Mmm, Corn Dogs

When we have treats in our house, they usually come in the form of dessert. The other night, however, I was at a loss for what to make for dinner, when I spotted an email from allrecipes.com touting a recipe for corn dogs. I happened to have part of a package of wieners in the fridge left over from Canada Day weekend, so I thought I'd toss healthy eating to the wind for one night and give these a shot. Oh my goodness, they were delicious, on top of being fast and easy to make.

I only had three wieners left in the package, so I cut each one in half, and stuck in a popsicle stick. I mixed up half the batter recipe (using a whole egg, because I couldn't divide that in half), and dumped the batter into a drinking glass to make it easy to dunk the wieners. A quick fry in peanut oil (sticks and all), and the corn dogs were done. My kids devoured them, and I added some salad on the side to assuage any mommy guilt I may have felt about the questionable nutritional content of dinner.

Corn Dogs (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 quart vegetable oil for frying
2 (16 ounce) packages beef frankfurters
16 wooden skewers
Directions

In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, sugar and baking powder. Stir in eggs and milk.
Preheat oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat. Insert wooden skewers into frankfurters. Roll frankfurters in batter until well coated.
Fry 2 or 3 corn dogs at a time until lightly browned, about 3 minutes*. Drain on paper towels.

* My corn dogs cooked for barely a minute, instead of the three called for in the recipe. I broke my cooking thermometre last time I used it, so maybe my oil was hotter than I thought, but just keep an eye on them when you're cooking, and you'll see when they're done.

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Changing gears, I have some exciting news. Narelle from Cook Clean Craft has invited me to be a guest blogger next week as part of her Boy's Own Style series.



Check me out there July 9th, as well as the other great guest posters who will be sharing their best boy clothing ideas throughout the month.

Catch Up, and Beet Soup

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. Fall is a flurry of activity and events for my family, and all that, coupled with trying to get the house and yard winter ready, testing the waters for working part time again, and some family strife, I just haven't felt like blogging. Or even crafting much, for that matter. I also forgot to take photos of almost everything, so here are some of the highlights: * goodies for a play group Hallowe'en party -- 'mouldy' popcorn (idea from Purple Chocolat Home), bean bags with jack-o-lantern faces, and pumpkin pie scented playdough.

* finished second butterfly quilt. I free motion quilted it like the first one, but managed to get a fold in the backing. Not a big deal...still pretty. * took part in a vegetarian soup swap. I made beet soup, from this Canadian Living recipe, and really enjoyed it. I never cared for beets as a kid, but as an adult, there's something about the vibrancy of beet flesh that just screams health and vitality to me. * baby hats, knitted and sewn. My friend gave birth to a beautiful baby girl almost a month ago, and I knitted her a few simple baby hats and sewed a little bonnet as part of her baby gift. Love all that girly stuff! * Hallowe'en quilt -- I completed a couple rows of the quilt front, but this project is now officially on hold until next fall! * Handmade Gift & Bag swaps -- I haven't participated in many swaps, but t'is the season for me to procrastinate on making gifts for people I know, in exchange for making gifts for people I don't know. These projects are on the hush, so photos will come after mailing. And, um, completion. * Family gifts -- despite good intentions, I have very few Christmas gifts completed, and I foresee myself hitting the stores the week before Christmas. Yike. * Baking -- I've been doing a lot of baking lately. Cool weather response, I suppose. * And, the biggie, my youngest son decided it was time to stop using diapers. I'm so proud of him! I didn't 'potty train' either of my kids; rather, I put out a potty seat, told them what it was for, and waited. It probably took them longer than some kids (my youngest is almost three years, and my oldest was three years and a couple months), but the transition has been pretty accident free, even at night. That's it for now. I promise to be a better blogger the rest of November and December. It's not that I think anyone is sitting at home, pining away for me to post something. Rather, posting is a good way to motivate myself to get going on my projects, and a nice way to look back on all that I did manage to get done. Sounds silly, but I really am more productive when I think about blogging something. Have a great week!

Summer play...

Ah, the wonderful, lazy days of summer! There's been lots of time spent outside with the kids, biking around the neighbourhood, enjoying the water, and playing with friends. Perfect!

I haven't had time for much crafting, but have managed to putter at some small projects here and there...see the sliver of blue skirt in the family photo above? It used to be a pair of too-big shorts.

The other day, hubby asked for a pouch to protect his computer in his backpack when he bikes to work. So I whipped up this little faux suede number. In the spirit of using what I have on hand, the lining is made from the bottom of a shortened bridesmaid dress and the zipper is white instead of camel (and not invisible), but you know what? Hubby couldn't care less.

More than a month ago, I started working on an appliqued baby quilt for an old high school friend expecting her first child. Well, that baby has been born, but  the quilt remains folded on my dining room table, completely unquilted. Here's a little peek from when I was playing around with the layout.

