Cooking with Children Under Foot

Ever noticed how long it takes to do anything with children? I am a Personal Chef, trained in the Culinary Arts, worked for a catering company, done a few catering jobs, hosted several personal parties, and cooked for myself and family for years. Now that I am a parent I find it nearly impossible to cook with my children around.

Every day it is the same thing. My oldest wants to "watch balloon videos" on Youtube.com. My littlest one is addicted to TV just like my husband. Of course, I cannot get anything done. If I am prepping food for us they need help or just want to be held. I wind up not getting things done. When I used to go to work everyday I always got my work done on time, on budget, and nearly always perfect. Now I'm lucky if I get if I get anything done and food in my children before they start insisting they are starving to death.

I am working on the FlyLady method of changing my habits and the way I look at getting things done. If you haven't heard of her her site is http://www.flylady.net. She is great and sets it up for small steps to be accomplished daily until they become a habit. Change is gradual and consistent. Today, I have woken up (good thing because it is hard to do stuff when I'm asleep), got dressed including my shoes, done my hair and make-up, and started this blog.

Tonight we're having grilled lamb chops, baked rice pilaf, and some grilled tomatoes. For lunch we're having leftover chicken pesto pasta salad. I am going to marinate the lamb chops in some light olive oil, a little honey, some fresh tarragon from my garden, and some salt and pepper. The baked rice pilaf is going to have the rice cleaned/rinsed and cooked in the oven. I'll small dice some onions and carrots, mince garlic, and concasse a tomato. I will saute my aromatics (onions and carrots then finish off with the garlic) add it to my rice, toss in the tomato, add some salt and pepper, a touch of apple juice, and put a little beef stock I've made (because we're having lamb) mix it well then throw it in the oven to finish off. The tomatoes will be brushed with olive oil, salt, and pepper then grilled on the grill after the lamb is done while they are resting.