Cooking/Baking – Page 2 – Butterbees and Bumbleflies

STEAM Celery

Today I wanted to share some ideas for you using something that might already be in your fridge!! (Also be sure to visit my post about Bell Pepper shamrocks for another idea of a way to use bell peppers.)

If you’re like us, I buy celery for a specific recipe, and then the rest of it just sorta sits there until I throw it out. We aren’t big fans of eating raw celery like some folks are. (If you are fans of it, please, don’t consider this blasphemous. HA!) So, I saw somewhere (sorry, I don’t still have the original link) about painting with celery, and I thought that looked fun. But I also have done celery science with students in the past, so I thought that would be cool too. So, we tried both things, and I thought I’d share with you these ideas in conjunction with always trying to share a lot of STEAM ideas for you, and give you some ideas to use up what’s already in your kitchen in new and different ways! 🙂

Celery Science is as simple as just cutting some stalks of celery and sticking them in water you have colored with food coloring! It’s a great way to teach about capillary action, and how plants absorb water. If you split the bottoms of the celery stalks, the water climbs faster than if you don’t – so that also makes a great experiment. It’s most fun to watch the leaves change color, so this is a great use of the leafy part of the celery if you aren’t using it in a salad. (Did you know celery leaves add a great flavor and lots of vitamins to your salad without the stringy yuck of the rest of the celery plant? The leaves are also great to chop up like an herb and add to soups and stews!) Be sure that you allow a couple of days for your science project so that your little scientist can watch over time and really see how much gets absorbed into the plant.

Another fabulous use for the other end of your celery is as a stamp for painting! Use a strong rubber band to hold the stalks together for those smaller hands to be able to hold on and grip the stamp. They make beautiful flowers, or cover the whole page using several different colors for some fabulous texture… this would make an awesome background sheet for your 2016 calendar!

Do you have another idea on how to use celery in a creative way? Please share in the comments!!

Recipe for a Successful Homemaker (of either gender)

I recently read this article from the Wall Street Journal (please go read it!!!) discussing how children today have fewer chores, and fewer kids are even doing them at all. Really?!?! Wow. Talk about growing an entitled society. So, I’m taking a break from traditional recipe sharing for my Kids in the Kitchen segment, and spending today talking about how to bake a successful homemaker (of either gender).

Let’s face it – no matter what their future careers, our daughters and sons are going to own homes (or rent them) and they’re going to have a kitchen. They are most likely going to have offspring that need to consume food, and if not, they themselves will need to know not only how to prepare that food, but how to get it to the table, and how to get it off of the table.

Chores are not only a part of being in a family and “helping” or “being a helper”, but they are also part of LIFE – an important life skill that we MUST be teaching our kids! As soon as they can start helping to clean up, they should learn to pick up after themselves. Seriously, moms – WHY ARE YOU CLEANING ALL THE TOYS? Typically when we clean up a room, I size things up real quick and I pick one or two areas that I need Becca to clean up, while I do the rest. I don’t expect her to clean up an entire whirlwind of playthings. Not yet. However, I am starting to have her help clean up even when the entire mess was made by baby brother. Because that’s part of being in a family. We help each other. He’s not able to clean up his toys yet. So she can help him AND me by assisting in cleanup.

But I digressed. I stepped out of the kitchen for a moment. So let’s get back into it. Here’s a list of things that Becca is doing at 2 1/2 to help with chores. (And please keep in mind that when it comes to physical abilities, she is right on track with her age, so ANY 2 1/2 year old should be able to do these things to help!!!)

-Set the table (paper plates at each place, and a fork and napkin there too.)
-Help put items on the table for dinner (butter dish, bread, salad, dressing, etc – non-hot items.)
-Throw away trash when dinner is done (we consolidate any of the paper plates/napkins/etc, and she takes all of them to the trash and throws away.)
-Put plastic bowls and all silverware/plastic ware in the sink (she takes her bowl from her applesauce, and her brother’s bowl and tosses them in the sink – keep in mind, if your child is a little too short, you can aid in this process by leaving a step stool close to the sink that they could pull over to step on.)
-Take out the recycling (she loves to help take out the recycling to our central collection box in the garage. Sometimes we have enough that I help her carry it out, or I go and open the door for her because her hands are full.)
-Help put clean dishes away (the plastic storage containers are in a drawer she can easily access, as are the kid cups/plates/spoons/etc, so when I do the dishes, I set those items aside for her to put away. Very soon I’m going to have her start sorting the silverware to put away – I’ll have to pull the steak knives out.)

Here’s our kid drawer – with easy access for Becca to put items away, or get them out.

