Modern Wife

Author: Modern Wife

  • Peanut Butter Ice Cream

    Peanut Butter Ice Cream

    I love this latest ice cream flavor that came out of my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.

    It’s a hit with the whole family. I think there is something about the creaminess of peanut butter that goes really well with cream. Here is the creamy perfection…

    Peanut Butter Ice Cream

    Ingredients
    1 cup whole milk
    1/2 cup sugar
    1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, it’s up to you)
    2 cups heavy cream, chilled
    1 tsp vanilla extract

    Follow manufacturer’s instructions on how to prepare your ice cream maker.

    1. Heat whole milk in a medium saucepan until it bubbles around the edges.
    2. Whisk sugar and peanut butter into the heated milk.
    3. Transfer to a medium bowl and let it cool completely.
    4. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla.
    5. Chill for at least 30 minutes
    6. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker for at least 30 minutes or until thickened into a soft-serve consistency.
    7. Freeze for at least 2 hours if a firmer consistency is desired.

  • Banana Bread

    Banana Bread

    Ingredients:

    5 tablespoons butter, softened
    1 cup organic sugar
    1 large egg
    2 egg whites
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    2 very ripe bananas, mashed
    1 3/4 cups flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon baking powder
    1/3 cup walnuts

    Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease bottom and sides of a bread loaf pan with butter.
    2. Beat butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar and beat well. Add egg, egg whites and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Add mashed banana until incorporated.
    3. Sift flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix well with walnuts.
    4. Pour batter evenly into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
    5. Cool bread before slicing and serving with butter and jam.
  • Banana Muffins

    Banana Muffins

    Ingredients:
    2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/2 cup butter, softened
    2 cups firmly packed organic sugar
    2 eggs
    2 very ripe bananas (peeled and mashed)
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    1/2 cup cashews

    Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream together butter and sugar. Beat eggs, bananas and vanilla into the mixture. Add flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix together until it forms a smooth batter. Fold cashews into the batter. Pour into greased muffin pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Yields about 18 muffins.

  • Butter Cookies

    Butter Cookies

    We have quite a collection of seasonal cookie cutters, and this is our go-to recipe for shaped Butter Cookies. We whip this out on Christmas, Easter or any old time we feel like it. I think we like playing with the rolling pin and cookie cutters more than eating the cookies!

    Ingredients:
    2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
    1 cups organic sugar
    2 large eggs, free range and organic
    1 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

    Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well.

    Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix in with the rest of the batter.

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Dust work surface with flour and sprinkle some of the remaining sugar on top of the flour. Using a floured rolling pin, roll one dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out shapes with desired cookie cutters, re-rolling scraps for additional cutouts.

    Place cookies 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

    Decorate with cookie icing, if you want. Sprinkle with sugar. Or serve as is.

  • To Haggle or Not to Haggle

    To Haggle or Not to Haggle

    When I was in the Philippines, I got a chance to check out the farmers market at Centris Station in Quezon City with my Mom. It is bigger than any of the farmers markets I’ve ever been to in the United States. From where the taxi dropped us off there were many stalls selling clothing and home items before we got to the cooked food and then to the produce and raw meats. Several of the produce stalls advertise certified organic fruit and vegetables. There was raw honey from Tagaytay and honeycomb in chunks brought in from Benguet. We had a field day shopping.

    What threw me off a bit was my Mom’s aggressive haggling style. I remember going to the wet market with my Mom as a child, but at that time I didn’t notice the finer points of market interaction. My senses were too immersed in the busy and noisy market, agog at the tables of meat being fed into metal grinders, old ladies cleaning fish on thick chopping blocks, colorful fruits and vegetables piled high.

    Now at Centris Station, my Mom haggled with every vendor she had contact with. She asked for a lower price, eyed products suspiciously, as if it wasn’t as good a quality as the value it was being quoted. If she didn’t get a lower price, she would ask that she get more than what was weighed. It made me cringe. Yet, it made me wonder if this was how it was supposed to be.

