Mac and Cheese by Sarah Weeks

Skill Level: Intermediate

The story this week is one of the I Can Read books from Scholastic.  This is a beginning reading level so I thought it would be a lot of fun to see just how much the eldest grandson could read.  He did a great job sounding the words and if I had to help with a word, he recognized it the next time it showed up in the book. 

 
Mac and Cheese is about two cats who are so different that you wonder how they ever became friends.  Not only friends, but the best of friends.  By the end of the story, you understand that it isn’t always necessary to be the same, if you enjoy being together, you can be friends.

 The menu was so obvious that I thought I should really try to show the moral of the story with this one.  I wanted to show how mac was good, cheese was good, but together, they were really good.  It worked.

I made up a portion of a recipe of pasta dough (1 cup flour, 1 extra large egg, some salt, about a tsp of water) and set that aside to rest.

 One of the fastest melting cheeses is Velveeta.  I needed a fast melting cheese because I was making Cheese (the cat) out of cheese, Mac (the cat) out of pasta, and then pouring a hot sauce over them to help melt it all together into a friendship.

So I took pre-sliced Velveeta since it’s much thinner than I could ever slice it and then dredged the slices in flour to keep the Cheese (the cat) from sticking together.  Just to add a bit to the flavor, I added some sweet Hungarian paprika and some smoked Spanish (hot) paprika to the flour.  Using a cat shaped cookie cutter, I cut 3 slices of Velveeta cats for each plate. This might be a good activity for your grandchildren, but knowing mine, I know I’d never have any Cheese (the cat) for any plate. They’d eat them as soon as they cut them.

 I saved the “voids” or uncut cheese parts and the dredging mixture for the sauce. 

 

Next came the salad.  I wanted to make sure the boys got a lot of protein so I topped some beautiful red leaf lettuce with some light red kidney and black beans as well as some shelled edamame.  I added some crumbles of boiled egg and topped the whole thing with a very light sprinkling of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.

 

I wanted a crispy garnish that tied to the story, so I made some baked Parmesan crisps in the shape of cat’s heads and added chive whiskers.  Using my largest biscuit cutter (3” diameter), I filled the round shape with about 3 tablespoons of pre-shredded Parmesan. I added a bit more to shape some ears once I removed the biscuit cutter and then added my chive whiskers.  These baked in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.  Keep an eye on them, though, they burn quickly.

 

 

Now that my pasta dough had rested, I rolled it out as thin as I could and using my smallest round biscuit cutter (about 1” diameter), I cut a bunch of pasta circles.  Then, holding the pasta disc in one hand, I dampened an edge, about 1/3 of the circumference of the circle with water.  I then pinched two ears on that dampened edge.  This leaves a little cup shaped depression to collect sauce, while looking somewhat like a cat (Mac).

 

While the water boiled for the pasta, I started the sauce, melting 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, adding 3 tablespoons of the dredging mix (safe because it only touched the cheese, no meats), and stirred, creating a roux.  The paprika that was added made this a nice orange/red color.  I then added about a cup of milk and the cheese voids to let those melt.

 

 

Once the Mac (the cat) and sauce were done, I finished the plates.  I added the Mac (the cat) so the Mac (the cat) and Cheese (the cat) were clearly distinct on the plate, but then as I poured the sauce over them and had the boys stir, it all came together in a story.

 

Our dessert was our normal standby – fruit (strawberries, bananas),  nuts (pecans) and pie crust cinnamon cookies.

 

 

Title	Mac and Cheese
Author	Sarah Weeks
Illustrator	Jane Manning
Publisher	Scholastic Books
Highlights /Tie in	Cats, Title (Mac and Cheese), Not the same, but together = GREAT
Reactions to the Book	·         So Mac and Cheese are friends Grummy.  They sit together. ·         That’s like at lunch Grummy.  We sit together at lunch with our friends.  It’s better that way. ·         That’s another blue hat
Meal	·         Mac and Cheese – Pasta “Mac” and Velveeta “Cheese”, beschamel ·         Salad, multi bean and egg protein salad ·         Dessert – Strawberries, bananas and pecans with Cat piecrust cookies
Reactions to the Meal	·         The boys loved watching me pour the sauce over their cats, then they had to mix them ·         SCHEEEEZE ·         The dressing on the salad wasn’t that big a hit (soy sauce and rice wine vinegar), but the beans were. ·         We need a book called Tuna Salad, Grummy.

 

It feels good to cook the books!

