It Doesn't Have to Be Unhealthy {Recipe: Vanilla Maple Granola}

For years I would not make or buy granola because it contained so much oil and sugar. If I remember correctly the recipe I originally used called for a cup of vegetable oil-yikes! It also had a lot of sugar; it was anything but healthy. It turns out that granola recipes don't have to be loaded with fat and sugar to be good, below is a recipe with a fraction of the oil and sugar with healthier alternatives for both.

This is my go to recipe:

Vanilla Maple Almond Granola

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cups slivered almonds or rough chopped pecans 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, microwaved until just melted (about 30 seconds)
1 tablespoon vanilla (yes, one tablespoon)

Optional add-ins:

1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup bran (wheat or oat).
(I have added 2 of the above without adding more wet ingredients, adding 3 or more may require a bit more maple syrup or coconut oil-maybe a tablespoon if each?)

Preheat oven to 300F degrees. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, toss together oats, almonds, cinnamon, salt and any of the optional add-ins . Set aside. Mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla in a medium bowl. Pour over out mixture and toss to coat.

Spread onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. (I use a spatula to turn over sections of granola, instead of stirring so I get bigger clusters-see below.)

Allow the granola to cool completely. The granola can stay fresh for up to 3 weeks if stored in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Life is Like a Bowl of Berries... {Recipe: Acai Smoothie Bowl}

...sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter. 

Acai bowls are a new obsession of mine, but a rare treat because of how much they cost. Our local smoothie place charges $6.95, but I have seen them as high as $9.00! Even to make them at home is a bit costly, but cheaper than going out.

A package of the frozen Acai by Sambazon is $6.99 (this is a sale price, I think regular price is $7.99) for 4 packets at my local grocery store, and most recipes I have come across call for bowls call for 2 packets. Since I try to use organic ingredients, all the other stuff that goes into one of these bowls adds up. But all totaled, homemade is still cheaper.

Here is the smoothie bowl recipe I came up with:

1 packet of Sambazon Organic Pure Unsweetened Acai
1/2 cup liquid (I had pineapple juice on hand, so that is what I used. But, apple juice, orange juice, soy milk, almond milk, or milk of choice would work.)
1 banana-save some nice slices for the top and use the rest in the smoothie
A hand full of frozen organic blueberries (about 1/2 cup)
4-5 frozen organic strawberries
1/2 cup frozen organic pineapple
1 tablespoon chia seeds

Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. It helps to put the softer ingredients (banana and juice or mild) on the bottom to help prevent the blender from getting stuck, although the smoothie needs to be stirred a time or two during blending to get it evenly smooth.

Give the smoothie a taste before pouring it. If it is not sweet enough, blend in a little sweetener of choice to taste. Honey, agave or maple syrup would work.

Pour smoothie into a bowl and top with fresh strawberry slices, fresh blue berries, banana slices, granola (recipe for homemade to follow),  and /or shredded coconut. Final touch is to drizzle with a bit of honey (about 1/2-1 teaspoon).

Enjoy!

Art Is Not What You See...

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see. -Edgar Degas

Art projects like this are great for schools with very limited art budgets. I help run an art program for one of the local elementary schools. The program has a very limited budget, so I am always looking for projects that use low cost supplies. This project is a perfect!

All that is needed is copy paper, school watercolors and paintbrushes. Students crumple the paper, add a color with the paint brush, un-crumple, decided if they want to add another color, re-crumple, etc until they are satisfied with results. The only problem is the copy paper tend to tear a bit. I think just adds to finished product, but some kids got upset that the paper tore. Art paper would probably work better, but costs more. In the end, though, most of the students were very happy with the results.

This was the project I started this school year with. I read the book to the students before I turned them loose to create their art. The book is intended for young children, but I read the story to grades Kindergarten-5th. The story is a great lesson on how the art you create may not turn out just how you intended, but it still can be very good. This idea was reinforced with using materials that the students couldn't control. It teaches them that even though the materials they used didn't behave like they wanted them to, they still created a lovely work of art!

If You Give a Kid a Recipe... {Recipe: Brioche Hamburger Buns}

It is a challenge to raise kids in a fast food loving culture if you don't care for it yourself. My mother did not fall for the fast food boom of the '70's, even though she was a working woman. Her solution was to teach me to cook so I could prepare dinner if she was not able to. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I had fast food growing up.

After my kids were born I thought that I would never take them to fast food places, but that proved to be too much of a challenge for me. We live in a small town that does not offer a lot of options for kids' parties, so the popular spot to throw a kids party is McDonalds. I was not going to tell my kids that they could not attend their friends parties or tell they could go, but just don't eat anything. In addition, we like to travel a lot and sometimes fast food is the only option.

It pleases me that as my kids get older, they don't want fast food. There are a few exceptions, Chipotle is my son's favorite and my daughter will never turn down McDonalds french fries. In-N-Out is our whole families favorite.

As much as we enjoy In-N-Out, my husband and my daughter, Lili, came up with a burger that has surpasses a Double-Double any day!

