The Bean's First Cake

Move over, Christina Tosi, there's a new baker in town!

It'll be a few year before we know if the Boy is really into baking, but his first attempt went pretty well! I have been wanting to give him a more hands on baking experience, and the rainy, gray weather earlier this week was perfect timing. Sadly, every recipe I found for a "dump cake" as they are often unappealingly dubbed, required canned fruit fillings, pudding mixes, or boxes of cake powder. Not quite what I had in mind.

Leave it to the French to have exactly what I was looking for. French yogurt cakes are very popular, and kids there learn to make them very young. Now I'm only half French,as is E, so that makes the Bean half French, too. Maybe he channeled a bit of his French roots while we put this cake together, because he really didn't need much help. He also, in a stunning turn of events, didn't even make a mess. That bit of spilled flour on the floor by his bowl? That was it. He's keeps a cleaner kitchen than I do.

I adapted a recipe from Montessori Works and got to work. I intended to spread a plastic tablecloth on the floor, fully prepared for the upcoming flour and sugar hoo-rah, but I decided to skip it last minute. Half the fun is the mess, right? I set out all of the ingredients, a wooden spoon, large bowl, scoop and spoon. Our "scoop" was a small yogurt cup, which measures approximately 6 oz. and our "spoon" was a measuring teaspoon. The recipe is very forgiving, unlike most cakes, so if your little goes over or under on the measuring, it won't make a huge difference! I cracked the eggs and poured the oil into the scoop while he held it, but Jude did the rest! He even mixed it pretty well with a big wooden spoon, but I did scrape the bowl into the pan and put the cake into the oven while he hung onto the freezer door handle (that's his 'spot' when the oven is open). He kept running into the kitchen to watch the cake through the glass, and yelling, "It's readyyyy!"

His favorite part was drizzling the icing over the cake once it cooled, and he couldn't wait to tell E about it when he came home. He even had to call my mother to tell her about it this morning. He wanted to make another. Maybe I do have a kid with a sweet tooth after all.

French Yogurt Cake 

Ingredients:
3 scoops whole wheat flour
2 scoops sugar
1 scoop plain, whole milk yogurt
1 scoop vegetable oil
1 spoon salt
3 spoons baking powder
1 spoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

For icing:
1 scoop powdered sugar
1/2 spoon almond extract
2-3 spoons water

Preparation:
Grease a 9 inch round cake pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Allow your kiddo to do as much of the scooping and dumping as possible into a large bowl. Mix well with a wooden spoon and pour into the pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

With a whisk, mix sugar, almond extract and water to make the icing and drizzle over cooled cake.

One Bad-Ass BLT

Seriously. I'm such a slacker. It's pretty fricking hot here, so I don't want to do anything. Cook, work, clean, sleep, eat, it's all on the "it's too hot for this shit" list. The boy starts sweating the moment he emerges from the bathtub, and he's starting to actually look like a Jersey Greaser. His hair is so big he's channeling Bob Dylan circa '66. All I'm doing is laying around in my basement and trying to figure out how ice cream can qualify as dinner. It can't really.

But I can make a BLT. It does actually require cooking bacon on the stove top (unless you have some left over from breakfast, but who ever has leftover bacon?). Sorry about that. But if you can manage it, whip up some of this awesome spicy herbed sandwich spread and you'll wanna eat BLTs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until this heat wave breaks.

Bad-ass BLTs for 3:

Ingredients:
1 lb. bacon, cooked
2 large, heirloom tomatoes, sliced
a handful of green leaf lettuce
6 Slices of  fresh sourdough bread
3 Tbls olive oil
a large handful of fresh herbs, parsley and cilantro work nicely!
2 Tbls mayo
1 Tbls. dijon mustard
1 - 2 tsp. hot sauce, depending on taste
salt and pepper

Preparation:
In a blender or mini food processor, pulse the herbs and olive oil until well chopped. Add mayo, dijon, and hot sauce and pulse until combined. Spread 3 slices of bread with a generous portion. Top with sliced tomato, season with salt and pepper. Top with bacon and lettuce, another smear of spread, and the last slices of bread.

