whatscooking's blog

I recently discovered a cooking show that is new to me, and I am so happy that I did. Jamie at Home is a fantastic show, featuring Jamie Oliver, a very well known chef in England who has been instrumental at improving the school lunch program there. He is a rustic chef, who cooks with whole foods, natural ingredients (many right from the garden) and cooking tools that the average chef likely has on hand. This year, as you know if you are a regular reader here, I have been indulging in loads of winter squashes, most of which have been grown by my favorite local farm, Fully Belly. When Jamie Oliver prepared Squash Muffins, I had to give them a try. The biggest surprise about this recipe, is that he prepared them using raw squash with the peel still on!
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Yesterday after school, we had my daughter’s friend, Emma, over for a play date. Like most multi-tasking mothers, I started getting ingredients for dinner ready while they were playing. Emma kept coming into the kitchen to stare at my ingredients and to ask questions. When I told her that we were making Asian Lettuce Wraps, she wanted to know why I liked to make foods from other countries. I happily explained how fun it is to try new foods. She leaned over the steaming pot of pad thai noodles and loved that they were almost invisible…I am so lucky to have a career that sparks such enthusiasm in kids!

It’s pretty easy to think about ways to Go Green in the kitchen.  Healthy and fresh produce come to mind, as well as a reduction of un-necessary packaging.  However, most people forget to consider the tools that they are using to do the actual food preparation.
 
Look in your kitchen drawers, and you are likely to find a red-stained wooden spoon that is creased with hairline cracks.  Imagine in its place a golden brown alternative that is sturdy and stain resistant. 
 

Our fishing expedition on Flathead Lake this summer was comical. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to catch anything, even though the boat next to us was reeling in fish every time we looked! Clearly, there was something we weren’t doing right. As a man from the next boat yelled over to us, “What kind of bait are you using?” a crazy thought entered into my mind: Feeding children is a lot like fishing – you have to have the right lure, or they won’t bite!  Packing desirable school lunches is a lot like the fine art of selecting an appealing lure while fishing. Try some of these stress-free strategies for packing healthy lunches that your fish will bite and not refuse.