Recent photos

Here are a few photos I had to submit for my new online photography class.  A head shot, partial body shot, and full body shot.  Last summer, I couldn't even put pigtails in her hair, she is growing up too fast.

Black Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

I'm baaaack and hopefully for good.  I realized today that July is National Ice Cream Month.  I thought I'd make my comeback with this amazing ice cream that I made last weekend.  I got a vitamix recently so I've been hitting up the farmer's market hard every weekend to stock my freezer full of farm grown local fruit for my smoothies.  Last week, I came across black raspberries.

The sighting of the black raspberries was kind of nostalgic for me. I  had never actually seen them for sale before, but back in Massachusetts, black raspberry is one of my favorite flavors to get at the local ice cream shop.  Here, where I live now, there are not very many local dairy bars that have a variety of hard ice cream flavors, it's mostly soft serve, so it makes me sad that my kids miss out on that experience.  I immediately bought a quart of black raspberries and went home that very day to make black raspberry ice cream.  I don't know who I was with, but I think it was my dad, that ordered it with jimmies- black raspberry with chocolate-you can't go wrong.

I recently purchased David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop.  It has been on my wishlist for a very long time.  I decided to buy it because my son expressed interest in learning how to make ice cream.  As I was searching for a black raspberry ice cream recipe, I pulled out the book and there it was, "raspberry swirl ice cream".  If you are looking for a fun way to introduce new fruits to a picky kids, here you go! All of my kids ate it and liked it.  It is good to know that the ice cream is actually made with real, local berries.  If you can't find black raspberries, I'm positive it will be just as delicious with red ones, which are also in season now.

Black Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream:

Ice Cream:
1 cup Whole Milk (if you use low fat, it will not turn out as creamy)
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
5 Egg Yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla

Black Raspberry Swirl:
1 1/2 cup black raspberries (fresh or frozen)
3 TBSP Sugar
1 TBSP vodka

1) Make the raspberry swirl.  Mash the raspberries together with the sugar and vodka.  (The vodka helps the ice cream stay smooth- I did not have vodka, but since I make my own vanilla with vodka, I used 1 TBSP vanilla)- I also was lazy and just mashed it together in my food processor, just way easier.  Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl, and strain the raspberry mixture to remove the seeds.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

2) For the ice cream, place egg yolks in a medium sized bowl and whisk.

3) Place milk, sugar, and salt in medium sauce pan, warm it to about 175'.

4) While milk mixture is warming, pour cream into a large bowl, with a mesh sieve over it.

5) Once milk mixture is warm, pour half of it over the egg yolks, stirring constantly.  This is called tempering the eggs.  Pour this mixture back into the pan with the rest of the milk mixture.  Continue heating, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan.  The mixture should reach about 185', you will notice it will thicken like a custard, and coat the spatula.  Remove from heat.

6) Pour custard mixture through mesh sieve into cream.  Stir in the vanilla and stir until cool, over an ice bath.  Once mixture is cool, cover and place in the refrigerator to chill.  Once the mixture is chilled, about 1 hour, you can churn in your ice cream maker, according to directions.

7) Chill the container you will be storing the ice cream in in your freezer.  When the ice cream is done churning, layer a scoop of ice cream, spread a thin layer of raspberry swirl, then ice cream, etc until you have filled the container.  Freeze until ready to serve.

Source:  Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

School Year 2012-2013

This was a hard year for me, homeschooling 1, having 2 in public school, 2 others at home, demanding attention, starting to work part time, and a husband that travels, made for a LOT!  Can I just say that I am GLAD that the school year is over.  I feel like it went by fast now that it's over, and I didn't even get to see these guys grow.

First Day of School August 2012 (Grade 1, 2, 4)

Last Day of School May 2013

My Girls

I haven't been sharing very much lately, especially photos.  I've been going through all my photos and it's a shame not to share all the cute ones of my own family.

This is from October, but I still love it and never shared it before, what a shame.

Chocolate Frosted Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Filling

Back in March, it occurred to me that I hadn't made cupcakes in months.  It was this blog that got me obsessed with cupcakes, and how magical they are.  I used to make cupcakes more than anything else, then I stopped.

My cousin sent me a message saying she missed reading about the cupcakes I was making and it really occurred to me how much I missed making the cupcakes.  I decided to recreate the first cupcake I ever made for this blog, which, in fact was the first filled cupcake I had ever made, and the last one I ever used a box mix with.

All this coincided with my photography club's presentation that I was giving about food photography, so I knew it was the perfect time to show how far I've come in three years with a photo of the same batch of cupcakes, not only with my photography skills, but my baking skills as well.
THEN:

NOW:

I wish I had time to post this before Mother's Day so my cousin could have made them for herself, but it's early enough in the day that if she wants, she can still make a batch.

