Week 2 -- Sunday , August 23, 2009

I am a little late in actually posting this (it's actually aug 29), but I am happy to report that week two was a success!

Having extra taste buds among us this weekend (our friend's 3 boys stayed with us while she and her husband went away for their anniversary), I was hesitant in finding a dinner recipe that would appeal to the masses. Coordinating my own kids culinary preferences presents it's own challenge and six seemed a Herculean feat. ( I don't know how moms of large families do it). Someone was bound to be disappointed. Dessert I knew would be a piece of cake-- no pun intended. Past experience has shown me that any food where "sugar" is the number one ingredient gets a unanimous vote in the affirmative. What's not to like? Since Isabel has been wanting to try her skills on cake, I decided it was time our family owned a bundt pan. I am embarrassed to admit I have never had one. Cake has never been my favorite. My personal policy with sweets is to choose to consume what maximizes the level of satisfaction per caloric intake, in other words-- if I'm going to be bad it better be worth it! That doesn't mean I haven't sold out at social events, but in my personal kitchen, cake is reserved for birthdays. In general, homemade cookies and brownies tend to be my biggest weakness and the chocolate chip cookie the standard default since it scores the highest on my sweet-o-meter. However, no use in passing my personal preferences on to my children and even worse, depriving them of a variety of skills simply because I prefer chewy over spongy. So cake it was, and we made a very yummy recipe from our old ward cook book. Easy Chocolate Chip Pound Cake-- A definite success! (eventually I will post the recipes) We are still working on Isabel's abusiveness to her crew. As you will read about below, but I have a feeling she will get better soon. All in all everything went smoothly except for when I noticed her spooning the batter into our shiny, new, but ungreased, bundt pan-- a mistake as a result of her cookie training. But that was easily fixed being intercepted prior to the oven and we all, myself included, made ourselves sick having second helpings of their masterpiece.

As for dinner-- That proposed other complications as mentioned above. After polling the consumers for their opinions and hearing things such as:

" I like chicken and rice"

"I don't like rice"

"I Like pasta"

"I don't like pasta."

"I like carrots... I don't like carrots.... etc etc.

I scratched my head and came upon Chicken Tetrazzini which sounded really good to me. A hopeful choice considering all seemed to like "noodles" -terminology is everything with children-- and "chicken." While a couple balked at mushrooms, I figured they could pick them out.

I needed to double the recipe because it is a waste of valued effort to make a dish for only 8 oz of pasta in our house?( I forgot JJ was out of town. It 's interesting so see the change in our food consumption. Let me sum it up with -- "lots of leftovers!")So.. it wasn't until the kids were chopping the whole pound of mushrooms on the cutting board that I realized just how much 4 cups actually were. With each mushroom, I increasingly began to fear I was alienating some taste buds in the group. In the past I have successfully snuck mushrooms into the mouths of little skeptics. However, it's a little more difficult when they personally chop and witness a mountain of mushrooms being dumped into the pot with nothing to obscure them but the often mutually despised green onion. Inside I was telling myself "what on earth were you thinking?" As I braced myself for shouts of "eeew" and "gross" as they watched the mushrooms swirling in the pot with the butter and onions, I was instead met with "mmmm.... it smells good.." There were more "mmms..." all around (even the self proclaimed mushroom haters). If that wasn't enough someone went as far as to say... "mmm.. it smells too good" to which Isabel replied " No, it's smells just right." I couldn't believe it, they were arguing about just how good it smelled. Dinner might be a success after all. As it turned out. They all loved it, even the mushroom haters who did 'just pick them out'. Quite a change from past experience in which the meal was avoided altogether as if the pasta was tainted by the mere proximity of the despised vegetable.

As I sat there listening to the sounds of happy chewing . I asked myself what made the difference? Was it the chance to dangle the spaghetti noodles over their mouth and then slurp them back up that more than compensated for the mushroom flavor? Was this meal so tasty it slightly altered the preferences of their picky pallets? Or is it simply that they valued the meal more because they had so much ownership in it? I guess I'll never know for sure but I imagine the experiences of the coming weeks and months will enlighten me a little more.

This week's photo ops Isabel's Motley Cooking Crew for dessert.

.....I don't know, they look like a bunch of misfits to me :)

Jordan had to sleep this one out. Clearly church took it's toll. It certainly couldn't have been the late night partying with his friends. No, definitely not!

Great Helpers !

Even better tasters.!

I am afraid Isabel is still a bit of a Natzi in the kitchen. I even overheard Laney asking her. "Why do you have to be so mean sometimes?" to which Isabel replied unapologetically,

"Because you eat too much!"

We will be working on this throughout the coming weeks...

Patiently waiting his turn-- what a cutie!

I'm not sure what this look means but I'm going to go with

"ARRRR, when's it to be me turn, matey?"

Oops -- forgot to grease and flour the pan. Good thing mom is around to keep you in line!

Now it's ready for the oven. Lookin' good!

Licking up the remains. uhh.... Yum! No need for rags with this crew!




As for the Chicken Tetrazzini....

Everyone got a turn at cutting mushrooms

I know it looks as though he is about to cut off his wrist but I promise he's not. Bad angle. As for his twin brother using the doctor's kit scissors-- good luck with that my friend!

"We can both put them in."

I was so proud of our little chefs and their friends-- nice team work!

The Mushrooms cooking in my favorite kitchen appliance ever

--The SELF STIRRING pot!

One cannot appreciate this pot by a mere photographic still. It must be seen stirring in action to fully comprehend how deserving it is of prime real estate on one's counter.

Lovingly nestled next to prominent long term neighbors such as ... the blender, toaster, microwave, and turning the once respected crock pot and rice cooker into common squatters.

