The fourth installment in our foodie family Holiday Treats series is with Jennifer Carden, of Novato, California, who writes at The Toddler Cafe and has published a book by the same name. You can also follow her on Twitter, where she wrote recently of her daughter,

“Kidlet is frosting my b-day cupcakes scooping out the middles and filling them w/ peanut butter, she IS MY kid!! I love her!” - Chefjen

Clearly, she has passed on a love of cooking to her five-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Claire. (No, being on Twitter wasn’t a prerequisite to being invited to participate in my series, but it helped…) Thanks for sharing some of your favorite recipes with us, Jennifer!

What was your first cooking experience?
I remember making cookies, chocolate chip of course, with my mom. I used to stand on a chair and “help.”

What is your greatest challenge in cooking for your child?
My greatest challenge in cooking for my child is trying to have a balance between our activities; I don’t want her to be in the kitchen all the time!

What is your daughter’s favorite recipe?
Good old Jewish Chicken Soup with “special salt.” I use a salt blend with lavender, poppy seeds and basil.

Is there any food your daughter just will not eat?
Very spicy, she will try anything but we just can’t get her little taste buds to like hot sauce yet!

What is your family’s favorite holiday treat?
Homemade marshmallows, we always make them in December.

Jennifer graciously shared her homemade marshmallow recipe, below. I just tried making marshmallows for the first time this weekend, using a different recipe that didn’t call for egg whites, and they didn’t come out as perfectly as I would have liked. I’ll be trying this recipe next time!

Marshmallows
By Jennifer Carden, The Toddler Cafe

You can make them white or add coloring.  Add color during the final mixing right before they go into the pan. Use clear vanilla to get bright white marshmallows; you can get it at a baking supply store.

Ingredients:

Confectioners’ sugar or more for dusting
2 Tbs plus 2 1/2 teaspoons or 3 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup warm water about 115°F
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla

1. Oil bottom and sides of a 13-by 9-by 2-inch rectangular metal
baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

2. In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle
gelatin over cold water and let stand to soften.

3. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, hot
water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until
sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture,
without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers
240°F about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture
over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

4. With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high
speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about 6
minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held
mixer. In a large bowl with cleaned beaters beat whites (or
Reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat,
whites and vanilla into sugar mixture by hand until just combined. Pour
mixture into baking pan and sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly
over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least 3 hours,
and up to 1 day.

5. Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large
cutting board. Lifting up 1 corner of inverted pan, with fingers
loosen marshmallow and let drop onto cutting board. With a large knife
trim edges of marshmallow and cut into small squares.
Shake confectioners sugar over the sticky edges, serve.
Keep them chilled overnight to retain freshness.

Thank you, Jennifer, and happy holidays to you & your family! Here at the FoodieTots’ house, I’m looking forward to spending Christmas Eve doing some holiday baking. Gingerbread trains and snowball cookies are on my list. What’s everyone else baking this week?

Ruth’s Presto Pasta Nights was one of the first foodblogging events I stumbled across when I began my blog, and I am thrilled to now be hosting the holiday edition! One of the great things about the event is getting a peek at how pasta is enjoyed all across the world, and our first submission comes to us from Greece!

Ivy of Kopiaste to Greek Hospitality writes from Athens, Greece, to share Tagliatelle with Chicken and Veggies.

Navita of Zaayeka shares a Spaghetti Americana.

Kitchenette of Got No Milk creates a lactose-free Tetrazzini Reconstructed.

Ferdzy of Seasonal Ontario Food submits an easy weeknight Whote Wheat Noodles with Stir-Fried Vegetables.

Gilli of So So Simple cooks up an Italian Chow passed down from her mother-in-law, for a holiday buffet.

Robin of Made with Love shares Ham & Shells Casserole, with a ziti twist.

City Girl of City Girl Lifestyle adds a Greek twist to Shrimp Scampi Pasta with Feta.

Daphne of More Than Words writes from Perth to share a celebratory Chinese Seafood Mee Sua; stop by and congratulate her on passing her University exams!

And another submission from the South Pacific, Ning of Heart and Hearth in Manila shares Cheezy Beefy Twirls.

Back in the Northern hemisphere, Katie of Thyme for Cooking writes from Lot et Garonne, France, with Chicken with Cauliflower Pasta.

Mary of One Perfect Bite shares Thai Rice Noodles with Beef and Spinach.

