Isabel's favorite recipes are:
Jelly Roll Pancakes (but we put in chocolate chips instead of jelly)
Brownies (with chocolate chips)
Yummy Crunchy Pancakes (with white chocolate chips on top)
Cheese Quesadilla (no chocolate chips, but she likes strawberries on the side)
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here is our recipe for Jelly Roll Pancakes which is very dependent upon your desire to use your hands vs. measures to bake or cook! Make sure to put on aprons on you and your kiddle.
Heat griddle or fry pan to med. high heat. Pan is ready when drops of water "ball" on the pan.
In a bowl mix:
2 eggs
A good splash of milk
Two dashes of salt
A big pinch of sugar
1/2 cap of pure vanilla extract
Whip it up well until airy.
Add in 2 fistfuls of flour. Stir. The consistency needs to be thicker than liquid, but not as thick as regular pancakes...so kind of like melted chocolate. When you ladle it out, it should flow easily into the pan and spread quickly into a circle. If the mix is too thick, add water by the Tbsp-full until it thins out. If too thin, add small amounts of flour (a Tbsp at a time) until it thickens.
Put a pat of butter in the pan and ladle about 6 tbsp-worth right in the middle of the pan. Let is brown on one side, flip to the other, let it brown and take out.
When your crepe is on the plate, put whatever filling you'd like along one half of the pancake and then roll it up and Presto! You have a rolled pancake.
Some of our faves:
White and milk chocolate chips
Nutella with strawberries
Peanut butter with thin apple slices
CoolWhip and anything!
Berry bonanza (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries)
Send us pics of your best Jelly Roll Pancake and we'll post them!
Have fun.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Pink!
Isabel loves dragons. Especially if they are pink. So this is a story about a pink dragon.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, and far, far away, there lived a little girl. Her name was....Isabel. Isabel loved geography. She loved to look at a big, big world atlas and have her Mummy tell her all the names of the different cities, and states, and countries. She knew the names of countries like Canada, China, Spain and Japan. And she wanted to visit them all.
In her life, so far (Isabel was 5 years old), Isabel had travelled to Montreal and Vancouver, and to Hawaii, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Palm Springs, Sedona, Phoenix, Dallas, New York, Long Island and Boston! Quite a lot of places.
But she really, really wanted to go to China and especially to Japan. So she went to the kitchen and packed a lunch of chips, cookies, a piece of string cheese, 4 strawberries, one kiwi, a tortilla, and a Kool-aid Jammer. She put them into her little pink Barbie lunchbox, packed her rolling pink suitcase with her bathing suit, some PJ's, her Squishy pillow, her toothbrush and 3 books. She went outside and called at the top of her lungs, "PINKY!!!"
Nothing happened.
"PINKY!!!!"
And all of a sudden the ground started to shake and trees to bend and with a flappita-flappita-flap, a humongous pink dragon appeared, snorting pink smoke from his nostrils!
"Pinky!" Isabel cried out. "You made it!"
Pinky smiled the way dragons do...which really is not very well at all. A little whiff of pink smoke drifted out of his nose and a big plop of drool fell out the side of his mouth.
"Oh, yuck!" commented Isabel. And she made her way onto Pinky's back as he tucked her suitcase under his left wing.
"Pinky," Isabel commanded, "We are going to CHINA!"
So, off they went. Flippity-flappiting through the air. They passed mountains and oceans, saw whales and birds, and waved to polar bears. Well, Isabel was mighty hungry, so they stopped a the South Pole for lunch (they had taken the scenic route!) After lunch, they headed off to China.
Isabel saw a long, long line running through all of China. As they started to land, it got bigger, and bigger and bigger. She exclaimed to Pinky,"It's a big, big wall!" Once they landed Isabel ran all over the place asking everyone she saw about the wall. Unfortunately, no one spoke English. So Isabel decided that she was going to learn Chinese when she returned home to Los Angeles.
