The Lorax - Truffula Trees with Dipping Sauces

"UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not," - The Lorax, Dr. Seuss

So. It's Banned Books Week and we're talking banned and challenged books. I thought long and hard about which book I wanted to feature this week. At first I had another title chosen but it was a book that my kids don't particularly enjoy. They really, really like Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, though, and guess what--this book was once banned. Really? Dr. Seuss? What about this book, with its peaceful message of environmentalism and sustainability (perhaps more relevant now than when it was published in 1971) could be cause for concern?

Uh, apparently that very message. Way back in 1989 some parents in the Laytonville (CA) Unified School District decided the book "criminalized the forestry industry" and had an "anti-logging message"; they attempted to get it removed from the elementary school's reading list. While their attempt to ban the book was unsuccessful, it goes to show that people can and will get upset about anything. We're used to hearing about books that are challenged due to profanity or their depictions of violence, sexuality, race or class relations. . . you get the idea. But attempting to ban a gentle children's story about the importance of respecting our environment? Now, Laytonville does happen to be a logging town (I'm highly amused by the idea of a bunch of burly loggers getting all up in arms over a Dr. Seuss book) so I can understand the concern but does that warrant restricting access to a book? Shouldn't kids--especially kids growing up in this industry--be exposed to the very real consequences of deforestation? Even if you didn't know that I send my son to the hippy dippiest kindergarten you can imagine (you do now!), the fact that I am writing a post speaking out against the censorship of books should tell you my thoughts on the subject.

As far as the story itself goes, The Lorax is a cautionary tale told by the Once-ler, a character who once found fame and fortune by chopping down Truffula Trees and making Thneeds from their tufts. There is such a demand for Thneeds that he brings in more workers, and machines, and builds factories. All the while he must deal with The Lorax, a nuisance of a guy who "speak[s] for the trees" and keeps popping up to tell him that cutting down the trees is wrong and that he's slowly poisoning the area. There is no more Truffula Fruit to feed the Bar-ba-loots and the polluted waters can't sustain the Humming-Fish population. Eventually, the Once-ler relates, there is no life left where the Truffula Trees once grew abundant. The last tree has been felled and the native wildlife has been driven away. As has The Lorax. The pictures, once vibrant oranges, purples, greens and pinks take on a grayish, nightmarish tone. The only hope, the Once-ler cautions, is for you (the reader) to care "a whole awful lot." Then, when the trees are replanted and life returns, The Lorax might come back.

As I type this I can't help but wonder if Wall-E was at least partially inspired by The Lorax.

The Lorax is a subtly powerful book and a wonderful way to introduce kids to the concepts of environmentalism and green living. Even though, admittedly, my kids weren't interested in pursuing that line of conversation right after we finished reading. Maybe it's enough that they're slowly absorbing the message each time we read it, and they don't even know it.

When I am choosing books and recipes to feature here I don't always have a plan. Sometimes I get the idea for a recipe as we're reading the book. Other times I choose a book and craft a recipe to fit the book. Or I choose a recipe and find a book that works. This time I chose the book well before I had any food ideas. I was struck with inspiration as I meandered through my local produce market and came face to face with a display of colored cauliflower. Is it just me or do the green, purple and orange crucifers look particularly Seussian? They became the inspiration for today's snack:

Truffula Trees with Dipping Sauces

Ingredients:

• Brightly hued cauliflower
• Dipping sauces (we used hummus, raspberry dressing and garlic-Caesar dressing)

1. My plan, initially, was to simply serve the cauliflower alongside the dipping sauces and let the boys go to town. However, they were very insistent that we make the actual trees. My older son was the one to come up with a suggestion as to how we could make them: "Use celery!" We tried to attach the cauliflower to celery stalks using peanut butter as glue but the celery really couldn't support the weight of the cauliflower and the peanut butter was not the most effective glue so we settled for a pretty picture of what the trees would have looked like:

Here's the original:

2. What I actually ended up doing was putting the celery and cauliflower in a bowl and preparing small cups of our dipping "sauces."

I do realize it's a little ironic that this book is about conservation and I've chosen to prepare a snack that is supposed to represent the very trees that were being cut down. Personally, I consider it a victory that I got my children excited about eating vegetables as an after school snack.

This book is part of a Banned Books Week roundup hosted by Nikki of Are you there youth? It's me Nikki. Check out her blog on October 2 for links to other Banned Books Week posts from around the blogosphere. Her Banned Books Week review of the Harry Potter series can be found here.

