Whining & Dining

Some Self-Promotion and Some Parenting Promotion

We are thrilled to be deemed savvy enough for Savvymom.ca who mentioned us in Tuesday's email.  If you don't get the savvymom email then you are missing out on lots of little tips and products that make our life a little easier, or at least let us fantasize about it being easier. Click here: http://www.savvymom.ca/index.php/newsletter/dinners_on_the_table

Emma will be on the Parenting Show with the great and funny parenting coach Alyson Schafer at 2:00 pm on Rogers Cable and if you are up with a crying or nursing child then you might be able to catch it in the wee hours as well.  Alyson has a great website with lots of articles and strategies for dealing with parenting issues and she runs courses as well. www.alyson.ca

Alyson has an Adlerian approach to parenting.  I have been lucky enough to take courses from another Adlerian parenting coach, Beverly Cathcart-Ross.  I tell people all the time to take a parenting course, it just gives you some tools to deal with those moments that you know are not handling well but you don't know what else to do. Beverly's courses inspired me to think about my picky eaters in a new and more creative way and that is what led to the first chapter in Whining and Dining. We joke that we need a Beverly bat phone... we're not really joking.  http://parentingnetwork.ca/

If you are looking...the Toronto School Board runs some parenting workshops too, or ask your doctor, or email Alyson or Beverly and they can help out....

These Could Have Been Sidebars

It's the little tips that we pick up on the playground that really make our lives a little easier. I was having a conversation with my friend Debbie about my recent paranoia about e-coli in fruit and veg (relating to the e-coli spinach scare and a feeding a bunch of relatives from Glasgow) which led to a discussion of how we wash our fruit and relatives (which does not remove ecoli) and she said she uses her salad spinner. Genius! The same day I read in Cook's Magazine that a few drops of cider vinegar does as good a job as those pricey fruit washes in cleaning bacteria from raw fruit and veg (and if you have ever read Cook's you know that they are very obsessive about every detail). So now I have a new routine: plop whatever fruit into the salad spinner with a few drops of vinegar get a random child to give it a swirl and then rinse it off and swirl again. It's sort of against my lazy inclinations and anything really dangerous is very hard to clean off but I feel like I have a little bit of control. I even got a better salad spinner which has a much more fun mechanism and gave the old one to the kids which is now their favourite Hot Wheels car wash.

Chicken recipes. Chicken is our fail safe meal around here and I have two easy recipes. Well not even recipes but I'll call them that. I picked up the new organic boneless chicken thighs at Loblaws and they had a honey mustard recipe on the back. I don't usually follow supermarket recipes (you know use the Green Label wildflower honey and then add the Memories of Syracuse sauce and garlic powder and voila). But I thought hey why not. Their recipe is one tablespoon of honey and one tablespoon of prepared mustard. Ok, so I don't even have prepared mustard in the house, so I added Dijon and then some hoisin sause and then some chilli garlic sauce for hubby and I and yum everyone loved it.

Honey Mustard Chicken

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

One pack boneless thighs, or two boneless breasts

1 ½ tbsp honey

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

2 tsp chilli garlic sauce

Mix together honey, mustard and hoisin. Put aside one third of sauce and add chilli garlic sauce. Spread first sauce on as much of the chicken that your kids will eat, spread the spicier sauce on how much you will eat. Put chicken in oven and bake for approximately 25 – 30 minutes or until done.

It's sweet and every single person ate it! Even the one who only wants plain, white chicken.

Roast Legs and Thighs

This isn't really a recipe but it is a very good method for roasting chicken pieces and even bigger chunks of meat. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a small amount of oil in a cast iron or oven proof pan, salt chicken pieces and add to hot pan. Place chicken pieces skin side down in hot pan, flip over after three or four minutes. Cook the other side for three minutes and then place in oven for 30 minutes. When it comes out it will crispy and delicious for those who love the skin (me) or easily removable for those who don't (crazy people like my husband). If you are so inclined you could drain some of the fat off and fry up some onions and tomatoes in the pan and make a sauce. But that's for a more ambitious day.

Back to School Adjustments

Parenting in September is tricky. The kids are going through different levels of stress and anxiety which probably means they are perfect angels at school but turn into tyrants as soon as the bell rings. And the little ones are getting used to their increased independence and turn into leg magnets as soon as they arrive home. And we know, that when kids are stressed, or when there is any kind of change in their life, kids will take it out on us parents. And since I have written a book on picky eating the buttons my kids choose to push are all conveniently located at the kitchen table.

