Mini Donuts

 I like donuts. Ok, ok. I LOVE donuts. Like a lot. I don't buy them everyday, but you're damn skippy I would if I could! I've tried a few recipes in the past, but this one seemed to be just right.

 What you need:
1 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
+ your mix ins (I used mini-chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles)

Glaze
1/4 cup milk
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
toppings

I use the BabyCakes Mini Donut Maker and it's awesome. I've never tried anything else, so maybe I just don't know any better, but I really do love it. It makes perfect little donuts in record timing. Preheating takes 2 minutes. It's awesome.

For the donuts:
Whisk the flour, baking powder and soda, nutmeg, and sugar together in a medium sized bowl.
Whisk the milk, vanilla, egg and melted butter together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Don't over mix.

I separated the dough/batter into separate bowls to switch up the fillings. I used the mini chocolate chips in one and the other was tons of rainbow jimmies.

Spoon the batter into a ziplock plastic bag. Cut one tip at the bottom and pipe the batter into each cup. This is the easiest way I've found.

Bake until slightly brown. Let them cool completely before heading to the glazing faze.

For the glaze:
In a small saucepan, mix all the ingredients together over medium heat. Whisk together until everything is combined and the sugar is completely incorporated. Then switch off the heat and start dipping. I dipped each donut twice because I can. Then add the toppings while the glaze is cooling and setting.

For the chocolate/Nutella glaze:
In a small bowl, mix about 1/2 cup Nutella and a couple splashes of milk. Mix together until smooth. Then start incorporating some powdered sugar. I didn't measure this. It was about 1 1/2 cups. You just want it to be smooth and ribbon like. Then start dipping.

Salty Dog

My all-time favorite cocktail is a Salty Dog. You may recognize it from maybe your grandmother. Yah. It is a rather "vintage" cocktail. There isn't much to it, but that's what makes it delicious.

You need: 

- Grapefruit juice

- Gin or Vodka (I prefer gin)

- Salt

- 1 lemon

- glass

- ice 

- small plate

- shaker

The first thing I do is cut the lemon in half and line the glass with the juice then dip into the salt. The lemon juice (or you could use honey) is best to keep the salt on the rim. Salt is a big figure in this cocktail. 

I do not own a bar shaker. Yup. I don't really see the need as I have 800 mason jars with perfectly good lids. I do need a bar strainer though. Anyway. In mason jar/shaker, add ice, grapefruit juice, and about a shot of gin or however much you'd like. Then shake. 

Then pour the drink into the rimmed with salt glass. I then garnished it with a little slice of lemon. 

Enjoy!

Local - Melt

This weekend, my husband and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We tend to not do gifts because going out on a GOOD date is way better. This year we had a babysitter...overnight (yaaaaaaah!). One thing we really wanted was sleep. When you have a 7 month old who hates sleep, any chance to get some uninterrupted sleep is just way amazing.

So, we had a babysitter! Our plan was to get dinner and go to a movie, then come home and do the sleep thing. But first, I had heard via IG of this new ice cream shop in Fort Worth, Melt. I heard about it a while back, and just could never make it out there. The thing that drew my in that day was their special... lemon macaron with lemon blueberry ice cream. A macaron ice cream sandwich. Blueberry lemon. Dude.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it in time to get the macaron. Total bummer, but we did get some amazing ice cream. One of the coolest things about this place is the bright yellow wall that they encourage picture taking with. The whole shop is great. The people, the vibe, and best of all, the ice cream.

Husband had the blueberry lemon ice cream and I had Salt Lick which was a salted caramel in really yummy waffle cones. You can also buy pints of ice cream. It was a perfect before dinner (oops) treat. If you live in and around DFW, check it out. It's worth it.

Food, Baby Food

I make most of Mason's baby food. It's important to me to know what is actually in the food I'm giving him. I use the mostly organic ingredients and water just to thin it out a little. I used to make all of Jack's food until I started working and we moved and and and excuses. This time, I stayed committed to it.

I've had the same baby food maker since Jack was born. It's the Original BabyCook from Beaba. I love it. I never even thought about giving it away or getting a new one. It's perfect for the job. And it's lasted the entire 5 years. We didn't aways use it for baby food either. I pureed soups and sauces in it when we didn't have a good blender. It's good.

I use one once little containers for storage. They are the Vital Baby Press N Pop Mini Freezer Pots. They are pretty perfect. There is a little silicon pad on the bottom of each one that makes it super easy to pop these out while they are frozen. I keep them in a tupperware in the freezer to keep from getting lost in there.

The baby food I make usually lasts all week, frozen. I make them over the weekend and use them throughout the week. This time, I made enough for about 1 and a half weeks or possibly two.

Mason is at the point where he eats cereal in the mornings, one and a half to two of these pots for lunch and then again for dinner.

These "recipes" (they really aren't, just pairings) are super easy and so far, baby approved. These are also for babies around Mason's age now, 7 months or older.

Spinach, peas, and asparagus : fresh asparagus, frozen peas and spinach. Pretty straight forward. Steamed all three together, then blended with water.

Apricot blueberry : dired apricots and fresh blueberries. Steam the blueberries and blend. Then strain. Meanwhile, cut the apricots into small pieces then steam. You should be able to pierce them with a knife easily. Then blend the apricots. These are pretty pasty, so add a lot of water. Once it's at a good consistency, add the blueberry sauce.

Apple strawberry : fresh apple and strawberries. Steam them both together, then blend with water. I added a touch of cinnamon.

Sweet potato : fresh sweet potatoes. Steamed then blend with water.

Sweet peas : frozen sweet peas. Steamed until hot, then blended with water.

Beets, parsnips, and carrots : pre-steamed beets without skins, fresh parsnips and carrots. Start with just a few bits of carrot, add the parsnips, and beets. Steam until you can pierce the carrots and parsnips. Then blend with water.

Pears : fresh pears. Steam then blend. You won't need a lot of water on this one.