Fresh strawberry frosting for heart cutout cookies.

Have you heard of Sprinkles Cupcakes? The first time I heard of them was when they featured this recipe on the Martha Stewart Show a few years ago. Then the California bakery opened a store on the Upper East Side shortly before we left New York, & I had grand designs of doing an East Side-West Side, West Coast-East Coast cupcake taste test to see if they competed with Magnolia, but ran out of time. So I still haven’t had one of their cupcakes. But I’ve never forgotten this frosting recipe!

While I was planning a slew of projects & activities to keep The Munchkin & me occupied & sane in our tiny apartment during Three-Day Potty Training (incidentally, it worked!), I decided on cookies instead of cupcakes because I knew she’d have more fun cutting them out. I had some Pillsbury refrigerated dough on hand, which saved prep time, but honestly the strawberry flavor didn’t come out very well because of the vanilla cookies. Ideally, you’d use the Sprinkles strawberry cupcake recipe too so you really get the strawberry flavor, or if you did do cookies, add some puree or a fruity extract (like lemon or orange) to the dough. But it sure does give a beautiful soft pink hue!

If you plan to decorate your cookies with piping, rather than just sprinkles, you’ll probably want to strain your strawberry puree & add enough cream to reach your desired piping consistency. Also, try to freeze your own fresh strawberries. Buying a whole bag of frozen strawberries at the store not only wastes money & strawberries if you’re not going to be using them; commenters had stated that the less-fresh strawberries made their frosting more gray than pink.

• about 8 medium strawberries, frozen & thawed (I think they release more juice when they’re frozen… but I could be wrong.)
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, firm & slightly cold
• pinch salt
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. clear vanilla

1. Puree your strawberries in a food processor. (I used a blender & ended up with some small chunks, rather than a completely smooth puree.)
2. Cream butter & salt in stand mixer with paddle attachment until fluffy. Reduce speed & slowly add powdered sugar.
3. Add vanilla & 3+ Tbsp. (to taste) puree; mix until just blended & even in color. Don’t overmix.

   

Patriotic Napoleons for Primary Election Day.

The Primaries are tomorrow here in Florida. The race has been hot, to say the least, with almost every single evening commercial break being completely taken up with campaign attack ads. Having already done my civic duty — it’s really easy to vote early here — I thought I’d commemorate the craziness with a little patriotism.

(You don’t need to explain the irony to me of using a French-named dessert… Maybe you could use this for Bastille Day this summer.)

I saw this easy Napoleon recipe on TidyMom a week ago & knew I needed to make it. I love that the thick pudding/whipped cream mixture is essentially a quick pastry cream! Her version uses raspberries & bananas, which sounded good, but strawberries & blueberries are in season here, & I have to tell you, they’re the best I’ve ever tasted. Living in the same county as the top growers for Florida strawberries, we’re getting Farmer’s Market quality in the grocery store! It’s unbelievable. So I thought I’d complement those berries with chocolate & cinnamon instead of TidyMom’s caramel & brown sugar.

That’s the great thing about this: you can do it however you want! I actually was going to do bananas too, but a certain husband ate the last one. Honestly, though, I don’t think we missed them!

One quick note: in the future, I think I’ll use puff pastry instead of crescent dough for a flakier, more authentic texture.

• 1 (8 oz.) can refrigerated crescent rolls (or use puff pastry)
• cinnamon sugar
• 1 cup cold skim milk
• 1 box (4-serving size) French vanilla (regular vanilla works fine too) instant pudding & pie filling mix
• 1 cup prepared whipped cream*
• thinly sliced fruit of choice (bananas, strawberries, raspberries, whole blueberries)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• vegetable oil

*I made mine with very little powdered sugar so that it wouldn’t be overwhelmingly sweet. You could also use Cool Whip.

