year : 2012 187 results

Sure Fire, No Fire S’mores

Five Little Chefs - Sure Fire, No Fire S'mores    Little Chef D has another fun recipe today! If you love to camp you probably love S'mores. This Sure Fire, No Fire S'mores is a great indoor Smore recipe. The ingredients are the same you take camping.  The graham crackers were broken in two and placed on a cookie sheet. You would think breaking the crackers in two would be easy, but those crackers want to break in different sizes very easily. Eventually 6 crackers were broken in ...

School’s Out Scalloped Potatoes

  We are always in need of a good side dish. Potatoes are cheap themselves which makes a good option, depending on the cost of the additional ingredients. This potato recipe had ingredients that we either already stock in our pantry, or were easy to find. All the ingredients were prepped. Little Chef C was able to grate the cheese with this type of cheese grater very well.   We opted to only use 1/2 onion. The onion was peeled and then cut into fourths. The onion was diced ...

Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs

Five Little Chefs - Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs    Steak was requested for dinner so we were talking about what we could make as a side dish. We stumbled on Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs. This appealed to Little Chef A because she loves cheese in her mashed potatoes, if there isn't gravy.   This recipe calls for 4 pounds of potatoes. That would make way too much for my family. We we are not fans of leftovers ...

Delicious Hot Chocolate

   Its cold here and wet, well semi-cold this winter.  Little Chef A wanted to help make some Delicious Hot Chocolate.  When she found out she had to cut the orange she wanted to try out her knew knife which is made especially for kids. I first explained she did not need to cut the orange in half, just the rind which is the outside orange part. She said "Why don't I just peel the orange?" I explained the white part is bitter and that wouldn't taste good.  She took ...

Product Review: Kitchen Shears

   One of the most valuable kitchen tools we have encountered so far is kitchen shears.  I have always read about people using them to cut chicken but I have never done this. I am always searching for easier ways for my Little Chefs to accomplish basic cooking tasks. I believe if they have the right tools to help them cut, measure, stir.....then they will be more successful in their culinary endeavors. These right tools are not going to be the ones real Chefs use, but ones that ...

Fabulous Fudge

   Little Chef 3 LOVES desserts! She chose Fabulous Fudge by Anne Thornton. This is a perfect recipe for little ones. It is easy and quick for those with short attention spans.  Make sure all everything is chopped and measured out ready to go. Once you start it goes quick and there isn't time to measure.  The ingredients were gathered.  A 9x9 glass pan was covered in foil, long enough to overhang to help in pulling it out later.  The only ingredient that needed to ...

Ratatouille

Five Little Chefs - Ratatouille    This Ratatouille recipe was chosen because Little Chef C was watching an episode of Restaurant Impossible where this was made. Our only other experience with Ratatouille is the movie by Disney. The ingredients were gathered, except for the herbes de Provence we didn't find. Luckily, it was an optional ingredient. The eggplant was going to be interesting, we have never had this in our kitchen before!  Next, everything was chopped. This time ...

Lemon Spaghetti

  Little Chef A loves pasta! Lemon Spaghetti by Giada de Laurentiis seemed like a quick meal with not many ingredients.  The pasta cooked by itself, the lemon sauce only needed to be whisked with fresh lemon juice, lemon zest and shredded parmesan cheese. The only thing needed to be cut was the basil. Seems pretty simple, right? That is what I usually think at the beginning as well.  This time it really was the case! The ingredients were gathered. A saucepan with water was put ...

Orange Banana Smoothie

Five Little Chefs - Orange Banana Smoothie   My Little Chefs LOVE bananas and juice. We seem to have both around quite frequently. I have been known to buy a lot of bananas, eat some, and freeze some for later. When I came across this recipe I thought it would be perfect for us! I know this recipe calls for everything fresh. In fact all the recipes we have been making call for everything fresh. In our world (home) we have so much going on fresh everything isn't possible or affordable. We ...

Product Review Thursday

  Today is product review day. I was having a hard time coming up with a product to review because I don't feel we have had sufficient time to use the tools to accurately review. I have a few tools in mind, but would like another week to use them to see how they perform. Instead I thought I'd mention a few items I have found useful so far.  Measuring cups - There can never be enough! We currently have 3 sets. Seems abundant I know. Remember Top Secret Chocolate Cookies? This recipe ...

