Chocolate-Chip Cranberry (w/ Almond) Biscotti

While Little Buddy napped, Grace and I tried another baking project.  I like baking with her because it is fun to spend time with her and I am sure she is learning something (measuring, math, ingredient names, to love food, etc.).  Getting to taste the batter, dough or frosting is just an added benefit.

I had a really bad biscotti (almost broke a tooth) at storytime today, so I thought I would try to make my own.  I found the recipe on Cooking Light.com.

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  cup  sugar
• 1/2  cup  dried cranberries
• 1/3  cup  semisweet chocolate chips
• 2  teaspoons  baking powder
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
• 1  teaspoon  almond extract
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 3  large eggs
• Cooking spray

   I tried to make biscotti last year, they didn't turn out.  Probably because I didn't follow the directions, as I am not a big fan of following recipes EXACTLY.  So, baking doesn't always work for me.  This time I thought I would try following the directions.  And I did, uh, sort of:
- I added a little less sugar than a cup (probably 4/5 c)
- Used 2 eggs and 2 egg whites instead of 3 eggs
- Added almonds instead of almond extract
- Added some water to thin out (2T)
- AND I forgot the kitchen timer so I am not sure how long I baked them for....

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour and the next 5 ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl. Combine oil, extracts, and eggs; add to flour mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry and crumbly). 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 7 to 8 times. Divide the dough in half. Shape each portion into an 8-inch-long roll. Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten each roll to 1-inch thickness.

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Remove rolls from baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2-inch) slices. Place the slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Reduce oven temperature to 325°, and bake for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over; bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire rack.

 Grace enjoyed hers while watching Cinderella (her new obsession) on my iPod.  She refused to get her picture taken but i snapped this one...yes, she is wearing her fancy dress today.  Because after all, she had to look like a "princess" for story time!  Obviously.

Monday & Tuesday

Monday: It was a really looooong day that included:

Trip to the DOMES with JuJu(wish I had brought my camera...will next time), free day!

1st outdoor WALK of the season (a little difficult to navigate the snow and ice filled crosswalks). We came across a crossing guard who asked if the kids were twins....seriously.  If you are that crazy should you really be leading kids across the street?

Whipping up a batch of HUMMUS for me to snack on (sooo easy I hope I never buy it again).

Key ingredients are chickpeas/garbanzo beans (save the liquid the beans came in (1/4c) to thin the hummus) and  a few tablespoons of tahini.  Add garlic, salt, pepper, lemon or lime juice, olive oil (if you want) and anything else to flavor (cilantro, roasted red peppers, etc).  Put in food processor (although I got a smoother consistency in the blender).  Done. 

SAILOR SUIT modeling....can't wait for warm weather so we can show these outfits off!

Look at the back! Check out Grace on the phone in the back chatting w/JuJu---->

<--- Doesn't Andrew look like Mark in this one?  I think so.




BLOWOUT (of the diaper, not hair salon variety)
BATH
LAUNDRY (again)
Since Kevin was home a bit later than usual (not complaining, since he is usually home at a decent hour), I deserved my glass of wine that night.

Tuesday: I gave the camera a rest today...I have already taken over 1300 pictures since 12/26/09!

Storytime at Cranky Al's: Grace gets a doughnut + I get a latte + Grace gets to run around = fun
Grace has made fast friends with the "teacher" Ms Molly, and has no problem asking her to read her more stories after story time is over, the girl is not shy!

Trip to the library for princess books and movies.  Grace is more than a little obsessed with Princess stuff

Picking up muffins for Grace's daycare breakfasts the next 2 days.

We can't wait for the warm weather to come so we can burn off lots of energy outside.

weekend baking - red velvet cupcakes

Sunday Grace begged me to make cupcakes with her....and it didn't take much to convince me.  Of course she abandoned the baking after about 3 minutes.

I chose the red velvet cake recipe from

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Sunday paper.

