Is there anything better than pizza (in the eyes of Petit Chef)? How about pizza in a portable form, without all the fuss? This week the boys were lucky to welcome Ceri Marsh of Sweet Potato Chronicles and Food Network Canada fame to the lab to cook up one of the recipes from their recent book, The School Year Survival Cookbook (more on that in a roundup of Canadian cookbooks released this fall coming next week to the blog!)
The recipe I chose to make from the book was Hawaiian Pizza Muffins which I imagined would be a hit, taste-wise but I really chose it because it’s a simple enough recipe for the boys to follow on their own and it practices good basic kitchen skills – measuring, chopping, stirring, folding and portioning. My plan was for the adults to stand back and just help when needed, let the boys do most of the work on their own because, really, they are so very capable. Ceri wholeheartedly approved and between us we corralled the boys (who, it must be said, are suffering a little from “it’s-nearly-the-holidays-itis”) to making a snack I think anyone would be glad to see in a lunchbox.
We organised our mise en place (or tried to, I was not able to pre-organise much for them this week as I was coming straight from teaching into the lab) – measuring our dry ingredients…
Chopped our ham and pineapple…
And kinda, sorta got organised…
Though I definitely do try to make sure we organise our mise-en-place before we assemble/ cook, it’s not always smooth sailing in the lab and this week, with the end of the term in sight, it was a bit of a struggle to even make sure the boys read the recipe before they got started! This is a good thing because it meant they were eager to get cooking (and eating!) so….
(I’ll admit I’m always a little nervous when people come to work with the boys – the photos I share here definitely don’t show the whole – messy – story!)
Then we got mixing…
And with just minutes to spare (we only have an hour, remember so when things need to bake, we need to take that into account!), the muffins were ready for the oven…
While they baked, the boys cleaned the lab (definitely not their favourite but such an important part of cooking and food prep yet so overlooked a lot of the time!) and chatted with Ceri. I’m always so interested to hear the types of things they chat with our guest chefs about – but more than anything, I love that they are not intimidated to ask questions and chat with all our guests. In this case, the boys chatted life, football (Toronto FC’s win!), recipe writing, Food Network and ingredients. And 25-ish minutes later….
A perfect after-school (or anytime!) snack for kids (big and small!) from a clever book that any parent who struggles with strategies to get meals on the table and in lunchboxes during the busy school term should definitely buy (mini review coming next week!).
We’re so grateful to Ceri for taking the time (in December!) to come out and work with us. The generosity of the people who work with my students never ceases to amaze me! We’re so luck!
Get the recipe for Hawaiian pizza muffins here or in The School Year Survival Cookbook.
Buy The School Year Survival Cookbook on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store in your country) or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository.
Please note: I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post also contains affiliate links from The Book Depository. This means that if you click over and purchase something, I will receive a very small percentage of the purchase price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you in advance!
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Disclosure: I received a copy of The School Year Survival Cookbook from the publisher for review purposes. I was not asked to write about the book, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions my own.