This is a sponsored post, written by The Keenan Cookbook on behalf of Kettle Brand Potato Chips.  All thoughts and opinions in this post are our own. We happen to sincerely like Kettle Brand Chips

Rachel and I enjoy picnicking. It combines two things we love; good food and being outside. At different stages of our lives and relationship, we’ve gone on a number of memorable picnics together. When we were dating, one of our favorite picnic spots was at Bear Mountain. For those who’ve never been, Bear Mountain is a state park overlooking the Hudson River in New York, not far from where I grew up.

On picnic days, Rachel would come collect me from my parents’ house and we would head out for lunch in the great wide open. But first, we would stop at this little Italian deli on the way and pick up a sandwich to split, a bag of chips, and a bottled iced tea. We’d drive to a spot at the top of the mountain, park, and walk down to this rock ledge where we laid out our blanket and munched on our lunch overlooking the valley below. Sometimes we would get into those deep philosophical conversations that young people in love get into, other times we’d just sit in silence enjoying each other’s company and the sounds of nature around us.

After college I lived in Japan for a year teaching English. Rachel came and visited me for a wonderful week that March. One day, we took the bullet train from the little countryside town I was living in to the busy, ancient city of Kyoto. We visited the sights, including the gold temple Kinkakuji, and even saw a geisha walking in full traditional dress down a cobblestone street (and tried to take a discreet picture so as to not look like “tourists.” HA!). Taking a break from the sightseeing, we stopped for lunch. From a street vendor we bought onigiri – rice balls wrapped in seaweed, and for dessert mochi - rice that had been pounded and then shaped into balls and flavored. We had 3 mochi flavors, regular (white), sakura - cherry blossom – (pink), and green tea (green). We sat on the banks of a small river flowing through Kyoto, marveling at the sights we had seen, but more so, marveling that there we were there together, after months – and thousands of miles – apart.

Fast forward a few years, and now we’re married and moved into our little UP reminiscent fixer-upper house. The next town over hosts the largest private iris collection in the United States, open to the public during those few gorgeous weeks in the Spring when the irises are in full bloom. It became a tradition for us to go at least once during the blooming season to soak in the sights of these magnificent flowers. The gardens back up to a little park and path that has benches for visitors to sit on and relax. We would pack up fresh tomato and mozzarella bruschetta sandwiches, chips, and drinks, and head out for our picnic lunch.

Having little ones in tow makes picnicking difficult – but even more memorable. Last year, when Rachel was pregnant with Baby Boy #2, we went on a big family vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It was the first time at the beach for Toddler Boy. He liked it-for about 30 minutes . Then he was ready to go back to the house to play in the pool. In the mornings me or my Dad would pick up cold cuts and fresh rolls from a nearby deli. I had grand aspirations at the start of that vacation to have picnics on the beach with Rachel and our little boy; the ocean, the sand, the seagulls. Whatever was I thinking?! Ah - naivety of a new Dad. That turned out to be far too messy and logistically difficult with a pregnant wife and 16 month old to make the trek to the beach with lunch. But we still got our picnic in, of sorts. After an early morning walking the beach looking for shells, playing, and digging in the sand, we would head back to the house with Toddler Boy. We made our sandwiches and ate at the kitchen table with the windows wide open, chatting with brothers, sisters, in-laws, and parents as they came and went from the beach. Now that we have two little boys, our picnics are closer to home these days. While it is hard to pack everybody up to get up to Bear Mountain or the beach, we can pack up and walk a few blocks to the park – or even just sit outside in the backyard (convenient in case a certain toddler makes a big mess and needs washing). 

And you can bet the one thing we are always guaranteed to bring on our picnics is a big bag of Kettle Brand Chips. These are best paired with homemade dip. My favorite dip is Spinach Artichoke [recipe below] paired with your favorite flavor of Kettle Brand Chips, my recommendation would be Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper.  Even the little guy is dipping his hand into the chips bag these days.  The reason why I love Kettle Brand Chips is because they are committed to creating delicious chips using all natural ingredients, non-GMO oil and potatoes, without trans fats, MSG or preservatives. Real potatoes, cooked and seasoned with real ingredients, made by real people. You can feel good crunching on that.

