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Showing posts with label creative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative. Show all posts

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Lots of Creative Cooking and a bit of Gardening

Paper Maché Part I

This morning C Monster and I had some fun ripping up a bunch of paper ( the paper is one month worth of junk mail - I think it is sad that it only took one month to accumulate this much unwanted mail). Sometime in the next few days we will use these strips of paper to make some paper maché car garages and tunnels for C Monster to play with.

















Cassava Peanut Butter Cookies

So we have had a box of Cassava Crackers for over a year now and wont eat them because well we don't like them. I decided to get creative and try to make something out of them - I remembered making crumb cookies almost a year ago when we had enough bread crumbs to leave a trail from here to Florida. ( I am in Canada) I figured I could alter it some and make cookies with the Cassava Crackers - and guess what it worked. These are not my favorite PB cookies (well my favorite recipie for PB cookies comes from a pastry chef so what do you expect) but I would give them a strong 3.5 out of 5 stars and C Monster seems to love them.

The recipe used for inspiration was Bread Crumb Cookie by Thrifty Fun. Below is the new ingredient list the basic direction to make the cookies stayed the same.
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/4 cup unbleached flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/3 cup raw cocoa nibs
  • 1 1/4 cups panela (or brown sugar)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 2/3 cup canola oil
  • 2 cups cassava cracker crumbs (place crackers in food processor)
  • 2/3 cups peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup quick cook oats
Beets; Beets; Beets

In our food box this week we had some beets; while reading TasteSpotting I stumbled on a beet chip recipe that I wanted to try. C Monster refuses to eat beets - I though maybe if they were a little more fun he might try them. I was right he gobble a handful up before bedtime.

The recipe calls for simple syrup and I also had a jar of this left over from making candied grapefruit peels - so it was perfect.

After I was done all the beets I collected the remaining simple syrup now turned red from the beets and made some lemonade with it. (Some very pink lemonade).

1 1/2 cup simple syrup - or to taste
1 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)
Mix all ingredients in a large pitcher; serve chilled.



Garden Prep

This week has been so nice with everyday above 15. Today was no exception so C Monster and I went out back in the afternoon for a few hours he played and I did some work. Then he helped me with some work on prepping the yard for a vegetable garden. This year we are expanding with an additional row along our neighbors fence here we will plant soy beans and lettuce.

I am so excited my soy bean seeds arrived today. We ordered them from West Coast Seeds; soy bean seeds seem to be hard to find despite the fact that is started from seedling they will grow wonderfully in Canada (at least that is what I am told) - On the agenda for tomorrow with C Monster is planting the seeds in seedling pots. It's the first time I ordered anything from West Coast Seeds; I am sure they are fine but will let you know in a few weeks when they sprout.


Looking Forward To

To Saturday morning and working on my LLLC Leader application.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

tiger, cupcakes, tea and bye bye race track

TIGER
Every Thursday we go to Sports Ball, today was no different. I have to say the C Monster impresses me every time with his athletic skills. At the end of each class the coach gives each kid a sticker - C Monster got a sticker of Tiger. He can now say "Tiger" thanks to this and frequently made sure Tiger was still on his hand all day long. See this is were coach had put the sticker on his little hand. Around supper time Tiger fell off and we could not find him C Monster had a fit. Suprisingly to me all I had to do to calm him down is tell him "Tiger missed his family and had to return to the jungle" to witch he replied "Tiger bye bye Ricky" Ricky is his coach.

CUPCAKES
They are completed 30 vanilla cupcakes all cooling waiting to be iced tomorrow. I make this great recipe that does not call for eggs that way if C Monster wants to help I don't need to worry about him eating the batter - because well he always does. The recipe is an adaptation of the "Golden Vanilla Cupcakes" found in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.

1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

bake at 350 for 22 minutes

Make sure to tune in tomorrow I will try to post a picture of them all iced up and decorated - you don't want to miss it.

TEA
Tea is because well as I am typing this I am enjoying a fantastic tea from The Tea Emporium called Sencha Kiwi Garden.

BYE BYE RACE TRACK
About a week ago I made this super cool race track for C Monster on the living room floor using green painters tape and markers. I wanted to see if he would enjoy following roads with his little cars before investing in a play mat. Also well I just needed something to distract him one day. the reason why this is called BYE BYE RACE TRACK is that we pealed it off the floor today, I was scared if we left it there too long the tape would not come off properly.