Pumpkin Quinoa Porridge

• I like the idea of oatmeal but in all honesty, I'm not much of an oatmeal person. There's just something about the texture that I find kind of gloppy and unappealing. But curling up with a warm bowl on a cool morning is, and so I'm always on the lookout for breakfast cereal substitutions that will give that cozy effect. In the past, we've really enjoyed a hot cereal made from almond meal, but lately, our go-to is a kind of quinoa porridge that we adapted from this recipe. The texture is amazing, it doesn't get soggy or mushy, and it's packed with protein which is a nice start to your day. 

• Quinoa is also very adaptable to all different kinds of flavors, so we've been experimenting with peanut butter porridge and a version with apples, but with fall in the air, it's all about pumpkin so that's what we've been using most frequently. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup uncooked quinoa

1 Tbsp butter

1.5 cups water

1/2 cup pumpkin (or up to 2/3 cup, if you want a little more oomph)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cups milk (we used soy)

• Directions: 

Soak the quinoa in a bowl of water for 5-10 minutes, rinse, and drain. Transfer the quinoa to a saucepan with 1.5 cups cold water. Bring to a boil for one minute, cover, reduce heat and simmer until the quinoa is done (about 10 minutes, or when a little "tail" appears on the quinoa). 

Remove from heat, add the butter, pumpkin, spices, vanilla, and sugar. Stir in milk until you reach your desired level of creaminess. Serve warm, with caramelized apples and more cinnamon on the top or a drizzle of maple syrup. Yum. 

When people have dinner at our house, they always wonder why there's no salt or pepper in our shakers. This is why. 

Happy Monday!

Banana Pudding à la Anouk

Lately, Anouk's most-often uttered phase is, "I do it myself!" She says it during bath time, when she gets dressed, when we return books to the library, and most of all, when I ask her if she wants to help me cook. Because I have an inquiring mind, I started to wonder, what WOULD happen if I let a not-quite-two-and-a-half-year-old cook something -- all by herself? Then I pulled out all of the ingredients for banana pudding and decided to find out. Because of A's milk allergy, our version of this pudding is dairy free (hooray!).

Ingredients:

1 package instant vanilla pudding
1.5 cups coconut milk
1 box vanilla wafer cookies
3-4 sliced bananas
Coconut whipped cream

Directions:

Follow the directions on the back of the instant pudding box to prepare the pudding. The trick of using coconut milk for this is to 1) use full fat coconut milk, the stuff in cans as opposed to the cartons, and 2) to use a half a cup less than the package calls for. It should set up nicely, but if it's too thick, you can add more milk, a little at a time, to think it out. Put a layer of cookies in the bottom of the bowl, follow with a layer of pudding and a layer of sliced bananas. Repeat. Serve with whipped cream on top.

I measured out the milk for the pudding and helped A. stir the lumps out. I also sliced some of the bananas and gave her a general overview of the project. But other than that, Anouk assembled this recipe on her own, all by herself.

The end result is a little pudding-heavy, and several of the banana slices and a bit more of the cookies went into her mouth instead of the bowl. Oh, and our carefully mixed up coconut cream had a tragic accident with the floor, so we were sadly without delicious (non)dairy topping this go-round. But she was so happy with her creation that I'm deeming the project a full-blown success.

Tastes like victory!

Egg Creams (Discuss)

Over the past couple of weeks, our family has developed a little bit of an obsession with the egg cream, which, like a Linda Richman joke, contains neither egg, nor cream but is rather a mix of milk, chocolate syrup, and seltzer. The history of the egg cream varies widely according to whom you ask -- a few minutes of internet research turned up at least four people/institutions claiming responsibility for it. Everyone can agree, however, that it seemed to originate in the late 1800s/early 1900s in New York City and that it is delicious.

When mixed correctly, an egg cream tastes like a velvety chocolate soda with a refreshing, fizzy snap. When mixed incorrectly -- it's kind of weird/unappealing, not gonna lie. Luckily, we have had enough practice by now to be able pass on the correct mixing procedure to you and you will be able to avoid less-than-stellar egg creams! Hooray!

