Friday, September 16, 2011

Pretzel Letters

Today's kitchen project was pretzel letters! I've never made homemade pretzels before so this was a fun one for me, too.






































Even L2 got in on this one!




























He was so into it and so proud!














The purpose was to shape the pretzels into the letter we're working on, but we ending up making a few different ones.







































They were pretty tasty! Definitely a project I'd like to do again.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Crispy pickle success!

We did it! They're crispy! Hopefully they stay that way...but at the rate L1 eats them I may not get to test how long they will last.

Choosing the first one to try.












Mmmmmm. Crunchy and juicy!













Success!

A Productive Weekend

I had a productive weekend in the kitchen! It was fun and of course L1 helped with most of the items. We froze another batch of sugar, I mean corn. This stuff is SO good. It's hard to stop eating it while I'm cutting it off the ear. Adam also lingers waiting for a break in the cutting so he can grab some out of the bowl. The purpose is to freeze it now so we can enjoy fresh tasting corn in the middle of the winter, but I'm not sure it's going to last that long!

We also made another batch of zucchini bread to freeze. My grandma recently gave me this tool for the kitchen. I love it because it's L1 friendly. There's so much more he can do since he doesn't risk shredding his fingers along with the food.
"Look, mom, it's growing!" I'm no teacher, but it sure seems he learns a lot in many different subjects by helping in the kitchen.Next up was a batch of pickles. No canning here. We're trying fermented half-sours. The method doesn't even use a hot brine so it should yield crispy pickles! Here's Mr. Serious getting to work.
I also finally conquered that darn pie. This is one of Adam's favorite desserts and for some reason mine never set up. This one did, so hopefully I've finally got THE recipe that works for me, and my stove that takes SO long to boil everything.
Last week I got a bag of baby carrots for free with a coupon. None of us are fans of raw carrots so we made a batch of honey glazed carrots to freeze. Not a lot, but once I know they work I can get more next time. The boys just gobble those up. We also did a small batch of freezer pickles with the cucumbers we had left.

We also got grape jelly, a crock pot of spaghetti sauce and a batch of breakfast burritos made.
So where is L2 during all of this!?!?
He patiently sits right here enjoying the action. I like to think he's dreaming of the day when he can help.

But right now he loves being the watchful and willing taste-tester.
You can't sneak a bite past this one, he'll call ya on it!