A Fast Food Hater Gets Busy...

How We Feed Little Boys on Busy Nights, 

Without a Drive Through

No no no, ick ick ick,

I didn't think we'd be this busy until they were in middle school, but a few weeks ago we caved to the pleas of our seven year old, who wanted desperately to try out wrestling (along with its three nights a week practice requirement.) As little brothers do, Our five year old fell in love with the rough and tumble and soon joined too. Our two year old would, if they had a wrestling class for paperweights.

The rough-and-tumble go and get-um has been perfect for their energy level in the winter, but the schedule has taken some getting used to. Some nights we have faith formation classes at our local church right before wrestling, some nights we have cub scouts right after. It all translates to a slap-dash dinner time that, for my sanity and their metabolisms cannot be put off until bedtime.

This is why lately we've been eating out of bags, but not fast food sacks, Ziploc bags. 

Fast food is essentially disgusting to all of us. My kids do not like it, and it gives my husband and I heartburn and a healthy dose of regret. So, when necessary, we cop a squat outside the elementary gym, sit together in a circle, and pass around bags of different goodies so everyone can have something before practice, and we plan a good snack for at home afterword.Sometimes we just eat early and quick at home when time allows.

Fast and Nourishing Dinners that can be eaten our of Ziplocs:

Focaccia Bread:

Focaccia is a staple in our home, its quick, its filling, it travels and you can add anything to it. For one practice night this week I added freshly grated Parmesan, baby spinach, and garlic, baked it, cut it in squares and tossed it in a bag in less than an hour. Accompanied by slices of apples and salami, it was quick, delish, and NOT McDonalds!

Focaccia Recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 packet active dry yeast

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 tablespoon dried herb of your choice (we like basil and thyme)

1 cup warm (not hot) water

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

1-2 cups chopped fresh spinach

2-3 tablespoons fresh grated paremsan

Add all these things to a stand mixed with a dough hook, mix on low until a ball forms, not too stiff but not too sticky. Coat the ball in olive oil, put in a bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise for 30 minutes then bake it on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. 

Tiny Tea Sandwiches:

Make your family's favorite sandwich, but then cut it into quarters for easy eating. Try a new kind of bread to keep it interesting. We love using sourdough but also enjoy honey whole wheat and multi grain. Our favorite kinds of combinations are peanut butter and honey, ham, spinach and cream cheese, cucumber and cream cheese, and butter and honey/

Hand Cakes:

Essentially, buying premade pancakes, or even pancake mix, is sort of ridiculous. I use an old Betty crocker recipe and an electric griddle that takes around 20 minutes to make a whole batch, and your can freeze and fridge them for future use. To make pancake eating quicker and more nutritious than fluffy IHOP style cakes, I use mostly whole wheat flour and add a good portion of toasted nuts and shredded fruit. Last week we had a shredded green apple and toasted walnut "hand cake" and the kids feasted on instead of using forks and butter and syrup and this made it fun (eating with hands!) Also, this made it quick.

Lots of Raw Fruits and Veggies!

Who says fast food has to be a burger? An apple takes 20 seconds to slice up. An orange a minute.  

 

Tea Time at Ophus Abbey

Peanut Butter Rum Cocoa Cookies on Recycling Day

Slightly obsessed with Downton Abbey, I felt like this Sunday needed a tea time, and a treat to boot!

Its been 0 degrees or less outside for days, and somehow it happened that we HAD to go out today. When I say we I mean myself and three boys ages 7 and under. It was plastics recycling weekend in Helena, MT, and this opportunity only comes once every two months, and we skipped last chance. I found myself bundling boys after our early lunch and throwing them into our van, brimming over with old milk jugs, juice containers, and berry cases.

By the time we returned home, everyone was hungry again, and I couldn't feel my fingers. Definitely tea time, and definitely time for treats. I brewed up a pot of huckleberry tea and poured a cup for everyone, adding cream and a smack of honey to the cups for the little boys. I then commenced something yummy for tea time, and randomly threw ingredients in our mixer until these cookies, both childish and grown up, eventuated. 

Peanut Butter Rum Cocoa Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup fancy hot cocoa powder (I used Kitchen TLC hot sipping chocolate)

1 pastured egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon rum extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

Add softened butter and peanut butter to a mixing bowl with the beater attachment on and cream on medium speed until creamily combined.  (Yes, we love the creamy ;)

Add the two sugars and cream together again. Then add the extracts, egg, baking powder and baking soda, and cocoa and cream together again.(Yes, MORE creamy ;)

Add your flour, mix until combined and then use a disher to put your cookies on a greased cookie sheet (about 9 to a sheet to let them have room) and bake for 7-8 minutes in a 375 degree over. My recipe made 30. An hour ago there were 30. There are 20 now. Oops.

