Success and Failure

I went crazy this week and tried two new things with Sam. First, pizza. I made neither the dough nor the spread this time, so I wasn't feeling so emotionally invested. I have shed more than one tear on more than one occasion when something I slaved over was roundly rejected. Anyway, I had a feeling that it would be successful because we had tried this very pizza at Trader Joe's and Sam liked it. I actually was glared at while going back for a second "sample." I guess TJs is very unlike Costco in that they frown upon people trying to make meals out of samples. I felt compelled to explain myself: "You see, I ate the first bite and merely gave my son here - see, isn't he cute? - a tiny bite. So this sample is for him. And now watch me lean over and grab a jar of the spread to show you just how interested and moved I am by your pizza making."

Sometimes I really am that 12-year-old who cares way too much what I think other people are thinking about me. I remember ... in the wise words of my mother: "Why do you think they are looking at you? No one is looking at you!"

So this is a plain dough with artichoke heart spread and a little mozzarella. Sam liked it quite a bit unless the piece was especially goopy with the artichoke heart spread. Then he would drop the piece, stare at the goop on his finger, and say, "Sticky."

Since the vogue seems to be to prepare kids as early as possible for college, I went ahead and let Sam eat his slice in front of the TV. I held - and drank - the beer; Sam just learned how to say "beer."

The second dish was an utter failure. I learned this recipe while participating in the National Outdoor Leadership School. This is fantastic backpacking food. Of course, we didn't take shrimp in our backpacks. When you prepare it outdoors, dried veggies and peanut butter that doesn't have to be refrigerated are employed. This is the backpacking version of the Indonesian dish Gado Gado. While in the great outdoors you have it over pasta, so that's what I did for Sam. I made some penne and put a tiny bit of the peanut butter sauce on it - no go. He did that thing where he takes the offensive material out of his mouth and interrogates it with his eyes: What ARE you? Why have you been served to ME?

When you have a child and you experiment with his meals, you have to be emotionally prepared to eat or toss your creation if it is rejected. Usually I am okay eating it; sometimes I am not and so I become irate (and sad) when I have to toss it. Think of the starving Armenians! This time, I had an exit strategy. See above photo.

Backpacking Gado Gado: 3T each of peanut butter, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar; 3/4 cup water. Throw it all in a small saucepan and whisk over medium heat to combine.

Obviously this is the most basic recipe that you can work with to your liking. Your questions would be What kind of oil? What kind of vinegar? etc. Use what you want. Since it's Asian, I use peanut oil, rice wine vinegar, and I add sriracha chili sauce. You can saute some aromatics with your stir fry that would also add to the flavor, like green onions, ginger, and garlic. You can also play with the amounts; I like a bit more peanut butter and a little less water. This last time I experimented with adding 1 tsp. cornstarch (after I pulled it out of the fridge the day after I made the sauce for Sam), then poured the sauce over the cooked veggies in the saute pan to thicken. Basic stir fry saucing method. It worked swimmingly.

Spinach and Gruyere!

Spinach and Gruyere Sauce, with Chicken, over Pasta


Jennie Foote, and old friend, gave me this recipe. That is, she and I became friends when we were wee lasses; she is not 84 years old. I believe it is an Anna Karmel recipe. She has baby cookbooks out there ... I think I have one. As you can tell from the bowl, it is another attempt to sneak vegetables into my son's stomach. Not so clandestine when the sauce is a glaring green. I have made sauces like this before: green something, plus cheese and garlic. Put it over pasta and voila! Sam likes them, so good to go. I thought this one would be a nice addition to the repertoire because it uses frozen spinach - a boon because I don't have to get that darn salad spinner out. That thing is impossible to clean! The lid takes three days to dry out. Why would you make a lid that water and detritus can get into, but your sponge can't; as in, you can't take it apart to clean it. It's like my refrigerator.



The sauce goes something like this: saute frozen spinach - which I did (half a bag) with a shallot and a garlic clove; grate gruyere over and stir around until it melts. I probably put about 1/3 cup in. Put all into a food processor, add some milk so you can blend it, done. I added 1/4 cup of ricotta because I had it on hand and wanted to use it. I thought it was a wonderful sauce and the pasta was nice with the chicken, too. Unfortunately, Sam preferred to eat it like this. Note the complete lack of sauce. Yes, Mommy, I'll take an order of that balanced dinner you worked on. Please subtract the balance. Thanks.

I don't know about the rest of you, but when a meal doesn't work out, for whatever reason, I often shed tears over it and rail against the gods. This time, I was so hungry that I settled for eating the rejected meal. The key to meal time sanity is to be hungry when you serve your child! You don't want it? Fine. Mommy will eat it. Here are your Cheerios. I froze the rest of the sauce hoping that one day I can put it on pasta for a changed Sam or perhaps another, more grateful, future child.

Sweet Potatoes

Roasted sweet potatoes are so good. Sweet plus earthy. Roast at 425 for 45-60 minutes. Just prick a few holes in them first so they don't explode. They are mad good for you and keep things very regular. Sam can attest to the latter.

I want to find out how to get just the sweet potato liquor. You only get it while roasting the whole potato, in my experience. It's like sweet potato toffee! The juices flow out of the fork pricks and make a sweet, delicious puddle. I like to roast my potatoes on a silpat so that I can peel the toffee off and eat it. If you roast on foil or straight on the pan, it burns. Keep your eye out for Jen Sorenson's Sweet Potato Toffee.

