Grandchildren's Sleepover Menu

He loves my macaroni and cheese, the famous comfort dish of all. The ingredients are mom approved, always. The two boys 'Tim' and 'Tom' are having a sleepover with me. The 8 and 5-year- olds are ready, knowing staying up late might happen, (not an intentional maneuver) and food to their liking will be served, non-stop. ...Jurassic Park x 3 will be there. (The bonus discs are indescribable, as worthy as the counterparts they represent)

There is a camaraderie with each boy and me. I am honoured. The laborious food menu began early, this Saturday morning. Noodles, freshly rolled and cut, were ready for dad before he left. He eats his meal with the creamed cottage cheese of his childhood. (Mom was busy under the cover of darkness, somewhere). Other foods including roast potatoes, cucumber slices, chicken tenders and wings were ready too, homemade where applicable. The best was left for later as it cooled on the counter: macaroni and cheese. A hot breakfast would come the next morning. 

Doughnuts for Dinner  happened long long ago when baba ruled.  Here, it might be doughnuts for breakfast, homemade, of course for my grandsons. Not today, maybe next time. Their dad is an adult now. Different time different rules. Eggs and fruit are always available, no matter what.

Improvisation was needed to make my treasured macaroni and cheese. The one company that made a mac and cheese I enjoyed when my version was not available was Stouffers. It was my choice not one that was imposed on any of the my grandchildren. (Mom and dad have rights too.) Where are you Stouffers?

Here goes on the job training: making macaroni and cheese when one of the main ingredients is spoiled. I could not use the oat milk in the refrigerator. I stood there wondering what to do next. I had melted some butter, 2 tbsp., then added some olive oil into the 00 Italian flour in the pot, making a paste. 

The liquid was added next, very slowly, using the wire whip to blend in small amounts of 10% organic cream to augment the characteristic creamy taste and richness with water, as needed, to create a delicious tasting sauce, while keeping lumps at bay. (Water replaced the milk.) Add water as needed. Pour slowly as to not dilute flavour too much. 

When you add a powerful flavour enhancer to gravy, or other sauces for instance, (the juices from a roast or its vegetables,) water is used to thin the 'sauce' to your taste and make it your own.You decide. (Use a little cold water to thickener at the beginning in small bowl, then add to hot 'sauce' slowly as it thickens.)

Faced with a mac and cheese catastrophe, I also decided to add 1 tbsp. of full fat caesar dressing into the  white sauce on the stove top then I sprinkled parmesan or pecorina cheese into the sauce adding an unexpected flavour dimension to this new recipe of mine. Once sauce has cooked, on low heat, while being whipped and the grated 'old' cheddar cheese, added then melted, the sauce is ready. Add to the cooked pasta noodle of your choice or mix in different styles. Ask your children's help wherever possible. The comfort dish will taste better to them.

Adding water, not milk, coupled with flavour enhancers (butter, dressing and cheeses of your choosing) made an incredible macaroni and cheese. It was a welcome surprise. Plain old water with a little help made my macaroni and cheese so delicious. It is now my favourite version. 

The best macaroni and cheese I ever made, healthier, too. To change the colour of the casserole add a dash of paprika, turmeric, onion powder.You decide. Dill weed, thyme and pepper, might be a thought, too. (Pasta could be cooked with chunks of garlic added to the boiling water. Remove before adding sauce.) 

A dash of this cheese or a smidgeon of that salad dressing augments flavour tremendously and water was used because milk of any kind was not available. Become the chef hiding inside you. Using water as a replacement for milk or juice is not failure. You are being creative using water with courage and also reducing cost and calories. Flavour is coming from tiny amounts of other ingredients. Water is needed in all cooking. (Remember, we are water, too.)

Using a strongly aged cheddar allows for a reduced amount in the sauce and in the cost of this famous comfort food. Remember a recipe is a guide only. (In other recipes be cautious as in cakes, pie and pastries, Momsey's favourite food groups!) Someone wrote the recipe, thankfully. But now you are the architect, the master, of a new version considering the budget and health needs of your family. Broccoli, anyone?

Assorted herbs -dill-cilantro, finely diced parsley, green onions and red pepper, hot sauce, too?, can be included in or on top of the bubbling casserole. Children can customize their own serving. Be careful not to burn your tongue. Let your mac and cheese rest to 'cool' for a period of time. 

