Birthday Breakfast

Today is an important day at our house.  We're celebrating Lily's birthday!  (You can read more about Lily and her birthdays here, here, and here.)  Lily's birthday celebration is traditionally planned by her siblings, Endeaver, Justone, and Superkid.  This year, they wanted to have a special breakfast, and requested a very yummy treat.

I made these chocolate crepes for the first time last week, when we were visiting my sister.  They were such a hit that we all wanted to have them again.  What better day than today? (Recipes are after the pictures, below.)

Dessert

I have an anonymous quote on the front of my menu planning binder that reads, "Stressed is dessert spelled backwards.  Coincidence?  I think not!"

I'll give you a moment to ponder that one.

I grew up in a home where some form of dessert was served every night.  Dessert ranged from applesauce sprinkled with crushed graham crackers, to canned fruit in a pretty dish, to delicious made from scratch cakes.  Looking back, I'm impressed that my mom went to such effort.

I don't.  We don't eat dessert every night at our house, but when we do, we definitely enjoy it.  Here was a recent diet-day-off dessert that I invented.

Family Favorite Meal

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I'm playing in another round of the Game On Challenge this month.  As part of the challenge, we get to select one day off of the diet.  Sometimes is frightens me how much planning I put into my day off.  I tend to cook like a fiend on that day, because I can take tastes!  For my day off last week, I made one of my family's favorite meals that is decidedly not diet friendly, but it is easy.

We call this pasta dish Hay and Straw.

My friend Nicole introduced our family to Hay and Straw.  She came to take care of my children for a week during one of Lily's long hospitalizations.  My children loved this dish, and begged for it for months afterward.  At the time, it was so unusual for all of them to like any one food at the same time, that I was happy to oblige.  It continues to be a family favorite.

{Almost Easy} Birthday Cake

We celebrated my belated birthday this weekend.  The Bionic Man and our children were off the hook for cake making, because I needed a good excuse to try out a cake recipe I found.  The original recipe and accompanying gorgeous photographs can be found here.  The original recipe, however, seemed a little tricky to me, so I modified it and came up with a somewhat simpler version of my own.

Pretty, hmmm?  And, admittedly, very tasty, too!  This is how I made it:

The cake layers and frosting were made of some basic ingredients

and a very few not-so-basic ingredients.

Dining Decadence on a Dime

In looking through some of my older posts, I found this one.  Since it is about one of my family's favorite meals--one that everyone loves, miraculously--I thought I'd recycle the original post with some simplified  instructions.  Enjoy!

People don't think of seafood as a cheap meal, unless they are thinking fish sticks.  When you prepare your seafood at home, however, you can get far more bang for your buck than if you ordered it at a restaurant!  This particular menu can be prepared with frozen seafood with excellent results.  At my favorite local grocery store (Aldi), frozen shrimp and frozen salmon fillets periodically go on sale for $2-3/lb.  I can buy it, put it in my freezer, and pull it out later to use in this special meal.  

Comforting Soup Recipe

It's such a cold, yucky day outside my house today.  A perfect day for eating soup!  Today I'm sharing one of my favorite soups that is soooo delicious AND soooo easy to make.

Quick Garden Vegetable Soup

Meal Planning and Organization

Last year, I shared my system for keeping track of menus and the recipes that I use frequently.  This has proved to be an invaluable tool for me, especially when I'm trying to focus on healthy eating habits.  Since I started the Game On! Challenge again last week, I thought I'd revisit last year's post and show you what works for me.

Faux Sourdough

The other day, my lovely friend, Maren, shared some delightful news with me (CONGRATULATIONS BRAD and MAREN!!!) and was nice enough to say that she and her husband enjoyed my whole wheat pizza recipe.  Which reminded me.....wasn't I going to do a whole series on

Whole Wheat:

It's Not Just for Breakfast

?????

Ahem.  So, we now....after a long, long, long time....return to the second edition of

Whole Wheat:

It's Not Just for Breakfast

with one of my all-time favorite recipes.

