Perfect Flavor

Think about this: Cloth diapering is all pros and no cons.

Did you know that cloth diapering is cheaper than purchasing your regular run-of-the-mill plastic diapers? According to The Stork, a local diaper delivery service in Charlottesville, VA, even a cloth diaper service such as this can guarantee diapers at a cost of 33 cents/unit, which is the same as a unit of Huggies. This fee, to top it off, includes the diaper service itself. All one needs to do is throw a dirty diaper into a bag and wait for it to be picked up by The Stork at home. And what does this person get in return? Clean diapers, of course. Imagine how much less the cost is if you own your own cloth diapers and are washing them yourself?

And just how easy is it to wash cloth diapers? For a newborn who is nursing, it’s as simple as throwing them straight into the washing machine. For an older baby, diapers need only be rinsed in the bathtub or sink, then washed in the washing machine.

And how might we decrease the costs of cloth diapering even more? Instead of purchasing from a company that sells pre-fabbed diapers, send a cloth diaper sewing pattern to a mother, mother-in-law, or friend of a friend who sews. In all cases, offer to reimburse for all fabric costs and labor, unless of course, your friend or family member wants to offer these cute little white ones to you as a shower gift proxy. You could even ask them to modify the pattern to include a fold-over feature or a small dip near the front of the diaper for baby’s healing belly button.

Check out popular patterns here!

My mom is currently working on my diapers and I can’t wait to put them to good use!

Also, for you really easy breezy hippies out there, Gerber makes really cheap cloth diaper panels sold in packages of 4-6 that are so multi-purpose that you’re going to want them in your baby repertoire no matter what. Use them for spit-up clean ups, burp cloths, blankets, and babies who need an emergency diaper change or who are in-between sizes. Do keep in mind, though, that the sewing patterns offered above are very close to a one-size-fits-all baby, at least at the beginning. One pattern can fit a baby anywhere from 6-30 pounds!

Lest we forget that the best news to cloth diapering has got to be the next-to-zero waste factor. I think both baby and parents and sleep and breath easier knowing that their diapers are not sitting in a landfill somewhere.

Also, cloth diapered babies are less likely to develop diaper rash, as the outer layer of the diaper is made of cloth, not plastic. Plastic locks in moisture while cloth allows baby’s bum to breath!

One final tidbit: did you know that cloth diapered babies are more likely to potty train earlier than plastic-diapered babies? It’s because cloth diapers do not wick away liquid as magically as the infinite layers inside plastic diapers, therefore teaching your children a very important lesson: If they don’t like to feel wet, then they will learn how to remedy their situation naturally by using the toilet instead of the diaper. The average cloth-diapered baby is potty trained by age two.

woohoo!

this is me pregnant at 8 weeks. You can only imagine how big my belly is now...=)

Today I am 23 weeks pregnant! And what a celebration it is…

With 4.5 months of horrid morning sickness under my belt, I’ve seen a lot of improvements in my physical health in the past month. I’d like to think that my family, particularly my two teenage stepkids, ages 14 and 11(trust me, in girl years age 11 is classified in my book as a teen), are happy with my new demeanor as well. Due to my raging hormones, combined with their raging hormones, our home life has been a little less idyllic when it comes to the rocking-chair-knitting-in-front-of-the-fire-with-my-loving-children-at-my-feet picture that I often attempted to paint for myself. In fact, what pregnancy has done to me, I see now, is turn me right back into my hormonal, irritable, easy-to-anger teenage self. I can only imagine that my loving and overly-tolerant husband has had his fair share of 3 teenagers in the house. And he thought he married a beyond-her-years 26 year old. Sigh, I wish.

My pregnancy has certainly brought forth its fair share of surprising challenges when it comes to my ability to parent while at the same time growing a rather demanding (and heavenly) life inside of me. But I must say-I can take all of this. As my wise mother-in-law says quite frequently when faced with a tough situation, “This too shall pass.” And she’s right. What I’m having most difficulty with is not the often immature fighting and nagging that occurs in my house when someone forgets to flush the toilet, replace the toilet paper roll, or hang up their wet towel post-shower. I’m actually struggling most with what goes on in my little parenting/pregnancy world when I leave my house.

