Batidos--a Great Way to Get Your Fruit

     Back in the mid-eighties, long before I'd ever heard of a smoothie, I was introduced to a drink in Ecuador called a batido.  
     Batido, in Spanish, simply means "beaten"--in the sense of beaten in a blender.  Since Ecuador is the banana capital of the world, the people there usually use bananas for this drink.  Just take ripe bananas, drop them into a blender, add milk (I use skim) and a hint of vanilla), and voilà...you have a batido.  And what could be more healthy?  It tastes like a banana shake without the fat or added sugar.  And kids love them.
     Most Latin American countries have their versions of the batido.   In Guatemala they call them licuados (literally, "liquefied"), and they make them with every kind of fruit imaginable, including strawberries, mangoes, cantaloupe, and watermelon.  Yes, watermelon!  (Don't knock it until you've tried it.)  In Guatemala, licuados are made with either water or milk, but I like to make them with milk because the kids get their dairy and their fruit at the same time.
     Colombians also make fruit drinks in blenders.  I had one with blackberries in Cartagena's Plaza San Diego one night, which was called, quite appropriately, mora con leche (blackberries with milk).  It was divine, although I'm sure the colonial architecture and the 70-degree sea breeze contributed to my enjoyment.
     While smoothies often include a lot of sugar, batidos rely on the fruit's natural sugar for sweetness (although you may need to add a little sugar if you're using berries).  But batidos are also healthier than straight fruit juice, because you use the whole fruit--including the fiber.  
     So blend away, knowing that your kids are getting calcium, fiber, and a host of anti-oxidants in every batido they drink.  

Ripe bananas and mangoes are just two fruits that make great batidos.
© Gira | Stock Free Images

Authentic Italian Pizza...with Kids

     Since the kids have been eating both lunch and dinner at home now for the past two months, you may be running out of menu ideas.
     Although I'm sure you've had pizza dozens of times this summer, it's something that kids (and most adults) never seem to tire of--especially if it's homemade and authentic.
     Here's a recipe that comes pretty close to the genuine Italian article.  It's based on cookbook author Peter Reinhart's recipes in the February 2012 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, but I've simplified the process to make it more dad- and kid-friendly.  (You die-hard pizza makers will want to check out Reinhart's pizza blog, Pizza Quest.)
     The following recipe not only tastes great, but the dough is fairly easy to work with, so you can turn dinner into a family activity by letting each child make his or her own custom pizzas.  I like to keep the pizzas small--they cook faster that way and they're easier to get on and off the pizza stone.
     Speaking of pizza stones, you'll need one for this recipe if you want the best results, but you can also use a heavy cookie sheet turned upside down.  (If you decide to use a cookie sheet, be sure to spray it with nonstick cooking oil before putting the pizzas on it.)
     Remember, T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon, and c = cup.

Real Italian Pizza


For the dough:

5 c all-purpose flour
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1 t fast-rising yeast
2 T olive oil
1 3/4 c water
nonstick cooking spray

Place pizza stone (or upside-down cookie sheet) on a rack set set one-third of the way up from the bottom of the oven.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients except cooking spray, and stir with wooden spoon until well mixed.

Dip your hands in flour, and then begin kneading the dough.  (That means playing with it--punching it down, forming it back into a ball, punching it down again.)  It's easiest to do this on a wooden or plastic cutting board lightly dusted with flour.

Knead dough for three or four minutes, until it is no longer sticky.  To accomplish this, you may need to add some flour, one teaspoon at a time.

Once the dough is elastic, and no longer sticks to your hands, form it into a ball and place it in a mixing bowl coated with cooking spray.  Place the bowl in the microwave oven.   (Don't turn it on--the microwave is just a safe place for the dough to hang out and rise a little while you get the sauce and toppings ready.)


For the sauce:

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 t vinegar
1 t Italian seasoning
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 c water

Put all ingredients (except salt and water) into a bowl and whisk together.  Add salt to taste.  Gradually add water--one teaspoon at a time--if sauce is too thick.  (You want it fairly thick, but not pasty.)

To assemble pizzas:

Divide dough into pieces about the size of super balls (or large gum balls) and give one to each child.  Have them flatten the dough balls with their palms, and then use their fingers to carefully stretch the dough into something resembling a circle 5-6 inches across.  (You may have to help the little ones do this.)  The dough should be very thin, since it will puff up in the oven.   The pizzas won't be perfectly round, but that's how Italian pizzas are.

Once the dough circles are ready, place them, one at a time, on a small cutting board dusted with cornmeal.  (The cornmeal will keep the dough from sticking to the board, so you can slide the pizza off the board and onto the pizza stone.)   Once the dough is on the cornmeal-covered board, DO NOT PRESS DOWN ON IT or it will stick, and you won't be able to slide it onto the pizza stone.

