Busy Bees

July 1, 2010

Last summer we participated in the summer reading program at Half-Priced Books. The kids filled out reading logs and could turn them in every few weeks for three dollars worth of books. We got in the habit of raiding the clearance shelves where the books were generally under a dollar so we could load up on new reads. Of course, I would find things as well and there wasn't a Summer Reading Program for Mommies so the store still made out! One of my big scores was a set of Better Homes and Gardens craft and cooking books for families.

So we kicked July off with an edible project perfect for my busy bees... a Honey Bee Snack!

After stirring together peanut butter, honey, dry milk, sesame seed and wheat germ we shaped the dough into small ovals.

Next we dipped toothpicks into cocoa powder to make stripes and stuck almonds in either side of the ovals for wings.
Finally we sent our swarm off to the fridge to chill out for a bit and before we knew it, snacktime had arrived!

Honeybees

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 T honey

1/3 cup nonfat dry milk

2 T sesame seed

2T toasted wheat germ

unsweetened cocoa powder

sliced almonds

Stir together peanut butter and honey. Add nonfat dry milk, sesame seed and wheat germ. Stir until well mixed. Lay a piece of waxed paper on a tray. For the bee body, shape 1teaspoonful of dough into an oval. Place it on the waxed paper. Dip a toothpick into the cocoa powder and press it gently across the top of the bee body to create stripes. Stick sliced almonds in the sides for wings and chill for 30 minutes before eating. Makes about 28 bees.

Homegrown Goodness...

June 16, 2010
By this point in the year, the herbs were doing some great growing on our backsteps. This was my first season growing dill and I was tickled to whip up a tasty chicken salad using fresh dill from our yard.

Dilled Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Walnuts

Leftover Chicken Breast, Diced

Chopped Walnuts

Dried Cranberries Green Onions

Chopped Fresh Dill

Lowfat Mayo or Salad Dressing

Mixed Greens

Rolls

The original recipe came from a Hormel canned chicken ad but I have generally just used leftover chicken or boiled a few breasts to dice up. There were amounts as well but it really is best just to mix it all in to suit your own tastes. I leave the onions on the side for Michael to add. I am not a big onion person and although it tastes great fresh I find that as a leftover the onion is a bit of a food bully and takes over all the other lovely flavors.

Presto Pesto Pizza!

June 15, 2010

By the 15th, I had various odds and ends that were tasty but needed to be tied together in order to be put to good use. Happily I had recently seen a snippet about using leftover ricotta and pesto as a pizza sauce. On an even happier note, I realized this in time to defrost some homemade whole wheat pizza dough that was in the freezer waiting for a higher purpose to come along. While poking around in the freezer I encountered a partial bag of pine nuts and as I rummaged in the fridge for mozzarella I realized I had a red pepper that was about to go as well as a half pound of bacon. Such serendipity in the kitchen! It all came together as a lovely and tasty dinner for the inhabitants of the March abode.

Yum-O Pasta!

June 14, 2010

I tend to go through cooking and baking phases. There are bursts of nothing but new recipes, stretches of tried and true dishes and then there are sad dry spells where I lack motivation or can think of nothing. In these dark times we defrost things or resort to carryout. The festive stretch of new and tasty food continued on this day when we dined on a recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray. This Orecchiette with Pancetta and Peas was delish!

Everything's Better With Bacon!

June 13, 2010

June 13th, was a day full of creative juices. We had our monster blowpainting fun and wrapped up our day with bacon-wrapped green bean bundles and marinated chicken breasts. Delicious! I can't wait for the farmer's markets to return this spring so that we can have a repeat performance.