The Kids Make Street Eats (with Beer!): Pilsner Pretzels & Hops and Robbers Mustard
August 8, 2012
Just because you can’t walk into the liquor store and purchase a case of beer at the age of 7 or 9 (and for good reason!) doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy foods that are cooked with it, or, under supervision, even cook with them yourself. Today was Street Eats Day! We had already planned to make some basic soft pretzels and yellow mustard when the kids, having overheard a conversation of mine (about a tailgate party), decided that if they couldn’t have beer alongside of their pretzels, they would very well have it INSIDE of them. So, I helped them tweak a basic soft pretzel recipe to suit, incorporating the last of the Creemore Springs Pilsner we had in the fridge. And we went the extra mile by adapting an established mustard recipe to taste using a can of our local Double Trouble Brewing Company’s Hops and Robbers Extra Delicious IPA. The pretzels? Heavenly! The Mustard? Rich and deep due to the darker beer we used.
Street Eats Day: Order of Events
Soak Mustard Seeds, Play, Make Pretzel Dough, Play, Make Mustard, Form, Boil & Bake Pretzels, Play, LUNCHTIME PRETZEL & MUSTARD FEAST! Play! Eat Dinner: Sausage & Onions with MORE PRETZELS & MUSTARD! Play! Pass Out!
Pilsner Pretzels [Soft Beer Pretzels]
Ingredients
.3 c warm water
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
1 pckg active dry yeast
1 c Creemore Springs Pilsner (or any beer – light or dark – of your choice)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4.5 c all purpose flour
vegetable oil (spray works best)
10 c water for boiling
.6 c baking soda
2 egg yolks, beaten with 1 tbs cold water
coarse salt or pretzel salt
Method
Combine water, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Let sit for 5 minutes or until foamy.
Add beer (mixture will foam up lots more) and stir to combine.
Gradually add the flour and butter, adding flour by the 1/2 cup, mixing with the dough hook on low speed.
[You may not need to add the entirety of the flour to reach a smooth consistency]
Knead the dough at medium speed until the dough smooths out and begins to pull away from the bowl.
Remove dough to a clean, oiled bowl.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for about an hour, until dough rises or doubles.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with vegetable oil.
Divide dough into 8 equal pieces.
Roll each piece into a long rope, about 18-20 inches long.
Bring the dough-rope into a horseshoe shape, free ends north, curve south.
Bring the free ends together and twist the rope once or twice near these free tips (but with an inch or so to spare).
Bring this knotted portion down to the middle/center of the original horseshoe.
Pinch free ends down onto edges of dough to form a pretzel shape.
If all else fails, roll out a rope and twist it into something that looks like a pretzel!
Place pretzels back onto baking pan.
Allow pretzels to rise again slightly as you…
Preheat the oven to 450.
Bring the 10 c water and .6 c baking soda to boil in a pot or roasting pan.
Add pretzels 1 or 2 at a time to the pan and boil for 30 seconds, spooning tops with boiling water.
Remove the pretzels with flat slotted spatula.
Return the pretzels to the parchment lined pans.
Brush them with the beaten egg-yolk & water mixture.
Sprinkle with coarse salt to suit your taste.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden-warm brown.
Cool pretzels on wire racks until you just can’t help yourself and dig in!!!!
Hops and Robbers Mustard [Beer Mustard]
Adapted from the Ball Book’s Oktoberfest Beer Mustard Recipe
makes 5-125ml jars
recipe may be halved for a simple refrigerator portion
[This morning, we decided to increase all elements of our recipe by 1/3 to incorporate the entire can of beer and to help the kids work on fractions and division - but we are publishing the recipe as we originally formulated it because of the simplicity of the measures. You may want to finish off the can yourself, after all...]
Ingredients
1.5 c Hops and Robbers [or your favourite beer - dark or light]
1 c/250 g mustard seeds
[choose yellow or brown seeds to complement or contrast the shade of your beer]
1 tbs chopped garlic
1 c water
.5 c malt, cider, or white vinegar
[depth of flavour or colour chosen to complement the shade/style of your beer]
.75 c brown sugar
4 tbs yellow mustard powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cinnamon [optional]
.25 tsp cloves [optional]
Method
In a medium saucepan, combine the beer, mustard seeds and garlic and bring to a boil.
Remove the pot from the stove and let stand for 1.5 – 2 hours, until seeds have absorbed the liquid.
Get ready to can by sterilizing 5 250ml glass jars in a boiling water bath in a large pot with a wire canning rack inside.
Heat the lids (the discs, not the screw cap rings) in a small saucepan of water to the side.
Remove the jars from the boiling water and set them upside-down to cool just slightly as you make your mustard.
Keep the water in your canning pot boiling.
Using a hand blender or food processor, pulverize the mustard mixture until chopped but still grainy.
[The look and texture are really up to you.]