Mom’s Banana Dessert

Five Little Chefs - Mom's Banana Dessert

Coriander and Mustard Seed Crusted Salmon

Five Little Chefs - Coriander and Mustard Seed Crusted Salmon   Today's recipe was chosen by Little Chef C, Coriander and Mustard Seed Crusted Salmon fromChef Robert Irvine. We watched an episode of his show, Restaurant Impossible, where he was making over a school restaurant. I think because he was working with High School student chefs my Little Chefs were OVERLY excited and enthrawled. Since viewing this episode every time I ask Little Chef D to do something she responds "Yes, Chef!" ...

Chocolate Chip Walnut Cupcakes

Five Little Chefs - Chocolate Chip Walnut Cupcakes   Little Chef A chose Chocolate Chip Walnut Cupcakes from Giada De Laurentiis. We thought it was funny that it is called cupcakes, but you actually use a brownie mix! The first thing was to gather the ingredients.  The 12-cup muffin pan was lined with cupcake liners and set aside.  The oven was turned on to 350 degrees.The walnuts needed to be chopped. This time I thought we would see how the chopper would work instead of a ...

Vanilla Milkshake

Five Little Chefs - Vanilla Milkshake   We thought it would be fun to try a new drink each week. Ice cream is a favorite treat, so naturally the first drink we wanted to try was a Vanilla Milkshake by Paula Deen.  All my Little Chefs were excited and knew we had the ingredients to make it. Little Chef D has a hard time eating her meals most of the time. Sometime the gentle coaxing works, sometimes it doesn't. I finally said we are making the Vanilla Milkshake after dinner. You need ...

Product Review: LYSOL® Healthy Touch® No-Touch Hand Soap System

   The first and most important step my Little Chefs have learned is to wash their hands.  We are constantly talking about germs and why we do not want to spread them from one item to another.  In fact, we have talked about washing hands so much, especially after breaking eggs, that my Little Chefs will not eat ANYTHING with raw eggs in them. When one of the younger Little Chefs asks to lick the bowl after mixing something an older Little Chef says "no you can't it has raw eggs in it." I ...

Top Secret Chocolate Cookies

Some people choose recipes by their ingredients while others, like Little Chef D, choose recipes by their pictures. For her first recipe Little Chef D wanted a "brown cookie" and found Top Secret Chocolate Cookies by Christy Hyer. The first thing we always do is measure out all the ingredients. I have found this makes the mixing/cooking/baking process go a lot smoother. The prep time seems to be long and sometimes hard if there is cutting involved, but when we are really ready to start follow...

Mahi Mahi with Rice

Not too long ago we went to a new restaurant. We ordered, sat down, and started eating when Little Chef C said "Mom, did Chef Robert come here?" I had to laugh. "Did he change this place to make it look nice?" I asked. "No, he didn't come here, this is a new restaurant." It has only been open for a few months if I remember correctly. It still had a "new" look to it. It was very bright with the lights, the huge windows and the colors were vibrant. No wonder she thought Chef Robert fixed this ...

Crostini Alla Romana

     Little Chef A absolutely loves Giada De Laurentiis! Whenever we are watching the Food Network and Giada comes on the excitement level goes through the roof! I quickly hear, "Ooooh I love Giada, she is my favorite!"  What surprises me is the conviction and true passion she has for this show and cooking. It would not come as a surprise to hear that Little Chef A's recipes will all come from her favorite chef, Giada. The first recipe that was chosen was Crostini Alla Romana. We saw ...

Why Five Little Chefs?

   For over a year now I have realized my Little Chefs love to help in the kitchen. They love to watch cooking shows and they are starting to develop their senses for food. I love when my oldest Little Chef walks in the door and says "I smell....." Amazingly she is usually correct! I am frequently asked "Can I help?" Yes, I have concluded that when they help measurements are not always exact therefore the food doesn't always turn out like the picture, the kitchen becomes a HUGE mess, funny ...
Bitnami