In addition to the quilt (now a priority!), my oldest son starts Junior Kindergarten in just under a month. I'd love to make him a cute backpack and maybe a matching zippered pouch to hold his spare clothes, tissues, and other things that stay at school. The urge to knit is also growing, and I've been searching out fun patterns for possible Christmas gifting.

One final summer photo...today's afternoon snack. We all love watermelon, and eat it in slices regularly, but to bump it up a little, I like to serve it as a salad -- doused in fresh lime juice, sprinkled with sea salt and ground pepper, and topped with crumbled feta and torn mint leaves. Sometimes I add a bit of onion (it's good!), but skipped that part today. Very refreshing salad.

Choco-banana tea blend

Yes, another chocolate recipe. But this one is actually nutritious! Woot!
Introducing one of my favourite morning drinks, Choco-banana tea. This recipe is super simple and normally I wouldn’t post it, but since it’s Summer Drink Week over at White House, Black Shutters, I thought it might be appropriate.

Choco-Banana Tea Blend
1/2 cup chocolate spice tea
1/2 cup milk
1/2 banana, sliced
Blend and enjoy! This drink can be enjoyed warm by using hot tea and a room-temp banana, but I like to use cold tea and a frozen banana for a cool, frothy treat. The original recipe, found at Flora’s Drink Hideout, called for black tea and offered a chocolate syrup variation (add 1 tbsp syrup), so if you don’t happen to have chocolate spice tea on hand, try that instead!
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Chocolate gelato -- at home!

In case it hasn't become blatantly apparent, I love chocolate. And frozen treats. Chocolate frozen treats, in particular. So it's no surprise that I own an ice cream maker that gets quite a bit of use each summer. This time of year is especially great, with lots of fresh berries to add to our ice cream, frozen Greek yogurt, and sorbets. But for a chocolate fix? You can't beat dark chocolate gelato.

Excuse the drip -- it's been HOT here lately!

This is my go-to recipe:

2 2/3 cups 2% milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 lb dark chocolate, chopped or broken up
1/4 cup cocoa (Dutch processed is best, but I didn't happen to have it this time)
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch

In medium pot, mix cocoa, sugar and cornstarch until blended. Add about half the milk to the pot and stir. Bring mixture to boil and remove from heat. Toss in dark chocolate pieces and stir until they melt, before adding remaining milk and cream to mixture. Blend well. Chill for half an hour.

Once mixture is chilled, add to ice cream maker and churn about half an hour (follow your machine's directions -- they're all a bit different). Pour churned gelato into a freezer-safe container and freeze for 4-5 hours (less if container is shallow) before eating. Delicious!

I've found this gelato is best after the initial freezing period. It gets quite hard in the freezer and needs to be set out in advance if you want to eat it later.

Also, for my friends without an ice cream maker, you could make a similar version by mixing and chilling the gelato and pouring it into a chilled, shallow container. Freeze until the edges start to harden (about 40 mins to an hour), and then stir well. Repeat several more times until mixture is thick and scoop-able.

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Grama's freezer chocolates

Hope you all are enjoying the Summer Daze Giveaway Week! My giveaway for a $30 credit to my Etsy shop is coming up on Saturday so watch for that. In the meantime, I thought it might be a good time for a little break.




Yeah, a chocolate kind of break. I posted this recipe for my Grama's Freezer Chocolates at A Glimpse Inside last month, but in case you missed it, here it is for all blog eternity! These little bon bons are so delicious and they're easy to make.

Grama’s Freezer Chocolates

2 tbsp butter, room temp

1 1/2 tbsp corn syrup

6 cups (1 1/2 lbs) icing sugar

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp flavouring extract (vanilla, orange, and maple are all favourites)

Approximately 1 1/2 cups chocolate coating (I have used milk or dark chocolate bars or chocolate chips mixed with just a dab of shortening, as well as chocolate moulding wafers – it all works fine)




Mix all ingredients except chocolate and extract in a large bowl. Get in there with your hands and mix everything together until the filling forms into a ball with the consistency of Playdoh, adding just a tsp more condensed milk if necessary. If you want to make more than one flavour, divide the filling into two or three balls, and add about a tsp of extract to each ball. Mix again, until extract is incorporated. Truth be told, I never measure my extract; tasting a little gob of filling is so much more satisfying.

Next up is the chocolate. I like to use melted chocolate bars with a smidge of shortening added to them (Grama used food-grade wax). Moulding wafers are even easier, and melt well in the microwave. Sorry, Grama! I recommend melting your chocolate in a large Pyrex cup, starting with 1 min at 60% power in the microwave. The chocolate may not look like it has melted, but give it a good stir before microwaving for another 30 seconds. Be careful not to burn it!

