Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: 5 Stars Dinner at Home… But Will the Kids Eat It?

Are you a foodie? Are you a foodie and a parent? Do your kids share your passion for food? Or do they give you a hard time?

I am a foodie and a picky eater in a choosy finicky, or conscious eating way. Since we got married, I got my husband all excited about food too. Our kids, however, are a different story. We have a one-year-old girl who is willing to try anything, almost, but changes her mind about what she likes and dislikes quite often. And we have a kindergartener who challenges us more.

I always try to cook family friendly food (hence the name and essence of my blog) that we will all like. I compromise a lot between what I really love to cook and eat and what kids usually prefer (we all know what THAT is). I really go a long way to make them happy but I draw the line when it comes to junk food. We have never ordered pizza or any other take-out and we never set foot, (or car), at any of the junk fast food places (Well, not willingly. Oh, how I hate those kiddies birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese). Once a month I might prepare an upgraded pizza (see recipe here) or a Mac and Cheese but then I use real wonderful artisanal cheeses.

My son can be a picky eater even when it comes to dessert. He always prefers a candy (from Halloween and birthday parties… ) over a fresh home-baked cake. Can you believe it?! (Click here to see the cakes). On one hand, this kid can tell the difference between goat cheese, feta, parmesan, Gouda, Swiss, Brousin, mozzarella, cheddar… and of course, a cheese stick. On the other hand, he is a typical 5 years-old. After a few years of trying different strategies with the kid, I have decided – enough. This is not really working anyway and I’m getting bored with the food that we eat. We’re going back to what mommy likes to cook and eat. So OK, no chilies and no Bobby Flay food yet, but a few weeks ago I cooked dinner and the menu was:

Young onion tart with cantal, applewood-smoked bacon, and Herb salad
From “Sunday Suppers at Lacques” cookbook


Butternut squash, butter lettuce, arugula and apple salad
Inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe from her new cookbook “Back to Basics”

It was heavenly.

Why this menu?

The choice of the menu was affected by our decision to eat less meat and chicken following a few posts I wrote about the cruel conditions under which animals are raised. (No, we’re not becoming vegetarians, just eating a smaller amount of animals and less frequently. If you care about conscious eating, see my second blog “Good Food and Bad Food”)

I knew the menu will be a tricky one with the kids. However, I decided to make it anyway because I was very curious about the recipes and I fell in love with “Sunday Suppers at Lacques” cookbook (there’s a short review at the end of the post). The food was so amazingly delicious. And this is an understatement. Really. It was like a 5 stars restaurant dinner but only at home. (And by “5 stars” I mean in flavor, not in labor-intensive preparations). The baby devoured the tart. She had crumbs all over her face and in her beautiful and funny hair. The kindergartener? He, surprisingly, ate the onions on the tart. The onions! He never eats onions. He declares a ban on onions, and onions, you know, are the base for many many dishes. He ate it and said that it was good! Then I told him: “you know, those are onions”. His answer: “no, this is a new kind of chicken”.

Since we loved the tart and salad so much, I wanted to make them again. Tonight I have recreated this dinner to show you: 1) the challenges foodie parents face with young kids at home, 2) how amazingly delicious these dishes are, 3) how fantastically simple and easy it can be to cook a 5 stars dinner at home, and, of course, 4) the funny comments and reactions from the kids’ point of view.

The menu:
* Onion tart with gruyere, applewood-smoked bacon, and Herb salad
* Butternut squash, butter lettuce, arugula and apple salad
* Good wine (not for the kids) – Meadow 2007, Ross Andrew winery, Oregon (Something local that the guy at the grocery store recommended with my menu. Thanks, Bruce! It is a lovely wine.)
* Home-made cinnamon ice cream (you have been so good to read this long post up to this point, so I give you a bonus – dessert. Actually, we always have dessert on the weekend, remember the cakes?)


The Recipes:

Young Onion Tart with Cantal, Applewood-Smoked Bacon, and Herb Salad
Don’t skip making the herb salad. It will be a huge huge mistake. It is so unique and to die for.
Slightly adapted from Suzanne Goin, “Sunday Suppers at Lucques”
Serves 6-8

1 sheet frozen all-butter puff pastry (I used two 8*9-inch sheets)
1 extra-large egg yolk
½-pound sliced applewood-smoked bacon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups sliced onions, red and white
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
½ cup whole milk ricotta, drained if wet
¼ cup crème fraiche
1/3 pound Cantal, Gruyère, or Comté cheese, thinly sliced

½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
¼ cup tarragon leaves
¼ cup chervil sprigs
¼ cup 1/2-inch-snipped chives
A drizzle super-good extra virgin olive oil
½ lemon, for juicing
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Defrost the puff pastry slightly and unroll it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a paring knife to score a 1/4-inch border around the edge of the pastry.

