This is one in a series of guest posts by other bloggers. Read to the end for a longer biographical note on today's guest blogger, my partner and husband, Crackerdog Sam.

Butternut squash is the perfect fall ingredient. I love that Sam has found even more ways to make it for us! Sam crafted this recipe a year or so ago, back when we still ate legumes, but it still happens to be grain-free. If you've gone paleo, you can eat just the butternut topping and skip the bean underpinning.

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

Years ago, I ate a butternut squash soup that I liked so much I researched how to make a similar one from scratch. The key: roasting the squash with apples and onion in the oven first, before blending.

Eventually, I decided I liked it even better if I skipped making it into soup and just ate it roasted. When serving it as a full meal instead of just a side dish, I started adding a layer of salted mashed pinto beans mixed with bacon pieces as a contrasting element. It's a nice blend of sweet and savory, refreshing and hearty.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds butternut squash, chunked
• 2 medium granny smith apples, peeled and chunked
• 1/2 of a large sweet onion, chunked
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp tarragon
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 cup Irish cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 15 oz can pinto beans
• 1/2 cup crumbled bacon
• salt to taste

Dietary/allergy notes:

Gluten-free, grain-free, egg-free, nut-free, sweetener-free. Leave off the cheese and bacon to have it dairy-free, vegetarian, and vegan. Leave off the cheese and pinto beans to make it paleo.

Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. This month, we celebrate Recipes from the Garden!  Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

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This is one in a series of guest posts by other bloggers. Read to the end for a longer biographical note on today's guest blogger, my partner and husband, Crackerdog Sam.

Since the carnival is about using up our garden produce, I considered the elements we've always had in (over)abundance — tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and sweet onion — and had Sam share a yummy recipe that uses all four! Enjoy.

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

A couple years ago, Lauren and I ate at a crepe restaurant where the star of the dish was something called "tomato coulis," which we'd never had before. I looked for it in stores, but couldn't find any pre-made, and when I looked up recipes online there was a vast array of options people were calling "coulis," from versions akin to chunky soup to versions resembling a smooth ketchup. Ours was more like a coarse pesto, which I couldn't find a duplicate for.

So after a great deal of experimentation, combining this and that technique, I have perfected my favorite version of coulis, which works equally well as a salad topping (presented here), a salsa (with chips), a sandwich spread (on patty melts), and a pasta sauce (over cheese tortellini). I also really like using it in a spicy version of tuna salad but using tilapia, a little mayo, and coulis. It acts just like a tuna salad would (you can do sandwiches, or casseroles, or eat it in lettuce leaves) but is much more interesting.

Coulis is a garlicky, sweet, salty and tangy intense flavor that's great to have on hand to liven up a dish.

Salad ingredients (serves 4):

• 9 oz spinach
• a few drizzles olive oil
• 4 oz feta cheese
• 1 avocado
• 1 cup (or more) tomato coulis

Coulis ingredients (makes 2 cups, so store the leftovers in a jar in the fridge):

• 3 oz package sun-dried tomato halves, dry packed
• about 24 medium-sized leaves basil (leaves from a 1.5 oz bunch)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup diced tomato
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup minced sweet onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Dietary/allergy notes:

Vegetarian, gluten-free, grain-free, egg-free, nut-free, sweetener-free. Leave off the feta to have it dairy-free, vegan, and paleo.

Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. This month, we celebrate Smoothies and Mocktails! Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

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This is one in a series of guest posts by other bloggers. Read to the end for a longer biographical note on today's guest blogger, my partner and husband, Crackerdog Sam. From his mighty kitchen arsenal, today Sam offers a dairy-free, sweetener-free summer smoothie containing only four natural ingredients that's sure to refresh both kids and adults.

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

We were first introduced to watermelon agua fresca (which is simply watermelon liquified in a blender) at a local Mexican restaurant several years ago and fell in love with the simplicity and taste. I, of course, had to experiment with different variations, and I really like this one: The addition of the mango gives it a smoothie consistency.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups watermelon cubes (1/4 of a personal watermelon)
• 1/3 cup mango cubes (about 1/2 a mango)
• 1/2 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves
• 6 ice cubes

Dietary/allergy notes:

Vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free, grain-free, egg-free, nut-free, sweetener-free. Well, look at it: It's just fruits and herbs!

