Cooking: No-bake Key Lime Pie

I love to teach my kids to think creatively when it comes to cooking.  Sometimes with delicious results, others with a bit more disastrous effects.  But the more creative cooks they are, the more likely they'll want to cook throughout their lives.  So when I saw the cute key lime pie-in-a-jar recipe in Pinterest, I was intrigued.  However, I prefer no-bake key lime pie and I thought the serving size of a pint jar was a bit large.  So here's my variation:

No-bake Key Lime Pie-in-a-half-pint:

Makes 10-12 half-pint jars, or one generously filled pie

Ingredients:

Graham cracker crust ingredients for one pie
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cold water
1 envelope gelatin (Knox)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup (or more) key lime juice
2-4 drops green food coloring

Crust:

Regular graham cracker crust recipe for one pie - (see http://nutritiousintent.blogspot.com/2013/05/graham-cracker-crust-boosting-nutrition.html for my nutritionally boosted variation)
Divide evenly between 10-12 half-pint, wide-mouth jars.

Filling:

Whip 1 1/2 cups whipping cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar until stiff.  Put half in a pastry bag with a large star tip and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Fill small bowl with 1/4 cup cold water.  Add 1 envelope gelatin (Knox) and let soften for a couple minutes.  Then microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute until completely dissolved.  Pour this liquid gelatin over cream, add 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 cup (or more to taste) key lime juice, and a couple drops green food coloring.  Beat until soft peaks form.

Using an ice-cream scoop - divide the filling among the jars.
Pipe whipped cream on top and refrigerate 1 hour or more until ready to serve. 

Entertaining: Guest Baskets

My oldest sister is a very gracious hostess.  Every time someone stays at her home (even her little sister), she prepares not only a guest room for them, but a basket of goodies.  She always provides items to facilitate the comfort of your stay and lets you know that she's thinking of you.
So when we had guests planned this past weekend, I set up a guest room and prepped my guest basket.

In my basket I usually include:

• hand towel and washcloths
• reading material (magazines)
• water bottles
• granola bars (for those nights they get in late, or leave early before breakfast)
• small bathroom cups
• kleenex (tissue) packs
• chocolate
• hand sanitizer

Our guests were going to include some good friends of my daughter that were going to stay in her room.  Much to my amusement, my 10 year old daughter disappeared into her room for about 20 minutes or so, then called me in to see her handiwork.  She had prepped blankets, cushions and pillows for their beds on the floor, and on top was placed a small guest basket that she'd modeled after mine.  

In my daughter's basket she included:

• reading material (American girl catalog and Highlights magazine)
• bathroom cups
• kleenex (tissue) packs
• gum
• hand sanitizer
• bath gels
• yo-yo (don't ask me why a yo-yo - but it fit well in the basket

Does offering a guest basket automatically make you a great hostess?  Heavens no, but it does start you thinking about how to accommodate your guests and how best to meet their comfort needs.  So never underestimate your example -- I learned it from my sister, now my daughter seems to be learning it as well. 

Cleaning: Attacking the Makeup Drawer

I don't know about your house, but one of the hardest spots to deep clean is my makeup drawer.  In the past I've tried 409, magic eraser, even running it through the dishwasher.  Here was my latest breakthrough:

 Wiping off the lipstick, eyeliner and blush residue was a breeze!  However - Almost anything that Goo Gone takes off, I can remove with just a little olive oil.  So whether you want to use orange scented oil-based cleaner, or just a little olive oil on a paper towel, cleaning the makeup residue is a cinch.  And now my makeup drawer looks a lot more respectable!

Spring Cleaning: One Room at a Time

At my house, spring cleaning is a bit of a misnomer.  Basically, by the time spring hits, I'm going to be busier with outside projects than wanting to spend my Saturdays indoors cleaning house.  So starting in January, we choose a room each Saturday to clean - and by we I mean myself and my kids (against their will).  Occasionally we miss a week due to extenuating scheduling circumstances, but generally the goal is to be finished with the house by the end of March.  Each room takes 2-5 hours to clean (and that sure beats 35 hours of straight cleaning).  This makes each Saturday's job doable - challenging - but doable.  Hopefully, my kids will at least not only know what to deep clean, but have the practiced skills to do so once they leave the nest.  

