The Naptime Chef

I am still working on a very tight back-to-school schedule so I am just stopped in with a short and sweet recipe today. We made these yesterday for my daughter to pack in her bag for snack on her first day of school. She loves corn muffins and I love the idea of her having these mini-muffins with her to curb her hunger come mid-afternoon. This recipe is super easy and lots of fun to make with kids. It makes a regular batch of muffins but you can easily double it and freeze a huge bag like I did. To all you parents out there packing the kids off to school this week and next…good luck!

Earlier this month we spent almost three weeks in Cooperstown and it was pure heaven. We stayed with my parents and spent as much time as possible enjoying their garden, all the wonderful restaurants, and, of course, swimming in Lake Otsego. I love lake living in the summer. It is so simple and refreshing. This year the water was a little cool due to the all cooler nights we had, but that didn’t deter us from being completely waterlogged by the end of the day. Here is a peak at some of the fun summer things we did, including an update on our favorite spots from a few years ago:

Art by the Lake: This was one of our newest favorite activities this year. For one day many of my favorite local artists like Mary Nolan and Tracey Helgeson were in a big tent on the Fenimore Art Museum lawn. I popped the baby in the baby backpack and we wandered from stall-to-stall while my daughter took part in the kids arts and craft activity in the center of the tent. There was even a local jazz trio and a food “truck” from Origins Cafe, the cafe started at our favorite nursery by the daughters of the owner.

One of the chief complaints among foodie Cooperstonians is that there is a dearth of gourmet food shops in the area. In fact, the closest place they can buy things like fancy cheeses and exotic produce is 90 miles northeast in Albany. To counter that, however, there is a vast expanse of farmland and the farmer’s market is truly one-in-a-million. So, while I’ve been here this month I’ve been enjoying all kinds of delicious corn, squash, tomatoes, and fruit. I haven’t, however, been able to find a single interesting or exotic mushroom. It is sliced cremini, portabello, or nothing at all.

It turns out that the month of August has been busy, busy, busy. Next week I’ll be taking my annual week off to tend to back-to-school needs. I’ll miss you all but I need to get my act together before the school year begins! This year, on top of all the craziness, I’ll also be booking movers to transport all our belongings across town at the end of September. Eeps!

Here are some great things that have been going on in my life lately in addition to this website. Take a look!

– My first back to school article for Family Fun Magazine including delicious gingersnap pancakes and a hot berry parfait!

– I love a good breakfast! Here are 7 Ways to Spice Up Your Breakfast with Salsa.

– Stocking your cabinet? Try these 8 tasty ways to energize your kids after school.

– PopSugar is getting in the game with a few great after school snack ideas including some from my book!

– No time to make a good brekkie? Here are 8 delicious grab-and-go ideas!

Last month I got my first pizzelle maker from Wayfair and used it to make ice cream sandwiches. The recipe I started with produced cookies too thick to eat on their own but were perfect for frozen treats. Since then my Mom and I have been hard at work testing and re-testing pizzelle recipes to find the perfect one. We like our pizzelles thin and a little crisp and after some online research concluded that butter, not oil, was the key to our pizzelle-making success!

I am a big fan of preserving. Over the years I’ve written about many of my favorite jams, jellies, and pickles and I’ve linked to the recipes below. I even included a few never-seen-here canning recipes in my cookbook. In addition to my own recipes, I am a devotee of Marisa McClellan’s blog, Food in Jars, and cookbook of the same name. I also frequently consult my Ball Blue Book and Well-Preserved for recipes and answers to my myriad of canning questions. I’m fairly sure preserving is one of those things I’ll always practice but never master. The nuances of each recipe and idiosyncrasies of produce ensure that no canning batch is ever truly a slam dunk. Every year at least one or two variables has to be adjusted to accommodate sour fruit or soggy cukes. No two batches are ever exactly the same. Which is exactly why I love it.

At the end of July I snuck out to Martha’s Vineyard for two nights to visit my in-laws. There are so many great things to do on the island but we didn’t have a lot of time. One of the things we made a priority this year was a visit to the ArtCliff Food Truck.  The ArtCliff Diner is an institution on Martha’s Vineyard. It has been there since the beginning of time and serves the best food ever. Okay, not quite the beginning of time, but it has been there since I remember. Since it isn’t open for dinner a few years ago it started the food truck to serve up a few popular diner-like eats with a smile.