Allow each child to spread his or her own pizza with sauce, and then add grated mozzarella cheese and any other toppings they desire.  (For a classic Pizza Margherita, simply top dough with sauce, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves brushed with olive oil.  My son, Andy, loves this.)

Once toppings are in place, carefully--and I do mean carefully--slide the pizza off the cutting board and onto the preheated pizza stone using a spatula.  You'll probably have a few mishaps the first few times you do this (upside down pizza, anyone?), but you'll get the hang of it.

Repeat topping procedure with additional pizzas and place them, one by one, on the pizza stone.  (You should be able to fit about six of these mini-pizzas on the stone.)

Once the first batch of pizzas are safely in the oven, take a spray bottle filled with water--set to mist setting--and spray it into the oven a couple of times.  (I'm not sure why this works, but it makes for more authentic crusts.)
 
The pizzas will cook quickly, so watch them carefully--five minutes is usually all it takes.  As soon as the cheese on the first pizza is bubbly and slightly brown, remove it with the spatula and place it on a cooling rack.  Remove the other pizzas, in turn, as they are ready.

You should have enough dough for 12-15 mini pizzas.

Buon appetito!

Authentic Italian pizza--at home!

© Cekur | Stock Free Images 

   

Cleaning the Fridge

     Cleaning the fridge is usually not a pleasant task--ugly sights, disgusting smells, and new forms of life evolving in last month's zucchini casserole.
     But it doesn't have to be this way.  With a little organization and a little time devoted to fridge management each day, your refrigerator will practically clean itself.
     Here are a few tips:

1.  Don't save everything.  I know it's painful to throw leftovers away--we all wish there was a way to get our excess food to the hungry people of this world--but saving that half-cup of carrot soup, which you know you will eventually throw away, isn't going to help anyone.
     Unless you're absolutely sure you're going to use an item later, throw it away now, rather than taking the time to put it in a plastic container that will have to be washed when you do dispose of the item.  And don't even think about saving that half-can of evaporated milk.  Get rid of it now!

Stop saving everything!

2.  Bag it.  If you do decide to save an item, put it in a Ziploc-style bag.  That way, if you end up using it, you simply throw the plastic bag away, and if you end up tossing it in the garbage, you also throw the plastic bag away.  It's easier than washing a plastic container.  Use this method for liquids, too--soups and sauces store perfectly well in plastic bags.

Use plastic bags--rather than containers--to store leftovers.

3.  Freeze it.  If you decide to save an item, but you don't plan to use it within the next three or four days, freeze it.  That way it will still be good by the time you actually do use it.

Freeze items you don't plan to use within the next few days.

4.  Mark it.  Keep a marker handy and put the date and contents of everything you save on the container or plastic bag.  You don't need fancy stickers for this--just write the information on masking tape and stick it to the item.  (Some brands of plastic bags have a labeling area included.)  Marking items makes it easy to know--at a later date--which ones are still good, and which ones need to be thrown out.   Be especially sure to date lunch meat--it's often hard to guess whether or not it's still fresh.

4.  Go on "Fridge Patrol" each morning.   Take five minutes after breakfast to take inventory of what's in your refrigerator.  Are those avocados ready for guacamole?  Are they so ripe you should make it today?  What about that cottage cheese?  Is it close to its expiration date?  Would that leftover pizza work for today's lunch?  If you do this, you will not only avoid wasting food, but you'll get some good menu ideas, as well.

Take inventory of the contents of your fridge every morning.

5.  Have a leftover shelf.  Clear an area of your fridge and use it exclusively for leftovers and odds and ends (small amounts of tomato sauce, bits of cheese, etc.) that need to be used fairly soon.  That way, you won't end up finding the candied yams from last Thanksgiving stuck behind the bottle of grapefruit juice that no one ever drinks.

6.  Mark old produce for cooking use only.  If you have a bag of baby carrots that are too limp to eat raw, put them in a plastic bag marked "for soup" and put it on the leftover shelf.  For fruit that's past it's prime, stick it in a baggie and mark it "for smoothies" or "for baking."  That way, these items won't be taking up precious space in your produce drawer, and you'll know you need to use them within the next few days.

7.  Make omelettes.  Omelettes are a great way to use up bits and pieces of old produce and other items you have in the fridge.  Mushrooms on their last leg?  Throw them in the frying pan.  Tomatoes too soft to eat raw?  Mix them into the omelette.  Most vegetables work well in omelettes, including broccoli, asparagus, peppers, and zucchini.  You can also throw in olives or cheese that you're about to throw away.

Omelettes are a tasty way to use leftover vegetables, cheese, and olives.

