Taking Chickpeas To The Next Level

Finished roasted chickpeas

I learned to make  Crispy Chickpeas with Garlic & Sage from my friend Michael Chiarello, we eat them all the time. We love the crunch and the chickpeas are a healthy fiber filled snack food for the kids. We love to do a quick version of his recipe by roasting them in the oven with rosemary and salt, they always get eaten up before they get to the table!  My daughter loves to go pick rosemary from the garden wash and cut it up using scissors The kids can season them and stir them, and be proud of their involvement in the dish.  

Tiny sorghum popcorn and chickpeas

Chickpeas can be great in rice, eaten cold or warm, with curry, in salad they go great in just about anything. If your kids are like my daughter they may not like humus but they may like chickpeas in a different form. I always try to serve up ingredients in various forms and sometimes it actually works! My child wont touch hummus but loves the crisp texture of baked chick peas!

I was looking for another way to serve up these power packed legumes. I came across a very cute video of two girls making a very yummy version of our favorite. Human Body Detectives  is an adorable series about body function written by Dr. Heather about her kids adventures in the human body.  Her girls also make videos about their favorite healthy recipes that they cook at home. I came across their recipe for a slightly sweeter version of crunchy chickpeas I really like it, I can use organic ingredients, raw honey and control the sweetness too.  You can use other spices, try adding pumpkin pie or nutmeg or some vanilla. 

Standard popcorn vs. Sorghum popcorn

One thing we came across recently is Sorghum popcorn, it is tiny tiny popped grains, the cutest thing you ever saw! We tossed it in with the cooked sweet chickpeas for a little texture and saltiness, it was a hit. If you can't find plain popped Sorghum just use regular popcorn it works just as well.

The winter holidays are on the way like a wave of sugar and glistening sparkles and you want to be armed with snacky food ideas, don't you?  Skip the chips and dip, instead put bowls of crunchy snacks all around the house. Surprise your kids and guests with these sweet gems, it's time to break out of the hummus rut.  I suggest making a double recipe....

Removing the tough skins

Butter cinnamon mixture

Roasted Honey Cinnamon Chickpeas

Ingredients:

1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups cooked garbanzo beans)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbs of canola oil or 1 1/2 Tbs of melted butter

1 Tbs of raw honey

1 cup tiny Sorghum or regular popcorn

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Place the beans between two paper towels and pat dry, loosening the outer skin of the

beans.

3. Remove the outer skins of the beans, and pat dry to remove any other excess water.

4. In a bowl, whisk together the oil or melted butter and cinnamon. Add the beans and

coat well. Place on a baking sheet.

5. Roast for 40 minutes.

6. Remove the beans from the oven, place in a glass bowl and toss with 1 Tbs of

honey.

7. Place back in the oven and roast for an additional 7 minutes. Cool completely add in popcorn and serve!

* Sorghum popcorn  http://www.minipopsinc.com/

Protein-a-luscious: A Fancy Pants Breakfast

Finished nests just out of the oven

If you know me you know I am a breakfast junkie, I am a believer in high protein breakfasts for kids. I think they act better, think better and grow better. With good for you foods in the early hours of the day their brains function much better than with sugary or even no breakfast. Some kids just don't like eggs so this is for kids who don't like eggs.  Call them nests!
I saw this recipe on Simply Recipes and I instantly loved the concept. The original recipe called for Gruyere cheese but I happened to have a cheddar and jack blend so I went with that. I have changed this recipe, I upped the servings and added a few tips of my own, enjoy!

I like making a few extra smaller puffs (as we call them) ones without egg just to snack on! So snack on and on....

My daughter said it was the best breakfast EVER!

I can't wait to start experimenting with some other ideas using this technique stay tuned.


The Bird is in the Nest (wink wink)


Egg Nests originally from 

La cuisine est un jeu d'enfants

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated Cheddar / Jack
Pepper or Paprika (optional)

Preheat the oven to 450°F with a rack in the middle. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or non stick silicone mat.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Keep each individual yolk in half of a shell on a rimmed plate or small bowl. (this way you don’t have to dirty four little bowls making for an  easier clean up.)

