Mise en place

Pouring rain, yet again. Toddlers are going bonkers, as am I. (And, no, New England bloggers will not stop talking about the crappy weather until it actually turns into summer.) The mall play area was a mob scene this morning, and the new indoor playspace nearby was apparently so crowded the other morning that there was a line out the door. Insanity. Need sun.

In the meantime, I decided to do a little baking with the kiddos. Our favorite: zucchini muffins (see end of post for recipe link and info). While they were waking up, I laid out my strategy. When I’ve tried cooking with them once or twice before, I realized they have zero tolerance for me trying to find ingredients. This called for a full-on mise en place.

Oh, sure, it sounds snooty and French. But there’s a reason all of the TV chefs have everything laid out in little bowls ahead of time: it makes things go a whole hell of a lot smoother. That’s true enough when cooking by yourself, especially with certain fast-moving recipes with lots of ingredients. It’s even more critical when there are impatient 23-month-olds involved in the food prep.

In an unusual twist, Daniel was awake while Rebecca stayed asleep. Great, a little one-on-one activity. After putting his fingers in the eggs a few times (doh), he proved a good helper when it came to pouring things from one bowl to another, and had an… unusual whisk technique.

Was I a little nuts to do this? Especially right after my beloved cleaning ladies had been over and made everything smell nice and stop sticking to my feet? Ah well. I even let him help get the batter into the muffin pan.

The aftermath was not pretty, but it could have been worse.

And with the joy of the mise en place, do I feel like I used nearly every bowl in my kitchen? Totally. But hey, the dishwasher had already been emptied. In they all go.

And, in the end, we get super yummy muffins (yes, I just flipped them out of the pan and let them cool upside down).

By the time they came out of the oven, Rebecca was up and joined in on the fun. Yumminess was shared by all.

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We use the Stonyfield Farms recipe for zucchini bread. Only slight modifications. I substitute whole wheat flour for about half of the all-purpose. It makes two full muffin tins, or two loaf pans, so be prepared that it’s quite a lot. As with all muffins and quickbreads, make sure not to over-mix. And I bake the muffins at 375 for about 25 minutes. Enjoy!