Both the boys (aged 7 and 4) come home for lunch. And as we parents and caregivers are standing outside waiting for them to arrive I often get asked what we are serving. My typical answer: pancakes/French toast/ noodles. Pancakes and French toast is often met with horror – those are breakfast foods! No, they are convenient and full of protein and fibre and the kids get to pour maple syrup on top. And that means there is no complaining. Because when you have a cranky child coming home, taking out all their morning stress on you and then rushing back to school to trade Pokemon cards, breakfast foods are just fine!

One of my children has chosen to erase all things dairy from their diet (well, except ice cream, but you knew that didn't you?). Getting them to drink milk has always been a bit of a challenge (no mummy doesn't like it). So chocolate milk and soy milk are our family's options. First he didn't like the brand of soy milk I was buying (after two years of loving it), he wanted the kind his friend Charlotte has, but then that one was a disappointment. But boy, it was fun getting mummy to buy new brands and see her sweat! And now I am told that "I just don't like dairy foods and it is my choice not to drink them. If I don't want strong bones it is my choice." OK, true enough.

So this was going on for a number of irritating days, (weeks?). And then he rediscovered Stonyfield yogurt. I am not one to go on about the greatest products coming from the U.S. but I have to say when it comes to yogurt they are miles ahead. And I LOVE Stonyfield yogurt and now so does he. They just changed their flavours and he loves the blackberry apple. I love the plain it has 2% fat. But I think fat free yogurt is no more than white jello, I would rather have a fattier, creamier yogurt with some fruit. Ok, so now he is still not getting the daily calcium requirements but we are working up to it – I saw him drink some chocolate milk when no one was looking.

But his iron must be high because the kid has turned into a total carnivore. Any kind of beef is ok with him. He ate brisket with sauce! (refer back some posts and to our book to relive my battle with sauce) He wants steak everynight. He'll even eat it cold (again reference Whining and Dining for that longstanding argument). He has turned into such a great eater that I use him as an example whenever someone tells me their kid doesn't eat meat. At the age of three he ate nothing but plain pasta. But now he eats steak, ribs, chicken, shrimp and a tons of peas, beans and fruit. And Stonyfield yogurt.

We did try to push his boundaries when we were away by bribing him to try mashed potatoes. Now we adults happen to know that mashed potatoes is one of the most delicious foods on earth, especially in a restaurant where they freely pour inthe butter and cream. My kids think they are disgusting (I think N. called them ugly). We were at a restaurant that amazingly had a kid's steak on it. And my my husband offered Z. two dollars to take one bit of mashed potatles. Z. was frozen in indecision, two dollars would get him closer to a pack of Pokemon cards but he would have to put something that he likened to poison in his mouth. The whole meal he didn't know what to do and then in a spur of avarice he went for it. And then spit them out and gagged. Too much pressure! I think mashed potatoes will be off the menu for years now. Take it from me, DO NOT TRY THIS!

So what's my middle one eating these days? Butter, lots of butter. I made the carrot bran muffins and he eats them slightly warm with butter. I get to eat the leftovers – a win win. I made them for my best friend who just had a baby and fibre is definitely a new mom's friend. But the big news around here is that he ate an apple with peel! Mydays of peelig fruit may be over! Hurrah. I find that an amazingly annoying task.

Luckily, home baked chocolate chip cookies and apricot bars, makes the transition to school a little easier for all of us.

We are everywhere...

It's the dog days of summer but Eshun and I are cropping up in media all over town.  Check out our interview with Malcolm Jolley on the informative food site www.gremolata.com. I wrote a story for September's Chatelaine on being a fourth generation foodie and the stress of cooking one of my grandmother's legendary recipes.  And if you are stressed (we know, and a little bit relieved too) about going back to school we have some tips on menu planning on www.aol.ca. Click the links in the press coverage section...

Plain and Simple

We entertained another family at the cottage last weekend whose list of dietary dos and don't are almost as long as my arm - and unlike most families I know the restrictions are all due to the parents' eating habits, including allergies, religious and health restrictions and basic pickiness (cilantro I get, but potatoes?!). I consider it something of a professional challenge to come up with meals we can all sit down and eat together. 