Yolks awaiting to be deposited in the white nests

Place the egg whites and salt in a very clean mixer bowl. Beat the egg whites with a whisk attachment in a mixer (or using a hand mixer), start on low speed working your way up to high speed, until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat the eggs here, you'll want them silky not chunky.

With a rubber spatula gently fold in the grated cheese, doing your best not to deflate the egg whites.

Create four equal mounds (or more) of the egg white mixture on the lined baking sheet. Form the mounds so they look like nests, using the back of a spoon make indentations in the centers.

Place nests in the oven for 3- 4  minutes until firm but not browned. After 3 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and gently add an egg yolk to the center of each nest. Return the baking sheet to the oven and cook for 4 more minutes. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt.

Serve immediately.

Unbaked nests with cheese

Tip* Make sure your egg whites are yolk free, free of any fat, the yolk will cause the whites to misbehave. 

Movin and Groovin'

Wondering why I am not posting here? For the month of March I moved over to Nickelodeon Parents Connect. Stop by for a visit and enter to win the grand prize, The Ultimate Baby Food Center plus a prize a day.

Ingredients:

2 cooked lasagna noodles (the old fashioned kind)

2 slices cheese, mozzarella or Monterey jack

2 pieces of lettuce

2 thin slices turkey

2 thin pieces of salami

Instructions:

1. Lay the noodle out flat on a piece of plastic wrap.

2. Layer the cheese, lettuce and meats on top of the noodle, alternating end to end.

3. Roll up from the short end, then wrap in plastic wrap or secure with a toothpick.

Is Chocolate Milk, Soda in Drag?

As if I didn't love Chef Ann Cooper enough, now she has this very cute video to help explain why chocolate milk in schools is bad, a negative, a negatory, a no no.

I am working with my local schools to reform school lunch, as the First Lady requested of us in DC in June. One of our big discussions centers around milk. Our local schools have already removed chocolate milk but many have not. It is just another form of empty calories for our kids who already are eating enough junk. Keep it as a treat once in a while and give them healthier drinks like water and white milk. Ann's experience along with her passion has given her a big voice for change. I could not have said it better so with out further adieu her she is.

AC vs. Chocolate Milk from Creative Intelligence on Vimeo.

Finally Taking Control

Processed and sugary snacks at school, this topic has bothered me for a long time. A few years ago I met Ann Cooper our local shining star, whose life’s work is to transform how we feed our children in school each day, from highly processed to highly nourishing food. She is so inspiring and hard working and she cares about our kids. Now the government is taking and interest, well let's hope it works. The truth about what our kids are eating in and out of school has had been plaguing me. I believe everything in moderation, we make cake, we eat candy but starting school each day with a healthy nutritious breakfast is key. Most schools have taken away high sugar breakfast foods, but still have highly processed snack foods available. Anne has been working her hardest to change what our kids are putting in their bodies because she knows that kids need healthy food to think and concentrate. If she can feed a district of 10,000 with a tiny kitchen and one stove then it can be done. When all that is required in a school kitchen to make lunch is a box cutter and microwave, something is wrong. Don't even get me started on the physical aspect of what the junk the kids are eating is doing to them. A candy bar and a soda for lunch will not give you nourishment or brainpower.

The reason I bring this up is because yesterday in the New York Times there was an article called, A Federal Effort to Push Junk Food Out of Schools

"The Obama administration will begin a drive this week to expel Pepsi, French fries and Snickers bars from the nation’s schools in hopes of reducing the number of children who get fat during their school years." Finally it is being paid attention to like smoking or drinking....it is dangerous and America is killing itself one bite at a time. The sad truth is that most parents are not leading by example. We can't expect our kids make the right choices if we are not. If you want your child to sit still, to pay attention to be focused try starting with their diet. Our kids are the future and we need to teach them to respect themselves and take care of themselves. The fact that they can buy crap in school is just sending the wrong message. Thank you Mrs. Obama, I appreciate your focus and I hope people will start to listen.

