Monday, December 13, 2010
What to do, What to do...
Lately I've been thinking, I wanna open my own restaurant, once I'm older of course. I mean what would all this cooking pay of for if I DIDN'T have a restaurant? Then I thought "Oh! I need a name and type of food I'm going to serve" Well, I thought of that and I decided to sell sandwiches. Me and my mom make a butt kikin' big sandwich. So mom and me agreed on naming our restaurant "Whole Lotta BS" I thought it was hilarious and so did my mom aparently. so we had our future planed.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Easter Creations ;D
OMG!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe it's only 2 weeks till EASTER!!!!!!!like just today I made a Rice Crispy looking egg with a melted marshmallow type of frosting!!!It was SO good!!And before that we made puppy chow! Witch is just peanut butter melted chocolate and melted butter with powdered sugar on top all mixed around in a bowl and it is the best thing you will EVER eat in your whole life!!
Oh and the reason we haven't done anything with our blog is
because we have not cooked ANYTHING for about the last month!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know why either I guess we have just been busy cooking.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late
Obviously, this isn't as simple as I thought I would be. Cook a few things, write a few words, no big deal. Right.
Time has a funny way of running away. There never seems to be enough of it to go around, and it doesn't come back. We missed a few scheduled dates for cooking, and then had so many to catch up on it became a feast! Egg Salad Sandwiches just didn't happen. Chef Connor didn't think they sounded very good so they were vetoed. This was fine with everyone else. Not many seem to like them. I don't mind them, but seem to only have a taste for them once a year.... Easter. This grew out of a need to diminish the supply of hard-boiled eggs in the house. I didn't want them to go to waste, and no one was eating them otherwise.
Enough said. Pass on that recipe. His choice.
However, the next 3 were excitedly looked forward to. Quesadillas, Fresh Salsa, and the Oodles of Noodles Soup. Of course, I hadn't planned we would be having all of them in one meal. Silly me.
Quesadilla's are pretty simple. Some cheese, a tortilla and a pan. Very tasty, and certainly a quick meal to make.
Salsa proved to be a bit more effort on Connor's part. Lots of chopping. Not an easy task when you're still working on knife skills. He stuck with it, though, and managed to get through it all. The taste and smell was amazing. I may never go back to jar salsa again! (Of course, I haven't cleared that with him, yet.)
The soup was very good, and another simple recipe. Funny enough, this was the one he was most excited about. The recipe was Asian inspired which is his favorite type of food. Not to mention it was full of noodles... his other favorite food.
All three foods were pulled together in to one meal and I was the ONLY person home to eat it!!!
There were leftovers, of course for everyone to have a taste when they got home.
I ate those, too.
Time has a funny way of running away. There never seems to be enough of it to go around, and it doesn't come back. We missed a few scheduled dates for cooking, and then had so many to catch up on it became a feast! Egg Salad Sandwiches just didn't happen. Chef Connor didn't think they sounded very good so they were vetoed. This was fine with everyone else. Not many seem to like them. I don't mind them, but seem to only have a taste for them once a year.... Easter. This grew out of a need to diminish the supply of hard-boiled eggs in the house. I didn't want them to go to waste, and no one was eating them otherwise.
Enough said. Pass on that recipe. His choice.
However, the next 3 were excitedly looked forward to. Quesadillas, Fresh Salsa, and the Oodles of Noodles Soup. Of course, I hadn't planned we would be having all of them in one meal. Silly me.
Quesadilla's are pretty simple. Some cheese, a tortilla and a pan. Very tasty, and certainly a quick meal to make.
Salsa proved to be a bit more effort on Connor's part. Lots of chopping. Not an easy task when you're still working on knife skills. He stuck with it, though, and managed to get through it all. The taste and smell was amazing. I may never go back to jar salsa again! (Of course, I haven't cleared that with him, yet.)
The soup was very good, and another simple recipe. Funny enough, this was the one he was most excited about. The recipe was Asian inspired which is his favorite type of food. Not to mention it was full of noodles... his other favorite food.
All three foods were pulled together in to one meal and I was the ONLY person home to eat it!!!
There were leftovers, of course for everyone to have a taste when they got home.
I ate those, too.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
What Has Happened So Far
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You will never believe what has happened so Far!
You will never believe what has happened so Far!
- Mixing Batter was a total MESS!!!
- Cooking it was awsume
- EVERYTHING!!!
