How to take a cake from crumbled disaster to fabulous

My most recent semi-disaster-turned-to-life-lesson came in the form of a cake. After baking a quintuplet batch of banana bread, I forgot to flour my pans when making my daughter's birthday cake. It was a crumbled mess. Rather than let it go to waste, I got a little creative. My daughter was delighted wth the result. I chronicle the steps I took from start to finish in today's article on Examiner: "How to take a cake from disaster to fabulous".

A Gingerbread House Making Birthday Party

My daughter's eleventh birthday party was a success! Although we were expecting a blizzard tonight and the snow was just starting to fall as the party started, most of the girls who live close by still came. They had a great time assembling their own mini-heroes, gingerbread houses, and cupcakes, while singing to Christmas and radio music. Then they all bundled up and went out to play in the snow. Please go to my Examiner article for pictures and instructions on how to bake the gingerbread house pieces and set up for a housemaking party.

Why moms should ignore all the dieting articles and enjoy their Christmas cookies

Today's Examiner column is a re-run of a rant I went on last Advent about women's magazines that tell us we can lose five pounds by Christmas. I claim that this is the very worst thing you can do for yourself. We should enjoy our Christmas cookies and start working out in January. Use a little moderation and common sense here. A good friend of mine gained five pounds after following my advice and blaimed it on my article. Please click here to read it.

Brownie Pie

This is another of my “accidental” creations. I whipped up a box of brownie mix, only to find that my 8 x 8 glass Pyrex dishes were not clean. So I poured it into a glass Pyrex pie plate. The kids thought it was really neat, and devoured it all in one sitting after baseball last night.

Hungarian Cookies

This is our version of “Non Plus Ultra”. We turned them into miniature sandwich cookies. The entire original family recipe appears in the classic by George Lang (1971), “The Cuisine of Hungary” (Crown Publishers, Inc., New York).

This is a multi-step recipe. First you cook the cookies for 15 minutes. Then coat one side with meringue and let them sit in the hot oven to dry for 30 minutes. Then you put the jam on the uncoated side and make the sandwiches.

In the family recipe by George Lang, you would cut out 2-inch cookies, then cut out a 1-inch hole in half of them. The whole cookie would go on the bottom, then the jam, with the disc on top so that the jam shows through the middle. You can use any kind of jam. We used strawberry.

I made the batter and meringue and my 11-year-old daughter did the rest of the work, to bring in to school as samples of Hungarian cuisine. The reason we made them so small is we had run out of eggs and could not make more batter!

My daughter saved me one. It was so flaky and moist that it melted in my mouth! If they didn’t take all day to make I’d make them everyday!

Elizabeth’s Most Chocolaty Pudding Pie Ever

Pre-bake pie crust.

Melt three squares of semi-sweet bakers’ chocolate. Spread on crust. Coverage does not necessarily have to be complete or even. Let cool until chocolate has solidified.


Prepare chocolate instant pudding mix according to pie directions on box. Pour into pie shell.

Top with lots of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Refrigerate for time suggested on box. Do not cover until pudding has set.

Enjoy!

Christmas Company, and a Birthday Party

Things are usually pretty quiet in my house, taking into consideration the four kids who live here. This week I hosted Christmas as well as a birthday party for my daughter. I have had company every day, with more expected through the New Year! It has been very exciting, albeit quite the whirlwind.



My daughter’s ten-year-old “Design-your-own” celebration with her friends was a success. We designed our own pizzas, designed our own cupcakes, and designed our own gingerbread houses. The pizzas were made of Boboli crusts with pizza sauce, cheese, and various toppings of their choosing. The cupcakes were plain vanilla with vanilla icing and lots of fun toppings. The “gingerbread houses” were composed of graham crackers, royal icing, and a variety of candies.



The kids had just arrived when I heard a cell phone blip. We don’t use cell phones in our house, so I knew it was one of the children receiving a text message. The texting continued halfway through the party. I wondered if we’d ever be able to fully engage Phone Girl in the present.

When the makings of a house all came out, suddenly the texting stopped. These maturing girls were not too old for gummy bears and gumdrops. When the first girl finished hers, she announced proudly, “Momma, Poppa, and Baby Bear have moved in!”

When there was a pause needed so I could clear and reset the table, they decided on their own that they wanted to play musical chairs. They took them from the kitchen into the living room, and my daughter played Christmas Carols while they tripped around the chairs.

