A dad and three boys in the kitchen

Turbo filets and squash

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:23:00 +0000

I really have to remember to start taking pictures of our dinners again. Today, I left to pick up my 5 year old and gave the older two instructions--place turbo fillets on one pan (we had an incident a couple days ago where something went awry because dinner ended up being cooked on two pans and taking twice as long), top with melted butter mixed with cooking wine and lemon juice, place thinly sliced squash and leeks on top, put on a little olive oil. They did it very nicely and dinner was wonderful. Even the presentation with the yellow squash looked very nice. Thanks boys!

Joshua's spanikopita

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:07:00 +0000

Joshua was in charge of a second recent batch of spanikopita today. We have a ton of something called "lambs quarters"--it is a type of wild spinach. We have used it twice to make spanikopita. Today, Joshua was in charge of removing the spanikoptia from the stems, clarifying butter, sauteeing the vegetables for the filling, and then working with the phyllo dough. We did get Daniel involved a little bit--he helped with some of the phyllo dough. And even Christopher helped--by taking care of finishing the baking while we went to a birthday party. The spanikopita was for a second party this afternoon and it was well received by all. We'll probably make at least one more batch before the summer is over. This has been a very popular product to receive from our community supported agriculture farm this summer.

Stir fry on bagels

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:25:00 +0000

Today, I sent my soon to be 11 year old on his first walking mission to get one thing at the grocery store. Of course, I walked to get my parents stuff from the store when I was 11, but it was in 1981 and I had to go only around the corner. I am proud of my middle son as he got there and back safely, handled the money properly, and asked the employee when he could not find what he was looking for. What did I send him for? Heavy duty aluminum foil. Why? We needed it to bake bacon with dinner.

Dinner tonight was stir fried squash served with crispy bacon and grated Muenster cheese on an open faced homemade bagel. The recipe was my creation. My oldest son did most of the cooking. And the combination was enjoyed by all.

I am so proud of my boys. I don't know what I'll do once they are back in school and they have less time to spend cooking. I think it will be nice when I don't have so many days per week to go to the chiropractor. While he has been a great help and become a good friend as well as an important influence on my health and training, I will be glad to get to a point at which I will have only one visit per week rather than three.

Pizza Made by My Sons

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:10:00 +0000

I did not get a picture of this one, but today I made a pizza dough before I left for work at 8:10. I sent an email to my boys, and when I got home after seven, everyone else had already eaten and the pizza was mighty good. What did my boys do? The older two divided up responsibilities. My middle one took the dough out to let it finish rising. Then he spread it on a pizza pan. My oldest one topped it. We had a combination of mozzarella, feta, mango/chicken sausage, red onion, and lamb quarters (which some people would mistake for a week but which is a nice substitue for spinach). It was a wonderfully flavored pizza enjoyed by all--including my 5 year old who had a piece and and a half just as I did. I had a couple of brown rice cakes (that my five year old made me buy) to finish off the dinner with enough calories. Next time my kids cook, I'll make sure to get a picture.

Crusty Italian Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:19:00 +0000

Had some of the best Crusty Italian Rolls I have made yet this morning. Made two big enough to make full steak sandwiches with them. The steak was not frozen, but instead was from a nice sizes steak that I sliced as thinly as I could. The other good thing. While I could have let the rolls rise a bit longer, I was at least able to go from start to finish in less than 2 hours.

Now I am considering offering some homemade bread for the student assembly auction. I figure, one homemade recipe a month for the rest of the school year after the auction on Dec 10. I could do, Crusty Italian, Wheat, Lion House Rolls, Naan Pockets, and something else. It would be fun. And I like helping the student assembly at the School of Public Health as the travel funds have benefitted one of my advisees. My advisee is also the president of the student assembly this year, so she can appeal to me directly.

Baking for teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Today's baking adventure? In some ways it is not much of an adventure. Making Lion House Rolls, although not quite as early in the morning as I usually do on a weekday. With teaching, I put in some pretty long hours, and I was not out of bed before 5 this morning. Of course, my 4 year old was up already so he helped and that always adds to the adventure (in a good way)!

Today's baking is not for us. We have parent-teacher conferences at the kids' school today. They have a tradition of asking parents to provide potluck dishes for the teachers. So this is our contribution. All good fun.

Otherwise, food for the day is just "whatever". Cereal for breakfast. Not sure what others will have for lunch while I'm at work. Pasta for dinner.

