Cooking With Kids, and a Gift Idea

October 18, 2017October 18, 2017 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ 2 Comments

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Since around the time that Jack was 2, maybe earlier, I’ve always loved including my kids in the kitchen. Whether I’m making a quick sandwich for lunch, rushing to get dinner made, or baking a two layer intricate cake for a birthday, it’s always more fun when little hands are involved. The best part is that both of my kids have always loved helping me in the kitchen. Who am I kidding, they’ve always loved helping with anything I’m doing: “mama folding laundry?!” “I got it!” they tell me. “Mama sweeping the floors?!” “I got it!” they tell me. “Mama doing e-mails?!” “I got it!!” 😉 Perhaps that’s why I never feel like the laundry is completely washed and folded, the floors never thoroughly swept, e-mails left unattended. However, in the kitchen it’s different. In the kitchen, there’s always a final product. It may not perfect, because the frosting may be too thick in the middle from not being spread evenly, dinner might be overly salted, or someone might find an eggshell in their omelette, but there’s always a final product. Something we all made together in our team effort that we can enjoy together.

Last year, for Isabelle’s first birthday, her Aunt (who is also her Godmother) and Uncle gifted her a few pretty cute gifts, including this incredible Amazing Chef cooking set. On this particular day, Jack really wanted to make something, but I wasn’t quite in the mood to cook so we opened up this gift, that I’m embarrassed to say had been sitting in the cabinet above the fridge for almost a year, and let the kids have fun! Jack especially loved using the knife to cut up the bananas and Isabelle loved dipping them in the chocolate and sprinkles.

If you ever don’t know what birthday present to get younger children, ages 2-8 or older, I can’t image that this cooking set will ever disappoint. It’s so fun and gives the kids so much confidence in the kitchen!

Cheers!

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Kid’s Cheese Pizza

July 10, 2017 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

I looooove pizza! Melted cheese with a delicious crust smothered in tomato sauce?! Yes, please! Making pizza during the summer months is so fun, especially with the kids. They love to roll out the dough and put all the toppings on. This particular day, Jack shaped his pizza dough into “Mickey Mouse” and his excitement was so sweet. He was especially interested in showing his sister, who is obsessed with all things Mickey Mouse, that he’d made a “Mickey Mouse pizza! haha!” Isn’t that one of the best parts about pizza? Each person can have a pizza as they like it, with whichever toppings they enjoy, in whatever shape they want! Square, circle, rectangle, Mickey Mouse shape – it’s creativity and personal preference at its food finest!

When it comes to the pizza dough, we’ve always been partial to store bought pizza, because it’s easy and good. Safeway and Trader Joes make the best, in my opinion. We tried the Whole Foods dough on this day, and it was good – but didn’t cook quite as well as the Safeway and TJ’s dough. Maybe it was user error and we should try again? Either way, Chris got this book for his birthday a few months ago and I’m looking forward to making our own dough later this summer! Rebecca makes a pretty incredible looking Beer Crust Pizza we should try as well, yes Beer Crust! It sounds amazing. Honestly, making our own dough seems so intimidating, and time consuming because what if it fails? But I’m pretty sure we could pull it off, and in the event it doesn’t work out, I’ll make sure to have a bag of store bought dough hidden in the fridge 😉 … To be continued…

See those cute little Mickey Mouse ears? 🙂

No tomato sauce no cheese, add guac pizza! 😉

Cheers!

Quick, No Mess BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos

May 10, 2017May 10, 2017 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ 1 Comment

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DISCLAIMER: I’m not going to guarantee that these are “no mess” pulled pork tacos. But they are quick, easy to clean up, and a crowd pleaser on a hot Tuesday (or any day of the week) when the last thing you want to do is worry about turning on the stove, let alone the oven!

