Christmas Surprise Cookies

Surprise Cookies
Photo: Julia the Child

Christmas is a time of family traditions. One of my family traditions is making Nana's surprise cookies and my Great-grandmother Rose's sugar cookies with my cousins. Both recipes were passed down to my grandmothers from their mothers. Today my cousins came over and we made the surprise cookies. We call them surprise cookies because you hide a treat inside the dough and you never know what you may find when you take a bite. We use gumdrops, maraschino cherries, Hershey kisses and almonds. They are really easy and fun to make. You roll the dough between your hands, make a thumb hole for the treat, then wrap the dough around the surprise. After they're baked we decorate them and leave some for Santa. I wonder which ones are his favorite?

SURPRISE COOKIES

from the kitchen of Eloisa Gomez

(adapted from the Betty Crocker Cookbook)

1/2 cup soft butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup King Arthur flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1-2 Tablespoon milk (if dough is dry)
food coloring

In a bowl, cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy
Add vanilla, beating until well mixed
Stir in sifted flour and salt
Divide and add food coloring as desired
Take small pieces of dough and put a cherry, kiss, nut, gumdrop, date or dried apricot in the center.
Roll between the palm of your hands into ball - covering treat completely.
(I like to roll the ball first and use my thumb to make a well to put the treat in - then cover it completely.)

Place on cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator for for 15 mins.
Bake in a 350 degree oven until firm about 12-15 mins.
Remove rack from the oven and cool.
Dip tops of the cookies in different colored royal icing.
Sprinkle with colored sugars, sprinkles, etc...

ENJOY!

King Arthur Flour Goes to School

Demonstration Time!
Photo used with permission from King Arthur Flour

Wheat Loaf
Photo used with permission
from King Arthur Flour

I am so excited!  King Arthur Flour is coming to my district in January.  They are coming to show kids how to make a loaf of bread and demonstrate the math and science behind baking.  King Arthur will show us how to measure the ingredients and explain how yeast works.  Every student from grades 4-7 in our district will get a kit that will make two loaves of bread.  One loaf for their family and one to give away to charity.  Our school will collect the bread and it will be given to local food pantries and soup kitchens. 

This all started last summer when I stopped in to visit the King Arthur Flour store in Norwich, Vermont.  I became inspired to cook and learn more about King Arthur Flour.  Once I got home, I started following them on Facebook and their website.  That's when I saw that they have a school program called Life Skills Bread Baking and it's free!  I thought it would be nice for King Arthur Flour to come to our school so I contacted my principal, Mrs. Rivet and the Asst. Supt. Mrs. Frangos for their approval and their help.  And now they're coming!! 

I am really pumped that King Arthur Flour is on their way.  We will learn math and science while helping others - I think that is really cool!


You can learn more about the program at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/baking/life-skills-baking.html    

Cranberry Jelly and Thanksgiving Chicken?

We had a few extra cans of cranberry jelly lying around and needed to bring an appetizer to Thanksgiving dinner.  My brother loves wings so.... we made up a new recipe!  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving - I did :)

CRANBERRY GLAZED CHICKEN WINGS

1-2 lbs chicken wings

1 can cranberry jelly

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp ground ginger

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tbsp craisins

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1tbsp cranberry mustard (you can add more for a little bit more kick)

 2 tbsp vegetable oil

fresh cilantro

First, you mix all the ingredients in a big Ziploc bag,  remove ¼ cup of mixture to a separate bowl.  Second, salt and pepper the chicken wings.  Third, toss wings into the Ziploc bag ‘till fully coated.  Let the wings sit overnight in the fridge.

Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil, place wings one by one in the pan (a single layer).  Immediately throw away the Ziploc bag.

Bake at 425 degrees for ½ an hour – turn over once during cooking.  Baste each side with the reserved mixture in the bowl (NOT THE MIXTURE FROM THE ZIPLOC BAG!)

Sprinkle on some chopped cilantro and serve hot.  

Chow Down in Chinatown (Part 1)

 



Sesame Balls - photo by Julia the Child Foodie



 

My Aunt Sally was in town from Virginia and spent a Friday afternoon showing us around Chinatown in Boston.  She is my mother's best friend and they've known each other since college.  Aunt Sally's grandmother used to live in Chinatown so she really knows her way around.  My brother Thomas came with us and we had a great time.

