Veggie Pasta...and a little chicken.

So my New Year's resolution is to be healthier and make sure my babies are too.  So, tonight, instead of the same old pasta I decided to go old school in our house.  And when I say old school, I meant when Trey was little. Let me explain....

When Trey was about one, he kept getting a rash on his back.  It would heal and then break out again.  We were told he was allergic to some type of food, nothing serious, but watch what he ate and through process of elimination figure out what it might be.  At daycare, there is one week where the menu calls for three things of tomato based foods for lunch, Monday-spaghetti, Wednesday-chili, Friday- Meatballs, and the following Monday-ravioli.  After a month I realized it possibly was tomatoes.  Then I realized that if I left his ketchup on his face for too long he would break out too.  So, we stopped eating all that tomato for a while.  But we couldn't cut out pasta.  We ALL love pasta in my family.  So, we switched to a cream sauce and I added veggies.  He was young enough to not pick them out.

So the first thing I did on January 1st was to explain to him that we were going to eat healthier, and he needed to be willing to try some new things.  Now, I am not entirely cutting things out or changing the way we eat completely, but changing the manner of which we eat.  For example, the second day of the year we made chili, a family favorite, but we used ground chicken instead of ground beef and fresh tomatoes instead of canned to cut down on salt.  I also made it a casserole like dish, with cornbread on top, so we didn't eat two or three cornbread muffins on a huge bowl of chili and then eat it with crackers.  So when I told him I was going to make a vegetable pasta with chicken and I really wanted him to try it, he said, to my surprise, "Okay."

After laying out a menu for the week I went grocery shopping, and I found a vegetable pasta noodle, that has a full serving of vegetables in a 4 oz serving.  The noodles are rotini and green and orange.  Trey thought that was funny.  I still don't have the nerve to try my own cream sauce, so I bought a mushroom Alfredo sauce.  When we got started for the night, Trey helped me slice up some portabello mushrooms (on sale, usually don't buy those) and shred two carrots.  Trey sauteed some garlic and chicken in EVOO and then added the shrooms.  Trey wanted to add some green and asked about peas.  Okay.  So we added a can of no salt added peas (if I had known he wanted to add green, I probably would have planned something like spinach, or some frozen peas, but hey, I am so proud that HE wanted to do it!).  Then, lastly before the sauce, the shredded carrots.   Trey learned the word "saute" and thought it was really cool to hear the "brown stuff sizzle (mushroom and chicken mix)'

So, we mixed it all together after the pasta was done in the same pan the sauce simmered in, thanks Chopped for teaching my son that (seriously, he told me the pasta needed to go in the same pan as the sauce) and to get fancy, I cut up some turkey bacon and got out the Parmesan cheese.  I fixed my plate, topping it off all fancy like, and then put the pasta on Trey's plate.  I asked if he wanted to add the topping,  "Yes!" and he topped it off very delicately, placing the slices of bacon just so.  And guess what, HE ATE EVERY BIT OF THIS PASTA! 

Now, that shouldn't surprise me too much because I know the boy loves pasta, but the last time I added anything to pasta that wasn't hidden in lasagna, he picked every bit out.  Sunday night I made a macaroni and cheese bake with chicken and he flat out refused to eat it since it wasn't chicken he liked.  I am just happy he ate and got a good serving or two of veggies, fresh and in his pasta noodles.  And the best part: I had enough left over to freeze for another meal in the future!  I am all about that!

Chopped...with wooden food!

Okay, so this isn't really a blog worthy story, but I just wanted to share that my son got a lot of wooden food for Christmas and a sizzling cook top.  He has already played chopped with me about ten times.  Last night before bed he fixed me a "strawberry kiwi toast salad" and asked if he was chopped or not.  Then this morning before leaving to my in laws, he made me a "watermelon carrot cucumber lettuce tomato thingy," and asked if he made it to the next round.  He even had me time him to make sure he got it fixed in time.  Love this little chef and can't wait to see what else he cooks for me!

Ahhh...Brinner.

