Yogurt Cake

I think I might’ve mentioned that a couple of weeks ago, I read a book called Bringing Up Bebe, a comparison of French and American parenting. I really liked the book and enjoyed reading it and I was definitely intrigued by a passage in the book where a French woman was letting her 3 year old bake cupcakes … unassisted. And it hit me that Tabby can really do more than I let her. Granted, I let her do more in the kitchen than most other five-year-olds we know, but she is capable of more. It’s just because I’m a bit afraid of the mess. I’m the mom that makes the kids do playdough outside because I have no interest in cleaning all of those little bits up.

Anyhow, the book goes on to mention that most French children start out making yogurt cake when they’re around three. It is a neat idea because you use yogurt as part of the cake and then measure most of the rest of the ingredients with the empty yogurt containers. So I endeavored to be a bit less crazy and let Tabby and Ben have at it tonight.

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Four Foodie Tricks

One of the things I love most about the internet and Pinterest specifically is the dissemination of information with such speed and ease. I have learned TONS of things and I thought it would be fun to do a post on what I have recently learned about cooking and lunch boxes and the like.

One of my favorite new “tricks” is the hasselback potato. The kids love sweet potatoes but I don’t always remember to chuck them in the oven as soon as I should. This is an easy trick to get them to the table in short order. You just take the potato and cut it into thin slices almost all the way to the bottom, like in the photo. Then you can bake or nuke it. I usually nuke it and since you’ve given it thinner flesh and more surface area, it cooks really fast. The kids love it too because it’s pre-cut and we just sprinkle it with a little salt for them. If you do it in the oven, you can spray it with a little EVOO and then it gets nice and crispy. mmmmmm Continue reading “Four Foodie Tricks”

4th of July Hike on Labor Day

It was a busy weekend, good, but busy. So this morning we decided to sneak in a hike to have some family time together. We chose the 4th of July trail to hike. I hadn’t been there since high school and I’m glad we went back. Unfortunately, our timing was pretty off. With the kids tired from their weekend and Tabby fighting a cold, the hike was long and whiny. This photo pretty much sums it up. Ben, in the backpack, was pretty low maintenance (but poor Matt, carrying almost 40 extra lbs!) and Tabby was miserable most of the time. Continue reading “4th of July Hike on Labor Day”