Gingerbread People

Don't worry, friends, we haven't fallen off the planet!  Blogging sometimes has to take a backseat when we have family in town.  In our family we had 7 cousins under the age of 7 running rampant for many days together.  Making gingerbread men and gingerbread ladies was one of our many highlights.  You can go simple or all out, but the decorating is always a blast! The gingerbread recipe is adapted from Joy of Cooking.  

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbs. ginger
1 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
6 tbs. butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp. vanilla


Instructions:

• Combine all dry ingredients.  
• Beat butter, brown sugar and egg on medium speed until well-blended.  
• Add molasses and vanilla and beat until well combined.
• Slowly still in dry ingredients until well blended.
• Roll out dough over lightly floured surface with lightly floured rolling pin to 1/4 inch thick.
• Press gingerbread people cookie cutter shapes.  
• Lay shapes on greased cookie sheets.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes until edges of cookies are barely dark.
• Allow to cool. 

Then glue on toppings.  Any white frosting squeezed from ziplock bags with the tip of one corner cut off can serve as the glue.  The sky is the limit with the toppings.  A few we tried were red and green sugar sprinkles, M&M's, chocolate sprinkles (for the hair), edible eyes (Gramma found these for us at Target), and confetti sprinkles.  We assisted the kids who needed help with making little dots of icing glue, but all ages are eager and able to decorate.  


Gingerbread people might get a little drowned in sugar...

or entire mouths might turn green...

but the process is just as exciting as the final product!

Lemon Garlic Broiled Brussel Sprouts

Brussel Sprouts and "kid-friendly" in the same sentence? Well, I was surprised to see 2 of the 4 kids popping these little things like they were candy! Ok, maybe that's not true, but they seriously came back asking for more! But don't be shocked if every child doesn't act this way...my daughter tells me she will love them when her taste buds change in another 7 years. It makes for a great side dish for the adults, and it is very EASY.

Ingredients:

Brussel sprouts (sold already cut up or on this crazy looking branch)

2-4 TBSP olive oil

1 lemon

Lemon pepper

Sea salt

1 clove of garlic (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut each individual sprout in half. If you buy the "branch" kind, just cut each sprout off, rinse, and then cut in half.

Drizzle 1-2 TBSP olive oil onto a cookie sheet. Disperse the sprouts all over the cookie sheet. Crush a clove of garlic and spread all around, along with some lemon pepper and sea salt (however much you like). Drizzle with another 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, toss with a spatula to coat every sprout. Bake for approximately 10 minutes (keep an eye on them so that they don't start burning.) Once they are beginning to look crispy and sizzling, remove the sheet from the oven and squeeze the lemon over all of the sprouts. Bake for another 5 minutes. If you would like them to be more crispy, just broil them for a couple of minutes (watch them so they don't burn) They should be cooked but not mushy.

Potato Stamps

A creative friend helped us all make beautiful artwork from potato stamps.  If you're as crafty as Heidi, you can whittle intricate shapes like hearts and stars into the potatoes.  But even the simple lines and squares are fun too.  Holding a potato bottom is easy for even the littlest kids, so this craft is fun for everyone! If you look closely underneath the fingerprints, you will see some stars and squares on the green paper!

What you need:
3-4 small potatoes
pairing knife (only for the grown-up)
crafting smocks
plastic table covering
tempera paints
construction or computer paper

What to do:

1. Prepare the craft by slicing each potato in half and then whittling a stamp shape into the sliced end with the pairing knife by cutting away at the edges of the shape.
2. Spread our your plastic table covering and help put crafting smocks on each child! :)
3. Place paper plates with a little of each paint color by each child at your table.  
4. Show them some examples if necessary, and then let the kids stamp away!
5. Proudly display their work!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Here's a festive pumpkin recipe - dairy free, actually vegan, for those who might need something like this!
The kids gobble these up. Pumpkin is a great source for dietary fiber, Vitamins A, C and E, amongst other things!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup plain soy or almond milk

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup white granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped cashews (optional)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup canola oil

2 Tablespoons dairy-free sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:

1/4 cup margarine, room temperature but not melted

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp soy or almond milk

Blend all ingredients together with a mixer until smooth.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. In a small cup, combine the soy (or almond) milk and vinegar. Allow mixture to rest for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugars, ground cashews (optional), cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, oil, sour cream, vanilla and soy-vinegar mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just combined. Divide the batter into the cups, fill each liner until 3/4 full.