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/2 c flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 c butter (room temp)

2 c sugar

4 eggs

1 c sour cream

1/2 c milk

1 bottle red food coloring

2 tsps vanilla extract

Pour in 3 greased and floured round 8" cake pans.  Bake in 325degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

I cut the recipe in 1/2 and it made about 18 cupcakes.  It took less than 35 minutes to cook, maybe 25?

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temp

4 tsp butter

2 T sour cream

1 lb/4 c powdered sugar

* I omitted the sour cream and used more butter than cream cheese.

We were lucky to have some farm fresh eggs from Grace's trip to visit Aunt Betty the day before.  The yolks are an unbelievable color of gold and they really are delicious.

The recipe calls for a FULL jar of red food coloring...    I love my canisters, they were my grandparents.  I think they are so sunny and happy.

Delicious!

feeding time at the zoo

Andrew has decided that he is ready to feed himself.  Grace knows how to feed herself but was struggling tonight.

So a bath was needed. 

Since Andrew has pretty much mastered sitting, he loved being able to sit up and play for the first time!

it's a zoo around here

Not much to do on a cold Monday in February....

Remember Elephant Grace?

October 2007

LITTLE BUDDY

Our "little buddy" is 6 months old today!

He is just the sweetest little boy, and he is definitely all boy!  He likes to grunt, fart and play roughly with his toys.  

He loves watching sports, especially football, on TV, just like all the other men in his life.  He has been to 1 basketball game (live) and he sat quietly and watched the action up and down the court. 

(enjoying a packer game at about 1 month old)

He is definitely a milk-a-holic (just learned that term last week and LOVE IT).  In fact he loves it so much that he still wakes up twice a night to eat!  Last night he started to get the hang of eating solids, but prefers pizza to rice cereal and sweet potatoes.

He is learning to roll over and sit up, and is better at the sitting up part. 

He rarely cries (except for babysitters and grandpas...but he is getting better about that) and is mostly happy and content. You have to work pretty hard to get him to smile, but once he does he couldn't be cuter. In the right mood, he will laugh when you tickle him and he loves being rolled around on the floor.

He loves the ladies, especially his mom, grandmas, big sister, and had great fun with Aunt Amy. Andrew has also enjoyed a few episodes of "the real housewives of orange county"!

Andrew is very serious and observant (he especially loves watching his active big sister). Look at how seriously he regards his toys.... 

He may only be 6 months old but we can't imagine life without him!

last week

Sunday

Failed attempt at a group nap.....

Monday

7:15 am - Grace wakes up

8:25 am - "Mommy, its been a long day" (in a resigned tone) Little did I know it would turn out to be a premonition for what was ahead....

After a disastrous trip to Target - i will spare the details but will say it involved a lot of running, laughing and throwing (Grace) along with yelling and chasing (Me) - we stayed home where Grace redeemed herself (for a bit) by cleaning the kitchen floor with a wipe. Now where would she have ever seen that?!

Tuesday
Big snow storm this week - Grace learned how to make a snow angel.  Then we were off to the weekly story time at a local coffee shop, where Grace ran into one of her friends from her old daycare. Thinking this tired her out some since SHE ACTUALLY TOOK A NAP that day!

(Notice the somewhat obnoxious coat with matching hat and mittens - that was the best i could do in a quest for a yellow winter coat....it manages to illicit lots of comments when we go out, such as "wow, what a colorful coat!", "my what a bright coat you have" I am learning to love it since she is easy to spot in stores when she is running away from me)

When she woke up we made banana muffins and then watched dad deal with all the snow....

Friday

Received a generous package in the mail with adorable light up cowgirl boots for grace, cow booties for Andrew and a picture of Kevin.....

THANKS MIKE & LYDIA!

Saturday

While Grace hung around the house.....

We decided to try Andrew on solids...(since he has been stealing food off my plate.) 

and did not have much success.

Sunday

We had a great time celebrating Amy's birthday with her - what a treat to see her on her actual bbirthday!  Grace loved practicing for her upcoming birthday party by helping blow out candles and open presents.