We start at the top of the house and work our way down room by room:

1. Kid bedroom
2. Kid bedroom
3. Kid bathroom
4. Upstairs hallway & linen closet
5. Living room & entry
6. Kitchen (top of soffets & outside of cabinets)
7. Kitchen (inside of cabinets)
8. Dining room/area
9. Family room
10. Laundry room & guest bath
11. optional areas: unfinished basement & garage

You'll notice that the master bedroom, closet and bath are not listed since those areas I clean on my own instead of as a family. Also, We do all the windows and blinds on another Saturday and clean the carpets once we're done spring cleaning. 

Here are some of ways we clean each room:

• empty, dejunk, clean & replace all items in all drawers, closets and cabinets
• wipe down all furniture
• wipe down all walls (only using a damp rag so as not to affect the paint)
• wipe down all trim (baseboards, doors and door jambs)
• vacuum underneath furniture and inside all couches, chairs etc.  
• clean all light fixtures
• polish all wood 
• wipe out all window sills
• scrub all tile and grout with serious elbow grease
• clean all vents and cold air returns
• remove, clean and replace all pictures (it's amazing how much dust collects on the back of a frame)
• polish all plants (live or artificial)
• wash out all wastebaskets

So as you might imagine, we collect a bunch of things to throw out or donate so our garbage can stays fairly full and we make a few donation trips.  

Every time I help someone move I always feel like there is a lot of benefit to the deep cleansing that comes from a move.  But as I'm not so insanely motivated to do a pseudo-move in order to achieve those results, I use spring cleaning as the next best thing.  So that at any given time, if I do have to move, I at least know that there is no more than at most, one year of hidden dust to deal with if I ever (heaven forbid) had to move. 

Cleaning: The Quarantine Sweep

Today I get to do the dreaded Quarantine Sweep clean.  You know the drill, you have a sick child that you have to keep home because he's vomiting or has some dreaded "gombu" (odd how you have these colloquial terms that you never know how to spell).  So I pull out the lysol and after going over pretty much every spot this child has been, I turn to the disinfectant wipes.  What a marvelous invention!  Here's a list of the things that feel the wrath of my wipes:

• doorknobs
• edges of doors (we all close a door by grabbing the actual door)
• light switches
• bannisters
• newel posts
• piano keys
• instrument cases
• every touchable surface in kitchen and bathroon
• cabinet and drawer handles
• fridge, dishwasher, and microwave handles
• faucets and faucet handles
• washing machine and dryer doors and controls
• keyboards & mouse
• game controllers
• telephones
• lamp switches
• car door handles and seatbelts 
• books possibly read in the past week

I think that just about covers it.  All the while the child is relegated to a bathroom of their own and their bedroom (and all offending linens are subsequently laundered) and all toothbrushes get a clorox soak (I do that weekly as well).  It's not a guarantee, but whether or not it protects us from catching and spreading the bug, it at least gives me a little peace of mind.  Paranoid?  Probably, but I'd rather be paranoid and healthy than lackadaisical and sick.  So what sick-day cleaning tips do you have?

Baking: The Melting Magic of Meringues

I remember my first exposure to meringue cookies as a young girl.  It was at Shaffer House Bakery in Providence, Utah with my friend and her grandparents.  Her grandparents bought me a blue meringue cookie that melted magically on my tongue.  I've been fascinated ever since!
So when I have the yen, or just a few leftover egg whites in the fridge, I make meringues.
Here's the basic recipe:
3 eggwhites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
dash salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
Beat the eggwhites, salt, vanilla and cream of tartar on a mixer with a whip/whisk type attachment at high speed.  When soft peaks start to form, gradually add the sugar one tablespoon at a time.  Keep beating until glossy and fairly stiff.  Using a pastry bag and large start tip, pipe in small circular cones onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  Bake at 300 degrees F for 25 minutes, turn off the oven and let the cookies cool inside the cooling oven for another 20-30 minutes.  Remove and cool cookies completely.  Makes 30 cookies.

Variations: Add in some finely chopped bittersweet chocolate, and orange extract instead of the vanilla; or try using coconut extract instead of vanilla. 
Depending on the shape, they can become the dish-like shell of pavlovas (a fruit and whipped cream filled meringue dessert)

My daughter and her friend were anxious to help me pipe out the meringues, so I decided to pull out the gel frosting tubes I had on hand and color the meringues (I'd seen something similar in a Martha Stewart magazine).

