X is for...Xerxes

 ...Xerxes was King of Persia, now known as Iran...Noe Rooz is the celebration of Persian New Year, which begins naturally with the beginning of a "new year", on the first day of Spring.  Many years ago, I met a wonderful woman named Mashid, who had emigrated from Iran to Canada with her family.  We worked togther for three years and she became like another Mother to me (she has three daughters of her own).  During that time, she shared a wealth of knowledge with me about Middle Eastern traditions and foods.  She taught me how to make "good" rice and shared many Iranian treats with me.  She also took me to a wonderful Persian Bakery in North Vancouver, Laleh Bakery  because she said that it was more fun to eat sweets than to make them.

  My favourite was and still is Gaz, which you may have seen or eaten, the rich white nougat chock full of pistachios.  Mashid would bring a bag of it with her to work and we would snack all day.  When I can find it, I still buy it and slip it into my children's lunch boxes for a treat.  So far, no one has said that we cannot send pistachios to school!

Happy Packing!

Tasty Lunch box treats

Yum Yum Yum!  Who doesn't love to find something sweet and homemade tucked into their lunch?  I bake a lot, although apparently not often enough, given that there is "nothing" to eat again.  We have a few regulars (altho none made currently!  Just our regular recipes): banana bread, pumpkin loaf, blueberry-spelt muffins, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and ginger molasses cookies.  Oh yes, and applesauce cake.  All recipes that have been tweaked enough that I feel good about my kids eating any of them for breakfast!  Whole grains, fruit, low in fat and many with added yogurt to increase calcium and protein.  But, every once in a while, I hear my mother's voice in my head saying, "Oh gee whiz, can't we just make something without worrying about whether it is good for us or not?  Just make it with white flour for a change."
So, last night, I set out to do just that...I had found a fabulous recipe for Chocolate chip cookies on The Sisters Cafe.  I loved Melanie's tips for making cookies, especially the one about making big cookies!  So, I printed the recipe and headed for the kitchen.  My kids were going to be so thrilled, Mum was going to make BIG Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I stood in front of the baking side of the pantry, reading through the recipe.  Well, there it was, the first problem.  The recipe called for 2 cups (less 2 TBSP) of cake flour.  Okay, yes, I had cake flour, but it was whole wheat Cake flour.  Oh well, whole wheat would have to be it, as I wasn't heading to the grocery store at 8:30 at night.  Next item?  1 2/3 cups of bread flour...eh mm...I know, you have already figured out problem number two...Baking soda, baking powder, coarse salt.  Got em all.  Butter?  Yes sir.  Probably should add a little extra given all the whole wheat flour.  Sugar...1 1/4 cup light brown sugar...Nope, gonna have to be "Best Brown"  which is lovely and rich and in no way "light" in colour.  And we will have to increase the brown sugar just a little, because I have just discovered that there is almost no white sugar left.  Perhaps there is some left in the sugar bowl?  Eggs: well, we have one large and many many extra large.  Since I have used whole wheat flour, I figure that the cookies can handle one large egg and one extra large egg, and I make a note to remember to go the long way after school the next day and hope that the egg stand has eggs left when we get there!
Vanilla extract?  Got it!  (2 large bottles in fact...Friends keep going to Mexico and bringing it back for me.  I am so spoiled!)
And, no we don't have any fancy 60%  cacao chocolate disks...Hershey's Chippits are going to have to do.
I can feel my Super Mum star slipping away before it even rises...Must make BIG cookies!  That should overshadow the whole wheat flour...That and lots and lots of chocolate chips (and why not?  The recipe calls for 1 1/4 lbs!)
So, I make up the dough (and it makes a lovely dough, in spite of the whole wheat flour!)...stick it into the fridge (chill for a minimum of 12 hours, ideally 36 hours).  If I left chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge for 36 hours in this house, there would be none left at the end to make cookies!  12 hours it will be.
Then, I slept in this morning!  Nothing to get into a panic about, however, it doesn't leave any time for baking cookies before going to school.  So, lunch treats were: yogurt (the vanilla plus kind that tastes like pudding, because Thrifty's has it on special: 3 big containers for $7.00), carrot sticks and cucumber rounds, apples, and granola bars...Both kids are looking for strawberries, but I explained that those went in their lunches the day before.  "What about the cookies, Mum?"  "They aren't finished yet, we can make them tonight."  And I successfully distract them with scrambled eggs and toast.
After supper tonight, I got the dough out of the fridge and set about making some BIG cookies.  Until I got out the 1/3 cup measuring spoon and took a really good look at it.  Those are going to be REALLY BIG cookies.  And I couldn't do it.  Ended up, I got out my "large" food scoop (really an ice cream scoop with a fancy name), and used that (I think the measurement of it is close to a 1/4 cup).
Turns out the large food scoop was the perfect size, and the cookies got rave reviews (including some chocolate smiles because of all the chocolate chips). So yummy! "Mummy, they're so big!"  my daughter said and my son wanted to know if he could take them in his lunch.  "I guess so, " I said.  "I won't tell my teacher"  he smiled.  Apparently, my children didn't even notice the whole wheat flour...
I will make sure and pack him some extra carrot sticks to hide the cookie with!
And for lunch tomorrow, my lovelies will enjoy leftover quiche and salad, as well as their BIG cookies!
Happy Packing!