 

We started out having lunch at Chau Chow City on Essex St. They offer dim-sum which was new to me and my brother.  Each waiter comes around with a cart with different dishes on it.  They lift up the lids so you can see what they have.  Some have fried food, others carts have steamed dishes in baskets or metal tins.  Aunt Sally speaks Chinese so she was able to talk to the waiters and tell us what they had on their cart.  We trusted her to order for us and wanted to be surprised.  Our table got full of different dishes very quickly! 

 

We tried some weird dishes;  tripe (cow stomach), shrimpballs (like meat balls), and even baby pork ribs.  Thomas really liked the tripe and had two helpings, I couldn't believe it!  Most of the dishes we tried had pork or shrimp in them.  We also learned the rules of eating with chopsticks when you are sharing dishes.  To grab the food, you use your chopsticks.  If you haven't eaten with them yet then you can use the end you eat with.  But, once you've eaten with your chopsticks you have to flip them around and use the other side if you want to take something from the plate.  (This way you don't double dip.)  One of my favorite dishes was the sesame balls.  They are balls of dough that are filled with a sweet paste and rolled in sesame seeds.  The waiter can cut them in half with special scissors or you can eat it whole.  They are very sweet and very filling so save room for it  (see picture at the top).

 

The best part of dim-sum is that you get to try so many new things.  Even if you don't like something (I didn't like the tripe), someone else at the table is probably going to eat it.

 

In Chow Down Chinatown Part 2, I'll tell you all about the bakeries, butcher shop and grocery store Aunt Sally showed us after lunch.  Stay tuned!

 

Dim Sum - photo by Julia the Child Foodie

 

 

 



 

 

Tea Time!

 

 

 

I stopped by The Old Company Store this morning to try out some new tea. The Republic of Tea  is turning 20 and having a tea party at the store.  I tried four teas, my fav was Hibiscus. It has a natural sweetness to it, is caffeine-free and Marissa from Republic of Tea says it helps lower your cholesterol too. I also liked the Pumpkin Spice - it smelled great and is perfect for fall. Tea is very soothing - try a cup of decaf tea the night before school starts or enjoy it in the morning before the bus comes.

 

Stop by The Old Company Store and pick out your favorite flavor - tell them Julia the Child sent you :)

 

http://www.oldcompanystore.com/         http://www.republicoftea.com/                  

Lemon Puff Pancake

This morning I ate a delicious, puffy, lemony pancake!  We found the recipe at King Arthur Flour website and we wanted to try it out.  I mixed all the ingredients and my mom was in charge of the skillet and oven.   The pancake puffs up in the pan and that's the sign that it's just about done.  It's light, airy and you can put almost anything on it - fruit, berries or chocolate chips!  The lemon topping is best with the fruit.  I would use whipped cream with chocolate chips.  It's a simple recipe and one pancake feeds two people.  Try this out at home.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/lemon-puff-pancake-with-fresh-berries-recipe

Family Day in the North End

My dad had business in Boston yesterday so he asked if we wanted to go with him.  We said YES and decided to have lunch together in the North End.  The North End was very busy on a Wednesday afternoon.  We ate lunch at Trattoria Il Panino Express on Hanover St. which was great because we got a table that was open to the street. We watched the world go by while we ate. My mother really treasured the moment because it was one of the last times we would be there before my brother leaves for school.

The food was yummy.  We all got something different.  Thomas got an enormous slice of cheese pizza.  He can be a picky pizza eater but he ate the whole piece and really enjoyed it.  My parents had a panino - which is a sandwich usually made with cheese, vegetables and meat.  Mom had the Panino Lady with tomato, basil, mozzarella cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.  Dad had the same but with prosciutto.  I had the kids penne pasta, which was cooked just right and it left me room to try my parents' sandwiches.  I liked them both - but I liked my Dad's better with the prosciutto.  The bread was awesome!  It was very fresh, and had a good chew to it. 

