In honor of Mother’s Day, this week the kids and I demonstrate just how we make my favorite Tabouli recipe. And, as mentioned in the Recipe of the Week that featured Tabouli, the kid’s do not eat it. BUT, that doesn’t matter, cuz, remember…it’s Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s day everyone. Enjoy the show!

Alex, Soph and Mom

Anyway, here’s the recipe we use. It’s a conglomeration of a bunch of recipes I’ve seen, I just sort of took what I liked and added it. I think it’s super delicious

The Mom’s Tabouli
2 cups bulgur wheat, pre-soaked
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh parsley, minced
1/4 cup fresh mint, minced (optional)
4 green onions, sliced finely
1 large tomato, diced
1 large cucumber, seeded and diced
1 green pepper, diced
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 cup Olive Oil

Instructions
The first thing you do is soak the bulgur wheat in water for about 1 hour – 2 cups of water for the 2 cups of bulgur should be perfect.

While the wheat is soaking, prepare the other ingredients, mincing the parsley, slicing the onions and dicing the tomato and green pepper (some recipes include minced, fresh mint, so adding about 1/4 cup of that wouldn’t hurt either, we do sometimes, too). You can also prepare the dressing by mixing the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper together. We usually use a measure closer to the 1/2 cup range for both the lemon juice and olive oil, bu the recipe is still well dressed when you cut the dressing down to 1/4 cup each.

When your bulgur is ready, mix everything together and then let it chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour for the flavors to blend. Then, you’re ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Alex, Soph and Mom

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Disclaimer: the picture is not my tabouli, I don’t have a picture of mine yet, but it looks a lot like this…I got the image here.

Last Friday, Soph and I went to Disney Princesses on Ice with her girl scout troop. I’m not a huge fan of the princess movies and all that prince-charming-will-make-me-happy-love-at-first-site stuff; BUT, I love the tiara’s and dresses and so does Soph. She wore her Snow White dress and tiara and I dressed normal, but I think I was the only mother in the place with a cinderella tiara on–Soph wanted me to wear it and she thought it was cool that I was the only mom wearing one Despite the over-priced wand and popcorn in a princess bucket, we had a great time. Soph said her favorite part was all of it. My favorite part was sharing the experience with her.

When we arrived home from our princess extravaganza, Alex and Aunt Dani were waiting for us with a surprise. Alex had hung our newly acquired disco ball in the ceiling above Soph’s bed. We got the disco ball from a neighbor down the hall and the kids were both excited about having their very own mirrored globe to bounce sparkly lights around the bedroom. When Soph saw the sparkliness her brother had installed right above her bed, the first words out of her mouth were, ‘Mom, can we have a disco party in here?’

And so, the next day, we did. We listened to disco music and ate some Snickety Snacks and other treats. Soph danced and Alex did some jumping between our beds. We even had a cake.

Sophia love our disco party and I’m sure has our next one already planned out. Alex loves whenever jumping on the bed is a part of the planned festivities. And, Mom, she just likes having fun with her kiddies!

Pasta:
1 cup flour
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Large egg

Pour all the ingredients together in a food processor. Mix until everything comes together and then roll into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour. (Note: More traditional recipes just put the flour on the table, make a well in the middle, crack in the egg (no oil) and mix by hand. I prefer my recipe because the dough is easier to work with and it’s waaaay less messy.)

Filling:
5 potatoes
4 slices bacon
4 Tablespoons Butter
1/2 Cup Whole Milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and boil the potatoes until they are soft.

While the potatoes are boiling, fry the bacon until crisp. When it’s done, crumble it into bacony bits.

When the potatoes are done, drain them and then mash them with a potato masher. Next, add the butter, milk, bacon bits and salt and pepper. We like to use a hand mixer to beat it all together and smooth out the potatoes. If you feel it’s too dry, add additional milk.

Assembly

First, roll out half of the pasta to about 1/8 inch thick (we use our pasta machine because we have one and we like it ). You will need extra flour to eliminate sticking, so before rolling, make sure to sprinkle some down. Then, using a 3 inch round cookie cutter (or a glass) to cut several rounds. Next, take about a tablespoon or so of the filling mixture and place it in the center of the round. Fold the round over and pinch the edges together to seal tightly. Continue this process ’til you’re out of filling or dough or both. As you finish each perogie, lay it on a foil-covered baking sheet that is lightly sprinkled with flour…the perogies will stick to each other if the set close for too long. Now, you can freeze them for later or boil them and eat.

If you choose to boil them, bring the water to a boil first, then gently place them in the water. When they start floating, they’re done–3 to 5 minutes (longer if frozen). Place the cooked perogies in a bowl with some butter, and then serve individually with sour cream. Once they’ve been boiled, if we have leftovers, we like to fry them up to reheat. It adds another dimension of deliciousness.

We hope you enjoy our family recipe for perogies! In a couple of weeks, Alex and Soph will share their techniques for this family recipe, so make sure to stop back every Saturday for our next episode (or sign up for our newsletter and we’ll let you know when it’s up).

Thanks for stopping by and we hope your Holidays are Happy!