Hold it, right there!  Don't let the fact that this is a bread recipe intimidate you.  You make it in a bread machine....and it takes a whopping five minutes to assemble the ingredients and throw them into the machine.

All you do is put these ingredients into your bread machine pan, in the order they are listed:

2/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon white sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole wheat flour, finely ground (for more info on that, go here)
2 cups white flour
2-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Once the ingredients are in the bread machine pan, put the pan in the machine and select the basic or white bread setting.  Bake according to your bread machine directions.  Check the dough after 5 minutes of initial mixing; add 1-2 tablespoons of water or flour if necessary.)

Here's the all-white variation: use 3 cups white flour (omit whole wheat) and use 2-1/4 teaspoons yeast.  Everything else stays the same.

Faux sourdough comes out of the pan looking a little more rounded than loaf shape.  It is very rustic looking.  I LOVE sourdough bread, and this is a way to get the sourdough taste without all the complications of using a sourdough starter.  The combination of vinegar and sourcream--though it may sound disgusting--really produces an authentic sourdough taste.  This recipe produces one 1.5 lb loaf.  My family of five can finish 2/3 - 3/4 of it in one meal.

I love to pop this bread into my machine a few hours before dinner, so that we have a hot loaf ready to eat.  It is the only proper accompaniment to soup.

The only downside to this recipe is that, because you make it in a bread machine, you can only make one loaf at a time.  If anyone out there knows how to adapt a bread machine recipe to a multi-loaf, baked in the oven bread recipe, please let me know!

Enjoy! 

 

Bento Lunch, Yet?

My children usually eat lunches that we pack at home.  While I'm fairly confident that our school lunch program tries to provide food that is healthier for the students than what they could get for the same price from McDonald's, it's still heavily processed food.  Not to mention, at an average price of $2.50/day per student, it would cost me about $150 each month to let my kids have school lunch every day.

I don't think so.

This year I have three children with widely varying tastes and appetites.  Superkid would eat PB&J for every meal, if I let her.  Justone would fill up on pudding and granola bars, if I let him.  And Endeavor is at the point where she has to learn to fill up her always empty stomach with things other than empty carbs.  I made a goal at the beginning of this school year to come up with lunches that would give them variety, healthy choices, be filling, and that they would be able to enjoy despite the tempting highly processed foods everyone around them eats at lunch time.

Easier said than done.  Until Kami of no biggie introduced me to the bento lunch.  I had never heard of bento.  I'm pretty sure no one else in my neighborhood has, either.  But the bento concept was an answer to my lunchtime prep prayers.  (Not to be dramatic, or anything.)  For those of you who--like me--are saying, "ben-whaaa?" right now, here's Wikipedia's description:

Bento (弁当, bentō) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware. Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋, bentō-ya^?), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy for their spouse, child, or themselves producing a carefully prepared lunch box.

 littleeverydaythings.wordpress.com

family.go.com

After visiting a few of the sites Kami recommended, I was hooked.  Bento lunches are just plain pretty.  I really felt like I could get both Superkid and Justone to eat more than 2 of 5 items placed in their lunches if they could see all their choices before them.  I was also pretty convinced that they would try more lunch options if those options were presented in a visually appealing way. 

Here are pictures from my first day of bentos:

 All the bentos, lined up in their snap-lock containers.

 Endeavor's bento:  baked whole-wheat crackers, thin-sliced roast beef, strawberries, tiny celery sticks, chocolate chips.

 Justone's bento: sliced strawberris, cubed colby-jack cheese, baked whole wheat crackers, chocolate chips, tiny celery sticks.

 Superkid's bento:  sliced strawberries, cubed colby-jack cheese, chocolate chips, 1/2 hotdog bun, tiny celery sticks.

