A Beautiful Pea Green Boat

I can't see a green pepper without thinking of "The Owl and the Pussy Cat."  You may think that's strange, but after reading this post you'll understand.  Most children are picky eaters, preferring sweets to any other taste, but it's very logical since the first food they eat is mommy milk.  Human milk, in case you don't remember, tastes so sweet you would swear someone poured in some sugar.  Considering the bonding and joy the whole life-giving process of nursing gives, there's no wonder children prefer sweets.

Since we know humans need vegetables to have a balanced diet we have to figure ways to get kids to eat them.  We can hide them in a casserole or make them seem to be something they're not. I prefer the latter.  I have a creative granddaughter who loves poems, songs, and anything that rhymes. She has several Mother Goose and children's traditional song books.  These are her favorites and She loves the poem "The Owl and The Pussy Cat."  It begins, "The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat.  They took some honey and lots of money wrapped up in a five pound note..."

From reading this rhyme we quickly jump to lunch and vegetables. The princess eagerly accepts "A beautiful pea green boat" made of half a green pepper with oars made from two slices of the remaining side of the pepper.  We fill the boat with a scoop of humus and add cucumber slices (money).  You can also create miniature docks out of whole grain crackers!



Your children will eat a healthy snack without even realizing it if you use your imagination to create meals.  Add a figurine of an owl and a cat if you have one.  Try other peppers--yellow, red or orange.  How about some carrots or celery? Have you got a recipe to get children to eat vegetables?  Tell us about it! 

How to Make a Dump Cake

Are you a survivalist?  Perhaps you don't consider yourself to be one and yet find yourself putting stuff away for a rainy day.  I've always done that--buying canned and packaged food when it's on sale and working it into my menus.  Since I've moved in with my son and his wife, I help out by preparing many of the meals during the week.  They store even more food than I do and have made me more aware of rotating stored food by expiration date.  Yesterday I made a green bean casserole--one of our favorites--using canned green beans, mushroom soup, and dried onion rings.  When we go shopping, we replace the cans we've used with new ones.

My daughter-in-law recently noticed they had a lot of canned fruit while we were shelving the food in the storage area, so she asked me if I could make a dessert with some of it.  We perused the shelves and found several cans of pineapple chunks and a family sized can of sliced peaches that had been setting a while.  Then I spied a box of yellow cake mix and decided to make a dump cake.

I collected my items and headed up the stairs and in 15 minutes my dessert was in the oven.  This recipe is also great to make even if you don't have electricity!  You can also bake dump cake in a cast iron Dutch oven using coals from a fire -- just assemble the dump cake in the same way and cover the lid with hot coals until fully cooked.


                                             Dump Cake

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:
1 large can sliced peaches
1 medium can pineapple chunks or tidbits
1 box white or yellow cake mix
1 stick butter (no substitute)
Cinnamon sugar

Spray oblong cake pan or large rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.
Dump peaches and pineapple along with juices into the pan.
(You may substitute fresh or frozen fruit along with 3/4 cup of water.)
Sprinkle dry cake mix over top of fruit and pat down to cover fruit evenly.
Thinly slice butter and place on top of cake mix covering completely.
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar to taste.
Place pan in preheated oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.
Serve warm or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.
Best if shared with kids.  (Refrigerate leftovers.)

Surprise Oatmeal Pancakes

I got this basic recipe during the 1970’s from a Chicago friend of ours named Mike.  He was a traveling salesman and visited our area about once a month and usually spent the night.  One morning while he was there we were about to make breakfast when he decided to help out.  He made these wonderful oatmeal pancakes that were so delicious we adopted them for our own.  We’ve turned them into a Sunday brunch tradition at our home.  They never get boring because we change them by adding everything from blueberries to nuts and chocolate chips.  Let the children or grandchildren help out with this project.  They love making choices and adding their own  favorite ingredients.  

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 tbsp. canola oil
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
½ cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup whole wheat flour
1½ cups old fashioned oatmeal

Optional: ½ cup chopped apple, a sprinkling of cinnamon, chocolate chips, blueberries, sliced strawberries, sliced almonds, chopped pecans, applesauce or anything else you or your assistants have chosen.

Directions: Preheat griddle to 350 degrees.
In a medium sized mixing bowl whip egg with oil.  Add salt, cinnamon, honey, yogurt and milk.  Mix thoroughly and then add wheat flour, oatmeal, baking powder, and soda.  Add the optional ingredients of your choice or those of your assistants.
Pour batter onto a warm preheated griddle and cook until beginning to set.  Turn pancakes over and continue to cook until springy in center.  These pancakes burn easily so keep temperature lower than recommended by griddle manufacturers.  Place on platter when done and keep warm in oven until ready to eat.  I promise your family will love these.  Serve with maple syrup, your favorite jam, or fruit.  Turn off the TV and telephone, sit at the table and have a conversation with your family.  What a treat!

Crock-pot Pulled Chicken Barbecue

One of my daughters has wholeheartedly embraced the internet and its conveniences. She buys diapers, soap, paper products and much more at a reduced rate saving fuel, money, and countless hours in her crazy busy schedule as a professional.

She found a website that tailors her food to her lifestyle with recipes, shopping lists, and even delivery far cheaper and faster than she could do on her own. In addition she avoids buying junk food that would tempt her at the store.

