To get back into the groove we’ve started out with an easy one — Corn Bread… Basically our Corn Muffin recipe in a 9×9″ pan. Easy, quick and yummy!

Check back soon for new stuff, if this weather continues — we might just write a book!

It’s still summer! Which means that we have a plethora of tomatoes! Either from our own garden or from our neighbors, we have more arriving everyday — And, since it’s still a little too hot to bake anything, we’ve been busy crushing…

This recipe makes approximately 2 Cups of Tomato Broth

Cherry Tomatoes  – approximately 2 pints (do not use green tomatoes)
Basil – 1 Tablespoon Chopped
Garlic  Cloves – 3 Crushed
Dried Oregano – 2 Tablespoons
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1/4 Cup
Salt to taste

You will need – Measuring tools; Tomato Crusher; Skillet; Spoon; Pot (for cooking pasta); Strainer

This recipe is really so simple…
1. Crush the tomatoes – discard the skins and reserve the liquid
2. Crush the garlic and chop the basil — cook over low heat in the skillet until it starts to crisp up… add the other ingredients along with the tomato broth, and simmer.
3. Cook your pasta — for this we choose Dischi, which kinda has the shape of an elephant ear… Not that anyone would want to eat an elephant ear — but Will thought the idea was hilarious.

Serve the broth over the pasta and season to taste. The broth is light and sinks into the pasta quickly which also makes for a very nice dish as a leftover…

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? This is where the leftover tip comes in handy… Will didn’t want to eat it the first night — he said “No, I’m not gonna like it..” but I suspect he was just too tired from all the tomato crushing… The next night, however, with the broth all soaked up into the pasta, he ate it and actually said, “I love this pasta.” which was nice until he also said that he loved the fork… We are working on our definitions.

This recipe makes approximately 2 Cups of Pesto

Basil – 3 packed Cups
Unsalted Sun Flower Seeds – 1/2 Cup
Garlic  Cloves – 3 Crushed
Dried Parsley – 1/4 Cup
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1/2 Cup
Soy Butter – 2 (generous) Tablespoons, Melted
Salt to taste

You will need – Measuring tools; Rubber Spatula; Food Processor; Grinder (we use an old coffee bean grinder)

Using your food processor, chop up the basil until it is finely cut and then grind up the sunflower seeds until they turn to dust — mix together in the food processor and then add the other ingredients. Blend until the mixture has a consistency to your liking. We found that the creaminess of the soy butter was an excellent replacement for regular butter and parmesan cheese, while the sunflowers replaced the usual pine nuts.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? No… Although he enjoyed making the pesto, he pretty much soured at the idea of putting it in his mouth… It is nice to know that we have this recipe for him for future attempts, however, because the rest of us all agreed that it tastes just like the real thing!

It’s been too hot to cook or bake these days, which has resulted in a bit of a hiatus for Will’s Kitchen… The fun thing is that when the weather happens to break, we have all these fresh ingredients from our gardens to work with! Here are our “Best Blueberry Muffins Ever” with one cup of Blueberries replaced with one cup of freshly picked raspberries… we were able to whip these up during a thunderstorm. Check back when the summer turns to fall — we have tons of awesome recipes to try!

Canola Oil – 2 Cups
Flour – 1 Cup
Salt – 1/2 Tablespoon
Baking Powder – 1/2 Teaspoon
Sparkling Apple Cider – 1 Cup
Fish — Flounder, Cod or other White Fish – 1 pound
Lemon – 1/2 to squeeze

You will need – Mixing Bowl; Measuring tools; Whisk; Knife for Cutting – watch little fingers!; Rubber Spatula; Deep Pot for Frying; Slotted Spoon

Start by pouring the oil into your pot and heat it over medium/low heat and then whisk together the Flour, Salt and Baking Powder in your mixing bowl. Pat down the fish with a paper towel and then trim while looking for any bones to remove and then cut into strips. Slowly pour the Sparkling Apple Cider into the flour mixture and stir with the spatula until smooth.

