Too Much Chocolate Cake and Satiny Chocolate Glaze
Today's post really should be named Questions. What does this do? What does that do? It made me feel not very smart. I didn't have the answers. I think we need to become Alton Brown students because he is so good at explaining the purpose of each ingredient.
I have made this Too Much Chocolate Cake recipe once before with rave reviews. It is simple because it is made with a boxed cake mix and some extra additions. We were going up to Grandma and Grandpa's house for family dinner and one ...
German Pancake and Buttermilk Syrup
For one night when Little Chef Dad is away for work we usually have breakfast for dinner. This evening Little Chef A wanted to make German Pancakes. She remembers loving them after making them for the first time with Grandma. Don't you love how memories are tied together with food!
Little Chef A got out the eggs to crack. It is so funny to me that she says, "Oopsy" each time she cracks it open with her thumbs as if she made a mistake! Followed by the much anticipated, "Icky, my hands are ...
Baked Cinnamon Sugar Churros
Baked Cinnamon Sugar Churros looked like a yummy recipe according to the Little Chefs! I LOVED this recipe because it took about 15 minutes to make! Oh how I wish a lot more recipes could be this quick!
We have never worked with puff pastry before but I did know to look for it next to the frozen desserts at the grocery store. It comes as a 2 pack. This recipe only uses one sheet so we have enough for a quick dessert or afternoon snack when we have lots of friends over. Each Little Chef ...
Seared Rib Eye, Salsa Verde, Dirty Rice
Five Little Chefs - Seared Rib Eye, Salsa Verde, Dirty Rice
Before starting this recipe Little Chef Dad said, "So what kind of pain and suffering are you doing tonight?" He knows first hand how much patience this requires and how close to breaking I sometimes get. That and the dishes, oh the dishes! How many loads in the dishwasher will we do today is another common question. Little Chef A is very good at drying all the dishes I wash by hand. She sticks with it until they are done which I ...
Beef Skewers with Cherry Tomatoes and Parsley Sauce
Five Little Chefs - Beef Skewers with Cherry Tomatoes and Parsley Sauce
Little Chef A looked through her Giada At Home cookbook and marked some recipes she wanted to try including Beef Skewers with Cherry Tomatoes and Parsley Sauce. Little Chef C was the one who went shopping with me. She was so excited to mark things off the list when they were put in our cart!
The first ingredient that went into the food processor was the parsley. Little Chef A twisted and pulled it apart. ...
Cream Puffs
Can you believe these cream puffs were made and decorated by Little Chef A? We have never made these before. She did a wonderful job following directions and executing the frosting. Little Chef A made these with Grandma which made the experience even more memorable. The ingredients are very basic for the puff; eggs, butter and water.
Water and margarine were added to a saucepan and heated to a rolling boil.
Little Chef A added the flour and stirred as hard and as fast ...
Honey-Balsamic Lamb Chops
It's another Giada recipe day! Little Chef A likes pork chops. She found this recipe in her cookbook she received for Christmas, Giada at Home: Family Recipes from Italy and California. We have never tried lamb chops, but decided we could switch out the protein and it would still work.
I got out the food processor for her to use. I really should teach her how to put all the parts together so she can do it by herself. She put in the balsamic vinegar, garlic and honey.
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Brazilian Lemonade
Five Little Chefs - Brazilian Lemonade
The first thing I need to say is, why is this drink called Brazilian Lemonade? Can't we just call it Limeade? I've seen different versions of this recipe and they all have the same name. WE don't understand why when the recipe clearly is using limes not lemons. That being said, this is one of OUR favorite all time drinks. Thank you Our Best Bites!
All the Little Chefs helped with a part of the cutting of the limes. One cut off the ends, another ...
Yummy Wake-Up Smoothie
Five Little Chefs - Yummy Wake-Up Smoothie
Last weekend Little Chef A was with a group of girls her age. They decided to make smoothies together. She was super excited because they did not follow a recipe. They made up their own! This is why smoothies are the easiest thing kids can make. We did follow a recipe, Yummy Wake-Up Smoothie. What an interesting name we thought!
After the ingredients were measured out it was time to dump it all in.
I taught my Little Chefs a ...
Almost Famous Pecan Waffles
Little Chef D was reading the Food Network magazine and wanted to make Almost Famous Pecan Waffles.
The pecans were placed on a cookie sheet and baked until toasted.
After they were toasted, Little Chef D used the hand chopper and easily chopped them into smaller pieces.
While the pecans were toasting she measured the ingredients.
The butter and shortening were added to a bowl then put in the microwave to melt. Afterward, the bowl was set on the counter to ...
Santa’s Favorite Malted Hot Chocolate
Five Little Chefs - Santa's Favorite Malted Hot Chocolate
Since we are on a hot chocolate kick right now we are trying another one, Santa's Favorite Malted Hot Chocolate. The Little Chefs were so confused why it had Santa in the name, but I explained perhaps someone makes it every Christmas Eve. That seemed to satisfy them for the moment. Mom can make a pretty convincing case!
We had all the ingredients in our pantry. Why would we have malted milk powder? Someone told me if you add a ...
Recipe Redo: Delicious Hot Chocolate
Five Little Chefs - Recipe Redo: Delicious Hot Chocolate
In my attempt to help my Little Chefs learn from their mistakes in life, we frequently discuss what could have been said or done next time to obtain a better outcome. This has spilled over into our cooking. I do mean "our" because when I cook a meal its usually Little Chef A that will say, "probably if you did ..... next time it would be better." She says this matter of factly without me even asking for opinions!
When Little Chef A ...
Chicken and Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake
Five Little Chefs - Chicken and Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake
We thought it would be fun to try some recipes from other blogs. The first recipe we are trying is Chicken and Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake from Picky-Palate. The Little Chefs thought they could do this recipe because it is a simple dump recipe with most everything from a can. I like this recipe because it is common pantry items.
The recipe calls for chicken. I thought it would be interesting to ...
Raspberry-Orange Smoothie
Five Little Chefs - Raspberry-Orange Smoothie
This week for our new drink my Little Chefs tried Raspberry-Orange Smoothie found on the food network site. This was super simple. Everything was dumped into the blender and the button pushed. The ingredients are almost all described in the title, raspberries, orange juice, plain yogurt and of course ice. The recipe was doubled because there are a lot of us!
After the ingredients were measured out Little Chef D dumped them all ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
