Cool Whip Substitute #2

Here is yet another substitute for Cool Whip, or a way to stabilize cream.

Stabilized Whipped Cream
1 cup whipping cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
Use powdered sugar, not granulated sugar, when sweetening the cream. The cornstarch in the powdered sugar absorbs some of the liquid, so the cream holds its shape for at least 24 hours.

I used this as a topping on a cream pie and it didn't go runny or soggy after a whole day. I don't know exactly how long it will last, but the pie didn't stay around for longer than that.

Cool Whip Substitute

I know that Cool Whip (or the generic equivalent) is actually a substitute for whipped cream. Our family doesn't eat Cool Whip, at least not when we are in charge of making the food. However, some recipes require Cool Whip since it maintains its shape and probably never really melts. To get around that stumbling block, you can use stabilized whipped cream. (It tastes better than Cool Whip anyway).

Stabilized Whipped Cream
1 packet unflavored gelatin (about 3 tsp.)
2 Tb. cold water
¼ cup boiling water
2 cups whipping cream
¼-1/2 cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
Pour the cold water over the gelatin and let it soften. Then pour the boiling water over and mix until it dissolves completely. Let it cool, but don’t let it set. Whip cream until mostly thick. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat in the gelatin and finish whipping the cream. Cool the cream in the fridge for about half an hour before using it, though it will keep for a few days. The water proportions to gelatin seem to be about 2 Tb. for each teaspoon of gelatin.

How to make a star-shaped cake

To make a star-shaped cake without using a star-shaped cake pan, you need two round cake pans. Mine were both 9-in. pans, but it would probably work better if one was an 8-inch pan and the other was 9-inches.
Cut a pentagon shape on one of the circles (the smaller one, if you have a smaller one). Use a ruler to make all the sides the same length.
Cut six pie shapes from the other round cake. I used a protractor to get them all the same size.
Trim off the rounded edge on the pie shapes and then put them together along the flat sides of the pentagon shape. This photo still has the rounded edges on the pie shapes since I was actually doing a differently shaped cake. The frosting will hide all the seams quite nicely.
This was the cake I was trying to make--Ft. McHenry of Star-Spangled Banner fame--before it got frosted. As you can see, this is a variation of a star-shaped cake.

What to do with sick kids

So what do you do with more than one sick child? Here are a few things I've done so far:

• Run to the pharmacy/Wal-Mart and stock up on ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and Kleenix.
• Clean out the humidifiers and start running them all night and part of the day.
• Splurge and buy a (cheap) surprise game for the children--I'll pull it out when all else fails to entertain.
• Check the pantry and freezer to make sure there is enough food to feed the family in case I'm too sick to go to the store.
• Make up a detailed chart to keep track of temperatures and medication. After several years of just writing this down on scraps of paper, I finally made an Excel chart to record data on each child. This way I know each child's temperature and when they've had medication.
  

Do you have things that work well for your family? I'm always happy to hear suggestions.

Shower Power

I was complaining to Kirk that none of the cleaners seem to work like the old Shower Power did. He searched on the Internet and found out that you can still buy some direct from the family of the man who developed it (here). I ordered a few bottles, even though it is more expensive that way than when you could get it at Wal-Mart. Now I'll see if it really cleans things, or if I was just having fond, but incorrect, memories of it.

Another chocolate chip recipe

[This is a variation of a recipe I saw in the Penzey's catalog; I changed a few things, including amounts.]

Chocolate Chip Cookie

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 small box instant pudding mix (3/4 cup)
2-1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup nuts, chopped

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, vanilla, and pudding mix. Sift flour, soda, and salt, and add to the batter. Mix in chips and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. This recipe makes cookies that do not go flat and crispy; they are still soft and chewy a day or two afterward. I used chocolate pudding mix for a chocolate-chocolate chip recipe. You can also use a vanilla pudding mix for a more traditional cookie.

