ChowBaby

i almost didn't take pictures while cooking last night. i'd decided to make one of my and mike's favorite dishes, bucatini all'amatriciana (sloppily plated above with a side of swiss chard--pictures really were a last minute decision!). i used to make it all the time. i'd perfected it. even once claimed (while drunk) that mine was better than mario batali's. while not true, i do have a knack for this dish. but with pancetta, hot peppers and a ton of olive oil (none of which i'm willing to skimp on, even for my tyke--sorry, isaac), i've never made this for the three of us. in fact, i haven't made it in 2 years.

when i decided to make amatriciana for me and mike as a new year's eve treat i figured there was no point in posting about a dish that isn't particularly family-friendly. especially as my first post of the new year. but i've changed my mind. i've even come to think that it's the perfect first post of the new year.

michelle and i share our recipes, feeding hacks, and point of view here because we hope to inspire and help parents create healthy, adventurous eaters. but, at the end of the day, reading a blog isn't going to make your children healthy, adventurous eaters. neither is buying particular products or making particular recipes. it's your love and respect for food that will instill your children with their love and respect for food. which brings me to amatriciana. a dish i'm passionate about. a dish that reminds me of why i love food and, even though he's never eaten it, why isaac loves food, too.

so, here's the recipe. you can serve it to your kids or not. with adjustments or not. and if you don't feel like making this, find time to make something else you love. even if you can't feed it to the kids. just keep your passion for food alive. in 2009 and beyond.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana
2 tbs organic olive oil
1 large organic red onion, halved & cut into 1/2" slices
2 cloves organic garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 lb pancetta (or guanciale), 1/4" thick, diced
1-3 fresh hot peppers*, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced (or 1/2 - 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes)
1 can organic whole peeled tomatoes (28 oz)
1 lb organic bucatini (spaghetti works well, too)
1/2 cup organic pecorino romano cheese, grated (plus extra to top!)
salt and pepper

*the amount of pepper you use and whether you seed the fresh ones depends on how spicy you like your food; i typically use 2 fresh peppers, seeds and all. also, the type of pepper you use will impact the taste of your sauce, so play around. i've used everything from red jalapenos to (fewer) scotch bonnets. 

1. Put a large pot of salted water on medium-high heat (about 6 qts water & 2 tbs salt). Bring to a boil.

2. Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add onions and garlic. Sauté over medium heat until transparent.

3. Create a space in the middle of the skillet by pushing onions and garlic to the edges. Spread the pancetta in the open space and cook until it starts to turn brown.

4. Mix pancetta, onions and garlic together, and add peppers. Keep sautéing until you get a nice golden brown color to everything.

5. Add tomatoes to onion mixture, breaking up each one with your hands. When all of the tomatoes have been added, pour the sauce from the can into the skillet. Add salt and pepper to taste (don't be shy with the salt). Cook for about 15 minutes, until sauce thickens and pulls all the ingredients together. (This is not meant to be a heavy sauce, rather it should give a nice coating to the pasta. the picture below was taken just as the tomato sauce was added to the skillet.)

6. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain, saving about a mug's worth of cooking water.

7. Toss pasta in the skillet with sauce over low-medium heat. Add cheese, an extra drizzle of olive oil, and the pasta cooking water. Keep tossing until all of the pasta is coated and heated throughout. Taste and adjust seasoning to get it just right--you may want to add more olive oil, cheese, salt, and/or pepper.

happy eating. all year.

-S

 
making homemade playdough is an easy and cheap (albeit a little
messy!) way to while away a wet and windy saturday morning. the
homemade version is just as functional as the storebought variety. but
since your kid is actually making it, there's the added fun of
measuring, counting (one cup...two cups...), mixing, splashing it on
the floor, cleaning it up, mixing some more, wondering why it's so
sticky, realizing that adding more flour makes it not sticky anymore,
and so on.... until poof wallah, you (or rather, the little bean) made
playdough!
 
here are the 2 recipes i use most (plus a resource for a few others).
 
i prefer the texture of the cooked version. but if
your kid is at the independent stage where everything centers on "me
do it!" then the uncooked version works just as well. make sure
you keep the final product in a covered bowl or ziploc in the fridge
so it doesn't go bad when you aren't using it to create pirate ships
and dragons.
 
cooked playdough
1 cup water
1 cups flour
¼ cup salt
½ tablespoon of vegetable oil or olive oil
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
combine all ingredients in a bowl. transfer to a saucepan and heat
over a medium flame while stirring constantly. when the moisture has
been absorbed the playdough is done. allow it to cool (and make sure
it is cool all the way through since i find there are often hot spots
that aren't safe for little hands) and then knead until smooth.
 
uncooked playdough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive oil
1/3 cup warm water
mix flour and salt. add oil. add water. stir to combine. once the oil
has been absorbed into the mixture (it takes a minute or two,
depending on how advance a stirrer you have). knead the dough until
the mixture forms a ball. add more flour if the dough is too sticky.
 
