Here’s our simple Go-To.  I bake a hearty loaf of bread– I’ll post the recipe one day– it makes two loaves!  I cut a thick slice and then slice that in half.  It’s enough for my little woodworker.  We also keep Mana Bread in our freezer for mornings when we find ourselves out of bread.

Like so many parents, I often find myself at a loss on what kinds of peanut butter alternatives to send my son to school with.  Our school is, “nut tolerant” and there are designated, “no nut zones” due to the increased number of children with nut allergies this year.  We still try to do our part and make nut free pesto for school (we keep the good stuff at home).  Some alternatives to the traditional PB&J have been:

– Tahini, Molasses sandwiches (add nutritional yeast for a protein boost)

-Tahini, Banana (mashed) and honey

– Hummus (recipe will follow) and cucumber

– Egg/ tofu egg salad (add kale)

-Tahini and Jelly

While I know that sunflower is another seed butter and a popular alternative to peanut butter, I can’t seem to shake the articles that I’ve read about how much sunflowers absorb certain carcinogens.  My research isn’t complete yet but until I’ve sifted through it all (kind of like arsenic in American rice), I’m steering clear of it as much as possible.  Most things in small doses won’t kill you but 2-17 years is a lot of sunflower butter sandwiches– better safe than sorry.

Tahini, banana, honey sandwich with apple slices and cheddar cheese for snacking.

So much to blog– I will ease you in slowly.  Here’s day 6.  Some days are just simple ;o).

Salami and cheese in crackers, kid made whole wheat pretzels, apple slices, and two whole wheat fig bars for dessert.

We had a late arrival home today (4:30pm).  With Mochi (my 2 year old) needing dinner, a bath and a bed by 5:30pm, that left very little time to prepare an elaborate meal.  So one of my quick go-to dinners is baked potatoes topped with cheddar and bacon.  It literally takes 10 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to bake.  Serve it with a salad and if there are any leftover– I often need to chide my oldest for eyeing his father’s ration– you can pack them up for school the next day.

First steps are to wash and slice your russet potatoes in half. Next, you lather both sides with olive oil. I recommend pouring some of your best olive oil in a ramekin and letting it sit with minced garlic before applying. You can sprinkle a bit of salt and put them in the oven as is for half hour (my mother-in-law taught me this quick, basic and flavorful way to bake potatoes).

We like our meat to be organic and that costs quite a bit. Our solution? We buy very little meat and when we do cook with it, we use morsels. So bacon is kept frozen in our house and when needed for a stew or something like this, I just cut a few slices widthwise. This way we always enjoy quality meat and in moderation. It works for our family– make huge holiday meals a well celebrated occasion. What do I tell the kids? We eat to live, we don’t live to eat.

If you are a vegetarian, add your grated cheese of choice and sprinkle chives or anything else herbally fragrant.

If you’re going for the kill (sorry, I couldn’t resist), top your potatoes with those prepared bacon slices). Place it in the 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

MMmmm. Enjoy!

This is a fun weekend project that is quicker than you would think and the children love to help out.  Of course, if your children are like mine, you’ll have to sigh and relinquish control as they experiment with making pretzels  into intricate abstract forms and ambitious animal sculptures.  My rule for such occasions– give them 1/4 of the dough to do as they will and make your own perfectly sculpted yumtastic bread.

This recipe that I made with the boys is from Molly Katzen’s kids book, “Honest Pretzels”.  I will not post the recipe here– just photograph the steps that we took– you can buy the book or better yet, borrow it from your public library.  Both of her children’s cook books are staples in our kitchen– especially now that my 6 year old can read and follow all of the steps.

That being said, I’m not crazy about her recipe.  It yields smallerpretzels that I wasn’t aware of at first.  My favorite, though it isn’t whole wheat (not like you eat pretzels every week anyway– one day of white flour…) comes from Williams-Sonoma’s website.  Those pretzels are larger and more identical to the ones that I remember growing up in NYC from any given hot dog stand.  Here’s a link to that one– very simple ingredients and again, easy to make.  In fact, you can experiment with using 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose flours if you desire a little more sustenance.

