How to Make Homemade Apple Chips

 
Yummy! A crunch, sweet Valentine’s Day that's not loaded with sugar – what a delicious, simple and healthy afternoon treat these were! Package ‘em up pretty and I think they’ll make a lovely gift for someone special.

Valentine’s Baked Apple Chips

Thinly slice apples (really thin, or you’ll be cooking these for HOURS). This would have been a good time to whip out the food processor but I was lazy.

Lay out your slices and put your kid to work with some heart shaped cookie cutters. If there isn’t too much “core” or seedy bits, the punched out hearts can be baked too! Dip all the slices in some freshly squeezed lemon juice to prevent browning (optional). Claire loved the dipping…and licking her fingers after each dip (guess, we’re keeping these for ourselves!)

The food photography is just for you Caca, step by step LOL!

We baked the apple slices on some parchment for an hour and 10 minutes in a 250F oven. Some of the thicker slices took a few minutes longer. Once they are lightly browned, pop ‘em out of the oven and let cool. They’ll crisp up in no time and are totally delish.

They also make fantastic love goggles:

Morning Rhythms

Ever notice when the morning goes well the rest of the day usually follows? I love the morning rhythm Claire and I found. I started to more actively involve her in the whole breakfast process and found that things went more smoothly and were more enjoyable for the both of us. It takes a little longer to get food to the table (and ourselves out the door) but slowing the tempo of our morning been really nice.

I gather breakfast makings while Claire enjoys a morning story. I crack the eggs, hunt down the whisk (in the play kitchen again?!) and rustle up some fruit and Claire’s handy-dandy knife.

Once Claire puts her apron on (too cute, right?) she whisks the eggs while I melt some butter.

Whisk whisk whisk whisk. I swear that she is a neater cook than I am, just ask Dan.

Salt, pepper. Perfection. Just look at her work that pepper grinder! This is when I need to pay close attention, we’ve had some s-p-i-c-y eggs thanks to Miss Liberal with the Pepper Grinder.

While I cook the eggs, Claire cuts up some fruit for us. Grapes are a favorite (but a bit challenging) and cantaloupe often makes an appearance. This knife is fantastic, Grandma CaCa picked it up from a Pampered Chef party and it makes Claire really independent in food preparation. She cuts up her own cheese and fruit for lunch and snack when our schedule in the afternoon allows it.

I love the look of determination on her face in these photos. Soon she’ll be whipping up meals all on her own and delivering breakfast-in-bed to her parents on Saturday morning (let me dream, please).

GUILTY!

Two seconds! That’s all it took for nimble Miss Claire to raid the pot of pesto pasta (say that 3x fast) after lunch. This was minutes after she polished off two bowls! I couldn’t understand her since her mouth was full, but I’m pretty sure she was saying, “I LOVES ME SOME PESTO!”

Can I truly complain that Claire is stealing pesto pasta straight from the pot? Nah. She’s downing a bunch of leafy green veggies in a delicious sauce…nutritionally speaking pesto packs a punch, right?

This pesto had a bit of a twist too – it was made with spinach (what was growing in the garden) and sunflower seeds (hanging around in the pantry) along with the usual additives of olive oil and garlic. Quick, easy and delish! Just ask Claire – oh wait, she’s busy:

I'm off to pick a peck of pickled peppers...the letter of the day is obviously "P."

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Pantry Scavenged Pesto Perfection

• 8 oz (about 3 cups lightly packed) baby spinach
• Generous handful of sunflower seeds (traditional pesto is made with pine nuts and almonds would work well too I bet!)
• 1/4 C (at least) of cheese (Parmesan preferred but Romano is fine, albeit strongly flavored)
• 2-3 garlic cloves smashed and salted
  
• 2/3 C of olive oil

Mash all the above together saving the olive oil for last. Going oldschool with your mortar and pestle is totally an option, but I chucked everything in my food processor and pulsed for about 30 seconds. Sprinkle additional cheese on the pasta for extra oomph! Pesto freezes well and a little goes a loooong way.

Introducing my sous chef

I was going to write a nice long entry about Claire helping me out in the kitchen while making pizza dough, but she woke up ruining my plans. I'll just share the photos instead - her flour covered nose tells the story perfectly. Click on the slide show again for larger photos, you'll want to see these close up for sure!