Touch the Turkey!

Today and tomorrow many parents have a great teaching moment waiting to happen when they cook a turkey.  Involve the kids and you can lead them to explore:

  • Habitat ~ find out where wild turkeys live
  • Farming ~ discuss life on historic and modern farms for the farmers and the turkeys
  • Anatomy ~ ask children what's the same and different about their bodies compared to a turkey
  • Temperature ~ talk about how hot the turkey must be to kill any harmful bacteria and let children watch the thermometer rise
  • Taste ~ allow children to help make a brine or rub and talk about flavors
  • Safety ~ talk about how to keep your body safe when using a knife and oven
  • Sensory ~ touch the turkey!  Many kids will want to see how it feels when you press, how the bones feel, and the differences between uncooked and cooked meat

May your cooking be fun and food be delicious!

Cranberry Bread

Alex's relatives are from New England, Massachusetts specifically.  Lillian is named for his great grandmother who made annual trips to Cape Cod.  There's a connection with the ocean there that is unlike other places I know.  We visit the Cape area as often as we can.

The Baillieul clan loves Massachusetts cranberries and I am happy to share their enjoyment of this antioxidant packing fruit. These bright red gems scream 'holiday' to me!

I purchased our first fresh cranberries last week.  I nabbed eight bags of organic cranberries grown in Buzzard's Bay, the very place we visit in Massachusetts.  Cranberries freeze beautifully and that is the fate of most of my stock.

I will be sharing a few cranberry ideas over the next few weeks, starting with this traditional Baillieul recipe for cranberry bread.  It is delicate, delicious, and low fat.

The recipe starts with an unusual technique for a quick bread: squeeze juice of one orange (or lemon, which we used because we didn't have an orange) into measuring cup.  Add zest and enough boiling water to make 3/4 cup.  Melt 2 T butter into this mixture.

I know some dont love cranberries but I can eat them raw. Yum!

Chop 1 cup cranberries.

Beat 1 egg in a bowl.  Add 1 cup sugar (can be reduced to 3/4 if you wish) and beat well, until the sugar is almost dissolved.  Add 2 cup flour (I use King Arthur whole wheat white) 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg.  Mix all together gently.

Add the cranberries and stir to distribute evenly in the batter.  1/2 cup chopped walnuts are a great addition but Lil doesn't like them.

Transfer to a baking pan.  I bake in a stoneware loaf pan and it makes wonderfully crispy crusts.

Bake at 325 for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool on a rack.  If you can wait til the next day, the bread slices better.

[print_this]

Cranberry Bread from Alex's Great Great Aunt Mary Makes: one loaf Time: 20 minutes preparation, 1 hour baking

1 orange

2 Tbsp butter

1 egg

1 cup sugar (can be reduced to 3/4)

1 cup fresh cranberries, halved

1/2 cup walnuts, optional

2 cup flour (can use up to 100% whole wheat white)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Squeeze juice of one orange (or lemon, which we used because we didn't have an orange) into liquid measuring cup. Add zest and enough boiling water to make 3/4 cup. Melt butter into this mixture.

2. In a separate bowl, beat 1 egg. Add 1 cup sugar (can be reduced to 3/4 if you wish) and beat well, until the sugar is almost dissolved. Mix in orange juice mixture.

3. Add flour (I use King Arthur whole wheat white) salt, baking powder, baking soda, and grated nutmeg. Mix all together gently.

4. Stir in cranberries and (optionally) walnuts.

5. Spoon into a loaf pan. Bake at 325 for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack. If you can wait til the next day, the bread slices better.

[/print_this]

Finding Time to Cook Fresh Local Foods

Go to the farmer's market...Prepare the ingredients...Cook...Eat...Cleanup...  Serving fresh local foods can be a time consuming process.  With some practice and efficiency, you can eat locally without spending hours a day.  Here are some ideas:

Streamline Purchasing ~ subscribing to a CSA or growing food yourself saves time and transportation resources.  If you do shop the market weekly, make a list and stick to it.

Prepare in Batches ~ Chop ingredients that get used often (like onions and garlic) in large batches and save in the fridge.  Double stock, puree, and sauce recipes and freeze the remainder.  Make extra rice, mashed potatoes, and lentils for reusing in the following night's lunch or dinner.  Double pancake, waffles, stuffed shells, enchiladas, etc. to freeze.  Make one big batch of beans in the pressure cooker and use them in salads, sides, and lunches for the whole week.

Practice ~ Making your first loaf of bread from scratch seems to take all day.  As you bake more often, the process will become so second nature that you suddenly think it takes now time at all.  So it is with other cooking methods.

Cook Simply ~ Every meal does not need to include multiple cooked courses.  In fact, it is often healthier to have simple fresh foods.  Typical dinners at our house include a protein, starch (often baked alongside the protein or leftover from big batch cooking), and fresh salad or fruit.

Make Cooking Fun ~ Put on some music.  Include the kids.  When you re-frame cooking as a hobby instead of a chore, suddenly it becomes easy to carve out more time.