One night's dinner was a lovely vegetarian feast of stuffed baby eggplants, risotto and salad which I knew was unlikely to thrill the 5 children around the table, so I added talapia to the menu purely for their benefit.  I'd actually forgotten the fish until dinner was almost on the table, so I quickly cut it into pieces, coated it in a combination of mayonnaise and dijon mustard, dredged it in a mixture of flour and cornmeal and pan-fried it.  It was almost shocking how much the kids enjoyed the fish - I mean really, our friends' 6 year old told me it was better than candy (ok, he's definately been brainwashed) and M. ate a whole filet all by himself.  I didn't even get to taste it, but I'm sure I would have found it bland since salt was the only real seasoning, and yet... the kids loved it.  A good lesson for me. 

So now I'm going to work backwards and adapt something the kids like for the grown-ups for a change -instead of the other way around.  I figure a little sauce of brown butter, capers, lemon and parsley poured over top of the boring fish would make the adults happy too... recipe to come in our next book (once we figure out what that's going to be!).

Cottage Eating

Just got back from the cottage where as far as food goes there is a natural tension: I don’t want to cook and yet I want all food to be delicious (honestly, my whole life is like that but at home I have air conditioning which makes being in the kitchen a little better).  I also have that BBQ problem, I can’t seem to pull off a BBQ’d meal  all by myself. I always burn everything. I have suspicion it has to do with trying to watch the grill and also make all the side dishes and set the table, and get the kids drinks all at the same time. While the BBQ master (you can guess who that is) has one task only: grilling. Though, to be fair he may also watch the kids if they are in the back yard with him but if they want something they are in my territory.

So meals at the cottage have to be easy. 

I quadrupled the dry ingredients in the pancake recipe from Whining and Dining and took it up as a mix.  It really is worth it making your own. I urge you to try it. And delicious with some maple syrup heated up with a handful of wild blueberries.

I have to come clean here and admit that my kids ate Dino Egg Oatmeal everyday (sometimes for snack too). It has become the tradition that I buy it only for the cottage (for the uninitiated it is instant oatmeal with dino eggs that “hatch”, which is marketing code for crunchy bits of candy in the cereal. Though, Z. admitted that it didn’t taste that good, but the eggs made it worth it.

I bring most of my meat with me, and I get the butcher to vacuum seal it.  Vacuum sealing your meat will prolong its freshness by at least 5 days, maybe even a week. It’s free and worth it!  I love getting pre-marinated flat chickens (our friends call it roadkill chicken) in the vacuum seal.  Great for the BBQ (but only when the husband is up).

One day we stopped at the local farm near our cottage road to get corn.  The farmer and his little grand-daughter were there so the kids got to see the chickens (truly free range they ran wild everywhere and chased T. all over!), sheep . goats and the kittens that were just one day old.  Of couse, we were the city folk in our big SUV traipsing all over the farm, I felt like I was in an after-school special. But we did get fresh corn and fresh eggs (with real egg taste and a crimson yolk-- delicious!). And that was dinner. Well, that’s not completely true we stopped in town and had ice cream first.  A reversi dinner, everyone’s happy.

But a trip to the farmer''s market the next day confirmed for me the idea (fantasy?) that when the kids watch me interact with the farmers and hear us talk about where the food comes from, how the weather affects it, and what it means to be organic they are learning important lessons about food. They do seem to really enjoy the fresh fruit and vegggies that they pick out from market (as well as the homebaked treats) and are starting to understand the importance of eating things in season. I hope they are learning to respect the food and the people who grow it.

I’m off to make the Healthier Chocolate Chip cookie (from you guessed it, Whining and Dining) batter which I will store in the fridge until it is cooler and I can turn the oven on.

Banana Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins

Everyone in my family loves this banana chocolate oatmeal bread. My husband may be the biggest fan (although he says he is allergic to bananas, but he’s not picky ... really).  Even in summer I bake up a batch every week. It’s a great snack for the park, and maybe the only part of a packed lunch that Z. eats at camp. It’s also the snack that I made for the ball hockey teams and both the boys were so proud that their friends loved it so much they made me promise to make the same exact snack next year. Sometimes the simplest things make your kids the happiest. In fact, I think I sold more copies of Whining and Dining at ball hockey then at some of our public appearances.