So, if you didn't already know, my son likes to play cooking ALL THE TIME! His new favorite show to watch is Chopped and often likes to take my drawer of kitchen tools apart and play it himself.  He likes to bring me plates full of his cooking and I HAVE to eat it and judge it before he can move on, telling him if he has been chopped or not.  Yes, my son is four.  Yes, my son is imaginative. And hopefully, yes, I would love for my son to be a wonderful cook, or a professional chef if he wants to.  I would have no problem with that as a parent.

Well, tonight I decided, after hearing Trey all day tell me to try his food and hearing the sound of my plastic vegetable cutter hitting the wooden cutting board he was playing with that the boy was going to actually cook something tonight. So what to fix that would be easy.  Brinner.  Yep, that wonderful idea of having all the breakfast items for dinner!.

On the menu: scrambled cheese eggs, turkey bacon, hash browns, and biscuits.  This changes all the time, but for the most part, I usually have two of the four when we cook brinner.  Mostly because I know my boys will eat it up!  I sometimes cook pancakes, I sometimes do made to order omelets.  I have even made some delicious cinnamon bun waffles (and oh, I don't like those things but for some reason as a waffle they are fabulous!).  But tonight, it was about Trey helping me cook.

Scrambled Eggs.
Trey usually stirs whatever I am cooking, nothing new to him.  But tonight, he helped me put the cheese in the eggs and melt the butter, plus stir in the hot pan!  He was PUMPED about that.  My cheese eggs usually consist of Cheddar cheese shredded finely.  I use about half a cup for six eggs.  Tonight, Trey wanted to add all the cheese in the fridge.  So, we pulled out the five cheese Italian Mix I used for Lasagna the other night (about 1/4 cup left) and some fresh grated Parmesan cheese Thomas had for a dish he made last week.  I was a little worried about all this cheese, but Trey assured me, "Mommy, it'll be okay.  Trust me.  I never get chopped!"  :) So I put the pad of butter on the pan and while it was melting, told Trey he could use the spatula to spread it around the pan.  Easy enough. While I whipped my eggs to make them fluffy, I carefully watched to make sure he wasn't knocking butter out of the pan or getting to close to the hot stove.  Nope, he was doing GREAT! In the mixture went and I told him he had to keep stirring.  "Stir," I told him, "Don't stop!"  He needed a little help to move fast enough mostly because I have told him in the past not to stir too fast or hard because whatever will come out of the pan.  He did a good job remembering.  And soon enough, eggs were done.  And looked really good.


Bacon
I  CAN NOT FRY BACON!  Seriously, that is not an under statement.  I can't do it.  I burn the snot out of any type of bacon I fry.  Same with sausage. Just can't seem to fry it enough, or I burn it beyond tasting good.  So, I bake it.  The best thing about turkey bacon, and the reason why I use it, is 1-a lot less grease and fat but 2- when you lay it down straight on the baking pan and bake it, it stays long strips and doesn't crinkle to this little piece of meat.  Now, it doesn't come out too crunchy, but chewy, and I like bacon that way so it works for me.  Tonight, Trey got to lay it straight on the pan.  I had to make two batches since he laid it in all directions and only placed about 7 on the large pan.  He thought it was gross to touch the bacon.  "I feels like skin." Hmm....I don't know if I agree with that but okay.  I put it in the oven and of course, perfection!

Okay, so that was Trey's helping with dinner.  I was going to have him help with the hash browns, but got really nervous with the hot grease in the pan.  The biscuits were left over from breakfast that morning (I was the only who seemed to want them), so he helped me split them apart to add some jelly.  And when everything was ready, he made a clean plate, right?

Wrong.  Trey ate all his hash browns, his biscuit, half of the two slices of bacon I gave him (So yes, one strip) and only a bite of the eggs that he spent the most time doing!  Whoever said to have kids help in the kitchen to assure they eat what they make didn't meet my child!