After the first day, I was really pleased to hear the kids talk about how much they enjoyed lunch AND open their lunch boxes and find empty containers.  Success!  The kids did report that things "spilled" somewhat, so I tried to remedy that the next time around.  Here are some bentos from this week:

 Justone's bento: mini-mini carrots, tomato slices, pepperoni slices, baked whole-wheat crackers, shredded cheddar, marinara sauce.

Superkid's bento: mini-mini carrots, banana, pumkin-shaped swiss cheese on whole wheat sandwiches (2), popcorn

One really interesting benefit of the bento lunch at our house has been that the kids are getting really into the whole concept.  They are making suggestions of things that would fit into the bentos.  I don't have a picture of this one, but one day Endeavor was willing to try cold pizza for the first time at lunch, just because she could see that the mini slices I'd made would fit into her bento.  

It was relatively easy to assemble the non-food supplies for our bentos.

When I first read about bentos, I kind of anticipated buying a bunch of supplies to make this work.  But, when I looked around my house, I was able to find quite a few things I already had that would work.  

Snap-lock containers: I happened to find these at my local Aldi, in a nesting set of 10,

a week or so before I started bento-ing.  I bought a couple of sets for $7.99/each.

Plastic pics:  wooden toothpicks will work just fine, but I decided to get some plastic ones,

since I can wash and reuse them.  I found these in the picnic section of my grocery store

for about $2/box.

Cookie-cutters:  the hallmark of bentos seems to be shaped foods.  I could have spent 

money on fancy sandwich cutters, but I just used cutters I already had as a guide to cut

around the food I made with a knife.

Silicone baking cups: the one thing I decided I was willing to splurge on,

these are invaluable for their flexibility and reusability.  I got mine at JoAnn's,

in the cake decorating section, using my 50% off coupon.  A set of 12 is about $10. 

Are you wondering how much time this is taking me?  Surprisingly, not much more time than it was taking me to pack our former lunches of sandwich-veggies-chips-applesauce-pudding.  You might notice that each bento is slightly different, since I have a child that hates cheese, a child who hates crackers, and a child who will try just about anything once.  The extra time (about 5-10 minutes) required is mitigated by the fact that we're now buying and eating fewer processed foods, and that a lot of the prep I can do the night before.  Plus, I'm using up some leftovers!  And yes, I'm making sure that these bentos are packed with plenty of ice. 

Let me tell you, the extra time was worth it when Endeavor hopped in the car the other day after school and reported, "The girls at my lunch table couldn't stop talking about my lunch!  They said it was the prettiest food they'd ever seen.  One of the girls said it was like edible art.  They couldn't believe that my mom would make my lunch that way."  If packing her lunch like that helps my middle schooler feel special, that totally justifies the extra time and thought.

Here are some of the good bento resources I've been using for ideas.  And, thanks again to Kami for the original inspiration.

anotherlunch.com

lunchinabox.net 

wendolonia.com

Let me know if you have any great lunch-packing ideas or resources, bento-style, or not!  By the way, Melissa at Another Lunch as the BEST recipe for homemade granola bars, here.  They were a hit with my entire family.

Love: A Special Meal

I like to have a special meal on Valentine's Day.  Usually, we don't go out to eat to celebrate Valentine's Day.  It's just not very romantic to deal with the crowds.  In fact, there have been several years we've had other couples join us at our house on Valentine's Day for International Potluck.  That's been fun: everyone saves money and still gets to enjoy fabulous food.

Anyway, this year Valentine's Day was on Sunday, and Sunday is always really crazy for us.  I decided to prepare our special meal on the day after Valentine's Day.  (I like to get as much mileage out of every holiday as I possibly can.  My children appreciate this about me.)

I happened to have some salmon fillets and shrimp in the freezer that needed to be used.  So I went a little crazy with the seafood.  It was so good.  So very, very, melt-in-your-mouth and scream for more good.  If I do say so, myself.

