Creativity comes so naturally to small children. I watch how willing the grand girls are to experiment and explore and try something new. It is built in. At some point adults become afraid of this exploration. Are they afraid of failure? Are they afraid of the unknown or breaking rules? Joel today told a student who was struggling with the figure to “make an ugly drawing”. She ended up making a great drawing. The drawing was not accurate but it was “art” and captured the model’s pose.
The past week I have had to be creative with cooking because of Baby Nikko’s allergic colitis which means she and her mom can not eat wheat, rice, eggs, nuts, corn, soy, peanuts, beef, chicken and more…
Quinoa, which is not a grain and is high in protein is one of the staples of their diet. Our son had cooked up a lot of quinoa and it needed to be used as they were leaving early today to go spend time with his wife’s family. I decided to experiment. The quinoa would likely go off before my husband and I could eat it all. I was trying to make quinoa patties but I ended up not pan-frying them and instead made these little meatballs that I cooked in the oven. They were delicious. A new invention. An invention that would even be Kosher For Passover for those who follow the rules during that week. Here is the recipe:
1/2 cup cooked Quinoa
1/4 cup of sunflower seed flour
1/4 cup of Flax seed meal
2-3 TBS of potato flour
1 tsp of Baking Powder
Chopped Greens (I used spinach and basil)
Water to make it all hold together. If you added water and it isn’t coming together then add more potato flour.
Salt to taste
Spices (I used the mediterranean Ras-El Hanout from Shuk in Brooklyn) to taste….I just shook the container over the top of the mixture and mixed it in and tasted it )
Smoked Paprika
roll into small balls and place on an oiled tray
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes
One of those creative grands in front of my drawings at the Marblehead Arts Association.
A drawing by Roen: A Bridge, Water and Sand