Lunch Solution

I’ve encountered the first ‘problem’ of the new group schedule. We have too much leftover food.

Last year I had five preschoolers and two school-age children here for lunch every day.  Over the summer two preschoolers were replaced by extra school-age children but they have left now.  My current enrolment includes one infant (who brings his own food), four preschoolers and three school-age children (who stay at school for lunch).

Essentially that means that suddenly I have half as many children here for meals and I’m making too much food.  So, I’ve been considering changing a few of the menu items.  Many of the meals are easy to adjust the amounts to suit the number of children in attendance.  Several of the casseroles can be halved – or returned to original since in most cases I was doubling the recipes.  However some are difficult to modify so they may have to be replaced if I don’t want a fridge full of leftovers.

Another strange phenomenon is that the preschoolers that are here for lunch are eating far less than usual.  I’m not sure if this is a temporary thing due to the change in season and schedule.  This one I’ll just wait and see if it continues then maybe it means they are getting tired of certain meals and we will have to change more of the menu.

Then there is the produce from our garden.  Some things like the peas and corn did not provide anything edible – something I find odd.  Other plants continue to generate so much that we have difficulty eating it all.

I love those little pear tomatoes – we have hundreds of them!

Of course this produce is great for menu items like the Chicken Gumbo;

And I’ve been baking with those zucchini too so we’ve had some special snacks.  Anyone interested in joining the Family Childcare Committee?  We’re looking for new members and our meetings are delicious.

Popular Lunch

Well, as planned I was able to have our new lunch menu ready for the New Year so we are officially on week two of the menu.  Most of the new recipes had been tested in the months beforehand so I knew the majority of the children would accept them.

Some of the trial recipes, such as the Salmon Strata, were eliminated from the list after completely failing the initial taste test.  I know when introducing new foods to children you shouldn’t assume they won’t ever eat them just because they refused them the first time – sometimes it takes a few (up to ten) tries before you know for sure.  However, when everyone in the group – including me -dislikes a new recipe it is simply not worth the effort to convert them.

A couple of the new recipes were not tested before adding to the new menu simply because I ran out of time and I was fairly certain they would be accepted by most of the children.  Wednesday’s lunch was one of the untested recipes but even I was surprised by the enthusiastic response it received from the children.  Every one of them had two helpings and several of them could not stop praising the dish.

Now before I post my ‘Turkey Tetrazzini’ recipe I should point out that I kept the original name of the recipe but because I always modify recipes I thought I should check and see what exactly real ‘Tetrazzini’ needed.
According to Wikipedia

Tetrazzini is an American dish usually involving a non-red meat (often diced fowl or seafood), mushrooms, and almonds in a butter/cream and parmesan sauce flavoured with wine or sherry and stock vegetables such as onions, celery, and carrots. It is often served hot over spaghetti or some similarly thin pasta, garnished with lemon or parsley, and topped with additional almonds and/or Parmesan cheese.

Ok, so since I eliminated several of those listed Tetrazzini ingredients maybe I should have changed the name but I didn’t so if that’s going to bother you maybe you should stop reading now.  I apologize to any Tetrazzini lovers if they feel I am misusing the name.

Here’s the recipe for My Turkey Tetrazzini;

• 6Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp vegetable seasoning (mix of dried peppers, onions etc)
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 4 cups chicken stock/broth
• 2 cups milk
• 4 cups cooked turkey, cubed
• 400 g pkg of rice vermicelli
• Boiling water
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Mix flour and seasoning with broth and milk in saucepan.  Heat and stir until it boils and thickens. Add chicken. In large pot cook vermicelli in boiling water until it softens. Drain. Combine vermicelli with chicken mixture and pour into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Cover and bake in a 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes, uncover for the last 5 minutes or longer depending on how brown you want it.

That’s all, and the children loved it.  I served it with a spinach and tomato salad.  Mmmm.

New Recipes - Good & Bad

As part of the process to revamp our menu I have been trying out some new menu items.  Some items, such as the Tomato Beef Stew we tried yesterday, have been completely rejected by many of the children and will not be included in the new menu.  My family however loved it and was pleased that there were leftovers.

Last week I was more successful.  While searching for new ideas for new menu items I found a recipe for Corn Dogs and thought that might be interesting to try.  However, after reading through the recipe I thought it sounded like it would be an awful lot of work and there has to be an easier way to make corn dogs for my group.

So, I found a corn bread recipe for my bread maker…

• 1 ¼ cup of water
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp shortening
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp yeast

Measure ingredients into baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.  Place pan in oven chamber and select sweet cycle – I chose the dough cycle because I didn’t want to make a loaf of corn bread.

Then, I split the corn bread dough into two parts – the dough was a very moist so I had to add a fair amount of extra flour to handle it.  I spread one part of the dough into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan and then covered it with wieners – split in half lengthwise. I added a few dollops of ketchup and mustard and then spread the remaining corn bread dough on top.  I baked it in a 400 degree F oven for 25 minutes and everyone ate it.   I called it ‘Corn Dog Bake’ for lack of any creative inspiration when it comes to naming things and served it with coleslaw and milk.

Next time I will do some things differently;

• Add a little more flour to the bread machine recipe
• Put the condiments under the wieners instead of on top – placing wieners on the slippery sauce isn’t difficult but spreading cornbread dough on condiments is.

I might try experimenting with some other meat instead of wieners – maybe cooked ground beef mixed with creamed corn.  Bacon might be good too – everything tastes better with bacon