December 19th: Jenn's Bits & Bites and Spiced Sugar Cookies

Christmas Eve eve party crunch is on. Every night this week is devoted to food prep for the party. Monday night, after a too-long bus ride home, I set to work to get recipes underway before I scooted off to a much-needed pre-natal yoga class to keep me sane. Also, sometimes I nap during the relaxation part of class. I really, really hope I don’t snore. I also do this on my too-long bus rides. One must sleep wherever one can manage the time. Even sometimes when one is supposed to be mindfully meditating.

I asked my friend Jenn for her Bits & Bites recipe after she posted to facebook how great her house was smelling as she was making them. These are “Grandma Welling’s Bits & Bites,” but I do not know who Grandma Welling is, so I’m calling it “Jenn’s Bits & Bites.” This recipe makes a ridiculous amount of bits and bites. Seriously. Do not make the full recipe unless you are having a party. Thank goodness I am. Here’s the recipe, followed by my many comments:

Jenn’s Nuts and Bolts

1 lb unsalted butter
1 tsp Tabasco sauce
3 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 box unsalted pretzel sticks or circular
1 box Shreddies
1 box Cheerios
1 lb or more almonds
1 lb or more unsalted peanuts or mixed nuts

3 tsp summer savory
3 tsp celery salt
3 tsp onion salt
3 tsp garlic salt

Melt butter, add Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce.

Mix pretzels, cereals and nuts in roaster. Pour spiced butter over. Stir.

In small bowl, blend dry spices. Sprinkle over buttered cereals. Stir.

Bake uncovered at 200 degrees for 2 hrs. Stir occasionally.

Store in jars when cool.

So here’s my beef: I hate when recipes say “1 box” or “1 bag” of an item, when that item comes in many different-sized boxes or bags. I ended up going with 550 g Shreddies, 400 g Cheerios and 400 g pretzel sticks – which, by the way, do not come in unsalted variations, to my knowledge. I assumed if the recipe calls for 1 lb of butter, it must need a fair amount of dry goods to coat. I did not realize that once I opened all those boxes and bags and tried to dump the contents together, that I wouldn’t actually be able to dump them all together because OH MY GOD this recipe makes A LOT!!!! Way more than any pan or bowl I own can hold. Second beef: recipes that don’t tell you how much they make. When I read “mix in roaster,” I was thinking a roasting pan, and no problem, I have lots of those. No, no, it can only mean a turkey roaster, like for a huge family Christmas turkey dinner. This, I do not have. After much stress and debate and texting our neighbours to potentially borrow their turkey roaster, I ended up splitting the recipe between my now-seemingly-miniature chicken roasting pan, and my previously-considered-huge stock pot. Then, last minute, I decided to spice up one of the pots. 1 tsp of Tabasco to 1 lb of butter seemed a little pointless, so while the first pan had ½ tsp Tabasco in it, the second had ½ tsp plus 1 tbsp Tabasco, and ended up with a pleasant spiciness. (I melted some extra butter and added the Tabasco to that, then drizzled it over the second pot, so the spicy variety is also a bit more buttery.) Then I left the pots for Greg to tend and I went and stretched and tuned into in utero baby and slept when I should have meditated.

Yup, that's half.

The thing is, the recipe is quite tasty, and for all the stress it caused me in my tired and hungry state, I would make it again, but maybe only half the recipe next time!

Sunday night I had mixed up some dough for Spiced Sugar Cookies, and once home from yoga, I got to rolling and cutting and baking, which is an exercise in patience for sure. A baker, I am not. Poor O was hoping to help me with these cookies, but I worked on them both nights after she was in bed. There are simply not enough hours in the day. I made these sugar cookies last year, but this year I tried the spiced variety. Have a mentioned my love for cardamom in the past? Sometimes, if I am feeling a need to relax, I will take the jar of cardamom out of the cupboard, remove the lid, and lightly inhale the scent. I. Simply. Love. It. [I have mentioned this. I'll try not to again.] These are basic sugar cookies, with cardamom and cinnamon added. A bit more flavour, a bit darker in colour, but with the same dry, crunchy, deliciously simple sugar cookie base. Yummy.

Sleep? Not nearly enough. Ever.

January 15th: Kid-friendly party food

Olivia has a birthday fast approaching. Saturday we threw a little party for her in advance of the big day. I made a few kid-friendly party foods that I saw on an episode of Ricardo and Friends when I was in Winnipeg. It was like it was meant to be: I was trying to figure out what to make for O's party, and R had an episode in which he hosts a kids' party. Magic! I tried out three of his recipes: Sweet & Salty Party Mix, Strawberry Slush and Mexican Layered Nacho Dip. For the most part, my kid will eat anything, so I don't normally worry about having "kid friendly" food in the house for her. However, this is not the case for all children, so I was trying to be mindful of this when choosing food. I think I did okay with the cheesies, fruit and veggies. I couldn't fully commit though: my egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches had "green stuff" in them: celery and green onions. I chopped them fine though!

I liked all three of these recipes and will make them again. My kid liked the slush made with Perrier; the others preferred still water. The nacho dip may not have been ideal for kiddies (I used medium salsa and old Cheddar; I couldn't help myself!) but the party mix was favourably received.

Super happy (almost) birthday girl!