Hi! And thanks again for stopping by. As the temperature cools down and Halloween lurks around the corner, I thought of a nice warming meal you and your children can prepare before heading outside to Trick or Treat.
CHICKEN POT PIE-O-LANTERN
Serves 4-6
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 33 minutes
Refrigerated leftovers can keep 2 days. Reheat in an oven 350*F covered with aluminum foil for 20 minutes before serving.
Ingredients
1- eight ounce skinless boneless chicken breast
1- nine inch deep dish frozen pie crust shell
1- can Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup- NO WATER
1- can Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup- NO WATER
1- twelve ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables (any assortment that you and your children decide to try)
1- tsp garlic salt
1- tsp ground black pepper
1- tsp dried tarragon leaves
1- tsp seasoning salt
1- half tsp sugar (optional)
1-TBSP dried parsley flakes
4- Pilsbury Grands, refrigerated biscuits
Preparation
Child- Turn on oven 350*F to pre-heat
Child- Mix all dry ingredient seasonings in a bowl and stir with a spoon to mix together well
Parent or Child- Remove chicken from packaging, rinse with cold water, dry on double thickness of paper towels.
Parent or Child- Spray a cookie sheet pan with a non-stick cooking spray. (Remember the tip is to spray over the sink, so the spray is contained to an easy to clean location)
Parent or Child- Place the chicken breast on the center of the sheet tray. Discard paper towels.
WASH HANDS WITH HOT SOAPY WATER IF YOU TOUCHED THE CHICKEN
Child- Sprinkle half of the seasoning gently and evenly over the top of the chicken breast. Save the other half of the seasoning to add to the soup mix in a later step.
Parent or Child over 12- Place your sheet tray with the chicken breast into the center of your 350*F oven for 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165*F.
Child- remove the frozen mixed vegetables from its packaging and place in a colander and run under warm water until all vegetables have no ice and are room temperature. (About 4 minutes if you use your hands to move the vegetable around inside the colander, to help the thawing process) Allow to drain all water out.
Parent or Child over 12- open both cans of soup and using a spoon, remove the soup base from each can, into a large mixing bowl, and stir in remaining seasonings. The goal is to have one color soup mix with the seasoning evenly mixed throughout.
Parent or Child- Remove your frozen pie shell crust from its packaging. With a dinner fork, please jab the fork into the pie crust gently and slowly in 4 different locations in the bottom of the pie shell and 4 different locations in the side of the pie shell. (Imagine a clock face for the bottom of the pie shell and make a fork insert at 12-3-6-and 9 O'clock. For the side of the crust, imagine the same clock face and holding the shell at 12 O'clock, jab the outer shell crust at 2-4-8 and 10 O'clock.) You do not want to jab through the crust AND the aluminum plate, just lightly pierce the crust. Wrap second pie crust with clear plastic wrap and freeze for another recipe. Write teh date on teh outer plastic wrap using a "Sharpie" marker.
Parent or Child over 12- Remove chicken breast from the oven, leaving the oven on.
Parent- using a knife and fork, cut the chicken breast into small cubes. It should not be pink inside. Consider cutting the breast down the middle lengthwise, then one half in half again and then make 4 cuts width wise to make your cubes of one half of the breast. Repeat for the other half.
Parent- pour any chicken liquid and any seasonings from the cookie sheet into your soup mixture and stir again.
Child- add the drained and thawed mixed vegetables to your soup mixture and stir to mix thoroughly.
Parent or Child- add the cooked chicken cubes to your soup and veggie mixture, stirring thoroughly again.
Parent or Child- spoon your mix into the pie shell making the pie full and even, so the chicken is not all in one spot within your pie.
Child- quickly, with warm soapy water, scrub and dry the cookie sheet and re-spray with a non-stick cooking spray
Parent or child over 12- place the filled pie crust in its aluminum pan on the cookie sheet, filling side up. (no duh?)
Parent- Place into your 350*F oven, on the center rack.
Child- set oven timer to 15 minutes
Parent or Child- open the "Grands" biscuit roll and separate four biscuits. Place them on a cutting board or surface you can cut upon.
Parent or Child- using a normal dinner knife, like a dinner butter knife, nothing sharp, cut one of the un- cooked round biscuit dough portions into a triangle and cut one of the four round biscuit dough portions in half. Tae the scrap pieces remainng from the triangle and roll like a tube. Place tubes on the sprayed cookie tray along side your pot pie.
Parent- after 15 minutes, using a pot holder, open your oven and slowly slide your cookie tray rack and pan out.
WARNING: keep Children away from the oven door as steam can burn you and them!
Parent or Child over 12- Assuming your half cooked pie is a face, place two round biscuit dough portions on the face, as if they were eyes. Place the triangle portion in the middle for a nose and place each half where a smile would appear on your face.
Child- set oven timer for 19 minutes.
Parent- replace the pie into the oven and increase the temperature to 400*F. Bake an additional 18 minutes or until the biscuit face is golden brown. I suggest that if your oven has an interior light, look through the window to watch your biscuits bake. The more you open the door to look, the lower the temperature gets and your biscuit dough may not rise as much.
Parent- remove cookie sheet with pot pie from the oven. Turn off oven.
Allow the pot pie to rest/cool for 5 minutes before cutting. You can cut the pie into 4 sections, or six sections. It will be messy and gooey. That's ok. Also, if you have more than one Child sharing this meal, flip a coin to see who gets the eye(s), or the piece of mouth or nose. This avoids a battle before dinner. The extra two rolled pieces of cooked dough can be used by you or your children to sop up the liquid pie filling gravy.
Serving suggestion- You can pick up a few different types of fresh apples from your grocery store. You and your children can peel and core the apples. You can cut the apples into cubes, using your newly acquired technique that you mastered with your chicken. You can place the apple cubes into a blender with 8 ounces of cold fresh water and a tsp of ground cinnamon and blitz until smooth. Serve this fresh apple cider over ice cubes or warm in a microwave oven on high for 45 seconds. Stir and serve with your Chicken Pot Pie Face.