While you eat, check this out. It's uncanny.

A Little Update and a Giveaway!

As always, there are far too many things going on at once here in the Bean home. The shop is in full wedding season swing, the Boy is getting bigger by the minute, we've welcomed two new friends to our day care, and the house is falling apart. Ah, the joys of homeownership. In the midst of the mania I have organized an Etsy Craft Party for the EtsyNJ Team (feel free to join us!), started working towards this year's Ridgewood Fall Arts Fest, and listed a ton of fun new items in the shop. Oh and we're planting a garden! One that will hopefully be full of fresh herbs grown from my new seed paper!

Zucchini, Summer Squash, Lemon Balm, Basil, and lots of Plum Tomatoes!

Here is a peek at some of the new goodies up for grabs in the shop!

Plantable Seed Paper Cards for Grads

Baby Bee Plantable Shower Invitations

Personalized Plantable Seed Paper Note Cards

And did you see? The shop banner got a makeover. What do you think of my new look?

I also have a ton of seed paper scraps sitting around looking for a good home. If you are interested in planting some wildflowers or herbs, please leave me a comment here, send a message via my Facebook Page, or send an email to jojobeandesigns.etsy@gmail.com with your mailing address. 

I will stuff an envelope full for you! Mini gardens for all!

La La La La Lemon

Do you know that song? If you have a kid you should, because the Barenaked Ladies are pretty much the perfect kids band. It gets stuck in my head all the time.  

All that is besides the point of course. This post is about cake. Lemon cake. The perfect cake for summer birthdays, potlucks, and parties of any kind. Lemon just screams summer, and this cake is light and sweet and so so good. My mother has been making this layer cake forever, and I decided to make it for Memorial Day weekend. In the spirit of sentimentality, I made this cake exactly as my mother does, which you'll see from the recipe is full of shortcuts. If you're feeling ambitious and don't have twelve other dishes to prep for your party, go nuts and make the lemon curd from scratch. Me? I skipped it. I did however, switch up the frosting, which my mom always makes with straight Crisco and lemon extract. This frosting turned out fantastic, but don't tell my mom.


Suzy's Lemon Layer Cake
Ingredients:
3 c. Jiffy Baking Mix
1.5 c. sugar
2 eggs
4 Tbls. oil
1 1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 box of My T Fine lemon pudding and pie filling prepared according to the box instructions
(Yes, it must be this brand, or else make your own lemon curd. Trust me.)
2 sticks of butter at room temperature
1/2 c. vegetable shortening
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 lb. powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tbls. heavy cream
pinch of salt

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch cake pans.
In a large bowl, sift Jiffy Mix and sugar. Add eggs, oil, milk, and lemon extract and beat for two minutes or until smooth. Pour into pans and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans before removing to cool completely on wire racks.

For the frosting, beat butter and shortening until fluffy. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, beating to incorporate and scraping the bowl as needed. Once you have reached your desired sweetness and consistency (it is always less than a full pound for my taste!), add lemon juice, zest, cream, and salt. Taste and adjust if you'd like more lemon flavor, then beat until fluffy again, about 3-4 minutes.

Slice each cake layer in half and place one on your cake plate. Top with 1/3 cup of prepared lemon filling, spreading from the center and leaving a 1/4 inch border. Top with another layer and repeat twice. Top with the fourth layer and frost. If you're like me and couldn't be bothered with real cake decorating, go with fresh flowers. They always look gorgeous!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies I Have Ever Made

Yup. You read that title correctly.

I'm a bit of a cookie junkie. A fan. An aficionado. A chocolate chip cookie-aholic if you must. I have baked and consumed more cookies than I would ever like to count, and many of them from different recipes. I take copious notes. I print recipes and highlight them. I then keep the bad ones, just to be sure I never accidentally print and bake them again. This week, with all of the madness swirling around, I needed to do some baking. Chocolate chip cookie therapy.