Once the batter is combined, use your fingers and dip the fish into the batter piece by piece and add to the hot oil. Only add in a few at a time making sure that they aren’t touching — otherwise they will stick together. Let one side cook for approximately 4 minutes and then use the slotted (or holed in our case) spoon to turn each piece over. Cook both sides until the color is golden brown and then remove to drain. Repeat until all the fish is cooked, give a good lemon squeeze over the whole lot and then GO FOR IT!

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? We are happy to announce that YES, Will ate them! He actually tried a bite of each one to see which was the yummiest! It was only a few months ago that he did an about-face rejecting the frozen fish sticks — needless to say, we are really happy to see fish back in his diet again! Just goes to show how important it is to TRY TRY AGAIN!

Many of our attempts fail, unfortunately. But sometimes we come across a recipe that turns into something completely different, which is OKAY because it then becomes something else… Something new… Something we were not expecting, but enjoyed nonetheless.

We started off to make quesadillas using a recipe for Tortillas from the May 2010 Food Network Magazine. And to say we started off — we did everything that the recipe called for… We even tried to flatten our tortillas with a coffee can , which they recommended should you not have a tortilla press… we ended up finally using one of Will’s plastic plates instead… Note to self – get a tortilla press.

But that wasn’t the only hitch. When we started cooking, the tortillas became stiff – like little pie crusts — not soft at all. We were, however, half way through combining the filling for the quesadillas from a leftover Chicken Fajitas, so we continued on to make these fun little chicken sandwiches…

Here is the link for the Tortillas — please note, again, that ours turned out like crusts.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? He actually really liked the mini corn pie crusts and he liked the vegan cheese, but once everything was all put together he lost interest and cared more about cleaning up and riding his bike. Maybe it was the time it took to make the tortillas? Regardless, the rest of us ate them and agreed that we had created something yummy!

First of all, his recipe is all about peanuts and spice — clearly both traits not in-tune with Will’s current allergies and tastes.. But we were certainly up for the task — and Anders’ recipe sounded so delicious, that we started searching for ways to modify the dish. It was in April’s 2010 issue of Body+ Soul (a Martha Stewart Publication) that we found Cold Peanut Noodles… Here is what what we started with:

Anders’ Thai Tofu Stir-Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Extra Firm Tofu – 1 Block
Chunky Peanut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Water – 1/2 Cup
Soy or Tamari Sauce – 2 Tablespoons
Sherry – 1 Tablespoon
Lemon Juice – 1 Teaspoon
Brown Sugar – 1 Tablespoon
Peanut or Coconut or Vegetable Oil – 2 Tablespoons
Garlic – 2-4 Cloves, minced
Crushed Red Pepper – 1-3 Tablespoons
Stir Fry Veggies – 3-4 Cups — Anders uses broccoli, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, baby corn, bok choy, red peppers and carrots
Chili Thai Sauce – 1-2 Tablespoons

Martha’s Cold Peanut Noodles
Whole Wheat Spaghetti – 1/2 lb.
Natural Creamy Peanut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Low-Sodium Soy Sauce – 2 Teaspoons
Toasted Sesame Oil – 1 Teaspoon
Chile Garlic Paste – 1 1/2 Teaspoons
Garlic – 1 Teaspoon, grated or minced
Sugar -1/2 Teaspoon
Water  – 1/2 Cup
Served with shredded Bok Choy and Carrots dressed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a little toasted sesame oil. Season with salt.

Here is what we did to make this dish kid friendly and peanut free:

Anders & Martha Inspired Soy Nut Noodles
Whole Wheat Linguine – 1 package
Creamy Soy Nut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Chunky Soy Nut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Water – 1/2 Cup
Light Soy Sauce – 2 Tablespoons
Lemon Juice – 1 Teaspoon
Canola Oil – 1 Tablespoon
Garlic – 3 Cloves Crushed
Gomasio – 1 Tablespoon
Sugar – 1/2 Teaspoon
Served with Shaved Carrots, Daikon Radish and Snow Peas

First, we cooked our pasta according to the package directions and then let it drain and cool. Then we combined all the ingredients and until smooth and then mixed it in with the noodles. We decided to keep all Chili ingredients out of the recipe as well as the Tofu — Will is very specific about how he likes his Tofu, and we didn’t want to scare him off. To compensate for the lack of heat in the dish, we added some shaved Diakon Radish, which has a bit of a bite to it.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? Well, he ate pieces of the dish on it’s own… the carrot shaving, soy nut butter, snow peas, pasta… but once we threw it all in a bowl together he wouldn’t have anything to do with it… We did, however, serve it to guests for dinner and it was a huge hit! Thanks Anders (and Martha)!