I feel that when I leave the comforts of my home and enter into the parent/pregnant lady environment these days, whether its a prenatal yoga class, a new moms group or other,  I am bombarded with what I’d like to call: “The Battle of the Best Parent.” Now, donning my battle armor when entering into these situations is not new to me. Being the young second wife of a man 14 years my elder, with two stepkids and an ex-wife in the mix has never been an easy fight. I guess I thought that I would feel like I had earned my stripes when, once pregnant, I could proudly tout the fact that yes, I am the mom of two teenagers and that this experience would make me ideally suited to being a parent of a newborn. After all, what other women do you know who are pregnant with their first but already have two kids at home? If anything, I should be handing out the advice, right? Wrong.

Apparently, according to almost all of the women whose children are under the age of two, I have no idea what I’m getting myself into. In fact, they even seem to think that I “have it easy.” Here’s an example:

When sitting in on my first, very large, prenatal yoga class in a room of twenty or so women, about half of whom are on their second pregnancy with an “under-24-month” old at home, we go around the class doing amicable introductions about who we are, how pregnant we are, and if we’ve got any kids at home. (I’m assuming this last offering of information is to help us feel the support of the other moms in the room; to induce a sense of empowerment and shared wisdom—boy, how wrong I am!) Everyone nods knowingly when moms express that they have a “20 month” at home and are due in a matter of months. “Wow, you’re brave!” is the response from most in the room. The instructor in particular coddling this woman with courageous euphamisms concerning the challenges she faces but the remarkable strength in which she’s approaching her situation. When it comes to me, I take a deep breath, gaze knowingly at every individual face in the room (well, not really, but you get the picture) and state that this is, in fact, my first pregnancy, but that I’ve actually got two stepkids at home, at which point the instructor begs the question: “Well, how old are they?” to which I respond, “Ages 14 and 11.” This is met with a response that again and again I am only beginning to be able to predict, much to my dismay. “A 14 year old and an 11 year old? That doesn’t count.” or “How fantastic, they can help babysit, change diapers, etc.” or “How easy it must be to have older kids.” or my personal favorite, “Teenagers practically take care of themselves!” The list of rather ignorant and condascending responses goes on and on…

Each day my husband returns home from work and I relay to him the newest response from my newest class members, to which he exclaims, “Next time that happens, you should just walk out!” It is, indeed, ignorant beyond my understanding that a woman would feel so insecure in her own role as a parent as to put down the arduous journey of another. Everyone’s got it tough, no matter how old your kids are, right? Well, maybe, but that’s not how I look at it. Instead, I accept parenting for what it is: an vastly enriching experience in which our children are our teachers. Each parent is experiencing their own set of lessons, and I am so grateful to be learning as much as I am from my kids. Of course being a parent can be hard. I have no doubt that changing diapers, tending to a crying infant, and being spit up upon are exchanges between parent and child that can be wearing no matter who you are. But what kind of karmic aftermath are you asking for if you expect that raising a teenager is a piece of cake and nothing like raising an infant or toddler.

Parenting is for a lifetime, and what I hope most for these women is that they not only accept that, but that they begin to embrace each others hard work, no matter how old the child.

After all, ironically I have more “experience” as a parent than all of them, being that, if I were to count in months how long I’ve been parenting Nick and Kate, I would have everyone beat by 26 months. And you don’t see me belittling their experience or holding that number above their heads.

If you’re the mom of a toddler and are expecting a baby, I respect your daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute hard work.

If you’re the mom of a teenager, I respect your daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute hard work.

Now, let’s just see if we can all work together.

Aebleskivers. When I came across the cast iron pan by the same name, I had never before encountered such a name and concept. What are they?

In essence, aebleskivers are pancake balls that, when cooked in oil in this very special pan, fluff up in the shape of perfect little globes that get eaten so fast once made that one can hardly keep a full plate on the table!