I pulled out my hot mess of a binder, full of scraps from magazines, torn out newspaper sheets, and print-outs by the dozen. Inside was a recipe I had photocopied from a cookbook belonging to my old boss. I had written in a few changes, and remembered that they were pretty good. Of course, I was missing a few things, so I had to change it up. And I was oh so pleasantly surprised. Right from the oven they looked promising. Aren't they pretty? Then I ate one. Crumbly, not to sweet, ultra chocolatey bliss. I will never use another chocolate chip cookie recipe again.

My New Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 cups Bob's Red Mill White Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp. almond extract (Yes. Almond. NOT vanilla!)

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale. Add egg and almond extract and beat until just combined. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the mixer at low speed. Scrape the bowl and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool for five minutes on the sheet before transferring to wire racks.

Slimming Down

As the weather begins to warm up here in the Jerz, I have been feeling the need to do some serious slimming down. Not like, of my waist line or any of that crap, (cause I could kind of give two rats about bikini season and all as I don't wear them anymore) but of the menu planning, grocery shopping variety. I took a look around my kitchen the other day and realized I had nothing to eat. Now my pantry and fridge are both chock full of food, but not the kind I want to eat in 65 degree sunshine. It's time to slim down the kitchen, clean out the stew meats and root veggies, and lighten things up.

I started where most inspiration starts these days: my overflowing Pinterest boards. I have been guest pinning this month for Circle of Moms and POPSUGAR, so I have been focusing on family friendly meal ideas. Of course, I pin them like crazy and then never cook them. But I kept peeking back at this recipe for Zucchini Chips from Table for Two and had to make them. I also just bought a mandoline, so it was perfect.

Jude gobbled them up and would probably have eaten them all had I not hidden a few out of sight for myself.   They are also a touch time consuming, so I tried to do a bit of portion control. With my share, I threw together this Grilled Salmon Salad with Asparagus and my favorite Green Goddess Dressing. It's lovely with leftovers, but I would definitely make this as a weeknight meal, too. Try this Asian Salmon recipe if you want to try something new, or just grill it simply with salt, pepper, and olive oil. The dressing is really flavorful!

Oven Baked Zucchini Chips
courtesy of Table for Two

Ingredients:
2 medium zucchinis
salt
Two Tbls. olive oil
*You'll also need a mandoline and baking sheets lined with parchment or Silpat mats.

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Slice zucchini on the mandoline with the thinnest setting (I did mine of the bias so they'd be a bit bigger). Lay each slice on paper towels and blot dry. Transfer to prepared baking sheets, taking care not to overlap slices. Brush with a bit of oil using a pastry brush, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake until just browned and crisp, about 1.5 - 2 hours.

*Tip: If your slices are super thin like mine were, a few of them may want to stick to the Silpat. A handy trick (one I picked up from paper crafting) is to bend the Silpat up and peel it from the chip, instead of bending the chip to peel it from the Silpat. Get it? You can store your chips in an air tight container for up to three days, but they won't last that long!

Caution! Mudslide Birthday Cake

• 
  
• This cake was the big hit at The Boy's birthday party this weekend, but it's chocolate, so that wasn't a big surprise. Everyone loves chocolate! I doctored up my favorite Devil's Food cake recipe to make it taste like a mudslide and work with the party theme. No worries, of course, as the alcohol bakes out, so it is still safe to serve to children! Just don't eat to much of the batter as you are making it, or you'll find yourself with a happy buzz:) This makes a big cake, so make sure you have enough people to eat it or pack it up to take home or else it will be your breakfast for the next week. Which actually may not be a bad thing.
• 
  
• Chocolate Mudslide Birthday Cake

adapted from Martha Stewart

• Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans
• 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, plus more for pans
• 3 Tablespoons instant espresso powder
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
• 6 cups of your favorite fudge frosting. I ordered mine from ShopRite (gasp!) but it's hella good, yo. Better than any recipe I have tried, honest!

