Banana Red Velvet Kid Kitchen

 It's Tuesday (my very favorite day of the week around here) which means the kiddos and I had an adventure in the kitchen!

I've been holding onto some overly ripe bananas for us to turn into some yummy banana bread.  I have the best no fail banana bread recipe ever that the kiddos could probably whip up without me.  They love mashing the bananas up and I love how amazing it makes my house smell as it bakes.  What a win win :)

After a snack break we decided to whip up some Red Velvet cookies with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles.  Noah and Mikayla were loving the red dough of the cookies and I thought they were the perfect Valentine's treat.  I popped them in the oven and we took a lunch break where we of course had to cut into the banana bread we had made earlier.  Noah settled for some raspberry jam on his while Mikayla wanted butter.  Then I overheard the following which will make me smile for the next two or three months at least:

Noah:  Can I try yours?
Mikayla:  Yes.  Can I try yours?
Noah:  Yes.
Mikayla:  Noah, I'm sorry I hit you with the car.  (This had happened earlier in the morning)  You're my friend.
Noah:  You're my friend, too.  I love you, no matter what.  Got it, no matter what.

I'm still a big gooey Mama puddle after that one.  I was so stinkin' proud of both of them in that moment that I think they could have behaved like royal terrors the rest of the day (which they haven't, they've been amazingly good!) and I still would have been one proud Mama.

Alright, back to kid kitchen...

So after lunch we set out to frost and decorate.  I let go of my perfectionist tendencies and decided to let them practice their knife skills.  Noah and Mikayla frosted all the cookies all by themselves!  We topped them off with some sprinkles and then dug in.  They were a huge hit as both kiddos had two before we headed off to story time.  We're chalking this Kid Kitchen up as an overwhelming success!

How can you not love these two?

 Mashing and smashing

 Noah has gotten to the point that he can run the hand held mixer by himself

 Proud of their banana bread that is ready for the oven

 Isn't it gorgeous - I love banana bread!

 Red Velvet!

Rolling them out

 Our cookies ready for the oven

 Aren't they lovely?

 Lunch break!

 Ready to frost

 This Mama takes a deep breath while they play with the knives ;-)

 They did a great job

 I even let them lick the knives clean when they were finished

 Frosted and sprinkled

 Think Mikayla liked the cookies?

Soup's on!

 It's snow (Again? Still? Endlessly?) here in Farmington so I suppose that makes it the perfect day to celebrate National Homemade Soup day.  It seemed like a great way to wrap up a day that involved shoveling (for the fifth consecutive day in a row...).  Don't get me wrong, for the most part I'm not complaining about the weather (especially given how mild we've had it thus far) but I won't be sad to see the snow stop falling.  I'll let it stay on the ground, just stop making a mess of my driveway!

But back to the soup.  While I was tempted to pull out my tried and true chicken and noodle soup (not chicken and noodles, chicken and noodle soup.  Big difference around here ;-) ) I decided we'd try something new.  I came across a recipe for lemon orzo soup that I really wanted to try, but when I gave Grant the option of that or what we ended up with, he decided on the safer route.  Oh well, I'm going to hang onto that other recipe and sneak it in on them when they least expect it.

Instead, I made some chicken tortilla soup for dinner tonight.  It passed the taste test (Grant went back for seconds) and it made my house smell fabulous.  It was only supposed to cook for a few minutes, but I ended up throwing everything in my pot and letting it simmer most of the afternoon. The homemade tortilla strips topping it off added the perfect crunch and texture.  Hooray for homemade soup day!

In other news, what the heck was up with the Super Bowl last night?  I am chalking it up as the weirdest Super Bowl ever!  I was certainly glad last night that I wasn't an employee of the New Orleans power company.  More than one head rolled on that one today, I'm sure.  Grant and I took turns guessing what it was that had caused the outage - I went with some diva demand of Beyonce's (what a crummy half-time show that was) though Grant was thinking squirrels.  Regardless, it was strange.

