Family Food Fight

We had some friends over this weekend and the husband/dad and the baby are gluten intolerant. Since the baby is only 5 months old, mom has to avoid wheat as well. Whenever we have this couple over I take it as a personal challenge to make something they can’t easily go to the store and buy or go to a restaurant and have. I’ve made them gluten-free baked ziti and Sicilian chicken before, not to mention the molten chocolate cake (yummy see the recipe below) and the brownies.

This weekend we had them over for the Packer game on Sunday. At 11pm Saturday night our TV died. Long story short, we had to go buy a new TV on Sunday morning. So instead of my original plans, I went with the backup – homemade pizza. I ran to the grocery store at 8:30am and was home by 9:30 so we could go to the electronics store by the time it opened.

As my husband was setting up the new toy – I mean TV – I went to work on the snacks and pizza crust. Namaste makes a great line of gluten-free products. I’ve made their chocolate brownies before – they take an extra long time to cook (much longer than the directions state). The pizza crust is pretty much the same way. I made it according to directions and ended up putting it back in the oven for an extra 5 to 10 minutes to get the crust a little less spongy. The pizza turned out OK, but our friends were touched that we had made the effort for them. As they played a little Wii with my kids, I whipped up a banana bread with some gluten-free flour I had gotten previously at Whole Foods. When they left, I sent a still warm banana bread home with them. I’m wondering if they had any left this morning!

Here are some common gluten-free snacks that are always crowd pleasers:

Veggies and dip

Fruit salad or kabobs

Taco dip with corn chips

Potato chips and dip

Cheese and sausage with rice crackers (try the sesame ones!)

Try this molten chocolate cake for a special occasion – or any day that ends in “y”  :)

I use a cupcake pan lined with silicone cupcake liners instead of ramekins. It’s something I already have and works well. I also melt my chocolate in the microwave with short times and frequent stirring. If you have any questions about melting chocolate in the microwave, e-mail me.

 

Molten Flourless Chocolate Cake

Makes 6 servings (serving size: one 4-ounce cake)

From: Myrecipes.com

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1/2 pound (8 ounces) semisweet chocolate
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
 Cooking spray
 Powdered sugar for decorating

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Place a saucepan of water on high heat. Heat to a boil, then reduce to simmer.

3. In a mixing bowl, crack eggs and warm them over simmering water for 1 minute (hold bowl directly over the water, using a dish towel to protect your hands), whisking constantly.

4. Remove eggs from heat, and whisk for another minute until eggs are very fluffy. Meanwhile, put the chocolate and butter in a large, heatproof, stainless-steel or tempered-glass bowl; set it over the simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl. Let the chocolate and butter melt; remove from heat. Let mixture cool slightly by stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

5. Once slightly cooled, fold the chocolate and butter into the whipped eggs until no more streaks show. Batter will deflate.

6. Spray 6 (4-ounce) ramekins or ovenproof dessert cups with nonstick cooking spray (or use foil cups, or even muffin tins). Fill them 3/4 of the way full and place on a baking sheet.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on how gooey you'd like the centers. Turn the cakes out onto dessert plates, and serve immediately with a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

I just had someone at my door from the Obama campaign asking for my husband by name. I told him my husband was unavailable and asked if I could help him. No, he said he’d try to reach my husband (called him by first name again) another time.

This is the third time my husband has been contacted by the Obama campaign. I’ve taken the two phone calls for him from the Obama campaign and now talked to the guy at the door. Not once have they asked me anything about how I’m voting or what my political concerns are. 

I have never joined a political party and have voted the same as my husband in every election since we could vote (one of our dates during our first year together was voting for president).

So why have the Obama people never asked me what I think?  

Anyone have any ideas?

I had lunch on Friday with another work-at-home mom, Stacey. YEAH!  A lunch out! While every mom appreciates a lunch out – those of you who work from home in any capacity know how exciting it is to eat out during the middle of the day without kids! Almost makes you feel like you’re playing hooky.

I met this mom at the Moms@Work lunch hosted by MilwaukeeMoms.com. It was great lunch for those of you who missed it. I highly recommend getting a babysitter and going next year. The mom support is excellent!

Stacey and I got to talking after the luncheon and we were discussing my food writing. She asked me what I thought of kid food.  “What’s kid food?” I asked her. To me there shouldn’t be a kid food. Everything I eat, my kids eat. I only make one dinner at my house and my kids eat it. If they don’t like it after they’ve tried it, they can eat the portions of the meal they do like. If it’s terrible – a bad meal happens to us all at some point ;)   – we all find something else to eat.

I know some of you don’t agree with my philosophy and make a separate meal for your kids or avoid foods your kids don’t like.

