the joy of cooking, take 3

I'm sort of wondering how many times I can title a post "the joy of cooking"...but it always seems appropriate. In a way, it's a little jab at the trusty little Joy of Cooking cookbook, because honestly - what joy is there in cooking brains and other insides? Can you believe a great American cookbook would have directions on how to serve up succulent brains? Brains and macaroni and cheese and cheesecake in the same cookbook? I think not. But, in all honestly, if I ever have a food question, Joy of Cooking is my first stop. For example, did you know that you can make your own chili powder? not chili pepper, but chili powder. Apparently, those good folks at Joy of Cooking knew, and now I know too. Not that I'll ever make it, since my parents just brought me the industrial-size shaker of it, but nonetheless...


Ok, back to the real joy of cooking. Two weeks ago, I sat down one evening and planned out an entire month of 20-30 minute activities to do each day with the girls. This was brought about by several factors, one of which is that there's usually a period of about an hour in between the breakfast/dressed/devotions routine and lunchtime where the girls are going bonkers. Since the weather is turning much cooler, I won't be able to just run down the street to the swings every day so they can run their energy off. Having a simple activity is a much better way to focus their attention for a while, then release them to play togeether (which always goes much smoother after a focused activity; why, I know not.) The other reason is that perhaps next spring, Emma will start going to a morning preschool thing for a few hours a day, and those thoughts make me green with envy that someone else will be sharing my morning time with emma. So, rather than mope about it, it seems much more reasonable to plan fun things to do each morning instead of lazing around looking at the window.

Yesterday's activities were all about cooking. We looked at the yummy pictures in my cookbooks and talked briefly about recipes. We talked about what a chef is, and thanks to the FAB Fat Angelo's Italian restaurant in Hong Kong, I had two little chefs hats for my budding chefs. Then, we practiced cutting bananas (with real knives! Don't report me, anyone, for giving samantha a knife to hold!). Samantha, of course, preferred eating the bananas, her #1 food of choice. But then, I hit an activity gold-mine the other day and wanted to pass it along to those of you with young kiddos for its ease of prep and enjoyment factor. I have also included step-by-step photos :) haha!


Make-it-yourself Pudding
You'll need -
baby food jars (for however many offspring you have, or however many offspring you will be caring for at that moment), put in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
Instant pudding mix
Milk

First, I gave each girl a jar and poured two Tablespoons of milk inside. Then, I put one tablespoon of instant puding mix inside. Close the lid, and shake until your arm feels like its about to fall off (which for me, was only about one minute). Open the lid, and enjoy!


So there you have it. And then, it was time for lunch.