-m

dr. alan greene, one of our favorite go-to experts and a dallas pediatrician, just finished a 3-year experiment with an "n" of "1" (he used himself as the study population)—where he ate only organic foods for 3 whole years. his goal? to see how feasible it was, to examine the challenges, and to see if there were tangible health benefits. he reports that it was far easier to eat organic at home than out. that he had to reduce the amount of meat he ate because organic meat costs so much. and that after 3 years, he gets sick much less frequently. 

we try to eat all organic in our family too. and i'm especially committed to feeding my son organic, even more than myself or my husband, for the reasons we talk about all the time:

but it isn't always easy to do. and, especially in this economy, financially daunting for many of us. but it's important to keep in mind that value of organic isn't just about the the price of an organic product. it's about the long-term cost of NOT eating organic. about how it affects our kids' health, the planet's health, and the health of generations to come.

if you really find yourself forced to choose organic vs non-organic, whether because of availability or cost concerns, most experts agree that certain foods should always be organic. we blogged a list of top-10 foods in the past that you can check it out here.

and then read about Dr. Greene's experiment yourself  here.

m

i haven't posted since last week because my laptop bit it. (luckily, stacie has plenty to say and has totally taken over posting the past few days. thanks, stacie!) it took a few days to diagnose and repair my computer. mostly because i stubbornly refused to lose everything. but in the end, the experts agreed. i had a completely fried hard drive.

at first i felt sad because i'm not a good backer-upper. so many pictures of atticus gone forever. even now, thinking about it makes me well up and want to kick myself. but what can i do? and the strange thing? even while i'm feeling bad, i also feel oddly liberated. no more desktop to clean up. no more documents to file. no more old versions of budgets or grocery lists or slightly-out-of-focus pictures of the family over which to debate, "keep it or trash it?" it showed me something. i'd taken on too much. i had lost control. and not in a good way. but in a super mom way—except that i wasn't being super about it at all. sure, i had lots of files and folders and systems. but there was no sense to it. sure the documents were there. but it always took me longer than it should to find them.

and now they aren't there anymore. none of them. and i get a clean slate to start anew. a new system. a new sense. the space to examine clearly if i really want something. or not. i don't get that kind of space much these days. not with a kid, a husband, two dogs, and a new business. it feels kind of good.

-m

okay. so i live in an apartment. in brooklyn. on the third floor. so i doubt a root cellar is in my near future. but the sound of fresh tomatoes at thanksgiving and onions harvested in fall lasting until spring—all off the grid—sounds amazing. check out the full article with resources here: New York Times

-m

it had to happen. the New York Times today reports that the sorry state of our economy is affecting organic food purchases. except those healthy foods marketed to kids. proof positive that parents everywhere will scrimp on themselves way before they'll scrimp on their kids. Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/business/01organic.html?hp -m

this may be a little late for you plan-ahead folks but, for the rest of you, here are some resources to help you green your halloween.

Green Halloween is a project by Treeswing, a non-profit dedicated to "building generations of healthy, active communities" by helping improve children's health and prevent childhood obesity.  They focus their activity on the pacific northwest, but also offer a lot of great information on their site (http://blog.treeswing.org/). (i particularly like that they support media literacy!!)
http://www.greenhalloween.org

Tree Hugger's green Halloween guide
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/the-green-halloween-edition.php

National Geographic's Green Guide to better (i.e., healthier, greener, socially responsible) candy
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/110/candy

a great guide (as always) from the good people at Eco Fabulous
http://www.ecofabulous.com/ecohalloween/

-S

Okay, okay. A little cliché, but with mother’s day coming up how can I not post this link to an organic online florist? Seems reliable. I haven’t ordered from them yet, but I will!

http://www.organicbouquet.com

-S

Great site. Especially useful for sippy cups, food storage containers, eating utensils, etc.

http://lifewithoutplastic.com/

-S

Attractive, made from a sustainable material, non-pastic, affordable. Yay!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HX56TU?ie=UTF8&tag=natureblog-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325

-S