1. Preheat your oven to 375. Cover a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Unroll your crescents into 4 rectangles. Pinch shut the seams that turn them into triangles. Use a pizza cutter or very sharp knife to cut each rectangle into 4 smaller rectangles, approx. 4″x2″. Place on prepared baking sheet & sprinkle each with cinnamon sugar.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden & beginning to puff. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, whisk together milk & pudding mix until smooth & beginning to thicken, then refrigerate 30 minutes, until set.
5. Fold in whipped cream. If you’re serving this later, cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate until ready to serve. If you’re serving immediately, continue.
6. Microwave chocolate chips in a small bowl until melted. Stir in enough oil to thin the chocolate to where it is “drizzle-able” (pretend that’s a word).
7. Construct Napoleons as follows: one crescent rectangle, dollop of pudding mixture, sliced fruit, another crescent rectangle, another dollop, more fruit, & one last crescent rectangle. Drizzle with chocolate. For small children, just dollop some pudding in a bowl, place a crescent rectangle in the pudding, & top with fruit & chocolate drizzle.

Get Your Craft On Tuesdays

Valentine’s Day Soup & Sandwich.

I feel like tomato soup is just ideal for Valentine’s Day. If you’re not in Florida, where it hit 80 today, it’s still cold enough for soup in February. Plus, the soup is PINK! Could this be any more perfect? Yes, if you add a heart-shaped sandwich!

For our little family, I made a half recipe of this creamy tomato soup, with one tweak, & then served it with grilled cheese sandwiches on whole-wheat bread cut into heart shapes with a large cookie cutter. Comforting & delicious! (Oh, & lower in fat than a cream-based soup!)

Here’s how I made it:

• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 small clove garlic, pressed
• 1/4 tsp. paprika
• 3 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped, plus additional leaves, chiffonade, for garnish
• 3 oz. softened Neufchatel cheese
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 1 can (15 oz.) petite diced tomatoes, undrained

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion & garlic & saute about 2 minutes, until tender.
2. Reduce heat to low & add paprika, basil, & cream cheese. Gradually stir in milk & soup & stir until smooth.
3. Turn heat back up to medium & add tomatoes, stirring constantly & breaking up tomatoes further by squashing them with the back of a wooden spoon, until hot.
4. Serve with heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches!

Get Your Craft On Tuesdays

Italian Steak with Zucchini & Pasta.

My Husband The Breadwinner doesn’t cook much anymore: 1) he doesn’t need to with me around, except when it comes to pancakes, & 2) he doesn’t get home from work in time anyway. But this meal is evidence that he can find his way around the kitchen if the occasion calls for it. It’s his mom’s recipe, but he made it for me for my birthday a couple years ago & it was delicious & memorable enough to have me craving it this week.

In my own carnivorous opinion, the steak is really the star of this meal, but if you’d rather go the vegetarian route, it’d taste great with marinated portobellos, or even just by itself! It also heats up fabulously for leftovers.

• 1 lb. flank steak
• 1/2 cup of your favorite house Italian dressing
• 2 cloves garlic, divided
• 1 lb. pasta
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 2 med. zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup (or to taste) diced onion
• 2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
• salt, to taste
• parmesan, to taste
• chiffonade fresh basil, to taste

1. Marinate the steak 6-8 hours or overnight in the dressing with one of the cloves of garlic, minced.
2. Prepare the pasta as directed.
3. Meanwhile, rub the pepper into both sides of the steak & cook it in a skillet on medium heat, 5-6 minutes a side or until desired doneness.
4. Meanwhile meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium pot on medium heat & saute the other clove of garlic, minced, & the onion for a couple minutes.
5. Add the zucchini, tomato sauce, & red pepper, then salt to taste. Cook another 2 minutes, then cover & let simmer on low another 2-3 minutes or until zucchini is tender.
6. Toss pasta with sauce & zucchini, then place in serving bowls. Sprinkle with parmesan & basil, then spread sliced steak on top.

Picky (or at least skeptical) eater pleaser: Take out some of the pasta before tossing it with the sauce & place it in a section of one of those nifty partitioned plates & a little of the sauce & some zucchini slices in another. Cut the steak into small pieces & place them in a third. The Munchkin preferred to dip her pasta in the sauce rather than having it coated in it already, & even tried a slice of zucchini! As for the steak, it was gone before we knew it. I’d call that a success.

