Day 8: Monkey Bread

I am in a good mom vs bad mom battle with myself tonight. Good mom: this is by far Austin's most favorite thing that I make. He asks for it ALL the time. I bought Butter Braids from his school fundraiser and when I made one for him, he asked me where the monkey bread was. Butter braids are delicious, and yet it still didn't compare to my monkey bread. He's too sweet!! So, I am arguing that making this for him is being a really good mom. However, Bad mom: Why wouldn't he love this? It's sugar, butter, biscuits and more sugar, covered in sugar. No joke, probably the worst possible thing a mother could feed her children. It is easily a dentist's and dietitian's worst nightmare.

So, you can see my dilemma...good mom or bad mom? Final answer: good mom. Everything in moderation, right? We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner and Monkey Bread for dessert!

Monkey Bread
3 12oz packages of Buttermilk Biscuits
1 cup sugar
3 teas cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter*

Directions:
1) Cut biscuits in quarters
2) Mix white sugar and 2 teas cinnamon
3) Coat biscuit pieces in sugar mixture and layer in a fluted bundt pan
4) Melt butter, brown sugar, and 1 teas cinnamon over the stove top and pour over biscuits
5) Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes
6) Let cool for 10 minutes and then turn upside down onto a plate

Kitchen Play by Play: The kids LOVED coating the biscuits in the sugar and were actually really good about not licking their fingers in the process :) They did a great job layering the pieces into the pan too then I took over the rest and all hell broke loose. It was a monkey bread malfunction. I have literally made this recipe 25 times off of the same recipe card and yet, only today did I realize that I Mary Tyler Moored MYSELF. WTF? How is that even possible!!!!!! *Though the recipe is 1 stick of butter, on my recipe card I have 1 CUP of butter written down. I think normally I don't even look at the recipe I just know it's only one stick, but this time the kids were distracting me, and I was just following the card. I knew immediately that something was not right. It was too soupy, so I just added more brown sugar. I figured worst case scenario it would just be a little extra sweet. I put it in the oven and hoped for the best. Then I realized that I never added the cinnamon to the butter mixture. I opened the oven and sprinkled the cinnamon on top. Shit, at this point what did it matter, this monkey bread was doomed. Thirty five minutes later, I took it out and it looked awesome. We very patiently waited the ten minutes, and then I turned over what should have been a glistening mountain of butter and perfectly browned biscuit, but instead watched in horror as the clumps of raw dough fell onto the plate. It took everything I had not to scream SON of a BITCH. The extra butter kept the entire bottom half of the pan from being cooked. The look on my poor son's face was heartbreaking. New final answer: BAD MOM. I picked off a few of the cooked pieces to give to him and Peyton and then emptied the entire contents into a 9X13 pan and put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes. Woohoo, when I took it out it was fully cooked.
Still in the pan. Looks good!
Just out of the pan right before it fell apart.

The Verdict:
Nicole:Clearly, it was not a 5 on preparation or execution. Due to its extra time in the oven, some pieces were definitely overcooked, but the buttery, sugary taste was still there. A past monkey bread of mine would have gotten a 5. Today's is a 3.

Paul: He was at Snowboard/Ski club, so he didn't get to witness the monkey bread massacre.

Austin: Though he was disappointed that he didn't get a huge portion, he still told me how much he loved it and gave it a 100.

Peyton: Didn't like it at all. Like seriously. She gave her pieces to Austin. This made Austin very happy.

Day 7: Chili

Peyton does not do vegetables, but she will eat kidney beans. She especially likes them if they have flavor to them. So, tonight I decided to go with one of my childhood favorites and make my mom's chili in hopes that she would at least eat the beans.

My favorite thing about this chili recipe is how easy it is to make. When I talked to my dad earlier this afternoon, he told me that he and Angie were making chili tonight too, but that they had already started cooking it. Total cook and prep time for his chili is about 4 hours. My recipe takes about 65 minutes total. Super easy, super yummy.

