500

What fun to come home from dinner with an old friend and see that Full Plate has had 500 visitors. This gives me a pat on the back. When I started this blog (originally "The Mom-a-licious Blog" which had over 5,800 hits), the goal was to have a place where I could post my favorites easy recipes (often ones friends requested), as well as things that I thought fellow mom-friends might be interested in…be it birthday party ideas, Stroller Strides or other mom-child outings, etc. I would never call myself an expert in the arena of being “mom-a-licious”, or a chef extraordinaire. But, I do congratulate myself for being the mom of two little boys who are nice (usually), who have varied interests, decent palates, and who seem genuinely happy. Really, what more could a mom hope for? So, as I continue to nourish these two little people, I will continue to post. And if there are specific meal ideas you'd like, just holler.

Cherry Oat Rounds

Each day of Farm Camp, the kids did a "farm chore" or worked in the fields of The Stone Barns Center, tended to the farm's livestock or collected eggs, went for a hike, explored the garden, and cooked something with their bounty. I was excited that the parents all got copies of the week's recipes since they're a good source of healthy, simple recipes you can do with your kids. Here is one that was my son's favorite.

Cherry Oat Rounds
(Recipe courtesy of Stone Barns Farm Camp)

2 cups oats
2/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup raisins

1 ½ cups low-fat vanilla yogurt
¼ cup canola oil
½ cup pitted and chopped cherries

Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins. Mix ingredients to completely combine. In a larger bowl, whisk together the yogurt and oil. Once combined, mix in the cherries. Finally, add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to combine in a batter. Spray mini muffin cups with cooking spray and spoon about 1 Tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. These will not rise too much, so it is fine if the batter comes to the top of the pan. Once they are all filled, put in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and the rounds look set. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 more minutes. Flip out onto tray or rack and enjoy warm or cool.

On The Road Again with a 2-year-old, Day 5 (Little Bo Peep Has Found The Sheep)

The three of us rode home from the last day of Farm Camp both exhausted and invigorated. What a week-- for all of us. The camp was phenomenal...and (achem) I gave myself a pat on the back for staying sane while occupying my 2-year-old from 9:00am-3:30pm in an area I didn’t know for five days in a row. As Dan Zanes rocked us on through traffic, my car smelled of lavender, garlic, and dirty little boys.

We stuck around the farm the last day, visiting all of the animals and enjoying Blue Hill Cafe's treats. The sheep were loud and fun to watch as they alternated between lolling in the shade and moving en masse around the field the campers had moved them into earlier in the afternoon. When asked about his favorite activity for the week, "moving sheep" was my older son's hands down winner.

Also within easy walking distance for little feet, there's a nice loop around Swan Lake in Rockefeller State Park Preserve. Ask for a trail map at Stone Barn's info desk, and enter the Preserve down by the greenhouse. The walk is nice and shady, and for added excitement you'll probably see some turtles and a horse or two along the trails. The loop can easily be completed by a little one in an hour.

The week long journey out there was worth it, for sure. Before he fell asleep, my older son announced that next year he hopes he can "go to Farm Camp for two weeks!"

Adventures with a 2-year-old, Day 4 (Stone Barns on little feet)

Today was all about cows. While our older son was at Farm Camp meeting the sheep dog, making ice cream from scratch, planting seeds, picking lavender, and going on a scavenger hunt in the doorway garden of Stone Barns, I took our little one on a hike. A small hike, just enough for two-year-old feet to manage on their own. We passed very loud cows...

We heard a tractor in the distance and rounded bends hoping to catch a glimpse of it in action...

We saw cows out lolling in a shady pasture...

And when we came back to the farm, we got a latte (me, thank you cows for that creamy deliciousness), scone (him) and some citrus-infused granola (us, amazing be sure to pick some up if you visit the Cafe) and picked a nice place to sit and relax. I didn't take it personally that our little one wanted to sit solo in the courtyard. This has been a lot of mom/child together time. I relished the New York Times for 10 uniterrupted minutes and he, well he gave me 10 minutes.

Oh, and did I mention that we also enjoyed cows at lunch time? (Oops, did I just say that?! So crass but so true.) We picked up House Made Bologna and Pickled Veggie sandwiches for our afternoon of exploring. (I normally wouldn't relish a bologna sandwich but it came recommended and oh my, it was good. Of course I came home and made the mistake of looking up just what bologna is exactly...yucky. Now I know why I was never ever given a bologna sandwich growing up.) Anyway, somehow I couldn't bring myself to eat the picnic in the company of cows so we ate in the company of sheep.

Directions for the cow loop (easily walked by a 2-year-old): walking, head left out of the "Hardwood" parking lot, around the backside of the stone barn, along the "do not enter" one-way part of the driveway. When you reach the gate by the cow pen (the guard house will be on your right, slightly downhill) you pick up the wide trail. After visiting the cows head straight out and veer left up the hill. You're basically going to stay left each chance you get. When you see a red barn down the hill in front of you on your right hand side, take a left onto the trail that runs in between Stone Barns and this other red cow barn. Then at your next chance, take a left and Stone Barn's gardens will be on your right hand side and the Stone Barn will be off in the distance (as pictured above). You'll wind downhill from there, coming out again right by the cow pen. This will probably take you about 30-40 minutes if you're walking with a little one.