I probably wouldn't do pistachio pudding, though maybe with pistachio nuts instead of pecans or walnuts and red mini-M&Ms, it might work as a funny green and red Christmas cookie. I suppose you can also make this as a bar cookie by putting the batter in a 9x13 pan and baking for 15 minutes or so until done.

What to do with 280 straws

If you don't mind the mess, letting children play with straws can occupy them for hours on end. The only thing I don't like is if the straws then get used with liquids.
The children spent two days playing with these straws. We finally managed to clean them up after they were tired of that game.

Spritz cookies with Jell-O variation

Spritz cookies

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
2-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2-1/2 c. flour
Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg. Mix in the other ingredients. Put in a cookie press and form cookies onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Jell-O variation
Replace 1/3 c. to 1/2 c. of the sugar with Jell-O. The easiest way to do this is to pour the amount into a measuring cup and then add sugar to fill up 1 cup. (A 3 oz. package of Jell-O is about 6 Tb.) Mix and bake as directed above. You can use whatever color and flavor of Jell-O you wish. Smaller amounts of Jell-O will make the flavor and color a bit less intense.

Note: The Jell-O cookies in the cookbook don't seem to work well with the cookie press, at least for people at higher altitudes. This version seems to work fine, as you can see from the picture.

Volcanoes

You can make your own volcanoes and explode them at home. To do this the boys took some old play-dough and shaped a volcano out of it. I had them put it on a plate or tray with sides. Then we put a little cup in the top center (the crater or vent). I filled the cup with a tablespoon or two of baking soda. Then I poured white vinegar into the cup. It fizzed and "exploded." We did this over and over, adding more baking soda as needed, until the plate or tray was filled with vinegar. You can also put the vinegar in first and then add the baking soda.
Some books have you built the volcano out of plaster of Paris. I just threw away the play-dough when we were done.

"Play-dough" candy

Here is a recipe for some food storage candy that Mom sent. She said it was originally from me, probably when I was in grade school.


Peanut Butter Kisses
Makes about 24 kisses

2 cups dry (powdered, non-instant) milk
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut
Mix dry milk, peanut butter, and honey in two-quart bowl. Roll dough into balls. Roll balls in coconut.

I gave the children the crumbly mess and let them mix it up and play with it. It was sort of like edible play dough. I let them roll their snakes and balls and figures in some sprinkles. The candy doesn't really taste that good, but it is edible.
Lucy even enjoyed playing with the stuff and eating bits of it.

In praise of peanut butter

Let us all sing songs in praise of peanut butter. Besides being the almost perfect food (unless you are allergic to peanuts, of course), peanut butter is a very good cleaner for some sticky items. Actually it is probably the peanut oil that is the cleaner, but we are more likely to have jars of peanut butter than peanut oil sitting around the house. So let's just talk about the cleaning properties of peanut butter. If you have a glass object with a sticky mess left on it from a sales sticker or a label, you can rub peanut butter on it and it will remove the sticky mess. Then you just wash the item in hot, soapy water, or put it in the dishwasher. Peanut butter will remove tar and other nasty sticky things from hands and other items. When we went camping recently, one child said, "What's this, Mommy?" and showed me hands and arms covered with pine gum or pine sap. I washed him with soap and water, but he was still sticky. "Use peanut butter," said Daddy. I didn't have any peanut butter, but I did have a leftover peanut butter sandwich. I opened the sandwich, rubbed it all over the little boy's arms and hands, washed him all off, and the pine gum was gone. What is even better, is that the peanut butter used in cleaning can be old, generic, rancid, non-organic, and cheap. We keep a jar of this stuff under the kitchen sink just to be used for cleaning.

Quiet Book

In an attempt to (1) practice sewing techniques and (2) keep children occupied during church meetings, I remade our quiet book. Here's the completed project.
The cover is an attempt at a crazy quilt pattern.Each page has a little saying on it, which you can't really read in these photos. This one says "I am a child of God.""Jesus created the plants" and "I can be a missionary and share the gospel.""I am thankful for my food" and "I love to read the scriptures.""Sunday is a time to remember Jesus" and "Jesus created the animals."
"Jesus made the insects" and "I am thankful for my clothes."
"The Book of Mormon teaches me about Jesus" and "I am happy when I share."
"I know Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus" and "I can be brave like the pioneers and follow the prophet."
The back cover. It was a fun learning project, though it took a long time.