Recently she gave a birthday party for her son--my grandson. She did it at home and saved a bundle by preparing all the food with a little help from Grandma. One of the dishes was Crock-pot Pulled Chicken Barbecue. It was quite a hit and I decided that I would play around with the recipe and make it my own. I prepared it for a  CAPA (Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association) meeting and everyone loved it. Try these tender tasty fragrant little stuffed buns. I promise you won't be disappointed. Doesn't it make your mouth water just thinking about that tangy, sweet sauce?

 Pulled Chicken Barbecue

Ingredients:

3 pound frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 large chopped onion
28 ounce bottle barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp. honey
Small whole wheat buns (Remember you need enough for a party.)

Directions:

Place frozen chicken breasts into crock pot. Chop onion and sprinkle over chicken. In a mixing bowl combine the rest of ingredients and pour over the chicken and onions. Cover and set temperature to low for about 6-8 hours or 4-5 hours on high. (I cooked it overnight on low.)When done remove lid. Smell that aroma while you use two forks to pull the meat into small bits. (Recipe makes about 20-30 sandwiches.) There is no salt added since there is salt in several of the ingredients. Go ahead--sample it. I know you want to!

It's great served with potato salad and coleslaw. Come on Grandma you and the kids can help with this.

Letter Pancake Saga

Occasionally I make pancakes for breakfast for my grandchildren.  It’s a quick meal that they really enjoy and in which I can hide nutrients—a little applesauce anyone?  Today though was a little different.

My granddaughter sat in the middle of the kitchen floor when I asked, “What do you want for breakfast, Sweetie Pie?  How about some pancakes?”

“How about some Baby Bear pancakes with honey?” she replied.

“Yes, but how about Baby Bear’s letter pancakes, two letters, B.B.—for Baby Bear,” I said.

“Great idea, Grandma, but wait, how about L.P. instead?”

“Wow, you know your initials! Right you are—L.P."

And so it began, the letter pancake saga. Every time I made pancakes, no matter what flavor they were, we turned them into letters and used them to write words.  When Little Bear, her brother, joins in the game we have even more letters.

They are learning to read and write and don’t even know it.  How about taking a bite off the right side of a capital ‘H’ and turning it into a lower case ‘h’?  How could they turn an ‘I’ into an ‘i’?  What letters should we use tomorrow?  I bet they could think of many more ideas—especially with a little help.  Oh, the joys of having a teacher grandma—Granny Nanny, that is!  Can you think of other ways to turn a meal into a learning experience?

Aunt Lucy's 3-2-1 Cupcakes

I have only one problem with baking a cake—I don’t stop eating until it’s all gone. My solution has always been to only make cakes for special occasions when we will have company to consume it or we give it away.

I live in a community of seniors and I love to cook. Whenever I bring my sweet tooth granddaughter home to bake, we make cupcakes or muffins and pass them out like Santa or the Easter Bunny. This teaches my granddaughter the joys of cooking and sharing, and to be moderate in her consumption of sweets.

But if you are not into baking and occasionally want a quick cupcake, try this recipe that my sister Lucy posted on Facebook.

It is called “3-2-1 Cake” and is ready in one minute.

 

1. Begin by combining one box of Angel Food Cake mix and one box of any other flavor cake mix you choose in a large zip lock bag.
2. In a custard cup combine 3 tablespoons of the dry mix and add two tablespoons of water. Stir. Place in microwave and bake 1 minute on high.
3. Remove cupcake and cool for one minute.
4. Add a dollop of whipping cream and enjoy. If you have a grandchild to share with then make two, but put the mix away until another day—out of sight out of mind.
5. You can have your own little tea party with a sugar cube in the tea and a giggling sweetie pie beside you. Now don’t you feel like royalty?

Happy New Year Sleepover

My four and a half year old granddaughter and my two and a half year old grandson came to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa on New Years Eve. They were jumping for joy, tossing coats, dumping toys, and investigating every inch of our small space. Since they hadn’t eaten we made plates and tried to calm them down so they could sit and eat, but it seemed to be a lost cause. We finally decided to divide and conquer.

Grandpa tried to assemble Bam-Bam’s tool bench with him, but soon discovered that a first time sleepover was far too exciting to concentrate on nuts and bolts. Large pieces of the new toy kept disappearing or being transformed into trampolines, or rocket ships. The job was finally scuttled in favor of a large floor puzzle.

The princess and I finished making Challah. We kneaded the dough and separated it into three parts, two we put in loaf pans and the rest the princess shaped into fluffy buns with happy faces—Grandma’s braided bread was far too boring for a New Year’s Eve Party.

The princess gently placed the fluffy bundles on a greased cookie sheet, patted them, and then finally covered the little faces with a towel like sleeping babies under a blanket.

Next we ate popcorn and toasted the New Year with “champagne”. Don’t tell the princess it was just fizzy grape juice, or that it is not really midnight. The Prince can’t get into pretend; he is a boy who just likes grape juice. Then we settled down to a movie that dad brought over entitled, Despicable Me. It had a villain, abused as a child, who was transformed into a good father by three little orphaned girls.

By 10:30 we had warm happy-face buns and chocolate milk with marshmallows. The children were happy they have kind parents and grandparents who love them—not like the orphans in the movie. We settled down for a story and last a long winter’s nap with Grandma sandwiched in between and Grandpa sleeping on the couch.

I lay there thinking how lucky we are to be able to nurture our grandchildren—to be here when they need us. There are so many children who don’t have grandparents or who don’t get to be near them. I believe grandchildren are the reason God put us on earth. We are truly lucky. Happy New Year, may you be so lucky!