The Last Weekend

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I had a little escape from the boys this weekend as I travelled back East to my sister Natasha's wedding. Natasha lives with my dad and his wife, Liz, in rural Virginia. They're rural enough that they only have dial-up acccess, which is way too slow for impatient me.

Natasha and Jay had a beautiful wedding, and her daughter Julia was absolutely adorable. It was wonderful to see family and old friends. Although the run-up to the wedding was extremely difficult for the family, the wedding itself was spectacular.

The wedding weekend was not friendly to my waistline, however. My first meal in Virginia was at a barbeque restaurant. I'd forgotten how they eat in restaurants in the south. Every appetizer was deep-fried, and every salad was topped with fried something - onions, chicken, shrimp, cauliflower. Definitely not what I'm used to seeing on California menus. I went for the BBQ pork sandwich and mashed potatoes. Yum!

My dad always lays in a supply of delicious pastries that serve as breakfast, and we ate wedding food and cake for a couple of meals. We polished off the weekend with a terrific meal of grilled filet, roasted potatoes and green beans with hollandaise. It was all so good that I just kept eating. Who knew that hollandaise was so good on potatoes? And beef, and green beans. The food was fantastic, but I cannot eat like that long term. Packing all those calories onto my already-plump frame did not advance my weight-loss goals.

So I'm back in California, and back on a reasonable eating plan. After unsuccessfully messing around with Weight Watchers for the past year, I'm trying the South Beach Diet. I have really mixed feelings about this one. I know it has worked for my family - my mom lost 30 pounds on it, and kept it off, and my sister-in-law and brother swear by it. That's probably why I've resisted it so - because it's worked so well for them. That and I can't really imagine a happy life without pasta. Or bread or fruit. Weight Watchers has worked for me in the past, but I just don't have the willingness to count and stay withing points for more than a day. So I've decided I can do anything for 2 weeks, even survive without fruit and pasta. I'll get it back, they promise.

I read the New South Beach book on the plane back from Virginia, and I've been on Phase 1 for 12 hours so far. Now I have my first real challenge: preparing dinner for my family, and making it one that we will all enjoy. Given that neither boy is very passionate about veggies, this will be quite interesting. It could be good, in that they will be exposed to a ton of veggies on a daily basis. But it could also result in disappointing meals for all of us. We'll see.

Tonight, I'm trying burgers (no bun or ketchup for me), grilled veggies, and a tossed salad. I also have BBQ chips and red grapes for the boys, both of which I will resist. I have apples that I could cut up for the boys, but I am craving an apple so badly that I don't think I could resist it. Wish me luck!

The Joy of Cooking, reviewed

In addition to being a cooking magazine junkie, I'm a cookbook addict. I have hundreds of cookbooks. My collection includes Jewish cooking, Indian, Thai, vegetarian, baking, family cooking, kids cooking, entertaining, and make ahead cooking. I hoard cookbooks, and can't get rid of any of them, even books that are full of failed recipes or food I don't like. But there's one cookbook that is falling apart from use, with pages that are stained and soiled and a spine that is broken. That's my 1997 edition of The Joy of Cooking.

If I had to live with only 1 cookbook, The Joy of Cooking, 1997 Edition is the one. I love that this book is a combination of cooking basics and sophisticated recipes. Need to know how to boil an egg? How to roast a chicken? Joy has the answer. Want to know how to make traditional German Christmas cookies? Joy. Need to understand the differences between real buttercream and powdered sugar buttercream? Joy can tell you everything you need to know.

Joy is a dense, thick book. It has a ton of information, including basics on how to plan a menu, set a table, stock a kitchen, and purchase cooking equipment. Each section has an introductory "About" description that tells you about the technique or item. Basics of roasting, how to choose broccoli, how to decorate a cake, it's all in there. There are few cooking questions I've had that can't be answered by Joy.

The 1997 edition got a lot of flak in the press because it included more gourmet recipes than traditional recipes, but that's part of what I like about it. It has a nice range of Americanized ethnic recipes, fancy recipes for entertaining, and basics. It is the best basic resource for baking that I've found. I've been able to use the recipes as starting points for my own creations.

The 2006 edition was released in part to address complaints about the 1997 edition. The things that upset readers in 1997 - lack of bad 50s recipes like mushroom soup casserole, lower-fat dishes - are exactly the things I love about it, so I have no interest in the 2006 edition. Slate magazine says that the 2006 75th Anniversary Edition restores Rombauer's voice but adds way too much retro nonsense , and suggests Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything instead. I'll check out Bittman's book another time, but until the 1997 Joy is pulled from the shelves, it's my go-to cookbook.

The Joy of Cooking, 1997 Edition : Favorite Recipes

• 1-2-3-4 Yellow Cake
• Buttercream
• Blueberry Cobbler
• Pancakes
• Minestrone
• Blender Hollandaise
• The entire vegetable section
• Baked Stuffed Chicken Breasts
• Chicken Kiev
• Chicken Piccata
• Beef Bourgignon
• Roasted Chicken
• Heck, most anything. I love this book.

Best Laid Plans Go Awry

The best meal plans for the week can go awry. Sickness, exhaustion, bad timing can make the plans go off course one or more days. I try to have backup ideas for us to eat ok, even when I'm not up to cooking dinner.

I started this week with a plan for meals for the week. I created the menu and grocery list on Friday night, and planned to shop on Saturday. However, the boys were sick and whiny Saturday, and I couldn't bring them to the store. Quick change: Pasta Pomodoro, and shopping on Sunday.

I took the boys to the park on Sunday, to burn off energy before we all went to the store. Unfortunately, Dylan fell at the park and badly cut his knees and hands. That ended the day for us - it took about an hour for Dylan's hysteria to subside, and even then the only thing that kept him calm was repeated viewings of Ben 10. By the time Dylan was calm, I was far too tired to go to the store. Progresso Chicken noodle soup and saltines were the best I could do that evening.

By 9 PM Sunday, my throat was on fire. My exhaustion was not from dealing with kid trauma, but from the proliferation of new germs and bacteria that occurs when a child starts school. I've got a bad cold that's draining me of energy - too sick and tired to get off the couch for more than 5 minutes at a stretch. Worst of all, the cold has changed my sense of taste, so that my favorite energy source, coffee, tastes like castor oil. I can't choke it down. Making it all worse, Rudy is out of town for the rest of the week. Aarghh!

So my plan for the week is in the garbage, I haven't been to the store in 10 days, and I still have to feed the kids every night? What am I going to do?

Weeks like this happen, and I try not to be hard on myself. For the most part, I try to feed my kids healthy, home-made meals, but weeks like this are why convenience foods exist. This week, the boys and I will be eating hot dogs and Hot Pockets, canned soup and frozen dinners. I got Rudy to run by Whole Foods before he left, so our fridge is stocked with fresh pre-cut fruits. I'll round out each sodium-laden, fat-filled convenience food with a ton of fruit, and hope it all balances out. I'll give myself a break and know that I did the best I could this week, and I'll try to do better next week.

Cooking Magazine Junkie

I respond to cooking magazines the way that editors hope that women will respond to fashion magazines. I see them as hope, fantasy, and the answer to life's deep questions sandwiched between two delicate paper covers. Just as some women know that the lipstick advertised on page 23 will turn their lives around, I know that if only I had that fabulous Le Creuset Large Dutch Oven or the KitchenAid Professional Mixer, my life would be perfect. I'd have a healthy, homemade dinner on the table every night, my kids would like vegetables, my peers would acclaim me as the best cook ever, I'd entertain regularly, and I'd be a perfect size 6.

