Big Helper Series: Cleaning

Atticus has become my big helper. That's what I tell him. When he was very little he would pick up little things off the floor that I didn't want him to have and he would hand them to me. I wanted to encourage this behavior, specifically the not putting these found objects in his mouth part, and so I would say "thank you, that is so helpful!" Pretty soon he was handing me things and saying "helpful."

He is learning to be helpful in other ways now too. Which jobs he does has been led largely by what he takes an interest in. I try to pay attention and quickly find a way for him to participate in household chores as much as possible. It takes some work sometimes, but frequently the payoff of a toddler engaged in a task for even a minute can be huge.

This is the first part of a series I'll be doing on my big helper. This first installment is about cleaning. It's really the first way he started engaging in the work of our home. His first job he tackled was cleaning his high chair tray. As you can imagine, he learned by watching me and was overjoyed to be given a chance to imitate me.

Here he is dusting. This was our old tv, for a while he got really dedicated to keeping our new tv dusted. (This video also features our office mid-organization, so please excuse the mess. It's not done yet, but it sure doesn't look like this!)

Mopping and quite on the move.

Vacuuming. He also likes to take this vacuum apart and put it back together and usually forgets the filter.

While setting his table (with real stoneware and glass dishes) for us to have a snack, he spilled some milk. No problem! He ran to the kitchen where he got a rag from the rag box, came back to the living room and cleaned up his mess, then put the rag in the laundry basket in the dining room.

Here he is sorting silverware. For now he just sorts by type and not size. We just started this back up again. We made an earlier attempt about a month or so ago and he started running off, fork in hand, tines up. Not okay. He's been more responsible about it this time around. Obviously this is a great sorting activity and I don't have to scrounge up anything to make it happen!

On that note, he has also been helping me unload the dishwasher in other ways for several months now. He puts things on his shelf (like his bowls, cups, and spoons) and in his cupboard (particularly the wooden spoons and citrus juicer). I take the plates and bowls out of the dishwasher, stack them and bring them into the dining room. Then Atticus hands them to me one by one and I put them away in the buffet. Afterward he gets to close the cabinet door. It has become a good routine for us. A little after breakfast I just have to shout that I need help and Atticus comes running to help unload the dishwasher.

It's funny, as much as having a toddler makes everything more complicated and exhausting, it can also provide many motivations to get the housework done!

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Midsummer Night's Quiche

It's been pretty mild in Wisconsin this summer, particularly compared to last summer. There was only a short stretch of actual heat, and I don't think it would have felt so hot if it hadn't been so cool all the rest of the summer. And while Facebook has been taunting me with beautiful farmers market produce since May, our farmers market only just this week hit a point that even comes close to that kind of excitement.

My lettuce is finally producing at a rate that suites our family, but some of it has started to bolt. I've said before that I like to blanch and freeze bolted and less tender arugula. My arugula bolted so fast this year that I hardly got any leaves. I'll be planting a second round probably in the next week and will hope for better results.

However, I took some inspiration from Jacques Pepin, and decided to try cooking other kinds of lettuce. I had one variety out of a mix bolt into tall stalks. I don't like bitter greens so I thought that cooking them might temper the bitter similarly to the arugula. I gathered some herbs and some lettuce for a side salad and I was ready to throw together a quiche. The recipe below is how I made it, but you should adapt it to make the best use of your own produce.

Who doesn't like a basket full of garden produce?

I made my usual shortening pie crust except that I did half whole wheat flour. You could use whatever you like as long as it isn't sweet. A store bought lard based crust would work really well.

Get your onions sautéing first in whatever you like to use. I did mine in butter and olive oil because it is heavenly. I wouldn't stress about getting them perfectly caramelized or anything. As long as they are very soft, just cook them for as long as it takes you to get your other ingredients prepped.

Set your onions aside and use the same pan to cook your tomatoes down a bit and wilt your lettuce. Put a cover on the pan and check periodically until you get to a point you are happy with. Now is a good time to get the pie crust in the pan and grate the cheese if you haven't already.

Now layer.

Pour the egg mixture on top (pictured) and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Serve with a salad or fruit or both! And a toddler mom tip: it's a pie.

 

Midsummer Night's Quiche

1 recipe pie crust for 9 inch pie (you only need half, so reserve the other half for another use), prepped in pie pan

Butter and extra-virgin olive oil

1 small or medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

Bolted greens, torn

1 Roma tomato, chopped

1/3 lb gruyere cheese, grated

Generous handful fresh basil and oregano, coarsely chopped

6 large eggs

Scant 1 cup heavy whipping cream (there are many dairy options for making quiche, this is what I had on hand and it made for a great texture, light and moist)

Pinch of salt

Dash of black pepper

A couple generous dashes of nutmeg (I LOVE nutmeg!)

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until very soft or caramelized, lowering temperature as needed to prevent them from getting crispy. Transfer to a bowl.

Return pan to medium heat and add tomatoes. Once they've released some moisture, add the lettuce and cover, stirring occasionally until the lettuce is wilted and less bitter and the flavors start to come together. Remove from heat.

Begin to layer the quiche. On the bottom of the crust add 1/2 the cheese, then the onions, then the lettuce and tomatoes. Add a sprinkle of cheese then top with the herbs.

Beat together the eggs, cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Carefully pour over the layered ingredients. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake in the oven about 25-30 minutes, covering the edges of the crust at the 20 minute mark if you are concerned about over-browning the edges. It is done when it no longer jiggles and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to rest a few minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

 

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