Greens & Cheese Pie for our Wednesday Supper Exchange

How appropriate I am finding this new blog name. This week, I truly have a Full Plate. In addition to our Farm Camp adventures, it was my week to cook for my Wednesday Supper Exchange. I made my "Greens & Cheese Pie" which is always a crowd pleaser, and can be made in advance:

Greens & Cheese Pie
(makes four 8" dishes of this entree)

4 bags of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to get rid of as much liquid as possible)
1 bunch kale, roughly chopped
1 bunch chard, roughly chopped
1 bunch mint, leaves roughly chopped
1 bunch parsley, leaves roughly chopped
2 onions, diced
4 1-lb tubs cottage cheese (whole milk)
4 pints (or equivalent blocks) Feta, crumbled
3 cups shredded Parmesan
8 eggs
1 cup whole wheat (or gluten-free) bread crumbs
1 cup roasted, unsalted pine nuts

2 packages phyllo dough
1-2 stick(s) of butter, melted + 1/2 - 1 Cup olive oil (combined to brush between the sheets of phyllo when assembling)
pastry brush (to brush the olive oil/butter mixture, I like my silicone one)

Combine all of the filling ingredients (spinach - pine nuts) in a very large mixing bowl. I found I had to roll up my sleeves and mash it with my hands to combine everything.

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly coat each (this makes enough for four 8" casserole dishes) pan with olive oil. Then, layer with several (8 or so) sheets of phyllo dough with the edges overhanging the sides of your dish. Fill each phyllo lined dish with 1/4 of the spinach mixture, then fold each sheet of phyllo dough over one another, brushing with the olive oil/butter mixture between each sheet. Make sure you also brush the top sheet of phyllo with butter/olive oil so it bakes up nice a golden brown.

Bake for 1 hour at 350, or until the top is golden brown and the filling it set. This can be frozen, or made several days in advance and then baked the day you plan to enjoy it. (1 hour from thawed, or 1.5 hours from frozen.)

Adventures with a 2-year-old, Day 3 (Hanging Around the Farm)

I was craving one of Stone Barns' Blue Hill Cafe (truly amazing) lattes made with milk fresh from the cows once we made it to Farm Camp. No such luck, as they'd given the cooking staff the day off after working on the Fourth of July. I packed light today, planning on enjoying our lunch from their too. Hmm, slight glitch in our plans of staying around the farm, taking a hike, and visiting the animals. A little detour into the town of Pleasantville, and we found a cute patisserie and gourmet take-out place. Latte and picnic dilemna solved, we headed back to the farm.

You can easily spend a whole day here as a family outing. In addition to Stone Barn's gorgeous grounds, the animals grazing in the fields, the Cafe (when open), a gift shop with thoughtfully chosen toys, books and the like, there are also two access point for Rockefeller State Park. Talk about a well maintained trail system. The carriage paths are wide and easy to navigate with a jogging stroller. A perfect adventure if you have a little one in tow!

I managed to twist the same ankle I'd (finally) painstakenly healed, so our hike was shorter than planned. But, I am feverishly icing and elevating it in the hopes that we can continue to explore the trail system tomorrow...and at last enjoy Blue Hill Cafe's offerings.

Day Tripping with a 2-year-old, Day 2 (West Point & Bear Mountain)

I have to admit that I was a tad bit jealous that my 6-year-old was going to get to spend the day at Farm Camp, and I was responsible for road-tripping with my 2-year-old. "Moving sheep", going on a nature hike, seeding pots and making a bug box sounded like fun.

But I was only there to drop-off, since Stone Barns is open just to the lucky campers on Mondays and Tuesdays. I'd printed off a bunch of different maps, and the weather looked good. How about some cannons?

The major glitch was that I hadn't visited West Point post-9/11. So, while my memory was of popping on the grounds and taking in the breathtaking views...the reality is an $11, hour-long official bus tour. It was interesting (for me) and snack-filled (for my little one)...and we sat at the back of the bus so as to not totally interrupt the rest of the passengers.

Then we zipped over to Bear Mountain for a picnic, a carousel ride, and a walk through their little zoo. Note before you make any promises: the carousel is not open on Mondays or Tuesdays. Then it started pouring. And I don't mean drizzling. I mean torrential downpour. Thankfully the rain was short-lived so we got to visit the pleasant little zoo (highlighting local birds and animals) that meanders through the park, strike up a game of peek-a-boo with a Bald Eagle (really, you cannot make this stuff up)...

and take in the absolutely amazing views.

When we returned to Stone Barns, the children had done their task of moving the sheep, and they were bleating and romping in the fields.

Then we did a little exploring around the green houses that were wide open to let in the beautiful afternoon air,

and lo and behold, look what we found! The garlic the children had picked yesterday!

