An interview with the folks from They Draw and Cook

They Draw and Cook is one of those food blog where you're like "they are on to something BIG." The title is self explanatory and if I knew how to draw anything besides a stick figure I would be all over their project trying to submit a recipe.

When I saw their site the first thing that came to mind was, "I need to beg these people to create a cook book for kids." I don't know about you but I've been on the search for a cook book that my son would enjoy and so far I've found none! There are plenty of cook books out there that says that they are for kids but in reality they're just easy recipes that parents can make with their kids. Those are o.k too but I want something that my four year old will enjoy looking at. Something like this...

What kid wouldn't enjoy making an M&M Casserole?

I had the pleasure of interview Nate and Salli and they are as lovely as their blog.


1) How did you come up with the idea for this blog?
Salli-it started when Nate (my brother/studio partner) recreated a heavenly fig pasta dish he had in Berlin... which led to me buying a lovely little crate of fresh figs...which I ended up illustrating because their shape + color was so intriguing...which made me realize how much fun food was to illustrate...which led me to posting illustrated recipes on my blog...which led to gathering some artist/friends to illustrate some recipes with the hopes of creating a book...however, we needed at least 9 recipes for the book and since one of the artists was taking too long to finish (we're impatient) Nate said, "let's just make it a blog"....and 15 minutes later he had the header and template designed.  Around this same time I had a psychic tell me, "listen to an idea your brother has because it will be BIG!" I think the psychic was right.

2) where do you hope to go with it?
Salli-honestly? it's just great fun seeing it catch on and awaiting each and every wonderful recipe that comes our way.  Nate's the grand master of the blog so he sees everything first..I'm a bit jealous of that. We really just hope that art directors everywhere see the superb illustrators on the blog and visit their websites and hire them for some amaZing projects! or maybe even a super great publisher will decide to make a super cool book of all the recipes...we both like keeping the options open and letting things meander along...it's been wild making these blog/internet connections with artists all over the world!

3)when you were a kid what was the one food you hated?
Nate- I ate anything and everything - once when I was around 9 I ate a bag of pumpkin seeds then a bowl of peanut-butter-chocolate ice cream while watching the Miss Universe pageant and I barfed it all up - now those 3 things are totally off the list.

Salli- meat.  I think I was born a vegetarian.

4) How do you think us parents or caretakers can inspire our kids to eat something besides goldfish crackers?
Nate- Um, I don't even own a plant...Salli?  I can't wait to hear her response since she's been known to serve Skittles for dinner.

Salli- oh I am NOT the person to give advice here!  I have one very picky eater (just as I was) and one who is much more adventurous. I have friends whose kids love eating out and cooking and I wonder, "c'mon...what's the secret?" My husband cooks all the favorite meals around here (potato chip crusted chicken-tacos-gooey mac+cheese+cauliflower) while I sit eating my tofu and tempeh getting weird looks. I like cooking for a gathering more than as a daily event. oops, did I just admit that?

5) favorite food?
Nate- Anything Northern Indian - sag paneer + veg curry + mango chutney + naan = MMMMM

Salli- I do like crispy fried tofu! and a perfect chocolate chip cookie or two or fifty.

6) favorite children's book that involves food?
Nate- There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly...

Salli- I don't remember the name of the book but it was a Golden book about Christmas and there were lots of illustrations of decorated cookies + hot cocoa...it all looked so idyllic + yummy!  and of course, a more current favorite is "the hungry caterpillar" and the american girl cookbook "mix-it-up" illustrated by Tracy McGuiness.

Thanks Nate and Salli. They Draw and Cook is above and beyond. The wheels in my head are turning. Lets work on a book together, we'll do the recipes and you do the illustrations. What do you say?
I would LOVE to illustrate a book for kids!!! sign us up!  I actually just finished up hand lettering and illustrating spot icons for a kids cookbook...I'll keep you posted when it is published.

a big fat thank you to Ana for introducing me to the site. Thanks Ana!


*all pictures are from They Draw and Cook.

Cowboy Beans (frijoles charros)

Too many people shy away from making beans from scratch. I learned how to make these beans at a Mexican cooking class and I could never open a can of refried beans again. Beans in the can taste like tin and are more expensive. You’ll know it too once you try this. These beans, especially, have so much amazing flavor for just a basic recipe. Feel free to experiment with adding squash, sweet potato, or other veggies once you’ve cooked this a couple of times and get the hang of it.