Here are some healthy lunch ideas:

Soup in a thermos is a great healthy warm lunch. Send some whole grain bread and a soup. Add fruit for that sweet ending or child wants more food buy or make organic healthy muffins.

Beans and soups

Dirt to Dine Camp - 28 kids, 2 locations, a lot of happy campers!

I never would have thought that in one week 28 kids could learn as much as they did.  This camp took the kids from farm straight to table every day, and they got it, they really got it. Lucky for me, my connection with Eileen Gorden and her great idea and great people, has made this has a reality. She came to me with an idea to start a camp where the kids could spend time on a working farm and then translate the knowledge in to cooking class. Marie Sayles was the brains behind the

 farm side and I acted as the chef and coordinator of the cooking part. Eileen worked tirelessly to put all our ideas together, working to secure beautiful locations for the week.  It worked out beautifully!

These kids now know how to milk a cow or goat and make fresh cheese within hours. They know that the animals have to be taken care of, fed, and cleaned. They know how to grind wheat from the stalk into flour for dough. They know how important bees are to our world and how to extract honey from a hive. They did things I have never even done!

They know carrots come from the dirt not from a plastic bag, and how much work it is to pull sunflower seeds from the flower. They know that a farm fresh egg tastes so much better than one stamped with a date from a store. They have the knowledge to make informed choices at a young age!

Here is a sample of one of our days:

• Day 3: Chickens & Eggs
• Animal care, farm chores, chicken diet, harvesting fresh eggs from chickens
• Making chicken stock with whole chicken
• Make fresh egg pasta noodles
• Make chicken noodle and Italian egg drop soup
• Make savory french toast with Parmesan 
• Compare raw eggs for color; conventional versus farm fresh free range 
• Taste test: fast food nuggets versus free range chicken breast
• Feast on the food they made, discuss and recap the day.

 

DIRT TO DINE ADVENTURE CAMP
FOR BUDDING YOUNG CHEFS

At Connolly Ranch in collaboration with Chef Michael Chiarello & Bottega Restaurant 

Dirt To Dine is week-long summer camp bridging farming, gardening and cooking experiences in a dynamic, hands-on, youth-driven environment. The camp brings your young epicurean’s enthusiasm for all things cooking back to the source of the ingredient’s: land, soil, seeds, animals, plants and more.

Dirt To Dine is set in two locations: the epicurean center of the Napa Valley, Yountville; and Connolly Ranch, Napa County’s only family farm dedicated to education. Visit the website for bios of the "Dirt to Dine" team, click on camps.

 I would also like to thank our volunteer teachers Greer Westerink and Kim Kendall-Stubbe who worked so hard to make this camp a success. 

Good Things Come in Small Tightly Packed Lunches

I don't know why but I have become slightly obsessed with making cute Bento lunches for my daughter. Maybe it is my fascination with "cute" food, maybe my love for Asian cuisine? Maybe it gives me a reason to go to Japan Town and buy the cutest little lunch time items. Or maybe I think if I make cute food, she will eat it? Either way now that we are in Kindergarten my lunch making had gotten a bit out of hand!  I mean not totally out of hand but I do try to get creative with the same old ingredients.  A peanut butter and jelly is so 7o's, I mean really a sandwich can be so much more. A flower shape or cut into tiny little blocks all stacked up in Bento box. 

There a are cutters for Nori that are fun to use, and cute little silicone cups to put food into.

If we make rice then she gets a tiny soy sauce dispenser to season the rice with. There are countless ways to decorate Bento lunches, like thin egg omelets, as a base and sliced veggies as eyes and whiskers.  You can write a cute rhyme to go with your bento too, like; carrots are orange, kitties are fuzzy, hope lunch time is great and you are real cozy! (OK, maybe poetry is not my strong point but you get the idea, right?) 