Before I show you what was on the menu, I have to tell you this:  I wasn't going for a crowd pleaser when I came up with this entree.  I was planning on pleasing my husband (who loves seafood) and tossing out a few PB&J delicacies for the children if they turned up their noses.  No PB&J was served that night, because no noses were turned up.  In fact, the children ate their food, asked for second helpings, and asked if there were any leftovers the next day!!!!!!!!!  That never, ever, happens at our house.  Unless I serve ice cream for dinner.

But I didn't serve them ice cream that night.  I served them......

Salmon Stuffed with Shrimp and Brie

accompanied by Sauteed Green Beans and Roasted Red Peppers

Not only did the children and the Bionic Man love it, it was easy to make, too!  I looked at several recipes and came up with my own.  I wasn't sure how it would work, and I'm not the Pioneer Woman,  so I can't provide an illustration for every step.  Sorry.  But trust me, it is easy.  If you love seafood and yummy fattening stuff, you'll love this.

To make this recipe, you will need:

8 salmon fillets

6 oz. cooked, peeled, and deveined shrimp (variation: 3 oz. shrimp, 3 oz. crab--you can use canned!)

2 tablespoons mayonaise

2 teaspoons artisan/gourmet mustard (I used the Walla Wall Sweet Onion mustard my husband brought home from a business trip, but I'm sure Grey Poupon would work, too!  If it is very spicy, don't use this much.)

4-5 oz. brie cheese

1/2 - 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs

1 bunch scallions

3 tablespoons butter, divided

salt & pepper (I prefer fresh ground sea salt and peppercorns)

dillweed (fresh or dry)

Hollandaise Sauce (recipe below)

A good knife

Step 1:  If you are using frozen salmon and shrimp (like I did), make sure that yours are completely thawed.  You want to use fillets that are at least 1-1/2 inches thick.  I purchase my frozen seafood at Sam's Club or Aldi.  If you are lucky enough to use fresh seafood, you can skip this step.

Step 2:   Put the 6 oz. of shrimp and/or crab into your food processor or use your knife to cut it into fine pieces.  

Step 3:  Once the shrimp is chopped up, dump it into a mixing bowl and add the mustard and mayo, salt and pepper to taste, and 1/2 teaspoon dillweed.  

Step 4:  Cut the brie cheese into small pieces and add to the shrimp mixture.  If you don't use brie, you could try substituting another soft cheese.  Just remember, brie doesn't melt as quickly as other cheeses, so the consistency of your stuffing may be a little different.  Try cream cheese or swiss cheese and let me know how it works!

Step 5: Lightly sautee the scallions in 1 Tablespoon of the butter.  Once they have softened slightly, add the breadcrumbs to the frying pan and toss them around a little until they are just lightly toasted.  This will happen very quickly--don't walk away from those breadcrumbs or they will burn!

Step 6: Remove the breadcrumbs from the stove to cool for a minute while you cut the salmon fillets.  Use a good knife to slice the salmon on three sides, so that you can open it like a book.  I believe this is called butterflying by people who know how to cook, but I'm still learning, so I won't call it that.  You can be preheating the oven to 375 degrees while you are working on this step.  

Step 7: Add half the breadcrumb/scallion mixture to the shrimp mixture and mix it well.  If the stuffing seems too dry, feel free to add a little more mayo.

Step 8:  Line a large baking dish with foil and spray it with non-stick cooking spray.  Open each fillet and place a generous scoop of stuffing inside.  Close them up and place the fillets in the  baking dish.  (It is okay if the stuffing looks like it is going to pop out of the fillets.)

Step 9: Top the fillets with the remaining breadcrumb/scallion mixture.  Take the remaining butter, cut it into small pieces, and put a small piece of butter onto each fillet.

Step 10:  Place the stuffed salmon, uncovered, into a 375 degree oven.  Cook the salmon until it will flake with a fork, about 15-20 minutes.  (This is longer than you would normally cook salmon for, because of the stuffing.)  Check the salmon at about 10 minutes, because you never ever want to overcook fish!

Step 11: Garnish each fillet with hollandaise sauce and a sprinkle of dillweed.