The best thing about beans is how well they keep. Beans and rice the first night, burritos or tacos the next, and I’ve got a couple of lunches covered for my daughter’s daily nacho cravings. She loves to eat beans with a sprinkling of cheese.

So here’s my bean tutorial to get you to change your life forever. It really is this easy. If you have a pressure cooker it’s even easier. I never know what I’m going to make the night before so I usually forget to soak beans overnight. But you can definitely do this without one. Still totally easy.

Soak 2-3 C of beans in water to cover by 2 inches. I do this right in the pot. (If you are using a pressure cooker, just 5-6 hours is fine). I also follow the Cook’s Illustrated method, which is to add salt to the soaking water. A couple of teaspoons. But you don’t have to.

Rinse and drain the beans and put them in a very large, heavy bottomed pot. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Pick out any beans that float and look shrivel-y.

1) Put in a half an onion, chopped into big chunks, a few sprigs of cilantro, and some garlic halved. This is all optional but adds a little flavor to the beans as they cook. DO NOT SALT THE WATER. Unless you never want your beans to cook. Put the lid on the pot and simmer over medium low heat for about 2 hours, checking occasionally if you need to add more water. If you are using a pressure cooker, it will take a half an hour once the water reaches boiling.

2) While the beans cook, dice up a large onion, 2 tomatoes, and mince up a bunch of cloves of garlic (depending on how much you love garlic).

3) Put 6-8 strips of bacon in a heavy bottomed dutch oven skillet/fry pan. Cook on medium heat until….

4) CRISP! This is important. Don’t burn them. This is always the hardest part for me. TIP: Use chopsticks to flip the bacon. It works so well.

5) Remove the bacon to a plate and spoon off most of the grease (leave a couple of tablespoons)

6) Saute the onions in the bacon grease until brown (7-8 minutes)

7) Add the tomatoes. Keep stirring and saute for 5 minutes.

8) chop up the bacon into pieces and add them to the tomato/onion mix. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes longer.

9) When the beans are tender, put a couple of cups of the cooked beans into the pan and saute for a few minutes. Add chicken bouillon or salt to taste. Remove the onion/cilantro from the beans’ pot.

10) add the whole mix back into the cooking pot. Add more salt as necessary and cook for a bit longer until the liquid gets thick with the beans—maybe 20 minutes more over simmering heat.

On a Stick

My son's favorite word in the English language is "lolly" not lollipop as we would say in this side of the world but "lolly" because all he cares to watch are British cartoons.

Lolly is a fine word and I've been seeing all sorts of things on sticks that could potentially qualify as lollies. These chicken lollies pictured above are pretty fascinating and super delish.

I had them at an event a couple weeks ago along with the cheese cake lollies pictures below.

Check it out, frozen cheese cake balls dipped in chocolate and some crunchy thing.

My head is turning as I'm thinking about all the things I could put on a stick that would persuade my son to eat.  Dinner tonight was rough.

If you could lolly (yes, a verb indeed) something up what would it be?

Keeping Your Kid Occupied While You Cook: Straw Necklace

Sometimes Amaya has to stay inside, even though she screams loudly to be let out. And sometimes, when she’s inside, I need to do more than make sure she isn’t cutting her own bangs. If I’m cooking, I can’t guarantee she’s not getting in trouble.

So while I was busy at the stove, she made me a necklace. I had some colored straws I got from IKEA, and I showed her how to cut them up into pieces, and how to string them together.

For the string I tied a piece of floss to the end of a toothpick, which acted as the “needle”. She was in crafty heaven and spent over half an hour cutting and threading and organizing the colors. And I was able to finish making dinner. This is no small feat for a 3 year old who generally only pays attention to one task for 3 minutes.

You need:

• straws (multi colored straw packs are the best for this. You probably only need 4 straws per necklace)
• safety scissors (so little hands don’t get cut while you are barely paying attention because the mushrooms have to be stirred constantly)
• thread or floss
• a toothpick – ones with a little ridge at one end are best for tying on the floss.

Tie the first piece of straw on yourself, and loop the string to the opposite end of the straw piece so the first piece anchors and the pieces don’t all slip of the second they pick up the strand. Unless you want them to. It might buy you another 30 minutes.