Delicious potatoes au gratin.

Unlike my last recipe post, this is not resolution-friendly. At all. In all fairness, I did make this for Christmas dinner, before New Year’s Resolutions would have been made. If you’re like me & feel you can justify the extra calories because you’re growing a small human in your belly, go for it! It’s so worth it. If you did make a resolution to eat better, then maybe just pin it on Pinterest until a) you make it to your goal weight, or b) you do what I inevitably do & reneg on your resolution in mid-February.

This is a Pioneer Woman recipe, so when it says “serves 8,” it really means “serves 8 hungry cattle ranchers, or 27 cityfolk.” The recipe below is a half recipe, which our family of 3 ate for days afterwards. I also subbed half & half for her 3-to-1 cream-to-milk ratio for two reasons. First, it lightened it up just slightly. But mostly, that’s what I had on hand, because I had made this for Christmas breakfast.

• 2 whole Russet potatoes, scrubbed
• 1 cup half & half
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1 large clove or 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup (or to taste) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Grease a small baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Cut potatoes into third- to half-inch slices, then cut each slice into fourths.
3. In a smallish bowl, whisk together half & half, flour, garlic, salt, & pepper.
4. Place half the potatoes in the bottom of the dish, then cover with half of the half & half mixture. Then place the rest of the potatoes over the top & pour the rest of the half & half over the top.
5. Cover with foil & bake for 30 minutes. Uncover & bake another 20 or until the potatoes are golden brown & fork-tender. Then sprinkle generously with cheese & bake another 5 minutes or until the cheese is nice & bubbly.

Make your own Minnie (or any) Mouse ears!

For Christmas, we decided to give The Munchkin a Disney World vacation. We just got back from a long weekend of riding Teacups (3 times!), walking a LOT, & meeting pretty much every character there is. We all had a blast!

While contemplating how to present her with her Christmas gift, I decided to give her some Minnie ears, knowing that she’d probably ask for some once she saw everyone else wearing them anyway. Making them was a much cheaper option than buying them, & after her Angelina Ballerina Halloween costume, I had already mastered the proper “ear technique.” I simplified the method I found here for both sets of ears.

• a headband in your desired color
• a sheet of scratch paper & a pen
• a sheet of stiffened felt (preferably the adhesive kind) in your desired color
• sharp scissors
• a glue gun
• optional: wide wired ribbon for the bow
• optional: another piece of stiffened felt in a contrasting color if you’re making “real” mouse ears like I did for Angelina

1. Begin by finding a round object like a glass in the right size for your ears. Trace the glass onto your paper. Then draw a little rectangle below that about half the width of your headband. There may be some trial & error finding just the right size to fit around the headband. Fold the paper at the bottom of the rectangle & cut out the shape so there’s a mirror image at the bottom that resembles a dumbbell.
2. Trace that shape onto the back (adhesive side) of your felt, then cut it out.
3. Mark on your headband where you want your ears to go. Remove the adhesive from your felt, then put a line of hot glue on the underside of the headband in the appropriate spot for one ear & stick the felt there. Make lines of glue on the felt on either side of the headband & then do a glue circle a quarter to half an inch from the edge of one of the circles. Very carefully stick the whole thing together from bottom to top. The adhesive gives you less wiggle room (one stick is all you get — no repositioning), but it also creates a much better seal with no glue oozing out.
4. Repeat on the other side. (Preferably while watching Top Gear, apparently.)
5. Now for the bow. Cut a length of ribbon & loop it with ends together, then pinch in the middle. (Sorry it’s so blurry.) If you want a “poofier” bow, loop it twice & then spread the loops into kind of an X. Glue some of the overlapping bits in the middle together, if desired.
6. Now cut several more inches of the ribbon. On the back (non-printed) side of the ribbon, place a dot of glue on the top middle & fold a third of it over lengthwise. Place another dot of glue on top of that & fold the remaining third. Now you have a skinny middle piece. Place another dot of glue on the back of one end of said skinny piece, secure it to the bottom side of your bow, & start wrapping it around the middle of the bow, securing with glue as you go. There will be some ribbon left.
7. Finally, put a larger dot of glue on the top of your headband. Stick your bow to it, then wrap the skinny bit of ribbon around both it and the headband, once again securing with glue as you go.
8. You’re done! (This is the picture of her after she opened her present on Christmas morning.)