Eat Well ~ We eat together for two - three meals a day.  This is our family reconnection time.  We talk about where the meat comes from, what's fresh from the garden, and the pertinent parts of our day.   Acknowledging the source of our foods creates an atmosphere of reverence and enjoyment.

Cleanup ~ With all the cooking, dirty dishes are endless here.  I myself could use some help keeping up.  The best idea I have is to let go of the feeling that your house must be perfectly clean.   Build in a routine for picking up the clutter and loading/unloading the dishwasher. A lived in house will never and should never look clean all the time.

How do you make time to cook well?

Happy Halloween!

We carved pumpkins on Tuesday night.  Lil's tiny pumpkin was a huge pain because the walls are so thin.  But look how cute it is!

Lil wanted to be a ghost this year.  I didn't see any reason to be fancier than the cut up thrift store sheet.

When we adopted Hawise from the Capital Area Humane Society, her name was Hot Dog.  I saw a hot dog costume and knew she had to have it.  Apparently, wearing a costume is doggie torture to her.  She is also not a fan of the standing still for picture taking....

Not to be undressed, Devie had to be costumed in this witchy outfit.  She does not mind costumes one bit.  This photo shows off her recently diagnosed luxating lens - notice how the eye reflections don't match?

May your Halloween is spooktastic!

Let Them Use Knives

posing with knife under strict supervision Most children have an innate desire to mimic their parents.  This is especially true in the kitchen.  With the proper instruction and practice, children CAN do most everything adults do.  Turning their motivation into teachable cooking moments sets the foundation for a lifelong healthy relationship with food.

Even young kids quickly become truly helpful cooks. In this busy age, having a child who is able to assist making meals and make themselves a snack is a time saver.

Beyond helpfulness to you, allowing children to contribute raises their self confidence.  They are more likely to eat foods they have helped prepare.  Think of years later when kids who cook age into college students able to feed themselves well.

We teach by modeling first, then working together, and finally allowing independence.

One of Lillian's favorite tasks is to help chop fruits and vegetables.  At first she was allowed to use a plastic knife, then metal butter knife, and has now graduated to a paring knife.  Yes, my just four year old uses a paring knife, the same paring knife Alex sharpens regularly.

When teaching children any lesson in life, it is necessary to give them the right tools.  It makes sense to me that if a child can exhibit self control and wants to cut a tomato, a butter knife is not going to do the job.

Of course, we maintain some basic precautions.  Knives are stored out of reach so they may only be used when an adult is around.  If Lil is in an angry or wiggly mood, we help her find a way to be calm before helping in the kitchen.  If she gets too excited about chopping and begins to look unsafe, we substitute a different knife or ask her to come back later after she has spent some energy.

"But what if she cuts herself?" aunts and grandparents ask when they see her with a sharp knife.  "What if?" I answer.  Given her lack of strength, it is unlikely she will do permanent damage if she slices a finger tip. Adult cooks, even professionals, cut themselves often.  Lil is well acquainted with the story about when Alex self amputated a bit of his thumb while chopping onions.  Practicing now under supervision is as good a time as any to begin knife skills.

With freedom and her sharp knife, Lil has grown to become a great assistant in the kitchen.  I give her cloves of garlic to chop and she does it happily.  She can chop apples for sauce, cut cheese in chunks, de-seed tomatoes, quarter mushrooms, and more.

I say, let children use knives.  Model good knife skills and allow them to practice under supervision.  You will not only give your children a life skill, but get some relief from chopping all those ingredients yourself!

Kids Cook Lesson One: Herbs

Today was the first class in the Kids Cook series.  It was a rousing success with a dozen kids and parents participating! Because I was leading the class, I did not take pictures.  Next class I will ask someone to take a few pictures for me.

Here's a quick recap of the class:

We washed hands with soap.  Then everyone smelled, touched, and looked at the variety of herbs.  We came up with a definition for herb:

"green, leaves, smells, can eat it"

Then, we tasted the herbs. Everyone liked different flavors!

Kids tore up their favorite herb or combination and mixed it into Ohio made cream cheese.  They spread this on crackers for a tasty snack.

Next we made window herb gardens.  This is a fun activity for anyone to try at home.

  • Use a hole punch to make two holes below the seal of a ziploc type plastic bag.  We used the snack size.
  • Insert fishing line and tie to form a hanging loop.
  • Place a folded paper towel in the bag.
  • Use a spray bottle to wet the towel.
  • Scatter a few seeds on the wet towel.
  • Hang by a suction cup hook in a sunny (typically south facing) window.
  • Keep the zipper top unzipped to allow for air flow.
  • Re-wet the paper towel when most of the water evaporates.
  • After the seeds sprout and grow their second pairs of leaves, the seedlings need nutrients.  You can either gently transfer to a pot of soil or feed with a liquid fertilizer.

herb window garden after three weeks

We finished by reading Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert.

This series of classes will continue on Thursdays  from 11:15 - 12 at Sprout Soup through the month of October.  The next class is about apples. Please join us if you can!