Add the remainder of the ingredients to the saucepan, stir, and bring them to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low and simmer & stir for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture reduces by about a third.
Heat the mustard back up to just a bubble.
Ladle the mustard through a funnel into your hot jars, leaving a .25 inch headspace.
[We processed four of our five jars and reserved a final larger "cook's treat" jar of mustard to use on our pretzels, refrigerating the remnants.]
Wipe the rims of the jars clean if necessary.
Add the flat metal lids and attach the screw tops so that they secure the lids but are not extremely tight.
Process the jars of mustard in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.
Remove jars and cool.
Our Street Eats Gallery
Mustard Prep:
Pretzel Dough Prep:
Mustard Making and Canning:
Pretzel Formation, Boiling & Baking:
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Glam Cans 2012: Kid-Designed Canning Labels DIY
2-5 August, 2012
On Thursday, we canned double batches of our newly jazzed up recipes for Bread & Butter Pickles and Sweet & Tangy Pickle Relish. As we were waiting for our veggies to brine in the fridge for a few hours, the kids, remembering the fun labels we created last year, used coloured pencils and oil pastel crayons to design some artwork to use as the background for this year’s labesl on our home-canned goods. Bea took on the relish, while Tobes chose pickles. This year’s work was completely abstract! I think they were inspired both by the Pollock-esque Mini Action Paintings we created for Bea’s BIRTHDAY pARTy last fall and by the artwork we’d been looking at, particularly that of Stuart Davis, when we brainstormed for our Outdoor Mural. After the kids had finished their designs, we created our labels and “glammed” the first of our 2012 cans.
Kid-Designed Canning Labels DIY
Materials
Paper
Coloured Pencils, Oil Pastels, Crayons, Paints, or Markers
Scanner/Computer/Printer
Avery Labels (we use #22807, 2 inch round, glossy white, 12 per page)
or
8.5 x 11 Sheets of White Sticker Paper (Sometimes found at the Dollar Store) & Scissors
Method
Optional: Trace a circle or a square frame on a piece of paper so that the artwork will easily crop to a circular shape.
Have the kids create an abstract (within the optional frame) on the page in strokes and shapes of colour.
Scan the image and save it to your computer:
Use the free photo editing site fotoflexer.com or your fave photoediting software to do the following:
Use the Basic: Crop feature, crop the artwork into a square (if it is not perfectly square already).
You will lose some of the artwork with this option.
Use the Decorate: Borders tool and select Rounded Corners option.
Drag the radio button from the – to the + to transform the picture from a square into a circle.
You will lose some of the artwork wtih this option.
Use the Decorate: Text tool to add one or more text boxes to the circular portion of your picture.
(Opt for the transparent background for each text box)
Save the picture to your computer.
Download a suitable Label Template from the Avery Site or from the site of your label provider.
Even if you are using full-sheet sticker paper, you can use Avery’s label templates to create a template to suit.
Here’s a copy in MSWord of the free template we frequently use: 2 Inch Circular Label Template, 12 Per Page.
Open your Template in Word or in another compatible word processing program.
Choose to Insert a Picture into the center of the first circle in the template.
Size your inserted picture to fit the circle on the template.
Repeat or copy and paste until you’ve filled as many circles as you would like to print.
Save your completed document with a new file name.
Print your completed document on your label or sticker sheet.
Attach the labels to the sealed lids of your canning jars.
Family Fun Photo Gallery:
Stay tuned for more post-canning canning-label workshops in the coming weeks!!!
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Summer Activism 101: The Kids Investigate the Mega Quarry
Tuesday’s installment for our Summer of Funner Film Festival happened to be another Wes Anderson movie, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. The kids were particularly interested in the amount of underground digging performed both by the animal protagonists in flight and by the big three farmers in pursuit of them. They were also dumbfounded by the elective flooding of those underground spaces with truckloads of cider.
Over the past few days, the kids have started putting two and two together, relating their interest in the film (and Dahl’s novel) with life around them. And, this morning, they started asking about the “Stop the Mega Quarry” signs they’ve seen on lawns and in storefronts throughout the neighborhood. So, we decided to spend some time investigating how people have depicted this “problem” and the proposed “solutions” surrounding it.
Today, the kids took an important first step in becoming Socially Responsible.
SUMMERof FUNNER ACTIVISM 101: INVESTIGATING THE PROBLEM
First, we had a good look at the sign in the window of our coffee shop:
From the words on the back of this signboard, we learned that there is an area 100 km Northwest of Toronto in which the “Highland Companies,” backed by a “Hedgefund,” have purchased quarries and thousands of acres of farmland, with the intention of creating a “Mega Quarry.” We read that what was once precious farmland would be converted to quarries which would produce limestone. And we read that the site in question is connected to the “headwaters” of five major rivers, and that several hundred million litres of Ontario drinking water would have to be diverted and perhaps treated before being returned to its natural course in order for the land to be quarried.
