No Bake Chocolate Clusters

Hello Spring! This might be a great way of using leftover chocolate bits and pieces (aka broken and forgotten easter eggs) and make them part of a healthier treat. The first version is the one I made with kids at school: just a swirl of melted chocolate ove a nest of grains and mashed banana, and grapes are pretend-to-be eggs. The second, made with leftovers of the project is based on lots of chocolate biding grains and coconut. It was a nice way to celebrate Earth Day and shape the clusters like little planets. Just choose yours and play with the imagination to make your nest a unique piece of art.

No Bake Chocolate Clusters

Before beginning to mix and shape, melt chocolate chips on a double boiler (my favorite process), or in the microwave (70% power stirring every 30 seconds up to when chocolate is totally melted and ready to swirl. 

1  cup quick oats
2 cups high fiber cereal shaped like wood chips or sticks
Bananas (1/4 per person) - optional if just swirling chocolate
1/2 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
8 oz semisweet or milk chocolate chips or any chocolate you find in the house, melted

Mix all dry ingredients. Mash bananas on the plate to make the base for the clusters, nests or planets. After adding cereal mix  shaping bind with a swirl of melted chocolate. If your choice is to make just the cereal chocolate shapes, forget the bananas and fold chocolate into dry mix. Shape with the help of two spoons or inside a baking cup, and let it sit at room temperature up to when chocolate is back to solid.  Decorate with grapes or chocolate candies. 

Leprechaun Shelter Salad... and Green Pea Dip

Photo by J. Balbi

Maybe they say they don't like greens. But when it comes to building a hiding place for a leprechaun... perhaps the little ones will change their mind.

While looking for ideas of something healthy to make with the kids at school I finally put the project together while browsing the aisles of my favorite grocery store. Lately I've been working a more with food presentation with older children, but thought that the idea of building a hut, a bed or even a boat made of vegetables would be enticing enough to make kindergartners and first graders enticed.  After building,  we were working with the notion that the best place to "hide" the secret leprechaun hideout would be their tummy, not the trash can.

I was lucky enough to have J. working with me at school that day, who was fortunate enough to have a mini figurine of a leprechaun in her bag, and a good eye for taking the photos which are in this post.

Photo by J. Balbi

A big bag of romaine hearts, some micro-greens to imitate little shamrocks, pea stick and lots of imagination made the whole experience a great activity. They all helped to blend the green dip, excited with the mouse from the hand blender. The green pea dip, inspired on this dip recipe by Darienne, was the foundation. For some children, it was a unique chance of eating salad, disguised as something they had built for the little man.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Photo by J. Balbi

Leprechaun Shelter Salad with Green Dip

You can always play with the greens around the project, but it's good to have something to make the structure possible, like a big leaf for the shelter, and some cucumber sticks to be the support. 

For the salad

Romaine Heart Leafs as needed
Cucumber, cut in sticks in same length
Green pitted olives
Green pea baked snacks (such as Inner Peas by Trader Joe's
Baby Spinach
Curley Parsley

For the dip

1 bag frozen organic green peas
4 oz whipped cream cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons oregano
Kosher salt to taste

Cook peas as directed by package. Drain and blend with all other ingredients in a food processor or hand blender up to when it reaches a creamy texture. Serve on the side of salad or on the bottom of the late to serve as the foundation for the hut. 

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream

It feels like summer in California. And coconut is again an ingredient in the spotlight for the season. I can see more and more products made from coconut in the shelves of my favorite grocery stores, and its versatility is always inviting to try different recipes.

This recipe was made many times by children at cooking club at school, and it was the most popular one during the school year. We made it after reading the funny Should I Share My Ice Cream, by Mo Willems. It's a 1-2-3 process, and can be made in an ice cream machine, popsicle maker, ice tray, or even a plastic bag!

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream 

For faster results, freeze the coconut milk for a couple of hours before mixing the ingredients. 

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 can sweetened condensed milk (for a dairy-free version, use just 1 cup of coconut milk drink with coconut palm sugar)
1 can organic coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut milk drink

Toast coconut in a baking tray for about 5 to 10 minutes at 350 F. Watch closely to avoid burning. If you're in a hurry, toast the coconut in a glass dish in the microwave for a couple of minutes until the coconut becomes golden.

Mix all ingredients. Transfer to the ice cream maker as instructed by the manual, or freeze in popsicle maker or in the freezer in ice trays. Enjoy!