Stack the bacon slices in two piles, then cut crosswise into 3/8-inch rectangles or lardons.

Heat a large sauté pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, and allow to heat another minute. Add the bacon, and sauté over medium high heat 4 to 5 minutes, until slightly crisp but still tender. Reduce the heat to low, and toss in the young onions, thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir together a minute or two, until the onions are just wilted. Toss in the onion tops, and remove to a baking sheet or platter lined with paper towels to soak the fat, and to cool a bit.

Place the ricotta, egg yolk, and 1 tablespoon olive oil in abowl and whisk until smooth. Gently fold in the crème fraîche and season with 1/8 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Spread the ricotta mixture on the puff pastry within the scored border. Lay the Cantal over the ricotta, and arrange the bacon-onion mixture on top.

Bake the tart 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet once, until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Lift up the edge of the tart and peek underneath to make sure the crust is cooked through. (If you underbake the tart, it will be soggy.)

Toss the herbs in a small bowl with salt, pepper, a drizzle of super-good olive oil, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Cut tart to wedges and serve with herb salad.

Butternut squash, butter lettuce, arugula and apple salad
Inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe from her new cookbook “Back to Basics”
Serves 4-6

1 (1 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled and cut in 3/4-inch dice
Good olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sliced shallot
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 ounces baby arugula
½ head butter lettuce, torn into 2 bite-size pieces
1 apple, thinly sliced
1/2 cup walnut halves, toasted
3 tablespoons dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Place the squash on a sheet pan. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the maple syrup, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and toss. Roast the squash for 20 to 30 minutes, or until tender.

To make the vinaigrette, mix the cider vinegar, shallot, and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk in ¼ cup olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
Place the arugula and butter lettuce in a large salad bowl and add the roasted squash and apple. Add the cranberries and walnuts. Spoon just enough vinaigrette over the salad to moisten, and toss well.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Make this at least 1 day ahead just to be on the safe side that the ice cream has the right consistency.
Slightly adapted from Suzanne Goin, “Sunday Suppers at Lucques”
Makes 1 quart

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 extra-large egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
1 teaspoon hazelnuts extract*
Pinch ground cinnamon for serving*

Place the milk, cream, cinnamon sticks, and ground cinnamon in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover, and let the flavors infuse about 30 minutes.

Bring mixture back to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Whisk a few tablespoons of warm cream mixture into the yolks to temper them. Slowly, add another ¼ cup or so of the warm cream, whisking to incorporate. At this point, you can add the rest of the cream mixture in a slow steady steam, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pot and return to the stove.

Cook the custard over medium heat 6 to 8 minute, stirring with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan. The custard will thicken, and when it’s done will coat the back of the spatula. Off the heat, add the vanilla and hazelnut extracts and mix. Strain (in a fine mesh sieve) and chill at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. The base should be very cold before you churn it. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serve with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

*My additions.

Kiddies comments and reactions:

Herb salad
I put some salad on my son’s plate. He immediately burst into tears. E.: “I don’t like salad. Take it out of my plate. I want a new plate”. Me: “OK, I’ll take it out”. E. :”no, I want a new plate”. Me: “I’ll wipe it clean”. E.: “you can’t wipe out the flavor”. Me: “relax already. Here, see? It’s all gone”.

R., that’s the baby, on the other hand, didn’t try it at all. The minute she saw it, she threw it away from her tray and onto the floor. E. finds it very amusing and laughs loudly. She was however, very interested in a long stem of chives.

Butternut squash salad
Me: “how about this salad? This lettuce taste very nice”. E.: “no, I don’t like salad”. Me: “OK, what about eating the ingredients separately but not the lettuce?” E.: “OK”.

R. tried to eat the lettuce but had a hard time chewing on it since she has only 2 tiny teeth. She made a funny face and spitted it out. Well, at least she tried. She ate the squash but can’t eat the berries and nuts (choking hazards).

Onion tart
E. eats the bacon on top of the tart, and then stops. Me: “why don’t you eat all the “pizza””? E.: “it has onions. I don’t like onions”. My husband: “you ate the onions last time and liked it”. E.: “No I didn’t. I don’t like onions”. Me: “OK, just take them out and put it on the side of your plate and finish eating it”. Then he takes a bite and me and my husband see the onion hanging from the side. There’s a moment of silence… he ate it! Didn’t say a word.