Ta-da!

Get Your Craft On Tuesdays

Resolution-friendly recipes!

For the many of us who have resolved to treat our bodies a little better this year, here are some healthy recipes from the past year. (I can’t believe this blog is already almost a year old!)

More new recipes to come, promise!

I’m making these Chewy, Chunky (& Lowfat!) Oatmeal Bars for us to snack on as we walk around Disney World this weekend. They’re so hearty & delicious (we all love them), it’s hard to believe they’re so low in fat!

Start the day off right with yummy Oatmeal Raisin Pancakes. You just might want to skip the butter syrup.

Now, a couple vegetarian dinners: Pasta with Arugula & Tomatoes…

…& Skinny Veggie Ziti.

If your Munchkins are joining you in your resolution, help them get some more veggies with some Veggie Latkes. (I can’t believe how young The Munchkin looks in this picture!)

Then finish it off right with the almost entirely nonfat Skinny Banana Bread for dessert!

Best of luck keeping your resolutions — health & otherwise — this year!

Pasta salad a la you.

I LOVE pasta salad. LOVE it. A few weeks ago, I decided I needed to make a batch to snack on during the day, so I decided to poll some of my friends on Facebook: “Best pasta salad you’ve ever had. Ready… GO.” I loved all the variations they came up with! Pasta salad’s endless versatility is one of its many virtues.

My friend Mandy suggested penne, hard salami, mozzarella, & Bernstein Italian salad dressing.

Lauren said orzo, kalamata olives, feta, red pepper, cucumber, & a lemon/EVOO vinaigrette.

Joy submitted “penne mixed with pesto, spinach mixed with ranch/milk, feta, tomatoes, & olives.”

Momo flattered me by saying my pasta salad recipe was her favorite. Isn’t that nice of her?

Stephanie said “orzo with lemon, olive oil, garlic, parsley, and STUFF. Whatever veggies you have on hand. Various parts of animals! STUFF. And CHEESE, Gromit!”

Thanks to a weird olive allergy (just the whole olive, not olive oil…don’t ask) & fear of Listeria while pregnant, olives & deli meats (sorry Lauren & Mandy) were out. But Stephanie’s comment — combined with all the other delicious suggestions — got me thinking. Can you really go wrong with pasta salad? I submit that the answer is NO!

My “usual” pasta salad recipe — the one I bring to parties & barbecues — is generally rotini, Good Seasons Italian dressing mix, tomatoes, feta, & parsley. Maybe a little Italian seasoning sprinkled in. But guess what? I don’t like tomatoes! So this time, since it was just for me, I subbed in red peppers. This is how I made it… do it your own way!

• 1 pkg. Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta
• 1 packet Good Seasons Italian dressing mix, prepared according to the packet directions but with a little less water
• diced red peppers
• crumbled feta
• parsley
• Italian seasoning

1. Prepare the pasta as directed, then rinse with cold water to stop the cooking & cool it off.
2. Meanwhile, marinate your red peppers (or whatever crunchy veggies you’re using, like onions) in the dressing for awhile to get rid of that “raw veggie” crunch. You may even want to do this an hour or two before you start with the pasta. This was a great tip from my friend Carolyn!
3. When you’re ready, toss the pasta with the dressing mixture. Then toss in your other tasty “STUFF,” as Stephanie said, until it tastes perfect.

What’s your favorite pasta salad?

Pasta with broccoli & chicken in creamy tomato sauce.

My family just came to visit, & after a week of dining out, I was having serious grocery list writer’s block. What to make this week? Especially with Christmas falling in there too? Fortunately, I recalled one of our old favorites that I haven’t made in forever. We call it “Pink Sauce Chicken.”