After lunch we strolled down Hanover Street to Mike's Pastry www.mikespastry.com for a cannoli.  On our way, we ran into friends from our town that were on their way to lunch - you never know who you might see in the North End!  When we walked into Mike's there was a crowd of people looking up at the cannoli menu.  There were a lot of choices!  Dad got pistachio, I got double chocolate and my brother got double chocolate mousse.  We were still full from eating lunch, so we got them to go.   The cannolis were calling out to me in the car ride home, but we saved them to have that night for dessert. It was soooo good but too big for me to eat all at once.  I still have half of my cannoli left, I think I'll have it now!

Pictures by Julia The Child Foodie

A trip to a spring - Simpson Spring!

My favorite flavors to go!

I met the people from Simpson Spring at the Old Rochester Farmer's Market last month.  They invited me and some other food bloggers to a tour and tasting at their plant in South Easton, MA last Saturday.  My Dad came with me and we had a great time.

First we taste-tested three different waters - tap water, a popular bottled water and Simspon Spring water.  The spring water was our favorite.  It has minerals in it and felt good on the back of our throats.  The spring water had a pinch of sweetness in the after-taste that I really liked.  The spring water is special because it has oxygen added to it (the oxygen kills any bacteria without killing the taste).  I thought the spring water had much better flavor than the bottled water which was tasteless and the tap water was really flat.    We also got to see where the water comes into the plant from the spring and how it gets bottled and labeled.  Then it's ready to be sold all over Massachusetts.

We also got to see how they make their soda.  Simpson Spring adds syrup and bubbles to the spring water (15% is syrup - Coke has about 8%) so the taste is more powerful.  They make 11 flavors of soda: birch beer, root beer, orange, fruit punch, cream soda, sparking water, grape soda, sasparilla, ginger ale, lemon-lime and coffee.  The coffee soda was a big surprise!  We thought it sounded kind of weird but my dad tried it first and it was actually really good.  They added half and half to it and served it over ice and it was surprisingly tasty!   Dad liked it so much he bought a six-pack of coffee soda to bring home.  I picked out 3 orange and 3 root beer sodas to share with my brother. 

My Dad and I  also learned a lot about the history of Simpson Spring and their soda business.  It was really cool seeing all the old bottles and machinery.  They even used to sell soda to Macy's and bottled Moxie too.

You should definitely try Simpson Spring sodas and their water - check out their website for stores that sell their soda and water at www.simpsonspring.com , the Marion General Store or the Old Rochester Farmer's Market.  Be sure to tell them Julia the Child sent you!

Thanks to everyone at Simpson Spring for a great visit and for letting me take pictures for the blog :)

Crusty Cod

 I wasn't much of a big fish eater 'til I had crusted cod.  When my mom told me that we were having fish for dinner I thought I'd rather have a hotdog.  But then I tried the fish and I LOVED it!  The crunch of the panko crumbs went well with the smoothness of the cod.  A squeeze of lemon added a little splash of tang to the fish.  The chopped parsley combined with the panko crumbs gave the dish a burst of color.  It's not hard to make, even a kid can do it!

Crusty Cod

1 lb cod fillets
1 cup panko crumbs
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp chopped flat parsley
1 lemon
salt/pepper to taste

preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine panko crumbs and parsley
Add melted butter and mix with a fork
Place fish in baking dish
sprinkle cod with a little salt and pepper
completely cover the fish in the panko crumb mixture
add a little dab of butter on top and a squeeze of the lemon into the baking pan
Bake in oven about 10 minutes

(Turn on the broiler for a minute or two if the bread crumbs aren't crunchy)

My Adventurous Vermont Vacation - I ate a cricket!

While I was in Vermont visiting my grandparents we went to the Farmer's Market in Burlington. 
Video

It was huge!  We spent two hours tasting all sorts of interesting foods.  I was really surprised to try a lavender cake.  Lavender in cake?  Farmhouse Kitchen  at www.almondcakesvt.com makes a mean organic lavender cake.  You could really smell the lavender and it tasted so sweet and fragrant.  I was surprised I liked it so much. 

I was also surprised to try a cricket!  Cricket Delights sells dry-roasted crickets.  They take off the wings and legs (so they don't get caught in your throat) and roast them up.  I tried one and I thought it was fantastic.  It was salty, crunchy and tasted like a sunflower seed.  They put them in snack mix and my favorite, LOLLIPOPS!  I bought my mom and I a clear vanilla lollipop with a big cricket in the middle.  She was a little grossed out when she opened her eyes and saw the cricket right smack in the middle - but she said she would try it.  We'll see!