R. loves this tart. No complains on her part.

Ice cream
Me: “today we have home-made ice cream!” E. – “I want a candy on the ice cream because ice cream alone doesn’t taste good to me.” Me: “you need to choose – ice cream or candy”. E: “then candy”. At the end he chose a Scooby Doo push up Popsicle, leftover from his birthday party last spring. Me: “how can you choose a Scooby Doo over home-made ice cream?” E.: “I’ll eat ice cream another time”. Me: “so why don’t you eat the Scooby Doo another time and tonight you’ll eat ice cream?” E.: “because that is what I chose”.

R. – this is the first ice cream she had in her life! She loved it. She even managed to feed herself with a teaspoon for the first time.

Some photos taken by E. who likes to take pictures and do some food styling

Conclusions:
For this kind of dinner, send the kids to someone else’s home, like grandma and grandpa, if you can. Open a bottle of good wine, dim the lights, and have a nice, quiet dinner at home with good adult conversation, because this is the best food. I tell ya. And young kids are just too… too young to appreciate it. One day I’m sure they will.

Good night... Bye bye...

The Cookbooks:

“Sunday Suppers at Lacques” by Suzanne Goin
I have heard about Lacques cookbook here and there, don’t remember exactly where… so I borrowed it from the library (that’s what I do before deciding if I am going to buy a book or not). There is something about that book that makes you fall in love with it immediately. I can’t quite tell what it is. I really love that it is arranged by seasons. (Already an excellent reason to love a cookbook). But there’s something beyond that. Could it be the simplicity of its sophistication or the sophistication of its simplicity? There’s something very earthy, rustic, yet terribly smart and chic about it. The recipes I have read seem to be pretty easy to make, the photos are gorgeous. Everyone should own a copy of this book.

“Back to Basics” by Ina Garten
The Barefoot Contessa… no need to elaborate what I love about her, like so many millions of people around the world. I thought that owning 4 of her cookbooks is enough but I just couldn’t resist buying the fifth one. It is just as good and beautiful as the previous ones.

Wow! You have made it this far! It is a loooong post. I admire you! I do.
Would you like to subscribe to my blog? Click here.

Thank you for reading! Nurit.

Thank you Foodbuzz!

Some links and related posts:

Good Food & Bad Food blog
Sometimes it’s Pizza for Dinner
A cake for the weekendHome-Made Food is the Best!
Cooking with Kids: “Feast Lesson”
Baking with kids: Chocolate-banana cookies, recreating the magic

Picky Eater Story: Throw the Food from the Window

I remember this episode from when I was about 6 or 7 years old (I think). I asked my mom to make me toast with melted cheese on top. Who doesn’t like those? Don’t you? I almost certainly nagged and nagged her and she finally made it for me. Then I tasted it and it didn’t taste so good, so I didn’t want to finish eating it.

My mom, of course, insisted that I eat the whole thing. Ohhhh, this was a call for a battle of powers. You know how they tell you to choose your battles with kids?! Oh, well… So I stared at it, and stared and stared for an hour, testing to see who will break first – me, my mom, or the toast. Well, the toast wasn’t planning to go anywhere. I prayed that it will somehow magically disappear from the plate but no higher powers came to my rescue.

After an hour or so I came up with a brilliant idea and told my mom that I will finish my toast in my room.

And then I threw it out the window.

Then I came back to my mom proudly showing her the empty plate and declaring: “all done”.
My mom is a very smart lady. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out when your kids try to lie in your face. Plus, she heard the “plunck” noise when it hit the ground. It was thrown from the forth flour of an apartment building. A quick pick outside my bedroom window confirmed her suspicions fairly quickly.

And then I was punished to stay in my room for a certain amount of time.

I cried and cried. Maybe I even tried some screaming. I learned it from other kids. It didn’t work on my mom though.

Well, I haven’t tried that trick again. But you just wait until I tell you about some other creative ways I came up with to solve food problems on other occasions.

Reminder: You can now follow me on Twitter.

Were you a picky eater? Are you still?

Have you ever swallowed bubble gum?

I’ve been working on some serious stuff for my first 2009 post. I thought it’ll take me a day or two to complete, but plans have changed. My son, 5.5 years old, swallowed a bubble gum. For the first time.
I can hear you laughing.
I did.

His reaction – crying, hysteria, worries, lots of questions, and feeling very upset.
“Is it going to be stuck in my throat?”
“What will happen now?”
“How can we take it out?”
“How will I poop?”

Of course this was an excellent opportunity to have a little fun at his expense. Payback time for all the whining, arguing, and nagging I have to listen to every day, right?!

Well, I didn’t tell him that a bubble gum tree will grow in his tummy – that’s what I was told when it happened to me (you can only imagine how worried I was) – so instead I told him:
I can take big tweezers and try to pull it out of his throat, while I approached him with the big scissors.
He wanted to learn how to make bubbles, so I said that next time air comes out of his rear end, a big bubble will come out of his tuches.