As seems to be usual for us, Colin and I purchased an aebleskiver pan long before they started to seemingly become popular. This past holiday season saw shelves filled with practically a different aebleskiver pan for each different recipe. I am here to say that you need just one pan and one recipe. This recipe, altered slightly to my specifications and desires, comes directly from the official Lodge Cast Iron cookbook entitled, “A Skillet Full of Traditional Southern Lodge Cast Iron Recipes & Memories.” This recipe was originally written by Sarah Kirkwood Lodge of the original Lodge family.

Here’s the recipe in all its delicious glory. You’ll find that these little pancake balls have a crispy, buttery texture on the outside with a doughnut-like, buttery, chewy texture on the inside. They really are nothing short of heavenly, and if you happen to have a group of grumpy kids or a husband who’s had a long week, there is nothing like a batch of aebleskivers to get everyone back on cloud 9!

Aebleskivers

Ingredients

4 eggs separated

2 tablespoons organic cane sugar

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (local is best, but King Arthur red bag will work)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick butter, melted

scant 2 cups whole milk

Method: please read all the way through before beginning

1. Melt butter slowly in a small saucepan and remove from heat when stick is almost melted but not quite. Swirl in the saucepan and you will have accomplished two things: melted the rest of the stick AND maintained a low enough temperature with the butter to not cook the eggs once added to the batter.

2. In the meantime, separate your eggs: yolks into a medium sized bowl, whites into the bowl of a mixer or just a separate medium bowl, making sure that your whites are free of any trace of yolk or other debris (except salt, see below), as any foreign ingredient other than the white itself will inhibit the whites’ ability to froth up and beat properly. Add the salt to your whites, which will help them beat up to an even stiffer and more stable peak.

3. Hand whisk your yolks until thickened and light in color. Add your sugar and continue to whisk until even thicker and lemon colored.

4. Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder) in a small bowl and retain your measuring cup in this bowl.

5. Measure milk into a glass measuring cup meant for liquid measure and set aside.

6. With your whisk in hand, begin to add dry ingredients 1/4 cup at a time and alternate with milk 1/4 cup at a time. This will aid in developing the cake-like structure of this batter. Also, and perhaps most importantly, if you’re a lump-freak like me, adding your ingredients alternatively and little by little this way will ensure that your batter will be lump free if you’re whisking vigorously as you add each ingredient.

7. Once all ingredients have been added, fold in melted butter with a large rubber spatula until just mixed.

8. In three batches, add your egg whites (which you could have had beating while preparing the batter), folding in slowly and gently.

***Now is when I like to add a little extra magic: Combine in a small cereal bowl 1/2 cup organic cane sugar with 1 teaspoon (or more depending on taste) cinnamon. Mix and set near your pan.

9. Heat your aebleskiver pan over medium heat and pour 1/2-1 teaspoon vegetable oil into each well. Allow oil to heat enough for frying. If your oil is not hot enough when you add your batter, the batter will soak up the oil before it has the chance to bake, and will be heavy and greasy. If you’re unsure of when the temperature has reached the right point, you’ll just have to do what I do: sacrifice a poor aebleskiver individual first and take a look at how it bakes, then proceed with the others.

10. I spoon out the batter with a medium-sized cookie/ice cream scoop, which helps make clean up a little easier and ensures that each ball is the same size. After the edges begin to look brown, 3 minutes or so, I use a fork to gently turn each ball over so that the batter side can form and cook. Basically, you’re going for a perfect sphere, so turning your ball over before all of the batter in the center is cooked means that the rest of the raw batter will mold to the well in the pan and thus create a perfect circle of decadence.

11. Remove aebleskivers one by one, rolling each in your cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated, then place on your breakfast dish.

12. When repeating cooking of all the batter, you may need to adjust your stove top temperature. I find that for my gas range, I must reduce the heat to low as time goes by because the pan tends to get very hot and my batter has the tendency to burn if I do not monitor the temperature very closely. Also make sure to add a new round of oil to your pan every second-third batch.

