Do you remember 2 years ago when I wrote about making a cake in a cup? My student employees absolutely loved making these fun little cakes.  I did, too.  (And we all loved EATING them, too!)

Well, the other day in the newspaper, there was an article about coffee cup cooking. The article had 3 recipes that I knew I just had to share here.

One was for a coffee cake, one was a quiche, and the last one was a chilaquiles. Yum, yum, yum.

What the heck is a chilaquiles? you ask.

Well, I didn’t know either so I checked the mother-lode of all knowledge — Wikipedia. Come to find out, this is a traditional Mexican dish of lightly fried corn tortillas topped with salsa and cheese and sometimes scrambled eggs or chicken. Sounds yummy!

Here are the recipes.

Coffee Cake in a Cup

For the crumb topping, mix:

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon soft butter
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt

For the cake, mix:

1 tablespoon soft butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 egg (1 egg lightly beaten and divided)
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon maple syrup
a few drops of vanilla
1/4 cup self rising flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon apricot preserves

Mix the crumb topping in a small bowl. Set aside. For the cake, mix butter and sugar together in a large measuring cup. Add egg, sour cream, syrup, and vanilla. Beat until blended. Add flour and cinnamon. Beat until smooth. Pour half of the batter into a buttered coffee cup. Drop preserves into center and top with remaining batter. Top with crumb topping.

Microwave about 1 minute and 15 seconds.

Quiche in a Cup

1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoon milk
salt, pepper
1/4 bagel (or similar amount of French bread)
2 teaspoons cream cheese
1/2 slice ham
mustard
fresh thyme leaves or fresh chopped chives

Beat egg and milk together with a fork in a coffee cup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Tear bread into dime-sized pieces. Stir in. Add cream cheese. Stir.

Slice ham into small pieces. Add to mixture. Stir. Microwave 1 minute 10 seconds. Garnish with mustard and fresh thyme or chives.

Chilaquiles in a Cup

1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
salt, pepper
1 tablespoon grated cheese
5 tortilla chips
1 tablespoon salsa

Beat egg and milk with a fork in a coffee cup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cheese. Break tortilla chips into small pieces to fit into the cup. Stir into the mixture. Add salsa. Microwave 1 minute 10 seconds. Garnish with sour cream, more salsa,and  guacamole.

These three recipes would be so fun to make with grandchildren. They are quick and easy to make and the clean up is minimal.  (That’s a key issue, I think, when cooking with grandchildren!)

And, I think that grandchildren — and grandma — would love eating them, too.

World Nutella Day is coming right up.  It is February 5th.

Now, imagine.  This isn’t a mere national celebration.  This is big. Real Big. World-wide Big.

Wowzers.

This made me reminisce about the first time that my husband and I were in Tahiti. Our favorite lunch was getting a long, skinny baguette, a can o’ pop, and a jar of Nutella.  We’d smear a thick swath of Nutella on a slice of bread. It would stick to our teeth in thick gobs.  We’d wash it off with a swig of pop. Not a very nutritional meal but it made my taste buds kick up their heels in delight.

When I learned that February 5 was World Nutella Day, I immediately imagined celebrating it with grandchildren.  Nutella over waffles for breakfast. Yum. Nutella sandwiches for lunch. Nutella spread on apple slices for an afternoon snack. Nutella straight-from-the-jar for supper. It would be a wonderful time. I’d be my grandchildren’s favorite grandmother. (At least for the moment. . .)

I happened upon the World Nutella Day web site — and the l-o-n-g page of recipes.  Oh my! They had Nutella recipes for breakfast: pancakes, French toast, muffins, monkey breads, tarts, and cinnamon rolls.

They had 43 recipes alone for brownies. Holy cow!

They had recipes for truffles, candy, fudge, cheesecake, biscotti, macaroons, Crème Brulée, bar cookies, cakes, frosting, cocktails, coffee, ice cream, gelato, mousse, pudding, and semifreddo, panna cotta, and tiramisu. There were recipes for pastries, pies doughnuts, sweet breads, crepes, and bread. I scrolled down and down and down the page.

You can see their Nutella recipes here.