Lili had seen some brioche hamburger buns at a French market we visit when we are in L.A. and decided she wanted to try and make them herself. I found a recipe for her that I thought she could make on her own. Having found something to occupy myself, I left her to it. If I hung out in the kitchen with her I would have gotten involved and I wanted to see how she could do on her own

This was the result:

This is the recipe she used:

Brioche Hamburger Buns

This recipe is from The New York Times. 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons warm milk
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 ½ tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups bread flour
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• PREPARation 

1      In a glass measuring cup, combine 1 cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat 1 egg.

2      In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Scrape dough onto clean, unfloured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

3      Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

4      Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.

5      Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

With hamburger buns like these, the burger put on it better be good! Usually our grilled burgers turn out a bit dry and not that tasty, so my husband researched how to make a better burger. He found these tips on the Bon Appetit website: <http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/common-mistakes/article/burger-common-cooking-mistakes>. The burgers turned out great!

Enjoy!

It's Always Good To Challenge Yourself...{Recipe: Vanilla Bean French Macarons}

Once my daughter sets her mind to something, it is very difficult to sway her. She had it set in her mind that we should make French macarons for her birthday. Making French macarons was a learning adventure for both my daughter, Lili, and me. I was a bit intimidated to try and make them, as I have alway understood them to be very difficult to make. I love to cook, but tend to keep it fairly simple. But my daughter was persistent and I am happy she was. The macarons turned out just about perfect!

I have to give credit where credit is due, Lili is the one who did all the research on how to make macarons. She read recipes, researched trouble shooting advice and watched Youtube videos on how to make them.

The one piece of advice I have for making these macarons is to make sure you give yourself plenty of time. Lili and I set aside a whole morning and afternoon to make them. It took us just about the entire time to make them.

So, here is the recipe we used for the macaron shells:

Ingredients for Macaron Shells

This recipe is adapted from Food Network Kitchen

1 3/4 cups of confectioners sugar
1 cup almond flour/meal
3 large egg whites, at room temperature (we "aged" the egg whites for 24 hours, like a few other recipes suggests)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 vanilla bean pod, seeds scrape

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F using the convention setting, if you have one. Line 3 baking sheets with scone mats.

Measure the confectioner' sugar and almond flour by spooning them into measuring cups and leveling with a knife. Place in a food processor for one minute. Transfer to a bowl; whisk to combine. Sift the sugar-almond flour mixture, a little at a time, through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula to pass through as much as possible. It will take a while, and up to 2 tablespoons of course almond flout may be left; just toss it.

Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt with a mixer on medium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium high; gradually add the superfine sugar and beat until stiff and shiny, about 5 more minutes.

Transfer the beaten egg whites to the bowl with the almond flour mixture. Draw a rubber spatula halfway through the mixture and fold until incorporated, giving the bowl a quarter turn with each fold.

Add the vanilla bean. Continue folding and turning, scraping down the bowl, until the batter is smooth and falls off the spatula in a thin flat ribbon, 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the batter to the pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch round tip. Holding the bag vertically and close to the baking sheet, pipe 1 1/4-inch circles (24 per sheet). Firmly tap the baking sheets twice against the counter to release any air bubbles.

Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the tops are no longer sticky to the touch, 15 minute to 1 hour, depending on the humidity. Slip another baking sheet under the first batch (a double baking sheet protects the cookies from the heat).

We have feet!

Bake the first batch until the cookies are shiny and rise 1/8 inch to form a "foot," about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat, using a double sheet for each batch. Peel the cookies off the mats and sandwich with a thin layer of filling.

For the filling we used Lili's favorite buttercream from http://www.frugallivingmom.com/perfect-6-minute-buttercream/

Ingredients for Perfect 6 Minute Buttercream Filling:

1/2 cup softened butter (salted or unsalted, depending on your preference)
4 cups/one pound powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-5 tablespoons milk or cream

Directions

1. Add softened butter into your stand mixer or bowl.
2. Beat butter on medium to high in stand mixer or with a hand mixer for 3 minutes until fluffy.
3. Just before the end of 3 minutes add vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk to butter, keep beating.
4. Reduce to medium low or medium.
5. Slowly pour in powdered sugar and continue beating for a total of 3 more minutes on medium        moving up to high speed as sugar is incorporated.
6. If you want to add in food coloring, add in while it is beating that last 3 minutes.
7. If frosting is too stiff add in more milk 1 tsp at a time and beat until combined.
8. Spread on cake or cookies
9. To store place butter cream in an airtight container and store in refrigerator for 2-3 days.
10. Bring to room temperature prior to frosting.

Note: The buttercream makes much more than you need for the macarons. I have frozen buttercream with no problems, but probably shouldn't be frozen for more than a month or two. Our favorite way of using up leftover frosting is sandwiching some between graham crackers. This certainly was a favorite treat when I was a child!

Enjoy!

Welcome

Welcome to Mother Always Told Me... Originally this was going to be a mother/daughter blog, but then I realized that my son could learn a few things as well. He is 15 and in a few short years he will be off to college. My daughter has been interested in cooking since she was 9 (she is now 12) and is always eager to learn how to prepare food, but my son needs to know his way around the kitchen as well.

Cooking will probably be the main focus of this blog, but we will include come of our other ventures as well. I teach art and my kids are always interested in helping me with art samples to show the students. So if we do a particularly cool project, I will post it. Also, my daughter wants to learn to sew, which I have little patience for, but maybe we will learn together and post the results. Lastly, I will post about anything that I think that will help my children become well rounded adults.

Hope you join us to see where this blogging adventure leads us...