Child's Own Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

My daughter is supposed to be blogging with me tonight to share her version of what happened in her kitchen tonight. Her success last night made her want to repeat it tonight and her concoction was truly truly delicious.

These are boneless pork chops, which she browned a bit. Then she added:

- about 1/2 can Market Pantry tropical fruit in juice (pineapple and various papaya)

- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

I knew she had a sweet and sour theme in mind, so I arranged all the Asian type spices on the counter and suggested she take a deep inhale of her pork and then smell the spices to see what went together.

She selected:

- one small piece crystallized/candied ginger (to soak in the hot sauce)

- a few pinches ground ginger

- a hearty amount of garlic powder

And then she added about 3/4 cup frozen three color pepper strips.

She served with a bagged salad, leftover Brussel sprouts and a side of commercial sweet and sour sauce.

From the chef herself:

Tonight I made dinner. I thought I would make pork. There was a lot of drama because I never made pork before. Then I decided to make sweet and sour pork. First, I put the pork in the pan and then cooked it for a while and flipped it.  I put in tropical fruit. Then I had to add spices. I smelled it to figure out what spices to put in. I put ginger, soy sauce,and garlic powder.Then I fried it and then served it with sweet and sour sauce. My parents LOVED it. 

I like my food to have a look and spices that fit a theme.

Watermelon cupcakes

My daughter did my blog post today:

We made cupcakes in our free time before I went to school.we used two eggs and a single serving cup of apple sauce instead of three eggs .they took 15    min.to cook .5min.in the tray to cool and a half hour to cool out of the tray .they tasted wonderful !

Juice box punch

My daughter now refuses to take juice boxes to school. I gave her a pitcher and a pair of kitchen scissors and told her to recycle the juice boxes into fruit punch.

She loved that idea.

Two Tales to Tell

This week has been nuttier than I ever anticipated.

Funny things first. 

My only days off this week (and until Christmas if you want to get technical) were Tuesday and today. My daughter had a snow day Tuesday and she decided to play restaurant and make me lunch.

She presented me with a menu and very quickly informed me that I should not worry about what we *actually* had in the house because she had a plan.

I ordered the nachos supreme and the olives, with the chocolate surprise for dessert.

My daughter is nine and a half. This becomes important to understand what happens next.

She realized we had no tortilla chips for nachos so she used some fancy water crackers, sprinkled them with finely shredded mozzarella cheese and put them in the microwave on high for six minutes.

Meanwhile, she took my fancy chocolate bar and placed a piece of it into a small plastic bowl. She placed the bowl in a saucepan and turned on the burner to create her own version of a double boiler. Except she forgot the water. Once the plastic began to melt, the smell made her panic and she called me into the kitchen.

I turned the nachos off (four minutes in) and explained to her how her theory was off on the double boiler. The saucepan and the plastic bowl went into the trash.

I added salsa to the "nachos" and are them like a good mom. She did manage to melt the chocolate in the microwave, and added a touch of coconut milk to it, to make a delicious hot fudge sauce for ice cream.

She was heartbroken seeing only her failure.

"I just wanted to take what we have and make a great meal like you always do."

I told her she did. Because she did. And she made just as many good choices as bad. I enjoyed giving her freedom and independence in the kitchen. And I think she learned a lot.

And I did enjoy the meal. 

Now, the next challenge. I volunteered to make Christmas dinner for ten. I have no plan. I have no groceries. Must shop.

Ideas:

- dates stuffed with cream cheese

- vegetable mini pot pies

- spinach/dark greens salad with homemade berry vinegrette 

- roasted "popcorn" cauliflower

- cornbread

- Brussel sprouts

- some sort if sweet potato dish with apples? Pecans?

- homemade cranberry relish 

- homemade applesauce 

My stepmom is making a ham.

Her sister is making baked mac and cheese.

Daughter Cup Cakes

This is my daughter's attempt at the five minute microwave chocolate cake in coffee mug:

Mix in a mug and cook for 4 minutes in the microwave:
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tablespoons whisked egg
- 3 tablespoons vanilla almond milk
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- splash vanilla
- handful of chocolate chips

Daughter chicken potato pot pie

A few days ago, we were having a conversation at the dinner table discussing whether or not Dear Daughter is old enough to make dinner.

We decided daughter would make dinners on Friday, with coaching from me. She decided she wanted to make pot pie.

So, now she is.

She wanted chicken pot pie, so I suggested she prepare a sauce. The choices for the base were:
- vegetable stock
- butternut squash soup
- corn chowder
- V8 potato leek soup
- Campbell's chicken noodle
- Archer Farms Thai lemongrass chicken soup (that would have been my choice -- with some curry and lots of veggies)

She chose potato leek and she also chose a can of potatoes which she cut. She added the soup, cut potatoes and canned chicken to her pot.

She wanted to add spices. She decided against curry, didn't want Italian.
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoon country herb blend

She added to the pot:
- about 2 1/2 cups California blend heated in the microwave
- 1 cup corn
- about 3/4 cup white (great northern beans)

Then she put her pie crust in her deep dish pie pan.

Once she gets it all done we'll bake it...

Homemade guacamole and burritos

I bought an avocado on a whim over the weekend. So this led to a small batch of guacamole last night. I improvised some ingredients, kept forgetting to buy a lime.

LAST NIGHT'S GUACAMOLE (vegan)
Ingredients
- 1 avocado, mashed
- about 1 teaspoon canola oil
- about 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons diced green chilis
- 1 small tomato, seeds removed and diced

Mix all ingredients except tomato and chilis. When well mixed, add the remaining ingredients. Let flavors blend for about an hour before serving.

My sister-in-law had given us a box of Rice-a-Roni Spanish rice so I handed it to my seven-year-old and told her to prepare it. I told her it wasn't home cooking, but it was good practice in following directions which would help her learn to read a recipe.

She did great.

Meanwhile, I sliced the leftover sirloin from valentines day and gathered more chilis, tomato, lettuce and a multitude of salsas to make burritos.

Hot Chocolate

My daughter had to write "steps in a process" in her second grade class. She's only seven, but of course her selection for the assignment was a recipe! (beaming here!)

In case the photo doesn't capture it:

Making Hot Chocolate
1. First you get hot chocolate miks and milk, a ovon (ummm... Microwave oven, love Mom) and a cup

2. Then you put the milk in a cup.

3. Next you heat it up.

4. Next you put the chocolate micks in the oven (in the cup, dear, with the milk, love Mom)

5. Finally you ster it and injoy it