Tag: family activities

Writer’s Block

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Well, when we left for our spring break adventures, I certainly didn’t intend to take such a long hiatus from the blog. Little did I realize how busy we would get upon our return. I’ll be back in a few days to share our adventures, give a few updates and then we’ll launch into some cooking around the world again. For today, however, I figured I would provide a little flashback to our first year of blogging. You see, I was reminded by Charlie Louie at Hotly Spiced that today is ANZAC Day, a day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand veterans. She shares a fabulous story of her grandfather in WWII, so in honor of him and all veterans, here’s our ANZAC post from three years ago. Cheers!

 

As promised, we have one more delicious recipe from New Zealand. I think that to-date this has been my favorite cooking destination on this adventure and I know that many of these recipes will become part of our regular rotation. Earlier this week, Mr. N and I baked up these little gems – ANZAC Biscuits.

They are a traditional treat from both Australia and New Zealand and were often sent to soldiers in the Great War; thus the name Australian and New Zealand Army Corp or ANZAC biscuits. The traditional recipe is easy to make and the biscuits last for weeks without perishing. Continue reading →

The Quest for the Best Banana Bread

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ChefMom hiking with her little sister and dad circa 1984-ish

While Mr. N eagerly awaits his prize drawing this afternoon, we thought we’d share our latest adventure. One of my earliest memories of cooking is with my dad. We used to make Big Bird’s Banana Bread from one of my old Sesame Street books. After Mr. N was born this memory kept resurfacing and I knew I had to find the same series of books (my old set was ruined in a flood years ago). I was fortunate enough to find them on eBay and acquired the whole set once again. I knew this was a recipe I wanted to share with Mr. N as he got older.

I made the recipe a few years ago and it didn’t quite live up to the hype in my mind. The memory is far sweeter than this particular version of the tasty snack. Then while we were living in Minnesota my friend Doree brought over her banana bread. Now this stuff tasted much more like my memory of banana bread! In fact, this was and so far still is the best banana bread I’ve ever had in my life. So since banana bread holds a special place in my heart we’re going to test out some new recipes as well as some old recipes until we find our favorite. Don’t worry dad, I’ll make sure to bring you a piece of each of them! Continue reading →

Leaving Las Vegas

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State night is back! This week we wanted to see what the Silver State had in store for us. Las Vegas as we all know is known for its endless buffets and high-end steak houses, but we thought we’d venture a bit beyond Vegas. In researching the local produce we came upon many references to the pinyon pine nut. The pinyon pine nut has a rich history in Nevada where it sustained the native people of the Great Basin for thousands of years. In fact, we read that it was the primary source of protein for the Shoshone, Paiutes and Washoe nations.

We’re no strangers to pine nuts, but we’ve never had a U.S. grown pine nut. Sadly we won’t tonight either as they’re not available around here, but based on the reviews, you can bet we’ll be trying them the next time we head to the Southwest. As for tonight we’re going to make do with our pine nuts imported from China and whip up a Paiutes inspired Pine Nut Crusted Cod and a Spinach, Portabello and Pine Nut Salad.

The salad requires a simple preparation. Requiring only these ingredients:

Continue reading →

Diddle Diddle Dumpling

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Tonight we enjoyed a bonus meal from Miss A’s cooking destination, Russia. Typically we only spend two weeks on each country, but with the holiday and weekend travels we needed something that we could make up quickly. Actually this meal, the traditional Russian Pelmeni, is anything but a quick recipe. It’s a lengthy process that took all hands on deck. What made it work for us this weekend is that we actually prepared the Siberian dumplings last weekend, froze them and were able to quickly cook them up tonight.

The Russian pelmeni is a meat dumpling similar to potstickers or pierogies. According to RusCuisine.com, the dumplings, popular all over Russia, are believed to have originated in Siberia as many could be made at once and frozen for the long winters. The first step to making the pelmeni is to create the dough from flour, salt, sugar, egg and water. It’s a very tough dough to knead at first, but eventually becomes soft and resilient. Once we were satisfied with the consistency of the dough we chilled it in plastic wrap for 40 minutes before rolling it out on a floured surface. Continue reading →

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

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This past Sunday we all spent the afternoon in the kitchen busy with several different recipes. I wasn’t planning to make dinner rolls, but after I saw the “Bunny Backsides” on Frieda Loves Bread, I knew we had to give them a shot. The kids were definitely game, and having quite the giggles about getting to make (and then eat) “bunny butts.” Now I’m admittedly not a great bread maker. I typically let my bread machine do the work for me, but for these cute little spring treats, I thought I would again try my mom’s dinner roll recipe (to-date I have yet to pull this recipe off correctly).

We began by scalding the milk and then stirring in sugar, salt and shortening. We then set this aside to cool to lukewarm. In the meantime, we sprinkled the yeast into hot water to dissolve and then slightly beat two eggs with a fork. Next we combined the milk, the yeast and the eggs into a large mixing bowl and began to stir in the flour a few cups at a time.  

Continue reading →

How Did We Miss This in South Dakota?!

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We’re in South Dakota tonight for this week’s stateside meal adventure. As we mentioned in a previous post, the Mount Rushmore State was one of Miss A’s favorite places to visit this past summer – and now it just might be her favorite cooking destination too. The South Dakota Peach Kuchen has been a hit on our breakfast plates this week and tonight South Dakota’s official state food, Fry Bread, was also a big winner.

South Dakota Fry Bread can be served as a main dish with taco toppings or as a dessert/snack with cinnamon and sugar. Of course we tested both options! Our taco toppings are courtesy of Laura at Manna & Quail who posted her Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos recipe last night. Thank you Laura! This recipe truly saved us a ton of time tonight (Seriously dinner was done and cleaned up by ten after six!), and it was just the healthy topping we needed.

We prepared the slow cooker recipe around 11 a.m. this morning and then went about our day. At around 1 p.m. we began to thaw the frozen dinner rolls in a greased muffin tin.

Once thawed, about 3-5 hours later, roll the dough into 6-inch circles. Now they are ready to fry or place on the griddle. We fried six of the dough circles in oil in a heavy skillet and cooked the remaining six on a greased griddle. Since the griddle makes this a much healthier meal, we figured that we’d test out the taste difference between the two cooking methods. If frying the dough, once the circles are golden brown, remove and drain on paper towels. For either methods it’s helpful to keep the cooked fry bread warm in the oven while cooking the remaining dough. Now, that’s it! They are ready to serve.

The taco toppings were perfect for the fry bread and truthfully we couldn’t tell a difference between the fried ones and those that were cooked on the griddle. They were equally delicious. Dad, Mr. N and I all helped ourselves to seconds and Miss A devoured her first serving.

As for the dessert, we have another winner on our hands. The cinnamon sugar was delicious and a nice contrast to the taco toppings. The fried version, however, was better this time.

Tonight’s dinner comes highly recommended. It’s very easy, very fast and very tasty. And if you opt to use the griddle, it’s also healthy. Tonight got 3 spoons all around. Maybe even a 4 from Miss A who was chanting, “I need more sugar! I need more sugar!”

Print this recipe: South Dakota Fry Bread