Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Mixed Reviews

We’ve been trying out some new recipes.  The first one I want to mention is my personal favourite of the three.  I originally made Veggie Pies for a potluck dinner but there was one whole pie leftover so I decided to reheat it for lunch the following day.

It did not replace the regular lunch but I used it as a side dish instead of salad or raw veggies and dip.  The children were unimpressed.  Few of them even tried it, choosing instead to just stare at it and shake their heads.  Fine then, more for me.  I wasn’t really surprised – cooked veggies are never popular.

MR01

Veggie Pie
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
  • Olive oil
  • 4 large carrots thinly sliced
  • 2 cups Broccoli florets
  • 2 Tbsp chicken bouillon
  • ½ cup flour
  • 2 cups water
  • Pie crusts
 Sauté onions, celery and red pepper with olive oil in a large pot until softened.  Add carrots and broccoli and continue cooking for about five minutes stirring often. Blend in flour.  Mix water and bouillon and pour over veggies in pot.  Cook, stir often, until mixture thickens.  Pour into pie crusts in a deep pie plate.  Cover with top crust and seal the edges.  Make a few small slits in top for steam to escape.  Bake in 375 degree oven for 40 minutes until crust is brown.


The second recipe was also first introduced to the children because I had made far more than I needed for supper the evening before and rather than make more food for lunch I used the leftovers.  The reaction truly shocked me this time – every one of the five preschoolers finished all of their first helping and asked for more.

I added it to the lunch menu and the next time it was offered none of the children ate it.  I had inadvertently placed the wrong attachment in the food processor and sliced the carrots instead of grating them.  Carrot slices were easily recognized as cooked veggies and therefore rejected.  The third time I remembered to grate the carrots and most – but not all — of the children ate it again.
I couldn’t find the picture of the finished recipe – maybe I forgot to take one.  This picture is cropped from a larger picture where the food was not the main topic but it will have to do for now;

MR02

Quinoa Pilaf
  •  1 cup quinoa
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Olive oil
  • 3 ribs celery, chopped
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 4 carrots, grated
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • ½ cup raisins
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • Salt & pepper to taste
 Combine quinoa, cold water and salt in a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until liquid in fully absorbed.  Heat olive oil in large pot, add the celery, onions, and grated carrots; cook and stir until softened.  Add garlic, raisins, spices and quinoa, cook and stir until evenly mixed and heated through.

I also have this picture of one of the babies trying to eat every last piece of quinoa off the plate.  The spoon was too slow – he shovelled handfuls from the plate to his mouth.

MR03


The third recipe is one that I can barely force myself to eat but my husband and youngest son love it.  It has been offered twice as a daycare lunch.  Some of the children refuse it.  Most of the children eat it but none of them are really excited about it.  I doubt I’ll leave it on the menu.

It looked better before it was cooked;

MR04

Afterwards – not so much;

MR05

Chinese Stew
  • Olive oil
  • 3 onions, chopped
  • 1 lb pork, cubed or sliced

  • 4 cups frozen stir fry vegetables
  • 5 potatoes, cubed
  • 2 cups chicken broth

  • 398 ml can of crushed pineapple with juice
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 4 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
Heat oil in large pot, add pork and onions.  Stir fry until pork browns and onions are soft.  Add vegetables, potatoes and broth.  Stir.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender.  Combine pineapple, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar and garlic.  Add to pork mixture.  Heat and stir until sauce is boiling and thickened.

Those are just a few of the recipes we’ve been trying out recently.  Lunch is part of the adventure.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Antidote

I’m a coffee drinker.  A few months ago I began buying flavoured coffee creamer as an occasional treat.  After I emptied the first container I rinsed it out and went to put it in the recycling bin but I hesitated.  I like to use sturdy empty containers from familiar products for ‘readable’ toys in the housekeeping area.

This container was sturdy but I wasn’t sure if the children would be familiar with the product.  I decided to add it to the collection of ‘food’ on the shelf and see what they did with it.  It was an instant hit but not for the reason I expected.

Even after washing it out this container retains the aroma of the flavoured cream.  The children noticed immediately.  ‘Smell this’ was heard often and having only one container was becoming an issue so I had to buy more.  Vanilla Toffee, Mocha Almond Fudge, Carmel Macciato, and my personal favourite, Chocolate Mint.  MMmmm.

SB01

Then one day while several of the children were building with blocks one of them farted.  While most of the children groaned and covered their noses one ingenious child ran to the housekeeping area and grabbed a creamer container.  The other children followed.

They had found the ‘cure for the stink bomb’.

These containers have never been used during dramatic play in a coffee shop or restaurant but they are used almost daily as gas masks.  Once one of the children sends out the alarm the others all rush to get a container, open it and hold it under their nose until the threat is over.  They have the solution.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Mr Brown Returns

I’ve mentioned before about how I periodically change the selection of toys available for play in the playroom.   Sometimes toys are rotated out of the room because the children have lost interest in them and I bring out ‘fresh’ toys.  Sometimes the change is made to make room for something that the children have requested.

Occasionally toys are removed from the playroom due to unrelenting conflicts over their use.  Mr. Brown (name given by the children) was one of those toys.  I don’t know why Mr. Brown was so popular but in a bin full of stuffies he was always first choice.

MB00

The last time Mr Brown was out the children would arrive and immediately rush in to get Mr Brown.  If someone else was already playing with him there would be moping and sometimes wailing.  Other stuffies didn’t have the power of Mr. Brown.  Personally I liked many of the other stuffies better but I was in the minority.

Then problems began to arise over hiding Mr. Brown instead of putting him away at clean up time.  The first children in the room would look in the bin for Mr Brown and discover that he wasn’t there.  Arguments would ensue over who had him last and what they had done to purposely prevent others from playing with him.

Mr Brown and the other small stuffies were eventually removed from the play room and other toys were brought out.  It has been more than six months and this week Mr Brown returned.  He brought friends – some old and some new;

MB01

It has been interesting to watch the children as they negotiate the power of the new toys.  New members of the group may have more importance than Mr. Brown.  I also find it interesting how small stuffies are the toy of choice given the wide selection of toys available.  Even the school age children are drawn to these toys over others.

The new farm toys are popular too.

MB02

It is just one of the toys I purchased from the Nature Shop and from my first ever visit to the new Ikea last weekend.  I’ve already made a list of more toys to get this coming weekend.  Mr. Brown has some competition.