"Make it again! That pizza is awesome!" -dad

NOT...it was an epic fail in my opinion! 5 star rated recipes on food.com do not mean they are fool proof. Though Seth (w/my supervision) followed the recipe for the Pizza Dough (#43740) exactly, it just didn't work. Too sticky even after adding at least a cup more of flour. Impossible to roll out. Made the average deep dish pan pizza look like thin crust! Maybe it was the yeast? It was fresh, purchased today. Maybe the water temp? Ugh, I suppose there's a reason there's a pizza place on every corner and dozens of frozen varieties to choose from! Silly me, it's something I myself haven't perfected. Will try again, I am determined to figure it out! Pizza dough and pie crusts; they seem simple enough, but NO! It is so hard to get them just right.

I may even have to invest in a bread maker again as there were several "bread maker" recipes on food.com.

Fortunately the recipe for "Ultimate Pizza Sauce" also Food.com, #114392, turned out very good. So, by putting the full sauce recipe on 1/2 the pizza, it somehow worked. At least enough for Dad to claim it was "awesome!". But then again, he's never met a pizza he didn't like. :)

Side note: Cade was to make the sauce for his 3rd recipe, but his date with his girlfriend went too late. So, I made it. He will prepare a recipe tomorrow to make up for it!

Clever Omelets courtesy of Heloise & Nana!

My mother passed along a column from Heloise which included a recipe for omelets made in zip-loc bags. I finally got around to giving it a try, as it seemed like something the boys would have fun doing. All in all the recipe worked well and on my second attempt, looked good too. Though this doesn't count as one of their 52, I thought it worth including as it is fun, simple, and very little clean up! I added cut up ham and cheddar cheese, and served it with a spinach & strawberry salad.

Pomegranates...what to make, what to make!?

Last week I was given several home grown pomegranates from Bob, a regular attender of the step aerobic class I teach. I am fortunate to receive fresh & delish avocados, grapefruit, nectarines seasonally from him! Wanting to find a recipe "outside the box", I searched www.food.com and came across Healthy Pumpkin Pomegranate Muffins. They sounded interesting enough, and yes, did appear to be healthy. Plus they have several 5 star ratings which is always a plus.

Cade was more than willing to undertake this as his recipe #2. Lessons he learned:

1. There are several different standard kinds of flours. This recipe used whole wheat and all-purpose. It did not call for "self-rising". I explained how that was different and yet it comes in a similar package and looks the same so be sure you use the right one.

2. Cade learned how to load the muffins tin, leaving a bit of room for them to rise.

3. Cade had fun using the adjustable measuring cup from pampered chef. He got more practice

leveling the measuring cups just right. I also reminded him to use the appropriate measuring cups for liquid and dry. (Learned that in high school home ec, & it stuck with me)

Again the outcome was terrific! Delicious, perfectly cooked, interesting and healthy muffins. Don't know what purpose the 1/4 c grape nuts served but it made for a nice crunch. We did use Splenda Granulated as we had it on hand, which might explain why they weren't as sweet as Seth would have liked. Cade and I liked them just fine.

Seth's Turn

Once we got rolling, Seth seemed enthused to prepare the main dish of our Sunday family dinner. With their hectic practice schedules, it is difficult for the 4 of us to all be at the table at once. Not long ago we made Sunday our official family meal night. I chose "Baked Teriyaki Chicken" from allrecipes.com for Seth's entree. There was a reason behind it; I had made it for an event in Seth's 7th grade World History class and remember it being easy, and something he liked. Fortunately it was a recipe for which I had all of the ingredients on hand, except for the thighs and fresh garlic.

The only catch was the basting. Recipe called for it every 10 min. of cooking time which meant Seth had to tear himself away from the xbox frequently during the baking phase. He got a lot of practice donning oven mitts and using a cooking brush as you can see in the photo. He did a fantastic job and honestly seemed to enjoy it, never complaining when the timer would beckon him from the game room!

Lessons Seth learned:

1. Mom's 20 year old American Airlines issued oven mitt is by far the best we have, and you need a good one when you are taking a hot pan in & out of the oven frequently.

2. A 9x13 pan is not a bread pan or square pan. (His teenaged mind is on other things apparently)

3. To be on the safe side, mix cornstarch with a tiny bit of water to get the lumps out and insure it will blend well (though it didn't say so in the recipe). Seth also learned the purpose of cornstarch - thickening, in case you too didn't know!

MENU: Served with "Minute Rice", steamed broccoli, and fresh pineapple & black berries.

1 down, 51 to go...

Saturday, with my assistance, Cade made his first recipe, "peanut butter cookies" found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (pg. 117). Chances are you have it in your kitchen, you know the red and white checkered one? Here are a few things he learned:

1. Read the recipe first. How many times have I gotten half way through and realized the appetizer I was making for a party in an hour had to be refrigerated overnight?

2. Get out ALL the ingredients. Ideally you've planned ahead and have already gone to the store to get the items you didn't have on hand.

3. Baking Powder and Baking Soda are two different things! Fortunately the recipe called for both, so it was just a good lesson learned without error.

4. A TBSP. is different from a TSP. so MAKE SURE you read it right!

The cookies were a delicious success enjoyed by all, even dad who is not a big fan of peanut butter cookies!

52 dishes x 2 boys=kitchen confidence!

It's hard to find a common ground with 2 boys (14 & 11) in the house, however, FOOD is one of the things we share! Until now, I their mother, have done 99% of the food prep for meals and realized I've been raising two helpless & incompetent young men, at least in the kitchen! I've seen my teenager ruin perfectly good packages of "Easy Mac", and my younger son interpret 2 tbsp. of milk for two cups. I've decided that over the course of the next year, it is my goal to teach them how to prepare 52 dishes each. Still trying to decide how to break that number up into different categories as much to my youngest's disappointment they can't all be desserts!

This past weekend we began our journey on what will become a life long, valuable skill. I'm hoping they will find joy and rewards in preparing wholesome, simple, family-friendly meals. In other words, the kinds of foods most of us eat, most of the time! It's my desire that in the end I will be able to present each of them with a bound cook book filled with recipes that they themselves have made and eaten. More importantly it will be a book of memories we've shared and lessons learned, and hopefully they'll refer to it many times in the future.

This blog is primarily a way for me to record their kitchen experiences for my own benefit. However, I'm hoping there will be some who may take on this challenge for their child/ren, or who may just be interested in the recipes, meal ideas, & maybe even tips we discover along the way.