Loving Salad: The Cobb Salad Compromise

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Ryan — 12 Comments ↓

Support the Cobb Compromise

I love salad. Wait, let me restate that.

I am a guy…an all-American, beer-drinking, meat-loving, meat-grilling guy…who loves salad. I love salad because I make great salads. Salads with croutons (not baked), dressing (not “free”), textures, flavor balance, juiciness, proper tossing, great colors and presentation, maybe even with a beer to top it off (not literally).

I know, I know, at some point the fat and calories of all that junk atop your lettuce make it a lot less healthy, but here’s the thing. Vegetables are too important to serve without reinforcements. They are at the heart of the fight for healthy eating habits, and the one thing we can consistently trust through decades of public health confusion. They are still the one thing we need to get our kids eating regularly, habitually, for life. And we won’t get there if we live in rabbit food mode where everything is plain and dry and eating is a penance. Food should be beautiful, delicious, fun, and also healthy (enough).

Vegetable-eating habits are too important to be left to chance. I believe we need to “sell” these habits and convince picky kids and skeptics everywhere (dads too) that salad night rocks.

Anyone agree? Disagree? Is there hope for the common family war between “health food” and “good food”?

See my recipe for Cobb Salad.

Tagged with: Food Recipes, Ryan Smith, Salads, Spinning Cook, Spinning Meals
Posted in Dinner, Fast, Kid Friendly, Raw Food

Milkosaurs and Dairydactyls: Serious Cereal Eating Habits

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Ryan — 5 Comments ↓

Milkosaur photographed in its native environment

Don’t let the milk run out or…

Our kids are so big into cereal, and dairy in general, that we debate what to call them. Is this the ravenous craving of a Milkosaur? A Tyrannosaurus Chex? A Dairydactyl? We haven’t settled but are accepting votes in the comments.

We don’t mind their enthusiasm since it’s about the easiest breakfast imaginable. But when I read this report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) about desserts masquerading as kids’ breakfast cereals, it seemed like a good time to check our pantry. High sugar content is a serious issue I agree, but fortunately my wife runs a tight ship and we did pretty well, I think. Here’s our list:

Quaker Oat Squares: Solid choice – the kids love these as do I. Lightly sweetened, lots of whole grain. Not on the list since they’re not considered a children’s cereal so is listed as a good “alternative.”
Post Raisin Bran: My eldest’s favorite. High sugar content actually, even though the raisins don’t seem coated with sugar. Spouse already knew they’re not the best, I was like whaaaat? I blame the lightweight flakes contending with a lot of raisins, whose natural sugar counts against them which doesn’t seem fair.
Frosted Mini-Wheats: Kids love these. I expected the sugar content to be high, but what little sugar there is sits right on the surface where you can actually taste it. One of the report’s “6 Good Big-Brand Cereals.”
Kellogg’s Fruit Loops: Our one guilty pleasure which was in there on “audit day.” Obviously not a surprise that it’s bad, but we don’t keep that one stocked. I agree with EWG, this is dessert, a special treat for very good behavior. Or for dad, whether or not I’ve been good. One year Santa brought some, for making necklaces, cause that guy knows how to have a good time.

If your kids are cereous about cereal too, I hope you’re not beating yourself up about it, as if you must be a bad parent if you don’t serve a frittata with green smoothies every morning. In my opinion, eating cereal most mornings can definitely be considered as good eating habits for both children and adults alike. Cereal is incredibly fast and easy to prepare; and that’s gotta be worth something for busy families like mine. I mean, mornings are stressful enough… right? All you have to do is teach yourself and your kids to throw in some fresh fruit before it can be officially called a ‘Healthy Breakfast’.

Are there milkosaurs in your family? Have you gone gluten-free and if so is there a good cereal alternative? For wheat-eaters, what is your favorite health variety? What’s your guilty pleasure?

Tagged with: Eating Habits, Food Articles, Kid Friendly Cooking
Posted in Breakfast, Family, Fast, Food Articles, Kid Friendly, Parenting

How To Throw A Rio Party

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Ryan — 6 Comments ↓

At the risk of stating the obvious, the number one purpose of a birthday party is for that child to know that they are special and deeply loved. And when my daughter wanted a party based on the movie Rio, it was important to us to deliver.

