Peanut Butter Christmas Cookies in the Kitchen!

This year we had so much fun baking Christmas cookies!  Christian is at an age (2 1/2) where he loves helping & doing projects.  Our kitchen's working really well for us...

...  and as you can see from the pics below, Christian was THRILLED   to help bake cookies for our friends. (when we were rolling the cookies into balls he couldn't stop giggling)

 

Here he is below with the peanut butter cookies all laid out in nice rows, waiting patiently after being told he STILL can't eat them...

And finally, our work paid off!!!  (We have a HUGE stock of Hershey bars in the pantry from s'more season leftover so we used chocolate bar pieces instead of hershey kisses.)  And mm mm mm!!  We gave out the cookies to family friends and of course had to keep a few for ourselves ;)  It's the little simple things about Christmas that make it so special & fun. 

We had a huge snowstorm here in Northern Virginia this weekend & school's been cancelled, so my husband is totally OFF for Christmas now!!  Still no baby but I'll keep you posted!!  Wishing you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & Happy Holidays!!!

xoxo,

lauren

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Stone Soup

One of our favorite things to make in the colder months is Stone Soup. I've always loved Marcia Brown's book, Stone Soup, & for years have been making real "stone soup"... first with with my little sister when she visited us (she's 15 years younger than me) and now with my toddler. Kids get such a kick out of reading the book and cooking along with it. (and you get labor for a fun meal!! :)




We pretty much use the ingredients from the book & then just add whatever vegetables we have around. ... It's all about using what's left in the fridge for us so we change the recipe up a lot depending upon what we have. (The recipe is for a large batch that will last you the week.) First we get out a big pot like they do in the book:



Then we add in 2 large cans of chicken broth. (This is the quickie way which we usually end up doing, but it's always a tad yummier when you do homemade broth.) Next comes "THE COOKING STONE." We just keep ours in the kitchen and it's literally just a big stone I found years ago. (We put it though the dishwasher & make sure it's clean of course before dumping it in to our food ;) This is usually the kids' favotite part so if you have more than 1 child, I'd suggest getting multiple stones so no one feels left out.



Then, get the pot to boiling & start with the salt & pepper just like in the book. Next come the sliced carrots & cabbage. (We never have cabbage around so I usually just cut up a little spinach or romaine or whatever we have so there's something to toss in on this page.) Then come the potatoes and beef ( which we usually substitute with pre-cooked chicken.)

Lately I've been adding yellow squash because it's in season (and so good!) and I always add in lots of fresh garlic. (Add in whatever veggies you can here!)


Next the book calls for barley and some milk. We never have barley either, so we use pre-cooked rice (add as much or as little as you like depending upon how thick you want it.) and then add in a 1/2 cup- cup of milk or so..

We've got some rosemary growing in the kitchen & lately I've been tossing a little of that in too... I almost always top with fresh chopped basil & some shredded parmesan cheese. mm mmm goodness!!!



Christian loves his "tiny bowl" and usually has 2-3 bowls at a time of his "special stone soup."



It's so great to see your kid chowing down on such a healthy meal asking for more carrots & yellow squash. He's so much more into the vegetables when they come in his "special soup" than when we serve them normally.



Like I've said before, I love having a weekly batch of soup around for lunches & meals... It's so nice not to have to think sometimes and to have a quick & easy meal ready... all you have to do is microwave it. Anyway, since I had this recipe post waiting, it was the perfect time to join Rhoda of Southern Hospitality's RECIPE PARTY!!! There are already so many great ones up there so go check it out here: http://southernhospitalityblog.com/recipe-exchange-pasta-allamatriciana/




Hope you enjoyed!!
xoxo,
lauren

ps- Christian just saw the pics on this post and asked for some "special stone soup" so you know what we're having for breakfast! ;)

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The Beauty of Pesto

I know I mostly write about design-related things, but this is also a place where I collect inspiration about the simple & beautiful things in life. The little things that make us happy... And not very much makes me much happier than good food. One of my favorite things to do in the late Summer & Fall is to make pesto. (image above from greenbabyguide.com) We had SO MUCH basil this year. (I pretty much managed to kill or seriously distress everything else we planted besides the basil.)

It's grown as tall as Christian! I took these photos about a month ago with full intentions of posting them sooner, so you'll notice that things look a bit warmer & greener than they are these days. My little assistant was wonderful and I'd highly recommend one for basil-picking:

He even came with his own bucket! Along with good food, I love spending time outside with my family. Christian & I had so much fun checking out all the final flowers in the yard as we snapped up our basil:

My "weeds" have ended up being some of my favorite flowers, like the Rose of Sharon that pops up everywhere. (And I can't kill them- yay!!! I'm honestly so terrible with plants that even my mint doesn't look so hot.)

And will this honeysuckle never stop?!!! We still have some blooms even in October! (Not that I'm complaining :)

We caught a shot of this little butterfly (or pretty moth? I'm no biologist.) on some sedum...

And these purple flowers just popped up (requiring no love) and made me really happy:

Ok, so back to the basil...

Once it was all collected in the bucket...

... And we had mounds of it...

We cut & washed it in my Grandma's collander. I pulled the chair up to the sink for Christian and he was just so excited to help.

