Cooking and Kids

I always enjoy it when my kids express interest in cooking. I love passing on the things I've learned about cooking and the kitchen to them. I think it may be part of the desire to "leave a legacy."

The actual act of cooking with them isn't always the most fun thing, though. At the very least it's instructional. I might be the only one learning something, but you never know.

At the best of times, the kids learn something about cooking. At the worst of times, they learn a few 'new words' from Daddy. Some of those words I have to repent for.

Actually, my kids have heard me swear enough times that I don't think I have any new words left. They know them all already. That doesn't mean it doesn't bother them. I still have to listen to the lecture from my oldest daughter about how I shouldn't swear, and how it makes her uncomfortable when I do. Normally I'd get upset with my children lecturing me. The problem is she's right, and we both know it. I've got a long way to go on that front.

Bad language aside, I think teaching kids to cook is important. I can think of very few life skills that are as important as learning how to get around in the kitchen. Not everyone needs to be a master chef but, knowing how to make a quick meal can come in mighty handy. It certainly helped me while I was dating (girls love a man who can cook) but, that's another story.

A few weeks ago my 12 year old daughter wanted to learn to cook a stir-fry. She was in charge of family home evening that week, and wanted to use chopsticks as part of an object lesson. Jumping at the chance to combine food with faith (or anything else for that matter), I heartily agreed to teach her.

First, I taught her my rice recipe, and then went on to talk about the principles behind stir-frying, as I see them. She's already pretty good with a knife so she prepped, or finished prepping, quite a few of the vegetables. She's still at the stage where she likes to eat meat, but doesn't want to touch it (It's gross, Dad!), so I prepped the chicken.

Unfortunately, I have a tough time teaching in the kitchen. I always end up doing more than I should while I'm demonstrating things. I think I ended up preparing and cooking the various ingredients a bit more than she did. In addition to my bad language, that's another thing I need to work on.

In spite of all that, I think she did a very good job. It was certainly tasty and her object lesson for Family Home Evening went over very well. Her basic premise was that it takes practice to use chopsticks. The more we use them, the better we get. She showed us that faith is the same way. We need to practice exercising our faith if we want it to grow stronger, and work more efficiently for us.

It's times like these that make cooking with my kids worth every bad word I struggle not to use.

Rustic Pasta and Beans

Because my Sunday's are so busy, and I don't want to resort to eating frozen TV dinners, I tend to make simple, one dish meals on that day. Pasta and rice dishes are high on the list.

Mormons are also into food storage, or at least they're supposed to be. Our Church leaders have counseled us to keep at least a year's worth of food, along with some water, and rotate it as we go on. Beans and dried pasta are easy to store, and the following dish takes advantage of that.

Rustic Pasta and Beans

This recipe was inspired by a pasta and beans recipe from the Veneto area of Italy. They don't do a lot of pasta there, but they do like their beans. This dish has plenty of both. I prefer using fresh whole wheat pasta cut into "tagliatelle" with this dish, even though the flavors of the sauce tend to drown out the mildly nutty flavor of the pasta. Fettuccini or wide egg noodles would be good, too.

Ingredients

1/2 pound tagliatelle pasta
1 1/2 cups cooked ham, cubed
1/3 cup bacon, crumbled
2 cups dried kidney beans (cook according to package directions or use canned)
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup beef or chicken stock (or use bullion)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for sautéing
Parmesan cheese and parsley for garnish

Cook the beans ahead of time, if you need to. Cook the bacon in a large skillet until nice and crispy. Remove, let cool, and crumble. Chop the vegetables and sauté them in a small amount of oil until the onions just start to brown. Add the garlic and cook a minute or two longer. Add the ham, cooked bacon, and beef stock to the pan. Cover and simmer on low.

Bring six cups of water to a boil. Add pasta and a pinch of salt. Cook until pasta is just barely al dente, and drain. Add the sauce to the pasta and cook for a few minutes until the pasta is done.

Top with grated parmesan and parsley if desired. If you really want to get rustic, instead of grating the cheese, cut a small chunk of it and stick it in the middle of the dish right before serving.