Brief updates

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0000

Crepes for my 4 year old yesterday (and for the rest of us as well, although they were at the request of my 4 year old) and Lion house rolls made this morning which are serving as lunch for most of us (maybe Sherry) and as part of dinner with slow cooked ribs for the family this evening. Good days for cooking. Slow cooked ribs for dinner on a soggy day will be just right this evening.

A productive Sunday & Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:18:00 +0000

On Sunday we had a great day in the kitchen. We made a batch of mozzarella in the morning. It turned out okay but not great. It was not as soft as the best one I've made so far. I did, however, leave the whey afterward to sit for 12 hours (as I'd found as a suggestion on a website by a chemistry professor somewhere) and then I cooked the whey a bit longer than usual as I set it cooking while reading bedtime stories to my 4 year old. I used a reusable coffee filter to filter the whey and ended up with a great output of ricotta that tasted great. One of these times I'll get both the mozzarella and ricotta right. Used milk from Chambersburg this time. Comes in thick glass bottles with deposit and return.

Today, we made pretzels at breakfast time for lunch. Served them with cream cheese or ricotta and jellies of various sorts. Even made a braided soft pretzel or two. Then, for dinner made pizza. First time in a while that I was able to make the pizza with dough made at the time rather than making the dough early and refrigerating. Made my kids happy with the quality. Use the mozzarella and ricotta from Sunday on the pizzas and an organic pepper on one of the two.

Two great days in the kitchen. Going to try to keep it up with my boys while teaching over the next eight weeks.

Soft pretzels--boiled and baked

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:44:00 +0000

Serving soft prretzels hot off the pan after boiling and baking has won my sons over.

Crepes and Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:31:00 +0000

Well, we have had a number of adventures since my last post. I tried cheese again on the morning of the half marathon. Of the three recipes of cheese I've made so far, the one that I made at 4 in the morning on the day I ran the half marathhon was the best by far. Perhaps I need to make it early in the morning again. My 3rd attempt turned out a little soft, but my ricotta turned out better.

Today, we had cocoa crepes for breakfast. Those were fund and also served as lunch for my older two boys.

For dinner, we had pizza. I had made the dough this morning. I could have cooked it thir morning too, but I have been generally unhappy with the consinstency of the pizza at dinner time if a cooked pizza is quickly putt in the fridge for the day. So, I made the dough into the right shape, had Joshua a relatively small amount of sauce on, had Daniel put grated Parmesan on, and put our "spreadable mozzarella on and wrapped it in foil. Since it took up the entire middle shelf in the fridge, Christopher used his Sharpee to write on in "Please don't crush me" and the pizza turned out to make a thick 16" pizza that fed my family of five for dinner.

What a blessing.

Biscuits, cheese, and corn bread

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +0000

Yesterday morning it was biscuits for breakfast. Yesterday evening we made mashed potatoes with bacon and crab meat cooked mixed in. Wow, was that good, especially with Old Bay sprinkled on top. Last night the boys and I tried making cheese. It turned out okay. Main lesson--don't use ultrapasteurized milk. We may try again today with just me and my four year old. Finally, this morning making corn bread.

Bright and early baking

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:56:00 +0000

I was up late reading and working last night. So, this morning I didn't get out of bed till after 5. I thought it was going to be raining, so I didn't plan to run. I'll do a short run this evening.

In any case, looking ahead to a crazy day (with kids going to activities from when I drop them off at school this morning until after 6 tonight) I already have one thing in the oven and one thing ready to go.

What is in the oven? Corn bread. Plain and simple corn bread. Not pone. Nothing else special. Just corn bread--although still using meal from the local stone grinding mill.

What is ready to go? A 16" extra cheese and pepperoni pizza? It will have taken less than 1 hr 15 minutes from start to finish (except for cooling off) when all is said and done. We'll see how it turns out. Then, tonight we'll just microwave it for dinner. Still should be good, and better than any local takeout option!

Just want to avoid those takeout options. Too much $ and not really all that exciting in most cases.

Later this week--we'll try making homemade mozzarella on the day I'm home with Daniel!

Another yummy morning--with a smoke detector incident...

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:23:00 +0000

Today, I got a "late" start. I was not up until almost 5 and not back from my run until 6. So, after a shower and giving my 4 year old a bath, I made crepes with vanilla in them for my sons' breakfast. I ate other stuff (including a banana for the potassium after my run). My 4 year old identified the vanilla flavoring without my even saying. It was pretty cool and the crepes turned out very nicely.