My First Gardening Kit- Celebrate Earth Day!

How are you celebrating Earth day? The folks at Sesame Workshop got in touch with me and asked if we would be interested in reviewing their new gardening kit made specially for kids. Today was a good day to bring it out in celebration of Earth Day. This is an inexpensive kit found exclusively at Lowes. It comes with everything you need in to plant tomatoes. The little dirt pallets are pretty genius and the whole thing is set up so that the kids can do most if it solo. After the plants grow we'll transfer it to our garden plot. Enzo loves being out in our garden and we're lucky to have a little plot. If you live in a small space with no access to gardening plots this kit is a good solution.

I know I sound like a sales rep but I am actually a huge fan of the Sesame Workshop and their initiatives for healthy habits. They do an awesome job.

If you're looking for ways to talk to your kids about the Earth and how things grow the Nature Curriculum is a good place to start.

Happy Earth Day!

I want to make…

THIS.

They were in the paper today. Am I really turning into the kind of woman that justifies cookies by saying, “THEY HAVE WHEAT FLOUR! THEY’RE PRACTICALLY HEALTH FOOD!”

Yes. Yes I Am.

Let's Talk Sippy Cups

I post a lot about my 4 year old but nothing about my 7 month old. It's about time she got some attention, specially now that she's participating in meal time with us and loving it. She still nurses plenty and has just recently been introduced to solid foods, more about that later.

Today, I want to introduce you to the Tilty. Over a year ago I received 2 packages of the Tilty cup to review and giveaway. By then my son was already drinking from cups without lids but enjoyed using the Tilty, mainly at night when he was having milk during bedtime stories. I was pregnant and saved a package of Tilty cups because I was in love with their design.

I introduced the Tilty to my daughter a month ago and on her third time she could practically use it by herself. I'm in love with these cups. They're definitely the easiest for babies to use and by far the easiest for parents to clean. Not to mention how inexpensive they are.

What's your favorite sippy cup? Do tell!

Spinach Pies

How can puff pastry be so yummy and come in a conveniently frozen package?

Because, yes, it’s inconvenient to make yourself. Possible, but inconvenient. Especially when you live in Hawaii and the butter is melting too fast to make those delicious flaky layers. So I just stock up when I see it on sale at the supermarket.

I am a little more than in love with Moroccan and Lebanese foods, and when I saw these spinach pies in my cookbook Arabesque: a Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon   (a b-day present from my sis-in-law a couple years back), I marked it for dinner trial later that day. And, yes, I used frozen spinach. Too easy.

I loved the bright notes in the lemon and spice mixture. The rich taste of dark cooked spinach always tastes good to me.

I let my daughter brush the packages with butter before putting them in the oven and she was so interested in this strange present I was making. I liked that the spinach was hidden until the bite had already been taken (and by then she knew it tasted good!) so we were all happy.

Spinach Pies (Fatayer Bi Sabanikh) adapted from Arabesque

• 1 pound fresh spinach leaves (or frozen, in my case)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 C pin nuts
• 4 T olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• juice of 1 lemon
• 14 oz puff pastry
• flour

1. Turn the oven on to 350. Wash the spinach and remove thick stems. Put the leaves in the saucepan and just a sprinkle of water and steam until soft. Strain and squeeze all the liquid out with your hands. If you are using frozen spinach, microwave the spinach (take it out of the box) until thawed, and squeeze out the liquid. Chop coarsely.
2. Fry the onion in a large saucepan with 3 T of oil, until golden. Add the pine nuts and stir until they begin to color. Add the spinach, salt and pepper, allspice, lemon juice, and mix well. Stir around until the liquid evaporates.
3. With half the puff pastry at a time, dust a rolling surface and the rolling pin with flour. Roll out each half into a thin sheet. I cut the sheet into squares (rather than rounds) to save time—about 4 inch squares. Put a tablespoon or two of filling in the middle and pinch up the sides, firmly sealing the edges. It’s okay if the filling starts peeking through during cooking.
4. Put the pies on foil on baking trays. Brush the tops with olive oil and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

The Giving Tree

Every morning Enzo wants to do an art project. Today he wanted to make a tree. I went outside and cut a branch from the tree in front of our house and we got busy decorating his own little tree.

