A RealFamilies RealFun Blog

Jun 15 2009

Pizza time

Category: Come and Get It

Paul loves to cook on the weekends, and tries to involve the kids in his cooking projects as much as possible -- probably because he has much more patience than I do. The only bad thing about this is that he doesn't like to clean up afterwards. I put up with it because he usually makes something fantastic.

His latest endeavor is homemade pizza. He's currently experimenting with dough and sauce recipes, so we decided to try Telly Scotchmeyer's version. Nathan was so impressed the last time Paul made pizza that he put it as one of his awards on his behavior chart.

When Nathan finally won it, we set a pizza night, and I went shopping. I splurged and got fresh mozzarella and artichoke hearts for me and Paul. I wanted sun dried tomatoes too, but passed after seeing that a teeny jar was $8. For the kids, I bought store brand mozzarella, Canadian ham, and pineapple. I also picked up some black olives, onions, and turkey sausage (BOGO and cheaper than regular Italian sausage). I think the pizza restaurant down the block ran out of supplies, because the store was out of grated cheese, fresh basil, and pepperonis for some odd reason.

I made the dough ahead of time, but should have made the sauce and chopped the ingredients too, since it was nearly 7 p.m. before we put the first pizzas in the oven to cook. I chopped ingredients and grated cheese while Paul rolled out the dough, and bravely tossed it in the air. This resulted in a light layer of flour covering the kitchen and his shirt -- much to my chagrin -- but the kids loved watching and cheered him on.

After spreading the sauce on the dough, Paul let Nathan and Lucie distribute the ham slices, bits of pineapple, and grated cheese. They tended to pile up the food in spots instead of spreading them evenly, but that was easily corrected. Between the three of them, they made a couple of spectacular looking pies.

Afterwards, Paul and I shooed the kids out of the kitchen in the name of safety. We've had several instances of the kids trying to touch the inside of the hot oven. We've caught them every time, but it's incredibly unnerving. Since they were so excited about helping to make pizza and their dad being home, we practically had to tie them to chairs in the living room to keep them out of harm's way.

Paul made the rest of the pizzas while the first two cooked. Since the oven wasn't quite warm enough, they stuck to the peal and turned out soggy. (Unlike Telly's recipe, we don't use tins or pans, but use peals and pizza stones. We love our kitchen gadgets and accessories.) Not realizing how long it takes to get the oven to 450 F, I should have turned it on while we were preparing the ingredients.

I only managed to have a slice before I was full. After sampling too much food during prep time, I wasn't that hungry. Luckily, the pizza was just as good the next day. Nathan and I ate it for breakfast. His was heated up in the microwave, but I had mine cold. If pizza is just as good (or better) cold than it is warm, you know Chef Paul and his sous-chefs, Nathan and Lucie (and me) did a good job.

 

Jun 8 2009

Potato soup

Category: Come and Get It

Even though we live in suburbia, until about 10 years ago this was prime agricultural (and coal mining) land. There are still several family farms close by including Miller Farms, only a 10 minute drive away. Luckily for us, Miller Farms encourages families and schools to visit to pick vegetables and learn about how food is grown.

Every year we make a trek out to Miller Farms to pick vegetables and pumpkins. This started with Nathan's preschool when he was three. The first year I went, but afterwards I had Paul go with Nathan because he could carry more vegetables than I could. They'd come back with two large bags, including potatoes, onions and turnips bigger than Nathan's head. (No, I'm not exaggerating -- the produce was huge.)

This year, the school took care of our yearly fall visit. Nathan's entire first grade class went for a full day of hayrides and digging in the mud. Lucie tagged along with a preschool friend's family. (They also have a first grader, Cameron, who was in Nathan's homeroom last year.)

Besides getting muddy, exhausted children after a farm trip, I usually get a large bag full of potatoes, onions, turnips, and carrots. Since it was late in the season, they only brought home potatoes, but that gave me the excuse to make a potage.

I do not make the classical French Potage Parmentier which has cream added to it as a thickener. Instead, I wing it with whatever I have on hand. My recipe is super simple to make (though a bit time consuming because of all the peeling and chopping). And my kids love it! The first night Nathan ate two large bowls.