Once my first batch is done, I holler at the kids and wonderful husband to come in and eat. Usually by the time I finish each consecutive batch they are finished with the plate that came before. There are days when they are not as hungry, so I do not make all the batter into aebleskivers at once. Instead, I’ll use about half of the batter up and then make more aebleskivers the next morning or the morning after.

This batter makes about 40 pancake balls and can be kept in the fridge for up to three days.

Incidentally, a well-seasoned cast iron aebleskiver pan is the best (see my previous cast iron post), and cheapest, option. There are some nonstick options out there, which as usual, I do not trust both for their lack of long-term nonstick capabilities but also for the fact that teflon scares me. If you cannot locate the proper pan, consider this: the recipe recounted above can also be used to make waffles that are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, as well as pancakes AND pancake puffs (or special pancake as my kids call it, which is aebleskiver batter baked in a buttered glass dish in a 375 degree oven until puffy and golden).

Yum, now I’m hungry!

Recipe Variations:

Want chocolate aebleskivers?  Substitute 1/8 cup cocoa for 1/8 cup flour and continue recipe like normal.

Want savory aebleskivers? How about chive & chevre?  Substitute 1/2 cup fresh chevre for 1/2 cup milk and add 1/2 cup chopped chives.  For other cheese variations, keep milk content the same and add 1/2 cup shredded hard cheese to batter.

yummy aebleskivers, pronounced "able-skivvers" according to my authoritative knowledge!=)

I’ve had a bunch of requests already from those of you interested in cloth diapering your babies.  I can assure you I will continue to dig even further and research all the many possibilities, from diaper services to diy cloth diaper care.  For now, however, I’d like to highlight a favorite store of mine in Charlotteville, VA, which does an excellent job of explaining what cloth diapering is and how its done.

Nature’s Child, found on East Main Street on the downtown mall, is a fantastic store for the green parent (and subsequential green baby).  The storefront itself is worth many, many visits throughout your years as a parent.

However, for today’s lesson class…here’s a link to the store’s cloth diapering Q&A page.  I found this very helpful.

Be sure to post comments if you have already been cloth diapering your kid(s) in order to offer advice regarding pocket diapers, the “dunk and swish” method, and other laughs and frowns regarding the adventures in cloth diapering.  We all look forward to hearing from those of you who are more experienced!

When it snows, this is always the first thing Kate, Nick or I think of=) Colin just likes to see the excitement on our faces as we gather ingredients. These days, with a rather large belly, I’m more prone to stay inside and get the proper accoutrements ready from the comfort of my kitchen to be prepared for the onslaught of kid excitement!

This is our famed SNOW CUSTARD recipe. And it could not be easier OR more delicious!

Step 1: Send the kids out to gather fresh, unadulterated snow in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Once snow and kids are safely back inside, drizzle snow with either some sugar to taste or pure maple syrup.

Step 3: Mix in some milk, heavy cream, whipped cream, half n half…you get the idea.

Step 4: Pour in a touch of pure vanilla extract to taste.

Step 5: Divide equally into bowls OR just hand out spoons and share from the big bowl. Eat and Enjoy!

This truly is delicious and easy and certainly an experience that no snowy day should go with out!

Happy snow day everyone! Two feet and counting…

What’s this page about?

Greetings! For those of you who do not know me, I’d love to introduce myself.

I am Lynsie Steele, age 27, and am the wife of Colin Steele (the love of my life) and the honored stepmom of Nick Steele, age 14, and Kate Steele, age 10-almost-11. I am also (she says with a grin) expecting my first baby due in May. I am currently 4.5 months pregnant and am loving every precious minute.

Perfect Flavor was started by my husband and I long before we married, and Nick and Kate have been a part of our company from day 1. This has always been a family endeavor full of learning curves, many surprises, and even more rewards. For the past 4 years we have been building our business into a solid local food entity that greatly supports local dairy products in a way that not many business do. We make gourmet ice cream and artisanal soft cheeses, like fresh mozzarella, ricotta, mascarpone and yogurt. At least we did up until this week.

Now, since we’ve got a baby on the way, I am taking a break from the food operation side of things and focusing more on spreading the good word about local food, sustainability, making healthy foods at home and raising my kids in a way that is natural, respectful and right.

