My kids are 6, 5, and 2, so definitely old enough to help. Dorothy is a retired public school teacher who taught a food and nutrition class as well as a class in textiles, so she was the perfect extra pair of hands.
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/african_chicken_peanut_stew/:
We started with the vegetable prep - sweet potato, ginger, garlic, onion, and peanuts (yes, I know that not all of those are traditionally classified as vegetables, but shush). The girls were able to peel the sweet potatoes, Gus independently, and Fred with guidance from Dorothy. As they peeled, I cubed. Then all 3 kids peeled garlic and minced it while I manually minced the ginger by knife. The girls peeled an onion for me, and as I finished cutting all the vegetables, the kids shelled a cup's worth of peanuts - that's a whole lot, if you were wondering! I put up the oil at around 3, browning the chicken in batches. As the chicken was browning, I realized that the coriander I thought was in my spice cabinet didn't actually exist. Luckily, the internet told me that I could use cumin to replace it. Thank you internet!
The one thing I didn't put in was extra black pepper. After cooking with cayenne, the sweet potatoes and chicken had enough heat without actually making the soup spicy, although I likely will add pepper for myself when I reheat this. At 4:40 I started stripping the meat from the piping hot chicken legs. Note to self - do not hold the chicken with your bare fingers, or you will get singed fingertips.
http://herbivoracious.com/2009/12/arroz-a-la-mexicana-mexican-tomato-rice-recipe.html:
While the kids went into the other room at 4:20 to read with Dorothy and unwind, I started on the rice. Gus has become a very particular eater. She likes her rice plain, preferably white. She finds onions personally offensive. If we gave her mac and cheese from a box instead of handmade lasagna, she'd be thrilled. So, this was a challenge.
I haven't made an orzo-eque dish in a long time, so the degree to which the rice browned alarmed me at first. I also had forgotten that when you dump the first cup of boiling water into a saucepan full of rice, onions, and hot oil, everything bubbles up rather alarmingly for a moment. There may have been a jump and an utterance. Maybe.
The directions for this were pretty straightforward, although I under-salted because I use sea salt, and find that the measurements don't translate.
Dinner was on the table at 5 on the nose, and we were all done and happily sighing in my bed at 5:30. Clean up looms, but the kids are really good about clearing the table and sometimes do the dishes with me. Tonight, after finishing their homework, I broke my 'Friday only' TV-rule and put on the Lorax for them.
CONSENSUS:
The kids were really excited to check on the food that they had helped make. They loved the way the soup smelled as it was cooking, and when I served it, they all dug in before giving it a chance to cool. Slightly eager, yes? We got a major thumbs up from Ms. Finicky herself, who liked the ginger and cayenne. Color me shocked. Sometimes I don't give her enough credit. She even loved the peas in the rice, although after eating half her portion, she asked me to pick out every diced onion from her plate. So, sometimes she goes ahead and proves me right again (Thanks, lady! I like to look like I know what I'm talking about).
This meal was hugely successful, and we are going to be experimenting with different orzo recipes after the larger ABC Dinner experiment is done. I also now have proof that we can try new flavor profiles and food with a slight heat to it, which is very exciting! I also love finding new things that I can easily make for a gluten free family with little to no adaptation.
Also, I'm not posting pictures because lovely as the stew looked and tasted, it photographs like dog puke. On that note, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and will continue to join us on our ABC Dinner adventure!