I brought home a few flyers for the kids to have a closer look:
As we were reading, the kids stopped to look up a few basic terms in the dictionary: Quarry, Mega, and Hedgefund. And the kids wrote out the words and their definitions in their Yesterday Books.
One thing I wanted to make clear to the kids was that whether or not we agree with the “Stop the MegaQuarry” Mission, there is always a basic ”agenda” or “point of view” in a flyer, and there is always an “author” or writer behind that opinion.
So, our next step was to investigate the “About Us” section of the www.ndact.com website to find out about the North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce who produced the flyers and signs. We found that the group consisted of residents (many of them farmers) from the Melancthon and Mulmur townships in Ontario, an area to the north and west of our home in Toronto. From what we could gather, it looked as if several of the farmers who had lived in the area “sold out” to the Highland Companies. The group producing the flyer consisted of a group of concerned residents who were left. At least, the group consisted of those who were not actively employed by or involved in the quarry industry itself. I was careful to remind the kids that there are likely just as many if not more people who might support the quarry industry or be supported by it. I wanted to make sure they were aware of the alternative voices which might arise from within that community.
Then, we moved on to investigate the environmental impact of the proposed Mega Quarry as propounded by the NDACT group. As I read the kids the bulleted list of points regarding the impact of the mega quarry, they drew “symbols” of what this impact was or meant.
Where the flyer argued that the agricultural land in the area produces 50% of the potatoes consumed by the GTA, the kids each drew potatoes.
Where the flyer argued that the pit to be excavated 180 feet below the water table threatened four major watersheds, and that, in turn, the water resources for one million Ontarians could be affected, the kids drew taps and a water table.
Where the flyer argued that the Highland Corporation would have to pump 60o-million-litres of water from its quarry per day, the kids drew a flooded tap and a water line.
Where the flyer argued that to operate the quarry, hundreds of diesel trucks would have to run every day, creating traffic and pollution, the kids drew fleets of dirty, barely distinguishable trucks.
Where the flyer argued that the streams and rivers running through the Niagara Escarpment would be affected by the Quarry, the kids drew more streams.
Where the flyer argued that once the limestone is extracted, the Highland company will attempt to farm the bottom of that pit, which seems costly, risky, and a dubious pursuit, the kids drew failed crops and a farmhouse sunk in a pit.
And, where the flyer aruged that the proposal will use unproven technology, the kids drew question marks.
When we were finished, the kids had filled their yesterday books with a few good pages of definitions and symbols:
Then, we had a “big conversation” about what they thought was most important about the proposed Mega Quarry. They were concerned about the wildlife in the region and along the Niagara Escarpment, particularly the birds of Ontario sheltered there. They were particularly worried about the potential impact of the Mega Quarry upon the water supply. We talked about the uses of water in our everyday lives, our own body’s percentage of water,the percentage of water on the face of the earth, and the relation of water to wildlife. Inspired by a conversation I’d had with the owner of the cafe where we picked up the flyers, I asked the kids why something like a “hedge fund” would be interested in the quarry: was it just for the limestone and the income to come out of it, or was it for the access to the water, after all? This got us all wondering about how important pubic or private control of fresh clean drinking water has become and will be in the years ahead.
The next step was to decide if and what the kids wanted to do about the proposed Mega Quarry. The kids are experienced protesters, after all… Last summer, we produced our “Save the Riverdale Farm” Sketches and we made T-shirts and a Rob Ford Protest Song in support of our local libraries. Today, the kids decided to learn more about the Mega Quarry by visiting the partner websites: http://www.ndact.com, http://www.citizensalliance.ca, and http://www.nomegaquarry.com. They also decided to send the illustrations they made today and a brief email of concern to their Ontario party leaders. [They asked me, however, not to reproduce their messages as they felt they wanted to keep the private.] They are also planning to produce their own t-shirts later this summer. Although, at this point, they’re not sure if they want the shirts to say “Stop the Mega-Quarry” or if they want to ask others, “Is a U.S. Hedgefund Taking Control of Your Drinking Water?”
You’ll have to stay tuned to see the results of their efforts…But, wait a minute, what are YOU going to do?
UPDATE:
SUCCESS!
The Mega-Quarry will NOT be pursued.
Read all about it here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/11/21/quarry-melancthon-proposal446.html
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Relish, Pickle, Replenish: It’s Cucumber Day
2 August, 2012
Last year’s Adventures in Canning were incredibly successful. The Chai Tea Jelly, Strawberry Jam, Lemon Balm & Lemon Verbena Jelly and Spiced Blueberry Port Jam we canned last Summer, Labeled in the Fall, and Decorated in the Winter were a big hit. We used tons of those jams and jellies in the house. And, we delivered many more to family and friends as holiday gifts. Likewise, the pickles, relishes and mustards we made on our Day in Condiments were a huge success. In fact, by the time the holidays rolled around, we barely had any of our famous condiments to share with others. The moment we popped that lid off of the last jar of relish (and everyone said that moment came too soon!), the kids starting dreaming and scheming out loud about “cucumber season,” of all things!!!