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange two racks in center of oven. Butter three 8-by-2-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment. Dust bottoms and sides of pans with cocoa powder; tap out any excess. Sift cocoa and espresso powder into a medium bowl, and whisk in boiling water. Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on low speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides twice. Beat in vanilla. Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating between each addition until the batter is no longer slick, scraping down the sides twice.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk milk and Bailey's into reserved cocoa mixture. With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour and cocoa mixtures to the batter, a little of each at a time, starting and ending with flour mixture. 

Divide batter evenly among the three prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of each layer comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans for even baking. Transfer layers to wire racks; let cool, 15 minutes. Turn out cakes, and return to racks, tops up, until completely cool. 

Remove parchment from bottoms of cakes. Sliceone cake layer in half, from top to bottom, set aside. Place one full cake layer on a serving platter; spread 1 cup chocolate frosting over the top. Add the second full cake layer, and spread with another 1 cup frosting. Add one of the half layers, spread with frosting and top with remaining half cake layer. Using a serrated knife, carve the top two layers on the diagonal to create a hill shape. Cover outside of cake with the remaining 3 cups frosting. Decorate with chocolate graham cracker crumbs, malted milk balls, and trucks! Serve with Rocky Road Ice Cream!

Happy Birthday, Jude!

Somehow in the midst of our crazy life, our Little Boy Who Was Once The Bean turned two. E-freaking-gad! I have no idea how he is a two year old who is over three feet tall, driving trains and singing "California Dreamin'." It's kind of insane. He is one of the oldest in his little kid crew of 12, so of course we had to have a party. Inspired by his current favorite book, I'm Dirty, we went with a construction truck theme. And yes, I gleaned the internet for everything truck-ish, Pinning as I went, until I had a plan. E happened to be out of town on business the entire week before the bash, so I did one thing each day to keep The Boy and I busy, and to prevent a stress-filled weekend of last minute mania. Here's the picture laden run down...

The invitation: A big ol' dump truck complete with coloring page envelopes and washi caution tape. 

They are not yet in the shop, but just hit me up if you are interested until I post them:)

We asked Jude's friends to make donations to St. Jude's Children's Hospital instead of bringing him presents, since with an in home day care in our basement, he pretty much has everything a kid could ever want. This is definitely going to be our annual thing. St. Jude's is the best childrens' charity ever.

 The decor: Jude and I built a paper mountain to cover the oh-so-pretty wall AC unit that currently resides in the dining room. He had a blast rubbing glue sticks on paper (and then his face) while we worked on it. 

The food: Dirt cups, pretzel lumber, Pirate's Booty, a bacon jalapeno cheese mountain, a tool box veggie tray, dried pineapple rocks, Boulder Cookies, and a Chocolate Mudslide Cake. 

I will try to post a few more of those recipes soon!

 

A closer view of the cake, decorated with chocolate graham cracker crumbs and malted milk balls.

I made a table runner from the coloring pages left over from the invitations.

Luckily we had gorgeous weather, so the kids got to play with the split pea and rice sensory boxes on the deck. It took only minutes for them to start tossing it, so I am thrilled we didn't have to do it inside!

In case of rain, we set up a demolition city in the basement playroom. 

It was great motivation to get my craft room in order and unpack the last lingering boxes from our move!

I painted this dump truck based on the one from his invitations. I think it will hang around a while!

He actually ate sweets! Well, this is yogurt, but it has chocolate crumbs on top!

This morning I finally let him pull some of the decorations off the walls. 

He has been driving cars on this road all day!

Best.Party.Ever!

Wedding Season?

It's almost that time of year folks! Wedding season. I know, I know, for most of you that means June through August, but for those of us in the invitation business, wedding season starts now! Couples start researching ideas now for spring and summer weddings, so it's time for me to get my creative juices flowing. I have a bunch of new designs in the shop already, but my favorite thing to do is work one on one with couples to create something really special. My best invitation designs come from working with couples, rather than creating something on my own.

This Henna Aspen invitation idea came from a bride who found me on Etsy. She liked my Tree of Love invitations, but was getting married in a forest of Aspens and all of the bridesmaids would be adorned with henna. From that came this sketch, and one of my favorite sets ever!

This Vintage Floral invitation design was inspired by a fabric pulled from a bride's stash of vintage scarves!