Happy Banned Books Week!

(i read banned books shirt, available through my Zazzle store)

Since 1982, the last week of September has been designated as Banned Books Week. According to the American Library Association, it is a time to draw attention to "the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States." Books in our local libraries, schools and bookstores are challenged all the time, usually by people who object to the book's content or message and want to prevent others from having access to the materials they find so offensive. As an avid reader, a writer and a mother, I have a problem with the few who attempt to take something away from everybody just because it does not gel with their moral code.


This is just a partial list of books I love, books that have been challenged at one time or another:


-Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
-A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline  L'Engle
-The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
-To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
-Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
-The Color Purple - Alice Walker
-The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossieni
-His Dark Materials Trilogy - Phillip Pullman
-Deenie - Judy Blume
-Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
-Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred D. Taylor


With the exception of the more recent titles (Harry Potter, The Kite Runner, His Dark Materials), the above are all books I was required to read in class or that I found on my own in the library. I cannot imagine going through childhood without Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret or A Wrinkle in Time, books I found at my public and elementary school libraries, respectively. I was one of those kids who read everything she could get her hands on and I am very fortunate that my parents did not screen my reading material. I mean, maybe they did but if they did they didn't do a very great job of it, considering I read Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret when I was seven years old. I have a seven year old. I cannot imagine letting him read that book right now. (Not that it matters. I am quite sure he would have no interest in it.) And that's just the thing. You might say that I am a hypocrite, writing about freedom of speech and in the next breath saying I won't let my son read a certain book. That's not what I'm saying at all. As a parent, I have a responsibility to make sure the my kids' reading material is age and reading level appropriate. That's very different than wanting to keep the book out of my son's school library altogether. 


As my kids get older they will no doubt choose (or be required) to read books that have received challenges. I hope that when the time comes we'll actually be able to talk about not just the stories, but the reasons people felt threatened by them and why it's important that these books continue to remain available. And should one of their teachers ever come under fire for a book that he or she chooses to introduce in the classroom, I plan to be the mom who leads the charge to defend that teacher and that book.


Later this week I will be posting my own review (complete with recipe, of course) of a challenged book. For more information about Banned Books Week, please visit the American Library Association's page
on the topic. While there you can check out the list of the top 100 challenged books of the past decade (2000 - 2009). 

Cookbook Review: Bean Appetit

I picked Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Have Fun with Food off the New Arrivals shelf at our (new, state of the art!) library and boy, am I glad I did. As a kids' cookbook, this one does pretty much everything right. From the creative recipes to the full color, glossy pages to the games and activities (I would actually call it a cookbook/activity book), it's designed to appeal to kid chefs and it does. It appeals to my kid chefs, anyway.

The premise behind this book by Shannon Payette Seip and Kelly Parthen (who co-founded Bean Sprouts, a kids' cafe/cooking school in Wisconsin) is that cooking should be fun and creative. Thus we get recipes with names like Pear Penguins, Starry Night Bites and Bug Bites. The book gives equal time to games and activities families can play together in the kitchen or at the dinner table. One activity suggests playing Jenga using carrot sticks. Another has instructions for making a homemade memory game out of repurposed metal lids. "Table Talk" questions and food facts throughout the book are designed to get families talking. My husband and kids spent an evening going through the Table Talk questions while I was at a PTA meeting.

One of the things I look for in a cookbook--especially a cookbook aimed at kids--is recipes that are gluten-free or that can easily be converted to gluten-free. One of my children has to adhere to a gluten-free diet; a cookbook that he can't enjoy would not be practical at all. Fortunately, many of the recipes in this book call for gluten-free ingredients like fresh fruits and veggies, beans, rice and chocolate. There are also a number of recipes that call for a special flour blend. This flour blend (instructions are provided in the introduction) is not gluten-free. While we skipped those recipes, I do think my older son would enjoy them. (Or, I could do a little work and come up with a proper substitute flour blend.)

Most of the recipes in the book are snacks, side dishes and desserts--perfect for kids who are just delving into cooking. The recipes are geared toward children who are able to read and follow directions but even younger children will find these recipes easy to follow with the help of an adult. The instructions clearly indicate when an older caregiver's assistance is required (like when using appliances or slicing fruit).