I had some pretty prints of food on little cards

and he used them up to decorate his tree.

we talked about different varieties of mushrooms and other lovely vegetables that he's not usually interested in.

Teaching moments like these are hard to come by but when they do, it makes my day.

In Our Kitchen

Head on over to Cafe Mom: The Stir. This week Mariko was featured and she gives us a lovely tour of her kitchen. Her photography is beautiful. I'm lusting after her pitcher and bowls that her talented husband made for her. Lucky gal!

 Last week my little kitchen and my little family got the spotlight. Thanks Cafe Mom for being a fan of The Little Foodie.

Push-up Pops in style

I spent this past Saturday at Pebble Beach, eating my way through the Food and Wine grand tasting event. I left my little foodies at home and had a full afternoon with my husband, amazing. When we go out by ourselves we don't even try to not talk about our kids. It's too hard to not talk about them since they're our favorite subject. We actually thought about Enzo a lot and all the food he would of enjoyed tasting. Maybe I should host a grand tasting event, Food and Juice, for all the little foodies out there. If I do I'll make sure to bring Andre Bienvenue whom I thought had the best food. His crab dish was delicious and his push-up pops were a hit. We had the root beer pop. I'm not a huge fan of root beer but I loved the taste and texture of this thing. He makes it in dry ice which makes the ice-cream super crunchy. I'm tempted to try this at home.

Here is some footage that I took of the process. What do you think, should I try it?

Broken Glass Jello

I have a feeling that this will be one of those treats that will become a tradition. Enzo will brag about this to his college buddies when they're telling your mama is so cool jokes to each other (is there such a thing?) "oh yeah, well my mama is so cool that she used to make me broken glass Jello every year for my birthday."

His birthday passed two weeks ago, I know, but I just came across these pictures and I can't decide which is sweeter, his look or the dessert.

I made this last year for his preschool class and then made it again this year, like I said, a tradition in the making.

For a detailed recipe of broken glass jello visit the food librarian.

Taiyaki Lessons

I filled my taiyaki with nutella, bananas, and custard. Maybe it was a little too much for breakfast. And maybe it was a little too much for my taiyaki pan, which overflowed with creamy goodness and stuck and burned together. These are the two best looking fish out of the dozen I made, and several came out in pieces.

I think taiyaki is an art I will need to practice. A lot.

What food have you been trying to perfect?

Strawberry Cream Cake

In Japan the birthday cakes are so different from American cakes. They’re less sweet, have whipped cream frosting instead of butter and stabilizers and dyes, and always have fresh fruit. The cake itself is sponge-y and moist. And I’ve never been able to copy the recipe. My mom is convinced that Japanese flour is super light and has less gluten, like cake flour but even finer.

For my little brother’s birthday we decided to make a Strawberry Cream Cake from Cook’s Illustrated, just to try to get close to that Japanese cake. And it wasn’t too far off. It’s probably the best compromise I can come up with. It wasn’t even close to as pretty, but the cake itself was light and moist with a fine crumb.

Amaya and my brother could not keep their fingers out of the frosting. I felt good that it wasn’t full of nasty junk. I was also surprised how easy the recipe was, despite its many steps. The frosting was very easy to make, and I never think that about frosting. I’ll definitely be experimenting with this cake for Amaya’s birthday.

