Coconut

Recipe Summary
Total Time: mins
Servings:16oz
Source: Culinary Camp

Ingredients

1/2 cup freshly sqeezed lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup ice
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Directions

1. combine lemon juice and sugar in a pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. add water and stir until well mixed.Chill for 1 hr in frige.
3. add the lemonade ice and ice cream to a blender.Blend until smooth.
4. Pour or scoop into serving glass and serve with straw.

Super Sneaky Recipes - Carrots in Mac N Cheese

My toddler Hime is now refusing to eat her veggies. I am partly to blame as I started feeding her typical kiddo food to ensure she didn't lose weight. Now the only veggie she will eat is broccoli. I was chatting to a friend of mine whose husband is also picky. She mentioned a resource called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Genius!

I started to experiment today and was pleasantly surprised. I got back out the Baby Bullet that Nana bought me to make fresh baby food and I pureed a bunch of carrots. I added the carrot puree to the milk and cheese powder before adding the noodles - stirring all of it over low heat. The result I daresay was delicious. Now how can I get in her peas?

Gingerbread Trailer Park

This year proved to be not much better than last as far as house construction is concerned. The royal icing was a terrible glue. I am not sure what I am doing wrong and am unwilling to put in the work to practice. This years effort, pictured below is a bit ghetto. So much for pretty little cottages.

My recommendation is not to trust the Martha Stewart website. Her recipes for gingerbread house making are not standardized. Additionally, what she touts as easy couldn't be harder or more frustrating. Next year we are breaking out the glue gun. The fun part is decorating. I figure the less time spent on the architecture the better.

Thankfully, we had plenty of candy to decorate the gingerbread cookies. The sprinkles and butter cream icing were a big hit. LSO enjoyed the cookies so much he made himself sick. If that isn't proof of a good time I don't know what is. Happy holidays!!

Gingerbread Men Cookies

Nothing says it's the holiday season like making and decorating roll-out cookies. Because of the refrigeration time, these cookies are not fast. But what they lack in speediness they gain in flavor. Originating from the spice giant McCormick these cookies pack a ginger punch like none other I have tried. These cookies also make a great addition to the family gingerbread house decorating because they are edible. We like to decorate with almond flavored buttercream icing.

Recipe Summary
Prep Time: 5 hours
Servings: 2 dozen
Source: McCormick

Ingredients

Flour, 3 cups
Ginger, ground, 2 tsp
Cinnamon, ground, 1 tsp
Baking soda, 1 tsp
Nutmeg, ground, 1/4 tsp
Salt, 1/4 tsp
Butter, 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks)
Brown sugar, firmly packed, 3/4 cup
Molasses, 1/2 cup
Egg, 1
Vanilla extract, 1 tsp

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. set aside.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add molasses, egg, and vanilla. Mix well.
4. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed.
5. Press dough into a thick flat disc. Cover in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
6. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just beginning to brown.
8. Cool on baking sheets one to two minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
9. Decorate as desired once cool.

Martha Stewart Gingerbread Houses

Last year I attempted Martha's classic made-from-scratch Swedish Gingerbread House. It was a bigger endeavor than I had anticipated. The caramel syrup glue didn't work and the house pieces weren't right because I didn't realize the dough had to chill overnight. Despite all this it turned out great (pictured left).

While I am glad I did the homemade version at least once, I am relieved Martha has an easy no-bake gingerbread house recipe that is equally classy. Gumdrop shrubs, sugar cone trees, and cinnamon stick woodpiles are just some of the details that give these easy no-bake houses character. Armed with some ideas from her website (pictured below) this year each kid will be able to make their own house creating a Christmas village.                         

      

        

       

Yogurt - More Fat Less Sugar Please

As a nutritionist, I am appalled with our yogurt choices. Most yogurts are nonfat with over 20 grams of sugar making this healthy snack more like a dessert. Folks, fat is not the enemy. Sugar is stored as fat when consumed in excess. Non-fat choices typically have more sugar to maintain desired tastiness. Reading nutrition labels is a great way to get a feel for healthy choices.

For adults, I recommend a low-fat yogurt with 13 grams or less of sugar. If you want to add a little protein greek yogurts are a good choice. My go to yogurt is Dannon All Natural Plain Lowfat Yogurt. While I was pregnant I ate Chobani Lowfat Plain Yogurt for a little extra protein. Plain yogurts afford you the option to add toppings of your choice. And they make a great base for smoothies.

For children under the age of 2, picking a yogurt with low sugar and whole fat milk is the obvious choice. YoBaby by Stonyfield Farm has several whole milk flavors with 13 grams or less of sugar. My daughter especially likes blueberry and banana. For a high protein option Chobani now has a kids line that is low-fat called Chobani Champions. I recommend the Very Berry or Orange Vanilla flavors.

Note: Consult your doctor, dietitian, or pediatrician for dietary recommendations. My thoughts, expressed here, are based on recommendations by my family's health care providers.