Tag Archives: family
Breakfast in Bed: Jello?
Post by Alison Hein.
My sister wanted a 1960’s theme for her birthday bash – music, decorations, clothing and yes, food. As we collaborated on the menu, Janet loaned me a couple of old cookbooks for inspiration.
I paged through many recipes when the idea struck. A Jello mold! Sadly, ingredients such as raw egg, cream cheese, canned fruit and other oddities didn’t feel right. So I followed one of my favorite bits of cooking wisdom – when in doubt, add booze. I knew I was on track when I peeled the foil from the proseco bottle and spied the tiny smiley face printed on the cork.
Lots of fresh fruit added a colorful, decorative touch, and the frosted grapes shimmered and sparkled in a perfect party-like manner. Janet couldn’t find her old jello mold, so I used one of my grandma’s old cake pans. Any pan will do, but be patient and let the jello set to just the right consistency for the fruit to “float”. 2 ½ hours was right for the size of my mold.
Jammin’ and jiggly, our shimmery jello was an evening birthday party smash! And the next morning, who’s to say it wasn’t a real groovy breakfast in bed?
Jammin’ Jello Mold
2 cups water
1 6-ounce package of raspberry Jell-o
2 cups proseco, chilled (or use ginger ale as a non-alcoholic substitute)
1 lemon
2 cups (1 dry pint) blueberries
6 ounces raspberries
1 small head Boston lettuce
Frosted Grapes (see below)
2 cups mixed berries (or other fruit) for garnish
Preparation
Pour water into a heavy, medium-sized pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Pour in contents of Jell-o package and stir for 2 minutes, until completely clear and smooth. Stir in proseco. Pour mixture into mold and refrigerate until partially set, about 2 to 2 ½ hours. Texture should be firm enough that fruit will remain “floating” when immersed in the jello. Slice lemon into very thin rounds. Press lemon slices down and arrange in a pleasing pattern to cover the bottom of the mold. Add the blueberries and raspberries, pressing down to “float” throughout the mold. Return the mold to the refrigerator, and chill for at least another 2 hours, or better, overnight.
When ready to serve, run a small, sharp knife blade around the rim of the jello to loosen. Then very briefly put the mold in warm water. Place a platter on top of the mold and carefully flip. Arrange lettuce leaves around mold, then garnish with Frosted Grapes and mixed berries. Serve immediately.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Frosted Grapes (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens All-Time Favorite Salad Recipes)
1 bunch green grapes
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
½ cup to 1 cup sugar
Preparation
Wash and trim grapes. Dip grapes into egg whites and shake off any excess amount. Dip and roll in sugar to cover fruit. Let dry on rack at least 2 hours before serving.
Breakfast in Bed –Crêpes Mandarin
Post by Alison Hein.
I’ve got orange on my mind – the color, that is. Warm, vibrant, fiery orange. The color of sunsets and pumpkins and autumn leaves. The color of accents in my sister’s revamped living room.
We wanted to surprise Janet with a birthday gift, and got some help from our good friend Luis of Luis Acevedo Interior Designs (http://luisacevedointeriors.com/). Luis created a hip “shades of gray” theme, with jaunty splashes of orange to spice it up. So he sent me shopping. For pillows. Candles. Dishes. Anything I could find that was just the right shade of orange.
All that shopping turned my thoughts to food – a vivid, orange birthday breakfast dish. Sweet mandarin oranges turned into a sprightly sauce, spooned lavishly over delicate cream-filled crêpes.
Happy Birthday, Janet! Hope you’re loving your new orange-accented room and your vivid, orange breakfast in bed!
Mandarin Orange Sauce
1 12-ounce can Mandarin oranges in light sauce
1 cup sugar
Place Mandarin oranges and sugar in a small, heavy pot. Bring to a boil, stir, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook at a bubbling simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until the oranges break apart and the sauce thickens. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Filling
6 ounces whipped cream cheese
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Set aside.
Crêpes
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 – 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Powdered sugar for garnish
1 11-counce can mandarin oranges in light sauce, drained
Mint sprigs for garnish (optional)
Preparation
In large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Whisk egg into milk, then whisk milk mixture into flour mixture until batter is thick and smooth. Let batter rest a few minutes before cooking.
Heat about 1 teaspoon oil in a heavy 6-inch pan over medium heat. When hot, but not smoking, add ¼ cupful of batter to pan, swirling to cover bottom. Cook pancake 1 to 2 minutes until cooked through and lightly browned, flipping once. Keep warm while cooking remaining pancakes, monitoring heat and adding oil as necessary.
To assemble, place crêpes on serving plates. Spread each crêpe with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream cheese filling. Roll up, top with Mandarin orange sauce. Garnish with a few mandarin slices and mint. Serve immediately.
Makes 6 to 7 crêpes.
Breakfast in Bed: Banana Pancakes
Post by Alison Hein.
My friend Lisa over at momalamode.net is full of creative ideas about food, fun and fashion. Almost a year ago, Lisa suggested I make Banana Pancakes in line with our Food Songs initiative. She kindly provided a link to Jack Johnson’s sultry song.