Beth, at The Red Maple Granola company (www.redmaplegranola.com)  was really nice.  She made me guess all the ingredients in the granola and we had a lot of fun.  Her granola is delightful because it has all my favorite ingredients: apricots, blueberries, cranberries, maple syrup and oats.  You should check it out.

We also stopped by Samosaman Natural Foods and I had their apple somosa.  It's shaped like a triangle and the dough is stuffed with different fillings.  They can be stuffed with vegetables or fruit.  When you bite into it, it's like a warm apple pie that you can hold in your hand.  The dough was soft and moist and the apple filling was warm and tender, but not mushy.  They were awesome!

I had a lot of fun at the Farmer's Market in Burlington.  I tried a lot of new things and I never thought I'd eat a cricket - but as I always say "Try it, you'll like it (maybe!)"

Summer Experiments

I've been inspired to try different foods that have popped up in my summer reading book "Summer of the Gypsy Moths" by Sara Pennypacker.  Food is important to the main characters, Stella and Angel (both age 12) as they take care of themselves with no adults around one summer.  Chili, capers, shrimp salad, fried clams, limeade, and pad thai are just a few of the leftovers Stella and Angel find that are calling out from the book saying "Try me! Try me!".  I think I will.

I will also be cooking authentic Greek, Brazilian and Indian recipes with my friends and their parents this summer.  We'll be making baklava (Greek), Rice and Beans with Pork (Brazilian) and Curry (Indian) and I can't wait to share the photos and  recipes with you.

http://www.sarapennypacker.com/

Beat the Heat

It's a scorcher today.  Who wants to cook dinner?  Not us!  On a hot day we usually eat a late dinner once it's cooled down and the breeze comes up the cove.  We like to have cold roasted chicken, green salad and an iced tea out on the back porch.  My mom will get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and we'll do an easy salad with tomatoes and cucumbers.  What do you eat on a hot summer night?

What's up Doc?

Carrot Wheel of Color

Carrots!  

They come in all shapes, sizes and colors.  Did you know carrots can be purple, orange, yellow, and white.  You can eat them raw, grated, shaved, boiled, roasted and mashed.  They can come with long, green tops or small and baby sized.  Carrots also help your eye sight!  Look for fun colored carrots at your grocery store and try to eat as many different colors of the rainbow every day.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!  We're grilling steaks for dinner and making rice pilaf and green beans -  all your favorites.  I hope you have a great day - Love Julia :)

It's a fruit?!

Kids usually get an apple, banana or orange slices in their lunch.  But have you ever tried one of these in your lunch box?

Grilled Chicken with Cucumber, Tomato and Feta Salad in Warm Pita

1 lb. chicken tenders
1 package pita bread
1 english cucumber
2 plum tomatoes
1/4 c sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 c feta cheese
fresh dill

Sprinkle the chicken with a little salt and pepper on both sides
Place on grill and cook until nice and brown.
Make sure it's white on the inside - chicken needs to be cooked all the way through.

Chop up some fresh dill and mix with the sour cream or yogurt
(Use as much or as little dill as you like - I don't like too much)

Slice the cucumber in half (go the long way so you have two long halves)
Dice into medium size cubes

Slice open the tomatoes and remove the seeds
Dice into medium size cubes (same size as cucumber cubes)

Warm the pitas up on the grill (but not too much - you don't want it crunchy)

Spread some of the dill mixture over the pita bread.
Add a grilled chicken tender
Sprinkle with diced tomato, diced cucumber and feta (as much as you like)
You can stuff the pocket or just put the ingredients in the middle and wrap it up around the veggies/chicken - that's how I like it.

Serves 4 -6

Sneaky Zucchini

A cool way to sneak in a vegetable is by making zucchini bread. It's my nana's recipe and I made it for the first time last week. I wasn't sure how it was going to come out but it was so good I immediately wanted a second piece. I like it plain, but you might like it with butter or cream cheese.

Check out the Recipe section for the list of ingredients, procedure and baking tips. I used a cheese grater to grate the zucchini. I put it into a plastic bag overnight and then had everything ready when I made the bread after school. It came out great and my Dad even put a slice of the bread in my lunchbox for snack the next day.

Give the recipe a try - you may be surprised how much you like zucchini!

