Rainy Day Egg Drop Soup

One of Molly's favourite kinds of dishes is the warm noodle broth, but in college she would often just opt to cook noodles in a water and soy sauce mixture in between study sessions, which isn't very nourishing.

Since it's cold and rainy, I whipped up this much heartier version for our dinner. She asked me to make it another time, so I'm writing it down here for future reference. If you make it, let me know what you think!

Note that this recipe only makes enough for two as a main dish, but could easily feed more as a side to another Asian-fusion dish.

Ingredients:

• Water
• Chicken bouillon powder
• Soy sauce
• Powdered garlic
• Powdered ginger
• Sesame seeds
• Whole prickly ash pods
• Chili bean paste
• Sesame oil
• Black pepper
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Somen noodles

Directions:

1. Boil 3 cups of water. Add a heaping tablespoon of chicken bouillon powder, stir, and let boil for a couple minutes.
2. Add a splash of soy sauce, a generous dash of garlic, a few fingerfuls of the prickly ash, a good dusting of sesame seeds, a teaspoon of the chili bean paste, a generous dash of black pepper, a generous dash of sugar, a little bit of sesame oil, and as much ginger as you'd enjoy (I put in just a little less than the garlic).
3. Stir everything together, then let the mixture boil for a couple minutes until it becomes a nice broth.
4. In a separate bowl, mix two eggs with a quarter cup cold water. Pour the egg mixture into the broth, stirring the whole time with a fork. Boil for a good three or four minutes, until the eggs have cooked into lots of little visible chunks swirling in the broth.
5. Add a packet of somen noodles and boil for two minutes, stirring at intervals. (Our somen noodles come in a package with several individually bound sections of noodles. I used one of the individual sections, not the whole package.)
6. Let sit for a couple minutes, then serve up into two bowls and enjoy!

Moroccan Stuffed Dates

This was another delicious sweet taste on the passed appetizer trays at Evie's wedding. They were also served in little cups that served as dividers on the tray. So pretty and so yummy!

INGREDIENTS:

12 pitted dates
2 oz. softened cream cheese
1 tablespoon honey (optional)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
12  salted roasted skinned almonds

DIRECTIONS:

Slice 12 dates down one side longwise. Set aside. Stir cream cheese together with honey, cinnamon, and almond extract. Stuff.  Roll in confectionary sugar. Keep in air tight container. Dust with more sugar before serving.  May make ahead 1-2 days.

Simple Syrup

This is Kaarin's recipe for a "liquid sugar" sweetener that is the consistency of syrup. She uses it anytime she needs to sweeten something cold and doesn't want to have to dissolve sugar in it.

Combine equal parts sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then simmer until thick, stirring occasionally.

Homemade Playdough

This is the best homemade playdough recipe I've ever found, compliments of my friend Jan.

You will want to make one full recipe per child who wants to play.

(I usually double the recipe to make two batches at once, using a large Dutch-oven sized soup pot.)

Combine in large saucepan:
1 C. water
1/2 C. salt
1 C. flour
1 T. oil
2 tsp. cream of tartar

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it forms a solid ball. (This happens quickly, after only about a minute.)

Dump out to cool on waxed paper. Be careful - it will be very hot at first, but it cools quickly. Give it to them while it is still warm, though; this is the best part!

Store in airtight container for repeated use.

You may knead food coloring into the dough when cool, if colors are desired. My kids always prefer the natural color, though, as they are usually pretending in the play kitchen to bake bread, cookies, pizza dough, doughnuts, etc. (Note: playing this way when young easily segues into really baking when one is older!)