Mexican food has always been one of those things that I enjoy going out for much more than I enjoy making for myself or my family. There’s something fun, and almost comforting about going to a Mexican restaurant. Perhaps it’s because when I was a kid my brothers and I would always request to go to Chevys for our birthday dinners. Each of us always got a batch of tortilla dough to play with while we waited for our food to arrive, and at the end of the meal the waiters would all stand around your table and sing you the most fun, loud, exuberant, hands-clapping Happy Birthday! And pop a big ol’ sombrero on your head at the end! Sometimes, if we went on a Friday or Saturday night there was a balloon man who would stop at each table offering to make any animal figure/sword/doll/whatever out of his balloons. Our parents always obliged – how could they have said no?! It was incredibly fun; celebratory, really. And made our birthday feel special because these strange waiters would sing happy birthday to us!

These, and many other Chevy dinners were my first experience with Mexican food. I believe that since it was such an enjoyable experience it made me fall in love with Mexican food. Fajitas, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, tortilla chips and salsa, guacamole!! You name it…

With these tacos I wanted to recreate, the simple, festive feeling of going to a restaurant right at home. We make this BBQ Pulled Pork every now and then. We should make it more often because it’s so easy! This time we turned it into tacos, and I wish we were having it for dinner again tonight.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb pork shoulder
salt to season
1 can of your favorite BBQ sauce – we used Kinder’s Mild BBQ Sauce
1 medium white onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Guacamole, I prefer to make my own – though store bought would work fine
favorite salsa, we used Casa Sanchez Fire Roasted Medium salsa
1 package of tortillas

INSTRUCTIONS:

I lied, you will have to turn on your stove for 2 minutes. Get out a big pan and put it on medium high, place your pork shoulder on the pan to sear the sides. Season with plenty of salt.
Immediately transfer into a crockpot. Pour a 20oz bottle of BBQ sauce into the crockpot to coat the pork shoulder. Put the lid on and set on high for 6-8 hours.
Meanwhile, chop your onion, cilantro, and salsa. Place in individual ramekins. If you are making your guacamole, prepare no more than 20-30 minutes before serving so that it stays fresh!
When your pork shoulder is done, remove and place on cutting board. Using two forks begin to tear the meat off the bone. It will literally fall off the bone into delicious pieces.
Enjoy!

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Cheers!

(Almost) Guilt Free Oatmeal Pancakes

February 23, 2017March 4, 2017 ~ agustinaskitchen ~ Leave a comment

We love pancakes over here. Sometimes for breakfast, often for dinner, and maybe lunch too. Made from scratch or out of a box or bag – they’re practically foolproof. Especially with a thick(ish) slab of butter and a drizzle of warm maple syrup, who can resist? I definitely can’t, yet I always have a tinge of regret because pancakes have SUGAR, which isn’t something I always want to have at breakfast or dinner. These pancakes are amazing because they only have 1 tablespoon of sugar and oatmeal! I don’t feel guilty eating them or serving them to my family – everybody wins! Make them this weekend, and you won’t regret it either 🙂

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Recipe adapted from pancakes, crepes, waffles & french toast by Hannah Miles

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup oats + a small sprinkle of sugar if desired
1 1/2 cups milk (almond or 2% are what I’ve used and work fine)
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

First, you must make the oat mixture. Put the oats (with a super light dusting of sugar – about a quarter tablespoon, if desired) on a pan over medium heat to toast the oats. About 3 minutes, and remove from heat. Allow to cool and put the oats in one cup of milk. Allow the oats to soak 20 minutes.
To make the batter, put the flour, baking powder, egg, salt, sugar, and milk-soaked oats mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined.
Add the melted butter, and whisk until fully mixed.
Slowly whisk the remaining half cup of milk, making sure the batter does not become too thin. If the batter does get too thin, simply stop adding milk.
To cook the pancakes, put a little butter on a large pan over medium heat so that it lightly coats the pan. Then pour about a quarter to a third cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until the underside of the pancake is golden brown and some bubbles start to form on the top – about 3 minutes. Flip with a spatula until the other side cooks – another 3 minutes. Keep an eye on them!

We don’t have a warmer drawer, so I put the oven at 200 degrees and stack the pancakes in there to keep warm until they’re all done and ready to serve!

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