An Ode to a tree.

I can't believe that I have tears in my eyes as I write this. I mean, it's just a tree right? or is it?  In a matter of days, on my birthday to be exact, this beautiful tree will be ripped from the border between ours and our neighbor's yard. This tree is one of the reasons our back yard feels a bit like a sanctuary. I love the shade it has provided. I love the sound the leaves make when the wind blows through them. I love the privacy it provides from the ugly apartments behind us. I love laying on the grass and looking up through its many branches as the light filters in from high above. I guess you could say that I am heartbroken. 

Damn good Peanut Butter Cookies.

I bought a jar of peanut butter that I didnt particularly like, but instead of just tossing it, I decided to make these cookies. I had forgotten about these gems, and remembered them as I was also trying to come up with a treat for a friends daughter who is gluten and dairy intolerant, who had jsut broken her elbow. ouch. I first discovered these in Gourmet or some other magazine a while back, and was intrigued by the fact that they were so easy to make and only had a handful of ingredients. even better now, with less time to bake. any recipe that I can do one handed while holding a curious 28 pound toddler is a keeper.

you MUST try these.
and, if you like your cookies chewy like me, you should definitely underbake them just slightly.

1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 oz chocolate chips (if you are dairy intolerant, make sure the bag says "Parve,"meaning Kosher, or dairy free. I used the Trader Joes chips)

mix all ingredients except the chips until smooth. add the chips. mound by the Tablespoon onto a siplat or an ungreased cookie sheet. Should make just over a dozen cookies. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes, turn the tray, then bake for about 7 minutes more. check on them before the 14 min mark to see how they are. when they look puffy, but just slightly under, pull 'em.

I took these to a playgroup and so wish I could have had a camera to capture the chocolate all over the faces of the kiddos. they are messy, but delish.

Strawberry Shortcake.

Finally, some summer weather around here. Have been doing a little more baking around these parts now that I am in the second trimester bliss. energy and appetite restored. it feels good. and after a loooooooooooooong gray spring and june, the forcast calls for sun all week. lets hope it sticks around. SO, now that I am in the mood, its time to bake with those damn good strawberries I have been wolfing down for the last couple weeks.

I had a gripe with strawberry shortcake that I wanted to clear up. When visiting with my parents, I wanted to show them that even though I am 2 years out of the kitchen, that I can still make a dessert. so, I made some shortcake. I made biscuits and topped them with macerated berries and a dollop of softly whipped creme. Trouble was, I hated how the shortcakes turned out. Then, I realized, strawberry shortcake can also be made with a nice sponge cake. no need to use heavy biscuits when you can use a light cake that does its part to soak up all those nice berry juices. I suppose I just needed a different and more fluffy biscuit recipe, but instead of trying to perfect it, I went a whole different direction. This time, I whipped up a lemon butter cake, soaked it with a lemon simple syrup and then doused it with my macerated berries. I let it sit for the afternoon to give the cake time to soak up all the berry goodness. Then, when it was eatin' time, I whipped up the creme and spread it over the top of the cake. Now, this is more like the shortcake I was craving the first time around.

good timing.

I admit, I must have known something was going to come between me and the south beach diet when I decided to embark on it. It was so not me. restricting myself from food? who? so, I was kind of relieved when I found out 2 days later that I was in fact, pregnant. A perfect out for the SBD!!! I could now eat whatever I wanted right? So, this explains my hiatus from posting. I soon after, entered into a 3 month period where nothing tasted good, and the things that did, well, you wouldn't want to know. But, I have rounded a corner and finally feel like eating and have the energy to actually cook again. So, here is hoping that I can just find the time to get back on here and do some blogging. (baby wakes) gotta run!

eh, I have my doubts.

I have never dieted in my life. I eat sensibly most of the time, but I admit to having a major sweet tooth too. I guess I have always been so active that my indulgences have always succumbed to a 2 hour swim practice or an hour run. But, I have slipped a little bit. For the last 20 months after Z was born, I have been finding every excuse not to run, and also every excuse to indulge my sweet tooth. No wonder I cant shake the last of my baby weight, right? I think that feeding Z lunch and eating the leftovers off his tray doesnt help matters either. I went through my closet the other day and was so bummed that half of my jeans from 'before Z' still sit gathering dust in the back of my closet. really, a year and a half later. This combined with the fact that a friend of mine, just 6 months after giving birth, is looking healthy and as trim as ever. I can no longer use the baby thing as a reason for my 10 pounds. no more. I asked my friend how she did it and she said that 6 years ago, she was told about the South Beach Diet. She went on it to lose weight for her wedding, and ever since then, it has changed her life. It changed the way she thought about food, lessened her cravings and as I found out yesterday when I told her that I didnt think I could live without sweets, it introduced her to Splenda. Now, I am a purist when it comes to sugar, always have been. I hate the idea of replacing sugar with anything. I bake, and sugar does wonderful things to baked goods that using Splenda just cant compete with.

 browning for instance.