I see her gaining confidence in the kitchen, and definitely taking ownership in the processes that she goes through to help. As the kids get older, and she can do more detailed tasks, Grayson will take over these more basic things. It’s very important that both females AND males have active roles in chores in all parts of the home. So if you think that chores are a thing of the past that you hated doing and don’t want your kids to have to “suffer” through, well, you’ve got another think coming. Let’s put it this way – if you don’t delegate some chores to your kids, not only will you have to do all of them for the rest of forever, you’re going to be raising kids who don’t know how to take care of their own basic life needs… and setting them up to FAIL – MISERABLY!

So – let’s ALL get our kids to be helpers in the kitchen! And please, don’t pay your 2 1/2 year old for helping. Part of being a member of a family is to help. He/She isn’t mowing the lawn for you so that you don’t have to, he/she is simply learning how to function as a member of a family. You don’t get paid cash for kitchen service – you get paid in life experience!

Stepping down off my soap box now…

Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I apologize, but today’s post is a bit short. After being sick several days, I’m behind on pre-posting, and still trying to re-coop…

These cookies are so so so heavenly! All I did to modify the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction (found here) was we used white chocolate chips instead of regular chocolate chips. 🙂 SUPER easy cookies and super super moist and yummy. We’ll definitely be making them again – SOON! They were awesome for getting Becca to help because they came together super quick.

Strawberry Bread

Kids in the Kitchen is back! All this month, in my Tuesday Mini-Series, I will be sharing ideas, recipes, and tips for getting your kids more involved in the kitchen! I absolutely love to cook and bake, and it’s so fun to see that love of being in the kitchen rub off on Becca! She is really starting to ask more and more to help and be involved in the inner workings of what goes on in the kitchen.

Today, I’ll be sharing one of my favorite recipes with you – and I’d love to encourage you. I know that it’s SO SO hard to be patient enough to bring your preschooler into the kitchen and allow him or her to help. Boy, do I ever know how hard that is. I am learning daily how little patience I have. But, I’m also learning how to best communicate my frustrations to Becca, and we’re learning together how to work together and co-exist in a meaningful way. So – don’t hesitate to CARVE OUT TIME to make that special item TOGETHER instead of just whipping it up yourself. And this recipe today is one that they’ll be so proud they helped with!

I found the recipe originally from Jam Hands, as a pin on Pinterest.
If you want to try any of the fabulous Pinterest recipes I’ve tried, you can check them out here:

I’ve made it several times, but never allowed Becca to help. She was in a huge strawberry eating phase (which has now passed by the time I’m typing this post… by the time it actually posts on the blog next week, she may be back in it… fickle!), so I decided I’d let her help. I’m so glad I did! We had so much fun!

She enjoyed helping me cut the tops off of the strawberries, which is something I would NOT have let her do if she didn’t have this “My Safe Cutter” (from Pampered Chef – not an affiliate link, but this is the website of a dear friend, and she would certainly appreciate your order.) With it, she is able to begin the fine motor practice of how to hold a knife, and can use it to saw small fruits and veggies into pieces. For a child who struggles with many fine motor skills, it’s the perfect tool to allow her to SAFELY help, and to get that fine motor practice she needs. If you are looking to get your preschooler involved in the kitchen, no matter their level of fine motor abilities, I highly suggest this $4.75 purchase!!!

Then, after we got the strawberries cut, I would measure the ingredients and she would pour them into the bowl. She’s learning how to use her “strong hand” to pour, and her “helper hand” to steady the cup she’s pouring from. (Looking for ideas to help your lefty? Check out this post I did on Supporting your Lefty.) She has also learned how to keep her hands back from the mixer as it processes so that she doesn’t get hurt. She loves watching the mixer, and is doing a really great job of hanging onto her Kitchen Helper (aff link, thank you!) to keep her hands busy so she doesn’t forget and reach into the bowl. (Please note – Cody custom built our Kitchen Helper, but the link here is to one that is somewhat similar if you are interested in simply purchasing one instead of building your own. 🙂

Here’s the recipe as we made it (I have also made it with half strawberries and half blueberries, and it’s excellent that way.):

Strawberry Bread

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups fresh strawberries

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl.
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in another bowl.
5. Mix 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the wet.
6. Mix 1/2 of the sour cream into the wet ingredients.
7. Mix 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the wet.
8. Mix the remaining sour cream into the wet ingredients.
9. Mix the remaining dry ingredients into the wet.
10. Mix in the strawberries.
11. Pour the batter into a greased pans (I use mini loaf pans to make four loaves – you could make one large loaf in a 9×5 if you wanted).
12. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until golden brown and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes for a 9×5, or check around 40 mins for four mini loaves.

Baby Food Tips for Busy Moms… from a Busy Mom

Ok, so I had a friend recently ask me how on Earth I have time to make baby food for Grayson. Well, to be perfectly honest, it’s HARD. Really hard. With Becca, it seemed I had endless time while she slept to do anything I wanted. (Well, maybe not really, but let’s put it this way – I didn’t know how to appreciate the time I had.) Now, with two kids who occasionally are napping at the same time, I really struggle to find time to get everything done. My friend has three kids, and she’s really dealing with that pull of always a child who needs her.