How to Talk to Kids, Part I

     Parents are flooded with advice.  Neighbors are full of it, bookstores are loaded with it, TV shows and Internet sites are teeming with it.  But is any of it any good?

     I thought not, until the therapist who was attempting to treat my four-year-old’s tantrums recommended How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen so Kids Will Talk (Quill, 1982), by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish (fabermazlish.com).

     Unlike many so-called “parenting experts,” who have never had children themselves, the authors of this book developed their theories as they were raising their children.  They’ve even and gone back and revised the book as times—and their ideas—have changed.

     While I don’t agree with everything in the book, I found a few “nuggets” that I think are especially worthwhile.  These are a few things the authors suggest:

1.        Children need to have their feelings accepted and respected.   When children talk, listen quietly and attentively rather than immediately launching into censure or advice.  Acknowledge kids’ feelings with words like “Oh,” “mmmm…,” or “I see.”  Then give the feelings a name:  “That sounds frustrating!”  Finally, give the child his or her wishes in fantasy.  “I wish I could make the banana ripe for you right now!”

Turning green bananas yellow:  give kids their wishes in fantasy.

2.        Use alternatives to punishment.   Punishment doesn’t work—use the following instead:  express strong disapproval of an action; state your expectations; show the child how to make amends; or allow the child to experience the consequences of misbehavior.

     For instance, if Johnny breaks Mrs. Smith’s window with a baseball, your first impulse might be to ground him for a month.  But what does making him stay home for a month have to do with the broken window?  Instead, you can remind Johnny that you have told him umpteen times NOT to play baseball in the front yard, and that breaking windows is unacceptable.
     You can also tell Johnny that from now on, you expect him to play baseball either in the back yard or in the park.  Finally, you can encourage Johnny to apologize to Mrs. Smith, and tell him the price of the window repair will come out of his allowance for as many months as that may take.

     Better than grounding?  I think so, and Johnny will probably think so, too.

Broken windows:  rather than punish, teach kids to deal with the consequences.

3.  Allow children to help solve problems.  When a child’s behavior is causing a problem, ask the child how he/she feels about the problem, and explain how you feel about it.  Next, brainstorm together to find a mutually agreeable solution.  Write down all ideas—however crazy—without evaluating them.  Finally, decide together which proposal to adopt. 

Solve problems together by making lists of proposals.

     Now, this last item strikes me as a good idea, but I’m going to have to put it in practice a few times before I become a believer.  I’m not sure my kids will take the procedure seriously enough to offer any valid solutions—but I could be wrong.  I hope so.

     I’ll have more ideas from the book in my next blog entry.

Clutter Control

     One of the biggest chores a stay-at-home dad faces is picking up clutter.  Shoes, backpacks, books, brushes, crayons, coats, jackets, toys—it seems like a never-ending battle to try to find a place for everything and to keep everything in its place.

     Here are a few things I’ve learned on the topic of clutter control:

1.      Pick up clutter daily.  That way it won’t get so bad that you give up on it.  I like to do my clutter control in the mornings so the house is orderly for the rest of the day.  I guess I could do it at night before I go to bed, but I’m usually so tired at that point that mornings are a better option for me.

Clutter:  if your house looks this this, you've waited too long.

2.      Use a clutter basket.  I used to put clutter away as I picked it up, but this meant dozens of trips across the house to the same places.  I’d pick up Andy’s shoes, for instance, take them to his room, then find a baseball bat two minutes later and have to trek back to his room.  Now I carry around a laundry basket and pick up all the clutter before I start to put it away.

The amazing clutter basket.

3.      Take clean-up breaks.  If you have young children, who like to play with lots of different toys at once, take a break every hour or so and have them help you tidy things up.  If they’ve tired of the Lincoln Logs, put them away.  If the Play-Doh is starting to get hard, but it back in the plastic containers.  I’ve found that kids actually enjoy doing this.  Once the toy room or family room is tidied up, they have a “clean slate” to mess up again.  And you don’t end up having to put away every toy they own when play time is over.

Clean-up breaks take you from this...

...to this.

4.      Organize kids’ rooms so they know where things go.  Kids can get overwhelmed with clutter the same way dads do.  And if they don’t know where to put things, it doesn’t do much good to tell them to pick things up. 

          A couple of weeks ago, I asked Andy to clean up and organize his closet.  To my surprise, he actually got excited about the challenge and dug right in.  He ended up throwing away a ton of things he no longer wanted, which left more space for everything else, and when he was finished, the closet looked like a well organized display at a department store:  baseball hats stacked neatly, all the clothes on hangers, toys carefully lined up on shelves. 

          Now that there’s a place for everything, it’s easy for him (and me—okay, it’s usually me, but he really was responsible for the closet organization) to put things in their place.