I could go on and on – it was very funny – but he looked somewhat miserable so I quit and comforted him. He did look at me with some disbelief when I said he will be able to poop again. He’s OK now. Watching TV and having a snack. TV & snack does make you forget about your troubles for a while, doesn’t it?

Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted.

Now… I’m 100% sure this has happened to you too. What was your reaction when you swallowed a bubble gum for the first time?

11 Tips for Eating Out (with Kids) While on Vacation

Eating out while on a trip or vacation, with or without kids, can become a stressful event. Going out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and maybe snacks too, every day throughout your vacation, can be tiring. Choosing a restaurant, driving, parking, waiting to be seated, reading the menu, consulting, deciding, ordering, waiting, paying, waiting… add kids to that... Oh, it makes me tired just to think about it.

Vacation is fun. Eating out is fun. But when it is done a 3-5 times a day, every day, for a week or so, it can turn into a not-so-much-fun experience. Here are a few tips and things to consider that we have learned on our last trip to Whistler, BC, last summer (a great place for a family vacation in the summer and winter, by the way).

Lessons learned and tips to share:

1. Book a hotel that serves breakfast. This will save you time and money and will make your morning more relaxed as you don’t have to go anywhere or drive to another location. You can go back to your room after you had your coffee and your belly is full to finish getting ready for the rest of the day.

2. Choose a room with a kitchenette or at least a mini refrigerator. This is great when you want to have a light and peaceful meal in the room, or a snack, as well as store leftovers from a restaurant meal. We usually buy some food at a local grocery store (like cheeses, deli meat, fruits and vegetables, bread, yogurt, and milk) and eat in the room at least once a day. We find it is much easier to do this when we are with the kids than to drag them to restaurants all day long. It cost less too.

3. The “kids menu”. We have fallen in the “kids menu” trap before and no need to say that we hated it. The selection of food from the “kids menu” can be frustrating. However, if you do order from the kids menu, check for quality. Taste a bite to make sure the food is fresh. If your child if fussy or picky and don’t’ want to eat their food, maybe it’s because is not cooked right or taste good. Also, read my post: Kids’ menu – Is it good for them? Is it good for you?

4. Buy food to go. Young kids have a hard time sitting for long periods of time all nice and quiet. In the summer, you can buy sandwiches or a lunch basket and have a picnic by the lake. Any ideas for winter time?

5. Split and share. In most restaurants the serving size per person is huge and can feed 2-4 people. To save money, and extra pounds, you can order 2 entrées or a few appetizers for the whole family and share. I once overheard a waitress asking another customer if they have been to the restaurant before and know that the portions are large. She asked if they would like smaller portions. I asked her for smaller portions of what we ordered and it was perfect. Lesson learned –always ask.

6. Do you let your kids choose from the menu for themselves? On one hand, everyone gets to choose what they like at the restaurant, right?! On the other hand, if your child can’t read, you can skip those items you don’t want them to eat (for example, I tend to skip the PBJ sandwich, grilled cheese sandwich, Mac and cheese, pizza, etc). I admit, I lied in the past to my son and told him that the restaurant we were dining at doesn’t serve Mac and cheese. I read to him the items I want him to eat. He is a good reader now, so this strategy in no longer applicable. This is where our authority as parents and new strategies come to play in setting boundaries.

7. The Mac and cheese episode. Do you have a kid that will be happy if s/he can eat Mac and cheese all day long? Theoretically, we have one of those (“Theoretically” because we don’t want to test it to find out). Now we limit M&C to once a week while on a trip and chicken strips with fries now and then. If you prefer to avoid these battles altogether, at least order something along the cheesy pasta like vegetables, or chicken, or fish to balance the cheese-carbs ratio.



8. Kids don’t have to know about ALL the ingredients in the dish, right?! My son likes pesto but the restaurant served spinach pesto. I knew he wouldn’t eat it if he knew about the spinach so I “forgot” to mention it to him. Oops. He enjoyed his pasta with spinach pesto, goat cheese and nuts, and asked for it again the next day. What would you do – tell or not?

9. If you want to go to a fancy restaurant with your kids, check with them ahead if it would be OK for the kids to sit at the table and do a coloring book. We usually bring an activity book and colors with us because not every restaurant has them.

10. Don’t forget to eat your veggies. You will find out that the most popular vegetable side dish is made with potatoes: fries, mashed, baked, and all other forms. Of course we love them in all shapes and sizes, but after a couple of lunches and dinners, it’s time for some veggies, no?!

11. Juice comes only with dessert, not before the entrée. We usually don’t drink juice at home but while on vacation we loosen up on this. But we prefer that our son drinks juice only if he eats most of his meal.

