Pick Me Up

Hopefully spring is on the way. Winter has been nothing to complain about this year, but I am longing for green grass and colorful flowers. I recently came across a little pick me up for any dish. I saw it on a show on the Food Network called Arti's Party. I have been dabbling in Indian food lately, so I made my first Aloo Gobi (curried cauliflour and potatoes). The first thing you had to do was make this paste out of ginger and garlic. This paste was super easy to make and can be put into any veggie, rice, or potato recipe. Not only does it taste great, but it will prevent you from getting any of the last colds of the winter, due to garlic and ginger have such great immune boosting properties.

Ginger and Garlic Paste

Enough peeled garlic cloves to fill a 1/2 C. container

Enough peeled and chopped ginger to fill a 1/2 C. container

1/2 C. canola oil

Put all ingrediants in a food processor and process until it looks like a thick paste

Can store in your fridge for up to 3 weeks in a closed container

A Little French Parenting Goes A Long Way

I just finished reading the best child rearing book ever, Bringing Up Bebe. It is about the differences in the way French and Americans raise their children. I have gotten so many good pointers out of this book. They talked about, how at an early age, french children help with the baking in the house. One of the most popular is something called gateau au yaourt (yogurt cake). By the age of 3 or 4 french children are making this cake entirely on their own (minus the oven part.) All the measuring is done using empty yogurt containers so it makes it easy for them. They can make the cake, but they cannot dig into it right away. Everyday around 4:30 the French have a snack, so the children have to wait until then to eat it. This book preaches teaching children patience and independence and this is just one example. Now if you know me, you know that I am a control freak. I am reforming, but it is a slow process:) So, the thought of letting my kids take over the kitchen and make a mess without my guidance was scary. But, I took a breath and told the kids that they would be making a cake for breakfast tomorrow by THEMSELVES. They were so excited. It was hard when I saw Maddy putting the dry ingrediants in without mixing the wet ones first. I cringed, but didn't step in. Eventually she noticed it on her own. The cake smells delicious and I am sure it will be good when we have it tomorrow, but more importantly, it taught some huge lessons for the kids and for me. The kids gained alot of confidence by doing it on their own and I gave away some control. Here is the recipe if you are brave enough to attempt it. They even cleaned up the kitchen when they were done:)

Gateau au Yaourt

2-6 oz. containers of whole milk vanilla or plain yogurt(use these empty containers to measure the other ingrediants)

2 eggs

2 containers sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

just under 1 container canola or veggie oil

4 containers flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 375

Combine all wet ingrediants and mix. Add dry ingrediants to wet. If you want you can add 2 containers of frozen berries or chocolate chips at this point. Pour into greased 9 inch round cake pan. Bake for 40 minutes. Sprinkle berries and powdered sugar on top to eat.