last minute reminder

[Meredith]

Its almost time for another blog carnival! Realistically, I'll be compiling it towards the end of the week, so there's still plenty of time! This months topic: what's cooking unschoolers? Blog about food or cooking, share your journey, maybe even some recipes. Old or new posts are fine. Send them to my inbox here, or to: [e-mail]

And as always, feel free to pass the word along to other unschooling groups!

[Marina DeLuca-Howard]

I love cooking and so do my kids. Crispin loves assembling things with me: we pop baking dishes into the oven and then cuddle on the sofa--until the oven rings to signal food is done. Although often it smells done a minute prior to the "ding"!

We can relax together before dinner.

Buying a really good stove helped simplify things so I could be there to meet my kids needs for attention, affection and food. I can put veggies in casserole dishes and set the timer. If they choose the kids can help. Chicken can go in as well in its own covered dish.

I love putting a lot of things in at once--so the whole meal is done. We have made quiches and fruit pies. I have assembled a basic cheese lasagna, some veggies to roast, thrown together a chocolate cake, and put it in the oven for an hour. The cake comes out first, and the other things will continue to cook in the still warm, though turned off oven!

This morning I woke up to roasted yellow peppers and eggplant. I put them in at night before going to bed. They turned on in the morning, and turned off after they were done--without me needing to intercede. I put them in the food processor, after I woke up, with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini and salt. Rowan hovered over me, while eating his eggs, offering spice ideas and nibbling on the cooked peppers (pink salt, chives and oregano). We ate this yummy dip for lunch as baba ganouj a few hours later.

While setting the table it is easy to lightly steam veggies. Very little clean up with steaming--dump water or save for a crock pot soup. Parchment paper is great too--helps create easy clean ups. I found a dishwasher helpful as well.

Serve protein dishes with raw veggies or salad. Things cook themselves if you can just set a timer and bake food. I find stirring things and watching movies while snuggled with kids difficult--so I don't cook on top of the stove unless it is pancakes or eggs. When my oldest was young we ate a lot of stir fries and had a lot of wraps or other labour intensive food, but now I use my oven and the lovely self-timing mechanism to make our meals quickly and with less effort.

My younger two prefer yam fries(brushed with oil and baked), squash, or corn on the cob(can be soaked in water and bbq or bake). We also eat lots of fruit.

I even make oatmeal in the oven. It is easy enough to put the oat groats into a covered dish the night before and they cook themselves in the morning. My oven will turn on, cook the oatmeal and be off often ten minutes before we are in the kitchen. We love walking into the kitchen to warm oatmeal and then we eat it with blueberries and yogurt or sometimes with cream. The dishes cleaned themselves in the dishwasher after we went to sleep and are ready to go for breakfast, too!

Crock pots with timers are great as well. I have a friend who makes crock pot chicken with coconut milk and Indian spices.

Sometimes it is the tools that trip us up. Using the oven or crock pot and self-timing features can make cooking foolproof and give you lots of time to hang out with your kids whether they want to cuddle, read or help with the meal!

Marina