“I brought back parsnips. I’m going to make hazelnut soup for dinner. Your favorite! Surprise!”

My daughter loves watching for a nod to the food I make for these Disney movie nights. She always makes us pause it, rewind, and watch it again, as she squeals with excitement.

Tangled is one of my very favorite Disney movies. I love the music, the characters, the humor, the illustration. Its just magical. I knew for sure that this hazelnut soup would need both parnsips and hazelnuts, because Mother Gothel gathered them both for Rapunzel’s soup.

I tried to incorporate other hearty, earthy things that Mother Gothel might have foraged when she was gathering the nuts and parsnips. Leeks, garlic, potatoes, herbs, and mushrooms. It tastes hearty and earthy and herby. The perfect meal for soon approaching autumn.

This soup is pureed until smooth and creamy. No cream needed, either! The blended potatoes, parsnips, and nuts make it luxuriously creamy without a speck of cream. Finish it with savory sauteed mushrooms, toasted hazelnuts, and some fresh parsley and you have the perfect Tangled viewing meal.

This soup is vegetarian and could easily be turned vegan. I note how to make it vegan in the recipe. This hazelnut soup is also awesome on any old week night, even if you aren’t planning on watching Tangled.

Make sure you save room in your stomach for the Tangled themed dessert that I will be posting next! Caramel Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie (because she bakes chocolate chip cookies in the opening song). Made right in Rapunzel’s own weapon of choice, the cast iron frying pan!

Recipe by Edible Experiments

The post Tangled Disney Movie Night: Rapunzel’s Favorite Hazelnut Soup appeared first on Edible Experiments.

What is CookieCon? Its a three day long convention all about decorating sugar cookies. It probably seems weird to most people, but to a cookier, its HEAVEN! This post is all about the remarkable experience that is CookieCon! Even if you have no interest in making royal icing sugar cookies, continue reading to see some of the magnificent art some people are able to make with their cookies. It’s incredible.

Karen and Mike of Karen’s Cookies organized this marvelous convention. You will never meet better, nicer people. Attendees came from all over the country for this event and many even traveled from other countries.

COOKIECON DAY ONE:

I rushed around in a frenzy all morning to gather everything up and make finishing touches on the cookies I made for the Sugar Show. I was cutting business cards, baking my caramel chocolate chip cookies to pass out to people, and trying to decide on which cookie cutters to bring to the cookie cutter swap. With a newborn, everything was a little last minute! So much so that I missed the train I was going to ride to Salt Lake City. So my husband drove me and right as we pulled into the drop off zone, I dropped one of my sugar cookies that I had worked so hard on and it broke a little. I started to cry a little and then I started to panic.

I could see cookiers all around heading in and my mind was filled with all sorts of doubts and fears. I’m pretty introverted (although I can be pretty good at pretending to be an extrovert) and the thought of 450 people that I had only stalked on instagram, most of them more experienced than me, terrified me. Would I spend the whole convention on my own? Would I be the only one who just makes cookies for fun and not for a business? Would I be way out of my league?

When I got out of my car and walked in, I wandered around for a minute and then headed straight to the bathroom to avoid looking awkward. I took a few deep breaths, and then dove in head first to CookieCon, and never looked back!

I registered and got my schedule and swag bag. THE SWAG BAG!!!!!! Stuffed full with amazing things! I was so excited! This is what was inside the swag bag (also pictured are a few things I won at giveaways and raffles):

Cookie Cutters from Sweet Sugarbelle, Anne Clark, Truly Mad Plastics, Bobbi’s Cookies and Cutters, The Fussy Pup, Sinful Cutters, R&M International, and Autumn Carpenter.   Stencils from Killer Zebras, 2 T’s Stencils, Artfully Designed Creations, and Designer Stencils. Also pictured are Renshaw fondant and scraper (I also won some Renshaw shelf stable royal icing), scraper spatulas from Yoli’s Yummies Supplies, Airbrush color and Genie Mini Mat from The Creative Cookier, purple color from Tru Color, Sugar Stamps, tipless bags and bag clips from Bee’s Baked Art, and an awesome box bundle from BRP Box Shop. I also got the most adorable sugar cookie fridge magnet from Tammy Holmes, but it didn’t make it into the picture.

I also got three Notta Cookies and doodled around on them during open decorating. They are plastic cookie models for practicing.

Then people started talking to me and offering to trade cookies. In that moment I was so glad I brought two batches of my caramel chocolate chip cookies to trade!

Look at all these beautiful cookies that people traded me for my chocolate chip cookies. Not pictured are all the other gifted non-sugar cookie treats and goodies that got eaten over the course of CookieCon. Sheepish grin.

The one in the center was the cookie I got as part of the official Cookie Swap. The rules are that if  you bring a cookie to an appointed table, you will be given someone else’s cookie. I  love the cookie I got at the swap from Flour & Faith Bakery. “Keep Calm and Cookie On” is probably my life motto. Decorating cookies is such a calming thing in my life. I left a pretty little teapot cookie at the swap table.

My daughter was pretty excited that I brought cookies home, too. She insisted I take a picture of her biting a cookie.

Next, I entered some cookies into the Sugar Show. The Sugar Show is a cookie showcase competition. Everyone at CookieCon can enter their cookies. There were three categories: Cinema, Food and Beverage, and Anything Goes. I only had time to make cookies for one category because life with a newborn has been a little crazy. I made Fantasia Nutcracker Suite cookies for the Cinema category. They aren’t as spectacular as most of the other entries there, but I am still so proud of them!

I was so amazed by the many beautiful pieces of edible art. Yes, they are all made from edible mediums!  There were so many that I loved that I simply didn’t have time to photograph.

Here are some of my favorites from the cinema category:
Scarlett O’ Hara cookie by Chu a Cookie . I love the detail and texture in this cookie.

Another Gone with the Wind cookie. The paint work by Chelsea Baker from Sweet Southern Stencils is stunning!

This Brave cookie by Emily Belcheva is one of my absolute favorites in the whole show! It actually took first place in the cinema category. That hair is amazing!

Princess Bride cookies by Sweets Bakery. The big one in the middle is just amazing. The paint work in the background, the silhouette effect, and the lettering!

