Me and Mollie

Okay, this is it, the debut of my much anticipated project in honor of my new favorite movie (Julie and Julia). I am definately a servantless american cook but cooking for kids is more my style, no Beef Bourguignon here. So, instead of cooking through Julia Child's recipes, I am going to cook through Mollie Katzen's recipes. For those unaquainted with Katzen, she's a well known vegetarian cookbook author who happens to have three awesome cookbooks for kids, Pretend Soup, Salad People, and Honest Pretzles. So awesome, that Sawyer likes me to read them outloud to him. He likes to hear the comments from the kids who helped test the recipes and he loves the step by step illustrations, which always end with "Eat!". I'm thinking that it will take me about a month or so to get through the recipes in Pretend Soup! I hope so because I'm going to have to return it to the library around then!

I hope you'll check out her books, try some of these recipes, and get inspired to cook with your kids. Like most of the stuff I try, it's a big mess, but lots of fun (until you have to clean up).

Pretend Soup
What better place to start than with the title recipe. It was a gorgeous sunny day when we tried this one. We decided to cook outside. Get lunch made and get fresh air and Vitamin D at the same time. Also, I wasn't too worried about spills since we were outside, let the ants have their share of OJ. One of Katzen's tips about letting kids pour liquids is to place the containers over a shallow pan with a lip so that it catches any spills. It caught the spills but it was also handy for holding and carrying the ingredients, utensils, and dishes.

Sawyer did the measuring himself after I showed him where to stop. He had a little extra OJ, but he got the hang of pouring and slowing down before stopping by the time we got to pouring the yogurt. I ended up using Strawberry yogurt smoothie from Trader Joe's since that's what we had on hand. He used a plastic table knife to slice the bananas and the strawberries. Katzen suggests cutting the banana in half and then making a one inch slit in the peel so they can peel it themself. It worked like a charm. He counted the banana slices and strawberry chunks into the bowls himself, I just had to double check his work to make sure I got my share. Then he ladeled the liquid over the fruit and we both ate it all up. A little sticky, but super yummy! The yogurt and lemon juice make it a little tangy, and the honey and OJ sweeten it up. Nice and cold. Great for Spring or Summer. I'll make it again! And it joins the list of what to do with bananas when you have too many around.

Speaking of bananas . . .
Chocolate-Banana Shakes
were for lunch today (with carrot sticks and cheese and crackers).

This recipe is also joining the list of things to do to use up bananas. Sawyer measured and dumped the milk, peeled and broke of chunks of banana, measured the cocoa, counted the ice cubes and pushed the button on the blender. I have to say I was skeptical, the book claimed that it would taste like there was ice cream in it even though there isn't. But I was fooled and I'm not a huge banana lover like the rest of my family. Just watch out for the banana chunks settling to the bottom of the glass, you might get an extra banana-y last sip like I did. And Sawyer was disappointed that the banana chunks clogged up his silly straw. But "no worries" he drank the whole glass anyway!

Homemade Lemon-Lime Soda Pop
Now this was the perfect beverage for a silly straw! I've heard that slurping through silly straws is good for development. Something about strengthening the sphincter muscles. Seriously!

So I am now going to admit that I buy the plastic lemon and lime shaped bottles of lemon and lime juice because I'm too lazy to squeeze my own. I'm sure that fresh juice tastes better. As much as I want to use "real" citrus juice I don't seem to be able to use lemons or limes for the intended recipe before they go bad. And the cute little bottles of juice can stay in my fridge a LONG time. Hmmm. . . Well, it still tasted really really good when we used the "fake" juice. But I hope to try it with real juice in the near future, it will probably be even better. Use what you have on hand people!

This one takes a little advance preparation- you have to thaw the apple juice concentrate ahead of time. But again, it's super simple measure and dump. Use a tall glass because we got perilously close to the top when we dumped the sparkly water in ours. It required some sipping off the top, but it was very refreshing and way better than normal soda. I love that she recommends trying it with other kinds of fruit juice (I know what I'm going to do with the grapefruit from the farm box now!).

My only complaint is the bowl of melted apple juice concentrate that is still sitting in my fridge. Either plan to make enough glasses so you use it all up, or plan to make it several days in a row until it's gone. Trust me, you'll want to make more, so it won't be a problem.

Quesadillas
I know, you already know how to melt cheese on a tortilla. You probably also know that they taste better when you heat them on the stove in a pan instead of in the microwave. But do you add refried beans to yours? It's the secret ingredient!

What I loved about following Mollie's directions was that I actually let Sawyer use the hand held grater which he enjoyed immensely. He would do a tiny amount and then look to see if any came out and put it on the tortilla, then grate a little more. It was slow going but worth it to see his sense of accomplishment. Also, she talked me through letting him help flip it over himself. Adult: Put the spatula under the quesadilla. Child: Flip it over. Adult: Make any necessary corrections.

