Studio3Music Blog

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Aug
17

Sweet Summer Slurpin’& Lickin’

Popsicles. Just the word brings back fun childhood memories, doesn’t it? Occasionally I’ll spot my mother’s classic Rubbermaid popsicle mold in a thrift store and gaze at it with nostalgic affection. I noticed recently that today’s kitchen gadget stores have the next generation of popsicle molds with new and clever, colorful designs.

With popsicles in mind, I’ve collected some recipes to prompt the continuation of memorable slurpy fun at your house. I picked the recipes I thought might become your favorites—because of their fresh, healthy ingredients, or their simplicity. I included a couple of recipes for Italian Ice too. They are essentially grown up popsicles. But I bet they’d make awesome popsicles if you froze the juice with a stick instead of eating them the boring grown-up way!

Kiwi Ice Pops
1 ¾ c. water
1 c. sugar
5 kiwis
½ c. lime juice (4 limes)

Bring 1 cup of the water and 1 c. sugar to a boil, turn off. Puree 4 kiwis, minus white core and seeds. Add ¾ c. syrup. Add lime juice plus the ¾ c. water left.

Cut the remaining kiwi into ¼ inch slices. Place one slice of kiwi fruit in the bottom of small paper cups. Pour juice over top. Freeze. Add popsicle sticks when firm enough and continue to freeze.

from Delish.com

Frozen Watermelon Treats
½ c. sugar
½ c. water
3 c. watermelon juice
2 t. lemon juice

In medium sauce pan, simmer water and sugar together for 3 minutes. Add watermelon juice and lemon juice. Fill ice trays or paper cups with juice. Freeze. Place a stick in each cube or cup when mushy. Continue to freeze until firm. Makes 36 cubes.

from justkidsrecipes.com

Jello Popsicles
3 oz. any flavor jello
1 pkg. unsweetened Kool-Aid
½ c. sugar
2 c. hot water
2 c. cold water

Put in mold or ice cube tray. Freeze.

Also from justkidsrecipes.com

Pomegranate Granita Italian Ice
2 c. Pomegranate Juice
Juice from 1 large orange
Juice from ½ lemon
½ c. sugar

Mix all ingredients together and place in 32 oz. yogurt container. Place in freezer and stir every ½ hour for 3-4 hours until slushy. Serve. If it gets hard, scrape with fork and place in cups to serve.

From Redtri.com (Red Tricycle)

Blueberry Ice
4 c. berries
3/4 c. white grape juice
3/4 c. maple syrup
2 T. lemon juice
Pinch of salt

In a blender, combine berries and grape juice. Pulse for 30 seconds. Strain berry mixture in a medium mesh strainer. Add maple syrup, lemon juice and salt. Pour into a 13x 9 pan. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour. Remove from freezer and scrape ice crystals into the center. Return to freezer for 1 hour. Serve or continue to freeze pan until ready to use. Scrape into cups and serve.

From Familyfun.go.com

Hope I’m makin’ it easy for you to cool down with your kids and make some slurpy, sweet memories as you enjoy these popsicle treats.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who likes the jello popsicle recipe because it eliminates the problem of sucking out all the juice and being left with ice-on-a-stick.

Tags: Donna Detweiler, recipes, summer, Things to do

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Aug
8

National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Recipes

Kid you not. A real national day (or night, actually). I don’t know about other places in the country, but here in the Pacific Northwest zucchini grows like weeds. I mean, at first, who isn’t delighted to see those tender sweet little green veggies (marrows, if you live across the pond) become ripe?

But then, one morning you wake up and that 8 inch little thing from the day before has become roughly the size of a club-like weapon (just ask my boys) overnight, and you just can’t keep up with plucking them at their best.

My search around the web yielded some unusual recipes like Zucchini Marmalade, Zucchini Crusted Pizza, Zucchini Fries, and Zucchini Pate.

Here’s a yummy recipe I got from my sister recently. Thanks Miisa!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

Cream together:

½ c butter
½ c vegetable oil
1 ¾ c sugar

Add:

1 tsp. vanilla
½ c buttermilk
2 eggs
2 c peeled and shredded zucchini

Combine and add:

2 ½ c flour
4 T cocoa
1 t baking soda
½ t cinnamon
½ t cloves (I don’t love cloves, so I’ll probably leave them out next time.)
½ t salt

Pour into a greased 9” x 13” pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup chocolate chips. Bake at 325° for one hour.