Did you know that a tsp of cinnamon equals the antioxidents you would get from eating a half pint of fresh blueberries? Yep!
What you have learned-
1. A method for "cubing" a solid food item
2. You practiced again, safe handling of chicken/poultry
3. A method for getting vegetables and fruits into yourself and Children
4. Making a jack-o-lantern face on anything can inspire a child to try a food that might be new to them.
5. That eating a warm hearty meal before walking around your neighborhood to trick or treat is healthy.
6. That filling up on a healthy meal can reduce the desire to eat every piece of candy collect on Halloween night.
7. That flipping a coin in advance, can avoid confrontation
8. How to make a fast apple cider
9. Having children set the timer and slowly get used to using the oven will build confidence in many other life tasks.
Thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your weekend pre-planning. I hope that each week becomes less of a challenge and more focused on creating fun memorable meals as a family. Enjoy your Halloween! Take photos and mark them with the dates so when you are old like me, you can still know what year your child/children wore that costume. Until next week...Lead your family in a positive direction. I always say that my children are loved in two households. Its a positive way to express the change each of you are experiencing and allows your children to hear something positive about the confusion of change.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
An Autumn Soup & Sandwich Combo
Hello! Thanks for checking in and for also referring my Blog to other people who might be looking for meal solutions for themselves and their children. I hope your week is rolling along well and that you are enjoying the Autumn Chill in the air. This week we will cover a healthy fast classic combo that involves your family. I named this soup after my daughter. It is a quick Minestrone Soup, yet when we made it together it was always called her soup. Funny how this made her want to cook it more often and how she always ate it.
If your children are younger, consider a walk outside this weekend to collect leaves that are turning colors. Cut an oval shape from a paper grocery bag or a piece of colored construction paper and glue the leaves to the paper to create your own place mat for dinner tonight. You can also add a lesson to the craft by trying to identify the leaves you have. Are they Oak leaves?, maybe Maple?
It's mid October....Want to decorate a mini pumpkin? (Cheaper than a big one and you do not cut a small pumpkin, which is safer for you and the children) Decorate the pumpkin with colored markers. I suggest you buy a box of disposable plastic gloves, so when you cook or decorate using permanent markers, that the ink stays mostly on the gloves and not your child's hands.
Consider taking photos of your craft and cooking time and begin to make an album either online or in print.
Minestrone Soup with an Open faced Sandwich
Serves 4 portions
Can be refrigerated and held 3 days or can be frozen and held for 20 days
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Soup Ingredients
1 - 32 ounces of low sodium vegetable broth
1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 - 14 ounce can white beans (your protein source)
1 - half cup of Pastina style pasta or small pasta stars, like Acini D peppe (small, cooks faster)
1 - medium sweet onion, medium dice (as you learned to do last week)
1 TBSP Olive Oil or Canola Oil
1 - pound bag of mixed vegetables (corn, cut green beans, lima beans, peas, carrots blend is ok)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground garlic powder
1 TBSP Italian Seasoning
Soup Preparation
Child: In a 4 qt. stock pot, place your TBSP of olive oil and turn heat to medium.
Parent: When you can see small waves in your oil and before it smokes or pops, you add your diced onions.
Parent or Child age 12: Stir onion pieces around with a log handled metal or wooden spoon. Cook until the onion is slightly brown in color.
Parent or Child: Add in the frozen mixed vegetables and stir gently about 5 turns from the bottom up. You stir and gently lift the vegetables up from the bottom to prevent sticking.
Parent: Turn off stove top heat.
Parent or Child: Take turns measuring the seasonings and adding them to your onions.
CAUTION: The pot is hot, so have the child's arms and hands sprinkle the tsp. of each dry seasoning ingredients from high above the soup pot.
Parent: Place your long handled spoon inside of the soup pot with the handle resting against the side, so it does not fall inside. Add the vegetable broth slowly, by pouring it slowly against the lower handle and round part of the spoon head. This reduces splatter from the hot surface of the soup pot.
Child: Stir the broth , seasonings and cooked onions. (This process is called, de-glazing the pan. You are removing the flavored bits of onion and cooked seasonings from the inside of your pan to get the flavors moving around in your broth.)
Child or Parent: Add the can of beans using the same no-splatter spoon technique to reduce splashing
Child or Parent: Add the can of tomatoes using the same technique.
Parent or Child age 12: Turn the stove top heat source under your soup pot to "medium-low" for 20 minutes or until it has a gentle boil. (Dial setting 4 is good) STIRRING 4 stirs, every 4 minutes again from the bottom up, to prevent burning or sticking.
Child: Slowly pour your half cup of uncooked pasta into the boiling soup and stir 4 times.
Parent: Please cover the soup pot and allow to continue to cook on "low" (Dial setting 2) for 10 more minutes.
Parent: Turn heat off under your soup, leaving covered until you serve it with your sandwiches. I encourage you to serve the soup in a bowl and only fill the bowl half to 3/4 full so your child has room to spoon and not have to worry about spilling. Doing so builds confidence, as they will spill less often.
Parent: Who is setting the table tonight? Why should we set the table? Can we eat hot soup with our hands? Will we get burned? Is getting our fingers burned ok? Why not? Oh, so we should probably set the table together. I'll get the spoons. Will you please get the napkins and plates? Thanks! You are such a great helper! I love it when you help out.
WHILE THE PASTA IS COOKING IN YOUR SOUP............
Sandwich Ingredients
4- of your choice of bread, pita , half of a roll, or one tortilla (whatever you have at home or that you know your children will eat)
8- one ounce slices of low salt, low fat turkey slices rolled
2- ounces of bottled marinade or BBQ sauce un-used from last week's meal.
