midsummer's eve preparations

There's a lot of Solstice preparation going on over here today.  We woke and made the dough for mini cookies and cakes that we'll bake and decorate later to offer to the fairies who live in our back yard.  We did this last year and they seemed to really love it. 

(this is last year's offering)

 Of course Naiya loved it too. 

The recipe is very simple and for frosting I think we just used powdered sugar and food coloring:

Simple Sugar Cookies

     1 1/2 cups butter

     2 cups sugar

     4 eggs

     1 tsp vanilla

     5 cups flour

     2 tsp baking powder

     1 tsp salt

Cream the butter and sugar then add the eggs one at a time and mix.  Stir in the vanilla.  Combine the dry ingredients then add them to the sugar mixture.  Mix until well blended.  Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour (or overnight).  Roll the dough out quite thinly (perhaps 1/4").  Cut by hand or with these nifty mini cookie cutters.  Depending on thickness, bake at 400° for 5 - 8 minutes.  Decorate, stack, fill and nibble as you please...

We've also just finished our newest fairie house.  This one is actually for a letterboxing gathering we're attending but leaving out treats and gifts for local fairies is a fun way to celebrate the change of season with children I think.  This house is a temporary letterboxing "box" (that will only be up for the day) and the stamp will sit inside.  We didn't originally plan it this way, but when the logbook wouldn't fit in the tiny door, we made the book the welcome mat!  (This tiny wooden house was purchased at Joann Crafts and with a glue gun, watercolor and natural goodness found in our backyard, we transformed it into its fancier camouflaged state in no time at all.)

Finally, since Green Man was such a hit at last year's Summer Solstice celebration, we're hoping for a visit from him again this year.  It's amazing what one can do with silk leaves and a glue gun...

Man, I love me a good glue gun. 

We're still running around frantic with sausages to pick up, camping supplies to sort through and some secret mama work to do...  It seems that Green Man could use some assistance in fashioning ivy crowns for the wee ones for tomorrow afternoon.

I hope all of your seasonal festivities are bringing joy and wonder for you and your wee'ns.  We're hoping Father Sun will actually make an appearance to help us celebrate the first glorious day of Summer.  Perhaps you can dance us a little dance or sing a little song to help us encourage him to visit...

screen-free week: play dough

Painting, drawing, sculpting and crafts of all kinds are great ways to give children

a creative but focused outlet for their imaginations.  

Many parents find that meal preparation times are an especially difficult hour to keep kids occupied and free of screens. When having children help with cooking is not an option, dough modeling can be a fun way to engage a child’s hands, heart and mind while parents are busy.

Every child loves to shape malleable materials and children can parallel adult kitchen activities by pretending to bake and cook or they can use whatever inspires them to sculpt shapes, figures and even tell stories through the medium of dough.

 I can make it 

You will see 

I roll and squeeze 

Then one, two, three 

From my hands 

Something will grow 

What it will be 

I don’t yet know...
a castle... 

an elephant...
a spider... 

a vase... 

a flower...
a snake... 

a cave... 

a tree...
what will it be? 

what will it be?

 “Children love to practice rolling out with a rolling pin and cutting shapes with cookie cutters. I have a collection of small animal- shaped cookie cutters, and after they have rolled and cut a few, I then encourage the children to play with them at the table. They can roll a little more play dough to make fences, or a barn, or nests. This encourages them to use their hand- dexterity in service of their imaginative skills. Great training for life!”
                                                        - from Heaven on Earth by Sharifa Oppenheimer

To make your own play dough, try this easy recipe:

 Play Dough

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/3 cup salt
2 Tblsp. cream of tartar
1 Tblsp. vegetable oil
food coloring

In a medium sized pot mix flour, salt and cream of tartar.  Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.

Once the dough forms a ball, remove from heat and allow it to cool. Once cool, knead the dough on a floured surface. 
That's it!  You've got play dough!  If you'd like to add some color...