I love the days my subscriptions arrive. I carefully set the magazines aside until I have an uninterrupted hour to browse in peace. I salivate over the cover, and then I flip through all the pages looking at the scantily adorned fruits and veggies, and the tastefully enrobed meats. When I've had my fill of pictures, I start back at the front and read the mag cover to cover. I flag recipes I'm particularly interested in with sticky tabs. Then I put the magazine on my desk near my favorite bathroom, available for quick review when I need privacy. When the next magazine comes, I rotate the old mag into the carefully ordered storage box. Open my office closet and you'll find 5 years of date-ordered magazines, sorted by title, with an extra box of random titles I've collected.

Over the years I've subscribed to about a dozen different magazines. I've pared my current subscriptions down to 4, one of which I still get because I can't figure out how to unsubscribe. Here are brief reviews of some of my favorite and some of the most popular cooking magazines. If you're interested in subscribing to any of these, please use the link provided: it will help support the site and keep me writing! Although I provide the links, please know that I'm offering my honest opinions of these magazines.

Fine Cooking Magazine: My absolute favorite cooking magazine. Although the recipes are sophisticated, they're also very manageable. Every recipe I've ever made from this magazine has worked perfectly in terms of flavor, cooking times and techniques. Also has great reviews of equipment. This magazine is written by people who are passionate about cooking, but understand how people actually cook. It's neither too chi-chi nor too impressed with itself. I get so excited when this one arrives, and I have a hard time choosing what to make first. I make something out of every issue, often again and again.

Eating Well Magazine: A great magazine for those of us who are trying to eat better. In their terms, "better" means more produce, more whole grains, locally grown, etc. The best thing about "Eating Well" is that it shows multiple ways to use unfamiliar but available ingredients, like whole grains or specialty produce. For example, this past month featured a ton of heart-healthy recipes, made-over burgers, peas, and shrimp. I also like their attitude towards real food - it's better to use a small amount of great bleu cheese than a large amount of fat-free cheese. It's a healthy and balanced approach to cooking that I enjoy. However, the magazine can be a bit hit-and-miss for me. Some months, there is nothing I want to make, and some months I want to make everything. It's good enough that I keep my subscription, but I ignore about 2 issues a year.

Cook's Illustrated: I'm keeping my subscription to this one, but I find it pretty annoying. I learn a lot reading it, but the process of recipe creating is outlined in excruciating detail. There are always some great tips. When I read the long-winded test processes, I learn interesting things about cooking and technique, but it can be like reading a text book at times. It's sort of the "Consumer Reports" of food magazines. Given their elaborate testing procedures, I've had mixed success with the recipes. About 40% of the recipes are a disappointment, even when I am careful to follow the directions exactly.

Food and Wine Magazine: I have a current subscription to this one, but that's only because I haven't figured out how to cancel it. This magazine is food porn - gorgeous but unreal and unsatisfying. Although it's well written, most of the recipes are overly complex. They don't integrate well with real life, often requiring trips to 2 or 3 specialty stores. The recipes are definitely entertainment-oriented, not aimed for family life. The magazine is appropriately named: it's pretty equally divided between food & booze. That means that 50% of the magazine is totally wasted on me because I don't drink. The recipes I've prepared from this magazine have worked well, but it's rare that I want to make anything. The recipes are just too complex.

Cooking Light Magazine: I subscribed to Cooking Light for years. It's a satisfyingly plump magazine, with around 100 recipes per issue. The magazine is oriented to real life: the recipes are streamlined, often appealing to families, and use readily available ingredients. I don't like the reliance on low-fat and non-fat ingredients to achieve the "Light" part of the title. There is always a recipe makeover, which shows how to lighten up a classic heavy recipe. The makeover teaches some good techniques. Generally a good magazine, but it gets repetitive after a few years. It's a good one to look through at 6 PM when you need dinner on the table at 7:30. Lots of recipes you can make from your pantry and freezer. The annual recipe collections are a great alternative to the magazine.

Gourmet Magazine: I keep trying to like this magazine, but I just don't. It's more snobbish that Food and Wine. It covers food, wine, and travel, all the parts of the "Gourmet" lifestyle. I think the target customer for this magazine is the urban professional without kids. The recipes are complex and use hard-to-find ingredients. Definitely not the magazine to browse to find something to make for dinner tonight. I subscribed to this one for only 6 months.

This Week's Menu

It's cooling off a bit here in northern California: we no longer run our air conditioning at night. My mom's just left for 3 weeks in Indonesia, and I'm feeling the need to be a little homey. So this week's menu has a lot of tradition:

Saturday: Roast Chicken with Mashed Potatoes & Broccoli

Sunday: Chicken Pot Pie with Parmesan Biscuit Crust

Monday: Semi-Cobb Salad (salad tossed with vinaigrette topped with turkey, shredded carrots, jicama, tomatoes, and a bit of shredded cheddar)

Tuesday: Spaghetti, Meatballs, Garlic Bread

Wednesday: Stovetop Mac & Cheese with Broccoli

Thursday: Turkey & Cheese Paninis with Sweet Potato Fries

The only semi-complex item is the Chicken Pot Pie, and I'm going to make that easier by roasting the chicken and all the veggies when I make dinner on Saturday.

In Which I Again Prove That I Am Not Martha Stewart

Thursday was Ryan's birthday party. We had it a week early because my folks are going to Indonesia for a few weeks, and Rudy will be in Arkansas on Ryan's actual birthday. So after considering hosting a family party during the week, a real party on the weekend, and cupcakes for his class, I decided to combine parties and just have the real party on a Thursday evening. Would have been totally undoable if I had a job, but this is one time that being unemployed paid off.

I'm not a big believer in over-the-top kid's birthday parties. So far, all of the boys' parties have been at home, with fun, games and usually a bouncy house. I'd consider a more elaborate event at SuperFrank's or PumpItUp for any birthday that's divisible by 5. But I think a normal party should be at home, with about 1 friend per year of age. Family doesn't count in this calculation. Ryan invited 6 friends to the party, but only two could make it. Adding family and near-family, we had 17 people.

I had planned a simple party - we'd have pizza, a couple of salads, a pinata, and a few classic games. The theme was Superheros - Spidey, Batman, the Hulk. I wanted to have capes for all the boys, but I couldn't find affordable ones. And I didn't think of making them out of felt from a fabric store until just now. See, immediate proof that I'm not Martha. She'd have had tailored personalized superhero costumes hand stitched months before the party. Hell, she would have invited people more than 1 week in advance.

Things started to go wrong just as the first guest was arriving. I was making the pizzas from scratch. I tested them out over the weekend so I'd be sure they worked. I wasn't thrilled with the crispy crust from the practice round, so I chose a new recipe. I have always had great luck with recipes from Fine Cooking, so I knew this dough would be really tasty. I started the dough the night before so it could rise in the fridge. I took it out to rest for 2 1/2 hours before the party. I just glossed over two tiny little details: that I was supposed to hand-toss the dough, and that I only had 1 pizza stone. I didn't think these would be a problem. The article made the hand-tossing look really easy, and I had 3 pizza pans. I'd do one on the stone, and 3 on the pans. No problem, right? HA!

