Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

After tasting how delicious homemade marshmallows really were, I went a bit crazy, trying all different sorts of flavors. Chocolate, vanilla, and peppermint marshmallows. They were all a big hit, but our favorite, by far, was the peppermint. 

Homemade Graham Crackers

Well, once I found a delicious marshmallow recipe, I had to find one for graham crackers of course. How else to make those perfect s'mores?!

Homemade "Clean" Marshmallows

When I first found out about my daughter's food sensitivity, I scrambled to try to make all the foods and snacks she loved in a homemade version. Through trial and error (lots and lots of error) I was able to make almost everything. But marshmallows, marshmallows were the bane of my existence. I just could not get them right. I couldn't find any organic versions without natural flavors or corn syrup in them. I made homemade versions using agar-agar and almost gagged at the grainy, sea watery flavor. I got marshmallow string in my hair, on my kitchen floor and everywhere. I had flat marshmallows and gray marshmallows. I gave up. I admitted defeat.

And for most people, what's the big deal about marshmallows anyway? They taste kinda' gross, they're sticky and gelatinous and they were definitely not one of my favorite foods. Now caramel, that's another issue altogether, but I digress. For a camping family, marshmallows and s'mores are such a huge part of the campfire traditions. I tried to compensate. I made other desserts to have around the campfire. We loved our mini apple and cherry pies. We loved our Dutch Oven brownies. But we did miss roasting our marshmallows. And we missed s'mores. So I kept at it.

I tweaked a few homemade recipes and finally, FINALLY...sweet success. Marshmallows are (relatively) easy! And delicious. I even love these marshmallows! Victory is SWEET!!!

Homemade Marshmallows

2 tablespoons Gelatin (we use Great Lakes Unflavored Gelatin)

8 tablespoons cold water

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cold water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla

At least one bag of powdered sugar to dust pan and help dry the marshmallows out.

1. With Marshmallows, preparation is KEY!! Get all of your things ready ahead of time, before you have a sticky mess ready ahead of time. 

2. Line a baking dish with parchment paper. Then sprinkle lots and lots of powdered sugar in bottom of pan. Try to dust sides with powdered sugar, but it will fall down, don't stress about it, just do your best. 

3. Put gelatin in a small bowl, add 8 tbs of water to bowl. Mix, and set aside so gelatin can firm up. 

4. In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups granulated sugar and 1/2 cup cold water. Stir.

5. Heat and stir mixture over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. 

6. Add the gelatin mixture to the saucepan and stir. Bring to a boil. 

7. When mixture boils, remove it from the heat. 

8. Pour into the bowl of your Kitchenaid mixer (or another large bowl) and allow to cool off a bit.

9. Add salt and vanilla.

10. Cooling will take quite a while, but when the liquid is just slightly warm (you will be able to touch the sides of the bowl without burning yourself), it's ready to mix.

11. Beat with your mixer until the clear-ish mixture becomes light and fluffy peaks (like marshmallow creme). It will double in size in your bowl. 

12. Pour and use a spatula to spread the marshmallow mixture into the parchment, powdered sugar covered pan, and smooth out as much as possible. You can bang the pan on the counter a few times until it's mostly even in the pan. Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top of the marshmallows. 

13. Now you wait. You can put the pan of marshmallow somewhere where it won't be touched until they can dry. Leave the top uncovered. You want it to dry out. 

14. After several hours, you can remove the parchment paper and marshmallows from the pan and lay it on the counter. Try to peel the sides of paper down and sprinkle more powdered sugar on the sides of the marshmallow. The sugar helps the marshmallow dry out more, and also keeps it from sticking. 

15. After a few more hours (or the next day) you can use a sharp knife to cut the marshmallows into squares. You can make large squares for roasting, or smaller ones, for mini marshmallows. You may need to dust the marshmallows with more powdered sugar so you can cut them more easily. 

16. Sprinkle marshmallows liberally with powdered sugar. Place them in bag or glass jar for storage. I store ours in the freezer and just pull them out as needed. 

Batch on the left shows the marshmallows after they've been partially whipped. Batch on the right shows the cooling marshmallow liquid prior to whipping.

My critics love it!

