Picnic

Apple Banana Muffins

Some people love to classify little girls as, sweet and mellow, and boys as, wild and rambuctious with huge appetites.  I have not found that to be true for my children except for the part about "boys having huge appetites."  I recently made the mistake of teaching Eero how to sign "eat" and now he will walk up to me and sign "eat" sometimes as soon as 15 minutes after we finish a large meal.  At first, I assumed he was just practicing his new found skill but I decided to stick him back in the high chair anyway.  Sure enough, he wants second breakfast and sometimes even third.  I try to keep up with a batch of muffins every week to have on hand for his post-breakfast snack.

Apple Banana Muffins

Almond-Cranberry Quinoa Cookies

When I found this recipe in my Bon Appetit this month, with the title, "Cookies for Breakfast,"  I knew my children would be delighted.  Unfortunately, my sweets-loving children quickly noticed the lack of sugar and added grains and decided this wasn't going to be as great as they had expected.  The adults and adult visitors to our household found them to be quite tasty so I decided to share this recipe anyway... Enjoy!

Almond-Cranberry Quinoa cookies

A Holiday Tea

As you can see, I'm playing catch-up this week here on Picnic.  My excuse... one of my little guys broke out in hives and a double ear infection Christmas Day making my relaxing holiday... well, not so relaxing.  So although my blogging intentions were good, I have not found a good time to sit down and share some of my holiday highlights until now.

A mother-daughter tea was decided on among myself and 3 of my close girlfriends to celebrate the upcoming holidays.  Bijou was delighted that I had come up with a good alternative to taking her to the San Francisco Nutcracker.  I had taken her last year and she desparately wanted to go again but I told her that I needed a year off to recuperate from last year's experience which involved a few threats and a lot of whining.

The girls enjoyed their tea sandwiches and scones and we indulged in champagne and some traditional English fare.

Bijou had good manners (for the most part) and has earned the opportunity to see the Nutcracker in 2012. 

Yummies from Crown & Crumpet.

Sweet Potato Muffins

My twins have quite the healthy appetite.  It's a nice change from my picky girl who has hardly eaten a vegetable since 2006.  The only one she likes is carrots.  Anyway, I'm proud to say that my boys are foodies and will eat practically anything.  For snack time, I like to whip up a batch of muffins every week.  This week's muffin was sweet potato, inspired by the large bag of sweet potatoes that were included in our CSA box this week.

Sweet Potato Muffins

BLT French Toast

French toast & bacon!  I really don't think you can go wrong.  We had some friends over for brunch and served french toast BLTs from this recipe.  Lucky for us, it turned out that "bacon is one of their favorite foods!"  It makes for the perfect warm, savory and hearty breakfast for these months where the weather is so cool outside.

One Pan Wonder- Chicken Puttanesca

Hallelujah...  I've found a recipe my ENTIRE family will eat!  And it truly can be made in 30 minutes like the recipe suggests. It's super easy and is the perfect weeknight dinner.  Just don't forget to wear a pot holder when grabbing the pan handle after it's been in the 450 degree oven.  I need to remember this next time.  Burns on your palm are no fun, trust me.  It was challenging trying to change diapers the next day with one hand.  Especially since my guys are little wiggle worms on the changing table.

Chicken Puttanesca from Sunset Magazine

Homemade Pizza

Pizza is a weeknight dinner staple in my household and with our community garden just down the road, I prefer to make my own.  The only thing I feel lazy about is preparing my own dough.  I have a delicious sourdough starter recipe from The Urban Homestead but to be honest feeding the starter everyday makes me feel like having another child to take care of and that's the last thing I need.  So... I keep it simple and buy my pizza dough from The Cheeseboard Collective down the hill.

Last night's pizza was this sweet potato, balsamic onion and soppressata recipe from Food & Wine. Delish!

Apple Picking Adventure

We headed up north to Petaluma a couple of weeks ago to go apple picking.  We picked this beautiful ranch that offered organic apples, farm animals and natural beef.  It was a wonderful Indian summer kind of day and the farm was perfect.  The apples were not the best I've seen but the volunteer farm-hand that took us around and let the kids into the pen to pet the goats and pigs made up for it.

{sweet b}

{me & eero}

We decided to make these Baked Apples with our pickings and they were delicious.

 

Forage- An Underground Market

 

I was excited when I received an email that the Forage Underground Market in San Francisco was setting up shop in an empty parking lot in downtown Oakland last weekend.  I hadn't been to one before but was excited to try out the tasty treats I'd been hearing about.  

Our first observation... it's not so "underground."  The market has about 45 vendors and 1,200 people attend.  Note to self: Do not allow Bijou to bring her baby stroller to the next market.  Although the cute factor scored her free admission to the event, she must have run the thing into the heels of at least 50 people.

Second observation... there seemed to be an over abundance of dessert vendors.  I would say at least 50% of the vendors were selling homemade cookies, cakes, tarts, chocolates all made from local, fresh, organic ingredients.  Neither Bijou nor I had any issue what so ever about the LARGE selection of desserts.

Third observation... there seems to be a real trend right now for southern cooking and canning and pickling vegetables.

Fourth observation... Brandon Yee's pulled pork sandwiches are delicious. As was the paella, vegan bittersweet chocolate cookies, all-natural florentines and pomegranate/basil lemonade.

Fifth observation... where was the wine at?  I only saw two beer vendors and no wine. Weird and disappointing for my future market outings when I am without child.

To attend one of the markets, you must sign up for their free membership here.

The Bakery

I've stooped to some new parenting lows since entering my eighth month of this twin pregnancy.  I've taken Bijou to Chuck E Cheese twice in the last week because I can just sit at a table with a cup full of coins while she goes between playing the games and checking back in with me.  It definitely beats the backaches and "uterine irritability" I would endure from a more educational outing to a museum or the zoo or something.  Unfortunately, the weather has been horribly cold for the last two weeks so my plans for lounging around at the pool have fell through.  

In addition to the Chuck E Cheese outings, I've upped the limit of television per day to no limit at all.  I think I may have reached a new high the other day with approximately 5 hours of cartoon viewing, but who's really counting.  I mentioned this to the nurse who was assisting during my bi-weekly stress tests at the hospital and she said, "oh don't worry about it.  Just do what you have to do.  As long as she isn't watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey, she will be fine."  That made me feel better, as did this homemade bakery project we made the other day.

Cocoa Banana Muffins from The Modern Baker