Well, the farmer’s markets are finally full-to-the-brim with local Ontario cucumbers, onions, peppers, and fresh garlic! And this summer, we decided that instead of a spending a single marathon day of condiment making, we’d stock up our pantry by taking it one step at a time. So, we started off our Adventures in Canning with a day of kid-tested and -approved “cucumber” condiments: our famous Bread & Butter Pickles and our Sweet & Tangy Relish. This time, made a double batch!
Our day in a nutshell: In the morning, we were up and chopping our veggies, and setting them in salt and water or ice to brine. As the kids waited for our chopped veggies, they designed abstract artwork to use as the background to the canning labels for pickles and relish that we’ll make a bit later on. (See our new Glam Cans 2012 post for pics of the artists at work and their final designs!) Then, it was back to work with the boiling vats of vinegar and spices and the “cauldron” – our giant canning pot.
Newer, More Flexible Recipes and a Gallery of Choice Photos follow!
Bread & Butter Pickles
(makes 7-500ml jars, or 7 pints)
Ingredients
16 c sliced (1/4in) pickling cucumbers
8c (5-6 large) sweet white onions, sliced
.3 c pickling salt
8 cloves garlic, smashed or quartered
4 c sugar (if mixed, in a ratio of no more than 3 c brown to 1 c white to all white)
4 c cider vinegar
2-3 tbs mustard seed
1 tbs tumeric
2 tsp – 1 tbs celery seed
Method
Slice all of your veggies! This takes time! Turn on the music and have fun!
In a large bowl or stock pot, mix cucumbers, onions, garlic, and pickling salt.
Place a thick layer of crushed ice over the top of the veggies.
Cover the pot and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours and no more than 4×4 hours.
Fill your canning pot with water and bring the water to a boil. This will take a while.
Place 8 pint-sized mason jars (or the equivalent) on a canning rack set inside the pot to sterilize and warm.
Meanwhile, warm the canning lids (but not the screw tops – we stack ours aside on a meat cleaver) in a small pot of water set upon your smallest burner.
Remove hot jars from the boiling water with tongs or the like and set upside-down to dry.
Keep that canning pot of water boiling.
Drain the veggie mixture in a colander (rinse if you’d like) and set aside.
In a large stock pot, combine sugar, vinegar, seeds and spices.
Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, just until sugar dissolves.
Add the veggie mixture to the pot, careful not to splatter.
Bring the mixture back to a boil and then remove the pot from the heat.
Using a ladle and a canning funnel, fill your hot pint jars with the hot veggies and liquid, leaving .5-in headspace at the top of the jar (ie fill the jar with veg and hot vinegar to .5 in below the very top of the glass jar).
Place warm lids on jars and attach the screw tops so that they are closed but not ridiculously lock-tight.
Place the filled jars in a rack in the boiling water of your canning pot.
Cover the canner and bring the water back to a boil.
Process in the boiling water for 10 minutes.
Remove the jars and set aside to cool on wire racks or a surface that isn’t heat sensitive.
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Sweet & Tangy Pickle Relish
(makes 8 or 9-250ml jars, or 8 or 9 half-pints)
Ingredients
6 c finely chopped pickling or fresh cucumbers
3 c finely chopped onion (3-4 large)
3 c finely chopped red, orange, and/or yellow sweet peppers
.25 c pickling salt
3 c sugar (if mixed, in a ratio of no more than 1.5 c brown to 1.5 c white to all white)
3 c cider vinegar
2 tbs mustard seeds
1 tbs celery seeds
2-3 tsp tumeric
Method
Finely chop your cucumbers, onions, and peppers. You may want to use a food processor to get a nice dice, but be careful not to overprocess your veg into mush.
In a large glass, ceramic or melamine bowl, combine chopped veggies with pickling salt just to coat.
Add cold water to the mixture by the .5 cup just to cover.
Cover and set aside on a counter for about 2 hours – just long enough for a movie.
Fill your canning pot with water and bring the water to a boil. Again, this takes a while.
Place 8 250ml (half-pint) jars on a canning rack set inside the pot to sterilize and warm.
Meanwhile, warm the canning lids (but not the screw tops – we stack ours aside on a meat cleaver) in a small pot of water set upon your smallest burner.
Remove hot jars from the boiling water with tongs or the like and set upside-down to dry.
Keep that canning pot of water boiling.
Drain the veggies in a colander.
Rinse with cold water and allow to drain again.
In a large stainless or enamel pot, combine sugar, vinegar, seeds and spices.
Boil and stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
Add the veggie mix to the pot, being careful not to splatter.
