2.11.2010

canada cookies and a question

Adam took all of these pictures this morning while he and P made some cookies to celebrate the Olympics starting here in our home and native land, tomorrow. I enjoy the Olympics as entertainment and cheer on Canada and all of that, but I'm really not that into them. My tune might change when we win some gold medals, though!
It's a very buttery shortbread recipe (when I, perhaps the greatest butter lover, ever use 'very' and 'buttery' in the same sentence, it means extremely buttery. I won't even say how much is in the recipe.) I tried making a Martha recipe for royal icing, from her Cookies book with meringue powder in it, since that's supposed to work well to help it stiffen up on the cookies, but it was kind of too thick. Which might be because of Adam's very clever idea (that's not being sarcastic - it's a great idea!) to turn it pink - we used raspberry juice instead of water, to avoid food colouring. It's a lovely pale pink, and tastes quite good, but it's really stiff. Too thick to easily pipe onto cookies. And it doesn't stick very well to the tops of the cookies, either. I've never made it before, and it called for leaving it to mix on low for 10 minutes, which may have been too long. And perhaps the raspberry juice was too much thicker than water for it to work properly. (I just microwaved some raspberries we had in the freezer and strained out the juice.) Either way, now I know what to try for next time!
I hope you're having a good week - I've been busily working away, and have a loooong day with plenty of driving tomorrow. But I've always got in the back of my mind a list of things that I can do to be best prepared for Son #2's arrival, and so I have a question for you:

What suggestions do you have for meals we can start making to have in the freezer for after Son #2 arrives? With Phillip, I had to eat pretty plain foods or else he suffered with terrible gas, so I'm looking to avoid beans and broccoli in particular, and of course, avoiding prepackaged stuff is how we roll. So nutritious recipes (or no-recipe recipes, you know?) made with delicious whole foods would be most welcome! Ones that are particularly hearty would be great, too - I was absolutely ravenous after P was born, and I'm expecting it will be the same story this time around. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Have a fantastic weekend, and go, Canada!

7 comments:

  1. I would love your buttery cookie recipe! I think I must be second to you when it comes to butter love! As for hearty filling recipes...you could do lasagna...easy to freeze...I have a great veggie lasagna recipe...Diego also just recently made this great dish with lentils...I will be posting it soon, you should definitely give it a try (unless lentils are in there with beans...).

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  2. Butter cookies are so good with a nice cup of hot tea. You will soon be posting about the new arrival, can't wait. Time goes by so fast...for everything. And that picture of Mr. P, so adorable. And now that I've met him in person makes him even more cute. Quiche is something I like to have on hand in the freezer. Just reheat for about 30 minutes.Toss together a bunch of salad greens with balsamic vinegar and oil and there you have it a nice meal.

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  3. Here is a recipe for a tasty, hearty, easy-to-make dish that I enjoy: Barley Casserole. Combine 1 medium onion, chopped, 1 cup pearl barley, 1/2 cup pine nuts (or sliced almonds), and 1/4 cup butter in a pan and cook until onions are soft. I sometimes grate some carrot in at this point. Stir in 1/2 cup fresh parsley, 4 thinly sliced green onions, salt and pepper. transfer to a 2 quart baking dish and add 3 cups broth of your choice. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the barley is tender and broth is absorbed. I assume this would freeze well. Enjoy!

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  4. I just want to say - look at P's little fingers(so sweet) I bet he can't wait to have a cookie.:D

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  5. Mac and cheese, lasagna (can you tell I'm used to cooking for Eric?), shepherd's pie, pot pie, soups, meatballs, chili, spaghetti sauce

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  6. I made lasagna and stuck it in the freezer before the newt arrived (using this recipe: www.marthastewart.com/recipe/vegetable-lasagna). I also made some yummy split pea soup for the freezer. The recipe came from Love Soup by Anna Thomas. It's available at the library and is a fantastic soup book.

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  7. Psst! The March issue of Everyday Food has a section on freezer recipes!

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Thanks so much for your comments - I read and appreciate each one! Sorry about the word verification - the spammers found me and it became necessary. Thanks for taking the time to comment!