Sticky Business

I had always wanted to try making marshmallows, but never had the guts.   Then, my friend Jill told me a story about how she and a friend used to make them every year, but stopped doing it, and how she wanted to make some again,  but didn't want to do it by herself because it's kind of a big production.

A new tradition was born. 

Voila!  Marshmallows 2012!

She was right.  It IS a big production.  We were swirling around that kitchen like crazy people.  But it was really fun, and the marshmallows are pretty amazing.  So much better than the ones in the grocery store.  We made peppermint ones.  I have tons of them still, in the freezer, ready to pop into hot chocolate any time I want.

I roasted one over the flame on my stove the other day.  It was awesome.  There will be a mint chocolate s'more in my future.

So, thanks to Martha Stewart for this recipe, and thanks to my friend Jill for letting me come over for a day of marshmallow-making fun.  I think we should do another batch in the spring before we take the Daisies camping. All the other troops will be jealous.  Maybe we can even make homemade graham crackers too.  Because we are THAT mom. 

Martha Stewart Candy Cane Marshmallows

Ingredients

• Vegetable-oil cooking spray
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 4 packages (1/4 ounce each) unflavored gelatin
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons red food coloring

Directions

1. Coat an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Coat the parchment with cooking spray, and set pan aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; let mixture come to a boil. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.
   
2. Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 3/4 cup water in a heatproof bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Set the bowl with the gelatin mixture over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in extract; set aside.
   
3. Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric
   mixer fitted with the whisk attachment
   until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.
   Whisk gelatin mixture into sugar mixture;
   with mixer running, gradually add
   to egg whites. Mix on high speed until
   very thick, 12 to 15 minutes.
   
4. Pour mixture into lined pan. Working quickly, drop dots of red food coloring across surface of marshmallow. Using a toothpick, swirl food coloring into marshmallow to create a marbleized effect. Let marshmallow stand, uncovered, at room temperature until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. Cut into squares.
   

Fun with Gadgets!

Last Christmas, I got some Amazon money, and decided to use it to buy a mandoline slicer.  After reading lots of reviews of various slicers, I chose this one by Norpro (also the maker of my ravioli press!).  And yesterday, I finally got around to using it.

Kev.  He's always trying to get there to be more vegetables.  So, he recently sent me this link to a bunch of recipes for veggie chips.  I decided to start with the curried sweet potato chips.  So, I busted out my new slicer and got to work.  The slicer is awesome and so much fun!  It's really easy to use, and slices very evenly.  I haven't tried any of the other blades, but I'll let you know when I do.

After I sliced up the sweet potatoes, I put them in a bag with the oil and spices and let Daphne mix them up:

I had to cook them quite a bit longer than the directions said, so just make sure that if you make these, you keep an eye on them and cook them until they get crispy but not burnt.  Here they are, right out of the oven:

These were really tasty, full of Vitamin A, and made the house smell really good.  They make a nice side dish on sandwich night.  Yum!  I bet you could use butter, brown sugar and cinnamon instead of olive oil and curry spices too.  Might have to try that sometime...

Original recipe below:

Curried Sweet Potato Chips from NPR

2 medium sweet potatoes, sliced paper-thin
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon hot curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For easy cleanup, line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place sweet potato slices in a large bowl and, using your hands, toss with oil and spices until coated. Arrange in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Remove from oven and eat.

Twenty Points

We are so proud of Daphne for trying twenty new foods so far in 2012.  She finally got the 20 points she needed to watch Star Wars!  So on Saturday, we had Family Star Wars Day to celebrate, complete with Princess Leia hair.

 In the morning, we tried the star fruit.  Nobody really liked it, but it counted towards Daphne's NEXT twenty points.  Not sure what her reward will be this time.  Empire Strikes Back, maybe?

Anyway, later in the afternoon, we had a late lunch and watched the movie.  There were Ham Solo sandwiches, Vader Tots (or perhaps Darth Taters...no one can agree on this), and baked Zuke Skywalker chips for lunch.

We also had home-made Wookies and Cream ice cream (vanilla with smashed up oreos) for dessert.  There are no photos because we were too busy eating it to take pictures.  It was delicious.

