One and a Half

On the big girls' half birthdays, I've been posting a list of their favorite things as a way of remembering what they were like at certain ages and to see how they've changed.  At 1.5 years old, it's Little's turn!  The age between 1.5 and 2.5 is one of my favorites - so much learning and changing in that space between not quite a baby and not quite a kid.  Lately I've had her fall asleep on my lap or my chest and her heavy, warm weight against me is just the best.  I know that the number of times that this happens is somewhat limited with her age and mobility and I'm trying to cherish those moments where she still seems more of a baby than a girl.

Since it's not quite as easy to know what her favorite color and foods are, these are some of her likes and dislikes.

Little Likes:

Puppies (toys, books, pictures . . . she's a little scared of real dogs)

Music of any sort

Riding tricycles or in her little Fisher Price car

Imitating anything that Middle does  

(carrying a purse and wearing necklaces, headbands, and sunglasses)

Peanut butter

Popsicles

Playing in water - pool, bathtub, our bathroom sink

Remote controls, light switches, and pushing buttons

Wearing shoes

Coloring

Going down slides by herself

Little Doesn't Like:

Sitting in a highchair, shopping cart, or carseat

Having her hair brushed

The feeling of grass on her bare feet

Saying goodbye to mommy or daddy

Being told "no"

Being left out

But let's be honest . . . who does??

With each of my girls, I was amazed at how much they talked and how early.  Little said her first sentence this week ("I see Daddy") and these are some of her words at 18 months:
Daddy, Mommy & her sister's names
No
Mine
Stop It
More
Hi, Hello, Bye bye
Owie
Bottle
Go
Down
Fish
Shoes
Uh-oh
Baby
See
Cook-a (Cookie)
Nana (Banana)

Chai Tea Ice Cream

I think that I've finally landed on my absolute favorite ice cream that I've made to date.  I had the idea of taking the base of the Coffee Ice Cream that I made and adapting it to become chai tea ice cream by using tea bags instead of coffee beans and adding chai spices.  I love chai tea and prefer it spicy and not super sweet and this recipe was absolutely delicious.  Seriously, I cannot overstate how much I liked it and it completely affirmed to me why I own an ice cream maker and why homemade is the best.   Just like the coffee ice cream, it's not surprising that this much heavy cream, egg yolks, and whole milk makes for a creamy ice cream with a smooth texture.  While black tea doesn't pack the caffeine punch of coffee, it still might be a good idea to find a good quality decaffeinated black chai tea, especially if you're going to serve this to kids.

Chai Tea Ice Cream (makes one quart)

from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1.5 cups whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

5 Chai Tea teabags (black tea)

pinch of salt

1.5 c. heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp ground cardamom

Heat the milk, sugar, tea bags, salt, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, cloves, cardamom and 1/2 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan until warm and steamy, but not boiling.  At this point, cover, remove from the heat and let it steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

Put a medium sized bowl on top of a larger bowl filled with ice.  Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into that medium sized bowl.  Set a mesh strainer over the bowl with the cream and set aside.

Remove the teabags and squeeze them to get all the flavor into the mixture.  Then, heat the milk/tea mixture over medium heat until it gets hot and steamy again (but don't boil).  In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together.  Temper the egg yolks by whisking constantly while adding a couple of tablespoons of the hot milk mixture at a time.  You don't want to cook the egg yolks, but raise the temperature.  Then, whisk the egg yolk mixture back into the tea & milk mixture and stir constantly.  Keep stirring over medium heat with a spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the custard thickens and coats the spatula.  You're looking for it to be thick enough that if you run your finger across the spatula, it won't run.  This took me almost 10 minutes.

Pour the custard through the strainer into the cream. Mix in the vanilla and stir until cool.  Chill completely in your refrigerator and then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to your maker's directions.

Tastes of Summer

It seems like every summer, there's some salad or side dish that I fall in love with because it just tastes like summer to me.  This year, it's a spinach salad with watermelon, chicken, bleu cheese and balsamic vinegar.  I know that sounds a little weird but look at that photo - don't you want to eat that crunchy, sweet, salty goodness right now?  It's a fantastic combination and an easy supper to put on the table.  I bought grilled chicken strips from Trader Joe's the last time I made it but it also works with rotisserie chicken or leftover grilled or cooked chicken of any sort.  This is delicious . . . and summer is almost over so you should make it soon!

Balsamic Watermelon Chicken Salad (serves 2)
adapted from Pinch of Yum

1 cup balsamic vinegar
1-2 cups cooked chicken
4 cups baby spinach (or other baby salad greens)
1 cup watermelon (seedless, cut in small cubes)
1/2 cup bleu cheese crumbles
1/4 c. sliced almonds
olive oil

Pour the balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the balsamic vinegar is significantly reduced and becoming syrupy.

Divide the spinach onto two plates and top with the chicken and watermelon.  Sprinkle with bleu cheese and almonds.  Drizzle the balsamic reduction to taste.  Top with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, also to taste.