SOOOO SOOORRRRYYYY

So, I totally knew this would happen, but I told you right?  I am HORRIBLE at updating these things.  So, therefore, this one is a little later. Okay, like two months in the making late.  Its about Halloween.  Trey and I bit off more than we could chew with that one.

So, the first thing Trey and I made for Halloween was for his teachers, Halloween themed bark. Trey helped me stir and melt the dark chocolate.  He reminded me while it was melting that it looked like something that comes from your body and into the toilet (however, not that nicely), and he didn't want to try it.  When we added the candy corn to it, he changed his mind.  But when he touched the hot melted chocolate while patting them in, and realizing how hot it was, a little whiny and sleepy four year old had a break down and decided no.  While it was cooling and hardening, we tackled the next project for the second time.

Now, I have made three different types of whoopie pie recipes.  Each time, my cookie pie part...well, it fails.  So, I tried yet ANOTHER recipe.  And again, it was not right.  The batter wasn't thick at all and was like a milkshake.  When they heated up it was more like a silver dollar pancake on a diet, that's how thin it was.  you can imagine Trey's reaction. "Mommy, those aren't cookies"  "I know, Trey, they are supposed to be like little cakes."  "Mommy, those are definitely not cakes, those are chocolate papers."  Without even trying to make the middle, I threw them away.  That was two days before Halloween.  When I decided to make the bark and went to get the ingredients for it, I saw (drum roll please)......Pillsbury Whoopie Pie Mix, Halloween themed!  It came with sprinkles to roll the sides in that were black and orange.  Perfect right?  And so easy, right?  WRONG!

OK, so I don't know how, the whoopie pie gods must not like me, because even with the boxed recipe, they still weren't as big and puffy as they were supposed to me.  Or the same size. Trey was in charge of sprinkles and had a hard time getting to the icing because the cake was not think enough to put a thick layer of icing in between.  So, well, with a four year old, his solution was to bite the sides off!  I was icing while he was rolling, and didn't realize until about the fourth out of twelve one he had done was on the plate.  He had a mouth full of chocolate and was surprised when I commented that he wasn't supposed to eat the cakes just yet.  So, his teachers got the pretties four we made, and we saved the rest.  At least I know there is a dessert item he enjoys now.

Well, that was October.  A little late, I know.  We shall do Thanksgiving soon...or hopefully before Christmas.  I make no promises. :)

Spaghetti Pie...what?

So, in my house, we have some sort of pasta at least once a week.  Mostly because I love it, but also because my son LOVES it.   Before anyone comments, "Pasta is not healthy" just let me say I try to make it so as best as I can.  When Trey was first starting to eat I loaded the sauce up with lots of veggies, such as zucchini, carrots, and eggplant.  He has figured out the carrots and will now pick those out, but they have been replaced with mushrooms.  But also, I buy the brand with chunky tomatoes in it and added veggies, so he really enjoys eating it.  Also, I either use a whole wheat pasta or enriched pasta so we aren't eating so many bad carbs.   If you still have a problem, sorry.

When I get spaghetti noodles, it never fails that I get too much.  The first time I ever cooked for my husband, Thomas, I made fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and got the one pound box...for two people. It broke my heart to throw so much of it away (we were in college and couldn't keep it).  I still buy too much.  However, Trey and I will eat it throughout the week, either for lunch one day or even for a quick dinner if I forget to lay something out or am too tired to cook a great meal (better than fast food, right?).  So we always have extra in the fridge at any given moment.

Well, last night I decided I wasn't cooking.  Well, I didn't feel like creating a perfectly wonderful from scratch meal.  Alright, I will admit, I didn't want to cook.  However, when I started to get hungry and then Trey started to ask what we are having, I decided old spaghetti or sandwiches just wasn't good enough for a weekend meal (I cook more creative things on the weekend).

I pulled out my recipe for spaghetti pie.  That's right, I have a recipe.  I have been holding on to it for a while now and decided that it was time to try it.  I had a ton of extra pasta left over and lots of eggs, main things required to make it, so I was going to make it. The trick was to try to get Trey to want to eat it.

