We are big time into the Women’s World Cup right now, which is turning out to be one of the greatest sporting events of the year for us.  Amazing female athletes, an amazing US team, little commercialism, or ego, or marketing, and heart-stoppingly dramatic games.  The games have been a tremendous source of inspiration, especially for our athlete-daughter who is so fortunate to have opportunity and mentors all around her.

For the US quarter-final game against Brazil, a couple of Ella’s teammates came over for a pajama-party USA themed breakfast: pancakes with red/white/blue strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. It wasn’t about the food. The food was fun, but the game was the centerpiece of the morning.  Offering pancakes was just an excuse for getting some of them together to root for their players, then celebrate, and the extra whipped cream came in handy when we all needed a pick-me-up during the nail biting overage time.

After, they swarmed the park & had an impromptu meet up with another teammate and her dad.

Caroline makes a lot of different kinds of pancakes: lemony, snack, picture perfect, pumpkin . We just make one.  Let us know what you did for the semifinals today!

by Caroline

party supplies

I don’t do elaborate kid birthday parties. Knowing that most children are happy with a treat and the chance to play with their friends, I don’t see any reason to knock myself out. I am lucky that my sons both have spring birthdays, so we can keep everybody in the backyard, and for the last few years we’ve hosted parties for both boys that involve the kids building objects out of scrap wood and sending them flying down a fishing line strung from our back deck into the yard. The boys call the game “crazy contraptions,” and so far we have proven that kids from four to ten will play it for hours.

When it’s time for a break, we let the kids put their creative impulses toward cupcakes, and here’s where I suppose I do put in some effort, but I like to bake and homemade cupcakes are quick and cheap, so I make a lot. Typically I make crazy cake chocolate cupcakes and a vanilla cupcake and let the kids choose one or the other; this year Eli requested chocolate vanilla swirl, so I followed this incredibly simple (and delicious) recipe. Then I make a double batch of cream cheese frosting, divide it and color it, plus I make one batch of chocolate frosting. I set out the frostings in ziploc bags with one corner trimmed off (ie, instant homemade piping bags), set out some sprinkles, and let the kids go to town.

This recipe came from my friend Liz, and it is not only the best chocolate frosting I know, it happens to be super easy:

Beat until well-combined and a bit fluffy:
3 T room temperature butter
3 T cocoa powder
1 T light corn syrup or mild honey
1/2 t vanilla

Add 1 c confectioner’s sugar and mix well.

Stir in
1-2 T milk, just enough to make the frosting spreadable.

Makes about a cup — perfect for a dozen cupcakes, but you’ll want to double the recipe to frost an entire cake.

Before my mom went back to work full-time, when I was in elementary school, she cooked dinner every night and baked bread every Saturday. She made birthday cakes for all four of us kids and thousands (I’m not exaggerating) cookies at Christmas. But the one thing I don’t recall her making on any regular basis, if at all, was coffeecake. We bought Entenmann’s. Most New Yorkers I know will sigh with happiness when they think of Entemann’s, the grocery store coffeecake in the windowed box. There were strudels and crumb-topped cakes, but my favorite was the cheese-filled danish.

I don’t make coffecake very often myself — pancakes and waffles are much more common — but for New Year’s Day and other brunch parties, this is the one I make, which is like a fresh update of those classic Entenmann’s cheese coffeecakes of my childhood. I found the recipe first in a Martha Stewart Living and noticed it also on Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks blog, so those are great bona fides if you don’t quite trust me: this is a delicious, moist, and easy to make ahead treat.

Note: you can leave out all the citrus zests, or just use one (orange or lemon) if you don’t have all 3. Zests keep well in the freezer (I have little waxed paper bags to store each kind) so you can always have a supply on hand.

For the dough:
½ c warm water
2 T active dry yeast (2 envelopes)
1 t sugar

½ c butter, melted and cooled (plus some more to grease the bowl)
2/3 c sugar
1 c orange juice
2 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lime
zest of 1 orange
1 t salt
5-6 c flour

For the filling:
1 pound cream cheese (room temperature)
1 c confectioner’s sugar
2 egg yolks
2 t vanilla
1 c dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried currants (or a mix)
2/3 c poppy seeds

For the egg wash:
1 lightly beaten egg

Stir together the water, yeast and 1 t sugar in a large bowl until yeast dissolves. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Now whisk in juice, eggs, remaining 2/3 c sugar, melted butter, zests and salt. Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and forms a ball.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until just slightly sticky, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a buttered bowl and turn so that the dough is lightly coated with butter. Loosely cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, either at room temperature (about 1 ½ hours) or in the refrigerator overnight.