This shows the marshmallows just poured into the parchment covered pans. I've powder-sugared the pans and am allowing the marshmallows to dry out. The marshmallows with sprinkles are a peppermint batch I made over Christmas break. 

 Our family is back in business. We are a marshmallow-toasting-s'more-making family once again!

Victory

Is

Sweet!!

Real Food on the Road--RV CRAZY?'s tips for fitting it all

When we eat mostly fresh or homemade foods we feel healthier and happier. Bonus Points: no one in our family gets hives. Yay for no allergic reactions! However, these foods don't have the additives that prolong their shelf lives. Most of our food needs to be frozen, or made within a day or two of eating in order to remain fresh. So how do we fit it all?

Okay, lets get serious here. We have five people traveling in a tiny RV. Five people who love to eat. Five people who I am constantly prepping, cooking or shoveling food into when we're AT HOME with all of our modern conveniences. At home, I have a large refrigerator and freezer in the house, and a huge freezer outside in our garage. On RV trips, I have this:

Real Butterscotch Sauce

If you haven't gathered by now, I love food. And my absolute favorite sweets belong to the delicious caramel, butterscotch or toffee family. Most of my friends and family are chocolate lovers, but my kryptonite is amber for sure. One of my favorite, and very easy to make caramel-ly treats is homemade butterscotch sauce. Now if your idea of butterscotch is the flavor of the chips for cookies- this will NOT be that type. This is more like a caramel sauce, but slightly richer. The only difference between this sauce and a caramel sauce is that it's made with brown, instead of white sugar. The best news of all is that there are only about 20 minutes between you and this heavenly concoction!

 

Tri Tip on the Grill

For a delicious, quick and easy summer dinner, you can have this beauty ready in about 30 minutes (or a little longer if you like your meat more well-done). You cook the meat on the outdoor grill so no heating up the house. And the zucchini are so easy to make, even my 11 and 8-year-olds love to cook them. Win, win, win! Let's get cooking!

 

Roasted Chicken, Artichoke and Pasta

This is a great summer dinner that the kids love. Artichokes are in season right now, and they are very popular at our house. I usually steam them on the stove, but I wanted to try them roasted this time. I loved them this way, but 2 of my kids slightly prefer them steamed. That didn't stop them from devouring these ones!

French Bread Pizza

My kids (and my) favorite meal is homemade pizza. But making the crust does take time. This recipe is a great shortcut to a pizza-ish meal! It's one of our few, quick, easy dinner recipes, so it's great to keep in the kitchen arsenal.

French Bread Pizza

One loaf (we use this one) French Bread

Sausage (we use Mulay's Mild Italian)  or ground beef (Costco has a great organic option)

Mozzerella Cheese (we buy organic whole milk mozzerella at our local grocery-it's delish!)

Tomatoes (dice)

Fresh Basil

Other ingredients we often add include: bell peppers, red onions, olives, zucchini, shredded romano cheese. 

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Slice baked (and cooled) bread and place on a silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet.

3. Top with grated mozzerella and sausage (if you are using other veggies, you can add now too). 

4. Bake in 375 degree oven for just a few minutes, until cheese is melted.

5. Remove from oven and top with fresh diced tomatoes and chopped basil. 

Serve to some very happy people and enjoy!

Ingredients

Just sharing some of our favorite ingredients for baking:

We now use mostly organic ingredients in our baking, and I really can taste the difference (plus my daughter no longer has hives, so that's a huge bonus!). This flour has been especially great in every single recipe we make. I just took a quick picture because people often ask what I use to cook with. These are many of my baking staples.

Summer Blondies

These cookies are named after my sweet daughter who first made these delicious nuggets for us this summer. She used to be a little blondie, running around outside with her tiny bare feet, and wispy golden hair. Sigh. I miss those days. Sort of. But anyway, about the cookies...we couldn't get enough of them. Try them. Seriously. The recipe is exactly the same as our Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, but with the white chocolate swap, they taste totally different! These are my absolute favorites (today).

Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our favorite chocolate chip cookies (right now) are a tiny bit crisp on the bottom, but soft, chewy and delicious when you bite into them. These are the best ones I've ever tasted, and I'm not normally a chocolate chip cookie fan (GASP...I know...I know). So here goes-

Airplane Food

As an rv-ing family, we drive to about 99.9% of our destinations, but sometimes driving just isn't very practical. And on those occasions, we fly. I like to travel in the rv for so many reasons...sleeping in our own beds, eating our own food, saving money on airfare and hotel and (extra bonus) I just love a great road-trip. But some things are worth the hassle of flying, one of those things....HAWAII!! Yes, Hawaii is definitely worth the airfare and all of travel prep.

Local Produce

One of the best things about living where we do, is the abundance of fresh food. We are really fortunate to be able to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs nearly all year long. And the Grocery Store near us has an excellent selection of organic, fresh and delicious foods. We could not be more grateful. But one of our favorite people to visit is "Farmer Cliff," an organic farmer who lives just a couple miles from our house. He grows delicious lettuce, squash, tomatoes, and other organics delights and sells them so affordably that I just could not believe it! I found Farmer Cliff by searching, "Organic farms near ____ (my city)." You can try searching, "organic foods, freshly grown foods, etc." and see what you come up with. Many cities now have Farmer's Markets, or you may get lucky enough to find your own Farmer Cliff!

Today when we visited the farm, I was only going to pick up some fresh local honey. But Cliff let the kids visit his new hen houses and insisted that each take home a very fresh egg. They were thrilled! It's amazing that we can live right here in the suburbs and still benefit from farm-fresh produce and wonderful fun on a real farm. We love our town!

Bacon- STAT!

Ah bacon....the thing that dreams are made of. Okay, maybe a little dramatic, but I do love my bacon. And so does the rest of my family. In case I haven't mentioned this yet, this crew gets horrifically cranky when hungry. And since we don't really eat packaged meals, preparing a quick breakfast was challenging at first. I found having muffins, pancakes, or banana bread pre-made and brought with us was extremely helpful. But for that real protein punch, having bacon was even better! At first, I used to cook the bacon on our griddle outside the r.v. This works well, but definitely takes time. When beach camping (with electric hook-ups) this is no problem at all. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend time cooking bacon like this?

 

Taco Salad

Okay, I know many of us make taco salad. For me, it's a quick, delicious dinner that the whole family loves. I especially enjoy it during the summer when it's so hot outside. But, this time, I stumbled upon a happy accident that put a fancier twist on our taco salad. Here's the finished product-

Fresh and Local

 

Scallops for two

With three small kids, and no family nearby, it's not very often that my husband and I get to go out on a date. So we frequently have dates at home. This means first spending time together with our children while they eat dinner and play. We usually have wine and cheese and crackers with them while they eat. Then, after we put them to sleep (our kids all go to bed by 8 at the latest, so it's very easy) we enjoy our late dinner together.

One of our favorite treats is scallops. Here's a simple and quick recipe (that I adapted from Alton Brown's recipe) that makes a delicious (and seemingly gourmet) dinner for "date-night."

 

Rainbow Popsicles

Need a delicious, healthy (ish) and pretty cool snack for summer? I did too, so I decided to make "Rainbow Pops" as we call them in our house. Very easy to make, and a big hit with all of our kids.

Rainbow Pops

Banana Slugs, Big Basin Goodbyes, and Brownie Sundaes

It's our last day in Big Basin State Park, and we are all making the most of it. We've been biking around the park, the kids have been exploring all of the hollow trees, and of course discovering the banana slugs. Now I love nature, but even I, was a little taken aback when I first spotted a banana slug. But they are harmless, and actually very beneficial to the forest. Still a little gross looking...dontcha' think? The kids love them!

 

 

Whales!

We cooked a nice breakfast at Morro Bay since we didn't need to get an early start. It was a beautiful morning, and little quail families scurried around the campground, much to our delight. Then, we were back on the road.

Since we weren't in any huge hurry, our fearless leader and driver extraordinaire asked if I wanted to do or see anything on the way. My one wish was to pull off to some sort of overlook for lunch, in hopes of glimpsing a whale or dolphins.

He found the most amazing lunch spot. It was gorgeous. Rolling green fields filled with clover and wildflowers for the kids to run in, with spectacular views of the ocean and a lighthouse.