A PAINT AND PASTA PARTY

Old Mother Frugal was hosting grandparent camp for a few weeks this summer at the home of two grandchildren. 

They are a busy and curious two-some and they love to get involved in meal prep. 

Whether waffles or pancakes from scratch, cookies or cupcakes, they were in the bowls with both hands and whisks to pour and stir…and splash....and stir...and splash.

Needing an afternoon “activity”, their parent’s pantry contained all the ingredients to make homemade pasta.  Flour and olive oil in the pantry, eggs were in the refrigerator.  It had the potential to be messy but with an early enough start in the day, there was plenty of time for clean-up before their parents arrived home from a hard day at the office and none the wiser at what their kitchen looked like earlier in the day.

Having gathered all the ingredients, all that was left was to find a rolling pin and a floured surface to make the pasta.  Old Grandmother Frugal's Little Helpers to the rescue! A rolling pin was part of the play kitchen equipment and a plastic cutting board was the perfect surface to mix flour, egg and olive oil.

The one thing that was not calculated into the equation was the tactile sensation of hand mixing flour, egg and olive oil by the little helpers.  It never occurred to Old Mother Frugal that previous meal prep involved utensils that were not their hands: a fork…a whisk…a measure cup.  Hands were, apparently, out of the question. Once they realized hands were involved, they decided to pivot.

Instead of pasta, they wanted the Hello Kitty “paint with water” pictures.  Dinner that evening was indeed a team effort.  Old Mother Frugal was in charge of pasta, and Old Grandmother Frugal's Little Helpers were in charge of the décor.

Sound the Bugle!  Homemade pasta is easy to make and does not require expensive equipment: a rolling pin and a floured surface.  Place ¾ cup of all-purpose flour on a clean, flat surface. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add 1 egg and 1 TBS olive oil.  Bring the flour slowly into the center of mix with the egg, keeping the flour wall intact. Continue this until all the flour is mixed into the egg/olive oil.  If too wet, add flour a little at a time. Knead a few times until dough ball is smooth.  Roll out the ball of dough until very, very thin on a floured surface. Using a pizza cutter or knife cut slices of pasta to your desired width.  When all the dough is sliced, place pasta into a pot of salted boiling water and cook al dente.  Use these with spaghetti sauce, in chicken noodle soup or any recipe that calls for noodles such as a tetrazzini or lasagna. So inexpensive. Mangia!