What I liked about it is the experiance of it.What I diden't like about it is
the fact that i got all dirty and stuff like that,
the fact that i got all dirty and stuff like that,
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A Blend Of All Things Good
Nothing is more fun than learning to use a new gadget. Tonight was a night for just that. Since we didn't manage to make the fruit smoothies yesterday as planned, we decided to make them in addition to the planned tomato soup for dinner. It just so happened that both recipes called for the use of the blender. This required a bit of effort on my part since this is probably the least used appliance in my kitchen. I just don't do blending very often, I guess.
We decided on strawberries, raspberries and blackberries for our fruit and Connor went straight to work on cutting the tops of the strawberries and eating the raspberries as he prepped. The best part of cooking is the tasting along the way, I think. Connor seems to have picked up on that as well. The recipe was a simple smoothie with yogurt, fresh fruit and a touch of sugar. Ice was optional. They were very good and such a pretty color on a dull gray day like today. They even smelled like summer! Maybe if we keep making them, it will hurry the warmth along....
Next came the tomato soup. Again we needed to use the blender to blend the tomatoes into a nice smooth texture. He also decided we needed to add some of his favorite herb, basil, to the pot just to "kick it up" a bit. The kitchen smelled amazing as it simmered on the stove. Of course, we had to have the obvious companion to accompany our soup... grilled cheese sandwiches. We had a wonderful loaf of sourdough bread from the bakery ready for grilling.
As the soup simmered, Chef clarified for me just what my place was in his kitchen. "Bus Girl," he says, "make the sandwiches!" Excuse me? Bus Girl?? I'm not even a Sous Chef to him?? Bus Girl. Thats like a level above whale snot, isn't it? I checked over my shoulder to see if someone else had entered the kitchen to start making sandwiches. It was only me. I look back at him and see a smirk on his face and he starts to giggle. What a turd. He knew what he was saying and what I was thinking.
Being in the kitchen with a 9-year-old brings an entirely different atmosphere to a home. At least it does in my home. Connor is very secure in his role as Chef and although he takes his cooking seriously, he never lets the fun disappear from the room. The music is on, we are singing along and stopping to dance and hip-bump each other. He cracks jokes, giggles even when they aren't funny, all the while checking the recipe for the next step and tracking on the progress of things cooking. He even finds it easy to laugh at himself when he makes a mistake or forgets an ingredient. He fixes it and moves along, still singing and enjoying himself. There are signs of his attention to the chefs he learns from on TV when you observe him absorbed in his tasks. A pinch of sea salt is added with flair and dropped from a distance, with a flick of the wrist. All thats missing is the "Bam!" Smelling whats cooking requires using your hands to bring the aromas to your face as they rise from the pan. Eyes closed and all. Its amusing to watch, but I see in him an honest understanding of what he is attempting. For his part, it's not for show. It is just the way it's done. Nothing odd or flashy about it. Its just what a good chef should do. He is a budding "good chef".
By the way, the soup was wonderful. The perfect side to some excellent grilled cheese sandwiches.
What? I'm just saying......
We decided on strawberries, raspberries and blackberries for our fruit and Connor went straight to work on cutting the tops of the strawberries and eating the raspberries as he prepped. The best part of cooking is the tasting along the way, I think. Connor seems to have picked up on that as well. The recipe was a simple smoothie with yogurt, fresh fruit and a touch of sugar. Ice was optional. They were very good and such a pretty color on a dull gray day like today. They even smelled like summer! Maybe if we keep making them, it will hurry the warmth along....
Next came the tomato soup. Again we needed to use the blender to blend the tomatoes into a nice smooth texture. He also decided we needed to add some of his favorite herb, basil, to the pot just to "kick it up" a bit. The kitchen smelled amazing as it simmered on the stove. Of course, we had to have the obvious companion to accompany our soup... grilled cheese sandwiches. We had a wonderful loaf of sourdough bread from the bakery ready for grilling.
As the soup simmered, Chef clarified for me just what my place was in his kitchen. "Bus Girl," he says, "make the sandwiches!" Excuse me? Bus Girl?? I'm not even a Sous Chef to him?? Bus Girl. Thats like a level above whale snot, isn't it? I checked over my shoulder to see if someone else had entered the kitchen to start making sandwiches. It was only me. I look back at him and see a smirk on his face and he starts to giggle. What a turd. He knew what he was saying and what I was thinking.
