A Little Rocky at Audrey's House

There have been a few changes on the homefront for Audrey so she has not been able to cook as much. When she has cooked her mother has been too busy to do much posting. They are both going to try to remedy that in the future but for now there are pictures.

Sunshine Toast

This easy recipe came from a collection of cards called 30 Healthy Things to Cook and Eat by Usbourne. Audrey looked through the cards and picked this to make for dinner tonight. She has made this recipe with her father before so that is probably the reason for its selection. Her mother was happy for a meal that called for ingredients already in the house.

• 1 slice of bread
• 1 small or medium egg
• large cookie cutter
• butter

Audrey's Task's:

1. Cut the toast
2. Crack the eggs

Mom's Task's:

1. Place bread in pan
2. Place egg in bread
3. Flip bread

Cut a large shape out of the bread with the cookie cutter (Audrey used a star shape.) Butter the pan and preheat on medium. Place the bread in the pan and crack the egg into the hole. If a little one is helping it is better to crack the egg into a bowl first and then pour the egg into the hole. Cook until the egg is to your liking. Audrey likes her eggs over medium so her mother flipped the bread for her.
In keeping with paternal family tradition Audrey had strawberry jam on her toast.

Still cooking

Audrey is still at but her mother has been too busy to post for her.

Wednesday night she made fluffy eggs for her mom and friends Kalli and Grace. Audrey enjoyed cracking the eggs and her mom was the only one to get a (small) shell in her food. Audrey is not very good at cracking but she is practicing.

Thursday brought a half-birthday celebration for Audrey's little sister Maurene. A few friends came over and Audrey made homemade pizza crusts for them. Everyone was able to fix pizza the way they like and eat a whole pizza by themselves. Audrey likes cheese and mushrooms on her pizza.

Friday was Audrey's tumbling class and she requested yogurt before class. She must have been too excited to cook. Hopefully she will feel up to cooking tonight because her mother enjoys the time together.

Crunchy Oven-Baked Chicken Toes!

This wonderful recipe is from Cooking Rocks! by Rachael Ray. Not only is it kid friendly but they are all 30 minute meals. Audrey had her friend Leah over for dinner and she deemed it a great meal. She was also kind enough to take photographs of Audrey cooking.
The meal started with Creamy Salsa Dip and Veggies and apples. The dip recipe was part of the menu for this dinner.

• 1 cup mild salsa
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 12 carrot sticks
• 12 celery sticks
• 12 cherry or grape tomatoes
• 12 sugar snap peas

The apples were cut and rinsed in lemon juice to keep them fresh.

Main Course

• 1 cup corn flakes
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten (or smooshed out of their shells by a toddler)
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup honey mustard
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Audrey's Tasks:

1. Make creamy salsa
   
2. Crush cornflakes
3. Make bread crumbs
4. Mix topping
5. Crack eggs and beat
6. Dredge chicken

Mom's Tasks:

1. Gather ingredients
2. Assist Audrey
3. Place chicken in oven
4. Cut apples and rinse in lemon water

Pour the corn flakes into a shallow dish and crush with your hands. Mix in bread crumbs, brown sugar, allspice, salt and pepper. Drizzle vegetable oil over breading; toss and turn to mix. Pour flour into another shallow dish and the eggs in a third. Turn chicken in the flour, eggs and then bread mix. Arrange chicken on a nonstick baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes or until crisp and brown all over. Serve with dipping sauce.

Audrey cracked both eggs by herself. Her mother had to coax the second one off the counter and into the bowl. She really loves cracking eggs.

Tuna Hot Dish

A paternal family favorite! Too bad Audrey's dad was not home to enjoy it. To make up for it Audrey had her friend Grace come over to help in this easy preparation:

• ⅓ pkg noodles - wide
  
• 4 tbsp butter
  
• 1 can tuna
  
• 1 can mushroom soup
  
• ¼ cup milk
  
• ½ can peas
  
• potato chips

Audrey (and Grace) Tasks:

1. Stir ingredients into dish

Mom's Tasks:

1. Gather ingredients
2. Boil noodles
   
3. Assist Audrey and Grace
4. Microwave meal

Prepare noodles according to package directions. Place in a microwave safe dish and place butter on top. Mix milk and soup, pour over noodles. Add tuna and peas. Microwave 4 minutes or until hot. Crush potato chips and sprinkle on top. Enjoy!

This was an easy meal for Audrey and Grace. The bonus part was they ate it, tuna, peas and noddles.

Audrey's mom would like to thank Leah and Kalli for their assistance in tonight's meal.

Meat Loaf (muffin cups)

Audrey made meatloaf in muffin cups for her mother tonight. She really did a majority of the work with her mother acting as an assistant. They made fresh breadcrumbs in the blender, chopped onions and tomatoes in the food processor and then mixed everything together. Audrey needed a little help getting the ingredients mixed completely and she forgot how to crack an egg. After that she spooned the mixture into the tins all by herself and then added the topping unaided. It was a little messy but not enough for her mother to need to step in.


Audrey is really improving her cooking skills mainly due to the fact that she has the chance to work on them regularly. She was not able to cook as much through the holidays but she found time to bake and make homemade gifts (see previous post.) She also had fun learning to prepare her favorite meal; hot dogs.

Rosemary Meat Loaf

• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
• 2 cups dry bread crumbs
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 cup canned tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Audrey's Tasks:

1. Make bread crumbs
2. Chop onions and tomatoes (she did not have sauce)
3. Mix ingredients
4. Place in muffin tins
5. Pour sauce on top

Mom's Tasks:

1. Gather ingredients
2. Assist Audrey
3. Place in oven 

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground turkey, bread crumbs, onion, egg and milk. Season with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and rosemary. Press into the prepared pan. Blend together the tomato sauce, brown sugar and mustard; pour evenly over the top of the loaf.
Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until juices run clear when pricked with a knife.

Audrey's mom ate a few but Audrey decided not to eat. She is two and goes through periods of not eating.

a few pictures

We are back!

Audrey is back at it now that the holidays are over and family obligations completed. While we have not posted recently she has helped with many of the family meals. Tomorrow the meal will be a variation of meat loaf. The recipe has not been decided on yet.