4- one ounce slices of low fat provolone cheese
Sandwich Preparation- 10 minutes
Parent: Turn on your oven and Pre-heat oven to 400*F
Child: Spray a cookie sheet with a non-stick cooking spray
Child: Place 4 pieces of your favorite bread item"half" on the sprayed cookie sheet
Parent: Place about 1 tsp. of the marinade on each slice of bread item half by using a circular motion, smear the marinade to cover as much of the bread as possible.
Child: Place 2 rolls of turkey on each bread item
Child: Place one slice of provolone on top of your turkey rolls
Parent: Place the cookie sheet in the middle rack of your oven and bake open faced sandwiches for 10 minutes.
Parent: Turn oven off and remove cooked sandwiches from the oven. With a spatula, or commonly known as " the hamburger flipper thingy" in some single parent's homes I have visited... and place the sandwiches, one on each plate. Serve with the bowl of soup.
TIP: by serving one sandwich per plate, per person and one bowl of soup per person, you are managing portion control as well as preventing an older child from taking more portions that you want them to have, usually so the younger sibling has no food to eat. (I was the younger sibling...smile)
What we have learned:
1. Adding a craft and learning experience fills your time up with a positive vibe and builds memories and also expresses creativity. Also learning and doing things together allows for casual conversation time. As your children get older, they will come to you for conversation because you've built that behavior up with them now.
2. How to make a healthy and quick soup
3. How to "de-glaze" a pan using a liquid
4. How to re-enforce your dicing skills
5. An open faced sandwich technique, plus.... less bread, less calories
6. A positive teaching method called " The Socratic Method", of asking questions to get agreement and the result you want. (setting the table)
7. A way to use up some marinade you had left over
8. Techniques on soup bowl filling to reduce spills, burns
9. Portion control
10. Pouring technique into a pot to avoid splatter
11. Stirring from the bottom up, prevent sticking and burning
OPTIONS:
Soup: Want to make chicken vegetable or beef vegetable soup instead? Take one pound of cleaned, cut, fresh chicken tenders, like the casserole recipe tenders and add them at the same time you added the onions. Like beef? Buy 1 pound of fresh thawed stew meat, small pre-cut portions of cubed beef. Season with salt and pepper, roll lightly in all purpose flour and add them at the same time you added the onions.
Sandwich: Substitute Turkey slices for chicken breast slices, or lean roast beef or low salt ham slices. You can also drain a can of albacore tuna fish, drain/dry it on a few paper towels and place the tuna on the bread slice half, top with marinade and cheese. Cook time stays the same even if you substitute the proteins above.
Take every recipe, every time together as a family, step by step and relax. Be the best person you can be and you will get through the cooking part and the single parent part. I hope that your time together this weekend as a family is filled with smiles.
If your children are younger, consider a walk outside this weekend to collect leaves that are turning colors. Cut an oval shape from a paper grocery bag or a piece of colored construction paper and glue the leaves to the paper to create your own place mat for dinner tonight. You can also add a lesson to the craft by trying to identify the leaves you have. Are they Oak leaves?, maybe Maple?
It's mid October....Want to decorate a mini pumpkin? (Cheaper than a big one and you do not cut a small pumpkin, which is safer for you and the children) Decorate the pumpkin with colored markers. I suggest you buy a box of disposable plastic gloves, so when you cook or decorate using permanent markers, that the ink stays mostly on the gloves and not your child's hands.
Consider taking photos of your craft and cooking time and begin to make an album either online or in print.
Minestrone Soup with an Open faced Sandwich
Serves 4 portions
Can be refrigerated and held 3 days or can be frozen and held for 20 days
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Soup Ingredients
1 - 32 ounces of low sodium vegetable broth
1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 - 14 ounce can white beans (your protein source)
1 - half cup of Pastina style pasta or small pasta stars, like Acini D peppe (small, cooks faster)
1 - medium sweet onion, medium dice (as you learned to do last week)
1 TBSP Olive Oil or Canola Oil
1 - pound bag of mixed vegetables (corn, cut green beans, lima beans, peas, carrots blend is ok)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground garlic powder
1 TBSP Italian Seasoning
Soup Preparation
Child: In a 4 qt. stock pot, place your TBSP of olive oil and turn heat to medium.
Parent: When you can see small waves in your oil and before it smokes or pops, you add your diced onions.
Parent or Child age 12: Stir onion pieces around with a log handled metal or wooden spoon. Cook until the onion is slightly brown in color.
Parent or Child: Add in the frozen mixed vegetables and stir gently about 5 turns from the bottom up. You stir and gently lift the vegetables up from the bottom to prevent sticking.
Parent: Turn off stove top heat.
Parent or Child: Take turns measuring the seasonings and adding them to your onions.
CAUTION: The pot is hot, so have the child's arms and hands sprinkle the tsp. of each dry seasoning ingredients from high above the soup pot.
Parent: Place your long handled spoon inside of the soup pot with the handle resting against the side, so it does not fall inside. Add the vegetable broth slowly, by pouring it slowly against the lower handle and round part of the spoon head. This reduces splatter from the hot surface of the soup pot.
Child: Stir the broth , seasonings and cooked onions. (This process is called, de-glazing the pan. You are removing the flavored bits of onion and cooked seasonings from the inside of your pan to get the flavors moving around in your broth.)
Child or Parent: Add the can of beans using the same no-splatter spoon technique to reduce splashing
Child or Parent: Add the can of tomatoes using the same technique.
Parent or Child age 12: Turn the stove top heat source under your soup pot to "medium-low" for 20 minutes or until it has a gentle boil. (Dial setting 4 is good) STIRRING 4 stirs, every 4 minutes again from the bottom up, to prevent burning or sticking.
Child: Slowly pour your half cup of uncooked pasta into the boiling soup and stir 4 times.
Parent: Please cover the soup pot and allow to continue to cook on "low" (Dial setting 2) for 10 more minutes.