Welcome to the April 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Recipes

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants are sharing their recipes, their stories, their pictures, and their memories.

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When Sam was growing up, his mother made French crêpes (or Swedish pancakes, as they also called them) for his family on special occasions: New Year's Day breakfast, birthdays, report cards, and other holidays and festivities. When I joined the family, I quickly embraced the crepe love and enjoyed my visits to the family estate that included one of these ritual breakfasts. (And it didn't take much prodding of my dear mother-in-law for every visit to include one!)

The matriarch holds court over her plug-in crepe pan and pours out one careful measure of batter at a time, until one after another golden-brown flapjack is flipped off the pan and onto a carrying plate, to be claimed immediately by the next relative in line to devour one. The dining table is crammed with toppings — jams, jellies, berries, bananas, butter, cinnamon sugar, all sorts of syrups, fried Polish sausage, sauteed mushrooms, cheese, Nutella, powdered sugar, and probably more I'm forgetting! — and the sensuous pagan ritual crepe preparation and eating begins. And, let me tell you, we can all pack 'em away! Sam used to keep track in his diary each year of how many more crepes he ate as compared with the previous New Year's (and that was about all he recorded in his diary — you know, the important things). I don't want to brag for him, but I think he got up to 14.

We continue to be delighted with the inspiration and wisdom our Carnival of Natural Parenting participants share, and we hope you'll join us for the next carnival in April 2013! (Check out March, January, December, November, October, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January, and a summary of all our 2011 posts if you missed any.)

Your co-hosts are Dionna at Code Name: Mama and Lauren at Hobo Mama.

Here are the submission details for April 2013:

Theme: Family Recipes: Let go of the family secrets – share them with us! What is your favorite recipe, and where did it come from? Share your recipes, your stories, your pictures, and your memories.

Deadline: Tuesday, April 2. Fill out the webform (at the link or at the bottom) and email your submission to us by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time: CarNatPar {at} NaturalParentsNetwork.com

Carnival date: Tuesday, April 9. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. You will publish your post on April 9 and email us the link if you haven't done so already. Once everyone's posts are published on April 9 by noon Eastern time, we will send out a finalized list of all the participants' links to generate lots of link love for your site! We'll include full instructions in the email we send before the posting date.

Please submit your details into our web form: This will help us as we compile the links list. Please enter your information on the form embedded at the end of this post, or click here to enter it on a separate page: April 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting participant form

Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. In celebration of the tradition of Easter chocolates, we're sharing recipe ideas for healthier alternatives - sweets and treats featuring real cocoa. Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

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You want to feel like a real cooking whiz? It's time to freestyle a recipe, and I'll show you just how with a simple and decadent dessert … that just happens to be relatively healthful as well!

For a naughty but non-guilty treat, I've been seesawing back and forth between two recipes: "Paleo Cookie Dough Bars" from Making the World Cuter and "Paleo-ized Monster Cookie Dough Dip" from Paleo Parents. I liked the ingredients and texture of the bars but the ease of eating it straight out of a bowl (what?). I began experimenting with different ingredients, additions, and subtractions, in a quest to find The One chocolate chip cookie dough recipe that could safely and deliciously be eaten raw. I also needed it to stay (as those recipes are) grain-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free. (Well, at one point I did experiment with butter, but it didn't make as much of an impact as I thought it might.)

Here's the thing: I've found my sweet spot. And I wanted to share it with you. Only …

I have no idea what any of the amounts are. I only know how I put it together to make it awesome-yumtastic. And — get ready for this — I dirty only one regular bowl and one regular soup spoon. Which I call a dishwashing win!

I decided that teaching you the free-flying way I assemble this dip is just as good — no, better! it's better! — than just a recipe. With measurements. And preciseness. Forget that! This is so much more: It's easy. And fast. And perfect for lazy people very special people with much more important things to do than something measly like reading the lines on a measuring cup. Pfft. (Those important things may or may not include shoveling cookie dough into their pieholes. And when I say "may not," I mean "definitely does.")

Let's get cooking, you rebels! Who's with me?