Meanwhile, stir together cream cheese, egg yolks, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add poppy seeds and dried berries. Set aside (at room temp or in the fridge, wherever your dough is).

When you’re ready to shape and bake the coffee cakes, butter 2 baking sheets and set aside. If you’ve refrigerated the dough, let it come to room temperature before proceeding (usually an hour or so, depending on your fridge and kitchen!)

Punch down dough and divide in half. Roll out one half into an 11 x 15” rectangle. Spread half the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a 1” border. Beginning at one long side, tightly roll dough into a log, encasing the filling. Carefully transfer log to baking sheet, seam side down. With a sharp knife, make cuts about 2” apart along one long side of the log, cutting just three-quarters of the way across, like this:

Lift the first segment, turn it cut side up, and lay it flat on the baking sheet. Repeat with the next segment, twisting it so it sits on the opposite side of the roll. In my picture, the dough wasn’t quite laying flat, but you get the idea:

Continue down the log, alternating sides.

Roll out, fill and cut remaining dough.

Preheat oven to 350. Loosely cover dough and let rise until almost doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes. Brush dough with egg wash, avoiding the filling. Bake until cooked through and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Carefully slide coffee cakes onto wire racks, and let cool completely before slicing.

I spent an hour today going through my stuffed binders of torn-out magazine recipes, assembling a menu for our annual New Year’s Day party. This cookie recipe is one I found in Sunset magazine four years ago and yet had never tried. Now it’s going to be a regular part of our holiday baking, because the cookies are easy, delicious, and pretty.

Ingredients

* 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling cookies
* 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
* 1 egg
* 3 tablespoons molasses
* 2 cups flour, sifted
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup granulated sugar with butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg and molasses.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and spices. Add to butter mixture and blend well.

3. Fill a shallow bowl with granulated sugar. Break off walnut-size pieces of dough and roll into balls; roll balls in sugar. Arrange on greased cookie sheets and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks.

4. Meanwhile, make glaze: Combine powdered sugar with 1 tbsp. water and stir until smooth, then stir in lemon juice. Drizzle glaze over cookies.

As Ella remarked last week,  while I was making meatballs and spaghetti, and red sauce and a chocolate layer cake, which came after the 3 dozen cookies made for his class, and after the schoolday breakfast of pancakes, but before the Wizard Party attended by 23 five-year-old boys and a few girls, “Birthdays are a lot of work for moms.”

She is right. Because Professor Mumblemore was about to leave for his European tour,  we I had two events to put together in 3 days. It was not fun. Harry Finn had a blast, especially when he was impersonating Keith Richards.

Or Harry  Potter.

The food at the wizard party was very basic: hot pretzels and apples for snack upon the 5 pm arrival; pizza; ice cream cake.  The boys and two girls were much more interested in the magic than the food. And honestly, the party was pretty magical, even if it was very hastily thrown together, and I didn’t have quite enough food for all of the parents who stayed to enjoy the festivities. (I found some bottles of wine, some hummus, some pita chips, some salamis….).

The family dinner took more time:  spaghetti and meatballs, red sauce, chard, garlic bread.  My meatballs are slightly different every time I make them, but this time I made them with 1/2 beef and 1/2 fresh sausage, to which I added lots of minced garlic, chopped parsely, bread, milk, an egg, a little salt and pepper. I make them small, bake them until browned, then finish them in the sauce, which this time was a double recipe of Marcella Hazan’s simple red sauce (large can tomatoes + 1 stick butter + 1 onion, halved; simmered together. Remove the onion before serving) made with the tomatoes I roasted and froze at the end of the summer. It was a winning combination. But I was way too exhausted to get a good picture. Below, the boy’s cake for the family party.

There’s something deeply satisfying at seeing your child transported by joy on his birthday. And while this had nothing to do with the food, and almost everything to do with building Hogwarts out of Lego, people needed to be fed, and Finn got to choose the terms, which is a privelege I’m happy to grant him once a year.

Our children’s school has a great tradition of hosting a social for the parents (only!) of each grade in the early months of the year.  Some of Ella’s third grade class has been together since pre-school & it’s a terrific group of parents and children. This year, our enterprising room parents decided on a wine tasting + bring your own tapas party, and it was inspired.  We have a lot of great cooks in the class who brought things like sesame glazed chicken drumettes, bacon-wrapped figs stuffed with an almond, several varieties of stuffed mushrooms, a warm artichoke dip, etc. etc.