This Inside Out cookie is by Laura Babjak-Merkel from Laura Cookie Lady. Characters can be hard to create with royal icing, but she nailed these characters!

JUST LOOK AT THIS COOKIE!!! By Cookie Cowgirl. The octopus layer, with the clear isomalt on top, followed by the little boys looking out of the submarine. The shadowing on the boys is just so perfect.

These Goonies cookies are by Fernwood Cookie. I love the detail, the way the color scheme just fits together, and the little biking kids on the middle cookie.

Isn’t the stained glass effect on this Beauty and the Beast cookie from Cookie Couture by Sarah, just beautiful?

Here are some of the cookies from the Food and Beverage Category:
This Bento Box is just so realistic! I love the life sized and 3D nature of the cookie. From the wafer paper seaweed salad to the sprinkle broccoli, its just beautiful.

This hand painted veggie cookie set by Rachel Murray, is one of my all time favorites. I can’t get over the onion! Look at those roots and the crackling, papery onion skin!

This 3D Poke Bowl by Sugared & Iced is just so cool! It makes me hungry!

Another beautiful 3D food bowl by my new friend Amanda Hawkins. Those shrimp are my favorite part!

Tv Dinner anyone? I love the way the breading looks on the chicken.

Aren’t these cookies by Dusty Olson from Dusty’s Cookie Jar just stunning!? I just cant get over that croissant! Its just so real looking!

More beautiful dessert cookies by Christina Garcia from Dlish Custom Designs. I love that macaroon and the texture.

Food trucks for the win! I can’t get over the cuteness of these cookies by Sam Decker.

This stocked fridge cookie by Deborah Stauch from Once Upon a Pedestal is definitely the fridge of a cookier! Piping bottles, lots and lots of butter, eggs, caffeine for those late night jobs, and Everclear Vodka for mixing with luster dusts and cleaning out airbrush guns. So many cool techniques on this one.

I ran out of time to get pictures of all my favorites in the Anything Goes category, but here are just a few of my favorites:
This mermaid cookie by Chu a Cookie is just incredible! The scales, the tail fin, the waves, the hair!

This cookie by Barb Florin of Bakrgal is in the style of an Italian ceramic portrait plate. I think its just beautiful!

This hand painted rose cookie by Andrea Sanchez is just so elegant.

A cookie fairy tree! This one is by Sugared & Iced and its huge and beautiful! I love cookies that look like wood!

How cute is this cookie by Banana Bakery? I love the galaxy swirl and the bright colors.

A pointillism icing chameleon? LOVE IT! By Andrea’s Oven.

There was also an non-competitive part of the sugar show called Cookie Town. Everyone brought a cookie of a house, a shop, a landmark, or anything that would fit in a town. I brought a cookie of my grandma’s old A-frame house from my childhood.

It was incredible to see Cookie Town in its entirety. So much talent and heart! Here are a few of my favorites:

I thought this In-N-Out was just so cute!

I loved McGoo University by Arty McGoo. She also made all the trees and adorable little people that populate Cookie Town.

After some ice breaker games, we had a key-note speaker, Katy Metoyer, also known as The Sugar Dayne. I was a little star struck, to be honest. She is one of my many cookie idols. Her work has a very distinct style. A free spirit style than I don’t think anyone can recreate. She didn’t talk of icing techniques or running a cookie business. She talked about love and loss and friendship and how cookies fit among it all. I felt like I was among my people. People who use cookie decorating to cope. Who feel an outlet when a piping bag is in their hands.She said four things that meant a lot to me.

1. She started as an amateur. She wasn’t instantly amazing, like she is now. Over time she improved and developed a style all of her own. It was encouraging to be reminded of that. Maybe someday in the future I can become as skilled as her? Maybe?

2. The people we all call ” Cookie Idols” are just normal real people. Go say hi to them. Don’t be afraid of them. I needed that nudge. Until she said that, I was terrified to say anything to my cookie idols who were all over the place at CookieCon. I was just way too star struck and I didn’t want to bug them with lowly little me. But after her talk, I stuck my courage to the sticking place and talked to Lisa from the Bearfoot Baker, Rebecca The Cookie Architect, Georganne from Lila Loa, Arty Magoo, and even Sugar Dayne herself! And they were all sooooo nice!

3. I’m not the only one who has an extremely busy life and is just fitting cookie decorating in the cracks. Sometimes I’m so busy, I wonder why I even try. But you know what, most of the cookiers I met are juggling kids, church, jobs, and other hobbies. And they still do it!

4. My Cookie Friends are Real. This was the theme of her talk. How her cookie friends have enriched her life and supported her through losses and successes. I found myself thinking, “yes, but how do I get cookie friends of my own?” I know it sounds pathetic. But I walked into this convention not knowing a soul. I am happy to say that I left CookieCon with wonderful new friends that I hope to stay friends with forever. I was rarely alone at CookieCon and my feelings of insecurity faded away. My Cookie Friends Are Real!

COOKIECON DAY TWO:

Day two was class after class of cookie techniques! It was amazing! I learned how to make flowers and plants out of melting chocolate and modeling chocolate from Terri Lewis of Tweets Cookie Connection. I learned how to make 3D faces from Dany Lind of Dany’s Cakes. Nicolas Lodge from the International Sugar Art Collection taught us about some advanced royal icing work and pressure pipping. Angela Nino from The Painted Box taught us about her unique painting technique and how to work with wafer paper. Rebecca Weld, The Cookie Architect, talked about the creative process and how to develop ideas and a style of your own. Amy Clough, from Clough’d Nine Cookies, taught us some really fun and practical ways to add texture to our cookies. And Lisa Snyder from The Bearfoot Baker gave us a good refresher course on the basics that was extremely helpful. I loved every second of this day. It was so packed full of learning. I took SO many notes!

After the events of CookieCon day two, I headed over to one of my favorite stores, Orson & Gygi’s. A cooking store to the extreme. A huge wall of cookie cutters, a big isle dedicated to decorating sugar cookies, and every other cooking tool you could ever want. They closed their doors to the public and hosted a party for CookieCon attendees. A Nacho bar and Popcorn bar, plus door prizes and a store-wide discount? Count me in! I spent way too much. Sorry, not sorry.