 

 

Creative Use of Band Fruit 101 ~ Pear and Parsnip Sauce

Not Only Organic, But Also Broke

Yummy, free and very ripe band fruit

As my blog name denotes, I try very hard to keep it organic and local, but there are times where we just keep it....broke. After a fun, active, busy and at times pricey Christmas season, there wasn't a whole lot left for groceries, so we planned to dip into our stored veggies, fruits, and grains (which actually leads to alot of fun and creative meals!)

One of our last stops on our Christmas visiting was to my parent's home, where my youngest brother still resides, and performs in high school band. You know what this means? BAND FRUIT! One of the dreaded/coveted fundraisers for band is selling boxes of fruit, and then the parents who are suckered into it end up eating them hand over fist to try and get the task accomplished before they go bad.

My parents had around 20 pears, all super ripe, all super free, and in need of a home. We gladly obliged. My children, husband, and myself covet ripe fruit. During Flathead peach season I will hide in a corner with a roll of paper towels and a giant, overripe peach to avoid my children stealing a bite. With our CSA in its winter season, we haven't had overripe biting fruit in months, but we still have an abundance of store crops, one of which is parsnips. 

Parsnips are in the carrots family, but for my family they are tough to eat raw. One of the reasons is that they are, well, TOUGH. We usually shred them very thinly into slaw, saute them in butter with carrots, and dice them into stews. The other night though, we thought we'd try something I remembered from Alton Brown. On Good Eats a few years back they faked a child that wouldn't eat veggies and Alton won him over with his version of "Pearsnip sauce." His recipe involved maple syrup, zesting an orange and a few other turns and twists I did not care for (and we did not have the items to boot.) We went simple, and it turned out fabulous. 

It does involve a bit of time, I'm afraid. Its a good dish if you know you're babysitting something on the oven. I made this on risotto night and you don't have to watch this sauce, just be patient and let it happen.

Pear and Parsnip Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

2 parsnips, peeled

4 overly ripe pears

1 cup white grape juice

1 tsp cinnamon (the fresher the better)

Peel your parsnips with a vegetable peeler so none of the brown exterior remains. Cut them into 1 inch rounds and place them in a pot with the juice. Put your lid on the pot and bring it to simmer rapidly but not boil like crazy (about medium temp worked for us, you don't want your liquid to boil away.)

Allow them to simmer in the covered pot and steam until they are VERY soft, almost like a boiled potato. For me this took about 35 minutes, but it might take longer. 

Once you've stabbed the parsnips with a fork and determined them to be boiled potato consistency, cut your pears into cubes, maybe 2 inches in size, and toss them in the pot as well. 

Allow everything to steam together, occasionally shaking your pan to redistribute everything, for about 10 more minutes. Add a little juice if it all boils away. 

After that 10 minutes, remove the pan from heat drain off almost all of the liquid, leaving about 1/4 of a cup in the pan. Use an immersion blender or a food processor to blend the remains with the cinnamon and serve warm, but not hot.

Ham Salad from a Mayonaisse Hater

Healthy and Nourishing Ham Salad

I enjoy a sweet and caramelized ham like any other Montanan, but A few weeks ago, I thought something fowl would be more enticing. 

I spent a week trying to convince my husband before Christmas that a smoked turkey from Tizer Meats in Helena would be a yummy treat and a nice change of pace for our Christmas luncheon before shoving off to visit family. 

He did not enjoy this idea that one would "change pace" for a holiday celebratory meat so central to his childhood memories we even heard the story of why hogs were special from my father in law this Christmas. 

He grew up on a farm outside Big Sandy, Montana and ate a lot of chicken. The hogs they raised were for sale for the neighbors, not for eating by the family. Every now and then though they would butcher a hog for the family, and pork nights were special nights. Come to think of it, ham was always a special for for my farm based family when we visited as well, so it comes to show that this meat will never be replaced. Sorry smoked turkey, maybe another day.

With leftovers we enjoy a quick and delicious ham salad on sourdough bread, absolutely scrumptious and a very easy way to make leftover ham disappear. As a child I hated it though, and I'll tell you why.....Miracle Whip. I grew up disliking it so much that I would scrape it off any pre-made sandwich I would receive. As an adult I discovered, however, that REAL mayonnaise IS NOT Miracle Whip. 

Miracle Whip is sweeter and spicier and introduced during the Great Depression, it was not as expensive as real mayo, so many sprang for it. Funnily enough, I disliked it and now love real, organic mayonaisse. I am convinced organic eggs change the taste to subtlety delicious too. Here is how we make ham salad, and tonight we're eating the last of it on hot garlic foccacia bread.

Organic Ham Salad

2 cups leftover ham, diced and then grated in a food processor

1/2 cup organic mayonnaise

2 heaping tbl organic dijon mustard (the kind out of the squeeze bottle won't be good enough!)

1 large ribs of celery, minced

1/3 of a red onion, diced  

2 heaping tablespoons sweet pickle relish

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Combine items in bowl. Mix, taste, lick spoon and then eat a spoonful just for yourself, hiding it so noone comes after your creation. Its pretty yummilicious.