Hollandaise sauce is so yummy and I have found a no-fail method to make it.  You have to try this sauce on asparagus, sometime.  It is carnal food bliss.

To make hollandaise sauce, you will need:

1/2 cup butter

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

dash of white pepper

A blender

Step 1:  approximately 5 minutes before the salmon is finished, place the butter in a microwave-safe dish and melt it in the microwave.  

Step 2: put egg yolks, water, lemon juice, and pepper in the blender.  Blend on high.

Step 3:  while the blender is on, carefully pour in the melted butter.  Continue to blend for about a minute.  

That's it!  You have a perfect hollandaise sauce.  Drizzle it over your stuffed salmon and relish the savory tang it adds.  If you need to keep it warm, pour it into a small glass bowl, put some hot water into another, larger, glass bowl, and float the bowl of  hollandaise sauce in the hot water.  That worked for me. 

And one last recipe.....

Melt-in Your Mouth Green Beans

1 package frozen whole green beans 

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt & pepper to taste

Put the beans and butter into a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Add seasonings before beans are fully cooked.  Add toasted almonds or pecans, green onions, or chopped roasted red peppers for additional texture and flavor.  Beans are finished when they are fork-tender.

Enjoy a special meal at your house sometime soon!

I've linked this post to V.O.T.W. at Design-Aholic.

and the Weekend Wrap-Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Holland Gets Organized

Daunting title for a blog post, eh?

It takes us back to mid-December, when I blogged about "reflecting upon how I can better care for my body in the future."  Hmmm?  (If you don't remember, I'm not offended.....you can read it here--just keep in mind I was taking painkillers at the time.  Thank you.)


So, I reflected.  I had several epiphanies.  I schemed.  I took action.  And I am currently basking in the fruits of my labors.


Let me break down that process.    


I reflected.  Why is it that when I have a child on a high fat diet, I'm the one who gains weight?  Why was it so much easier to lose weight after my first two babies than after my last two?  What do I want from my body?


I had several epiphanies.   Stress.  Stress.  Usually the answer is stress.  But I've been using stress as an answer--or an excuse--for way too long, now.  And even though I don't buy much junk--really, I don't--I haven't been consistent about having lots of lean, fresh, high-quality meal choices for me on hand, either.  What I want from my body is strength, health, energy, and the opportunity to feel like I am striving to be the best person I can be, inside and out.


I schemed.  I read several informative books with new ideas.   I looked around my kitchen and pantry and thought about what worked and what didn't.  I made goals.  


I took action.  I found a group of friends that had similar goals, and we agreed to encourage and help each other along the way.  (We've challenged each other to the Game On! Diet.)  I worked hard to put together a plan to meet the dietary needs of every member of the family in a way that was manageable and realistic.  I spent some time creating tools to help me stay organized and on top of things.  I cleaned out and organized my refrigerators, freezers, and pantries.  That's right, all of those are plural.  The reason for that is another blog post in and of iteself.  


And I'm currently basking in the fruits of my labors.


Want to see?

I realized that if I was going to accomplish my goals, I needed to plan our meals carefully.  Admittedly, at least once a year, I try to follow a menu.  I've known for years that this is the way to do things.....I just have a hard time following through with my own plans.    Having a menu was the way my mom stuck to her grocery budget for HER ENTIRE MARRIAGE.  My mom is super, super organized and lives for routine.  (Hmm....maybe the reason why I am super, super unorganized and live for spontaneity.  Funny how that works.)


So I made a special binder.  Binders help me feel like I'm in control.


I filled it with all kinds of handy tools.

I plan my menus for two weeks at a time.  This is partly because I do two big shopping trips a month.  Above is a sample of the menu for our family meals, below is a sample of how I plan my meals during the Game On! challenge.  I really do eat breakfast....I just hadn't finished the menu plan for this week when I took this picture.

I used my Mac's spreadsheet program to make most of the tools for my menu binder.  It took a little time, but now I have them saved and can print them out any time I need them.  Here are some of my other planning tools.

