You are currently browsing all posts tagged with 'cooking'.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 6 entries.

Personal Pan Pizza with the Kids

  • Posted on June 19, 2013 at 2:01 pm

Guest post by Vicky H

If there’s one way to get my kids excited about helping in the kitchen, it’s to make homemade pizza together. From kneading the dough to spreading the sauce to assembling the smorgasbord of topping choices, my little ones really get a kick out of putting the pizzas together and watching the end result come out of the oven gooey and hot. It’s a messy, deliciously fun project every time we do it!

Recently, I came across a set of fantastic aluminum pizza pans from Culinary Depot. They come in variable sizes, but the 10-inch pans are perfect for my kiddos. Now, when we have our famous homemade pizza nights, they each get a pie that is exclusively theirs. The pans are lightweight but sturdy, as well as very budget-friendly, which makes them perfect for children to use. My kids have been having a lot of fun using their toppings to make faces or write their initials on pizzas that they can call their very own.

I’m a big proponent of getting kids involved in the kitchen from an young age because you can start early in teaching them healthy cooking and eating practices, plus it’s great to see the pride on their faces when they produce something unique and totally their own creation. Pizzas are a great way to start, as there are easily manageable steps, a gazillion topping choices and perfect opportunities to talk about the importance of adding lots of veggies and using low-fat or fat-free cheese. My kids are enjoying the experience even more now that they have their own personal pizza pans, and we’re all looking forward to the next family pizza night.

Easter Bunny Blues

  • Posted on March 30, 2013 at 6:41 pm

Even though the kids and grands are nearly grown and sure don’t believe in the Easter Bunny anymore, I usually still fill baskets, hang a carrot (which in the middle of the night, I take big bunny size bites out of) to make it look like the Easter Bunny was there and loved his carrot snack. Heck, I even put a board down and sprinkled flour on it, then made bunny tracks in the past.

This year, with my daughter away and my son’s off doing their own thing, it makes it kind of sad in a way to me, to think of my kids all grown and no sign of any more little ones around the house again. Tomorrow, though I will go to Sunday Mass, will just be another day here. I tried to get the family together, but all had various other plans. Plus Spring Break starts and the guys have the next week filled up with their own agendas.

I thought about cooking a dinner in case anyone happened to be home, but for the first time in 35 years, I’ve decided not to go all out like I used to. I’m kind of sad that the family won’t be together and that the grands don’t get into the Easter Bunny stuff, but I’ll survive it. Next year I just may take my own Spring Break vacation.

Homemade Pizza

  • Posted on August 11, 2011 at 3:43 am

Last night I decided to try my had at making a pizza from “scratch” so to speak. I remember years ago when I was young,  my oldest friend’s mom used to make homemade pizza and it was awesome. I’ve never made it before, but with the help of my youngest daughter, we gave it a try. I have to admit, it turned out wonderfully. Of course to be honest, it cost more to make from scratch than it would have to order one, but it was well worth it, and the kids loved it also. I should have made two, since before I could blink it was all gone. I did however get a tiny slice.

Texas style

  • Posted on July 22, 2011 at 2:54 pm

Usually I don’t like sweet things. I’ll get a craving every now and then for chocolate of course. I don’t know many women who don’t! Right now though, I’ve been thinking about a recipe that one of my online friends who has a blog posted. It’s for the the most wonderful looking Texas sheet cake. I’ll have to get that recipe, try it and then post it and a photo. Just looking at it made me gain 5lbs!

Rearraging cupboards

  • Posted on May 29, 2011 at 2:11 pm

It’s time to clean out and rearrange cupboards and it’s long over due. Each cupboard I try to organize by putting the baking products in one cupboard, then the regular cooking items, such as my spices, cooking bags, and things like bullion and such in another and so on. When I got to my spice cupboard, I knew I needed to so something major about it. I needed kitchen spice racks.

When I went shopping, I really couldn’t find any spice racks I liked, to hold and organize all my spices. I tend to collect all kinds of herbs and spices, plus grow and dry my own herbs and bottle them, to use later in cooking. My kitchen space and cupboards really have limited room for the amount that I have. I decided to look for a wall spice rack. It would cut down on the amount of space I used, plus the spices would be right at hand. I have lots of unused wall space in my kitchen, so this is great!

I guess I’m pretty picky when it comes to a spice rack, but it is sort of like a show piece to a cook. At least to me it is. I hate clutter and this way, everything I need is organized and neatly hanging right where I can grab the spices I need and not have to rummage through the cupboard to find what I’m looking for. I really like this aspect. So…here I go…cooking away with organized spices!!