Being in the kitchen with a 9-year-old brings an entirely different atmosphere to a home. At least it does in my home. Connor is very secure in his role as Chef and although he takes his cooking seriously, he never lets the fun disappear from the room. The music is on, we are singing along and stopping to dance and hip-bump each other. He cracks jokes, giggles even when they aren't funny, all the while checking the recipe for the next step and tracking on the progress of things cooking. He even finds it easy to laugh at himself when he makes a mistake or forgets an ingredient. He fixes it and moves along, still singing and enjoying himself. There are signs of his attention to the chefs he learns from on TV when you observe him absorbed in his tasks. A pinch of sea salt is added with flair and dropped from a distance, with a flick of the wrist. All thats missing is the "Bam!" Smelling whats cooking requires using your hands to bring the aromas to your face as they rise from the pan. Eyes closed and all. Its amusing to watch, but I see in him an honest understanding of what he is attempting. For his part, it's not for show. It is just the way it's done. Nothing odd or flashy about it. Its just what a good chef should do. He is a budding "good chef".
By the way, the soup was wonderful. The perfect side to some excellent grilled cheese sandwiches.
What? I'm just saying......
Monday, January 11, 2010
Muffins and omelets.... breakfast and a blog
The weekend was a busy one in the kitchen. Saturday morning, Blueberry Muffins were the recipe of the day and without hesitation, Connor went straight to work pulling ingredients from fridge and cupboard, and equipment from all places. There comes a point when I have to wonder, what does he need from me? He is so at ease moving about the kitchen, reading the recipes and cruising through the steps without question or concern.
I see now, that its in the little things. HOW do you turn on and preheat an oven to 350? This is the way to turn on the stove so that the pilot lights and you dont blow up the house. Yes, I can reach inside the oven and pull out the muffin pan. Yes, cream cheese is difficult to blend with fresh herbs if its not room temperature. I become a technical consultant to many minor tasks when cooking with my son. Or.... I become the grunt that gets the "boring" or dirty tasks that get left behind.
Chef barks out orders and I hop-to-it. Get a fork, wash a bowl, pick out the egg shell. Whatever it is, its my part and I do it willingly. I dont want to disappoint The Chef.
For their parts, the muffins were great. I must say, I am not a fan of muffins. This comes from 13 years of daycare in my home. Muffins were the breakfast enemy with their crumbly mess and bites of paper in the mouth, not to mention that the tops are the only part eaten and the rest was dog treat or trash. Messy.... Icky. This was not my experience with Connors muffins. They were quite moist and flavorful, bursting with fresh blueberries. Sweet and delicious with the added surprise of a small amout of sugar sprinkled on the tops so it added a fun cruchy top. He has renewed my love of warm muffins.
Sunday's Cheese and Herb Omelet was a fun excursion into the perfect flip. This seems to be the fear of many when making omelets. How to get the egg cooked enough yet remain moist. Then comes the signature flip to create that beautiful half-moon shape. I don't know about you, but I hold my breath every time, afraid I'm going to tear it or turn it into scrambled mess. This is a skill that cant be taught. It can only be learned through practice. DONE. First time, second and third... each one done like a pro and looked even better than the picture in the cookbook. He amazes me. I have to believe its the lack of fear of making a mistake that allows Connor to approach it like he would putting on his shoes. Its something you just DO. No biggie.
Fresh basil and cream cheese were a wonderfully delicious, aromatic and light flavor to start the morning and I was in heaven as we ate as a family a wonderful Sunday breakfast. One thing I can certainly say is happening with this process.... it definitely is bringing us all together. Funny how food does that!
I see now, that its in the little things. HOW do you turn on and preheat an oven to 350? This is the way to turn on the stove so that the pilot lights and you dont blow up the house. Yes, I can reach inside the oven and pull out the muffin pan. Yes, cream cheese is difficult to blend with fresh herbs if its not room temperature. I become a technical consultant to many minor tasks when cooking with my son. Or.... I become the grunt that gets the "boring" or dirty tasks that get left behind.
Chef barks out orders and I hop-to-it. Get a fork, wash a bowl, pick out the egg shell. Whatever it is, its my part and I do it willingly. I dont want to disappoint The Chef.
For their parts, the muffins were great. I must say, I am not a fan of muffins. This comes from 13 years of daycare in my home. Muffins were the breakfast enemy with their crumbly mess and bites of paper in the mouth, not to mention that the tops are the only part eaten and the rest was dog treat or trash. Messy.... Icky. This was not my experience with Connors muffins. They were quite moist and flavorful, bursting with fresh blueberries. Sweet and delicious with the added surprise of a small amout of sugar sprinkled on the tops so it added a fun cruchy top. He has renewed my love of warm muffins.