I always make mini muffins (sometimes with mini chips) because I find there is less waste, but it is equally good as a loaf (which is what Eshun prefers) or regular muffins. The muffins are very moist which is a bit of a problem in summer because the two squished muffins that are always left at the bottom of the muffin tin get a bit mouldy.  In fact, my four-year old came crying to me the other day because his big brother ate the last good muffin, the other ones were white.  “NO,” said Z.,” I ate a white muffin too.”

“ Oh,” said N., as he looked at him, “Daddy told me the white part would make me sick.”

At which point we spent the next hour reassuring Z. That, no the mould would not make him sick (though I think we weren’t positive). But he’s fine. And to think he used to be a picky eater!

We also brought some in when we were on Fresh Air on CBC Radio on Saturday, July 14.  They loved it and we loved being on the show.  I think they need us as monthly guests talking about kids’ food, but I’m not sure they know that yet. And in other media news, we got a mention in Sunday’s Toronto Sun.  Marilyn Linton had some nice things to say about the book and our approach. And we thought our 15 minutes were up...

Banana Chocolate Oatmeal Bread

Baking is often a last-minute “What am I going to do with the kids on this rainy day?” or “I’d like to avoid doing laundry” kind of thing, which means we don’t usually plan well enough to have taken the butter out of the fridge or freezer in time to get it to room temperature. So any recipe that calls for melted butter means you don’t have to walk around with two sticks of butter softening in your back pocket. This is the banana bread recipe you have been looking for: soft, moist, loaded with bananas, a bit of oatmeal for good health and chocolate for added kid appeal.

3⁄4 cup sugar

1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

1⁄2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1 1⁄2 cups mashed banana (3–4 very ripe bananas)

1⁄4 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1⁄2 tsp salt

1⁄3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat Oven to 350F

Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl and stir until uniform. Add eggs, one at a time, and stir to incorporate. Add oats, banana, buttermilk and vanilla; stir until uniform. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl; stir with a fork to blend.

Add flour mixture to banana mixture one third at a time; stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until loaf is dark brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool bread in pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife along the edges to loosen, turn out of baking pan and cool on a rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

Tip: These also make delicious muffins and mini-muffins (try it with mini chocolate chips!). Muffins take about 20 mins and minis bake for 13 mins.

The New Food Tally

My non-blogging guilt is getting as heavy as my summer dinner guilt.  How come as soon as school is out we throw our nutritional guidelines out with the school books? Hot dogs and watermelon constitute a fully balanced meal and frozen oil product, I mean ice cream from the ice cream truck is a special dessert. But the relaxed eating does have some pay-offs. My formerly picky eater is adding new things to his diet all the time, sadly they are not mainstream items like cheese or scrambled eggs but dates, Pad Thai and General Tso’s chicken are now all ok.  The shocking thing about this is that Pad Thai and the General’s chicken all have sauce. This is the boy who originated the quote in Whining and Dining: “Sauce makes my knees hurt.” Of course, I have to make sure that the Pad Thai is “clean” and does not have any green things in it but small steps! 

We talk about how it takes an adventurous spirit to try new things and the boys like to think of themselves as superheroes who can conquer the world (or at least each other). So the acknowledgement that trying new things is a risk and takes some bravery has helped.

Z.’s ability to describe what he tastes is quite amazing. He described the watermelon lemonade that I made as sweet and sour fighting it out on his tongue and can often isolate different flavours. If only he would use that power for good!!

Z.’s new food tally: 5

Hamburgers on the bun (only from Weber’s but it’s a start)

Dates (big winner, and I quote: “Mummy these taste like brown sugar and caramel but healthy.”

General Tso’s Chicken

Pad Thai with chicken (two things with sauce on the same plate!!)

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble

One miss: Chick Peas. He likes all pea-like veggies and nuts so I thought maybe chick peas might make it. Big no – Disgusting, followed by a tongue scrape. 

T.’s new food tally: 2

Romaine Lettuce

Coleslaw

N.’s New Food Tally: 0

(well, the Pad Thai did touch his tongue for half a second. And I refuse to add super sours to this list)

Embrace the Chaos

Eshun and I have been doing the media rounds and getting some great feedback on our book Whining and Dining. Two years ago when we started the process we wanted to produce something that we wanted to read -- a book that could make us laugh and wince with the acknowledgment that feeding a family, especially ones with picky eaters is a chaotic, frustrating and hilarious challenge. We wanted to be comforted that we weren't alone and also that our kids were going to turn out normal -- despite their diets consisting of a single colour and some smog-filled air.  And of course, it had to be filled with delicious recipes. Jenna Muirhead-Warren came to our aid with some amazing photos of kids eating -- or not.  A great design from Random House and suddenly (well not so sudden) we are selling our book at bookstores around the country and people are reading and eating along with us.

