Family Meal Plan: Fussy Fancy Puff Pastry Bundles + Broccoli Caesar Salad Boats + Sparkling Grape Spritz

Fussy Fancy Puff Pastry Bundles

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

• bake :

  to cook food with dry heat, as in an oven.

• blend :

  to stir together two or more ingredients until just combined; blending is a gentler process than mixing.

• chop :

  to cut something into small, rough pieces using a blade.

• knife skills :

  Bear Claw (growl), Pinch, Plank, and Bridge (look out for trolls). 

• microwave :

  to heat or cook food or liquid quickly in a microwave oven, which uses high-frequency electromagnetic waves to generate heat in the food's water molecules.

• mince :

  to chop into teeny tiny pieces.

• peel :

  to remove the skin or rind from something using your hands or a metal tool.

• pour :

  to cause liquid, granules, or powder to stream from one container into another.

• preheat :

  to set an oven to the desired temperature a few minutes before cooking, so it reaches that temperature by the time you place the food in it.

• seal :

  to close tightly, keeping filling inside.

• stir :

  to mix together two or more ingredients with a spoon or spatula, usually in a circle pattern, or figure eight, or in whatever direction you like!

• whisk :

  to beat or stir ingredients vigorously with a fork or whisk to mix, blend, or incorporate air.

History of Puff Pastry!

• Classic puff pastry is a French phenomenon! It is also known as pâte feuilletée, which means "pastry made leaf-like" because it is so flaky and leaf-like.
• Puff pastry gets its "puff" from folded layers of butter and flour. When it's baked, steam from the butter rises and puffs the layers up. If you are a French pastry chef or pâtissier, you would have to make at least 700 layers of folded dough to be true puff pastry—whoa! Getting all these wonderful layers or laminations can be a lengthy process! 
• Typically, the flour dough is rolled out flat into a rectangle, and then a layer of butter is spread on top. Then the dough is folded and chilled in the refrigerator, only to be rolled out and buttered repeatedly! 
• Pastry is not exactly a French invention, though. Spanish recipes for puff pastry were available in the 1600s. Cultures around the world as old as the ancient Egyptians have been cooking with some type of pastry dough. Scholars believe ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks ate a filo-like pastry made from flour, water, and oil. However, this early form of pastry lacked the richness that comes from using butter, which the French made famous. 
• We tend to associate puff pastry with sweet treats like croissants, danishes, and Napoleons, but you can also use it in savory dishes like our Fussy Fancy Puff Pastry Bundles!

Let's Learn About France!

• Bonjour (hello)! Bienvenue en (welcome to) France and the spectacular Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci, and ancient Roman ruins in the Provence region.
• France is a European country, and its official name is the French Republic. The capital city is Paris, which also has the most people. 
• France's land area is 248,573 square miles. That is almost the size of the US state of Texas! The number of people in France is 67,874,000, about 43 percent more than in Texas.
• The official and national language is French, which is also the official language in 12 other countries, and a co-official language in 16 countries, including Canada. 
• France's government consists of a president, a prime minister, and a parliament and is divided into regions and departments rather than states and counties.
• The French have a well-known motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
• In addition to the Eiffel Tower, France is known for the Louvre, the most visited art museum worldwide (the Mona Lisa resides there), the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) in southeastern France on the Mediterranean coast.
• France is famous for the "beaux-arts" (fine arts). Paris is still home to many artists and great painters, artisans, and sculptors. Great literature came from French authors, such as Victor Hugo's novels Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
• Paris has two popular nicknames. The most common is "The City of Light" (La Ville Lumière), which came about because Paris was the first European city to implement street lighting in 1860, lighting up the city with 56,000 gas street lamps. The second is "The City of Love," (La Ville de L'amour). This name is probably due to Paris being considered one of the most romantic cities in the world and the high number of marriage proposals at the Eiffel Tower!
• French cuisine is known for its freshness and high quality. Many of the world's greatest pastries originated in France, such as the croissant, eclair, and macaron!
• Other French foods are escargot (snails!), baguette (bread), ratatouille (roasted tomato, zucchini, and eggplant—remember the movie?!), and crepes (very thin pancakes).

What's It Like to Be a Kid in France?

• Most kids start school (preschool) at around age three. Depending on the area and the school, students go to school 4 to 5 days a week. They often get a 1½-hour lunch break, and some kids go home for lunch. 
• Dinner is served at 7:30 pm or later, so afternoon snacks are essential. "Le goûter" (goo-tay), or afternoon tea, often includes a "tartine," a slice of bread topped with something sweet or savory (like cheese, butter and jam, or Nutella). Other popular snacks are yogurt, fromage blanc (white cheese), and fruit. 
• Popular sports for kids are soccer, bicycling, and tennis.
• There are several parks in France, in and around Paris. Napoleon III even designed one of them, the Bois de Boulogne, where you can find beautiful gardens, lakes, a zoo, an amusement park, and two horse racing tracks. In addition, kids can go on pony rides, play mini-golf, and race remote control boats at many public parks.  
• Of course, kids can also go to the most popular theme park in Europe, Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992. While there, kids can go on a ride unique to Disneyland Paris: Ratatouille: The Adventure!