Dr. Seuss: A Celebration of Green Food

Dr. Seuss — the creator of unforgettable characters such as the Cat in the Hat and the Lorax — would be 109 years old Saturday. Amongst all of his books my favorite is Green Eggs and Ham. I use it for cooking classes, and I read it again and again when my children start separating the greens off their plate, when they refuse to eat something they've never tasted before, and when I just want to have a big laugh.

The idea of making eggs and ham green always amuses me — because, honestly, there's something about kids and green food aversion that I don't quite understand.

Here's a collection of natural-colored green recipes and posts that celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, and the awesome writing that helps generations and generations of parents encourage their kids to try something new on their plate, or in their lives!

Shakshuka - This Israeli staple for brunches is one of our favorite ways of making "green"eggs.

Spring Pea Dip - Darienne's recipe is a great way to eat greens. As green as it gets, it is good-looking and useful for sandwiches. When I make it I add some garlic and for a vegan version substitute tofu for Parmesan.

Green Crepes - This is a great way to make eggs green. They also can be filled with Pea Dip or even ham for added drama.

Hass Avocado Muffins - I am still working on this recipe for a more tangy taste. It's a fun way to use California avocados and surprise people with something different!

Popeye Sauce - Even if you think the sailor man is not a good role model, at least he ate his greens. This is a versatile sauce for pasta or vegetables.

DIY Granola Mix

It's delicious, simple and so easy to make. I would dare say that the only not-so-fun part of the process was shopping for all the ingredients. If you have kids and have to go to with them to a grocery store with a list, you might understand the challenge...

The result, though, is really great and you won't need to read any long food label informing about the disappointing amounts of sugar, fat, and other lab-generated substances needed to preserve freshness and moistness.

For the preparation of our first granola batch I counted on the help of one of my boys to mix the nuts and drizzle the agave nectar concoction over it. After that the whole family waited patiently for toasting and cooling it down. It was one of the best Sunday breakfasts ever.

Now, when we start doing our Little Monsters Granola Bars, we already know how to start. Or maybe we will use it sprinkled over the delicious homemade yogurt by Darienne. And believe me: It may sound like a super mom's thing, but making the simple changes for feeding the whole family might take just one hour of your day, for at least a whole week of no-brainer, highly nutritious breakfasts.

Our Granola Mix

You pick the ingredients — I prefer using organic ones. I recommend working always with old-fashioned oats as a base, and with just one type of dry fruit. 

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/3 cup chia seeds
1/3 cup flax seed
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
3 tablespoons light agave syrup
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Thompson raisins

Preheat oven to 325 F. Mix all the dry ingredients except the raisins in a big bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the liquid ingredients. Spread nuts and grains over a cookie sheet or baking tray and drizzle the agave-honey mix over it, randomly.

Bake for about 10 minutes on a 325 F, and with the help of a spatula, mix the grains again and flatten to the baking tray. Return to the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Bring the raisins in, and let it cool down. Drizzle a bit more of honey if you think it need a bit of more sweetness. Enjoy! 

Spider Cupcakes

Happy Halloween!
Those spook-tacular spider cakes are our favorite treat this year. They are dairy-free, egg-free, and very delicious. Kids had a great time decorating them and making their own versions of spiders, with different choices of colors and ingredients.

I found this recipe for the cupcake a couple years ago, when confronted with the many food allergies at school, and I tested it many times. It can be found here at one of my favorite DIY websites:

Best Chocolate Cake Ever (and it happens to be vegan) 

It's amazing and its light texture is ideally what we want for a cupcake. Also I've been working on ideas for healthier cake decorations and frosting ideas for years, and this was a great opportunity to use some of them.

The decorations were our choices of natural-colored candies and fruit leather, and, as you can see in this wonderful retro-like photo, taken by Darienne, even some cereal and white chocolate. That means they're still attractive and edible after the eyes and spider legs are devoured by our little monsters.

If you want to trick your friends and kids with a vegan alternative that tastes as good as a regular one, this is your treat to try!  Enjoy.

Healthy Spider Decorations

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods carry lots of no-artificial colors candies that can be used here. Our choice for fruit leather was TJ's boysenberry, but any other will work.

