One of my new favorite things in the kitchen is this:

Funny part is, the container is actually an old favorite thing.  I purchased it years ago and used it for sorting nuts and bolts and such.  It worked great.  Then Will got some handy dandy drawer system for his garage and didn’t need my clever solution anymore; so it languished in the back of the cupboard hidden behind bundt pans and other serving trays that also have not seen daylight in a while.  Two weeks ago; however, it caught my eye on the same day I heard tell that the reason premade salads wilt is because they are assembled too soon and that if only the ingredients are kept separate until the last possible moment then a salad will be the fresh and crisp delight one hopes for.  Delight may be a bit of a stretch here for some people but I actually love a well made salad.  Unfortunately, a well made salad takes time.  Lots of chopping and grating and assembling of ingredients and when you’re the only one in the household who wants to eat one that time seems better spent elsewhere.  Until now.  Now I can chop up about 4 days worth of fixin’s.  Whenever I have the time and whatever I’m in the mood for (This week it’s cucumbers, cheese, tomatoes, almonds, carrots, onions and one of those roasted deli chickens)  and when the salad mood strikes I’m good to go.  Another unexpected benefit:  it’s fun to assemble exactly what you want and consequently I’ve seen more than one non-salad lover in this house consuming their veggies … on purpose.

As promised here is our super easy zoo snack.

Start with a flour tortilla:

Spread with peanut butter:

Add a sprinkling of raisins:

Dust with granola:

Roll:

Wrap:

Pack and go.

Later when you are hungry and the kids are grumpy.  Pull out your magic snack. Use the plastic to wrap the bottom and enjoy.  It will look something like this:

Some tips:

*Don’t spread the PB too thick or all the way to the edges.  You don’t want a big gloppy mess when you pull these out later.

*If you want to turn this into a kid friendly pot luck item; slice the roll into pinwheels.   

I told you it was easy.

Me to the kids:  After you guys get dressed, come back downstairs: we are going to make cookies.

Sister: Okay. What are we making cookies for?

Me: Because I feel like a cookie.

Sister: Really?  What does a cookie feel like?

Me: Round and slightly chunky, I suppose.

Sister: I bet you do feel that way.

*As a side note, these are the cookies we made.  Delicious!

You will remember from this post that we had these.

Well thanks to this industrious pair we now have blackberry jam.

Lots of jam from the Sure-Jell freezer recipe inside the box.

.

I am of the opinion that truly great recipes are delicious, easy to make and have a cup of sugar in the ingredient list.

My proof?

Aunt Linda’s Lemonade - In a 2 quart pitcher add 1 cup sugar and 2/3 cup “Real Lemon” lemon juice then fill to the 2 quart mark with water.

A cool glass of Sweet Tea – Add 1 cup sugar and tea bags to tea pitcher.  Pour in hot water and allow to steep. Remove tea bags.

and this:

Blackberry Cobbler (click through for a mouthwatering picture)

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed and drained) blackberries (do not use blueberries)

1 cup sugar

1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

Cream, whipped cream or ice cream, if desired

1. In medium bowl, stir together blackberries and sugar. Let stand about 20 minutes or until fruit syrup forms. Heat oven to 375°F.

2. In large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt and milk. Stir in melted butter until blended. Spread in ungreased 8-inch square pan. Spoon blackberry mixture over batter.

3. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until dough rises and is golden. Serve warm with cream.

I dare you to disagree with me.

If you want to make Raspberry Frozen Yogurt per this recipe then you’ll need 2 cups of yogurt.  But you may not have the kind specified so you’ll have to replace it with this.

and a couple of splashes of this

Next you will need some whole milk but because you only have 2% you’ll substitute with this.

which you will totally justify because there was no fat in your yogurt.  So there.

Whisk all that with some sugar (which you’ve got in abundance) until it’s smooth then set it aside.

Now grab some frozen raspberries … and thaw them. (If that isn’t counter-intuitive I don’t know what is but the recipe said to and I *always* follow the recipe.  …. ahem.)

Of course you won’t have right amount of raspberries because at some unknown time the bag was opened and and handful or three escaped.  It’s okay.  Puree the heck out of what you’ve got and add a sprinkling of sugar and some water so your old blender doesn’t keel over from the strain.  Now set a sieve over your yogurt blend and pour the raspberry goo into it.  Using a rubber spatula work the mixture through the sieve and leave all those pesky seeds behind.  Probably all the nutrition is actually in the seeds but whatever.  Thoroughly mix the yogurt and raspberry together.

Finally, pour your concoction into one of these babies (and by “these” I mean this exact kind because it’s the best one ever.  No ice, no salt, no ice/salt mess.) and flip the switch.

In 20 to 30 minutes you’ll go from this:

to this:

And all will be right with the world.

Can’t have Christmas without sugar cookies.

Tip #1 Acquire two willing helpers.  It may not make the process go any faster but it will bring a smile to your face more than once.

Tip #2 Buy a package of these:

They will allow even the most amateur cookie dough maker to roll out consistently perfect dough.

Also, rolling your dough on a floured dish cloth makes even stubborn pieces easy to pick up.

Tip #3 Parchment paper.  Lots of parchment paper.

Tip #4 Use every last bit of dough even if it means switching to a smaller cookie cutter.  These will be the cookies you’ll use when your helpers beg to have some before they are cooled/frosted.  Being able to say, “Sure you can have one now.” will earn you major Mom points.  Besides there’s no point in wasting.

Tip #5 Decorate, decorate …. because plain sugar cookies look lonely and because it’s fun!

**This post backdated for chronological reasons.

One bag of these

+

One tub of this

+

3 hrs in the freezer

=

Bite-size bits of super yumminess

Of course, any nutritional goodness that might have been imparted by the Quaker Oat man is completely buried beneath all sorts of artificial high fructosy stuff.  On the upside four of these sweet treats have a mere 94 calories and they are stupid simple to make.  Want more?  Check this out.

Up until this year my answer to that question has always been, “It doesn’t.”  It’s been really sad.  Still, I try.  This year the children and I started early planting seeds.  It was an abysmal failure.  We replaced our sad, un-sprouted seeds with seedlings from a local nursery and forged ahead undaunted.  I am so glad we did.  Yesterday, we enjoyed our first bit of harvest: sliced tomatoes lightly salted with mozzarella and fresh basil.  Even such a simple meal tastes fine when picked from your own backyard.

• All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
• Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman

and what day says “summer” better than July 4th. 

Strawberry-Banana Ice Cream

(original recipe from FoodGeeks.com)

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk (I used 2% and it worked just fine.)

2 tsp. arrowroot (This is a thickener like cornstarch but they are not the same so no substituting.)

2 egg yolks (Of course you should only consume raw egg that is absolutely fresh.  Save back and freeze the egg whites and you’ll have just what you need when it’s time to make Nana’s Banana Bread.)

1 large, ripe banana

1 cup strawberries

1/2 cup agave nectar

Mix cream, milk, agave and arrowroot.  Pre-chill in freezer for 20 to 30 min.  Peel and smash banana.  Puree strawberries including green leaves on top in a blender.  Whisk egg yolks in a small bowl.  Add chilled cream mixture and banana to strawberry puree.  Add to ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions.

Happy Independence Day, America!