But while Disney has elevated movie merchandising to an art form, DreamWorks takes a measured approach. So my wife and I had to get creative. You can’t just swing by the party store and pick up the “Rio pack” of plates/napkins/hats next to Cars, Tangled, and the Fairy crew. If you’re in a similar dilemma, here are four ways to get it done.

A Rio Party is for the Birds

All birds were invited to the party, angry or not

The movie is about two blue macaws who are the last of their kind, and everyone hopes they’ll get together to make endangered babies rather than being sold off by smugglers.

We tried to bring birds into the party any way we could, including playing Angry Birds in real life with plush dolls, a separate post which is coming soon. That was a big hit. Our clue-following treasure hunt brought in bird language (“If we were birds we’d call this our nest…” meant look under the bed), and we brought out every bird puppet and stuffed animal we could find.

A Rio Party is Tropical

As a general theme, go tropical. Drink umbrellas, palm tree decorations, tropical fruits… If people really know the movie you could put earmuffs on a pineapple, for Blu the macaw who was raised in Minnesota. Colored feathers would fit well, and we thought about a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-endangered-macaw (ran out of time). We did have a very competitive game of Simon Says, which could include: bock like a chicken, crow like a rooster, stand on one foot like a flamingo, etc.

Yes, daddy’s frosting job was a bit heavy. Mmmm…

Cupcakes: My wife melted candy-making disks and formed leaves with a squeeze bottle. The tropical candy and flowers were a nice touch too, don’t you think? The kids were so enamored with these cupcakes that we didn’t bother to break out the ice cream.

To really make it authentic, I have Brazilian friends who are willing to work with me to write up a Brazilian kid-friendly menu. Interested?

A Rio Party is Blue

To create a yellow and blue theme we painted our entry way yellow. No, we blu up some baluns.

With a main character named Blu and a distinctive blue/yellow color theme, it was easy to make the whole house seem like the cover of the Blu-ray case. We used mostly balloons and movie posters (see below), and didn’t get around to putting up streamers, which cut down on clean-up at least.

In the bag of party favors was the cleverest item of all I think. My wife had the idea to include a packet of blue Bachelor Button flower seeds, a wink to the single-male-needs-better-half plotline. Did anyone get the connection? Not sure – it’s not a movie everyone has seen.

Make it Seem Official

We didn’t want to risk birthday-girl disappointment over getting just a generic “tropical” party so we brought in a little name-brand merchandise where we could find it. Here are things we bought, or considered:

I didn’t have the heart to cut this out of the book, but this image would be cute peeking down beneath a counter or at the top of a wall, don’t you think?

The movie made a smart marketing partnership with the Angry Birds game, and Rio characters are available as Angry Birds plush dolls. They are spendy but well done (we bought Blu)
There are several well-rated picture and activity books, which make great gifts for the birthday boy/girl, or could be dissected for decorations or party favors.
You can print coloring pages which is the activity we planned while guests were fluttering in the door
There is a free coloring book app for iOS and Android. Let your kids color these up multiple ways, print these out and plaster the walls. Tap all the blue letters on the title screen (R, B L U) to unlock all the characters.
Some posters are available at Amazon like this.
Cupcake toppers and a cake topper are available
The movie website has a number of printable activity sheets including a foldable glider / paper airplane which could be made at the party, hung from the ceiling, or sent home

Your Thoughts

We hope this is helpful for anyone trying to solve the same party problem. Did we go overboard? Can you share more ideas around this, or about any time you took a “lightly merchandised” theme and turned it into a convincing party?

Tagged with: Food Articles, Party Food, Ryan Smith, Spinning Cook, Spinning Meals
Posted in Food Articles, Fun, Kid Friendly

Happy Together: Apple Ginger Glazed Pork Chops

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Ryan — 3 Comments ↓

Cutting your pork chops into heart shapes is optional, but my girls were pretty excited about it.

On Valentine’s Day, it’s time to celebrate a timeless couple who needs no introduction: Pork and Apple. I don’t know why they have such great chemistry but it can’t be denied.