While making the crepes, I made a recipe of pone (essentially corn bread) that I mentioned once before. It is quick--no yeast but does involve scalded milk which my sons helped with. This time I used "regular" corn meal rather than "roasted corn meal" and added just a little sugar. We'll see if my kids like the flavor better than when I made it with roasted corn meal. The smoke detector incident was that the batter nearly overflowed the dish in which I baked it. As a result, it was bubbling over a bit as it baked. And, when the little bit that bubbled over hit the bottom of the oven, it created smoke. I think that I have to check the smoke detector nearest the kitchen as it did not go off! But the upstairs smoke detector (one floor above the oven) did go off. We turned on the oven vent, we turned on the ceiling fan, and we even opened the kitchen window on this chilly morning. The kids tried to help the smoke dissipate near the smoke detector. It would stop--then it would start again. Over and over again in the last ten minutes of baking. For the final two minutes, my kids just gave up and I was worried a neighbor might call the fire department. Fortunately, no calls to the fire department. We'll see just how it tastes with ham at dinner!

Great morning in the kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:55:00 +0000

So, I began today with ann early dog walk, run, and quick shower. After the shower, I entertained my 4 year old making pretzel dough. When all was said and done we have about 20 pretzels. We baked them in two batches--one with Old Bay that I took for lunch with students in my department and one with cinnamon and sugar that made a wonderful breakfast. The boys were glad to help. Christopher also started dinner for us all--simple pasta but it was a big help. Goals are limited this week with Sherry being away.

Pretzels and Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:27:00 +0000

So, the boil before baking pretzels I made last night got mixed reviews. Daniel and I liked them. The older boys did not. I told the older boys to give them one more chance before we go back to the old egg wash/bake only recipe. I was in a rush by the time they finished baking last night and put them in a contained to store before they were fully cooled. A little soggy from condensation this morning. If you are interested in the recipe you can find it here. It pays to make sure the pan is well greased and the pretzels are as dry as possible after boiling and before you put them on the pan. I have to agree with other FB friends who have said that boiling first makes all the difference in the consistency when they are done.

This evening, I was thinking of trying a whole wheat challah recipe. I didn't have enough eggs. So, in the end I made m now standard whole wheat, honey, corn meal bread recipe--but I braided the loaves just to make them look pretty. We'll see if I got them the right consistency for a good meal in the morning.

Starting and ending the day in the kithcen

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Short and sweet:

I began my day making Lion House Rolls.

I end my day trying a new soft pretzel recipe. If my family likes it, I'll post the link. This is a boiled before baked kind.

I have started and ended the day because I can't figure out how to fit in running when I bake at this point. LIfe is too busy. But it is all good.

13 Year Old Pizza Maker

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:05:00 +0000

Those who read my FB posts already have seen most of this. Today's food fun was crepes for breakfast for the first time in a while (I ate mine with quince preserves and the kids had theirs with nutella). For dinner, I instructed my 13 year old on how to make a homemade pizza himself. He did a splendid job--one extra thick 16" pizza, with 1 lb of grated fresh mozzarella, a whole can of Dom Pepino sauce, and turkey pepperoni. Enough made that we have 2 1/2 pieces left that can be lunch for the kids tomorrow.

Food extravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:27:00 +0000

Since yesterday morning's first attempt at homemade pop-tarts, my family has had a food extravaganza.

First, we went to a Greek festival and enjoyed pastitsio, gyros, and tiropita along with a long list of deserts. Diples was a favorite. Picked up a Greek cookbook. Combining that with recipes from my FB friends, we are ready for an increasingly Mediterranean diet.

Second, when I went to pick up Christopher from his Saturday music program, we stopped at a butcher shop on the way home. Bought 4 beautiful pork chops. Cooked those in a little canola oil and served green onions sauteed in the fat on top. That was great. My 4 year old asked for homemade bread to use for dipping in the olive oil we bought at the Greek festival yesterday. My wife says I spoil him but I could not resist. in 80 minutes we had crusty Italian rolls. I must say that despite somewhat short rising times (and this is something I don't generally recommending taking short cuts on) the rolls were very good and in the olive oil they were wonderful.

This morning we made quince pop tarts. The quince is an awesome flavor. We made the pop tarts 4x4 rather than 2x3. They turned out better but you have to bake them more like 15-17 minutes rather than 7-8. We still have not used the frosting recipe. In any case, click here for the recipe link. I have to hand it to the boys. The boys made almost the entire recipe by themselves.

Also this morning, I braised a boneless leg of lamb that is now in the crock pot and we are almost done more rolls to go with lunch.

