Home for the Latkes

Hanukkah for me is like Thanksgiving for most Americans, I think. The smell of frying potatoes takes me right back to my childhood. It evokes a warm happy, safe wintery  feeling. I have a deep need to share this time with our friends, Jewish or not so I can tell you that today my house smells like a greasy spoon, in a good way. Yesterday I fried Latkes all day long and it was well worth it. 

Even though it is not snowing there is a perfect chill in the evening air and frost in the morning. It is good enough for me to re create the winter holiday season I have imprinted from growing up in the East coast. 

So here is my recipe for Latkes, I don't drain the potatoes like most people do, they will come out fluffy and crispy just the way we like them! You can make these anytime even if you are not Jewish, everyone eats potatoes!

Happy Holidays to you all!

Home Style Latkes

Recipe by: Jennifer Carden * Author of The Toddler Café

We love Latkes; we like them crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. We call the crispy outsides “hair” and the hairier the better in our family!  The small hole grater is what makes these so delish.  My method for making these is a little different than most recipes, just go with it. 

3 Tbs all purpose flour

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 russet potatoes, peeled

1 small onion

1-2 cups vegetable oil

For serving

Applesauce, sour cream

Whisk the flour, eggs, salt and pepper in a bowl. Set aside. Grate the potatoes on a fine or very small grating disk in a food processor, alternating with the onion.

Mix the potato onion mixture into the egg mixture with your clean hands.

The mix will be soupy, it is OK, and there is no need to drain it. (The water is what makes the hairy edges.)

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium until a bit of mixture dropped in bubbles sizzles. Be sure not to let the oil start to smoke-you want a shimmer only.

Using tongs or large slotted spoon and gently drop the mix into the hot oil. Fry until edges are brown and crispy. Remove with tongs draining oil over pan.

Drain pancakes on brown paper bags or paper towels. Serve hot with applesauce and sour cream on top.

Rainbow and Squirrel Sandwiches (not what you think)

We made it through September and October seems to be even busier!! Seriously is it me or do we get busier every year? What happened to the down time it must be somewhere, I am still looking!! The preparing dinners is tough enough, but making lunches can leave you at a loss too. Walking in to the kitchen groggy and trying to juggle breakfast, finding missing socks and making sure homework is in the backpack can be a real chore. The last thing you want to do is make a bunch of lunches, am I wrong? Well I can't help with that because the kids have to eat!! At our school we have to bring lunch everyday we do not have a lunch program (yet).  Over one hundred and twenty or more lunches in a school year can seem daunting, and if you have more than one child...well you get my drift!  

          When winter comes I immediately get out the Thermos and go for soups and stews, warmth during the day can give a child that little boost they need. But until then I like to make sandwiches, the problem is that my daughter has never been a fan of the sandwich. She much prefers a warm lunch, something homemade of course but that can't always happen. Recently I remembered I had some edible markers I usually use to draw on hard boiled eggs with. My discovery that they work on bread was a gold mine!!! I can write notes like "I miss you" or "drink more water" on her bread!! 

The best part is that she likes make her own lunches (with some persuading) because the markers are fun to use. We make the sandwich the night before so we are not rushed in the morning. We only do this once a week to keep it special but it sure is fun!!  We add, fruit, cheese and crackers, and a veggie like cucumbers or carrots. I very rarely add any sugary treats unless it is home baked like banana bread.   This gives me a break the next morning so I can gear up my creative brain for the next day's lunch.

Try going to a thrift shop for cookie cutters, Ikea has some fun ones too!  I have a large collection and find that I almost never make cookies with them. They work so well for "sandies" as we call them in our house!

Cookie cutters and edible markers make a great lunch.

Easy as Pie!

It's not apple season yet but at the Connolly Ranch where I run my cooking camp there is a tree and it does have apples. They apples are TART, well downright sour I'd say. The kids don't seem to mind though, they eat them because they get to pick them! Mostly they are used for making fresh pressed apple juice with the ol' press. The juice is divine but as for eating the apples could use another few months on the tree.

When it comes to kids they don't seem to care if the fruit is in season or if it has hit it's maximum sweetness I know this because all 130 kids at my camp enjoyed these apples. My daughter loved them so much that she smuggled home about 10 apples and asked if we could make pie! I thought "pie, in July, from apples...not exactly the fruit I'd choose. How about we use cherries or peaches I asked?"

Her response, "nope we have these green apples from the ranch, I want to use these," I agreed.  I did remember that I had a lump of pie dough in the freezer from last summer (it was Food Saved so don't think I was using some old freezer burned dough)  The great part was that I had worked cheddar cheese to the dough in an attempt to make a "fun flavorful" dough.

Cutting apples with kids can be scary until their knife skills get better...we used a chopper. I cut the apples and gave her the chopper to chop them with.  I told her to chop them very small so they would cook faster. She loved whacking the apples and obliterating them!

The easy thing about pie is you don't need a pie dish, free form pies or tarts are fun because they always look so pretty and rustic. You can pass of the "rustic" tart or pie as beautiful, anytime!

We needed a way to sweeten the apples without dumping a bunch of sugar on them and recently my daughter discovered that she likes apricot preserves. I wanted to use up the jar we had so I suggested it and she agreed.

Kids seem to love kitchen tools and the more you use the more skills they can gain in the kitchen.

We used a rubber pastry brush (not pictured) to spread warmed jam on the crust, they are perfect for this job easy to clean.  Warming and stirring the preserves makes them easy to spread.  After spreading the jam we added our apples, some droplets of butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar for richness and a pinch of salt.

I taught her how to fold the crust up so the sweet goodness wouldn't leak out.

We baked it for 1/2 hour at 400F and it was amazing!!! She was so proud of her pie!!

