The Sweetest Valentine's Day {Wordless Wednesday}

old copper mold chocolate cake
quesadillas with sriracha love letterheart egg cheese and toast
delivering valentines
30 before 30 cans of cat food delivering valentines by handhand made valentines

father daughter nerf guns

1. devil's food cake in Alex's grandmother's copper mold 2. Alex's sweet sriracha garnish for our lunch quesadillas 3. Lil's heart shaped lunch in my new Fiesta bowls 4. Lil dressed as a 'mail girl' delivering cards 5. 30 before 30 gift to my sister: 30 cans of cat food 6. delivery number 3 of 10 7. delivery 10 of 10 8. father daughter nerf gun gifts

Hounds in the Kitchen Merch! {Wordless Wednesday}

hounds in the kitchen shirt with devie dog hounds in the kitchen backyard chicken

buy hounds in the kitchen merch at skreened shop

I love the new Hounds in the Kitchen logo so much I want to wear it!

I used Skreened to upload the design and print on an American Apparel ethically made baseball shirt. I know the owner and several employees at Skreened and love to support their sustainable business. The best part of ordering from Skreened is that their location is only a mile from the house so I can pick up!

If you want to sport the Hound look, I uploaded four versions of the design - large and centered like on the shirt above, a chest emblem, medium logo for a tote bag, and large logo on the back. The cool thing about Skreened is that you can choose the shirt style (short sleeve, hoodie, etc.), color, and size for any of the Hounds in the Kitchen designs. They print quickly (my order was done in less than 24 hours!), ship around the world and have a pick-up location at I-71 and Hudson in Columbus.

Disclosure: I receive a few bucks commission off Hounds in the Kitchen shirts sold through Skreened. A girl's gotta buy groceries once in awhile.

Making Egg Rolls {Wordless Wednesday}

many hands make light work eggrolls

egg roll with fillinghand rolling eggroll

dad frying eggrollshomemade eggrolls coming out of fryer

gumball eggroll

My family has a winter holiday tradition to make egg rolls from scratch. Usually the lengthy process happens on Christmas Day but this year we made them on New Years Day. We all love to cook and working together makes light work of the tedious rolling.

A corollary tradition is to stuff any remaining wrappers after the filling is gone with random foods. This year, cocktail cherries and chocolate was a hit. Lil's roll with a gumball, seen above? Totally disgusting! Though I love her face and my Mom's smile in the picture.

Does your family have any similar traditions?

Really, Rugelach? {Wordless Wednesday}

child spreading jam for rugelach
spreading nuts on rugelachrolling rugelach
homemade rugelach holiday cookies

Lil and I made Mrs. Wheelbarrow's rugelach for a cookie exchange last week. Lil loved rolling peach, blueberry peach, and sour cherry preserves with almonds in the rich butter and cream cheese dough. She even made her own creation, chocolate with no nuts.

The recipe is time consuming and made me break up with my food processor but the results are outstanding. This is the perfect cookie for me - not at all sweet but full of flavor from homemade jams. Mrs. Wheelbarrow's recipe also suggests a bacon jam version which a friend made and paired with scotch. Yum!

Cracking Nuts aka Entertainment in a Snack {Wordless Wednesday}

nutcracker and whole nuts child holding nutcrackerchild cracking whole pecans

nut cracking detritus

This, my friends, is how Lil occupies much of her time these days: cracking nuts in shells. The only downside is the pile of sharp fragments, some of which inevitably fly across the room and end up on the floor waiting for a bare foot to poke. Sweeping up is a small price to pay for the hours of entertainment, fine motor development, and nutritious snacking.