Time is flying: We're already into the fifth week of the six-week Six Ingredient Challenge! How's it going for you? Amy and I posted our answers to the fourth week's writing prompt, and the linky there is still open for you to link up your posts about the joys and challenges of the Six Ingredient Challenge. Remember to post your answers to the fifth prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you didn't start the challenge with us on February 1, it's not too late to sign up and join in now!

Today I'm bringing you a guest post from Sam, who's been happily experimenting to craft us new condiments that fit the rules of the challenge. He's sharing an easy recipe for making homemade Caesar salad dressing. It can be nearly impossible to find any store-bought salad dressings — particularly creamy ones — with six ingredients or fewer, and when I've looked at the nutrition labels of store-bought creamy dressings, Caesar in particular, they have a lot of questionable ingredients, like soybean oil as mock-dairy. By contrast, this healthier version of a favorite dressing uses a light-tasting olive oil as a base and works for traditional salads or any mix of veggies, as well as a tasty dip or creamy topping. To be clear, there's no cream — the rich texture is a result of the emulsion of oil and egg yolks.

The dressing has more than six ingredients itself, but it fits the rules of the challenge as a homemade concoction because the individual components are all six or fewer and are whole foods-based. You'll just want to check on the individual ingredients you've got on hand. The versions we have of Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce are mostly vinegar and spices, but Worcestershire sauce traditionally has one or more sweeteners as well as anchovies, and some alternate versions will contain soy or wheat, so look for brands that have ingredients you can live with. Anchovy paste might not be something you usually have on hand, but it's easy to find — check near the canned tuna and other fish. In fact, you can buy and blend tinned or fresh anchovies instead if you'd rather, though a tube will store easily and last you for more than one round of dressing.

Homemade Caesar dressing

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

I've always been a little wary of attempting mayonnaise or salad dressing from scratch because I've heard you have to be careful about the oil/egg mixture separating on you, and I dislike tossing out an entire batch of anything.

It turns out to be quite simple, though, and according to some of the recipes from which I cobbled this together, having your liquids mixed with the yolks before adding the drizzled oil makes it more-or-less idiot-proof (something science-y about emulsification).

You can make this in your food processor or blender; the final result is just about 2 cups in volume.

Can you believe it? We're already into the fourth week of the six-week Six Ingredient Challenge! How's it going for you? Amy and I posted our answers to the third week's writing prompt, and the linky there is still open for you to link up your posts about why you felt inspired to be a part of the Six Ingredient Challenge. Remember to post your answers to the fourth prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you didn't start the challenge with us on February 1, it's not too late to sign up and join in now!

Today I'm bringing you a guest post from Sam, our family's resident breadmaker. He's sharing an easy recipe for making homemade semi-whole grain bread. It can be nearly impossible to find any store-bought grain products with six ingredients or fewer, and processed breads often have a lot of questionable additives, hydrogenated oils, and even high fructose corn syrup. Here's a healthier version that kids will eat — maybe because they don't realize how healthy it is! It's a family-friendly mix of white flour, whole wheat flour, whole oats, and whole flaxseeds. It takes just six ingredients (not counting spices), and it helps use up the whey from the homemade ricotta recipe Sam posted before.

Homemade semi-whole grain bread

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

I'd been making the basic white loaves from the stellar book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for a few months when Lauren suggested switching over to at least partially whole-wheat flours. Unfortunately, my first attempts were too dense and dry and I gave up.

It wasn't until I got into homemade ricotta and had all this whey to use up, reading in various places that whey gave bread a "fluffier crumb" (the interior of the loaf), that it occurred to me that I might salvage the whole-wheat option. I've added flaxseed and whole oats for more whole fiber, and more hearty flavor. Mikko eats it up without complaint.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup + 1 Tbsp room-temperature whey
• 1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast
• 1/2 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 1/3 Cups unbleached white flour (7.2 oz)
• 2/3 Cup white whole wheat flour (3.6 oz)
• 1 Tbsp whole flaxseeds
• 1/4 Cup oats
• Optional: dill, tarragon, finely diced garlic, etc.

Note: Breadmakers actually weigh their flour instead of measuring it, because you can get different amounts in a cup depending on whether you sift, sweep, or pack the flour. The cup measurements I've listed are based on my typical method of reaching a scoop into the bag and pressing lightly against the side of the bag when filling it, which slightly compacts the flour.

