Fast food the 'whole' way
By on January 5, 2009 7:00 AM
Having school age children is a wonderful thing. No longer is Mr Fussy the dependant being that he was at two years of age. At age eight, he is beginning to define his personality, make his own choices and develop his own likes and dislikes. One surprising thing for us as parents was how quickly he was confronted with 'peer pressure'. This can present itself in all sorts of ways such as him 'needing' to have the latest toys or gadgets that Sam has. Or 'needing' to watch the same television shows as his mates so that he can keep up with the play ground chitchat, or 'needing' to play the same after school sport as little sporty Tom.
We have done several things in an attempt to educate and curb the inevitable onslaught of senseless consumerism in our family. Our first line of defence has been to stick a big 'NO JUNK MAIL' sign on our mail box outside. This seems to be an effective strategy, in that we are able to circumvent the plethora of marketing directed at our children by way of the noxious 'catalogue'. Phase two of our plan has been a conscious decision to only allow the children to watch non commercial TV (in Australia that's ABC Kids), or their own DVD's. Hence, if these two lines of defence fail I then resort to my 'Needs vs. Wants' argument in an attempt to tackle the almost daily plea - "please can I have?". If for whatever reason all else fails I then break into my 'Landfill' soliloquy which up to date seems to stop all protests and clear the room in four seconds flat!
The job of raising 'globally aware' citizens is indeed a challenging task. Hence with the advent of peer influence I often find myself at wits end, especially when the latest area under attack is 'food'. It would appear that the school yard natter of late has begun to steer towards 'family eating habits'. Mr Fussy has come home reporting all sorts of 'grass is greener' tales about KFC every Friday night for young Noah and McDonald's as being the mid week norm for most of his friends. And for some fortunate souls its KFC and McDonald's as a 'treat' on a bi-weekly basis!
Rather than shy away from the truth I have chosen to be honest as to why Mr Fussy is not going to eat what his friends are eating - basically because it's CRAP! If he wants KFC - we will make chicken schnitzel and chips using organic chicken and organic potatoes. If its fish and chips that takes his fancy, we will go to the local fishmonger and get some flathead tales and crumb them and make our own potato wedges. If its pizza he is hankering for then lets make some pizza dough and then grab a can of organic Italian whole peeled tomatoes and season it a bit, blitz it in the Magimix and then make our own Margherita pizzas.
Ms. Gourmet's Basic Pizza Dough
This is a simple pizza dough recipe that works well every time. I prefer to use Italian "00" organic flour but any plain all purpose flour can be used. Mr Fussy prefers a plain Margherita pizza (how unusual) so I just grab a tin of organic Italian whole peeled tomatoes and blitz it in the Magimix with some salt and pepper to taste, a bit of sugar, a garlic clove and whatever fresh herbs I have laying around. This will make four pizza bases.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
½ teaspoon sugar
1 cup (250ml) lukewarm water
2 ½ cups "00" flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F)
2. Place the yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes until bubbles appear on the surface (as this means the yeast has been activated).
3. Place the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture and mix well together with well floured hands to form a dough.
4. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
5. Divide the dough into four equal sized balls. Place on a lightly floured board or tray and cover with a clean damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until the balls have doubled in size.
6. Press each dough ball into a round and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 25cm (10inch) diameter. Place each on a well oiled pizza tile or flat baking tray.
7. Spread the pizza bases with your chosen toppings and bake in batches of two on the preheated pizza tiles or baking trays for 10 -15 minutes or until crisp and golden.
Four basic Margherita pizza variations
1. Ligurian olive, caper and anchovy pizza
2. Parma ham and arugula (rocket) pizza
3. Milano salami, roasted red capsicum and Spanish onion pizza
4. Pancetta, roasted red capsicum, Goats cheese and black olive pizza
The list of possibilities is endless really - so why not go ahead try it for your self?
I have quickly discovered that it's an ongoing battle with peer pressure, but one that I am willing to fight! I do not want to deny my children from having fun, fast food as long as its fun, fast 'whole' food. If there are any other parents out there in a similar quandary, I would really love to hear from you as I could do with the moral support - and some new fast food ideas!