 

Separate into various balls (depending on how much of each color you would like).  Indent each ball and drop food coloring into indentation.  (For the colors seen here I used 10 drops.)

Knead until the color is distributed evenly throughout the dough.  Once the coloring is mixed into the dough it will, oddly, not stain hands or surfaces.  (During the initial kneading, however, watch those clothes, countertops and hands!)

Store in an airtight container or sealed plastic bag.

“Artistic expression is an essential element of a balanced “diet” of experience for our young children. In artistic work, we accomplish two essential tasks of childhood: the training of the hand and the training of the heart. Together these lay a firm foundation for the training of the mind.”
                                       - from Heaven on Earth by Sharifa Oppenheimer

braided easter bread recipe

From All Year Round, I got the idea to make a braided bread ring for Easter.  Since I wanted a sweet bread though, I used another recipe and created this beautiful (if I may say so) loaf complete with slots for the Easter Hare to deposit an egg for each member of our family.  (Naiya said four seemed good to her.  Pippin and Scarlett could share one egg she figured.)  That Hare left us some lovely eggs...

Braided Cardamom Easter Bread Ring

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups milk warmed to 110°
2/3 cups sugar
3 tsp. freshly ground cardamom
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
3 eggs lightly beaten
6 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. sea salt
5 Tblsp. unsalted butter (at room temp.) cut into 1/2 " cubes
1 Tblsp. heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 Tblsp. turbinado sugar
egg sized stones (1 for each member of your family)
parchment paper

Directions
-Butter a ceramic bowl and set aside.  Combine milk, sugar, cardamom and yeast in a mixer with a paddle fixture.  (If all you've got is a hand mixer with the standard blades, just use those and augment your mixing with hand kneading.  Don't fret over lack of equipment.  Fingers are the finest tools of all.)  Stir and let sit 10 minutes.  Add eggs and mix.  Add flour and salt and mix until dough is formed.  Replace paddle with a hook attachment and knead dough on medium speed for two minutes.  Slowly add butter and knead for about four minutes more.
-Transfer dough to the greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm location until doubled in size (about an hour and a half).  Punch down the dough, cover and allow to rise another 30 minutes or so.
-Heat oven to 375°.  Transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and divide into three equal pieces.  Roll each portion between your palms or on the board to create three ropes each about two feet long.  Braid the three ropes together and bend into a ring joining the beginning of each strand to the ends.  Place the loaf on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.

-Wrap each stone in parchment paper and nestle the stones into the bread braid at even intervals.  Cover the ring and allow it to rise in a warm location for another 45 minutes or so.
-Whisk together the cream and egg yolk and brush it over the braided ring.  Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar and bake until golden brown (about 20 - 25 minutes).  Cool and remove the parchment wrapped stones.




Leave the loaf on the breakfast table the day before Easter and the Hare ought to come and fill it with specially decorated eggs in the night...

hot cross buns

For the past three years I have wanted to make Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday.  This year I finally got around to it during the Great Week of Illness in our house...  The Great Week of Illness wherein our computer was starting to shut down and my camera was out of commission.  Perhaps more on that later.  (Suffice it to say, even a Mac has limits and 15,000 photographs and over 20 hours of stored video is about where those limits start to make themselves known.)
Anyhow, behold the slightly out of focus shot I snapped on my cell phone of those tasty buns.  We had them at tea time with butter and the last of last year's strawberry jam.  In a stroke of genius, I made the crosses from a tube of marzipan paste I've had sitting in my cupboard for some time.  Delicious.

Hot Cross Buns

 (We're a family of three so this recipe for six buns is perfect.  For double the buns, simply double the recipe.)