It's already week three of the Six Ingredient Challenge! Are you learning new recipes? Trying new foods? Amy and I want to hear all about it, so remember to read and reflect on the third writing prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you're learning about our challenge for the first time today, it's not too late to sign up and follow along!

Today at Anktangle, Amy is sharing another great whole foods recipe, this one sure to satisfy even the most tenacious snack attack: chewy fruit and nut granola bars! These granola bars are rich in protein and high in fiber, so they'll fill you up with wholesome ingredients. Plus, unlike many of their store-bought counterparts, Amy's granola bars are completely free of refined sugars, gluten, soy, and corn!

Continue reading at Anktangle »

We're nearing the end of the second week of the six-week Six Ingredient Challenge! Amy and I posted our answers to the second week's writing prompt, and the linky there is still open for you to link up your posts about how the Six Ingredient Challenge is going. Remember to post your answers to the third prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you didn't start the challenge with us on February 1, it's not too late to sign up and join in now!

Today I'm bringing you another guest post from Sam, our family's chef extraordinaire. He's sharing an easy recipe for making homemade ricotta soft cheese. Some cheeses have a lot of ingredients, but this one has only three — and it's simple for you and your kids to whip up at home and flavor to your liking.

Homemade ricotta cheese

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

Making homemade ricotta cheese is extremely easy and fun. Traditionally, ricotta is made from the whey left over from other cheesemaking recipes (the word literally meaning "recooked"). This simpler version is great for making with kids, or for using up larger quantities of milk in your fridge that you think you won't finish before it goes bad.

The only ingredients you need are lemon juice, salt, and milk (whole milk yields more cheese, but you can also use 2%). Hint: Save the whey when you're done for a bread-making recipe coming shortly.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup lemon juice (the juice from one large lemon)
• 6 Cups whole milk
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt

Equipment:

• large pot
• kitchen thermometer
• cheesecloth or strainer
• large mixing bowl

Dietary/allergy notes:

Vegetarian, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free. Contains dairy!

Directions:

1. Pour milk into a large pot and turn the heat to medium-high.

Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. In celebration of Valentine's Day, we're sharing recipe ideas for "love foods" or foods to share with loved ones. Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

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This is one of Sam's recipes that makes Mikko very happy. He has no idea that these pretzels are made with half whole wheat flour, and, even though he usually makes us cut the crusts off bread, he doesn't seem to notice that pretzels are pretty much all crust.

Sam and I aren't eating grains anymore, but Mikko hasn't gotten the memo. I like that these have a healthy dose of whole wheat flour and not a lot of other questionable ingredients.

If you're following along with Anktangle's and my Six Ingredient Challenge, you'll be happy to know these pretzels weigh in at exactly six! (Remember you count out water and salt.) There's a tiny bit of sugar, but these make for a more whole-foods version of the type of pretzels you'd get at the mall for quadruple the price. Plus, you can choose how salty the final product is.

If you don't usually bake bread, this can be a fun challenge. The dough stretches out quite easily, and figuring out the knot is simple once you've done it twice. A beautiful handmade pretzel makes a lovely presentation for a special day or a special kid.

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

Ingredients (for six pretzels):

dough:

• 1 Cup plus 1 Tbsp room-temperature water
 (neither hot nor cold to the touch)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast
• 1/2 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Cup unbleached white flour, pushed slightly against side of bag when measuring (5.4 oz)
• 1 Cup white whole wheat flour, pushed slightly against side of bag when measuring (5.4 oz)

wash:

• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 Cup warm water
• large-grain salt (kosher salt or rock salt)

equipment:

• pizza stone
• pizza peel
• pan for water
• parchment paper

Dietary/allergy notes:

Vegan, vegetarian. Contains gluten.

We're into the second week of the six-week Six Ingredient Challenge! Amy and I posted our answers to the first week's writing prompt, and the linky there is still open for you to link up your posts about why you felt inspired to be a part of the Six Ingredient Challenge. Remember to post your answers to the second prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you didn't start the challenge with us on February 1, it's not too late to sign up and join in now!

