Ratatouille and Herbed Chicken -- 9-14-12

What a great time of year to make ratatoulli. Right now zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, and tomatoes are all in season. We always say vegetables are never better than when they are freshly gathered from the garden. We already had a few other items in our refrigerator, so a quick trip to the store to buy an eggplant, a few mushrooms, and parmesan cheese was all it took to be ready for tonight's adventure.

Joshua said he thought Amber ought to have a classmate for the cooking class, and what a great idea that was. The two tackled the slicing and dicing of vegetables with confidence and competence. And they sprinkled in a good measure of humor as they worked.


In no time, the vegetables were in the oven and the chicken was cubed and cooking slowly on the stovetop in an herbal basting oil.

While we waited for dinner to cook, we watched a video on setting the table for a family dinner and set the table according to instructions.

The classmate/cousins enjoyed their masterful cooking. And so did the adults who were here.

Congratulations to Amber and Joshua. You did a superb job! I would assign an "A" over-all.

The health lesson tonight covered several aspects of foods and their preparation:

1. Brighter colored foods are richer in vitamins and a variety of colors is healthful. Tonights meal includes bright red, green, purple, and yellow vegetables. We spoke of how the dish we made is nourishing and also appealing.
2. Foodborne illnesses include bacterial and parasitic infections such as salmonella (common in chicken), tapeworm (found in pork, beef, and fish), and trichina (found in pork). Cooking meats, fish, poulty, and eggs thoroughly prevents disease. Handwashing and thorough cleaning of surfaces exposed to raw meats is imperative.  
3. Although some produce is more tasty to us when cooked, we learned that ingesting some raw vegetables and fruits is beneficial. This is because the heat used in cooking destroys some vitamins.

Freezing Produce and Cooking an Omelet

It is September 5, 2012. Today is the beginning of a new adventure and a new blog. It started this way: Amber wanted to work with her grandmother to develop some home making skills. We talked about some of the things we could work on and a few days ago, we decided on cooking and nutrition.

We spent about 3 or 3 1/2 hours together and we really had a very good time:

1. First we had a discussion of basic nutrients found in foods (protein, carbohydrates, and fats), with examples of foods to be found in each category. Good nutrition, we believe, will result if we follow the Biblical principle of "all things in moderation". Amber is trying to follow a healthful diet and is taking walks a couple of times every day for fresh air and exercise. I am very proud of her for her commitment to take care of the body God has given her.

2. We prepared and froze approximately 1 1/2 gallons of fresh beans from our garden. There were some pole beans and some purple bush beans. By doing this, Amber got some hands-on experince with blanching, chilling, draining, and packaging the beans. She was surprised after the heating that the purple beans turned green! We discussed the purpose of blanching vegetables prior to freezing. At the end of the day, she had three bags of beans to take home and store in her Mom's freezer.

3. Amber had asked the other day if she could
learn to make an omelet, so I asked her to watch some You Tube videos on how to make an omelet and to include one with Julia Child. My purpose in having her watch the videos was so she could see that there seems to be almost as many methods for making omelets are there are people making them! But Julia Child, of course, made the classic French omelet and I felt it would be helpful to know how they were originally made.

Amber had already decided the method that she wanted to use for cooking her omelet. She decided to make hers with diced, fresh tomato (also from our garden) and some cheddar cheese. It was delightful to see how her video viewing prepared her so well. She demonstrated proper use of equipment, utensils, and food prep techniques. She made an attractive and delicious omelet as you can see from the picture above.

To evaluate: Amber met my goals of using equipment correctly and safely. She showed a great deal of interest and enjoyed working on building skills in this hands on experience. If I were to give her a grade, it would be an A-minus only because the omelet tore a bit when being transferred to the plate. This was a splendid first effort and comparable to what to expect from someone with more experience. We decided the tomato was a little heavy, causing the tear, and talked about how to prevent this from happening the next time.

Amber's evaluation: She decided to make an omelet at home alone, now, because doing it without an audience would be less pressure. I can hardly wait to hear what she says about her solo omelet-making!

She is going to write a couple of paragraphs about today's experience and I hope to include them in this blog, along with a couple more pictures.