Just remember, the more orange vegetables you use, the more orange-ish the soup. The more green veggies, the greener it will look. Use both and the soup will be brown. So you decide what color your kids will eat. Either way, it's a delicious, healthy dish, and perfect for those cold fall and winter nights. It's also a great way to take advantage of all the seasonal sales on potatoes and chicken broth.

Anne-Marie's Potage

Ingredients:
Vegetables. You want enough vegetables to fill 4/5 of the pot -- potatoes, carrots, leeks, onions, turnips, parsnips, garlic cloves, broccoli, cauliflower, yams, cabbage, etc. No beets or red cabbage. Feel free to add any veggies that have been getting a little old in the refrigerator. Just make sure to trim off any "yucky" bits. The mix should be at least 50% potatoes.

Chicken or veggie broth. You will need enough to cover the vegetables in the pot. 

Salt and pepper.

Herbs de Provence spice mix (I use a liberal amount of this mix, which I've already made up beforehand):

• 3 tbsp. dried marjoram
• 3 tbsp. dried thyme
• 3 tbsp. dried savory
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp. dried sage
• 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

Preparation:
1. Wash, peel, and roughly chop up all the vegetables and place in a very large stock pot.
2. Cover with broth and season to taste.
3. Bring to a boil. Cover and lower burner so the pot simmers for 1 hour or until vegetables are soft. Do not overcook so they turn into mush, however.
4. Let cool enough to puree in a blender or food processor, or use a wand blender.
(I use a wand blender, which was much easier than transferring the cooked vegetables and broth to my Cuisinart. Just remember to unplug the wand before cleaning. I didn't once, and spent time at the emergency room getting my fingers stitched up.)
5. Serve in individual bowls. Salt and pepper to taste. For an extra bit of yumminess, serve with a pat of butter melting on the top.

 

May 22 2009

Caffeinated kiddos

Category: Come and Get It

Paul has come a long way from the trailer park he grew up in. Considering that his parents didn't finish high school, it's impressive that Paul has managed to not only graduate from high school, but leave college with two undergraduate and two graduate degrees.

Yet you can take the boy out of the trailer, but not the trailer out of the boy. There's something about Paul being white trash that comes out in our kitchen -- his love of cabbage fried up in bacon grease or cooking up big bowls of steamed beet leaves covered in vinegar. I've learned to like those dishes, too.

Then there's the white trash habit of letting kids drink coffee. Being true to their roots, Nathan and Lucie have developed an early love for the stuff. For most folks, coffee is an acquired taste. I didn't like it until I was in high school, but only drank coffee at the trendy cafes my friends and I hung out at way before Starbucks conquered the world. Still, I'm a diehard tea drinker. Herbal, chai, English or Asian blends...I love them all.

Paul's the family coffee drinker, having developed a strong habit in graduate school. (He's convinced that without it and beer, he wouldn't have survived college.) Weekend mornings, Paul will make himself a big mug of the stuff. But if he leaves it on the coffee table unguarded, it's a guarantee that the kids will sneak sips from it until it's gone.

There's nothing funnier than Paul picking up his mug, peering into it, and declaring, "Darn it, you kids! Who drank all my coffee?" Nathan and Lucie will then flee the scene of the crime, giggling all the way.

Just so Paul doesn't go into the coffee DTs, we've developed a recipe for kid's coffee so they can have their own mugs. You can probably find a version of this in your better white trash cookbooks.

Kid's Coffee
Take one kid sized mug and fill 1/2 to 3/4 of the way with milk. Add lots of granulated sugar, and then fill the rest of the way with coffee. Zap it in the microwave until warm but not hot. Stir and serve.

(You can also fill up a sippy cup 3/4 of the way with milk. Add some sugar and a little coffee. Then put on the lid and shake. Do not heat in microwave. Serve.)

Note:  After drinking, take the kids to school and let the teachers deal with your over-caffeinated, hyper offspring. If it's summer break, call grandma to come over and play toss in the yard so you can go back to bed.