Mini Carrot Cupcakes

The garden . . . I don't have a green thumb and I'm not much of a gardener but I love reaping the benefits of the garden that my girls & husband plant.  The problem is, great intentions don't go far enough.  We pick out plants and seeds, prepare the soil and get them in the ground (by "we" I mean mostly them).  The girls check and water and report back.  On occasion, they even weed.  We have raised boxes to protect the plants from the turtle, a dripper system and sun - great combination.  Then, we start harvesting stuff.  It's fun and delicious and satisfying.  

Then, we go on vacation.  We didn't have anyone housesitting (my amazing neighbor got our mail and kept an eye on things) and when I returned home, it was to an arugula and tomato jungle.  Yeah, that sun and dripper did their work and it's a big mess.  We harvested carrots before we left and I have tons of chili peppers that look awesome but the lettuce, basil, tomatoes . . . not so much.  And now the task of ripping it out (which doesn't require a green thumb just some good old muscle) falls to me.  

So, here's a recipe based on the best crop we raised this year (Middle actually spilled the packet of seeds so they were all over between the beets and lettuce) - carrot cake cupcakes.  I made minis of these with cream cheese frosting for my sister's shower and they were delicious.  America's Test Kitchen is pretty reliable and I was very pleased with the results.

Mini Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 30 mini muffins)
from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
dash of cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 lb carrots, peeled and grated
3/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lie a mini muffin pan with paper liners.  Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.  Whisk the eggs and sugars together in a large bowl until frothy and then sugar is mostly dissolved (about a minute).  While whisking, slowly add the oil until the mixture is thoroughly combined (about a minute).  Whisk in the flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain.  Stir in carrots and walnuts.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 13-15 minutes.  Remove and cool on a wire rack until completely cooled before frosting.

Frosting:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, process 4 oz softened cream cheese, 3 T softened unsalted butter, 1/2 T sour cream, 1/4 tsp. vanilla until smooth and combined.  Add 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and process until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and blade as needed.  If it's not stiff enough to frost, add more sugar, about a tablespoon at a time.

4 years old

Today, we have a 4 year old!  I must confess, for both Big & Middle, the age of 3 was tough.  It's a super fun time but also a challenging age of learning boundaries and having big ideas with little person limitations.  But, I am so proud of my Middle and excited to celebrate her birthday!  The ways that Middle describes herself are "silly," "fashion girl," and she still likes to tell people, "I'm the middlest."  The ways that I would describe her are generous, easy to be around, creative, thoughtful, and sweet.  

She comes up with great questions and is always thinking about stuff.  She can entertain herself in her own little world and likes things her own particular way . . . especially her clothes!  We've started turning to her for fashion advice and recently, she told Big "I like how you're wearing that" about an outfit which made Big super happy.  She'll pay strangers compliments on their clothes and accessories and notices small details and finds beauty in the world around her.  

Other than her sense of style, she's a girl of big emotions.  If she's happy, there's noone happier and if she's sad, she'll sit by herself (sometimes behind a curtain or chair or under a blanket) for a long time processing her sadness.  Although she has a large vocabulary and can express herself well, those big emotions can get the better of her. She's come a long way in the past year of controlling that and using her words.

She's also learning to be a friend.  On our vacation, she'd walk up to kids and say, "Do you want to be my friend?" and start playing.  She made new friends in preschool and loves to have friends over to our house.  She is a special little kid and brings so much joy to our family.  I can't imagine our family without our blue eyed girl!

Happy Birthday, Middle!!

Zucchini Bread

I want to post this recipe before I do another vacation post.  I've made a few different quick bread recipes that are GF and my favorite remains this pumpkin bread.  However, it didn't seem like a summery treat to serve at my sister's bridal shower so I made the zucchini bread pictured above.  It was good - passed as a "normal" bread and the texture was pretty moist.  The original recipe called for chocolate chips (tossed first in a little cornstarch so they don't sink to the bottom) but I left them out.  If you have lots of zucchini in your garden and have someone in your life who is gluten free, make this for them!

Gluten Free Zucchini Bread (makes 2 loaves)
adapted from Gluten Free on a Shoestring

3 cups high-quality all purpose gluten free flour mix
1 tsp. xanthan gum (if your mix doesn't already have it)
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. packed light brown sugar
2.5 cups grated zucchini
3 eggs
1 ripe banana, peeled and mashed
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Grease 2 standard loaf pans.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (including the sugars) and whisk to combine.  Whisk until there aren't any lumps from the brown sugar.

In a separate bowl, place the zucchini, eggs, banana, oil, and vanilla and mix to combine well.  Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.  Mix to combine.  Divide the batter between two loaf pans and smooth the top with a wet spatula.

Bake for 40-60 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and cool for about 30 minutes before removing from the pans and transferring to wire racks to cool completely before slicing.