This is the newest design, which I finished literally minutes ago, so it isn't in the shop just yet.
(UPDATE: Here it is! The Emily Invitation Suite!)

Can't you just see it done with scraps of lace from a bride's veil or dress? Or from her mom's? Love.

With all that in mind, 

if you or a friend will be married this spring or summer, 

contact me for a custom design. 

I am offering to waive my custom design fee

for the entire month of March! 

That means you will pay only for the invitations themselves: 

a $50-$75 savings! 

Feel free to Pin or share this on Facebook 

and Twitter to get the word out to your pals!

Breakfast with the Primes

It's been quite a long time since I shared one of my oddball early morning conversations with E. Years actually. Before Jude our breakfast chats were about fruits and zombies, now they are about toys. This week E passed his most beloved toy down to Jude: Optimus Prime. It's only the best Christmas gift my husband ever got, and our little dude broke it within minutes. The thing had clearly seen better days, but it still works. Jude loves playing with it and feeding it gas and oil (like it's a baby), but the best part is listening to our almost two year old try to say "Optimus Prime."

E: Jude, who is that you're playing with?

JUDE: Prime.

E: Yes, but which one? Optimus Prime. There are lots of Primes. 

ME: There are?

E: (eye roll ) YES. Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime, Megatron was a Prime and then he was Galvatron and Unicron. 

ME: Did he turn into a unicorn?

E: (huge eye roll) NO. He turned into a PLANET. 

ME: That doesn't make sense. If his name was Unicron he should have turned into a unicorn.

E: THAT doesn't make sense. Unicorns aren't real things. Why would he turn into something that isn't real?

***
I'm only partly sure he was joking.

Last Minute Love

Well, folks, Valentine's Day is tomorrow. If you have been a Last Minute Larry, no need to fret! There are plenty of shops that will be open late for you procrastinators looking for an expensive gift, and I'm pretty sure Hallmark will be able to hook you up in the early AM if necessary. However, if you are looking for a tiny something, a handmade little crafty something, maybe for a kid or a pal, here you go. These little bird seed valentines make a great last minute craft project for your kiddos and work as a sweet gift at the same time.

I found several recipes online for making bird seed cakes, but some of them actually required baking, and some included weird ingredients. I ended up with a modified version of a recipe like this one from Folk Lifestyle, a blog to which you will now become addicted. You're welcome.

Anywho, I had to add an additional ingredient to the mix because we happen to have a squirrel issue. By issue I mean serious-frigging-problem-with-giant-house-cat-sized-squirrels-who-dig-up-and-eat-anything-they-can-get-their-dastardly-paws-upon. So I added a generous 1/4 cup of red hot pepper flakes. Take that you little punks. We made lots of sizes and shapes, including bird seed beads in my mini muffin tin. These we strung along a length of twine and tied up in a tree as garland, hoping the little birdies would feast. Sadly it rained like crazy that night and most of the seed cakes dissolved and fell in a heap to the ground. I suggest hanging these outside where they won't get too wet:)

If you plan on giving these as gifts, decorate them with little tags! I stamped ours on plantable seed paper and tied them up with baker's twine. They just happened to fit into the heart printed treat bags I send out with my shop packages. Kismet!

Birdseed Ornaments
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of all purpose flour
4 cups mixed birdseed
5 Tbls. corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup red pepper flakes
wax paper
baking sheets
baking molds/muffin tins/cookie cutters
a chopstick
ribbon

Preparation:
Line your baking sheets with wax paper. Spray any tins or cutters with cooking spray. Place cookie cutters on the wax paper. In a large bowl mix all ingredients until sticky and combined. Pour into molds/tins/cutters and press firmly. Poke a hole with the chopstick for hanging your ribbon. Let sit for 3 hours, remove from tins and flip over, let sit another 3 hours or until very dry. Add twine, ribbon or string to hang.

A good scone is hard to find

I love me a good scone.

Trouble is, a good scone is hard to find. Like a good man, a good scone is warm and sweet, but not too sweet. A little hard on the outside, but still soft on the inside. Comforting, sturdy, but not too tough. Have I driven this metaphor as far as it can go? Methinks so, but you get it.