Ingredients
6 Tblsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 Tblsp. sea salt
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup currants
marzipan paste

Directions
-Butter a ceramic bowl and set aside. Place milk in a saucepan and warm over medium heat until it reaches 110°.  Using a dough hook in an electric mixer, combine milk, sugar, yeast, salt, butter, zests and eggs.  Add flour and mix until dough forms a soft, sticky ball.  Continue kneading for about four minutes more.  Add currants and knead to evenly distribute.
-Turn the dough onto a floured surface.  Knead it briefly and shape it into a ball.  Place it in prepared bowl and turn it to coat with the butter.  Cover and let the dough rise in a warm location until doubled in size (about two hours).
-Turn dough onto a floured work surface.  Knead briefly and roll into a log.  Divide the log in half then cut each half into three equal pieces (making six buns). Shape each piece into a ball.  Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper leaving a few inches between buns.  Cover and let the buns rise in a warm location until doubled in size (1 1/2 to 2 hours).
-Preheat the oven to 375°.  Roll the marzipan paste flat between two sheets of wax or parchment paper then cut into 1/4" strips.  Using the strips, lay crosses onto each bun.  Bake until golden brown (18 to 25 minutes).  Cool on a wire rack.
-Serve warm on Good Friday. 

lughnasadh and campfire bread

   Here we are at the least celebrated and least recognized cross quarter day of the year.

   Yes folks, it’s a holiday!  Today is Lughnasadh (also known as Lammas or First Harvest).  Get out your festival wreaths, bring in the first of your crops, figure out where you’d like to live for the winter, try out an anonymous marriage for a year and a day or contract out your children into marriages of their own.  (Okay, perhaps not those last two.)  This day, like so many seasonal celebrations, is also traditionally a day of craft fairs and of games and contests of skill and strength.   What better mid-summer pursuit than a badminton or bocce ball match?
   Of course, like all festivals, the important piece is the gathering.  Even if Lughnasadh means nothing to you, doesn’t it just offer up a reason to hold a lively Summer soiree?  (Truth be told, it doesn’t actually mean much to us either.  We’ve just been researching festivals of late and, in trying to create a stronger sense of community and tradition in our disconnected, modern, urban lives, have enjoyed recognizing and celebrating each of the changes of season as well as the seasonal mid-points with family and friends.)

   Today we will celebrate the first grains of harvest (albeit not our own since we don’t actually grow grain) by baking bread over our bonfire.  If you’ve not tried this before, it’s a tasty and fun way to prepare bread out of doors.  While it’s possible to bake over a fire in a dutch oven or even a regular camp pot, it’s so much more fun to roast what is often called stick bread or campfire bread. 

   Begin by preparing dough using any bread recipe (even a sweet bread or cheesy variety will do).  While waiting for your campfire to burn down to hot embers, whittle away the bark from one end of a hardwood stick (for the length that the dough will wrap around it).  It’s possible to roast the dough over an open flame but, as is also true of marshmallows, a more even, less erratic cooking will occur over coals away from a giant blaze.  When the fire is ready, pull small biscuit sized chunks from your dough and roll them into little sausage shapes.  Insert the prepared stick into the center of the dough roll leaving the end closed and proceed with the baking.  Depending on the heat of the embers, hold the bread 6” to 10” above the coals and rotate the stick regularly.  Ours have taken 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the bread and the heat of the fire.  They’re done and ready to peel from the stick and fill with your favorite spread when they sound hollow when tapped.  They’re so delicious and a great, non-sugary alternative to the requisite camping marshmallow treat.  (A baked good camping luxury any day of the year.)
   We’ll enjoy them with the other fruits of our early harvest and perhaps a lively game of Toss-the-Frog.  Happy Lughnasadh to you all!


Easy Campfire Bread Recipe
(If you're not into all that kneading and waiting for dough to rise)
3 cups flour
1/2 cup oil, butter or animal fat
1 1/2 Tblsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup water
In a large bowl, mix together flour and fat by hand.   Add the baking powder and salt (and dried fruits or cheese if you're doing that).  Next mix in the water and knead for a few minutes until you've got a firm dough.  Separate the dough into fist sized balls and roll each into a sausage shape before piercing with a clean stick.

beets are beautiful

This year and last we dug out all the grass from our park strips and one twenty foot section (away from the traffic) is dedicated to food production.  Some potato plants from last year are volunteering their goodness between the flowering cherries but for the most part we've got a thriving crop of beets, beets and more beets this time around.