Today there was a breather, and I decided to take the three older ones to the movies, leaving the toddler with my husband. We waited on line for The Tale of Despereaux, only to find it was sold out. I decided at the last moment to buy tickets for Bedtime Stories. To my surprise, I was given four free First Priority tickets for next time we come in! And we really enjoyed the movie- some tiny little improprieties that probably went over my kids’ heads, but altogether a good time, with the nice guy having his dreams come true in the end.

I skipped over the date my husband and I got to have last night, the first in quite a long time! We had a beautiful dinner, followed by a movie. We saw The Day the Earth Stood Still. My husband is not one for save-the-earth moralizing, so he did not like it, but I found it to be entertaining. We actually came home in between the dinner and the movie because there was too much of a gap before the next showing. I told the kids to go to bed and realized the next day that I had inadvertently sent them to bed without a dessert – the highest form of punishment in my house! I hope I made up for it today.

Painting: Nativity. Master of Hohenfurth, c. 1350, Web Gallery of Art

For Goodness Sake, Enjoy Those Christmas Cookies!

One of our favorite pastimes in December is the making and eating of cookies. We have been making batches of cookies daily this week, a different type each day; and I keep meaning to make some dishes for the neighbors. After dinner the entire plate disappears like magic. “Oh well,” I say, “I guess we’ll have to make more tomorrow!”

I went food shopping this afternoon and became very angry when I saw the headlines on almost every one of the women’s magazines featured at the checkout line. “Lose 10 pounds by Christmas, Is Stress Making You Fat?, New Miracle Fat-Burning Food, Eat More and Lose Weight, What Happened to Oprah?”

It seems very strange that these titles would be so heavily featured between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the time that most adults tend to gain a few pounds. Women are stressed out, trying to prepare a nice Christmas for their families. This stress is increasing their cortisol levels, which causes them to gain weight. It is making them tired, which causes them to gain weight. Then they see these titles, which increases their guilt at eating delicious food, which increases their stress while eating, which causes them to gain weight.

Dieting right now can actually be dangerous. Cut out the carbohydrates that your brain needs and you will suffer headaches; the hormones needed to keep your mood stabilized will be short-changed, making you irritable or depressed. Resetting your metabolism to using less calories now will cause you to retain the calories when you do let yourself eat at a party.

Most of the editors of these magazines are women, and I am quite surprised that they can purposely do this to other women. I don’t know how they can sleep at night.

Advent is supposed to be a time of feasting and joy. We are supposed to sit by a fire, or on the couch under blankets, enjoying the warmth and the plenty of our tables. Our bodies are made to naturally conserve a little fat over the winter, to keep us warm. I say, enjoy those Christmas cookies, and forget about your weight until New Year’s.

“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalms 103:5

Today we light the pink candle for the third week of Advent.

After-School Projects

We were expecting flurries this week, but the cold weather went south instead, allowing me to continue my outdoor projects. When the kids walked in the house today, I had a flurry of projects waiting for them to help me with.

As soon as my 11-year-old walked out onto the deck, I asked her for help screwing in some hardware. I have been putting together a new wooden swing set for them, one phase at a time, with her help at the steps that say “a helper is vital at this stage”. I will put together as much as I can during the baby’s naptime, saving those parts for when they walk through the door.

I always think of working with my father when I am doing such activities. Together we built a deck and a table. I still have the table and it is as sturdy as ever. I am going to use it as a template for a larger one that is needed for my son’s upcoming First Communion. I suppose if I had an older brother, I never would have had the opportunity to become comfortable with drills and ladders. I am thankful for how things worked out.

We finished one “phase” and put our tools away. The baby was due to wake up, so I put dinner on and pulled out something for my 9-year-old to do. More bulbs! I have been purchasing new species at the rate of two boxes per week. So I had four more boxes of early-blooming bulbs, which hopefully will come up at the right time to add some color to the yard for the First Communion next spring. Together we picked the right spots for them and planted them, sprinkling cayenne both in the holes and on top of them this time, to repel both moles and squirrels from eating them.

My son was busy climbing trees. I felt I had to get him involved in something now. I got out the muffin mixes that he has put together quite well in the past. But he decided he would rather stay in the trees, and the girls were glad to have a turn making the muffins.

The baby’s project was easy: to eat eight out of the twenty-four muffins we had made!

I asked her, “Do you remember going food shopping with Mommy today?”

She nodded her head as far as it would go, her mouth full of muffin, humming an affirmative “Um hmm”.