While my kids were at school today I purchased the ingredients to make one of the recipes in the book: Pear Penguins. (If you remember my post about penguin books, you know we are big penguin fans in this house) After homework we went to town:

Quite often I check out kid cookbooks at the library and return them before we have a chance to make anything either because 1) the recipes are too involved and/or require ingredients we don't have on hand or 2) the recipes rely on gluten-containing ingredients. I am happy to say that this book will be staying with us for the entire three weeks we have it; the kids have already identified other recipes they want to try. This is a kids' cookbook that does everything right.

Disclosure: As an Amazon.com affiliate, I earn a small commission when purchases are made via Amazon links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Harold and the Purple Crayon - Chocolate Pie

"But there were all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best" - Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson

Well hi there. Long time no blog, right? I have no excuse, other than a combination of laziness/busyness. In the weeks between my older son beginning school and my younger son finally starting (he's doing kindergarten at a private school) things were kind of chaotic. It was a combination of wanting to spend some one on one time with my youngest before he headed off to full-day kindergarten, dealing with some health issues, helping my second grader adjust to the new school year, school meetings and general blogging apathy.  I needed a break. My youngest started school last week, just in time for a weekend of house guests. I am finally getting it together again and dipping my toe back into the Kidlitosphere.

This doesn't mean that we weren't spending a lot of time reading and visiting our library and the bookstore. One of the things that we enjoyed during my blogging hiatus was the Crockett Johnson classic Harold and the Purple Crayon. My younger son picked it out on a recent trip to the bookstore and he is now hooked on the Harold series. My older son enjoys them too but it's the little one who carries his books around with him and asks to read them multiple times a day. He had the book mostly memorized on the second evening it was in our home.

I remember checking Harold and the Purple Crayon out from the library as a child and I find it just as enchanting now as I did then. Harold is an imaginative little boy who uses his purple crayon to create entire worlds for himself. One night, Harold decides to take a walk in the moonlight, so he draws a moon . . . and a sidewalk . . . and eventually a forest, the ocean, a city . . . until he finds his way back home to his own bed. It's all very cleverly done, with a subtle sense of humor and a lot of whimsy. Other than the brown outline of Harold, the only colors in the book are the white background and the purple outline of Harold's drawings. I love the purple and the brown, I love Harold's pointy turned up nose, I love that Johnson uses turns of phrase like "a hungry moose and a deserving porcupine."

The moose and porcupine in question are the recipients of the pie feast Harold has to abandon as he travels on his way. Nine kinds of pie. Maybe someday we'll make all nine kinds of pie; that would make an interesting ongoing feature on this blog, wouldn't it? But today we only made one kind of pie. Since the book did not specify "all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best" I had to take some liberties and assume that one of those kinds of pie would be chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate pie, right?

Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 package chocolate sandwich cookies (we used gluten-free K-Toos)
• 2 ounces melted butter
• 1 (large) package chocolate instant pudding

This is a gluten-free version of a simple dessert my mother-in-law makes. If you don't have to worry about the gluten thing then it's even simpler, as you can buy a premade Oreo cookie crust. But we are gluten-free so we make our crust. The cookies are available at Whole Foods, some Targets (ours has a newly expanded grocery section) and Amazon.com. I used one package but my crust was a little small--I recommend using a package and a half.

1. Carefully twist the cookies apart and scrape the creme filling out using a knife. Set the filling aside, eat it as you go, whatever. It's of no importance to this recipe.

2. Place the cookies in a plastic zip-top bag and smash the heck out of them with a rolling pin. Or grind in a food processor. My boys wanted to go the rolling pin route:

3. While the boys were mashing the cookies I prepared the pudding according to the directions on the box. I used the instructions for pie filling.

4. Place cookie crumbs in small bowl and add the melted butter:

5. Use a fork to blend the cookies with the butter. You'll have a crumbly, slightly dry mixture:

6. Press cookie crumbs into pie pan. As you can see, my crust doesn't quite go all the way up the sides of the pan. This is why I recommend using one and a half packages of cookies.

7. With a spatula, scrape the pudding into the pie crust. Let set in fridge for several hours before serving.

This turned out really well. The only thing I would do differently is spray the bottom of the pie plate with  a little more non-stick spray. I used a little but the crust still stuck a bit. As far as the flavor goes, I had a hard time telling I had used gluten-free sandwich cookies in place of Oreos. It had a rich chocolatey flavor and none of the "grit" that some gluten-free cookies tend to have. This was a winner. Now that I know how easy it is to make the gluten-free cookie crust I'll have to experiment with other types of pie.