I found something funny on the Splenda website that just made me want to laugh, and cry:

"In the baking process, sugar caramelizes to produce the familiar golden brown color of baked goods. Baked goods made with little or no sugar do not brown like recipes made with sugar. To help achieve a more golden brown color when baking with SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener, lightly spray the batter or dough with cooking spray just before placing in the oven"

Seriously? why would anyone want to do this? yuk.

anyway, despite my doubts, I bought the stuff.

For the first 2 weeks, the SBD has you following a strict phase to weed out your cravings for sweets and carbs. I have a really hard time believing that this will actually happen, but I am trying it. So far, I have gone a day and a half without eating any sugar whatsoever and no bread, pastries or donuts. no carbs of any kind. this just goes against my makeup. To add insult to injury, you cant even eat fruit for the first 2 weeks. so, I ask, what the heck do you eat...yeah, I know, meat, eggs, veggies and cheese...but, whats for dessert? I have been dying for something sweet, hence my reluctant Splenda purchase. I bought sugar free fudgcicles (so-so), sugar free jello (have yet to try it) and just now, I made a 'lovely' dessert of ricotta, splenda, cocoa powder and vanilla. It is supposed to resemble tiramisu, but I would like to think of it more as 'what-the-fu-tira-ma-who?' I can see it already, I may be able to adapt to eating less carb and sugar, but to give up what I love completely for the likes of this (below) is just. not. going. to. happen. ever.

But, I will carry on. The first 2 weeks is the hardest, and from then on the diet actually resembles what I would eat normally, if I was eating sensibly all the time. If. This is my goal, I guess, to eat more sensibly and smartly. To indulge my cravings, but not nearly as often as I do now. I do think that this is possible. It has to be, because I will never stop baking with sugar. never. ever.

Parsley Pesto.

I am one of those people who forgoes buying a whole tree of parsley when the recipe calls for one sprig. I hate to think of the extra going to waste in my crisper. I almost always, up until now, have forgotten about it until it pretty much grows a pair of legs to up and walk out of the fridge. so, many times, I just decide to do without that little extra flavor in my soup or my pasta. bad I know, you would think that after years of working in kitchens, that I would be savvier about using up ingredients in creative ways. but, I guess the last 20 months of motherhood have erased some of my previous know how.

but, the other day, I finally started thinking again. Pesto isnt just limited to basil and I know this. as I stared at the wilting parsley and cilantro slowly dying in my crisper, I nearly kicked myself for forgetting about a very basic and simple way to use this stuff up. Funny, because I have had abundance of basil in the past; which turned me into a pesto making machine all summer. (this was back in Ithaca, where basil actually grows with wild abandon..unlike here in the NW, where it doesnt really) and, I know that I have made a cilantro pesto or two in my life. not quite sure how this all had escaped me.

oh yeah, its that motherhood thing. can I blame this again?

Anyway, so I had some extra parsley and some cilantro.

and, some pecans in my freezer.

and a little bit of parm cheese, and a little bit of garlic and olive oil.

and, with a little whirl of the cuisinart, a pretty tasty pesto was born.

I spend quite a bit of time at Woodland Park Zoo, and I am a big fan. Of course, I have a special place in my heart for the place having once had the opportunity to volunteer there within the Australasia exhibit. but, that is a whole different story, one that I have already blogged about here.

The zoo membership is all of 40$ for a year of me and my son. 40$!!! Really, this is the best deal in town. I go there at least once a week, if not more. I love living nearby too. instead of just walking to a park, I can just walk to the zoo and let Z run around without feeling like we have to get our moneys worth and see everything. Many times when we visit, we see maybe one or two animals before he loses interest and wants to just wander around. On many occasions, I have noticed that we seem to hit the zoo when the animals are away, or inside, but today, EVERYONE was out. it was really great. even the elusive ones like the snow leopard and grey wolf to name a few, were out enjoying the sunshine. and, today, Z let me see more of the animals, and as a result, I was able to get some fun pictures!  I am writing more and more about food on whisk&wander lately, but I also want to focus a little bit on our wanderings, and since the zoo is a huge part of our life here, I wanted to share it.