And I broke out the blender:

Here's my Basic Ingredient List in case you don't already have one:

-Olive Oil--> and I'm not picky about very many things but olive oil is one of them... I used to be "Lauren Maestranzi" remember? ;) We always use Filippo Berio ( & love it when you can get it in the big can) and I'd say it's the most authentic "gorcery store" olive oil you can get. If they don't have it, then go with Bertoli. (and I don't go extra virgin with my pesto either.)

-Fresh Basil

-Pine Nuts

-Shredded Parmesan Cheese

-Fresh Minced Garlic (lots!)

-Salt & Pepper

-Italian Parsley

Yummy add-ons:

-Lemon juice

-Feta

-Spinach

-Olives

(I haven't listed any amounts on here because I just usually eye it. You can make it thicker by using less oil and more pesto & cheese or you can stretch it with extra oil. It's totally up to you. (I usually use just enough olive oil to get my blender to blend.) Anyway, then just blend it all up and remember at the end to salt to taste. Now put it on something yummy like pasta (loving tri-color in my pesto lately) and/or grilled chicken or even spread it on some french bread with some shredded parm melted on top in the oven.

I usually make it in huge batches and separate it out into smaller batches to freeze for easy stress-free meals later on. (Now that's simple beauty ;) (image from icookpasta.com)

I think we all know that in reality, not every meal can be lovingly prepared and/ or planned and homemade -at least not in my reality- but it really is nice to squeeze in these special meals where you have fun with your family preparing them. Some music, a nice glass of wine, or letting little ones help and make messes... I love it when meal prep can be fun: it's one of those things that needs to happen almost every night so why not make the best out of it? Even eating can be simple happy & beautiful.

xoxo,

lauren

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Fresh figs

Growing up in Ohio, I associated figs with Fig Newtons. Never had a fresh one until I was almost 30. Sometimes I wonder how many other times I'm being ripped off in life and just don't know any better.

These figs came from Italian friends on Long Island, wrapped in their own leaves. We ate them without washing or debugging. Sweet as strawberries. Pure heaven.

I highly recommend friendship with Italians.

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Summer salad and the happy corn song

Yesterday, as I made my way through the cafeteria line and piled two, three, four ears of corn on my tray, I found myself singing, "Corn is great. Corn makes me happy. Happy happy happy hap-peeee."

Unfortunately, I was flanked by Koreans, who don't get as excited about corn on the cob as a Midwesterner does. And I was singing out loud.

One of my favorite things to do with hap-peeee corn is to slice off the extra into a salad, into which I also dump beets, blue cheese, sometimes sunflower seeds, fresh herbs, raisins, mozzarella or bits of chicken. Then I spend the next thirty minutes chewing.

Happy happy happpeeee.

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Tomato love

Aren't ugly tomatoes beautiful? Ugliness - a sure sign they came out of the ground, not some hydroponics lab. Chubby, bumpy, dimpled, misshapen and retaining water - looks bad on you, looks great on them.


In this great city, you can get organic pizza delivered to you in Central Park. But you cannot get a decent tomato. Farmer's Markets don't cut it. They weigh out tomatoes like gold bullion.

Tomatoes should be purchased from the side of the road in a paper sack and cost no more than $3 for the whole bag. Or they should come from your elderly friend Ruby in Long Island, as these were.

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Smoothie & My Little Guy

I normally don't do food posts, but sometimes something's just too good & too easy not to share.

The other night we made these amazing Peanut Butter & Banana Smoothies. (We were trying to copy one we'd just had a smoothie place in IL.) We used (reduced fat) peanut butter and (low fat) frozen yogurt (to pretend we were being healthy) and some bananas.

They were SOOOOOO good that I broke out the margarita glasses (haven't been used in a while sadly) and Christian even got one!! (he drank from the little matching shot glass and was delighted until he spilled it all over.) Thought I'd include a pic to show you how much better his nose is looking!!!

If you get the chance to make some you won't be sorry!!! (I was against the whole peanut butter- banana combo until I tried one.) We're having a great time here at the beach!!!!

xoxo,

lauren

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How to make the easiest vanilla ice cream ever

Those of you who read this blog on a regular basis know that one thing it is not is a food blog. (It's more of a frugal home design/budget travel/Brooklyn neighborhood/squirrel stalking/oh look at the pretty (a. flower b. weed c. miscellaneous weird thing) I just noticed blog.)

However, this recipe is so easy even I can do it. In fact I make a batch of ice cream two or three times a week. It takes five minutes to mix and about 15 minutes to freeze.

Ingredients

1 egg
1/2 to 2/3 cups sugar
3 cups milk
Dash of vanilla extract



Whiz the egg in a blender until fluffy. Add the sugar and whiz again. Add the milk and vanilla and whiz for about a minute.

Pour the mix into an ice cream maker. We have a basic one with a cannister that stays in the freezer and an easy hand crank. (Found it at thrift store for $8 last year. Have made approximately $2,000 worth of ice cream in it already.) You turn the crank once every few minutes, and the ice cream is done in about 15 minutes.

For variety, you can add fresh mint during the blending phase and chocolate chips after the ice cream is almost frozen.

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