Yogurt Cake!

One of our favorite things to make these days is the yogurt cake from Bringing Up Bebe, a fun little parenting memoir which I thoroughly enjoyed. The recipe is in the book if you're interested, but the key point is that it is measured using single-serving yogurt cups. It's a great introduction to measuring because little ones don't have to remember which lines mean what - the just scoop and pour and stir. (I did the few actual measurements and then stood back and let him do the rest.)

 

(Yes, you CAN have white and brown chocolate chips!)

(I poured from our awesome batter bowl into the springform - the best pan for the job, imo)

 If you're wanting a recipe to refer to now, this one from Orangette is swoon-worthy. Trust me.

Always document your accomplishments:

Now go bake something yummy this weekend!

Making Popsicles...

That picture illustrates some basic problems when you've got a task *almost* set up for an over-zealous 2.5 year old (today!):

1) The cuisinart container, though perfect for pureeing in, is not so good for pouring.

2) Baz's pouring coordination is right on par with a 2.5 year old: messy.

3) You can never have too many kitchen towels. You can go through enough to justify doing a load of them in the space of twenty minutes, though.

So I cleaned that up and we started over:

You don't have an immersion blender? What's are you waiting for?

2.5 year olds are almost all motion blur, even in the best lighting conditions. Also, it took a lot of persuading for him to use his fingers. And then he needed to wash all the juice off his hands. He's the most fastidious 2.5 year old I've ever met.

These kind are awesome because of the straw.

"Recipe": watermelon puree, frozen blueberries, raspberries, and peaches. No measuring. 

We'll see how they turn out!

PS - I have a feeling these will be a welcome post-cycling-commute snack for a certain Daddy 'round these parts...

Some Light Nesting

A while ago, on Pinterest, I ran across this image: 

(source)

(also - I totally have that orange-striped travel mug. Love it.)

It's been in the back of my brain ever since. We have an odd little cabinet that's a jumble of to-go mugs and bottles. And we've had our coffee maker and grinder shoved into another awkward corner, where it often gets trapped behind drying dishes or gets in the way of meal prep.

Our kitchen was added on to our house in 1969, the still on the up-curve of convenience food and less kitchen activity. Our landlord moved in directly afterwards and didn't touch it. I know you couldn't tell...

So before:

 Cramped award corner.

I cleaned out the cabinet before I thought to take a picture. I'd even removed one of the shelves. I was on a roll.

So notice that the fancy cabinet up there has a pot filler and, one can assume, a plug. Our house is not that fancy, but there is a plug directly beneath, so we just have to lower the maker and grinder and go to town.

The downside is that coffee (and beer and wine) taste like blue cheese and dirt to me these days. Gotta love pregnancy hormones!

Anyway, after:

 Not a total Betty, but a vast improvement.

Woot!

Not pictured - I stood on Baz's Learning Tower to reach the shelves. That thing is amazing. It's like indoor scaffolding. Two thumbs up.

We'll see how this bears out in actual practice. But I'm already quite pleased with it.

Speaking of being in the kitchen...

I wrote some tips for saving some coin over at the Natural Parents Network. Find it here.

sundries

My camera is at the cleaners. I feel like a tool for always using my instagram, but my camera is at the cleaners....I get it back tomorrow.

Unrelated: I'm now on goodreads. I'm working on setting up a shelf of the food books I enjoy. It may (temporarily) take the place of the review blog I've completely neglected. At the very least, it will be a supplement. Or something.

I just linked a friend to this post about setting up Baz's spot in the kitchen. Here's an updated shot:

I'm working on a post for the Natural Parents Network about how there's no magic age at which a child is suddenly ready to do things...I'll probably put up a companion post about Baz's corners of our home at the same time. It seems to be what I get asked about the most.

I'm also developing a video series (also for NPN) for getting kids in the kitchen -- any requests for particular topics or foods you want covered?

Let's see...other than that, we've mostly been puttering. I have weekly non-stress tests to check up on Rerun, and he's growing nicely and is very active.

And now I'm going to stop rambling and find something productive to do. Like update my goodreads shelves!

That Green Onion in a Glass in the Window Thing...

It works.

This Could Get Addicting

(3 different types of flour stored in Cambro so they don't absorb odors. Labels from here)

Kitchen Art

Remember when I won a custom illustration by Oohmoon? Well, I got it printed (mpix rocks) and then got it frame and hung it in our dining room.

I dig it.

Behold:

One day I will be able to afford museum glass...until then, reflect away!

Linen mat, wood frame

The whole shebang (I'm not thrilled with the 3 prints underneath. I feel like it needs a 4th...and the frames came from costco, so that requires a trip I don't make lightly...)

Isn't this frame awesome?  I just had to share because I love it.

Thanks, Katie!!!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm not ashamed.

Sometimes all it takes is a little flip

I've been lamenting our small eating space for a while. Thinking that if we had room I would shift our mid-century heirloom table out into a proper dining space and bring in a cute mid-century diner table better proportioned to kitchen eating. Or put in a booth or something. The possibilities are endless.

Turns out, all I needed was to TURN THE TABLE.

I apologize for anyone who has had to maneuver around the table and blame it completely on the fact that it was moved into the kitchen last summer while I was knocked up, heavily drugged, and should have been in bed. It was moved by very nice men who put it where I said and then didn't touch it because you don't want to piss off the heavily drugged pregnant woman. Had I had my brain on correclty I would have said "can we turn it, please?" And everything would have been hunky dory and a year's worth of guests wouldn't have been so cramped.

Before pictures here. After pictures:

That's the Tripp Trapp Stokke back there against the wall. It's a trip hazard so it's out of the line of toes.

And yes, we use real linens at every meal. Don't you? (PS - for the record, when shopping for napkins or fabric with which to make you own napkins - only 100% cotton or linen will do. Synthetics just don't absorb as well, even synthetic blends. So when you're eating something really slimy (barbecue, anyone?) a not-cotton/linen piece of cloth will just smear it around. I like reddish toned napkins for barbecue. I could actually do a whole post just about napkins. I wish I were kidding.