COOKIECON DAY THREE

What a day! What a busy, wonderful day! From 8-4 the ballroom was transformed into a giant cookie decorating heaven. Open decorating!!! There they had buckets of icing, endless cookies, dehydrators and heat guns for quick drying, different image projectors, a paint station, a texture station, a stenciling station, an airbrush station, a wafer paper station, a sugar veil station, and an embellishment station. A whole day just to sit a decorate without my kids and I didn’t even have to bake the cookies and make the icing! They also had various instructors cycling through the day doing hands on demos and instructing.

Each person was given a mystery shape cookie. No one knew what shape it would be before day three and we were all given until 2:00 to decorate it anyway we wanted. We then entered it into the sugar show and they were judged. This was the shape:

It was incredible to see what everyone saw in this little fox cookie. I saw many different things, but decided to make it into Max from Where the Wild Things Are.

Here are some of my favorite submissions into the mystery shape category. Everyone was so clever!
Native American Princess by Katie Grimslay

Surf Board Truck By Sprinkles N Stuff

Gold Fish By Cookie Happy Jackie

Bird in Nest by Sugar Bots Sweet Shop

Orcha Whale by Dusty Olson from Dusty’s Cookie Jar

Colorful Textured Fox by Katie Matoyer, The Sugar Dayne.

Running Girl by Not so Plain Jane Cookies

Toucan by Amanda Hansen from Cookie Concepts

Shimmery Fish by Sandee Moss of  Sandees Sweets

Pokemon by Amanda Hawkins

On the third day, we also had a sugar cookie taste testing event. Multiple cookiers brought bite sized cookie samples for everyone to try. Each person tried each one and then voted. At the end, we all got a recipe booklet with all the sugar cookie recipes. There were lots of plain vanilla cookies to judge and lots of sugar cookies in fun flavors. Think Pumpkin, Raspberry Lemonade, Grilled Pineapple, Chocolate. I found that my favorite vanilla cookie was the one I already use, from Bake at 350!

On top of open decorating there were break out classes all day that we could pick and choose between. And lets not forget about the whole big room full of vendors with everything a cookier could ever want!

Here is a glimpse of what I bought!

A bunch of cookie cutters from Arty Magoo and Orson & Gygi’s, some food coloring, sanding sugar, and a few other kitchen tools.

2 T’s Stencils and Cookie Countess Stencils. I’m so mad at myself for accidentally buying two of the same stencil!!!

A handful of TruColor shine colors for painting and airbrushing. I love that these are made with natural ingredients.

Mister McGoo color misters and a Bristle McGoo water brush from Arty McGoo. So cool! Can you tell I have been playing around with them already?

AND I BOUGHT AN AIRBRUSH!!! Finally! After testing four different kinds in open decorating, I made the plunge and bought an Air Genie airbrush. Its still being shipped and I can’t wait to bust it out and make some cookies.

We ended the night with a banquet. Dress code: blinged out aprons! Awards were given for the sugar show followed by standing ovation for Mike and Karen. Some people headed home or to their hotel rooms, but I couldn’t miss the Karaoke party hosted by the Arty McGoo couple and Lila Loa. It was a hoot! I didn’t have the guts to sing, but I laughed till my belly hurt.

Sadly, CookieCon can’t last forever, but I will never forget the skills I learned and the friends I made. And I am already counting down the days until the next one!

Edible Experiments

*All pictures were taken by me, but a lot of the cookies pictured are not my work. I tried to attribute each cookie to its maker. To see more of each cookiers’ amazing work, click the links provided by their names.

The post CookieCon 2017 appeared first on Edible Experiments.

And its so great! I love this sweet little baby who joined my family, even though she is colicky and cranky. I am just riding it out and enjoying all the snuggles, knowing it will pass and I’ll miss the newborn Violet. I’m not putting any pressure on myself to accomplish anything and just staying calm. We tried to go to a restaurant tonight and sweet Violet decided to start screaming the second we got our food. It was a super cute, but small crepe shop and her wails filled the whole place. We ate as if we were competing in a food eating contest and rushed right out of there. Reality check. I am so not ready to enter back into the real world of running errands and going on outings. Walmart grocery pick up is going to be my best friend for awhile.

But I love it. I love that there is a perfect, fresh little person in my home. I see so much potential and possibility and beauty in her and I get these flashing glimpses of the future when I look at her. Of a chubby little thing taking her first steps. A toddler following her big sister around. A kindergartner feeling nervous about her first day of school. A teenager going on her first date. A new mother taking care of her own little baby. It it all seems so fleeting and fast. And then all I want to do is hold her tight and calm her crying and never let go. So life is good. And when it gets a little too crazy, there are Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie Bowls.

I’m so in love with smoothie bowls because I adore toppings. Its like going to those soft serve frozen yogurt shops where you pay by weight. Its all about the toppings. Except this chocolate peanut butter smoothie bowl is totally healthy and you can load it up with as many toppings as your mind can think of. The smoothie is a blend of frozen bananas, cocoa powder, peanut butter, milk, and avocado. Yup, avocado.  I started adding avocados to my smoothies one day when I had bought too many avocados and needed to use them up before they went bad. A lovely, rich thickness was the result. I loved it and have been doing it ever since. Don’t worry, it doesn’t taste like guacamole. You cant even tell there is avocado in it, except that its super creamy.

I add a date to the mix for a little sweetness, but if you don’t have dates on hand you can use a little drizzle of honey, agave, or pure maple. Or you can just let the banana already in the smoothie be the only sweetener. It will likely be enough if your banana is ripe enough. I recommend tasting, then adding the date or a liquid sweetener to taste. Then get creative with the toppings! My favorites are the ones pictured. Bananas, toasted nuts, toasted coconut,Rice Krispies, pomegranates, and cocoa nibs or chocolate chips. This smoothie bowl is gluten free and can easily be vegan, depending on what kind of milk you use and what toppings you put on.

If you love smoothie bowls, check out my Pitaya (Dragonfruit) Smoothie Bowl from Fresh Dragonfruit.

Recipe by Edible Experiments

The post Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie Bowls appeared first on Edible Experiments.

No-sweat meals that allow me to focus on this little squishy:

About a month ago, I gave birth to sweet little Violet. Just look at her!

