More Cheese

Haley,
Love the camping nachos! I see great potential for our California surf/camp trip next summer, particularly as Southern Cal is the land of avocados--at farm market stands specializing in avocados,you can expect to find five or six varieties. Who knew such wonders lie south of the border? Arnold is not the the only state phenomena. (He once tried to pick up Caleb's mom, as a matter of fact. That's a little piece of Speller-family trivia for you).


Anyhow, I thought I'd better follow up on my cheese story. Otherwise, you'd think I failed miserably. When in fact, I experienced roaring success, and a small ovation from my dinner guests that evening. I ended up mixing the cheese with a little pesto and serving it as an appy. I sent my friends home with the recipe and their committed to experimenting with more cheese related products.

Okay, so I decided to make yogurt cheese because it's the easiest cheese to make. One doesn't actually have to do anything...Except buy a piece of cheese cloth, which is sold at ANY self-respecting grocery store. So, Haley, no trying to substitute a random piece of fabric you have floating around the house because you can't be bothered with going down to the store and ferreting out a proper piece of cheese cloth. Go. Buy it. No excuses.

Once you have your cheese cloth, you double it over a couple times and the place it in a colander. Then you scoop a lump of yogurt into the cheese cloth. Set the colander into a bowl. It's nice if you can get the colander to sort of hang on the edges of the bowl because the moisture from the yogurt is going to drip through the cheese cloth and the colander into the bowl, leaving you with extra thick yogurt the consistency of cream cheese. This will take six hours or more, so just pop the whole mess in your fridge and go tend to the young ones.

love,
R.

P.S. I can't wait to start our nostalgia cooking series. Readers--Haley and I will be featuring recipe favourites from our youth. Stay tuned.

Camping Nachos

Well Rach,

While you were bread and cheesing your way across Europe, we were snuggled up in our Trillium. Yes, we've kicked up our camping a bit. No more tenting for the Campbell family, no we're a yuppy RV family now.. well, about as posh as a 1970s bowler with walled-carpeting (no, not wall-to-wall, carpet ON the walls). But isn't she a beauty?

Lately I've noticed that it seems to be trendy to make lists of awesomeness. And since I'm nothing if not trendy, I'm going to provide you with my list for today:

Uninterrupted Sleep: Wistfully Awesome
Uninterrupted Meals: Elusively Awesome
Washroom Privacy: Wouldn't that be nice Awesome
Personal Space: What's not to love about 2 small bodies permanently attached to your lap, hip, neck, leg kind of Awesome
Finn smearing his whole body with Old Spice deodorant: Hilariously Awesome
Finn referring to said deodorant as 'pit stick': Inappropriately Awesome
Nap time: Blissfully Awesome
Baby slobber kisses: Heart-meltingly Awesome
Roughing it with the Trillium: Retro-y and Cozily Awesome
Camping Nachos: Awesome

While planning a camping trip with the Vermettes this past August, we hadn't yet realized the brilliance of having a personal chef and handy man a short tent trailer away. After a few nights of camping- eating gourmet meals and sleeping in the luxury that is the Trillium- staying in a hotel, or even living in our own house, now feels a bit like we're slumming it.

If you don't have your own personal Jeff, then here are his directions for making your own camping nachos:

Before you go

-buy inexpensive non-stick cookie sheet

-modify sheet with drill by drilling 1/4 inch holes at 1 inch spacings

-use Dremel to remove burrs/sharp or rough edges left by drill

-NOTE: can also buy perforated non-stick cookie sheet - in the bbq section of local big box store. saw some at canadian tire. but of course it's way more fun to make your own

Camping Nachos

-preheat BBQ on highest setting for 10 minutes

-(can also be cooked over fire, so in that case - prepare coal base in fire pit (if no fire bans))

-spread out layer of nacho chips of choice on cookie sheet

-layer nacho ingredients of choice (we had - cooked italian sausage meat, tomatoes, olives, jalapeños(?), and of course, lots of cheese)

-repeat for 2 or 3 layers

-lower BBQ to medium, and cook nachos with lid on, about 10 minutes, till hot, and cheese is melted. Bottom chips will be slightly toasted, and any cheese that falls on the pan will be crispy bits (yum!)

-if cooking over fire, try to cover with something (foil?)

