1
August
2008
All of Adrian’s juggling practice came in handy when it was time to make pizza. I mixed up a batch of dough ahead of time, then cut it into quarters so each person could make their own.
The Farmers Market provided the toppings — italian sausage from Skagit River Ranch, caramelized red torpedo onions and sauteed fennel from Willie Greens, tomatoes, sweet red peppers and basil from Billy’s Organic — there are possibilities everywhere you look. Put each topping in a bowl and let everyone help themselves.
Consider your dough a blank slate and let your imagination and your belly be your guide.
Making faces is always fun.
Once the pizzas are baked and out of the oven, the hardest part is waiting for them to cool down so you can dig in.
I used Alice Water’s recipe in The Art of Simple Food for pizza dough as my starting point. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Eat Local, Farmers Markets, For Kids, Local Meals, On the Local Table
18
July
2008
Coming back from vacation is hard enough for adults, but what do you do with the kids after days of nonstop fun and activities? Time to pull out that bag of flour I bought from Bluebird Grain Farms and put them to “work” baking bread.
I’ve been feeling pretty lazy and jet-lagged myself and didn’t want to do anything too complicated so I found the simplest recipe I could find, forgot about starters, sponges and all those artisanal labor-intensive methods for now. I did the initial mixing myself or more accurately, the food processor did, let it rise once and then called in the workers to take it from there.
Our warm weather is perfect for activating the yeast and the dough rose to fill the bowl in about an hour. I cut the dough into 4 pieces and let Adrian and Lily each make 2 small loaves. Adrian was more methodical and rolled his into baguettes, while Lily’s were more rustic loaves. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed all the kneading, punching and patting to the point that I was a little worried about the texture of the bread. I shouldn’t have been because when it was baked and covered in butter, we couldn’t stop ourselves……
Here is the recipe for this very simple and quite delicious local whole wheat bread. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Eat Local, For Kids, Grains, On the Local Table
14
July
2008
A while back Poppy and I had this idea that we would host a ‘food experience’ for munchkins.
Foods that dip was the central 
theme and we made a mess, a good mess, as is required in the creation of any masterpiece. Their dips and veggie creations were inventive, artful and delicious. They dipped strawberries in chocolate and even saved a few to take home; they made and loved both a thousand island-type dip and a peanut buttery dip based on an Indonesian peanut sauce; they decorated their plates with inspired versions of veggie people; we had a picture story about a strawberry which involved a tiny mouse and a bear, both enamored with the same strawberry (The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear); we mixed extra peanut sauce with pasta for take-home lunches; and finally there was drumming and a dance around the backyard.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: For Kids, Local Living
17
June
2008
While we want our children to be the benefactors of stewardship and sustainability, they’re also partners in the effort.
While writing a recent post about an Onion and Goat Cheese Tart, I thought about children. Would a kid eat this, would Lily like it? I wondered about a child-friendlier take on the tart and that lead to these critters. I used naan and cookie cutters to create little fishy, penguiny, rabbitty morsels, but could have used the pastry dough from the tart just as well.
Brush cut-out shapes with a little olive oil and then spread with fig or rhubarb jam and dollops of goat cheese; combinations of grated cheeses; tomato sauce underneath and it’s almost a pizza; a thin slice of apple or pear topped with grated cheese; and by all means include the caramelized onions if that’s kid-friendly enough. Use your imagination and include toppings that kids love and that will tolerate a few minutes in a hot oven along with the Onion & Goat Cheese Tart.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: Eat Local, For Kids, On the Local Table