Reurn the mixture to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.
At this point, most of the “excess” liquid will have evaporated and your relish will look like relish.
Use a ladle and a canning funnel to fill your hot jars with the hot relish.
Leave .5-in headspace at the top of the jar (ie fill the jar with relish to .5 in below the very top of the glass jar).
Place warm lids on jars and attach the screw tops so that they are closed but not ridiculously lock-tight.
Place the filled jars in a rack in the boiling water of your canning pot.
Cover the canner and bring the water back to a boil.
Process in the boiling water for 10 minutes.
Remove the jars and set them aside to cool.
The Prep:
Vinegar, Spices, & Jars:
…Looking ahead to our Adventures in Canning 2012: Mustards, old and new, will follow next week. And jams and jellies with have both a summer week-day and a fall (or Lunchbox Season) appearance. We’ll also spread our wings where pickles and relish are concerned a bit later on, tackling Alt.-Fall Veggies in our 2012-13 Lunchbox Season.
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Outdoor Mural – Phase One – Sketching From Our Favourite Artists
Several years ago, decades ago, as the case may be, my husband and his parents painted an outdoor mural on a piece of plywood and installed it at the back left-hand corner of their garden. Whenever I even think of going over to their house, this is the image that comes to mind: a large face or mask, somewhat similar to one of the great Moai of Easter Island. I’m sentimental about it. I am sure we all are. So, this summer, we decided to paint a large outdoor mural on a piece of plywood and “install” it in our own garden, both as an homage to that first painting and as a newly-beloved object of our own.
The first step has been to come up with an idea of what to paint!
So far, we’ve got four general threads going:
1) Some sort of “tree” related mural to memorialize the very large, very beautiful cherry tree that used to stand in our back yard. (Just now, its final blooms are pictured on the header to this journal.) Just this spring, our 60+-year-old beauty, in full bloom, was taken up by the roots in a gust of wind and crashed down across our fence and into our neighbours’ back yards. No one was injured, thankfully. Although, it caused some interesting neighbourly drama that has been a learning experience for us all. In any case, we miss our tree most terribly!
2) An image of the female lamplighters painted by Paul Delvaux. I have been dying to do this for years, and it will be done regardless of whether it happens in the form of this particular mural or as one of my own.
3) A figure, face, or mask not unlike our inspiration piece across town.
4) A favourite animal.
Over the past few days, the kids have been looking at books featuring the work of some of their favourite artists.
Today, we spent time copying, imitating, and, generally, drawing inspiration from those works towards a design of their own.
Here’s the pile of books they chose to sketch from today. If you are looking to do something similar and if you don’t have anything on hand, it would be easy enough to choose library books:
Klee, A Study of his Life and Work, by Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, New York: Praeger 1957.
Stuart Davis, The Great American Artists Series, by E. G. Cossen, New York: Braziller, 1959.
Henry Moore, My Ideas, Inspiration and Life as an Artist, by Henry Moore & John Hedgecoe. London: Collins and Brown, 1999.
Ancient Egypt, Kingdom of the Pharoahs, by R. Hamilton. Bath: Parragon, 2005.
The Imperial Collection of Audubon Animals, Ed. Victor H. Cahalane. New York: Bonanza.
The World of Henri Rousseau, by Yann le Pichon. New York: Viking, 1982.
Here are the artists at work:
And here are the completed sketches beside their inspiration pieces!
Tobes:
Snake. Inspired by Stuart Davis. Still Life with Saw. 1930.
The Tiny Chipmuk. Inspired by Audubon. Colorado Chipmunk.
Marmot Marmot. Inspired by Audubon. Yellow-Bellied Marmot.
The Snake Who Only Reads. Inspired by a page from Ancient Egypt.
The Mask of Strangeness. Inspired by a wooden African mask from Henry Moore’s collection.
“Ah Never Mind!” The Treadmill’s Not Working! Inspiration: The 2012 Olympics.
Bea:
London with Lights. Inspired by Paul Klee. Town with Watchtowers. 1929.
The Old Tree. Inspired by the landscape that inspired Henry Moore. A tree in the Adel Woods.
Egyptian with Knife and Toy. Inspired by a Relief from the White Chapel of Senusret I at Karnak.
The Mask. Inspired by a wooden African mask in Henry Moore’s collection.
Jaguar. Inspired by Henri Rousseau. Negro Attached by a Jaguar.
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Skylanders Portal of Power Birthday Cake
This year, Tobes wanted a “Skylanders” themed cake for his birthday. So, we decided to make a “Portal of Power.” (That’s the gadget you hook up to your gaming console and set your Skylanders toys on top in order to play). We decorated it with a banner celebrating T’s birthday, and, of course, with a few unexpected gifts, three new Skylander toys. Below, we’ve published our yummy Recipes (100% fondant free!), Cake Construction DIY, and Free Printables (the Banner and the circular “Elements” that we used to encircle the portal of power). All you need to do is find the toys…Or, for a more frugal solution, you can just search the web for skylander pictures, size them, print them out, and attach them to skewers.