Clockwise, from top left: 

1. I have a section in my binder where I store recipes that are family favorites.  

2. I also have a place to keep master copies of my menu calendars, shopping lists, etc.  

3. One section of the binder has info on the the special diet guidelines I am currently following.  

4. Another handy tool is my pantry list, which helps me keep track of all the food items I store in my pantry, storage room, refrigerators, and freezers.

When I plan each two week set of meals, I look first at what is on my pantry list that I can use, then I plan my shopping list.  This is a picture of last week's list.  Would you believe I spent less than $70 on two weeks worth of grocery items for my family?  I'll have to spend a little more on fresh items (milk and salad vegetables) next week, but most of what I purchased this week will last into next week.  That's what happens when I have a list of all my stored foods available as I plan out the menu.

So, my diet is going great, because I have everything planned out and don't have to sit and think, "Hmm, what can I eat right now?  Oh, since I can't think of anything, I'll have eight of these cookies, since they are handy."

My family is enjoying their meals, as well.  I'm getting dinner on the table at the same time every night and I'm not copping out and serving canned soup, just because I'm on a diet and don't want to see them eat anything appetizing.  Frankly, planning out my own meals in advance has helped me come up with meals for myself that seem at least as appetizing as theirs.  Since my own diet includes one "off the diet day" and one "off the diet meal" per week, I can plan in advance which meals I can enjoy with the family, too.

Yesterday I did a lot of advance food prep (it was helpful that it was diet day off....that way I could take lots of tastes).  I baked bread.  Yummy!  The Bionic Man feels homemade bread makes him that much more bionic, so I'm not a complete novice.  But, since I'm reducing our sugar intake, I've realized I need to be much, much more consistent about the bread baking (my recipe uses whole wheat flour and is sweetened with honey: both diet friendly).

I wish you could smell this loaf.  The picture obviously doesn't do it justice.  My favorite bread recipe makes 5 loaves; I make 2 batches and freeze most of it.  My family can eat one of these loaves for breakfast.  As far as I'm concerned, that is a cheaper, healthier alternative to cold cereal, so they can have at it!

Then I made cookie dough.  Notice that it is ready for the freezer.  That way, I can bake the cookies as we need them (for packed lunches) and I'm not tempted by them calling my name plaintively from the cookie jar.

I know this picture looks completely unappetizing, but this dough makes the best chocolate chip cookies, ever.  Period.  You know what is most awesome about this recipe?  It's multi-grain!  I use whole wheat and oat flour in it.  (Add enough butter and sugar to something, and you'll never guess how high the fiber content is, I guess.)  Let me know if you want the recipe.

Amidst all the baking, I had time to fix this super-easy batch of soup from a recipe shared with me by my friend Heather, Homemaker Extraordinaire.  One batch served my family of five generously, with enough left over for two individual servings to be put in the Bionic Man's lunchbox, and another meal's worth of soup to go into the freezer.  This is how I freeze soup.

Again, this picture does not look appetizing.  Sorry.  I should have taken some pictures last night when we were actually eating it, not today after it had been frozen overnight.  Live and learn!  Trust me, this is really, really yummy and easy soup.

Heather's Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 cans chicken broth (or 2 cups water w/ 3 chicken boullion cubes)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1-1/2 cups water

1 pkg. taco seasoning

Garlic salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

Put into large soup pot and stir until smooth.  Add:

*1 to 1-1/2 cups salsa

1 can corn

2 Tbsp. dried cilantro or 1 bunch fresh, chopped

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-size pieces.

Stir all ingredients together on medium heat.  Heat through.

Serve with:

Tortilla chips, sour cream, guacamole, shredded cheese.

So delicious and family-friendly!

*Note:  when I made this last night, I used my favorite fresh Salsa from Sam's Club.  (Pictured below.)  I omitted the cilantro and 1/2 cup water, since this fresh salsa is pretty juicy and has cilantro in it.  This particular salsa is yummy, but too much for my family to use all at once.  I freeze 2/3 of it after purchasing, the frozen portion works perfectly in a recipe like this.