The Latest Nutrition Guidelines:MyPlate

       If you went to elementary school in the 70s, like I did, you learned there were four food groups:  dairy, meat, fruits and vegetables (lumped together), and grains.  In fourth grade, I remember having to write down everything I ate for a week, and reporting it, each day, aloud, in class.  The exercise was supposed to teach us to eat foods from each of the four groups at every meal, and it worked:  still, today, when planning meals, I think about the four food groups.

     Well, nutrition guidance, you’ve come a long way, baby.  The four food groups have been out for decades, replaced by food pyramids, which have now been replaced by a system called MyPlate (choosemyplate.gov).

Make your plate look like MyPlate.

     The system was designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the same folks who brought us the food pyramid), and while the concept is simple, the application is a bit more tricky.  You’ll want to visit the Web site, but these are the main points:

1. Instead of thinking in terms of food groups or a food pyramid, picture a plate.   For each meal, one-half of this plate should be covered in fruits and vegetables, one-fourth should be covered in whole grains, and the final fourth should be covered in foods rich in protein.  A small circle at the top of the plate (think of a glass) represents dairy, which should also be present at each meal. 






Fruits and vegetables:  each plays a role in good nutrition.



2. All fruits and vegetables are not created equal.  While half what you eat at each meal should be fruits and vegetables, you can’t eat half a plate of watermelon for every meal, day after day, and expect to be healthy.  You need variety. 

          MyPlate divides vegetables into five groups:  dark green ( such as broccoli, romaine, spinach); starchy (includes potatoes, corn, and, surprisingly, green peas); red/orange (think carrots, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, red peppers, tomatoes); beans/peas (all types of beans and peas except green peas); and others (asparagus, avocados, zucchini, onions, beets, cauliflower, mushrooms, green peppers).  

          MyPlate does not divide fruits into groups, but it does recommend a variety of fruits in order to get the right amounts of necessary nutrients.

Each member of the family needs different amounts of essential nutrients.

3. All bodies do not need the same amounts of the same foods.  On the MyPlate Web site, you’ll find the amounts that each person in your family should be eating from each of the five groups (vegetables, fruits, grains, protein, and dairy) each day.  You will also find the proper amount that each person should be eating from each vegetable subgroup each week.





A proper diet can prevent cancer, high blood pressure, and other diseases.



4. Proper eating will promote health and ward off disease.   According to the Web site, eating according to MyPlate standards will help you avoid cancer, kidney stones, bone loss, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, constipation, diverticulosis (infection caused from food trapped in the intestinal lining), heart attack, stroke, obesity, and Type II diabetes.  

     After I finished reading these guidelines, I couldn’t help but realize they almost exactly described the diet of my Grandmother Williams, who lived to be one hundred and four (she passed away a year ago). 

     At Grandma’s Thanksgiving dinners, we would sometimes chuckle at the variety of vegetables on the table:   string beans, corn, yams, potatoes, carrot sticks, celery sticks, beets, peas.  There would also usually be what she called “mustard pickles,” which were pieces of cauliflower, carrots, green peppers, and onions marinated in a mustard vinaigrette.  Our plates were at least half-full of vegetables at these events, if not three-fourths full. 

     And the vegetable array was not just for Thanksgiving:  it was also included at other formal meals, like Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day.  Even when Grandma dined alone (or with just one or two of us), there were always vegetables.  In the summer there were sliced tomatoes, cucumbers in vinegar, new potatoes, corn on the cob—all from her garden.  In the winter, she would used canned and frozen vegetables. 

     Grandma also followed the other guidelines from MyPlate (before they existed):  lots of fruit, much of which she bottled from her own trees; a moderate amount of meat; a lot of dairy products; and a lot of whole grains (oatmeal, whole wheat), although she wasn’t so fanatic that she’d never touch white bread.  Grandma was moderate in everything.

     Now, she did eat a lot of chocolate—and she used quite a bit of cream in her pies and other desserts (MyPlate wouldn’t exactly sanction these activities)—but when you’re out mowing your lawn at age 90, you can have some cream and chocolate.

     Grandma was quite healthy up until she died, at home, in her own bed.  She did have arthritis and macular degeneration, which left her nearly blind for the last decade of her life (sadly, she didn’t catch this soon enough, or it probably could have been cured—get those yearly eye exams!), but she had no heart problems, no cholesterol issues, no diabetes, no cancer.  She never had weight issues in her life—she was always slender, in-shape, and active.

     Thanks, Grandma, for your great example.  I hope I live to be a hundred and four.

Grilled Vegetables

My last cooking post was on men who make bread, which needed some explaining.  But today’s topic—grilling—needs no prefatory remarks.  Everyone knows dudes grill.  That’s just what we do.

