A few years ago, I realized that we hardly ever ate beans - not the green variety, but, you know, the musical ones. Since they are quite nutritious and cheap, I decided that we really should eat them more. The problem was that we really didn't like them all that well. Kidney beans in chili or taco salad, re-fried beans with Mexican food and an occasional pot of ham and beans with cornbread was about all we ever had. So, Thursdays became our bean day. We would have beans of some kind every, or at least most, Thursdays. The first week, nobody was too excited about their bowl of lentils, but Todd told them they all had to eat as many bites as they were old and proceeded to eat his 37 spoonfuls. By the 3rd week, the kids were asking for beans more than once a week. One of their favorite meals was split pea soup. So now, we have some form of beans quite often, although we do still try to have them on Thursdays even if we have them other days. (This week we ended up without a bean day because of some scheduling and needing to use up some ingredients in the fridge.)
Today, the kids asked if we could start having meals from different parts of the country, world and ages. So we decided that we'd do that on Monday or Tuesday. There are a couple of books that I'd like to look at for this - one of them is called "Eat Your Way Through the USA", the other one is "Eat Your Way Around the World". I've found some websites with recipes from different times in history that I'll be looking at. To accompany these meals, we will have each of the children write a five-page minimum essay on the history, making, etc. of these foods. A few titles will be "An Extensive History of the Use of Grecian Herbs as Seasonings", "The Development of the Unique French Tastes" "Why do Germans eat Braunschweiger? An Analysis of Why Different Peoples Eat Different Foods and the Effects of Them on Their Cultures, Decisions, and Natures." (The blue text is what was on the screen when I came back after stepping away for a little bit - I hadn't actually thought of doing that, but now that you mention it, Laura, that sounds like a great idea!)
So if you have any great ethnic or regional recipes, we'd love for you to share them. You can e-mail them to toddandtamara @ gmail . com and I'll put them on my crittersinthekitchen.blogspot.com blog to add to the menu someday.
Canning Applesauce from Tart Apples
5 weeks ago
I have a few. Let me know how you'd like them.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see your menus. That's a super idea!
That would be great, Jennifer! If you want to e-mail them to toddandtamara @ gmail.com I'll make a section on my crittersinthekitchen blog for them. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe did this last year and one that has become a favorite, AND incorporates beans is hummis with home made Naan (flat bread)and quinoa salad. We make roasted red pepper hummis, lots of recipees for that everywhere but basicaly it is pureed chickpeas, roasted red peppers pureed in, olive oil and some seasonings to taste. The quinoa salad is that you cook up a big bowl of the quinoa (a grain) in chicken broth and let it "pop", then cool in the fridge. Dice up italian parsley, tomatoes, cucumbers and mix into the quinoa with some cilantro and olive oil and seasonings. A really great hot summer day lunch. This is the recipe I use for Naan (http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/naanrecipe.htm) I hope your family enjoys this meal. We did it as part of geography and now probably eat it 3-4x a month, maybe more in the summer when I don't want to heat up the house.
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to say, the recipe for Naan - there is not enough flour listed in the ingredients, you add more as it is kneeding. I usually end up using about 1 1/2 cup of whole wheat and 1 cup to 1 1/2 cup of white.
ReplyDelete