Parent: Turn heat off under your soup, leaving covered until you serve it with your sandwiches. I encourage you to serve the soup in a bowl and only fill the bowl half to 3/4 full so your child has room to spoon and not have to worry about spilling. Doing so builds confidence, as they will spill less often.
Parent: Who is setting the table tonight? Why should we set the table? Can we eat hot soup with our hands? Will we get burned? Is getting our fingers burned ok? Why not? Oh, so we should probably set the table together. I'll get the spoons. Will you please get the napkins and plates? Thanks! You are such a great helper! I love it when you help out.
WHILE THE PASTA IS COOKING IN YOUR SOUP............
Sandwich Ingredients
4- of your choice of bread, pita , half of a roll, or one tortilla (whatever you have at home or that you know your children will eat)
8- one ounce slices of low salt, low fat turkey slices rolled
2- ounces of bottled marinade or BBQ sauce un-used from last week's meal.
4- one ounce slices of low fat provolone cheese
Sandwich Preparation- 10 minutes
Parent: Turn on your oven and Pre-heat oven to 400*F
Child: Spray a cookie sheet with a non-stick cooking spray
Child: Place 4 pieces of your favorite bread item"half" on the sprayed cookie sheet
Parent: Place about 1 tsp. of the marinade on each slice of bread item half by using a circular motion, smear the marinade to cover as much of the bread as possible.
Child: Place 2 rolls of turkey on each bread item
Child: Place one slice of provolone on top of your turkey rolls
Parent: Place the cookie sheet in the middle rack of your oven and bake open faced sandwiches for 10 minutes.
Parent: Turn oven off and remove cooked sandwiches from the oven. With a spatula, or commonly known as " the hamburger flipper thingy" in some single parent's homes I have visited... and place the sandwiches, one on each plate. Serve with the bowl of soup.
TIP: by serving one sandwich per plate, per person and one bowl of soup per person, you are managing portion control as well as preventing an older child from taking more portions that you want them to have, usually so the younger sibling has no food to eat. (I was the younger sibling...smile)
What we have learned:
1. Adding a craft and learning experience fills your time up with a positive vibe and builds memories and also expresses creativity. Also learning and doing things together allows for casual conversation time. As your children get older, they will come to you for conversation because you've built that behavior up with them now.
2. How to make a healthy and quick soup
3. How to "de-glaze" a pan using a liquid
4. How to re-enforce your dicing skills
5. An open faced sandwich technique, plus.... less bread, less calories
6. A positive teaching method called " The Socratic Method", of asking questions to get agreement and the result you want. (setting the table)
7. A way to use up some marinade you had left over
8. Techniques on soup bowl filling to reduce spills, burns
9. Portion control
10. Pouring technique into a pot to avoid splatter
11. Stirring from the bottom up, prevent sticking and burning
OPTIONS:
Soup: Want to make chicken vegetable or beef vegetable soup instead? Take one pound of cleaned, cut, fresh chicken tenders, like the casserole recipe tenders and add them at the same time you added the onions. Like beef? Buy 1 pound of fresh thawed stew meat, small pre-cut portions of cubed beef. Season with salt and pepper, roll lightly in all purpose flour and add them at the same time you added the onions.
Sandwich: Substitute Turkey slices for chicken breast slices, or lean roast beef or low salt ham slices. You can also drain a can of albacore tuna fish, drain/dry it on a few paper towels and place the tuna on the bread slice half, top with marinade and cheese. Cook time stays the same even if you substitute the proteins above.
Take every recipe, every time together as a family, step by step and relax. Be the best person you can be and you will get through the cooking part and the single parent part. I hope that your time together this weekend as a family is filled with smiles.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Cheap Chicken
When thinking about this week's recipe, I remembered my vacations at the NJ Shore. I would always order the cheapest menu item, usually chicken, so I hoped my parents would have enough money to pay for the amusement rides on the Boardwalk. Money was really not a concern, although I didn't know that then. I was just a kid who wanted to eat and also ride some amusement rides on the Boardwalk.
I hope you had a great week and that you enjoy preparing this recipe with your family. Maybe your child/children will pull the cheap chicken trick on you one day and you will smile and enjoy the moment.
Cheap Chicken with Potatoes & Veg
Serves 4 people
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Ingredients
4- Six ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts with or without tenders
6 ounces of your favorite marinade/sauce (BBQ sauce, Chipotle lime, Teriyaki, Bourbon Peppercorn, etc) Just make sure you do not purchase a bottled marinade that adds too much sodium or calories.
Ask your children/child what flavor they want to try and make it a mutual experiment. That way you have, "buy in" from your child/children and they should try your cooking.
2 Large "baker" type potatoes, about the size of your adult hand
1 Bunch fresh asparagus, cut 1 inch off of each bottom OR try fresh cleaned Broccolini
3 TBSP olive or canola oil
1 sprinkle of garlic powder, salt and pepper
Preparation
Parent: Pre-heat a BBQ grill or cast iron stove top grill to high heat. If you do not have either, a George Foreman electric grill or a fry pan will work.
Parent or Child: Wash your potatoes under cold water and rub with a paper towel to remove the grit.
Child: With a dinner fork, fork each potato twice to allow the steam to escape.
Child: Place each forked potato in the middle of your microwave oven.
Microwave on high for 4 minutes.
Parent: Remove the chicken from the package and rinse with fresh cold water for a few seconds to remove chicken blood.
Parent: Place chicken on a few paper towels on top of a plate to drain.
Child: Rub both sides of your chicken breast lightly with olive oil.
Child: Sprinkle seasoning in top of your chicken breasts.
Turn breasts over and season the other side.
Parent or Child over 12: Turn your potatoes over and microwave an additional 4 minutes.