How are you doing with your goals for 2010?  Do you have any great ideas that will help me maintain mine and keep up the momentum?

I'm linking this post to:

And speaking of basking.....5 lbs. lost so far in 2010!

Gingerbread Love

I took a blogging sabbatical over the holidays.  


Wait, according to Wikipedia, it might not have been a sabbatical, so to speak.

A sabbatical is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an otherwise successful individual taken in order to fulfill some dream, e.g. writing a book or traveling extensively.


I mean, if we are going to be picky with definitions, I wasn't exactly fulfilling a dream....and I didn't write a book or travel extensively.  But I did read quite a few books (13, to be exact) and I sat extensively on the couch with a heating pad (that's a dreamy thing to do on a cold winter day) and I  researched a number of other blogs while I was on my own blogging sabbatical.


One of the things I discovered during the blog research segment of my blogging sabbatical was that all the mommy bloggers out there with pretty pictures on their blogs made gingerbread houses with their families over the holidays.  


We didn't do that.  After all, I was on sabbatical and my superpowers were at a diminished capacity.


But I'm not going to despair.  And you shouldn't either, if you didn't include gingerbread as part of your Christmas celebration.  Because gingerbread isn't a one time of year, oh-no-Christmas-passed-us-by kind of thing, and I'm going to prove it.  In fact, you could say that I've come away from my sabbatical with a gingerbread thesis.  

Gingerbread:  It's Not Just for Christmas. 

This is one of our family's favorite books.

I LOVE reading anything Jan Brett illustrates to my children.  There is just so much to look at and discover on each page.  And this book is proof that gingerbread can be for enjoying after you have run around outside in the cold or while you are snuggled up next to your mommy enjoying a good book.  Gingerbread houses are also a fun way to keep the kiddoes occupied during some of those random winter holidays....Martin Luther King Day, for example.

Take a look at these non-Christmasy gingerbread creations:

Candy rocks!  (No, I'm not cheering for candy, I'm pointing out what they used to decorate this darling gingerbread house with....those candy rocks.)

Hmm.  There appears to be a Santa on the roof of this house.  But still, it is very cool.  Take down the Christmas decorations, and you have quite a work of architectural art!  Gingerbread is nothing if not versatile.

Further proof of gingerbread's versatility, and of the fact that you need not be a whiz in the kitchen or an architectural genius to be able to enjoy it:

It can keep you warm on cold winter nights!  This quilt is too, too cute.  If I were a quilter...which I most definitely am not....I would make this very quilt in blues and browns so I could display it all through January and February.

Which months I hereby declare "The Gingerbread Months"!

I happen to know that Germans really love their gingerbread, and they love it practically year-round.  They love their gingerbread so much that they call it "lebkuchen," which literally means "little love cakes."

Little love cakes!

In fact, Germans use lebkuchen to share messages of love.  They give away cookies decorated with loving notes and symbols  on special holidays like Valentine's Day, Christmas, and Oktoberfest.  (Seriously, Oktoberfest is all about the love!  Betcha didn't know that the first Oktoberfest was a royal wedding celebration!)

Now, is that better than a card, or what?

Little love cakes!

Now, as you may have learned, no blog post of mine would be--well--a blog post of mine, without a story.  Here it is.

The Bionic Man and I were married during our last year of college, over Christmas break.  December 30th, to be exact.  I had a heavy load of classes during the semester before the wedding, and had to let my parents handle much of the planning and preparation.  

