Jennifer Fontaine

[Food Series] A Summer Picnic at The Hollywood Bowl

Posted on August 8, 2013February 24, 2016 by Jennifer Fontaine

The Hollywood Bowl is a beloved LA landmark whose cultural and musical history has been delicately woven into the very fabric of our lives for over a decade. It will be featured in an upcoming MommyHiker.com article, but today I wanted to showcase a few quick, easy and nutritious summer picnic ideas, perfect for mad-dashing out to a concert or just to the neighborhood park!

Caprese
1 Heirloom Tomato
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
Fresh Basil
Red Onion
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt & Pepper

Thinly slice the tomatoes, mozzarella and red onions then lay them on a plate, alternating tomato, mozzarella, basil leaf. Once you have used up all of the sliced ingredients, sprinkle red onions on top, lightly salt and pepper, then drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar!

Roasted Broccoli & Fennel
2 heads of Broccoli
1 Fennel Bulb
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Cut the heads of broccoli into florets and slice the fennel. Toss everything lightly in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Fruit Salad
2 Large Apples
1 small container of Blueberries
3 Persian Cucumbers
1/4 pound of Grapes

Core and slice 2 apples. Remove grapes from stem. Peel and chop cucumbers. Toss everything into a bowl and serve!

[Guest Blogger Series] Making Time For More Family Time by Kerem Hanci

Posted on August 6, 2013February 24, 2016 by Jennifer Fontaine

This month Mommy Hiker is pleased, honored and proud to welcome my very own husband, Kerem Hanci to the Guest Blogger Series! Pro Photographer, Husband, Daddy, Blogger extraordinaire, he has been writing his own very popular Friday Photo Blog for just over 5 years now and if you’ve been with us from the beginning, you may remember waaaay back almost a year ago to his first Mommy Hiker Guest Post (Wow! A year!). Let’s give him a warm welcome back!

I am so happy to reconnect with all the readers of Mommy Hiker again.

As a professional photographer who shoots primarily weddings, summer is extremely busy for me.

Although this can create certain challenges in getting my much-needed family time, I never let it become an excuse to take those precious fleeting moments away from me.

We were able to schedule a fantastic camping trip (my blog post on that trip and I am sure you already have read Jen’s blog post) last month and this past week was extremely busy for us in a very good, outdoorsy way!

First we spent an entire afternoon at the park. We were supposed to meet with friends and something came up on their end and we ended up having a family day at the park.

Following that wonderful day, right before the weekend, I went along to my first official Mommy Hiker Los Angeles hike! The Mommy Hiker regulars and their children who joined, the energy of the group and the joyful couple of hours that followed were one of the absolute highlights of my summer!

The camaraderie of the children, with the older ones taking responsability for the younger ones was adorable to witness. I kind of stayed away from the socializing moms (which is another perk for the members of the Mommy Hiker community) and focused on the children. Their laughter, their fascination with the nature and their endless imagination uplifted me to a whole different level on Friday morning.

The lunch time was a carnival of carefully packed delicious, healthy snacks and it was followed by a festival of children taking turns blowing bubbles and get lost in their excitement of chasing soapy water filled with air. The joy of life really is just that simple!

Over the weekend we drove down to Long Beach for a baby shower, than we drove up to Oxnard for a wild-life cruise, which Jennifer is dedicating an entire blog post to later this month.

I am certain I am preaching to the choir here, but I would like to finish this photography-heavy blog with this: don’t say you would go out and explore the outdoors and let your child(ren)’s imagination run wild “when you can”. Make time for it, create it and give your undivided attention to how your little one is expanding his/her horizons. Expand yours with theirs. We are blessed in California, with year-round lovely weather, kid and wallet-friendly outdoor attractions. Come join the Mommy Hiker group when they are hiking on Friday mornings and make a serious effort to go every week. It is a fantastic opportunity to stay in shape, to challenge the little ones and yourself to achieve new heights in personal development.

This was the first time I joined them hiking, you can be sure it was not the last time! See you all soon on a hiking trail with the little ones!

[Food Series] Bon Femme (Good Lady Apples) with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

Posted on August 1, 2013February 24, 2016 by Jennifer Fontaine

I rarely make dessert, we’re just not a dessert kind of family, but when I saw Jacques Pépin whip up this super simple dessert, I just knew I had to try it! I loved the fact that it was only baked whole fruit and 3 additional whole food ingredients! I must admit that butter is not an ingredient which is generally in our fridge due to the fact that when it is, we devour it excessively, but exceptions were made, rules were broken and these Bon Femme were exquisite! Enjoy!!

Bon Femme (Good Lady Apples)

Ingredients:
6 large apples
1/3 cup apricot jam
1/3 cup light maple syrup
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Cinnamon Whipped Cream:
1 Pint of Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 teaspoon Confectioner’s Sugar
2 dashes of Cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cut a 1/4 inch off the top and bottom of all 6 apples. Make sure the cut you make on the bottom of the apple is pretty level so that the apple can easily sit upright while baking. Carefully core and then score their skins making 3 1/8 of an inch deep lines going down from top to about midway down, spacing them equal distance around its circumference. The scoring allows the skin to expand as the apple bakes, ensuring that you won’t have an exploded appley-apricoty mess to clean up in your oven! Mix the apricot jam and maple syrup in a bowl, place the apples in a baking dish and evenly pour the mixture on top of the apples. Cut the 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter into 6 equal pieces and place 1 piece in the cored hole of each apple. Put the dish in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, baste, then bake for another 30 minutes.

To make the whipped cream, take a mixing bowl and the mixing blades (or a whisk if you’re not using a mixer) and place them in the freezer for 10 minutes. Ensuring that everything is very cold when you whip the cream will give you the best results! So after your bowl and utensils are chilled, pour the heavy whipping cream into your cold mixing bowl, add the sugar and cinnamon and whip on medium until you can create high stiff peaks (about 2 minutes). Make sure you don’t over-whip it, otherwise it will fall and become creamy).

Dab a dollop of Cinnamon Whipped Cream on top of your Bon Femme and devour!!