Sunday's Cheese and Herb Omelet was a fun excursion into the perfect flip. This seems to be the fear of many when making omelets. How to get the egg cooked enough yet remain moist. Then comes the signature flip to create that beautiful half-moon shape. I don't know about you, but I hold my breath every time, afraid I'm going to tear it or turn it into scrambled mess. This is a skill that cant be taught. It can only be learned through practice. DONE. First time, second and third... each one done like a pro and looked even better than the picture in the cookbook. He amazes me. I have to believe its the lack of fear of making a mistake that allows Connor to approach it like he would putting on his shoes. Its something you just DO. No biggie.
Fresh basil and cream cheese were a wonderfully delicious, aromatic and light flavor to start the morning and I was in heaven as we ate as a family a wonderful Sunday breakfast. One thing I can certainly say is happening with this process.... it definitely is bringing us all together. Funny how food does that!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Banana Pancakes
After a long day at work I was ready to come home and go to bed. I knew that wouldn't happen. It's Day One of our cooking excursion and there would be no delays. At least I was allowed to change in to comfortable clothes before getting started.
Connor was as excited as I expected he would be. He grabbed his apron, and ingredients and utensils started flying. He needed very little help from me. I gave a few suggestions, but he seemed very comfortable in the kitchen. What was most pleasing was in between the measuring and mixing. Connor shared his day with me. This seems to be something of a struggle in our house. "How was you day?" or "What did you do today?" is usually followed with one-word answers... "Fine." and "I dunno. Nothing."
Today was different. I heard about field trips and stories that the teacher is reading. Gossip from the lunch table and homework hassles. None of it was prompted by questions. It was really awesome. There is something very relaxing about mashing and stirring. The pace that he cooked with didn't seem frenzied or rushed. As we enjoyed the smells and waited for the perfect brown before he would flip, there was nothing to do but talk and it seemed more natural than ever before.
Connor's calm in the kitchen just seemed to be another assurance of his comfort in that room of the house, and it impresses me. I could take some examples from him.
As for the meal itself.... the pancakes are so yummy! Connor,of course, added chocolate chips to them. In this house, there is no such thing as pancakes without chips. He also make scrambled eggs and sausages. Before allowing anyone to eat he stood at the head of the table, made a speech introducing the meal as "the first official blog meal" and had an air of pride that flowed from his eyes as much as his words. Kudos to the chef!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Shopping
Why am I doing this myself? I should be shopping with Connor in order to truly let him be a part of the entire process. Yea. Because grocery shopping is so much fun. Oh boy. Wahoo. I know... thats not the point. He needs to experience the whole thing. Choose his own bananas, pick out the blueberries. See the obscene prices for butter and milk. This is his journey and I'm along to monitor, assist and write about it.
Its difficult to balance the pressures in my mind about my role versus his. It seems to be easy to get excited about his desire to cook, but I struggle with actually LETTING him cook. Slowing down to let him chop, teaching him not to blow up the house by turning on the stove without allowing the electronic pilot actually light the burner, and taking him through each step of creation is going to be tougher than I thought. I may have more to learn than Connor does.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Why I Love Cooking(By Chef Connor)
- Making the food (Very fun!)
- Buying the ingredients (Very fun again)
- Plating the food (Fun time)
- For fun (MHHM)
- YUMMY (OF COURSE!)
- Gives energy (YES!)
- Healthy (Yes it is)
- Smelling the food ( OhhYeahh)
- Eating The Food (Another OhhYeahh!)
These are only nine of the other five I have.I think cooking is one of the best careers out there!But other people don't like it so theres your goods and your wrongs and your greats and your"HOLY CRAPS!!!!".But mostly your goods and wrongs.I also like singing but that's a whole different blog.So that's basically why I love cooking.
P.S."God Bless America"For cooking!!!
Step One
The toughest part of this journey seems to be making itself clear already. Patience. Connor is very excited to begin this process. Right now. The glory of children is their vision of a finished product and not being overwhelmed by the tasks of getting there. This seems to come from the fact that they dont see there are any steps between what we want to do and doing it.
We have managed to choose a cookbook to start with. Last Christmas, we gave Connor several cookbooks of his very own, and he has read them and examined them in detail cover to cover many times. His favorite seems to be Willams-Sonoma "The Kids Cookbook" (Oxmoor House -2000). It has beautiful pictures of each recipe, has very clear, easy to follow steps, and provides and equipment list in addition to the ingredients which helps with getting the tools needed together ahead of time. My favorite feature is the spiral binding. Why isn't it a rule that all cookbooks be made this way? It makes them soooooo much easier to use!
