Impromptu smoothie!

This weekend me and my family (my cousins) made an impromptu smoothie! We added random fruits and yogurt and milk and blended until it was the thickness we wanted.  We used frozen raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, soy milk (2 cups) and plain Greek yogurt and 1 T of honey. We blended it for 5 minutes. When we first made it, it was thicker than we were expecting, but we kept adding milk until it thinned out.  Even my mom liked it (she doesn't like smoothies)! - Nutmeg

Here's a picture:

Try making your own! It's fun.

french crepes !

Check this out it easy french crepes ( kr-ape-s)! I got the recipe from Williams-Sonoma's The Cookbook For Kids.  I made it for my mom on Mother's Day. You can top it with berries, powdered sugar, syrup, chocolate spread (like Nutella). It was fun and I loved spreading the filling and topping the crepes. I had my dad help with the pan part. I suggest adult help for this one.  -Nutmeg

Here's how:
Ingredients:
2T butter, plus more for cooking crepes
2c milk
2 large eggs (I used my chicken's eggs)
1 1/2 c flour
1T sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Melt the butter in a small microwave safe dish on high power for 20 seconds until melted. 

2. Pour the milk into a blender. Crack in the eggs, then pour in the butter. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend briefly to mix. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides of the blender. Blend until smooth. 

3. Place a 10" crepe pan or non-stick  flying pan over medium high heat (we used a frying pan, and it worked fine). When the pan is hot, spread a little bit of butter over the pan bottom with a spatula. Pour in 1/3 c of crepe batter all at once. Immediately tilt and swirl the pan of that the batter covers the bottom (my dad did this part).  Cook until lightly browned on the bottom, about 2 minutes.  Using the spatula, scoop under the center of the crepe and carefully flip it. While the second side is cooking, scoop your filling into the center of the crepe. After about 2 minutes, slip the crepe, filling side up, onto a plate. Spread the filling evenly over the crepe and fold into quarters. 

4. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. 

Blueberry Breakfast Bars

Today it was raining. Another rainy day in Madison. But there is some good news...  I get to cook one of my all time favorite recipes, Blueberry Breakfast bars! I found the recipe in Whole Grain Mornings by Megan Gordan. They taste like heaven!

In this link you will find all sorts of fun ideas for you or your child. It also has a little bit about blueberries and their history. These were really fun to make, especially for a rainy day.

These bars are delicious and if anything you should try making them. It will be a sweet surprise. Speaking of sweet, there are so many different tastes in these. Especially sweet. I hope you enjoy the baking. Have a nice day. -Ginger :)

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

Sugar Rush! Today May 15 is the awesome National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! Yay! Wohoo! I made chocolate chip cookies and are enjoying them right now with the family, totally delicious. You should definitely celebrate this holiday. We made so many cookies were going to give them to our neighbors and still have a lot of them left over.

This is the story of my first chocolate chip cookie. When I was about two I saw my mom rolling something into a ball, it happened to be chocolate chip cookie dough. Then she put it into the oven, a nice smell filled the air. A little while later I heard a ding and then these cookies. Then the real fun came... Eating Them!!! That is my first chocolate chip cookie experience.

These are some delicious cookies and a great holiday for kids. You should try celebrating it. You're kids will thank you for it. Have a great day! -Ginger :)

How to make butter in a jar

I just found out how to make this cool, quick butter in a jar recipe. - Nutmeg :D

What you'll need:
1. Jar with lid
2. Heavy cream
3. Strainer
4. Your hands
5. Saran wrap

Directions:
1. Put about 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into a jar. You can add honey, salt or herbs if you like. Put lid on tight.
2. Shake vigorously until solid (sort of). This should take 5-10 minutes.
3. Open the jar and pour into a strainer. This will get rid of all the cream that didn't turn into butter.
4. Place butter onto a square of saran wrap. Shape into a rectangle.
5. Refrigerate overnight.
6. In the morning, your butter should be hard and solid. Enjoy!

Here is a picture of my butter on a cracker. It is yummy! Sorry if it does not look the most appetizing.

Nutty Millet Breakfast Cookies

     This afternoon I decided to make cookies. But not just any cookies... They were healthy cookies! The recipe was from a book called Whole Grain Mornings  by Megan Gordan. The cookies were supposed to be a healthy whole grain breakfast, whether you're in a hurry to get to the bus or just taking it slow on a Sunday morning these make a great breakfast.

     In the fall my mom and I started a list of recipes from this book we wanted to try. Twice a week for ten weeks we made a special breakfast for each morning. We made everything from Peach cobbler to Ginger Bread cake. These are some excellent recipes and you should definitely try  them sometime. We also had to be very flexible, one day hazelnuts weren't in season so we couldn't make our own chocolate hazelnut spread so we used nutella! Every recipe in this book uses whole grains like farro, spelt flour, buckwheat flour, millet, brown rice, barley & wheat berries. Whole grains are healthy for you, that is why we like this book so much.

     These were some great recipes and you should definitely try them sometime. We have only tried 20 recipes so far I look forward to making them all. If you check out some recipes I wish you the best of luck. Good luck on the cooking. -Ginger :)