It was one of the better quesadillas I've made myself. Well, that my child has made for me!


19 recipes total, we've tried 4 so far, 15 recipes left to go!

Five Books I Discovered at the Library, Then Bought for Myself (I mean for My Kids)

1. Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
When the people aren't paying attention the duck on this farm climbs on the bike he's had his eye on. He quickly gains confidence and starts showing off for all the other animals who tell you what they think about his antics. In the end, they all get their own turn on two wheels.

2. Cha Cha Chimps by Julia Durango and Eleanor Taylor
This book has irresistable rhythm and rhyme. Plus it's useful for teaching your children how to count down from 10 to 1, and perhaps more importantly you get the chance to explain the difference between the tango and the samba . My favorite part? The mom calls the babysitter and gets to go back to da club after the babies are all tucked in. Very lively for a bedtime story!

3. Truck Duck by Michael Rex
A board book that packs humor into two rhyming words per page. One word names the vehicle and the other names the driver. Great for those who love vehicles and unexpected animal drivers. It's a lot of fun to read it as a guessing game where I read the first word and my son guesses the second part. Now he's started "reading" the whole thing with the help of the picture clues.

4. Tough Chicks by Cece Meng and Melissa Suber
We've all had those moments where we are so proud of our children's unique qualities and strive to encourage them, but yet also find ourselves explaining and defending them to those with other expectations. This cute barnyard story goes deeper than you would expect as it illustrates mama hen's unconditional love for her chicks. At first the farmer and other animals are critical and wish the chicks were just like all the others, but by the end of the story they appreciate the chicks for who they are.

5. Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney
If you have been on a shopping trip from you-know-where, you'll crack up as little llama decides he's tired of shopping and decides to throw all the stuff Mama Llama has put in the cart on the floor. She handles it gracefully, an inspiration to us all (well, and a little bribery is involved)! I was a little worried my son might start pulling a similar stunt, but instead I've been able to refer to this book and use Dewdney's humor to get us through the errands.

Perfect Playdough?

I recently made five batches of playdough in one afternoon for my son's birthday party. While stirring, and stirring, and stirring I was contemplating whether my recipe was as good as it gets.

I'd love to hear about any other recipes you have. This one cooks up easy with ingredients you probably have on hand, looks terribly lumpy and like it's not going to work out, but you keep cooking and stirring and sure enough it forms a ball. Inspired by my son's awesome teachers at The Children's Studio I tried a couple batches with scents thrown in (cinammon, mint, vanilla, lemon). It keeps for quite a while in a tupperware at room temperature.

Cooked Play Dough
from Kindergarten Cooks by Nellie Edge and Pierr Leitz

1 cup flour
1 Tbs oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of artar
food coloring

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.
Cook over medium heat.
Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball (and you think your arm will fall off)
Knead until smooth.
Store in a covered container.

So that's the best I've found. But here are two more that I plan to try out once my five batches get dried out. Test them out and share the results with me if you get a chance.

Playful Peanut Butter Dough
from Kindergarten Cooks by Nellie Edge and Pierr Leitz

1/2 large sized jar creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs honey
2 cups powdered milk
raisins
mini marshmallows

Put peanut butter into a bowl.
Add honey and some of the powdered milk.
Mix it with your hands.
Keep adding powdered mlk until the dough feels soft and playful.
Use it like playdough.
Mold it into shapes.
Or use cookie cutters.
Make designs with raisins and marshmallows.



KoolAid Dough
from the BC Parent Handbook for 1st Year Toddler Class

Depending on what flavor KoolAid you use, this dough has a wonderful smell and unusual color.

Boil 2 cups water and add 3 Tbs oil.
Add these to the following dry ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
1 Tbs cream of tartar or alum
2 packages of unsweetened KoolAid (any flavor)

Cool a little and knead. This recipe works well in the food processor.

Digging in the Dirt

At a park playdate last week, one of Sawyer's friend's moms brought along some diggers that the kids used to dig in the dirt at the base of all the trees. We came home covered in dirt, on the clothes, in the hair, under the finger and toenails. But it was so worth it! They loved it. I loved it.

Sawyer's description of what they were doing was "dig yuck-yuck". "Yuck-Yuck" has become our all purpose term for anything you are not supposed to touch because it's dirty. It started with mud, and has expanded to include pooh, food on the floor, and dirt in general. For a long time, perhaps due to my overzealous effort to have him avoid the mud below the bench at our local outdoor basketball court, he needed A LOT of encouragement to touch or even walk on dirt.

Recently we've had a breakthrough though. I can't tell you how excited I was to see him helping in the garden with no gloves on. Happily picking rocks out of the soil and putting them in a bucket. And he's started picking up balls that roll into the dirt without pausing to look at me and see if it's okay. A big improvement from refusing to get the ball at all. And he's even touched several worms.