Scones can be tricky, especially when you have a toddler running around and your ambitious dreams of perfectly round scones are foiled by mischief involving matchbox cars,  crayons, stuffed animals or toilets. Hopefully not all of those things together.Just plan ahead and realize your scones can be close to perfect using Ina Garten's lovely recipe, as long as you lock your kiddo in his room (not really:)).

Ina's Cranberry Orange Scones
very slightly adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home

Ingredients:

4 cups flour, plus 1/4 cup
3 sticks of butter, very cold
1/4 c. sugar
2 Tbls. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbls. orange zest
4 eggs
1 cup half and half
juice of one orange
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. dried cranberries and golden raisins
sugar for sprinkling

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Cut butter sticks into small cubes (I quarter each stick lengthwise, then chop) and return to the fridge. Using the paddle attachment on your stand mixer, blend 4 c. flour with sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. With mixer set to low speed, add butter a bit at a time. Mix until dough looks like small peas. Do NOT overmix it. You'll get tough scones and be super bummed.

In a small bowl, beat eggs slightly, add in cream. With the mixer set to low speed, pour egg mixture into the dough slowly. Mix until just combined.

Toss raisins and cranberries with remaining 1/4 c. flour. Add to the mixer bowl and mix until just combined.

Turn half of the dough out onto a well floured board. Refrigerate the rest in the bowl. Floor your hands well, this stuff is sticky. Knead into a ball, floor your board more and roll or press it into a one inch thick circle. If you're ambitious, use a greased circle cutter to cut scones. If not, slice the circle into six triangles with a greased knife. See my previous note about ambition.

Place scones on the baking sheets about an inch apart and bake 20 minutes or until golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Whisk juice and powdered sugar together to make a glaze. You may use more or less sugar depending on your desired consistency, so just add a little sugar at a time. I like a thinner glaze, so I use less. Drizzle over cooled scones and sprinkle with sugar.

Presto Pasta

My little man is being weird about his veggies again. Weird in the way that makes me have to plan new meals and try new recipes and actually COOK something I haven't cooked for him before. Holy moly cow (as Jude loves to say these days)! Holier molier cow, I'm actually in love with it. It isn't the olden days of sifting through Food and Wine magazine looking for drool worthy photos or perusing the aisles of Whole Foods sniffing miso pastes and fennel powder. It's more like, "Shit. I have mushrooms that will go bad in 2 days, not enough spinach for a salad, and 20 minutes to make a meal of it. FML." Those moments always bring me back to pasta. It's the easiest and fastest way to stuff veggies into a kid without fail and it's done in 20 minutes. Jude powered through two bowls of this with a side of turkey meatballs dunked in yogurt (because why wouldn't you dunk a meatball in yogurt?) and begged for more. Sadly there wasn't any more to give him, because E and I had powered through the rest already. It's that good.

If your toddler (or anyone) is averse to chunks of mushroom or spinach leaves, just puree the whole batch of sauce until it's smooth and no one will know it has veggies in it. Wanna double up the veggie punch? Serve it with the Piccolini pasta Barilla makes. We love that stuff!

Fusilli with Spinach and Mushroom Cream Sauce 

Ingredients:
16 oz. sliced button mushrooms
2 c. baby spinach
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbls. butter
4 sage leaves, chopped or 2 tsp. dried sage
1 c. cream
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cups cooked fusilli or other short pasta

Preparation:
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add shallots and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook 5 minutes until garlic is fragrant and mushrooms are beginning to brown, stirring often. Add spinach and toss until wilted. Add cream and sage and bring to a simmer. Continue stirring and simmering until cream thickens and mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Using a large spoon, transfer half of the mixture to a blender and pulse until smooth. Return to the pan and stir into remaining mixture. Add cooked pasta to the pan and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

Front Page!

Woot woot! This adorable treasury full of gift ideas for gardeners made Etsy's front page late last night. And look who was featured in the top row! So excited. I made a sale and got more views than ever. Thank you, Rachel!

