Cooking With Triplets: Two Recipes -The Toast

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pizzahand1Individual Mushroom & Spinach Pizzas
Feeds 2 adults and 3 extremely small toddlers (YMMV)

Ingredients:
4 small whole wheat pita (or “pocket”) breads
1/3 jar basic red spaghetti sauce (I use a generic-brand six cheese flavor)
8 mushrooms
12 oz. (approx.) shredded mozzarella cheese, aka “sprinkle cheese”
1/2 cup frozen leaf spinach

1. Place pita breads on a non-stick baking sheet and put under the broiler, on High, until slightly crisp on one side, or about the length of time it takes to rescue a toddler that has managed to wedge itself painfully between a footstool and a ride-on plastic zebra.

2. Cook spinach in microwave for approximately 1 minute or until mostly thawed.

3. Remove pitas from oven and turn over. Using a butter knife, spread red sauce over non-toasted side.

4. Slice all 8 mushrooms, plus one finger, while distracted by sudden high-pitched screams from next room.

5. Distribute a thin layer of mozzarella evenly over pitas. Reserve 3 small handfuls of cheese for toddler appeasement.

6. Distribute spinach as evenly as possible over pitas. Agree with nearby toddler that your fingers are now “g’een”. Alternately: Forget spinach, leave in microwave. This is fine; the toddlers never eat the spinach anyway.

pizzahand27. Cover pitas with mushroom slices.

8. Liberally cover pitas with mozzarella to desired level of cheesiness. Appease demands for “sprinkle cheese” with reserved handfuls. Have a dog handy, if possible, to remove any discarded cheese form kitchen floor.

9. Put baking sheet under broiler on High until cheese starts to bubble and go brown. You may have spectators during this step; under no circumstances allow your audience to attempt chin-ups on the oven door handle, no matter how strenuous their objections to being removed to a safe distance.

10. Cut pizzas into quarters and serve! You may be required to “swap” pieces with toddlers; the proffered slices may be either (a) identical to yours, or (b) have had all toppings removed, and look suspiciously as though the red sauce has been licked off as well.

Bon appetit!

Rice, Black Beans & Fried Plantains
Feeds 2 adults and 3 extremely small toddlers (YMMV)

Ingredients:
3 tbsp (approx.) canola oil
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
4 cups liquid vegetable stock (I made mine using 2 large Knorr’s vegetable bouillon cubes and electric-kettle-boiled water)
1 can black beans (I used a plain non-spiced version because allergies)
2 large plantains
3 tbsp (approx.) butter
Sea salt

1. Pour a hefty glug of olive oil into a large, shallowish pasta pot, over a low heat. Oops, that’s too much oil. Internally debate pouring some down the sink, but that’s bad for the environment. Shrug. Crush garlic, put into pot. Remove toddler from leg.

2. Add rice to pot, stirring in until rice is coated in oil. Separate toddlers engaging in impromptu cage match over Duplo rights, kiss scratches better and dry tears from tiny cheeks. This should take several minutes, at which point the rice will be ready for the next step.

3. Add vegetable stock to pot, fishing out scraps of foil bouillon-cube wrapper. Turn up to medium heat. Ideally, do this one-handed, while carrying a screeching toddler on the opposite hip. Cover rice with tight-fitting lid. Set kitchen timer for 15 minutes; cook for 13 minutes because three screaming toddlers can’t wait two more minutes for dinner, you monster.

4. While rice is cooking, slice plantains into thick diagonal-ish slices. Repeatedly explain “Not banana, plantain.” Ignore, then refuse, then give in to repeated requests for “nana”. Wait 20 seconds, then throw half-chewed slices of plantain in trash.

5. Melt slightly too much butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Place slices of plantain in pan. Step back from pan to allow toddler to push large empty cardboard box past you, then return to pan and flip plantain slices to brown on opposite side.

6. When rice is cooked (see step 3), drain can of black beans and add black beans to rice. Stir through. Forget to add the dried basil.

7. When the shrieking goes from mono to stereo to surround sound, dinner is ready! Spoon hillock of rice and bean mixture onto plates (tailor amount to size of person) and top with plantain slices. Sprinkle the adults’ meals with sea salt, then after indignant squawking, sprinkle the children’s meals with a very small amount of sea salt.

A Mom of Triplets eats Nutella toast for breakfast every morning. Well, the discarded scraps of Nutella toast left by a tiny gang of toddlers, anyway.

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