Cooking with kids: Quick pizza dough

Friday night dinners are made by the oldest owl-cat (10 years old). Owl and I have been surprised at how able he is in the kitchen. I think most kids like to get into the kitchen and feel independent, but maybe that is because I did. The funny thing is, my mother hated to cook, so instead of believing me that I liked to cook, she did most of the cooking as a service to me. I am guessing that she thought I would have to do enough of that later. (I love you, Mom.)

Owl had his own night to cook from age 8. He remembers making cinnamon rolls and jambalaya. Owl had a lot of siblings (10). They all learned to cook well with that much experience, and now family dinners are very tasty events.

Kids will need supervision making pizza at first (especially with the oven), but the patience required will come easily as you think forward to all those great meals they are going to cook for you in your old age.

Quick Pizza Dough

Dry stuff:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

Wet stuff:

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons yeast*

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons oil

0. Heat oven to 425 degrees

1. Mix wet stuff.

2. Mix dry stuff.

3. Add wet stuff to dry stuff and mix very well. You can use a mixer like a KitchenAid or Bosch, but hands work well too. It just takes longer (and then you have crazy dough hands you can chase your little brother with).

4. Let rest 5 minutes.

5. Oil your pan. 

6. Press into pan with oiled hands (pictured below). If there are a few flour lumps, just massage them as you press out the dough. If the dough doesn't want to stretch out, just let it rest a few minutes and then go back to pressing it.

6. Add pizza ingredients (Owl-cats like spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.)

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

8. Enjoy!

*I am baking at high altitude. If this doesn't rise nicely for you sea-level devils, try 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast.

Pressing out the pizza dough.

And for the grownups--deep dish veggie pizza with alfredo

Weekday vegetarian feast: chana masala

Owl holding his dinner so patiently. He quotes Parks and Rec, more or less: "Tom is a foodie, which apparently means he takes pictures of his food instead of eating it."

Sometimes you just need to celebrate Wednesdays.

We did.

• Chana masala (Indian chickpea curry)
• Brown rice
• Cabbage salad--this one (with apple cider vinegar and a bit of stone ground mustard in the dressing) because I didn't have time for this one, which looks amazing
• Naan
• And frozen peas for the little one

What we thought: Can we eat like this every night? The owl-cats stuffed the chana masala in their naan, and I almost did a jig right there. My kids are eating chickpeas! Hallelujah!

Happy Lunes de Aguas! Caterpillar bread

Once upon a time Owl lived as a missionary in Salamanca, where the Monday after Easter week finds the city picnicking on the banks of the River Tormes. The reasons for doing so are long past (thank goodness), but we have adopted this lovely tradition of a spring picnic by water. Owl remembers walking with the rest of the town down to the river, past university buildings and farms. Everyone eats hornazo, a bready meat pie with an ornate top crust. We usually make calzones, an Italian relative of hornazo, and a convenient individual-sized picnic food.

This year we found this recipe for caterpillar bread, elegant long stuffed breads that resemble caterpillars. We used the dough and shaping instructions, but filled it with mozzarella, tomato sauce, and ground beef (because that is what we had). The dough is easy and fun to work with. I was tempted to default to my regular pizza dough, but I am glad I did not. I doubled the recipe. I don't know if I miscalculated, but I had to add more flour (1 cup for the doubled recipe) than it called for to get it to the right consistency.

Dough recipe

Our improvised filling (for 10 caterpillar breads, or double the dough recipe):
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic
1 glug olive oil
1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 lb. ground beef
spices to taste: basil, oregano, salt, pepper
ground caterpillars (just kidding)

Saute onion in olive oil until tender. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. (23 seconds) Add tomatoes and spices. Simmer until reduced by half at least. You want this fairly dry or it will split the dough when cooking.

In separate pan, brown the ground beef. Add it to tomato sauce.

Use these excellent instructions to roll, fill, and shape.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

What we thought: Delicious--and fun to eat. It is easy to segment these breads, like an orange. The owl-cats devoured them. The almost-two-year-old loved that it was caterpillar bread. Next time we may lessen the elegance by decorating with sliced olives for eyes. We will also read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Quick Vegetable Lasagna

The ethical issue with this recipe is, do you tell your children that they are devouring mushrooms and zucchini and begging for more? Or do you keep that little secret to yourself?

This isn't an issue for my sister L.W. who gave me this recipe since her children (enviably) beg for zucchini as such.

Vegetable Lasagna

With practice you can put this together in less than 30 minutes--now that is quick for lasagna--unless you really want to put that stuff from the frozen aisle into your body. Do remember to let the lasagna sit 15 minutes after baking so that you are not slurping lasagna soup.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves minced garlic
3 cups sliced zucchini (about 2 medium)
2 cups sliced mushrooms (about 8 oz.)
1 28-oz jar spaghetti sauce (or homemade, but then how quick would it be?)
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons basil
1 16-oz container ricotta or cottage cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg, optional
8 oz. lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
chopped parsley

0. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Heat oil in skillet. Add onion. When tender, add garlic, just letting it hit the pan and sizzle for maybe 10 seconds. Add zucchini and mushrooms and saute until tender. Add spaghetti sauce, basil, and oregano. Simmer 15 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl mix ricotta or cottage cheese, egg (if using), and Parmesan cheese. (I quite like the texture of mixing them in my food processor.)
3. In a 9 x 13 pan layer 1/3 sauce, 1/2 noodles, 1/2 cheese mixture, and 1/2 mozzarella cheese. Repeat, ending with sauce. Sprinkle parsley on top. Alternatively, you can cover the top with mozzarella if hiding the vegetables will make them more likely to be eaten.
4. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake covered 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15 minutes longer. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Note: Can also be made day before and refrigerated until baking. It usually takes 10-15 extra minutes of cooking time.