School your children, but learn from them

In Russian, there's a saying "Старики, как дети", in English: "Old people are like children". This means that the old people behave like children. But if you think about it and consider different understanding, it could mean that for us, adults, old people are as valuable as children. We have to take care of them both, we have to protect them both, but most importantly, in my understanding, they both can teach us life lessons…

It is clear how one can learn from an elderly person, whose stories are brimmed with life experiences and valuable lessons. But, with all due respect to the elders, today I want to talk about children and what they can teach us while we're so busy schooling them.

Las weekend, we had a sleep over and there was seven children in my house for two joyful days. I couldn’t help myself but devote my entire Sunday to my amusing little guests. And I have to admit, I had the best time in so long!

They reminded me how it is to be a child; how to be imaginative; how to be innovative; how to give into the moment wholeheartedly.

Have you ever noticed how children look at the world around us? Everything is new, everything is exciting, and everything brings joy. Why do we stop viewing the world through the looking glass of our inner child?

You might say that as we grow older we become more responsible. And I do agree. But look at the root of this word: response. How can you response to or for something that you don’t even pay full attention to, something you do in autopilot mode?

The kids look at things they encounter in life with their full attention. A genuine interest is what becomes a little propeller for their little ever-inquiring minds.

Why do we stop inquiring? Is it because we think we have acquired?

As we mature, we loose these valuable skills, disregarding them as “childish” and “immature”. But our inner children never give up, waiting patiently for another chance to come forth, to remind us of simple joys and how easy it is to be happy.

The children can show us that there is so little needed to be happy. They don’t really care about having many toys or things they just want company. The rest is easily falls into place when they turn their imagination on! I barely dare myself to give anyone a parenting advise, but I must say, stop overwhelming your kids with acquisition so they can go on inquiring! Give them something they can do/make, or better yet create, not just have in possession. Give them an experience! It applies to us, adults, too.

This past Sunday, we filled our day with just joy and laughter. One of the girls came up with idea of DIY water slide. We cut up a wide strip of heavy duty plastic (I used a pool cover bubble plastic) and laid it on a sloped part of our backyard. We have arranged two garden hoses, one at the beginning and the other one in the middle, to create a fun water slide, as good as any store-bought one! I think it was a genial idea! (My body thought otherwise, waking up all beaten up next morning, but who cares?!)

When we got hungry, another guest of mine proposed we make pizza for lunch. As I was making excuses to why I can’t make pizza right now (don’t have yeast, can’t go to store with all of them, etc.) she said that we could use pita bread. And so we did.

I set up a pizza making station and we started to create our own culinary “masterpieces”. I chopped any veggie I found in my fridge or garden, shredded some mozzarella cheese and got the tomato sauce.

Kids layered the ingredients on top of the pita bread, finishing with some garlic powder and ground black pepper. We grilled the pizzas on the gas grill for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese was melted. Then, impatiently waited for it to cool down, enough to be able to chomp on it… it was good!

Find time in your life to let your inner child out of it’s “naughty corner” of our daily rut and you will gain a new, fresh, and happy perspective on life!

Whey better than just pizza crust

Sorry for the poor picture snapped with my phone but I'm too exited to share this crust recipe with you and I didn't have time to take a nicer photo.

If you have leftover tomato sauce from last night's spaghetti dinner, and especially if it's a home made one, and no one in your family wants to eat pasta two days in a row (happens in mine all the time), then make this easy crust dough and use the sauce to make pizza.

You will need, however, a rather unusual ingredient--whey. I get mine from straining plain yogurt: place a strainer over a glass bowl, line it with paper towel, pour 1 cup (1/2 container) of plain yogurt, cover with a small plate and place a weigh over (the remaining yogurt in the container will do), strain the whey for few hours; or if you have a cheesecloth, put yogurt in the it and hang it over a bowl to collect the whey (this method is faster). You can use the yogurt as you use greek style thick yogurt and now you can use the whey, too.

For the dough you will need:

1 cup whey

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup barley flour*

1 cup all purpose flour {plus some more for dusting}

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1. In a glass bowl mix together whey, sugar, salt, oil and baking soda.

2. In another bowl, mix together whole wheat and barley flour and stir in the whey mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until all combines to make the "sponge".

3. On a clean and dry surface, spill one cup of all purpose flour, add the "sponge" and knead the dough with your hands until all the flour is done.

4. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let rest while you prepare the topping.

Topping must include your leftover sauce and cheese (I used 8 oz ball of fresh mozzarella) and the rest is up to you. I added Kalamata olives and fresh basil.

5. After the topping is all ready (chopped), heat the oven to 425 °F

6. Divide the dough into two pieces, dust the surface with flour and roll out the crusts 1/4 inch thick, poke some holes for air to escape.

7. Place the crusts in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Remove and add the topping. Drizzle with olive oil and bake pizza at 425°F for 20 minutes.

I will have to repeat it again and maybe describe the process with better pictorial.

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*The use of barley flour is not necessary. I used it because I had it on hand. You can sub it with another cup of whole wheat.