When I was a kid the only kind of beet I ever ate was one that came pickled in a can.  Man, I loved that bright pink pickled root even then.  Since then I've learned to appreciate the even more delicious fresh beet in myriad ways including our household favorite, the beet pancake.
This is a great recipe that, unlike many others, requires very little cook time because the roots are shredded.  Since the caramelizing of the naturally occurring sugars makes it somewhat sweet, we have it for breakfast but have also enjoyed it as a side dish with dinner and lunch.

Beet Pancake
3-5 medium sized beets (stems removed) (this can also be a mix of carrots and beets if you're into that)
1 Tblsp. chopped rosemary
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup flour
3 Tblsp. butter
Trim the beets and then grate either by hand or in a food processor.  (I use a food processor to minimize the pink staining that always accompanies the handling of beets.)  In a bowl toss the grated beets, rosemary, salt and flour.  Heat half the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to brown.  Add beet mixture and press it firmly into the pan.  Cook uncovered until crisp (6-7 minutes) then gently slide the pancake onto a plate (this works much more easily in a non-stick pan).  Add the other half of the butter and, once again, heat until browned.  Carefully flip the pancake back into the pan uncooked side down and cook until crisp (about 7 more minutes).  Slice and serve immediately. 

We usually prepare this as one giant cake but it could also be done in the shape and size of breakfast pancakes.  We garnish it with nothing.  It's perfect just the way it is.

(Beets are a rich source of fiber, potassium and folate and although quite sweet are very low in calories.  The greens of a beet are actually the most nutritious part of the plant.  The greens contain beta carotene and vitamin C and also have high calcium levels.  Cooking (especially with the skin on) enhances the bioavailability of the beet's nutrients.)

end of the school year and a gluten and dairy free recipe

I have been remiss in my blogging of late with the school year coming to a close.  We're trying to finalize some summer plans, formulate some sort of summer solstice gathering, plan for father's day (which is also Ryan's birthday), prepare to say farewell to our wonderful pre-K Waldorf teacher of the past four years and, most ominous of all, come up with an entree and dessert that are both dairy and gluten free for our end of year school picnic. 
This last one had me in a panic.  Finally I decided on chicken lettuce wraps for the entree and remembered one of the fantastic cakes we made at Naiya's last birthday party for our gluten/dairy free guests.  Of the four cakes, it was actually my very favorite.  Since that's what has been foremost in my mind today then, I decided to share this delicious recipe.  It comes from a woman who works with Ryan and keeps a blog of her adventures in allergen-free cooking.  We did it as a cake but it definitely works better as muffins.  So delicious...

Feel free to see her original recipe here or visit Elizabeth's blog here for more allergen-free recipes.

Coconut Zucchini Chocolate Chip Vegan Gluten Free Muffins

Ingredients: 
3 T ground flax meal
9 T warm water
2 c evaporated cane juice
1 T vanilla extract
1 c grape seed oil
3 c  gluten-free pancake mix 
2 t salt
1.5 t baking soda
1.5 t baking powder
3 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1 t ground cardamom
1 t fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 t ground cloves
3 c grated zucchini, drained in a mesh strainer
1 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips or nuts (optional)
36 paper muffin cups
3 12-muffin pans

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Mix the flaxseed meal with the warm water and let set for a few minutes. Mix these flax 'eggs' with the sugar, vanilla and grape seed oil in a bowl. I like to use an electric mixer. 

Combine the pancake mix, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and beat them together with the electric mixer. Scrape down the sides, and beat again until well combined. Add the zucchini, coconut, and nuts and/or chocolate chips and fold together. 

Prepare the muffin pans with the paper liners and fill the cups 2/3 of the way full with the batter.

Bake them for about 25 minutes, rotating the pans every 8 minutes or so for even baking. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, remove the pans from the oven. 