We have done several things in an attempt to educate and curb the inevitable onslaught of senseless consumerism in our family. Our first line of defence has been to stick a big 'NO JUNK MAIL' sign on our mail box outside. This seems to be an effective strategy, in that we are able to circumvent the plethora of marketing directed at our children by way of the noxious 'catalogue'. Phase two of our plan has been a conscious decision to only allow the children to watch non commercial TV (in Australia that's ABC Kids), or their own DVD's. Hence, if these two lines of defence fail I then resort to my 'Needs vs. Wants' argument in an attempt to tackle the almost daily plea - "please can I have?". If for whatever reason all else fails I then break into my 'Landfill' soliloquy which up to date seems to stop all protests and clear the room in four seconds flat!
The job of raising 'globally aware' citizens is indeed a challenging task. Hence with the advent of peer influence I often find myself at wits end, especially when the latest area under attack is 'food'. It would appear that the school yard natter of late has begun to steer towards 'family eating habits'. Mr Fussy has come home reporting all sorts of 'grass is greener' tales about KFC every Friday night for young Noah and McDonald's as being the mid week norm for most of his friends. And for some fortunate souls its KFC and McDonald's as a 'treat' on a bi-weekly basis!
Rather than shy away from the truth I have chosen to be honest as to why Mr Fussy is not going to eat what his friends are eating - basically because it's CRAP! If he wants KFC - we will make chicken schnitzel and chips using organic chicken and organic potatoes. If its fish and chips that takes his fancy, we will go to the local fishmonger and get some flathead tales and crumb them and make our own potato wedges. If its pizza he is hankering for then lets make some pizza dough and then grab a can of organic Italian whole peeled tomatoes and season it a bit, blitz it in the Magimix and then make our own Margherita pizzas.
Ms. Gourmet's Basic Pizza Dough
This is a simple pizza dough recipe that works well every time. I prefer to use Italian "00" organic flour but any plain all purpose flour can be used. Mr Fussy prefers a plain Margherita pizza (how unusual) so I just grab a tin of organic Italian whole peeled tomatoes and blitz it in the Magimix with some salt and pepper to taste, a bit of sugar, a garlic clove and whatever fresh herbs I have laying around. This will make four pizza bases.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
½ teaspoon sugar
1 cup (250ml) lukewarm water
2 ½ cups "00" flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F)
2. Place the yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes until bubbles appear on the surface (as this means the yeast has been activated).
3. Place the flour and salt in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture and mix well together with well floured hands to form a dough.
4. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
5. Divide the dough into four equal sized balls. Place on a lightly floured board or tray and cover with a clean damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until the balls have doubled in size.
6. Press each dough ball into a round and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 25cm (10inch) diameter. Place each on a well oiled pizza tile or flat baking tray.
7. Spread the pizza bases with your chosen toppings and bake in batches of two on the preheated pizza tiles or baking trays for 10 -15 minutes or until crisp and golden.
Four basic Margherita pizza variations
1. Ligurian olive, caper and anchovy pizza
2. Parma ham and arugula (rocket) pizza
3. Milano salami, roasted red capsicum and Spanish onion pizza
4. Pancetta, roasted red capsicum, Goats cheese and black olive pizza
The list of possibilities is endless really - so why not go ahead try it for your self?
I have quickly discovered that it's an ongoing battle with peer pressure, but one that I am willing to fight! I do not want to deny my children from having fun, fast food as long as its fun, fast 'whole' food. If there are any other parents out there in a similar quandary, I would really love to hear from you as I could do with the moral support - and some new fast food ideas!
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Definiely have my support there. Having spent all afternoon at the Royal Children's with my oldest on NY Day and leaving when she's absolutely starving, what do we see linked to the hospital but a McDonalds. Thankfully she was oblivious to the potential pitfalls of ordering - in fact not really knowing what to order I thought was a good start! However, now she has been 'subjected' to it....who knows! Definitely not on the list of 'must visit' restaurants though. Back to fast food ideas......2 words - CHICKEN NUGGETS! Disguise an abundance of vegies in there and noone knows (honest!). Crumb with pulverised cornflakes for that added crunch.
I'm not a parent myself, but I agree it's important to stay firm in the face of peer pressure and ads - you're doing a huge disservice to your kids if you don't. Ads directed at kids are so ridiculous. I'm thinking when I have kids I will stick to DVDs for their TV watching. I was raised that way and did not miss TV at all!
I really like your idea of offering to make the same dish at home rather than get fast food. Great that you're honest with your kids about why. It's more fun for them to make it themselves, anyway!