6 fruit leather bars
1 cup cereal (Cheerios, Joe's O's)
1 box coated sunflower seeds (these have a bit of milk chocolate, so they should be avoided if choosing a strictly vegan cupcake) or tiny pieces of strawberry for fangs and dry rasperry bits for eyes
white chocolate chips
children's scissors

Invite kids to cut the legs and create their own spider face with the decorations. Use the chocolate glaze printed with the original recipe like a glue, while it's still warm. Let cakes dry a bit (if you have time), and serve them on a web of treats...

Blood Orange Cupcakes

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Here's a cheers to hearts, sweetness ... and pink food. This is a little recipe that might trigger your love for something different than the artificial color Red 40: Blood orange juice with powdered sugar, covering a cupcake with lemon zest and dry raspberry powder.

This is my second experiment with natural colors to celebrate today: The first was the pasta with passion sauce, pretty but not easy to love if beets are not in your repertoire of loved foods.

But if you're still have time to prepare more than a treat for your Valentines, here are some suggestions from our collection f recipes, as romantic as a flower: rose ganache, rose meringue clouds,  lavender and chamomile truffles, all from Darienne's collection of delicacies.

Oh, and of course, Happy Valentine's!

Blood Orange and Raspberry Dust Cupcake 

Blood oranges are in season in California. It's possible to freeze the juice if your cake will be celebrating other dates other than Valentine's.

1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons blood orange juice
2 tablespoons dried raspberries, ground
2 large eggs
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted with the flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Glaze:
Juice from 2 blood oranges
Enough powdered sugar to make a thick glaze

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a bowl, mix sugar and canola oil until it's a creamy texture. Gradually mix in eggs, juice, milk, and zest. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.

Pour batter into baking cups, filling until two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

To prepare glaze, stir powdered sugar into blood orange juice until thick. Spoon glaze over finished cupcakes. 

Bella Notte Red Sauce

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Valentine's spirit started to fly around here when I was watching a commercial break reminding me of the cuteness of The Lady and The Tramp. And that Bella Note song, and ... the unforgettable night of two dogs and one plate. But neither the pasta nor the meatballs triggered my disposition to run to the kitchen. The red sauce actually was the one to make me go to Trader Joe's, as fast as I could.

Of course the Italian chef of the movie would never make that sauce from cans or jars, right?

Before this, I tried many recipes for a tasty tomato sauce, but none was good enough to make me forget about the tomato pelatti  from Italy ready to be prepared in my kitchen. Or the sometimes delicious ready-made sauces that abound in the shelves of Trader Joe's.

This sauce made my kids happy and they were fascinated to see the once-upon-a-time tomatoes turned into sauce by being processed with an old-school food mill. I used organic tomatoes from Mexico — a shorter trip to California than the Italian ones from a can. Can't wait for the tomato season to start here as I am daydreaming about a sauce made of heirloom tomatoes. Then I will happily repeat this recipe of homemade pasta here: Semolina and Farro Togliolini.

This recipe was inspired by Alton's Brown roasting method. I hope this will inspire you too. I always think that there's no trouble on the comfort brought from food. But when made from scratch, the red sauce will maybe bring romantic notes to your table, or maybe just the feeling that you've traveled to Italy — or whatever inspirations suit your Valentine's dreams.

Red Sauce Bella Notte

There's a big debate about seeds, peels and tomatoes when making tomato sauce. I tested with and without seeds, and the results were very similar. I also read that what really matters is the pot material: Some advocate the use of non-reactive materials such as tempered glass or enamel. THis time I used pyrex and a Le Creuset baking dish. Some believe that there's no need to worry about seeds, and that the nonnas in old Italy will cook good tomato sauce in any pot, with lots of love. 

4 pounds roma tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic (if you find the giant garlic from California, even better)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Garlic-infused olive oil to drizzle
Kosher salt to taste
Oregano, to taste
Thyme, to taste
4 bay leaves
Fresh basil to garnish (optional)
1/2 cup of wine (optional, your choice of red or white)
Caramelized yellow onion to garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 F. Coat baking dishes with olive oil. Halve tomatoes and put them with the open side facing up on the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, herbs and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for two hours, checking and turning after the first hour. After two hours raise the oven temperature to 400 F and roast for about 15 to 30 minutes more.

Remove and process the tomatoes with a food mill to get rid of skins and seeds. It's possible to do this with a sieve, pressing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. (I used seeds and skins to make a topping for a bruschetta.)

