Banana Coconut Milk Pops

Last weekend Emmett and Isla performed in the Spring Performance at their school, Montessori Learning Center of Edison Park.  This was by far the highlight of our weekend and we were so proud of how they both fearlessly took the stage, singing and dancing in front of all of the parents and relatives of their classmates. I don't think I will ever be able to wrap my head around how their teachers get them all in and out of costumes and up on stage to perform for us. It's truly amazing. 

Other than the french toast and bacon “power breakfast” that I made the day of the show, I barely cooked a thing all weekend.  But I did make something. Because I cannot stand to throw food away, I freeze all of our overripe bananas until I figure out what to do with them. They usually end up in muffins, banana bread or pancakes but since it’s finally warm out, this time I decided to try something a little different.

Banana Coconut Milk Pops.

I don’t think I can think of anything easier to make and, BONUS, you can feel good about giving them to your kids. The only ingredients are agave nectar, vanilla extract, bananas and coconut milk (although you could throw some chocolate chips in there if you want). The high fat content of coconut milk makes them more creamy than icy, and most of the sweetness comes straight from those super ripe bananas which you can really taste.  Much better than the banana Popsicles of my childhood - as much as I LOVED those!  I can probably think of a hundred variations of these that I would like to try. Fruit flavored, chocolate, peanut butter, or and adult version with coffee and Bailey's (wouldn't that be a fun dessert for a summer dinner party?). 

Now I'm starting to think that I might get some use out of these silicon ice pop molds I bought last year. 

Banana Coconut Milk Pops

makes 6 pops

1 can coconut milk

1 tbs agave nectar

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 super-over-ripe bananas (room temperature)

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.  OR, place ingredients in a large bowl (preferably with a spout) and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

Pour mixture into Popsicle molds molds and freeze until solid.

No raw eggs! Lick the bowl! 

If you're squeamish about licking the bowl when there are raw eggs involved (I'm not - must be the Japanese in me but I'll eat anything raw), this is your opportunity to get in there.  Oh yeah, and it just dawned on me, these are vegan too. So a great treat to have on hand if you're vegan or have vegan guests. Because no one should ever miss out on dessert. 

Apparently, you can purchase an "easy-fill stand" separately, but I lo and behold, I found one in my cupboard (a glass). 

Done. I felt like I accomplished something and it only took about 2 minutes. The hard part is waiting until they are frozen. 

Easter Bunny Approved: Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

How was your Easter? It was such a beautiful day here in Chicago, we felt so lucky to have a sunny, dry, warm holiday. Even more lucky to have our cousins in from Ireland. Paul’s cousin, her husband and three daughters are staying with us this week and we couldn’t be happier to have them. After an initial bout of shyness, Isla has been over-the-moon about getting to hang out with the big girls and Emmett’s been showing off every chance he gets. Eve has been getting exhausted due to all of the excitement and her new found ability to crawl, stand and just generally get around by herself. We can tell she loves it.

We had a nice sized crowd for Easter this year but I didn’t go overboard and everyone brought food so it felt effortless. Almost too effortless, it seemed almost like something was amiss because there wasn’t as much to do as usual. Not that I’m complaining.  It was fantastic. We had an Easter Egg hunt in the backyard, a turkey breast on the grill and a ham in the oven.  And for dessert I made one of my personal favorites, carrot cake.  

Checking out her stash. 

I’m a huge fan of carrot cake in its many forms.  I like it with nuts, raisins or both, coconut, even pineapple. This time however, I just kept it simple, no added ingredients, not too many spices, just classic carrot cake. I didn’t even decorate it. This cake got rave reviews at my office where most of the leftovers ended up on Monday (since it would be too hard to resist the temptation to eat cake for breakfast all week long). Maybe I’ll make it again for my birthday. 

"Coming though!"

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (adapted from America’s Test Kitchen)

For cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly ground

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp table salt

3 cups grated carrots

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9” by 13” brownie pan by spraying it with cooking spray or baking spray.

Stir flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt together in a bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, I use my stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugars and eggs on medium-high until combined and pale in color, scraping down the sides of the bowl at least once, about 5 minutes.

