Filtering by Category: Into the Mouths of Children

Chai Tea Latte: The Anti-coffee

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of a chai tea latte in my For the Love of Winter post, and got some questions as to what "that foamy tea" was.

Chai (or, Masala Chai) is a sweet and aromatic black tea originating from India. It's traditionally made of Assam or Darjeeling tea, spiced with star anise, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, fennel and ginger. Today, chai tea is consumed worldwide primarily for the taste, but the spices used in chai tea, as well as the brewed tea itself, have long been used in Eastern medicine; believed to be a powerfully natural anti-oxidant, stress reliever, mood elevator, immune and circulatory system stimulant and breath freshener. This stuff really delivers! I lived on Chai Tea lattes during my pregnancy with Freida when I opted to forgo coffee consumption. It lent me a fair amount of caffeine to get me through those pregnancy days, and now I really enjoy using it in the evenings when I'm in the mood of a "coffee break" sans late-night jitters.

You can use Organic Chai Tea bags, or you can go with the Original Oregon Chai Tea Latte boxed beverage. The boxed version is super delicious, but loaded with sugar. If you use the tea bags you can add a teaspoon of honey or even some calorie free sweetener. A "chai tea latte" is basically made up of 1 part chai tea, 1 part steamed/frothed milk. You can use any kind of milk you want, just froth it until it is hot and foamy.

Even Freida enjoys taking little sips of this sweet and spicy foam.

(I'm sure she likes to fantasize she's finally allowed to drink some coffee...)

Sippy Cup: Roundup

Now that Freida has learned how to open and close her Crocodile Creek water bottle (which, by the way, dents annoyingly easily!), I'm chucking/storing some of our old sippy cups. Thought I'd give a little roundup of the best (and worst) of the bunch...

1. Weil Baby Training Cup $9.99 - Featuring Dr. Weils award winning BPA/EA free with AirWave™ technology, the design makes this cup nice to carry, the cap makes it sanitary.

2. Playtex My First Sipster $5.99 - Hands down, the most efficiently leak-free cup on the market, be it rolling around the back seat of the car, or neglected upside down at the bottom of my diaper bag!

3. Thermos Foogo Sippy Cup $16.00 - Vacuum insulation makes this cup perfect for keeping milk cold, and keeping tea warm.

4. mOmma Sippy Cup $13.25 - This little digit is definitely the Maserati on the playground; it's wobbly nature means the spout remains upright even when chucked into the sandbox! Plus, all cups/caps/spouts are interchangeable making bottle to cup transition that much easier.

5. Boon Fluid Sippy Cup $5.99 -  This one is surely more about the cup than the "sippy"; the spout leaks easily. And while it looks like some futuristic ergonomic design...it is actually quite difficult to grasp.

6. Munchkin Mighty Grip Training Cup $4.00 - The most frustrating "leak proof" cup out there!! This cups spout is so soft, than when you bend it slighty, it's contents pours out! Took soaking through a bed sheet, and finding puddles on my floor before I finally caught Freida in the "bending" act.

Feel free to let me know if I missed any other great/awful sippy cups out there... Which cups work best for you and your brood?

For the Love of Winter

Though it feels as if winter is deeply upon us, today is actually the very first day of the season... While the miserable rain and sleet continue to fall (don't mean to offend you snow-out folk - but this is winter to us!), I thought I'd post some wonderful wintery reasons to love the freezing season!

- Cozy winter tea times like this one.

- Treks up the mountain for some flurry family fun with this Zipfy snow sled.

- Living chilly weeks on end in your favorite hoodie.

- Lots of rainy-day warm chocolate cookie batter licking!

- Cozy-up couch time with a new-for-winter cotton cable knit throw.

- Break out the adorably snuggly and charming baby bundles!

- Epic outdoor skating rinks - be it with palm trees or Prometheus.

- Hot doses of wintery bone-warming soups like this one.

- The arrival of good-looking snow boots!

Either way, wishing you a happy winter all around!

(Also, check out last year's winter round up...)

Buckwheat Pancakes + Boysenberry Yogurt

We have a "pancakes on rainy days" tradition in our house, and it's one of my favorites! We recently upgraded our recipe to buckwheat, and it's filled with wholesome fluffy deliciousness!

BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES:

- 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

- 1 Cup Buckwheat Flour

- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

- 1 ½ tablespoons Brown Sugar (you can substitute honey, sucanat, or agave)

- 1 teaspoon Salt

- 2 Eggs

- 2 ½ Cups Milk

- 2 tablespoons Canola Oil

Using a bowl with a spout, start with the dry ingredients, whisk in the eggs, sugar, milk, and oil. Heat up a griddle or skillet with minimal oil and start flipping!

After being married for a few years, and making stacks and stacks of Sunday-morning-basketball pancakes for the guys, I figured out that the absolute key to fluffy pancakes is baking soda! You must, must use baking soda. The milk reacts to the soda, bubbles, and that's what yields all the perfect pancake fluffiness.

In order to make it a complete meal for Freida (and ourselves!) I often serve pancakes with yogurt in addition to the obvious maple syrup. I always buy low-fat plain yogurt and sweeten/flavor it on demand. You wouldn't believe the amount of extra sugar and additives that can be found in flavored yogurt... In one company's swiss strawberry singles you can even spot red food coloring in the ingredients!!

These buckwheat flapjacks are really delicious paired with boysenberry yogurt. I drizzled in some maple syrup, and added a teaspoon of natural boysenberry fruit preserves to about 1 cup of yogurt.

Kids love dipping options, and we should be able to feel good about what they are dunking!

P.S. Wouldn't this "pancake pen" be fun??

Root for Latkes!

By far, my all-time favorite vegetable latke recipe (was featured in a "circle dinner" series in Cookie Magazine). Much lighter than the original fried potato fare, these little veggie cakes + a dipping dish of sour cream can actually be a pretty complete meal for the little guys. The parsnip and carrots hold much more flavor than the original recipe, and this is super delicious when you mix some chopped fresh dill into the sour cream.

Root Vegetable Latkes:

  • 1 large parsnip, peeled and shredded
  • 2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and shredded
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and shredded
  • 3 leeks (white and light green parts only) or 1 onion, chopped
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup LIGHT extra-virgin olive oil
  •  

    1. In a colander, rinse the parsnip and potatoes under cold water. Pat dry thoroughly with paper towels; transfer to a mixing bowl.

    2. Stir in the carrots, leeks (or onion), flour, baking powder, eggs, salt, and pepper.

    3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

    4. Drop in large spoonfuls of the batter, flattening each with the back of the spoon. Cook, turning once, until brown and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel–lined baking sheet in a 200°F oven until serving.

    For those of you looking for something a bit more spiky or if you're hosting a wild and crazy Chanukah sin-dig, definitely check out this recipe for Vodka Latkes!

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