At this point, Grama would chill her filling, roll into into little balls, and then use a toothpick to hand dip each one in chocolate. I usually bust out some candy moulds ($2-$3 at Bulk Barn) and spoon a bit of chocolate in each cavity, using the back of my spoon to make sure the bottom and sides of the mould are covered.



Pop the mould in the fridge for a couple minutes while you roll a little blob of filling for each chilled mould, and then spoon more warm chocolate on top. Let set 20 minutes in the freezer and remove the chocolates from the mould. Ta da – you need never be without chocolate again!

If plain chocolates aren’t your thing, you can dip balls of filling into chocolate and then roll them in crushed nuts, cocoa, sparkles, etc. This little container was an Easter surprise for a family friend, and my oldest son decided it would be fun to ‘paint’ (with more chocolate!) some texture onto the hardened dinosaur and egg candies, but you can see how smooth and pretty the unembellished versions are. Whether you let your imagination go wild, or stick to plain balls, these are a delicious treat to keep in your fridge (short term) or freezer (longer term). Enjoy!



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Sweet chocolates…and A Glimpse Inside

I’m so excited to announce my first guest post. Here’s a little hint of what you’ll find during my visit to A Glimpse Inside today.


Tempted? You should be. This is another of my grandmother’s awesome recipes, and it doesn't disappoint if you're having a sweet craving.

While you’re over at A Glimpse Inside, go check out some of Allison’s other posts. She’s a lovely Army Wife with plenty of great ideas for crafting, decorating, thrifting, and cooking. She also organizes a fun weekly linky party called Catch a Glimpse each Thursday.

Thanks for having me over, Allison!

Healthy tomato soup

I’m a collector of cookbooks. Shelves and shelves of cookbooks are tucked into all corners of my home. There’s something very satisfying about browsing recipes and dreaming about healthy and delicious foods (and some not-so-healthy treats) to feed my family.

One of my more recent acquisitions is Jessica Seinfeld’s Double Delicious!, which, much like her popular Deceptively Delicious book, is full of recipes that are loaded with hidden pureed vegetables.

I’ve been hiding veggies in our food for years, but it’s nice to have some specific instructions on what to do. So far, I’ve tried a quinoa breakfast dish with almonds and maple syrup, and a yummy tomato soup recipe.

Yesterday, I bulk prepared sweet potato, butternut squash, and broccoli purees for the freezer. Cauliflower is on the to-do list for tomorrow. Apparently, pureed cauliflower can be mixed into cinnamon bun frosting with no one being the wiser. Gonna hold off judgement on that one until after I try it!

I used my large food processor to make the purees, and then spooned them into snack-size baggies in 1/2 cup portions.  All the small baggies went into a larger (labelled!) freezer bag for later use.

Not much new in the crafty department. I’ve been in a slump, and just want to spend my evenings curled up with a good book. At the moment, I’m reading Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan. Here’s the Amazon editorial review for anyone interested:

Jordan won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Mudbound, her first novel. The prize was founded by Barbara Kingsolver to reward books of conscience, social responsibility, and literary merit. In addition to meeting all of the above qualifications, Jordan has written a story filled with characters as real and compelling as anyone we know.

It is 1946 in the Mississippi Delta, where Memphis-bred Laura McAllan is struggling to adjust to farm life, rear her daughters with a modicum of manners and gentility, and be the wife her land-loving husband, Henry, wants her to be. It is an uphill battle every day. Things started badly when Henry's trusting nature resulted in the family being done out of a nice house in town, thus relegating them to a shack on their property. In addition, Henry's father, Pappy, a sour, mean-spirited devil of a man, moves in with them.

The real heart of the story, however, is the friendship between Jamie, Henry's too-charming brother, and Ronsel Jackson, son of sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm. They have both returned from the war changed men: Jamie has developed a deep love for alcohol and has recurring nightmares; Ronsel, after fighting valiantly for his country and being seen as a man by the world outside the South, is now back to being just another black "boy."

Told in alternating chapters by Laura, Henry, Jamie, Ronsel, and his parents, Florence and Hap, the story unfolds with a chilling inevitability. Jordan's writing and perfect control of the material lift it from being another "ain't-it-awful" tale to a heart-rending story of deep, mindless prejudice and cruelty. This eminently readable and enjoyable story is a worthy recipient of Kingsolver's prize and others as well. --Valerie Ryan

General Tso tofu & veggie fried rice

I love browsing linky parties…so many good ideas. One of the gems I came across last week was this simple recipe for a meatless meal, General Tso tofu and vegetable fried rice, from Jennifer at Peas & Crayons. I happened to have some firm tofu in the fridge (and really, no clue what to do with it!), so thought I’d give the General Tso a try.