Heat the sauce in a saucepan and add wine. Cook on high heat for about 3 minutes, and simmer for about 7 minutes more. Adjust salt and other spices if you need to. If you need a little bit of sweetness added, half a teaspoon of raw sugar will do the trick.

Cocoa and Cinnamon Biscotti

My 7-year-old and I were extremely bored last Monday. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and we were trying to find something else to do with our free time at home, apart of dreaming about traveling to snowy places.

That's when Darienne's latest series of posts and somehow one chapter of An Everlasting Meal, by Tamar Adler, started to act as a magic potion on my motivation.

We headed to the kitchen and I invited my son to make an experiment. At this point I have to add some background to the story: Science is highly appreciated here and anything related to mixing things and heating them to see what happens is welcome, especially by the older kid.

So he announced he wanted to try to bake a "I have a dream kind of cake" to celebrate the reason for the school day off. We started putting ingredients on the dining table and he helped choose his favorites: cocoa, cinnamon and vanilla. He asked me what to do. I declared that we would bake with no recipe, using our intuition and mixing things and adjusting the quantities. While I would add the ingredients, he would take notes. Then he mixed all the liquid ingredients with Mr. Whisk — a very lovely kitchen tool (in the photo).

Flour, eggs, milk, canola oil, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate chips were added gradually. We both stirred everything with the help of a vintage wooden spoon as we dared to make an "old times" cake, with no electricity wasted. The batter was looking beautiful and uniform, ready to go and be baked. He decided to include a secret ingredient, so to make the recipe unique. We did.

After 40 minutes the cake was ready — perfect taste and not so perfect texture — too dense. But the boy didn't care about the texture and enjoyed a big slice of it with a tall glass of milk. After one day of sitting on the countertop I just decided to give it a second chance. I sliced it with a sharp knife, and baked the sliced cake for about one hour. That's how these wonderful biscottis were born! And they made me think if somewhere in Italy biscottis were created like this — by chance. Or if it was just a way of giving a longer life to a once-upon-a-time cake.

Cocoa Cinnamon Biscotti

I see this recipe as a reference and a "freedom license" to create something out of it. For sure we will revisit it sometime to achieve the texture I would love to have. Darienne had a sample and called the biscotti a cross in between biscotti and brownies. 

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon your secret ingredient

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all dried in a bowl. In another bowl whisk all liquid ingredients. Pour liquid into dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon. When blended, add chocolate chips and fold them to the batter. Transfer mix to a 9-x-13-inch cake pan and bake for about 35 minutes. When cold, slice it and bake the slices for about 30 more minutes at 375 F.  

Playdate Special: Be Bim Bop

Have you ever thought  about rice? It's present in almost every cuisine of the world, and is the main ingredient for many delicious meals. That's why it was chosen to represent the sense of unity of most cultures at my kid's school cooking club's classes. So the first dish to be prepared at the Cooking Club this year was a colorful dish from Korea, Bi Bim Bop.

I first fell in love with this idea when I saw a kid's book in my local library, called Bee-Bim Bop!, by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Ho Baek Lee, few years ago. Later I had the chance of trying some of the original plate in a Korean bowl place in Palo Alto.

The book is amazing — so cute and so full of rhymes that it turns the task of preparing the dish into almost a musical experience. After four rounds of making the dish with kids at school, I finally got to invite our playgroup to make it, this time using beef instead of tofu.

The key element to get the school kids and our playgroup involved was reading the book before cooking, and getting them used to the idea of "chop chop chop," as in the book,  with a  safe (plastic) knife. Then, the process used with the school kids: While kids at one table were prepping the vegetables, kids at another table were cutting tofu and preparing the marinade. The third table's kids were working with the eggs for the egg pancakes.

The final result was amazing and put together the work of every kid: after watching us cook the veggies and tofu on the griddle, they all had a colorful bowl full of rice to be mixed. For many kids it was the first time to try some different vegetables, tofu, and soy sauce. And some of them were just following what the book suggested — mix mix mix — and eat!

Be Bim Bop

Any rice will do a great job here. If choosing beef, put the fresh steak in the freezer for about 15 minutes to help with the slicing. This recipe is adapted from Linda Sue Park's and also has some inspiration from recipes around the Web. If you are really daring to try something else, you can add a recipe of kimchi (as in this good recipe here).  