It turns out that hand-tossing is not so easy. The dough is really malleable and simple to work with, but if you put pressure in the wrong place as you're rotating, great big holes get torn in the dough. My first round was appropriately thick at the edges, translucently thin on half the middle, and about right on half. My second round never got round: it was an equilateral triangle, but the dough was appropriately thick. My third and fourth rounds were just like the first one, except they also had giant tears in them. I had to tear off part of the crust to patch the holes. I was afraid to re-work the dough, because I thought it would turn out tough. So I topped the pizzas and put them in the oven.

It also turns out that a pizza stone is also a pretty critical component of successful pizza baking. Those perforated pie pans are worthless. The triangle pizza cooked on the stone was perfect. The crust was golden brown and flavorful, and it held the toppings well. But the 3 pizzas in the pans were disasters. The bottoms of the pies never crisped up at all. In the center, the pies were liquid. There was nothing but topping, because the sauce and dough combined to be mush. The outside 2/3 of the pies cooked on pans were delicious, but the centers were inedible.

As frustrating as the pizzas were, everyone got fed. The pizza and the salads were a big hit, but they were nothing compared to Jessica's amazing Spidey cake. Jessica is our nanny, shared between my boys and their cousin Mac. She's a wonderful person who just fell into our lives, and I thank God every day that we have her. Best of all, she has hidden talents: she's a professionally trained baker. Family birthday cakes have been her job for the past two years, and we've never had cuter cakes. Or better tasting ones: the cakes taste MUCH better than they look, and I think they look great.

Between dinner and cake, we burned off some energy in classic races. The boys had head-to-head sack races. We paired up for a 3-legged race: me & Dylan, Gram & PopPop, Jessica & James, Ryan & Thomas, with big Zach supervising from the slide. The boys had a simple obstacle course, then a pinata, cake, and gifts.

All in all, it was a perfect kids' party. I'm sure the boys would have been just as happy with Pizza Hut pies. I know there will be a time when they beg for store-bought food and Safeway birthday cake. They'll complain that their friends get to eat at Chuck E. Cheese and have over-sugared fake cake. They'll think that our insistence on homemade food is evidence of their deprivation. And then, in their 20s or 30s, they'll realize how much love went into all that cooking, and how very special it was that Jessica agonized for 2 days decorating their cakes, and that Mom spent 36 hours working on pizza that she could have ordered in 10 minutes. Like so many other things in parenting, homemade birthday parties are an investment that pays off only over time. At least that's what I hope.

The Birthday Menu

• Caesar Salad (made without chicken)


• Fruit platter of watermelon, pineapple, grapes


• Pizzas: Used 2 batches of Fine Cooking Dough to make 4 large pizzas. Made 1 batch with 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and honey instead of sugar. Cooking time for large pizzas is about 20 minutes in a 450 degree oven on a pizza stone (preheat for 30-45 minutes).




• Nacho Pizza: Wheat dough, red sauce, 1/2 can drained rinsed black beans, 1/2 cup thawed frozen corn, chopped green onions, smoked mozzarella, cheddar cheese


• Roasted Veg Pizza: Wheat dough, red sauce, 2 sliced grilled zucchini, 1 sliced grilled red bell pepper, 1 sliced grilled yellow bell pepper, fresh mozzarella, cheddar


• Sausage Pizza: White dough, red sauce, fresh Italian sausage (crumbled and sauteed, then boiled for 10 minutes to make sure it's cooked through), mozzarella, cheddar


• Cheese Pizza: White dough, red sauce, smoked mozz, fresh mozz, cheddar, parm. Top with fresh basil immediately after removing from oven.

Although I was unhappy with how the dough cooked on the pan, I loved the flavor and texture, and I will use the recipe again. I will probably roll in and shape the edge rather than hand-tossing it, and I will cook it on a stone, never a pan. I would not use this recipe to make pizza for a party where everyone is eating all the pizza at the same time. It would work for a party where pizzas were served one at a time.

It's All About Attitude

When I was writing the post on Sneaky, Deceptive Chefs, I deliberately ignored one area I couldn't logically reconcile. I am a big believer in improving the nutritional value of food. I will happily replace fat with applesauce in baked goods, add spinach to spaghetti sauce, and kale to soups. How is that different from the Lapine and Seinfeld approach of sneaking veggie purees into foods?

A brief discussion with my always wise mother helped clarify my thinking. She pointed out the difference between improving the nutritioanl profile of a food and sneaking unexpected veggies into something: it's all about attitude. The sneaky, deceptive attitude says that vegetables are disgusting and have to be hidden. They need to be disguised to be palatable. This is not an attitude that I have, and I don't want my children to believe that, either.


We live in a country where ketchup and batter-coated french fries are both classified as vegetables by the USDA for the purposes of meeting school lunch nutritional requirements. Not surprisingly, the obesity epidemic continues to grow, diabetes rates are rising among our youth, and the healthcare system is in turmoil in part because we're fat. We're helping to create a world crisis, as well: industrialized nations are getting fatter as they adopt our eating habits.

I believe children try to rise to the level of our expectations for them. If we expect our children to dislike fruits and vegetables, if our attitude is that we have to hide them and disguise them to make them palatable, then that's the outcome we'll get. If, however, we have a healthy relationship with food, and we model that behavior, and we expect our children to do the same, there's a much better chance that our children will eventually be open to the whole delicious world of food.



Related Posts on this site:

• The Problem with Sneaky, Deceptive Chefs


• Overcoming Food Resistance

Overcoming Food Resistance

Yesterday, I wrote about the problem with the Sneaky, Deceptive method of getting your kids to eat nutritious food. Today, I'll look at some ways to get your kids to eat a wide variety of foods.

The first thing is to recognize the difference between dislike and resistance to a new food. We all have foods we dislike. I dislike onions and most fish, while Rudy won't eat beets. We have each tried again and again to enjoy these foods, but cannot seem to overcome our dislike. There's something about the smell, the texture or the taste that just doesn't appeal. Each of us could eat our disliked foods if the alternative was starving, or if we didn't want to offend a host, but we wouldn't enjoy it. I'd have to work hard to choke down a Fish and Pickled Onion Sandwich, even if it was served by the Queen's own hand.

Resistance to a food, however, is when a person refuses to even try the food, especially an unfamiliar food. The first response to seeing, smelling, or hearing about the food is "Yuck!". It can be met by varying degrees of theatrics and hysteria. For example, I made black bean soup for dinner tonight, and I served it with warm tortillas. My 3-year-old, Dylan, usually loves soup, beans, and tortillas. This should have been a simple meal. But Dylan got mad that there was nothing in the tortilla - he wanted a burrito. He kept saying that the soup looked like poo. When I suggested he dip the tortilla in the soup, he began to whine and cry. He repeatedly stated he wouldn't eat it, it was disgusting and he was going to die. All the while, his brother and I sat and happily ate our soup. I'll tell you what happened at the end of the post, but this story is a pretty typical illustration of resistance to a food.

There are a few simple, effective techniques to overcome resistance to a food. But in order for any technique to work, there is one important shift that a parent must make: stop fighting about food. Kids control very little in life, but one thing they can control is what they eat. The usually yucky and occasionally wise Dr. Phil tell parents never to lose a fight with their children. The struggle over food is one the parent can't win. Unless you are prepared to force-feed your child, you cannot control what your child swallows.

My pediatrician told me that parents are responsible for what is served and when it is served, and children are responsible for what and how much they eat. My job is to serve a variety of healthful meals on a regular schedule. It's my kids' job to choose what they're going to eat from what I'm serving, and how much of it they eat. For the most part, I stay out of their choices at the table. This approach gives the kids a sense of control, and it allows me to keep my frustration to a minimum.