    I remember shopping in Thailand and the vendor being taken aback by me paying the first price she quoted. That “You’re supposed to haggle” scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian comes to mind.

    I don’t get to flex my haggling muscles too often. Grocery stores and mall shops sell products with pre-set prices on stickers or printed on packaging. Want a bargain? You need a coupon, or sign up for membership for future discounts. There is very little need to interact with any of the staff. In fact, some grocery stores now have self-checkout. Just blip the items and deal with the machine.

    I love the farmers market experience because I find interacting with farmers and vendors pleasant. I enjoy hearing about where the food comes from and the process of making it. I enjoy getting a free taste of the products. I like how freshly picked locally grown food is. I like handing my money directly to the people who grew my food, instead of funneling it through a faceless corporation.

    After a while I become a suki, a loyal customer. Once they learn my patterns and my favorites, they start setting aside the best pickings for me, giving me good deals, even freebies. Like coupons and clearance sales, the discounts I get are initiated by the vendor. I never haggle. If I can’t afford it, I don’t buy it.

    I feel weird haggling for a lower price because it makes me feel as if I am insulting them. I know how difficult it is to keep a family farm going, and how very little money they make compared to how much work is involved. Of course I love getting a bargain, who doesn’t? But I don’t like feeling like I pulled one over another. Because I’m fostering a relationship with people I will be buying my food from repeatedly, I like to feel a mutual appreciation between buyer and seller, instead of feeling like one of us is being lowballed.

    Maybe there is a more savvy way to haggle that I’m not aware of. Do you haggle? Why or why not? How do you do it?

    Links on haggling:
    How to haggle
    How to haggle for anything
    How to haggle like your old man

  • Airplane Sock Puppets

    Airplane Sock Puppets

    Any parent traveling with children on a plane stocks up on activities to do while in transit. We certainly had a backpack’s worth of toys, drawing books and art supplies. Most important for parents, however is a creative mind to keep kids entertained during the many hours in limbo.

    On our flight from San Francisco to Manila aboard Philippine Airlines, we received a plastic bag each containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, sleeping mask and a pair of socks. When boredom set in, it was sock puppet time!

    Fold the toe in to make a mouth for the sock puppet. Have your child draw the face using a sharpie marker.

    Playing with sock puppets on the airplane

    Playtime!

  • Homemade Pasta

    Homemade Pasta

    Making pasta from scratch is something my kid loves to do with her Dad while I get the sauce simmering on the stove. Homemade pasta is heartier than the dried variety you can find in the grocery stores. It’s really filling, and if you decide to make a meat sauce to top it with, you might want to make smaller servings.

    Ingredients:
    1 1/2 cups semolina flour
    1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
    2 eggs or 3 egg whites, free-range and organic
    2 tablespoon water
    2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

    Combine semolina flour and salt. Add beaten eggs, water and oil. Mix to make a stiff dough. Wrap dough in a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough with a rolling pin. Roll up the flattened dough and cut into noodles. We used a wave knife to cut the pasta.

    Homemade Pasta

    Bring a large pot of water containing 1/2 teaspoon of oil to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Serve with your favorite sauce.

    Pasta Sauce

  • Poodle Turds

    Poodle Turds

    Okay, they’re not really poodle turds. This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for no-bake chocolate-oatmeal cookies. The lady had a sick sense of humor, and played many pranks in her day. A few years back she used to sell homemade Poodle Turds at PoodleTurds.com. My husband Photoshopped my smile on a poodle and Buttons, the smiling mascot was born, selling Poodle Turds like hotcakes.

    Ingredients:
    2 cups organic sugar
    1/2 cup raw milk
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/2 cup (1 stick) organic butter
    5 level tablespoons cocoa powder

    Combine the ingredients above in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it go to full boil for 2 minutes while stirring continuously.