Cake
1 1/4 C cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1 C sugar
5 large eggs (2 whole and 3 separated), room temperature
6 T unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
2 T water
2 tsp vanilla extract
Strawberry Filling
2 pounds fresh large strawberries washed, dried, stemmed
4–6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Kirsch (optional—I didn’t use any)
Pinch table salt
Whipped Cream
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 C sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp table salt
2 C heavy cream
1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour round 9 by 2-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and all but 3 tablespoons sugar in mixing bowl. Whisk in 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks (reserving whites), butter, water, and vanilla; whisk until smooth.
2. In clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat remaining 3 egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. With machine running, gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form, 60 to 90 seconds. Stir one-third of whites into batter to lighten; add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert cake onto greased wire rack; peel off and discard parchment. Invert cake again; cool completely, about 2 hours.
3. FOR THE STRAWBERRY FILLING: Halve 24 of best-looking berries and reserve. Quarter remaining berries; toss with 4 to 6 tablespoons sugar (depending on sweetness of berries) in medium bowl and let sit 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Strain juices from berries and reserve (you should have about 1/2 cup). In workbowl of food processor fitted with metal blade, give macerated berries five 1-second pulses (you should have about 1 1/2 cups). In small saucepan over medium-high heat, simmer reserved juices and Kirsch until syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour reduced syrup over macerated berries, add pinch of salt, and toss to combine. Set aside until cake is cooled.
4. FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM: When cake has cooled, place cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whisk at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Reduce speed to low and add heavy cream in slow, steady stream; when almost fully combined, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture holds stiff peaks, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes more, scraping bowl as needed (you should have about 4 1/2 cups).
5. TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Using large serrated knife, slice cake into three even layers. Place bottom layer on cardboard round or cake plate and arrange ring of 20 strawberry halves, cut sides down and stem ends facing out, around perimeter of cake layer. Pour one half of pureed berry mixture (about 3/4 cup) in center, then spread to cover any exposed cake. Gently spread about one-third of whipped cream (about 1 1/2 cups) over berry layer, leaving 1/2-inch border from edge. Place middle cake layer on top and press down gently (whipped cream layer should become flush with cake edge). Repeat with 20 additional strawberry halves, remaining berry mixture, and half of remaining whipped cream; gently press last cake layer on top. Spread remaining whipped cream over top; decorate with remaining cut strawberries. Serve, or chill for up to 4 hours.

Corn Cob

Amaya loves corn. On the cob. She loves to pretend she is like Mickey Mouse, who she saw eating corn on the cob like a typewriter in a cartoon. She doesn’t care one bit about strings in her teeth.

Plus, there are these things going for corn:

1) it has butter on it

2) it’s sweet

Basically, it’s her perfect food. But I am a foodie genius, and I made it even better: FURIKAKE! (with the butter) If you’re not familiar with furikake, it’s a Japanese “all purpose” seasoning to go on rice, with a little seaweed, salt, sesame seeds, and sometimes other variations. This one we had has some fish flakes in it. I promise you, kids (and plenty of adults) really like this stuff. In a Japanese grocery store it’s easy enough to find a whole aisle dedicated to furikake. Amaya loves Hello Kitty brand while I prefer the more straight adult stuff, with black sesame and roasted seaweed. Try a few out. There’s even Natto furikake. For the corn, I just spread on butter while it was hot, then sprinkled on the furikake. So easy and so good.

Now she wants to marry corn. I swear, when I was making her wait while I took the pictures, I did not prompt her to pose at all.

The Washington Post Peeps Show

This is peeps on steroids. I'm amazed, just amazed, at how creative people get with this bunny marshmallows. You've got to watch this video.

Happy Easter.

Oompa Giveaway

Last week Oompa sent Enzo some play food to review. Oompa, is an online store that specializes in, gear, wooden toys, educational toys, and modern furniture for kids. Oompa has a wide selection of kitchen and store play toys. I am in love with the brand Haba, and all their lovely ideas. I have started our family collection of play food and the quality of this German brand is outstanding.

I had been eying the  Haba Biofino: Bon Appetit Pizza for a while and was excited to get my hand on it to play with Enzo. We make home made pizza at least once a week and Enzo is always helping. I thought he would enjoy playing with this and so far it's a hit.

from the Oompa website,
The Bon Apetit Pizza splits into six slices and your little one can choose their favorite toppings. Included toppings include: cheese, peppers, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, onions, pepperoni and anchovies.

Enzo is a cheese and sometimes pepperoni kind of guy but after playing with this pizza I'm hoping he'll widen his horizons as far as toppings go. What do you think?

Oompa has been generous enough to send one of these toys for our family to play with and an additional one for your family to play with.

Giveaway Rules:
1- leave a comment below telling us what your favorite food toy is. You can check out oompa's selection to get an idea.
2- for additional entries you can leave extra comments for following us here, or on facebook or on twitter. You can also facebook, twitter, blog (you know the drill) this giveaway.
3- you have until Monday April 5th to leave a comment.
4- One comment will be selected at random and the winner will be contacted via e-mail so make sure that your comment links back to an e-mail account or that you leave your e-mail on your comment.

good luck!