Now, allow me to step up on my soap box for just a minute if you will, while I discuss my feelings on the commercials.  My overall reaction - meh.  And while I enjoyed the offerings from M&M's, the Kia one with the kid asking the Dad where babies came from, the Tide one with the "miracle stain", the Taco Bell old people and especially loved the Budweiser Clydesdale, they were all overshadowed by the horrendous offering(s) from Go Daddy.com.  I specifically point at the one in the first quarter with the disgusting make-out session.  I wouldn't consider myself a prude but I was embarrassed just to be watching it!  I had ignored the controversy that has brewing over it the past few days so I was completely unprepared or let me tell you, my kids would NOT have been in the room.  As I told Grant, I don't care if it was two absolutely beautiful people caught in a lip lock, I don't want to see it!  And at 7pm at night!  Grrr, not that I would have ever used their services anyway, but Go Daddy.com should be ASHAMED of themselves...

Anywho...

My kiddos are still coming down off the high that was yesterday (I think Mikayla has told me at least 8 times today that she saw Abby Cadabby) and made my whole day today when we went out after lunch so that I could shovel us out and they could play.  At one point, I looked up and Mikayla was 'shoveling' out my flower beds.  Deciding it wasn't the hill I wanted to die on, I let her be.  A few minutes later I see Noah 'shoveling' the yard.  Finally curious, I asked what he was doing.  Making piles to build a snow ball fort.  Well there you go!

Kid Kitchen and some chocolate fondue tomorrow!  Until then...

Chicken tortilla yumminess

Soup's on at the Gatchel's - come and get it!

C is for Carrot Cake

 Today was the best day I can remember in a really long time.  If you haven't had the chance, make sure you check out the pictures Grant posted of our family outing to Sesame Street Live.  It was so much fun.  More on that later.

First, let's talk about today's food celebration - Happy National Carrot Cake Day!  The whole thought of carrot cake makes me smile and think of my sister, Michelle.  Michelle had a very unfortunate run-in with a carrot cake earlier in her life and I don't know if she's ever truly recovered.  I know to this day she still can't stand Carrot Cake.  But rest assured, Shell, to spare your niece and nephew a similar fate I made the individual carrot cakes yesterday and waited to frost them until today ;-)

We started off the morning with a different twist on carrot cake - carrot and pineapple french toast with cream cheese syrup.  This was a huge hit.  The cream cheese syrup went over especially well and was the perfect sweet compliment to the whole wheat based bread.  I'd definitely make this one again - and the syrup was reusable so I bet we'll be putting it on pancakes mid-week here.

Then we headed outside to shovel us out again.  The snow was again super light and powdery.  I'm not sure the last time I ran into snow that was that light.  I think we could have used a broom with the same effect as the shovel had.

After a quick lunch we packed the kiddos into the car and told them the big surprise - we were all going to Sesame Street!  Grant and I have had our eye on getting tickets for a few weeks now but hadn't found a good day to go.  Then earlier in the week Grant got an email offering 1/2 price tickets to any show today.  This made it possible for all four of us to go together!  We had an absolute blast.  As Grant said, the best part was all of us going together.  A close second was watching the pure joy radiate from my twosome as the took in the show.  Mikayla was bouncing the entire show and Noah was singing and responding to the characters.  My favorite moment of the whole show was singing the ABC song with Noah and Mikayla.  I won't be forgetting today anytime soon.

We headed home for quick baths and then turned on the Puppy Bowl.  Cuteness in puppy football form - it doesn't get much better than that.   While they watched I whipped up some snacks.  Including my individual sized carrot cake so we could celebrate.  Mom, I used your carrot cake recipe and I'm happy to say Grant absolutely LOVED it and Noah has already polished his off and asked for another.  We've just turned on the game (I'm currently teary eyed after watching the Sandy Hook choir sing with Jennifer Hudson - how touching) and are settling in to watch the commercials.  Um, I mean the game ;-)  Hope you're enjoying your weekend as much as we have here.

School tomorrow and some Homemade Soup to celebrate.  Until then...

 Carrot and pineapple french toast with cream cheese syrup

 My individual sized carrot cakes

Noah and Kayla requested theirs sans nuts on top

 Our Super Bowl spread

My favorite twosome in the entire world taking in the Puppy Bowl action

Sesame Street Live!