Orange Chicken is a favorite take-out dish for our kids, when we let them indulge. I hope your kids will agree that this apple-ginger glaze has the same sweetness but without any corn syrup or deep-friend breading. What’s not to love about that?

The recipe makes extra glaze, which goes great over squash, yams, or rice. I’m sure you’ll have other ideas.

Kiss all your sweethearts and have a lovely Valentine’s Day everyone!

Apple Ginger Glazed Pork Chops

I saw Chris Kimball do this start-cold method for pork chops, which does seem to keep them more tender, while the sprinkling of sugar ensures some nice caramelization. The apple-ginger glaze is my own addition, and makes extra which goes well on vegetables, especially squash.

4 boneless porkchops, about 1 pound
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

For the glaze:
3 tablespoons apple jelly
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1. Pat the pork chops dry. Sprinkle the ground ginger, sugar, and salt over both sides of each chop. Pour the olive oil into the skillet before applying heat, and add the pork chops.

2. Place the pan over medium-high heat and cook until nicely browned, about 7-10 minutes. Turn the pork chops over and spoon the apple jelly into the pan, which will begin to melt as the pork chops finish cooking. Remove the pork chops when they have cooked through to 150 degrees (F), about 3 minutes more. Allow them to rest off the heat, covered with aluminum foil.

3. Increase the heat to high, add the apple juice to the melted jelly in the pan, and stir in the ground ginger. Cook until the liquid reduces and begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Stir in the apple cider vinegar, and place in a serving dish. Pour the glaze over the pork chops to serve.

Serves 4
Active Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Prep Time: 25 minutes

Tagged with: Cooking Techniques, Food Recipes, Kid Friendly Cooking, Pork, Ryan Smith
Posted in Dinner, Kid Friendly, Recipes, Techniques

Cooking Techniques: Cutting Up Food For Kids and My Favorite Utensil

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Ryan — 2 Comments ↓

If necessity is the mother of invention, annoyance is its cranky old dad.

Cutting up food for toddlers is one of the least enjoyable parts of the eating experience for me. Using a fork and knife on a plate to tackle grapes, hot dogs, pizza slices, sandwiches…is no fun. And it’s one of the main reasons parents’ food gets cold.

Flat Out Awesome

Enter the flattest and my favorite kitchen utensil, the cutting board. For me there’s something about using a proper knife on a proper board that makes me feel like a pro who’s in control, rather than an overburdened butler working for many tiny masters.

Flat Out Fast: Knife Skills

More importantly it is incredibly fast, especially when using proper knife skills. And if you haven’t mastered those skills, have a look at this great video, and then give yourself lots of opportunities to practice. It will give you a ton of confidence in the kitchen, and would be great to teach your kids when they’re old enough.

A few tips:

Cutting up pizza also speeds cooling to avoid the dreaded tomato sauce burn. Or is it tomahto?

Use a big knife, like a 8″ or 9″ chef’s knife for most things, or a paring knife for small items like grapes.
Don’t worry about getting a knife and board dirty. I used to think that way but I think speed matters more. Agree?
Set up a “station” at the table for rapid processing of pancakes and waffles: butter, chop, slide onto plates. Repeat.
Don’t scrape food off with the cutting edge as that will dull it, use the blunt edge instead.
Grapes and hotdogs are widely acknowledged as two of the greatest choking hazards. Be sure to cut these up well beyond the toddler years.

Shear Speed

Depending on what you’re cutting, kitchen shears can be extremely fast as well. I like these two varieties from Henckel: separating, and intact. You may also like these shears called Tiny Bites, designed specifically for cutting up kids’ food.

Tell me I’m wrong

Am I the only one who gravitates to the cutting board so much? Is a chef’s knife ridiculous and do you try to avoid getting a board dirty…getting by with smaller knives and cutting things up over the sink? How long do you cut up your kids’ food before expecting them to do it themselves?

Tagged with: Cooking Techniques, Food Articles, Ryan Smith, Spinning Cook, Spinning Meals App
Posted in Fast, Food Articles, Techniques