Elizabeth ends her recipe with this note:  "They would certainly be delicious frosted, but once a muffin is frosted it is a cupcake, and I for one have trouble convincing myself that cupcakes are an acceptable breakfast food. They are scrumptious on their own."

I completely agree.  Breakfast or otherwise.

how to make play dough

A few months ago we were out at a restaurant with my friends Lisa and Patricia and their daughters.  The girls were a squirmy, wild bunch who had difficulty remaining in their seats with the excitement of each others company and, at least in Naiya's case, the novelty of dinner with so many friends.  As is often the case, there were crayons for the girls to play with, but these held minimal interest for them.  Then Lisa pulled from her trusty bag three tubs of play dough.  With forks, spoons, table knives and the new delightful treasure the children cut, carved and sculpted so that we adults had at least some free moments to converse. 

I have since started carrying play dough in my bag for just such occasions.  Since I've been on a "how-to" kick I figured I'd pass along our simple, ten minute, make-your-own play dough recipe.

A couple of dough balls in a mason jar also makes a great gift!

Play Dough Recipe
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/3 cup salt
2 Tblsp. cream of tartar
1 Tblsp. vegetable oil
food coloring

In a medium sized pot mix flour, salt and cream of tartar.  Add water and oil. Stir over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.


Once the dough forms a ball, remove from heat and allow it to cool. Once cool, knead the dough on a floured surface. 

 

Separate into various balls (depending on how much of each color you would like).  Indent each ball and drop food coloring into indentation.  (For the colors seen here I used 10 drops.)

Knead until color is distributed evenly throughout dough.  Once the coloring is mixed into the dough it will, oddly, not stain hands or surfaces.  Store in an airtight container or sealed plastic bag.

valentine candle and colored rice

We're a candle lighting people.  We light candles at meals when we express our gratitude for the sun, earth, food, farmers and cooks.  We light candles when we tell stories.  We light candles at bed-time to transition our daughter into the envelope of nighttime darkness.  We go through lots of candles this way and we try to come up with inventive candle holding devices.
For Valentine's Day we did some simple decorating of a glass votive that we already use.  Since the tissue paper hearts are stuck on with regular white glue, we'll be able to wash them off after this holiday and re-use the glass holder when Spring and Easter decor is next in order.  The problem with this votive (and also some of the mason jars we often use) is that the bottom is slightly convex and the candle tends to slide off to one side.  I came up with the idea of putting rice in the bottom to level it.  I wanted it to be a bit more festive though so I decided to add some color.

It was so easy and Naiya loves the pink!  (I mixed some white back in for a confetti look.)  Of course, one could color the rice into any shade of the rainbow (that food coloring would allow) and it seems like there could be some fascinating alternative uses for multi-colored rice as well. 

Colored Rice Recipe:
1 cup uncooked white rice
10-20 drops food coloring (depending on intensity of color desired)
1 Tblsp. vinegar
Mix food coloring and vinegar in a plastic bag.  (The vinegar sets the color.)  Add rice.  Seal bag and mix from the outside until rice is evenly coated.  Spread rice onto a cookie sheet and bake at 200 for about an hour.  Once cooled, the color will be set and won't come off onto little hands.

Naiya is also coming up with a number of uses for the pink rice in her play kitchen.  In turn, mommy is coming up with inventive ways to get rice out from all the nooks and crannies into which it rolls.

granola

A few years ago we started making our own granola.  Naiya likes her variety of warmed grains in the morning but Ryan and I are cereal people.  We were going through so many boxes from Trader Joe's though that it was getting embarrassing to put out our recycling.  My friend Rachel gave us a tasty recipe that we have morphed over time into what we like most.  This year we gave bags of it away for Christmas and it was a hit.