Cool and serve like brownies, though the texture will be like cake. Or serve with vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce!

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who actually is requesting that some zucchini be snuck onto her porch tonight. The wet spring has only produced squash plants with flowers so far. Go on. I’ll cover my eyes and pretend not to see you.

Tags: Miss Analiisa, recipes, Things to do

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Jul
16

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Posted in Recipes, Things to do

I am grateful (don’t get me wrong), that we can get strawberries all year long. However, there is absolutely nothing that beats a local Washington strawberry. I know for a fact that all of the strawberries for Häagen Daz ice cream come from Washington and Oregon.

These local berries are red through and through. None of that white woody center. The only thing I’ve tasted sweeter are the teeny tiny wild strawberries you sometimes find in meadows.

And any connoisseur will tell you they must be processed on the day they are picked. (I learned that from experience. Nothing like waking up to 3 flats of hairy strawberries!)

Sadly, it’s been a very short, very late season this year. We didn’t get out to the fields to pick this year. However, I did get a flat at my favorite farmer’s market and put half a dozen strawberry rhubarb pies in the freezer. (It can’t be an accident that rhubarb and strawberries are ripe at the same time.)

If you aren’t a pie lover or maker, you can just make the filling, put the crumbly topping on, and you have a crisp. Here’s my no-longer-secret recipe:

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:

One unbaked pie crust

Filling
4 cups diced rhubarb (about ¾” inch in length)
3 cups sliced strawberries
1 ½ cups sugar
4 T instant tapioca
1 t orange zest

combine all filling ingredients and stir well

Crumb Topping
¾ cup flour
¾ cup sugar
¾ t salt
6 T cold butter, diced

mix the flour, sugar and salt
cut in the butter until the topping is crumbly

Pour the filling into an unbaked pie crust.
Sprinkle the crumb topping. I press it in a little.
Bake at 400° for 10 minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350° and bake an additional 35 minutes, until filling is hot and bubbly, and topping is lightly browned.

If you are going to freeze this pie, freeze the pie unbaked, and do not thaw before baking. Note that it will take significantly longer to bake.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who thinks that Strawberry Rhubarb pie MUST be served with vanilla ice cream!

Tags: Miss Analiisa, recipes

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May
29

Make Your Own Salad Night

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Recipes

So I have some picky eaters in my house. Namely my husband, who could eat the same food every day for all three meals and be perfectly happy. The second is my gifted and sensory-sensitive child who claimed himself a vegetarian by age 4 (including fish because he was NOT going to eat a dead fish), and who probably only eat about 5 foods. He too will eat the same food everyday for every meal and is perfectly happy about it. It does mean making his lunch for preschool very easy and I can do it before I’ve had my coffee in the morning.

Luckily, I also have a three year old who will happily ask for a steak and will eat a chicken wrap right out of my hand if I let him. Sadly, it makes dinner time for this Foodie an agonizing challenge.

When the 4 o’clock hustle begins I dread trying to come up with something everyone will eat or even consider looking at. Once or twice a week we have breakfast for dinner so everyone is happy with their eggs, or pancakes, or cereal and most times they can even get their own food. I always leave a bowl or two of fruit out on the table and this has increased fruit intake by everyone, so thumbs up for that!

The veggie situation is the next challenge, and tonight I discovered some sort of success. Tonight was “Make Your Own Salad Night.” Not sure why I hadn’t thought of this before. We’ve had taco night which is a similar idea where everyone gets a tortilla and puts what they want. Kids LOVE this stuff!

So I guess the little bits of sunshine we’ve had lately was just enough for my veggie garden tending to help set off this brilliant little light bulb. Funny enough, the recipe to “Make Your Own Salad Night” requires one of my famous “lists.” I’m not necessarily a fan of lists but it does seem I’m kind of listy that way. So. This is how your family will LOVE “Make your own salad night.”
• 1 bowl romaine
• 1 bowl red leaf lettuce
• 1 bowl mixed greens like arugula and kale and any other “fancy” looking leafy green
• in separate bowls:
• sliced cucumber
• bite sized pieces or think slices of carrots
• tomato wedges
• raw mushroom slices
• any other salad pleasing veggie cut thickly for finger food people
• avocado chunked or sliced
• little bowls or jam jars of dried fruit like blueberries, cranberries, or cherries (or all of them!)
• little jars or bowls of raw seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, etc.
• bowl of freshly chopped chives from the garden

• My picky eater also brought to the table a plate of pickles and olives.

