Apples are in all their glory this time of year, and apple picking has been high on our list of priorities. If we are feeling adventurous, we might take a trip up to Apple Holler in Wisconsin for some U-Pick. Otherwise, our stand-by annual trip for pumpkins and petting zoo action at Didier Farms will also yield some fresh apples. Until then, these wraps will have to fill the need.
Biscuit has developed a pretty hearty addiction to the “This [insert fruit here] Walks in to a Bar” bars from Trader Joe’s, so we decided to try out a recipe to mix these with a traditional Fig Newton. The resulting bar is still awesomely delicious, but much less sweet than the TJ bar. Matt rolled out some of the leftover filling and dough into some rustic tarts, which made for a great mom-n-dad snack after Biscuit hit the hay for the night.
Making homemade cheese might seem like something reserved for milk maids on the farm with a couple of heifers named Bessie, but making fresh ricotta in your own house could not be easier. This recipe makes a nice batch of cheese, and only a small portion is used for this treat. Lasagna, anyone?
Cake! In a microwave! We got all scientific with this recipe, so you will need some extra equipment (listed below). But you make a cake in a microwave! So worth it.
For the cake
4 egg whites
20 grams of flour
70 grams of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of maple syrup
For the sauce
A handful of blueberries
5 tablespoons of water
1/2 tablespoon of agave nectar
Equipment
Whipped Cream Dispenser + 2 Chargers
Food Scale
1. Mix all cake ingredients together, and allow to sit for a half hour.
2. Pour 1/2 cup of the cake batter in to the whipped cream dispenser.
3. Charge the dispenser once, and shake ten times. Add the second charger, and charge and shake again.
4. Allow mixture to sit in the dispenser for 1 hour.
5. Dispense batter into a small, greased tupperware container (we used one that was about 5 inches in diameter).
6. Microwave for 60 seconds.
7. For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a saute pan and reduce over medium low heat until it gets a syrupy consistency.
8. We also garnished with [optional] crushed, freeze-dried strawberries.
We happened to have some extra shortcakes laying around, and no toast in sight. Seeing as shortcake has a similar composition to brioche, Matt decided to batter them and cook them up like french toast. This is not a breakfast for the faint of heart, though it was a breakfast that Biscuit devoured completely. We like to kick up the morning meal every once in a while to give her a break from Cheerios and oatmeal, but this recipe also works as a dessert for later in the day if you aren’t in to the whole sugar-explosion before 9am.
We can’t even tell you how excited we are for the Babypote. Biscuit has developed a pretty intense love for those fruit pouches, specifically the Fruit Crushers from Trader Joes and the Gogo Squeeze from Materne. They are super awesome for when we are on the run and she needs a snack, and they can always be relied on to stop a core meltdown in its track. But, at $2.99/4pk they began to burn a pretty serious hole in our family food budget.
After looking around to see if there was somehow a way to reuse the Crusher packages (which Matt quickly vetoed as being ‘all kinds of unsanitary’), we stumbled upon the Babypote and quickly ordered one to give it a try.
We’ve only been using it for about a week, and it surely does the job. The opening is plenty roomy enough to fit a standard spoon and all of the part come apart for easy cleaning. Bonus, you can toss it in the dishwasher! The only downside at this point is that it requires a little more effort that the Crushers to suck the food out, and Biscuit is not quite ready to give up her affinity for the prepackaged goods because of this. Oh, Crushers… how you have spoiled her tiny toddler mouth.
On top of all that, you can also breathe new life in to your puree stash if your kiddo is transitioning away from being spoon-fed. Biscuit definitely loves the independence of being able to hold this and snack as needed.
Biscuit is going through a cracker phase right now. The first time she tasted a Chickadee (Target’s generic answer to Goldfish), you could tell that a whole new snack avenue opened in her mind. Now, we can’t open up the cabinet that holds the chickadees with out her running over, arms stretched, saying “numnum. num NUM. NUM NUM.” So this is our first attempt at a homemade cracker for her, made familiar with two of her all-time faves; blackberries and yogurt.
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of rosemary, chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
8 blackberries
1/2 cup of heavy cream
greek or plain yogurt for garnish
1. Preheat over to 400º
2. Combine all dry ingredients until well mixed.
3. In a blender, combine the heavy cream and the blackberries.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mix until a dough forms.
5. Continue to knead the dough, about 15 – 20 times, adding additional flour as needed.
6. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. You can also cut out shapes at this point.
7. Place on a greased baking sheet or silpat and bake for 12 – 15 minutes.
8. Allow to cool, and top with yogurt and chopped herbs as desired.
Yes, that says creamed spinach in the title. Now, before you get all “Ew” or “I am SO not going to read that” or “HOW COULD SHE DO THAT TO HER KID? I AM CALLING DCFS” let us assure you that this is not the creamed spinach idea that you have in your head. Lauren is the furthest thing from being a fan of any kind of hot leafy veg, but she was converted today. As for Biscuit? It took a couple cursory looks and prods, and then she turned in to an eating windmill. Try it, you’ll like it.
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Outside of the recipes we post on this site, we also fill up Biscuit’s tummy with lots of food directly from our fridge. These are quick things to prep, and are usually items that we have on the grocery list for ourselves as well. Biscuit just turned one whole year old, and here are her current favorites in rotation:
Breakfast: Steel-Cut Oats with Berries
Berries have been going strong as a favorite in this house all summer, and they make the perfect partner to the bite of steel-cut oats. We use quick-cook steel-cut oats, and usually make a double or triple batch. The leftovers are stored in mason jars and then microwaved the next morning for a repeat performance.
Lunch: Falafel
What can we say – we eat a lot of Middle Eastern food for lunch. Hummus, tabbouleh, and now we have moved to falafel. Biscuit loves the texture and flavor, and mom loves that they are so easy to prep. We buy them in a large pack from Costco, and then microwave them a minute to warm them through.
Dinner: Tuna Salad
This was a big surprise. The kid LOVES tuna salad. Luckily, she gets a bath right after dinner because MAN DID SHE STINK. We prepped this our usual way, with mayo, mustard, and chopped carrots and celery. Super easy, and you could even sneak more veggies in there if you wanted to!
This little pie/pocket/empanada is just the size for grabby, tiny hands. Cherries are all over our farmer’s market, so we decided to make this treat using the amazing flavor combination that is spumoni: cherry, chocolate, and pistachios. Since you can cut out the dough rounds to any size, you can scale this recipe very easily to make small pockets like we did, or larger ones for heartier appetites.
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