Want something else to feel good about? We’re giving away a $100 Visa Gift Card giveaway to one lucky The Keenan Cookbook reader. How do you enter? Just leave a comment below answering this question. What do you include in your picnic basket? Now go make some picnic memories of your own  

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*Recipe adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

Today is reveal day for Secret Recipe Club – the food blogger club where every month we secretly cook something up from a fellow food blogger’s website and share our results with our readers. This month we were assigned the food blog Ilona’s Kitchen, hosted by a fellow NJ food blogger! That’s one more NJ food blogger we’ve now “met”  in addition to Melissa over at I Was Born To Cook – seriously now, I think it’s about time we host a NJ food blogger get together and round up all the local bloggers for a pot luck gathering!

Someday perhaps – when I get a little more free time to coordinate that

Anyway, Ilona is in a similar boat as us. Besides being from NJ, she is a busy parent trying to get a tasty home cooked meal on the table while juggling children and their many demands and requirements (but how we love them anyway!). If you are looking for inspiration to get a tasty, home cooked meal on your table (and who isn’t?) be sure to head on over and check Ilona’s site out.

When we were going through Ilona’s recipes we immediately found what we wanted to make – these Hoisin Sloppy Joes. I know, maybe not the first thing that might pop out to you. But if you’ve cooked with hoisin sauce before you would understand. It’s an Asian sauce that adds a sweet but soy saucy flavor to a dish, with a texture like BBQ sauce. Indeed, I would go so far as to say hoisin sauce is Asian BBQ sauce.

We’ve made a sesame ginger turkey meatball (10 minute chinese) dish and a braised country style pork rib recipe with hoisin sauce as the key ingredient. We knew Ilona would not let us down with a sloppy joe recipe using the sauce (and a bit of fresh lime juice!). We were not disappointed! These sloppy joes are similar to regular sloppy joes, but the hoisin sauce adds some sweetness and a little Asian flavor for a nice change to the traditional joes.

These sloppy joes are great with a little shredded cheddar cheese on a soft bun or roll. We served ours with french fries and corn on the cob. A great dinner -we’ll be making these again.

So what’s new to report here… Well, the baby is now 7 months old (and the first baby is now 2 years old – wowzers). He’s such a mellow and chill kid compared to his older brother, though he certainly isn’t a pushover and will let you know when he wants something (usually his Mommy – hahah).

It’s finally consistently warm out at the end of the day, so after I get home from work and we have dinner we all go outside for a walk. Toddler Boy currently enjoys picking up big sticks, tucking them under his arm, and playing “leaf blower” complete with sound effects. The little one meanwhile enjoys being held facing outwards and “chasing” his older brother down the little path at the park – he squeals and giggles as we try to catch the big guy.

Time just seems to go exponentially faster and these little moments with them seem go by far too fast. All the more reason to dedicate my time to them when I have it, to soak it all in and absorb it, and to be thankful for that time I have with them.

Recipe from: ilonaskitchen

I celebrated my 31st birthday over the weekend. When my 94 year old grandmother learned of my age, she was in disbelief and commented she couldn’t believe where the time had gone. I think you reach a new point in your life when a 94 year old tells you you are getting old! Hahah. Love Nana. <3

Anyhoo – I’m well past the point of wanting my own birthday party, but Rachel’s brother was in New Jersey for a short while and was planning on visiting us, so we invited the whole family over and threw a BBQ. Since it was my birthday, I felt obliged to have a birthday cake. I solicited the assistance of my little helper Toddler Boy. Baby Boy supervised from his high chair, and we got to baking.

Last year I baked an Oreo Cookies & Creme cake. That was a big hit last year but this time I wanted to change it up a little. I was in the mood for a devil’s food cake, so we made that from scratch and frosted it with the marshmellowy (is that even a word?) 7 minute frosting. The cake was good, but my frosting skills not so good, so I made the executive decision not to request photographs of it. So, sadly, no birthday cake recipe to share with you today. The cake was good though and no doubt we’ll be making it again, so stay tuned for it!

What a gyp though, huh? You could have gotten a tasty devil’s food cake recipe but instead you get zucchini tots! Hahah. Hey it’s my birthday, I can do what I want right? (Isn’t that how it goes?)

Zucchini is one of our favorite summertime vegetables. They taste great as stuffed zucchini boats, can be sliced up and baked as zucchini fries, or just sliced up thick and grilled plain. Rachel found this recipe for zucchini tots on Pinterest so we gave it try. The recipe was very easy to assemble and baked quite nicely. The original recipe calls for raw diced onion, which was a little too potent for us non-raw onion fans. Even still, it was good. Next time though we’ll pan fry the diced onion to soften up and remove that biting onion flavor. If you like onion, go ahead and toss it in uncooked.