Alex and Soph usually help get things ready for the big meal by helping make the desserts the day before. On Thanksgiving though, I’m kind of focused on getting everything done, so they have more limited hands-on kitchen time, but here are some ways they help out:

Hors d’oeuvres
When we have family and friends over for Thanksgiving, most of the time they arrive well before the big meal. This means we like to have plenty of snacks available for our guests. Alex and Sophia love getting hors d’oeuvres ready and serving them, so that’s usually one of their duties. We usually have an assortment of things including some family favorites like pickled herring, polish sausage, assorted cheeses…nothing too fancy, just some tasty items to keep tummies from growling before the main meal.

Crudité Platter
If you’ve seen our ‘Snickety Snacks‘ episode, you know that we love the veggie trays. Alex and Soph can put together a respectable Crudité platter in no time and with lots of style, so on Thanksgiving, I make sure they do.

Beverages
At our house, a guest with an empty glass won’t be empty for long. When I’m busy cooking, the kids are free to check on each of our guests needs, refreshing sodas or waters, or letting the ‘bartender’ know someone needs a fresh beverage. This responsibility keeps our guests well hydrated and the kids busy.

Relish Tray
Pickles, olives and pickled peppers, oh my! Whatever types of pickled delicacies are traditional on your table, they need to be prepared. Just like with the Crudité Platter and Hors d’oeuvres, kids have fun making serving platters look pretty. Sophia tends to eat as much as she plates, but that’s why we buy extra

Setting the Table
I remember Thanksgivings when I was a kids. Every year we’d travel to Jackson, MN to spend the holiday with my Grandma and Grandpa. My Grandma was a bit of a stickler for a properly set table, and my sister and I always had the duty of making sure this happened. Now, I’ve passed the duty on to Alex and Sophia, BUT, I’m not quite as picky as two where they place the silverware…I’m lucky to have all the place settings matching these days

And there you have it, a few of the ways Mom (that’s me) keeps the 2 Kids (that’s Alex and Soph), busy and helping on Thanksgiving. Because, Thanksgiving is about thanks, right? And I’m most thankful to have two great kids to spend time with, both in the kitchen and out.

Have a great holiday week everyone…and Thank You for watching Two Kids Cooking!

If you want to try out Alex and Soph’s recipe, check it out: 2 Kids Cooking Thanksgiving Turkey Meatballs.

And, make sure you don’t miss an episode–sign up for our weekly email, and as a gift to you, you’ll get 6 daily emails filled with menu planning ideas that your family can cook together!

Alex and Sophia are ½ Polish from their dad’s side and while we were married, I learned lots of tasty Polish recipes, including perogies. Alex is not a huge fan of them, but Sophia and I love their, buttery, bacon-y deliciousness (at least the way we make ‘em–We’ll be sharing our recipe and our techniques in an upcoming episode of Two Kids Cooking). I guess when you fill pasta with mashed potatoes and bacon and serve it with butter and sour cream you should dedicate its consumption to ‘holiday tradition’ if you plan on not having a heart attack at the age of 30, but they are a must-have at our house during Thanksgiving and Christmas (and Easter too ).

As for the sausage, we don’t make that ourselves, but we make sure to have some authentic polish sausage from Minneapolis’ Kramarczuk (http://www.kramarczuk.com/) on hand. Overall, sausage is just good; enough said.

And then there are the cookies…

Here’s the thing, I love cooking with the kids. This should be fairly obvious considering our entire website is dedicated to cooking with kids and spending quality family time while cooking and eating. BUT, Christmas cookies—you know those sugar cookies you rollout and cut into shapes, bake, frost and decorate—they kinda drive me crazy.

Why? There are two main reasons: 1) Colored sugar everywhere, 2) They never actually get eaten. I’m really not a neat freak, but when we’re in the kitchen, I like to try and keep things tolerably clean. Once those cookie sprinkles and colored sugars come out, however, they seem to have this way of dispersing; dispersing everywhere. And, Alex and Soph seem to enjoy a philosophy of quantity when it comes to the amount of decorations they ‘disperse,’—I actually think that much of the time there is way more decoration than there is cookie. These beautifully, and heavily, decorated works of art may be edible, but I prefer to consume them with my eyes only. I will say that Alex and Soph do enjoy making them (and they eat the too); so, despite my resistance each year, we always make a batch. I’m starting to think my resistance is part of the ‘tradition.’

We’ll make sure to share some photos of this year’s Christmas Cookie Sessions with you, but in the meantime, we hope you all have a great time carrying out your family’s Holiday Traditions.

Of course all this family camaraderie only happens if the TV is off, and some nights, I admit, we do just sit and watch and eat and barely talk. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I know that in the ideal world I’d have enough energy after commuting, working, cooking, etc…but the fact is, sometimes I don’t.

Family meals are supposed to be about more than just the food and eating. They’re supposed to be about sharing and fun too. I guess since I am far from perfect, I’ll trust that those meals we have together when the TV is off build bonds; and I’ll hope that family ties are strengthened even when dinner includes watching Phineas and Ferb from the dining room table while eating spaghetti.