Elmo and his friends made music today, and we got to see it! The kids were full of smiles when we told them (in the car on the way there) what the big special surprise was. We got there early so we could dance with some of the characters in the lobby of the Fox Theater before the show. Noah and especially Mikayla really got into the show once it started. I don't know about them, but my favorite part of the show was the special dance they did to "C is for Cookie" :-)

My favorite part of the whole day is that we all got to go together as a family :-D

Heaven Only Knows

 It has been a really great Saturday here at the Gatchel's.  Then again, when you start with a breakfast consisting of chocolate pancake, marshmallows, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and walnuts toasted to perfection how could it not be a good day?  Happy Heavenly Hash Day, everyone!

But wait right there.  What exactly is Heavenly Hash, you ask?  Excellent question!  Because apparently it depends on who you ask.  My research turned up two very distinctly different foods both called Heavenly Hash.  Not wanting to celebrate incorrectly, we of course had both :-p

The first Heavenly Hash gets even more confusing.  Basically any dessert that contains chocolate, marshmallows and nuts kind of falls under this category.  A lot of people remember it as an ice cream flavor (kind of like Rocky Road) and there is also a candy (kind of like a fudge) with chocolate and marshmallows (and a nut of your choosing) that is referred to as Heavenly Hash.  I even came across cookie and cake recipes claiming to be Heavenly Hash.  I had originally intended to celebrate via a cookie recipe I found, but since yesterday we had a dessert and tomorrow is a dessert I decided to confuse the situation even further and turn our Heavenly Hash into a breakfast!  I figured as long as it had those key components, I could call it Heavenly Hash, too.  Who's to say it's not?

The second Heavenly Hash is also kind of all over the board.  It's a salad that at least contains marshmallow, usually pineapple, sometimes rice, sometimes cherries, sometimes other fruit and whipped cream.  (Grant says he remembers having something similar with coconut instead of rice)  It kind of reminded me of the pink fluff we made back in November.

So after dinner we took a vote to determine what the Gatchel household would consider Heavenly Hash to be.  Noah was hands down for the pancakes.  Mikayla loved the salad.  Grant said he liked both but if you twisted his arm he'd go with the pancakes.  So there you have it, Heavenly Hash.

Also, though I'm not going down this road on a regular basis, a little birdie informed me that today is Crepes Day in France.  I've always said that I'm going to make them but never had so I decided to whip up a batch for dessert tonight.  I got the hang of it fairly quickly and came up with some yummy crepes stuffed with raspberry preserves (thanks, peach melba!) and some homemade whipped cream.

This morning Grant and the kiddos did their favorite monthly outing - Home Depot Kid's build.  Just like my love of the library, I have to give props to Home Depot.   My kids adore going with Grant one Saturday morning a month and creating a project with him.  The staff where they go know them by name (and have recognized the kiddos when they are there with me!) and do a great job leading the project.  They made adorable valentines mail boxes today which we of course have already hung in their rooms.

After a quick lunch we headed outside.  It had been snowing pretty consistently all morning and we'd gotten at least an inch.  So while Grant and I tackled the driveway the kiddos played outside.  The snow was so light and fluffy Grant and I finished in record time and got in on the playing.  Since then we've accumulated probably at least another inch of snow which I'm sure we'll venture out in tomorrow.

After naps we started work on some Valentine's Day projects.  Any project that consumes an hour and a half without fighting rocks!  I had made some salt dough cut outs earlier in the day and we decorated to turn them into magnets.  The kids did an awesome job.

Right now, Thing 1 and Thing 2 are in the bath tub and then I think we're going to do some Wii Dance Party to wrap up the evening.  Grant and I are looking forward to watching the basketball game later (GO BLUE!).  Bring on carrot cake (in two forms!) tomorrow and Sesame Street as well!  Until then...

My own creation of Heavenly Hash

 Ready for the oven

Toasty perfection

 Outside to enjoy the snow

 I made a snow angel

 So did Noah (but apparently the camera only developed half the picture, oops)

 And Mikayla

 Grant, too!

 A whole Gatchel snow angel family

 Project time!