“Do you remember helping Mommy pick out the mixes for these muffins?”

“Um hmm”, with another big nod.

“And do you remember hugging them and saying MINE?”

“Um hmm”, nodding and smiling even bigger.

Life is never boring here, and my children are always industrially busy, learning skills that will help them to be fruitful and independent adults. In the meantime, I am training them to take over many of the jobs that used to be solely mine. In a few years, who knows? I can orchestrate all the household projects from my desk while putting the final touches on my now-oft-neglected novels.

The Bake Sale that Almost Broke the Camel’s Back

I love to bake. I love to bake from scratch. Most of all, I love it when I bake something from scratch and it comes out perfectly.

I love to know that I lovingly prepared something delicious and special for my family, from the best ingredients I could afford. I love that they appreciate the time it took, and that it tastes better just because I made it.

I love to learn new recipes from my beloved cookbooks, and to teach the skills to my children so they can do the same for their own families.

There used to be a Holly Hobby plaque hanging in the kitchen of my childhood home. It said the “secret ingredient” was love. Scientific studies have actually shown that, given all the same ingredients, positive emotion put into baking actually has a healthy effect on the receiver!

I love to bring cakes for family birthday parties. I am known among my in-laws as the cake baker, and they love both my Hershey’s Cocoa Chocolate Cake and my white angel cake. I make the same ones for every occasion, with a variation on the decorative icing, and they never tire of them.

I enjoy sending my children in to school with cupcakes on their birthdays. I usually make these from a mix, for a number of reasons. First of all, I have to make several batches of cupcakes, and it just is not feasible time-wise for me to do these all from scratch. I will save that time for making the cake we will eat together as a family. Second of all, most children really cannot differentiate between a baked-from-scratch cake and one purchased from a store. So, while I know they are receiving superior ingredients, they do not, and so part of the pleasure is lost.

Several times a year, I am called upon to bake something for a bake sale. If I have the time, I really do not mind doing this. However, very often it happens to be at the very worst time for me. I just know that it will be something I will regret having committed to. They also expect you to write down what you will be making, and I really do not bake that way. I do not have the time to select a recipe and go shopping for the specific ingredients required. I keep a well-stocked pantry and bake according to what ingredients I have available. What if I say I will make chocolate-chip cookies and someone eats the chocolate chips the night before? And if I happen to have enough frozen bananas I might feel like making a huge batch of banana bread – if I do not have enough, I am not going to go buy over-ripe bananas for the occasion. So I really dislike having to commit to making a specific item.

There was one time when I signed up and had such a busy day that I was still whipping it up at midnight. Then, after I had carefully wrapped up the box of goods, my child forgot to bring it to school! I received a telephone call from the bake sale coordinator, asking if I could bring it in. I really did not have the time to drive to the school that day, and had to apologize. From that day on, I decided never to sign up for a bake sale. If I had the time, I would make something and they would be pleasantly surprised. If not, no harm done.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to bake for the track bake sale. It happened to be on a Sunday, right after we had planned on giving out baby bottles after church for the Pro-Life cause. We were going to have to rush home, do a quick change, and rush back out to the track meet. I just knew it was not a reasonable thing to expect of myself to (1) bake something and (2) remember to bring it.

After I explained all this, the lady told me that if I did not have time to bake I could just go to the store and pick up some cans of soda. I said I would keep that in mind, but what I was thinking was: “Is she crazy? I just told her how busy I am. Does she think I have time to make another trip to the store with four kids in tow? It would take me less time to bake something! And what makes her think I can afford to buy even more food when I have six mouths to feed?” I wound up avoiding her and the whole bake sale table on the selected day.

After track practice on Saturday, I went home, made dinner, put the baby to bed, and went food shopping. After all this, I had a varicose vein that was bothering me. This tends to happen when I am under a great deal of stress and do not take extra vitamin E (which helps keep the circulatory system healthy). I put my legs up and asked my husband to put the food away. “Thank God I said no to that bake sale!” I exclaimed. It was really the bake sale that would have broken this camel’s back.

This was really what set into motion my series – which I shall continue – on hearing God’s call and staying true to your specific call. There are so many good causes, and only so much of you to go around. Your number one priority is your own family, and you are doing them a disservice if you exhaust yourself doing too much. Remember the basics of decision-making. Every “yes” is a “no” to something else.

