Entries tagged with “Little Chef” from Sketchy's Kitchen
This recipe came from Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook, and it's
great. The black pepper might sound scary, but it adds a nice bight
with a little hint of berries or fruit. The pepper flavor is not overly
noticeable, many people could not identify the flavor, but liked the
richness of the chocolate in the cookie.
The Little Chef helped
me make these cookies, first he wanted to roll them in some smoked
paprika, but I managed to steer him to the colored sanding sugar. After
a little discussion about how much of the confetti sugar he could eat,
we got to business rolling the logs in the sugar.
After a stint in the freezer, we cut the cookies and baked them up. He was 'taking a nap' when these baked, and devoured a few warm ones when he woke up. When we were playing at the neighbors house, every time he went inside the house, there were more cookie crumbs on his mouth. I think he ate 4 or 5 cookies that afternoon. He also loves the sugar sprinkles, I think I could put them on anything and he would eat them :D Anyways, if a four year old likes these cookies, anyone will. At work, they were a big hint. Many people asked what the flavor was because it is a little hard to place.
The Little Chef helped
me make these cookies, first he wanted to roll them in some smoked
paprika, but I managed to steer him to the colored sanding sugar. After
a little discussion about how much of the confetti sugar he could eat,
we got to business rolling the logs in the sugar.After a stint in the freezer, we cut the cookies and baked them up. He was 'taking a nap' when these baked, and devoured a few warm ones when he woke up. When we were playing at the neighbors house, every time he went inside the house, there were more cookie crumbs on his mouth. I think he ate 4 or 5 cookies that afternoon. He also loves the sugar sprinkles, I think I could put them on anything and he would eat them :D Anyways, if a four year old likes these cookies, anyone will. At work, they were a big hint. Many people asked what the flavor was because it is a little hard to place.
Continue reading Chocolate Black Pepper Cookies.
A few days ago, he DEMANDED to help cook dinner. It's to the point where I walk into the kitchen and get anything out of the fridge, he runs over and grabs his cook tower and tries to pull it to the counter top. Cooking is getting fun, though messy, and a little dangerous. He likes to imitate whatever I do, but he's easily distracted with some pots, tongs, bowls, or scraps when I need to do some non kid friendly things. I usually give him 2 prep dishes when I start cooking, Sometimes he commandeers more as we progress. He's quite helpful at loading up dishes with chopped ingredients, though he loves to snack when we prep.
His favorites are diced celery, apples, peeled sweet potatoes, an any bread he can get his little hands on. Oh, and spices! He loves spices and the pepper mill. I have to be careful what I do when he has vegetables. If I toss the carrot scraps in the sink, he will throw ALL of the carrot in the sink. Same with squash. We already have the oven down, it's HOT. He will say it when I turn it on, turn it off, open it, close it, etc. He used to try to open the oven, but now he goes up and puts his hand on the glass in the door and says HOT. If he's by me feet, I tell him I'm about to open the oven, he will either stop, or take a few steps backwards and say HOT. It's cute, he wants to close the oven if it's open, but he usually just points to it, instead of trying to close it. Last night we started to learn about the dangers of knives. He's getting taller, and able to reach almost clear across the counter. He managed to grab the handle of the chef knife and slide it towards himself when I had my hands full. He also tries to snatch food freshly cut from the knife -- while I'm still chopping.
When the knife slid across the counter I yelled NO so loudly that he backed away from the counter. The edge side of the knife hit his fingers, but there was no cut. I grabbed the knife, checked his hands, everything was fine (luckily). I sat with him in my lap for a few minutes. I scared him good, I don't think he's ever heard me yell that loudly. It took him a few minutes to get up from my lap. We went back to making dinner, he was happy. All the knives were on the other counter.
One of the great advantages to letting him help cook -- he eats the raw veggies, and the cooked ones. I think it exposes him to some flavors he might not get otherwise. Like raw potatoes, raw zucchini, and others. He eats more of what he helps prepare - this is great!
Ok -- updates!
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
-----
I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
-----
On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.
-----
I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
-----
I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
-----
Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.
He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
-----
I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
-----
On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.-----
I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
-----
I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
-----
Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
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