Exploring with a 2-year-old, Day 1

Today was my older son's first day of Farm Camp. So, while he worked in Stone Barn's "dooryard garden", collected fresh eggs (which he "thinks went to the restaurant...some really big kitchen next to the silos?" yep, little fellow you procured the eggs that some ridiculously lucky diner will be enjoying), harvested garlic ("which grows in the ground and is about this big" he says with his little hands), baked fresh muffins with the berries they picked and romped around the grounds all day longwith other little people...

I took our little one on an all day adventure, using Dobbs Ferry as our launching point. We visited Old Croton Aqueduct State Park where we oogled the Hudson (remember, we're land-locked in New Canaan). We also stumbled upon Memorial Park, which has nice play equipment and a wading pool for the little ones.

After a picnic lunch, we walked back down to the river and the Dobbs Ferry train station and hopped on a train heading north, taking it to the end of its' run. The view from the train was amazing. Good entertainment for $2.50. I can't remember the name of the town we ended up in, but it was nothing to write about. So, we bought a ticket heading the opposite direction and stopped in Tarrytown, NY for some homemade ice cream from Main Street Sweets.

Our bellies full, our noses a little sunburned, we hopped back on the train in Tarrytown to end our journey back in Dobbs Ferry. This photo is of us riding under the Tappan Zee Bridge...pretty neat. Four more days of camp, four more adventures to be had!

The cakes were a hit...

Festive Treat for the Fourth

Here’s a simple and festive treat for those of you bringing dessert to your holiday gathering. You’ll note that I gave each of my kids their own edible canvas….my 6-year-old totally dug the idea and was beyond thrilled to share his handiwork with his camp counselors as a thank you for a great week. My little one was more of a minimalist…until he realized you could chuck handfuls of berries onto the gooey frosting and they’d stick. I wish I’d taken an “after” picture of his masterpiece before we gave it to his camp counselors as a holiday treat.

You can always go the store bought route for a cake, or if you like carrot cake you must try this recipe that was passed on to me by one of my friends Annie when I lived in New York City. Annie R and Annie B, tell me which one’s grandma this recipe comes from and I will surely give the woman credit, as it’s the best one I've had!

Annie’s Grandma’s Carrot Cake

1 ¼ cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar (I used turbinado)
4 eggs
Vanilla (I probably put in about 2 T)
2 cups of flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole wheat flour)
3 cups of shredded carrots (this needn’t be exact so I threw in a 10 oz bag from the produce section, and didn’t measure—close enough)
Cinnamon (I probably put about 4 T in)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, I first beat the vegetable oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Then I added the remainder of the ingredients and beat in with a hand mixer on low speed until combined. Pour into desired pan, coated with a bit of vegetable oil to prevent sticking (unless you’re using a non-stick pan). I baked the cake in a large sheet pan but it makes enough batter for 3 8 inch pans if you’d prefer to go a layered route. The 8” pans will need to bake for about 30 minutes, the sheet pan for about 40 minutes. Once a toothpick comes out clean, that baby is done.
Top with copious amount of my favorite cream cheese icing, and decorate with blueberries and raspberries for the fourth of July!

Also, for those who have been asking for good cake recipes for their children’s birthdays (to make various themed cakes) this one holds up well and is very moist. As long as you don’t tell the little guests it’s “carrot” cake, most of them will happily inhale it!

The Launch of Full Plate

Welcome to Full Plate.

To all of you who mourn the passing of “Mom-a-licious” in the blog and business name, don't you worry. The thoughts and ideas are still the same (minus the snarky name). The focus will still be on keeping tabs on and ensuring our health and happiness so we can be good moms, wives and role models for our children, while keeping a sense of humor.

As my friend, Cobie, said when she proposed the name: Full Plate. Have one? Need one? Call Eila!

I'll look forward to sharing my full plate with all of you.

And the winner is.....

And the winner is….. Full Plate! Thank you to Cobie, from New Canaan, who came up with this clever multi-tasking name. Not only did she brainstorm the name, but she’s got a fabulous tag line to go along with it that I’ll unveil with the new site. I am very excited to run with her idea. Stay tuned for a pic of her winning what will be nothing short of a Publisher’s Clearinghouse-style house call…only more exciting because it will involve food.

I’ve got to get busy switching things around, but I’ll make it as seamless as I can for all of you. Not sure when I’ll find the “free time” to do this, so we’ll stay mom-a-licious until the babysitting fairy falls from the sky and grants me a couple hours a day without a kid on my lap as I type.

For those curious about the breakdown of the votes, here’s how things panned out:
Full Plate – 27 votes
Grateful Platefull – 17 votes
Fairfield County Momalicious – 7 votes
Momalicious Fairfield County – 7 votes
Mom-a-licious Fairfield County – 7 votes
Fairfield County Mom-a-licious – 4 votes
GastroMom – 0 votes

And, I did not forget about the drawing for a prize for all of you who voted. Since it’s looking like a rainy afternoon, writing all the names down and drawing a lucky winner is going to be our afternoon project around here!

Thank you again, Cobie, for your creative and spot on new business name!