Four recipes caught my eye: Nutella Cheesecake, Nutella Brownies, Chocolate Nutella Cookies, and Nutella Hot Chocolate.

There’s only 12 more days until World Nutella Day.  Make sure you stock up on plenty of Nutella. Then, invite a grandchild over for a time of decadence and make one of the bazillion recipes from their site.  And, let me know how it turns out. Seriously. I’m way interested to know which of the Nutella recipes are good.

It is snowing as I write this. I want to make some Nutella Hot Chocolate. There isn’t one ounce of Nutella in the house. Do I dash out in what is becoming one of the season’s major snowstorms? In the dark? On slick roads?

What do you think I should do?

I just found out that today, January 19, is National Popcorn Day.  Huzzah!  What a great activity to celebrate with grandchildren.

Did you know that Americans consume 16 billion quarts a year?  That equals about 51 quarts per person.  (I know that I eat my fair share. It’s a rough job but somebody’s got to do it . . . )

When our daughter was in grade school, she did a science project about which popped better — popcorn kept in the fridge or popcorn at room temperature.  In her highly scientific research, she found that popcorn kept in the fridge popped best.  Since, then, we have kept our popcorn in the fridge.

I have since learned that popcorn needs about 14% moisture to pop.  Maybe condensation in the fridge gave it more moisture than just sitting on the pantry shelf.

Popcorn.org has some terrific popcorn recipes:

• English Toffee Popcorn Bars
• Nutty Chocolate Caramel Corn Clusters
• Poppy Chow
• Popcorn S’mores
• Peanut Butter Popcorn Squares
• Caramel Almond Popcorn Clusters
• Caramel Nut Popcorn Crunch
• Sweet and Smokey Almond Popcorn

In fact, they have a 142-page recipe book stuffed with wonderful recipes.  You might want to download it.

So, grab a grandchild. Make some yummy popcorn. And watch a movie — even if it is a school night!

Quick, quick, quick. Grab a pen and mark your calendar!

January 23 is National Pie Day. Whoop, whoop!

I want to give you a wee bit of background before I get to my post for today. My family prefers pies over cakes.  (I’m not sure if they don’t like the recipe or they don’t like the way I made the cake . . .)

For years, I’ve told my husband that making a pumpkin pie for him is a sign of true love.  I think pumpkin pies are pukey pies so I never eat any.  I don’t even lick the bowl when I make them.  So, I get absolutely nothing out of making pumpkin pies.  It’s all for him.

Now. For today’s post.

When I found out that January 23 was National Pie Day, I knew that I had to share some ideas of activities that you can do with your grandchildren to celebrate this wonderful national day. Here they are.

Make a pie. First and foremost, spend time making pies with your grandchildren.  This is a good opportunity to teach them how.  You might want to start with a simple pie like my Cream Cheese Pie or the variation on the Cream Cheese Pie that I’ve shared before with you. Both are simple to make and yummy to eat.  Grandchildren will feel like a successful pie maker when you make these pies with them.

Here are some other easy pies that you might want to try with your grandchildren:

• No Bake Peanut Butter Pie
• Fluffy Orange Pie
• Oreo Pie
• S’more Pie
• Chocolate Crunch Mud Pie
• Frosty Freezer Pie
• Mississippi Mud Pie

Here’s a really easy ice cream pie recipe.  Soften ½ gallon of vanilla ice cream and mix in ¼ cup of your favorite frozen drink concentrate like orange juice, limeade, or pink lemonade. Pour into a graham cracker crust and freeze for a couple of hours.

Share a pie. Make a pie with your grandchildren and then share it with another family.

Have a pie night. If you have several grandchildren that live nearby, have them each make a pie. Then, on January 23, they take their pie to your house and share it.  You could even have a ‘taste off’ and vote which one tastes the best.

Have a pie eating contest. With your grandchildren, make mini cream pies. Then have a contest and see who can eat one the fastest.  Give a prize to the winner.

If your grandchildren live far away, mail them the ingredients for a pie (or send them the money to get the ingredients). Have them make the pie. Then, get on Skype so you can see how successful their pie turned out.

Whatever you do, just be sure that you do SOMETHING.  This is too good of a national day to miss celebrating with your grandchildren.