Clean(er) Kahlua Brownies

May 1, 2013 by Dena

I don’t know about you, but I have been seeing those Kahlua Brownies from RecipeGirl popping up all over my Facebook newsfeed!  YUM!

I decided to make these for the Staff Appreciation Day lunch at Miles’ school.  You can find the original recipe here, but I wanted to try and see if I could clean them up a bit.  A few changes I made: I used White Whole Wheat flour instead of all purpose (I really love King Arthur brand); I didn’t have any Kahlua in the house, but we did have coffee brandy; I skipped the sugars and used pure maple syrup instead; I used half semi and half bittersweet chocolate bits; I scratched most of the icing recipe.  Also since this was a “school function” I only put the alcohol in the cooked brownie part and not brushed on top or in the icing.

The Verdict:  Read more...

Chocolate Dipped Peeps

Mar 21, 2013 by marie5k

*Photo courtesy of Your Home Based Mom.*

Last Easter I treated my office to a new Easter treat, courtesy of everyone’s favorite idea bank, Pinterest.  I pinned this little gem around Easter last year from Your Home Based Mom, and had a blast dipping and sprinkling Peeps.  This year, with Jake two years old, he is going to help me with our new Easter tradition.  Just when you thought Easter could not get any cuter and more pink and pastel, chocolate dipped Peeps are here to prove to you that yes, Easter cuteness has been taken to the next level.  Read more...

Frozen dinners

Feb 18, 2013 by genagolas

I remember fondly the Friday dinnertimes of my childhood, where my sister and I would settle in front of the TV with our frozen dinners—always always the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn, with the brownie you had to dig out of the middle square—for an evening of compartmentalized food and TGIF on ABC (does anyone else remember Round House? Anyone??).  The TV dinner was such a treat, maybe because it went hand in hand with some of my favorite shows, or maybe because I just found the food fun and, yes, delicious.  Hey, I was like nine, gimmeabreak.

Mmmm, chicken.

Who remembers these guys?

This post is not really meant to celebrate my long lost TV dinner, although I now have a craving for gummy mashed potatoes and lukewarm corn akin to what they would serve in our grade school cafeteria.  Lately, I’ve been making a lot of big-batch dinners, meant to eat the day-of and then stick the rest in the freezer for dinner at a later date.  Enter my new frozen dinner.  Read more...

Snow Day Food Fun

Feb 7, 2013 by marie5k

With the impending giganta-blizzard coming tomorrow, my first thought goes right to food.  I’ve always been a huge fan of comfort food, and especially now, with the prospect of my son’s daycare being closed tomorrow due to snow, I have been brainstorming ideas of what to make while we ride out the storm.  I immediately think of my crock pot and simmering chunks of stew meat, diced tomatoes, carrots, and celery.  Beef stew has always been my go to winter storm comfort food, but today my thoughts are on something a little different… chicken pot pie!

Perhaps one of the best things about chicken pot pie is that everyone- kids and adults alike- will eat their veggies after they’ve been baking away in a hot tub of chicken broth, dried thyme, sautéed onions and creamy milk.  And what better way to heat up your kitchen and fill your home with delicious smells all afternoon!?  So with that, I present you with a lower-fat version of the all-time kitchen classic, Chicken Pot Pie.  Read more...

Cooking with Kids

Jan 30, 2013 by bernhardsonbunch

My four year old loves to cook. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if I left out a cookbook with picture instructions, he could successfully bake a batch of cookies without me. Cooking has always been a big part of my life, and it’s a skill that I feel is important to pass down to my sons. The world of “kids cooking” supplies is more than a little girl-oriented (remember this story about the girl who petitioned for gender-neutral Easy Bake Ovens?), but I hold firm to my belief that boys have just as much a right as girls to know their way around the kitchen! Whenever possible, we cook things from scratch, even if that means cooking way ahead of time and freezing things. Someday, I want my sons to be capable adults who can cook a decent, healthy meal for themselves and not end up like one of those awful stereotypes in a “Hungry-Man” commercial:  Read more...

Cleaner Living: Clean-Eating

Jan 23, 2013 by Dena

It’s no secret that one of my biggest concerns is what chemicals I expose my family to.  In the last few years, I have made great strides in altering the way we clean our house and our bodies, but I haven’t, until now, looked at our diet with the same scrutiny.

A little background:  We eat as much home-cooked foods as we can.  We try to buy organic as much as our paychecks can afford.  My kids can spot the Golden Arches from a mile away and know that “I” is for ice cream.  They get candy, treats, and sweets for the occasional dessert or “just because.”  My family is healthy, yet I still have this nagging feeling that they may not be in the future.  Read more...