serious cereal gene. It's a breakfast, it's a dinner, it's a dessert topping, it's a floor wax. They love their cereal. Starboy has been afflicted as well.

Mommy: "We can't have milk right now, with your snotty nose. How about some eggs?"

Starboy: Lets out wail, drops to knees, pounds floor, starts to cry.

Mommy: "Oh, you wanted some Os. That's disappointing, isn't it. Let's see what we can do. Let's have some eggs first and then some Os."

I always hope this will work. Usually he's so hungry that it does. Not always. Today I kicked it up a notch.

Mommy: "Would you like some car eggs?"

He perked up.

I mixed the usual concoction: one egg, basil, dill, salt, and as much spinach as I can fit in the egg and pass off as "seasoning."

I buttered the car cookie cutter, and poured the egg mixture in the buttered pan while holding it down on the pan.

Starboy climbed up into his tower to supervise.

A good portion of the egg snuck out the bottom. I tried to scrape it away while it was cooking, then I trimmed the rest with kitchen shears at the end. The scraps were presented as the "road."

Starboy ate the road then asked for the car to be cut up so he could eat it. I felt badly about doing it, though, and offered that, since it was a car, he could pick it up and eat it like a cookie.

He gobbled it.

Then asked for Os. "With no milt."

And toast. With jam.

And juice.

And more Os.

And then a third serving of Os. Growth spurt, much?

Delicious and Sturdy Garlic Rolls

These are my favorite rolls.

They are from the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen. I swear she had a tutorial. With real photos from a camera that allows lensing and actual depth of field. And maybe color-corrected lighting. But I can't find it. And God help you to try and get in and out of that site with a singular mission; it's almost as bad as Pinterest, with the options for wandering. So you're on your own, with this outline.

Maybe print the recipe out, first. So you can follow along. Or bring it up on your iPad so you can hold it next to your laptop while you contemplate your family's Waldorf simplicity, mixing quickly with the mixer rather than kneading by hand, which would cause issues with the pinching, scrolling and tracking.

'Cuz you're crunchy. That's why you read this blog. And maybe drink Coke.

Oh wait, that's me.

First, you should know, that recipe makes enough bread to feed an entire fire station. Actually, it makes twice that much, because I usually half the recipe and that's the amount we took down to our local station for their Thanksgiving dinner last fall. That's a serious amount of garlic goodness.

You can save the dough in the fridge all week, and make fresh rolls each night. But my 4 1/2 qt. stand mixer can't handle the whole recipe. (Note: Are you registering for a wedding? Replacing your old model? Get the 6 qt mixer. ) So I make half the recipe and bake it all. These rolls are sturdy. They'll last most of the week. If you can.

Also, I try to put a little whole wheat flour in the mix, so the bread is not total junk food. I've experimented with this, and I've found that the recipe can bear about 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour to 5 cups AP flour without getting gummy. I realize this isn't a health improvement so much as it's a rationalization. But we do what we can.

The dough will be shaggy when mixed. Make sure you take a spatula and turn the dough entirely upside-down in the bowl to get all of the dried flour off the bottom. Unincorporated flour makes nasty nubbies in the finished bread.

My ancient house is drafty and I have no counter space, so usually I turn the oven on for a couple of minutes, then turn it off, and then I let the dough rise in the oven. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid, or else the top will get all dried and crunchy and that does not make for nice bread. Trust me on that one. I've tried it both ways and the crusty top adds up to Bubble Roll Fail.

While the dough is rising, make the butter mixture. For the "seasonings," I use about 1/2 tsp. each of dried basil and oregano (remember this is for half the recipe, 6 1/2 cups of flour). I usually use salted butter, so I don't add the kosher salt. I also use 1/2 tsp. dried garlic, which is double the amount suggested. And, because this is what makes it the best. bread. ever., I add 1-2 tsp. chopped rosemary (fresh or dried).

Starboy is starting the butter here, but I forgot to make the beauty shot of the sauce.

After rising for two hours, the dough will smell yeasty, look springy and seem a bit alive. Remember the Valentine's Doughnut Fiasco? The problem was that dough didn't look anything like this.

Grab hunks and form golf balls.

Fill the pan with the dough balls that have been dipped in the butter mixture. If your balls are small enough, you might need a second baking dish (I use a glass pie pan). Dump the rest of the mixture on top, then sprinkle fresh parmesan on top before baking.

These are great with dinner, but they also are a fantastic snack sliced very thin, spread with peanut butter. They are not, as they say, a low-calorie food.

Here's the recipe again from The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen: Garlic Butter Crusty Bubble Bread.

Better Butter Battle - By Machine

This could be a stick of butter. But not yet.

It just takes shaking and agitation. And shaking. And shaking. And shaking. And shaking....And shaking. And shaking. Supposedly for 15 minutes. Or not. I shook some more. And more. Aaaand...a little more. More. And, more.

Here is minute 22.

Valentine Doughnut Double Fail

We have a new tradition of making doughnuts for Valentine's Day. Techman generally avoids the marketing of what I think he'd call a "faux" holiday, and there's little I can buy him, or make for him, or do for him that seems like a gift he would enjoy.

Except for doughnuts. Techman loves him some doughnuts.

Last year's picture of sheer doughnut beauty and delicacy.

So I was all set last Saturday to fry up some yeasty, sugared goodness, and after getting everyone excited for doughnuts, I mixed up the dough and read the instruction (cue horror movie crescendo): "Refrigerate dough for at least 8 hours, or overnight."