Cooked rice
1 English cucumber, peeled
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 pound aduki bean sprouts or alfalfa
4 medium shitake mushroom (optional)
4 medium white mushrooms (optional)
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups fresh organic baby spinach, chopped
Extra-firm organic tofu, diced (or 8 oz. sirloin steak, finely sliced)

Marinade for tofu or beef:
6 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons oil
Sesame seeds (optional)
4 drops sesame oil (optional)
2 stalks spring onions (scallions)

Preheat electric griddle to 370F. (You also can use a large skillet, over medium-high heat.) Chop the vegetables and set aside, each in a different bowl. Mix ingredients for the marinade in another bowl. Add the tofu or beef to the marinade.

Beat the eggs lightly and prepare mini-egg pancakes in the griddle. When done, set them aside on a plate to cool down. Add carrots and tofu (or beef) to the griddle and keep an eye on them, turning periodically.

Cut egg pancakes into half-inch strips and set aside on a plate. Now add mushrooms, bean sprouts, and spinach to the griddle, keeping them separated. At the last minute add cucumber. When the carrots are cooked but still al dente, start removing vegetables, transferring each type to its own bowl. Removed the beef or tofu from the griddle.

Serve all ingredients over a bowl of rice, to be mixed by the person being served. 

Little Monsters Café: Summer Fruit Tartelettes

I wanted something simple and exciting to bring the boys back into a cooking mood. A few hours before our playdate I just had a few ingredients in the fridge to improvise something like a brunch. A bowl full of ripe summer plums and peaches and another with plenty of fresh eggs brought by a friend who has backyard chickens were on the countertop. And some ideas were on my mind. There was also a package of honey graham crackers, left over from a camping trip.

I thought that maybe if the cooking was not going to be challenging, why not bring something else to our get-together? In a few moments I had a plan: I wrote a menu and printed four copies. Then I planned to invite the kids to choose their ingredients for grilled cheese or an omelet, and later they could choose their favorite fruit to top the classic crust of graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar.

The Little Monsters Café was then opened. The idea itself put the kids right into the mood for playing and cooking. The  "café" is just a new feature of other ideas we've tried in our playgroup, such as the homemade Little Monsters Root Beer and the homemade cereal bars. Before that, Darienne's boys had a very cute idea, shared with us with a special drive-through in their kitchen. The boys love the idea of designing labels or packages, and this one was no different: They enjoyed creating the layout for the café door, still hanging out there.

When the mini-guests/entrepreneurs left, I was left thinking about the beauty of seeing them growing up. Of their happiness being in charge of choosing their own ingredients, make their own topping for the pie, and being able to be in command. They all loved it. Our lovable Little Monsters...

How to make your own Kid's Café for a playdate:

• Design a menu with easy-to-prepare items such as grilled sandwiches, omelets, or burritos. Offer a choice of fillings on their menus.
• Ask the kids to choose the name of their restaurant and to design their signs to open the café.
• Include a dessert that they can prepare hands on, such as little pies, popsicles, smoothies, or tarts.
• Invite them to make colorful drawings to turn your front door into the café's entrance.
• Prepare a menu for each child and help them understand the ingredients if necessary. Have them circle the ingredients they want.
• Invite them to prepare dessert after eating their entrées. 

Summer Fruit Mini Tartelettes

1 1/2 cups ground graham crackers (we used the crackers from Trader Joe's)
4 tablespoons butter or canola oil spread such as Earth Balance (or more if necessary to achieve a texture good enough to hold the dough and spread on the silicone cupcake pan)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
fruit slices on a tray to help them to choose a topping
brown sugar to sprinkle on the fruit

Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, and brown sugar in a bowl and blend well. Press into bottoms and up the sides of the cups in a silicone cupcake pan. Top with fruit and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes or when fruit starts to get tender. Serve with a scoop of your favorite ice cream.

Tips and Gadgets: Nine-Minute Tropical Popsicles

Kids here are having lots of fun with our new pop maker. So much fun that they are always inviting more and more kids to come here and try their recipes. The ZOKU is really efficient: It makes your own personal popsicle in about 7 to 12 minutes, and, if you follow the instructions by the book or reading the tips on its website, it will work perfectly fine.

Our main recipe takes an average of 9 minutes to be ready, not forgetting that the maker hibernates in the freezer for at least 24 hours before its ready to make popsicles, just like an ice cream machine does. The difference is that it requires no energy to work after. And maybe this was the main factor that made up my mind about its coolness.