Cathi's Chili
1 lb 80/20 ground beef
1/2 cup diced green peppers, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup diced onions, fresh or frozen
1 Tbs chili powder
2 Tbs water
2 teas sugar
2 teas salt
2 cups whole tomatoes, crushed
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Directions:
1) cook ground beef, drain
2) add all ingredients except beans
3) Cook 1/2 hour on low
4) add beans and cook another 1/2 hour.
5) Add chili powder and water to taste

Kitchen Play by Play: I cooked the ground beef, and then enlisted the help of the kids to add all the other ingredients. Austin and I crushed the tomatoes with our bare hands. It's my favorite part, but Austin crushed three tomatoes before he looked at his hands and said, "I'm done." He went straight to the sink to wash his hands. I always add about 1/4 cup of the tomato juice from the can because I like a juicy chili. I stirred the chili about every ten minutes just to make sure it did not burn. I grew up eating chili over elbow noodles with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top. We also eat saltine crackers with butter on them and scoop the chili mac onto the crackers. We were too hungry tonight, and I completely forgot to take a picture. Sorry :(

The Verdict:
Nicole: This chili never disappoints. I love it. But to be honest, I actually like it better on the second day which is saying a lot because I do not do leftovers. I give it a very strong 4.

Paul: He wasn't home tonight, but based on past chili dinners he gives it a 5. " Good meaty flavor, the right amount of spice, and beans."

Austin: He crushes all his crackers on top of his chili and then eats his entire bowl. He gives Grandma Cathi's chili a 22. He told me he loved it much more than a 5.

Peyton: Mission accomplished. She dug out every single bean in her bowl plus the 20 extra I threw in. She liked the crackers too but wanted nothing to do with the meaty component of this chili.

Day 6: Stinky Pretzels

Austin went on a ten minute tangent when I told him we were making stinky pretzels. Here are just a few of the things I remember him saying, " Stinky pretzels? Why would we eat something that stinks?" "They won't be good because they're smelly." " Dad, you won't believe this; Mom wants to make stinky pretzels!" "They are going to taste terrible." "How do pretzels stink?"

Don't let the name of this recipe throw you off. They may sound gross, but I assure you that they are worth reading about. Paul is the head girls' golf coach at Rolling Meadows High School, and last year one of his golfers gave him a bag of these pretzels. He brought them home to me in a sandwich sized bag, but informed me that they had started out in a gallon sized bag and that after 3 hours this was all that remained. He told me not to be turned off by the name and explained that they were called stinky pretzels. I asked him why he thought I'd be turned off by that considering I call hamburger snacks dog food burgers and still manage to pound those down. Anyway, I tried a stinky pretzel and immediately understood how Paul had consumed three quarters of a bag of them in 3 hours. They were AWESOME. Once he knew I liked them, he handed me the recipe. It turns out that these pretzels are so well received that his student's mom actually staples the recipe to the bag because everyone always asks her for it. The recipe is from the Chicago Tribune, and is part of a cute little article about a granddaughter who used to eat these with her grandmother and how it has been a family recipe ever since. The author of the article thought the story was worth telling and the pretzels seemed too interesting not to try. So, she makes them and is floored as to how tasty they are. She even tells the readers not to stray from the recipe at all as far as brand, portion, etc. In one weeks' time she played with this recipe and made 5 batches, all of which she ate, but admitted that none compared to the batch that followed the recipe verbatim.

So, even though these could not be any easier to make; my husband loves them; and I enjoyed them too; until today, I had never made them. Here's to hoping I don't disappoint my wonderful husband and my very skeptical son.

Stinky Pretzels
2 16 oz bags of small pretzel twists
1 1oz envelope(powder) of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing and Seasoning Mix(Original)
12 oz of Orville Redenbachers' Popcorn Oil
1 teas garlic powder
1/2 teas lemon pepper

Directions:
1) In a small bowl, stir together dressing packet, garlic powder and lemon pepper.
2) In a VERY large bowl, add pretzels, the popcorn oil, and spice mix. Blend well.
3) Every 15 minutes for 1 hour stir preztels making sure to scrap the bottom each time.The preztels will absorb the majority of the popcorn oil during this time.
4) Place the pretzels on a paper towel to drain excess liquid.
5) Place in zip lock bags for 6-8 hours to meld.

