candy sushi
What a sweet little idea sure to get the creative juices flowing and that should keep your kids busy for a spell. The ideas can be endless … here’s what the folks over at Sugar Loco came up with!
candy sushi
What a sweet little idea sure to get the creative juices flowing and that should keep your kids busy for a spell. The ideas can be endless … here’s what the folks over at Sugar Loco came up with!
heart-shaped brownies
Ahh, Valentine’s Day. Love it or hate it, when you have a little one, you kind of have to participate. My son’s nursery school is already asking for contributions and I came across this lovely little idea from ingredients, inc. It looks super easy and I know my little guy would love to help decorate these.
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Red and white icing (optional)
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the flour mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
3. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 8 x 8-inch baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire racks. Refrigerate for up 15 minutes before cutting into heart cookie cutters. Decorate with icing if desired.
Source: ingredients, inc.
tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons
Serving Size: 4 - 6
Ingredients:
Tomato soup
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 small fresh jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded and minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
• 1 quart store-bought low-sodium stock
• 1/2 cup light sour cream, plus 2 tablespoons, for garnish
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish
Grilled cheese croutons
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 4 slices white bread or potato bread
• 4 oz sharp white cheddar, cut into slices
Method:
For the soup: Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; add the onion, garlic, jalapeño, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the tomatoes are soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Whisk in the sour cream and the lime juice and turn off the heat. Blend the soup until smooth with an immersion blender or a regular blender (if using a regular blender, wait for the soup to cool a bit, then hold the blender lid on with a kitchen towel while you puree). Return the soup to the heat on low; don’t let the soup boil, or it will curdle.
For the croutons: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Butter 2 of the bread slices on one side and place 1 slice in the pan, buttered side down. Add enough slices of cheese to cover the bread evenly, then top with the second slice of bread, buttered side up. Brown until golden, 2 to 3 minutes, then flip over to brown the other side. Remove the sandwich from the pan and let it cool. Repeat with the remaining 2 bread slices and the cheese. Cut the cheese sandwiches into quarters and cut each quarter into quarters again to make cubes 1- to 2-inches wide. Pile all the croutons onto a serving platter.
Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Set the platter of croutons where everyone can reach.
TWIST IT
Cilantro croutons: Sprinkle a few whole cilantro leaves — no stems — on top of the cheese before you cover it with the second slice of bread. When you cut the croutons, you’ll see a subtle ribbon of green running through the centre.
Source: (Via Babble.com)
“American Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons” from Cat Cora’s Classics with a Twist by Cat Cora. Copyright ©2010 by Cat Cora. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
spice mice
I’ve been compiling my Christmas baking list and came across these adorable mice cookies, perfect for the little ones to help with and devour.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (175 mL) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (250 mL) packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
- 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (2 mL) cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground allspice
- 1 pinch ground cardamom
- 1 pinch salt
- 80 sliced almonds, (about 1/4 cup/50 mL)
- 40 currants, halved (about 1 tbsp/15 mL)
- 40 dried chow mein noodles, (about 1/4 cup/50 mL)
Preparation
Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
In large bowl, beat butter with brown sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom and salt ; stir into butter mixture in 3 additions.
Form by scant 1 tbsp (15 mL) into egg shapes. Place, 2 inches (5 cm) apart, on prepared pans. Insert 2 almond slices for ears and 2 currant halves for eyes at narrow end. Insert 1 chow mein noodle for tail at wide end. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven until light golden and firm, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on pans on racks for 5 minutes. Reinsert almond ears if necessary. Transfer to racks; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in single layers in airtight containers for up to 1 week.)
Source: Canadian Living
mummy hotdogs
How cute are these mummy hotdogs (and easy too)! Head over to Picky Palates for the recipe and some other neat ideas.
3 food ingredients to avoid
We’re always worried about what we’re feeding our kids. SweetMama asked nutritionist Lianne Phillipson-Webb what foods we should really be avoiding.
The last thing you probably feel like hearing is what not to feed your kids (on top of what to feed your kids). It’s hard to manage it all, but below are some substitutes you really should consider. You may not be able to keep all of these out of your child’s diet, but even just one is better than none.
Genetically Modified Organisms or GMO’s
Genetically modified (GM) foods have been changed from their natural state by manually altering their DNA, and our bodies don’t know what to do with their new state. Research on eating GM food is limited, but what has been found isn’t looking good. It’s best to stay away from GM crops and remember that although you may not eat these foods, they’re fed to livestock, and manufactured in cotton fabrics and many packaged foods—even chocolate bars.
What to buy instead:
Buy as much organic as possible (including organic clothing for babies and children).
Get to know your local butcher or farmer. If you can get to the source of your meat and poultry, you’ll know what you’re buying.
Food Colours and Dyes
Food colouring is such a big part of food manufacturing that it’s really hard to avoid. There is literature linking food colouring with ADD and ADHD, allergies, asthma and cancer. Candy has more obvious food dye in it, but it’s also in many cheeses, crackers, breads, prepared foods, lunch meats and salmon.
What to buy instead:
Speak with your pharmacist before buying medicines to see if you can get a dye-free product.
Start to read labels of the foods in your home..
Look out for natural colouring – beets for instance can be used for red colouring without the harmful side effects.
High Fructose Corn Syrup
You are probably thinking that sugar is impossible to avoid. It may be a tall order, but I really believe that it’s an important ingredient to try to minimize. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a processed product, manufactured from surplus corn, yielding a cheap replacement to table sugar. HFCS has been associated with an increase in obesity, as it’s in just about every processed food including sushi, pop, candy, chocolate, and more.
Effects of sugar on the body:
Suppresses the immune system’s strength.
Raises energy levels quickly, with a crash soon after.
Tough on the pancreas and its insulin production, leading to increased rates of diabetes later in life.
Fills you up without nutrients. Sugar has little, if any, nutritional value.
Finds places to hide in the mouth, between teeth and then creates an environment that favours bacteria and plaque buildup.
Feeds bad bacteria in the digestive system. We all have a certain level of bad bacteria living in our intestines. Sugar is what that bacteria lives on.
What to buy instead:
Look for fruit-juice-sweetened foods. Read the ingredient label and if sugar is listed within the first four ingredients, leave it. Try to make more sweet treats at home and try sugar alternatives such as brown rice syrup, agave syrup, maple syrup and honey. At least there are some nutrients in these sweeteners.
Although following the guidelines above could be completely overwhelming, pick one and see what you can do with it. Any change is a good thing.
Source: Lianne Phillipson-Webb for SweetMama
chicken nuggets
Ingredients:
- 4 chicken breasts cut into pieces
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup crushed cornflakes
- 1 cup panko crumbs
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
Directions:
Cut the chicken into small pieces.
Cover the chicken with buttermilk. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight. It helps tenderize the chicken. If you do not want to do this, you can dredge them in flour and egg.
Put the other ingredients in a bowl and mix it up.
Drain the buttermilk from the chicken and drop into the crumb mixture. Coat well.
Line a cookie sheet with foil and put a cooling rack on top it the foil. Spray the rack with cooking spray. At this point, you can put these in the freezer. Just add an extra 5-10 minutes to the cooking time. Bake the nuggets in a 375 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Source: Baked Bree
Today I ate a rainbow
