The beauty of muffins is their portability. They pack well in lunchboxes, purses, and just about anywhere they need to fit. I’ve even started taking them to the ski mountain to enjoy as a quick snack when we need to warm up in the lodge. There is no end to their versatility! The key to enjoying muffins frequently, however, is keeping them on the lighter side. I like them to be full of flavor, but I really don’t like them when they are sweet like cake.
There is nothing I love more than a good baking session with my kids. We love getting into the kitchen for a fun baking session and going crazy. Yes, it is messy, but who cares? It doesn’t matter to me as long as we are all having fun. Last weekend we had three days off for the holiday so I used some of that time to bake with my kids in anticipation of my son’s birthday. Pillsbury had sent us a whole box of fun mixes and I let them pick what they wanted and then we got to work!
We had so much fun baking up a storm on the cold winter’s day. Our first activity was the birthday cake. We elected to make the classic chocolate cake in a bundt pan. I love that the cake mix can be used for cakes, cupcakes, and more, and in this case the bundt was requested! Then we frosted it with vanilla frosting and sprinkled it with LOTS of sprinkles. My son loves sprinkles so they were the most important part to him.
I am a little late to the game with reading Susan Loomis. My mother handed me a whole stack of her books last winter and I noticed the first one was written over a decade ago! Needless to say I read them cover-to-cover in just a few weeks and have steadily cooking my way through a lot of her recipes. My favorite of her bunch is In a French Kitchen. I’ve recommended it before and am here to do so again.
My favorite part about this book is how it delves deep into the inner workings of French kitchens and the home cooks who run them. There is all kinds of information from how stock your pantry to how to approach your morning breakfast routine á la Francaise. It even includes month-to-month menus (with recipes!) so you can eat seasonally appropriate French food all year long.
This is the season I like to take it slow. Life doesn’t slow down, but the cooking does. Instead of chopping loads of fresh vegetables from the local market I use my favorite frozen ones and add them to the slow-cooker. It is an easy approach to the delicious soups and stews to keep us warm during the busy, cold days of January.
Eating lighter doesn’t have to be miserable. In fact, there are plenty of ways you can have your cake and it too! Of course, I don’t mean literally, but eating better doesn’t mean you have to give up every single thing you love like chocolate and ice cream. My recent favorite chocolate treat that manages to match my resolutions goal, yet still satisfy my cravings, is this raw cacao smoothie. It is filled with chocolate raspberry flavor, a snap to make, and perfect for everyday sipping.
The January blahs are setting in and I am doing everything I can to keep my kitchen fresh and exciting. Sometimes a little change and break us all out of the rut, it doesn’t have to be anything momentous. Just enough to make us look as something with fresh eyes. Over Christmas vacation my mother gave me some delicious chocolate zucchini bread from a friend. My kids enjoyed a few slices but then grew a little bored with it.
January is the season of resolutions and I am no different. It’s time to cut back on the sugar and pasta and focus on the healthy, lighter fare. Last fall I went to Napa Valley to attend the media reveal of the Panasonic Countertop Induction Oven. It was a wonderful trip and I really enjoyed learning more about oven and its many features. I’ve been using it a lot since I received mine and it has truly made my cooking life easier than ever. I can roast, bake, and reheat in a fraction of the time I can do any of those things in my regular oven!
New Year’s Eve is a bit of a conundrum with children. Do you get a babysitter and stay out until midnight? Do we just do a kids celebration and go to bed early and skip the hoopla? For the past few years our answer has been making punch, having dinner with friends and doing something a little inbetween. Since we don’t have an all out bash I don’t go crazy making a dizzying hard liquor punch. Instead I make a sparkly punch with a hint of booze, so it is tasty without being too over the top. It is perfect for family events and New Year’s Eve celebrations alike.
There is still time to shop and today I am thrilled to be sharing five of my favorite gifts ideas from Minted.com. I know art can be very personal and hard to select for friends, but I think any of these things would be slam dunk. They are perfect for hanging in kitchens, pantries, dining rooms, or anywhere you entertain. I ordered my framed which means they are all set to hang right up, but you could order just the print if you’d like to frame them yourself.
Stacked Peaches: This would be so cute for a fruit-loving friend. I’d personally hang it in my dining room again my gray grasscloth walls.
Chicken Run Art Print: A chicken! You can’t beat a good chicken painting. This sweet bird comes with your choice of backgrounds, too.
The strata, a baked egg casserole filled with bread and scrumptious vegetable and meat fillings of your choice, is a time-honored make-ahead holiday breakfast in our house. It is easy on the cook (me) and everyone gobbles it right up. Who doesn’t like a recipe that can easily be made in advance and baked to perfection on demand? It is the stuff that holiday cooking dreams are made of.
Every time I make my stratas I change up the fillings just a touch. It usually depends on what vegetables I have in the freezer because I always make a point of using them first. It is so much easier than running out to by fresh vegetables all the time and I keep my freezer stocked just for this purpose! This week I made a strata using Cascadian Farm organic fire roasted sweet potatoes, Cascadian Farm organic cut spinach, and chopped ham. It was just the right combination of sweet and savory vegetables with a punch of salty ham.
Chocolate dipped orange peels are my single favorite candy in the whole world. I love the tangy citrus paired with the sweet chocolate and the chewy texture. I had this flavor combination in mind the other day when I made this bread pudding. We had a lot of fresh oranges on hand so I decided to combine them with dots of fresh chocolate in a delicious and easy holiday dessert.
The key to imparting the orange flavor to the bread pudding is using lots of zest and a little orange juice. This is added right to the egg mixture that is used as the based of the pudding. When I start the pudding I always use Davidson’s Safest Choice® Eggs. They are pasteurized in an all-natural, gentle water bath pasteurization process to eliminate the risk of Salmonella. The majority of supermarket eggs are not pasteurized so this is a real help to know when I am cooking for my kids. Even though the pudding is baked it means I don’t have to worry when the kids dig in.
To make this pudding I used Challah that was a few days old. It was nice and crusty and perfect for absorbing the pudding while it baked. I added chunks of semisweet chocolate between the bits of bread right before it baked. This way it melted into the custard during baking and added just the right amount of sweetness without being overbearing. I served this with a sweet wine for the adults and milk for the kids. It was the most delicious dessert for all!
(Disclosure:This post is sponsored by Safest Choice Eggs. This year I am an ambassador for Safest Choice Eggs. I believe in their product and you can read more about my brand work in my affiliate disclosure. The opinions, recipe, and photographs are wholly my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make The Naptime Chef possible.)