(This post was written on Sunday, but due to technical difficulties I wasn't able to post it until today. Thanks to Jeanne for her help getting my technical goof up fixed!) 

My boys had a play date today and were gone for most of the afternoon. My daughter, feeling left out, wanted to make a cake. She got out a cookbook and found a recipe for angel food cake. If you’ve never made an angel food cake before, it can be a fun cake to make if you have the right ingredients and equipment.

Luckily, I had picked up 18 eggs at the grocery store yesterday. I felt like doing some baking next week when the kids were at school. I didn’t realize that Emily would use most of the eggs today!

She mise en placed (a French term) by getting everything she would need for the cake ready. I told her I would help when she got to the part of needed 10 egg whites… This is where the “YUCK!” part comes in.

I told her to break an egg into my hand. Ewwwe! She wasn’t sure about it, but did as I asked and cracked the egg into my hand. She watched as I let the white drain between my fingers while the yoke stayed in my hand.

She thought it was cool and disgusting at the same time. Grandma was on her way over for the Packer game and got to our house as we finished with the 10^th egg. Grandma is an Educator Chef – she teaches people to be chefs. Grandma was barely in the door when Emily told her what I had done with the eggs. Much to Emily’s shock – Grandma agreed that using your hand is one of the easiest and most successful ways of getting a yoke out of an egg. 

After letting the yokes sit (and washing my hands very well) we started beating the egg whites. This is where the right equipment comes in. If you don’t have an electric mixer of some sort, I would not recommend making an angel food cake from scratch. I’ve tried making it with a whisk once and will NEVER do that again. Mixing yokes until the form peaks takes quite a bit of time with a whisk. Making angel food cake with an electric mixer is much more enjoyable.

After baking the cake, it looks pretty good. We still have to make the chocolate glaze she wants to put on it. The cake and chocolate glaze were YUMMY!

Here’s the recipe for Angel Food Cake that we made. It’s from the new Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and can be found at their website www.bhg.com.

Directions

1. In a very large mixing bowl allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, sift powdered sugar and flour together 3 times; set aside.

Nutrition Facts

Here are a few other food trivia tidbits for the inquisitive minds among us:

1. What US city boasts the world’s largest drive-in restaurant?
2. Which is the most requested pizza topping in the US?
3. Which US president made Thanksgiving an official holiday?

For more trivia check out http://www.funtrivia.com/

Answers:
1. The Varsity in Atlanta, Georgia
2. Pepperoni
3. Abraham Lincoln

If you’ve read my column in Metroparent Magazine (Family Foodie) you’ll know I preach about taking your kids with you to the grocery store and having them pick out what they want to eat for lunch – within reason. So yesterday it was off to the grocery store to pick up food for lunches back to school this week.

After we got the grocery store and settled who got to push the cart first, the boys made a b-line for the deli counter. They wanted roast beef, turkey, ham, pastrami and salami. I reminded them that they weren’t going to be living at school for a month and they only needed enough food for three lunches this week. (They each get to take hot lunch one day a week.) We picked the ham since it was on sale and a ½ pound of salami. We had picked up smoked oysters a couple of weeks ago when they were on sale – my kids love them! They’ve convinced their friends at school to try an oyster on more than one occasion.

They picked carrots for their veggies (of course) and apples for their fruit. Somehow I was convinced to buy the Scooby Doo cheese strips – ok there was a coupon and it was on sale. Then they each picked out yogurts for breakfasts this week with granola. Frozen waffles were on sale and they mysteriously ended up in my cart.

This morning the kids were up and packing their lunches before I had even finished showering. While I occasionally do a spot check on lunches, it’s gotten to the point where I just have to ask if they have enough food and something for snack.  The week after Halloween the lunch bags get inspected every day to make sure no candy has snuck in.

Having lunches packed before I got to the kitchen this morning was wonderful! Knowing that my kids will be eating their lunch is even better.

Here are a few different ideas for lunches:

Traditional

Peanut butter and Jelly on Whole Wheat

Baked potato chips

Granny Smith Apple

Sugar Snap Peas

Pizza

Tortilla Pizza Wrap (tortilla, pasta sauce, pepperoni, shredded Mozzarella, black olives, green peppers)

Peach (fresh or canned)

Green Pepper rings or carrots

Club Sandwich

Turkey, ham, roast beef and provolone on a tortilla with lettuce, tomato, cucumbers and ranch dressing

Cucumber stars (slice cucumbers then cut into star shapes)

Orange Smiles (Oranges cut into slices)

Unusual Lunch

Smoked Oysters or Frozen Cook Shrimp

String Cheese

Baked Crackers

Grapes

Cherry tomatoes or carrots

Frozen Yogurt Tube or Minimuffins for dessert

Checkout the August Family Foodie column for other lunch ideas.