Whoopie!

Tonight is my daughter's preschool Halloween Extravagana and I needed to think of something quick to add to the dessert table. I've been sitting on this recipe for quite some time and decided to bust it out for this event.

This is not your regular Whoopie Pie recipe but rather a quick step version that looks and taste similar to the real deal. And because this recipe is so simple, even the littlest kids can help out -- just don't let them get too carried away with dusting the tops with powdered sugar. YIKES. We'll now be knee deep in powdered sugar for quite awhile I'm afraid. Alex is quite ambitious when it comes to sprinkling.

Ingredients:

• 
  
  1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix (Follow instructions on the back of the box **except** add only 3/4 C of water and 1 small package of instant chocolate pudding).
  
  
  
• 
  
  Drop by small spoonfuls onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. I used a small cookie dough scoop to make sure each cookie was similar in size and shape.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. I found that 10 minutes was just enough time to get them to set. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet before transferring over to a wire rack for addiitonal cooling. These will fall apart easy if they are still hot.
  
  
  

Once cooled, pile on the buttercream frosting or use Marshmallow Fluff as a filler. I try to stay away from Marshmallow Fluff just becuase it's so difficult to work with being so sticky and all, but if you have the patience for it, I'm sure it will taste great.

Then finally dust with powdered sugar. Have fun making these.

Pumpkin Seed Trail Mix

Clean seeds under running water then sprinkle with sea salt. Roast at 325 for 20 minutes, stirring after the first 10 minutes.

Mix roasted seeds with raisins or dried cranberries, walnuts, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

This chili is so simple to make. It taste like you spent hours in the kitchen when in fact, the slow cooker did all the hard work.

I got this recipe from Allrecipes but used the modifications made by reviewers rather than using the recipe as it was written. Turns out, the reviewers were spot on.

I garnished the chili with chopped red bell pepper, shredded Mediterranean Gouda Cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 pound ground turkey

2 cans tomatoes with green chiles

1 can (15 ounce) dark kidney beans, drained

1 can (15 ounce) light kidney beans, drained

1 can (15 ounce) black beans, drained

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp red pepper flakes (omit if you want it kid friendly; I used them and it was fine for my girls)

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 pinch ground black pepper

1 pinch ground allspice

salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place turkey in the skillet, and cook until evenly brown; drain. Set aside. Then in the same skillet saute onions until translucent.

2. Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray, and mix in turkey, tomatoes/chiles, beans and onion. Season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, allspice and salt.

3. Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High.

Allrecipes, Laura's Quick Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

A Muddy Pumpkin Farm

Saturday morning was dry, sunny and perfect for pumpkin picking. We decided to take advantage of the weather and went online in search of a nearby pumpkin patch and found one on the eastside that looked acceptable, I mean they had pumpkins -- our main agenda item, so we gassed up the family car, loaded the girls in, and went on down the road.

We drove no more than 25 minutes before we found ourselves on a long stretch of highway with nothing but grass and earth before us. We slowed to a crawl realizing that we had reached our destination. We watched as cars took their time turning into the pumpkin patch parking lot and then proceeded slowly until they found an open spot in which to park. We didn't understand why it was taking so long to pull into the lot until we pulled in ourselves.

We discovered that the lot was thick with dark clay that had turned into a soupy muddy mess no doubt from the torrential rains that had carpet bombed the area the day before. Cars were proceeding slowly because the chance of sliding or getting stuck was no joke. As we drove in, I thanked my lucky stars that we had just put four, brand new tires on our car for otherwise we would have been S.O.L. for sure. We trudged through, finding a parking spot sooner than expected. That was only the first obstacle. Next we had to step out into the goo and then walk toward the pumpkin area. The mud was slippery under our boots so we walked deliberately avoiding as many puddles as possible finally making our way over to the pumpkins.