Today I'm bringing you a guest post from Sam, our family's chef extraordinaire. He's sharing an easy recipe for making homemade flour tortillas. It can be nearly impossible to find any store-bought flour products with six ingredients or fewer, and tortillas especially seem to have a lot of questionable additives and hydrogenated oils and even high fructose corn syrup. Here's a healthier version you can whip up for your family taco night! If you ask nicely, Sam might also share his fantastic how-tos for the perfect taco meat and tangy Mexican coleslaw.

Homemade flour tortillas (makes 8)

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

There's no real need to make your own tortillas these days, unless, like us, you've been attempting to cut down on the amount of processed foods you eat. Prepackaged tortillas are often full of preservatives and stabilizers, so I thought I'd see how difficult it would be to make our own. It's somewhat time-consuming, but the degree of difficulty isn't hard, and I like the taste of them better because they're never gummy or tough.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tsp coconut oil, warmed to liquid (could also use the traditional lard)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 Cup + 2 tsp whole milk

Dietary/allergy notes:

Vegetarian, could be vegan if maple syrup is substituted for honey and almond milk for the cow's milk, could be dairy-free if almond milk is substituted for the cow's milk. Contains dairy and gluten.

Directions:

1) In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add oil and honey, and stir mixture until all wet ingredients are little flour-covered bits. (Traditionally tortillas are made with lard, which I don't usually have on hand, so I went with coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature and melts when warm, like lard, and it worked very well.)

We've finished the first week of the Six Ingredient Challenge! Yesterday, Amy and I posted our answers to the first week's writing prompt, and the linky is still open for you to link up your posts about why you felt inspired to be a part of the Six Ingredient Challenge. Even if you didn't start with us last Friday, it's not too late to sign up and join in now!

Today at Anktangle, Amy is sharing another surprisingly easy tutorial for a homemade version of a food we all might normally buy ready-made. This Friday it's all about dairy-free beverages, and Amy has written up recipes for two different nut-based
drinks: almond milk and sweet almond cream. Like homemade peanut butter, homemade almond milk and sweet almond cream are both easy to customize to suit your family's taste preferences.

Continue reading at Anktangle »

Welcome to the first day of the Six Ingredient Challenge! We're spending six weeks buying foods with six ingredients or fewer. To make your transition easier, Amy of Anktangle and I are offering some recipes for simple homemade versions of (often highly processed) store-bought foods.


Today Amy is sharing a simple chicken stock recipe and a helpful tutorial for how to make it over at Anktangle. She has photographs and detailed instructions on how to prepare this hearty staple, as well as a few options for preserving stock for later use.

Read more at Anktangle »

Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. In celebration of the New Year and Healthy Starts, we're sharing recipe ideas for healthy, nourishing recipes or anything you would enjoy this time of year. Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

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A few months ago, Sam and I decided to try out a new eating habit: no grains, limited sugar. It's been a trip — one I never thought I'd go on, and one that has been surprisingly easy (!) and satisfying (!!). Like, not satisfying in some sort of holier-than-thou superiority-complex asceticism, but satisfying in the sense of tasting good and being kinda fun. I know! No one's more shocked than I am.

But at the risk of boring y'all talking diets (blah blah blah) and setting myself up for ridicule if in another two months we've moved on from it as a fad, I'll just present one of the dessert recipes we've tried out recently. This is still a treat, but it's not quite so sweet, so if you're in the mood to kick your own sugar habit as a resolution, here's a good, decadent choice to start with! If you feel like you overindulged over the holidays, enjoy the subtle sweetness, rich nutty taste, and cakey texture as you tell yourself they're "health cookies." Yeah, that's it.


This cookie is chewy, chocolately goodness, with all-natural sweeteners, and is grain-free. Mikko's favorite cookies are rich peanut butter cookies, and this is a nut (almond) butter version of the same. (Note: He will not eat this version. More for me.) These cookies taste good even if you're not into being paleo, so anyone can enjoy them (except Mikko). Plus, they're gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined-sugar-free so are safe for people with those sensitivities. They still contain sugars in the form of honey, but you can use less or substitute with stevia as you need to — you'll likely have to play around with the recipe somewhat, since the honey adds moisture; maybe add in some coconut oil?