Other Harold books we have enjoyed these past two weeks: Harold at the North Pole, Harold's Trip to the Sky (I LOVE the section with purple line drawings on the dark brown background) and A Picture for Harold's Room (this last one being an easy reader my older son read last year).

Disclosure: As an Amazon.com affiliate, I earn a small commission when purchases are made via Amazon links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Two weeks is a long time...

I didn't intentionally neglect this blog for two weeks. As the end of summer vacation approached my kids and I spent a lot of time seeing movies, scheduling playdates with friends, taking some day trips and preparing to go back to school. My older son started the second grade today so things should begin to slow down and I will soon return to my regular posting schedule.

In the meantime, a little of what we've been reading:

Me:

Mockingjay





My seven year old:

Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, No. 1)



(he's currently reading this aloud for his nightly homework)

My four year old:

Toy Story 2 Read-Along Storybook and CD



(Yes, we are still in a Toy Story phase right now.)

Happy Belly, Happy Smile - Fried Rice

"On Fridays I have dinner with Grandpa Sam. He owns a restaurant in Chinatown." - Happy Belly, Happy Smile, Rachel Isadora



I have reviewed books about families cooking and eating together for this blog, but I don't believe I have ever reviewed a book about a family dining together in a restaurant. Enter Rachel Isadora's Happy Belly, Happy Smile, a sweet picture book told from the point of view of a little boy who is visiting his grandfather's Chinese restaurant.

Happy Belly, Happy Smile isn't just a book about food or a book about families, it's a book about the experience of visiting a restaurant and seeing how things work from a child's perspective. Every Friday Louie visits his grandfather's restaurant in Chinatown. A frequent visitor, he knows the waiters, chefs and other restaurant staff by name and he gets an insider's view of what goes down in a working restaurant. He watches the chefs roll egg rolls and chop vegetables and the waiters bustle from table to table. When it's finally time to eat Louie and Grandpa Sam enjoy an assortment of Chinese dishes: rice, dumplings, egg rolls, spare ribs, shrimp chow mein--even fish and crabs. And a fortune cookie, of course. The book's title comes from the message inside the cookie: "Happy food, happy belly, happy smile."

Isadora's collage and oil illustrations are a treat. Scraps of paper from what appear to be real Chinese restaurant menus and are incorporated into the collages, a nice touch.

Of course, this book makes me think of Chinese food. Since converting to a gluten-free diet over a year ago, I haven't had much occasion to eat Chinese takeout. Between the wheat-based sauces, noodle dishes (my favorite) and fried foods, it just isn't the best choice. If I really want plain steamed rice and vegetables I'll get them at home. That's not what most people go to Chinese restaurants for! Fortunately, we have been able to replicate some of our favorite Chinese takeout at home. It's not quite the same but I have received high praise for my fried rice. Some would say it's even better than Chinese takeout!

Fried Rice

• 2 - 3 cups cooked rice (I prefer Calrose, or "sticky" rice, but anything will do)
• cooked lean protein (chicken, beef strips, tofu, etc.)
• 2 - 3 eggs
• 3 - 4 strips of bacon (optional)
• 1 and 1/2 cups diced fresh or frozen veggies (we use peas and carrots)
• 1/3  - 1/2 cup soy sauce
• white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• sesame seeds (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)
• red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 3 cloves fresh garlic
• butter (optional)

Additional equipment: Large pan or wok.

1. Cook your rice. Ideally, the rice should be cold so you may want to cook it ahead of time. Or use leftover rice. I've never tried to make fried rice using the pre-cooked rice I have recently started to see in grocery stores but if you've tried it let me know!

2. If you are using bacon, cook it in the pan/wok. We started putting bacon in our fried rice because one of our favorite Japanese teppanyaki restaurants does this with their fried rice and it is unbelievably good. (I am of the opinion that bacon makes everything better.) When the bacon is cooked through, carefully remove from pan and set aside. Do not drain the pan of the bacon grease! You'll use this instead of cooking oil for the stir fry part. (Sounds gross, I know. Trust me though.)

3. Crack eggs into the pan. Stir fry the eggs with garlic and black pepper until they are no longer runny. Add your lean protein and continue to stir fry.

4. When eggs and meat are cooked through (don't worry about overcooking the egg), add the veggies; let cook another two to three minutes.