She is so incredible and beautiful and sweet. She was 8 pounds 6 ounces with so much thick dark hair. The delivery was wonderful and perfect, just like Violet. This snugly newborn stage is so fleeting and I don’t want to miss a second. Well, I would like to sleep a little… But I don’t want to waste a second on all the extra mundane things. That’s why my house is messy, I’m staying in my jammies, and I am relying on simple meals like these huevos rancheros to feed my family.

Huevos Rancheros are basically just fried eggs served over toasted tortillas with all sorts of yummy toppings. I have seen and had many different varieties, but this is the way we do it in my house. I have no idea if it is authentic or not, but it’s delicious. You can add or remove ingredients to suit your tastes. Everyone in my house is in love with runny egg yolks and this dish wouldn’t be the same with out that golden burst, but if it’s not your thing feel free to cook the egg through. I usually let my three year old daughter decide if she wants a runny or hard yolk and which toppings she wants. She likes it different every time, but no matter how she wants it prepared, it is one of her most requested dinners.

Don’t be too hard on the huevos rancheros pictured, please. I literally threw them together for dinner and snapped a picture. I usually shred the cheese, pile on more fresh veg, and have a slightly runnier yolk than pictured. But I’m just keeping it real. Real life is far from perfect. But I’ll take it. I’ll take a messy, imperfect dinner if it means more time with my girls. I’ll take typing this with one hand if it means I get to hold a  fresh little spirit against my chest with the other hand.

By Edible Experiments

The post Easy Weeknight Huevos Rancheros appeared first on Edible Experiments.

Let me tell you how these cookies came to be: A few months ago I went with my husband to a job interview (we got the job!). It was just a few hours away, but the drive took forever because half way through the drive my husband realized that he left his suit by the door at home. All he had in the car were some t-shirts and jeans. It was late at night and the interview was the next morning, so we didn’t have time to buy a new outfit and interviewing in a graphic-T was not an option. We had to turn around and drive back home to get his dress clothes and start the journey over.

By the time we got to the hotel, we were exhausted and frustrated, but it all melted away when we walked in the hotel room and saw a massive basket full of Great Harvest Bread Company swag that was left for us by the company we interviewed with, including huge salted caramel oatmeal cookies. Its amazing what a stack of massive salted caramel oatmeal cookies that are as big as my toddler’s head will do for a weary traveler.

Through the rest of our journey, I couldn’t stop eating these cookies. They were huge and I just kept breaking off pieces as I fell deeper and deeper in love. I needed these salted caramel oatmeal cookies in my life. Of course, my brain started piecing together potential recipes so I could make my own at home.

Over the last few months, I have been making these cookies over and over, tweaking them a little each time and I think I hit the jack pot. I tried different types of cookie bases, different amounts of oatmeal and caramel, with caramel extract and without, different sizes, and different kinds of salt.

In the end, I decided my favorite cookie base is one with melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar, an extra egg yolk, and a scoop of corn starch for soft chewiness. I liked them better without caramel extract so the caramel chunks inside sing out and my favorite salt option is Maldon’s Sea Salt Flakes. Although the Great Harvest cookies are huge and on the slightly crispy side, I decided to go for a normal sized cookie and keep them soft and chewy. If you like them with more of a crisp, just bake them a few minutes longer, but all my instructions will be for a soft and chewy cookie.

I use Kraft Caramel Bits in these cookies because they are the perfect size and so easy to deal with. I can’t find them at a lot of grocery stores, but I can always find them at Walmart by the chocolate chips, so they shouldn’t be too hard to find for most people.

You can adjust the amount of salt on top to your liking. I don’t like a lot of salted caramel foods because they are too salty, but I find the sprinkle of salt on these cookies addicting. It brings out the caramel flavor and balances the sweetness. If you can’t find Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, you could alternatively use kosher salt. If you like a more “oaty” oatmeal cookie, you can add between 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of oats more than listed in the recipe. I have tried them both ways and can’t decide which one I like more. They are both great, but I get a better shape with the less oats.

By Edible Experiments

The post Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies appeared first on Edible Experiments.

Last February my little family went to Disney Land. It was a spontaneous trip and a trip that our family really needed after going through a lot of really hard things. Our daughter had just turned three and it was the most amazing vacation. We really needed something fun and relaxing, we needed dedicated time with just the three of us, and we needed to be care free for awhile. I know Disneyland is kind of a cliche vacation, but you should have seen my little princess-crazed daughter. The magical part of it all was watching her as she soaked everything in. Her excitement and joy was just infectious.

After Disneyland, our life started really looking up and has been really great since that trip. But we started missing our trip! My daughter could not stop talking about it and we new we just needed more Disney. Even my husband, who has always been a Disney Scrouge, was softened and missed the Disney magic.

So we started our family Disney Movie Night. First, we made a big list of all the full-length animated theatrical version Disney movies and made plans to watch all of them as a family over the next few years. We take turns choosing the movie and we make all sorts of fun themed food that goes with the movie. My daughter gets so excited to help plan the menu and she has a massive list of all the movies she is choosing and in what order. It was just the exciting and care-free thing we needed to tide us over until our next Disney trip.

I went back and forth on what I should do with all these Disney themed recipes. Should I start a new blog, should I do nothing, or should I post them on my existing blog? I went back and forth for a long time before I decided to post them on here. They are all still vegetarian recipes and a lot of them are just plain yummy, Disney movie night or not. Things like Anna’s Sandwiches (tofu blt’s), Rapunzel’s Hazelnut Soup, and Mike Wazowski’s Sushi. Recipes that would fit right in on this blog, just with a little Disney twist. Some of the food is straight from the movie (my daughter loves finding the food we are eating within the movie) and some of it is just movie themed.

Some movies are more simple and some are more extravagant. And some movies will take one post and some will take a couple posts. But I wont overtake the blog with Disney. You can still expect lots of other normal everyday recipes. I’ll keep a tab in the menu so you can see all the Disney movie night food.

Now lets get to the fun part! Frozen! My daughters favorite thing in the whole world. She introduces herself as “Stella-Elsa” to most people. I was surprised when she determinedly picked Peter Pan as her first movie, but I was not surprised that Frozen was next. My husband and I knew it was coming and decided not to fight it, even though we have heard all the songs a million and one times.