Throw out the soiled paper towels and wash your hands with warm soap and water to remove any bacteria. Do what you learned last time and wash all surfaces that the chicken touched with hot soapy water to eliminate the chance of cross contamination.
Child: Pre-heat oven to 350* F
If you will be cooking your chicken inside your home, make sure a window is open and/or you have a stove exhaust fan on high to remove smoke.
Parent: Place the chicken breasts, bottom side down on your hot cooking surface for 5 minutes.
Parent: Turn your chicken over so the top side is down now and cook another 5 minutes.
Child or Parent: Spray a cookie sheet pan with a non-stick cooking spray
Child: Place fresh asparagus, or broccolini on the cookie sheet
Child: Then place your partially cooked chicken breasts on top of the vegetable you chose
Parent: Cut your partially microwaved cooked potatoes into 4 equal portions.
Child or Parent: Place the sliced potatoes on the cookie sheet also.
Child: Slowly and gently pour 1 ounce of your favorite marinade or BBQ sauce on the middle of each chicken breast. ( Messy is ok, do not worry, It will taste great!)
Parent or Child: With the bottom of a spoon, slowly rub the sauce or marinade around the top of each chicken breast, to cover each top.
( Don't worry if you drip some sauce on the cookie sheet. You sprayed it with cooking spray, so the clean up will be ok.)
Parent or Child over 12: Place your cookie sheet with the "sauced" chicken, vegetables and sliced potatoes in your pre-heated oven for 35 minutes at 350*F, or until the internal temperature of your chicken is at least 165*F.
Parent: Serve by placing the broccolini, potato and chicken on your plates.
Enjoy!
What you have learned:
1. That asking your child/children to help you select a sauce or marinate, will assist you in getting them to taste your cooking
2. That you use a non stick spray so clean up is easier
3. To place a vegetable underneath a soon to be cooked protein will allow the juices of that protein to cook and add flavor to it while it cooks.
4. That children have their own thoughts and ideas and that they may be trying to eat less to save you money, or have money to do things they really want to do with you.
5. That you have as many recipes as there are marinades that you and your family can agree upon, so you can make many meals together.
I hope that this week is your best week ever and that you continue to attempt to cook healthy fun foods with your family.
I hope you had a great week and that you enjoy preparing this recipe with your family. Maybe your child/children will pull the cheap chicken trick on you one day and you will smile and enjoy the moment.
Cheap Chicken with Potatoes & Veg
Serves 4 people
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Ingredients
4- Six ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts with or without tenders
6 ounces of your favorite marinade/sauce (BBQ sauce, Chipotle lime, Teriyaki, Bourbon Peppercorn, etc) Just make sure you do not purchase a bottled marinade that adds too much sodium or calories.
Ask your children/child what flavor they want to try and make it a mutual experiment. That way you have, "buy in" from your child/children and they should try your cooking.
2 Large "baker" type potatoes, about the size of your adult hand
1 Bunch fresh asparagus, cut 1 inch off of each bottom OR try fresh cleaned Broccolini
3 TBSP olive or canola oil
1 sprinkle of garlic powder, salt and pepper
Preparation
Parent: Pre-heat a BBQ grill or cast iron stove top grill to high heat. If you do not have either, a George Foreman electric grill or a fry pan will work.
Parent or Child: Wash your potatoes under cold water and rub with a paper towel to remove the grit.
Child: With a dinner fork, fork each potato twice to allow the steam to escape.
Child: Place each forked potato in the middle of your microwave oven.
Microwave on high for 4 minutes.
Parent: Remove the chicken from the package and rinse with fresh cold water for a few seconds to remove chicken blood.
Parent: Place chicken on a few paper towels on top of a plate to drain.
Child: Rub both sides of your chicken breast lightly with olive oil.
Child: Sprinkle seasoning in top of your chicken breasts.
Turn breasts over and season the other side.
Parent or Child over 12: Turn your potatoes over and microwave an additional 4 minutes.
Throw out the soiled paper towels and wash your hands with warm soap and water to remove any bacteria. Do what you learned last time and wash all surfaces that the chicken touched with hot soapy water to eliminate the chance of cross contamination.
Child: Pre-heat oven to 350* F
If you will be cooking your chicken inside your home, make sure a window is open and/or you have a stove exhaust fan on high to remove smoke.
Parent: Place the chicken breasts, bottom side down on your hot cooking surface for 5 minutes.
Parent: Turn your chicken over so the top side is down now and cook another 5 minutes.
Child or Parent: Spray a cookie sheet pan with a non-stick cooking spray
Child: Place fresh asparagus, or broccolini on the cookie sheet
Child: Then place your partially cooked chicken breasts on top of the vegetable you chose
Parent: Cut your partially microwaved cooked potatoes into 4 equal portions.
Child or Parent: Place the sliced potatoes on the cookie sheet also.
Child: Slowly and gently pour 1 ounce of your favorite marinade or BBQ sauce on the middle of each chicken breast. ( Messy is ok, do not worry, It will taste great!)
Parent or Child: With the bottom of a spoon, slowly rub the sauce or marinade around the top of each chicken breast, to cover each top.
( Don't worry if you drip some sauce on the cookie sheet. You sprayed it with cooking spray, so the clean up will be ok.)
Parent or Child over 12: Place your cookie sheet with the "sauced" chicken, vegetables and sliced potatoes in your pre-heated oven for 35 minutes at 350*F, or until the internal temperature of your chicken is at least 165*F.
Parent: Serve by placing the broccolini, potato and chicken on your plates.
Enjoy!
What you have learned:
1. That asking your child/children to help you select a sauce or marinate, will assist you in getting them to taste your cooking
2. That you use a non stick spray so clean up is easier
3. To place a vegetable underneath a soon to be cooked protein will allow the juices of that protein to cook and add flavor to it while it cooks.
4. That children have their own thoughts and ideas and that they may be trying to eat less to save you money, or have money to do things they really want to do with you.
