Mixed results...

I still don't have a long-term solution to the now-not-monthly Everyday Food magazine cooking project.  I tried a few other cooking magazines but either the format or the recipe type didn't click with the kids (or with me). But since the last two monthly issues of Everyday Food were "seasonal" it meant there wasn't much that interested the kids since they weren't responsible for pulling off Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. With those two issues a wash and no sense of when the next issue will come out, I decided to check out some old issues from the library (and I've requested the Everyday Food cookbook from the library which might prove a longer term solution).

Last night the girl critter led in making two recipes from the March 2012 issue: Rigatoni with Broccoli and Sausage and Maple-Oatmeal Cookies (and I made a salad).

The cooking went smoothly enough, but the eating wasn't so smooth. I thought the finished pasta dish was pretty good. It had minced anchovies and lots of lemon zest in the sauce which definitely upped the flavor profile while still keeping it in the accessible realm. The girl didn't eat much of it, despite picking out the recipe and doing the cooking, but that may have been because she ate a whole bowl of black beans with cheese at about 5 pm. The boy made a fuss about picking out the broccoli (which I told him he was welcome to do) because there were tiny green bits that permeated the whole dish. Eventually he got over it and ate some and even begrudgingly said it wasn't too bad, but I would still anticipate the same response if it were served again. So I'm on the fence about whether this is something I should make for dinner again.

 The cookies were fine--nothing special and certainly not enough maple flavor to merit the inclusion in the title. We made them a little healthier than the recipe called for by substituting in white whole wheat flour for the all purpose.

They ate them, but that isn't really a surprise. No problems getting my kids to eat cookies and the "healthy" part was just in the whole grains: there was still plenty of butter in the recipe.