Happy Mother's Day Em, thanks for inspiring me to make cupcakes again!

Oven: 350'

Yellow Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 TBSP unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg plus 2 yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Marshmallow filling:
1/6 cup confectioner's sugar
3.5 oz marshmallow fluff (we made our own homemade-OMG wait for this recipe soon)
pinch salt
1/2 TBSP water
3-4 TBSP butter, room temp

Chocolate Frosting:
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP dutch process cocoa powder
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP boiling water
15 TBSP unsalted butter (she used a lot more, I don't like butter flavor frosting, so I modified)
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
pinch salt
16 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled (use bars if you can, not chips)

Preheat the oven to 350'
1) For the cupcakes:  In the bowl of your mixer, using the paddle, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2) Slice butter into 8 pieces and slowly add them to the flour mixture.  Add in sour cream, egg, yolks, and vanilla and beat on medium until smooth.  Scrape down bowl and mix again until all ingredients are incorporated.

3) Line muffin pan with paper liners.  Scoop batter into cup wells until 2/3 full.  This will make 12 cupcakes, so there should be just enough batter to fill one large muffin pan.

4) Bake in oven 20-24 minutes, rotating halfway through.  They are done when a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely on wire rack before filling or frosting.

5) For the filling:  With whisk attached to hand or stand mixer, beat butter and marshmallow fluff together.  Add in confectioner's sugar, salt, and water, beat until fluffy and combined.

6) Cut a small round cone out of the top of each cupcake, scoop a TBSP of filling into each cupcake.  Shave the cake off the bottom part of each cone and replace the top of the cupcake, once it has been filled.

7) For the frosting:  Break semi-sweet chocolate into pieces, put in microwave proof bowl and microwave for 20 second increments, stirring in between each time, until completely melted and smooth, set aside to cool.

8) In a medium bowl, whisk the cocoa powder and boiling water until cocoa dissolves.  Set aside.

9) In bowl of mixer (stand or hand), using whisk, beat the butter, confectioner's sugar, and salt on medium until light and fluffy.  Reduce mixer speed and add in the melted, cooled chocolate.  Beat until combined.  Scrape down sides and mix again.

10) Beat in the cocoa mixture until combined, scrape down sides and remix again.  Put frosting in bag with a piping tip and frost the cupcakes.

Source:  Cupcakes- Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, Frosting- Martha Stewart Cupcakes, Filling- Skip to my Lou blog

My Son's No Sugar Challenge

So, the last month and a half or so, I've been struggling to find time.  Struggling to write and post without sounding hypocritical to myself and what I do.  But, hey, this is my blog, if I want to talk about fitness one day, and cupcakes the next, it's ok, because that's who I am- I love to exercise, I love to be fit, I love helping people get fit and feel good about themselves, I love inspiring people, I love sharing things I've made, especially food that is delicious, and I love challenging myself.

I finally feel like my food photography has progressed to a level where I feel I should be, so I can't wait to share some of the new recipes I've tried recently (warning, two are cupcakes).  Now, the hypocritical part (sort of):  Our crossfit gym did its first paleo challenge last month.  My son and two daughters come with me to coach, so they were hearing lots of info about the paleo challenge (essentially, no sugar, no grains, no dairy, no legumes)- immediately both my son and one of my daughters were jumping at the chance to do the challenge and had my boss weigh and measure them.  Honestly, I knew I wasn't participating in the challenge and didn't think either one of them would survive, but my son-- WOW he amazed me!

I knew that Nathaniel was a pretty picky eater to begin with, so I was not sure I could have him go completely paleo and still eat enough calories.  We decided for the first round, he would just eliminate sugar.  You would not believe how intense and serious he took this!  My 9 year old son went 4 weeks with no sugar.  I was thinking it would be interesting to see if I noticed any behavioral changes in him- which, for the record, I did not.  The one thing I noticed was that this kid has will power and determination.  He read labels on everything and would not eat it if it listed sugar.  I allowed him to cheat on his sister's birthday for cake and ice cream, and he kept double checking with me that it was ok.

Every morning, he had toast and bacon or multigrain blueberry pancakes that I made.  I made multigrain bread for him, so he could use it for lunch.  He started searching online for sugar free recipes and started making sugar free desserts for himself, like cake and cookies.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I do feel guilty that in the beginning I didn't have faith in him.  When he went on a ski trip to california, he baked his own batch of sugar free cookies to bring for the trip and freaked out because my husband didn't tell the ski school instructors he was not allowed sugar (luckily it was just a little bit in the jelly of his sandwich).  When they got back from their trip, I made hotdogs, and he had ketchup, before he took a bite, he ran to the fridge, pulled out the ketchup, saw sugar in the ingredients, and wiped it off his hot dog.  That is some determination!