During one of our early planning sessions, I was asked if I wanted a wedding cake.  For some reason, I half-jokingly suggested that since it was a Christmas wedding, there should be a gingerbread house instead of a cake.  After I said that, I really started to think it was an amusing idea....you know, imagining the possibilities of replicating my fiancee' and I in gingerbread next to the house, using gumdrops in shades of our reception colors (navy blue and green, hahahaha), etc., etc.  At some point, feeling really hilarious, I giggled out the suggestion, "Hey, what would be really cool is if we had a gingerbread replica of the Logan Temple!"   (The wedding ceremony was going to take place in the Logan Temple.)  After laughing uproariously over this with my mother, I went back to planning and agreed that yes, the roses should be white.

At this point in the story, I think I should show you a picture of the Logan Temple.  

Side note:  Beautiful, isn't it?  See those mountains?  Those were in my backyard.  This is why I can never quite feel at home in the Midwest.  No mountains.  Lots of nice people, lots of beautiful farms.....but no mountains.  

I was so busy with school that semester that I hardly had time to wonder why my newly-retired father had suddenly taken an interest in baking.  Over Thanksgiving, I was startled to discover that Dad was intent on creating the perfect formula for.....royal icing.  When I pressed my mother for details, she sighed with exasperation and confessed, "Oh, he's just playing around with gingerbread.  That's all he does now, is experiment with gingerbread.  And icing.  He says he's making your wedding cake."

My wedding cake?!?!?!?

Further inspection proved that my 65 year old father--formerly an engineer and physics teacher--was indeed, making my wedding "cake":  A gingerbread replica of the Logan Temple.  

Perhaps the word "replica" isn't descriptive enough, however.  It was a scale model.  Being a historic building, it was difficult to find any information on dimensions (engineers need numbers when they work with gingerbread), so my father found a historic document that mentioned Brigham Young (yes, Brigham Young) had paced out the area when he gave instructions for the construction of the building.  Using a complex mathematical formula based on the  approximate length of Brigham Young's legs, Dad came up with the dimensions for his scale model.  (If you don't believe me about engineers, then you need to visit the website Cooking for Engineers.  An engineer in the kitchen can be a dangerous thing.)

The end result was startlingly impressive.  In fact, I think there are more pictures of the gingerbread Temple at my wedding reception that there are of me!    

How many other brides have a father who works that hard to give his daughter exactly what she asked for?  (Even though she was totally kidding when she made the request.)

Except for the gingerbread bride and groom.  There was no gingerbread bride and groom.

Now, my father being a former engineer, the gingerbread replica was designed to withstand flames, water, windspeeds up to 75 mph, and pressures of up to 150 kg/cm.  (I jest.)  It was not, however, designed to be eaten.  So, when the wedding was over, my dad carried his masterpiece home.  He put it on top of a shelf in the living room, out of reach of the grandchildren.  And there it has sat, for twelve years now, though it occasionally ventures out to win a prize or two.  

A few weeks after our wedding, my sister saw an advertisement for a nearby town that was hosting a Winterfest, complete with a gingerbread competition.  Dad placed his Logan Temple replica on the judging table, next to the little houses made of graham crackers, gumdrops, and candy canes.  He won a trip for two to San Diego!

Like I said, Gingerbread:  It's Not Just for Christmas.  It's for weddings and cold winter days and fun and good books and especially for saying "I love you."

Because nothing quite compares to the warm, loving comfort of gingerbread cookies on a cold, wintry day.

Now, if that isn't enough to convince you of the validity of my thesis, go try this recipe for yummy, soft gingerbread cookies.  It comes from the historic bakery in Nauvoo, Illinois where my ancestors used to buy their baked goods.

Scovil Bakery Gingerbread

1 c. sugar

1 c. molasses (I like to use Brer Rabbit brand)

1 c. oil

1 c. hot water

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/3 c. whole-wheat flour

6-7 c. white flour

Combine sugar, molasses, oil, and water.  Add eggs and mix well.  In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients.  Combine wet and dry ingredients until they form a well mixed dough.  Refrigerate dough several hours or overnight.  Roll out and cut shapes with a cookie cutter.  Bake cookies on parchment or a greased baking sheet for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  After cooling, you may decorate with icing.

Little love cakes!