He may not be a snappy dresser...

...but he sure knows what to say to make a girl swoon.

Although you may not know it by the Spiderman underwear he's wearing on his head in this vintage photo...my boy is wicked smart.

You see, the other day I received a love note from him and I've gotta tell you, he could have asked for anything after I read it...a trip to Disneyland, the inappropriately expensive Star Wars Death Star Lego set he covets, a personal audience with George Lucas himself...I would have found a way to get it for him. Here's the note:

This kid knows how to play to his audience. Did he think I would want to hear, "Mommy you're so pretty," or, "Mama, you give me the best hugs"...well...yes, I guess! But when you think about it, what would be the ultimate compliment my child could bestow on me; the one guaranteed to drop me to my knees..."You give me the right food at the right time!" My boy knows what feeds Mamma's soul! He gets me.

I think the fact that it was so unexpected was what made it that much more of a gift. As I sat at my desk, banging on the computer keys posting yet another bill into Quickbooks, Will puttered around at my feet building something with the Lincoln Logs I keep close by in an attempt to temporarily stave off his ritual zombie-like communion with Sponge Bob or one of his fellow mind-mutating cartoon minions.

With my back to him, I couldn't see that he had put aside his three story wooden masterpiece, sneaking a sheet of discarded paper from the recycling bin and a pencil off the floor to go to work on a his spontaneous prose. Yah, Will is funny...he's cute...and the kid can dance but "Mr. Sensitivity" he is not (as opposed to Carly, my love bug, who at 14 still crawls into my lap and won't sleep until I tuck her in). So you can imagine, when I take priority over a play date, a Wii session or a bean and cheese burrito, I feel like I've won the lottery. Happy belated Mother's Day to me...I must be doing something right!

So, for all of you who want a way to give your kids "the right food at the right time" too, here's one of my favorite make-ahead snack solutions...one alternative to the industrial-sized packages of Costco chicken nuggets and petrified potstickers we all keep in our freezers to keep the hungry tribe at bay.


Try these mini pizza's with a wholewheat crust (trust me, they won't even know it's healthy). Or, if you're chicken, I'll give you my standard white flour pizza dough recipe as you ease yourself in to the wonderful world of whole grains.

Willy is a cheese and olive fan...check out those big boy teeth!

Start with warm water in a measuring cup with a spout, add the yeast and a squirt of honey to feed the little yeasty beasties.

While the yeast is doing it's thing, pulse the flours and salt in a food processor fitted with a dough blade until it is mixed and fluffy.

Add the olive oil into the measuring cup with the bubbling yeast mixture and pour it through the feed tube with the motor running until the dough comes together. Note: if your yeast is not showing signs of life (bubbly and foamy) toss it and start again. Your poor little fermented friends have gone on to the big bakery in the sky (the yeast may have been bad or maybe your water was too hot).

Here is some overachiever yeast but yours should be good and bubbly too.

Time to knead...

Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface and knead until it is relatively smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).

Enjoy the process. Get into it. Use your body weight, rocking back and forth into the dough versus pumping with your arms. Hard to believe this is coming out of my mouth but...take your time! I'm all for instant gratification, but making homemade yeast dough is one process that just can't be rushed (as simple as it is)! Give yourself this ten minutes, knead, think nice thoughts and breath in the smell the wonderful warm yeasty aroma wafting up from your dough as it transforms. Can you tell? I think bread (and especially making it with your own hands) is magical!

Shape the dough into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, put in a warm place and let rise until it is doubled in bulk. If it's a cold day, I turn on the oven for a minute, just until it clicks on, then turn it off and place the bowl inside the toasty space...like a perfect warm day, not hot.

Punch down the dough and separate it into about 12 little balls. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

While the oven is preheating, pat the dough balls into mini rounds or use an awesome muffin top pan. It makes perfect little deep dish pizzas. I don't remember where I got mine but I did a quick search and saw that they are available at Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Sur la Table...all over the place. Buy one...they're fun to have.

Spoon on some sauce and your favorite toppings. I like fresh basil, garlic and tomato...

Here's a "mean" trick...dice up some zucchini or julienne some spinach and hide it under the cheese. The kids won't know it's there and you'll be sneaking in some additional goodness...

But...the kids do like to make their own. Willy's is the one in the middle with the pepperoni and cheese. Check out Carly's...

I've made a ton of these with the kids' friends too. It's a great rainy day play date thing...