There are a few simple rules to making this strategy work:

1. Make sure there is always some non-offensive food the kids can fill up on. Good choice are whole-grain bread, pasta, fruit. It should be healthful enough that if it's the only thing the kid chooses to eat, it's ok.
2. Offer food only at regularly scheduled mealtimes, and have 4-5 meals each day. In our family, the daily meals are breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, nap-snack, and dinner. This enables me to say to a child who refuses to eat, "that's okay, the next meal is nap-snack." Then I stick to it. Because we have 5 meals a day, we all know that it's only going to be a few hours until the next meal. And I can put up with the whining that long.
3. Never become a short-order cook. If you start making special meals for one child because they don't like something, you'll soon be doing it at every meal. If you're making sure that there's bread or fruit on the table, there's no reason to get up and make a special meal. Your child can make do with what's there. My exception to this is breakfast - I'm often a short-order cook at breakfast. Ryan has cereal or a waffle, Dylan has eggs or a waffle, and I have oatmeal. But it only takes 10 minutes to prepare the different meals, so I'm okay with that.
4. Don't take it personally if they refuse to eat something. I spent the better part of Sunday making pizza from scratch. I made my own sauce from tomatoes in our garden, I made crust that rose for hours, I rolled it out so each person could have their own, and I custom-garnished each pizza with toppings chosen by that person. Dylan took one bite of his lovingly crafted pizza and refused to eat any more. He gorged on watermelon. I worked hard on the dinner, and I was disappointed that neither boy ate much (Ryan took 4 bites), but it was not personal. I made a dinner I felt good about, and they chose not to eat it. No problem. (Now, it's a whole different story if my husband refuses to eat something I've worked hard on....)

Given this basic non-confrontational attitude towards meals and foods, how do we then get our kids to eat new and different foods? There are a number of proven techniques.

1. Start young, if possible: kids between 8 and 15 months tend to be less resistant to new foods than pre-schoolers - especially if they've consumed the food in breast milk. They just need to have food presented in manageable pieces. The more food you get your infant to eat, the more acceptable choices you'll have for your toddler and pre-schooler. My pediatrician had me start feeding the babies vegetables. We progressed from rice cereal and oatmeal to squash, carrots, peas, and sweet potatoes. We introduced fruit only later, because kids naturally like sweet foods. So it can be more important to have young toddlers eating tons of veggies, then worry about fruit later.
2. Try, try again: unfamiliar foods are scary to kids starting from about age 2. Studies have shown that it can take 10 or more exposures before a food is familiar enough for neophobic resistance to be removed. Just keep putting the new food out there. Put a little on the plate, ask your child to taste it, but don't coerce the child. Just ask the child to take a taste.
3. Try offering the food when the child is NOT hungry: This is counterintuitive, but studies have shown that hunger and fear can increase food neophobia. People are least resistant to new food when they're at a hunger ebb.
4. Model good eating: kids watch us constantly, and they tend to do what we do rather than what we say. They are not going to eat lots of fruits and veggies if we don't.
5. Leverage your child's role models and heroes: Most kids have someone in their lives they idolize. Having that person present when new foods are introduced, and having that person enthusiastically eat and enjoy the foods, can go a long way to overcoming resistance. This UK study talks about the influence of "The Food Dudes" - superheroes who loves particular veggies - on kids' eating behaviors. My personal experiences: Dylan will eat almost anything his PopPop consumes enthusiastically, especially if he can eat it off PopPop's plate. He'd sit on PopPop's lap and happily consume this watery oatbran concoction that resembled gruel, spinach salad, and steak. He's the same way with his father. Ryan will follow my mother, and to some extent, me.
6. Consider rewarding tasting a food with a non-food reward. This one is a little controversial because the research goes both ways. In the above study, the researchers found that kids who were rewarded with a sticker for trying a new food were willing to try that food again, and again. Follow-ups showed that the kids were happily eating the resisted food months later. The key to this one is that it cannot be a food reward. No "eat your peas and you'll get ice cream". The theory is that a food reward reinforces the idea that a certain food is bad, but a sticker reward doesn't seem to have this association. Other studies have shown that this backfires. But it's worth considering - you know your child best.
7. If all else fails, let it go and try again later: After 10 exposures to a new food, if your child still won't eat it and doesn't like it, move on. There's plenty of good food to try - go for something else. Try the rejected food again in a few months. There are relatively few people who refuse entire classes of food - most people like at least a few vegetables!

We followed these strategies while Dylan was having his meltdown with the black bean soup. I told him kindly that he could eat what he chose, but the next meal was breakfast. I was okay with that because I had tortillas, and I knew he'd eventually eat those. Dylan demanded an alternative meal - watermelon. I said no, we weren't having watermelon tonight. Dylan whined more. Rudy came to the table with his soup and asked for a tortilla. He announced to the room in general that he loved dipping his tortillas in his soup. He offered Dylan part of his tortilla, and said it was really good dipped in soup. Dylan grabbed the tortilla (which he had rejected from me), dipped it in his soup, and ate it. He then announced he loved tortillas in soup, and said it was really good. Ryan started eating spoonfuls of soup, and I asked him if it was good. He said it was great! That's all it took to get Dylan eating spoonfuls of soup. He had a pretty hearty dinner, but it didn't seem that way when we started.

Here are some other resources and other ideas about how to get kids eating:

• PBS Kids Site - creative ideas for making food fun
• New York Times: 6 food mistakes parents make
• Tips from Ellyn Satter: this is oriented to educators, but it has some great ideas
• Ellyn Satter's book "How To Get Your Kid To Eat: But Not Too Much": Outlines the approach my pediatrician taught me, and has a ton of great ideas. The tone of the book is a little pedantic and patronizing, but the techniques work.

The Problem with Sneaky Deceptive Chefs

Last fall, two books were prominently displayed in bookstores: Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" and Missy Chase Lapine's "The Sneaky Chef". Both books have a similar concept - so similar that Lapine is suing Seinfeld. The idea is that one of the best ways to get nutritious food into kids is by sneaking it in - making purees of vegetables and fruits, then putting them in recipes where their flavor won't be noticed. Supposedly, you boost the nutritional value of the food without changing the flavor.

I accidentally bought Seinfeld's book last year. I thought it was a book of traditional healthful recipes. I was appalled to read the concepts of sneaking purees into foods and deceiving your family into eating better. I understand the concern that we parents have as we deal with our kids' resistance to certain foods, but sneaking purees into recipes is NOT the way to get fruits and vegetables into our kids.

Kids refuse to eat foods for a variety of reasons, including control, distaste, and neophobia. Neophobia is a well documented survival trait that makes humans resistant to many new things - food, places, situations, other people. It probably saved our ancestor's lives in the hunting and gathering days, when new foods could be poisonous, new places could be dangerous, and new people could be enemies. Show most kids an unfamiliar food, and only the most adventurous will dive in with enthusiasm. For those of us with highly neophobic children, we can take comfort in the fact that those neophiles probably had shorter lifespans a million years ago.

When a parent is met with repeated refusals to eat a particular food, it can start a cycle of desperation. There's frustration that the child is refusing to eat (especially if it's a food the child previously liked), irritation with having to find new food for the child to fill up on, worry that the parent will have to deal with the hungry/grumpy child all day, and concern that the child is not getting good enough nutrition. I know from experience that it is tempting to stop the fighting and arguing and just sneak the food into the child. But it's a terrible idea. Just like so many other parenting areas where it's hard work to teach the child, it can be hard work to raise a good eater. The easier, softer way often has terrible consequences.