So. Good. Seriously, I was a bit skeptical about the tofu, but a little crust from an egg and corn starch dredging, and the sauce made it a fabulous meal that even my picky sons and meat-lovin’ hubby devoured. Zero leftovers.

Feast your eyes on this:

Okay, it’s blurry, and not the most fabulous food photography, but my kids were literally trying to grab the bowl as I turned on the camera. They did manage to run away with the chopsticks before I could click the shutter, but you get the idea. Yummers. Even more yummers when I poured extra sauce on top of everything.

Here’s the recipe as seen on Peas & Crayons:

Fabulous Fried Tofu

1 pkg extra firm tofu
1 whisked egg
1 shallow dish of corn starch for light dredging
General Tso's sauce of your choice
1-2 teaspoons of olive oil

Press extra moisture out by placing a heavy pot or pan on a paper towel wrapped brick of extra firm tofu.  Next, dip in egg wash and lightly dredge in corn starch.  Heat a frying pan with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil and lightly fry tofu on all sides.  Once golden, pour in a light layer of General Tso's Sauce to coat.  Plate tofu with your delish fried rice and enjoy =)

I didn’t have any General Tso sauce on hand, so whipped up my own version using 5 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 3 tbsp white sugar, 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce, and a pinch of ginger powder. I have no idea if that’s even remotely authentic, but it tasted awesome after I threw it into the hot pan with my fried tofu and let it caramelize a bit.

Jennifer also provided a yummy recipe for veggie fried rice, but I just improvised with what I had in the fridge.

This tofu will definitely be going into my regular dinner rotation. It’s high protein, low fat, easy to prepare – and ridiculously delicious. Try it!

PS…does anyone know the correct spelling for Tso? I’ve seen Tso, Tao, Tsao…never sure which to use.

Oh so good sweet potato & bean burritos

I'm not a vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy meatless meals a few times a week. Tonight, I had leftover beef stew in the fridge for my carnivore hubby, so took the opportunity to round out our dinner offering with one of my favourite dishes: sweet potato & bean burritos. I know they don't sound all that exciting, but seriously, they rock my taste buds.

Sweet Potato & Bean Burritos

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 6 cups canned kidney beans, drained
* 2 cups water
* 3 tablespoons chili powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 4 teaspoons prepared mustard
* 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
* 3 tablespoons soy sauce
* 4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
* 12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
* 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce
3. Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. (Personally, I mix it all up together before adding to tortilla). Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve. (I dip them in plain Greek yogurt...mmm)

I'm not sure of the original source of this recipe, but I got it from a mom in my sons' playgroup. She called them 'Addictive Sweet Potato Burritos' and they really are. Even my picky eater devours these, and that's really saying something!

Linked to:
Anyone Can Cook (beginner recipe)

Capes fit for a pint-sized superhero

I finally remembered to snap a couple photos of the capes I made as favours for a friend's son's birthday party. Of course, I remembered in the wee hours of the morning, so more badly lit, middle-of-the-night-so-I-don't-have-a-model shots it is.

A wee ruffled version for the birthday boy's brand new sister

These are super shiny in real life...couldn't capture it in photos

 I'm excited to deliver these capes to their new owners. Keeping them away from my boys has been a challenge to say the least! Not much other crafty stuff going on over the past week, since I've been busy doing boring money-making work like hemming, curtains and taking in shirts for others. Not glamourous stuff, but I enjoy being able to bring in a little mad money to fund my craft habit spend on my boys. Now that most of that is out of the way, I hope to finish off the baby blanket I've been knitting, as well as a baby quilt and a charity quilt.

This week also saw a lot of baking for various fundraisers. I find charitable baking really satisfying as I'm able to fulfill my urge to bake without taking in all the calories of said baked goods. Nice! Since I was busy baking, I didn't stick to my meal plan. In this case, it was a blessing in disguise because I happened upon this recipe for cauliflower marranca and decided to experiment. So, so yummy! I added chickpeas for protein, which was great for the boys and I, but also sauteed a quick pan of shrimp for hubby, since he's really not into non-meat meals.

Use richly flavoured cheese for best result

And to finish off, healthy banana splits, made of half a sliced banana with whipped peanut butter sandwiched between the slices, vanilla Greek yogurt, fresh raspberries, and just a drizzle of chocolate sauce. We had these for lunch one day, too, and added some vanilla almond crunch cereal on top. Boys loved them. 

Mmmmm...

 Speaking of my boys, the youngest had another insect bite of some sort, this time more toward his ear rather than on his forehead. No matter, same instant swelling reaction. The swelling got worse and worse for three days before finally subsiding. I finally convinced the doctor to refer Spencer to an allergist, because I don't know what's been biting him.

First 24 hours -- swelling to the side

Day 2 -- eye fully closed now. And my little trooper is still smiling.