If you have more ideas or tips add a comment below. Thanks!
Nurit

More about this topic:

Kids menu – Is it good for them? Is it good for you?
Stuffed peppers – a picky eater's nightmare?
Encourage good eating
NY Times: Picky Eaters? They Get It From You
Some thoughts about parents and picky eaters
Sometimes it’s Pizza for Dinner

Kitchen superstar Wolfgang Puck shares his secrets

I’ve been posting a lot about kids and food lately, getting your kids in the kitchen, how-to for cooking or baking with your kids, cooking gifts for kids, etc etc.

It’s time to start posting recipes again. I know this is really what you are looking for, right?! I see on the polls’ results so far that most replies are from readers who like to cook and cook often. Please vote your voice on the right side column. There ->>

I saw this article “Kitchen superstar Wolfgang Puck shares his secrets for introducing new tastes to your kids” on Parent & Child magazine, and Wolfgang Puck is one of my favorite chefs, so if you're interested, click here to read more.

A summary:

Encourage your kids to imitate you.
... Trying to force your children to eat a food typically results in bad feelings, making mealtime a chore and a battle. Instead, allow your kids to become curious about foods and develop their own interests. Let them wonder why you like something and then taste it to find out.

Make one dinner for everyone.
“One of the most important things you can do is avoid making separate meals for children and adults,” Puck advises. If you raise a child to think that there are special foods for kids (like macaroni and cheese or chicken fingers), they’ll believe that, and chances are they won’t be as willing to try anything else.

Offer variety, the spice of life.
From the very beginning, expose your little ones to as many flavors as you can, a little bit at a time.

Share the excitement of food.
Invite your children to help you cook—it’s an honor and a great learning experience. Eating out every once in a while, when your budget allows, can also be a wonderful way to get kids excited about new foods, if you do it right. Go on the early side before kids get tired and the restaurants get busy. Choose a family-friendly (I love that he uses this term and not “kid friendly” – N.) place … “It’s also important to eat together at home regularly before taking children out to restaurants,” Puck advises. “You can’t expect them to know how to behave at a table if they’ve never done it before.”

Teach children about what’s on their plate.
Take your kids to a grocery store, farm, cheese shop, bakery, or farmers’ market, so they can see where their food comes from and what it looks like before it lands on the table... Kids will love exploring the enchanting collection of shapes and colors. Teach them how to tell when a fruit is ripe or which bumps and bruises to avoid. When they feel like little experts, they’ll be more willing to eat what they helped you choose.

Previous posts from me about this topic:
Kids menu – Is it good for them? Is it good for you?
Stuffed peppers – a picky eater's nightmare?
Encourage good eating
U-pick farms
NY Times: Picky Eaters? They Get It From You
Kid-friendly tips
Backyard Vegetable Garden

New recipes coming soon!

Nurit

Cooking with Kids: “Feast Lesson”

Once a week I take my son, who is 5 years old, to do the grocery shopping with me. It’s a lot of fun (but wasn’t always like that). I love to see how his interest and excitement about food grows and grows. This of course, doesn’t mean that he is not a picky eater. But that’s OK; I used to be one too as a child and grew out of it. So parents, don’t despair. But I digress, like I always do.

We went shopping together three days before Thanksgiving. We got all excited by the atmosphere at the store; you know… the decorations, the music, but mostly by the bounty of seasonal vegetables and fruits. Wow. I love winter vegetables! And spring, summer and fall too. For some reason, my little boy was particularly enthusiastic, maybe because of all the food I put in our cart – I did get carried away a bit, ahem hhhm, OK, a lot – and me talking about all the delicious meals we are going to have over the weekend and so he asked me to give him a “feast lesson”. Oh, this child makes my heart want to pop out of my chest sometimes. Makes me want to squeeze him.



Well, he didn’t get a “feast lesson”, but I did let him (or did I make him? I guess it depends on how you look at it) help me make one outrageously delicious cornbread stuffing.


So far I have posted about baking with kids because it’s my husband who usually does the cooking with kids. I used to think it is the proximity to fire and knives that made me choose baking over cooking with my kid. The more I thought about it I came to the conclusion that when I bake I am more relaxed, but when I cook the tyrant, control freak, bossy side of me comes out. This is why I prefer to be in the kitchen alone. I’m not a friendly cook. I need to work on that. When people pay me to cook for them I’m nicer though.

Anyway, this Thanksgiving I wasn’t stressed. We had guests coming over and everyone got a task and a dish to bring that I have delegated to them so I had time to try out the “cooking with your kids” thing.
It was nice.