Great day so far. Hoping for good things to come.

Pretzel Pie & Pop-Tarts

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:44:00 +0000

It's been a couple days since I wrote in here. Two fun days with foods. Let me first post a few back pictures. Let's begin with pear-prusciutto pizza:

Next, the heirloom tomato pizza:

Then, the Italian sausage and couscous with smoked mozzarella (plate from before I was born!):

The last two, I have to write a bit about. Yesterday, we made a pretzel recipe in the morning that yielded a dozen pretzels--half a dozen with Old Bay and half a dozen with cinnamon and sugar. (We tried not to sprinkle Old Bay onto the ones right next to them with cinnamon). We baked the pretzels on a round pan. The boys placed them close enough together that they touched while baking. When they were done, I was able to slide the whole dozen off as a circle onto the cooling rack. The kids called in a "Pretzel Pie".

Finally, this morning, I followed up on a post from earlier in the week when I mentioned that I had organic pomegranate toaster pastries. I found a recipe and gave it a try. This first batch turned out okay. I need a jam that is slightly less runny and I need to either toast them after baking or bake them a little longer. Rather than using a sugar-icing topping, we used Nutella and sprinkles. Here is a picture of the ten "pop-tarts". We used homemade cherry freezer jam as the filling. Great combination with the chocolate and hazelnuts.

Multiple adventures

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:41:00 +0000

Back in the kitchen today. It was a lot of fun.

Began the day with a double recipe of soft pretzels before school. Of the 20 pretzels, 14 were covered with cinnamon and sugar. I showed my kids how much you have to put on the really taste it. Those with enough on really taste yummy. The other 6--at long last I tried my Baltimore Old Bay Pretzels. They were wonderful. Even my 4 year old says he like them! While we ate pretzels with cinnamon and sugar for breakfast, we saved the Old Bay for lunch. That would not have been a good breakfast.

On the way home, I bought 8 sausage links. At a local store they carry multiple varieties of Italian sausage--just "sweet", fennel, rosemary, etc. In any case, I got two of each of four varieties. Cooked them in a pan. Had my 13 year old cut them to 1/2 in slices. My 4 year old cut s bunch of green onions into pieces. Fried those in the fat left over from the sausages with a tiny bit of red wine vinegar. Then cooked couscous with a bit of olive oil. Mixed the sausage slices, couscous, and green onions together. Made a great dinner along with smoked mozzarella.

Finally (this was just for me although I'm sure a bit of non-alcoholic orange beverage could be substituted in this recipe) I made a cool, summery (it is 80+ degrees and ridiculously humid today), slushy for a snack. Mix 1 small lemon (seeded if you have a regular blender or not if you have a high powered blender), 6 ice cubes, 1/4 cup of orange muscat desert wine, and 1/4 cup of pomegranate juice (we use a mix that is all juice but not pure pomegranate). Blend until smooth. Nice mix of tart and sweet flavors without having to add any sugar.

Cashing in on hard work

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:54:00 +0000

The pizza I made yesterday morning was enjoyed by all last night for dinner. One down side of making such a heavy pizza in the morning is that it was a bit soggy by dinner time. Have to work on the timing issues there in the future.

The whole wheat bread was used by my boys for lunch yesterday and they'll have more for today and probably tomorrow as well. They seem to enjoy it.

The "cashing in" part comes from my own experience into today. Last night after I got home I ate dinner while Sherry ran the two older boys to their respective musical activities. Then, I gave Daniel a bath, but him to bed, did the dishes, picked Joshua up, stopped at the grocery store, and finally ended up back at home. After which I turned around and drove to Bethesda. (Did I mention packing for an overnight stay in Bethesda for an NIH meeting on the list above? Must have forgotten that one. It was a busy evening.)

In any case, when I went to pick up Joshua, I asked Christopher to make me two sandwiches of just honey on whole wheat. I brought them to Bethesda with me. (This is one of the reasons I can't imagine leaving Baltimore--when I need to be at the NIH or in DC I can "brown bag it" for at least part of the trip.) The sandwich is right now an awesome breakfast along with "organic fruit punch" drink boxes after a hard workout. Being nourished by what I have the good fortune to have the time and money to make with my own hands and my kids' help is a great thing.

Brief side observation--I am always amazed when I make breads. When I mix dry ingredients that are all over the bowl when I begin with the wet ingredients, I end up with a ball of dough that never seems large enough to contain all the ingredients. Then, thanks to the yeast, it rises and becomes twice as big. The whole process is pretty amazing.