ANNA’S SANDWICHES (Tofu BLT’s):

For dinner we had Anna’s Sandwiches, which were vegetarian BLT’s made from smoky marinated Tofu. If you are reading this blog and aren’t a vegetarian feel free to just make what ever kind of sandwich you want or just use real bacon. But, before you knock the tofu bacon, hear me out. Its good, guys. Its smoky, sweet, savory and slightly crispy. If you have ever had bland squishy tofu and hated it, this is not that tofu.

First of all, the water it is packaged in is pressed out, so it can soak up the good flavors. Then it is sliced thin and soaked in a Smoky Balsamic Maple marinade and takes on the flavor of all that juicy smoky goodness. Then it is pan fried till its crispy and charred in parts. Its not exactly like bacon, and I am not saying it is, but it is really good in its own right. So even if you aren’t a vegetarian, give it a chance before you knock it. Anna and Hans would totally finish each other’s tofu blt sandwiches.

CHOCOLATE FONDUE

For dessert we had Chocolate Fondue. We chose chocolate fondue for three reasons. The Frozen quote “Maybe its the party talking, or the chocolate fondue”, the quote “I wanna stuff some chocolate in my face.”, and the part when Elsa and Anna first reunite and they both smell chocolate and start salivating.

For the Chocolate Fondue, we used the crock pot chocolate fondue recipe from Carlsbad Cravings. You don’t need a special fondue pot and you can toss all the ingredients in the pot and leave it while you make the rest of dinner. It takes about an hour in the crockpot and it is absolutely delicious (we left out the optional corn syrup and didn’t miss it at all). To see the fondue recipe, go to Carlsbad Cravings. We dipped pretzels, strawberries, toasted coconut marshmallows, cookies, and doughnut holes. Here are some more ideas:

Chocolate Fondue Dipper Ideas:

• Bananas
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Raspberries
• Oranges
• Pineapple
• Apples
• Cake squares (pound cake is my favorite choice)
• Brownie bites
• Cheesecake bites
• Oreos
• Doughnuts or doughnut holes
• Potato chips
• Marshmallows
• Waffle pieces (Eggo or homemade)
• Graham crackers
• Any kind of cookie
• Rice Krispie treats
• Cinnamon bears
• Eggless cookie dough
• Granola bars
• Poptarts
• Croissants
• Caramels
• Biscotti
  
  If you would like to do your own Frozen Disney movie night with your family, feel free to customize in anyway you want.  Anna’s sandwiches can be any kind of sandwich your family likes and you can use any kind of fondue dippers. You can make these family movie nights as simple or extravagent as you want. Either way, it will be a fun family memory for your kids.

Anna’s Sandwiches by Edible Experiments and Chocolate Fondue by Carlsbad Cravings

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For quite awhile, I have been wanting to compile a list of healthy school lunch ideas and healthy snack foods for kids. My daughter is a bottomless pit and is always hungry, so I am constantly trying to think of healthy snacks for her. So I decided to write a post about my best healthy snack ideas with a focus on allergen free and gluten free lunch packing tips!

While my family isn’t gluten free and doesn’t have significant allergies, there was a time in my life when I was avoiding every possible food allergen. When I was first diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, almost nine years ago, I decided to strip my diet down to the bare bones and slowly add things back in to rule out possible food allergies and triggers for relapse. So for a very long time, I wasn’t eating gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, soy, shell fish, fructose, etc. As I added foods back in and had tests done, I found that I don’t have any major allergies. I did notice that I did much better when I ate meat less often and processed and sugary food less often. As time went on, I got much better at cooking healthy food made with lots of plants and no processed ingredients.

For the last five years, I have been mostly stable, with a few minor relapses. I do take medicine every day, and I couldn’t function without it,  but its not enough on its own to keep me in remission and I have to put in some effort to eat well and stay emotionally healthy.  So, while I don’t currently eat gluten free or allergen free, I have before. Also, many of my recipes are naturally gluten free and I have lots of gluten free readers, so its not a stretch for me to write this post. And you don’t have to have a food allergy to enjoy allergen free food, like the homemade nut free pepita and sunflower seed butter in this post. We love it just because its something different from our usual choice of peanut butter.

When my daughter was old enough to start eating solid foods, I decided I wanted to get her used to healthy, whole foods and interesting flavors right at the start. I wrote a whole post about preventing picky eaters, if you want more info on that topic. I loved watching her try new things and now that she is nearing four years old, she is still an adventurous eater. She loves Indian food, spicy food, runny eggs, Greek yogurt without any sweetener, the sharpest of cheeses, and raw veggies straight from the garden. She is currently going through a stage of hating her food being mixed together, but I can get her to eat almost anything if I play Goldilocks and the Three Bears with her and pretend her food is porridge.

She still has one more year until she starts school, but I know that I will for sure be sending a lunch with her. In my school as a kid, we had amazing school lunches. Homemade, delicious, from-scratch meals every day and everyone ate at the school. Even the chicken noodle soup had those amazing thick homemade noodles. Very few people brought lunches and we did not have the option of hitting up a local fast food place for lunch as high schoolers.  But today, homemade wholesome school lunches are a rarity and bringing lunch from home is more common than it used to be. So, unless my daughter’s school has really good school lunches, I am planning on packing her a lunch everyday. And I am excited about it. Sure, it can be a drag to prep a lunch every day, but I can’t wait to sneak little surprises in her lunch box. Love notes, jokes, eyes drawn on fruit with a food coloring marker. She will only be little for so long, and I am taking advantage of this time when she thinks that kind of thing is still cool.

So while I don’t pack her a lunch every day right now, I have been thinking up ideas and pinning things to my Snacks and Lunch Box Ideas Pinterest board, for quite awhile. And today I want to share with you my list of healthy school lunch ideas. These also all work as snacks for kids at home. I will do my best to categorize them as gluten free, nut free, or both.

A few disclaimers:

1). I am not including any sort of sandwich, because I feel like that is a given.