I make a bunch of 'em, stack 'em and freeze 'em. They're the best after school snacks. I tend to microwave them because I'm always hungry NOW but I must admit that they do turn out pretty chewy. I recommend using a toaster oven...if you can wait!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Dissolve together in a 2+ cup glass measure:

• 1 Tbs. honey
• 1 1/4 cup very warm (not hot) water
• 1/4 ounce packet of active dry yeast

After it is bubbly, add:

• 2 Tbs.olive oil (plus extra for greasing bowl)

Pulse together in a food processor fitted with a dough blade:

• 1 1/4 cup white flour (plus extra for kneading)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. salt

With the motor running, slowly add the wet mixture to the dry through the feed tube of the food processor until the dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Shape into a ball, place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and let rise in a warm place for about an hour until it is doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough, shape, top and bake at 450 degrees for 9-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your dough. If you make them free form (without the pan), preheat your oven to 500 degrees with the cookie sheet in the oven. Shape your pizzas on a cutting board, piece of cardboard or pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal so they don't stick. Carefully slide your pizzas onto the super hot sheet (BE CAREFUL!!!). This is the trick to a crispy crust if you don't have a pizza stone (like me). Bake for about 10 minutes but watch them to make sure they don't burn.

Makes 12+ mini-muffin top pizzas depending on how thick you like the dough.

White Pizza Dough

Follow directions for whole wheat dough using these ingredients.

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 ounce packet of active dry yeast
• 3 cups white flour (plus extra for kneading)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbs. oil (plus extra for greasing bowl)

Sticky Situations...

April was full of 'em!

So...I'm sorry I haven't had even a minute lately to stay in touch.

I've missed you so!

I promise to post a real post really, really soon but, in the meantime, I wanted to draw your attention to the right hand side of this page* where I have added a new feature: "Recipes You've Requested." From hasty shouts across supermarket checkout isles to in-depth conversations over margaritas and bean dip, it's easy for me to lose track of the many oh-so-wonderful recipe requests I receive at random times throughout the week.

Soooo, until I figure out a better way to do it (which I will need to do), as soon as I get your request, I'll try to hop on my computer and slap the recipe up on the site, no fuss, no muss. There probably won't be any photos and there's a chance you'll get a scanned copy of crumpled piece of stained paper out of my files ... but at least you'll have it before next Christmas!

Today I'm adding recipes for the Black-Eyed-Pea Salsa and the Cinco(!) Leches Cake I served on Cinco de Mayo. For a "school night", it turned out to be a pretty fun fiesta (note evidence below). Thanks to our amigos who joined us!

I hope you also enjoy the other recipes I've added throughout the past month including a killer, no fail, recipe for Milk and Honey Whole Wheat Bread...it's the one I make every year with our school's second graders as part of their Lenten tradition.

Together, those 60 sticky little hands produce 36 loaves of beautiful brown bread in one chaotic but memorable morning. I cherish this day every year and revel in the gift I receive by sharing this tradition with them.

So, please enjoy the few recipes I've shared to the right* and stay tuned for more Mudpies really soon.

*Note: if you receive Makemudpies via a feed (i.e. if it comes to you by email) you probably can't see the columns on the right including "Recipes You've Requested," my Twitter feed, blog archive etc... Simply access the blog via http://www.makemudpies.com/ to see the entire blog in all it's glory!

One day Joseph laid an egg…

I don't really remember how we came to own a do-it-yourself countertop chicken incubator but I do remember the day Joseph was born, I mean hatched. You see, Joseph thought she was people. And, we thought she was a he...until he, I mean she, laid an egg.

I do know that it was a fall morning in 1973. I remember because that was the year that my brother Greg was in eighth grade…the year he received his Sacrament of Confirmation. Who would have known that on that special morning the Holy Spirit would descend upon him in the form of a baby Rhode Island Red. Wasn’t it supposed to be a ball of fire and a dove or something? A red chicken? Close enough.

Anyway, rewind a few weeks earlier when we approached Villia, the Peruvian lady up the street, to part with three fertilized chicken eggs so we could conduct our home hatchery experiment. Her daughter Susan was in my class and we knew that she’d probably have a randy rooster or two willing to donate to the cause as their house was this wild wacky menagerie perched high atop the Fairfax hills. In fact, Mom, still a city girl at heart, was convinced that if she actually piloted our wood paneled Country Squire up the windy ascent that she’d never be able to turn it around and navigate back down. I remember many a birthday party at that house (carpooled by a friend’s mom of course) playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey surrounded by real live chickens, goats, ferrets a pony or two and I think a couple of monkeys until the Feds put 'em in cuffs and hauled them away.

So, the precious eggs made their way down the hill and into the heated plastic dome that sat on our counter until one morning…crack…Josephine, the sole survivor of our in vitro trio, made her entrance. At our request, Villia promptly bombed down the hill in her red 1964 Rambler station wagon to show us how to properly tend to a newborn baby chick. With her bright red comb and feisty demeanor, we were certain that we had hatched a rooster and promptly named our baby bird Joseph, in honor of the name my brother would take at confirmation that afternoon. What did we know, we were city folk after all?

