Cooking
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A Different Kind of Chip
Potato chips are awesome. A crunchy Cape Cod chip, onion dip, a chick flick and I’m smiling. I was hesitant when I first saw these kale chips. Kale was the dark leafy lettuce looking stuff I never touched at the grocery store. I remembered reading how much parrots love to eat it. Kale chips? I wasn’t so sure. Then I took a bite. Yum! If you want to cut calories and still crave a crunch – try kale chips. Turn your oven to 275 degrees. If your oven is twelve years old then you’ll have to turn it to 300-ish degrees and cross your fingers. Welcome to my world. Spread the kale on a baking sheet and drizzle…
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Easter Cake or Osterfladen Mit Reis
Easter Cake or Osterfladen Mit Reis I was sent a recipe from a friend in Switzerland. She said she makes Osterfladen mit Reis every Easter. I learned enough German in high school to understand mit reis meant – with rice. I figured I’d give it a try. And then I asked her what a vanilla bean is. Yeah, I’ve only ever used vanilla extract. I guess that’s what happens when you eat the same foods for years and years. After waking at five and teaching all day, I found myself standing in the grocery aisle wondering just what type of filo dough to buy and how many ounces were equal to 250 grams of milk. I knew I was…
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels: Surprise! I’m posting two treats in one day and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that today is the last day of the month and I’m trying to reach the readership goal I set for myself with the blog. Nope, not at all. My chocolate covered pretzels were a big hit at the kids Halloween party so I made some for spring. I happened to have the peanut butter jar nearby which got me thinking. What if I covered the pretzel in peanut butter and then dipped it in chocolate? Wow! Why didn’t I think of that before? They were awesome! The pretzels are…
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Cute Easter Treat
Cute Easter Treat: No Bake-Ums Cookie Nests with Chocolate Eggs My grandmother’s recipe for no bake cookies has been one of my all time favorite recipes. They’re so good Kai has learned to make them. They also are great thank you gifts. One of Arielle’s teachers always gets excited when she brings him “no bake-ums.” Chocolate and peanut butter are synonymous with Easter goodies. I was going to make chocolate peanut butter eggs but then remembered my favorite cookie. It turns out they’re quite malleable and can be shaped into a nest or an egg. I spent the evening experimenting and this is what I came up with. I already posted the recipe for the…
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Easter Cookie Nests
Of course I had to try making my pots of gold into Easter baskets. When I couldn’t get any kind of candy basket handle to stay up for more than five seconds I dubbed them nests. Let me know if you try these and find something that works. Possibly if the nests/baskets were dipped in chocolate then the chocolate would hold the handle in place… once it dries. That would mean having a lot of patience which I tend to have for writing novels but not cooking. They’re a fun dessert for a party or an economical treat for a classroom of students. Teachers, two books that would go along with the theme of…
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Battle of the Mint Shakes
I couldn’t let St. Patrick’s Day pass by without indulging in a mint shake. I searched Pinterest for recipes and found a homemade version of McDonalds Shamrock Shake. Never having tasted a Shamrock Shake I realized I’d have no way of knowing if it was close to the real thing. So, I decided to hold a giant mint shake taste test with three judges: me, Eric and Arielle. When Eric walked through the door after a week in St. Louis I hugged him and said “Suprise! I’m cooking for the blog again… try this!” Even though he’s not really a fan of mint flavoring I think the fact that he hadn’t seen…