I have five philisophical objections to the Sneaky, Deceptive method of feeding your child. (Well, it also just seems like a tremendous amount of work - much harder than introducing new foods over the long run)

First, the puree method is of questionable nutritional value. While the purees themselves are quite healthy, they are included in the recipes in relatively small quantities so as not to affect the taste. Most of the recipes in Deceptively Delicious have between 1/2 and 1 cup of puree added. Since the recipes serve 4-6, this means that an individual serving includes just 2-4 tablespoons of puree. Assuming the child eats the entire portion, it's a nutritionally adequate serving for only the smallest of children.

Second, the puree method blurs the distinction between healthy food and "sometimes" food. If you add pureed cauliflower to chocolate chip cookies or pumpkin and squash puree to cupcakes, it may start to feel like health food. Remember the "low fat" revolution of the eighties and how America just got fatter? That's because we increased our portion size: studies show that people eat up to 45% more when food is labelled low-fat! The puree method has the same problem. Instead of working on teaching our kids to eat fruits and veggies, we can feed them chocolate cookies and feel okay about it, because they're healthy, right? Wrong!

Third, this method has the potential to create distrust between parents and children. The titles of the books say it all: "Sneaky Chef", "Deceptively Delicious". Do you want your kids to view you as sneaky and deceptive? I'd much rather have an honest and open relationship with my kids. Kids are observant, and it's hard to be sneaky for long, especially when you have to feed them 3-5 times per day. When they catch you, it's likely to create drama and increased resistance to eating. All of a sudden, the kids will think they have to dismantle even "safe" foods to make sure there's no smuggled contraband veggies. Plus, it means that you can't get your kids to help you in the kitchen, because you're sneaking! That's a real shame, because one of the best ways to get kids to eat different foods is to have them help prepare meals.

Fourth, the Sneaky, Deceptive method reinforces the idea that there are two kinds of foods: kid foods and adult foods. It shapes the adult mind to believe that kids won't eat good foods, and it shapes the kids to believe that they're not supposed to eat grown-up food. Our kids already face enough pressure from marketers telling them to eat junk food. Do they really need it reinforced at home that even their parents expect them to dislike good food? The idea of kid food is a relatively new one. Until the late 1970s, "children's menus" in restaurants were just smaller portions of regular dishes. The introduction of the Happy Meal created a whole new industry of kid-only foods. Kid's foods tend to be higher in fat and sugar, and lower in nutritive value than regular foods.

Finally, the puree method fails to conquer neophobia. Instead of teaching kids to eat cauliflower, you puree it and use it as a batter for fried mozzarella sticks. So the kids never know that they're eating a vegetable, and they never learn to like it. Using this method, when will kids ever learn to like broccoli? They're not going to be suddenly struck by a love of vegetables when they're 18 on their own! The way you get kids to like new foods is by serving them new foods. Repeatedly. It is only after many repetitions of seeing a new food that neophobe kids will enjoy it (this is not true for sugary foods). And liking the taste is not enough: it has to be in the form they're used to enjoying. We've all had kids refuse to eat a PB&J because it's cut in the wrong shape or it's on a different bread. Can you imagine trying to get a kid to eat cauliflower by explaining to them that they like it on their cheese sticks?

The real problem with the Sneaky, Deceptive Chef is that it helps you to create picky eaters. Not to say that children's pickiness is completely a parent's fault, but we do play a very large role. The problem with creating a picky eater is that it's laying the foundation for a lifetime problem. The research on this is revealing. Studies show that picky eating is not a phase - kids don't outgrow it. Picky eaters eat poorly compared to other children: they consume fewer servings of fruit, vegetables, and protein each day. They also eat more saturated fat and have less dietary variety. Creating picky eaters increases the likelihood that they'll be overweight children, up to 80% of whom will become obese adults. There's a ton of research about these topics, available through a simple Google search.

So if sneaking purees into food is not the way to raise a good eater, then what is? Tomorrow, we'll look at some proven techniques to get kids to eat a variety of foods.

Fun Weekend Dinner: Homemade Pizza

We're having Ryan's 6th birthday party at home on a weeknight. It's a week early, because both my parents and my husband will be out of town for his whole birthday week, as well as both weekends near it. So, we're doing a Thursday evening birthday party. I love the idea of homemade pizza for a party, because it can be topped so that both kids and adults love it. Also, by making the pizza myself, I can control the grease content.

I've learned never to try recipes for the first time at a party, so we're having a practice pizza night tonight. I need to try out the dough. Also, I had a ton of tomatoes (again), so I made my own sauce that works for both tonight and Thursday night's party. There are many recipes for do-it-yourself pizza sauce, and there are some good store-bought pizza doughs, so this doesn't have to be so complicated. I think it can be easy enough for a weeknight treat.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

15 pounds tomatoes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 large cloves garlic
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2-3 Tablespoons tomato paste (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash and quarter tomatoes. Put in a large stockpot. Cook on medium until tomatoes are falling apart and skins are loosened. Puree in a blender, then push through a sieve to remove skins and seeds. (For detailed instructions on doing this, see my post on making tomato sauce.)
2. Mince the garlic. Add the olive oil and garlic to a large non-reactive pot. Saute until the garlic is translucent. Stir in the strained sauce, the oregano, the basil, and the crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook until reduced by half - 2-3 hours. If desired, stir in 2-3 Tablespoons of tomato paste to thicken it slightly.
3. Salt and pepper to taste. Sauce can be canned or stored in a tightly covered container for 7 days in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
(makes enough for 1 large or 4-6 individual pizzas. Crust is thin and very crispy)

3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons warm water (105-110 degrees F)
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup unbleached bread flour
2 Tablespoons cornmeal

1. Mix water, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add dry ingredients. Mix with the dough hook attachment until dough is smooth and elastic - pulls away from sides of bowl but sticks to the bottom.
2. Place the dough in a large oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a kitchen towel and set in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about an hour. (To make individual pizzas, divide dough into 4 parts. Place several inches apart on an oiled baking sheet. Coat each ball with oil, then cover and let rise until doubled in size.
3. To roll out the dough, turn out onto a lightly floured board. Dust the top with flour. Gently press into a flat circle. Roll large pizza into a 14-inch circle, small pizzas into 6-8 inch circles.
4. To cook, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place pizza stone in bottom of oven and let heat for 15-30 minutes. Place shaped dough onto stone, let bake for 3 minutes. Remove from oven and place on a cornmeal-dusted peel or bottom of baking sheet. Top as desired, then slide onto stone. Bake 12-15 minutes, until pizza and toppings are browned.

Pizza Topping Ideas:

• Red sauce, grilled vegetables, basil, goat cheese, parmesan
• Minced sauteed garlic, olive oil, grilled peppers and mushrooms, fresh mozzarella
• Pesto sauce, thinly sliced peaches, diced proscuitto, bleu cheese, provolone, drizzle with balsamic vinegar
• BBQ sauce, black beans, corn, green onions, sun-dried tomatoes, bacon bits, cheddar, jack

Black Bean Soup

My kids love bean soups, which really surprises me. Kids will often eat things in soup that they won't eat any other way. One thing I love about bean soups and chilis is that they're versatile and great for 2-3 nights. You can serve them one night with tortillas or quesadillas, one night with corn bread or french bread, and one night over rice. So you can get 3 mostly different meals from one pot of soup! You can also often make them with whatever you have in the fridge, which is also a great way to use up veggies.

I'm giving directions using dried beans, because I really prefer them. However, you can make this soup more quickly by using canned beans. Just start from step 2.