I roasted the sweet potatoes for Sam. This is the one vegetable that I can count on him eating daily. Why do I even bother varying my veggies, you ask? So my kid isn't orange, that's why! He has loved these roasted bundles of sunshine ever since he was eating "solids." And yet .... Picture sweet potatoes tumbling out of his open mouth. We have eaten them two days in a row and both times the initial bite met this expression. I jammed my hand under his chin to catch the orange goo, and then Sam and I had a long talk.

Me: You love sweet potatoes - you have since I first starting pureeing them for you, lo these many moons ago. And you ate them last night, remember?

Sam: Po-ta-to. Po-ta-to.

Me: That's right. Let's try this again and please don't spit them out because Mommy is tired and this is pushing me over the edge.

Sam: Po-ta-to. Po-ta-to.

It should be noted that "potato" is in a sing-song because I turn everything into a song and Sam seems to latch onto words when I do this. I am currently trying the multiplication tables.

The very nature of my cooking does not seem to allow me to set these photos up so well. I whipped these up and immediately put them in a tupperware and rinsed the cuisinart. You just have to be a tidying machine if you don't want it to all overwhelm you Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout style.

Are those my sweet potatoes? Yes.

I think that winter might just be my favorite vegetable season. Gotta go with summer for fruit - hands down. But for vegetables, yes, winter. Who doesn't love all those root vegetables and tubers? They just feel so right.

Veggie Patty and Mac and Cheese

Why do I even bother? When veggies meant nothing but roasted and pureed whatever, they went down pretty smooth. Sam loved sweet potatoes, especially. But now ... what the what? I made root vegetable chips the other week. Chips, for goodness sake! They were delicious. And they were rejected. I have also made the best veggie burger ever, from Best Recipe. The bulk of the burger is mushrooms and bulgar. It was awesome, especially with catsup. Rejected. Tempura? No, thank you. Straight up vegetable X, steamed and seasoned? Heeeeeck no.

So I turn to yet another vegetable patty here. I can be called a pessimist when it comes to many things in life - human nature, mother nature, the nature of Seattle drivers - but with vegetables and Sam, I keep on it. I got this recipe from a book I am not even going to mention because I have found nothing that Sam likes in it yet. These patties are simple: grate a couple carrots, a zucchini, a small potato; let them lose some water for 20 minutes, then squeeze; mix with some flour; throw in an egg or two to make everything stick. Then you make patties and fry. I find them delightful with tempura sauce. Sam finds no delight in them whatsoever. Arg.

Next vegetable up is something I saw on Simply Ming, whom I cannot stand, by the way. What is with the way he talks? And he always calls his audience "guys." Yuck. Anyway, he made deep-fried tofu-zucchini pillows. I love frying, so I'm game.

The thing is, you have to be ready to eat or throw away what your child does not take to. Oh, and that crap about giving it to them eight times? Yeah, crap. I can't stand wasting food, yet, I also can't stand a bulging waistline. So there's the rub. When it's veggies, no biggy, but you have to watch all those extras. A little flour here and phyllo-wrapped something there, and we're not just talking a few calories anymore.

Among the frozen options that have failed are spanikopita, mushroom-a-kopita, Trader Joe's samosas (I forgot they were spicy, and Sam was not amused.), Preager's vegetable patties of all sorts (they used to be fine!), and succotash. Every now and then peas are okay, but heaven forbid you try to give this kid the same thing two days in a row.

So mac and cheese. I hear your sniggers. This is Annie's and my genius friend EB taught me how to sneak vegetables in. Instead of using milk and butter, you use pureed vegetables. In this particular batch we find cauliflower, rutabaga, tofu, and white beans ... although the serving size is infinitesimal.

I once made real macaroni and cheese, but something about a bechamel just doesn't click for me. That was the second time I tried and the second time I failed. I was left with a grainy cheese sauce. Gross. I cried a little as I dumped the whole thing out.

Couscous Pudding

Today has been one of those days. The night was awful - punctuated with toddler nightmares and hours of soothing. You wake tired. The kid is tired. Everyone is working on a shortened fuse. But, hey, as the adult you need to be all smiles and patience. And it works ... until it doesn't and you are in the closet in the fetal position begging the good Lord to give you one child-free day, followed by an evening in a restaurant, and a morning that doesn't start until 7:30. I'm not greedy.


But we still need to eat, don't we. No rest for the wicked ... the tired ... the huddled mass of motherhood yearning to breathe free.

Couscous pudding: a recipe I make again and again for Sam. You soak couscous in milk and add some brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, golden raisins and yogurt. I opted here for the Trader Joe's mixed dried berry pack of cranberries, cherries, golden raisins, and blueberries, instead of the singular golden raisins. It is quite delicious. I even made up a simple ditty to go along with consuming it. Sam picked it up so that whenever I say, "Shall we have some couscous pudding?" he starts in with his quasi-humming.

I usually serve a heaping bowl, well ramekin, of the stuff so that when Sam cannot finish it, I'm like, "Oh, well. I can't let it go to waste, can I?" This could be a dessert, actually.

Speaking of which, I quite like yogurt with dried fruit and honey as dessert. I got turned onto this concoction when I was on a detox diet. Relax. It wasn't drug detox or anything, just standard imbibing-eating meat-breathing pollution detox. I highly recommend it - the dessert, that is. Of course, full fat yogurt tastes best, but you can make it work with fat free, or better, 2% Greek. Yum. Those Greeks know their yogurt. My favorite fruit to include is apricots. Oh, toasted almonds sprinkled on top aren't bad either.