Daphne loved watching the movie, although I don't think she really understood all of it.  She wasn't freaked out by the sand-people like I was as a kid, but she was a little distraught about the whole battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader.  After the movie, we took a long LONG family walk to distract her crazy little  Daphne brain so she wouldn't be obsessing about Star Wars with a million questions at bedtime.  It worked!

The Star Wars portion of our weekend concluded on Sunday with some Princess Leia cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  I don't really have any recipes to share.  The cinnamon rolls were store-bought, the tots were frozen, and the sandwiches were sandwiches.  I did make the zucchini chips, but they weren't very good, and I'll probably try a different method next time.  And the ice cream was just the simple vanilla recipe that came with the ice cream maker, with some smashed oreos added at the end.  The fun part was coming up with the food ideas.  I hope she picks Empire Strikes Back for her next reward.  There might just be some Boba Fett-uccine in our future!

Thank You, Billy the Produce Guy

I don't really love going to the grocery store.  Before we got a Wegman's here in town, it was REALLY bad.  There are few places as uninspiring as the Safeway by my house.  Going there sort of makes you not want to eat food anymore. Wegman's is great, and makes shopping much better, but when all is said and done, it's still really just a chore.  So, when I have to go, I like to have a plan, get in there, get what I need, and get out as soon as possible. This is much easier when I go by myself.  Taking people along creates grocery store drag.

This weekend, I ended up having to take Daphne with me to the store.  On Saturday afternoon, even.  Wegman's is at its most crowded on Saturday afternoon.  I was filled with dread.  So, in hopes of making things easier, and since Daphne can read now, I decided to give her the job of checking things off my list.  I told her to get a pencil because we had a "mission."  I don't know what I will do when tricks like that stop working.

Long story short, for me, this was one of the most fun trips to the grocery store in the history of shopping.  Daphne sat in the cart with the list and her pencil, all business, checking things off and making tally marks if we got more than one of something.  Wegman's was having an organic foods festival, so they had lots of samples and little give-aways.  With all the free pink lemonade and rooster tattoos, everyone was on good behavior, and no one was whining, complaining, or asking for toys and candy the whole time.

Our last stop was the produce section, and after we got everything we needed, we decided to check out the "weird food" endcap by the bananas.  This is where they keep unusual things like aloe leaves and cactus leaves and plantains and weird squashes and so forth.  I told Daphne that she could pick something from the section and take it home and try it for a Star Wars point.  After much deliberation, she narrowed it down to either a kiwi or a starfruit, but then she couldn't decide. I figured this was going to take all afternoon.  But that's when I spotted Billy, the produce guy.

I like Billy the produce guy a lot.  I have asked him questions before and he is always a big help.  So I told Daphne we'd get an expert to help her decide.  I wheeled her over and we told Billy that she wanted be adventurous and try something new, but she couldn't decide between the kiwi and the starfruit.  He played right along.  He told her he's never had a starfruit, so could she please try it and come back and tell him how it tastes?  Decision made.  Then, he told us that if we wanted to be even more adventurous, we should get some kale to take home and make kale chips.  And Daphne got so excited that the "Owner of Wegman's" was talking to us, that she insisted we get some kale right away.  OK!  I wonder if Billy the produce guy could get Daphne to eat melty cheese?  I almost think he could do it.

Anyway, we went home with our kale and decided to make the chips right away to go with the last of our pasta fagioli leftovers.  I was completely suspicious of this recipe, but they were really good!  I let Daphne make them pretty much by herself.  First, you rinse and dry the kale and tear it into chip-sized pieces, getting rid of the stems.  Then you toss it with olive oil and salt:

Then, spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet:

And bake them at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes until they are crispy:

Kale is a superfood.  Low in calories, and really high in nutritional value.  Tons of Vitamin A. 

I will definitely make this again as a snack or side dish.  Super easy and tasty.  I overdid it on the salt a little, so I'll watch that next time.  And I may try to sneak in some parmesan cheese next time too.  If you Google kale chips, there are lots of ideas for seasoning out there.  And at least one person crumbled them up on some popcorn.  Sounds weird, I know, but I bet it's good.

So, there you go.  Kale chips.  Thank you, Billy the produce guy.  We'll see you soon with a starfruit review.