-serve with salsa, gauc, and sour cream

Gauc

-avocadoes

-fresh lime juice

-tomatoes - diced really small

-ground cumin

-S&P

As far as we can remember, that was it.

Of course any ingredients people like on nachos can be used, but this is what we had on hand camping. If we were more prepared, we may have brought along: banana peppers, red or green peppers, onions... (these are mostly items Jeff would add).

Other meat ideas: Cajun flavoured chicken breast, diced up small; ground beef cooked with taco seasoning...

Well Rach, there you have it. Camping nachos. Awesome.

Brote met Kaas

Dearest sister,

Our culinary experience in Europe can be summed up quite simply by three Dutch words: 'brote met kaas.' Translation: bread with cheese. In Germany, it came on pumpkin-seed buns slathered in butter then blanketed in thick wedges of soft cheese, followed by tomatoes and leafy lettuce. We found these sandwiches in train stations, bus stations, subway stations, neighbourhood bakeries, mall food-courts, and coffee shops.

In Holland, the quality of bread slipped marginally; the vegetables disappeared, and cheese was served with or without a generous portion of ham. Here, the gouda reigned supreme. A breakfast spread was not complete without a plate of sliced gouda, both plain and spiced, snuggled up against a selection of sliced meats. (Naturally, in Holland we were also treated to the likes of liverwurst, cheese pate, frites with mayo, olibollen, panekoek, croquettes, and raw herring.).

We crossed the border into France and were promptly handed a baguette lined with cheese and our choice of veggies. We each ate one, yes, a whole baguette, in a graffitied bunker in the rain, before resuming our bike journey to Paris. We quickly learned the meaning of the word 'fromagerie.' The prices were just as wonderful as the cheeses. In the south of France we ate fresh cheve, just delivered by the farmer to the bin. We tried stinky cheese, and grey cheese, but not bright orange cheese, which Caleb balked at. In Ireland there was cheddar and squash bread and scones, and those giant, weighty loaves they call soda bread.

Yesterday I popped into the grocery store for a few necessities. I stopped at the cheese fridge and nearly cried. Little scraps and squares marked eight dollars, or blocks of Kraft, dyed bright orange, for a more reasonable price.

Tomorrow I will make a pot of spreadable cheese. If I am successful, I will post images and a recipe. If my experiment goes awry, you will hear nothing more on the topic.

Your loving sister,
Rachel

Celebratory Trifle

Rach - Welcome home! I am posting something delicious in order to celebrate your return and our newest nephew. Welcome to the newest little Reems (or not so little weighing in, 2 weeks before his due date, at over 9 pounds!) - Parker Brent Reems!

Mike and I have noticed a trifle trend in Chilliwack- trifles of various kinds seem to be the dessert of choice in this town. So who am I to stand in the way of local dessert preferences? If I'm trying to please my fellow Chilliwack-ians I guess I'll have to throw some deliciousness into a bowl, let it get nice and mushy together, and call it dessert.

Chocolate cake? Layered with chocolate pudding, whipping cream and raspberry sauce? Chocolate shavings? Well.. I guess.. if that's what everyone wants..

Oatmeal (Insert Fruit of Choice) Muffins

R-

Blogging has been sparse as of late. It feels like a chore to hunker down with my laptop when the sun is shining and there are adventures to be had. Being married to a teacher (in addition to being sister to a teacher, sister-in-law to 2 teachers, and daughter to a teacher) has kept my world revolving around the school calendar. The laundry pile has grown, carpets have gone un-vacuumed, and my tupperware drawer has been systematically giving birth (but never to a matching set- oh I have countless lids, and unlimited containers, but never the twain shall match). But alas, our holidays could not go on forever, and when Mike left for school on Monday I saw the dusty piano with all the guilt that only a Dutch descendant can truly empathize with.

We grew up in a muffin household. Joan ensured a continual flow of banana chocolate chip muffins through the Reems household, these saw us through everything from highschool basketball practices, to early morning life guarding shifts. Lately I have been on the hunt for the perfect muffin balance - a muffin healthy enough that you can grab one for breakfast, or feed to your child and not feel that nagging bad-mother-white-flour twinge (yes I have guilt issues, that have only increased exponentially by the arrival of children into my life!). I'm still on that quest - here is the King Arthur Flour oatmeal muffin recipe that I have been using lately- I would definitely put the oatmeal version in the breakfast muffin category, though a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top, or the addition of a bit of streusel certainly makes it a nice mid-morning coffee accompaniment.