To enjoy the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, find the recipe at
http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/2011/03/secrets-to-perfect-chocolate-chip.html

the most important ingredient...

 Put a little love in those lunch boxes...

...Packing lunches is just another chore on the list of never-ending chores, not necessarily one of the most liked chores either.  So rarely do we get positve feedback for the lunches we pack...At the end of the day, when you are tired, and you open that lunch box and there it is: half a sandwich still left, an apple somebody "didn't have time" to eat, and the wrapper from the granola bar...The whines of "why did you pack me that?  You know I hate that !"  Or "Why can't you just pack me licorice and jelly beans and a bunch of oreos, like so-and-so's Mum does?"
Why?  That answer is easy.  Because we are parents.  And when these small humans were placed in our care, we swore that we would give this parenting the best of everything that we have in us, that we would raise this little person to be the best big person we could.  And a big part of making sure that they grow into big people, is providing them with good nutrition, the best nutrition we can.  And for those hours in the day when they are away from us, that is the one connection we have with them, the lunch box.  So, we labour over our decisions...lots of fibre, plenty of protein, dairy for strong bones, more veggies!  Eat more veggies!  And fruit for Vitamin C, especially right now, with all those germs around.  No pop or candy, not good for those little teeth!  We want to make sure they can keep their teeth until they are 90!  However, just like everything else in our world, we only have so much control over things.  And sometimes you can do all the right things, say all the right things, make all the right things, and have them eat all the right things, and still life throws you a curve ball.  Something that no amount of carrot sticks and sprouted grain bread can fix.
...So make sure you are putting in that one special ingredient...Make sure there is love in there too...And not the kind that the grown ups understand, but the kind that your child gets...A little heart shaped piece of paper that says, "There are chocolate chip cookies for us to share when you get home!" or "I chose this apple just for you"...Or throw in an oreo or a hershey's kiss  (Kate'll tell you, "just stick it in your pocket and eat it outside!")...Remind them that you are thinking of them even when they are away from you, that your love for them is never far away.

This blog was written in memory of a wonderful little girl, a little girl I never had the chance to meet.  I am sure that her Mum often wishes she could have packed her many many more lunches, filled with oreos and carrot sticks and lovely froggy pictures to share with her friends.


Keep an eye on those lunch boxes, Cassidy!  Help us make sure they are filled with love!

Cassidy Leigh Briggs, who left this world too soon on January 11th, 2010, after a brave battle with liver cancer.
 Cassidy's family has set up a foundation to raise funds to provide art supplies for children to allow them to continue to foster their creativity and express themselves creatively while they battle cancer.  Please check out the website below for more information:
Cassidy Briggs foundation