The Great Blogger Cookie Swap

• Butter, sugar, flour,
• crumbling between my fingers.
• Add a little spice.
• 
  
• God, I'm so deep, yo. I can't even stand it:) No really, I'm just writing cookie haiku because last year (year one of the most epic cookie swap of all time) a participant of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap wrote an entire cookie themed version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was adorable. And I can't find it. So if you remember who wrote that post, please hit me up and I'll link it here! Meanwhile, little ol me, former Spoken Word poet and current cookie lover, can only come up with a haiku. Maybe that's because my son has finally fallen asleep for his morning nap and it's 4:00 in the afternoon. FML. So many things on today's to do list, and this post may be the only one I check off.
• 
  
• For this year's cookie swap (which  happens to be for charity this year, by the way. Each blogger made a donation to Cookies for Kids Cancer and you can plan your own cookie swap at home to do the same!), I made one of my favorites, Vanilla Chai Spiced Crackle cookies. This is a recipe I developed while I was living in Ann Arbor, back when I had no kid and thus ample time for developing recipes that weren't pureed. I brought the first ever batch in to share with the English department at school, and they were gone in a blink. Just FYI, teacher's break rooms are a great place for recipe testing. 
• 
  
• These are a crunchy cookie with a bit of bite and they are best dipped in coffee or tea. I sometimes drizzle them with chocolate, if I'm feeling super ambitious, and I actually prefer them with an extra 1/2 tsp, of kosher salt. It gives it a tiny salty bite that is so yummy. They pack and ship well, so they are perfect if you have anyone to whom you would like to mail something sweet. You know you do.
• 
  
• Vanilla Chai Spiced Crackle Cookies
• Ingredients:
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 c. sugar, plus 1/4 c. for rolling
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tbls. chai spice mix, plus 1/4 tsp. for rolling
• 4 oz. white chocolate (if desired)
• 
  
• Preparation:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend 1/4 tsp. chai spice mix and 1/4 c. sugar, set aside.
  Cream butter, shortening, and sugars.Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift remaining ingredients and add to butter mixture, blending until combined. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar/chai blend. 
  Place at least 1 inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheets and flatten with the bottom of a glass or your palm. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until just golden. (Keep an eye on them as they will turn from perfectly golden to crunchy brown very quickly!) If you wish, melt the white chocolate in a double boiler and drizzle over the tops of cooled cookies. Store in an air tight container for 2-3 days.
  Print this recipe
  
  
  A big thank you to the lovely blogging ladies who send me scrumptious treats in the mail! I love mail of any kind, but cookie mail? That's the bestest!
  
  
  I scored a box of melt in your mouth buttery white chocolate cookies drizzled in milk chocolate from Mari, gone before E even made it home from Cali. Too bad so sad. 
  
  
  Kara of Kara in the Kitchen sent me some fudgy peppermint brownie bars that disappeared in mere hours. I think I blacked out somewhere in that time, because suddenly I looked down and they were gone. I can't be held responsible when chocolate is involved. 
  
  
  Jennifer of Bake or Break sent these gorgeous brown butter snickerdoodles, which I'm kind of obsessed with. I actually just ate one of them while typing this. These are going on my to-bake list stat. 
  
  
  And another big thank you to the ladies who posted photos of the cookies I sent to them via Twitter and Facebook. It's nice to see they all made it in one piece:)
  
  
  And the last big thank you is for Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. You guys are amazing for doing all of the work required to make this cookie swap of epic proportions work. You're also crazy. Like the crazy fabulous kind of crazy.

Sippity Sup

MMM, soup weather. Gray, wet, chilly, and all sorts of gross outside weather. The kind of weather that makes you want to pull the covers over your head, read a book, and forget the world for 24 hours. I know you feel me. Today is one of those days. Luckily I made a big batch of this tomato soup with roasted garlic, so I'll be sippin' on a big ol mug of this goodness today. As will Jude, who happens to love it as much, if not more, than I do. He'll take his with grilled cheese on whole wheat, sliced into sticks. And in a sippy cup, please.

