Kids and food

I love this.  Right before I took the shot I said, "close your eyes".  For no reason, really.

Later, they painted.  Homework for Cap.  Their art, like them, bound with simpatico yet distinct.

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A yummy sounding soup popped up over at Orangette a few days ago.  Soup has been on my mind as the temps outside have dropped.  I realized that the seasonal nature of this recipe meant that I had all but one of the ingredients called for (canned coconut milk), which bumped it right up to the top of this week's meal planning because it would cost very little to make.

I haaaaaaaaaate preparing winter squash.  So tedious.  I decided to tackle as many squash as I could at once to get it out of the way.  Three sweet dumpling squash, two acorn squash and one buttercup squash turned out to be my limit.  I roasted the sweet dumpling squash (and finished it in one day) and saved the acorn and buttercup squash for the soup.

Warming and delicious.  I goofed and put in a tablespoon of sriracha rather than a teaspoon.  I added some water to take the edge off the heat.  Note to self: this soup was very straightforward to make having prepped the squash the day before.

We've had some sweet potatoes waiting in the wings in a bowl next to the squash on a shelf in the kitchen.  (I wonder what it's like to have a root cellar?)  I followed this recipe and roasted a few sweet spuds.  My potatoes needed a longer cooking time (I put them back in, raising the temp to 375º for an additional 10-15 minutes).  The kids both enjoyed these, Sag in particular.

I flipped through Gluten-Free Girl's latest cookbook (borrowed from the library) while half-watching the Pats game on Sunday night.  It's a nice looking book, and when I realized I had stuck post-its on nearly two dozen pages about halfway through the book, I laughed, stopped what I was doing, and put it on my Amazon wish list (which is how I keep track of such things).

She had a "recipe" for cooking quinoa which nudged me to make a pot.  Gem has always liked quinoa, but Sag has not.  I wanted to see if this recipe which guaranteed "fluffy" quinoa would do the trick.  I had my quinoa with a dab of Kerrygold and the roasted sweet potatoes.  Sag ate a few bites of his quinoa (with wheat-free tamari).  He didn't love it, but he didn't hate it, either.

I much prefer my quinoa cold, in salads.  Maybe because I don't taste the "nutty" flavor that most people use to describe quinoa, maybe because I find the texture of quinoa so enhanced when it is layered with other textures, but cold quinoa tossed with some veg (in this case: red onion, leftover roasted sweet spuds and "semi-homemade" sweet dill pickle relish), oil and vinegar (in this case: evoo and ume plum vinegar) and seasoning (in this case: garlic powder, salt and pepper) is a game changer for me.  Yum.

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Buzzfeed posts some very entertaining, yet consistently ephemeral, food stuff.  But, this post woke me up.  I have a feeling this recipe will change my chicken roasting/eating life...forever.

Peace and love.