My daughter makes pork with apples

This is a family favorite, 30 minutes to the table even with an 8-and-half year old doing the cooking.

Adapted from Recipe Zaar. Submitted by Lorac.

Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil in large cast iron skillet.

Brown pork chops. I used 5 thin boneless.

Add:
- 2 cups apple juice
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- about 1/3 cup brown mustard
- 4 small apples chopped
- 1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning

Today we added 1 cup diced butternut squash.

Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Child makes ravioli

Child made ravioli tonight. Her father needs to be the instructor chef because he claims I don't let the water boil well enough.

Spinach ravioli in red sauce.

Child breakfast

- 100% juice with added bubbles (Thanks to the SodaStream)
- mandarin oranges
- True North chocolate nut clusters

Chilled Pear Apple Soup

Ah, these 100 degree days... Makes me anxious to visit Djibouti or the Sahara desert.

I had the eight-year-old prep a variant of Eileen Bresslin's vegan chilled pear soup. I say variant because I lost the recipe long ago and I added applesauce to it.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 can pears, the big car, the 30-some ounce can. I use pears in juice, and I drain half the juice
- about two cups your favorite applesauce
- about one tablespoon or maybe slightly more lemon juice. Up to half a lemon worth.
- ginger to taste
- spearmint leaves from the garden

Combine all the ingredients except spearmint and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl.

Roll the spearmint leaves between your fingers and then lay across top of bowl. Chill until nicely cold.

Easy Bake

It's rainy today and my daughter is using her Easy Bake oven without me to help. This might be an exercise in covering my kitchen with flour.

Pockets

Not an elaborate dinner by any means... My daughter did most of the preparation on this one.

-2 pie crusts
- one fairly large package broccoli with four cheese sauce
- diced chicken
- buffalo blue cheese dip
- fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425.

Arrange pie crusts in cookie sheet.

We'll eventually fold over the pie crusts and pinch them closed so we want to fill only one side.

Place chicken, then coat with buffalo blue cheese dip, sprinkle with pepper, smother with broccoli in cheese sauce and pinch closed.

Bake about 20 minutes.