Another thing that’s different this time around that I have noticed is that this boy can eat. I mean, big time. Eat. Or, he can be finicky and just want his bottle. I never know what to expect or how much food to prepare. Which is really frustrating. And, there is that little fact that as soon as he starts smelling anyone else’s food, he starts to moan, wail, groan, cry, and make all sorts of frustrated noises – at the top of his lungs – until he is fed. Ugh. Love the boy, don’t love his volume.

So here’s what I do. It’s not the best. It’s not fool proof, but it seems to work ok for our family and the time constraints I’m faced with.

Veggies
Veggies are best purchased in frozen form. Here’s why – as a busy mom, you don’t really have time to spend HOURS making up huge batches of baby food, steaming them fresh and all that junk. Don’t we all wish we had those hours back? Yeah. Anyway, so buy frozen. They are always flash frozen fresh, and you won’t have spoilage because you haven’t gotten time to pull out your produce and do something with it. Also, you can pull out just a handful of frozen peas and stick them in a little bowl with some water, cover with clear-wrap, and zap them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Amazing – steamed peas in 30 seconds! Then whip out a fork, mash them up, pour in a little store-bought unsweetened applesauce (see my section below on what to buy pre-made), and there you go – instant meal.

If you’re gonna have a little bit more time, and have a teether on your hands, a great idea is to get a small bag of baby carrots, rinse, then steam them up whole (about 25 minutes). Put about 3/4 of them in a freezer bag and freeze (you don’t want them to go bad on you before baby eats them!), and stick the rest in a ziploc in the fridge. Then when you need them, heat 2 or 3 on a little plate for 20 seconds in the microwave, and you’re ready to go! They should be soft, but still have a little firmness to them so they are easy to hang onto. Or, you can also take your fork to those and mash them up for spoon feeding.

Fruits
Fruits are so easy. Seriously. If you have any sort of a blender at home, buy a box of strawberries, rinse, cut off the tops, and throw them all in. Puree them up, and stick most of the puree in the freezer. Save a little for fresh mix-ins with veggies or oatmeal within the next few days. Same thing with pears, apples, blueberries – any other fruit can just be used fresh. No need to take time to steam.

Or, if fresh fruit is again hard for you to find time to process, there are a fabulous selection of frozen fruits at your store – and any item that is frozen fresh is likely frozen fresher than what you can buy at your store, and maybe cheaper – I have a HUGE bag of frozen peaches in my freezer that I pull from frequently. Just put on the counter with clear-wrap over top and let them thaw out over the course of the day, and then blend up. Or, if you’re in a hurry, microwave them with clear-wrap on top – they don’t even need any water added!

Note: if you freeze pureed blueberries, they do weird things when they thaw out, so make sure you freeze them alone, NOT with other items.

Also note: If you have a mix that is too runny (for example, pears and strawberries together is really runny, and blueberries turn to water), adding banana will help thicken it up – pureed banana becomes thick when refrigerated. Your puree will turn dark, but no worries!! It still tastes just the same, and freezes great.

When is it worth it to just buy pre-made?
As I mentioned before, I buy store bought applesauce. I love making homemade applesauce, but I just don’t have the time to do all that all the time. Since my store brand applesauce is very affordable and is truly only apples and ascorbic acid (to retain color), we go through a jar a week. Our kids eat a ton of applesauce. It’s much more affordable for me to buy it pre-made – not only b/c of the cost, but b/c of the time.

I also buy pre-canned pumpkin. I would love to serve my kids fresh pumpkin, but 1) we don’t have fresh pumpkin available at our store year round and 2) this Mommy ain’t go time for all that! Our store sells a brand of pumpkin that the only ingredient is “pureed pumpkin,” so that’s what I buy. Grayson loves it. And when I don’t have time for any steaming of veggies, I pop open a can, scoop out some pumpkin, and mix it with some of that fruit I’ve pureed. Takes two seconds, and it’s a healthy addition of a veggie to his diet.

Hopefully these tips have helped! And, as for that busy Mommy? Well, my “me” time for blogging is over for today! But please let me know if you have any questions about making your own baby food! It’s truly a much more affordable and HEALTHY way for your kids to be eating. (Have you ever read the labels on some of the baby foods out there? They add a lot of junk…oh, and… some babyfood pouches might say on the front what’s in them… always read the labels. I recently had to buy some pouches when we were on a trip out of town and I didn’t have enough – again with the big eater – and got back to the house to find that one of the pouches had onion in it… not really something I was ready to feed my 7 month old, even though he was eating the veggies that were advertised on the front of the pouch. ALWAYS READ THE LABELS if you aren’t the one making it.)