Step 1: Fill a 16 ounce glass with three tablespoons of chocolate syrup and 1/2 cup of very cold milk. To get the milk to the desired level of coldness, we usually chill it in the freezer for a few minutes. Most places seem to recommend whole milk as opposed to skim or 2% for the creaminess factor; we use soy milk because A. and I have issues with milk. Full-fat coconut milk works, too and is probably my favorite, but the flavor is a little off from the original recipe.

Step 2: While whipping the chocolate and milk mixture with a fork, as though you were beating and egg, pour enough chilled seltzer into the glass to fill it to about an half-inch from the top. The result of the whipping and the pouring should cause a thick layer of foam to form that will rise up and fill the rest of the glass.

Step 3: Enjoy immediately, while it's still at maximum levels of coldness and fizziness.

Our recipe lacks total authenticity because we didn't use Fox's U-Bet, the legendary syrup used to make this drink in the old days, and also because we added the chocolate before we added the seltzer, which made our foam turn brown instead of white. Technically, you're supposed to pour the chocolate down the side of the glass and stir it gently into the milk and seltzer once the foam has formed, but we found that led to improperly mixed egg creams or a lack of foam. We just don't have the knack, but what do you expect from a bunch of Southerners?

After our first perfect egg cream, I had to admit that y'all Yankees actually can do some eats pretty well (though I still think your cornbread sucks). Who knows, we might even have to venture north of the Mason-Dixon line to try out a real New York egg cream one of these days.

Have you ever made an egg cream? Do you have any tips on mixing? Do tell.

Tahini Halawa

Halawa, or halvah, is a traditional Middle Eastern sweetmeat, considered by some to be the first candy ever made in recorded history, with sesame seeds and honey. Nowadays, halawa is served in many cultures all over the world, using ingredients ranging from semolina flour to almonds to yams but the most traditional recipe calls for tahini (sesame paste), honey, and pistachios. My aunt says that she remembers my Lebanese great-grandmother cooking up big batches of this sweet, though nobody thought to save the recipe she used because halawa wasn't one of their favorites.

I can understand that. I do like halawa, but I admit that it is kind of an acquired taste. The texture not exactly fudgy, slightly flaky, slightly creamy. It's not super-sweet like most Western desserts, and the tahini gives it a faint smoky taste (I've heard some people substitute the tahini with almond butter which sounds intriguing though I've never tried it). But it's also incredibly addicting. I find myself craving it sometimes, and when a halawa craving hits, nothing else will do. There is literally nothing else like it in the world.

I've been making halawa a lot lately, to try and get Anouk in touch with her Lebanese roots (she didn't like it at first but seems to like it more and more every time she has it). Though I don't have my great-grandmother's specific recipe, it does make me feel a connection with her every time I make this and I love that.

Ingredients:

1 cup honey
3/4 cup roasted, unsalted pistachios
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup tahini, stirred

Directions:

Over medium heat, cook the honey until it reaches 240 degrees F, or the "soft ball" stage (when dropped in water, the honey forms a round, flexible ball). Let cool slightly, then stir in the nuts and vanilla. Fold in the tahini, then stir well to combine. Pour mixture into a lightly greased dish (we find a standard bread loaf pan works well for this). Chill in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Cut into pieces and serve at room temperature. Makes about 1 pound.

Just-Because Cake

We got this idea from The Artful Parent, another project we did with Cousin K. A box of plain vanilla cake mix, a can of white icing -- a blank slate, if you will -- and two kids. What would they come up with?

The answer: A sheet cake, decorated with a LOT of pink frosting, some blueberries (as a nod to health or a color contrast I'm not sure), and a plastic princess for good measure.

This one was barely a craft, requiring minimal effort and I debated posting it. But in then I decided that I would as a reminder to myself if nobody else. In this age of competitive Pinteresting and overplanning, it's nice to just go with the flow sometimes, to have no idea how a project is going to turn out, to make a cake and have a celebration just because you can. It was a joy to watch the girls with their cake.

It was also pretty nice to eat it when they were done. Yum!