While looking for the perfect shape and size pumpkin, I spotted a fellow coop mom and called over to her. Both of us giving a disapproving nod to the mud situation then guffawed over the pumpkin prices. I explained that if it were up to me, I'd be happy with buying a bunch of pumpkins from Safeway to save money and time. Of course I was mostly joking because I love the tradition of taking the girls for our annual pumpkin adventure. We both agreed that the visit to the pumpkin patch had very little to do with the pumpkins but rather that it was all about the ambiance. And it was.

We ultimately left the farm with several over priced pumpkins in tow, looking like complete mud monsters with smiles on our faces. Here are some images from our trip. They're less about the pumpkins and more about the rest of what was there.

And this wasn't the muddy part of the patch. This was the tolerable area -- the area where Alex pleaded, "Mud, mud. I want to go in the mud."

This Kettle Corn was delicious. Next time I'll remember to splurge on the larger bag.

I'm sure this honey taste very good, but I mostly love the container. Aren't they beautiful jars all nicely topped with these pretty jar hats. How crafty.

Happy Halloween!

Spooky Spiders

What you can do with Play-Doh, pipe cleaners and googly eyes?

You can roll the Play-Doh into a ball and stick pipe cleaners in it. Add a couple of googly eyes and you'll get this. . .

Or this. . .

And if you're 3 years old, you may get this.

If you're 6, you may get this.

Hopefully these colorful spiders will be enough to scare away the real ones.

Quick Asian Stir Fry

Some days you just want dinner to be quick, tasty and satisfying. This Asian Stir Fry took very little time and tasted great. Just cook rice, bag of frozen vegetables, 2 chicken breasts and 2 eggs.

I'm sure you can spend hours perfecting a stir fry sauce from scratch but that would take all day. The alternative would be to go to your local grocery store and pick up a bottle of this.

I browned the chicken separately and then set it aside. Then I stir fried the vegetables, set aside. Scrambled 2 eggs and then threw everything back into the frying pan and drizzled with about a 1/3 of the sauce. I poured the entire mixture over hot rice and was done.

You can also buy a bunch of fresh vegetables, clean and chop them up, or you can buy a bag of this.

Dinner was served in less than 30 minutes.

Halloween Cookies

On Saturday it rained like mad so it was a good day to spend the morning in the kitchen. The girls, still their their pajamas, rolled dough and used Halloween themed cookie cutters to cutout: pumpkins, witches, owls, bats and more. See Sugar Cookie recipe here.

After the shapes were cutout, I placed the uncooked cookies in the freezer to bake off the next day. This is a great way to keep the cookies from spreading during baking.

I had a witch cookie too but the broom broke. Darn. I used Royal Icing to decorate the cookies. I wish I had black, orange and white sprinkles because I think the cookies would have looked much better with them. Also, I tried to make the bats purple but when I mixed blue and red I got an awful shade of brown. Tell me I'm right -- blue and red make purple right? I tried adding more blue and instead got this putty grey. I used purple sprinkles to hide the awful grey color. Even still, I think the cookies came out pretty darn good considering.

Royal Icing

3 Large egg whites, free of yolk and at room temperature

2 tspns fresh lemon juice

pinch of salt

1 16-ounce box of powdered sugar

In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, mix together the egg whites and 1/2 tspn of the lemon juice until frothy and opaque. Then gradually add the salt and powdered sugar {1/2 cup at a time} and whisk at medium high speed. Add the remaining lemon juice and mix on high speed for 3 to 5 minutes until stiff peaks form. Add food coloring of your choice and blend well. Pipe onto cookies using pastry bag or use a small plastic sandwich bag cutting the corner just a little to make an opening to pipe from.

If the icing is too runny, add more powdered sugar. If too stiff, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Allow cookies to sit out, uncovered, until icing is dry.

Animal Farm

This morning I tagged along with my daughter's preschool to the pumpkin patch.

