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As a kid I lived in the Portland, Oregon area from ages eight to thirteen. During this time I played soccer and have many, many memories of practicing and playing in the rain. I remember being cold, wet, and covered in mud on more than one occasion (especially when I played the position of goalie). Now I live in Phoenix and my kids, like me, now play soccer. Except in contrast to being wet, cold, and muddy they are usually hot, sweaty, and dusty.
When my family first moved from Oregon to Arizona I missed the rain and longed for the pitter-patter or rain drops to lull me to sleep at night. Although I now fall asleep to the sound of the deserts humming crickets I absolutely love it when I wake up to an overcast sky and get to enjoy the nostalgic feelings associated with a wet, rainy day. They are few and far between here in the Valley of the Sun, but about two weeks ago we were fortunate enough to be showered upon for several hours one afternoon. The rain poured quite heavily, there was lightening that sounded as though it was right overhead, and sure enough about an hour into this heavenly delight I was informed that soccer practice would be canceled that night due to the muddy fields.
Of course, given the conditions I played soccer in as a child I found this to be quite humorous, however, not so humorous was the task of now finding something for my children to do. I am all about free play so I sent them to the play room, but there was something about their energy that day that was just out of control. Instead of engaging in their usual make believe or being enthralled for hours on end by loges, they were a bunch of wild monkeys wreaking havoc on my house, my ears, and my brain.
With no relief in sight (my husband was working late that night) and the inability to send the kids outside (due to the close proximity of the lightening) it was time for what I have termed as "super-engaging" with my kids. This means I drop whatever I am doing and become one hundred percent focused on taking all that craziness and redirecting it into a outlet that keeps everybody sane and happy.
There are many ways that I "super-engage" with my kids, but one of my favorites over the years has been making homemade pasta. It is super simple to make and the best part is that unlike a craft the mess or final outcome is edible (in other words if you are going to have to clean up a mess from dinner and a mess from your kids, why not combine them and just clean up one mess). In fact, you can really think of it as giving your child play-dough. I do not make it as much as I used to simply because our afternoons and evenings have become busier as the kids have gotten older, but every once in a while I still pull it out and it still works its magic every time. I know, it really does sound crazy, but I have found from years of trying just about everything humanly possibly on those long afternoons when you are on the home stretch, when dad is out of town, and when you are trying to just not kill anybody that productive outlets and tasks for your kids are game changers (actually they are literally life savers). Now, perhaps your children are unlike mine and their level of crankiness, the amount they fight, and the attitude they give is not directly linked to the amount of electronic time they have had that day (or for the past several days). But for me, those are in direct proportion to one another as is the amount of cooperativeness, kindness, and respect I receive when my children have worked and contributed to our family. This pasta is great because they are working to make their own food, but it is a fun kid of work.
So, here is my rainy day, life saving pasta. If you clean up as you go there is a very, very minimal mess to clean up at the end. If your kids will not eat it green I will include the recipe for the basic pasta dough as well as the spinach pasta dough. And if you do not have a food processor you can still make pasta by hand in a bowl, you will just not be able to make the spinach pasta. Both of these recipes are from the cookbook that came with my Cuisinart Food Processor, however I do not put salt in mine because I do not like the taste.
Pasta Dough:
2 C All-Purpose Flour (I use half unbleached white and half white whole wheat flour)
1 C Semolina Flour
4 Large Eggs
Use the large metal chopping blade in your food processor to pulse together dry ingredients. Then turn on the food processor and add one egg at a time until a dough ball forms. Let it run for another thirty seconds or so and that is it! Take it out, divide it into four equal parts, roll out each of those parts just until it is flat and can be put through your pasta machine.
Spinach Pasta Dough:
6 Ounces Fresh Spinach Leaves
1 1/2 C All-Purpose Flour (I use while whole wheat instead)
2/3 C Semolina Flour
Use the large metal chopping blade in your food processor to chop your spinach. Once the consistency looks even, scrape the sides of the bow and add in your dry ingredients. Pulse ten times or so and then turn on the food processor until a ball forms. Let it run for another thirty seconds or so and that is it! Take it out, divide it into four equal parts, roll out each of those parts just until it is flat and can be put through your pasta machine.
Side note for both of these: the dough for this is very, very different than the consistency of dough in baking. It is much more dry and each of your four dough balls may need to be pressed together with your hands to get the dough to stick. Do not try and make it more wet (I've made that mistake before) or else it will stick to the pasta machine.
I first run my dough through the machine on a 1 (the thickest setting) and then go to a higher setting to make it thinner. So you will end up running everything through twice on the flat setting and then once through the attachment that actually cuts it into pasta.
Here is a link to a machine like the one I have. I like a manual one because it gives your kids more to do (it takes more time, which when I am making pasta is what I am looking for). It works great for the larger linguine size noodles, but I have not had great success with the thinner noodles. Just an FYI.
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