Always proof your yeast. this is 1/4 cup of warm water to wake them up, a pinch of brown sugar to quench their microscopic appetites, and then pour in the little VIPs

Whisk the dry ingredients

Make a well in the center

Pour the wet ingredients into the well.

Mix to combine.

Knead away….

Fold like flaps of a book and knead some more.

Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover it with plastic and a towel and store in a warm (non drafty) place for 1 1/2- 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in volume.

Once risen, punch, knead a bit more and then section your your dough. Your little one will love making the “snakes” for this one.

Add pretzels into boiling water and remove them with a slotted spoon. Place on a cookie sheet, spray with water and add your toppings (some prefer to add them in the end). Bake for the amount of time designated in your recipe.

Enjoy!

One of my favorite reasons  for belonging to a CSA (community supported agriculture) is that we receive a box each week with many vegetables that I am not familiar with cooking with.  It forces me to think outside of my tried and true, “box” and instead experiment with what is in my CSA box.  It allows my family to enjoy food that is in season, all season long.  I first came across the environmental and health benefits of eating as close to seasonally as possible while reading Barbara Kigsolver’s, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” a wonderful and informative read especially for those of us who cook for our family.

This week we received a bounty of green tomatoes.  I wasn’t sure what they would taste like or what to do with them but I remember reading that they were popular in some parts, breaded and friend (what isn’t?)  So I gave it a shot.  The result was that it was a bit firmer and tarter than red tomatoes.  I would never use it as a substitute.  If we get any next week, I’ll probably like them sprinkle the slices with salt, dill, olive oil and perhaps a smear of La Tur cheese ;o).

This week we put a fried egg on it and placed it on a bed of arugula.  My husband loved it!  How do you prepare yours?

6 tomatoes sliced into thick 1/2 inch slices, dip in egg (I used two) and then combined corn and all purpose flour 1:2.

Here’s what we yielded out of the frying pan (fried in safflower oil).

Worked for us! The children were not as impressed but my oldest doesn’t like tomatoes either.

Ready for dinner or tomorrow’s lunchbox!

We’ve spent a lot of time experimenting and learning about yeast.  Pele’s kindergarten class did a unit on bread last year and I volunteered to bake bread with the children and to teach them about yeast. The children were fascinated to learn that yeast, “poop” carbon dioxide.  They were also fascinated to learn that yeast is a fungus (we loosely covered the different kingdoms) and closer to mushrooms than they are to plants!

Using 5 test tubes, we also did an experiment to see what yeast preferred to eat (salt, sugar, baking soda, soil, molasses).  We also established that certain things (like molasses) actually were sugars which explained why the yeast responded to those.  I was happy to learn that we weren’t the only family to use nutritional yeast (great in popcorn), brewers yeast (ginger ale, beer) in addition to baking yeasts.

For this recipe, one of the first steps to preparing the dough is to, “proof” your yeast.  Think of proofing as literally finding proof that your yeast is still living or “active” and prepared to work.  It’s a great way of explaining it to children.  They “get” that some living things hibernate or remain dormant for periods.  The warm water gently awakens the yeast (as the warmer spring weather does the bears) and gives them a safe environment to thrive.  A teaspoon of sugar gives those hungry yeast something to feast on.  Let your child smell the yeast and watch as it multiplies.

I allow the children to add ingredients and to help me knead the dough.  In truth, if the children weren’t around, I’d do most of this in the Kitchen Aid mixer in the name of efficiency and if your child is a toddler, I suggest that you do that and just allow them to pat/knead a small piece of dough.  You can let their little pat rise in a ramekin.  The dough in this recipe is tough and you’ll need to put all of your weight into kneading it well.  I allow my eldest to knead it and once he becomes bored, I take over and add the elbow grease.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls (with sesame seeds)

2 tsp  Active Dry Yeast

1 1/4 C  lukewarm water (use only 1/4 cup for proofing)

1 1/2 C  All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 C  Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (whole wheat is fine too)

2 tsp  Salt

1/2 C  Sesame Seeds (optional)

Whisk all dry ingredients (not including the yeast) and create a well in the center.