Fairbank Animal Farm is delightful as can be. It's small and accessible so little feet can walk endlessly without so much as needing a rest. Farmer Al, our guide, spoke to the children in his best preschool teacher voice making the educational portion of our tour a real treat. The kids marveled at ducks, geese, peacocks and more before raiding the "Pumpkin Patch" where pumpkins were strewn about a grassy field for the kids to rifle through. Eventually each child found that perfect pumpkin to take home. They walked out of the patch, pumpkin in hand, proud as ever. 

The Pygmy Goats were a hoot. These diminutive animals gnawed at just about anything they could find, including the strap of a backpack. Even a pair of red rubber boots seemed like a good meal.

And the best part about the trip -- it didn't rain.

A Children's Book and Banana-Nut Bread

Goodness me. I feel like it's been ages since my last post. I worked incessantly last week until Columbus Day brought me a day of relief. I feel refreshed after the much needed extended weekend.

For this post, I thought I'd tell you about a children's book I found at the library, and a recipe for Banana-Nut Bread.

I decided it was time to start loading up on children's books since fall quietly crept into our little city like a thief in the night. I predict rainy days in our future giving way to tons of snuggle time with the girls and good books. {I better get cracking on knitting that blanket I've been working on for the last two months.}

The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting enraptured me the moment I set eyes on the vintage cover. The illustrations by Michael Hague are superb. Along with the illustrations, the delicious dialogue between Dr. Dolittle and the animals had the girls completely tickled. In the story, Dr. Dolittle gets embrangled with pirates, there are voyages across oceans and a chase through the jungles of Africa. Every chapter left the girls hanging on the edge of their seats. They couldn't wait to hear about what was going to happen next.

When I initially brought this book home, I had my older daughter in mind, but as I began reading, I noticed that my 3 year old suddenly had an interest in the story too. It isn't often that I find a chapter book that appeal to both girls. If you get a chance, you should check it out.

Now I have a recipe to share with you.

Banana-Nut Bread

Alex was once again by my side measuring, stirring and tasting.

This is such an easy recipe that produces a moist dessert like bread. If you've got overripe bananas crowding your fruit bowl, you should really put them out of their misery and make this bread.

Ingredients:

3 Cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 Cups sugar
1 1/3 Cups vegetable oil
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups ripe banana (about 3 medium)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (which I left out because I think it's gross, but that's just me).
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans with cooking spray; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil on medium-low speed unitl combined. Beat in the flour mixture. Add the vanilla, banana, coconut, nuts and buttermilk, and beat just to combine.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans; smooth with an offset spatula. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and let cool completely. Bread can be kept at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic, for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 3 months.
Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, New York

We're Almost Ready for Halloween

We're getting ready . . .

The pumpkin lights are up and the haunted houses are on display. We're almost ready for Halloween. I just need to pick-up a few more decorations, bake cookies and fill the treat bowls with candy. I haven't decided on a costume yet but I'm sure I'll think of something soon.

Have a good weekend.

Summer Images from the Fall

I bought an apron and now I feel all housewife'ish. I wonder if wearing an apron will help to make meals taste better -- kinda like new sneakers make you run faster. You just never know.

While taking this photo I gushed over my flower garden for awhile. I've somehow managed to keep these beauties alive all season so I'm going to miss them terribly.

One stem has already shriveled up. {Sad}.

Maybe I'll plant fall flowers. Any suggestions?

A Marathon, Self-Discovery and the Theory of Two's

On Sunday, October 4, 2009, Jon ran the Portland Marathon. The day before, I had high hopes that he would finish the race strong and we would return home with a medal. There were several signs that I took to mean good fortune would be coming our way.

Firstly, we had only 1 fortune cookie from single serving of chinese food that the girls split. Sammy said, "There's only 1 fortune cookie so who's gonna get the fortune?" While I began cracking open the cookie I started to say that they would have to share the fortune, but instead, inside the cookie were two fortunes. I felt extremely lucky.