But do real men grill vegetables?  Yes, they do.  It’s just as macho to grill a mushroom as it is a burger, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Here’s an easy summer recipe that works well for an outdoor lunch or supper.  Serve the vegetables with a rustic loaf of bread, two or three cheeses, and individual raspberry tarts.  The veggies are so good, you and your kids won’t even realize it’s a meatless meal. 

Where's the beef?  No one will care.

Grilled Vegetables

vegetables (you decide the quantity your family will eat):

asparagus spears

green peppers

red peppers

zucchini

Portobello mushrooms

vinaigrette (this recipe serves 6—adjust according to family size):

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

½ cup fresh lemon juice (that means you must squeeze a lemon or two—don’t buy the bottled stuff)

½  cup balsamic vinegar (raspberry works well)

sea salt

1 teaspoon Mediterranean seasoning blend

1 teaspoon season salt

Wash asparagus spears and bend bottoms of stalks until they snap (discard the lower pieces).

Rinse peppers, zucchini and mushrooms and cut into long, thin slices.

Combine vinegar, lemon juice, Mediterranean seasoning and season salt in medium bowl.  Whisk in olive oil.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning.

Place vegetables in vinaigrette and allow to marinate at least two hours.

Heat grill to medium high.

Place vegetables on grill.  Turn after one minute.  Remove after one more minute.  Place in large serving dish and cover with remaining marinade.  Sprinkle with sea salt. 

Enjoy!

Serve grilled vegetables with rustic bread, cheeses, and individual raspberry tarts.

Kids and Sunscreen

     Do you have to tackle your kids to get sunscreen on them?
     I used to, but it's a little easier now.
     Here are some techniques I've used to get my kids to put on the SPF:
     1.  Use sunscreen stick on kids' faces.  The thing my kids absolutely HATE is getting sunscreen in their eyes or mouths.  If you use the sticks, you can pretty well avoid this.  If they're old enough, let them apply the stick themselves.  They like that, because they feel like they're in control.  (You can touch it up a bit afterwards if necessary.)

My kids will put this on their faces without a fight.

     2.  Let kids choose the sunscreen to use on the rest of their bodies.  I used to grab whatever type of sunscreen happened to be sitting around (as long as it was at least 50 SPF), and my kids always had some complaint about it:  it was itchy, it stung, it was too greasy, etc.  Now I have a wide array of choices and let them pick their poison.  My kids usually prefer the spray-on stuff, but we've put that on hold because of health concerns about it in the news.  (Hopefully those will turn out to be unfounded.)  At any rate, if you let the kids choose from a variety of sunscreen options, they feel like they're part of the process, and they're more likely to let you apply it.

Have an arsenal of different sunscreens at the ready.
(I don't necessarily endorse any of these particular products.)

     3.  Explain that sunscreen prevents sagging and aging of skin.  Pick a person who is severely wrinkled--preferably a person who your kids see frequently--and tell the kids that unless they use sunscreen, their skin will someday look the same.  I'm not usually into scare tactics, but this is the truth, and when the kids understand it, they're more willing to cooperate.
          If you don't know anyone with sun-damaged skin, show your kids these pictures:

French actress Brigitte Bardot pre-sun damage.

Brigitte Bardot post-sun damage.

     4.  Explain that sunscreen prevents skin cancer.  Pick a person who has had skin cancer--once again, preferably someone close to the kids--and explain that if the kids don't use sunscreen, they could end up in the same situation.   Explain that if skin cancer is not detected early, it can spread quickly and kill its victims quickly.  I remind my kids about the father of a friend of mine, who liked to be outdoors without a shirt, but refused to use sunscreen.  After years of doing this, he was eventually diagnosed with melanoma and died three months later.

Skin cancer isn't pretty:  a malignant melanoma.  

Real Men Make Bread

Real men do make bread.

     When I was in law school, a female friend of mine--a liberal Northeasterner who was pro-gay marriage, pro-choice,  and pro-everything that would seem to obliterate the difference between women and men--mentioned that a guy she liked had invited her over to eat some bread he had made.
     "Bread?" she said.  "I mean, it's fine that he likes to cook, but baking bread?  That's a little weird."
     Well, I found it a little weird that she found it weird for men to make bread, since she was fine with women playing professional football, women working on auto assembly lines, and women serving in combat zones in the military.
     Why can't a dude bake a loaf of bread?

The masculine art of making bread.

     Weird or not, I assure you that some very real, macho men do make bread.  My wife's grandfather--a man's man of Sicilian descent who eventually settled in Guatemala--ran a bakery for many years, and all of the workers who made the bread (including his son, my father-in-law) were men.  And when I worked as a prep cook at a very expensive French restaurant, the baker was also a man--a very large, rugged man named Hal with several tattoos.  You have to be pretty buff to throw 50-pound sacks of flour around the way Hal did.