In the final step grated cheddar cheese mixed with sourdough bread crumbs can be sprinkled on top to broil on low setting. Be careful. Comfort foods can burn, too. Enjoy your newly crafted recipe. The grandchildren will love you forever. 

"Does Flour Curdle?"

“Does flour curdle”? I wondered. It seemed to make sense as I made yet another batch of pierogy dough. On one occasion, adding very hot water to a sifted mound of flour seemed to make the flour mixture look curdled. “What if using simply warmer than warm water was all that it took to achieve perfection”? And so my new and famous dough came to be.

My pierogy dough is exceptional now. Relentless experimentation, over decades, with perfecting this simple silly dough has made the Momsey very happy. Just the other day. I made pierogies again- over a hundred within a week when time allowed. I gauged my time, using 3 potatoes skins on, then squeezed the contents  of a jar or two of fermented cabbage then I began with excitement. To those companies who play with their eating audience, I win here. 

It is power we feel when what we do in the kitchen makes us, our family - both animal and human -  happy and healthy and maybe wealthy, both in the short and long term. We all want healthy food whether buying it 'ready made' or making it homemade. TheMomsey is no different. To answer my opening question. Yes, I believe flour does curdle. I think I saw it happen the other day when I added boiling water to a small mound of flour. It was an awakening moment for me. (Be careful with all hot liquids.) When you least expect it, the next step can result in a new lesson.

I continued to use the 'curdled' dough that day. It was a seeming bumpy mass but I chose to use it anyway. Even cutting out the circles to make my pierogies that day seemed off. I added cold water to make my 'scalded' dough easier to handle rather then waiting for the dough to cool off. It would take too long. Time stands still for no one. I learned another lesson.

Long, long ago, my dear mother-in-law ate my pierogies one day. She was kind, having removed the outer edges of these delicious parcels. They were tough as nails. I was experimenting again that day working towards perfection. I wanted to please her not disappoint her. That was the last time those kitchen delicacies offended her. I was not happy. 

My dough improved but there was still something missing. It is called the perfect recipe. It was discovered because of numerous attempts at perfection. Simple is sometimes all it takes to create perfection. Never give up. Sift Italian 00 Flour + warm water = dough, using a simple fork. Mix. Let dough rest then remove a small amount of it from small bowl onto floured board. A bench scraper handles dough on floured board till it is ready to be rolled easily. Add as little flour as possible as you go. Handle only as needed. Let the dough rest. It needs to relax.

Practice makes perfect. If in doubt, ask a child to help you. I do.

The Great Kitchen Hack.

Recently I made 90 cheese and sauerkraut pierogies to be cooked that afternoon. It never happened. A change in plans resulted that made cooking them impossible. Should I cook them anyway then freeze? No thank you. Reheating these gems was not a choice. Cooking them fresh was always the goal. Into the freezer they went, on the parchment lined cookie sheets. Would these morsels of yum withstand the temperature shock once out of the freezer?

My dumpling dough had always been thinner than most. (I try to reduce the carb. footprint in these Ukrainian morsels of delight. I had never frozen mine, ever, before cooking them). Today the boiling test would reveal my skill as a dough maker for these dumplings. Most recipes use milk and eggs in the dough. I do not. 

Reducing dairy and calories is always my goal in formulating any recipe.Those dairy items are not always welcomed by a vast majority which brings me to the cheddar or cottage cheese that can dominate the various kinds of pierogies, most times.The ratio of potato versus cheese is a personal choice left to the pierogy maker.

Two cookie sheets of raw pierogies had been frozen for a month in freezer bags that would tell the tale. Could my delicious entrees withstand the sudden temperature drop when boiled? Hope was in the air. Except for two that broke apart, nearly all my dumplings remained in tact. I was ecstatic. What does this mean? I now have supreme power within reach of being able to make these pierogies when time permits then freeze them. I just need to watch how I roll. The thinner my dough the greater risk of breakage on fragile dough. Power in the kitchen has once again been restored.

It may not be a big win but finding 'just like homemade anything' frozen is a tough act to find. One brand of pierogies I bought years before Covid was so like my own that I was able to serve up like homemade whenever the mood hit till everything changed.