On the way to the hotel, we spotted a double rainbow. {the picture isn't great, but if you look closely, you can faintly see another rainbow above the more visible one.} Another lucky sign.

At the hotel, the girls enjoyed a cartoon before heading out to dinner.

We had a wonderful time carbo loading at Macaroni Grill. The fortunes were starting to come true. At dinner we met other marathoners -- we were indeed an unusual party: there was a gay couple ready to embarke on adopting a child or finding a surrogate, a pregnant wife, and a wife not yet pregnant but ready to be so, and several others all with interesting tales to tell. And like the other fortune predicted, we lingered over our meals and gave each other needed advice about having children, raising children, running a marathon and so on and so forth.

The morning of the race we all got up at 5 a.m.

That is, some of us got up and then went back to sleep while others. . .

got up reluctantly. We got a call from the front desk asking if all was okay as they had just received a noise complaint. Nice. Real nice.

After we were all dressed and Jon finished fueling for the morning run, we dropped him off at the starting line. Me and the girls had a few hours to kill -- nothing was open yet this early in the morning so we went for a quick bite to eat and then explored the city.

We also drooled over a window display.

I love this oven!!!!

After touring the city for a few hours, we made our way to the race to watch Jon triumphantly cross the finish line.

I've left out a lot here and so far have only given you a tiny glimse into our journey. I'll let Jon tell the rest of the story.

I’m going to tell this story Tarantino style, I’ll give you the answer first, and then show you how I got there. Yesterday at mile 15 of the Portland Marathon, I was kicked off the course by the US Military.

Now I’ll start from the beginning. As many of you know I’ve been running for many years and used to race pretty competitively up until 6 years ago. I still run 50 + miles a week, but I decided that I didn’t have the time I really needed to train hard for racing.

A couple months back my good friend from high school, Pedro, asked me if I’d like to train for and run the Portland Marathon. Pedro is an amazing Triathlete and has finished several Iron Man races. His goal was to run a sub 3:00 hr. marathon before he turned 40, I thought that sounded like fun and agreed to run with him. We mostly trained independently, but every Saturday we got together for our weekly long runs (14 – 20 miles). Pedro’s friend John, who is another amazing Triathlete, also did long runs with us on many Saturdays.

I could go on, but I’ll just skip to the marathon part. Maya, the girls and I got up at 5:00 AM the day of the race. We rushed to get everything together and headed to downtown Portland (we were staying just outside of the city). Maya dropped me off at the meeting point and I quickly realized that I did not have my race number. In my haste to leave the hotel, I somehow forgot to put it in my bag. I found a pay phone and called Maya; she headed back to the hotel to get the race number and said she’d bring it to me at the starting line. Here is where the trouble began. They started to close off all the streets for the Marathon, and Maya was unable to get to me before the race started. By this time I didn’t think it was going to be a problem, they let me right into the runner’s area and no one that seemed “official” knew if not having a number would be a problem. I had the race chip (an electronic device that times you) on my shoe which was only given to registered runners, so I thought I’d be fine.

The race was going great, we were well under our planned pace and were feeling strong. As we got to about mile 14 I saw something that got me worried – a sign that read “runners without a race number will NOT be allowed on the bridge, no exceptions”. I still thought I’d be okay with my race chip and even asked a couple of the people holding mile markers if they thought I’d be okay, 2 of them said “Yes”. As we approached mile 15 to climb to the bridge I noticed the military personnel that were stationed mid-way up the hill. One of them stopped me and barked “where’s your number!” I said, "I lost it, but I have the timer chip that has my number on it, it was only given to registered runners". His response: “sorry, you’re not going on that bridge”. We pleaded with him but he wasn’t budging, this was a zero tolerance policy. I told Pedro and John to keep going and not to worry about me. I asked the military person to call someone from the race and see if anything could be done, he did, and I was told the same thing – no exceptions.