2.) I am including pre-packaged foods in my list, because sometimes we need something super convenient to just throw in. I am not including snacks that are highly processed. I try to list foods with simple ingredients that you would have in your own kitchen. I actually walked slowly through the isles of two stores, reading hundreds of labels, ruling out the snack foods that have any kind of added sugar (I was ok with some honey and fruit based sugar) or crazy processed ingredients. I know I am probably missing some great healthy school lunch ideas, so if there is something you love that I left off the list, write it in a comment.

3.) Always check the labels yourself to make sure the food you are buying is allergen free. Don’t buy it just because its on this list without making sure you can eat it.

I know the list is super long, but if you can just stick with me for a bit, there is a great recipe for Homemade Nut Free Pepita and Sunflower Seed Butter at the bottom of this post. Its a great alternative for peanut butter, whether your kid has a nut allergy or just goes to a nut-free school.

Gluten Free and Nut Free Healthy School Lunch Ideas:

• Skinny Pop Popcorn: We like it because it has simple ingredients and you can buy single serving pouches, which makes lunch prep so easy. They are completely gluten free and allergen free, too. In addition to the Original flavor (just salt), they also come in lots of other flavors like Sea Salt and Pepper, White Cheddar, and Jalapeno. If you want something sweet, they have a Naturally Sweet variety and a Dusted Dark Chocolate variety, but they do have a little bit of sugar added.
• Roasted Chickpeas: You can make these at home or buy them premade. My Whole Food Life has compiled a list of 20 Roasted Chickpea Recipes with all sorts of flavors, if you are interested in making your own. Its super easy. If you are going for convenience, we like Biena Snacks Sea Salt Chickpeas because of their simple ingredients.
• Roasted Seaweed Snacks: Go for a brand with simple ingredients like GimMe or SeaSnax. To be fair, at first these snacks can be kind of weird and its possible your kid wont like them. I didn’t like the first bite, but by the third bite I was addicted and couldn’t stop. So give them a few bites to grow on you. My three year old likes them, so I say, give them a shot!
• Rice Cakes: Not all rice cakes are created equal. We like Lundberg Organic Brown Rice Cakes in the Lightly Salted variety. The only two ingredients are brown rice and salt. They are good with all kinds of spreads, like cream cheese, nut or seed butters, goat cheese, and hummus.
• Cheese: Baby Bel or cheese sticks.
• Cottage Cheese: Some cottage cheese is pretty processed and some is pretty simple.  Many brands include lots of added ingredients and thickeners. Daisy brand was the purest cottage cheese at the stores we shop at. My daughter loves cottage cheese and I love that it has lots of protein.
• Yogurt: I recommend buying it Plain or Greek in a larger container and portioning it out yourself and adding some fruit and a little drizzle of honey or agave. A note about buying Greek yogurt: many Greek yogurts are impostors. Real Greek yogurt is strained and has simple ingredients like milk and good bacteria. Fake Greek yogurt will have all sorts of thickeners and extra stuff. Some brands that are the real deal: Fage, Chiobani, Siggi’s, Stonyfield, Wallaby’s, Smari Pure, Oikos 0% Plain, and many store brands. I also had a really hard time finding any yogurt without added sugar in the smaller personal containers. The one brand I do love for smaller containers is Dreaming Cow. Its lightly sweetened with honey and fruit juice, it has that lovely layer of cream on top, and its all from Grass Fed cows. I love the flavors, too. Blueberry Cardamom and Honey Pear are my favorites. The downsides are that it can be spendy and sometimes harder to find.
• Seeds: Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, even watermelon seeds. You can buy them in bulk, raw or toasted. You can also buy them packaged and flavored. Superseedz has some great dry roasted pumpkin seeds and Go Raw has salted watermelon seeds.
• Sunflower Seed Butter: A great alternative to nut butters in schools that are nut free. Sunbutter is a good brand. Or you can make your own! There is a homemade nut free pepita and sunflower seed butter recipe at the end of this post!
  
