Good Morning Elf (Day 18)

 
  Elf tried to play a game with the little miss this morning.  She had to read the clues to figure out what was being requested.

He had substituted a chef hat in place of his regular elf hat.  He had a frying pan a slice of cake and a card.

The card held a recipe but the child cannot fully read so she had to figure out what Elf was trying to tell her with the other two items.

  Eventually when frying pan cake didn't make sense she tried her luck with pancake.  Bingo!

She was in charge of the cooking of breakfast this morning!

She did a great job mixing up her pancake batter and I am sure after she makes these a few more times she will commit the recipe to heart.  

Momma made the pancakes and I stepped up my game! Check out a couple of my masterpieces!

Thank you Elf for the funniest breakfast we have ever had!

Lunch by young chef

  Yesterday we sat at the doctors for a suspicious foot problem.  While we were there I always try to entertain them to keep them from being "those kids" and help them pass the time.  I play educational learning games with my oldest and my youngest was busy driving his cars.  Mind you they did bring electronic games but that only lasts for the first few minutes.

  Well we came across a recipe from one of the young Masterchefs in the magazine we were looking at.  I showed her the picture, told her the ingredients, relayed the recipe and we determined it was easy enough to make.  She decided that would be her future lunch.

 Today was that future lunch.

Easy ingredients and easy recipe!

Ingredients:
Peanut butter
Honey
Cinnamon
Apples
Bread

Chop up bits of apples.  Mix peanut butter and cinnamon.  Add the chopped apples. Blend all ingredients.  Smear mixture to one slice of bread.  Drizzle honey on the other slice of bread.  

Lunch is served.

I apologize as I can not remember who the young chef was nor did I take note of the magazine.  However the ingredients listed above are the right ones (minus the calculations)

Happy Eating!!

Young chef appearance canceled tonight!

 Well the young chef was here but not ready for performance.  She had a hard time finishing her food so as they say the show must go on.  Tonight was featuring a dessert with a healthy twist.

Chocolate Peanut butter Avocado Pudding!

Did you catch the healthy part?  I was going to make it anyways in hopes that I could slide it past the children. My son is a very picky eater whom also skipped his meal and I thought I would let him eat this to replace his lack of eating.  Sadly my young chef was still savoring her dinner.

This recipe had very minimal ingredients which you know I like! Easy and healthy let's get this thing moving.

Put all your ingredients into your food processor.  Pulse it until everything is blended together.

You now have a great dessert! Healthy, fast and easy! My type of meal!

Little man was not so fooled.

Its as if he knew something healthy was in the chocolate, peanut butter goodness.

This recipe took very little liquid so it was very thick. I suppose you could add a little more to thin it out.  I liked it though and I have had avocado puddings before.  This one had a nice chocolate flavor with hints of peanut butter and banana.  You couldn't taste the avocado at all.

Recipe credit:

chocolate-peanut-butter-avocado-pudding/

Chef in training with the oven

Granola bars today!  This is another recipe we have eaten before but this guarantees she will eat it, of course we know it's healthy because we know what's in it, and they are better than a packaged one! Making your own is easier than you think and you can choose to add nuts, chocolate  chips, raisins, cranberries or even flax or Chia seeds.

We followed the recipe but some of you will make it healthier.  You will skip the egg and oil and substitute it with applesauce and for you guys I give credit to.  I have to follow the recipe for fear one twist or turn will create disaster.

Young chef has been trained to wash her hands before she does anything in the kitchen and this time since we were using the oven we learned how to set the temperature and then later the timer.

She also got a lesson in leveling her flour.

She got to add her favorite spice cinnamon too!

She stirred her dry ingredients.

She then measured her wet ingredients and made a well for them to go in and stirred again.

We got another lesson in leveling the food out.  Why we need to and how we do it!

These granola bars cook for 30-35 minutes.  This means a whole different lesson in patience.  We set the timer and I instructed her that the food is not done until the timer goes off.  She asked exactly twice while it was cooking if they were ready yet.

Recipe credit goes to allrecipes.

Chef in training! Smoothie served up

  I went to the library the other day and when I go I stock up!

I specifically picked out kids cooking books on hopes of finding some easy recipes to use with her in addition to recipes I have on hand.  One night before bed we flipped through a book.  It was our bedtime story for the night.  We looked and talked about all the recipes.  Which ones I had all the ingredients for on hand and ones she wouldn't try at all due to the vegetable content.  We even found some recipes that can be combined to make dinner.

  Today's snack was a smoothie. Now not all smoothies are healthy and that's fine too but we will work on the healthy ones before we start in on the chocolate ones! This recipe was super easy.  3 ingredients and she can even tell you the recipe.

 Blueberries,

 bananas

and yogurt is all you need.

  1 cup of blueberries, 1 banana and a cup of yogurt.  Blend it all together.

That's it!  Your drink is served.  Fruits and milk food groups have been accounted for.

She couldn't wait to try it.  She enjoyed the purple color and watching the colors blend together.  She said it was delicious!  Another recipe completed and successfully consumed.

Recipe credit goes to

.

My daughter the chef in training

  I am going to help my youngest daughter learn some skills, become self sufficient and better herself.  I am going to give her lessons to prepare, cook and bake.  Along the way we will reiterate measurements, time, different food items, and hopefully taste everything because she made it!

  Our first cooking lesson recipe was for breakfast.  I must admit the recipe is not new to us.  We have enjoyed it before she just has never made it before.  I guess starting with a acceptable meal is a good start.

  We briefly discussed measuring cups and spoons.  They are all different and they hold different amounts.  Some hold liquid and some are better for solids.  Some recipes call for small amounts so we just use spoons.  All of that is very easy for a child to understand.  The whole cup, half cup quarter cup will catch on eventually, lol.

  Kitchen safety will be addressed every time we cook also.  She may not always cook but she needs to understand how to be careful around hot things: pots/pans, stove and oven.  Knives which are a long way off.  Even various electronic appliances such as a blender or toaster.

Strawberries and Cream Oatmeal is what she made!  She measured out her oatmeal.

Then added her milk.

 Cut up her strawberries very carefully (butter knife).

 Waited ever so patiently for it to cook

Stirred her strawberries and sugar together.

Then after adding a spoon of sour cream and strawberries on top it was ready to eat!

Recipe credit is usually never mine and this is no different.  Credit goes to marthastewart!