Fun Food Friday - Pizza Rolls

As you've seen in previous posts, Big Sprout is getting quite handy in the kitchen. Little Sprout, on the other hand, always asks to "help" - but every time she eventually reveals that she's only there for the tasting. While it can be frustrating to have her trying to stick her fingers in everything while I'm cooking, she's just so adorable that it's hard to say "no". And that's how we ended up making bread together this week.

She actually came in the tail end of the process while everything was in the final mixing stage. I managed to whip out four quick loaves while she "snuck" bits of dough off the cover of the mixer before finally asking to help. So I put her in charge of cutting the veggie burger buns; I rolled out the dough and showed her how to cut out circles using the top of a glass.

When there was only a little dough left, I let her have it to make whatever she wanted, thinking she'd just play with it and pinch off a few bites when I wasn't looking. That's exactly what she did for a while, but eventually she rolled it out into an oblong shape, asked if she could use the leftover Daiya cheese and announced to Big Sprout that she was making pizza rolls.  

Pizza rolls? Why didn't I think of that???

She spread pizza sauce over the dough and sprinkled the cheese on top.

I showed her how to roll it up and slice it into rolls. And yes, I really did let her use the big knife (under close supervision, of course!)

We baked them for 20 minutes, tossed them on a plate with some raw veggies and had a perfect lunch-to-go to eat in the car en route to meet friends at Teavana.

The pizza rolls were super easy (you read the part where my four-year-old made them, right???) and amazingly delicious - way better than regular pizza somehow. Not only did they get a unanimous five sprout rating, but we're all really anxious to have them again soon (like tomorrow!)

I'm so glad I let my Little Sprout get creative in the kitchen - it was wonderful to see her so proud of what she's created!

Sprout Ratings:
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts

Big Sprout's E-Mail from Isa

Big Sprout woke up to an e-mail reply from Isa clarifying the instructions for adding the cheesy sauce to the Tempeh Helper he made last night. I would say he was so excited that he was bouncing off the walls, but as you can see, it was clearly the couch he was bouncing off of.

Kids in the Kitchen - Tempeh Helper

The Tempeh Helper is a recipe I found in a cookbook (Appetite for Reduction), and I wanted to make it tonight. It was the best thing ever. First, I cut up the tempeh into small pieces and put in it a pan on the stove with the temperature on medium. While that was cooking, I made the cheesy sauce and the seasoning. Then you dump in the seasoning with some water and pasta. After it cooked, we stirred in the cheesy sauce. We didn't have peas, so I left those out.

The directions didn't say when to add the cheesy sauce, but I figured it out. I put it in at the end, but I'm sending an e-mail to Isa to make sure it's right. I'll let you know for sure if I hear from her.

Little Sprout tried giving it five million thousand sprouts, but the rating scale is only to five. I liked it the same as Little Sprout. It was falling down good.

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 4.5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 4.5 sprouts

Kids in the Kitchen - Fruit Sandwich

This time, I made my own breakfast and it was a fruit sandwich. I did it without any instructions. You start with two slices of bread and then you put strawberries and cantaloupe on and then blueberries. You have to cut up all the fruit but not the blueberries. You put a jam on the other slice of bread (I used raspberry), and then you put the other piece of bread on top. I also put some cut up cantaloupe on the side.

Sprout Rating

Big Sprout - 5 sprouts

Note from Mama Sprout: I did have a teeny, tiny bit of input on this one - talking him out of adding his favorite sandwich element - a pickle - to this sandwich!

Big Sprout's Cheeseburger Sandwich

This is my new cheeseburger sandwich. I made it today. Mommy cut the bread, but I put it together and made it myself. It takes two slices of bread, two pieces of vegan cheese and two pieces of lettuce. Put it all together with a little mustard and ketchup on both sides. Yummy!

I ate it before I went to play baseball, and I even took the picture myself.

Sprout Ratings

Big Sprout - 5 sprouts

Mystery Meal - Revealed

Last night, Big Sprout announced that he wanted to make brunch today, which - of course - was music to my ears. He selected the Orange Scones and Tempeh Bacon from Veganomicon, and Jim ran up to Publix to pick up a few ingredients we were missing.

This morning, I slept in (yay!), and Jim supervised the cooking. All by himself, Big Sprout measured and mixed the ingredients, rolled out the dough and cut it into "pizza-shaped" pieces. After they baked, he topped them off with an orange glaze. The result was a light, fluffy scone - not overly sweet with just the right amount of orange flavor. I was very impressed since this recipe called for a few advance kitchen moves; Big Sprout now knows how to zest an orange!

The tempeh bacon didn't go according to plan . . . mostly because instead of picking up the plain package of tempeh the recipe called for, Jim picked up the sliced, pre-seasoned kind (I just wrote "tempeh" on the shopping list). It worked out well though, and breakfast turned out to be a real treat for everyone!