This dish will really fill you up, so don't dish up too much at once. I like to serve it in bowls, for some reason, instead of plates. Maybe it's because we have more bowls than plates are our house. You may also want to have an orange or some other citrus fruit as a dessert to counteract the nitrates in the bacon and ham.

Vegetarian Option

This dish works well for vegetarians, if you take out the ham and bacon. When I do it that way, I'll drizzle a bit of extra olive oil over the top for added flavor.

Either way, I like adding an extra clove of garlic and plenty of black pepper to give it a bit more kick.

Enjoy!

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Simply Sunday

Sundays are special days for most Christians, and Latter-day Saints are no exception. It’s the Sabbath day and we try our best to keep it holy. It’s a day of rest so part of keeping it holy is trying to do as little work as possible, and not making anybody else work, either.

This is a weird paradox for me. First off, our Stake president likes to hold general priesthood meetings several times a year. No big deal. It’s just an extra meeting to go to once in a while. The trouble is our Stake president likes to hold them at 6:30 in the morning, or what I fondly refer to as the “time of apostasy.”

I’m not a morning person. I am the stake music director, however, so I can’t skip out of them. I’ve got to arrange for hymns, an organist, and then direct a bunch of overly tired men and teenage boys in singing them. As much as I’d like to, I can’t be one of the “saints who have slept.” I’ve got to get up and go to these meetings as well as my regular church meetings.

It's also very difficult as the stake music director to encourage regular choir practice attendance, without attending myself, so you can add that to my list of regular Sunday meetings, as well.

Because of my work schedule we’ve also chosen to do Family Home Evenings on Sundays. For those who aren’t LDS (and we can fix that, if you’d like), that’s an evening during the week that we get together as a family to discuss the gospel, deal with family issues, and so on. Sometimes we get serious, sometimes we play games. It’s all about spending time together as a family. The Church recommends we set aside Monday nights for that sort of thing, but I work late on Mondays so we do it on Sunday’s instead.

My schedule is also busy enough that I try and do the majority of my Home Teaching assignments on Sunday, too. It’s not the best choice of days, but it’s more likely I’ll get it done, then. Again, for those who aren’t LDS, Home Teaching is a program where members who hold the priesthood go visit with assigned households in the congregation (either a branch or ward). We sometimes share a message about the gospel, but mostly it’s just to make sure everyone in the congregation is doing okay. If they need help, financially, medically, or otherwise, Home Teachers can alert the powers that be and get it to them. Sometimes they need money, sometimes food. Either way the ward leaders can get on it. Maybe they need a priesthood blessing, in which case the home teachers can do that to. In any case it’s a great program. It helps make sure that as a “ward family” each member is getting the physical, and spiritual, things they need.

All of this boils down to the fact that Sundays aren’t really a ‘day of rest’ for me. Some people think that’s a blasphemy. That’s just too bad for them. My family does the best we can and God understands. He’s kinda cool that way.

Because I’m the one that normally cooks it also means I’ve got to make dishes that are quick and simple. If I try and get all elaborate on Sundays, nobody eats. Fasting is a great thing, but I don’t try and do it more than once a month if I can help it. Sometimes these dinners will be of the “one dish” variety, like ham-fried rice or a quick stir-fry. Other times they’ll be two or three simple things, like spaghetti and a green salad on the side. Either way, there’s something to be said for simple and quick fair. The less time I sit in front of the stove, even if I’m enjoying it, the more time I can spend with my family.

That’s not to say I don’t cook with my family on Sundays. I try and do that as much as I can. The challenge I face with that is my wife doesn’t like cooking, and my kids are still young. I don’t care how much she may beg; I’m not going to let my two year old chop vegetables for a few more years.

Still, there are things that can be done to make meal preparation simple, and quick. I’m actually quite grateful for such recipes. I think God inspired their creation. At the least, they keep us from eating frozen TV dinners on the Sabbath. Eating that way really would be a blasphemy.