 Our finished product

 Heavenly Hash #2

 Crepes

Num num num

Alaskan Adventure

 Remember how earlier in the week I was a little apprehensive about the whole croissant thing?  That same sinking feeling has been lingering since then every time I've looked ahead to today's celebratory food - Baked Alaska.  Never had it.  Never made it.  Don't think I've actually even ever seen it in person.  Plus the idea of putting ice cream in the oven under the broiler with only meringue I've created for the first time ever is enough to almost make me want to break out in hives.  But having no clue where I'd even find Baked Alaska if I wanted to throw the towel in and get it pre-made I decided the absolute worst thing that could happen was I'd have a pile of melted ice cream and meringue in my oven.  No worries.

So this morning we started the adventure on the right foot.  Figuring I'd be better off making a small version of the Alaskan mountain I improvised and made a mini chocolate cake.  Plain old chocolate cake didn't seem to be quite enough, though, so I mixed in some Andes mint pieces and created an absolutely fabulous smelling mint chocolate cake.  I am not kidding that my stomach growled as the thing baked.  I ran to school to pick up Noah who said "Mom, it smells AWESOME in here!" as soon as he walked in the house.  Cake layer, check.

My research indicated that my best chance for success on the ice cream level was to make sure it was frozen solid.  So I cut it down to size this afternoon (just a little smaller than the cake level) and stuck it in the ice maker.  Ice cream layer, check.

I had perused quite a few recipes for meringue.  I am familiar with it (it made me think of G-Ma Koz and her lemon pie as I whipped it up) but have honestly never tried my hand at it before.  I read about countless horror stories (weeping meringue is apparently a common problem) and some successes until I finally settled on a recipe.  It worked like a charm.  It was a multiple-step meringue that you actually added a liquid version of corn starch, water and sugar to after you'd beaten the egg whites to soft peaks.  Then you whipped until stiff peaks.  (Which of course I had to show to my family when I had created them!) If you like meringue, if you are in need of a recipe or you want to try your own Baked Alaska, let me know and I will definitely forward you the meringue recipe - it was aweome.  Meringue, check.

So I stacked my cake and ice cream, layered on a huge covering of meringue, held my breath and said a quick prayer and stuck it under the broiler.  I opened the door two minutes later and wondered what all my fuss had been about - it was beautiful!  Who cared if it tasted good it LOOKED amazing.  Okay, so I did actually care if it tasted good but I needed a moment to bask in my success so far.  Then I remembered that there was still ice cream inside of my masterpiece and I better serve it up.

Grant dove in and actually moaned a bit.  He thought the whole thing was fabulous.  Noah was a bit apprehensive.  He asked if he could only have a small piece.  I told him he could just eat what he wanted of it that I really just wanted him to try it.

The child devoured the whole huge piece I had cut him.  He was actually picking it up with both hands and shoveling it in.  At that very moment I think I glowed a little bit.  Sometimes my favorite taste testers can pass off a version of a "yes, we like it" that makes me wonder.  There was no questioning how much Noah enjoyed his Baked Alaska.  It totally made it worth my nerves about how the whole thing might go down.  (Side Note - Kayla has had a really rough day after her vaccination yesterday.  After a (I do not exaggerate on this one) two hour temper tantrum this morning I wasn't seeing much hope for the day improving.  I was correct in the assessment as she flat refused to eat any of dinner so she didn't get to partake in Baked Alaska day.  We're hoping for a MUCH better day tomorrow and relief for me from the migraine she helped create earlier...)

I even found a use for the left over meringue - peppermint meringue cookies that are in my oven as we speak.  All around a VERY successful celebration today.

Looking forward to the weekend.  A food conundrum and crafting tomorrow, Sesame Street Live (shh, it's a secret don't tell Noah and Kayla!) and the Super Bowl on Sunday.  Should be wonderful :)  Until then...

My heavenly smelling mint chocolate cake

 Add the ice cream

 Meringue is ready to go

I built Mt. Alaska!

 A moment of silence is needed to bask in the beauty...

 A quick side view before serving

 Noah wasn't quite sure about it at first but he loved Baked Alaska Day

Peppermint Meringues baking away