Cooking With Siah

Yesterday Siah and I had an “at home” day.

There was a big important meeting at the office and while I could have gone in and taken Siah with me – I believe the stress level would have been quite high and having an active two year old racing around would have only added to any stress and really just wouldn’t have been necessary.

So, we stayed home!

And, we decided to cook up a storm…..well, as much of a storm as a two year old can handle.

We made some Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies and I have to say that these cookies have NEVER failed me. The recipe is (as far as I’m concerned) fool proof.

They are made with honey so can’t be considered truly vegan although they would be vegetarian, BUT regardless so SO delicious.

Here is the recipe…

Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies

Pre-heat oven to 375*F
Cook for 10-12 minutes

½ cup Butter (I use Earth Balance)
¾ cup Honey
1 Banana
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp Salt
1 cup Grated Zucchini
1 cup Oatmeal

1. Cream the butter & Honey together
2. Add the Banana and Beat well
3. Combine Dry ingredients and add alternating with the zucchini into the mixture
4. Stir in the Oatmeal
5. Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet
6. Bake for 10-12 mins

They are chewy and moist and almost muffin like. In fact, I have just dumped the batter into muffin tins before and they are equally delicious, just bigger.

While our cookies were baking, we decided to throw together a Hot and Sour Soup that I’ve been meaning to try out.

I’d link to the recipe, BUT….i have no idea where I got the recipe from….I was looking for crockpot soup ideas and found this one and cut and paste it into a word doc and well…..ya!

But, here is the recipe that I used, which was slightly (well, actually – significantly) adapted from the original.

Hot and Sour Soup

4 cups of Chicken Broth
4 cups of Water
4 T of Soy Sauce
4 T of Rice Wine Vinegar
1 T of Sesame Oil
1/2 t of Red Pepper Flakes
1 can drained sliced water chesnuts
half a medium zucchini
2 carrots
1 package of firm tofu cut into cubes (approx 1.5 cups)

I’d have added green onions if I had any, but I didn’t….so this is what we threw together.

It simmered for a while and was AMAZING. Siah thought it was a bit spicy, but you could reduce the pepper flakes if you didn’t want it too spicy. If you like Hot and Sour soup, try it….so easy. Just throw together and let simmer….then serve.

We had a great time baking and cooking together. I love spending time with my kids and I feel like involving them in the “making” process gives them buy in especially when it comes to food.

I find that they feel a sense of ownership regarding what they’ve created and so its a great way to introduce new tastes, smells and textures.

And even though Siah is only two, he was a great help. He stirred the cookie batter in between additions and only once stuck the spoon to my shirt….and he dumped all the liquids into the pot after I measured them out and then added the tofu, zucchini and carrots in for me.

Yes, there was mess, but I find that it really wasn’t that big of a mess, took little to no effort to clean up (above and beyond what I would have created in making the cookies and soup), it’s quality time together AND….I’m teaching him from a young age to enjoy cooking; and to cook delicious, healthy foods.

Those things are well worth any amount of mess that the two of us might create together.