Cooking with Emma | Lemon Thyme Chicken, Green Beans & Mashed Potatoes

Emma and I were at Williams-Sonoma a couple of weeks ago when she spotted the American Girl Cooking cookbook.  She was convinced she needed it.  It was the first week of summer, so I thought the little investment might help us fill some of the summer evening dinners with something other than burgers and caprese salads.

It probably comes to no surprise to all of you that Emma and I spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen together.  She knows a lot of recipes and has her "specialties" that she's in charge of, like making marinades, dressings, chopping soft things (like mushrooms and cherry tomatoes) and of course baking.  

While I would never want to force her to love my passions, she seems to be interested in making and doing as much as I am.  It is our goal for her to be capable of helping herself and others, and these kitchen skills will go along way for her.  I think parents can get caught up in making sure their kids are very competent at many different swimming strokes, soccer skills, ballet positions and gymnastic tricks, but forget about life skills like being capable of making their own breakfast, lunch, or bed!  Sorry, off my soapbox.  I'll continue : )

She had her heart set on making the Rosemary Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans.

Like her mother, she does not like to follow a recipe to a "T."  She decided to omit the grain mustard from the chicken and almonds from the green beans.

We also changed it from Lemon Rosemary Chicken to Lemon Thyme Chicken when we discovered our rosemary had been uprooted and shriveled up.

A little lesson in being resourceful instead of running (back) to the store : )  Thyme it is.

I try to let her do as mush as possible all by herself.  Here she is using the tongs to squeeze the juice out of a lemon.  A little thing she learned on YouTube, she told me.  (insert eye roll emoji)

We used frozen green beans that were already blanched and just needed sautéing in butter and tossed with balsamic.  Pretty good, actually!

I find that if I put the heat on very low in the middle burner, it is far enough away so she can't hurt herself, but she can still reach it.  I cut and boiled the potatoes (on the back burner), but everything else was up to her -

Including setting the table, which is something she is always in charge of.

 Very proud!

My Roasted Lemon & Thyme Chicken (recipe here)

Mashed Potatoes!

A black and white close-up so time can stand still, just for a moment.

Homemade Blackberry Preserves | Printable Labels | Saving Summer

Easy Homemade Blackberry Preserves

As I mentioned last week, we have a prolific amount of blackberries due to my Dad's blackberry patch.  After making several Blackberry Cobblers, we still didn't seem to make a dent in the berries.  

Sometimes in the middle of summer bounty, you can almost forget the bleakness of winter that is just 6 months away.  Our Granny used to always put up peaches in the summer and get them out on Christmas morning.  They were always a little frozen and slushy, and delicious on Christmas morning.  A little breath of summer.  

The thought of bottling a little bit of our carefree summer in the form of Blackberry preserves gave Emma and me a little motivation after school last week.  I can't wait to get these out to top our biscuits for a snuggly fire-side breakfast this winter. 

While I did consults some recipes, truth-be-told, I have no idea how much sugar is in our preserves.

That's what happens when I'm behind the camera and Emma is in charge.

I was shocked to find out how much sugar other recipes sited - ours was not nearly as sugar heavy.  I wanted it to taste like fresh blackberries, not sugared jelly.

I think it was a little something like this : 

6 cups of Blackberries

1 1/2 - 2 cups of sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Put it in a big saucepan and cook for maybe 30 minutes.

As I said, I wanted to preserve the taste of a fresh summer blackberry, so I didn't mash or smash or attempt to remove the seeds.  Not only will they be more of the essence of a real summer berry, it was much easier.  Much easier.

While the berries continued to simmer and thicken (cooking for almost 1 hour on low heat), I sterilized the jars in water for 5 minutes.  Just make sure the water is simmering.

I removed the jars with tongs and put them on a pan for filling.  Make sure jars are still hot when spooning in hot jam so the jars don't break.

I found that ladaling the mixture into a pouring measuring cup made filling very easy.

Our recipe made 5 jars.

I sealed the jars by submerging them in simmering water for 10 minutes and watching until there were no more bubbles coming out.  For detailed canning instructions, try here.

Of course I needed some cute labels for our jars.  I used the 2.5" Printable Circle Labels from my store.  They come as 6 sheets of 12 for $5.  I love having them around to make homemade goodies look great.

Here is the template download for the labels.  You can personalize them, of course, for anything.

Now, if I could just bottle up this...  

Happy Summer : )

Finishing an Unfinished Kids Table & Chairs

This past Christmas, Santa brought Emma a set of tables and chairs.  I'm so glad he picked this particular set because I'd been searching all over for a children's table that would feel right in our new house.

I am not a big fan of factory finished furniture and it seems the Children's Furniture industry is filled with it.  I remember looking for Emma's nursery furniture and feeling like every nursery in America looks exactly the same and it is an easy hole to get sucked into.  I had held out on purchasing a pre-finished (options being white or pink paint... or espresso brown...) to hold out for something that felt old - but wasn't a rickety antique.  I'd hoped to find a solid wood, real farmhouse looking table that was scaled down for kiddos.

Santa did a great job!  However, I think Santa ran out of time during the very busy and hectic Christmas season and didn't get a finish put on the table. Or maybe Santa knows how particular I can be and knew I'd want to select the stain/paint color myself?

Emma loved it exactly as it was (as this was the way the elves made it) and was very reluctant for me to change it in any way.  After a little coaxing and promising she could help, we put on a Natural Walnut stain and a Satin Polyurethane finish.

I found the exact table and chairs Santa brought us.  They are almost half the price of the finished versions available at Pottery Barn, etc., but you do have to finish yourself.  It took Emma and I about 1 hour to stain, then I put 3 spray layers of polyurethane over the course of 24 hours.  It was very little hands-on time.

Unfinished Toddler Table

Unfinished Tot Chairs

This is the table post-stain.  Before I stained it, I did a light sanding with fine sand paper.

I brushed it on with a bristle brush and wiped it down to remove excess.

Spray Polyurethane (satin) is a must for any furniture that has turned legs or spindles.  Such a time saver and a much more even finish.  I recommend 3 coats with a couple of hours drying time in between.

Minwax Satin Poly
Old Masters Natural Walnut

These are the chairs mid-stain, pre-spray.

Now the table is all finished and lives between the hearth room and the kitchen.   You can see it is almost the very same tone as the big dining table.   It appears lighter in the photo, but they are almost the exact color, giving the room great balance.

Emma eats her breakfast here, watches TV, colors, paints, does play-doh and puzzles, all right here.  

The extra chairs have found homes throughout the house - this one Emma uses as a step-stool in the powder room.

This one is tucked under the counter for her to use when we're baking.  Instead of an eye-sore, the chairs add a little bit of charm wherever they are.  They work great as a step-stool for me, too : )

For me utilitarian beauty is all about making every single corner of your house functional and atheistically pleasing.  

So, just because this is the kids table, doesn't mean it can't be as charming and full of character as the rest of the house, right?

Emma's already set several tea party tables here.  I can't wait to set it for holidays - I can already envision the Thanksgiving paper turkey (or sugar cookie?!) placecards : )