Weekend Cooking

lemon-basil-ice-cream

We’ve had a relaxing rainy weekend at home, so there’s not much to do but eat. With each change of season, my interest in cooking is renewed as new produce becomes available and I crave new flavors. In anticipation of the hot weather, it’s been all about basil for me this month. So we decided to make some lemon basil ice cream with our ice cream machine. About a month ago I had some basil gelato, but I didn’t like the pieces of frozen basil in it, so I made our ice cream with basil flavoring by simmering it in the milk and then straining it, then we added the lemon flavor for balance. My kids liked this ice cream, but I have to say that my children are forced to eat all kinds of unusual things, so I’m guessing many kids might not like this. Here’s how I made it if you want to try it.

Ingredients:

  • 2 c. milk
  • 1 bunch basil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 lemons (zest only)

lemon-basil-ice-cream-2

Simmer the milk with the basil over low heat until the basil leaves wilt and turn brown. Remove from heat and strain the milk removing the basil. Mix in the sugar while the milk is still warm and then refrigerate this mixture. Zest the two lemons and set this aside. I always put my milk and cream in the freezer for about 10 minutes before I make the ice cream so it will be ice cold. Remove from the freezer and mix the basil-infused milk with the cream and lemon zest.  Pour the mixture into the bowl of the ice cream maker. Mine usually takes about 30 minutes to turn into ice cream.

carrot-ginger-dip

Then we made this carrot ginger mixture that I tossed in with our salad, but it would also make a great dip with crostini. My five-year-old helped me with this one. We used the food processor to mix carrots, ginger, garlic, olive oil, rice vinegar and salt. Then we mixed in black sesame seeds and added some green onions for garnish. Both of my children liked this, but they draw the line at onions, so I didn’t mix them in with the carrots. Our salad was simply red leaf lettuce and edamame tossed with this carrot mixture.

watermelon-bowl

My seven-year-old is always an advocate of pretty food, so when I told her that we could carve the watermelon to make a bowl, she jumped at the idea. I cut the bowl and she used the melon baller to scoop up all these watermelon globes while making a sticky mess of the counter and floor. Then she added blueberries. This would be great for the Fourth of July. For more ambitious watermelon carving ideas, check here.

Holiday Baking

almond-crescent-cookies

I did more baking last week. My friend Laura made some delicious almond crescent cookies for us last year, so I made them this year. They are melt-in-your-mouth buttery deliciousness. And fairly simply to make as you mix them in the food processor. The addition of cinnamon and sugar on the top is excellent. You can find the recipe here.

carrot-cake-cupcakes

Then I made cupcakes for my daughter’s school birthday celebration last week. She requested carrot cake cupcakes, so I found this recipe, which turned out really well. Not overwhelmingly sweet, but more of a cake-like muffin. I left out the nuts and added some butter to the frosting to make it thicker. And we added chocolate sprinkles to make them more appealing to kids. After being totally skeptical about the carrots in the cake, several first-graders asked me for the recipe. Isn’t that funny?

Sweet Holidays

sweet-holiday-box

peppermint-bark

I had never made peppermint bark before, but found it to be simple and the kids had great fun smashing candy canes. When I went to the store yesterday, I discovered that the white chocolate bark had some questionable ingredients, so I headed to Whole Foods and bought white and milk chocolate chips, which I think worked out really well. Here’s the recipe for one cookie sheet of peppermint bark. This made enough to send to four teachers and both of our neighbors.

I am including a downloadable page of labels so you can have instant gifts! Click on the image below and print the sheet of labels on card stock or sticker paper.

sweet-holiday-label

Peppermint Bark Recipe

  • 24 ounces white chocolate chips
  • 24 ounces milk chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 20 candy canes
  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
  2. Pour the milk chocolate chips onto the pan and spread them around. Bake for a couple of minutes until they look a bit melted. Then take the pan from the oven and spread the chocolate around with a spatula. Put the pan in the refrigerator to cool and harden for about 30 minutes.
  3. Next open the candy canes, place them on a cookie sheet under a clean dishtowel and crush them with a hammer (this part is fun for kids). Sort the larger candy cane pieces from the candy cane dust.
  4. Melt the white chocolate chips in a double boiler (I used a smaller pan in a bigger pan), stirring constantly. Add the peppermint extract and stir in the candy cane dust which will color your chocolate a light shade of pink. Let it cool a bit, then pour it over the top of your milk chocolate layer.
  5. Sprinkle with candy cane pieces and press them down gently so that they stick.
  6. Refrigerate for several hours, shake off the excess candy pieces, then break the bark into chunks. Best kept refrigerated.

Aunt Colleen’s Zucchini Bread

zucchini-bread

Just made some of this super moist and delicious zucchini bread yesterday, from our friend Colleen’s recipe.  She gave me permission to share it with you!  My kids are eating it up.  We’re going to call it healthy because it contains a vegetable (let’s overlook the oil and sugar).

Aunt Colleen’s Zucchini Bread

3 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 T cinnamon
3 eggs
2 1/4 c sugar
2 1/2 c grated zucchini
1 c vegetable oil
1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, sift together the first
five ingredients.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.  Then add sugar,
grated zucchini, oil, and vanilla to the eggs.  Gradually add the dry
ingredients to the egg mixture, being sure not to overmix.

Pour into 2 greased 9x5x3 bread pans.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Yum!  Thanks for sharing, Colleen!

Taste of Fall

fall-recipes

Break out the butter and make some sweets to celebrate fall.  Here are some recipes that I posted last year.  It seems that my interest in cooking is renewed as the seasons change.  And not to worry-we’ll soon be wearing bulky sweaters to hide our love of fall comfort food!

Triple Apple Muffins

Pumpkin Pound Cake

Pumpkin Cheesecake (this one’s my favorite)

Here are some other fall recipes:

Pasta with Butternut Squash, Sage and Pine Nuts from Apartment Therapy.

Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil and Goat Cheese Salad from Epicurious.

Cranberry and Pear Chutney from The Perfect Pantry.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries from Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Vegetarian Chili from Herbivoracious.

Fall Harvest Desserts from Martha Stewart.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling from Vegan YumYum.

And check out this post from Chow on Cooking with Fall Ingredients.