Switch the mixer to medium or medium low. Pour oil in a thin stream until all oil has been incorporated and emulsified.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat one minute more.

At a low speed, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in carrots.

Pour batter into prepared pan and tap the pan against the counter a few times. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, rotating pan once.

Cool cake in pan for 2 hours before frosting.

For frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese , softened

5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened

¼ tsp table salt

1 Tbs sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

Beat together cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until well combined, scraping down the bowl once to make sure everything is evenly mixed. Add salt, sour cream and vanilla. Add powdered sugar, little by little, scraping down the bowl at least once, until smooth and creamy.

Chimichurri

Even before I was married or had kids I probably spent some portion of my weekend getting organized for the week ahead.  Doing some of the things that I knew I wouldn’t want to do after a long day at work (i.e. cleaning, laundry) and getting other tasks (i.e. making portable breakfasts/snacks) out of the way so that I couldn’t use them as an excuse not to go to the gym before heading into the office. Now that I have three children under the age of three, getting prepared for the week ahead takes on a whole new meaning. Buying a tub of yogurt and cutting up some fruit does not cut it if I want to have any semblance of order and sanity for the upcoming week.

By now I’m pretty good at using the weekend to get laundry taken care of, cook a few things and make sure that we have what we need foodwise to make it at least most of the way through the week.  I also try to make sure the car has gas in it (which rarely happens and I’m always full of regret when I find myself pumping gas on a dark, freezing cold weeknight with three grumpy kids in the car - bad planning!).  

One of the other things I’m not so good at remembering to do is sorting and prepping groceries once I get back from the store. The fact that I don’t do the majority of my grocery shopping on the weekend is partially to blame. I usually cram my groceries in the fridge, freezer, cupboards - anywhere there’s space - as soon as I get home from work and immediately launch into dinner, dishes, play, baths, etc. I promptly forget about the head of lettuce and bags of herbs I’ve shoved into my crisper drawer, only to find them a week later, all wilted, leaves mushy and stuck together.

This year, in an effort to do better, I’ve been focusing on preparing for the week more and getting the kids involved in the process. This means, the older two have already learned to vacuum, not very effectively, but it’s the act of contributing that matters. And Paul and I are putting more emphasis on cleaning up after activities. Isla wants to do absolutely everything “by myself!” and Emmett loves to be my little helper so I’m capitalizing on these phases while I can.

This weekend I discovered a great way that they can help me in my quest to have an organized fridge full of ready-to-eat food. The SALAD SPINNER! I can’t believe I never thought of it before. I had tons of cilantro and parsley because I had planned on roasting pork shoulder and making chimichurri to go with it but never got around to it. Ah, the best laid plans...

By the next Saturday I needed to do something with my herbs, stat. I decided to make the chimichurri anyway because it’s so good. On anything. Um, everything.  I washed my herbs and got out the salad spinner. One look at that thing and the kids were underfoot, wondering what on earth I was going to do next. I let them take turns washing the herbs, spinning them dry and pouring out the green-tinged water left behind. They had a ball.  

The bonus for me was that I was actually able to get a few pics of Emmett, my little hummingbird, always flying too fast to capture in a photo. People say you have so many photos of your first born and less and less of your younger ones but it hasn’t played out that way for me at all. Isla and Eve both love to stop whatever they are doing for a photo op and I am happy to oblige. So capturing my oldest on film was a treat.

So is the chimichurri. If you need ideas, it’s great with: any kind of meat or chicken, mixed with some greek yogurt for a dip, stirred into soft butter for an herby compound butter, or smeared on your avocado toast. Stir a spoonful into your soup if you want to feel French or add some to your vinaigrette. Now I’m feeling like I should have made more. Luckily I had Emmett prep the remaining herbs in case I run out.

Chimichurri

2 cups parsley, roughly chopped

1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of one lime

¼ cup red wine vinegar

⅔ cup good extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch of sugar

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Throw all of the ingredients into a food processor and process until combined. Just a few seconds is fine. I know it’s not the traditional method, but it is fast and still tastes amazing. You can also make this by hand, just chop the herbs very finely and mix everything in a bowl.