Well, crap.

Homemade "Bars"

Starboy loves him some Bars.

Trader Joe's sells them, "So This Blueberry Walks Into a Bar..." They look like granola bars, to fool us into thinking they are sort of healthy, but basically they are cookies. That's what he likes about them.

Starboy "helps" make the bars, by ransacking the utensil drawer and demanding the name and function of each item he finds.

I have an über-granola friend, whom I'll call Natural Mama for now, who found a great recipe online to make them at home. They are sweeter and tastier than the prepackaged ones. Natural Mama's source adapted the recipe from GroupRecipes (which has a lot of delicious variations if you search "fig bar," and good luck resisting if you try "fig goat cheese"), and I have a few tweaks on that version.

The great recipes are for fig bars, but personally I prefer a berry filling for both the sweetness and the consistency.

Homemade Jam Bars

similar to Trader Joe's soft cereal bars

slightly adapted from GroupRecipes and Cate's World Kitchen

makes about 20 cookies

FILLING

• about a pint of fresh berries, washed and chopped if large

OR

• about 1/2 bag frozen mixed berries

• 1/4 cup sugar

Cook berries and sugar together until they form a thick jam, stirring occasionally to avoid burning, about 20 mins.

Notes: If you're really in a "jam," you can use a good, farmer's market jam, or even a thick jam from a jar, rather than making your own. (See the links above for making authentic fig bars.)

WHEAT DOUGH

1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)

1 Tbsp milk (Natural Mama uses almond milk)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 cups white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350˚.

Cream butter in a stand mixer, then beat in the egg, vanilla and milk.

Gradually add the sugar and mix well. Add the flour, baking soda and salt, and stir until just combined. Divide the dough in half, as it's much easier to work with this way.

Working on a sheet of waxed paper, pat half the dough into a long, thin rectangle. Place another sheet of waxed paper on top, and roll until 1/8" thin or so.

Spread half of the jam filling along half of your rectangle (the long half), to the edges. Fold the unfilled side onto the filled side and press gently to seal.

Cut into 1" strips and place them on a Silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat steps with second half of dough.

Bake 15 mins at 350˚ or until just beginning to brown. I like them a bit crunchy.

Allow to cool fully before enjoying—jam filling can be incredibly hot, especially to little tongues!

Crepes!

For something a little different, we had breakfast for dinner the other night. I'd meant to make the crepes just for Starboy, but then it got late and they smelled sooo tasty.....that we ate the whole batch while they were hot.

I used this Williams-Sonoma recipe, substituting Trader Joe's Fig Butter for the fig jam. In this omelette pan, I ended up using 4 Tbsp of batter for each crepe, so we only got about 6 crepes out of the recipe. Oh, and since I started the whole project about 15 minutes before dinner time, I didn't let the batter rest for two hours as described. Sacré bleu!

I used a log of herbed chèvre instead of plain crumbled. I put the fig butter inside the crepe, since it wasn't going to be all that attractive to smear on the outside, and I didn't feel like going to the trouble to set up a squeeze bottle. Plus I wasn't sure how Starboy was going to react to weird brown sauce, since he has entered the Picky Toddler Eating Phase. The toaster oven was set on 200˚.

The flavor was pure perfection.

I have made this recipe in the past for a large crowd and it goes most smoothly if the crepes are prepared and stuffed in advance and then broiled just before guests sit down. I've found it takes about an hour to make the crepes for 12 people, and with delicate aromas like that, it's a pretty long hour for hungry bellies.

Yum!

A Thing of Beauty — Pull-apart Pumpkin Spice Bread

Oh, dear, sweet, sublime loaf of comfort and all things that are good in heaven and on earth.

The photo on Sunny Side Up was Pavlovian enough to put the recipe in the queue. The half-can of pumpkin puree, left over from pumpkin pancakes with added spinach earlier this week, moved it up to number one. Forgive me, as I hopped to Sunny Side Up via a different blog, and now I can't remember which one to give credit to. She found the recipe at Willow Bird Baking, and adapted it (even though Willow Bird adapted it from three other places. And so on....and so on....). I think the Willow Bird post has a bit more detail in it.

Tweaks to the recipe:

• I sifted together 1 cup of white whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups white flour (no cake flour). The bread isn't maybe as light and springy as a result, but the tradeoff is adequate in my opinion.

• I tried the vanilla in the glaze (I don't think we have any rum), and it struck me that a bit of maple syrup in place of some of the sugar might be a nice holiday touch. Um, so would rum.

• I used a mixer with a dough hook, so kneading time is about 4 min.

• Lord help you, if you use the last of your milk in the recipe. You're going to need a tall cold glass of it to chase that sugary goodness.

Eggciting Snack

I am fascinated with Bento Boxes — insanely over-produced meals of beauty. I don't know what parent has time to create these every morning. But I feel like there still are some small things we can do to make fun lunches and snacks.

I picked up an egg shaper on Amazon, and we tried it for our snack this morning. Big hit!

Place peeled, boiled eggs in the molds while still hot.

Squeeze shut. I guess you need a small egg for it to completely fit in?

Soak the mold in cold water for 10 minutes.

Pop open and trim excess with a sharp knife.

SO. CUTE!

(The camera wouldn't focus on the eggs! Sorry!)

Enjoy!