Skylanders Portal of Power Birthday Cake: The Recipes
The BEST Chocolate Cake Recipe
inspired by Ina Garten
P.S. The kids don’t taste the coffee
Ingredients
2 c all-purpose flour
2 c sugar
.75 c unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably dutch processed
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (or sour milk)
.5 c vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Method
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Spray one 6-inch and one 9-inch round baking pan (non-stick is preferable) with baking spray.
Line the bottoms of each pan with circles of parchment paper cut to size.
Spray the tops of the parchment with a bit of baking spray.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder into the bowl of an electric mixer using a sifter or a wire-mesh strainer.
Add salt and sugar to the bowl, and with the mixer set to low speed, beat for 30 seconds or so until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.
With the mixer set to low, add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and blend until just combined.
Beat in the coffee until fully incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking pans (in about a 3:1.3 ratio) and set the cakes in the oven.
Bake cakes for a total of about 30 minutes, until a butter knife inserted into the centres of the cakes comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in their pans on top of wire racks for at least 30 minutes.
Then, invert the cakes on the wire racks, remove the parchment circles, and cool completely.
Summer of Funner & The Lunchbox Season’s “Flexible” Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients
1 c UNSALTED butter, room temperature
4-8 cups sifted icing sugar
.25 tsp salt
2 tbs vanilla
4 tbs -.5 c milk or cream
gel or liquid food colouring to suit
Method
In an elecrtic mixer, on low speed, cream the butter for a minute.
Add 3.5 cups icing sugar to the butter and mix on low until the sugar is incorporated.
Add salt, vanilla, and 2 tbs milk or cream to the mixing bowl and beat on medium for about 2 minutes.
Now here’s where you become “flexible” and add .5 to 4.5 cups of icing sugar to the mixture to increase volume and sweetness to your liking.
We do this about .5 c at a time.
Accordingly, add milk or cream by the scant tablespoon to achieve your desired spreading or piping consistency.
We always end up making more icing than we need, using about 6 tbs total milk and 7-7.5 c icing sugar, but this varies by taste, temperature, and the size of the cake/cupcakes you are frosting.
Warning, this “flexible” recipe may require a fair bit of tasting and, hence, result in a bit of a “sugar high” pour le chef.
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Skylanders Cake: Icing & Assembly
Remove about 1.5 c icing from the large mixing bowl and spoon it into a separate cup.
Use gel or food colouring drops to dye that smaller cup of icing emerald green.
Then, to the majority of the icing in the mixing bowl, add black gel icing colour until the icing reaches a stone-gray colour.
Use a serrated knife to trim the “muffin top” or “bulge” from the tops of your cakes.
[If you are freaked about making the cake level, mark it all around the top outside circumference with toothpicks first.]
[Don't waste! Pass around these excess yummy cake bits to thankful kids or save them for your own cook's treat!]
On a large tray or cake stand, place the large, 9-inch cake layer, trimmed side down, so that the perfectly flat bottom of the cake is facing up.
Ice the tops and sides of this cake with gray icing.
[An icing spatula is helpful here.]
Place the smaller, 6-inch cake layer trimmed-side down in the center of the larger cake, so that the perfectly flat bottom of this cake is also facing up.
This smaller cake is your “Portal of Power.”
Using your green icing, ice only the top of this Portal of Power cake with a spatula or knife.
Using the rest of your gray icing, either with a pastry bag fitted with a long, wide tip (the rosette tip) and using vertical strokes, or with a simple icing spatula or knife, ice the sides of this smaller cake.
Place “Elements Symbols” (see below for printables) along the circumference of the lower cake.
Attach each end of the ”Skylander Banner” (see below for printables) to wooden skewers using tape.
Mount banner by placing skewers in the lower tier of the cake, towards the back.
Place purchased toys (or printed skylander images you find online and tape to skewers) on top “portal of power” section of cake. (We cut out some of the plastic packaging around the toys to use as a base, keeping the toys clean).
Add candles before serving!
Free Printable Skylanders Banner…
We created our banner by downloading an image of the Skylanders Logo from the web, changing the name of “Spyro” to our son’s name using the photo editing tools on the free site, fotoflexer, and mounting it between two small wooden dowels or chopsticks. We also “laminated” our banner using clear contact paper to make it a bit more sturdy.
We have made printables, below, for you!!!
One banner has a blue background. You can use photosoftware such as the Decorate/Add Text feature on fotoflexer to add your child’s name. Or you can use a dark blue pen.
Here’s an image you can copy and use as you see fit:
And here’s the pdf: SOF Skylanders Printable Banner Blue Background for Kid’s Name
The other banner has a white background. You can simply print it out and write in your child’s name.