Bake for 16-20 minutes (until a toothpick inserted comes out clean). Cool completely before frosting.

Enjoy! Can you believe these are dairy free...actually Vegan?!

Minnesota Wild Rice Soup

This soup is truly a taste of Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes...plus bogs, where the wild rice grows.  This is my mother-in-law's recipe, and when my husband and I were first married, she occasionally used to give us a frozen little tupper of this to put in our freezer.  I soon came to realize that frozen little tupper was worth it's weight in gold...a gourmet dinner ready to go!  (It still takes like Minnesota even after coming out of the freezer.)  I serve the soup up to our kids with a slotted spoon to make sure they get lots of rice and veggies.  My husband gets excited when I shoot him an email during the day saying: Wild Rice Soup for dinner!  It's definitely a kid-friendly family favorite.  

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced

2 carrots, grated

2 stalks celery, diced

½ cup butter

½ cup flour

1 ½ cups water

3 cups chicken stock

¾ cup ham, diced

1 ½ cups wild rice, cooked

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

2 cups half and half (or 2 cups whole or 1% milk...it all works!)

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Saute onion, carrot, and celery in butter, until onion is clear. 
2. Add flour and cook 3-5 minutes, scraping bottom of pan with spatula.
3. Blend in water and stock.
4. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. 
5. Add ham and cooked wild rice.  Reduce heat.  
6. Add half and half or milk and simmer about 10 minutes.  
7. Stir in cheddar cheese until melted.  
8. Serve with Mamacita's Whole Wheat Bread.

Tips from Dawn: Wild rice takes significantly longer than white rice to cook and has a distinct smell--be prepared!  Allow 40 minutes for cooking time.  Rice to water ratio is 1:4.  You can cook the entire bag of wild rice all at once, and then measure it into baggies with 2 cups each.  You can then freeze baggies for future use, and the recipe only takes about 20 minutes if the wild rice is pre-cooked. 

Another tip from Dawn: If you make this earlier in the day, it will taste freshest if you stop at step 5 and then add the milk and cheddar cheese just before serving.

Irish Shepherd's Pie

My husband and I love a good Shepherd's Pie. There are so many ways of making it, but I think we found a favorite now. After trying a few different ways, I adapted my own recipe. It makes for a delicious, cozy meal!

Ingredients:

1 TBSP olive oil

1 pound ground beef or ground chicken, or turkey

2 onions, diced

5-6 large carrots, peeled and then diced

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried thyme

3 TBSP flour

1 1/2 TBSP butter

6 ounces red wine

4 TBSP ketchup

3 TBSP worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 beef stock or chicken stock

8 - 10 cups mashed potatoes

Topping:

1 egg beaten

1 cup grated cheese, we use cheddar

Directions:

• Heat a large pan with the olive oil and saute the diced carrots for about 5 minutes, or until they seem tender.
• Add the onions and meat and cook until the meat is no longer pink.
• Drain the meat mixture on a plate lined with a paper towel.
• Return the meat mixture to the pan and add the garlic, pepper and thyme.
• Add the butter and peas, stir while cooking until the peas are incorporate and no longer frozen.
• Sprinkle the entire mixture with the flour and then add the ketchup, wine and worcestershire sauce. Stir well.
• Cook on medium heat until it has reduced a little bit (make sure it is bubbling a bit)...approximately 5 minutes.
• Add the beef or chicken stock and bring to a rolling boil again until the mixture seems to have thickened a bit (similar to a gravy). Taste and add 1 tsp of salt and/or pepper if desired.
• Remove mixture from the heat and pour into a 9X13 baking pan.
• Top with the mashed potatoes (use a spatula or if you want it to look fancy, use a piping tool).
• Brush the top of the mashed potatoes with the egg and sprinkle with cheese.
• Bake in a preheated oven of 400 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes, or until the top looks golden brown.
• Serve with your choice of bread and/or salad. Enjoy!