We had already tested many recipes, but at our last playdate, the choice of ingredients was made by my older kid, who picked some items that I couldn't see how would work together.

But good reviews of his combination of flavors and textures told me  that his recipe actually worked...

Tropical Orange Coconut Popsicle

Each popsicle takes a little bit of everything, totaling about 4 tablespoons of liquid. After inviting our friends to test it I've found out that the main thing is not to spill liquid out of the enclosures, and not take too long to put the sticks.  This recipe is for one popsicle.

1 1/2  tablespoons light coconut milk
1 teaspoon shredded coconut
1 1/2  tablespoons fresh orange juice
Some dark chocolate chips
1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Chocolate syrup (Midnight Moo) right after on the bottom (optional) 

Mix everything and pour into the popsicle maker (or layer them) and follow the instructions with the popsicle maker.

To make sure that we wouldn't be crazy about spilling things, we made them in the back yard. We made about six popsicle all the times we played with it. 

Floating on a Vanilla and Blueberry Sky

I grew up believing that making egg desserts was the ultimate kitchen challenge. My mom was always warning me about things going wrong. There was the deal with whisking the whites. Maybe funny stuff would happen to the yolks, and anything, really, could perturb the delicate chemistry that involves transforming eggs into delicious desserts.

Traditionally, in Brazil, many old-fashioned desserts are all egg- and sugar-based, inherited from the Portuguese school. They are all very lovable, and bring eggs to an elevated dimension. But there's always an exhaustive preparation process and somehow they are far too much sugary for my taste. Not to talk about the cholesterol dilemma.

None of that stopped me from playing with an egg dessert with my 4-year-old.  We were surrounded by clouds—in the sky, on my Mac screen, in our blog. So the project was named "Clouds Everywhere"—which included a book, some craft,s and a scientific experiment, during his (ouch!) first week off school. Off we went to find an idea for a dessert that would totally look like clouds. We loved Darienne's meringue clouds, but all of a sudden I recalled something my grandma used to make: in Portuguese we call it ovos nevados (something like "snowed eggs"). In French, they might be floating island (île flottante). For our project, we called it Floating Clouds.

The book we used for our reading was Nuvem Feliz (Happy Cloud, not translated yet to English, Editora 34, by Alice Ruiz and illustrated by Edith Derdyek). I also found that Eric Carle's Little Cloud would be beautiful, but didn't have time to order it or get it from the library. The scientific experiment was to make a cloud inside a bottle. And, of course, we did lots of cloud-gazing.

Floating Islands in Vanilla and Blueberry Sunset Custard

This recipe is lightly adapted from the book Europe's Master Chefs (Könemann, 2004). Many famous chefs love to talk about how they make this dessert, but I chose the classic method and ruled out thickeners (cornstarch) or egg stabilizers (tartar). Making it my way, I had a few challenges. But it's mainly easy. Easier that I thought.

2 cups milk
1 halved vanilla pod
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup of fresh blueberries simmered in 1/2 cup apple or orange juice (coulis)

Combine milk, halved vanilla pod, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar in a large pot. Bring it to a boil and lower the heat so the milk stays hot, but it don't let it boil again. Remove vanilla bean, scraping the pod.

In a mixing bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add the rest of the sugar and whisk until it has stiff peaks. With the help on a ice cream spoon, scoop the whites into "clouds" and delicately cook them in the hot milk, 3 minutes each side. They will inflate and, when cooked, will deflate a little bit. Set them aside.

After all the egg-white clouds or islands are cooked, stir egg yolks into the hot milk and keep stirring to combine. Pour the yellow cream through a sieve, to remove any bits of yolk, and transfer it to a serving dish. When cold, serve clouds individually on the fresh blueberry coulis and vanilla custard, so that kids can paint their own sky.

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Few weeks ago I sent an email to Ben & Jerry's PR asking for permission to publish this amazing recipe. We got it this week, and I thought that would be a lovely way to celebrate the arrival of warm weather—with a homemade ice cream!

Don't get intimidated by the presence of raw eggs. We tested the recipe many times, and the prep story was included in our celebration of Children's Book Week. The recipe is from the awesome Ben & Jerry's Book of Homemade Ice Cream and Desserts.

If you want to have a good story book for reading time with the kids while waiting for the ice cream to be ready, here's our recommendation: The Ice Cream King, by Steve Metzger. The book, illustrated by Julie Downing, was our choice to celebrate ice cream in our Children's Book Week.