Black Bean Soup
1 pound dried black beans (or 2 15-oz cans, drained and rinsed)
6 cups water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 leek, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 Anaheim chiles, seeded and chopped
1 Tablespoon cumin
1 15-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, with juice
1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
30 ounces chicken broth or vegetable stock (you will need extra if you use canned beans)
salt to taste - I use about 1/2 teaspoon

1. Rinse the black beans and pick over them. Add to a pot with 6 cups water. Remove any beans that float. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, partially covered, for 1 1/2 hours.


2. Add olive oil, leeks, celery, garlic, and chiles to a large pot. Saute until veggies are softened and leeks and garlic are translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Stir in beans (with cooking liquid if using dried beans, without if using canned), cumin, tomatoes, and kale. Add 15 ounces broth if using dried beans, 30 ounces if using canned beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. If desired, puree 3 cups of the soup and add it back in to the soup, then let simmer for 15 minutes more. This creates a thicker soup.


3. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve garnished with fresh cilantro and sour cream, or cheese and diced onions.

Variations:

• Instead of using olive oil in step 2, dice 3 pieces of bacon. Saute the bacon on medium heat until all the fat is rendered. Add veggies and proceed as directed.


• Separately, dice cooked chorizo, keilbasa, or other spicy sausage. Add to soup with tomatoes and beans in step 2.

Update from 9/15/08: We had this tonight, and it was amazing! I heated flour tortillas and the boys happily dipped away, then wolfed it down by the spoonful. The flavors in this soup are really bright: the carrots and leeks add a slight sweetness, the kale added depth and a hint of bitterness, and the texture was divine. This recipe will be in regular rotation this winter.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

I like this one because it's easy to make, it's relatively healthy, and the boys will eat parts of it. To make it work for my family, I keep the chicken, salad, and croutons separate for serving. I also cut up some fruit on the side for Ryan, who won't eat salad. Technically, it's not Caesar because I will not handle anchovies. If you like anchovies, add 3 to the dressing. Also, I add tomatoes, because I love them and I have a ton. I also use a bit of spinach because it's always good to add spinach, right? I adapted this from Fine Cooking magazine.


Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Serves 4

Dressing
2 large cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
1 large egg yolk
2 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients except oil in a blender and blend until thoroughly combined. With the motor running, pour the oil in a slow, steady stream. Salt and pepper to taste. Can be stored up to 3 days in refrigerator.


Salad
Dressing, above
4 chicken breasts, trimmed
4 slices dense bread (I used leftover foccacia)
1/2 cup coarsely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (grating your own makes a huge difference!)
2 hearts of romaine, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 bunch spinach, washed well and stems removed, torn into bite-sized pieces
2-3 medium heirloom tomatoes, cut into eighths
Olive oil
salt & pepper

1. Heat grill to medium-high. Brush bread with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill, covered, for 1-3 minutes per side, until bread is golden brown. If desired, rub with the cut edge of garlic. Cut into 1/2 inch cubes when cool.
2. Toss the chicken breasts with 1 Tablespoon dressing, and a bit of salt and pepper. Grill, covered, 3-5 minutes per side, until chicken is cooked through. Let cool for a few minutes, and slice before serving.
3. Toss the romaine and spinach with 6 Tablespoons of dressing, 1/2 the cheese, and salt and pepper. Arrange on plates. Top with tomatoes, chicken slices, and croutons. Drizzle with remaining dressing, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

This Week's Plan

Boys are fighting in the background, so this will be a quick post. They've been so good so far, made it through trips to Target and Whole Paycheck. So of course now they have to fight. Plus they're both sick, and Dylan is super tired.

This week's meal plan: I am obsessed with bread right now. It's probably because I'm trying to lose a little weight. Plus I'm just loving the smell of yeasty baked goods. So here goes. Recipes to follow:

Saturday: Grilled Pizza with Grilled Vegetables (This is practice for Ryan's birthday party on Thursday night).
Sunday: Deconstructed Pasta with Grilled Vegetables and Garlic Bread
Monday: Vegetarian Black Bean Soup with Tortillas and Salsa
Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Wednesday: Black Bean Soup with Sausage and Cornbread
Thursday: Ryan's Birthday Party: Grilled Individual Pizzas, Caesar Salad, Fruit Salad, Spiderman Cake

A Solution for Picky Eaters: Deconstructed Dinners

I love watching reality TV, and as you might guess, one of my favorites is Top Chef. Every season on Top Chef, the chefs use high-faluting words like "deconstruction". One chef will usually get in trouble for deconstructing a meal too far and losing the unity. I finally figured out that "deconstruction" means to take the meal apart and show what's going on inside.

This seemingly fancy concept is also a great solution for feeding a picky eater. My normal philosophy is that I make one dinner a night, and the family's choice is to eat it or wait until breakfast. I'm not totally heartless. I always make sure we have plenty of bread or fruit or something at the table to fill up on, but I'm only cooking one dinner a night.

As a child, I hated onions. I would cut with the skill and the patience of a neurosurgeon to extract every last bit of onion from my mother's meatloaf. I was a master at examining spoonfuls of soup and chili to make sure that no onion parts were masquerading as celery. I do have some sympathy for my children's tastes and preferences. However, like my mother before me, I am unwilling to cater to these tastes except on occasion.

Once or twice a week, we have "deconstructed dinner" night. On these nights, I assemble all of the components of a meal, usually into small bowls. Then each person assembles their own (or tells me how to assemble them). I get to choose the ingredients that go out, so I feel good about what I'm serving. My kids get to choose what goes in to their particular dinner. I'm happy because I've put out a good meal, and the kids are happy because they're in charge of what they eat.

The absolute key to success is that I cannot get invested in which ingredients the kids choose. I make sure that the ingredients that go out are ones that I'd be okay if the child make a meal of only one ingredient. As long as my attitude is good, these dinners are some of the most fun ones we have. And by picking my ingredients carefully, I can also make them some of the easiest dinners we have.

Some ideas for deconstructed dinners:

• Build your own Burritos
• Pile on the Pasta:  Cook a basic pasta, like a bow-tie shape.  Heat up some red sauce.  Saute a few veggies - ideally seperately.  Heat a few frozen meatballs.  Put out some shredded cheese.  Leftover ingredients are a great mom-lunch the next day.
• Creative Quesadillas:  Put out deli turkey, deli ham, a couple of kinds of cheeses, thinly sliced apples or pears, thinly sliced tomatoes, chopped green onions (cooked for safety), roasted peppers or other veggies.  Each person chooses the ingredients for their quesadilla.  Leftover ingredients are great on a salad.
• Stuff a Panini:  Exact same concept as the quesadillas, but you grill the sandwiches or use a panini press.  Adding fruit like apples, pears, or mango works great with poultry and is a nice surprise.  Here's one for mom:  sliced turkey, brie cheese, thinly sliced apples, spinach leaves, and a hot sweet mustard.  Yum!
• Super-Special Sushi: This one is messy but fun! Make sushi rice.  Put out julienned veggies like carrots, zucchini, green onions, cucumber, onion, jicama.  You can also use cooked chicken (not traditional, I know!) and a bit of sushi-grade tuna for those who will truly appreciate it.  Also put out soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a bit of wasabi for those who like it.  Unless you're a purist, you're not really going to roll your own.  You can just make rice balls (well-oiled hands!) or rice bowls.