So. 31. No big deal! 30 was a great year, as I mentioned in my January 1st New Years reflections. 31 is going to be even better. How can it not? I kicked it off doing what I love most. Being home with my family, cooking and baking with them, playing, going for a walk around town. The perfect birthday.

Recipe adapted from: The Curious Country Cook

Gotta love siblings who are as into tasty (and fun) food as you are.

I woke up Monday morning to an email from my sister Mel titled “this looks mighty delish” and a link to this super simple but super awesome recipe. I picked up the ingredients on lunch break. After dinner, Funfetti Cake Batter Dip was made and being enjoyed.

My first thought when I look at the photos is immediately of Dunk-a-roos: a snack I always wanted my Mom to pack me for school growing up, but that I only got on special occasions.

This isn’t really Dunk-a-roos though, since that was frosting and this is really cake batter dip. But that doesn’t make this any less amazing.

The recipe is simple, and not too evil either. Fat free Greek yogurt, low or no fat whipped cream, and Funfetti cake mix. Mix it all together and boom – funfetti cake batter dip. We served ours with Nilla crackers, but enjoy with whatever cookie you like (or just eat it straight up!)

We’ve been incredibly busy lately, and as such we’ve cut back on posting on our blog to once a week now. I held fast to 2 posts a week for the longest time, but it just isn’t doable at the moment. Which kills me – it really does – because as a search engine marketer (now Manager!), I know the number one thing I need to do to maintain a healthy blog (and increase traffic) is to publish. But I don’t want to sacrifice quality just to throw something up, you know? If we don’t have something tasty to share, something worthy of being posted and shared, we don’t want to put it up. After all, this is ultimately our own cookbook, we don’t want to include something we don’t like!

I’m also challenged lately with my writing. When I look back at my posts from the last two years, I shared more on what Baby Boy was doing at the time, what Rachel and I were enjoying as our little guy grew older and did new things. It’s a fun archive now for us to look back on when we were new parents. I haven’t been writing as much the past few months about our little guys, or about Rachel and I as parents. I’m not sure why, because I do so love reading our old posts on when Baby Boy ate solids for the first time and made a face, or when he took his first steps.

Maybe I don’t know what direction I want to take my writing in. Do I talk about the challenges of being a father, husband, and professional trying to juggle it all? Do I talk about the boys and what they are up to? Do I talk about the trial and tribulations of parenthood Rachel and I go through? Does it even matter, does anyone care, do I just stick to talking about the food? Who knows. I don’t. I guess those are the thoughts that go through my head though, and as a result, I end up directionless.

Perhaps this is just the nature of blogging – an organic evolution and change over time. Or maybe not.

Well, enough philosophizing for one evening. I promise to continue to post once a week if for no other reason than I have an excuse to make things like this Funfetti Cake Batter Dip. “It’s for the blog” is the best food excuse I ever came up with

*Note – This recipe can be halved quite easily!

Secret Recipe Club… time to expand our food blog horizons!

This month we were assigned “The Weekend Gourment” – a blog filled with mouth watering recipes presented by Wendy Wofford-Garcia. Wendy is a native Texan with a passion for cooking who shares her love of food, good wine, and restaurants on her blog with a easy-to-read flair. Wendy often reviews products that are unique and sound tasty- a great way to introduce her readers to new items they might not have considered trying before! Her featured items always are accompanied by a great looking recipe that will make your mouth water.

Enter one Strawberry Cream Cheese Quick Bread.

Some days you want something more than a muffin, but don’t have the time to wait for a yeast bread to rise. Oh how I love quick breads! Wendy serves her version with a strawberry butter which sounds fantastic. We didn’t get that far and ended up eating the bread “plain” (if you can call a lemon zested, strawberry infused, cream cheese layered quick bread “plain”)! When zesting the lemons (yes, lemons- the recipe calls for 2) Rachel and I both thought that it looked like a lot of zest. But in it went. And a good thing too! The resulting bread was definitely kicked up a notch with the strawberries and lemons playing together nicely. And the cream cheese layer- you can NEVER go wrong with a cream cheese layer!

