Cub Scout in the Kitchen

Tristan told me last week that in order to get his badge in Cub Scouts he needed to help plan a meal and he needed to learn how to cook something.  So I planned a lunch date with him in the kitchen on Saturday cooking for seven.  We decided to make Quesadillas and he was excited.  It’s one of his favorite meals.

First he washed the fresh spinach while I chopped onion.  Then he stir fried those two vegetables in a little olive oil with some garlic, salt and pepper.  After we heated our tortilla on both sides, Tristan sprinkled on cheddar cheese, two or three spoons of rinsed black beans, put our spinach mixture on top with a shake of cumin and folded the tortilla in half heating it with the lid over the pan briefly until the cheese was melty.  We did this six times.  We have two kids that don’t eat so much and share food well.

Then Tristan figured out the rest of a well balanced meal could include a “black and blue salad” (blueberries and blackberries) which he made and named himself, some cheese crackers, vanilla yogurt with sprinkles for calcium and a tall glass of ice water. 

These quesadillas were easy and fantastic!  They are our new favorite way to eat spinach next to eating it just plain as a salad.  Everyone loved Tristan’s meal.  Great Job!

Then on Monday we moved on to dessert.  It was Tristan’s assignment to make treats for Family Night so he got out his favorite Star Wars Cookbook and decided on cookies made with molasses, ginger, cinnamon and sandwiched with Apricot Jam mixed with powdered sugar.  Tristan learned that you must have enough flour to roll out your cookies and still be able to peel them off the table.  He also cracked eggs and dumped ingredients into the mixing bowl.  It was handy to have the day off of school so he could spend a little more time on this project.

Tristan cut his cookies and loaded them onto the baking sheets.  I handled the hot oven.

Introducing “Qui-Gon Jin-ger Snaps”.  Very clever!  Tristan spread the cooled cookies with the jam mixture, arranged them on a tray and then collected various Star Wars Lego figures to decorate the pile of cookies.  It made everyone laugh with surprise when they saw the treat that Tristan had created.

These cookies were so good that after two of them, Nathan himself turned into a power droid!  Tristan and I enjoyed our time in the kitchen together over the weekend.  He was a great chef, a big help and he had some creative ideas that we all enjoyed.

Nice work Tristan