Cooking with Caleb and Charlotte

It was that time of month. Helping Charlotte and Caleb to cook their monthly Raddish meal plan. This time around the meal was breakfast burritos for dinner.  Flour tortillas stuffed with potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, and green onions. Garnished with salsa and sour cream. I want to say it is fun to cook with the kids.

It’s stressful, fraught with concern over who gets to do what, and downright scary at times. I held my breath countless times. The kids are learning how to cook. Joe is learning how to be patient with me. I am learning that a child can cut small potatoes with a plastic knife and not hurt themselves and that it doesn’t really matter if the potatoes are cut into even sized pieces. Crumbled bacon is crumbled bacon, it is not an exact science.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way. The lessons are not just about cooking. They are about learning to work as a team, sharing the workload, and sharing the satisfaction of having prepared a good tasting meal. Another advantage of the children doing the cooking is that they are more receptive to trying new foods. Oh yeah, and ‘bonding’ time with the grandparents.

This time our recipe was doubled. We needed 16 eggs for the scrambled eggs (8 servings), Joe taught the children to crack one egg at a time into a bowl as it is much easier to scoop eggshell out of one egg than multiple eggs. Then they poured the egg into the larger mixing bowl. Charlotte weighed out one pound of baby potatoes and cut them in to quarters (sort of quarters. She understands the concept of halving the potato and then halving again. Just sometimes, the angle she was looking at it made some interesting sizes).  Caleb counted out bacon strips and prepared them for the oven. Caleb also cooked the scrambled eggs and added the grated cheddar cheese with grandpa’s help.

The results:

The filling

The finished burrito

Raddish sends three recipes. We always do the main course. Last month we also prepared the dessert - cupcakes. This month we have a choice of bagel bites with cream cheese filling or pop tarts. I think we will do the pop tarts next week only skip the icing and serve them as mini pies with ice cream.

While we were working together, I asked Charlotte if she was interested in going on a competitive cooking show for children. Her response, “I don’t want to be a chef. I want to be an artist.”  So much for that!

Our new bed in a box came in today and we got the bed put together. Megan’s guest bed is fine for a month or two; however, Joe and I prefer a firmer mattress. We are set now. I also ordered a weighted blanket which arrived today as well. During our travels this past year, I can’t recall where, there was a guest bed with a weighted blanket, and I loved it.

Megan, Rufio, and I did another cul-de-sac walk. You will continue to hear about it. I am hoping one day soon it gets easier. For now, I am trying to be thankful that I started and completed the walk.