5 mother Sauces:Bechamel Sauce

The following post are to help Young People in the kitchen. They seem to love cheese and will eat almost anything covered in it. At our house, I've backed off purposely to allow them to gain confidence in the kitchen and maybe even make light some of my work :)

My son who's a young person, says his favorite sauces are ketchup, mayonnaise, tartar, bar b-Q and Tariyaki.  All though those are great sauces along with Hot sauce.  I know for a fact that he love cheese and macaroni and cheese especially. So I will start with our favorite cheese sauce, Mornay.

There are five mother sauces Bechamel, Espagnole, Tomato, Hallendaise, Veloute' and Demi Glaze
They are called Mother sauces because all the Sauces we use are started from one of these sauces. Today I'm posting the Bechamel it is relatively easy to make and double because the formula is equal parts butter and flour then milk or cream. Read and follow the recipe below and enjoy.

Fondu is fun and easy to make. I have a fondu that holds about 2 cups, but with a few safety considerations a small sauce pot can be used. We use ours to melt chocolate, cheese and other delicious sauces. All it take is to put a few ingredients in the pot and let it melt. Gather sliced veggies or fruit to dip depending on if the fondu is savory or sweet. Today I'll post an easy savory cheese fondu, which starts out as a Bechamel sauce, but once the cheese is added it is called Mornay sauce.

Three Cheese sauce

I Love how Bechamel becomes Mornay:D  It's easy and cheesy. 

what can you use this for? 

Stir 3 Tblsp. flour into 3 Tblsp. melted butter and cook stirring constantly for 2 min. Gradually pour in 1 c. heavy cream until smooth, then wisk in 2 c, milk. Simmer gently until sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon, about 5 min. Remove from the eat and whisk in 2 1/2 c. grated sharp cheddar and 1/4 c. grated paresan cheese until melted smooth. season with salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Non-dairy or Vegan Cooks

You can switch out the milk for other non-dairy milk like soy milk or almond milk. Switch the butter out for vegan butter or spread or a good olive or coconut oil. 
Or Try The Organic Authority and check out the 
3 ingredient mac and cheese 

http://www.organicauthority.com/3-ingredient-vegan-mac-and-cheese-recipe-kid-approved/

Easy Pizza

Home alone, how about Pizza?

Here's how you can have homemade
Pizza in a flash. I packed this in the fridge. the night before. It's fun to do this with your child just before retiring for the night.
...
1. Soft tortilla shells in sandwich bags
2. favorite shredded cheese
3. Vegetables, pepperoni, and bacon bits or cooked crumbled sausage or ground beef in a container or baggies
4. a container of pizza sauce or refried beans
5. Here are the directions I left my two children 10 and 13. Using a toaster oven is ideal, but a conventional oven works just the same. Just be sure to use safety...like oven mitts and have a cleared-off area, to place the hot pizza tray after the pizza comes out of the oven. Plan ahead saves time and keeps everyone safe...plus it's more fun.

Directions
How to make pizza safely make sure you have all your tools ready on the counter where you are cooking.
* Oven mitts and pot holders to place the tray when the pizza is done.
* A sponge or paper towel to wipe up spills
* Plates
*Spatula to move the pizza to the plates.


1.Take the cooking tray out of the toaster oven
2.Turn on the toaster oven to pizza setting(350)
3.Take out all the ingredients I left for you.
4.Place tortillas on tray
5.Spread on thin layer of sauce or refried beans
6.Top with favorite toppings
7.Open oven and carefully place tray onto the shelf.
8. close the door and push the timer button. I already have set the exact time...10 minutes. Set your watch if you have to leave the room for some reason. It's best to stay in the kitchen.
9. When the pizza smells toasty and cheesy all the smells come to your nose, check it even if the timer hasn't sounded...flick on the light and check it...Look at your timer and see how much time is left. If the cheese is all bubbly and everything's browned and looks good take it out if not. Just keep an eye out for it until the timer goes off or it gets to that point...
10 Once the pizzas are done. put on an oven mits carefully slide the shelf out and then remove the pizza tray. Take care not to touch the heating elements in the oven.

Set the tray on oven mitts or stove top to cool a bit.
Set out your plates and enjoy.

Vegetarian: Rutabegga and Collards

 
Rutabaga is a very interesting root vegetable. I love the smell, it smells like cabbage. In my effort to try and fix veggies in different ways...I didn't want to get away from my favorite way to eat my vegetables.  Mostly raw or stir fry/ saute'. I mixed these in with our greens.  Yummy.

My Father in Law has a nice size garden and these collards remind me of his. Only without the holes because the grubs have eaten like crazy!!

How I Stir Fry Collards

Ingredients.

Cleaned and chopped Collard Greens

Sliced Rutabaga

a large onion

garlic

salt and pepper

red pepper flakes (optional)

olive oil, bacon grease or clarified butter

a splash or two of cider vinegar

chicken stock just enough to keep the greens moist and tender not soaking in the juices

Begin by,

• Chopping all the veggies you need
• Start to saute' with the oil, garlic, onions and a little bit of red pepper flakes until it has a lovely aroma
• Then add in you rutabaga and your greens simmer until wilted then add more greens until you've used all you want.
• Season with salt and pepper to your taste ( I use Kosher and Cracked pepper mostly)
• Add in a splash of Vinegar
• Then pour in enough chicken stock to cover greens half way. Let simmer in the saute' pan or in a crock pot until they are tender  

Other options* Many times I've used hot sauce instead of red pepper flakes it's a little less intense to  me. 

Enjoy

Strawberry Mango Bliss

 

Good Morning, 

Today I still had half of my mango and strawberry ices. So I made a bit of granola to go in it...thus the spoon. I'm going to need a straw too. Do you eat your mint? I do. It's growing like crazy, why not eat it?

Mango smoothie recipe

Peel & Chop 2 mangos.

Freeze 2 mangos.

I let them mine soften just a tad because my freezer is crazy cold...

Blitz in the blender or food processor until smooth.

 Serves 2  greedy mango lovers

Strawberry ice cream recipe

Loving Body Benefits of

  Mango, Strawberry and Mint

Mango  Boost your immune system,  some B6,  Eye and Skin Care and beat the heat back with it's natural cooling effects. 

Strawberry Wrinkle preventative? who knew, antioxidant and more, so much more.

Mint If breath freshener isn't enough benefit...??  This little gift helps your digestion, gives boost of iron and making almost any smoothie taste way more palatable. After Thyme it's my favorite herb.

Fresh tomato salsa

Salsa for tortilla tonight. I'm always in the mood for the red, yellow or orange peppers...rarely the green ones. Still I chopped one into the salsa anyway.  I also added a few tart strawberries  in too.They are full of vitamins and an extra way I get H2O! After that, a few onions, cilantro, and herb spices, with lime juice.  I let it sit a few minutes in the fridge.
In the mean time I'll whip up some coconut cream with a bit of lime and mint. Chop, chop, chop, yum!