Check out those sideburns (on my Dad...not Josephine). That's her in my Dad's arms.

Joseph thrived as the newest member of our brood and was the happiest free range rooster a family ever had. We held her, pet her, fed her table scraps, and soon she became fast friends with our German Shepherd named Brian Patrick (no wonder he had issues). They were the two coolest dudes ever to cruise a suburban backyard, despite their severe identity crises. Here they are both ready to be let in for the night. Yes, Josephine slept inside.

Until one day… Joseph laid an egg (in my toy box, thank you very much).

From that day forward, Joseph became known as Josephine and each day she rewarded our family with one luscious, speckled brown egg which she carefully deposited atop my baby doll’s former blankie. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to fully enjoy the runny, pale-yoked excuses for eggs that I resort to purchasing in 18 packs at my local market. Until today…

You see, my neighbor Laura told me that my other neighbor Natalie had taken to raising chickens in her backyard and was willing to share the love. Now, in some of my weaker wanna-be-Martha moments, I toyed with the idea of building a coop myself, but just didn't have the time, energy, know-how, money…everything…to do it. Get fresh eggs delivered on demand from the neighbor instead? Heck ya!

So, today I received my first delivery, and to celebrate, I decided to make a creamy, custardy whacked-out ice cream recipe that I concocted a couple of months ago during a fleeting whim to enter a Häagen-Dazs create-a-flavor contest...which apparently no longer exists. Oh well...another plan foiled. But I must admit, the French Toast Ice Cream that I cooked up was worthy. Here's what I did...

Start by making the "french toast" by cubing a few slices of nice firm white bread.

I melted some butter, brown sugar and cinnamon and drizzled it over the bread, then toasted them up in the oven.

While the french toast was toasting, I concocted some maple caramel sauce to swirl into the ice cream. Here's the brown sugar and maple syrup ready to melt down.

The experiment worked! I poured it into a gravy boat to chill while I made the custard for the ice cream. This makes more than you will need. Save the extra to pour over store-bought ice cream or to eat by the spoonful while standing in front of the fridge.

Custard can be a little tricky. William helped me separate the six, yes six, eggs...

...then I tempered the yummy yokes with hot milk, put the mix back in the pot, whisked and watched the temp till it reached 170 degrees. Don't scramble those eggs!

Strain out any little scramblies then chill it up before freezing it in your ice cream maker.

Uh huh...

French Toast Ice Cream

For the "toast"

Slice into 1/4" cubes:

• 4 slices of firm white bread (you will probably only use three but will want to snack on the extras)

Whisk together:

• 4 Tbs melted butter
• 2 Tbs. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Drizzle butter mixture over cubes, toss to coat and toast in a single layer on a baking sheet at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes until they are crispy and golden.

For the maple caramel sauce

Melt in a saucepan until dissolved:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup REAL maple syrup

Add and bring to a boil:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Gently boil until sauce is reduced by about 1/3, about 20 minutes. Chill.

For the ice cream custard

Whisk:

• 6 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Bring to a gentle boil:

• 2 cups of whole milk

Add half of the hot milk in a stream to the egg mixture, whisking the whole time. Then, add the egg mixture back into the pot and. cook over low heat , stirring constantly until the mixture is thick and the temperature is about 170 degrees. Slower is better and don't leave the pot to put the laundry in the dryer. The eggs will scramble in a blink if they get too hot!

Stir in:

• 1 cup heavy cream

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and stir in:

• 3 Tbs. REAL maple syrup

Transfer to a stainless steel bowl and chill in the fridge or set over ice if you are in a hurry to get it into the ice cream maker (like me).

When the custard is nice and chilly, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker* according to the directions. When it's ready, fold in the crunchy "french toast" cubes. Drizzle in the caramel sauce to taste and swirl it around without mixing it in entirely. Place in a tub then into the freezer to harden. Give it at least 2 or 3 hours (or just eat it soft with a spoon right out of the ice cream maker). May I recommend doing both...

Makes a little over a quart.

*Having an ice cream maker at home is fun! You can get one for as little as $25 or so at Target which is the model I used for a million years. Kids love it and it's very "cool" to be able to serve home made ice cream to guests. Last year, Mom bought me the freezer attachment for my Kitchenaid standing mixer...so easy. As long as I keep the canister in my freezer and heavy cream in my fridge, I can make ice cream on the fly any time.

I think I need a good cry...

Man oh, man oh, man...I have GOT to stop watching the news.

Looting in Chile, car arsons in Richmond, record foreclosures, health care in crisis and...dag nab it...it looks like another five days of rain!

Where did my rerun of I Dream of Jeannie go? That's what I always watch while I sit holed up at my computer doing my morning bookkeeping. Guess I wasn't fast enough at the draw to click over to Bewitched before the 11 am newscast snuck it's way into my 1967 heaven.