5. That you have as many recipes as there are marinades that you and your family can agree upon, so you can make many meals together.
I hope that this week is your best week ever and that you continue to attempt to cook healthy fun foods with your family.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Family Casserole with a learning element
Hello! I hope your week is going well and you are looking forward to the next time you and your children can gather in the kitchen to create a memorable meal. We are going to make an easy enchilada recipe that has many options that will allow you to gear the recipe to the tastes of your family. I also am asking that you take a minute before you pick up your children to GOOGLE "Mexico". Wikapedia has good information too. Pick out 3 or 4 interesting tidbits of information about Mexico. Examples.... What bodies of water surround Mexico? Are those waters hotter or colder than the Atlantic Ocean? What is the national sport? What fruits and vegetables are grown there? How are tortillas made in Mexico? Do you want to print off a flag or flags and have your children cut them out and glue them on a plastic straw or paper plate to decorate your dinner table? All food comes from somewhere, not just your refrigerator, the grocery store or a drive thru window. Help to build an understanding of where food comes from and the culture it came from. This creates a fun learning experience.
Chicken Enchiladas with Options
Prep time 45 minutes
Bake time 30 minutes
Serves 4-6 portions
Ingredients
1 lb, boneless , skinless chicken breast tenders
1 Ten pack soft tortillas (Flour, corn , wheat, multi grain, you decide)
1 Eight oz. bag Mexican shredded cheese mix
1 can chicken tortilla soup
1 small yellow or white onion, peeled and diced
1 green pepper, washed, seeded and diced
1 Fourteen oz jar of picante sauce (You select spice level, mild, medium or hot)
Preparation
CHILD: Remove chicken from package and rinse in cold water and dry on a couple paper towels. Wash your hands with soap and water.
PARENT: With clean scissors, cut the tender or plastic straw looking cartilage off of each chicken tender. You do not have to be precise, just get as much off as you can.
CHILD: Place chicken on a plate and sprinkle with garlic salt & black pepper. (sprinkle chili powder if you like spice) Wash your hands with soap and water.
CHILD Over your sink, spray a 9X12x2 casserole dish with non-stick spray to make clean up easier.
PARENT: Open can of soup into a 2 QT mixing bowl
CHILD: Add 3/4 can of water to the can of soup in the mixing bowl and stir/ whisk to mix thoroughly.
PARENT: Pour the soup into the sprayed casserole dish.
PARENT & CHILD TAKE TURNS: On a separate cutting board or flat surface, take a tortilla flat and place 2 chicken tenders and a half hand full of cheese in the middle and roll the tortilla up.
PARENT & CHILD TAKE TURNS: Place rolled enchilada into the casserole dish, kind of sinking them in the soup mixture and repeat until all enchiladas are in your casserole dish.(It is ok if you squeeze the rolled enchiladas closely together. It is also ok if cheese falls out or they are not rolled tightly like cigarettes. It will always taste great!) Wash your hands with soap and water.
PARENT OR CHILD OVER AGE 12: Dice your vegetables. Grocery stores and specialty gourmet food equipment stores sell a mesh glove that is a cut protector glove. Consider buying one in your size and that of your child/ren.
( To dice onions, you place the onion on a flat surface cutting board so that the stem side is up. Cut the onion in half, so you have divided the stem side into two pieces. With your thumb, push the onion skin away from the shiny surface of the onion. Sometimes you will take the first row of shiny skin off too. Do not worry, it happens. Then place the flat surface of your onion half on the cutting board. You will look at the shiny skin and see lines. Run your knife down every other line to make a series of cuts down to the cutting board. About 6 or 8 slices per half of onion. Keep the onion together and place your hand on top of the crown of the onion behind your knife blade to prevent cutting yourself. Turn the sliced onion half 180*, so the cut stripes are now horizontal to your knife hand and proceed to cut 6 to 8 slices perpendicular to your previous cuts. This gives you a medium dice. As you have more practice with knives and onions, you can make the dice smaller by cutting more lines in the shiny surface, say 12 to 14 and the same number on the perpendicular cuts, always keeping you hand behind the cutting edge and allowing the blade to pull the onion away from your hand.)
( To dice a pepper, cut the stem off. Place the cut side down on your cutting board and cut the pepper in half. Pull out the seeds and any internal loose flesh. With the shiny side down, cut thin strips vertically down the inside of the pepper. This is called making "Julienne" strips. Then cut each julienne strip into 6 to each pieces. This is the safe way to cut peppers into smaller pieces.
The result should be that your onion and peppers pieces should be closely the same size so they cook at the same length of time. Do not worry if the sizes vary, they will still cook and be terrific! )
PARENT OR CHILD: Turn on your oven and pre-heat your oven to 350*F
CHILD: Sprinkle the diced green peppers and onions over the casserole. The goal is to try to evenly spread out the vegetables, so each serving of enchilada will include an equal amount of enchilada, soup sauce and vegetables. Wash your hands with soap and water.
PARENT: Open your jar of picante sauce and pour in evenly over the enchiladas, again trying to have an equal amount over the entire surface of the casserole. You can use a spoon or spatula to spread the sauce around. (Picante jar difficult to open? With lid secure, turn upside down and hold tightly with one hand and with the palm of your other hand, spank or pop hard and fast on the bottom of the jar. This moves the air up to the top against the jar lid seal and usually loosens the seal. Turn jar up and unscrew. Repeat if lid didn't come loose.)
CHILD: Open the bag of cheese and also sprinkle/spread it evenly over the surface of your casserole.
PARENT: Wash the cutting board with warm soapy water, rinse and place in dish washer. OR wash by hand in HOT soapy water, all items that made contact with chicken, including kitchen counter areas.
PARENT or CHILD OVER AGE 12: Place a cookie tray in the oven on the middle rack if possible.
PARENT: Place your casserole dish on top of the cookie sheet to catch possible bubble over.