Squeeze the gel frosting up the sides of the pastry bag

Then spoon glossy egg white mixture into the bag.

Pipe onto prepared cookie sheets.

Kids love helping with this part!

Bake at 300 for 25 mintues, then let cool in the oven for another 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!  Meringues are such a whimsical cookie that crazy colors just seem to work.

Gracious Civility: The handwritten word

I am blessed to have the most thoughtful and gracious neighbor in the world.  She is known and loved by all who know her for many reasons, but key among them is her ability to craft a sincere handwritten note.  Receiving a note from her is a special occasion.  Once you've read one of her signature "apreciation notes" you feel a little lighter, a bit quicker to smile and your view towards others warms and softens.  What is her magic?  I'm not exactly sure, but here are some key traits I've picked out to try to emulate and teach my children:

• Be Specific.  Notes don't have to be limited to a thank you note for a physical gift.  Let the person know why you were thinking of them and specific things that you admire or appreciate in them.  Often a particular incident causes us to think of or appreciate someone.  Write just that - the specifics of what made you think of them recently.
• Be Sincere.  The sweetest note can turn chokingly syrupy if it isn't truly sincere.  Don't waste words on hollow compliments.  Better to include a short couple of sentences that you truly mean, than a page full of flowery nonsense.  My husband recently left a post-it love-note in my purse where he knew I'd find it as I went on a short trip to see family.  Small effort = Big Bonus Points!
• Share Yourself.  My gracious friend always includes in her notes how that person has inspired her to do certain things, or strive to improve (whereas - all of us are all chasing her example).  When someone inspires or touches you, share that change you felt in your note.  Nothing makes us want to continue to improve more than hearing that we are inspiring others.
• Be Prolific.  This is not to say that every thank you note should be a long essay.  Rather, don't be stingy with your notes.  Look for reasons to share a note with someone, then actually follow through and do it.  Most of us think appreciative thoughts about family, neighbors and friends all the time.  But how often do we actually write it down and send it?  So fill that mailbox and give your mail carrier something to do!  (My gracious neighbor often leaves thank you notes for her mail carrier as well!)

So even if it is a quick post-it note on the fridge or a letter to a friend you've not seen in years, take 15 minutes to hand write a message.  There is something so personal and gracious about a handwritten note that can't be replicated in a million texts.  (And yes, I catch the irony of using a virtual,  blog-format for extolling the virtues of handwritten notes . . . better pull out the stationary.)

Baking/Entertaining: Teaching My Peach to Cake Decorate

Learning to "crumb-coat".  We used the Viva paper towel method to smooth the frosted cake.

We switch off years for the kids birthdays when it comes to parties.  This year is a "family birthday" year,  so there are no extravagant parties in the works.  Thus, without the stress of party planning, it's a perfect year to let my kids try their hand at decorating their own cakes.  My daughter dreamed up the theme and design of her cake.  She helped bake, frost and decorate it. 

Making Kermit's eyeballs out of marshmallows and edible markers.

Filling in Kermy's mouth with red gel frosting

Finished product.  My girl's face says it all.  Sometimes it really does pay to invest all the time and patience into training your kiddos.

Meatloaf: my boy's culinary discovery

 I am not a meatloaf fan.  In fact, just the name makes me shudder a little.  However, last week my son asked me what meatloaf was like.  After a long sigh, I decided that 12 years of sheltering him from my childhood-dinner-nemesis was long enough.  As you'll see in the photos that follow - he was rather enamored of the whole meatloaf-making process.  In fact, at one point he said, "Mom - we should do this for a party!"  The thought of multiple boys up to their elbows in raw hamburger gave me a whole body shudder.  So although a meatloaf-making party is never going to happen as long as I'm living and e coli. still exists, I did end up eating and almost enjoying my boy's meatloaf.  (I'll spare everyone the recipe, since meatloaf recipes are more common than silver minivans.)

Yes, being a food-safety gal, I insisted on gloves.

Mad-scientist at work.

Can you tell he was into the hands-on mixing experience?

Since I was feeling daring - I also decided to allow him a lesson on electric-knife usage.  My baby's growing up!

