Aaliyah's Favourite Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

Aaliyah's favourite summer drink is lemonade.  This strawberry concentrate hits all the right buttons: her favourite summer berry paired with the sourness of lemons, sweetened with a little sugar (actually quite bit of sugar) which she can mix herself with water or ginger ale.  It's in a special place in the pantry...

You can substitute strawberries with any other favourite berry or use a mix of blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc... just keep the proportions of fruit to lemon juice and sugar the same.  Note: i have decreased the amount of sugar in some batches, by as much as 50% - for more tartness.

The recipe is based on one found in the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Canning.

Makes about six 500 ml jars.

My Favourite Meatballs

I used to make these meatballs with my teenage daughter, back in the day!  She now makes her own for her "boys".  These are my go to meatballs for all occasions and for a fast and easy dinner.  Make extra and keep on hand in the freezer.

Simmered in marinara sauce.

Breaded and baked in the oven.  

Makes approximately 15 meatballs.

Happy Mother's Day from the little pink Alien

Spent a great day in the kitchen with my six year old granddaughter baking a Mother's Day cake for her mom.  Young Aaliyah has definite ideas on what a Mother's Day cake should look like.

Pink Alien by Aaliyah.

For this project, visit Bulk Barn for the decorations- skittles, mint leaves, lollipops, sour peaches, mini gummies- a six year old's dream collection.  

Prepare a regular white cake, tint your buttercream icing pink and decorate away...

Oven Fried Chicken- All the Goodness Without All the Oil

I love Epicurious.com   I based my recipe on one I found on the site.  Fried chicken is a perennial favourite but who needs fried these days?  This oven "fried" version is for Aaliyah, my granddaughter and my sous-chef.

The best part of the chicken to use for this recipe is the drumstick.  Chicken breasts just get too dry and drumsticks have way more flavour.  The buttermilk marinade will guarantee even more tenderness.

This recipe serves 9 2-piece portions.

Banana Yogourt Cupcakes

Sorry, no picture.  We ate them all!  I'll try again next time.

Quick to make- and, I used a sugar substitute, Xyla, so my diabetic friends could indulge.  You could use brown sugar.

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

These are Heavenly! Marshmallows...

Homemade marshmallows... once you've made these easy treats, you'll never, ever be tempted to buy the grocery store variety.  Not even close!  This is a great project to do with kids...

I found the basic recipe in a Gourmet magazine.  After making up a batch of the marshmallow mixture, I "consulted" with my granddaughter for the flavours.  Here is what we decided: plain with toasted coconut coating, then a cocoa covered, nutella swizzled variety (you have to try this one) and a colourful purple variety (food coloring swirled through the marshmallow) with a plain sugar coating.  These marshmallows are amazingly light, fluffy, exactly what a real marshmallow should be.  All of our varieties were amazing, especially the nutella one!

Go ahead and try our varieties then experiment.  I bet you can come up with more favourites.

This recipe makes approximately 3 dozen marshmallows.

We all Scream for Ice Cream- that's maple banana ice cream with strawberries and chocolate chips

This is what you get when you consult a three year old!  Aaliyah has great taste!  I proposed maple ice cream and she added the rest... banana, strawberries, chocolate chips.

Homemade ice cream is so much healthier and you can make it to order.  It's well worth investing in a good ice cream maker... I like to make about 1 - 1 1/2 litres and finish it in small molds.  When I want a sweet treat, I need only take out a small portion and avoid temptation.

Here is the recipe for about 1.5 litres.

Even Two Year Olds Can Cook- Aaliyah's Egg Salad

Aaliyah with her Egg Salad!  It was so fun!

 I travelled from Kelowna to Ottawa recently to visit Aaliyah, my wonderful, beautiful two and a half year old granddaughter.  I am blessed!

Healthy eating is so important, I'm so proud to see how varied Aaliyah's diet is.  She and her mama and papa must be spending time in the kitchen together, because this kid knows "stuff"!  Thank you mama and papa!

I'm now on the lookout for kid friendly recipes to share with my budding chef!  Our mission one morning was to cook an egg salad for breakfast.  Aaliyah was a great sous chef- she cracked and peeled the boiled eggs and was a master egg decorator!  This recipe looks good, tasted great and is kid friendly.

To serve four.