5. Now it's time to add the rice. Slowly add rice by spoonfuls. Mix well.

6. Add red pepper flakes, brown sugar, sesame seeds and splash of vinegar. Add soy sauce and a small amount of butter (the butter is optional but it does enhance the flavor--I use a tiny bit). Mix well.

7. Turn up the heat and let cook until the sauce begins to caramelize. The rice on the bottom should stick a little but it shouldn't burn or fuse to the pan.

This recipe serves the four of us and provides a lot of leftovers. (I used the same amount to serve five adults and three kids a few weeks ago.) However, if you want to go all out and make a few Chinese takeout-style dishes to serve family style, I have a few suggestions:

CrockPot Broccoli Beef and CrockPot Sweet and Sour Tofu from A Year of Slow Cooking
Szechwan Beef Stir Fry from Better Homes and Gardens
General Tso's Chicken from Tyler Florence and the Food Network

These are some other great books to get you in the mood for Chinese food:

Dim Sum for Everyone! by Grace Lin
Yum Yum Dim Sum  by Amy Wilson Sanger

*Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage of the purchase price of items purchased through the Amazon.com links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Blueberries for Sal - Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

It's August and friends of mine in other areas of the country have been enjoying blueberry picking. I know this because I see their status updates and pictures on Facebook. While my family did recently enjoy picking strawberries and blackberries, we unfortunately don't live in an area that is very conducive to blueberry growth. We have to buy ours at the store. Even so, with blueberry season in full swing we're able to find inexpensive fresh berries in our local stores.

There's only one book I can think of to pair with  blueberry picking (or eating, as the case may be): Robert McCloskey's 1948 classic Caldecott Honor winner, Blueberries for Sal. It is the story of Sal and her mother and the day they spend picking berries to can for the winter (I had to explain canning to my kids). Like many small children, Sal is more interested in wandering and eating the berries rather than paying attention to her mother. This is how she inadvertently ends up following a mama bear--whose own distracted cub has been following Sal's mother. In the end everyone gets sorted out and Sal and her mother return home with their blueberries, nobody worse for the wear. (The lovely endpapers, which show Sal and her mother canning their harvest, are a nice touch.)

My kids laughed out loud when Sal took more interest in eating the berries than in following her mother, and again when the mother bear realized she was being followed by a human child rather than her own cub. My favorite part of the book? The pen and ink illustrations, which are blue and white rather than the traditional black and white. Love that blue! It's simple and effective and, well, just pretty.

If you are looking for ways to use up some blueberries this summer, I've got just the recipe for you! This is one of our family favorites and my husband shares equal credit for creating it. I may have made the first batch of frozen yogurt in our ice cream maker years ago but he is the one who perfected and embellished it until it became...

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt with Blueberry Truffles

Ingredients

• Vanilla yogurt (in a 32 ounce container--I prefer Dannon Naturals or Stonyfield Farms; we've used fat-free but low-fat tends to have a nicer texture)
• 1 cup blueberries (I've found frozen berries work a little better but use fresh if you have them!)
• 6 blueberry truffles OR a handful of chocolate chips
• Splash of milk

Additional equipment: Electric ice cream maker. If you don't have one, you can make the recipe as directed and stick in the freezer for a little while to give it a "frozen" consistency.

Note on the truffles: The first several times we made this frozen yogurt we used chocolate chips. At some point we decided to chop up some See's blueberry truffles we had on hand and throw those in instead. It has become our preferred way to make this yogurt but don't worry if you don't have truffles (since See's is mostly a regional California thing)! They do give it an extra blueberry kick but it is just as good with chocolate chips.

1. Pour yogurt into a mixing bowl. I usually use 1/2 to 3/4 of the container.

2. Chop truffles into small pieces and add to yogurt. If you're using chocolate chips you can chop them finely (my husband's way) or dump them in whole (my way--I am lazy and afraid of chopping off a finger...and I also like the large chunks of chocolate in my yogurt).

3. Add blueberries

4. Stir yogurt, blueberries and chocolate together. Pour into ice cream maker. Add a small splash of milk. Let churn for a half hour, or until the yogurt has the right consistency.

Here's video of what it looks like when first put in the machine:

This video was taken about ten minutes in:

About 25 minutes after the yogurt went into the machine. Ready to eat.