Entertaining: Christmas Place Cards

Nothing dresses up a table like individual place cards.  This is an easy, festive one to use throughout the holiday season.

I just used some wrapping ribbon, taped together to form a circle, then added another round ornament hook/loop, and slid the name card between the two ornament loops.  Easy, festive and fun.

Cleaning: Using Your Microwave to Mop

I have a wonderful friend who has a floor steamer.  And although I know she'd loan it to me in a heartbeat, I'm hardly going to borrow it for my weekly cleaning.  My solution is to use one of my favorite kitchen appliances - the microwave!  I use my microwave once or twice a day to sanitize my kitchen dishrag.  Just get it nice and damp, then nuke it for 2 minutes to completely sanitize it.  That way I'm not spreading nasty colonies of bacteria any time I need to wipe off the counter.  It's easy and cheaper than using paper towels every time. 

I've decided to use the same concept in my mopping.  Although I toss my microfiber mop pad in the washing machine when I'm done, I do like to use the microwave to heat up my mop to help simulate a steam-cleaning of the floor.  It also saves water since I don't have to wait for hot water from my tap.

Just get your mop pad damp as you normally would with cold water.

Microwave on high for a minute or so.

Mop away.  Obviously the steaming heat dissipates fairly soon, so I do toss it back in the microwave part-way through the mopping job.  I especially like doing this when mopping bathroom areas since I don't like to use lots of chemicals (I hate the residue).  This way I get a much more intense clean with the steaming hot mop than with merely hot water.  Let me know if you have any other ways you use your microwave to clean.

Dipping Chocolates

I honestly don't know how my mother managed annually to teach 4 daughters how to dip chocolates an not end up in an insane assylum.  This year, I had my kids help me dip.  The night before, they both helped me shape the centers.  On dipping day, after giving it a go, they mostly said it was too hard so they ended up being my "gophers".  They stirred the chocolate, brought me centers, empty trays, and helped with the nuts on the melbas.  They learned that it takes more dexterity than they anticipated.  I learned that I need to get over some of my hatred-of-mess during the process and let them dip a few more chocolates next year.  But they truly were helpful with all the behind-the-scenes help. 

Nate enjoyed chunking up the bittersweet chocolate with a hammer and screwdriver the night before.

Emma wanted to try dipping with the bitter sweet.

Nate dipped a golf-ball sized melba he had shaped just for his own gluttonous enjoyment.  :)

Not bad for 4 hours of dipping. 

Raising Daughters vs. Divas

Recently I watched a clip on KSL's Studio 5 that caught my attention as a mother and a proponent of raising capable, not callow kids.
http://studio5.ksl.com/index.php?nid=71&sid=22858022
It made me take a step back and evaluate how I am combating the pervasive, diva-culture in my own home.  The points they highlighted included:

• Make your children earn what they recieve
• Teach them to be critical of media messages
• Be consistent with family rules

Here are a few I'd add to the list:

• Parental example: Evaluate your own wardrobe and personal appearance - a diva mother will raise diva children.  If your priorities center around yourself rather than others (your clothes, your diet, your gym time etc) that selfishness will be reflected in your children.
• Make them work just to work.  Beyond earning something, they need to be exposed to work for work's sake.  Serving others in your neighborhood or community fills this need well.
• Dialogue.  Talk to them about what diva-behavior you notice and are concerned about, and teach them how to evaluate their own priorities.
• Don't be afraid to be the "Mean-Mom".  When my kids gripe about what others get from their parents, I say, "well I guess you were born in the wrong family, and aren't we glad."
• Use a portion of free time to teach skills like cooking, sewing, cleaning, mending (see blog header for a list).
• Raise them in an environment of faith.  Religion and a belief in God helps to ground us as families and individuals and reminds us that we really are children of God and should act that way.

Any ideas that you've tried in order to raise daughters, not divas?

Entertaining: Paring Down the Planning

Every year we get together as a family and plan out our December calendar.  We try to get all the "must-do" traditions of the season.  In past years, when the kids were younger with less going on in their personal schedules, we filled every day with a Christmas activity.  But as the family gets busier, I'm learning that less is more.  Here are my planning guidelines:

Entertaining: My Miniature Party Planner Assistants

I try to throw parties for the kiddos for two basic reasons:

1. I want them to have photographic proof of fun childhood memories.
2. I want them to throw fun parties for my grandkids in 20 years.