This guy reminds me of Hal the baker--except that Hal was bigger and buffer.

     But as final proof that real men make bread, the wife of an auto mechanic I know--who wouldn't be able to get in touch with his feminine side if his life depended on it--once revealed to me, sotto voce, that her husband made the best bread in the world, but he had forbidden her to tell anyone about it.

Roman men baked bread:  why are today's men squeamish about it?

     Why are some men embarrassed to have it known that they make bread?  Why are some women turned off by men who bake bread?  Those are questions for future doctoral dissertations, but could it be that when they think of making bread, they have a vision of Betty Crocker, dressed in a red gingham apron, taking hot loaves out of the oven as her tired hubby walks in the door?

If this is your vision of making bread, think again.

     If you have that vision, replace it with a realistic one--one of a hot, sweaty commercial bakery that has more in common with a steel plant than with Martha Stewart's kitchen.

Commercial bakery:  more locker room than ladylike.

     For some great bread--and a fun family activity--try the following recipe, which came from my Grandma Williams (c = cup, T = tablespoon)  My kids like to mix the ingredients, play with the dough, and form it into loaves.  (Oh, yeah, and they like to eat it.)
     Although it's called French bread, this recipe produces nothing like the true French baguettes that scrape the skin off the top of your mouth as you try to chew through them.  No, this bread is "American-style" French, like the soft squishy loaves you get at grocery store bakeries.

Your bread will turn out more like this...

...than this.

Grandma Williams' French Bread

1 c warm water
2 T yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
3 T sugar
1 T salt
1/3 c canola oil
6 c flour
   
Dissolve yeast in 1 c warm water.

Combine 1 1/2 c water, sugar, salt, and oil in large bowl.  Stir until sugar and salt have dissolved.  Add yeast mixture and stir.

Add flour all at once.  Stir until soft dough forms.  Dough should not stick to your hands.  If it does, add flour--one T at a time--until it doesn't.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in microwave (don't turn it on--the microwave is just a warm, draft-free place for dough to rise).  Allow dough to sit 10  minutes; then cut through it several times with butcher knife.  Return dough to microwave and allow to rest another 10 minutes.  Cut with butcher knife again.  Repeat process 4 more times.

Remove dough from microwave and punch down.  Then turn onto floured board (that means you sprinkle some flour on a cutting board so the dough won't stick).  Cut dough into four pieces.  Take one piece and pound flat with hands on cutting board.  Roll up like jelly roll and place on cookie sheet coated with non-stick spray.  Repeat procedure for remaining pieces of dough.

Optional:  brush tops of loaves with beaten egg white (this gives more of a crust).

Slash top of each loaf diagonally--about 1/4 inch deep--in four places.

Bake 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Eat while hot!  

Kids and Vegetables

Kids will eat vegetables that are fresh, crisp, and colorful.

     Getting kids to eat vegetables is an age-old problem that won't be solved in a blog entry, but here are a few ideas that have worked for me:

1.  Buy or grow your vegetables fresh.  
     There's nothing worse than canned peas, which in no way resemble the wonderful fresh peas you pick from your own garden and serve over new potatoes in a cream sauce.  My kids love fresh peas--but they gag over canned peas.  
     Canned asparagus is another product that will permanently turn kids against vegetables.  Canned green beans aren't as bad as canned peas or asparagus, but they still don't compare to fresh beans.  Corn actually tastes okay canned, but it's much better, of course, on the cob--especially if it's from your own garden.  
     Some vegetables are fine frozen--peas and corn come to mind--but most others turn out soggy and inedible, like broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots.  Give kids fresh vegetables and they are much more likely to eat them.

Fresh or frozen peas are more appealing than canned.

2.  Serve vegetables raw.
     Serve baby carrots, broccoli florets, cucumber slices, pepper slices, and grape tomatoes with a dip made from fat-free sour cream and watch the vegetables disappear.  This is a great after-school and summer-afternoon snack.

Raw vegetables are full of crunch and flavor.

3.  Steam or grill vegetables, rather than boil them.  
     If you must cook vegetables, don't dump them into a pot of boiling water.  Boiling most fresh vegetables turns them the consistency of canned vegetables--plus it destroys most of the vitamins they originally contained.  
     Steaming vegetables for very short periods of time keeps them crisp, colorful, and appetizing.  Grilling vegetables--like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and mushrooms--is another way to cook them while preserving their flavor and texture.

Steamed vegetables maintain texture and flavor.

4.  Take vegetables as snacks on car trips.  
     If you're traveling, the kids are hungry, and all you have to offer are vegetables, they will eat them.  
     I had proof of this a few days ago when we were driving  home from a hiking trip.  Instead of chips, cookies and candy for snacks, I took along baby carrots, grape tomatoes, and broccoli.  The kids complained at first, but the vegetables disappeared pretty quickly.