Eating Our Way Through Japan Town

(Again the photos were taken with my phone...)
If I could eat only Japanese food I probably would. One of our favorite things to do in San Francisco is to go to Japan Town it is all things Japanese, between the food and the great products it is a perfect half day trip.  We went to the city to get some items for more exciting bento lunches. We came home with so much more.....
As you can see we have a new member of the pack called Choco Kitty. Sanrio is a dangerous place, I pretty much wanted everything I saw and of course kidlet and hubby did too!  

Hello Kitty travel mugs, Domo everything...even DH was loving it!  As you can see in the photo Choco Kitty is enjoying one of our favorite drinks, tapioca bubble tea, also called Boba Tea. Read about bubble tea in a prior post.
Kidlet had mango @food_is_art and I had Thai iced tea. We love to slurp up the gelatinous balls of tapioca!
Kidlet's favorite lunch place is the Sushi restaurant that has the little boats that float around with sushi on them. I assume the sushi is removed after 10 times around but you never know, it makes me feel like I am living on the edge. It may not be the best Sushi around but the little boats that go around and around are a real crowd pleaser. Kidlet likes Tobiko the little tiny fish eggs, it is pretty hilarious to watch her eat the rice and Tobiko with chopsticks. She does a fairly good job if the chopsticks are rubber banded together!

We saw so much great food that day including these funny fish shaped cakes with fillings like sweet bean and chocolate.  They are cooked on a cast iron molded griddle, they are spongy and only slightly sweet.

The other thing we saw that I really wanted to taste was Spam Sushi, but I didn't. Growing up in a kosher household Spam was not on the menu, so in my adult life I have developed a kind of strange love for all things SPAM. My MIL gave me a can of SPAM one Christmas about 7 years ago, I am still not sure why, maybe she likes the graphic tin too! I do still have it, how long does it last anyway?
The original reason for our trip was to get the bento supplies and boy did we get bento supplies....Egg shapers, soy sauce containers and cute little rice molds.

Keep an eye out for some new bento box posts using our cool new stuff.

Squeaky Clean

How are you going to get the ketchup off the celling, unfortunately that is your problem. After  your kids help you prepare a meal have them help clean up too.  It is no news to you that your kids make messes, but getting them to stick around to help clean up can be a challenge.

Here are just a few ideas for cleaning up with your kids.


Given the right circumstances kids can enjoy cleaning up after a meal. First remove the hardened on beans from your child's face, roll up their sleeve's and dig in.  Make it fun, add lots of bubbles, make the water just right and let them scrub.  Get small scrub brushes or toothbrushes that are easy to use. Use all natural soap for little hands like Mrs Meyers Lemon Verbena Dish Soap. Organize the area with a place to put drying dishes and don't overwhelm.  Just give them a few dishes at first and make sure to scrape all the icky food off. 

Or

Clean up with them, make lots of bubbles and have a good laugh.




Here is a song you can use for the little ones to motivate cleaning and helping:
Clean-up,
Clean-up,
Everybody, Everywhere!
Clean-up,
Clean-up,
Everybody do your share!

I love this cute little set of brooms and mops too.  Searching Montessori Supply websites can give you lots of ideas for clean up tools for little hands.

I think you all know by now I love Boon products and the The Frog Pod is no exception. Get kids in the habit of putting away bath toys with this great frog.

Cleaning does not have to be torture for kids, 

teach them early that helping can be rewarding and 

fun. Now go make a mess!!

Great American Bake Sale

My friend Michelle of Whats Cooking was nearly brought to tears by the enthusiasm of her friends, family and classmates when she told them about the Great American Bake Sale. What began as an attempt at getting a few families to help hungry children by baking together has turned into a series of three separate Bake Sale events…one of which will be a celebration in the park with a band comprised of parents! The details of our events are below - hopefully they will inspire you to take some steps to help hungry kids across America, too!

WHAT’S COOKING
Holds Bake Sale To End Childhood Hunger
in San Rafael, California

What:
What’s Cooking, a local business that teaches cooking classes to children, is organizing a bake sale, as part of Share Our Strength Great American Bake Sale, a national campaign that mobilizes Americans to end childhood hunger by holding bake sales in their communities.

Local families will be working together to make signs, bake goods and sell items at our 3 bake sales. Our students are enthusiastic about spending time together with their family and friends, knowing that they are making a difference in the lives of other children.

The highlight of our efforts will be an evening of Music in the Park on June 8. Music will be performed by several parents from Glenwood School. All families are welcome to join us for a BBQ Dinner, Baked Goods and Music, with most food items selling for just $1, each.

Why: Nationally, more than 12 million children at risk of hunger. Funds raised through What’s Cooking’s Great American Bake Sale will be used to ensure America’s most vulnerable children - those living in poverty and at risk of hunger get the regular, healthy meals they need, where they live, learn and play.

If YOU would like to contribute to the What’s Cooking Team’s goal of raising $500, but are unable to attend our events, you can make a monetary donation at the What’s Cooking Team’s Bake Sale Web Page.

About Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale®

Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, presented by Domino® Sugar and C&H®, is a national campaign that mobilizes Americans to end childhood hunger by holding bake sales in their communities. Great American Bake Sale proceeds are granted to organizations in communities across America to help provide at-risk children with nutritious meals when they’re needed most - during the summer, and after school. Additionally, proceeds support Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline®, a chef-led nutrition education program for low-income children and families. Since 2003, more than 1 million people have participated in Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, raising nearly $4 million to make sure no child in America grows up hungry. Great American Bake Sale is supported by national television partner Food Network and national magazine partner Family Circle magazine. For more information, visit www.greatamericanbakesale.org