Dinner recipes

[Just a reminder: My goal is to write something about once a week, so don't get your expectations up hoping there will be new information every day.]

Grilled fish
Fish fillets of your choice (we used catfish)
Butter, melted
Seasoning

Preheat your outdoor gas grill on high. Then turn down the middle burners. You want to keep the temperature about 350 degrees. Take a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil and turn up the edges a bit to make a disposable baking sheet. Place the fish on the sheet. Drizzle butter on the fish and sprinkle with your seasoning. For example, I used Cajun on one and Northwoods on the others (Penzey's). Place the "pan" on the grill, put the cover down, and cook for about 10 minutes. The fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork. Serve with rice and a salad for a complete dinner. The children liked this meal.

Parenting advice

I was reading a book on how to deal with your five-year-old in an attempt to get a good idea, when I came across a paragraph on discipline. It said that discipline (punishment) should be only reserved for behaviors that (1) threaten physical harm, (2) destroy or threaten to destroy property, or (3) annoy you beyond a reasonable amount. So, I thought, what actions (especially if you add "mental" or "emotional" to physical harm) would be left out of this? Most behavior in our home during the day seem to fall into one of these three categories. I finished the book and decided my five-year-old was not one of their typical five-year-olds; there didn't seem to be much help there. Good parenting book suggestions are always welcome

Dinner recipes again

I've been searching for a good buttermilk cornbread recipe and found one that is better than the one we have in the cookbook. It is based on a recipe from the book, Ultimate Bread. Sorry I don't have photos. We ate all the chili and only have a few pieces of cornbread left.

Buttermilk cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 Tb. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup milk (powdered milk works fine)
2 Tb. butter, melted

Mix the dry ingredients and add the liquids. Don't stir the batter too much. Pour into a 9x9 pan and cook for 20-25 minutes in a 400-degree oven. You can grease the pan and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes to get hot before you pour in the batter. This makes a nice crust on the edge of the cornbread--nice unless your children don't eat any crusts.

Dinner recipes

Here is another recipe we tried this week. It was a bit spicy, but would work well if I hadn't put in all four chipotle peppers.

Beef chili

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (15-oz) can kidney beans, well rinsed
1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce
2 Tb. brown sugar
1/2 Tb. chili powder (depending on taste)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeded and minced (optional)

Brown the beef and sauté the onion. Either add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 15-20 minutes, or put all the ingredients in a greased slow cooker and cook on low for 5 hours or so.

Oven fritatta

Here's another dinner recipe, based on a recipe from one of the Moosewood cookbooks.

Oven fritatta

1-2 cups cooked rice or cooked diced potatoes
1 cup sauteed onions
2-4 cups steamed vegetables
1-2 cups shredded cheese
6 eggs
4 oz. cream cheese
1-1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
Other spices as desired

Grease or oil a baking dish. Layer the rice or potatoes, onions, vegetables, and cheese. Mix the eggs, cream cheese, milk, salt, and spices in a blender. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and cheese and bake in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. You can improvise with various vegetables you have around the house. I used a head of that funny green cauliflower when I made it last week.

Buttermilk biscuits

[Thanks to Cactus Gal, we have a new buttermilk biscuit recipe.]

Buttermilk Biscuits

5 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour (measured after sifting)
1 1/2 Tb. baking powder
1 Tb. kosher flake salt (or 2 1/2 tsp. table salt)
½ cup plus 2 Tb. packed shortening or butter, chilled
2 cups chilled buttermilk
3 Tb. unsalted butter, melted (optional)

Heat oven to 500 F. Sift flour and measure out 5 cups of sifted flour. In large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add shortening or butter, coating in flour. Cut the butter or shortening into the flour until about half is coarsely blended and half remains in large pieces, about ¾ inch. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add buttermilk all at once. With a large spoon or fork, stir mixture quickly, just until it is blended and begins to form a sticky dough. If dough appears dry, add up to 1/4 cup more buttermilk.