The other little problem was that the Chinese men and women were very, very scared of Pinky and started running around and screaming. None of the children were afraid. And Isabel couldn't understand why the grownups were so afraid of Pinky, especially since every book she had seen on China always had pictures of huge dragons.
Well, Pinky didn't want to get into trouble, so he gently nudged Isabel. She sighed, "OK, OK, Pinky. I get it....time to go home."
She climbed on Pinky's back and they went back to Los Angeles (stopping for a snack at the North Pole.) Of course, Isabel was quite disappointed that she hadn't had time to visit cities like Shanghai or Beijing which had such great names OR that she couldn't eat any real Chinese food or get a real Chinese fortune cookie. But all in all, she agreed with Pinky that it had been a great day.
"Tomorrow, Pinky," declared Isabel once they had returned to her house, "Tomorrow...we'll go to Japan."
Once upon a time, a long time ago, and far, far away, there lived a little girl. Her name was....Isabel. Isabel loved geography. She loved to look at a big, big world atlas and have her Mummy tell her all the names of the different cities, and states, and countries. She knew the names of countries like Canada, China, Spain and Japan. And she wanted to visit them all.
In her life, so far (Isabel was 5 years old), Isabel had travelled to Montreal and Vancouver, and to Hawaii, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Palm Springs, Sedona, Phoenix, Dallas, New York, Long Island and Boston! Quite a lot of places.
But she really, really wanted to go to China and especially to Japan. So she went to the kitchen and packed a lunch of chips, cookies, a piece of string cheese, 4 strawberries, one kiwi, a tortilla, and a Kool-aid Jammer. She put them into her little pink Barbie lunchbox, packed her rolling pink suitcase with her bathing suit, some PJ's, her Squishy pillow, her toothbrush and 3 books. She went outside and called at the top of her lungs, "PINKY!!!"
Nothing happened.
"PINKY!!!!"
And all of a sudden the ground started to shake and trees to bend and with a flappita-flappita-flap, a humongous pink dragon appeared, snorting pink smoke from his nostrils!
"Pinky!" Isabel cried out. "You made it!"
Pinky smiled the way dragons do...which really is not very well at all. A little whiff of pink smoke drifted out of his nose and a big plop of drool fell out the side of his mouth.
"Oh, yuck!" commented Isabel. And she made her way onto Pinky's back as he tucked her suitcase under his left wing.
"Pinky," Isabel commanded, "We are going to CHINA!"
So, off they went. Flippity-flappiting through the air. They passed mountains and oceans, saw whales and birds, and waved to polar bears. Well, Isabel was mighty hungry, so they stopped a the South Pole for lunch (they had taken the scenic route!) After lunch, they headed off to China.
Isabel saw a long, long line running through all of China. As they started to land, it got bigger, and bigger and bigger. She exclaimed to Pinky,"It's a big, big wall!" Once they landed Isabel ran all over the place asking everyone she saw about the wall. Unfortunately, no one spoke English. So Isabel decided that she was going to learn Chinese when she returned home to Los Angeles.
The other little problem was that the Chinese men and women were very, very scared of Pinky and started running around and screaming. None of the children were afraid. And Isabel couldn't understand why the grownups were so afraid of Pinky, especially since every book she had seen on China always had pictures of huge dragons.
Well, Pinky didn't want to get into trouble, so he gently nudged Isabel. She sighed, "OK, OK, Pinky. I get it....time to go home."
She climbed on Pinky's back and they went back to Los Angeles (stopping for a snack at the North Pole.) Of course, Isabel was quite disappointed that she hadn't had time to visit cities like Shanghai or Beijing which had such great names OR that she couldn't eat any real Chinese food or get a real Chinese fortune cookie. But all in all, she agreed with Pinky that it had been a great day.
"Tomorrow, Pinky," declared Isabel once they had returned to her house, "Tomorrow...we'll go to Japan."
Monday, June 20, 2005
Toilet paper!
