Cookie Madness

The Grand Central Bakery here in Portland is one of my favorite destinations in the spring and summertime. Before Miles came along, we would bike down to Sellwood, get a sack lunch, and have a picnic along the water. They make delicious bread and I always get the seasonal chicken salad sandwich with one of their oatmeal and golden raisin cookies. By the time the rain goes away for good and the sun comes out to stay, I think Miles will be old enough to ride along with us. Until then, I sometimes get a craving for their giant cookies. So, I was excited to see that the owner just published a baking book so I can try them at home. I quickly put it on my hold list at the library.

Last night, while waiting for Miles to settle down for the night, I baked a batch of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The baking book is great, because it reveals the techniques that make their cookies so unique. Apparently, part of the texture is achieved by creaming the butter and sugars for a good 5 minutes, until it lightens significantly and the sugar almost melts entirely into the butter. Also, it provided the exact weight to equal a ping pong sized ball of dough. For the first time ever, I didn't just eyeball the scoops, meticulously measuring out each on my electric scale. The other secret I learned in the book is to take the cookies out of the oven when the edges are golden, but he centers are still look under cooked. You then let them cool on the pan and they finish cooking. It gives the cookies that nice chew that I love so much! Brilliant! 

The only downside of the recipe is that it was written in such a quantity that you might be able to open your own bakery -- this one makes about three dozen. However, Davis and Jackson have that covered too and give great instructions on how to freeze the dough for later use. Now we have two and a half dozen oatmeal chocolate chip cookies ready for our tummies. So, the verdict? Delicious. I'm not sure if they're exactly like the ones we get at the bakery, but they're pretty darn close. Crisp on the bottom and edges and chewy in the center. In fact, I'm having one for breakfast with my iced coffee. The book needs to go back to the library pretty soon, but I think this is one book that I should purchase for myself!

Love Those Greens

I write this as I am taking on the ghastly task of sleep training our son. Yes, I know Dr. Sears warns about sleep trainers and how they are terrible beasts who hate children. I guess I'm just a terrible beast who desperately needs her child to get some sleep!

To take my mind off the difficult task at hand, I read and read all about introducing new foods to babies. Interesting stuff, you know. I learned all about nitrates and how they're not just in processed meats, but can be really concentrated in root vegetables and leafy greens. Buying organic helps a lot, since the farmers don't use commercial synthetic fertilizers, but being aware of how they're prepared and how much babies eat at first is important. Nitrates don't affect adults in the same way as babies, because of our ability to produce stomach acid that breaks it down (which babies start to produce between 5 and 6 months of age). Who knew?


To date Little has tried sweet potatoes, avocado, pears, banana, and peas. Avocado was the only food that he really didn't like. I tried it for five days with no luck. With that in mind, I set out to make Little his next two tasty meals -- butternut squash and kale. I, for one, love kale, collards, and just about any dark leafy green you can find. Despite his love for most of the other foods he's tried, I was still skeptical about how Little would react. He watched me from his high chair as I removed the kale stems and washed the leaves. He was especially excited by the salad spinner as it whirled around. And he was even more excited by the stick blender as it pureed them to a fine consistency.

My baby food book suggested that if kale was too strong, that you mix in a little banana. I was fully prepared to mix in A LOT of banana. However, the little dude surprised me. I gave him his first bite and he went "mmm" and flapped his arms for more. He's definitely his mother's son. It makes me happy that he has so many positive associations with the kitchen and with his food bowl. And I guess he's gained enough trust in me (despite my beastly sleep training) to know that I'm not going to put anything too disgusting in his mouth and that eating is a fun activity that we can all share. 

Thrifting and Crafting

This weekend was beautiful and I decided to make the most of it. Jesse had work to do on Saturday, so I took Miles for a weekend outing with Anna and Elliot. We initially were going to stop for the grand opening of a new Cotton Babies store in Vancouver -- a grand opening that promised a free BumGenius diaper to the first 100 customers. We should have known that showing up only 30 minutes before the opening was a bad idea. As we drove by, we saw that tons of women, men, babies, and toddlers were already forming a line that wrapped around the entire building. Instead of joining the chaos, we decided to go to an awesome consignment shop that Anna has been raving about for quite a while. I scored a sweet pair of Converse sneakers for Miles for only $8. They're size 5's, so he won't be able to wear them probably until after his 1st birthday, but I will display them prominently on his shelf until then. I can't wait to go back when I have a better idea of what size clothes Miles will be wearing in the spring and summer!

Today, it's not nearly as warm, but very sunny. The non-gray sky put me in the mood to do a bit of crafting, but the success of my project largely depended on Miles. It seems like the sunshine put him in a good mood too and he was willing to sit through a morning of chores and watching me sort through projects that I aspired to start, but never had the time to finish. Between me cutting and folding fabric and the washer tumbling around load after load of clothes, he was a happy little dude. Occasionally he would let out a little shriek, as if to say "hey Mom, I'm still here," and I would make a goofy face and he would crack up. Man, it's been a good day. 

In between our stints of crafting and doing chores, he's managed to sneak in two good, if short, naps. As you can see, I've whittled down the laundry pile and am well on my way to making an adorable sun hat for Miles. It won't be very useful here in Portland for another couple of months, but we're headed to Florida and then D.C. to visit the grandparents in just 11 days and I am hoping for lots of sun (at least in FL). Ahh! Only 10 more days to start packing while biting my nails thinking about the long airplane journey across the country with a 5-month-old baby.