I have posted plenty of tomato soup recipes before... But I think I've perfected it this time! This is easy and oh so delicious! Plus, it makes a fantastic gift or pick me up for someone who is feeling sick or blue. Wrap a loaf of fresh bread in a tea towel, label a jar with a fantastic reusable Chalkboard Sticker Label, and you have a perfect gift;)




Roasted Tomato Soup with Garlic and Rosemary
Ingredients:
3 pints grape tomatoes
1 head of garlic
2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 15 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
2 cups of chicken (or veggie) stock
1-2 Tbls. kosher salt, divided
black pepper
olive oil

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Slice the top off of your head of garlic. Place in the center of a square of foil and drizzle with olive oil. Fold the square up and twist to make a packet. Place the packet in the center of a baking dish.

In a large bowl, drizzle tomatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Pour into the baking dish with the garlic. Roast for 1 hour or until tomatoes have blistered and browned. Turn tomatoes with a spoon a few times during roasting to make sure they all cook evenly.

Transfer tomatoes to a large stock pot over medium high heat. Add stock, crushed tomatoes, and half of the rosemary (removed from the stem!). Unwrap the garlic and squeeze as much as you like into the soup (I find that about 5 cloves does it for me). Season with remaining salt and pepper and heat until boiling. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Remove from heat and blend using an immersion blender until smooth (or use a regular blender if you must, just remember to put a towel over the top and go slowly so it won't explode tomato all over you and your kitchen). Pour into a jar with the remaining sprig of rosemary for giving, or eat it all up before it gets cold!

The Gift of Giving

Ah, the holiday shopping rush... so much fun isn't it? Well sure it is! If you do it correctly! I'm lucky in that I don' have to buy a ton of gifts. I do have a shortage of time and a tight budget, however, so that can always make things tricky. I have a strategy. Come up with one good idea and get everyone the same thing. Last year it was hooded towels. Seriously. I found a killer hooded Yoda towel at the Ridgewood Craft show and fell in love. I then bought six more towels online via Etsy for my nephews, cousins, and the kids I used to babysit. They were a huge hit. This year it's newsboy caps. I just ordered six of those. There's always a few books, girly things, and treats that sneak into the shopping, but at least 75% of what I buy is handmade. Craft shows help. Like the one I did last weekend at West Side Advent-ure. That's my table. Cute, no? I got a great response and it was my most successful show so far, so I'm very happy! All of the new card designs I did for the show are sneaking into the shop this week. 

Here's one I love the bestest:

Baby It's Cold Outside 

Etsy is also my obvious other go-to answer for handmade holiday shopping. Last year's towels came from Rubadub Buddies. This year's hats are from MyMoJo Baby. I'm still hunting for the perfect little something for my brandy new sister in law who is expecting a brandy new baby in February. I found so many gorgeous baby things I had to make a treasury to feature some of them. But now I'm so torn! What would you buy?

'Itty Bitty Holiday - GIfts for Baby' by jojobeandesigns

Perfect presents for that bitty bundle of joy, and for mommy of course:)

Baby's First Christ... SeptemberHouse $29.00	Crochet Off White baby ... JCrochetShop $16.99	Airplane baby mobile - ... LullabyMobiles $44.00	Waldorf doll, organic g... pingvini $63.00
READY TO SHIP Baby sant... TreMelarance $18.00	Hemp Baby Blanket / Rec... rebourne $25.00	Organic Infant Onesie: ... pineapplepetek... $24.00	custom christmas stocki... byebyebirdieen... $15.00
Hand knit classic Irish... IrishWoolen $48.00	Harry Potter - Infant O... ArmadilloDream... $16.00	Organic Baby Blanket wi... bunbunbabydesi... $52.00	Christmas Baby Leg Warm... GigglePoo $12.00
Natural Shea Butter Tea... krugsecologic $20.00	Hearts and Stripes Todd... PeppermintPinw... $45.00	Cotton Crochet Dishclot... SimpleCottageK... $10.00	Christmas Headband - Re... TheSassyTot $12.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house