This is how my son, the lucky little angel, got the short version of a “feast lesson”. I showed him how I want the celery, apples, cornbread, and leftover corn muffins chopped. Then I showed him how to whip heavy whipped cream that I used for the pumpkin pie (see tips in A cake for the weekend: Amazing strawberry shortcake post). I don't let him handle the mixer by himself, of course.



And then we set the table together for the “feast”.

Here are a few “How-to” for making cooking with your kids more fun and safe (but not a complete list):

* Set a “station” where s/he can work, clean and clear from clutter.
* Secure the cutting board to the work surface by placing a plastic mat or wet towel/paper towel so it doesn’t slip.
* My son is using a regular serrated kitchen knife since he was 3 years old, not a plastic knife, but I’ll leave that to your judgment with your own kids.
* Washing hands is the first thing to do.
* Wearing an apron is encouraged but optional, depends on the expected level of mess and spill.

For more tips, see the related posts below:
Baking with kids: Chocolate-banana cookies, recreating the magic

Baking with kids: Chocolate cookies

A cake for the weekend: Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Why should you cook with your kids?

PS - I don’t mean to preach to you or anything like that. But I would like to encourage you to spend time in the kitchen with your kids and teach them cooking and baking skills. I wrote many times before that it wasn’t always easy and fun to cook with my son when he was younger. I constantly plan to post about all the difficulties I/we had when we began two years ago. Now, two years later we are smarter so it looks better in the pictures, but believe me, many cooking sessions have ended before they began a year and two years ago.

I would like you to share here (in the comments section below): Do you cook or bake with your kids? Would you like to do it? Do you have any advice, tip or story to share? I'm no expert and would love to hear from you.

Nurit

Holiday Gift Ideas for Kids Who Cook

When my son was 3 years old, he got a Home depot tool box from Toys R Us for his birthday. That was one of the best gifts ever. He played with it a lot, by himself or when he was “helping” his dad build things. It was a wonderful imaginary toy as well as a “useful” one with context to real world activities.

Now that he is 5 and he wants real tools.

I think that in general, if there’s no safety issue, real tools are better choices then toy tools. Kids know the difference. I believe they want to do the real thing. (But I’m no child education expert, so… maybe you know better. This is only my opinion).

When it comes to cooking, he got his own little toy kitchen and kitchen tools at about that same age (3 years). He plays with it from time to time. However, I think that he has more fun when we do actual cooking or baking together in the kitchen while using real kitchen equipment.

Corky Pollan from the online Gourmet magazine , November 2008 issue, (Photographs by Romulo Yanes) shows a few examples of really cool kitchen tools you can give to your kid/s who likes to cook. They are real but they are more colorful and fun looking then “adults” tools which are usually a boring black and white. So if you want to encourage your child/ren to play in the kitchen with you, this might be a cool gift to give for the holiday.
Most of the tools can be found at familiar stores like Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrel, and others.

Another idea which costs nothing but some of your time is – give your child a cooking lesson!

Teaching them a life skill is the most precious gift. I think.

It doesn’t have to be complex. Keep it simple, depending on their level of skills and age and time available. A few examples: baking cookies, making a salad, setting the table, making soup, whatever will be fun for you.

Related posts:

Baking cookies

Cooking with kids

Simplest vegetable salad

Have fun. Play.
Nurit

Gingerbread houses at the Sheraton, Downtown Seattle

If you are looking for something fun to do for the holidays, go see the Gingerbread Village at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel. Local architects and chefs from the Sheraton Seattle team up to design, bake, and build gingerbread houses and creations with a superhero holiday theme.

Time: Mon-Thu, Sat 10am-6pm; Fri 10am-7pm; Sun 11am-5pm. Ongoing Daily 11/25/08 - 1/4/09; check with location for exceptions.

Cost: Free, with a suggested donation to JDRF Northwest raises critical funds for type 1 diabetes research and education at our special events in Washington and Montana throughout the year.

Sheraton Seattle Hotel

(Sixth and Union)
1400 Sixth Avenue

Seattle, WA 98101

More holiday “stuff”:

Holiday Gift Ideas for Kids Who Cook
Cooking with Kids: “Feast Lesson”
Cookies
Kids menu – Is it good for them? Is it good for you?

What fun holiday attractions do you have where you live?

Sometimes it’s Pizza for Dinner

Sometimes I get frustrated. Trying to do it all and having to compromise in everything that I do. I feel like I’m doing the best I can – which is not good enough to me – because I want to do everything perfectly. But in reality I find that I’m not giving enough attention to my kids, not investing as much as I want to in my work, I haven’t opened the mail in the past two weeks (besides paying the bills), haven’t said a word to my husband since he got home, and I’m cutting corners like crazy when I cook. Ohh, and the list goes on and on. Sounds familiar?