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 spouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts

Mystery Meal

Big Sprout just announced that he's cooking brunch tomorrow morning. Yay! I love that this blog has inspired him to cook - and that he's been open to learning to cook by following recipes. And hey, even Little Sprout brought us breakfast in bed twice this week (a big bowl of berries and grapes).

For tomorrow, Big Sprout picked out two recipes from Vegan with a Vengeance, and Jim is off to Publix to pick up the missing ingredients.

What did he choose? How will it turn out??? I'll let him fill you in on the details tomorrow.

Kids in the Kitchen - Maple Pecan Cookies

Today I baked cookies. The cookbook was Vegan with a Vengeance in the cookie section. They're called Maple Walnut Cookies. We had most of the ingredients, and we only had two to buy - maple syrup and walnuts. And we also got a little extra pure vanilla extract.

Well this time I did it with no help, and my sister even tried to give it over 2000 sprouts. You mix all the ingredients together and then you put them on a cookie sheet with a tablespoon. Put them two inches away from each other and put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

They were really good, and everybody loved them!

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts

What Would You Do???

So what would you do if this was your lunch . . . and if it was prepared by your 7-year-old who was very excited about his "mystery lunch"??? So much so, in fact, that he asked for a chef's hat for his next birthday.

Oh, what a struggle to figure out the right thing to do! I certainly want to encourage his creativity in the kitchen, but at the same time, I think it's important for him to think through what he's making and what types of ingredients go well together. I want to steer him towards recipes, but at the same time, where would the top chefs of the world be if they were told they could only cook from recipes???

I'm pretty much fine with the experimenting . . . it's just the having to eat it part that I struggle with. Do I tell him it's delicious? Or do I tell the truth - that bread crumbs, chopped peanuts, garlic, ketchup and Italian dressing do not add up to a combination that's not quite my cup of tea?

Today, I straddled those two extremes; I used the word "interesting" a lot and praised his creativity in the kitchen. But I was completely relieved when he suggested we same some for Jim - and quickly offered mine as the dish to be saved.

Little Sprout took a different approach. She said that it was unbelievably good . . . so good in fact, that she couldn't even eat it. Big Sprout, on the other hand, thought it was the most delicious thing ever.

So I really want to know . . . what would you do? Do you give your kids free reign in the kitchen? Suggest they work from recipes? Give them a set, complementary group of ingredients to work from? I need some ideas! Right now I'm leaning towards letting him do one completely independent experiment for every dish he cooks from a recipe . . . but I'm still not sure how to handle the taste tests.

Meal preparation and food photography by Big Sprout. I'm going to skip the recipe and Sprout Ratings on this one!

Kids in the Kitchen - Tofurky Reuben

Tonight, I had the treat of enjoying a dinner cooked by someone other than myself - and even better, cooked by Big Sprout. As part of a regular series for the blog, he will be choosing something to prepare on a regular basis and photographing / blogging about the results.

His first selection, the Tofurky Reuben, was adapted from Isa's Tempeh Reuben in Vegan with a Vengeance, but he put his own spin on it to turn it into an original recipe. The bread is toasted instead of fried, the tempeh is replaced with Tofurky and the dressing is simplified kid-style.

It's still, of course, not the healthiest dish, but all four of us love a Reuben as a treat from time to time - and Sunday is our usual night for a quick, comfort-food type dinner. We're also not big on meat substitutes, but I like that Tofurky doesn't contain soy protein isolates, nitrates or MSG.

So now I'm turning it over to Big Sprout to tell you the rest.

I was looking at a cookbook, and all of a sudden I found this recipe that looked so, so, so delicious. And then, I chose to make it on a Sunday night. The whole family voted 5 sprouts, and my sister even tried to give it 5 1/2. Now I'll write the recipe:

Big Sprout's Tofurky Reuben

Sandwich Ingredients

8 slices bread (pumpernickel or rye work best)

8 pickle slices

1 avocado

2 cups sauerkraut

1 package Tofurky deli slices

Dressing Ingredients

2 tablespoons ketchup

1/3 cup Veganaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preparation

First, make the dressing by mixing the dressing ingredients together. Put the bread in the toaster oven until it's lightly toasted. While the bread is toasting, heat the sauerkraut and Tofurky. Cut the avocado in half, take out the pit, slice each side and remove the slices with a spoon. Put dressing on every piece of bread. On four pieces of bread, stack pickles, avocado, Tofurky and sauerkraut. Put the empty pieces of bread on top. Cut each sandwich, and then you eat it.

Sprout Ratings
Big Sprout - 5 sprouts
Little Sprout - 5 sprouts
Mama Sprout - 5 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 5 sprouts