CHILD: Set timer and Bake for 30 minutes.
PARENT: Remove from the oven and allow to sit and rest 5 minutes before serving. The goal to serving is to scoop out 2 or 3 enchiladas per portion. It will be a nice cheesy gooey mess, so please do not worry if your enchiladas break when served.
*** This meal works well with another one of your "tossed" salads you made last week, only this time you can use up the Ranch dressing of use 2 ounces of the low calorie Italian dressing you have left over. An appropriate beverage to serve with this or any meal would be 100% fruit juice with a low sugar content, plain green tea, hot or cold over ice, low fat milk or ice water with a squeeze or slice of fresh lemon or lime in it. Try not to drink your calories!
OPTIONS!!
1. You can set the timer for 20 minutes and then after 20 minutes top your casserole with any or all of the following.... crushed tortilla chips, fritos, thin slices of tomato, drained chopped black olives, avocado slices, or jalapeno slices. Again, this depends on your tastes and whether you want to add healthy vegetables or less healthy crunch. Replace the casserole into the oven and bake the remaining 10 minutes.
2. You can substitute the fresh or thawed chicken tenders, with previously fried breaded chicken fingers that you buy frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator over night or for 8 hours. ( Less healthy, plus your children don't get to learn how to remove the tendon from the chicken fillet tender.)
3. You can substitute using cooked ground turkey or ground chicken, ground meat soy substitute, (healthy), chorizo or beef (less healthy). Cook any ground meat you select in a 12 inch saute pan over medium high heat and stir the ground meat with a plastic or wooden spoon until there is no pink color or to the temperature of 160*F. Then drain cooked ground meat in a spaghetti colander strainer and use drained cooked ground meat in your recipe in place of the chicken tenders.
4. You can substitute the Mexican soup for canned red chili sauce, or green chili sauce.
5. You can substitute the Mexican soup for canned cream of mushroom or broccoli cheese soup. To the soup in your casserole dish, add a small bag (8 oz.) of frozen chopped broccoli, that you thaw and drain. Thaw in a microwave covered on the defrost cycle for 2 minutes. Check temperature, then repeat if necessary. Drain out the water. Use 2% milk or any white milk, instead of water with the soup and omit the picante sauce. Substitute the Mexican cheese for shredded sharp cheddar cheese. With 10 minutes left on baking, top your casserole with a can of French's canned crisp onion rings.
Leftovers can be microwaved, covered for 3 minutes on high or baked covered in the oven 350*F for 15 minutes.
WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
1. A little more about Mexico
2. How to make another memory
3. How to make a casserole"process" that can actually become multiple meals based upon the options your family selects.
4. That you wash your hands thoroughly and often when handling chicken to reduce the chance of bacteria transfer or cross contamination.
5. That you are responsible to clean and sanitize all equipment and areas that chicken touchs, to reduce cross contamination.
6. A technique for julienne slicing and for dicing.
7. That gloves are available to protect against cuts.
8. How to open a difficult jar.
9. How to cook and what color and temperature you should cook ground meat
10. How to thaw a frozen vegetable product you intend to add to a recipe that will bake that thawed vegetable product.
I hope you have a super time together, filled with joy, learning and laughter. Education doesn't stop in school. With you, your children will do homework, create projects, read books, research things on the Internet and cook. You will see their confidence grow! Cooking together builds and reinforces that self confidence for both you and your children.
Seize the day! Make the time together with your children the best positive experience that you can. Stop by next week for some more ideas............
Chicken Enchiladas with Options
Prep time 45 minutes
Bake time 30 minutes
Serves 4-6 portions
Ingredients
1 lb, boneless , skinless chicken breast tenders
1 Ten pack soft tortillas (Flour, corn , wheat, multi grain, you decide)
1 Eight oz. bag Mexican shredded cheese mix
1 can chicken tortilla soup
1 small yellow or white onion, peeled and diced
1 green pepper, washed, seeded and diced
1 Fourteen oz jar of picante sauce (You select spice level, mild, medium or hot)
Preparation
CHILD: Remove chicken from package and rinse in cold water and dry on a couple paper towels. Wash your hands with soap and water.
PARENT: With clean scissors, cut the tender or plastic straw looking cartilage off of each chicken tender. You do not have to be precise, just get as much off as you can.
CHILD: Place chicken on a plate and sprinkle with garlic salt & black pepper. (sprinkle chili powder if you like spice) Wash your hands with soap and water.
CHILD Over your sink, spray a 9X12x2 casserole dish with non-stick spray to make clean up easier.
PARENT: Open can of soup into a 2 QT mixing bowl
CHILD: Add 3/4 can of water to the can of soup in the mixing bowl and stir/ whisk to mix thoroughly.
PARENT: Pour the soup into the sprayed casserole dish.
PARENT & CHILD TAKE TURNS: On a separate cutting board or flat surface, take a tortilla flat and place 2 chicken tenders and a half hand full of cheese in the middle and roll the tortilla up.
PARENT & CHILD TAKE TURNS: Place rolled enchilada into the casserole dish, kind of sinking them in the soup mixture and repeat until all enchiladas are in your casserole dish.(It is ok if you squeeze the rolled enchiladas closely together. It is also ok if cheese falls out or they are not rolled tightly like cigarettes. It will always taste great!) Wash your hands with soap and water.
PARENT OR CHILD OVER AGE 12: Dice your vegetables. Grocery stores and specialty gourmet food equipment stores sell a mesh glove that is a cut protector glove. Consider buying one in your size and that of your child/ren.