Our bread didn’t layer particularly well, but this was not a problem at all. It still tasted great! The bread was very moist, thanks to those delicious strawberries so when you try it, be sure to flour the pan well to keep it from getting stuck.

This recipe is a keeper! Thanks Wendy!

PS – If you’re considering this recipe, or already made it, you should also consider our Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread recipe. It’s another favorite of ours.

Recipe from: The Weekend Gourmet

I feel like it was just yesterday Rachel and I were celebrating the first birthday of our little boy. And here we are, with a 2 year old and a 5 month old. I know the old saying is don’t blink, because it goes by too fast. Well, I’m trying my best not to blink-but it is still going too fast!

Last year we did a Puppy Dog theme as Toddler Boy (then Baby Boy) loved puppies. He still loves puppies – indeed, every morning when we asked him how he slept, and what he dreamed about, he tells us “puppies”. Not just one uppy but “two”. But he has expanded his horizons to include a love of Mickey Mouse and Elmo. We went with an Elmo and Sesame Street theme this year. Check out the homemade vanilla cake with butter cream frosting decoration!

Toddler Boy and I baked the cake the night before, and Rachel decorated it on the day of. Didn’t she do a fantastic job with Elmo?

The cake itself was a simple homemade birthday cake out of a Williams Sonoma cookbook. It came out fantastic (recipe below), and so much tastier and satisfying than a store bought cake mix. And, it really didn’t take too much extra time to make. Toddler Boy and I made it together, which was a fun activity (I love baking with this boy, in case I haven’t said that enough lately). I measure out the ingredients, and he pours everything in.

For the frosting, we used a vanilla butter cream frosting recipe we first made for Rachel’s birthday 2 years ago. You really can’t beat butter cream frosting. The frosting initially was a little too thick – fine for spreading but difficult for a pastry bag – so I added 2 extra teaspoons of milk. That seemed to do the trick.

Toddler Boy had a blast the day of his birthday. He had almost his whole extended family there except for his Pittsburgh cousins. He was bouncing around having fun playing with everyone and opening his presents. We got him a Mickey Mouse helmet and a little Radio Flyer red tricycle. He is still getting the hang of how to peddle (he’s much better at going backwards) but by this summer I think he’ll be having a ball outside on it. This kid also made out like a bandit with all the presents his Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents got him. It’s good to be 2!

I’m very particular about how I like my vanilla or chocolate. I do not like chocolate ice cream, but I do like chocolate syrup or fudge on vanilla ice cream. I prefer chocolate Oreos over the vanilla Oreos. I prefer devils food to angels food cake, but I usually like vanilla ice cream over chocolate cup cakes. Picky dessert eater or discerning foodie? You decide.

I also prefer brownies over blondies. Most of the time.

Toddler Boy and I made these  home made blondies last weekend just because we wanted to. Well, because I wanted to, and because he had no qualms about helping me.

That’s one of the things I love about this boy. Doesn’t matter what his mood, or what he is doing- if you ask him to come help cook, he drops what he is doing (or drops his attitude) and comes and helps. And he knows where stuff is too, the flour in one cabinet and salt in the other. Even knows the names of the ingredients. Gotta keep a close eye on him though. He is quick to grab a handful of flour or reach for that egg. Messiness can ensue quickly.

The little one is getting interested in helping out in the kitchen too. He’s big enough now that he can jump in his jumparoo, right in the center of the kitchen – which is the center of activity in our house – and takes it all in. He’s quiet, that little guy, but he is taking it all in. He knows just what kind of trouble his older brother gets into, and is plotting in his time to causing trouble of his own.

They’re good boys though. Really. And I love them.

So about these blondies. Well, they are super simple to make. We whipped them up entirely too quickly on a Saturday morning. I had wanted the whole affair to be done in time for me us to have lunch then to break into the blondies. Sadly, we got around to baking them far too early and I was forced to see and smell them for a few hours until I allowed myself to dig into them. And dig in we did.

Interestingly, Rachel and I observed these blondies are truly the complete opposite of brownies. With brownies, we usually fight over who gets the gooey, chewy, soft middle. Nobody likes the crusty edges. We though the same for blondies. But actually, it was the edges we liked more. Don’t get me wrong, the middle was nice. But the nice crunchy edges just really were so much more satisfying then the already satisfying middle. Call me crazy, but give it a try and let us know what you think.

