Renowned Writers and Illustrators on Blogger (blogspot.com)

     Jenn Harney’s bright and colorful illustrations begin with her most recent project and continue back in time. Her words are delightfully sparse and to the point.

    Mo Willems fun blog, Mo Willems doodles! links to his many other blogs and websites. A number of these sites have games or crafts. My favorite is the link to the Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence 2020, Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems! a series of 15 videos which are great for children age 3-12. In these short videos, he teaches doodling and explains how he makes books.

    While Christian Robinson changed hosts a number of years ago, his Moss Covered Blog has colorful illustrations and museum visits.

    A number of successful writers and illustrators use the free, blog publishing service Blogger which Google purchased in 2003; the blogs are published via the subdomain blogspot.com.

Visit Jenn Harney:Jenn Harney

Visit Mo Willems: Mo Willems doodles!

Visit Mo Willems at The Kennedy Center: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/lunch-doodles/

Visit Christian Robinson: Moss Covered Blog

SCBWI: The Blog: The Official Blog of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators: SCBWI: The Blog

Learn more about Google Blogger – blogspot:Blogger.com

Grilled Cheese with hummus and Gruyere

 

1 slice whole wheat bread

1 Tablespoon hummus

3 cherry tomatoes, red and yellow, sliced in half

2 thin slices Gruyere cheese, enough to cover bread

Directions: Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Yields: 1 open faced sandwich

Notes: Grilled cheese variation 4

Oatmeal Vanilla Biscotti

 

½ cup unsalted butter

¾ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 cups flour, divided

½ cup oatmeal

Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, creaming after each addition. Add one cup of flour and baking powder. Cream. Add the oatmeal. Cream. Add last cup of flour and cream. Grease cookie sheet with butter wrapper. Drop dough by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 minutes. For a dryer cookie bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

Yields: 2 dozen cookies

Notes: Rinse eggs with water. Dry. Crack each egg, individually into a separate bowl. Inspect. Remove any eggshells and then add to butter and sugar mixture.

Real biscotti are baked twice. In our arid Rocky Mountain climate, these cookies will dry out in 24 hours although they seldom last that long.

Gnocchi with Basil and Pecorino Romano

 

17.6 ounces gnocchi or similar size package

1 Tablespoon butter, unsalted plus an additional tablespoon in reserve

Drizzle of olive oil, approximately 1 teaspoon, plus extra olive oil in reserve

4 Tablespoons, fresh basil cut in ribbons

½ cup Pecorino Romano, cut into matchstick slivers

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/8 teaspoon lavender salt

¼ teaspoon lavender pepper

Cook gnocchi, according to directions. Meanwhile, on low heat, melt butter in a frying pan. Add sliced garlic to butter. Turn off heat on boiling gnocchi water. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cooked gnocchi to frying pan. Add basil to gnocchi and garlic, sauté until light golden brown. Grind small amounts of lavender salt and pepper on top of gnocchi. Serve in bowls and top with Pecorino Romano.

Serves 2 people.

Notes: The gnocchi soak up the butter and olive oil while cooking to a golden brown without leaving any residual oil in the pan. If the gnocchi stick, please add a bit more butter or olive oil.

To slice basil. Wash and pat dry. Cut leaves from stems. Stack leaves together with the largest leaves on the bottom. Fold and roll the leaves and then slice horizontally across the roll.

Thanks to Wanda for the gift of lavender salt and pepper which I have since replenished.

Visit: A Pinch of Lavender, Palisade, Colorado Nielsen Village

Honey Mustard with Salmon or Turkey and Cheese

 

1/3 cup of honey

1/3 cup of Dijon mustard

With intense honey and mustard flavors; this is great for sandwiches and leftover fish. Stir honey and mustard together in a small sauce pan at low heat until the ingredients are blended thoroughly.  

This is very nice on leftover cooked salmon fillets. The honey tends to burn quickly so it is better to line the pan with aluminum foil or use generous amounts of butter to grease the pan. Place cooked fish in pan. Drizzle the honey mustard on the fish. Cook the salmon at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. If cooking with raw fish, poultry or other, be careful not to contaminate the honey mustard with raw protein. Then any leftover honey mustard may be used for sandwiches.

Turkey and Honey Mustard Sandwiches:

Pumpernickel bread

Honey mustard

Turkey

Provolone cheese

Spread honey mustard on pumpernickel bread; top with turkey and cheese. Place open faced sandwich on greased pan and then heat for 10 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit or until cheese is melted.