I stood there in disbelief and weighed my options. I considered running right by him, but figured 1 of 3 things could happen:


1) He’d just let me go. Not likely.
2) He’d chase me down and tackle me on the street. I wasn’t sure that he’d be able to catch me, but who knows, I had 15 miles on my legs already.
3) He’d just radio a head to one of the police officers on the other side of the bridge to stop me. That seemed the most likely scenario; I was easy to spot – the one with the bandanna on his head and no race number.

At that point I came to the realization that it was over, I wasn’t going to be able to finish the Marathon no matter what I did or said. I stood there for a few minutes blaming everyone I could think of – Homeland Security (if that was the reason behind the rule), the race director for his silly zero tolerance policy, the city of Portland, etc. The bottom line was there was only one person to blame, me. If I hadn’t forgotten my number, there would have been no problem. I then did what I normally do when I make a mistake:


1) Realize there’s nothing that I can do about it
2) Try to make the best of it

I decided to backtrack through the race course and then make my way into the city. I figured I’d run the 26.2 miles, plus tack on 4 or 5 extra miles to do something I’ve never done before – run 30 miles!

While I did this I had a lot of time to think and watch the other runners. I saw the race from a totally different perspective. I saw all types of runners, runners that are normally still on the course when I’ve finished, packed up and headed home. I saw runners that if you saw walking down the street you’d never believe they were able to finish a marathon. I saw people on the side of the road taking care of blisters, stretching out tight muscles and nursing injuries. I saw people walking who’d obviously gone as far as they could but refused to quit. Why were they doing it? Did they care about their time? Were they trying to set a PR? Nope, they were doing it because they were determined to do something that very few have ever done – complete a Marathon.

This all lead me to wonder, why do I run? It used to be about my race times, winning or placing high, getting ribbons and trophies. I’d pretty much given all that up 6 years ago, so it had to be something else. The answer was easy; it was because I love to run. Running is simple; anyone can do it at any time. You don’t need much gear and you don’t have to go anywhere special to do it. You can run with a group of people, or you can run all by yourself. That’s the beauty of running.

I glanced at my GPS and realized I’d already clocked over 26 miles. I decided to start heading toward the city which was about 4 or 5 miles away. When I made it into the city I called Maya and the girls from a pay phone and let them know what happened. They’d been waiting for me at the finish line and were getting concerned when they saw people finishing that didn’t look like they should be ahead of me (Maya’s words :)). We spent the rest of the day in Portland and then drove back home to Seattle.

I could dwell on the negative of this experience, but that’s not going to get me anywhere. I’d prefer to consider the good things:


• I got to re-connect with a good friend from high school and went on some amazing runs. On these runs we talked about everything from politics to the upcoming birth of his first child.


• I had a great time in Portland with my amazingly supportive wife and daughters and got to make some great new friends.


• I rediscovered why I run

p.s. All that said, there’s still is a competitive spark in me when it comes to running. Plus, the girls were a little disappointed that they didn’t get to see my cross the finish line. I’m considering the Seattle Marathon at the end of November. We’ll see…

p.s.s. Pedro and John easily finshed the marathon under 3 hours

We were all super tired on the drive home. And while Jon wasn't able to finsih the race, I still believe in my theory of two's because all in all we had a great time.

I think I was wrong when I first started noticing the Theory of Two's. I took it as a predictor of good fortune and now I think that it had more to do with the double meaning of our trip. We went there for one purpose only and came away with something else. We learned a lot from Jon. He could have reacted in a completely different way and instead he chose to rise above and set a new goal for himself all the while doing some serious self discovery.

I know this is a long post, but I'll leave you with just a few more Two's that I came across:

• 
  
  The first runner to finish the marathon came in at 2.24 Hours, just 2 minutes from my two's.
  
  
  
• Before we checked out of the hotel we left housekeeping a tip of all the change we managed to scrounge up between us, $2.22.
• I filled up the gas tank before we left Oregon and the total amount came to $28.28. Not too far off from my two's theory.