Three Day Soup

Way back in October, I had it all figured out. Miles napped like a champ -- three hefty stretches a day -- and even though I was sleep deprived from getting up at night, the free time during the day made life feel just fine. I caught up on work, blogged, and even started cooking again. I was quite pleased with the fact that I might actually be able to put delicious hot meals on the table at night. I had this brilliant idea to highlight all that free time by starting a series of posts on my blog called Naptime Gourmet. Like I said, I had it all figured out. 

Then Miles turned three months old, went on a sleeping strike during the day, and demanded constant attention during his waking hours. Not only was there no time for prepping dinner, but I was lucky to sneak in lunch some days. Dinnertime in our household was pretty turbulent and haphazard. At Miles' four month checkup, I shuffled into the pediatrician's office looking like a zombie and begged her to tell me that things would get better. She very nicely told me that I looked like death and that four months wasn't too early to start sleep training. I cringed at the thought, but Jesse and I were frazzled and desperate. It took three nights of hell to get him in a routine. He now sleeps, well as they say, like a baby.

Miles will be five months old next week, takes three decent naps a day, and will go six to eight hours at night uninterrupted. What does that have to do with food you ask? Well, I am no longer sleep deprived (most days) and have it all figured out again (ha). Naptime Gourmet is officially resurrected. It won't be easy. In fact, I'm pretty sure I will have to seriously challenge myself to prepare something new each week.** However, I'm going to give it my best try because cooking is one of my simple pleasures; it makes me happier and us healthier.

For the debut Naptime Gourmet (resurrected) entry, I have chosen a simple, healthy, delicious three day bean soup. Why three days? For starters, it took me that long to finally get the energy to cobble together the ingredients. My lack of ambition was stupid, since it took about fifteen minutes to prepare. Then, after cooking all day with what seemed like no progress, I thought I might have to hover over the slow cooker for that long for the beans to finally cook. And finally, this morning I realized that there's so much of it we'll be eating on it for a while. I really don't mind though, because it is insanely tasty.

Brasilliant's Three Day Soup

2 c. black eyed peas (insert lame Fergie joke here)
1 c. red lentils (or any other bean really)
4-5 c. vegetable stock (I use Better than Bouillon)
1 14oz can diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh, peeled and diced)
1-2 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. Penzey's Cajun Spice (I bet thyme would work well instead)


Place beans in slow cooker and cover with 2 inches of water. Cook on high for 2 hours, or until beans begin to soften. Add remaining ingredients, turn slow cooker on low and forget about it for 8-10 hours (or until beans are cooked through).The lentils don't really hold up to cooking for that long and serve more as a delicious thickener. Sprinkle with a bit of grated Parmesan and voila! Simple. Healthy. Tasty.

Side note: I wanted to render a little bacon for the recipe, but was feeling lazy and didn't want to go to the grocery store. I'm glad I didn't. I find that black eyed peas have a wonderfully smoky, almost meaty flavor on their own, so bacon or ham would have just been overkill. The point of this recipe is to let the beans speak for themselves. And because the soup cooks for such a long time, all of the flavors really meld together. One option to kick up the spice would be to mince a little jalapeno or throw in a touch of cayenne. But I think I'll just let Jesse liberally apply Tabasco at the table!


** Be warned, I am not above subbing in the occasional baby food recipe from time to time when Miles starts sampling more complex concoctions. I do, however, promise not to bore you with such delicacies as whipped sweet potatoes and breast milk.  

How Sweet (Potato) It Is

Last night J and I started our holiday detox routine with a simple dinner of salad with chicken, apples, and almonds with a side of roasted sweet potato. We also had a little bread and butter to round things out and to try out the sweet french butter dish that my parents gave us for Christmas. You smoosh the butter in the container (the dark ceramic dish in the foreground) and then turn it upside down in a bit of salted water (the other ceramic dish in the background near the bread). It keeps the butter fresh and cool while sitting out on the counter. After all of our holiday indulgences, I was a little worried that my taste buds had forgotten how to process vegetables, what with all the meat, sweets, and alcohol that I've consumed for the last month. Luckily, my dear friend salad tasted just as good as I remembered. 

Although delicious, we usually don't have plain roasted sweet potatoes, but last night I had other plans as well. Little's pediatrician said that we could start him on solids after his 4-month appointment because he was sitting up on his own in a high chair and had shown quite a bit of interest in our food and drink. I decided to wait a bit, partially because I wanted him to be a little older, but also I wanted to do some reading on what to introduce first. Eric & Lea gave me a sweet baby food book for Christmas and the more I read there (and other sources as well) the more I realized that rice cereal probably wouldn't be his first food -- although well tolerated, it's pretty bland and boring. Since breast fed babies are accustomed to sweet things, I decided on sweet potatoes, which are nutritious and tasty. He was pretty shocked after his first bite and had a few sour faces to go along with the experience, but he kept swallowing and opening his mouth for more. I think the jury is still out on whether he's a fan, but for a first try it wasn't bad at all. 

After we put the little dude down to bed, I baked some gingerbread (something I had planned to do over the holidays, but never go the chance) and we had a mini belated birthday celebration for me. What? Everyone knows that you have to wean yourself off the sweets during holiday detox to avoid withdrawal. My mom picked up a small King Cake from Ken's Artisan Bakery before they left since we never got around to making a birthday cake while my parents were in town. 

As you know, every year my birthday marks the first day of King Cake season in New Orleans, but this is unlike any that I've seen before. I'm pretty sure it's more of a traditional French King Cake rather than the yeasty bread-like cake that I'm used to, but it was delicious. I'd probably describe it as a giant croissant with a delicious sweet almond and vanilla treat in the middle. Well done Ken's, well done.