I'm telling you, this real life stuff sucks. That's why I think today I'll grab a bag of onions and let it all out. I'm not kidding.

Some might turn to the bottle, others might hit the gym and there are those who might resort to a pint of Ben and Jerry's, a box of Kleenex and Steel Magnolias On Demand. Me? I think I'll grab a 5-pound bag of onions, arm myself with my weapon of choice and revel in the beautiful, salty, sweet flood of tears that will run down my face as I slice and dice my way to cathartic release.

Here's the bonus; when I'm done, I'll be left drained, but gazing before me at a pile of pungent goodness that, when coaxed, will become a steaming bowl of some of the best soul food I know...french onion soup.

The good news is that generally I have almost everything I need on hand to prepare my prescription: onions, stock, a little booze, some cheese and a loaf of bread (even better if it's a day or two old).

Do note, however, that this is what will happen if you let your first-grader engage in Jedi light saber warfare with your baguette. No worries...even a little guy needs to release a little pent-up stress after a hard day at the office.

Back to soup...

I've been making French Onion Soup for as long as I can remember but it wasn't until just a couple of years ago that I actually decided to learn how to do it right. I searched the internet, scoured cookbooks and consulted my trusty files of tattered tear sheets hastily yanked from stacks and stacks of beloved magazines that I force myself to ritually part with every couple of years.

As you can see, I sort my files by six categories, "Sweet Favorites", "Sweet Tried and Good", "Sweet-to-Try", "Savory Favorites", "Savory Tried and Good" and "Savory-to-Try". "Sweet Favorites" gets the most action...I just had to replace the manila folder because the spine blew out. It's a far from perfect system but I think I have made substantial improvements over Mom's recipe filing method. Check it out...(more on that another time)!

OK. Back to the soup for real now.

After trying a few different versions, I have decided that good old Julia wins again. This is a version of her recipe from The Way to Cook that I have decided is the most like what I think French Onion Soup should taste like. You decide.

Start by thinly slicing up some onions. I used about a half-a-5-pound-bag of plain old yellow onions. Wipe your tears, blow your nose then move on. This is how the onions will look after you cook them a little but before you add the salt and sugar...

Carly told me NOT to use the photo below since it looks like a pot full of bait. She's right. But, I wanted to show you how the onions change as they cook. These are almost there...

Here is some toasty bread ready to pile with loads of cheese...

Speaking of cheese, I grated some to pile on the bread then I placed slices over everything to cover the surface of the bowl...

Yeah baby...

French Onion Soup Gratineed

Thinly slice:

• 2 1/2 pound of onions to make about 8 cups

Melt in a soup pot:

• 3 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs. olive oil

Stir in the onions, cover the pan and cook slowly until soft, limp and tender (about 10 minutes).

Blend in:

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Raise the heat to moderately high and let the onions brown, uncovered. Stir them frequently so they don't burn (about 25-30 minutes until they reach a nice dark brown color).

Sprinkle in then cook and stir for another 2-3 minutes:

• 2 Tbs flour

Remove from heat, let cool a little then whisk in and blend:

• 2 cups of hot beef stock

Add in:

• 2 more quarts of beef stock
• 4 Tbs brandy
• 1 cup dry vermouth

Cover loosely and simmer about 1 1/2 more hours! Add salt and pepper to taste, if needed.

To gratinee:

Slice into 1" slices and toast:

• hardy French bread

Ladle the soup into oven-proof bowls or crocks and float one slice of bread in each.

Top with:

• Grated or sliced sharp Swiss cheese (I used Gruyere). I piled some grated cheese on the bread then placed additional slices strategically around so that it would cover the bread and ooze down the sides a bit.

Place all six bowls on a cookie sheet and place under the broiler until they are melty and toasty.

Serves 6

Note: Feel free to try chicken stock instead of beef if that's all you have or other kinds of booze such as white wine, or red wine for the Vermouth and Cognac or Armagnac for the brandy. I've seen versions using all of these and use what I have on hand.

Adapted from The Way to Cook: Julia Child

P.S. Since we're talking onions here, thought it might be a good time to share my two cents on how to dice one properly. Start by slicing the little stinker in half lengthwise. Cut the end off the stem end (shown on the onion on the right) and peel it leaving the root end in tact (shown on the onion on the left).

Place the flat side of the peeled onion half on the cutting board and firmly hold it down with the palm of your left hand (assuming you are right-handed). If you are going for a 1/4 inch dice, make horizontal slices up the onion, 1/4 inch apart, starting at the bottom. Slice from the stem end toward the root end leaving the root end in tact.

Now, make vertical slices down the onion, 1/4 inch apart, again, not slicing through the root end.

Next, slice across the surface of the onion, 1/4 inch apart until you reach the root and...

VOILA!