Granola
8-10 cups oats
1 cup sesame seeds (I use raw)
1 cup sunflower seeds (raw again)
1/4 cup ground flax seeds (optional)
1-2 tsp. cinnamon (optional) (I have also used the Pumpkin Pie Spice from Trader Joe's)

Toss these first ingredients then in a second bowl whisk to emulsify:
3/4 cups oil
1 cup honey or maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract (optional)

Pour about 3/4 of this mixture into the oats and stir to moisten.  Let that sit for about an hour.  Meanwhile, chop a mixture of your favorite dried fruits and nuts.  I typically use:
1-2 cups almonds
1 cup dried cranberries
( I have also used candied ginger, dried dates, raisins, dried blueberries and dried cherries)
Stir the fruits and nuts into the remaining oil and honey mixture.

Preheat oven to 300 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  (I re-use this parchment paper several times).  Spread the oats mixture on the parchment and bake for 20 minutes.  Carefully toss and bake for 20 more minutes.  Add the honeyed fruit and nuts, toss once more and bake for a final 20 minutes.  (That's one hour total.)
Cool.  Store in an airtight container.  Enjoy!

play date pretzel

We've been hosting play dates at our house off and on over the years with friends from the neighborhood and from the Waldorf school.  Mostly the children just play while the grown-ups have a chance to catch up and find out that all the difficulties we're having as parents are shared by nearly everyone else.  That is the most cherished revelation of mine each time we gather...that in every trial of parenthood it seems I am never alone.  At least one other person struggles with me.
Sometimes we have activities or crafts for the wee ones while we sit aside and sip our tea.  Recently we made these delicious pretzels which the children got to form themselves.  They're a great cookie-cutter-using alternative to actual sugary cookies.

(Because I am usually frantically cleaning the house until the first of our guests knocks on the front door, I prep these pretzels in the bread machine.  You can alter for conventional kneading and rising if preferred.)

Play Date Pretzels
1 cup water
3 cups flour
2 Tblsp. oil
1 Tblsp. sugar
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 Tblsp. oregano (or herb of your choice)
2 tsp. yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine on manual.  When dough is ready turn it out onto a floured breadboard and knead flat.  Separate into balls for children to either roll and stretch into the traditional pretzel shape or to roll out for cutting.  (Scraps can be re-kneaded and used again but the less handling of the dough the better.)
Set onto floured board, cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled (20 or 30 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a large stainless steel or enamel (not aluminum) pot, combine:
8-10 cups water
2-3 Tblsp. baking soda

Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer.
Preheat oven to 425.
Gently lift formed pretzels into the simmering water.  After 20 seconds, gently turn.  After 20 more seconds, remove from the water with a slotted spoon or spatula.  Allow to drain then place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  (They will really, really stick to an unlined pan.)  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  Bake 15 - 20 minutes.  They'll look darker than you might think.

Give them to the children to eat with mustard or honey right away.  They won't keep well.

beet tart

I like beets but I don’t really know what to do with them. I bought a bunch the other day and roasted them in the oven. Actually I began roasting them in the oven (just wrapped up whole in a sheet of aluminum foil) and went upstairs to give Naiya a bath. Two and a half hours later Ryan said, “I think we forgot about the beets.”
They were fine actually. I stuck them in the refrigerator and two days later came up with this idea to use them:

Beet Tart
Ingredients:
crust:
1 cup flour
6-8 Tblsp. butter
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 Tblsp. heavy cream
filling:
3 large cooked whole beets, peeled and sliced thin
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup feta cheese
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
pepper to taste

Pre-cook beets in the oven by wrapping in foil and baking for about an hour at 375ºF.  (These can be kept refrigerated for a couple of days.)
Preheat oven to 425ºF. For crust cut the butter into the flour until coarse. Mix in cheese. Mix in cream. Press into tart pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool.
Arrange cooked sliced beets onto cooled crust (they may show through so I did them in a lovely overlapping spiral pattern). Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl then pour over the beets. (Try not to stir or touch the mixture once in the pan unless you want your entire tart to be really pink.) Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Let stand a few minutes before serving or serve at room temperature.

When you cut into this dish, the astonishing color is delightful. That’s why I love beets.