I was called again to bake something for a meeting, this time by a lady who was very understanding as to how busy I was. I also explained that I would be hard-pressed to even get to the meeting on time, given my husband’s work schedule, so the promised goods would not even be there for the pre-meeting social time.

After I said no to that, I hung up and my husband walked in the door.

“I was just asked to bake something for the meeting tomorrow night,” I said.

“You don’t even bake for us any more,” my husband complained.

(This, by the way, was not true. I supervised the baking of chocolate-chip and blueberry muffins two nights previous, but they disappeared in one night. I also promised to bring a cake to the next family birthday party, coming up soon. It is true that I have not baked much lately, and probably will not pick up the pace until winter.)

“That is precisely why I said no,” I said, matter-of-factly, making a mental note to make something yummy just-for-us as soon as possible.

In the picture above are the cakes I made for the double celebration party we had in August. On the left is a white angel cake with white frosting, topped by our original wedding cake topper, to celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary. On the right is a Hershey’s Cocoa Chocolate Cake (see recipe on the container of Hershey’s Cocoa, in the baking aisle), to celebrate our baby’s second birthday. In the middle is a flower centerpiece that I was given to take home from our friends’ wedding, which we had all attended the day before the party. In the background is a line of white chocolate heart-shaped lollipops, which I gave out as favors.

Elizabeth’s Pudding-Filled Chocolate Chocolate Chip Meringue Pie and Drops

I am taking credit for the creation of this new concoction, although it is based on a combination of recipes found in The All New Joy of Cooking. This is what we did while waiting for Tropical Storm Hanna to blow over our house.

Start with the recipe for Meringue I, which is based on granulated sugar. Beat 4-5 large egg whites, enough to make ½ cup; 1 teaspoon vanilla; and ½ teaspoon cream of tartar. Gradually add 1 cup of superfine sugar (I used regular granulated sugar). Beat until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. (Because I failed to wait until my eggs had achieved room temperature, mine never did form proper peaks.) Optional: add 3 tablespoons of Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa during the last step to make it chocolate.

This is what the pre-cooked chocolate meringue looks like without the proper peaks:

To make the meringue pie shell, butter a pie form and spread the meringue into the form with the back of a spoon. Optional: sprinkle with chocolate chips before baking. Use a spoon to drop the remains onto wax or parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

This is what the pre-cooked crust looks like:

Bake in a preheated oven at 225 degrees F for 1 ½ to 2 hours. To test, take one of the small drops out of the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. The middle should be crisp. Leave in turned-off oven to cool and serve immediately if possible.

This is what the pre-filled baked crust looks like. The middle will become crispy as it cools:

In the meantime, prepare the Vanilla Pudding filling. You could use a mix, of course, but this recipe is so simple and the ingredients readily available; you are certainly to find the results superior to any mix you have every made. In a heavy saucepan, mix ½ cup sugar, 2 1/2 tbsp. corn starch,and 1/8 tsp. salt. Gradually stir in 1/3 cup whole milk or half-and-half until you have a runny paste. Whisk in 1 2/3 cup whole milk or half-and-half. Heat over medium heat, stirring until mixture thickens. Reduce heat to low; stirring briskly, bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp. vanilla. Pour the pudding into a container, pressing plastic wrap onto the surface to prevent film from developing. Cool in refrigerator for about 2 hours.

The cooling of the crust and the pudding should coincide. Once the pie crust has cooled, fill it with the pudding. If you like, top it with chocolate chips. Serve immediately. The house will smell so heavenly you are bound to have plenty of customers lined up by this time.

This is the baked and filled pie ready to serve:

Drops can be stored in an airtight container. Pudding-filled pie must be refrigerated and will become soft overnight, but it still tastes good.

These are the baked drops ready to serve:

All pictures and recipe medley owned by Elizabeth K. Miller.

The Joys of Homemade Bread

With dozens of varieties of bread readily available in the supermarket, why on earth would anyone want to slave over homemade bread? My personal reasons, not in any particular order, include:

1. I made a birthday resolution to try at least one new recipe per week.

2. My toddler loves bread and can easily devour enough so that there is not enough to make sandwiches the next day.

3. The cost of a loaf just keeps rising.

4. Just about every commercially made bread out there – even the “natural whole wheat” varieties – contains high fructose corn syrup and preservatives with suspicious-sounding names.