And the best part is -- the feedback has been better than we could ever have imagined. I get goosebumps reading Elizaboothy's comment that her family is a happier place because of our book. (us? we did that?). My kids' barber is making the apricot bars for her high-cholesterol husband (and then she wraps them individually and puts them in the freezer).  My son's friend thanked me for telling her mother to put all the food on the table so they could feed themselves. And best of all, the process has allowed me to let go of some of the power issues at our table too.  Of course not every night is a success, some are downright failures. But sometimes I am amazed at how fun a meal with three kids with three different appetites and personalities can be (and how messy!).

Jennifer Mackenzie wrote a great article with some recipes attached for the Peterborough Examiner. Check out the link. But we are still the most impressed with the marriage proposal from Doppleganger at 50 Books. (sorry, we are taken...)

Check it out at all major bookstores and online at indigo.ca and amazon.ca.  And yes, we will do seminars for parenting networks, corporate offices and wherever there are a group of parents who have to go home to feed their kids.

Partying with the Silver Palate

Eshun and I went to a reception for the Silver Palate Cookbook, 25th Anniversary Edition where authors Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso were actually there (yes, to cooks these people are celebrities in the same way that Olivia Newton John is a celebrity).  We mused about the cookbook's iconic status, celebrated recipes and how it still sits on the shelves of almost everyone we know.

They served dishes from the book which were comfortably tasty. Although some were a little bit of a tastebud timwarp like the asparagus wrapped in brie and bacon which only needed a litlle sun dried tomato pesto and some John COUGAR Mellancamp and we could all be back in the 80s discussing how shoulder pads really flatter our figure...

I was happy to re-taste the famous Chicken Marbella which my roomate Catherine and I once made for a dinner party while we were undergraduates.  We thought we were very sophisticated in our ability to pull of a dinner party. We just ignored the fact that our friends would have been happy with a 2-4 and some beer.

Many teenagers found their love of cooking in the Silver Palate cookbook. It was one of Eshun's first books and she still bakes the Lemon Pound Cake.  Another foodie friend, Clare swears by the Orange Poppyseed Cake and Joanne Yolles, pastry chef at Pangea and the inventor of Scaramouche's famous Coconut Cream Pie bakes the Chunky Apple and Walnut Cake (but skips the glaze). There were even some famous media and foodie types who brought their own books to be signed.

The authors, who supposedly do not speak to each other, said their favourites were the tarragon chicken salad, salmon mousse and baked ham. Not suprisingly, they had made all those dishes on the Today Show earlier this month.

The Silver Palate was also one of the first cookbooks to have sidebars, tips and anecdotes down the side. So I guess that we are indebted to them for breaking the mould when it came to cookbooks because Whining and Dining also has sidebars, tips and anecdotes but we try to be funny. Hopefully, we will also be celbrating the re-issue of our phenomonally successful book in 25 years, but I'm pretty sure we will still be speaking.  Check back in 2032.

I was going to post the recipe for Chicken Marbella for old-time's sake but I very much doubt your picky eaters, or most kids would eat something that is made with capers and prunes. Eshun swears it's a great party dish and she made it for 100 people, so if you are having a summer party check it out!

The Silver Palate Carrot Cake is what all carrot cakes after 1982 tried to be.

Carrot Cake

Silver Palate Cookbook

10 to 12 portions

INGREDIENTS

Carrot Cake

• Butter, for greasing the pan

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

• 3 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon baking soda

• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

• 1 1/2 cups corn oil

• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 1⁄2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped

• 1 1⁄2 cups shredded coconut

• 1 1⁄3 cups puréed cooked carrots

• 3⁄4 cup drained crushed pineapple

• Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

• 6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Juice of 1⁄2 lemon (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Carrot Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch springform pans.
2. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.Add the oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in the walnuts, coconut, carrots, and pineapple.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Set on the center rack of the oven and bake until the edges have pulled away from the sides and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 minutes.
4. Cool on a cake rack for 3 hours. Fill and frost the cake with the cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.
2. Slowly sift in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until fully incorporated. The mixture should be free of lumps. 3. Stir in the vanilla, and lemon juice if desired. Frosting for a 2-layer cake