The taste of these store bought dumplings in their coloured bags- pink, yellow, green and blue- had changed. The dough was chewier with a 'diluted' filling' now the standard

Had the recipe changed? Had the company been sold? I noticed the ingredients' list in the sauerkraut type was longer. Fillers perhaps? My lovable cottage cheese in the pink package did not have potato in the original. Now it was in a blue package with potato listed first and cottage cheese second. Fooling the consumer?

Stop playing around with tried and true recipes. Charge more for the original if your costs have risen. Problem solved. Substituting flavour enhancers to mitigate your problem forces me, the customer to change 'suppliers' and make her own in the current dilemma. I can taste the difference. I cannot be fooled.

At present, two grandsons, aged 5 and 8, know how to make pasta and pierogies and love the homemade difference. The older boy once said homemade pasta was life.They are learning fast. I am teaching them the cost variance that exists between home made and store bought. They understand health and wealth are found in the kitchen.

They can see it, taste it and smell it and understand the cost differential. We can be fooled sometimes but learning how to make what we love to eat sets a standard so easily reached by our children and grandchildren. It takes so little to reach an engaging child where food is concerned. Children want to know.

I used to buy a  few bags of your pierogies each time I needed more. Now it might be one if the need arises. Adding fillers to your product and potato with cottage cheese to hide the recipe change was disappointing. The cost is higher now too but your sneaky error in judgement makes this customer look elsewhere: my kitchen. 

The coloured packages of your pierogy type delighted me whenever I went shopping for these lookalikes. But you changed the recipe and quality of your product. Shame on you. I have already put 40 of my homemade pierogies, ready to cook, anytime, into the freezer. I made a new batch today in no time. 

Fool with the customer and sales could disappear. Mine are better. Yours used to be a great alternative but why the change? Did you think your new recipe would go unnoticed. It did not. You lose but so do I! Have a great day.

What Will It Be?

I listened as they spoke. As a back seat passenger, I wanted to hear it all. Whatever was under discussion, I wanted to know. The passengers in the front seats were very knowledgable, interesting people and family, too. As I listened I began to smile.

A new kid on the block from the company of one of the front seat people, an IT employee, had been trying to connect with a colleague in another department of said company. It was very important. Emails and texts had failed. As this individual spoke of his desire to reach her, another senior employee had walked into the room and remarked, “Why don't you go to the forth floor. She is there working. Quick and Easy!

I laughed at the obvious. Has the digital age replaced common sense? Interpersonal skills seem to be lacking, somewhat. Then we have the “You can never meet a decent guy in a bar. Momsey did and we were together for over 50 years. (I was a cocktail waitress while a student at Toronto's Ontario College of Ed.) There was no such thing as a dating APP or cell phone. There was the landline and society still managed to connect and marry, too. And the phones did not ring non-stop.

Emails and texting rule today but once upon a time, letters and postcards arrived by snail mail, the premiere method of communicating, employing thousands of people who touch the world, daily, via daily delivery of paper and packages. Things change but why discard people in the process and ridicule their choices?

Scrolling the screens of all the digital gadgets is o.k. But reading a book, magazine or other print media are so last year. Who decides what's in or out? Everything has its place. Just choose yours and be happy.

"It's Life"

“It's life”, he remarked as he ate his dinner. I looked at him and asked what he was talking about. He retorted with absolute delight,,”The pasta”. I stood there thinking about what he had said and why. He loved homemade pasta so the comment seemed to fit. Another round of homemade pasta, please.

Homemade pasta had just been served from several 'pasta pucks' that had been stored in the freezer for a few months, for that last minute meal. Today I would make more pasta dough and freeze the 'pucks' for next time. My days of making the dough, rolling it into pasta then cooking it were over. I would make the dough then freeze it. Others would assume control for the cooking and dressing of it..

Dad would cook it. He always did. Eliminating the cooking step for me was a game changer. Someone else would do it. My presence was not needed. The boys could do it while mom and dad were there.. Freedom from drudgery. And everyone was happy. If there was a shortage of pasta pucks, I would simply eat a hotdog then make more dough.