This recipe is easily adapted--we've made peach frozen yogurt and we've also made our own vanilla using plain Greek-style yogurt and adding sugar and vanilla. If you're trying to cut back on sugar or prefer your yogurt with more of a "bite" try making this recipe with plain yogurt instead of vanilla flavored yogurt.  However you choose to make it, it's an easy and tasty dessert.

For additional activities to go along with Blueberries for Sal, see Scholastic's Blueberries for Sal page. Here you'll find some math activities and questions for discussion.

*Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage of the purchase price of items purchased through the Amazon.com links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Saturdays and Teacakes - Teacakes

"She opened the over door and the kitchen filled with a smell sweeter than summer gardenias--the smell of teacakes."  - Saturdays and Teacakes, Lester L. Laminack

When I was growing up I had a very close relationship with my grandfather. Due to the early deaths of my other three grandparents he was the only one I was really knew and he was, in a way, like a third parent to me and my sister. Some of my favorite memories are of going on walks together, eating cheese and crackers in front of The Young and the Restless and--when I was in upper elementary school--getting involved in stamp collecting together. My grandpa adored all of his grandchildren and bonded with all of us in different ways. For those of us who lived near him, he never missed a dance recital, concert, big sporting event or graduation. He also made it a priority to visit his other grandchildren who lived across the country. I miss him every day and think about him often--especially when I see my boys enjoying things he would have enjoyed, like getting excited about planting flowers in our garden or playing an instrument.

(Me and Poppa, circa 1981)

Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack is the story of a boy and his grandmother (Mammaw) and the special relationship between a child and a grandparent. Their standing Saturday date is a ritual that begins with the main character setting off on his bike and riding through town until he reaches her home. Their day includes sharing breakfast, doing yardwork, eating lunch (with fresh tomatoes from the garden) and--finally--making and eating Mammaw's special teacakes. Chris Soentpiet's lovely, Rockwell-inspired watercolor illustrations firmly place the story in a not-so-distant past and evoke feelings of nostalgia for a bygone era--a time when little kids really did ride their bikes through town (without helmets!) and gas station attendants wore spiffy uniforms. Despite the setting, the story is one all who have a special bond with a grandparent can relate to.

Laminack's publisher, Peachtree Publishers, has a recipe for "Mammaw Thompson's Teacakes" on their website. I adapted it to be gluten-free.

Teacakes (adapted from "Mammaw Thompson's Teacakes", Lester L. Laminack)

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter (I used Smart Balance Butter Blend)
• 3.5 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla

Note: I halved the recipe--the last time we made cookies (and these are, despite the name, cookies) for this blog we didn't end up eating all of them. I used slightly less sugar than the recipe called for because the flour blend I used already has sugar in it. If you aren't following a gluten-free diet and are interested in making these cookies you'll definitely want to check out the original recipe on Peachtree's site rather than use the one I've provided.

1. In mixing bowl, cream softened butter and sugar.

2. Beat eggs and vanilla together. Add to butter and sugar and mix well.

3. Add flour, mix well until all ingredients are combined.

4. The original recipe says to roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut into circles. I really didn't want to mess with that; I made drop cookies instead. Normally I abhor those Airbake cookie sheets but I recently read that they work well with gluten-free baked goods. Since I was at my mom's house while making these I decided to give the Airbake sheet a try.

5. Bake at 375* for about 15 minutes.

(The boys and my nephew, enjoying their teacakes after lunch.)

To be very honest, I don't think these cookies are all that different from the moon and star cookies I made last month (I'm thinking of mixing up some ganache icing to give them a different flavor). However, the cookie itself isn't the point. This book is about a special tradition shared between a grandparent and her grandchild, and the important thing is the love and the memories centered around this special recipe, not the recipe itself. It could have just as easily been called Saturdays and Tacos or Saturdays and Tofu. In my case, it might have been called 11:00 a.m. and Cheese and Crackers. I will never be able to pass the refrigerated spreadable cheese section in the grocery store without thinking of my Poppa and all of the special times we shared while spreading cheese on crackers and watching the lives of Victor Newman, Jack Abbott and the other denizens of Genoa City unfold. My parents and inlaws don't cook with my kids. They don't watch wildly inappropriate soap operas with them either. But when my dad shares ice cream bars with the boys after dinner or my mother-in-law gives them silly nicknames I see their own traditions beginning to take root.

*As an Amazon affiliate I earn a small commission when purchases are made via the Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!