Staying with our theme of fall rooting for our team, I made Pumpkin Toast, a recipe I found in Food and Wine years ago and have been making every fall I remember.  The original recipe is here. Below is the version that has evolved in my house.

Pumpkin Toast with Cilantro Pesto

• Pumpkin puree (from a can, or roasted and pureed fresh)
• Pecorino or Parmesan Cheese, finely grated, about 1 cup, depending on pumpkin
• Cilantro, 1 bunch
• garlic, 1-2 cloves
• Toasted walnuts
• Olive oil
• Bread–whatever you like, a whole grain loaf is terrific with the pumpkin, but I use Italian all the time–sliced into rounds or thin strips.

1. Mix equal amounts pumpkin puree and grated cheese.  One can of pumpkin + an equal amount of cheese is a good amount for one loaf of bread. Set aside
2. In a food processor, mix one bunch cilantro leaves, garlic, a handful of walnuts, more cheese + enough olive oil to make a pesto.
3. Spread a layer of pesto on each bread slice.
4. Top pesto with a generous spoonful of pumpkin + cheese.
5. Top, if you like, with toasted walnuts, or a little shredded cheese. Or nothing.
6. Toast in a 400 degree oven until bread is slightly crisp and pumpkin is warmed through.

We ate a variation of this last night with our dinner. To make it quicker for a weeknight, we toasted just the pumpkin + cheese mix on bread. It’s not quite as good without the pesto, but it’s a great family side dish/appetizer for a cold night.

More orange appetizers for the SF Giants Game!

These salads are so simple that they hardly deserve a post, but they have become very popular in our family this summer, and since we write about all the ways that we eat here–the simple and the fancy–they are getting the attention they deserve.

If you’ve followed me for any time at all, you know I’m a purist. I like food that looks like food–impeccable, fresh, seasonal ingredients, prepared so we can (generally speaking) identify them on our plate. Simply prepared, simply dressed, simply presented. I think this helps kids to know what they’re eating, develop a range of taste, and connect more closely with what their food is and where it comes from.

So most nights our salads are simple–1 green lettuce–dressed with olive oil and a vinegar and maybe  a fancy salt.  But with the abundance of fresh herbs in our garden and at the market–especially basil, mint, chives, and cilantro–I’ve taken to tossing whole and chopped herbs into the salad, basically treating the fresh herbs like another green.  I was inspired by Green Goddess dressing, which is basically a vinaigrette-ish concoction of many different herbs and a creamy avocado.  Why not throw the herbs in whole? or in a fine chiffonade (thin slice) or roughly torn? So I did, and it was terrific–summery and surprising.

A tender butter lettuce works best, and I dress this herb-filled salad it with a simple vinaigrette of 3 parts olive oil to 1 part white balsamic and there you have it–a  fresh, aromatic plate of greens. The kids love it, but if you’re are ways, you can start slowly, with just one herb they love.  You can even add a chopped avocado to make it more closely hew to a true green goddess dressing.  My favorite green goddess dressing is from here, and we use it also to top grilled fish.

This was one of the salads we served on Saturday with the wings. The other was a country potato salad, which suddenly this summer the kids have decided they love.

Country Mustard Potato Salad

• Potatoes (To serve 8 (we had leftovers) I used 3 red potatoes, and 4 large bintje potatoes–which are exceptionally tender, sweet, and creamy. If you can’t find them, any kind you like will do.)
• Country mustard
• White vinegar (rice, white balasamic…or whatever you prefer)
• Olive oil
• Mayonnaise

1. Boil the potatoes whole in a large pot of well-salted water until tender but still holding their shape.
2. When cool enough to handle, peel.
3. Cut potatoes into large chunks (about 6-8 pieces per potato).
4. In a measuring cup mix together 1 T country mustard, 1 T white vinegar, 1/4 cup vegetable oil.
5. Pour dressing over potatoes and gently toss to coat.
6. Add 1 large T mayonnaise directly to dressed potatoes. Toss gently to coat.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

It may be the end of September, but it’s still summer weather here. So when we had friends over for dinner on Saturday, the only thing to do was barbeque. In retrospect, I might have chosen to do something other than stand in front of the grill in 90+ degree heat grilling wings, but it was a great meal and pretty perfect for the weather. These wings have been a hit in our family for years, and they actually work really well for weeknights if you follow the original instructions and broil them instead of grilling. It’s a lot faster and requires less tending. The sauce/glaze takes about 2 minutes to make if you use bottled lime juice, which works just fine. These wings are sweet and a little spicy and completely messy and addictive–just likes they should be. We had 4 adults, 2 8-year-old girls, a 5-year-old boy and a 6-year-old boy. We ate nearly 8 lbs of wings. I had the genius idea to give the kids their own little table, a little apart from ours, under the shade of the orange tree, and their own plate of wings to dig into. We served them their salads restaurant style, and refilled their wings plate 3 times.