Making pasta dough was easy. This the boys knew. At 8 and 5 years of age these pasta connoisseurs had begun learning the craft a few years ago. The taste difference of homemade pasta was an obvious joyful moment for these boys. Even dad seemed happy . He loved homemade noodles with cottage cheese, his family favourite since he was a boy. His wife, their mom, liked it too but would rather have saurkraut filling from pierogies.

Everyone received something homemade worthy. Croissants would wait till I taught them how. First I had to learn! The fun of eating in was all around us. Health and wealth was in the room.The vegetables were nearby.

Handwriting's ComfortingTouch

Handwriting is becoming obsolete says the author. It is no longer needed or wanted.Today's generation believes in the absolute power of online messaging to replace the drudgery of handwriting, the pen and paper way.  

Handwriting offers us a special and unique style of someone we know that makes us feel close each and every time we read the messages. Pen in hand is a personal triumph. It takes time to do.. Handwriting can be a declaration of love or friendship of the person who is writing in his unique style known by no other.

Because my handwriting is not the great (I am left handed) cards of all sorts offer a sense of relief and wonder for me, a place where adding more is commonplace with the handwriting skill of the writer. It is a secret language, a unique style of communicating to others that is so special, unlike any other.

I was not proficient at handwriting so I practiced and practiced with pen, often, to improve my style. I used both hands hoping one would be the winner. I envied the handwriting style of others I knew. It was perfection. My right side seemed useless so I printed, scribbled or wrote to strengthen my brain's connections to that hand.Using both hands made sense. What if my handed side was injured, one day. The other side could help.

During this period of mourning, I have been given comfort through the memories that cards, letters and notes left behind by him. He was my GPS and family right from the start.  I was a cocktail waitress: he, a late Thursday evening customer, arriving with friends after a long week on a business trip. Our lives spanned over 50 years. He touched my heart over and over in words that have soothed the pain of his passing. Mr. Wiggles, our 12 year-old retriever, j had joined him months earlier.

Loyalty, caring and love kept us together. The vestiges of a life well-lived is showcased in handwritten notes and cards. His handwritten style of love has kept me strong, comforted and connected. I was and still am a lucky girl. The personal nature of handwriting, the human symbols of communication, carries me forward knowing I mattered to someone special, once upon a time. My heart is healing. 

More of Easy Does It.......

Let's continue with more “Easy Does It in the Kitchen”. Let us redesign the recipes themselves making them healthier and more family friendly.

As I was looking through a bake sale cookbook, there were recipes galore suitable for the school bake sale or other charitable ventures to make money. I removed those pages that attracted me. Holding onto the rest of the book can be somewhat time wasting and a burden. Time stands still for no one, especially little children.

There was a picture of cookie bar that reminded me of cheesecake. So instead of following the steps for this luscious looking 'cake', I will substitute ricotta or dry curd cottage cheese and include the other ingredients: dried cherries, chocolate chips and toasted coconut. Why not, I thought? Where's the harm? It looks like cheesecake so I will remake it into a cheesecake. I will report back to you, my valued and treasured readers with my results.

I have been the Momsey blog over for 14 years. I was told to by an eighteen year old I had known for a  only few months. No one spoke, wrote or thought like I did, she remarked. Over 30,000 readers from across 25 countries- including Germany, France, Italy, United States and Canada, to name a few, have been a part of my vast audience.

I have never entered into other social media platforms - Instagram, Facebook and others. No desire. I do not text. My heart had other important parts to it called grandchildren, dogs, volunteering and special education. I thank you for being there for me. My readers inspire me to write funny, sad and informative stuff. It's all about we!

Look at any recipe and if parts of it are not appetizing, change it. Your health matters all the time. In one canning magazine, the recipe called for 7 cups of sugar to 4 cups of peaches. Why bother?. If sugar is considered harmful to health, buy the next jar of peach or strawberry jam at the grocery store. It might be a better choice. Just read the ingredient list to decide. Read to your children / grandchildren so they can read labels and report back to you. Mine are food critiques.

Have children create salads in a jar with a teaspoon or less homemade dressing on the bottom. Let them layer the vegetables, and protein, customized to each family member, then refrigerate. When ready to eat. Flip the jar with lid on to dress the contents. Something different and more inviting, too? The sky is the limit. Little children will love the adventure in the kitchen where wealth and health live. Creating food experiences will guide them to their healthy futures.