Ben & Jerry's French Vanilla Ice Cream

These are the original ingredients plus some comments I added after making it more than five times with the Cooking Club at my first-grader's school. We also tested it at home with our kids, and they all had fun preparing it—and, of course, eating it.

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups cream
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy—do it manually, like in the old times, for 1 to 2 minutes. The fluffier it gets, the better the final result. Kids might give a helping hand using the whisk. They love to use the noisy ball whisk, or a traditional one. During the classes at school, we pretended each kid was a machine, so they had to keep working continuously.

Whisk in the sugar, a little at time, and continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in cream, milk, and vanilla and whisk to blend.

Transfer to a ice cream to a pre-frozen drum and churn for about 20 minutes. We used different models of Cuisinart machines, and they all did a good job.

Serve right away. If you want a more solid texture, transfer ice cream to the freezer for the time recommended by your ice cream maker.

Serve it plain, with chocolate fudge, or with fruit salad and granola. It is absolutely rich—and delicious. 

Semolina and Farro Homemade Tagliolini

Lots of flour, raw eggs, rolling pins and pasta machines. About 24 kids ready to prepare the meal. Sounds like a party...  Or a huge mess? I would say that ... this is a delicious messy party!

This is the final week of Cooking Club at my son's school, and to celebrate a great year we are making pasta from scratch with the kindergartners and first-graders. Yes, it might sound ambitious and maybe exhausting. But the result has been awesome as we already tested it with two groups of kids. They just loved it.

The first time we made it was a few weeks ago with our boys — the photos here are all from this private rehearsal.

Darienne is so good at kneading we even went for a second batch using the fashionable farro flour. The boys were, by that time, more interested on making ice cream. But they finally surrendered to the wonders of the machine, and of course couldn't stop eating when the pasta was ready — some used red sauce and others homemade pesto.

At school, kids were excited about the whole process. Kneading the dough was a great way of keeping them busy — they compared it to playing with playdough, and using the rolling pin was even more entertaining. When they finally got to use the pasta machine, they were mostly anxious, and somehow ready to eat.

While waiting for the pasta to be ready, they listened to the very amusing story of Spaghetti Eddy by Ryan Sanangelo and Jackie Urbanovic.

When they had their bowls in front of them, they were proud to know how pasta is made — and how it takes so much energy to be ready. The reviews were mostly wordless:  There was an unusual silence while they were eating, and empty bowls of pasta were left behind as there were lots of smiles imprinted on my memory.

Farro and Semolina Pasta

Both recipes follow the basic recipe that is on packaged of Bob's Red Mill, the brand I use for the semolina flour. I bought farro, imported from Italy, in a local store. Both are awesome, although we used the semolina recipe at school, which was a great hit. 

1 cup semolina flour (Bob's Red Mill) or farro flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
2 medium free-range eggs
2 tablespoons of olive oil, plus more if necessary
2 tablespoons water, plus more if dough becomes too dry
Salt to taste

Bring a large pot filled of water and with a bit of olive oil to boil. Leave it at low flame.

In a very large bowl, combine the flours and salt in it, mixing well. Make a hole — or a well — in the center of the bowl. Add the eggs carefully and slowly beat them with a wooden spoon, gradually incorporating the flour.

Carry on mixing until all is incorporated. Start dropping in water and olive oil slowly while mixing. This will look like a coarse meal. Start kneading to form a ball of dough. If it is still too dry, add drops of water and oil up until a ball is formed and the dough is elastic and slightly stiff. Work on the dough for about 10 minutes. Push, stretch, pull and what else you feel like — it's a good kneading therapy. Or ask for the help of the kids, as this takes a lot of energy!

When the ball of dough feels elastic and able to stretch, sprinkle semolina flour on the work surface. Then, divide the ball into four parts. Stretch each one with a rolling pin until very thin. Then cut in rectangular shapes, making sure that the edge that will enter the pasta machine is very even. Insert that end into the machine. And now, off to turn up the heat on the stove to get rolling boiling water.

Start cranking the machine and the pasta will turn into nice strands of fettuccine or tagliolini. I have a Norpro machine, and it works just fine — although it does not make spaghetti, it does nice tagliolini. When all is ready, cook pasta in the boiling water for about 5 minutes to have a nice al dente texture. Remove and put on a colander. Serve it while still hot with your favorite sauce.