Turn dough onto generously floured surface. Using floured hands, knead briskly 8 to 10 times just until a cohesive ball of dough forms. Don't handle the dough too much. Gently flatten dough with hands to even thickness. Using floured rolling pin, lightly roll dough to one inch thickness. Using a fork dipped in flour, pierce dough completely through at ½-inch intervals, like you would with a pie crust. Flour a 2 ½- or 3-inch biscuit cutter. Cut biscuits without twisting the cutter, and arrange biscuits just barely touching each other on a baking sheet. You can gather the scraps and roll them out again, but the second batch of cutouts will be slightly tougher.

Place baking sheet on rack in upper third of oven. Bake at 500 F for 8 to 12 minutes until crusty and golden brown. Remove. Brush with melted butter (optional). Serve hot.

Notes:
There are several things to keep in mind to get perfect biscuits.

• You have to sift the flour before measuring. I have a regular sifter, and my hand gets too tired to do five cups of flour, so I use a strainer to sift the flour. It's much faster and works just as well. (See picture)
• You have to incorporate the baking powder and salt into the flour very well, which is why I suggest a whisk to mix them up.
• The reason you need more kosher salt is that the flaked salt has more space between the crystals, so there is less salt per tablespoon, compared to regular salt. I usually use regular salt, but if you use a Tb. of regular salt, it'll be too salty.
• Another trick is to keep large pieces of shortening or butter in the mixture, and not cut the pieces in too finely. I usually use half a cup of shortening and 2 Tb. of butter so I don't have to measure out 2 Tb. of shortening. I have made these with all butter, and they're really good. I'm sure lard would make even better biscuits, but I'm not about to start using lard to cook.
• The butter you brush on the tops after baking softens the top and makes them really yummy, but I usually skip this part just to cut down on the fat.
• This recipe makes enough biscuits for our family if I gather together the scraps and make all the dough into biscuits, although I can tell the difference between the re-rolled biscuits: they're a bit tougher, but still great. A half batch makes about 8 biscuits.

Slow cooker tip

(Note: I'm sure everyone knows this, but I must have missed the class/email/blog post/etc. where it was published.)

Before you put any of the ingredients into your slow cooker (crock pot), lightly spray the inside with a cooking spray, such as Pam. Then, when you are done with cooking and have removed the leftovers, the slow cooker will come clean with minimal effort.

I have cooked food in it all day, served the meal, let the dirty dish sit on the counter for at least three hours without any rinsing or soaking, and then washed it completely clean with some hot, soapy water and a dishcloth and plastic scrubber. Before I discovered this, I dreaded having to scrub and soak and scrub the slow cooker. I often would let it sit all night filled with soapy water with the hope that it would somehow magically come clean the next day: it wouldn't and I was back to more scrubbing.

Monthly menu recipes

It appears that I'm not the only person suffering through menu "block." So, over the next few weeks I'll try and post some recipes that I have tried and that worked for us. Some of them may come from the cookbook and have just been rediscovered. Here's the first one:

Pulled pork sandwiches
3 lbs. boneless pork loin or boneless pork chops (about 6 thick chops)
1 package McCormick slow cooker "pulled pork" seasoning

Follow the instructions on the seasoning package to cook the meat (it involves mixing cider vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, and the seasoning). I started with frozen pork chops and cooked the meat in the slow cooker for about 8 hours. After the meat is cooked, pull out any fat that hadn't already been cut off the meat previously. Shred the meat using two forks. Mix back in with the sauce, adding about 1/2 cup of water if necessary. Serve on buns. I used the Hamburger Bun recipe since I had some time while I was waiting for the electrician and the drywall guy. I will probably see if I can find another source or recipe for a seasoning (Penzey's?) so I don't have to rely on a package.