As much as I love to cook – and I do, very much – and I got more than 117 cookbooks and a zillion food magazines around me, sometime I have no idea what I’m going to cook for dinner. This is how I came up with the weekly meal plan! But every now and then it’s… pizza for dinner. Ok, this is why it is a weekly meal plan and not a monthly meal plan.

BUT, I have good news. I am not going to give you a phone number to call for pizza when you are stuck without dinner. Today we’ll discuss not just any “pizza” but an upgraded pizza.
Here’s the thing.
I always have frozen pizza in my freezer that I buy at Trader Joe’s. Good planning so far! I tried all kinds of brands but this one is good and worthwhile cost-effective-wise. I use it as a base and add all kinds of good stuff on top. 10-12 minutes in the oven. A salad. And there you have it – dinner.
Kids can help too with the “cooking”. They can chop veggies for the salad and scatter the toppings. Very easy to do and they love it. Young kids can do it too.


This is the sad looking store bought pizza.

Which can be turned into this…

Or this...

How?

Pizza #1
Black and green olives, chopped/sliced
Mozzarella, cut to small pieces
Always add salt and black pepper
Tomato, chopped, without seeds and juice (so pizza doesn’t get soggy)

Thyme
Parmesan, grated
Toasted pine nuts (in a 350 F oven for a few minutes)

Pizza #2
Green olives, sliced
Crimini mushrooms, washed quickly and chopped/sliced
Thyme, leaves only
Feta, crumbled
Mozzarella, diced
Always add salt and black pepper
Parmesan, grated

Bake according to reheating instructions on the pizza package or until cheeses melt.

Sometimes I drizzle a little bit of extra virgin olive oil or truffle oil before serving.

For more toppings ideas, look in your fridge and use leftovers and ingredients who are about to expire soon.

Related posts:

Weekly meal plan

Cooking with kids

Leftovers ideas

Baking with kids: Chocolate-banana cookies, recreating the magic – Part I

A while ago I bragged about how my son, who is 5 years old, wrote a recipe for Chocolate-banana cookies. A recipe! From scratch! All by himself! And no one asked him too.

He made mommy, that’s me, very proud, of course.
That was in September (2008) and I have finally found the time to share with you some tips on how we do it. I’ll tell you right now, it wasn’t always fun to bake or cook together – we started when he was about 3 – but more about that later.

Today I want to share with you some secrets and photos from behind the scene. The timing is perfect because cookie season is about to start and a lot of holiday cookie baking is going to take place in many homes. People are already excited about it, for example, check out the cakespy.com blog, but don’t participate in the poll because I did and I want to win. If you participate it will lower my chances to win one of the cool prizes. I’m just kidding. You know that. Right?!
So, anyway, back to baking with your kid/s.

First, here is the recipe.

The recipe is written in Hebrew. He wrote the title - Chocolate banana cookies. The ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, bananas, chocolate, etc. The quantities, well, mainly in “scoops”, a somewhat vague measuring unit, but this is how they talked about it in his former class when they were sharing and passing lunch around the table. Some quantities are in teaspoons and cups. So here comes an important point: I had to figure out how much to let him do what he wants (and maybe fail), and how much to intervene and give him advice (so he has a better chance to succeed)?

I wanted to recipe to be his, not mine.
I knew that some of the quantities just won’t work. For example, any adult can tell in advance, a baker or not – that 3 teaspoons of flour are not enough to make cookies. So we had a long discussion to figure out what is exactly a “scoop” and looked at other recipes for advice. We have also agreed to adjust the quantities as we go along and added more and more and more flour to the mixer bowl until the consistency looked OK, a total of 2 ½ cups of flour.

So as you can see, there is a fine line between how much the child leads the process and how much you are in charge. When we just started baking together, about 2 years ago, I was more in charge and he had to work on his listening skills and follow my instructions. A few times I had to end up the process because it turned into a battle. Not fun. But today when he has already learned how to work, I can give him more freedom.

In this project he had a lot of freedom to lead, but that is after 2 years of experience.

I learned a lot too. The 2 most important things are, I think:

1. Forget about perfection. It’s not going to be the same as if you did it by yourself. Yep. And not as much fun either as spending the time and doing this project together with your kid/s, and also giving them important life skills.

2. Loosen up. It’s OK to make a mess. This is how they learn. Their motor skills will get better as they grow. You can clean up later together.

Now let's move forward.

First, we wash our hands (there is a potential for the first battle right there), and prepare the "mise en place", or gathering and preparing all the ingredients and tools you are going to need at your work station, as well as reading the recipe.

Learning about measuring cups and spoons is a great way to teach fractions, and math in general.

Peeling fruit is great to develop motor skills. Of course for a kindergartener it’s not hard to do, but little ones can feel a great sense of accomplishment by doing it.