And Marye from Baking Delights writes with a dish that combines three of my favorite things, Artichoke & Parmesan Pasta.

Our founder Ruth of Once Upon a Feast received an early gift of Giada’s Kitchen and prepared her Pasta with Shrimp, Arugula & Lemon Oil.

As for me, I’m still enjoying leftovers of the Cherry Coconut Kugel I baked for my son’s daycare holiday potluck.

Thanks everyone for participating and thanks to Ruth for allowing me to host this week! Presto Pasta Nights is now officially on holiday vacation. Visit the archives to get your pasta fix between now and January 9, and submit your latest creations to our founder Ruth of Once Upon a Feast, ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com, by January 8 to be included in the first round-up of 2009. Happy Holidays!!

The next foodie parent I’m pleased to feature in our holiday treats series is Pamela Price of Red, White & Grew. She writes about growing her own food and the revival of the Victory Garden, and is a proponent of the “Eat the View” campaign which is advocating for the Obama family to plant an edible garden on the White House lawn. As someone who has yet to keep a plant alive other than herbs, I enjoy reading Pamela’s blog for inspiration and hope you will too!  Pamela has a two-year-old son, known on the web as “Tater Tot,” and writes to us from Central Texas.

What was your first cooking experience?

Oh, golly. I remember sugar cookies pretty vividly. My mom collects cookie cutters, so that was always big at major holidays. I remember cutting out cookies at 3 or 4, I think.

There’s a photo in my baby book of me with apples and a pan of flour in our garage. I must have been almost a year old. There’s a black cat in the picture, too. He was my sous chef! Unfortunately, I can’t get the picture to budge from my baby book, but I did locate this later photo of me “cooking” at age two. I’m not sure if the basketball was an ingredient, a utensil or just for decoration

What is your greatest challenge in cooking for your son?

Keeping it interesting. When he was a baby–and before I started working again, every day seemed open to culinary adventure. Now I feel like I’m lucky if I can keep a running tally of his week’s worth of veggies, using colors as my guide. Have we had enough orange? Enough green? What about blue?

What is your son’s favorite dish?

For breakfast, it’s eggs with a bit of garden-fresh swiss chard. For dinner, he likes broccoli steamed with a bit of lemon juice and garlic–though I’ve neglected making that of late. Unfortunately, he inherited my sweet tooth. Ack! He loves organic raisins mixed with a few semi-sweet chocolate morsels–not too awful, I guess.

Is there any food your son just will not eat?

Mushrooms.

What is your family’s favorite holiday treat?

Classic middle-class, all-American holiday goodies: sausage balls, cheese balls, Chex Mix, sugar cookies…stuff like that. I have a secret family recipe for pound cake that my mother made me swear we’d keep in the family! I like to make mini-cakes and give them to friends.

When we lived in Louisiana, I used to make steamed shrimp (from Tony’s Seafood in Baton Rouge) for New Year’s Eve. I miss those shrimp (and Tony’s!).

Pamela also shares with us her blog’s official muffin recipe, which I look forward to trying with some of my freezer stash of blueberries (my son’s favorite food) and zucchini.

Red, White & GREW-berry Muffins
By Pamela Price, redwhiteandgrewblog.com (reprinted by permission)

Ingredients:

• 1 C. sugar
• 3/4 C. unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 C. canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 2 C. grated zucchini
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 & 1/2 C. oat bran (or substitute with oatmeal pulsed in food processor)
• 1 & 1/2 C. whole wheat pastry flour
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 C. blueberries (fresh or frozen)

December is full of sweets to bake, gifts to buy and too many worthwhile causes to support. Here’s one more I hope you’ll consider, a chance to join with all your favorite food bloggers to support the World Food Programme and have a chance to win some wonderful foodie gifts for yourself. The Menu for Hope fundraiser was launched by Pim of Chez Pim five years ago, and raised nearly $100,000 last year for the school lunch and farming program for children in Lesotho. Just $10 gets you one raffle entry for the prize of your choosing, and you can enter as many times as you like!

Here’s what we’re donating:

Hand-crafted Marshmallows and Barefoot Contessa autographed cookbook (Prize # UE20)
An autographed copy of the Barefoot Contessa’s newest book,
Back to Basics, and a dozen hand-crafted marshmallows (flavor to be determined) from the Dairy Godmother in Alexandria, Virginia.
(Continental US only) Donated by FoodieTots.com.

