Big Blue Blob of Dough

Class parents take turns making the play dough at Matthew's preschool. It was my turn last week and I had to make it the color blue. I added the food coloring at the wrong time and this is what happened:Oops. But we rolled it into a ball and it kind of looked like the world from outer space.

Speaking of the world, this recipe makes the most pliable play dough in the world. You'll never buy that Play Doh stuff again. And this batch makes a lot so you can actually create something out of it. I haven't tried, but I'm assuming you can halve the recipe to make two different colors.

Play Dough

4 c flour

2 c salt

8 t cream of tartar

4 c water

8 T vegetable oil

4 t food color

Combine dry ingredients. Combine water, oil and food coloring and gradually stir into dry mixture. Cook over medium heat until a ball forms and pulls away from the sides. It may take a few minutes but it will happen. The longer you cook it, the better the result.

Mint Brownies

I know I'm going through a Cooking Light phase, but I'm kind of obsessed with this magazine right now. Bear with me. Or better yet, buy an issue and try some of their recipes. You can also search through recipes online at http://www.cookinglight.com/. You may become a Cooking Light junkie, too.

I tried these Chocolate-Mint Bars yesterday. Sort of. They appeared on the cover of the March issue and I've been thinking about them ever since. I had planned to make them yesterday morning, but there were a couple of other last minute things I had to do to make the house "houseguest ready" so I cheated. I mixed up a batch of my favorite brownies (Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies) and topped them with the mint and chocolate layers. Mint and chocolate always go well together and the chocolate to mint ratio on these brownies is just perfect.

The recipe says to refrigerate the brownies so the top layer sets up correctly. I did, but then I took them out and let them come to room temperature before serving. If they're too cold, the top two layers won't melt in your mouth and the chocolate layer isn't shiny and pretty (it's hard and has that chocolate bloom to it). But at room temperature, all those problems are solved. Someday I might make the whole recipe the right way, but why mess with success?

The In-Laws Are Coming! The In-Laws Are Coming!

I've been working so hard this week in preparation for my in-laws' visit. I've cooked, I've cleaned, I've shopped. You could say I really channeled my inner domestic goddess. In fact, I think I overworked myself because now I'm run down and have the beginnings of a cold. Don't you just love when your hostess is coughing, sneezing and has a big red nose? Well, at least the house is clean and they'll have plenty to eat. And let's be frank. They're really coming to see the kids so hopefully I'll get some much needed rest.

I've been meaning to post photos of my kitchen for a while. You know, so you can see where all the magic happens. It's just that my kitchen was never in a photo-friendly state. Until now. Here's what it looks like at its best. In other words, it never looks like this.

Healthy Muffins

When it comes to his lunch, my husband is a creature of habit. When we were first married, I made our lunches every night and I always had to make him the same thing: smoked turkey and Swiss on wheat with a little bit of mustard, six Triscuits, and a Granny Smith apple. After several years of the same lunch, he finally switched to crunchy peanut butter & jelly on wheat, nine Triscuits, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, and a banana. He also takes a granola bar for a snack.

The snack and three additional Triscuits can be attributed to the fact that he now works out at the gym in the middle of the day so he needs some more energy. His snack used to be a string cheese, but now he's watching is cholesterol so he switched to homemade granola bars as his snack.

I found these Morning Glory Muffins in Cooking Light magazine and thought they might make a good, healthy snack for him. They do; they just taste more healthy than regular muffins. And I even left out the flax seed! But, at least I have something lined up for when he decides to change his snack in, oh, about five years.

I love you, Brian!

Me No Baker

By now, I'm sure you've realized how grossly unqualified I am to be writing about baking (or anything else for that matter). Clearly I'm not a pastry chef and, other than home economics class in middle school, I've never taken any class that has to do with cooking or baking. In fact, everything I know about the kitchen I've learned by watching Food Network. And that ain't no education.

So, for those of you who enjoy seeing real baked art, I've started a new list of blogs on the right that will make you happy. These are some blogs I go to for inspiration. Sometimes it backfires on me though because I end up sad that my blog will never be anything like these. But that's okay. This is just for fun and my blog is not my livliehood. Thank goodness.

So take a look. Go explore them. You'll see what I mean. I hope you still come back to see me once in a while, but if you don't I'll understand. Unless you're my family or friends! Uh, as if there's anyone else reading this.

Whatever, Martha!

Have you heard of this new show on Fine Living Network? Martha Stewart's daughter, Alexis, and her friend Jennifer watch tapes of Martha's old shows from the early 90's and offer commentary. I was looking forward to the show because who can resist digs at Martha Stewart? Well, while the show has its moments, it was generally a big let down. Maybe if it was anyone else poking fun at Martha it would be funnier. And I'm not saying that because she's her daughter (although making fun of your mother on national television is a little mean). Alexis seems a little snobby, self-absorbed, and critical of everything and everybody. She just doesn't seem like my kind of person. And having a laugh at Martha's expense is one thing because Martha claims this whole thing was her idea, but I don't think they should be laughing at Martha's guests. When these guests appeared on her show, they didn't sign up to be ridiculed fifteen years later.

I think the premise of the show is fun but it needs some work. They need to show more of the Martha clips and offer more comments. Alexis and Jennifer seem to go off on their own little tangents while the Martha show is rolling and they're missing opportunities for more humorous comments--which is what the how show is all about. And the last five minutes or so? They talk about something not related at all to Martha Stewart (gym locker room behaviors?). Why?

That said, it's worth it just to see how far Martha Stewart has come, gone, and come back. So, if you have a chance to watch it, check it out.

Light Chocolate Chip Cookies

Look at 'em! Don't they look delicious? Yes, they're from Cooking Light so they're on the lighter side, but seriously, you'd never know it. They're as good as any chocolate chip cookie I've ever had. I was skeptical at first because I thought you'd need more chocolate chips, but you truly don't. You can actually taste the cookie dough! They look nice, too. They're chunky-looking, not flat with protruding chocolate chips. What's more, after they've sat on a napkin for a few minutes, the napkin isn't all greasy and each cookie has only 88 calories. Although the cookies in my batch had only 86 because I made 49 cookies. Sneaky, huh? Nah, that's just how it worked out.

Even though these are good, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I had forgotten that I finished up the good vanilla the other day (mise en place! mise en place! mise en place!). I'm not a vanilla snob, but the only vanilla extract I had in my pantry was the Wilton clear vanilla that you use when mixing colored icing so that your colors are more true. It's artificial and so gross and it totally gave the cookies a weird taste and smell. But, I'm confident that wouldn't have happened if I had used pure vanilla extract. I'm definitely making these again!