Here’s an image you can copy and use as you see fit:
And here’s the pdf: SOF Skylanders Printable Banner Write Kid’s Name On
Free Printable Eight Elements Circles…
We placed little circular images of the 8 Skylander Elements along the circumference of our base cake. We simply found these images online, printed them out, “laminated” them with contact paper to make them extra sturdy, and placed them on the cake. As with the banner, the laminating step is totally unnecessary.
Here’s an image file that you may copy and use as you see fit:
And here’s a pdf: SOF Skylanders Eight Elements Free Printable
As for the Toys…
Well, we bought the toys on sale at a local gaming store. They were unexpected late day birthday gifts for T’s special day! Thinking frugally, you could easily ditch the trip to the game store by searching the internet, printing out colour photos of the toys, and taping them to toothpicks or skewers to attach to the cake! Laminating with contact paper might work well here, also!
Good Luck! And send us pictures of your own Skylanders Cakes as they become available!!!
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Olympian Self-Sufficiency: The Kids Make Supper (by themselves!)
This is a summer to be inspired by the Olympic Spirit. As we learn more about our Olympic competitors by reading newspapers and magazines and by watching sports interviews, one of the aspects of Olympic training that the kids and I have admired is the self-sufficiency of even the youngest of our athletes. Time and again, we read about heroes who are so dedicated to their sport that, from a young age, they have learned to care for themselves and their own needs both in and outside of the family home. While most of the news coverage we have followed has focused on such self-sufficiency as “sacrifice” if not downright “suffering,” the kids, nevertheless, have thought of this independence as “passionate,” “cool” and “crazy,” admiring the gymnasts and swimmers who rise at the crack of dawn to fry their eggs or fix themselves lunch for the road. Tonight, in the spirit of the games, the kids made dinner and served it up to the family. We’re hoping to make this a weekly occurence!
A Little Mental Prep: Our Quick and Easy Dry-Erase Weekly Dinner Menu
Earlier in the week, we made an easy dry-erase “Weekly Dinner Menu” to hang up in the kitchen. We designed a simple menu, printed it out, and covered it in clear contact paper. [Here's a copy of it, if you care to print it out and laminate it/coat it for yourself: Printable Weekly Dinner Menu. You can also just copy and paste the image above, but it's not as clean.] With this in place, the kids were able to look ahead to tonight’s event with passion! As we sat down to schedule which meals we would have for the week, I helped the kids decide upon Baked Salmon as an easy, no-fuss menu option for their first “Kids Make Supper” night. We added this to our menu board so that they could anticipate and celebrate what was coming! Little did I expect what they would add to the menu of their own accord!
The Kids Make Artisan Bread (by themselves!)
PHASE ONE: Making the Master Recipe
This morning, as we were discussing what ingredients we had on hand for our baked salmon and which we would need to purchase after our dentist appointment, the kids decided that they wanted to have some sort of bread to go with their supper. I thought they’d just want to purchase a loaf while we were out. But they wanted to bake their own! So, we turned to a book that a good friend of mine (that means you, Elise!) recommended as a life- and habit-changing find, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. (See their awesome website: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/). I’ve been “late to the table” with this lucky find. I only managed to pick up this now-classic book over the spring. And, I hadn’t even tried out the basic recipe myself, yet. Still, I figured, why not let the kids do it for me? After looking at the book together, the kids decided to make a half-batch of the “Master Recipe” for a basic white loaf. We could make one or two boules or baguettes for tonight and still have dough in the fridge to to spare!
What I Did to Prepare
As a way of helping the kids get started, I got out the three key ingredients (a packet of yeast, a bag of coarse salt, and a sack of unbleached all-purpose flour) and I put them on the counter along with lots of measuring cups and spoons and a 2.5 quart plastic tub for holding the dough. I propped up the cookbook on the counter, and I put the dough hook on the mixer so that it was all easy to reach.
Before The Kids Got Started
I gave them a quick refresher course re using the mixer, asking them to open it, close it, lock it, and turn it on and off at a low speed. I also demonstrated how to measure flour properly (filling a 1 or .5 cup measure and scraping it off with a butter knife) following the instructions in the inset box on the cookbook page we were following. Next, I asked them to read the recipe out loud to one another before they began. Finally, I stood back and took some photographs as they went along, trying, nonetheless, not to hover…
What They Did
The kids were so excited about being “in charge” that they were almost over-polite with one another. Bea measured out 1.5 cups of warm-ish water into the mixing bowl and scissored open the yeast packet. Tobes added the one yeast packet to the water. Bea added the two teaspoons of coarse salt to the bowl and stirred for a moment. Tobes added 3.25 cups unbleached all-purpose flour to the bowl. Bea operated the mixer and stirred until the mixture formed a nice dough. And, together, they placed the giant dough ball into a plastic tub and closed the not-entirely-air-tight lid. Then, the kids cleaned up the kitchen before moving on to other activities. After the bread sat rising for two hours on the counter, they moved it to the fridge. Then, we headed off to the dentist.