• Hummus: I am a fan of homemade hummus and there are so many varieties. Just go to pinterest and search “hummus” and you will have endless options. It is so easy to make and a batch can last all week. Use as a dip for fresh veggies, crackers, rice cakes, bread, or use as a spread for sandwiches. If you are going to buy hummus, just double check the ingredients. Most brands have some flavors with good ingredients and some flavors with less great ingredients. Sabra, Hope, and the Organic varieties of Cedar’s are pretty safe bets.
• Seedy Crackers: Mary’s Gone Crackers Super Seed Crackers are great because they are gluten free and nut free and only have real ingredients. They don’t even have oil! Oh She Glows’ Endurance Cracker is a great recipe for a homemade nut free, gluten free cracker, too.
• Some Granolas: I love making homemade granola and prefer it to store bought. There are lots of gluten free and nut free recipes out there, like this Banana Coconut Granola from The Pretty Bee and this Double Pumpkin Granola from Live Eat Learn. When it comes to store bought granola, I look for one that is low in sugar and other not-real ingredients. New England Naturals Organic Gluten Free Unsweetened Berry Coconut Granola is a great one and I love how it is lightly sweetened with raisin puree. Udi’s Au Naturale Granola is also a good choice with only three, real ingredients.
• Hard Boiled Eggs: Cook up a bunch and have them ready to go for the whole week in the fridge. Peel before you pack them.
• Pickles: Just look for a kind without added sugar.
• Olives: Perfect for sticking on fingers!
• Oatmeal: Make from rolled oats and your own mix ins. Store hot in a thermos. Overnight oatmeal served cold is also a great option and there are a million healthy recipes out there, like my Mango Coconut Overnight Oatmeal. 
• Smoothies: Pack either in a thermos or frozen in smoothie pop molds.
• Homemade Soup: Pack hot in a thermos. I love my Healthy Black Bean Soup and Savory Pumpkin Soup. I also love all the soup recipes in The Oh She Glows Cookbook.
• Gluten Free Pasta: Cook and toss with salt, cheese, butter, pesto, or whatever you have on hand. I love Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Quinoa pasta because it has a higher protien content than plain pasta. Its my go to pasta in my pantry. If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s nearby, you can usually find Tinkyada or Ancient Harvest brown rice pasta in most stores.
• Apple sauce pouches: Most of them are sugar free, but I always check because there are still a few brands sneaking corn syrup and other sugars into their apple sauce pouches.
• Mamma Chia squeeze pouches: Similar to apple sauce pouches, but made from chia seeds hydrated in fruit/veggie puree and juices. There is no added sugar and lots of different flavors.
• Juice boxes with 100% juice: I usually just stick with water as my family’s main beverage. But if you want to add a juice box to lunch, choose one that is 100% juice. Capri Sun, Langer’s, Honest Kids, Juicy Juice, Minute Maid, and Back to Nature all make 100% juice in pouches or boxes.
• Raw veggies: baby carrots, sweet peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, jicama, avocado, celery.
• Roasted Veggies: Sweet potatoes, beets, butternut squash, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, kale.
• Canned Veggies: green beans, corn, peas, beets. I have also seen Libby’s green beans, corn, and peas in small single serving cups.
• Edamame: Buy frozen, shelled or still in the pods. Microwave and toss with salt. This is one of my daughters favorite snacks and its packed with protein. We buy from Sams Club or Costco in the big packs. Trader Joe’s and even most normal grocery stores also sell frozen edamame.
• Beans: Whole or re-fried. I buy vegetarian refried beans because they have the purest ingredients.
• Kale Chips: Homemade or store bought. I make my own by tossing some kale with olive oil and salt and roasting until just a little crispy, but not crumbly. Store in an airtight container or baggie.
• Fresh Fruit: Grapes, bananas, apples, berries, clementines, pineapples, melons, kiwi, mango, peaches, pears. Make it fun by cutting out shapes with cookie cutters or making fruit skewers.
• Fruit Cups or Canned Fruit: Lots of fruit cups now offer fruit in their own juices. Avoid fruit stored in any kind of syrup or sweetened juice.
• Dried Fruit: Lots of dried fruit has added sugar, so read the labels. Raisins are usually safe. Trader Joe’s has delicious dried mango called, Just Mango. Peeled Snacks also makes dried fruit that has no added sugar or oil. You can also make your own with a dehydrator!
• Crispy Fruit Chips: Again, some brands have added sugar and oil. Look for just the fruit listed in the ingredients. Bare makes apple chips and banana chips in lots of different flavors and varieties with no added sugar or oil.
• Freeze Dried Fruit: Lots of different brands have freeze dried fruit with just the fruit as the only ingredient. My daughter loves it, although it doesn’t fill her up as much as other forms of fruit. Crispy Green is a great brand of freeze dried fruit because they have a great variety and you can buy them in single serving pouches, which are perfect for school lunches. Brothers-All-Natural is another brand that we like because we can find it at Walmart, sometimes they have Mickey Mouse on it, its cheaper than other brands, and it comes in single serving pouches.
• Fruit Leather: We like Stretch Island Fruit Co. The only ingredients are fruit and you can get them in bulk at costco. The only down side is that they are a little hard for young kids to open on their own. You can also make your own fruit leather in the oven or dehydrator. This Sneaky Green Apple Fruit Leather from Oh My Veggies is a good one.
• Fruit Snacks: I usually avoid fruit snacks because they really are just candy, even if they boast using real fruit. But sometimes they are a fun treat for a kid. My favorite fruit snacks are Full Circle All Natural Fruit Bites because they are completely sweetened with fruit juices and puree’s.

Gluten Free Healthy School Lunch Ideas (But not nut free):

• Nuts: peanuts, cashews, pecans, almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, pistachios
• Trail Mix: make your own by tossing together nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and chocolate chips.
• Nut Butters: We love Kroger Natural Salted Peanut Butter. Two ingredients: salt and peanuts. But so creamy and smooth.
• Larabars: These are really the only granola bar type food that I have found that isn’t chuck full of added ingredients. Other brands come pretty close, but are usually super expensive. Most of them have nuts, but their ingredients lists are small and real. Most flavors contain only nuts, dates, and other fruits. There are a few flavors that are a little more decadent and have added sugar, but most do not. They are a little bit of an acquired taste and I can’t eat one quickly, even though I love them. But if you like dates, you will love these.

Nut Free Healthy School Lunch Ideas (But not Gluten Free):

• Whole Wheat Crackers: Triscuits Original flavor, Ryvita, Ok-Mak, Wasa.
• Toast: Great for dipping or as a receptacle for spreads.
• Whole Wheat Pasta: Toss in any kind of sauce, cheese, or just butter and salt.
• Whole Wheat Mini Bagels or English Muffins: Check the ingredients lists for simple ingredients.

Other Healthy School Lunch Ideas (Not Necessarily Gluten or Nut Free, but could be made so):

• Muffins: Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins and Blender Banana Oatmeal Muffins, to name a few.
• Homemade Granola Bars: I love the Glow Bars in the Oh She Glows Cookbooks.
• Energy Bites: Little energy balls of dates, nuts, and other yummy mix ins. Bless This Mess has a great post of how to make these with 9 different flavor options.
• Quesadillas, tacos, or wraps: fill with hummus or beans, cheese, salsa, and fresh veggies.
• Mini Pizzas: make on English muffins, toast, or even pizza dough.
• Pasta salad
• Chickpea salad: We love these Chickpea Salad Sandwiches from Oh She Glows. Its great in sandwich form or just eaten with crackers or with a spoon. There are tons of different varieties of chickpea salad sandwiches. Just search it in Pinterest.
• Whole Grain Waffles or Pancakes: Breakfast for lunch is fine by me!
• Garden salad: Does your kid like salad? Make a yummy homemade dressing and add some fun toppings and they might!
• Seasoned rice, quinoa, or other grains: Cook a grain in veggie broth and add some veggies.
• Left overs!: We use left overs for lunch as much as possible. Some left overs wont work for sending in a lunch box, but many will, especially if you use a thermos to keep them hot.

Hopefully that massive list inspired some healthy school lunch ideas. These would work great for adults and kids who need to pack a lunch, or just lunch ideas for kids who are at home still.

Packaging School Lunches:
When it comes to packaging school lunches for kids, I am not really an expert, yet. But I love the recommendations and advice from 100 Day’s of Whole Food. She has some great posts for packing school lunches where she reviews her favorite containers and accessories.