The Popcorn Bar



Wintergreen Popcorn Bar

Chomp, crunch, crackle goes the popcorn bar!

During April vacation I spent a day at Salem Willows.  My mom spent her summers there when she was a kid and she wanted to take my brother, father and me for a day trip.  I've never been there before and I thought it was really exciting!  After playing Skeeball at the Arcade, we walked down to E.W. Hobbs to get some popcorn bars.  We could smell the popcorn before we got to the counter!

It was really interesting to see the popcorn bars being made.  The workers would take flavored popcorn and spread it out in big sheet pans.  Then they would cut them into rows, make rectangular bars and wrap them in parchment paper.  They come in many different flavors.  We bought molasses (which is like Cracker Jacks), molasses with coconut and to the left - Wintergreen.  There is also vanilla, chocolate and orange flavored bars.  We all shared the different bars - my favorite was molasses!  I've never seen anything like the popcorn bars before, but I hope we go back again so we can try them all.

Birthday Dinner at the Little Red Smokehouse

Restaurant Reviews

Little Red Smokehouse - Carver, MA
http://www.littleredsmokehouse.com/lrsh/


I was at the Little Red Smokehouse for my birthday last Saturday night. We were lucky to get there by 5:30, our wait was only 20 minutes but the parking lot got packed after we arrived! I was in the mood for ribs. They have three different kinds of ribs (Carolina Jumbo, St. Louis and Baby Back) and I wasn't sure which ones I wanted. I asked our waitress if she could explain the difference and she said they are different sizes and some have more fat than others. She was very helpful. (Don't be afraid to ask questions about the menu!) I decided to order the Baby Back ribs. It came with two sides and I picked the baked macaroni and cheese and the collard greens. We also ordered a loaf of cornbread, I LOVE cornbread. The cornbread was awesome! It had a nice crust on the outside and was moist and warm on in the inside. The cornbread came with a cranberry butter - I had never had it before but it was great!


I can describe the ribs in three words: D, LISH, US! They had the perfect ratio of meat to sauce and were just the right bit of messy. The barbecue sauce had a sweetness to it and wasn't overly spicy. I had so much fun eating the ribs that I forgot about the macaroni and cheese and the collard greens! Our waitress was very nice and she boxed them up for me to take home.


My brother had ribs too but picked Smokehouse tots and steamed vegetables for his sides. The tots were cool. I had never seen tots like this before - they were huge! Big balls of mashed potatoes that were coated in crumbs and deep fried - nice and crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Thomas doesn't like mashed potatoes so he stuck to the vegetables and we took the tots home as leftovers.


Since it was my birthday, we saved just enough rooom to share dessert. There were several choices but we are a chocolate family so we ordered the Triple Chocolate Brownie Sundae. Our waitress brought out the dessert with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday. The restaurant is cozy and all the other diners joined in on the song. The combination of brownie, ice cream, sauce and chocolate chunks along with four spoons, was a perfect way to end a perfect birthday meal.


You should definitely check out the Little Red Smokehouse. Parents: if you're taking the kids, plan on having an early dinner or be prepared for a long wait on a weekend night. Kids: try something new and order the collard greens, Smokehouse tots and the cranberry butter - you'll be glad you did.

Spring Peas!

Spring is here and that makes me think of spring peas.  Steamed then slapped with a bit of butter and these little green friends will explode in your mouth!  I like to eat them alone or added to pasta or vegetable soup. 

Saturday Morning with Dad

My favorite Saturday morning breakfast is a chocolate chip muffin from Uncle Jon's in Marion, MA.  It's the bomb!  Plenty of chocolate chips and always moist - perfect with a glass of milk (or hot chocolate in the winter).  And my Dad loves a Ma's cruller to go with his cup of coffee.   When you go in, tell Peter C. Julia sent you!

Kids Note!

Hi, just a reminder for all kids to be safe online!  Please don't post on this blog without an adult's permission.   

Welcome to Julia the Child

Hi, I'm Julia, I'm 10 and I love all things food.   I want to get kids interested in trying different foods, checking out new places to eat, cooking at home and maybe even pack their own lunches.  I will be sharing my stories about new foods I've tried, recipes, food markets and all kinds of restaurants.  Hopefully other kids will try them too and post what they think.