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The last cooking club (for now)

Wednesday was the final cooking club of the summer. We made pizza, x-ray bananas, and puppy chow.

Pizza is one of those great recipes that can be made by amateurs and comes out looking fabulous. I made the pizza dough before hand, and we sprinkled on sauce, cheese, pepperoni, red peppers, mushrooms, broccoli... We didn't open up the artichoke hearts, amazingly enough. Amanda made a cheese-less pizza and Eleanor made a sauce-less pizza. Neither girl put broccoli on, although Amanda put peppers and prosciutto on hers. When it came out of the oven she ate the meat and the peppers, ignoring the crust. I guess a couple years of not eating bread is hard to overcome, even though she's not allergic anymore.

The x-ray bananas were so that we could have the letter "x" in our "Cook the alphabet" theme: they were a magic trick where you cut the banana before you open it. The girls had a great time making up magic moves and magic words. After the trick I warned them not to tell their moms how it was done, and they nearly stumbled over themselves racing to tell that we used pins to cut. In case you are wondering how to get 6-year-olds not to keep a secret, now you know.

Eleanor was so funny about puppy chow. For those who don't remember, it was crispix cereal (or chex) coated with a mixture of butter, chocolate chips, and peanut butter (or sunflower seed butter, for those of us with allergies). Eleanor insisted that it was for dogs, not kids, and she wasn't going to eat or make any of it. She complained all week that I never let her choose what we were going to make for cooking club, and was generally a pain about the whole thing. If I hadn't really wanted to make it, I would have given in...

After making the puppy chow, however, she had another fit because... her friends might take all of it home with them and not leave us any. I promised that we could make some more if that happened.

The most notable thing about the cooking club was when the girls went up to Eleanor's bedroom for about 30 minutes and played quietly and peacefully. One of the moms went up to check on them every once in a while (they were writing notes in kitty language) but we chatted and washed the dishes and got everything ready to go. Another notable thing: we finished making all 3 things before the 2 hours were up. I considered making quesadillas, but thought again.

Overall, I think cooking club went well. I got used to having 4 6 year olds in our house, directing them (gently) and teaching them....something. It was a good excuse to have people over, and to clean the house, both of which might otherwise not happen. Eleanor enjoyed having her friends over, Amanda enjoyed being made a fuss over, and Luke enjoyed watching the chaos around him. I think the friends liked it, since as many came to the last one as the first. I may do this again... who knows.

Actually, Eleanor had a good idea: make Christmas treats. The only trouble is that I always attempt to make something healthy (instead of all sweets) and I can't think of any healthy Christmas treats. My brother suggested cranberry bread... do you all have any other ideas?

Amanda-safe Puppy Chow
1 c chocolate chips (non-dairy)
1/2 c sunbutter (or peanut butter)
1/4 c margarine
5 c crispix cereal (or chex)
2 c powdered sugar

Melt chocolate chips, sunbutter and margarine. Measure cereal into a large bowl and pour chocolate mix over. Toss to coat thoroughly. Measure powdered sugar into a paper bag, pour in cereal, and shake until the cereal is well coated.

Notes: the proportions vary widely on the internet. I suggest more cereal and a little more powdered sugar (so it's not sticky at all). Adding too much more powdered sugar makes it too sweet.

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