Tonight was the kids’ last dinner at home before they left for 6 weeks of sleep away camp so they wanted to cook one more time for the family. Everyone got to choose one or two of their favorite foods: Max chose filet mignon and Yorkshire pudding, Alex chose filet mignon and buttered noodles, and Harry and I chose grilled fish and grilled vegetables. We also made corn-on-the cob because everyone loves it. The kids marinated the cod filet and vegetables (peppers, zuccini, onions) in a soy-garlic-ginger-olive oil marinade for about 1/2 hour before they grilled them. They also decided to make mini Yorkshire puddings (aka popovers), since we had made a large Yorkshire pudding once before and we wanted to figure out which type we liked better. Special thanks to Dad for helping with the grilling: with the meat, all the veggies and the fish, there was a lot going on and a lot of flipping. Both Max and Alex agree that one of the hardest things about cooking is flipping hot stuff so it was nice to have an extra set of hands. We didn’t make desert because we still had packing to do but we enjoyed some delicious chocolate truffles from a neighborhood chocolate cafe called FIKA that a friend had given us. Harry and I are really going to miss both the kids and these dinners!

Yorkshire Pudding batter

Yorkshire Pudding Popovers (just out the oven)

Chopping Vegetables

Max & Dad grilling

Max couldn’t wait for photo before he started…

Today,for father’s Day, we decided to make baby back ribs. We decided to boil them before we barbecued the ribs and it turned out amazing (they were delicious even before we grilled them). We also made corn on the cob to symbolize the first barbecue of the summer, and for our vegetables, we made vegetable shish kabobs. For desert we made one of dad’s favorites: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Happy Father’s Day!!

Mom recommends that if your kids are baking, or if you don’t bake too often: measure your dry ingredients over a plate (NOT the main mixing bowl where all ingredients end up, and not over the counter or floor): That way if you (or your kids) spill 1/4 cup of flour you can reuse it and it doesn’t 1) make a big mess or 2) mess up the recipe. It’s really important to measure salt, baking powder, baking soda… over a separate bowl (not your main mixing bowl). Nobody wants cookies with a lot of extra salt in them! Similarly, don’t break your eggs over the main mixing bowl. Break them in a separate bowl (and spoon out any extra egg shell) and then add them to your main mixing bowl. Nobody wants cookies with egg shell in them either!

Chopping Vegetalbes

Making kabobs

Today we went strawberry picking so strawberries had to be part of the dinner menu, and ended up as strawberry shortcake. Max decided he wanted a healthy version of fish and chips, along with a salad with goat cheese in it so they made oven-roasted potato wedges with breaded cod filets (baked, not deep fried). Along side that was an arugula, goat cheese and cranberry salad, and of course, the strawberry shortcake. It was delicious and nice to see the kids eating fish!! The kids did the classic flour/egg/bread crumb coating for the fish with two important highlights: the bread crumbs were home made (we try to freeze/toast/and then turn into bread crumbs any of those ends of loaves that otherwise no one eats) AND, after they flour/egg/bread crumb-coated the fish, they put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. For some reason, chilling it seems to help the bread crumbs stick to the fish (or chicken or whatever).

Taco Sunday! Kids made a taco buffet for us: we got to choose what to put in our soft tacos: spicy ground turkey (or less spicy ground turkey), shrimp with ancho chile powder, cheese (cheddar or jarlsberg), lettuce, tomato, salsa (Dad’s version, i.e. extra spicy, or everyone else’s version, i.e. mild), guacamole, sour cream, and rice. The shrimp were really good and a last minute inspiration–we had left over shrimp that didn’t get cooked yesterday as planned so Max and Al decided to chop them up a bit and saute with olive oil and ancho chile powder. I showed them how to use the rice cooker to make rice, and taught them the trick of rinsing the rice in water beforehand (to get off the rice powder or “bran”) until the water ran clear. (Thanks to Mike Holdeman for first sharing this trick…rice is always much fluffier.)

The whole spread..

First rinse of the rice

Last rinse of the rice

Chopping Serrano peppers for salsa (WASH HANDS AFTERWARDS!!)

Cooking Turkey Two ways

The spreads (for both tacos and chips)

Max and Alex made Saturday night dinner this weekend: grilled pork chops, sliced and sauteed apples with cinnamon, baked potatoes, “guac” greens (which is their interpretation of my favorite salad at Sweet Greens restaurant: their version is spinach, sliced avocado, tomato, red onion, crushed tortilla chips and pesto viniagrette), and raspberry sorbet. They have made some of these dishes before and it was interesting to see how much more comfortable they were making them again. They are also much more attentive to detail than I am. For example, when they were making the raspberry sorbet, the recipe recommended straining the raspberry puree to remove the raspberry seeds. I said “oh don’t bother, a few seeds won’t matter,” but they insisted and they were right! The sorbet was amazingly smooth — and much better than if I had made it.

Straining raspberry puree to get out the seeds

Blending raspberries with simple syrup

Final Product: Raspberry Sorbet

Max cooking apples in butter, sugar and cinnamon