(Admittedly, this is one of the least flattering photos imaginable. I’m beyond excited about the light scoop My Husband The Generous is “surprising” me with on Christmas!)

So you’re asking, “If it’s one of your favorites, why haven’t you made it in a long time?” The answer is that I got it from the Kraft Food&Family magazine, & they had the nerve to stop making one of the key ingredients. That’s the trouble with semi-homemade: you’re limited by the available ingredients.

But after like 15 minutes of standing in the salad dressing aisle with The Munchkin contentedly munching on a cookie in her green racecar cart (thank you Publix!), I found the substitute. & Pink Sauce Chicken never tasted better!

• 6 small boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• Lawry’s 30-minute Marinade in Tuscan Sundried Tomato*
• 8+ oz. uncooked short pasta (the recipe calls for bowtie)
• up to 4 cups broccoli florets (we do more pasta & less broccoli)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups jarred marinara sauce
• 4 oz. Neufchatel cheese, softened
• parmesan, to taste

* The recipe originally called for Kraft’s Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing. The 30-minute Marinade does a great job, but has a little less liquid in it, so you need to watch that your chicken doesn’t scorch. If you can’t find the 30-minute Marinade, look for an Italian dressing with roasted red peppers relatively high on the ingredient list.

1. Marinate chicken in some of the 30-minute marinade for — you guessed it — 30 minutes.
2. Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli for last 3 minutes (for frozen, last 4 or 5 minutes) of cooking time.
3. Meanhile, heat 3 Tbsp. of the marinade in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic & heat until fragrant.
4. Add chicken; cook, covered, 5 min. to a side or until done in the middle. You may need to add more marinade/dressing to keep it from burning.
5. Drain pasta mixture; return to pot & set aside. Cover to keep warm.
6. Add pasta sauce & Neufchatel to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted & mixture is well blended.
7. Coat chicken in sauce, remove from skillet, & keep warm.
8. Add sauce mixture to pasta mixture in pot; mix well. Transfer to 6 pasta bowls.
9. Cut chicken across the grain into thick slices. Fan one breast half over the pasta in each of the bowls.
10. Sprinkle liberally with parmesan cheese.

Reindeer cookies.

The Munchkin has been looking forward to making these for DAYS. & they turned out just as great as we hoped they would!

I had originally thought to do spice cookies, but The Munchkin said peanut butter, so that’s what we did! Lucky for us, Bakergirl had already made delicious peanut butter reindeer cookies! Hers are for mini reindeer, but I had full-sized “features,” so I made them full-sized. It yielded 18 cookies instead of 40.

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3 Tbsp. milk
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• scant 3/4 tsp. salt (I felt it was plenty salty from the peanut butter)
• pretzels (I think chocolate- or yogurt-covered pretzels would “stick” better)
• green M&Ms
• red Cadbury Christmas Mini Eggs (or you could use peanut M&Ms, but I’m kind of obsessed with the Cadbury Mini Eggs, so we’re using those)

1. Preheat your oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Cream together first 5 ingredients in your electric mixer. Add egg & beat until just blended.
3. (Optional: combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.) Add to the wet ingredients & mix until just incorporated.
4. Roll into 2-inch balls. Pinch one end between your thumb & forefinger for the “chin.” Then flatten between your palms. Place them on your prepared cookie sheet; I fit 9 on a sheet to keep them from spreading.
5. Bake 9 minutes or until set in the middle & just starting to brown.
6. Remove from the oven, & immediately (carefully!) press the pretzels in for antlers. Do this for all of the cookies right away; the pretzels don’t stick as well as the other “features.”
7. Let your kitchen helper help you press in M&Ms for eyes (M side down, of course) & a Cadbury Mini Egg for a nose.

I was amazed at how good The Munchkin got at decorating these!

Her first attempts were rather… Picasso-like…

But by her 6th one, everything was in its proper place!

Who knew that cookie decorating could teach a two-&-a-half-year-old anatomy?