Bread is not an easy food to accomplish. Most of our attempts have not only taken too long, trying the 2-year-old’s patience, but in many cases the dough never rose to the occasion — making for hard bricks of flour. This recipe was simple AND we were done with the actual preparation in less than 20 minutes — just enough time to make the experience fun!

Adapted from The Complete Book of Breads by Bernard Clayton, Jr.

For One Loaf:
Whole Wheat Flour – 3 Cups
Sugar – 1/4 Cup
Salt – 1/2 Tablespoon
Dry Wheat Yeast – 2 Packages
Hot Water – 1 1/2 Cups

You will need – Mixing Bowl; Measuring tools; Whisk; Rubber Spatula; 9×5″ Bread Pan, greased; wax paper

In your mixing bowl, whisk together the Wheat Flour, Sugar, Salt and Yeast. Pour in the water and stir 50 Strokes to blend with the spatula and add to the bread pan. Wet your fingers so that the dough doesn’t stick to you and push the batter into the corners and smooth it out. Cover with wax paper and put in a warm place to rise — approximately 30 minutes until the batter has doubled in volume.

Traveling is not an easy task for those allergic to such common ingredients as dairy and eggs. Peanuts and tree nuts are easier to avoid, but can still pop up as ingredients of the strangest things… When we go away, which is once every few weeks, we try to stay with friends and family or in accommodations that come with kitchens/kitchenettes. This past weekend we had a breakfast extravaganza with our Blueberry Waffles… We aren’t without fun though… Fast food — as bad as it is for you, is always a crowd pleaser while driving the long road home..For example, Will can have the Chicken Select Strips but not the McNuggets…  Check out McDonald’s Nutrition and Ingredients guides — they even highlight what menu items contain the more popular allergens. Other chains also have info on their websites as well — it’s always good to know before hitting the road, or even just going out to eat…

Who knew that a few blueberry muffins would push us over the edge!

Flour – 2 Cups
Salt – 1/2 Teaspoon
Baking Powder – 3 Tablespoons
Sugar – 1/2 Cup
Applesauce – 1/2 Cup (good idea to have more on hand for snacking)
Canola Oil – 1/4 Cup
Soy Milk – 3/4 Cup
Apple Cider Vinegar – 1 Teaspoon
Frozen Blueberries – 2 Cups

You will need – 2 Mixing Bowls; Spoon; Rubber Spatula; Muffin Tin

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and combine the Flour, Salt, Baking Powder and Sugar in a mixing bowl. Before combining the rest of the ingredients, you might want to offer your son or daughter some applesauce… you know, just to see what happens… Then mix together the Applesauce, Canola Oil, Soy Milk and Apple Cider Vinegar in the 2nd bowl. Pour the liquid mixture into the dried and stir with your spatula until fluffy — almost marshmellow-like. Please note that we don’t use a mixer to stir this all together because you don’t want to over-mix it. If it becomes to creamy.. the results could be rather heavy.

Carefully fold the Frozen Blueberries into the mix and spoon into the muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Light, sweet and — while we pat ourselves on the back — DELICIOUS!

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? YES YES YES!!! Not only did he eat the muffins, but he commented that he liked them. BUT THAT’s NOT ALL… Midway through the mixing process he was playing with the applesauce when he asked for a spoon, started eating it and then ASKED FOR MORE! He hasn’t eaten anything with a creamy texture since he was teenie tiny! We are over the top here people… Like spaceship over the top!