The grown-ups sat here.

Alongside our wings were a Green Goddess salad, a mustard-chive country potato salad (recipes for these TK this week!), a cooling cucumber salad, and a mixed up caprese  with grape tomatoes and fresh mozzerella. But maybe the best side of all was the Aspasie champagne my friend Dena brought, which was the perfect drink for the wings.  I would have been happy to eat wings and drink champagne all night long.

The original recipe is here but I’ve also copied it below, substituting drumettes which I find easier to cook and eat, reducing the cayenne (you can adjust to your taste), and added grilling instructions.

Apricot Glazed Chicken Wings

This was a big year for Ella, and one of the bigger events was her First Communion. Many families have very, very large celebrations. We were brief guests at one than included, among many other offerings, a taquero equipped to make several hundred tacos–in addition to fantastic chicken mole, rice, drinks, fruit, vegetables, salads….

Our family is small, and so we had a very small celebration, but it was still one of the more lovely afternoons we’ve had in this house.  Being my child, Ella made it clear that she wanted to choose the menu.  I made several suggestions: pork tenderloin? steak? grilled halibut or salmon?   Totally unacceptable.

I wanted something easy and fast, something make-ahead.

She wanted fresh pasta.

I said no way.

She said, “Mom.  Did Grandma Pat get to choose YOUR First Communion party food?”

“Um, yes. She did.”

Her jaw dropped.

“I was 8 years old. So are you.”

“But mom! It’s my day. I should get to choose my food.”

And since the day was, in fact, all about her, and, unlike a birthday, only happens once in a lifetime, and is, in fact, a profound initiation into another mystery of faith, I relented, and spent most of the week cooking and running errands for a party of 8. I figured the least I could do was honor that first feast with one as a good as I could make.

It went something like this:

Mini-Mario was enlisted…

to mix the pasta…

roll, and carry the pasta…

and hang 3 lbs of pasta around the kitchen. We cut and froze it.

He also shelled 3 lbs. of fava beans.

I spent a lot of money on pink and white flowers…

but they were so pretty care I didn’t care.

The pink and white theme carried out in the Fra Mani meats…

and the fava beans found their way into our family’s favorite spring spread:

raw favas pureed with olive oil, lemon, parmesan, mint, garlic

Prosecco with lemonade and mint for the grown-ups, bubbly lemonade with mint for the kids

An al fresco table, where we ate the  fresh fettucine alfredo, with grilled asparagus,

sauteed spinach with meyer lemon, baby tomato salad…

a Pink Lady cake, colored with strawberry puree, decorated by Ella…

and served with homemade vanilla ice cream.

Our very happy, very beautiful girl.

The boy loved the chocolate card his sister made him, and his shiny new red bike, but most of all he craves one thing and one thing only:  LEGO.

I tell, you, the boy’s passion for the bricks surpasseth all else; the glory of a new kit transcends every earthly joy he has known thus far. In his fifth year, Finn has dedicated himself to the difficult discipline of interlocking  geometry and re-made himself into something of patient zen master. His room has become a shrine, the place he repairs to for the “quiet” he craves in which to build, and when he emerges, sometimes 4 hours later, it is with crazed but beatific look of a saint: utterly otherworldly and fanatically contented.

And so, we had no choice but to make the boy a LEGO cake for the LEGO birthday party he had with another friend.

He emerged from his domain long enough to help make the cake with his sister, which we did in a floury mess two days before.  We used the Devil Dog Cake from Smitten Kitchen,
which is a moist, chocolate cake with marshmallow filling and which, like all the Smitten Kitchen cakes, was terrific.

And Kory worked his magic the night before the party.

He did have a few WWDD moments (What Would Duff Do?), as squares are remarkably less forgiving than volcano shapes, and a less-moist cake would also have helped, but the end result was, well, you can see for yourself:

It was, as you can imagine, a huge hit with the 5 & under set. And at pick-up, their parents didn’t mind a small slice either.

The only problem is that between this and the Volcano Cake, the bar has been set.  There will be no rest for Kory until the kids can roll fondant on their own.