… as well as mashing the fruit...

more peeling to do...

and measuring...

Sifting the dry ingredients can make a mess when their fine motor skills are not yet fully developed. You can have flour all over the floor, so stand next to them and guide/help them.



Scooping is a bit tricky. I usually scoop the batter out from the bowl with the cookie scooper and let him drop it on the baking sheet.

Other related posts:

First projects: fruit salad and a simple vegetable salad
Why should you cook with your kids?
Baking with kids: Chocolate cookies

Have fun.
Nurit

10 Ways to Have Your Very Own Picky Eater

10 Ways to Have Your Very Own Picky Eater by Kim Foster, , The Yummy Mummy.

Published on “the imperfect parent” magazine.

You know, I envy moms who complain their children won’t eat spinach or turn their noses up at pot roast. The ones who worry that little Tommy might fall over, looking all pale and emaciated, because he’s eaten nothing but Cheddar Bunnies and plain ramen noodles for the last eight days.

These women know challenge. Like climbing Everest with nothing but a bathing suit and a can opener. Or sailing around the world in a dingy. A dingy with a hole in it. The sheer experience of having to force feed your kid under the threat of tantrums, silent treatments and episodes of holding their breath until they pass out, not to mention just enduring three meals a day with a kid who won’t eat anything but frozen waffles, must make them just better parents and more centered people, simply because they are going against the monster everyday and living to tell the tale.

That kind of pain breeds real maturity.

So, I want you, dear readers, to have the same opportunity to become better, more well-rounded people through challenge. So, here is how you can cultivate and grow your very own obstacle-making, tantrum-throwing, spinach-hiding, fussy eater and be a better, more well-rounded person in the process.

10 Ways to Have Your Very Own Picky Eater

10. Remind your kid what a problem eater he is. Kids love that. In fact, tell him in front of guests. Call him “picky”, fussy”, “difficult at dinner time” or say things like, “He’s like this because he’s adopted,” and my personal favorite, “He’s just like his father,” and then, roll your eyes dramatically. You will only have to label him a few times before he sullenly looks at his plate of food, pushes it away and demands to be hand-fed McDonald's French fries. If this works, you can go the next step and tell him he is “bad” or “a demon seed” and remind him that he was an “accident”.

9. Put him on the Snicker and Tootsie Pop diet. There is nothing to make a kid love healthy food more than pounding sugar for hours before meal time. I mean, you just want to fill them up, so they aren’t all crying and whining for food, right? So, if they won’t eat your green bean casserole, let him have that Hershey bar. No biggie. I mean, the almonds are protein after all.

8. If you are going to give your kids veggies, take my advice -- pass up all that fresh farmers market stuff and give them vegetables from a can. Kids love vegetables from a can. Especially the soggy, bendy asparagus the color of a green suburban mini-van. And those lima beans! Those babies will turn them off good foods until they are 30. Go with that. Remember, embrace the challenge.

7. On the subject of vegetables, kids love them best when you steam them. A lot. And serve them in a heap on a plate all bland and limp. Or you can nuke them good in the microwave and… To read more, click here.

You might also want to read these posts:
Stuffed peppers – a picky eater's nightmare?
Kids menu – Is it good for them? Is it good for you?
Encourage good eating
U-pick farms
Simplest vegetable salad
NY Times: Picky Eaters? They Get It From You
Some thoughts about parents and picky eaters

What's in your lunchbox?

First signs of fall…



and a few more signs…



and on the way to school, we pass through a little forest…

we see a little creek of water. (No, no salmon swimming here.)

Hard to believe we live in the suburbs, 15 minutes walk to Microsoft main campus. It is like a little adventure every morning. I cannot imagine what goes in a little boy’s head walking to school in such a path every morning.

My son started going to the public kindergarten a few weeks ago and every night we pack his lunchbox and he chooses what he wants to eat.
I use this little cooler that I have discovered in our garage.

I put some ice packs to keep the food in safe temperature.

I don’t have much experience with packing lunchboxes. Add to that your typical picky eater (OK, maybe not so typical because he is a little gourmand in a way), but still a choosy and opinionated 5-year-old, and you see how the menu is pretty limited.

So far we had luck with:
Whole wheat pita is a favorite (not so much luck with a bread sandwich) with: avocado, deli meat, sometimes cheese, hummus.
Yogurt, cheese ball/string, smoothie/milk, fresh fruit, baby carrots.
Rarely, I will put crackers or a fruit snack

So I ask you, all the parents out there – what is in your kid’s lunchbox?

Please offer suggestions.
Shoot me an e-mail, or better yet, post a comment just below…

Thanks!
Nurit