Also, I just wanted to assure you that even though I posted mostly healthy, whole food snack ideas, I’m not snooty or judgey. I do my best to make healthy food, but I believe in splurges. In fact, just today, my daughter and I ate a doughnut at the grocery store with some friends right before shopping for whole food ingredients. I know I am occasionally going to sneak a candy or a treat into my daughters lunch box and we have way too many days where we end up going through a drive-through rather than putting together a perfect lunch. She has a massive stash of Halloween candy, just like any other kid (although I am making her spread out eating it). But I really do believe in trying to make the majority of food eaten, real food, because I know I feel so much better that way. I love making things from scratch and I love trying to save money, so not all of the items I listed are practical for me. But there are times in life, where you need something quick and pre-made. So take what helps you and use it, and don’t worry about the rest. No mom guilt here. There is enough of that to go around already!

Lets also admit that sometimes a good old PB & J is the easiest thing to throw together in a hurry. But so many schools or class rooms are nut free these days, which is great when there are children with severe allergies to protect. But you can make a PB & J with seed butter instead of peanut butter! Problem solved! I made up this recipe for Homemade Nut Free Pepita and Sunflower Seed Butter. Pepitas are the green insides of pumpkin seeds. You can usually find them easily in bulk bins. I love having them on hand to put in granola and granola bars, as a topping on oatmeal or yogurt, and as a salad mix-in. This pepita and sunflower seed butter is lightly flavored with maple, vanilla, and cinnamon, but you can customize it to suit your tastes. You can make this recipe in a food processor or blender. I have found that a food processor is a little easier to deal with and much easier to scoop out.

By Edible Experiments

The post Healthy School Lunch Ideas and Homemade Nut Free Pepita and Sunflower Seed Butter appeared first on Edible Experiments.

None of the healthy foods I usually love sound good. Every time I try making something, I can’t tell if it is good or not because my taste buds are all out of wack. Everything veggie-centered I would normally make sounds weird and the things I try to make actually are weird. I craved hot chocolate all summer long. Like craved it hard. Its all I could think about. As soon as summer was over, I could care less about it. And its getting worse as the pregnancy stretches on. I start to worry that I am ruined as a cook, but I remind myself that this happened when I was pregnant with Stella and I quickly returned to my old veggie loving self after she was born.

So please forgive me when all I can think of are things like pumpkin spice honey butter. I have thrown in the towel. Nine more weeks.

But it can’t be all that bad if it leads to such decadence as pumpkin spice honey butter. So very amazing on hot homemade bread, rolls, muffins, pancakes, waffles, bagels. Its whipped until its soft and spreadable. And its awesome for gifting and perfect for a Thanksgiving spread. It smells like heaven and tastes like autumn.

By Edible Experiments

The post Whipped Pumpkin Spice Honey Butter appeared first on Edible Experiments.

Abandoning our puzzle, we started hunting on Pinterest for the perfect late night treat. Something easy and something with chocolate was a must. We chose some chocolate chip oat bars and set to making them. Sadly, the chocolate chip oat bars were not meant to be. After making the oat base, I realized I was actually out of chocolate chips! Ahhh! So we just threw the oat mixture into a pan and cooked it, after which we realized we left out the eggs. Nevertheless, it ended up being a layer of oaty goodness that would have been absolutely perfect with some sort of fall filling. We were wishing for apples, or pears, or pumpkin, ….or chocolate.

I immediately started brainstorming what I could turn this oat stuff into and these Pumpkin Pie Oat Crumble Bars were born. I took the idea of the oat layer and ran with it, but I didn’t follow the same recipe from our sister night. It had a lot more butter and sugar than I am ok with using, even in dessert. I took the concept and made up my own lighter recipe and stuffed it full of a creamy pumpkin pie layer.

I tested these pumpkin pie oat crumble bars a few times before I got the pumpkin layer just right. The first time, I took my Pumpkin Dump Cake  recipe (if you have never made this, go make it NOW!) and halved the pumpkin filling. It didn’t work for this recipe as well. It wasn’t thick enough or stable enough. So I decided to bulk it up by nixing the evaporated milk and adding an extra egg, cream cheese, and sour cream. That was the ticket! I loved the rich cheesecake flavor the cream cheese and sour cream added. It also gave it just enough bulk and stability to stand its own between the oat crumble layers.

My daughter was begging me to take a picture of her taking a bite. After the picture,she quickly dug out another big piece of it and ran away as fast as she could, shoving it in her mouth as she ran. Sheesh, blogging with a kid can be tricky! But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Looking for more pumpkin goodness this fall? Then make sure to try my Pumpkin Dump Cake or Chocolate Pumpkin Dump Cake. They are my most viewed posts on this blog. For a more savory fall feast, try my Savory Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Mushrooms and my Jack-O-Lantern Stuffed Bell Peppers.

By Edible Experiments

The post Pumpkin Pie Oat Crumble Bars appeared first on Edible Experiments.

Being pregnant has drained every speck of my energy and a lot of my desire for food in general. Not much sounds yummy to me these days, especially vegetables, which I normally love. Besides my ever constant craving of hot cocoa, my only cravings hit around midnight when I feel like I could eat anything and everything. I guess its a good time for a craving to hit, because I usually just make myself go to bed instead of indulging. At normal meal times, when most food sounds gross to me, cooking becomes more of a chore. So a quick, simple meal like these zucchini chimichurri quesadillas is perfect for me right now.

I posted the Creamy Chimicurri Sauce in my last post. Its a creamy, tangy, herby sauce. Stuff some tortillas with this parsley based sauce, zucchini, and pepper jack cheese and you have a great low key meal. These zucchini chimichurri quesadillas would also be amazing with grilled zucchini and cooked on the grill. Spinach would be a great addition, too, if you would like to up the veg content. Feel free to use flour tortillas, but keep in mind that the yield is based on standard corn tortillas sized quesadillas.

You will probably have leftover chimichurri sauce. Use the rest to add to sandwiches, tacos, grilled veggies or meat, salads, scrambled eggs, etc. Just store it in the fridge for about a week. It’s delicious on this Grilled Cauliflower Steak Burger, which is also a great summer-fall transition recipe.

Besides missing my garden, for once I am not sad to see summer go. Bring on the hot cocoa, long sleeved shirts, and bring on the baby!!!

Recipe by Edible Experiments

The post Zucchini Chimichurri Quesadillas appeared first on Edible Experiments.