(In the title I'm using the word "paleo," since this recipe is paleo-centric. Our eating isn't strictly paleo, since … it isn't. I've also heard the terms primal and primarian kicked around, as well as good ol' low-carb. These are all loosely related, and the recipes we use now fit under one or more umbrellas.)

Cocoa – almond butter cookies

Based off Paleo almond butter cookies at Intentional Consumption with thanks

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1 Cup unsweetened almond butter
• 1/3 Cup raw honey (our preference; you can use 1/4-1/2 Cup of honey or maple syrup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened powdered cocoa
• 1/4 Cup almond flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Kosher or sea salt (for sprinkling)

Dietary/allergy notes:

Vegetarian, vegan if maple syrup is used in place of honey, gluten-free, paleo/primal, low-glycemic.

Directions

Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. In celebration of autumn and Halloween, we're sharing recipe ideas for healthy treats, or anything you would enjoy this time of year. Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

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This is one in a series of guest posts by other bloggers. Read to the end for a longer biographical note on today's guest blogger, my partner and husband, Crackerdog Sam. Sam figured out a way to make the perfect fall and Halloween treat of Cracker Jack appealing to those of us with a more muted sweet tooth.

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

We stopped microwaving popcorn a few years ago when Lauren discovered this easy recipe from Perfect Popcorn by Elise on Simply Recipes for cooking popcorn on the stove that is simple, fast, and delicious and leaves hardly any old maids.

Because I like to incorporate my own twist into recipes, I started experimenting with different powdered topping ideas but never could get one that I loved. Then a few weeks ago Mikko asked what Cracker Jack was after hearing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and, not wanting to buy him some (if he didn't like it I wouldn't finish it, since it's way too sticky for me, molar-wise), I improvised a version of Cracker Jack on the stove with brown sugar. It turned out better than anything I had slaved over inventing.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp peanut oil (use peanut oil for a rich taste that lets the popcorn flavor shine through — you could substitute grapeseed or coconut oil…though I love the peanut oil and found it was well worth buying a bottle)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp popcorn kernels
• 1/3 cup salted peanuts
• 1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar (or smaller amount Sucanat; see below)

Dietary/allergy notes:

{From the editor:} Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free. Obviously not appropriate for people with peanut allergies as is, though you could substitute the oil and leave out the peanuts. Yes, it has a little sugar. I'll admit that we do eat sugar, despite this being the "healthy" treat festival, ha ha! If you want to avoid refined sugar, try substituting a smaller amount of Sucanat in place of the brown sugar — Sucanat has a stronger taste, so you'll have to experiment to get the amount right.

Instructions:

1) In a three-quart stainless steel saucepan, add oil, salt, and 3 to 4 popcorn kernels. Cover with glass lid. {Editor's note: Stainless steel with glass lids are ideal for this recipe. You can substitute opaque lids if needed and just listen to count the test pops. I have fond memories of my dad and me making popcorn on the stove by doing just that!}

This is one in a series of guest posts by other bloggers. Read to the end for a longer biographical note on today's guest blogger, my partner and husband, Crackerdog Sam. Sam shows how to make the best popcorn — no microwave needed.

Guest post by Crackerdog Sam

We stopped microwaving popcorn a few years ago when Lauren discovered this Perfect Popcorn Recipe by Elise on Simply Recipes for cooking popcorn on the stove that is simple, fast, and delicious and leaves hardly any old maids (can we use that term anymore?). Plus, I had switched to stainless steel pans with glass lids, which are imperative to pulling off the recipe with the greatest ease.

This stovetop popcorn is way more delicious than pre-packaged popcorn once you get the process down. Mikko loves to help us with making it, so we decided to document the recipe.

{Editor's note: It is quite honestly the same as Elise's recipe, so we won't include all the steps here — go see her post for the full instructions as well as topping ideas. I just couldn't resist sharing these pictures from two years ago — enjoy sweet three-year-old Mikko! Stay tuned for the Festival of Food on Wednesday when Sam adds his special spin to the recipe to make a delicious, desserty fall treat.}

First off, gather your ingredients: Use peanut oil for the best popcorny taste, and kosher salt. Butter is optional and can be melted in the pan after the popping.



Mikko helps measure the oil into the 3-quart saucepan.




Don't forget to say cheese!



Measuring the popcorn kernels.