To preface the discovery of this book (and a few others I have found to be great cookbooks for kids that want to cook) let me just say.... the choices out there for kids that want to learn to cook sucks! I spent many hours in and out of bookstores and doing online searches to find only a small handful that provide what I was searching for in a format that was user-friendly for a young boy. I found tons of cutesy childish creations that said they were "kids cookbooks". No. These are cookbooks for adults that want to make food that looks cute for kids to be entertained by, not to cook themselves. Connor doesn't care about making smiley-face pancakes as much as he cares about making pancakes... period.
Other "kids cookbooks" I found were geared toward adapting recipes into bland, small-portioned adjustments of what the adult version was. Stir-fry where you remove the child's portion before adding the sauces and seasonings (where the FLAVOR comes from) and similar ideas were abound. Nope. The rest were intended for cooking with very young children like toddler/preschoolers, or pink, frilly, girl cookbooks because apparently the stereotype of women in the kitchen is not beyond booksellers either.
So Williams-Sonoma, my hats off to you for giving us someplace to start.
We have managed to choose a cookbook to start with. Last Christmas, we gave Connor several cookbooks of his very own, and he has read them and examined them in detail cover to cover many times. His favorite seems to be Willams-Sonoma "The Kids Cookbook" (Oxmoor House -2000). It has beautiful pictures of each recipe, has very clear, easy to follow steps, and provides and equipment list in addition to the ingredients which helps with getting the tools needed together ahead of time. My favorite feature is the spiral binding. Why isn't it a rule that all cookbooks be made this way? It makes them soooooo much easier to use!
To preface the discovery of this book (and a few others I have found to be great cookbooks for kids that want to cook) let me just say.... the choices out there for kids that want to learn to cook sucks! I spent many hours in and out of bookstores and doing online searches to find only a small handful that provide what I was searching for in a format that was user-friendly for a young boy. I found tons of cutesy childish creations that said they were "kids cookbooks". No. These are cookbooks for adults that want to make food that looks cute for kids to be entertained by, not to cook themselves. Connor doesn't care about making smiley-face pancakes as much as he cares about making pancakes... period.
Other "kids cookbooks" I found were geared toward adapting recipes into bland, small-portioned adjustments of what the adult version was. Stir-fry where you remove the child's portion before adding the sauces and seasonings (where the FLAVOR comes from) and similar ideas were abound. Nope. The rest were intended for cooking with very young children like toddler/preschoolers, or pink, frilly, girl cookbooks because apparently the stereotype of women in the kitchen is not beyond booksellers either.
So Williams-Sonoma, my hats off to you for giving us someplace to start.
Where Do I Begin?
I have a son that loves to cook. I know, that doesn't sound like a big deal and not really something worth starting a blog about. Lots of people like to cook including plenty of kids. Let me put this another way. I have a 9-year-old that is CRAZY about cooking and does it well. His idea of Saturday morning cartoons is watching Food Network shows. In fact, he has already decided he wants to be a chef. I believe he can, and will, especially with a little encouragement and some fostering of an already-present passion.
He has has some opportunities to grow his love affair for the kitchen. One of the more unique and memorable for him was an evening he spent one-on-one at the Minneapolis Hilton cooking with the Executive Chef. It was an amazing evening for him and a catalyst for an even greater desire to encourage his love of all things food. He frequently can be found in the kitchen exploring new tastes, flavors and combinations of ingredients.
This all sounds wonderful, and it is. The other side of this is that many nights when I just want to get a meal on the table and eat after a long day, being teacher, safety monitor and personal shopper isn't always high on my list of "want to's".
Nonetheless, I believe it is more than just a passing fancy for him and as his mother I need to do all I can to assist him in reaching for his dreams.
My husband and I just rented the popular movie Julie & Julia. This has inspired me to begin an similar process. (I have a sneaking suspicion there are MANY with the same inspiration.) Mine is a little different in that I want to embark on this journey with my son...my Future Chef. Not only do I think it would be a wonderful experience for him, but I feel safe in assuming there will be numerous benefits for myself. I think I have as much to learn as he does. Maybe not so much in the cooking, but in the experience itself. Things about myself, my son, and how to help a child grow to become what they dream to be.
So this is the beginning. It starts with this blog. Next we decide which cookbook to use. Then the real learning begins.....
Thank you for being a traveler with us!
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