From: abrams@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Subject: Re: RECIPE: Lentil-Bake (vegan)
Reply-To: abrams@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 02:47:54 GMT

In message  <1992Sep04.183757.6800@sco.com>, Joanne asked for some
recipes that a 4-yr old and 6-year old might like.  I'm no expert on 
the palates of all children, but a buddy in Cleveland showed me the
way.  He serves his daughter healthy food, but it's all "normal." 
So you've got to think about what you liked as a child.  Here's one
thought: you could make pizza with your housesitting charges.  
The crust can be whole-wheat, and they can go wild with the toppings
you provide, or just stick with cheese.  I guess you can use any 
bread recipe for pizza dough.  Here's one, from Jo Marcangelo,
_Italian Vegetarian Cooking_ (Healing Arts Press, 1989) p. 81:

1 tablespoon fresh yeast or 1/2 teas. dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon sweetener (sugar, honey, etc.)
2/3 cup warm water
2 cups wholewheat flour
1 teas. sea salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Dissolve the yeast with sweetener in 3-4 tablespoons of wrist-temperature
warm water.  Leave it for 5-10 minutes; it should froth up, if it's
alive. (the kids will love that!!)

Put the flour and salt in a warm bowl, make a well in the center and pour
in the yeast, the rest of the warm water and the olive oil.  Mix together
until it all comes clean from the sides of the bowl and makes a soft 
dough. 

Start kneading the flour in the bowl first, before you turn it out onto
a floured surface.  The idea is to knead in a _little_ extra flour. 
If they want, have the children wash their hands, give them each a hunk 
of dough, and show them how to knead it.  The dough needs five minutes
of good kneading, so they should have the attention span for it.  
Otherwise, you do it; the dough should be smooth and elastic.  

Place the dough in the clean,floured bowl and cover with a damp cloth.
Leave in a warm place (like a cold oven, especially a gas oven with a
 pilot) for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until doubled.  The children can go outside
and play, and so can you.

Punch down the dough and knead lightly.  Divide the dough either into
two parts, or into a portion for each eater, and roll them out.  
(if in two pieces, you need 9-inch diameter pans.  But don't worry 
about that, just get a baking sheet for each one to have her own.)
They can put on tomato sauce, grated cheese and any vegetables they
consider "normal."  (Some children don't like mushrooms, even, so 
you'll have to see.)  

Other things you could serve them: noodle kugel, baked potatoes with
toppings of their choice, stir-fried vegetables with plain rice or
noodles.  (you can get a "light-bran" rice, I found out, from 
Texmati, that cooks in 20 minutes and is something between white
and brown, it's good.)  There is a good stir-fry sauce in 
_The Enchanted Broccoli Forest_ which makes stir-fry taste like
something from a Chinese restaurant.  Also you can successfully
hide tofu in a good spaghetti sauce, and you can cook whole-wheat
and refined-flour spaghetti together if you add the quicker-
cooking white flour noodles a little later to the water.  My friend
grew up eating just rice with milk, raisins, and honey; it was
only as an adult that she found out this was actually a healthy 
meal!  If you can stand the blandness for a little while, or keep
a bottle of garlic powder by your own plate (:->) you can probably 
deal with the lack of onions in your life.