easy peasy and toxin free!

we have an easy bake oven! it was actually niko's but has been packed away in the garage for probably three years. i mentioned the easy bake oven to esme' earlier in the week and she has talked about nothing else since. i told her we would bake this weekend. tuesday came, "is it the weekend yet?" wednesday came "can we bake today?" on thursday "today???" you get the point, she was very excited!

yesterday after i dropped her off at school i decided to swing by the store and pick up some easy bake oven mixes. on the way to the store i started wondering what kind of multi syllable, unpronounceable "ingredients" these mixes would contain. and just where are they packaged anyway? i was almost relieved when the store i was shopping at did not carry easy bake oven accessories. i came home and did a little internet browsing and guess what i found...easy bake oven recipes! recipes that use real ingredients from our kitchen! i don't know why i hadn't thought to look online before.

last night tony brought the big box in from the garage after esme' had gone to bed. he cleaned everything up, replaced the light bulb that would bake our goodies and left it on the table for her. there were two easy bake mixes in the box that confirmed my fears before they were tossed~ a long list of unrecognizable ingredients and they are mixed and packaged in china.

so just as soon as the breakfast dishes were cleared from the table we baked! we made chocolate cake with vanilla glaze. we are going to try brownies tomorrow! and maybe cookies if we have time. i don't think the easy bake oven will be packed back up for quite some time.

i am already thinking of ways to make the recipes we found even better, tastier, healthier. perhaps we can even create some vegan easy bake oven recipes!

harper was also very interested in the baking process. so much so that he was confined to the high chair while we finished up. don't let his innocent-i'm-just-minding-my-own-business act fool you!

and in other baking news my amish friendship bread starter became pumpkin bread this time! i added a small can of pumpkin and a teaspoon of cloves. it is really nice and moist. it would be great with walnuts or chocolate chips but we had neither.

but next time i plan to be prepared!

sweetly yours,

erika