Grape tomatoes are great for car trips.

What to Do with Kids During the Summer?

     This is a question many parents ask with horror as school comes to an end.

Kids can have fun while learning during the summer.

     Some are so afraid of the prospect of having kids at home (and with time on their hands) that they rush out and buy the latest electronic gadgets (even though their kids just got all the latest installments for Christmas), stock up on the latest games and apps for these gadgets (many of which have violent and otherwise questionable content), make sure Netflix is installed on every one of these gadgets and every TV in the house (content also very questionable), double the number of cable channels the kids can watch (content, again), and then sit back and hope the kids will entertain themselves.
     What's wrong with this picture?
     Everything.
     The last things kids need today are more electronic gadgetry and more media exposure.  What do they really need?  Books, art supplies, opportunities for exercise (preferably outdoors), opportunities for learning new things, and a parent willing (and excited) to spend time with them and oversee what they're doing.

Stop the insanity:  the last thing kids need during
summer break is more electronic stimulation.

     So, to get my kids off the couch this summer, and to minimize their use of electronic media, I've instituted what I call the "Summer Safari" program.  Yes, my 12-year-old laughs at the whole idea, and my 10-year-old makes sure we hide any evidence of the program when friends come over, but secretly, THEY LIKE IT.  Especially my 4-year-old.
     And I love being with them.  Instead of being scared of having them home all day, I'm excited to get up each day and do our activities.  It's good for all of us to have a general structure in place, although we frequently modify it.
     Here's how it works.  Each weekday (we take a break from Safari on weekends), we follow a schedule that includes the following:

Kids will go along if you replace video games with books.



Summer Learning Safari Schedule

     1.  breakfast together (I try to make it healthy)
     2.  aerobic exercise (jumping on trampoline, biking, hiking, etc.), at least 30 minutes
     3.  art projects (painting, drawing, sculpting with clay, etc.), at least 30 minutes
     4.  free reading (I make my kids read in Spanish, since their mother is Guatemalan), 30 minutes
     5.  piano practice (30 minutes for the older kids)
     6.  field trip (usually around 2 hours)
     7.  learning expeditions (about an hour), which I will explain below

     We finish all this by about 1:30 in the afternoon, and the kids have the rest of the day free--although I limit TV and electronic devices during these free hours.
     I do let the kids watch a couple of hours of Disney Channel throughout the day (thankfully, that's the only channel they really want to watch), but I also put on educational videos (okay, DVDs--I'm showing my age here) to quench their thirst for the cursed box (which now, due to HD, is actually a rectangle).

DVDs on travel destinations like Tuscany are good alternatives to regular TV.

     My kids especially like travel DVDs:, like Rudy Maxa's Molto Italiano, as well as National Geographic programs on the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas.  Most public libraries have these, but you can also get a lot of good non-fiction DVDs on Netflix.
     The field trips are what the kids like most, and so far we've been hiking several times, visited a copper mine, toured several model homes in a new development (my 10-year-old is interested in becoming an architect), explored several museums, scoped out a kitchen design showroom (when we got back, I had each of the kids design their dream kitchen), and gone shopping as dad points out how to get the best value for our money (or as my older daughter puts it, "how to be cheap").

Kids enjoy museums in small doses.

     As for the learning expeditions, these are power point presentations I have made on various topics (and continue to make, as the summer goes on), but so far I've completed units on Tuscany and Provence.
     These presentations take a region and explore its geography, history, art, architecture, music, and literature.  They include slide shows, concert videos, excerpts from literary works, maps, and yes, POP QUIZZES!
     Since my kids are as crazy about electronic devices as everyone else, I've tried to do as the Romans do by making these presentations as fun and interactive as possible.
     For example, the kids click on links to reach items like concert videos and maps, and I've embedded music that plays automatically while they're reading the various slides.   I've even added some surprise "gong" and "applause" sounds to various slides to keep them awake.

My kids do the Learning Expeditions I put together on their Nooks.

     So, how is all this working?  Believe it or not, my kids wake up each morning and ask what we're going to do for our "Safari."
     Try it with your own kids and you won't be disappointed.  Boredom will cease, inter-sibling violence will diminish, and you'll get to know your kids, rather then fear them.

Swedish Pancakes

Swedish pancakes can break up breakfast monotony.