My first attempt was a semi-success. We used a recipe calling for fast-acting yeast. The dough was supposed to double in volume. We put it in the garage, which was the warmest room in the house during the evening. The kids thought it was really “cool” how “huge” the dough got – but it did not even rise a third. It was also “doughy”, according to my husband. I thought that if it had risen enough it might be lighter – and perhaps large enough to make an actual sandwich.

So we repeated our attempt. I let my two older daughters have a hand at following the recipe themselves. This particular recipe (from The New Joy of Cooking) was “Fast White Bread”, which can easily be made into whole wheat bread simply by substituting whole wheat flour. This time we let the dough rise out in the sun, with spectacular results. The first loaf was gone by dinner (during which my husband ate a piece and did not complain;) the second by breakfast the next day.

“I want to eat this kind of bread for the rest of my life!” my daughters declared.

Of course, we ran out of flour, and are back to eating store-bought bread until we have the resources of both time and ingredients.

I think the best reason of all to make homemade bread is that it is an awesome experience!

Before the Storm

The first week of school is always like a whirlwind, especially with the typical introductory half-days of Catholic school. The children come and go so quickly that I do not even attempt to get anything done that will require too much time or attention. My husband, toddler, and I take the mornings slowly, eating a leisurely breakfast while reading the newspaper. I do some light housework in the main living area, before bidding my husband goodbye and taking my little one out in her red wagon to wait for the bus to return.

School supplies having been purchased long ago, each child has a very specific list of exactly which supplies and books are to be brought in on which day. This used to drive me absolutely crazy. Fortunately, they are now responsible enough to take their own lists in hand and pack their own bags. Our summer work was not due until the second day of school, and so the first afternoon was spent putting the final touches on book reports and math assignments.

The second day we were free to go to the beach; our timing could not have been better. (On Friday the beaches were all closed in anticipation of a middle-rate hurricane expected to hit on Saturday.) The high tides over the weekend from Hurricane Gustav had wiped out a third of the beach, which dropped off steeply into the ocean. By Thursday the beach was clean and clear and the tide had dropped. The haze was so incredible; it settled down on the water so that swimmers seemed to disappear into another world.

We took our red wagon and settled ourselves among three deep holes that others before us had dug. The youngest one was afraid of the waves, and rightly so. She was happy to slide into the holes and find her way back up, over and over again.

Our fellow patrons were mostly middle-aged and older, with the exception of a few mothers with pre-schoolers in tow. A small group of college-aged youngsters showed up and shook things up for about fifteen minutes, taking movies of everyone with their cell phones and annoying us with their cigarette smoke. But they were easily bored and we were soon left in peace once again.

I had planned on leftovers for dinner and had a little free time on my hands after everyone had showered. I decided to try my hand at home-baked bread. I used the recipe for "quick bread" in The New Joy of Cooking. I mixed together the dry ingredients and let my eleven-year-old finished up. She was so excited to see the dough rise. Now I know why unleavened bread was used at Passover. Even quick-rising bread takes all night! They were all in bed by the time the loaf was completed.

My toddler loves bread, and this loaf looked enough like cake that she thought she was getting a real treat for breakfast. My husband thought it was good but a little “doughy”; and opted for store-made rye bread for his lunch. But when the kids got home from school, they finished off that loaf and my two older girls decided to make two more for the weekend.

I do not usually watch prime-time television, but my computer time has been taken up by the Republican Convention this week. I am so excited about Palin, a pioneering woman we can all aspire to emulate. Seeing the families of Palin and McCain together - What a tribute to a Culture of Life! I also loved when McCain said, "I hate war". People thought he was a war-monger but his position is so much more understandable after his life story has been expounded upon this past week.

While I work on my post, the girls come into the study every few minutes asking me questions to clarify the cookbook’s directions. I am trying to catch up on all my computer work for the week. After I clear out my e-mail box I then will set about removing all loose objects from the yard.

Hurricanes on Long Island are always fodder for excitement and speculation. The weather experts have long predicted another “hundred year storm” to hit us directly. Most of the time we get away with a few downed trees and power lines. We love to watch the weather channel. The kids hope for an electric outage so we can put our candles and batteries to good use. It seems like we’ve been cheated if we just get a little downpour; yet we are thankful when we are spared a catastrophe yet again.

Photograph taken September 4, 2008 by Elizabeth Kathryn Miller.

Things That Should Not Be Attempted With Toddlers Around

I am able to write this afternoon because the project I had assigned myself during the baby’s nap time was done in ten minutes. The project was hanging a border in the second half of the laundry room. The first half I had hung two weeks ago, and it was such an ordeal that I had put off the second half this long, thinking I would need to allot myself an hour without the baby.