My daughter is fascinated by toilet paper and what does or does not clog a toilet. Yesterday, while she was enjoying the bathroom at Ralph's Grocery store, she asked me to tell her a story. Here is it:
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a faraway land, lived a little girl. Do you know what her name was? Rose? No. Emma? No. Isabel? YES! It WAS Isabel. Isabel LOVED toilet paper. In Isabel's house, her Mummy had a rule. 5 squares of toilet paper. And that was it.
Well, on this day, Isabel took 5 squares of toilet paper. And another 5 squares, and another and another...and before you knew it, the ENTIRE roll of toilet paper was in the toilet. So, of course, Isabel....flushed.
Oops.
The water started to come up and up until it overflowed all over the floor.
"MUMMY!" yelled out Isabel, in a panic. "Come quick. The toilet is making water go all over the floor!"
Her Mummy ran into the bathroom as fast as fast could be. Took one look at the toilet and exclaimed, "ISABEL! How MUCH toilet paper is IN that toilet????"
Isabel's Mummy ran out of the bathroom to get her rubber gloves and a garbage bag, lickety split. She returned and scooped out gobs and gobs of disgusting, gooey toilet paper out of the toilet and tossed it into the garbage bag. Finally she was able to get the plunger into the toilet and plunge and plunge until....WHOOSH...the water went down the toilet.
Isabel's Mummy looked at Isabel and with a pretty steady voice, said, "Isabel...don't do that again. Capiche?"
In their family, whenever something was pretty serious, her mom said "Capiche." It meant "Understand?" in Italian. Whenever Isabel's mom said "Capiche" you knew it was pretty bad.
Isabel looked at her mom. "Capiche," she replied, looking kind of sad.
"And next time, Isabel," started her mom, "how many squares?"
"Five squares, Mummy."
"That's right Isabel. Five squares."
They mopped up the floor, washed their hands really well with soap and water, and Isabel's Mummy put Isabel to bed. She gave Isabel a cup of cocoa, a kiss, a hug and a squish. It had been a big mess, but all in all, still kind of funny.
Because when Isabel's Mummy was 5 years old, she put a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet too. Shhhh. Don't tell Isabel. Her Mummy will tell her when she turns 6!
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a faraway land, lived a little girl. Do you know what her name was? Rose? No. Emma? No. Isabel? YES! It WAS Isabel. Isabel LOVED toilet paper. In Isabel's house, her Mummy had a rule. 5 squares of toilet paper. And that was it.
Well, on this day, Isabel took 5 squares of toilet paper. And another 5 squares, and another and another...and before you knew it, the ENTIRE roll of toilet paper was in the toilet. So, of course, Isabel....flushed.
Oops.
The water started to come up and up until it overflowed all over the floor.
"MUMMY!" yelled out Isabel, in a panic. "Come quick. The toilet is making water go all over the floor!"
Her Mummy ran into the bathroom as fast as fast could be. Took one look at the toilet and exclaimed, "ISABEL! How MUCH toilet paper is IN that toilet????"
Isabel's Mummy ran out of the bathroom to get her rubber gloves and a garbage bag, lickety split. She returned and scooped out gobs and gobs of disgusting, gooey toilet paper out of the toilet and tossed it into the garbage bag. Finally she was able to get the plunger into the toilet and plunge and plunge until....WHOOSH...the water went down the toilet.
Isabel's Mummy looked at Isabel and with a pretty steady voice, said, "Isabel...don't do that again. Capiche?"
In their family, whenever something was pretty serious, her mom said "Capiche." It meant "Understand?" in Italian. Whenever Isabel's mom said "Capiche" you knew it was pretty bad.
Isabel looked at her mom. "Capiche," she replied, looking kind of sad.
"And next time, Isabel," started her mom, "how many squares?"
"Five squares, Mummy."
"That's right Isabel. Five squares."
They mopped up the floor, washed their hands really well with soap and water, and Isabel's Mummy put Isabel to bed. She gave Isabel a cup of cocoa, a kiss, a hug and a squish. It had been a big mess, but all in all, still kind of funny.
Because when Isabel's Mummy was 5 years old, she put a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet too. Shhhh. Don't tell Isabel. Her Mummy will tell her when she turns 6!
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