Haley-variations and findings
I have been making the oatmeal version with the addition of rhubarb or blueberries this summer. I like to add a teaspoon or so of cinnamon and sometimes chopped pecans to the batter. I have made them with both oil and melted butter and haven't noticed a huge difference between the two. I use 1/3 cup brown sugar instead of 1/2 white. Finally, the oatmeal version tastes great fresh, but I put all the leftovers in the freezer as they tend to dry out after a day or so.

OK Rach, you are about to board a plane and wing your way back to Canada. Yippee! I'm planning a trip to the island to see you soon!

What not to feed your baby..

Rach-

I have a few exciting food posts percolating; however, I need to get my promised baby post in before you return from your vacation. Though maybe you should pay close attention, since Mike and I will be dropping your niece and nephew off at your place for a few days mid-September.

Hee hee, just joking (though if you were interested...)

Due to something I am coming to refer to as 'second child syndrome,' this will not be a 'what to feed your baby' post. No, this is more of a 'what not to feed your baby.' While Coby has always had a healthy appetite, in the past month she has consumed the following non-baby-recommended items:

Dog food - I wish that I could say that this was an isolated incident, but my baby has managed to get to the dog food bowl several times.
Felt Marker - I actually tried to wipe off washable marker from her tongue. Blue marker. Please don't recall my recent discussion on feeding your child dye-free cheese.
Dirt - Lots and lots of dirt. And sand. Fortunately she discovered before our camping trip that dirt does not taste good.
Ice Cream- Daddy has given the princess the remainder of his cone on several occasions this summer.

The list goes on. Another symptom of second child syndrome is that baby #2 does not get special meal treatment but begins to partake in family meals at a much younger age (with or without teeth - yes my 11 month-old has no teeth). Mike and I have always been a bit lazy about spoon-feeding our babies - thus starting at an early age Coby, like her brother before her, eats a lot of finger food.

A friend introduced me to Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck. Nina emphasizes a diet of whole foods - lots of full fat dairy, veggies, and meat. Nina also supports my philosophy of not needing to fuss with a lot of additional food preparation for my older baby, but feeding babe food from the family table. This book also made me realize the importance of meat as an iron source for babies. I have to admit (sorry Nina), that I can't totally break away from the convenience of carbs, but I do try to stick to whole grains. The one thing that I have made the decision to stop using is just-add-water baby cereal, I stick to oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast, and ensure that my little monkey is getting iron from natural sources.

I have to run. Coby is into the dog food again.

Veggie Wars

Rach - I'm envisioning you and Caleb in a little French cafe -sipping cafe au lait, eating pastries, all while C plots where to find a French thrift store- if they in fact they exist- if they do I'm sure that Caleb will soon be sporting a 'new' circa 1970s Parisian cardigan. We are also holidaying right now. I use the term 'holidaying' because we really are living the good life - we are staying in the Okanogan in a 2 bedroom air conditioned cottage, on a golf course, with a plethora of pools. I have to confess a twinge of Dutch guilt that we aren't spending the week camping in our new 1976 Trillium, but Coby's addiction to consuming dirt, rocks and sand is making me thankful that our camping this summer will consist of a few days at Cultus in August.

Several days after posting my admittedly smug expose on what to feed your 3-year-old, the following conversation occurred between me and my 3-year-old -

Finn: I don't like vegetables
Me: Vegetables taste good
Finn: No, candy tastes good
Me: Vegetables make you grow strong
Finn: I am strong

At this point I conceded. Round 1 Champion: 3-year-old

Round 2

Fortunately, Finn's definition of a vegetable is still abstract. I leveraged this to my advantage in serving him (with no mention of the V-word) tomatoes and yam fries (with dip of course). He also pounded back a plate of gnocchi with pesto and broccoli for lunch today.

Round 2 Champion: Mommy

3-Year-Old Yam Fries

1) Peel, then thinly slice a yam into thin wedges. IMPORTANT: MUST LOOK LIKE FRENCH FRIES

2) I used an average sized yam and tossed it with about 2 tsp of olive oil and a good sprinkle of sea salt.

3) Roast at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes- stirring every 10 minutes or so. Make sure that you flip them all to get some crispiness.

These taste great with Spicy Yogurt, or Finn's condiment of choice: ketchup.