Well it went like a breeze. I had that thing up, with no mishaps, within ten minutes. So much easier than the first half. And why was that? I had done that with my toddler at my feet.

Foolish, you may think, stating what is now, to me, the obvious. My toddler was happily watching a Winnie-the-Pooh video in the living room and I had these rolls sitting there waiting to be hung. The instructions looked easy enough. I opened them, got out my two-foot ladder, wet them, and started rolling.

Two minutes later, I had six feet of it up, was rounding a corner, and my toddler started climbing up to join me. The water was dripping down the wall, I had a bubble to work out, and the first six-foot section was falling down. Having thumbtacks within reach, I hastily tacked up the portion I had done, and stepped onto the washing machine so I could get up the remainder of the roll.

So there goes another chore onto my list of Things That Should Not Be Attempted With Toddlers Around. (I have a friend, a homeschooling mother of four, who started to hang a border in her kitchen years ago, and never finished!) Another big one – which I discovered years ago – is Baking Things From Scratch.

When my first-born was little, I used to bake cake and cookies from scratch a few times a week. I was famous for them! Then my second daughter came along, and something happened. A hard, flat Hershey’s Cocoa cake came to my in-laws in place of the scrumptious temptation I was used to bringing.

What could have happened? I went through my mind, imagining myself putting the ingredients into the bowl. Cracking the eggs – no, that hadn’t happened. No eggs! No wonder!

Another time, I left out the sugar. Even worse, one time I forgot the flour. That was hardly fit for the birds. Yet another time, I doubled the sugar. Why don’t we just eat out of the sugar bowl, my husband joked.

I finally declared that I was unable to concentrate on a recipe from start to finish with two little ones running around, and gave it up for several years. Baking from scratch is one of those things I now only attempt when the kids are in school and the baby is napping.

“What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.
What is committed to you, attend to;
For what is hidden is not your concern.
With what is too much for you meddle not,
When shown things beyond human understanding.”
Sirach 3:20-22

Homemade Long Island Bagels

With the rising price of bread, why not let some dough rise yourself and bake it? My family raves about Long Island Bagels everytime they visit, and claim it is the Long Island water responsible for its distinguishing flavor. There is a chain in the South-Eastern states called New York Bagels. I have heard they import water from Long Island to try to replicate them there. I have tasted them. They are not the same! With my daughter home from school today, I decided we would give them a try.

I modified my recipe from an old book my mother gave me from a Better Homes and Gardens series. I highly doubt the 1973 “Homemade Bread Cook Book” is still in print. I show the cover here, as well as the pictures from the bagel section. One of the greatest things about making bagels yourself is that you can top them with any ingredient your heart desires!

I offer some caveats here.

The dough is supposed to be divided up into a dozen equal pieces. I told my daughter to keep halving until she had twelve. She wound up with sixteen somehow.

For the first eight, the water was not quite boiling when I lowered the bagels into the water. They came out of the water looking much messier than the second eight, which were lowered into already-boiling water.

I also forgot to drain the first seven on a towel before baking. They came out looking more like bialies (so my husband said) and, expecting this to happen, I decided to use these for my chocolate chip experiment. As soon as the other children arrived home from school, they were all gone, so I did not actually get to taste one.

The plain bagels tasted outrageous. My daughter said they were the best bagels she ever tasted in her life!

Ingredients:
4 ½ cups flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 ½ cups warm water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt

In large mixer bowl combine 1 ½ cups of flour and yeast. Combine water, sugar, and salt. Add to dry mixture in mixer bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer, gradually adding the remaining flour. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Cover; let dough rest 15 minutes.
Cut into 12 portions.

Shape into smooth balls. Punch a hold in center of each with a floured finger. Pull gently to enlarge hole, working each bagel into uniform shape. Cover; let rise 20 minutes. (I covered with a towel and put it out in the sun to rise.)

In large kettle combine 1 gallon water and 1 tbsp. Sugar; bring to boiling. Reduce heat to simmering; cook 4 of 5 bagels at a time for 7 minutes, turning once.

Drain on a towel.

Place on greased baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, until brown on outside and done in the middle.

Any extra ingredients should be added 15 minutes into the baking.

My first eight look like bialies but the second eight looked and tasted like real bagels.

I thought they were not done enough so I put them in for another five minutes.