Children's Book Week : The Ice Cream King

Here's a confession: I love the view of this chocolate syrup coming from the tiny cup. But my favorite dessert flavor is vanilla - French, Madagascar or Bourbon, no matter where from. That taste seems to run in my kids DNA too. And with that, I can now talk about the book we read for dessert to celebrate our last special on Children's Book Week.
 The Ice Cream King, by Steve Metzger, illustrated by Julie Downing, was the choice. I don't want to spoil the surprise that is at the end of the book.  Which is kind of a very sweet one - specially if you think Mother's Day is just in the corner. But I can tell you that throughout the adventures of Teddy in a ice cream kingdom, there are plenty of rhymes, delicious inspiring illustrations and  a inspiration for something else, besides, of course,  eating ice cream.

Making Vanilla Ice Cream with the kids was another kind of adventure. The youngest brave boy cracked the eggs. All of them engaged on beating the eggs with a special ball whisk, pretending they were machines. They also added the rest of the ingredients and were happy to know that after playing that would be their dessert.  We used Darienne's homemade vanilla extract to flavor it.

The recipe we used was published by two of the best  ice cream makers I know of, Ben and Jerry. I would call them, really, the two kings of ice cream ! Here's another surprise: I was introduced to this recipe, from the excellent Ben and Jerry Book of Homemade Ice Cream and Desserts) by my partner in the school's Cooking Club. I was initially skeptical about the fact that the recipe include raw eggs in it. But after preparing it about four times I got to know that it tastes good, has a wonderful creamy texture and most important of all, it is fool proof.

Crocodile's Fool Banana Bonbons

So, what if a kid-crocodile wakes up in the mood for eating a child?

Maybe he will have a banana. Maybe he won't eat anything!

Right? Maybe. Here's a big thanks to this creative writer, who wrote this quirky and hilarious book that may raise your kids' appetite for a banana or banana inspired recipe! Or maybe, really, anything edible to make him/her to grow up.

This is one of my kid's favorite book. I'd Really Like to Eat a Child, by Sylvianne Donnio, was given by Darienne to one of my kids, two years ago, as a birthday gift. They always have a blast reading it. And when I am upset by their sporadic hunger strike (yes, believe me, they all do have a period to refuse to eat), this is the book I read to my kids.

So, last time I was looking for inspiration for the Cooking Club at school, I found it in this story. The initial idea was to make some healthy bites that would include banana and other ingredients to make a kind of surprising "candy."

The first time we tried to develop the recipe was during our playdate with our four boys. They again enjoyed listening to the story, read by Darienne. After that we all played with making the dough, and coating the little balls with chocolate sprinkles, white chocolate chips, and even rice crisps. Some thought the mix was too gooey and baby food-like. Others enjoyed the whole process and the product.

At school, for the Cooking Club,  I added another step to the recipe: with a toy hammer, kids had the chance of smashing a bag full of vanilla wafers to turn them into crumbs. We also swapped the original extra cup of oatmeal for nice, crisp granola. This gave more texture to the bonbons so that we didn't even have to bring them to the fridge to make them firmer. Some kids just couldn't eat enough of them. Others, just like the crocodile with his bananas, were not so enthusiastic about the final product. But they all enjoyed using the hammer and imagining if we would fool the crocodile with our banana bonbons.

Banana Bonbons

Good reviews may come even from the kids who don't care for bananas. You can play with it as well -- nuts might be a wonderful addition, as well as any kind of dried fruit.

1 1/2 large or 2 medium ripe bananas
1 cup quick oatmeal
1 cup your favorite granola
2 tablespoons dulce de leche (cooked condensed milk) or nut butter
1 cup crushed vanilla wafers, in crumbs (I used Trader Joe's brand, which is free of high-fructose corn syrup)
1 tablespoon raisins
1/4 teaspoon cocoa
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
For rolling and topping:
Shredded coconut, toasted or not
Chocolate sprinkles
Chocolate chips, to put on the top of bonbons.

Mash bananas with the help of a fork. Kids can help with that process. After , they will love to crush the vanilla wafers inside a plastic bag, using a meat hammer or even a plastic toy hammer. Mix everything to an even  texture and roll in the covering of your choice. Cool them in freezer for about 15 minutes to firm texture, if needed. Enjoy! (... And save some for Achilles, the kid-croc...)