Balancing Different Diets

I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life, other than immediately pre-baby. It's my own fault, of course. When I realized I was going to have to close my business, I had a couple of months where I knew, but I couldn't tell anyone. It was very stressful, and I managed the stress with ice cream. Other people use exercise, therapy, and booze, but my answer is sugar and fat. It is simply amazing how much ice cream soothes the soul.

By the time I announced the closure, I had gained 10 pounds. I lost it all in the 6 weeks it took to close the business, because I was working so much. Since then, however, I have dealt with depression through sloth and overindulgence. I have spent much of the summer eating bonbons and watching Law & Order. Did you know that some form of Law & Order is on TV 24 hours a day?

So, here I am, chunky. My fitting wardrobe is down to 2 pairs of pants, 1 suit, and elastic waisted sweat pants. I do not recommend sweats in the California summer, unless you like heatstroke. I need to lose weight. What's worked for me in the past is Weight Watchers, so it's back to counting points.

The challenge is how to balance my diet needs with the hearty appetites of the 3 males in my house. I don't want to make more than one meal, and I don't want to be eating some icky Lean Cuisine dinner while they have a feast. I don't even want the little guys to know I'm on a diet because I don't want to create stereotypes or expectations of what women do. I don't like heavily chemically engineered foods, so I try to avoid food that is artificially low-fat or non-fat.

My solution is to plan meals with several dishes, so that I can fill up on lower-cal items while my guys feel satisfied rather than deprived. It's a healthier way for all of us to eat. I made simple veggie and fruit based side dishes, increase whole grains, and choose lean proteins. I also make sure that there are good dessert choices at home for all of us - ice cream in flavors I don't like, for the boys, and fruit and yogurt for me.

Tonight's dinner was quite successful and filling for all:

• Pork chops, marinated in Worcestershire sauce and grilled
• Watermelon, sliced
• Applesauce with cinnamon
• Strawberries
• Fresh tomatoes tossed with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic

I had a small amount of the pork, skipped the applesauce, and filled up on tomatoes. For dessert, the boys had cupcakes (from a mix and canned frosting, totally unappealing to me), and I had peaches and strawberries tossed with basil-macerated sugar.

How To Make Your Children Miserable

I had a plan for today. I had household tasks in the morning, then I was going to dedicate my afternoon to the boys. I just had a few things to do: Can the tomato sauce I made yesterday, vacuum the house, clean the kitchen and the dining room, do the boys' laundry, finish the homemade foccacia, go to the grocery store, and have dinner on the table for my folks at 6:30. I should have been able to have all of that done by noon, right?

Things started to go wrong right away. The sauce needed to be reduced by about another third. That took about 2 hours. I cleaned while it was reducing, but who wants to clean the kitchen before you can tomato sauce? In order to vacuum, I needed the boys to clean their rooms and the family room. That was a fight. By the time I had the house cleaned and the canning done, it was 1 PM and the boys hadn't had lunch, and I still hadn't showered. At 1:30 we went to the grocery store.

I started on the perimeter as I always do. I promised the boys that if they were good through the whole store, I'd get them Dibs. I got about 3/4 of the stuff we needed, mainly produce and a few staples like rice. The boys were terrific, so we went to get the promised Dibs. Well, guess what? Safeway's refrigeration system was out. All of the center frozen aisles were closed to traffic. No ice cream. No waffles. No yogurt. No Parmesan. There was no way I was going to another store with 2 little kids, so I suggested cupcakes as a substitute. They were agreeable to that. Sadly, pre-made cupcakes were another casualty of the refrigeration failure. So I picked up a cake mix and canned frosting. Yuck. Now I have to add making cupcakes to my to-do list.

When we got home, I asked the boys to clean up. They refused, as they'd done all day. I also started trying to shape the foccacia. Alice Water's book said I could let it rise overnight in the fridge, but that I should take it out 2 hours before I shaped it. I had remembered to take it out at 1:30, and at 3:30, the dough was impossible. It was super-elastic and springing back into shape, except where it insisted on tearing. I tried to roll out the dough, but my rolling pins are all down at the business. I tried using a glass, and that was an exercise in frustration.

While I was wrestling the dough, the boys were tearing around the house, yelling, screaming and whining. Between the dough and the boys, I finally lost it. I set the timer for 15 minutes, and I told the boys that anything that was not put away when the bell went off was going in the trash. I began shaping the dough by punching it and pounding it, which is NOT the recommended way to handle dough. By the time the bell rang, both the bread and the boys were flattened into submission.

So clearly this was not the happy family day I had planned. That was definitely the low point. After the bread was set aside to rise, the boys went outside to play (thank god!) while I made cupcakes. Grandma showed up, which improved the boys attitude. Rudy got home from work and hosed everyone off to much laughter. And we all sat down to a really great dinner. Even the beaten bread turned out all right, especially when it was dipped in sauce.

Deconstructed Pasta Marinara
Serves 6

1 lb dried pasta
1 quart tomato-basil sauce or other red sauce
1 zucchini, sliced in 1/2 inch rounds and quartered
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
10 button mushrooms, quartered
Olive oil

Shredded Parmesan

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add both kinds of peppers. Saute for 10 minutes. Remove peppers from pan into a bowl. Add a bit more olive oil and the zucchini. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms. Saute for 5 minutes more. Add the peppers back to the pan and saute together for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. (If you'd like to fully deconstruct this meal, cook the zucchini and the mushrooms separately. Don't combine the veggies at the end - just put them each in their own bowl.
2. Put the red sauce in a small pot and heat through.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta for 10 minutes, drain.
4. Let each person assemble their own pasta, either in the kitchen or at the table.

Serve with garlic bread or homemade foccacia. (I made the foccacia this day with all white flour and roasted garlic in the dough. Although it was hard to work with, it was very, very good.)

This Week's Menu Plan

Sunday Morning. It's time to make the grocery list and get set up for the week. So, here's our plan for this week:

• Sunday: "Deconstructed" Farfalle Marinara and Homemade Roasted Garlic Foccacia
  
• Monday: Grilled Pork Chops, Applesauce (for the kids), Tomato Mozzarella Salad (for me!)
  
• Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with Grilled Garlic Croutons
  
• Wednesday: Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce, Rice and Broccoli (because we didn't make it last week)
  
• Thursday: Fried Rice with Leftovers

I was exhausted yesterday and I completely slacked off on chores. So today, in addition to canning the tomato sauce I made yesterday, I have to do laundry, clean the house, and go to the grocery store. Plus entertain two little boys, since it's not a good idea to keep them plopped in front of the TV all day. "Come on kids, it's time to learn to dust and vacuum!" Maybe it will work...

The Price of Insanity

I've always wanted to be someone who likes to garden.  This spring, our backyard was plantable for the first time in 5 years.  We've been under construction or I've been pregnant the other years.  Pregnancy wouldn't normally be a reason to avoid gardening, except for the awkwardness of it, but  with each pregnancy, I had a condition called pica.  Pica is a nutritional deficiency that causes strong compulsions.  In my case, it was an irresistible compulsion to eat dirt.  I was obsessed with consuming soil.  I'd dream about it, imagine how it would taste, visualize scooping up big handfuls of rich loam and wolfing them down.  I was scared to go into my yard for fear I wouldn't be able to control myself.

The bottom line is that this March, I went wild.  I hadn't gardened in so long that I went wild.  I planted hundred of plants:  hibiscus, rosemary, roses, lemons, limes, oranges, mint, gardenias, hydrangeas, basil, cilantro, and tomatoes.  And boy did I plant tomatoes.  I don't know what I was thinking when I planted 23 tomato plants.  It was March, and the tomatoes in the store were mealy and flavorless, so maybe that's my excuse.  But I planted cherry, grape, currant, roma, and heirloom reds and yellows.  I guess I was thinking that half of them would die, or they'd yield 1 or 2 fruits each, like corn.  Little did I know that all 23 plants would thrive in the warm California summer.