Hamburger Buns
1 Tb. yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk, scalded and cooled (or 1/3 cup powdered milk and hot water to make 1 cup)
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
2 Tb. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
4-3/4 cups flour (can use 1 cup whole wheat flour)
Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Combine milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, and half of flour. Beat for 2 minutes. Beat in remaining flour and knead until smooth and elastic. Cover and rise to double in bulk. Punch down and form 2-inch balls. Place on greased cookie sheets. Press flat with hand. Let rise almost double (30 minutes). You can brush the tops with 1 egg and 1 tsp. water (or egg yolk and milk) combined to make a wash. Sprinkle with sesame, celery, caraway, poppy seeds, or dried onion flakes. Bake 15 minutes at 375°. Cool about 5 minutes and turn out on rack. Can freeze finished buns.

Monthly menu

I'm still working on the menu for the month of May and have a few gaps that need to be filled. I need some new ideas for main dishes for dinner. Do you have a recipe you discovered in the last year that you now make almost every month or so? Please help.

How to iron a shirt

Unlike many things having to do with taking care of a family and home, there is a "best way" to iron a shirt. We learned this from Mom, who learned it from Twila Rogers at Relief Society in the late 1970s. Mom said Sis. Rogers had a teenage son who was left-handed and she saw how he ironed when the ironing board was set up for a right-handed person. With all of these steps, I use heavy starch and have the iron on the "very hot" setting with steam. First I iron the front of the collar.
Then I iron the back of the collar. If you use enough starch, you can usually get an old collar to look pretty good.
Using the wide, square end of the ironing board, I iron the yoke.
Next I iron one of the front sides of the shirt.
Then I iron the back.
I iron the other front side of the shirt.
Finally I iron the sleeves.
Then I hang up the shirt and it is all done.
Even though I know how to quickly and effectively iron shirts, I still look for 100% cotton "non-iron" shirts and buy them when possible. A good white or off-white non-iron shirt will actually last for almost a year before you have to start ironing it. I have some patterned non-iron shirts from a few years ago that I still have yet to iron. I just take them out of the dryer immediately or when they are slightly damp and hang them up.

Creative Play, or what to do when the kids are bored

Andrew received a gift for his birthday from a friend. It was an electronic drum set with pop music stuff. It lasted one day and then disappeared. What's funny is that he hasn't asked for it. I've avoided electronic stuff as much as possible, mainly to preserve a bit of my sanity, and instead have looked for toys that encourage creative play. Here are a few things that are inexpensive, but fun for the children.

One thing the boys enjoy is the roads we make with tape on the floor. I take a roll of wide masking tape, usually the blue painter's tape, and slap it down on the carpet in various road patterns. After the first few times, Andrew got the idea and created his own road system as shown below. He put in a helicopter landing pad, the road you drive around at the airport, and the sidewalk where Daddy waits.

The boys will drive their cars all over the roads. They use cardboard tubes to create tunnels and paper and tape to make buildings. I usually show them how to do something and then let them create their own things.

We leave the roads down for a few days and then I rip them up. You can vacuum over them, though.

I use any large pieces of paper, such as the one shown here that came as packing material, and tape them to the floor for drawing spaces. You can trace outlines of the children and let them color themselves.

The children also like tents, made with old sheets, a card table and chairs, and a few clothespins to hold things together. They really like eating snacks inside the tent; we just have to run the vacuum after everything is done.

And, finally, remember cardboard boxes. I almost never toss a cardboard box into recycling until it has been well used by the children. You can make trains, cars, carts, boats, wagons, and more with a box, a marker, and some tape.

One of the beauties of these activities is that late at night, after the kids are in bed, you can clean up the house and throw it all away. If it was something you, or they, really liked, you can take a picture first.

Do you have any favorite creative play ideas?

Breakfast ideas?

