I think we've talked about this before, but Atticus is really into cooking shows. He especially loves competitive cooking shows ("Chopped" and "MasterChef Junior," specifically), although really any cooking show. We decided it would be fun to have a little cooking night with some of his friends and treat it like a mock Chopped show. It was too bad that Atticus's teacher Laura and her daughter Lilas weren't able to come, which was my fault for missing her on one of the emails we sent out, but we will hopefully have more in the future, because it was a blast. Atticus's friends Donovan, Chico and Virginia were able to come, along with their mom's and Chico's dad.
If you haven't seen "Chopped" it's a show where professional chefs have to cook an appetizer, an entrée and a desert in a limited amount of time using four or five mystery ingredients along with whatever they find in the communal pantry/refrigerator. Atticus loves all the aspects of the show, from the strange ingredients, to the eliminations, except when a mean chef comes on the show, which fortunately doesn't happen that often.
First we watched an episode of "MasterChef Junior" which is a competitive cooking show for kids 9-13, which is Atticus's current favorite, while we ate some rice and chicken, just in case the food creations didn't turn out as edible.
Then we were on to the competition. We didn't follow the show's outline exactly, of course, because we are not professionals. What we did was divide up the kids into two teams, which we switched for the second round. Two of the families (ours and Virginia's) brought ingredients for an entrée and two (Chico and Donovan's) brought deserts. We ended up with "alien" omelets with beets, chicken and nuts on one dish and sweet potatoes with a cranberry sauce and gingerbread on the other, with a veggie burger. Both dishes were really, surprisingly good.
The deserts were peppermint pancakes with an original syrup that seized up and became candy and almond butter frosted cupcakes, which were both also quite good.
It was a ton of fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The timed aspect worked well as 30 minutes for each dish was just right for everyone.
Way too many videos:
If you haven't seen "Chopped" it's a show where professional chefs have to cook an appetizer, an entrée and a desert in a limited amount of time using four or five mystery ingredients along with whatever they find in the communal pantry/refrigerator. Atticus loves all the aspects of the show, from the strange ingredients, to the eliminations, except when a mean chef comes on the show, which fortunately doesn't happen that often.
First we watched an episode of "MasterChef Junior" which is a competitive cooking show for kids 9-13, which is Atticus's current favorite, while we ate some rice and chicken, just in case the food creations didn't turn out as edible.
Then we were on to the competition. We didn't follow the show's outline exactly, of course, because we are not professionals. What we did was divide up the kids into two teams, which we switched for the second round. Two of the families (ours and Virginia's) brought ingredients for an entrée and two (Chico and Donovan's) brought deserts. We ended up with "alien" omelets with beets, chicken and nuts on one dish and sweet potatoes with a cranberry sauce and gingerbread on the other, with a veggie burger. Both dishes were really, surprisingly good.
The deserts were peppermint pancakes with an original syrup that seized up and became candy and almond butter frosted cupcakes, which were both also quite good.
It was a ton of fun. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. The timed aspect worked well as 30 minutes for each dish was just right for everyone.
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| Renata opening the cranberries |
That is so cool! I love both of those shows. Thanks for the fun idea.
ReplyDeleteMore proof of Atticus' extreme coolness. Do you know Megan's email address? Choppedchampion@...
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