In a separate bowl, proof your yeast using 1/4 C of the warm water and a generous pinch of brown sugar.

After 20 minutes if your yeast has passed the test, add the yeast solution along with the remaining cup of lukewarm water to the well of the dry ingredients.

Put those little hands to work and then bring out the “big guns” and knead until your dough is smooth and elastic– should not be sticky.

Once the dough has risen, punch it a knead it a tad more. Cut it into 14 even pieces and roll them into balls (don’t stress that your chid’s balls aren’t perfectly round, they will all rise and taste the same– even if it is a little funny looking ;o). Place them in a round, buttered) cake pan, cover and leave them to rise until they have risen over the rim of the pan.

Once they have risen the second time, put them into your preheated 375 F degree oven and bake for roughly 30 minutes. If using sesame seeds, sprinkle some on top.

Once bread is removed from the oven, allow it to cool on a rack.

Years ago while in graduate school, I worked a baker’s shift (yep 4am- noon) at an old coffee house in Alameda.  One of my favorite pastries that I learned to make were cheddar dill scones.  After leaving, I spent years trying to figure out how to make them taste exactly like the one’s that I remember.  I used science to figure out how to make them flakier or denser (depending on whether they were being served with high tea, or stew).  More butter, less butter, cheddar cheese, monterey jack… it just went on and on.  After 10 years, I am finally ready to share my warm and savory little experiment with you all.

Once cut and wash has been added, you can freeze them (first on a tray and then in your freezing tupperware of choice).  I don’t thaw them, but you can.  Just pop them on a tray and place them in the oven.  They’re as good as the first day.

*Variation* When adding the dil and cheddar, add chopped, crispy bacon for an even savory variation.

Kemmeo’s Cheddar Dill Scones

2 Cups of All Purpose or Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

12 Tbs butter (1 1/2 sticks)

1/2 Cup heavy cream

2 eggs

3 Tbs chopped fresh dill

3/4 Cup of grated cheddar (+ an optional 1/4 cup extra for garnish)

1 yolk with 2 Tbs heavy cream.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

See Step-By-Step for directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients. One trick I learned while working a baker’s shift through graduate school, was to add each teaspoon of (salt/powder/soda) in separate heaps and whisk with each new ingredient. As a mom, as in a busy restaurant kitchen, it’s easy to get distracted and forget whether or not you paused in between that first and second teaspoon or third and fourth teaspoon of baking powder. Tip= Priceless!

Cut your butter into the flower until it resembles the peas. Pastry cutter is a tool of the trade. It’s worth it’s weight in gold if you’ve ever tried to use two butter knives or a fork to cut butter into your dry ingredients.

This is what I’m calling pea sized.

Chop dill and mix it into the flour.

Add shredded cheese and mix with a spatula or a wooden spoon.

Beat cream and eggs with a whisk.. I sometimes like to add a pinch of paprika.

Add wet ingredients into flour ingredients and gently mix to combine the ingredients. Mix just enough so the dough is sticky and then place it on to a floured board. Be sure to cover both sides with the flour.

With a floured rolling pin, roll your dough out to a disc. Be sure to keep it roughly 1/2 inch thick.

I like to square off my scones– others don’t mind the circular batch. I prefer right angles in this case. Another handy tool, also a pastry cutter. This one has a ruler on it so you can actually measure the width or thickness of your dough. Use it to slice your dough and when you’re all done, use it to shovel up leftover dough and flour on your table.

Slice the dough into eighths. First halves, then quarters, then eights.

For school lunches, I then take three 1/8 slices and then cut those in half. The rest are either frozen or baked and served up right away for breakfast.

Using a little leftover cream in my measuring cup and an egg yolk, I brush the tops with the wash. If you have any to spare, add a little cheese followed by a bit of dill on each newly washed piece. Place into the oven and cook until slightly brown (roughly 12-15 minutes).

La Voila! Perfection. Enjoy.