In order for me to have time to exercise (from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.), Kirk has been fixing breakfasts most days. So, here's the typical breakfasts for Monday through Friday: cold cereal, oatmeal, cold cereal, oatmeal, cold cereal. Then, if we are busy on Saturday and have early morning meetings and church on Sunday, it might be cold cereal two more days. I should note that the cereal is Shredded Wheat, Chex, or Cheerios, so it is pretty healthy considering everything. Occasionally, Kirk might do French toast or cinnamon toast. The problem is that none of the children like or will eat cold cereal, so I usually have yogurt or toast as an option when they get up. If I have time or don't have my exercise class then, of course, we get more variety with muffins, pancakes, or waffles. I was wondering if you have any ideas for "instant" breakfasts that I could bring into the mix.

Two tips

These were two tips that Mom probably told everyone. She read them on another blog.

1. Make all the sandwiches for sack lunches for a week or two and then freeze them. Becky says this works when they do it. PB&J works fine, as does some meat and cheese, if you aren't too fussy about frozen/thawed cheese.
2. Take all the clothes from one child and wash them in one load. You can use a cold water wash if there is anything that will bleed. Then you don't have to sort and wash and then sort again. I've sort of tried this with some children's clothing and it does make it easier. I remember this used to be called a "throw up load" when we were growing up (as in, after the kid throws up, you take everything and wash it all together).

Smelly dishes from the dishwasher--no more

Two years or so ago we still had our ancient dishwasher. It appeared to clean the dishes, but when we took them out of the cupboards afterward, the glass dishes would smell like rotten fish or bad eggs or stale milk. So we would wash them by hand. Finally the dishwasher broke and after six months we got a new one. This one also cleaned the dishes, but after a while the dishes started to smell. I did research but found no help, even on the helpful Internet. I had several repair guys come out since the washer was under warranty. Nothing seemed to work and their suggestions didn't solve the problem ("clean the dishwasher" "clean the filter"). Finally the plumber replaced the pipes under the sink--after I put my finger through one of them and the duck tape over that hole started to leak. The smell vanished. Aha! The smell in dishwashers seems to come from disposals and plumbing. When the smell started to come back (probably from the old disposal), I began to clean my disposal at least once a month with the Wal-Mart disposal cleaner. No more smells. Since Wal-Mart didn't have cleaner the last time I went, I started dumping 1/4 cup of Comet down the drain and running the disposal with some water going. I would also pour in a bit of dishwashing liquid to make sure I got lots of suds. The smells haven't come back so far. I think when I get a new disposal, that will also help. Have you discovered how to clean something that seems impossible to clean?

Just a thought

What I really would like with this blog would be to have at least eight authors (women I know and trust). We could make it a useful place for us to swap ideas, recipes, and advice. We could even rename the blog. Anyway, think about it and let me know if you want to participate in a project where you would post something once a month, or more often, or less often depending on stress and life things, so we could maybe help each other. In the meantime, I'll keep posting a few things here as I find them.

Perfect Cookies

I recently started to read a book on the search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I saw two suggestions that were interesting: (1) if you want to have a cooked, but soft, cookie, substitute about 2 Tb. of corn syrup for 2 Tb. of the sugar; (2) you can reduce the amount of shortening by 1/5. I tried this in a chocolate chip cookie and didn't notice too much of a change, probably because I used a recipe that included oat flour and that always does different things to cookies. Then I tried it with a standard peanut butter cookie. For the 1 cup of fat, I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/3 cup shortening. I substituted the corn syrup for part of the white sugar. I baked the cookies for 11 minutes and could have gone a bit longer. Now, even a day later, the cookies are still crisp around the edges and soft inside. These cookies always went hard on me by the time they cooled. If you try these techniques, what happens to your cookies? Is is different close to sea level versus a high altitude?

Cleaning

I was thinking of five things I really appreciate when I am cleaning my house:

1. Toilet cleaner and brush
2. Windex and paper towels
3. Vacuum
4. Lysol disinfecting wipes
5. Rubber gloves