come cook with me at the fearless kitchen!

come cook with me at the fearless kitchen on tuesday, november 4th!

click this link to RSVP!  let's get cooking with kids - "taste test" series 

**UPDATE!  bring a friend for FREE!  the promotion code will come up in your registration!**

have you ever heard of the lovely peterson garden project?  my girlfriend jennifer suggested i apply to be an instructor at their new "taste test" series.  i had learned about their stellar chicago projects through the food patriots and fell in love with them.

so i did.  i jumped. i applied. they have accepted me.

oh dear lord.

i have done plenty of cooking classes in my own kitchen with kids, done demo's etc... but never something all official like this for adults.  i love that it's set up to be for 1st time instructors, or for those who want to "test out" a new class concept.  

i'm so excited, i'm so nervous, i'm sure i'll feel like i have to go to the bathroom just like i did before i took the softball field.  it's time to go balls out once again!

it's my big.first.game as a cooking instructor!  fake it till you make it i say.

i hope you can come fill one of the lucky 20 spots.  be gentle with me.  we'll be cooking and eating three + food revolution recipes that i enjoy cooking with my kids.  i'll be sharing my tips and tricks to get cooking with kids, our own food revolution story and how i got involved in this whole real food waterfall with JOFR.  more than anything else, i hope you leave armed with a few new recipes, a belly full of good food (it's BYOB too!!!), inspiration to start cooking from scratch more often and sore cheeks from laughing with me in the fearless kitchen. 

minestrone soup

everyday chopped salad

simplest fruit salad

homemade ranch & a jam jar vinaigrette 

doesn't that sound delicious!?  

i'll see you there!

ps

i'll bring the music

polenta pizza - a balancing act

most of the time, i find cooking fun, even cathartic at times, especially when i cook with my family and friends... and it's often quite hilarious when my kids join me.

however, it's getting my family to be joyful eaters that is so very horrifically frustrating at times.  i guess if i'm not always excited to cook, why should i expect them to always be happy to eat?  would i be excited to cook all the time if i could be guaranteed sheer dining pleasure at the kitchen table?  i often have dinner on the table late (sorry honey, that time thing is tricky dicky), and then when i do get it on the table, i simply adore the suspicious looks on my family's leary faces.  will my kids ever wax poetic about my cooking, and someday cook the cherished recipes with their own families?

i have some work to do if i'm gonna make the "tried and true" dream come true...

i'm cooking up food love for all of the up and down moments, regardless if i get love back or not.  it's the end game i'm after.  and so far, i'm getting more love than not, and that's what's keeping this crazytrain on the tracks.

here's our latest cooking escapade over polenta pizza.  i have never made polenta from scratch (just bought it prepackaged in a tube).  perhaps that's why my family has never eaten polenta and liked it.  it's my latest ambassador recipe smash with terri salminen, a dear friend, ambassador and chef from the netherlands.

terri's rosemary polenta and pizza gialla

i learned three very important things in this polenta making experience:

1- do NOT skip the cooling of the crust.  i didn't think it was important for my first attempt, so that resulted in a polenta "bake", with only the edges getting crusty = not pizza.
2- you MUST flip the pizza crust (i ignored this step) to really get it nice and crispy.  terri reminded me of this essential step (she spent a week recipe testing this badboy) and i cannot wait to try it again = think about your pan selection.
3- let the pizza rest at least 15-20 min out of the oven to let the polenta cool into a more solid, cohesive crust.  i thought i biffed the recipe up again, only to find a beautiful, solid crust had formed after we put the kids down to bed = you will love love love these leftovers.
4- shake it off if it doesn't turn out how you or your eaters expect.  for a recipe is just a set of directions for all of us to experience & make our own with gumption... i am making the pine nut and garlic pizza gialla next terri!!!

punkdisiliousness,
xoxoL

an ambassador smash - polenta pizza on youtube

ps

and here are more hot.off.the.press recipe notes from terri for our next batch!

"let your polenta cool really well — let’s say make it at lunch and put it in the refrigerator till dinner — When it has had time to cool, it also sets into a more solid “dough” — We have to coax the cornmeal to do what we want it to do. Oh and one more thing — the topping has to be light — otherwise when you pick up the pizza slice it breaks because of the weight of the filling."

thank you thank you terri, muah!

today is food day - let's get cooking with our KIDS!

the mullies get's cooking with kids! Food Day 2013

happy food day 2013 party people!!  let's celebrate and have some fun in our kitchens tonight!!

me and my friendly imovie-loverpad put this little ditty together.  i'm just warming up folks!

i invited two amazing families over to cook together in honor of food day today and it never ceases to amaze me how fun it is when we cook.with.our.kids.  yup, this stuff is not getting old...  but you know what is getting crusty?  the horrifying statistic that says my kids' generation is going live a shorter life span than my generation.  sob.  and how about the fact that more people are going to die from obesity than hunger today...  and then there is the lovely news that our grand USofA ranks 50th globally in life expectancy. but i digress... teaching my kids about real food and how to cook is the only way i can help make sure they won't be shackled to "take out" for every meal when they fly fly away from me.

unleash your inner-cook you wild stallion you!  i was navigating around the foodday.org site and found a free cooking class link here.  i was floored to find it available to all and will definitely be checking it out.

needless to say, dinner was a slam DUNK.  below i have included my gluten and dairy free recipe adaptations from the amazing food day cookbook (that is where you'll find the three original recipes we chose to whip up - i have not included the recipe directions as the interweb is running out of ink and i really want you to see the cookbook.  HA!).

i hope you like cooking and eating the recipes as much as we did.

**warning** before embarking on any cooking tonight, please fasten your aprons securely and play this music immediately.  feel free to show the children how to dance properly (running man please).  pump up your jams and let the cooking partay begin.

quick tostados
(we doubled this recipe!)

1 T coconut oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cartons black beans
1/4 tsp salt
2 c cooked shredded organic chicken breast
6 c shredded romaine
1/4 c sheeps milk yogurt (sweet arse replacement for sour cream... not dairy free, only cow free)
gf tortilla chips/tostados/tortillas
3 avocado diced (we love to eat these pupppies)
1/2 c organic shredded cheese (we also served vegan "daiya" cheese)
1/2 c chopped cilantro

carrot, sweet potato & ginger soup 
(the surprise recipe star of the evening)

2 T coconut oil
1 lb carrots
1 lb sweet potatoes
1 bunch scallions sliced
1/2 c chopped celery
1 garlic clove minced/grated
1 T chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp sea salt
4 T chopped fresh cilantro
1 T fresh lime juice
6 oz baby bok choy, stem ends trimmed, cut into 1/2 in slices

apple crisp
(this was completely prepared by our two 7th grade cooks, sarah and thea!)

toppings
1/3 c gf old fashioned oats
1/2 c gf flour
1/4 c chopped almonds
2 T almond flour
1/4 c coconut palm sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1 T cold coconut oil, cut into pieces
2 T melted coconut oil
1 -2 T cold water

filling
9 apples
1/4 c fresh organic lemon juice
3 T maple syrup
2 T gf flour


that's.where.the.party's.at.and.you'll.find.out.if.you.cook.that.

wish me luck, i'm off to pass out 1300 apples to the students here in district 76 for our big apple crunch!  i wonder how many loose front teeth will be lost today in apples... or if my swagger van will ever lose the sweet smell... :)

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH


xoxo



ps

need more food day inspo!?  go back in time with our first mullies cooking class and then to our suit and tie party.  so what if you get your kitchen messy.  i don't have a fruit fly problem at all.  nope.