Chocolate Snowballs

Fast, easy, and kid-proof!
A great treat for St. Valentine's Day or any occasion at all!

You will need:
One pound of dark chocolate melting bisques
One 7-oz. bag of presweetened coconut flakes
Wax paper

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate.
Remove from heat to a trivet.
Mix in the coconut flakes.
Using a teaspoon, drop snowballs onto wax paper.
Let dry about one hour, or refrigerate for faster drying time.

P.S. This is full of healthy anti-oxidants - so enjoy with a good conscience!

Picture and title by E.K. Miller

St. Valentine’s Coconut Macaroons

(1) 14 oz. Package of Sweetened Flake Coconut
(1) 14 oz. Can of Sweetened Condense Milk
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 ½ tsp. Almond Extract
Optional: Food Coloring (I used 5 drops of McCormick Neon Pink)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In large bowl combine all ingredients. Mix well.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto generously greased baking sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Immediately remove from baking sheets. Macaroons will stick if allowed to cool on baking sheets.
Store loosely covered at room temperature.
This is a messy treat so I put each cookie in its own paper cupcake cup.
Makes about 4 dozen.

This is a classic recipe modified by Elizabeth; original picture by Elizabeth

Failing in our Fasts

On Ash Wednesday, the baby turned her dinner bowl over onto her head. She looked adorable in her silly “hat”.

Then I remembered what had been in the bowl.

“Flounder! Fish hair! Oh no! Bleah bleah!”

Having fish for dinner is no sacrifice at our house. It is a great excuse to browse in the fish department and try new ways to make it.

My eldest daughter said that she was going to give up dessert for Lent. “All except for Fridays,” she said, “because I already give up meat those days.”

I hated to be a stumbling block for her, but I had already begun a batch of chocolate chip cookies. This was part of my new strategy, based on some advice from my Nanna, to give the baby baked goods before bedtime. This has worked all week in filling her up so she can sleep through the night.

“Are you sure about that resolution, honey?” I asked.

“Well, since we had fish today maybe I can have the cookies tonight.”

Later, my husband decided he would give up his nightly pint of ice cream.

Thinking of the scripture, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” I thought, “Why don’t we all follow suit and give up ice cream together.”

After all, much as we love our ice cream, this was one that would not rely on our self control. As I do the shopping, all I had to do was not stock the freezer with ice cream for 40 days. I thought maybe this would be too easy for the family, and not count fully as a sacrifice.

But then I remembered that this is what we are to do on a daily basis to avoid sin. “Flee from evil,” we are commanded. We are to remove ourselves from situations that tempt us to sin.

I know I may seem to be contradicting my last post, in which I said food was not my first choice as a sacrifice. This is one way I can make it easier for my family to give up something for an entire 40 days. I am also encouraging everyone to make their own sacrifices in addition to that.

I announced my own, to give up “critical complaining”. The kids rejoiced until I explained further. This doesn’t mean I can’t ask the kids to clean their rooms. It just means I have to do it in a more constructive way, complimenting them first on what they have done, and gently asking them to improve their messy ways.

Within minutes of this proclamation, I had already broken my promise.

On Day Three of Lent, many of us are in a similar predicament. We have already cheated on our personal Fasts and wonder if we should just give up, or perhaps exchange one vow for a new and easier one.

St. Paul complained that he was unable to stop sinning. He failed what he set out to do, and wound up doing what he did not want to do. But did he give up and go back to his old self, Saul? No, he knew that “we have all come short of the Glory of God”, and he simply asked God to help him to fight his sinful nature.

So I encourage everyone to stick to their vows. If you break your fast, ask Christ to forgive you and give you the strength not to do it again. That is why He died for us, so that His Blood may continually wash away our sins. This is why we celebrate Lent.

Painting above:
“Landscape with the Temptation of Christ”
Augustin Hirschvogel, 1545. State Hermitage Museum.

O Little Chocolate House

One tradition I have maintained since childhood is that of making chocolate houses at Christmas. I used to make these with my mother. We would go to the candy store at every major holiday and purchase about ten pounds of dark chocolate and five pounds of white. I still have most of the molds for Christmas Easter, and St. Valentine’s Day. One year, my freshman year of high school, I made 66 chocolate houses and sold them around the neighborhood. My mother was then pregnant with my little brother and the smell of all those houses in the dining room would follow her wherever she went.

Now my own children are old enough to help with the chocolate making. Sure, they make a mess, and the ones made as gifts are made solely by me, but it is a fun family activity that one day they will each become skillful at.

