Make Your Own Pizza Station

5 / 29 / 135 / 29 / 13

Over the course of the last week or so, the one thing Gracen can’t stop talking about is ‘when she gets bigger’. So far, she’s told me she’s excited to get bigger so she can cross the road by herself, ‘work at a job’, walk in parking lots alone, drive a car, and go to university (Eesh…slow down, baby girl). Part of me wants to curl up and cry, and the other part is incredibly proud that she desires such independence and self-sufficiency at 2.75 years old.

While I’m not ready to hand over the car keys or let her navigate her way across a busy road just yet, I am ready {and more than happy} to let her put together some of her own meals. Given the proper set up, it’s something she’s totally capable of and she’s so, so, sooo proud after having done so. A couple of days ago, she created her own breakfast banana split, and today she assembled her own quick and easy pizza lunch.

To make is super simple, we skipped pizza dough all together and used wholewheat Middle Eastern flatbreads instead. These work perfectly, but wholewheat tortilla shells, pitas, and even bagels (cut in half of course) are great too. Together, we cut up a bunch of stuff we had in the fridge (grilled chicken, red and yellow peppers, zucchini, and mango) and I set it all out, along with some grated fresh mozzarella and pesto, in a little pizza making station for my girl.

We’ve done this many times now, and what I’ve learned is that it’s best to let her create her pizza masterpiece directly on the parchment-lined baking sheet we’ll use to bake the pizzas. After that, I kind of just let her go. I’m a big fan of not directing our activities all that much (well except when it comes to safety, I guess), and really, it doesn’t matter which order the toppings go on in all that much. The finished product will undoubtedly be delicious no matter what.

That being said, we’ve made our favourite from scratch pizza together so many times in the past, she pretty much sticks to the sauce, cheese, toppings order. And when this girl does toppings, she does toppings!

Here’s her mini pizza, ready for the oven. I cook ours for about 5 to 8 minutes at 350 degrees, then crank up the temperature and broil them for just a minute at the end.

I can’t even explain how proud Miss G is after creating her meal on her own… She exudes pride. And my personal opinion is that when kids take part in creating food, they are much more likely to eat it.

The verdict? A total hit. A pizza assembling station is always a hit in our house.

♥

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Hearty Mulligatawny: A Family Favourite

3 / 5 / 1311 / 3 / 13

Mulligatawny has been one of my very favourite soups since my days working at Earls long, long ago. While I haven’t seen in on their menu recently, I have found a homemade version that I think is every bit as good. This recipe is actually based off of Pioneer Woman‘s Quick & Easy Mulligatawny. Now if you know Pioneer Woman, you know that it’s really in your best interest not to muck about with her recipes. Not even a little bit. Just follow them, exactly as is, and soak up the perfection. Seriously. The woman is an absolute master in the kitchen and I promise that you will never be disappointed when you follow her lead. The one thing that may be disappointed, however, is your waistline. She goes for the gusto in the kitchen, not making any sacrifices, and it’s rich. Butter, cream, white sugar… You name it, it’s there. Which is absolutely fine and dandy once and a while, but when you want to enjoy your favourite soup on the daily, not so much. So, despite my better judgement, I created a healthified version of Pioneer Woman’s mulligatawny (shhhh….I promise to never do it again) and we enjoy it regularly.

Here’s how we made it today…

To start off, I got my little sous chef working on chopping some garlic.

And while she did that, I quickly chopped up a chicken breast, heated up a pan with some coconut oil, cooked the chicken until it was beginning to brown, then set it aside.

Then I got busy working on chopping an onion and finishing off Miss G’s garlic.

In the meantime, she did a job she’s getting quite good at – peeling carrots.

With Miss G busy with her job, I tossed the onions and garlic into the same pan I used for the chicken, turned the heat on medium low, and let them cook down for a good while. When they were tender, I added some wholewheat flour and curry powder into the mix, and stirred pretty much constantly as I let it cook for about a minute.

Next, I covered the onions with chicken stock and cranked up the temperature. Miss G and I quickly got our veggies cut up (we always use carrots and celery, but often throw others into the mix also) and added them into the mix.

Afterwards, when the veggies were just about tender, we added some cream, our milk, a teeny bit of pure maple syrup, a little more salt and pepper, plus our favourite rice blend and brought everything back up to temperature again.

When it was dinner time, my nearly naked chef wearing bloomers that covered her bellybutton (’cause duh – that’s the thing to do right now) topped each of our bowls with fresh herbs and apple cubes (we normally use cilantro and granny smiths, but didn’t have either in the house tonight, so opted for parsley and galas).

And voila – dinner was served!

Hearty {Healthier} Mulligatawny

Adapted from this recipe

1 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
salt and pepper to taste

1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup of wholewheat flour
1 tablespoon of curry powder

4 cups of no-salt-added chicken stock
3 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped

1/2 cup of half-and-half
1 1/2 cups of milk (we use skim)
2 cups of rice, pre-cooked (we use a brown rice, daikon radish seed, and black barley blend)

1 teaspoon of pure maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

apple cubes (granny smith is best)
fresh cilantro

Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add in diced chicken, cook until golden, and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the onions and garlic in the same pot/pan until tender. Sprinkle flour and curry powder over the garlic and onions, and cook for a minute, stirring almost constantly.

Pour in the chicken stock, turn the heat up to high, and add the carrots and celery. Cook until the veggies are almost tender, stirring occasionally.

Add in the cream, milk, rice, maple syrup, salt, and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the chicken back in and cook for another 5 minutes.

Allow soup to stand for 5 or 10 minutes and taste. Adjust seasonings if needed.

Dish into bowls and top with apple cubes and fresh cilantro.

Enjoy!

♥

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Mini Restaurateur

2 / 11 / 132 / 17 / 13

It’s no secret that Gracen loves to help in the kitchen. So for a long time, we’d intended to buy her a play kitchen for Christmas. But when going back to Kuwait became a serious consideration, we decided to put the kitchen plans on hold, buy one after the move, and opt for handmade felt food instead as it can easily be packed overseas.

Unfortunately, we had a few snafus with our order and it only arrived a couple of weeks ago… Of course, for Miss G, who was spoiled at Christmas nonetheless and had no idea it was coming, opening the parcel today was the best surprise ever.

We laid out a blanket in the living room, grabbed a couple of stacks of plates, and she’s been whipping up meals ever since.

The funniest part is that every time we’re out and about and she spots a restaurant, she points to it and shouts, “Mama, a resdaraunt! Grae Grae has one of dose at home in da living room. Grae Grae has a resdaraunt station!!!”

It’s certainly no play kitchen, but our little sous chef doesn’t mind one bit.

♥

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