Making a dent in a 10 pound bag of stone ground wheat flour

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:48:00 +0000

I sit here typing at 6:45 AM and I have already had a great morning. We'll hope that the rest of the day is as productive.

My main accomplishment this morning--making a serious dent in a 10 pound bag of stone ground whole wheat flour that I got at the mill on Saturday.

First, I made the whole wheat, corn, honey bread that I made a few weeks ago. This time, I had the recently ground, stone ground whole wheat flour. Also, this time I used roasted corn meal rather than regular corn meal (that was also from the mill). Finally, this time I had the right amount of honey. My 13 year old took one bite and said "This is good!" I have to agree. The roasted corn meal definitely adds to the flavor.

Right now, in the oven, I have a whole wheat pizza baking. This morning, I ran out of yeast--had about half what I needed--so I threw in some baking powder. It worked really well. I topped a 16 inch pizza with a full pound of mozzarella, a beautiful orange heirloom tomato, and ground parmesan. Good eats for dinner tonight. I'll be home, but too late to do the pizza from scratch tonight.

Have a great day!

Sunday morning

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:21:00 +0000

Well, it was 8 o'clock when I sat down at the computer. It's now 8:15 as I gave up on my laptop and switched to my desktop for the blog entry.

Great morning so far. I ran this morning and all the pain I had in my knee a few weeks ago is gone. That is a plus in preparation for the half-marathon in three weeks.

The sandwiches for the potluck at the mill yesterday were well received. After a potluck with very nutritious foods including an awesome fig chutney we went to Dairy Queen. Almost the exact opposite of what we'd had for dinner in terms of nutrition but it was a fun treat.

This morning I made buckwheat crepes using the stone ground buckwheat flour we bought at the mill yesterday. Not quite freshly ground but close. Those were good crepes. Although my 4 year old said he did not like the flavor. It may also have been the consistency as they really are a bit different from the crepes I usually make.

Also this morning I tried my hand at Sally Lunn bread--at least that's what the recipe in my cookbook calls it. It is a yeast-based sweet bread that you bake in a bundt pan. Next time I try it I'll have to bake it a minute or two longer and/or wait a few minutes to take it out of the pan. The bread tastes good but it fell entirely out of shape when I turned it of the pan. My 10 year old made the astute observation that it tastes a lot like the Lion House Rolls. Most of the same ingredients--just different proportions and a different shape. When I get it right, I'll take a picture.

A Fun Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:03:00 +0000

Started today late. Catching up on sleep. Found my 4 year old and my young cat at the foot of the bed when I get up this morning near 7.

After watching Joshua play some online stacking games, I made crepes for everyone else. I ate the last two smaller Lion House rolls that were left over from earlier this week. The crepes were pretty standard. Joshua helped me spread one or two of them. I had Daniel cut bananas to wrap inside them. We served them with banana, a honey spread from the Maryland beekeepers association, and then one the last one I made for Sherry I put a pinch of cinnamon. She said it was a nice touch.

Now I am finishing baking a dozen crusty Italian rolls. Some for us for lunch. Some to take for an afternoon potluck after we tour a grain mill. For the potluck, we'll take fresh mozzarella and tomato (no salami for a mostly vegetarian group) on the Italian rolls.

Baking early

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Frick) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Well, this post is not coming until a bit after 10:30, but I've been up a while and had soft pretzels baked before 4:40. I'm getting in a bit of a rut, but soft pretzels are one of the few yeast-based breads that I can make in less than an hour from start to finish. I was even able to offer one to Daniel before I left at 5:15, but he was not interested. Too early for him this morning, despite the fact that he was up.

Why was I in a rush? I'm blogging before giving a guest lecture in NYC. After two mornings away, I wanted to bake for my family--and for me! The food in State College was good, but I love preparing my own. And, since my guest lecture visit doesn't include lunch, I packed my own. I cooked a 2 1/2 egg omelet (I say 2 1/2 because I used the remaining egg from the egg wash for the pretzels plus two more eggs) with some of the leftover cheddar and browned ground turkey from Tuesday's dinner. Cut the omelet in two, and made two "omelet on pretzel" sandwiches. I'll eat those for lunch. We'll see how they are. It's a promising way to combine leftovers and freshly baked goods.

I also have to hand it to Sherry! I arrived home last night between 7:30 and 8 not having eaten dinner in State College—big breakfast and lunch. I had some of the pesto and spaghetti she’d prepared for dinner. It was great pesto!