     If your kids are like mine, they like pancakes.  But the same Aunt Jemima flapjacks get boring day after day, and they don't provide much nutrition.
     Swedish pancakes are heavy on eggs, which will give your kids more protein than regular pancakes, and they'll have fun rolling them up with different toppings.  I've modified the traditional recipe to leave out most of the cholesterol by eliminating two egg yolks and substituting canola oil for melted butter.
     Here's a breakfast item your kids will want to get up for:

Healthy (okay, Healthier) Swedish Pancakes

1 egg
3 egg whites
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
11/2 c milk
3 T canola oil
3/4 c flour

Place all ingredients except milk in large bowl.  Whisk until batter is smooth.  Gradually add milk and whisk until mixture is free of lumps.  Pour onto hot griddle or pre-heated frying pan sprayed with fine layer of canola oil.  Cook until browned on both sides.  Serve with syrup, jam or jelly, powdered sugar, or brown sugar and sour cream.

Eating Out With Kids

Don't be afraid to take kids to nice restaurants.

     A few nights ago, the kids and I took my wife to dinner at a nice restaurant for her birthday.  There was valet parking, the tablecloth was starched white linen, the servers and bus people wore uniforms, and yes, it was a bit pricey.  But I think kids need the experience of eating out at a nice place every now and then.  Sooner than we hope, they'll be dating, going out to eat for business reasons, and attending formal social events, so it's important to teach them how to behave in these situations.

     Here are a few things I've learned about fine dining with kids:

     1.  Take the money you would otherwise spend on fast food and save it for a nice restaurant.  If you avoid three or four visits to the Golden Arches and their ilk, you'll have enough for a lunch or dinner of real food.

Stay away from these for two weeks and use the money you've saved  at a nice restaurant.

     2.  Go to nice restaurants when they're not busy.  There are several reasons for this.  If the kids act up, fewer people will notice.  If the staff isn't harried with large crowds, you'll get better service.  And since young kids are not going to eat an entire $35 main course, your server will be less resentful (and hopefully more attentive) if you go when you're not taking a table that he or she was counting on for a huge tip.

An empty restaurant is a kid-friendly restaurant.

     3.  Don't be afraid to share main courses, to order salads or appetizers instead of main courses, or to ask for items not listed on the menu.  As I mentioned above, some servers make their disapproval known--through scowls and/or poor service--when one or more members of a party fail to order an expensive main course.  Because of this, many people--myself included--often feel pressured into ordering a main course that we don't really want and don't end up eating.
     However, if you go to a restaurant when you're surrounded by empty tables, you won't be taking up what servers see as valuable real estate, and they will probably be thankful for your business--whatever you choose to order.  At my wife's birthday dinner, for instance, I didn't want a big-slab-of-meat main course, so I ordered a salad and a side order of asparagus (which was not listed on the menu).  My vegetarian daughter Sophia didn't like anything on the menu, so we asked the server if the kitchen could make her up a fruit plate (which turned out to be fantastic) as well as a side order of mashed potatoes.
     My wife and son Andy shared a large New York steak with haystack potatoes, and four-year-old Stella circled the table, eating a little bit of everything.  We were happy, our server was happy (I think), and my debit card was happy.

Share a main course with kids:  you shouldn't eat it all anyway.

     4.  If money is an issue, skip drinks and dessert.  Brief the kids on this beforehand, to avoid surprises.  At any rate, water is better with food than those high-fructose-corn-syrup sodas.  Have dessert at home if you still want it.  If you do decide on dessert at the restaurant, get one and share it.  All you really want is a taste, anyway.

Skipping dessert makes restaurant forays more reasonable.

     4.  Go to nice restaurants for lunch, rather than dinner.   Lunch menus are almost always less expensive, and portions are usually smaller, so lunch is often a good option for kids.  Lunch is also less formal, and since people are trying to get in and out in a hurry, noisy kids aren't as noticeable.  Try for an early or late lunch--when the restaurant is less busy--in order to get better service.

     5.  Look for restaurants with ambiance.   Long after you forget what you ate, you'll remember the light breeze blowing on the outdoor terrace, the view of the ski slopes out the huge window walls, or the huge marble columns and the Tiffany glass ceiling.  One of the best dinners my family ever had--and we bring it up all the time--was at a simple sidewalk cafe next to a gurgling fountain in Watercolor, Florida.  It was around ten o'clock at night, seventy degrees, the streetlights glowed, and everything seemed right with the world.  Oh, yeah, and there was food.

Food is only part of the experience:  choose restaurants with ambiance.

     6.  Brief kids on proper dining etiquette on the way to the restaurant.  We rarely have a problem with our  kids at nice restaurants, since we've been taking them since they were babies (and don't be afraid to take babies to nice restaurants--servers have almost always been very nice about it), but I still give out a few reminders in the car, like the need to keep their voices low and to avoid provoking each other to anger. They were pretty well behaved for my wife's birthday except for the fact that Sophia smuggled in her Nook.
     Next time I'll do an airport-style bag inspection as the kids leave the car.

Have the "manners" talk in the car on the way to the restaurant.