It turns out that 23 tomato plants yield 75-100 pounds of tomatoes a week.  That's way more than a family of 4 can eat.  I've given tomatoes to everyone I know, including total strangers.  But they pile up on my counters much faster than I can give them away.  The town I live in won't allow me to sell at the farmer's market, and my boys are strongly opposed to opening a front-yard tomato stand.  So, the only option left to me is to can the tomatoes.

For the most part, I don't like canned food.  It often tastes weirdly metallic and artificial to me, and I don't know what's really in most of it.  Home canning has some appeal because I can control the ingredients, but I know there's a health risk associated with it.  However, my uncle Ken makes his own fantastic strawberry jam, so it can't possibly be THAT hard.  Although it still seems very old-timey.  Next thing you know, I'll be salting beef and order block ice.

Last week was my first adventure in canning.  I learned that it takes about 8 hours to turn 50 pounds of tomatoes into 7 pints of really good sauce.  The good news is I was able to make coffee for 2 days without having to move bowls of tomatoes!  But then Rudy and the boys picked again, and I had another couple of hundred tomatoes on my counter.  So today I'm trying it again, but in a more streamlined method, I hope.

This isn't a recipe so much as an approach.  I use whatever I have on hand.  Last week, I had onions, basil, oregano and bay leaves, but I was out of garlic.  This week, I'm out of onion and bay leaf, so it's a tomato-garlic-basil sauce.

Tomato-Garlic-Basil Sauce

Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Fresh Garlic

Fresh Basil

Fresh Oregano

Salt

Pepper

1. Wash tomatoes well.  Cut off the stem end, then quarter or halve (depending on size).  Add to a large pot.  Simmer 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are soft and skins are falling off.  (In this case, I had about 50 pounds of various tomatoes.  It took 2 pots to cook them).
   
2. Puree tomatoes in a blender, then push through a sieve to remove skins and seeds.  When pureeing, work very carefully because sauce is boiling hot.  I only fill the blender halfway,  cover the lid with a towel, then start on the lowest setting and work my way up to the highest setting.  Mash remaining flesh on sieve with the back of a spoon to push as much flesh and flavor through.  Scrape the outside of the sieve with a different spoon to get any stuck flesh.  Discard skins and seeds.  (It took me 12 blenders-full and 12 strainings to get through the tomatoes).
   

3. Finely mince garlic, as much as you like.  (I used 9 large cloves for this batch.)  Add to a large pot with enough olive oil to coat the bottom.  Turn on the heat and saute until garlic is translucent.  (By adding the garlic to cold oil then heating it, you reduce the chance of burning the garlic).  Add the tomato sauce.  Bring to a simmer.
   
4. Finely mince some oregano (I used about 3 Tablespoons) and half the basil (I used about 2 ounces total).  Stir into the sauce.  Simmer until the sauce is reduced by half (This can take hours). Stir occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom of the pan. Mince the rest of the basil, then add to the sauce.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Let simmer 5 minutes more.  Either enjoy now, or continue with the canning process.

I will post pictures and write about the canning process tomorrow.  Also tomorrow, the plan for the week, and a second attempt at Alice Water's Foccacia!

Super Easy Dinner: Burritos

Most weeks, I am overly ambitious in my menu planning for the week. I overestimate how much time and energy I'll have to get dinner on the table. So I have a set of easy dinners that I always have ingredients for. They're more healthy than boxed Mac & Cheese or a trip to the pizza parlor.

Quick Burritos

• 1 can of chili - we like Amy's Organic Black Bean, but any thick chili will do
  
• 2 cups of cooked rice
  
• Diced vegetables - almost anything works. We're partial to tomatoes, green onions, zucchini, avocado. Diced mango is also great.
  
• Roast or cooked chicken, if you have it
  
• 10-inch tortillas
  
• Preferred condiments: sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice
  

The great thing about this dinner is that each person gets to customize their own dinner.  I set out bowls of each ingredient.  For each burrito, heat the tortilla in a hot dry non-stick skillet for about 30 seconds per side.  Place about 1 cup of filling on the tortilla, then roll it up.  I put any and all leftovers in tupperware, and that's my lunch the next day.  Simple and everyone loves it.

• Ryan's burrito:  rice, beans, mango or chicken, cheese
• Dylan's burrito:  rice, beans, cheese, mango or chicken, spicy salsa
• My burrito:  rice, beans, veggies, cheese, cilantro, lime juice
• Rudy's burrito:  rice, beans, chicken, veggies, cheese, sour cream

Wheat Foccacia with Basil

I bought Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food" a while ago - maybe even a year ago. I glanced at it, put in on the shelf, and forgot it. I discovered it again a couple of days ago and started reading it. This is not just a cookbook - it's a set of ideas and principles that teach you how to improvise. As I was reading this, I kept picking new items I wanted to make. So I've change my plans for dinner tonight, and I'm making homemade foccacia. Since that's a bit of work, I'm changing the menu tonight to pasta with a red sauce I canned last week. The foccacia will be the star.

As she suggests, I used her recipe as a guide, but I've made quite a few modifications. It takes about 6 hours start to finish, but a full 5 1/2 hours of that is waiting time. The original recipe uses only unbleached white and rye flours, and no basil. I mixed it up a little to get in wheat flour and to use up some of my basil.

Wheat Foccacia with Basil
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm (110 degree) water
1/4 cup rye flour
1/4 cup unbleached white flour

2 cups unbleached white flour
1 1/4 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, or chopped rosemary, or chopped sage, or grated parmesan cheese.

1. Combine the yeast, warm water, 1/4 cup rye flour and 1/4 cup white flour in a small bowl. Mix well. Let stand for 30 minutes, until mixture is very bubbly.
2. 
   Combine the next 3 dry ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add the yeast mixture, water, olive oil, and basil. Using the dough hook, knead on low speed (1-2) for 5 minutes. (You could also knead it with your hands if you want. I'm lazy). Turn dough out into a large oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm area for 2 hours. (In the picture at right, I didn't let the dough rise long enough - 90 minutes. I was in a hurry. The extra 30 minutes would have made a big difference)


3. When dough has doubled in size, gently place into an oiled jellyroll pan (about the size of a cookie sheet, but with sides). Pressing from the center, gently push the dough out to the edges of the pan. Handle the dough very gently, so the air stays in it. Press into the dough with your fingertips to create dimples, then brush the dough with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Cover and let rise 2 hours more. (Risen and ready for the oven)
   
4. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it on the bottom rack. Preheat the oven and the stone for at least 30 minutes.


5. Sprinkle the foccacia with 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, or chopped rosemary, or chopped sage, or parmesan cheese. Bake for 18-25 minutes, until top is golden brown. Turn out onto a rack and let cool.

The smell of this drove my whole family wild while it was baking. It's hard to wait. It was really good. The result was a little flatter that it should have been - it needed to rise a little longer. Also, the wheat flour make the bread coarser and chewier, which we like. If you like a light, airy foccacia, make sure you use only unbleached white flour.

Next time I make this, I'm adding roasted garlic to the dough and topping it with oven-dried tomatoes and parmesan cheese. It wil be great with a salad. This pretty simple one was spectacular dipped in marinara sauce.