( To dice onions, you place the onion on a flat surface cutting board so that the stem side is up. Cut the onion in half, so you have divided the stem side into two pieces. With your thumb, push the onion skin away from the shiny surface of the onion. Sometimes you will take the first row of shiny skin off too. Do not worry, it happens. Then place the flat surface of your onion half on the cutting board. You will look at the shiny skin and see lines. Run your knife down every other line to make a series of cuts down to the cutting board. About 6 or 8 slices per half of onion. Keep the onion together and place your hand on top of the crown of the onion behind your knife blade to prevent cutting yourself. Turn the sliced onion half 180*, so the cut stripes are now horizontal to your knife hand and proceed to cut 6 to 8 slices perpendicular to your previous cuts. This gives you a medium dice. As you have more practice with knives and onions, you can make the dice smaller by cutting more lines in the shiny surface, say 12 to 14 and the same number on the perpendicular cuts, always keeping you hand behind the cutting edge and allowing the blade to pull the onion away from your hand.)
( To dice a pepper, cut the stem off. Place the cut side down on your cutting board and cut the pepper in half. Pull out the seeds and any internal loose flesh. With the shiny side down, cut thin strips vertically down the inside of the pepper. This is called making "Julienne" strips. Then cut each julienne strip into 6 to each pieces. This is the safe way to cut peppers into smaller pieces.
The result should be that your onion and peppers pieces should be closely the same size so they cook at the same length of time. Do not worry if the sizes vary, they will still cook and be terrific! )
PARENT OR CHILD: Turn on your oven and pre-heat your oven to 350*F
CHILD: Sprinkle the diced green peppers and onions over the casserole. The goal is to try to evenly spread out the vegetables, so each serving of enchilada will include an equal amount of enchilada, soup sauce and vegetables. Wash your hands with soap and water.
PARENT: Open your jar of picante sauce and pour in evenly over the enchiladas, again trying to have an equal amount over the entire surface of the casserole. You can use a spoon or spatula to spread the sauce around. (Picante jar difficult to open? With lid secure, turn upside down and hold tightly with one hand and with the palm of your other hand, spank or pop hard and fast on the bottom of the jar. This moves the air up to the top against the jar lid seal and usually loosens the seal. Turn jar up and unscrew. Repeat if lid didn't come loose.)
CHILD: Open the bag of cheese and also sprinkle/spread it evenly over the surface of your casserole.
PARENT: Wash the cutting board with warm soapy water, rinse and place in dish washer. OR wash by hand in HOT soapy water, all items that made contact with chicken, including kitchen counter areas.
PARENT or CHILD OVER AGE 12: Place a cookie tray in the oven on the middle rack if possible.
PARENT: Place your casserole dish on top of the cookie sheet to catch possible bubble over.
CHILD: Set timer and Bake for 30 minutes.
PARENT: Remove from the oven and allow to sit and rest 5 minutes before serving. The goal to serving is to scoop out 2 or 3 enchiladas per portion. It will be a nice cheesy gooey mess, so please do not worry if your enchiladas break when served.
*** This meal works well with another one of your "tossed" salads you made last week, only this time you can use up the Ranch dressing of use 2 ounces of the low calorie Italian dressing you have left over. An appropriate beverage to serve with this or any meal would be 100% fruit juice with a low sugar content, plain green tea, hot or cold over ice, low fat milk or ice water with a squeeze or slice of fresh lemon or lime in it. Try not to drink your calories!
OPTIONS!!
1. You can set the timer for 20 minutes and then after 20 minutes top your casserole with any or all of the following.... crushed tortilla chips, fritos, thin slices of tomato, drained chopped black olives, avocado slices, or jalapeno slices. Again, this depends on your tastes and whether you want to add healthy vegetables or less healthy crunch. Replace the casserole into the oven and bake the remaining 10 minutes.
2. You can substitute the fresh or thawed chicken tenders, with previously fried breaded chicken fingers that you buy frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator over night or for 8 hours. ( Less healthy, plus your children don't get to learn how to remove the tendon from the chicken fillet tender.)
3. You can substitute using cooked ground turkey or ground chicken, ground meat soy substitute, (healthy), chorizo or beef (less healthy). Cook any ground meat you select in a 12 inch saute pan over medium high heat and stir the ground meat with a plastic or wooden spoon until there is no pink color or to the temperature of 160*F. Then drain cooked ground meat in a spaghetti colander strainer and use drained cooked ground meat in your recipe in place of the chicken tenders.
4. You can substitute the Mexican soup for canned red chili sauce, or green chili sauce.
5. You can substitute the Mexican soup for canned cream of mushroom or broccoli cheese soup. To the soup in your casserole dish, add a small bag (8 oz.) of frozen chopped broccoli, that you thaw and drain. Thaw in a microwave covered on the defrost cycle for 2 minutes. Check temperature, then repeat if necessary. Drain out the water. Use 2% milk or any white milk, instead of water with the soup and omit the picante sauce. Substitute the Mexican cheese for shredded sharp cheddar cheese. With 10 minutes left on baking, top your casserole with a can of French's canned crisp onion rings.
Leftovers can be microwaved, covered for 3 minutes on high or baked covered in the oven 350*F for 15 minutes.
WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
1. A little more about Mexico
2. How to make another memory
3. How to make a casserole"process" that can actually become multiple meals based upon the options your family selects.
4. That you wash your hands thoroughly and often when handling chicken to reduce the chance of bacteria transfer or cross contamination.
5. That you are responsible to clean and sanitize all equipment and areas that chicken touchs, to reduce cross contamination.
6. A technique for julienne slicing and for dicing.
7. That gloves are available to protect against cuts.
8. How to open a difficult jar.
9. How to cook and what color and temperature you should cook ground meat
10. How to thaw a frozen vegetable product you intend to add to a recipe that will bake that thawed vegetable product.
I hope you have a super time together, filled with joy, learning and laughter. Education doesn't stop in school. With you, your children will do homework, create projects, read books, research things on the Internet and cook. You will see their confidence grow! Cooking together builds and reinforces that self confidence for both you and your children.
Seize the day! Make the time together with your children the best positive experience that you can. Stop by next week for some more ideas............
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