The 2nd recipe I am sharing is Tuna casserole. This recipe has been in my life since before I was born. I loved when my Mom made this for dinner as a child, it was one of my favorites. As a young Mother I baked it for my daughters and now I cook it for the Daycare kids and still it's one of my favorites. The flavors of the tuna and cheese, peas and onion baking in the kitchen, it's like breathing in the good places of my childhood, warm memories on a winter's day. The funny thing is, as a child I was a finicky eater. On my plate there were boundaries and they weren't to be crossed. Vegetables did not touch potatoes, and potatoes did not touch meat. Ever. And yet, here was this delicious casserole where everything was mixed together. So what's a little girl to do!?! This little girl meticulously separated my serving back into it's individual components. Most of the cheese usually stuck with the rice and I accepted that, because it was cheese. Finally when I had a pile of peas, tuna and rice separated out on my plate I relished every bite. Now days I think the term I've heard on Top Chef is "deconstructing" and if you ever need to practice patience try separating rice from peas! Some days I'm not sure where that little girl went but she sure makes me laugh.
So here I am about 45, or so, years later and I serve this casserole for the first time and I watch what the kids do with it. It's always fascinating to watch what they do with something new and unfamiliar, food or otherwise. Our boy who loves his utensils eats it with gusto, he eats everything with gusto. Our girl who loves food, loves it like it's food and signals me to give her another spoonful. And then I see our picky eater and I find myself holding my breath waiting to see if she will like it. I don't really like to call her a "picky" eater and she isn't actually finicky. When I watch her it's more like she is a careful eater. Her food has to pass inspection before she determines whether she likes it or not. And sometimes she is not just careful but down right suspicious. First there is the visual inspection as if she has, at 17 months of age, seen with her own eyes, every food on the planet and will know instantly if you have handed her a non-food item or perhaps some toxic substance instead. Next it has to pass the feel test. It has to feel a certain way in her fingers or she will throw it back on her highchair tray with the disdain of a Queen. And then it is a competition between taste and texture. Texture often can rule out taste if it's too much. If the rice isn't cooked soft enough it won't matter how good it tastes. Also this girl must have the control of a Queen as well. You will not get a spoon past her lips without her permission, "Though she be little, she be mighty" as the quote goes. And yet, if the other kids are eating it she is more likely to let me give her a spoonful, as if they are her taste testers. You can almost see her thinking, "They seem to like it and it didn't kill them, yes my lady, I will allow a spoonful." And from that first spoonful I often have to just put it on her tray and let her eat it with her fingers no matter the mess. And so she is, with my heirloom tuna casserole, she allows a spoonful and then I must put it on her tray and she goes to work. Deconstructing. First the peas, because she loves peas, then the tuna and then the rice. And it's a winner! She likes it and I let out my breath and feel victorious. Heirloom Tuna Casserole, I should have called it that on the menu it sounds like a casserole fit for a Queen. Enjoy!
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Our food program lady came by for a visit this week and after she left I thought I should have shared our Menu page with her. (And yes, I know she has a title that is much more professional. Normally I call her by her first name and here I'm going to call her my food program lady because I like her like that.) So, I emailed her the link and she responded with asking about our recipes especially the pot pies. So here I am during nap time creating a Recipe page and a blog to go with it. I am not sure how it will work, if I will just keep adding pages or delete the current recipes to add new ones. Or figure out how to format the blog page to carry a recipe...must be nice to be tech saavy but I'm not. Anyway, it seems I am always on the hunt for food that will both entertain the toddlers as well as the chef (namely, me) and I find myself scrolling through pinterest and the internet quite a bit. I must admit often times the chef (namely, me) is much harder to entertain than the toddlers! Lately I am fascinated with muffin tin meals both regular sized and the mini. While I have found several pot pie in a muffin tin recipes the one posted on our Just Recipes page is a blending of 2 of my favorites and how we serve it here at Daycare usually with a side of fresh fruit. Our own homemade version is pictured on our Menu page (hopefully I become better at photographing our food perhaps I need to add a bit of flair like, fresh sprigs of parsley and such). However, these adorable little pot pies are made using a regular sized muffin tin with a thick filling of turkey, peas and carrots, and an outside "crust" more like a muffin than a pie. They work particularly well for little hands to hold without being too messy. We usually cut them in half for our 1-2 year olds to pick up and self feed. For our toddler that prefers using utensils (he just became adept at scooping and is quite proud of himself) we just crumble a pie up into a bowl and give the boy a spork! The kids just gobble them up, as does my husband if he can get his hands on them, so I usually make 2 batches at a time! This recipe is also easily altered to accommodate chicken, vegetarian, and of course spicier preferences. I like to sprinkle a bit of parsley on top just to be pretty. Also I should mention the filling is much thicker than the usual pot pie and you might prefer them juicier. So have a bit of fun with it and please leave a comment about how you changed it up, we'd love to hear about it. These little pies can also be made ahead of time and frozen for future use. Just pop them from the freezer to the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Scrumptious, adaptable, fun to make and convenient, my favorite kind of food! If you are planning on freezing them you need to Flash freeze for 1 hour then put them into a freezer bag or wrap individually as preferred. For safety Always check food temperature (especially the center) to ensure it's not too hot when serving to small children and toddlers. Note: toddlers prefer their food cold or warm rather than hot while my husband prefers burning his hands and eating them straight out of the oven.
I hear someone wrestling themselves up so I'm guessing nap time is over. And there it is, the rebel yell, "up up up". She always says it 3 times, standing next to me she whispers but from her crib it's always a yell lol! I am in to swoop her up before the others join in and then we will be all about snack time. Enjoy! |
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