Sorry, Lisa, that it’s taken me so long to get around to this. The recent combination of rainy day weather and an overabundance of too-ripe bananas finally spurred me into action.
I like to use honey instead of sugar in my Banana Pancakes – its mellowness lets the pure fruit flavor shine through, and prevents the pancakes from becoming too “cakey”. Leave some larger pieces in your mashed bananas, if you like, for rich texture. Mushy bananas are wonderful for pancake batter, but be sure to have some perfectly ripened specimens on hand for the topping.
Lots of options for variations here, too. Add a little peanut butter to the batter (kids love this), or some toasted nuts on top. But there’s one thing you shouldn’t mess with – be sure to tune into Jack Johnson’s Banana Pancakes while you relish in your sultry breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium overripe bananas
¼ cup honey
2 cups milk
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces (one half stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 to 2 tablespoons butter, for cooking pancakes
2 firm, ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
Preparation
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Peel and mash overripe bananas.
In separate bowl, stir together mashed bananas, honey, milk, egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually add banana-milk mixture to dry ingredients. Slowly add melted butter to batter. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into batter.
Place pan or griddle on burner over medium to medium high heat. Melt a small amount of butter in the pan for the first pancake. Ladle batter into pan and cook until small bubbles appear throughout pancake. Flip once with spatula and continue cooking until golden brown, one to two minutes, adding more butter and adjusting heat as necessary. Keep warm while making the remainder of pancakes. Top with banana slices. Serve hot with drizzled honey or real maple syrup.
Makes 12 to 14 4-inch pancakes.
Bedroom Design: Trundle Beds
Post by Stephanie Noble.
A few weeks ago, I was settling into the couch after putting our almost two year old to bed. I was listening for the squeak of the mattress as the little man did his nightly trampoline routine that he did to wind down at the end of the night. He would generally jump for a few minutes while talking to himself, then go to sleep. I waited for the jumping, but it never came.
Instead, I heard a knock from his door, “Mamma, Daddy, Mamma, Daddy?” Our wee one had jumped out of the protection of his crib straight into the toddler sleep transition.
I went into his room, put him back into his crib and asked him to show me how he got out. He said, “One” and put his first leg over the railing. “Two” brought both legs over and my baby was suddenly dangling over the side of his crib. “Three” he jumped down and yelled “Hurray.”
His latest milestone was not greeted with the same enthusiasm that his previous accomplishments have been met with, so he kept yelling “Hurray” until I finally agreed with him with a hollow, “Yeah.”
We borrowed his cousin’s big boy bed and assembled it. I’m now going to share the parenting secret that nobody filled us in on. “Toddler sleep transition is so much worse than new born sleep deprivation.” Two years ago there was a schedule to the waking up, it was dependable and once the little man was full he’d go back to sleep.
Our toddler wakes up and thinks because he can get out of bed and wander that it must be time to get up and get started with the day.
The past month has seen us readjusting how we live to teach him how to sleep again. Currently, we alternate nights of responsibility so we know that even if we only get four hours of sleep one night, we’ll get a full night the next. That helps, but it’s still hard to go back to being mentally fuzzy most of the time.
When the call comes for parental attention, the responsible parent take the comforter off the bed in our room, throws it down on the floor in our son’s room and then sleep on the floor for the rest of the night with the boy. It’s like camping every other night. A joy at two, aching joints for the over forty crowd.
We decided that the whole camping out thing is getting old and have started looking for a trundle bed. It would be helpful not only during this time of transition, but also when he wants to have friends stay over later on. Everything in a small living space has to pull its multiple duty weight.
I was looking at the Charles P. Rogers website to get some ideas.
Here is my favorite.
I like the Chambord because it looks sturdy and would transition well from toddler to kid. It would also work later on in a library/guest room if we ever live in a bigger space. It also looks a lot more comfy than a comforter on the floor.
Movies in Bed: Godzilla (and Godzooky)
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Under great protest, I am writing to tell you all about the late 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon Godzilla. As I struggled to come up with a movie to share with you, kind readers, my son came running up and begged—BEGGED—me to write about this cartoon.
Like so many Hanna-Barbera shows of this era, everyone looks and sounds like members of the Scooby-Doo gang, but with far less plausible plot lines. If you listen, you will even hear the voice of Scooby-Doo, although in this he is the voice of Godzilla’s hapless, clumsy little buddy, Godzooky, who is a tenth the size of Godzilla and is clearly there as the unnecessary laughable misadventurer. Think Glomer from the Punky Brewster cartoon. Or—worse—Scrappy-Doo.
The premise of the shows is this: a team of scientists accompanied by the child of one of the scientists, always comes across some bizarre phenomenon. The phenomenon leads to a creature who can only be defeated by Godzilla. Also, Godzilla is friendly and dutifully comes when called. Godzooky, inexplicably, lives with the scientists.
Personally, I do not care for this show, though my son has watched them dozens of times. Maybe your kid will love it too. Though I recommend you bring something to read.