    Remove from heat and quickly mix in:

    1 teaspoon vanilla
    3 cups instant oatmeal

    Scoop cookies onto wax paper and let it harden as it cools.

  • There’s no place like home

    There’s no place like home

    Christmas Tree

    This Christmas was a challenge for my family. We had to move out of our home in November because of a mold issue in the house that was making us ill. My mother offered us my childhood home in the Philippines.

    It excites us to think of spending a little time in the place where I grew up. A few years ago we spent a year in Maine where my husband grew up. My daughter, then only two years old, still has strong memories of kayaking in the lake in the summer and playing in the snow in the winter. The Philippines is as far away from Maine as can be, and I can’t wait to make new memories there.

    First we had to move out of our home. We were all battling health issues from the mold, but we had to face the task head-on. For 15 days my husband and I packed up our belongings into boxes and drove them into a storage space. We donated a lot of things to Parca, and packed up necessities for keeping with us while we were in transition.

    My daughter had been rehearsing for the annual children’s theater holiday production of Wizard of Oz since September. It was a blessing that she was kept occupied with the show. It allowed my husband and I more time to do all the packing while she was out of the house, and it also gave her a distraction from the impending goodbyes to school, her friends, her home.

    My family has an empty home in the country two hours away that we are staying in for the holidays, before we leave for the Philippines. We made ourselves comfortable and hosted Thanksgiving Dinner. After Thanksgiving, we warmed the home with Christmas fare.

    We were barely home. We spent a lot of time in a hotel back in the San Francisco Bay Area, during dress-tech rehearsals and the shows following. It was the culmination of all my daughter’s preparations for the holiday show. At this point she was homeschooling, and the theatre provided her with a social outlet and a feeling of accomplishment. We had to let her finish what she started, no matter the cost to us.

    Little Christmas Tree

    We traveled with a little Christmas tree and nativity scene, so we could set up Christmas with us wherever we went. My daughter performed in evening shows on Fridays and Saturdays, matinees on Saturdays and Sundays all December. We drove back to my family’s home in the country on the weekdays. When school let out for Christmas break, my daughter performed matinees on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and evening shows on Wednesday, Thursday and closing night on Friday.

    Munchkinland from J.E.Moores on Vimeo.

    We finally came home on December 24, thoroughly exhausted, under the weather, but fully rewarded by an unforgettable experience. There’s no place like home… and home is where the heart is.

  • Sweet Potato Marshmallow (and how to make Thanksgiving Dinner from Scratch)

    Sweet Potato Marshmallow (and how to make Thanksgiving Dinner from Scratch)

    Ever since I learned how to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner from my husband’s grandmother, I’ve been cooking and serving the same special meal my family looks forward to year after year. This year’s menu is no different. I keep it simple, but make everything from scratch.

    The tricky part is organizing and scheduling which dish to make when, so that everything is served nice and warm on the table at dinnertime. Here’s what I did:

    Set the turkey out to thaw the day before Thanksgiving. The night before Thanksgiving, roast a pumpkin and leave on the table to cool overnight. Also, make the stuffing and chill in refrigerator overnight.

    On Thanksgiving morning, make the Maple Cranberry Syrup and chill till dinner. Get the pumpkin puree from last night’s roast pumpkin and make Pumpkin Cookies and Pumpkin Pie.

    After lunch, start the turkey. In between basting the turkey, make the Sweet Potato Marshmallow, then the Mashed Potato and Steamed Broccoli. Toss the green salad and cherry tomatoes together last.

    Sweet Potato Marshmallow

    3 sweet potatoes
    1 bag large marshmallows

    Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1 inch slices. Steam for an hour, then mash. Transfer the mashed sweet potato to a pie pan and let cool. Top with marshmallows. I wait until the turkey is out of the oven before I put the Sweet Potato Marshmallow in the oven to heat. Take it out and serve once the marshmallows are browned slightly.