What's for dinner tonight? Orzo Florentine

The thing I love about the recipe…is it’s an idea…not an exact recipe.  I love to teach kids how empowering cooking can be.    The cook gets to make very important menu choices each and every time they cook.   

My family loves spinach, but if yours doesn’t …use broccoli or zucchini.    If you don’t have orzo but you have couscous or macaroni…..use that.   If you have leftover chicken…throw it in there and you have a one pot meal.  Use this recipe as an idea of where to start.

The thing I know about kids….they will eat almost any vegetable if you put it with pasta and cheese.

Tip….buy whole grain pastas and rice.   Buy new shapes, new types….try gemelli or couscous if you haven’t had them before.   This gets kids used to trying different things but in familiar ways.

Pack leftovers for lunch……it’s tastes great hot or cold.

Basic ingredients:  Orzo (or another pasta of your choice), parmesan, Spinach

(or another vegetable) and garlic!

 Spinach wilts a lot.  It looks like tons of spinach...but ends up with not that much!

Enjoy!

Orzo Florentine

I made this recipe in (no kidding) 15 minutes.  I threw stuff together and my family loved it.   Get the water boiling….that’s the hardest part of this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lb. cooked orzo (al dente)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 white onion, diced

1 lb. baby spinach, cleaned and cut into small pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup heavy cream (fat free half and half works too)

½ tsp Dijon mustard

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.    Cook pasta al dente. Drain and set aside.

2.    In pan, add olive oil.  Add onion and sauté until translucent and slightly brown.

3.    Add spinach.  Saute until wilted.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

4.    Add garlic and let sauté for only a minute or so.  No scorching of the garlic.  

5.    Add cream, chile and turn off the heat.

6.    Add drained orzo back into sauce.  

7.    Toss with cheese.  

8.    Taste for seasoning.  

9.    Serve with more cheese if desired.



Pinch me!!!!

New Kitchen

I can’t believe it’s almost here!  The day we move into our amazing new school and I get to unpack/set up the new kitchen classroom.  I sometimes feel like I want to pinch myself…..to make sure I’m not dreaming.

I’ve been working at RSA for 10 years.   I’ve cooked at the Eureka site and endured some tremendous challenges. 

• I had the stoves and ovens that were the same exact stoves and ovens I had used in home economics when I was at Nova High School home economics class in 1976.  They didn’t work well then and they still don’t work well.
• For the first five years, there wasn’t a refrigerator in the room so we had to carry all the supplies back and forth from the teachers lounge.
• There was a tremendous rat problem and we had to be very careful with the food and how we stored it.

Even through all the hardship, we made some amazing memories.   The kids love this class so much that I can’t wait to get started cooking again.   

I toured the kitchen the other day and this is what it looks like!    

                                Pinch Me!!

Eat Your Vegetables

Getting your children to eat their vegetables can sometimes be a struggle.   I use three key ways to get your kids to eat their vegetables!   I’d love to share these ideas with you. 

1.   Grocery Shop with your Child

·        Take your child to the grocery store and let them pick out a vegetable they want to try.    At first, they will pick the same old vegetable they always have.   Give them an incentive to trying a new one.

·        Spend some time, with your child, chopping and cooking the vegetable.   With little ones, I even give them a coloring page with the vegetable.  (Google “vegetable printables.” )  

·        Let them announce or tell the family what it is.    If you have multiple kids….they take turns with this.

2.  Vegetable Purees

·        I use Jessica Seinfeld’s book, Deceptively Delicious.    I make puree of vegetables every weekend (or when I have time.)   I add these purees to everything from soups, stews, chili’s and even smoothies.  The purees add an amazing flavor to any dish.

·        I never use them to replace vegetables….I just use them to enhance the children’s vegetable intake.  I always serve some other type of veggie with the meal also.  

3.   Cook with your Child

·        Get your child to help cook the meal.  They will almost certainly try anything if they help make it.   This is not the easy choice.   It takes a lot of patience to cook with your kids, at least at first, but the rewards are amazing.   

·        I remember teaching my kids to load the dishwasher was not the easiest way to get the chore done, but I persisted.    It got easier and easier…..I haven’t emptied the dishwasher in years.

·        Give yourself some slack.   Do this one day a week, to start.  Then add another…..etc.   There will be lots of days you just can’t muster the patience to do this.  It’s okay.    

·        If you’re child’s too small to use knives or a grater…. Give them a big bowl with dry pasta or beans and a spoon.   Talk to them while you cook.  They will feel like they are a part of the experience.   

The rewards of teaching your child to enjoy healthy eating are many.   Your child will have a lifetime of good food choices.   Cook with your kids.