To make the house pictured above, you will need:
1 pound of dark chocolate melting bisques (from a candy store – not the kind you find in the grocery store)
1 house mold
a double boiler
confectioners’ sugar for “snow” icing
almond extract (vanilla will make the icing turn yellow)
large multi-colored candy non-pareils
cake icing bag and tip

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. You put enough water in the bottom pot so that the top pot is sitting in the hot water. Let the water come to a simmer but not a full boil. You do not want the water to get into the chocolate. Put the chocolate in the top pot and slowly mix with a spoon until the chocolate is smooth with no lumps.

Remove the pot to a trivet. Using a large spoon, fill the parts of the house with chocolate. Gently tap the mold to make sure the chocolate is flat on top. Refrigerate until the chocolate is totally solid. Gently remove the pieces from the mold. You can turn the mold upside down and gently tap it until they come out.

If a piece breaks, you can “glue” it together with the hot chocolate from the pot. Now stand up one piece of the house. Use a knife to apply hot chocolate to a seam and hold together to the next part of the house until they are “glued” together. Continue until all the pieces are melded together. You may have enough chocolate leftover for a mold of lollipops, or you can dip some pretzels or nuts to use up whatever is sticking to the pot. If you try to eat it all you will get a tummy-ache. (I know from experience.)

Mix a tablespoon or so of water and a capful of almond extract into a bowl of confectioners’ sugar. When it is the right consistency, put the icing into the cake icing bag with icing tip. Cover the “seams”, especially at the top of the roof, and wherever else you want “snow”, with icing. You can also “glue” candy canes and other candies on with the icing. Line the top of the house with non-pareil “Christmas lights”.

This makes a perfect housegift to bring to a Christmas party or to any chocolate-loving friend!

I also make lovely chocolate-covered cherries - but I ate them all before I could take a picture.

Kicking Off Advent: Our Christmas and Jesse Trees

Today being the first Sunday of Advent, we had an activity-filled weekend kicking off this wonderful season. My husband went out for a freshly cut fir tree while I took out all the boxes of ornaments from the garage. I had de-cluttered and polished the furniture right before Thanksgiving so that all wooden surfaces would be prepared for decorating.

It is always great fun for the children to look out the living room window and see the minivan pull into the driveway with a tree tied to the top. This year we had the added wonder of our toddler, who took a while to get used to the idea of a tree’s being inside the house. The dog has been through ten years of this, and makes herself quite at home under the tree as soon as it is up.

It is always aggravating trying to get the tree into the stand, and several attempts are usually required before the screws are in at the right angles all around. This time, we had trouble getting the trunk to touch the bottom of the base because there were very low branches in the way. We got out the tree saw and my husband took off several small boughs that were impeding our progress.

Not wanting to waste any of this quality fir, I had my ten-year-old put the loose branches into a large vase. They were enough to form their own little tree, and we put it in a separate room as our very first Jesse Tree.

The Jesse Tree represents the Family Tree of Jesus. Starting with the first Sunday of December, each day has a symbol representing an important event from the Fall to the Incarnation. There is a scripture to meditate on each day in preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas.This year, we have been invited to join some homeschooling friends in an Advent Jesse Tree Ornament Swap. There are a total of 28 symbols, the maximum number of days in Advent. This year there are only 23 days; so only 23 symbols will be used. Ideally, 28 families would pick one symbol and make 28 of one ornament. They get together, also bringing desserts to share, and swap ornaments so that each family goes home with a complete set of ornaments for their Jesse Tree. I thought this was a wonderful idea, which can easily be adapted for use in schools, churches, and other groups. (For instructions on making a Jesse Tree, go to this article in The Catholic Register.)

It snowed this morning, the first of the season, so the children had a wonderful time frolicking outside. The baby quickly tired out, and during her nap my husband and I got the outdoor lights up. We also discovered that we had forgotten to turn the tree to show its “good side”; so all the ornaments were removed and replaced after we were happy with the new placement of the tree.

We finished making our ornaments for the swap, and turned to making Christmas cutout cookies. Meanwhile a beef rump round was roasting for a lovely dinner to celebrate this first Sunday of Advent.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned…
For to us a child is born,
To us a Son is given,
And the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah 9:2-6

We are currently reading "Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration", by James C. Dobson, Charles R. Swindoll, James Montgomery Boice, and R.C. Sproul