Cooking with kids

By Amy Mican

I called Nate around 3:30 to let him know I was going to be later than expected leaving the store and asked if he could start dinner. I gave him a couple of pointers: brown the meat, add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup milk and the cream of mushroom soup. Put it in the oven on 300 and let it sit until I get home. I'll do the rest.

He gladly got everything together and he and Kayla, who will be 3 in December, did just as they were instructed.

We all sat down for dinner around 6:00 said a blessing and began to eat. After the first bite Nate and I looked at each other and Kayla requested ketchup... (it makes everything better) I noticed that the beef tips were bland and had a weird taste to them but didn't want to offend Nate's hard work to I kept quiet and ate up. We all, even Brad, 7 in October, ate lots of veggies and little meat that night. Nate at some point said, "Was there something I forgot????"

No one was quite sure what happened with the beef tips until I began to clean up the kitchen and put the food away. As I was putting the meat into a Tupperware container I noticed something red at the bottom of the Corning-ware dish the beef tips were cooked in.

The deeper I dug the brighter it got. I turned around and looked on the island behind me and there was an empty red Play-dough container sitting there. I had to laugh. Kayla decided to add her own ingredient to the beef tips. Half a container of bright red Play-dough mixed with the beef tips explains the blandness, I guess. I asked Nate and he said Kayla was stirring the water, milk and cream of mushroom soup while he was browning the meat. (Man she's quick!...and creative!)

Just thought I would brighten everyone's day with our latest recipe from the Mican household!

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