Hop on over to Steamy Kitchen, the East Coast host, to review more prizes, and then go to the FirstGiving donation page to contribute.

Donation Instructions:
1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at http://chezpim.com
2. Go to the donation site at http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope5 and make a donation.
3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.
For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win.  Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

See the FAQs for more details. Thanks for your support!

The second installment of Eric Ripert’s Dinner Social event was a holiday cocktail party theme. We were having trouble finding a slot on our calendars and wound up doing a cocktail brunch. What better way to start a day than with some festive cocktails and hors d’ouevres?

photo by Alison

Alison of The Humble Gourmand hosted this time, and prepared the cranberry champagne cocktails, pita and spreads, and lettuce-wrapped beef rolls.

Tiffany of The Garden Apartment made the wonderfully crisp and flavorful cheese straws with cayenne and pistachios, and shrimp and chorizo skewers.

April of The Food Scribe made creamy smoked salmon deviled eggs — with creme fraiche in lieu of mayonnaise — and spiked apple cider.

And I made the portobella mushroom fries with truffled aioli and the ginger-infused bourbon smash. The fries were simple, seasoned with good pecorino and dried thyme, and were definitely addictive. The toddler even enjoyed the leftovers, asking for more when they ran out. I will definitely be making them again soon!

The cocktail called for muddling fresh ginger, lemon slices, and sugar cubes. Instead I made a ginger simple syrup (1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 2-inch peeled piece of fresh ginger, sliced; bring to boil, cover and reduce to low simmer for 10 minutes), then muddled lemons and a little more fresh ginger. I don’t usually like bourbon but I really enjoyed the blend of the smoky liquor with ginger and lemons.

It was a shame we were rushed to get on with our other obligations for the day, but it was a fun time enjoying great food (and photography practice) with friends. If you have a cocktail party on your agenda, check out Chef Ripert’s recipes for some tasty inspiration.

Chef Eric Ripert recently launched a “Dinner Social” project on his blog, Avec Eric, to encourage fans to cook with friends and family. You have to love a chef who is willing to share recipes and techniques to encourage you to enjoy their food at home. As the theme for the first challenge was “Market Table,” I naturally was intrigued. When April, of The Food Scribe, suggested a collaborative effort with fellow DC food bloggers, I was definitely on board. Together with April, Tiffany of The Garden Apartment and Alison of The Humble Gourmand, we spent Sunday afternoon cooking and enjoying good wine and conversation. We bought as many of our ingredients as possible at our local farmers markets, with my squash from the Del Ray market, Tiffany’s root vegetables from the Dupont Circle market, and April’s pears from the Takoma Park market. With cameras in hand, we took over April’s lovely kitchen and set to work.

My assignment was the Pumpkin Soup with Herbed Creme Fraiche & Spiced Pumpkin Seeds. Chef Ripert suggested serving it in a large roasted pumpkin, but I discovered that it’s hard to find full-size pumpkins after Halloween. The pumpkin for the soup was actually Japanese Kabocha squash, with a rich, orange pulp. My only complaint was that the Kabocha was very hard to peel; next time I would probably roast it a little to make it easier. I hollowed out and roasted lovely orange and green Celebration squash to use as individual serving bowls. (Roasted at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.)

The local ingredients in my soup came from Potomac Vegetable Farms, Va. (thyme), Three Way Farm, Va. (squash, onion and elephant garlic), and Trickling Springs Creamery, Pa. (heavy cream). The rest were organic products from Alexandria’s My Organic Market.

Each course incorporated seasonal ingredients with unexpected flavor combinations. I never would have thought to add brussel sprouts to a roasted root vegetable platter, for example, but the bright green added a lovely visual component as well as a crisp bite among softer turnips, beets and carrots. While it would have been a lot of work for one cook, Ripert provided a several day preparation guide that would have lessened the work load the day of the dinner party. With multiple chefs, it came together easily. All together it was a fabulous meal, made better with great company and good wine! This was the perfect way to spend a chilly November afternoon. Thank you, Chef Ripert, for the inspiration!

(Pictured, clockwise from left, Tiffany, April, yours truly, Alison.)

Be sure to surf around to see Tiffany’s roasted lamb and root vegetable, Alison’s endives with prosciutto, blue cheese and pomegranate seeds - and perfect wine picks, and April‘s carmelized onion and olive croustade and roasted pears with chocolate bourbon sauce and homemade chestnut ice cream. And you can drool over all our pictures over on Flickr.