Me-Trey, want to try something new tonight.

Trey-Like what?

Me-Like something called Spaghetti pie?

Trey-No, that's just gross.  I want regular spaghetti.

Me-I know, but I really want to try this with you and you can help me cook it.  Can we try it and see if we like it?

Trey-Alright.

So I go and cut up some more mushrooms and some sausage to add to it.  I know he will be more willing to eat it with sausage in it (the boy LOVES LOVES LOVES sausage).  So when I have it sauteed in the pan I call him in to help stir in the pasta.  He stirs it well, trying to make sure the noodles and sauce just get heated though before adding it to the pan to bake.  Now, here is where the story gets interesting.  So, I compared some spaghetti recipes on line to make sure I didn't forget to have something or to see if there was a better recipe, and one of those sites said she would use a spring pan the next time she cooked it so it would be easier to get out.  I have a spring pan, I thought I would try it.  I get it out, spray it while Trey stirs the spaghetti in the pan, and then we each pour the noodles in.  The recipe calls for 5 beaten eggs with some milk to pour over to set it.  Trey helps me pour it over the noodles and says, "That looks so good."

Trey stirring the mixture before we attempted to pour it.

And then the egg mixture oozes out of the bottom of my spring pan...and Trey says, "That's because you didn't have us aim mommy."  So I quickly pour the now rather disgusting looking mixture back in the pan, but not before my whole counter is covered in egg and is starting to drip down the counter on the cabinets and the floor.  Great.  I pop the pan in the oven to bake, put Trey in the living room to watch "Chopped" and then start to clean and bleach, thinking, "This sure better be worth the trouble."

The creation right out of the oven.

Thirty five minutes later with lots of checking on Trey's part, its set and ready to eat.  We take it out and cut it just like a pie.  We sit down to start eating it.

Trey-This looks so good.

Me-It sure does.

After a few bites, Trey-Mommy, I don't like this brown stuff (the bottom)

Me-Okay, its just where it cooked closest to the pan.  See if you can pick it off.

Trey-That stuff will make you fruity. (I do not know what he means by that but the boy said it!)

A little while later, after he picks the crunchy noddles of the top-Mommy, I don't like this crunchy stuff.  Its froggy.

Me-Okay, so you just like the inside. 

Trey-Yeah, except I don't like this stuff (as he pulls the egg mixture now baked away from the noodles)

Me-So what do you like about this pie Trey?

Trey-Just the noodles and sausage.

Trey trying his pie.

:/

So here is my verdict.  I thought it was rather good.  I loved the crunchy part on top the best (which should have made me froggy), but should have added some cheese to the top and maybe throughout (most of the recipes on line called for this, mine didn't however).  Very filling, but after we ate and let it sit on the stomach a while, it was really heavy.  Trey just likes the spaghetti part and really did just pick around the noodles and sausage.  So, we probably won't be making this anytime soon, even though Trey told me at the end, "That was delicioius."

Sugar cookies and icing...oh my!

I have been craving the wonderfully delicious sugar cookies with icing that you can buy at any grocery store. You know the ones, the thick and soft cookie with the terribly sweet and thick icing on top with sprinkles.  They are usually always seasonal, and around this time you can find the icing is dyed orange and the sprinkles are Halloween themed.  You know one is enough to cover your fat and calorie intake for a whole meal, but you have to have two or three (or is that just me?). Yes, those lovely things are wonderful, and I decided I wanted to duplicate them as best as I can.

I found that the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix is the best fast mix out there for cooking sugar cookies.  The recipe I use on the back of the bag is for the drop cookies and its supposed to make about 3 dozen 2 inch cookies.  However, Trey and I do something different.  