I like Bento boxes because you can put an array of foods. We waste so much food in our culture, so I have been trying to use up small amounts that otherwise would go in the trash.  Bento is designed to control portion size, It is a great way to use up small amounts of food, and are designed to pack tightly so the food stays put. I know that there are amazing Bento lunch makers out there and I hold you in great esteem. I don't aspire to ever be a Bento wiz but I sure do try.  

I thought I'd  put all my lunch time goodies out for you to see in these photos.

Here are many ways to spice up lunch with a some of the gadgets shown. 

Ingredients:

• Nori cut outs, crispy healthy seaweed cut using a paper punch style cutter.
  
• Rice molded into cute shapes using rice molds.
  
• Hard boiled eggs molded into shapes like squares, bunnies, cars. 
  
• Rice rolls (sushi want to be) using sushi molds.
  
• Veggies cut in shapes, slice veggies in wide strips, use tiny cookie cutters to make shapes.
  
• Sandwiches cut in shapes.
  
• Use silicone cupcake cups to pack bits of snack food in.
  
• Use wood or biodegradable spoons.
  
• Use small containers for sprinkles, seeds or seasonings, soy sauce or ketchup
  
• Use reusable food separators, like the fake grass you get at a Sushi bar.
  
• Send fabric napkins with cute patterns.
• Themed lunches, like round, or one color only are fun too.
• Add a note from home.
• Pack it all in a great Bento box!!

Other foods that fit in a Bento box:

Dates

Figs

Nuts

Beets

Stuffed Pasta

Dried fruit

Sliced fruit

Thin no cheese omelet, rolled up and sliced

Cubed cheese 

Romaine leaves

Plain water chestnuts

French toast

Noodles

Mini drumsticks

Rolled cold cuts 

Mini pickles

Tiny tuna sandwiches

Cheese and crackers

Pancakes

Incr-Edible Facts About Beans

Throughout the year I will be helping my friends over at The Vegetable with More get the word out about beans and the benefits of eating and cooking with them. You will learn a lot about them and I will pass on some easy kid friendly recipes, so make sure to check back for bean updates!

For more bean recipes go to TVWM.

Most Americans need to triple the amount of legumes 
they eat, such as beans, to meet the 3 cups per week the numbers show that they have tons of protein and fiber. 
I bet you knew that!


Beans By The Numbers
(amounts based on ½ cup x 3)

White Beans (Navy, Great Northern) *Protein: 8.5 g, Fiber: 5.5 g

Garbanzo Beans Protein: 7.8 g, Fiber: 7.1 g

Red Kidney Beans Protein: 7.4 g, Fiber: 6.4 g

Cooked Broccoli Protein: 2.2 g, Fiber: 3.0 g

Frozen Corn Protein: 2.1 g, Fiber: 2.0 g

Fresh Carrots Protein: .6 g, Fiber: 2.2 g

Here is a recipe from The Vegetable With More
I love what the author said about praying for cold days so they can make this soup, that cracks me up!
As always alter the recipes to your family's taste.

White Bean Chicken Chili

"This recipe was passed down from a friend, and now it is one of our favorites! It's great to make whenever there is left over chicken or turkey around! We pray for colder weather in California just so we can make this soup! You can substitute additional diced tomatoes for the tomatillos. If you would like the soup to be spicier, you can add some red chili flakes or salsa. Serve with these toppings for people to choose from: limes, cilantro, cheese, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla chips."
Submitted by: Thea

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Total Time: 35 Minutes


Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound diced, cooked chicken meat
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (18.75 ounce) can tomatillos, drained and chopped
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (7 ounce) can diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (15 ounce) can white beans
2 ears fresh corn
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 lime, sliced
Directions
Heat oil, and cook onion and garlic until soft.
Stir in broth, tomatillos, tomatoes, chilies, and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.
Add corn, chicken, and beans; simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with these toppings for people to choose from: limes, cilantro, cheese, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla chips.