cooking with kids

My kids brought home a book called Dumpling Soup from the library, and, enthralled by the concept of dumpling soup eaten by the Korean-Hawaiian-American family in the story, asked if we could make something similar. Of course they wanted to leave out the tripe and octopus also mentioned in the book, so we didn't bother with those things (although I assured them they'd love octopus; they were both skeptical about that).

I decided an easy course of action was to put together some wontons, since they're dumplings of a sort, are traditionally eaten in soup, and are made of ingredients that you can get at the grocery store. Furthermore, they seemed like something the children could help make with minimal effort. So, after picking up a pack of Azumaya wonton wrappers and some other ingredients, we were ready to start our wonton party. True to my prediction, they were also really easy to put together, and even easier to eat.

I recently discovered a cooking show that is new to me, and I am so happy that I did. Jamie at Home is a fantastic show, featuring Jamie Oliver, a very well known chef in England who has been instrumental at improving the school lunch program there. He is a rustic chef, who cooks with whole foods, natural ingredients (many right from the garden) and cooking tools that the average chef likely has on hand. This year, as you know if you are a regular reader here, I have been indulging in loads of winter squashes, most of which have been grown by my favorite local farm, Fully Belly. When Jamie Oliver prepared Squash Muffins, I had to give them a try. The biggest surprise about this recipe, is that he prepared them using raw squash with the peel still on! read more »