Trey likes to mix the ingredients.  He loves to pour the mix, crack the egg (with a little help from mommy so no shells get in) and pour in the milk.  He doesn't like the electric mixer though.  In fact, he sits on the counter to reach the bowl to pour the ingredients in, but jumps off as soon as I turn the beater on to mix and won't come into the kitchen until it is off and unplugged.  So, when that is all done and Trey is back on his stool (or sitting on the counter), we drop the cookies on the pan.  Trey tells me where to put them, and its usually a little too close together.  The first thing we do different is that we don't make small cookies.  We have semi large ones, usually about a dozen and a half with the mix instead of the 3 it says it will make.  These produce cookies that are about the same size as the yummy ones at the bakery, although we don't care if it is perfectly round. They are also soft enough and thick enough to taste about the same as the bakery ones, as well.

When we place them in the oven, I always turn the timer on and remind Trey to tell me when he hears the "beep beep" to let me know.  So, 13 minutes later I hear little feet running through the house and "Mommy! Mommy! Its ready! The cookies are ready!" And we get them out.  He has to step back because "I don't want to get burneded." And all this is usual, except for tonight, we made icing for the first time for these cookies. Remember how I said I wanted some of those yummy bakery sugar cookies with icing?

A search on the Internet and I found a recipe that swears its better than the icing on those delicious cookies.  So I decide to try it.  Trey pours in the confectioner sugar ("Whats that smell?" he says as he pours it in and the powder raises up in a cloud and helps put the butter in the bowl.  Then he helps me stir the milk and egg white ("Will it be yellow?" I assume he is thinking of scrambled eggs here).  While I try to stir this butter and powdered sugar "until mixed" as the recipe calls, Trey runs off, leaving me to the task of mixing the rest.  I don't mind because in my mind I can taste how yummy these things are going to be. So I slowly start to mix the milk mixture and whatever this powdered sugar mixture is, and its too thick.  So I add more milk mixture, and a little more, and then its too runny to be hard. So I add more sugar.  And a little frustrated (and out of that sugar)  I start icing and soon have finished all of them.  The icing is thick enough and looks like the bakery ones! Trey runs in and wants a cookie just about the same time that I decide to try one myself.  I give him one and think, "Oh he will love these like I do!" and he spits it out.  "Eww!" he says.  What?  So I try it, and while the texture is so close, the recipe called for vanilla and almond extract, and that's about all you can taste.  I don't find it bad like Trey, but I definitely don't find it as yummy as those beautiful bakery cookies.

So, Trey doesn't seem to like the cookies.  A flop.  Oh well.  We will just have to try something else for another cooking adventure to share...maybe this time with pictures and more funny sayings.

Introduction to my little experiment here.

So I am a mother of a vicarious four year old boy named Trey.  And like most four year olds, my son can be a very picky eater.  However, he loves to watch cooking shows with me and different shows about food and eating.  He loves the show "Chopped" and "Man verses Food" the most.  He has even started to copy Adam, the guy from "Man versus Food," when he cooks something, saying, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" (a phrase that Adam likes to use when he tries some wonderful food). When we watch the shows, he often likes to say, "That looks gross!" or "That looks really good!" So, I thought we would try some interesting and new recipes that he helps me choose, and then blog about them.  

Now, I am not a perfect blogger.  In fact, I have at least three blogs that I haven't updated in YEARS! I couldn't even sign in to them if I wanted to I am afraid.  So I can't promise that I will be doing this all the time, but I would like to document and remember some of our more memorable cooking experiences that we do together.  It won't be long before he thinks the idea of cooking with me is stupid (I do NOT look forward to those teenage years). 

Know that in the future, I might refer to baking as cooking.  My son loves to bake and I don't mean to offend anyone out there with wrong terminology, so I am warning you ahead of time.  To my son, its all one thing, so for those reasons, I keep it simple.  Also know that I am a firm believer of semi-homemade things.  I love Sandra Lee and have tried a lot of her recipes.  Some of which I will probably share here. So I also hope I don't offend anyone if I don't make everything from scratch.  

I am hoping to post some pictures and if the recipe was really good, the recipe for someone else to try.  I will definitely share the funny stories and sayings that my booger bear says during the process.  My goal is to update at least once a week, if not more, but I can't promise anything!  So, here is to the first post and recipe that will follow this one.  I hope you enjoy!