• We added some hard cheese like parmesan reggiano so each person could grate their own. (I helped the left handed 3 year old.)

• And of course numerous salad dressings and croutons or bacon bits can be added as well as other proteins like shrimp or chicken or anything else you might put in a salad. The key is to have lots of options. Sometimes it’s just the way it looks or feels in the mouth that gets them to eat it. My 3 year old likes his cucumbers peeled so I had little plate of sliced cukes both peeled and unpeeled.

I desperately wished I had a big lazy susan for this affair and I might go out and buy one tomorrow. Although without it, everyone got to practice their nice restaurant manners for passing food. From mom to mom, let me tell you, this was a huge success! We put the larger salad bowls out and then put little dishes on the side for those who want rice or maybe pasta or even a protein. (And the picky eater’s seaweed. Yeah, I know, I just go with it.)

I used jam jars for the seeds and dried fruit and put spoons and forks out for serving. Let me tell you, everyone had fun and ATE the FOOD. They all asked for “Make Your Own Salad Night” again! Luckily for me I just signed up for organic produce delivery so that will keep the variety going.
The bonus of it all, besides the eating was that even the little one could, and wanted to help set the food out. It was truly the family affair I never though would exist. Aaah. A mom’s day is done.

-posted by Heidi Forrester, who hopes to turn one family member into a Foodie someday.

Tags: guest post, Heidi Forrester, parenting, recipes, toddlers

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Mar
13

What’s for Dinner?

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Recipes, Things We Love

This is the most dreaded question of my weekend – every one. But still, I get taken by surprise every single weekend! My husband and I try to meal plan for the week on Saturday or Sunday and then make our weekly trip to the grocery store. I feel like I don’t have a real weekend for the mere fact that we have to go shopping for food.

Meal planning. I don’t know about you, but these two words make me tired, physically and mentally. My brain always feels like it has to be engaged to think of some awesome new dinner we have yet to try. I do enjoy being creative in the kitchen, but I always seem to over-think what dinner actually should be. Where are the veggies coming into play, do we have protein and should we or should we not have carbs as part of our meal? Too many things to think about if you ask me!

And then you have to write your grocery list, but on your coat, grab your keys and then actually get out the door to go shopping. Ultimately, I would much rather be doing other things. Oh, I almost forgot one thing – what about money? We are on a budget and sometimes, if we’re not paying attention, we decide to have a dinner that costs too much for that pay period. So not only are we worried about actually having dinner, we have to think about money as well! Ugh.

I recently read a blog post on our website which was very helpful in all the different ways to have dinner with busy families. The blog gave wonderful suggestions from how to squash unwanted behaviors at the dinner table to helping guide the conversation so that everyone is involved. But what about BEFORE getting to the dinner table? How do we make the meal planning process easier?

Well, I have a solution for you. www.e-mealz.com This is THE BEST thing my hubby and I have yet to discover when it comes to meal planning! We love it! No more thinking about what’s for dinner!

Here is the general concept of this website. Basically, it plans the meals for you whether you are a family of two or a family of eight. You plug in how many people are in your family and they give you a meal plan for that number. You can also tailor your meal plans to include low-carb, specific grocery stores you shop at, Weight Watchers meals etc. This site also gives you the option of having a 5 or 7 day a week meal plan.

On the first page, you get all your meals and sides, ingredients and directions on how to cook it. On the second page, it gives you a list of ALL the ingredients for the ALL of the meals involved! How brilliant! No more writing grocery lists!

If you go visit this website (and I encourage you to do so) they will give you a sample meal plan for 3 days which you can try out. If you like it, it does cost to subscribe. However, it’s $15 for 3 months! And you can unsubscribe at any time; no hidden fees at all.

I hope you can make use of this, because it sure has saved me a big headache when it comes to figuring out what’s for dinner. Happy cooking everyone!

-posted by Miss Anna…who now doesn’t have to worry about what’s for dinner anymore.