I love that I'm teaching him how to be healthy and how to read food packaging.  He asked me why certain foods weren't healthy, which prompted me to take our next science lesson to the next level and we are studying nutrition and human anatomy- I'm loving it!

I've learned valuable lessons from this experience too.  One is never doubt your kids' abilities and the main one was that it is really hard to not feed your kids sugar.  Every snack, prepackaged food, drink has added sugar, it is really quite sickening how much sugar an average kid must consume every day.  Even Cheerios has sugar.

When the four weeks were up, he had to complete a crossfit workout, called the "Dirty Thirty", followed by a 1,000m row- I took him in and my boss ran him through the workout.  He worked the hardest I've ever seen him work in my life.  He got red faced and sweaty, which made him excited.  We reweighed and measured him- he had lost a pound and 1/2 " in waist and arms got a little smaller too- that was not the goal of course, he is 9 and growing, but I found it interesting nonetheless.  Since that day, he has been nothing excited about doing the WOD with the adults.  My boss told him that he had taken his workouts to the next level, and I know that made him feel special and proud.

Here's some pictures of him doing his workout:

What did we gain from this?  My son is a tougher person than I thought, I need to read labels closer than I already did, and my son knows how to cook now.

What can you gain?  Your kid can survive without sugar, kids have more willpower than we think, you can give them sugar, but notice labels, be aware of what's in your food.  The thing I try to live by is moderation.  I give them sweets, but in moderation- because I don't want them to be curious later on in life and go on a crazy binge.  Be smart and teach your kids to be smart- educate yourself and know why things are bad for you, they are more apt to listen to a solid reason than "it's bad for you".

Where Have I Been?

This past month, I did not stick to my New Year's Resolution of 12 posts per month, I've got some ground to make up.  I've been drowning in my own to do lists and beating myself up about stuff and therefore, neglected this blog.  It may come as no surprise, but I HAVE NO FREE TIME!

I do have one big announcement about where I've been:  I GOT MY LEVEL 1 CROSSFIT TRAINER certification!  In the beginning of the month, I was busy studying for my test, reading, watching videos, quizzing myself, then I spent the next week worrying if I passed or not.

Of course, I passed, and then I had strep throat, and then two of my kids got it, and well, let's just say in my own way, I rested.

But on to more important things, like Crossfit!  So, I was lucky enough to be asked to help coach at my friend's box, so not only did I pass my test, but I'm a real coach!  Yes, I am living the dream, getting more fit, helping people get fit, setting a good example, it's just awesome!

So, that brings me to something,  how I've been rethinking my blog. I'm trying to be a good example and help people get fit, then I'm posting things like chocolate chip cookies recipes and such.  I don't think I'm being a very good example, but you know, I am making things from scratch and if you are going to eat treats, at least you should know what you are putting in them.  So, I have decided to try to focus on more healthy recipes and still post that one new cookie recipe per month and maybe one cake, but be prepared to see more healthy fresh stuff (when I find the time to photograph it).

Also, I'm on a mission to get rid of a lot of stuff.  If you see me posting craft ideas or ideas on things that I bought for my kids that they like, please don't take that as a plug to go out and buy it.  For some reason, I used to get so inspired by blog posts I'd read, that I'd go out and buy all the supplies, and then I'd never find the time to do it with my kids.  Now we have so many supplies, I can't keep it all straight and I'm so busy cleaning and organizing the stuff, I never feel like I do anything fun with my kids anymore.  "Before you know it they will be all grown up and out of the house", I have heard that countless times, mostly when I used to be wandering through the airport with three or four kids ages 4 and under by myself- I actually kind of miss those days.

I hope to start posting more fun ideas and things that I do with my kids, because that means I'm actually doing them.  I'm tired of stuff and mostly I'm tired of yelling at my kids to put it away, to take care of it, and use it.  Why do we get them stuff when we know this is what will happen?  I got rid of two trash bags of stuff to good will and one more of broken stuff to the trash, I felt awesome!  Less stuff to take care of= more time to have fun with your kids.  There was a day when I got on a  plane with a diaper bag and three car seats and three kids that all needed them, I wish I took a picture because I'm actually not sure how I carried the baby and the three car seats onto the plane, that is a memory I wish was frozen on a picture.  Now, I only have one little one that needs a car seat on the plane and it makes me sad.  She's mischievous, but she can't talk back, and I like that.

I'm teaching my oldest son how to cook now and did you know that I used to teach Chemistry?  So, I'm teaching him lots of science experiments.  I'm hoping to put our latest recipes and experiments up for others to try starting this week- he actually asked me if he could start his own blog, lol.  For the rest of the year, he asked me to teach him about nutrition.  Since he hears me talk about food and what's healthy, he asked me to explain how the body processes food and why some things are bad, so I will sharing some of those adventures too.

And, my time is up, got dinner to make and 8 baskets of laundry to put away.