Dough Ingredients Recap
1.5 cups warm water
1 packet (1 tbs) yeast
2 tsp coarse salt
3.25 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
PHASE TWO: Baking the Bread
What I Did
Later that afternoon, I got out two pieces of parchment, a serrated bread knife, and a container of all-purpose flour. Then, I put the pizza stone in the center of the oven with an empty broiler pan on the rack below. Finally, I gave the kids a refresher course re how to turn on the oven and a reminder that they should always use oven mitts when adding or removing things. With knives out and the oven on, was I scared? Yes. I was scared! But I let them do it anyway.
What They Did
Each kid took turns taking a grapefruit-sized portion of dough from the container (about 1/3 of the big ball) and slicing it off with a knife. (The rest of the dough went back into the fridge.) Then, the kids used some flour to get the dough just dry enough to form into boules. (Here’s where a look at the book is extremely helpful! The kids just rolled the dough into nice balls, though, and it seemed fine.) They let these round circular boules sit on the parchment for forty minutes. After twenty of these minutes had passed, the kids turned on the oven on to 450. They also poured a cup of water from the tap and set it aside. After the total forty minutes had passed, the kids dusted the tops of the boules with flour and then slashed patterns on the top of them with a knife.
What We Did Together
The kids assisted me in opening the oven door while I safely shook their boules from the parchment sheets onto the pizza stone in the oven. Then, they handed me a cup of water which I poured into the broiler pan below the pizza stone. We shut the door of the oven and let the bread bake for 30 minutes until the crust was a lovely brown. As I removed the dough from the stone in the oven, the kids heard it “crackle and sing” per the recipe’s instructions. (This book is magical, I tell ya!) The kids did a little dance as the bread cooled on wire racks. We lowered the oven temperature to 350, and the kids got ready to bake their salmon.
Bread Baking Method Basic Recap
This is just a basic outline! Consult the Artisan Bread in Five book and the website for the authoritatve, expert approach! It’s definitely worth the purchase!
Mix up the dough and let sit for at least 2 hours in a not-so-airtight plastic container
Refrigerate the dough in this container
Cut grapefruit sized balls of dough from main ball (we used thirds)
Use flour to form dough into boules (per the book’s instructions)
Let boules rest for 40 minutes
After 20 of these minutes, heat the oven to 450, pizza stone inside
After all 40 minutes have passed, sprinkle flour on top of the boules
Slice gashes into the tops of the boules
Place boules on a pizza stone in the oven
Add a cup of water to pan placed on a rack below the pizza stone
Bake for 30 minutes
Cool on wire racks
The Kids Make Salmon (by themselves!)
What I Did
Last night, I created a recipe and printed out a recipe card for a basic baked salmon dish that I thought the kids could follow. [Here's a pdf copy for you: Super-Easy Kid-Baked Salmon. I've also provided the recipe below] I also got out a pyrex baking dish and some measuring spoons and left them on the counter. This afternoon, after a dentist appointment on the other side of town, I took the kids to a fish market on that side of town (Snappers, 263 Durie Street, Bloor West Village) to pick up fresh fish and any other ingredients they might want for the meal.
What They Did
At the fish market, the kids were the ones to request their salmon fillets and lemons from the fish-monger. If I’d had cash with me instead of only debit cards, I would have had them pay as well, though the counter was likely too high to make that possible anyway. They carried the bag home on transit and placed it in the fridge until it was time to make supper. After their bread had baked and we had checked to see that the oven temperature had cooled to the 350 to which they reset it, the kids scoured the cabinets, the fridge and the back garden for the ingredients for their recipe. They juiced their lemons, prepared their marinade, and, after placing their fish fillets skin down into a lightly sprayed pyrex dish, drizzled the marinade over top. Then, they set the fish in the oven to bake. Just before the fish had finished, the kids took a few packs of frozen edamame from the fridge and microwaved them per the instructions on the box.
Then, I watched as the kids plated their fish and edamame for the whole family. They sliced the homemade bread and went crazy! What a meal!!!!
Ingredients
4 boneless salmon filets
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs honey
1 tbs onion powder
1 tsp sesame oil
½ tsp sea salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
fresh cilantro or other herbs
cooking spray (we used pc olive oil spray)
Method
Heat oven to 350
Spray the pyrex dish with a tiny bit of cooking spray
Place salmon in a pyrex baking dish
Slice and juice lemons into a bowl
Combine all marinade ingredients
Pour marinade over the salmon
Salt and pepper the filets to taste
To the filets of those who “like it hot,” add a few red pepper flakes
Bake for 20 minutes.
Wash, dry, and tear fresh herbs
Plate the fish and garnish with herbs
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