Mini Macks’ Culinary Adventures and Giveaway!

Mini Macks’ Culinary Adventures and Giveaway!

There is something equally rewarding and challenging when cooking. It is one of the tasks in life, since time began, that has near instant gratification. Before technologies of this and that, one could mix a few ingredients and quickly tell if it was a success or failure. When cooking with Mini Macks (or other small creatures) this result of success (or failure) is also quickly revealed. Expectations lowered can produce even better satisfaction. Because even a crooked chocolate cake, pre-licked spatulas, or sloppy-measured-scoops still result in some darn tasty vittles.

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The Mini Macks would like to share a few of their latest culinary endeavors and what would be more exciting than sharing with a giveaway! Four lucky Mini Mack subscribers who leave a comment of a childhood culinary adventures or a favorite recipe will be picked at random to receive a fabulous tote bag! Our friends at Crooked Brook (affiliate company of our favorite honey pals at Mohawk Valley Trading Company) sent these beautifully embroidered, 100% cotton canvas tote bags. Featuring some of the Mini Mack’s favorite summer herbs – rosemary, basil, mint, and chamomile.

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First things first, make your grocery list while lying in the morning summer sun on Crooked Brook’s buckwheat hull pillow. Buckwheat honey is wonderfully unique and reminds me of molasses (but I promise, 100% honey!) and the hulls of the buckwheat plant are great for other uses. Crooked Brook sent us this superbly supportive and perfect little pillow.

DSC_2652 The Mini Macks and me have been using it in the hammock. Its 100% cotton cover, allergen and toxin free hull filling both provide the best hammock pillow any avid summer-sun snoozer could ask for. Mini Macks only complaint is that it isn’t three times the size! But Crooked Brook has a solution for that! Individual patterns according to customers measurements, style and fabric specifications, are available! For more information contact: info@crookedbrook.com

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Mini Mack Summer Punch
(Click for printable SUMMER Recipes)

We concocted this recipe after a super long bike ride to the “red park”. Note to self, probably not the best idea to bike a few miles with three children strapped to your bike after giving a pint of blood the night before. The Red Cross isn’t kidding when they say to take it easy for a day or two from strenuous activity. Who knew three Mini Macks, seven ducks-a-quacking, and a bazillion tadpoles-a-swimming, would result in their mother nearly fainting in the park’s lake. Live and learn.

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Retrieve all your ingredients from the store with Crooked Brook’s Peppermint Embroidered Tote Bag:

8 ounces lemon juice
(Fresh is great, bottled is what we used)
1 juice of a lime
2 large wedges of watermelon, blended and strained
(Ya know, the kind always left over from summer parties)
1 very ripe peach, blended and strained
(Ya know, the ones you leave on the counter and totally forget about until they are disintegrating before your very eyes. They make great juice!).
½ cup frozen berries, blended and strained (we used cranberries)
½-3/4 cup sugar*
(Best if dissolved in some water and warmed for approximately 30 seconds in the microwave to make a simple syrup).
¼ cup honey
(warmed for 10-15 seconds so it incorporates into punch and doesn’t sink to the bottom)

If desired, add a few leaves of fresh peppermint (as so beautifully displayed on Crooked Brook’s latest tote!)

Fill remaining space in pitcher with ice and water. Stir until combined. Best chilled for an hour. Serves approximately eight 8 oz. sippy-cup servings.

 

Eggcellent Egg Salad

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Gather all your ingredients from the store with Crooked Brook’s Basil Embroidered Tote Bag…

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Ingredients:
1 dozen eggs
½-3/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
Handful of fresh basil, finely chopped
Extra basil leaves for stacking on crackers

Tools:
Three Mini Macks plus one cousin (substitutes can be used for nearly the same eggcellent results).
An Egg timer (if you care to know)
A large pot with lid and enough water to cover the eggs
An egg slicer (I think a knife works just fine, but the Mini Macks and Chris agree that slicers are eggcellent tools)
A spatula (preferably one with a pig on it)
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

Put 12 large eggs into a large pot with egg timer. Try your hardest not to crack any along the way. Add two tablespoons of vinegar and cover eggs with water. Put lid on and turn heat to high. Once boiling, turn off heat and let pot sit for 10 minutes or longer. The vinegar will help the eggs peel when the time comes and the sitting pot is one less thing to monitor while preparing the following.

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Into a large bowl, put in sour cream, mustard, salt and cayenne. Chop finely a large handful of freshly picked basil (about a 1/3 cup) and put in large bowl. Mix evenly.

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Drain water from eggs, run under cool water. Peel and discard shells into compost. Take turns using the amazing egg slicer by cutting the egg lengthwise and then carefully picking up and slicing again by width.

DSC_2053DSC_2057 Put sliced eggs into large bowl. Mix until fully incorporated. Taste test to ensure salt/sour cream/basil ratio is to your liking. Best if refrigerated for an hour before serving. When ready, put between toast for sandwiches or our favorite, Ritz crackers with an extra basil leaf. Keeps in fridge for about four days (not that ours ever lasts that long!).

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Fresh Herb Pizza!

This a bit of a cheat recipe. Take Food Network’s Bobby Flay’s pizza recipe. But just after you add the flour, add in ¼ cup of freshly picked herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, or even lavender is tasty!). Let dough rise for an hour as recipe states. But oddly the recipe does not include baking instructions.

So…

Roll out two pizzas and place onto two cookie sheets lightly lined with cornmeal (or non stick spray). Blind bake (no topping or sauce) for eight or so minutes. Take out, add sauce and toppings of your choice, bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is golden brown in areas. Slice and enjoy in front of your favorite movie!

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5 Replies to “Mini Macks’ Culinary Adventures and Giveaway!”

  1. Ok. These pictures are just driving me crazy. Those of Cody are just too precious!
    They are such memorable pictures! They will always have these memories and they are having fun times together w/cousins. Love it! I taught my two sons how to cook and sometimes, they still cook and remember the days and then w/Daddy they learned how to carve, chg. oil, mow the lawn, etc. It’s all good!!

  2. Love this! My grandmother used to make a cake every Saturday night. I would wait patiently for her to finish pouring the batter into the two cake pans so I could lick the bowls! Of course everyone I got ready to taste, my mother would bang on the floor (they stayed in the apartment above my grandmother in surry) to tell her not to give me any as dinner was coming! My grandmother have me the bowl anyway and mom never learned I our secret! I suspect she knew, but never stopped the tradition!

  3. You’re so fun! I would definitely like to try that pizza. I always remember making mini jam tarts with my mum and sister, the bright red shine of the strawberries and the yellow shortbread crust pastry crust. My sister and I had a job to decorate the tarts with pastry shapes – stars, pastry twists and crosses. Dabbing the milk on the pastry each with a brush (and fighting over who put more milk on which tarts). We’d wait impatiently for them to be cooked whilst our noses clocked the smells of freshly cooked sweet shortbread pastry. And then for them to cool enough on the wire rack just enough for us to eat. Great idea Char!

  4. The eggs reminded me of a dish my mom used to make every year at Easter when we’d have tons of leftover colored hard boiled eggs. She called the recipe “Eggs over Goldenrod”. We’d help her peel the eggs, then mom would cut the eggs in half and take out the yolk, putting them in a small bowl where my sister or I would get to smash them up with a fork. The other person would get the job of chopping up the egg whites. Mom would then make a white gravy with butter, flour, salt & milk, then add the chopped egg whites to the gravy. We’d pour the gravy over toast and sprinkle the golden egg yolks over the top. It was a once a year treat that we always looked forward to!