No, David by David Shannon

Cooking Skill Level: Easy

We ran into a glitch this time.  I got a call this afternoon, after I’d prepped and photographed the story menu for today.  It was my daughter saying it had been a rough week (it was Monday, shortly after 2pm, so I decided not to ask for details) and could we do the dinner another night.  That wouldn’t be a problem normally, but this is Thanksgiving week and I have a lot of baking and cooking and visiting to do, so we agreed to a Contingency Plan.  The upper case is important.  That’s how the boys will know that this is Serious Business. 

They’ve been looking so forward to this book since it arrived with the other Scholastic books and I can’t make it over to visit them until Friday, and the dinner I made today won’t really last that long.  So, Contingency Plan to the Rescue. 

The boys will find Grummy’s Basket (are you catching on to the Important Words here?) on their front porch tomorrow around lunch time.  I’ll drop it off while the younger two are napping so there’s no prolonged greeting or farewell and hiding of Grummy’s keys.  I’ll include the book, and a drawing of the instructions. 

 

 

 

The vocabulary in this book is pretty much “No, David” … there are a few other words, but really, that’s almost the entire thing (except for the Very Important Last Two Pages ….) and I think the kindergartner can actually pick out the words himself.  So he’ll be charged with reading to the boys while their Momma sets up the meal.  I’ll include a drawing of the instructions for her as well.

 

 

One of the best drawings in this book is a picture of David with a mouth full of food … a Wide Open Mouth Full of Food.  I know the boys will howl at that one.  So I decided to make little Davids and fill the mouths with chicken stew.  This is a whole lot easier than it sounds.

I started with some small rolls from the bakery section of my local grocery store.  From the picture, you can see that they’re about 3 ½ inches in diameter.  They actually look like miniature boules, the kind you hollow out and fill with spinach dip.  I did the same hollowing out, cutting the top and just pulling the guts out with my fingers.  I kept the bread “lid” in case the boys want to try eating this like a sandwich hidden in a roll (I think their Momma will say No Boys to that one) (but I won’t be there). 

 

Next, I made some chicken stew-like filling.  I used cooked chicken tenders, pulled/chopped into good sized pieces, some tiny broccoli florets, lima beans, corn and green beans (these vegetables are in the picture in the book). 

 

 

 I added a tiny bit chicken gravy (from a jar). I’ll send the gravy with the meal so that my daughter can add more if the boys want it.  Using the rolls like those bread bowls you get at some restaurants, I filled it up to the top with the stew mixture.

 

 

I added carrots, cucumbers and ricotta and Cheese Medallions (cheese sticks cut into ‘coins’, but the boys think they’re very special cheeses that only Grummy can find, hence the upper case).

,

For dessert, we look back to the book.  David gets in trouble writing on the wall.  So the boys will have graham crackers (walls) and crayons/pens (icing tubes).  They can decorate as much as they want.  Just a little tip about those icing tubes … don’t cut off the tip to open them; just pierce the tip.  Less gel will come out with a squeeze and it will cut down on some of the mess.

 

Since I won’t be there to see the reactions, you may have to wait until their next sleepover (Friday) to get details from me.

 

Title	No, David
Author	David Shannon
Illustrator
Publisher	Scholastic
Highlights /Tie in	David’s mouth full of food, writing on the wall
Reactions to the Book	·
Meal	·         Tiny bread bowls (rolls) with chicken stew in them  to look like David’s full mouth ·         Graham cracker “Walls” and gel icing tubes to write with
Reactions to the Meal	·

 

Another Quick Note

Yesterday I was handed a bag full of books that had arrived at the kindergarten from Scholastic Books.  I'm so excited.  We have quite a few books to start reading and cooking and eating. 

 

The boys tore into the bag and wanted to start reading, but the littlest one told them "No, Grummy has to read them first."  For the first time as far as I know, it seems the two older ones listened to what the baby said.  At least according to their Momma.

 

Once we get through this new list of books, I think I might do three in a row based on a topic chosen by each of the boys.  This is how we ended up with Smash! Crash! by John Scieszka.   They all wanted Truck stories.  Then we had Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin because they wanted a Dragon story (I'm going to have to recreate this meal in order to photograph it, but needless to say, it involved tacos.  A lot of tacos.)

 

Just to let all of you know, this is turning into a huge deal with the boys.  They look forward to the books and meals, and while I'm not with them, they tell each other the stories over and over.  When they have something for dinner that reminds them of one of the stories, they tell the story to whoever will listen.  I think I've hit upon a way to generate dinner table conversation.

 

I really do love doing this, and even more I love watching and hearing of the impact.

 

Monday is the next book and dinner night and I'm sure it'll be great.  Look for the posting on Tuesday for the details.