Incidentally, the reason I am profoundly lacking in video graphic evidence to support this shameful, however truthful, plug, is because my dear husband JJ took the camera with video capability to Germany with him. Sooooo... JJ-- if you are reading this blog, you better be taking beautiful photos and film of your excursions to compensate for denying me many a golden video clips this weekend, and most importantly, credibility for my gush over this pot!

Capiche? or should I say "Verstehen?"

The Cake was Done and the pasta cooking. Things were shaping up quite nicely.

Well, well, well, what have we here? Can it be Isabel? Oh the hypocrisy!

The great "hand slapping" dessert chef is committing the greatest party foul of all. And do you know what this little hypocrite had to say for herself?

"But I'm really, really hungry and it smells so good."

Hmmm ... A plan is forming on how to tame the wild beast. I have a feeling Isabel will be much more congenial to her sous chefs next week!

The Finished Products. "Mmm Mmm"

It seems Isabel isn't the only one finding it difficult to wait, Jordan looks ready to pounce!

Noodle Time!!!

I had too much fun seizing the photo ops to remind the kids about table manners.

Isabel-- Enjoying the fruits of her labor

Jordan-- Enjoying the fruits of his good connections!


I look forward our next venture in the kitchen which I am embarrased to admit is tomorrow ( I am pretty behind in finishing this entry) . Which reminds me to pick a recipe and go to the store otherwise it might end up being mac and cheese. And although loved by my children, it doesn't pose much of a culinary challenge.

Until next week...

So you'll have to bare with me through my first post. I did it wrong. These 12 posts are really supposed to be one but I did a new post for each picture. Now they are backwards so you have to scroll down to the bottom where it says Sunday August 16 and read up to end at this one. Oops--side affects of dealing with the blogging challenged. Thanks to my friend Jill, I am schooled in the proper way to post and I am happy to say things should be on track next week!

All's well that ends well. Everyone got a cookie, or two ... or three... I don't even want to think about how many I ate. Even JJ had a record 3 cookies which speaks volumes about the quality product Isabel created. JJ is not prone to over indulgence or even indulgence period when it comes to sweets. Incidentally he was absent from this event because he had to work. He is heading to Germany for a business trip this week and has so much to finish before he leaves. He will definitely be missed in the next two weeks. We will look for him on his scheduled debut 3 weeks from now. In the meantime Jordon will have to stand in the kitchen as my co chef. Judging from today I think he will do an excellent job! And Laney, I hope you put down the math book next week and join in the cooking-- there is plenty of math to learn in the kitchen. Signing off until next week's new adventure!

Here Isabel warned Jordan he would not get a cookie if he kept stealing so much dough. I don't think he got the message- he was too busy chewing.

Look at them shoving all splattered casualties into their mouths. It drove Isabel crazy. Nothing like retribution in action. Although, I did always say that anything flown from the bowl was fair game. It's interesting to see how quickly the tides change when one gets a chance at power.

Laney was supposed to be helping Isabel, but was having too much fun solving problems in her math workbook to join in. Go figure. Although she did manage to break away to sneak tasters of dough-- much to the chagrin of her sister, the head chef.

While Jordan and I were busy frying... Isabel was occupied with mixing.

(also a serious cook)

And thanks to my knight in carrot armor, dinner was a success!

The kids seemed to think so too!

And then... the carrot became a sword. I guess he's not 100 % serious in the kitchen.

He helped me peel the carrots of which he did a masterful job.

He's very serious as a cook!

No job too disgusting for this guy!

My sous chef Jordan, did an excellent job helping me fry the chicken.

Week 1-- Sunday August 16, 2009

So today was the start of our culinary journey. In typical me fashion I had procrastinated picking out recipes until today, sooooo.... our choices were limited by what we had on hand. I quickly realized I had to put away the gourmet cook books since I was missing ingredients for all mouthwatering recipes. I finally pulled out my trusty but battered, abused and literally falling apart Better Homes and Gardens book and found Sweet and Sour Pork -- to which I substituted chicken, having a pork less freezer. I had never made this one before as it called for deep frying in batter which I usually avoid like the plague. But I have to admit it was fun and a pleasant change over the normal stir fry fare we usually have.

As for our beloved dessert Chef- Isabel, she had to fore go dreams of Lion House Moon Cake for the less exotic- though extremely delicous- Coconut Oatmeal Cookies. She turned them into Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Cookies by the casual suggestion of her mom, and thus was born a cookie that rivals my all time favorite from Paradise Bakery -- The chocalate chip coconut one. I'm serious, if we'd had the milk chocolate chips it would have been a dead ringer. I'm afraid we have unleashed my own personal Pandora's Box of calories and sumptuous sugary goodness-- I'm not sure it can ever be closed again. Oh well, more running tomorrow. As for Isabel I am quite impressed at what an accomplished cookie maker she has become. She flies completly solo these days with only a little coaching and reminding about cooking times. Definite progress from the first time she made cookies by herself -- I happened upon the bowl and noticed it looked low on the sugar levels. As she showed me what measuring cup she used I realized she thought that 1 1/4 c. sugar meant one- 1/4 cup and had dutifully put in exactly 1/4 cup each of brown and white sugar. After a mini reminder lesson about fractions, she pointed out that the way it was written was confusing and I had to agree with her on that-- her interpretation was sound. But disaster was averted and those cookies were delectable as well. Now she is much more schooled in recipe reading. I see a bright culinary future ahead- especially in the baking department. She informed me today she has added Chef next to Journalist and Teacher on her growing list of desirable future occupations.

Here are some photo treasures from week one's challenge....