Recipe from: The William Sonoma Baking Book

When we announced to our families that we were expecting, we got these little photo album books and on the cover put a pretty photo of a shamrock with the words “To be filled March 17th, 2011″. My Dad got it right away and started crying. My Mom didn’t get it right away-but my Dad’s sobs of joy tipped her off. Rachel’s Mom was ecstatic, and her Dad had this big smile (claiming he already knew- HA!). Fun memories.

Now, two years later, we are preparing for this little guy’s 2nd birthday. A small affair, just our immediate families. Sesame Street theme since he loves Elmo (and “Bird”, and “Cookie”).  Man, times goes fast. It’s all going faster and faster, it’s almost kind of scary. This kid is going to be two, and he has a baby brother who is growing up entirely too fast as well.

In any event, before we get to the birthday party, we first have St. Patrick’s Day. Being part Irish, The Keenan’s do enjoy St Paddy’s Day. I don’t have a corned beef recipe to share with you, but I do have a couple other delicious Irish inspired recipes for you. So, put on your green shamrock sweater and cook or bake these up.

Irish Soda Bread – 2 Family Recipes!

Irish Guinness Stew

Guinness Cupcakes

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

It’s that time again: Time for the Secret Recipe Club Reveal!

This month we were assigned the blog “Crumb”. If you have not visited Crumb, you should. And soon. You’ve been missing out.

Isabelle, the recipe developing, food photographing Canadian behind the scenes of Crumb has a knack for creating fantastic sounding recipes and drool inducing photographs. Hailing from Toronto, Isabelle is self-professed food obsessed- she is in good company. We had a hard time narrowing down a recipe for SRC- Spicy Peanut Butter Noodles! Double Cherry Almond Crumble! Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake! The Eggplant Parmigiana Pasta Bake is on the list for dinner this week. Now if only there was a way to make the pictures on Crumb scratch-and-sniff…

We’ve apparently arrived a little late to the wheat berry train. It has been popping up at brunches and lunches lately, and we needed to make a wheat berry salad to call our own. Or Isabelle’s. This combination of chewy wheat berries, crunchy sour apple, and tangy citrus is fantastic. Isabelle had noted on her blog that the wheat berry salad she had been inspired by contained raisins (which she did not have on hand, hence the brilliant addition of crunchy apple). Raisins sounded good. Craisins sounded even better. So we went there.

Thanks for the delicious recipe Isabelle!

Recipe from: Crumb Blog

You are in luck if you like chocolate, because this chocolate coffee cake is a.maz.ing. If you like original flavor cinnamon coffee cake muffins, you are not in luck.

Let me explain.

See, Toddler Boy and I baked these delicious cinnamon coffee cake muffins on Saturday. We baked them because all last week, every night before bed, he had me reading (besides Pokey Little Puppy and Goodnight Moon) If You Give A Moose A Muffin. Read that story enough times and you begin to want a muffin. So I told Toddler Boy that on “Daddy Home Day” (what he calls Saturday and Sunday) we would bake some muffins together.

Bake we did. He helped me add all the ingredients, as he likes to do, then we mixed, poured into muffin tins, and baked (he sits by the fridge when I open the oven). The muffins came out delicious. But the crumb topping wasn’t too exciting, more glaze-like and not “crumby” enough for photographs. So my food photographer rejected them and we had to eat them – I know, so sad.

In any event, as a result of the botched muffins (delicious! just not the prettiest) Rachel cooked up this Chocolate Coffee Cake the following morning for us to share when we visited my Uncle and his wife Carolyn.

This chocolate coffee cake kind of looks deceptively like a German chocolate cake, the way the crumb topping bakes. But it isn’t German chocolate cake – no, thank you – it’s a delicious cinnamon and chocolate crumb. Did I say delicious enough in this post? If I haven’t, let me say it a few more times. Delicious, Delicious, Delicious.

It is not overly sweet, and the chocolate is not over-powering. This is what a good chocolate cake should be!

Speaking of chocolate cake, you can’t possibly talk about chocolate cake without thinking about Bill Cosby and his delightfully funny story about feeding his kids chocolate cake for breakfast. Needless to say, Bill’s wife did not approve. I can’t possibly do justice to the skit, and although it is long, you should take a few minutes out of your day to enjoy this clip. If you have kids especially, you will enjoy.

Why not bake this chocolate coffee cake and while it’s in the oven watch the clip?

Adapted from: The Williams Sonoma Baking Book