We do not always go to the fair. We enjoy it, but sometimes, we enjoy other things instead. This year, we went camping!
When we first made these in July 2009, we also made elephant ears on the same day. We had spent the day at the fair and we told the kids we would buy them one treat and since Momma knew how to make these at home, they decided on a treat we could not make . After making these, Mark put this warning on the bottom of his blog,
WARNING! Do not make these and elephant ears at the same time. You might get sick.
Other than birthdays, we rarely have chicken nuggets. For birthdays, the kids enjoy dinosaur nuggets eaten in a very specific way. Make them some dinosaur nuggets one day and ask if you are curious.
The other day, Andrea really wanted some nuggets, so she made some along with homemade chips. Thank you camp Patmos and Career Center for teaching Andrea the proper way to deep fry 🙂
It is always nice to have some sort of treat while backpacking. We usually save this treat for an extra hard day on the trial or the very last night out. It does not make a lot, we usually make two batches for the seven of us, but it is enough for something special.
This also works at home. Use canned pineapple slices and skip the step for re-hydrating.
Growing up, Mom always had some sort of cheese crackers. They were her special treat, but she would share them with us.
Fish shaped crackers are a popular treat for children, but I did not like giving them too often to my children because of all the “stuff” in them. So we found a recipe for easy cheese crackers to make instead. Often we cut these into animal shapes, but they never last as long as when they are cut into squares. The squares never last very long either, but they are a lot faster to replace.
Use your favorite cheddar cheese, we prefer x-sharp. Roll the dough thin because it will puff up. If you prefer spicy, add more spices, and feel free to bake just a little longer than required, because brown, toasty ones are extra good.
For some reason, I did not bring a chocoate chip cookie recipe when we moved to Slovakia. My friend, Joan Britton, gave me this recipe and told me the dough was really thick (her recipe called for one egg), but was the best recipe. I could not find chocolate chips there, so I just cut up chocolate bars.
We took them to work to share and I often left out the chocolate for our friend who was allergic to it. The cookies are still very good without chocolate!
When we moved overseas again, the eggs were smaller and we discovered two eggs worked very well. We also could not find brown sugar, so we started using molasses instead. Even though we can get brown sugar here, we prefer being able to adjust the molasses to our own personal tastes.
This is a moist, light chocolate cake. It is simple to make and tastes great plain or with whipped cream on top. While we usually serve it for dessert, the kids often ask for it for breakfast also.
The zucchini is well hidden in the cake and is a great way to use up some extra zucchini from your garden. We have been enjoying this recipe since Mom M. discovered it 2012.
I do not think I ever had a ladyfinger cookie until Mark was teething. We could not find “normal” teething biscuits, so we bought ladyfingers instead. They were also good with tea.
Years later, I discovered they were also a main ingredient in tiramisu. They are available at stores, but not often easy to find. So we learned how to make our own.
This is probably the best recipe for pizza that we have found. It is also very easy. Years ago, Andrea wrote the recipe down from memory. For the longest time we just mixed everything and used the dough immediately, but Andrea learned in culinary class to let the dough sit overnight and the crust is much better.
My mom taught my siblings and me how to make pierogi when we were very little. I can only remember making cheese pierogi and there were no measurements for the filling. “Add potato flakes to cottage cheese until the cottage cheese is dry. Let sit a few minutes and season with salt and pepper.”