You will find in “Parenting” many of my own experiences and how I’ve dealt with anything from a kid who’s had a bad day to teaching a little someone how to make bread on their own to what’s going on in the world of natural parenting.

I am by no means an expert parent, but who is? I simply hope to share the experiences I have of being a stepmom, being pregnant, and eventually raising this bio-baby of mine in this big, huge, wonderful mix of love and family.

I invite you to enjoy the ride of this modern-day parent!

This morning I donned both my bathrobe AND my pastry chef’s hat as I awoke to a very snowy looking sky to make and bake some of my favorite Christmas cookies for my stepdaughter, Kate, and her class of 4th and 5th graders at Free Union Country School in Free Union, Virginia.  Needless to say, cookies are always a home-run when it comes to kids, however, my special recipe for Apple Cider Thumbprint Cookies is not your average treat.  Not only did the kids gobble up the Thumbprints, but the wonderful teachers did, too!  I like using leftover apple cider especially because often I tend to get overexcited about the Fall and buy way more apple cider than I need.  Once the cider loses its appeal, it tends to sit in my fridge for quite awhile.  Making it into syrup both extends its shelf life AND takes up less room in the fridge.  I’d love to share my recipe with you…

Apple Cider Thumbprint Cookies (for the Holidays and beyond!)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour (local flour from Ashland Milling Company in Richmond preferred)

1 teaspoon salt (anything but kosher or large crystal sea salt)

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup organic cane sugar

1 large egg (from a local farm or your backyard)

1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract

For filling: 4 cups local Apple Cider, boiled down in a stainless steel saucepan until reduced to half a cup.  (Keep a glass pyrex measuring cup handy to pour hot syrup into to test when you’re getting close to reducing your cider down to half a cup.)  To spice things up, you can throw in some freshly grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick to your cider before boiling down.  Also, this syrup can be made well in advance, and keeps in the fridge for at least 3 months!   (We like to use the extra as a topping for ice cream or in steamed milk, mulled wine or a hot toddy.)

***This is essentially a shortbread dough and has a very rich, soft & crumbly texture.  Perfect!

1. Beat butter and sugar for about 4 minutes or until fluffy and delicious smelling!

2. Add your egg and vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.

3. Measure flour and salt into a small bowl, whisk gently to combine, and using your half cup measure, slowly add your flour mixture to your butter mixture, a half cup at a time until all is incorporated.

4. Let your dough mix until thoroughly combined, meaning that all of your flour is absorbed into your butter mixture.

5. Spoon out your dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap, carefully wrap up to seal, flatten into a disc, and refrigerate for up to 1 hour OR overnight.  (I make this dough and the syrup the night before I bake the cookies).  While your dough is chilling, if you have not already done so, boil your cider into a syrup.  This should take about an hour, but depending on how much you use, could take more or less time.

6. Once your dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Remove dough from the fridge and using a small cookie scoop or a small spoon, remove a bit of dough about the size of a quarter.  Roll into a ball and place on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet.  Continue until you’ve got 15 dough balls on one baking sheet.  Incidentally, this recipe will make well over 30 balls depending on how big you make them.

7. With the flat bottom of a water glass, gently smoosh down each ball to flatten slightly.  For example, you might go from 1 inch in diameter to 1 1/4 inches in diameter.

8. With the handle end of a large wooden spoon, flour the tip and gently press into the center of each cookie, being careful not to push straight through to the other side.  If you do do this by accident, just re-roll and flatten your dough.

9. Finally, gently spoon into the center of each cookie your cider syrup, filling up each hole just shy of the top, as when the syrup cooks in the oven, it often expands and overflows, which is still just as delicious but a little sticky=)

10. Bake for 10 minutes in your oven on the top rack.  Syrup will be hot once baking is done and will still spill out of cookies, so keep baking sheet level while removing cookies to cool.  Allow cookies to cool completely.  At this time your syrup should be nice and gelled and your cookies ready for serving.
I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine does.  A good cookie recipe is one that, once baked, does not take long to disappear from the plate!