thishomemadelife | 2011 February

From the monthly archives: "February 2011"

Chocolate Cobbler

February 28, 2011

On Sunday, after lunch, my Ben quietly walked up to me, put his arm around my shoulders and whispered, “Mom, could we do something, just you and me?” I love one on one time with my boys. I love it even more when it comes at their suggestion. He wanted to go somewhere, but I had plans to try a couple of things in the kitchen, one of them being this recipe for Chocolate Cobbler. Ben has a weakness for chocolate, especially anything warm, chocolate and gooey straight out of the oven. When I suggested he help me with this dessert, mentioning he could have some while it was still warm, his eyes lit up and he quickly said he’d help. Having made this dessert before, I wanted to try replacing the hot water that the recipe called for with hot coffee. Coffee works well with chocolate in baking, enhancing it’s flavor without adding a coffee taste.

Sunday in Pictures

February 27, 2011

all pics taken with iPhone… The day started early, as the boys are not as interested in sleep as their parents. As promised the night before, Chocolate Chip pancakes were on the menu for breakfast. It was a typical February winter day, cold and gray. While the boys were at Sunday School Bret and I made our weekly produce run to the store. After church and lunch came naptime. It was much needed after our busy Saturday. While his brothers were sleeping Ben asked if we could do something together…maybe bake? We made a Chocolate Cobbler (I’ll be sharing recipe tomorrow). He assisted in helping make a few changes to the recipe and in the process learned that sometimes it takes a mistake or two to get the results you are looking for. ’Angry birds’ is the newest obsession in our house and I find myself hunting for my iPhone more than usual (and when I find it 1 or more boys are huddled around it). Tomato soup for supper was followed by a Wii soccer tournament and Ben’s chocolate dessert. A few stories, 3 boys tucked in, and our day was done. It was a good Sunday, but as always, it went way too fast.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

February 25, 2011

Well…welcome back winter. I wish I could say that I have been missing you, but that wouldn’t exactly be the truth. In all actuality I had dangerously moved on in my mind to thinking that we were not going to see anymore snow. Browsing websites of my favorite clothing stores, checking out tees, shorts and dare I say…flip flops. Not a good idea. Because here we are with snow again and I am feeling that horrible heaviness that comes this time of year…the winter blahs. My optimist husband reminds me that the snow won’t last long, which is true. But still… Now that the cold weather is back soups are once again in our meal plan rotation. The last time we had a blizzard, with soup planned for the next day I found myself without the vegetable stock I needed. With bad road conditions I didn’t want to send my husband out of his way coming home to pick it up. It was then I considered the idea of making vegetable stock myself. Now, stay with me here, I’m not going all Martha Stewart on you with the making of the homemade stock. I too watched “The Barefoot Contessa“, and listened to her talk about how much better it is for your recipes if you take the time to make the stock going into them. I rolled my eyes and sarcastically thought, “Sure Ina, no problem”, “I have tons of time for that”. However, we were in the middle of a snow storm, so I did have the time on my hands. I hit the computer to search vegetable stock. After reading a few sites I was convinced that making your own stock really isn’t as scary or time consuming as I had thought. [...]

Play-Dough

February 24, 2011

Let me start this by saying I have never been a fan of Play-Doh. Never. Not even as a kid. It’s messy and it has this funny…smell. When I became a mom I knew that playing with Play-Doh was this right of passage in childhood, something you just did. Well, we didn’t. I watched my Play-Doh deprived kids get all excited at playdates and preschool as the colorful dough would be pulled out. Sure I had a little guilt, but just a little. Last week Henry and I went over to a friend’s house for a morning to play. After about an hour the kids were getting restless, needing something different to do, so my friend asks if they would like to play with some play dough. Henry of course jumped at the opportunity. I just looked at her and said, “Wow, you are a great mom, I don’t do Play-Doh.” I then went on to tell her my list of reasons why I am not a fan. Good friend that she is, she just laughed as she continued to pull out containers of the brightly colored dough. After a few minutes of watching the kids play I walked over to see what Henry had created. Leaning over to see all he’d made I caught a whiff of something that spelled like orange Kool-aid. I asked Henry if he smelled it and he said, “Yea Mom, it’s the play dough, isn’t that cool!?” Intrigued, I asked my friend (super mama and former preschool teacher) if there was something to this. She then told me about this great homemade play dough recipe that adds Kool-aid powder making it not only smell good, but adding the doughs bright color as well. Hmm…. Cautiously I asked for the recipe, thinking in the back [...]

Peanut Butter Pancakes

February 22, 2011

When I was growing up my Dad would hold “Pancake Parties”. One night a week, after supper, he would mix up some pancake batter and fire up the griddle. His idea was to make a week’s worth of pancakes so that each morning he could have them for breakfast. I clearly remember helping him with this. Sitting in our small kitchen, talking about everything and nothing, M*A*S*H on our kitchen’s little b&w TV, filling the background. Now, with kids of my own, I see the importance of doing things that brings you together, something as easy as making pancakes that can give you the time with your child(ren) to talk about everything and nothing. Cooking is a great way to do this and most of the time kids love to help in the kitchen. These pancakes are delicious. Fluffy and peanut buttery. A little maple syrup on top and it is the perfect combination of salty and sweet. If your kids are banana eaters they would be a wonderful addition. The batter to these pancakes is thicker than the usual, but the pancakes still manage to come out fluffy and light. I will often double this recipe as my boys love pancakes, but also to have a few left over for breakfast the next day. Peanut Butter Pancakes ‘Color Me Vegan’ by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau 1 1/4 cup flour 2 Tablespoon granulated sugar 1 Tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/4 cup milk, dairy or non-dairy 1/4 cup peanut butter In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the milk and peanut butter til smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and beat just until a batter is formed. Do not overbeat. Lightly oil a [...]

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Chocolate Cobbler

Sunday in Pictures

Homemade Vegetable Stock

Play-Dough

Peanut Butter Pancakes

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