So why the big turn around? I think it has to do with seeing other people having fun in the dirt. I've been busy digging compost into the soil, planting our garden, and enlisting his help in short bursts. When he woke up from his nap on several days in May, I greeted him with my shirt and socks covered in dirt (apparently Crocs weren't really designed for gardening). We've also been going to Farm Tots at the South 47 Farm (www.south47farm.com), where he's been touching dirt while planting starts of chinese brocoli, walla walla sweet onions, and lettuce which are now growing in our garden. And he got to make a "worm purse" and bring a worm from the farm home to our garden.

I guess what I realized is that there's no better way to show them that dirt is not always "yuck-yuck" than getting down and dirty with them in your own yard, at the park, or on the farm.

Pizza! Pizza!

Need a yummy plan for dinner? Having trouble cooking and entertaining your child at the same time? My solution yesterday was making pizza with pre-made dough from the store. We use either canned tomato paste or pizza sauce from a jar and add whatever toppings we have on hand. Yesterday it was what was left of the shredded mozarella (not much), roasted red peppers, mushrooms from our farm box, and pepperoni. Sawyer greased the pan, dumped and smeared the sauce (over the dough and the table), and put the cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms on.



It looked like a 2 year old made dinner, but it tasted great! We added a salad too and if he hadn't been distracted by daddy coming home, he might have washed the lettuce, dried it off, and torn it into pieces or cut it with a table knife.



We've made homemade dough in the past, which is a fun floury and sticky mess. It just takes more patience since you have to let it rise. But you can cook, take a play break, and cook some more. Here's one recipe for homemade dough from Cooking Light on myrecipes.com: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1227877

Painting with a Ball and Box

Yesterday we made some cool paintings using a box, golf ball, paint, paper, and a few pieces of tape. Tape the paper in the bottom of a box (it's best if the paper covers most of the bottom of the box). Let your child choose the colors of paint and put the paint on the paper. Have them place the ball in the box. Show them how to roll the box around so that the ball rolls through the paint and makes tracks all over the paper. Stop when your child thinks their masterpiece is complete. You'll want to have some wet paper towels handy to pick up the ball and wipe it clean, and then wipe any paint that is on the box sides and bottom once you remove the painting.

It was so tempting to take this project over. Let them make choices about the color combinations, the number of colors, how much paint (watch out with this one, we have one that is still drying), where to put the ball, whether to roll the ball with one color before adding another color or add all the colors of paint and then roll, and when it's finished. Resist the temptation to jump in and take over, empower their inner artist. I practically had to sit on my hands.

I was surprised that this activity held Sawyer's attention as long as it did. Four paintings in a row! You just never know what will capture their interest. We did one painting with a whiffle ball a few months ago and he was D-O-N-E after one. Sawyer's favorite part yesterday was choosing the colors he was going to use, lining them up, and unscrewing the lids. Oh, and he loved putting the paints back in the box when we were done so much he dumped them out and put them away again. Also, just so you know, I ended up doing quite a bit of the actual rolling, but I always let him roll first, then when he wanted me to roll I asked him to give me directions like "Where do you want the ball to go next?" and "Tell me when to stop."

Variations: You can make areas of white space by having your child cut out or just tape down some shapes with scraps of paper before adding paint and rolling. When it's dry, remove the shapes.

You can also paint with other things that will roll around in the box. What can your child find that will work? Rocks or pine cones? Marbles, whiffle balls, tennis balls? An orange, lemon, or avacado? And who says you can only put one thing in at a time? Let me know what you try!

One of our paintings is on it's way to dad's art wall at work, and I think two are headed for grandparents' mailboxes, that leaves one to tape to the pantry door since I'm out of fridge door space and magnets!

Solar S'mores Oven

I sure hope it's sunny tomorrow, because Sawyer and I are planning to make s'mores in a pizza box turned solar oven while we play outside. Like so, so, so many of my projects, I got this idea from Family Fun Magazine. See their directions for the project at http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11954 or just go to their website and search for "solar s'mores". If you don't have an account with them, you might want to make one. It lets you save the directions for projects in your own "craft box" for future reference.



I cut the flap in the lid of the box tonight, so I won't have to use the forbidden sharp grownup scissors in front of my scissor loving boy. But I plan to have him glue the foil and black paper and help with the taping of the saran wrap. And of course, he'll be positioning the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. I'm envisioning a major tangle of saran wrap and tape. And some chocolatey goodness on our fingers and faces when we assemble and eat our s'mores.



So go to it, make a messy treat while you do whatever your kids like to do outside. We'll be kicking the ball, scooting the bike, and running the bases while we await the chocolatey melt down. As Sawyer would say, "Set, GO!"