As if we needed another reason to eat PIZZA

What true child chef can ignore this tidbit from the Unos menu?
MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA
We give you your own apron, thin crust pizza dough, sauce and toppings. “You get to do the rest!”
Cheese or Pepperoni.

So, with Mimi there for support, a pizza was made.  The process was quick.  We ordered, Addie's fixings came out with our drink order, and a few minutes later the server picked her creation up to be delivered to the kitchen.  The pizza (thin crust) came out with our meals maybe ten minutes later.  Like most foods she has a had in making,  Addie found this lunch to be delicious.  No leftovers for mommy, though :O(  

Happy Groundhog Day

Because in our house, any holiday is a reason to bake!

Rachel Ray Yum-O! Part One

It's moments like these when the family library card means the most.  Yesterday, we picked up a copy of Rachel Ray Yum-O, The Family Cookbook.  Tonight, we enjoyed the spoils.  YUM-O is right!

I love our library!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the organization, Yum-O, along with President Clinton and the American Heart Association, are working to help families make better decisions about the food they eat.  All the proceeds from this cookbook go to the Yum-O Organization...  which means if you can't go out and buy it, at least urge your library to purchase a few copies!

Our first step into this cookbook was to make New Year's Eve dinner.  Breakfast for dinner, as it turns out.  We decided on the Apple Flapjacks.  It is on page 16 of the cookbook, or you can find it here.  The book even gives suggestions for what the "Itty Bitties" can do to help with the cooking!  I also like (and need) some of the cooking tips.  The Yum-O!  Cookbook suggested I use an extra egg in the pancake mix and we all liked the results.

 

Sniffing out the cinnamon stick!  And toasting in the New Year!

Bears in Mud

This one is Addie's take on the all-time classic "Worms in Dirt."

Our Ingredients:
Instant Sugar-free, Fat-free Chocolate pudding
Reduced fat milk
Oreo cookies
Gummy Bears (because the only gummy worms at our Publix are sour worms)
Waffle cone bowls

How to:
First, make the pudding according to the directions.  It takes about 5 minutes to soft set, so whilst you wait...
CRUSH the Oreos.  There are several techniques to crushing Oreos.  I do the classic Worms in Dirt recipe with my class and they rather enjoy pounding on the Oreos through a ziploc type bag.  Addie, however, had two other practices.

One:  Hit the Oreos (in plastic bag) with a large plastic spoon. 

Two:  Smash the Oreos (yes, in a bag) with a rolling pin.

Next, pour the pudding into the waffle cones bowls.  Add bears and dirt to your liking.  It is extra important to keep daddies out the the kitchen during this step (see what we mean?)!

All done!  Yummy!

Uncle Matt's Present

My brother loves to eat rice crispie treats.  We love to make them.  Add to that finding the following book in our cereal box....

And now you have Uncle Matt's Christmas gift. We did change the recipe a bit- extra cereal as Matt likes them extra crispy, and a touch of vanilla extract because its Addie's favorite ingredient this season.

Tree cake

Addie, known for her love of cooking, has been made responsible for making the dessert for Mimi's Christmas Feast.  She has decided on white cake (from scratch, mommy!!!).  We're using a Christmas tree cake pan that is equal to a 9"x9" pan.

I'm new to cooking without boxes, so I googled "easy white cake recipe" and found this simple recipe on allrecipes.com .  I had (most) all the ingredients handy, so it was an easy choice. 

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
 2 eggs (we stick to cage free brown eggs)
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk (we used reduced fat)
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan (in any shape, my friends).

In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
Addie did all the early mixing.  I'm not sure if I can recommend lettting a 4 year old use an electric mixer- but it worked for us.  We switched jobs during the dry ingredients part.... then shared the task of stirring in the milk.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.