So in addition to having them help set-up and clean-up, I always try to get them to help me plan out the food, activities and invites.  Sometimes they have very creative ideas.  I also have them give feedback on parties and we discuss what went well and what we should change for next year.  Time will only tell if these strategies will do any good decades from now when they are throwing their own parties, but in the meantime, we'll just enjoy the parties we put on together.

Our latest Halloween Shin-dig

Cooking: Basil Past Its Prime? Make Pesto!

Fresh pesto atop a tomato & avocado salad

Ok, so in my denial of oncoming winter, I didn't harvest all of my basil before it froze.  But I'll be darned if I'll let fresh basil go to waste.  So what is the best thing to do with sad-looking basil?  Make pesto of course!  This works not only with frozen basil from your patio, but also the fresh basil you bought at the store and then a few days later started looking a bit dark and wilted in the fridge.  All of it's flavor is still there and it's plenty safe to eat - it just has lost it's plant-like pep. 
Here's a visual story of my waste-not, want-not basil story:

So, I brought in all my sad, frozen basil and washed it.

I stripped all the leaves, put them in a small food processor, and drizzled a bit of olive oil, added a handful of pinenuts that I keep in my freezer for just such 'special' occasions, added a dash of salt, a dash of pepper, and a spoonful of minced garlic.  Red pepper flakes can be added as well for a nice kick.

Process well in the food processor - and this is what it looked like.

I used a spoonful right away to top a tomato & avocado salad that comprised the majority of my lunch that day.  Yum!!!

The remainder of the pesto I put in a small plastic container and put it in my freezer.  What will it become in the next few weeks?  Well, add some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and it is a divine dressing for salad.  Add a couple dollops to hot pasta, toss and you've got a great pasta sauce.  Or, toss it in with the next panzanella salad you make.  It would be great as a sauce for pizza, or a flavor booster to spaghetti sauce or minestrone soup.  Yes - I'm in love with pesto.  If you are a recipe-bound cook, you can find plenty of pesto recipes, but it truly doesn't require any exact measuring.  Just add this and that until the right consistency and texture meet with your approval.  Yes, pesto is that easy and that versatile.  So the next time you aim to chuck that wilted basil - take 5 minutes and process it into pesto!

Halloween Craftiness: Glitter Spiderwebs

I saw this on Pinterest and thought I'd give it a try.  Here's a few tricks I learned making mine.
I found the best place to do this craft was outside so my house didn't end up looking like Tinkerbell threw up fairy-dust all over.  I used some old school-lunch trays, but cookie sheets work well also.

All you need is waxed paper, tape, white craft/school glue, extra-fine glitter and tray or cookie sheet.  Tape to layers of waxed paper on the tray (front of back side - either way works fine).

Start making a giant asterisk with the glue.  Make sure that you make the lines of glue a generous thickness, because as it dries, those little glue lines get awfully fragile.  I ended up with 12 spokes as the "frame" for my web.

Then, in a circular motion, spiral the glue around the spokes, filling in the web.

Remember not to let the glue lines get too small or fine.  You can go back and add another strip of glue on the thin lines to beef them up a bit.

Then, shake the extra-fine glitter all over the spiderweb.  Extra-fine works better than regular glitter, since the coarser the glitter, the more brittle the end product ends up.

If your glitter coverage isn't very even, don't fret.  I learned a little trick that saved the day!  This is where doing it outside really comes in handy.  Holding the tray, glittered web up, over the grass or garbage can, lightly tap on the underside of the tray and tilt slightly.  As you do, the glitter will bounce around and land on the glue web.

This is what it looks like once you've glittered and tapped.  Let dry overnight (outside is fine if no rain is in the forecast).

Un-tape the waxed paper and then carefully peel the web off.

The spokes of the web are the sturdiest, so focus on peeling them first and the rest of the web will come.

Then this part is optional.  Since I wanted to keep them from leaving sparkly trails all over my house, I gave them a light spray with some clear polyurethane.

They work great as a Halloween doily.

But at my house, they'll be used as Halloween place-mats.

My daughter had lots of fun playing with the glue and glitter, and since we were outside, I didn't care how sparkly she made the deck!