Kitchen Play by Play: Seriously, like 1 minute total prep time. Austin measured and mixed the dry ingredients and made sure to let me know that he thought it smelled very bad. I had a 16oz popcorn oil, so I measured out 12 oz and mixed it all together. We mixed the bowl more like every 8 minutes because we were incredibly inpatient and were dying to try them. We may have sneaked a few :) We still gave it the full hour though. I emptied the pretzels onto paper towels and made sure to use a rubber spatula to get every last drop of the remaining oil mixture out and spread it around the pile of pretzels. The two most difficult parts of this recipe are 1) finding a bowl big enough. I used my salad spinner bowl, and it was perfect! 2) Waiting for them to be completely done. There is no way in hell that they are going to sit in the bag for 6-8 hours tonight. As I'm typing this, I am eating them off of the paper towel. In fact, the author of the article admits that her pretzels never made it to the "zip lock and set" stage either. I didn't take a picture because they just look like pretzels...little pretzels of deliciousness that is.

The Verdict:
Nicole: Can you guess? I haven't exactly tried to hide my obsession for these pretzels. I give the recipe a 5!

Paul: He came into the other room and asked me why I didn't double the recipe. He has consumed about 50 of them already. He gives the pretzels a 5!

Austin: Suprisingly, Austin didn't even hesitate to try one. He loved them! He was still chewing his first pretzel when he shouted, "It's a 5!" But then he said, " Wow, my breath is stinky."

Peyton: She licked all the seasoning off and then handed Paul the plain pretzel. It's going to be hard for me to watch her throw away pretzels once she has licked all the yummy goodness off of them.

** Thankfully, we all love them because now we can still hug and kiss each other without worrying about being called stinky.

Monte Cristo Loaf

Tonight, I went into my recipe box for one of my guilty pleasure recipes. When I was younger, I would always choose a monte cristo sandwich if we were eating at a greasy diner or breakfast joint. It was basically a ham, turkey and cheese sandwich but instead of bread it was french toast. Then they added strawberry jelly and deep fried it to get it all ooeey and gooeey. It was sprinkled with powdered sugar. It was to die for. I mean, really, what was not to like? I can almost guarantee that consuming that entire sandwich, which I did, was probably three days worth of calories and fat, but I was like 12 so I didn't give a shit. Now, however, I would have a really hard time ordering this sandwich because I know that I have no self control and would end up eating the whole thing and hating myself for it later.

So, when my mom made me this "less terrible for you" version, I was crazy excited. It is super easy and totally satisfies my craving for the sandwich. The reason I added it to this challenge is because, though I have tried on numerous occasions to give it to him, Austin has never touched a piece of turkey or ham in his life, and I wanted to see if I could trick him into eating it with this yummy recipe.

Side Note: This is great for entertaining. I have served it to guests several times. I have made it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's great with some scrambled eggs and some fresh fruit!

Monte Cristo Loaf
2 8ox pkgs crescent rolls, rolled out into 4 rectangles
6 oz deli honey turkey, sliced thin
6oz deli honey ham, sliced thin
60z Munster cheese, sliced
2Tbs butter, melted
2 Tbs honey
1/2 cup red raspberry preserves or any jelly
sesame seeds(optional)

Directions:
1) On a non-stick cookie sheet, roll out crescents into 4 rectangles pressing the seams together. Make sure that there is plenty of space between each row so they don't cook into each other.
2) Mix butter and honey together and then brush it over the dough
3) Bake for 8-12 minutes at 375 degrees
4) Let cool for about 10-15 minutes
5) Layers: crescent, turkey, crescent, ham and cheese, crescent, jelly, crescent
6) Brush honey over the top and sprinkle sesame seeds(optional)
7) Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese melts at 375 degrees

Kitchen Play by Play: The crescents rolled out great, and Austin brushed the honey mixture all over the dough with his cute little basting brush. It was in the oven for the full 12 minutes. Of course, two of my rectangles molded together, but I just slide my rubber spatula between them to break it apart. It was already 5:30pm which is really late for the kids to eat, so I cheated and only waited like 5 minutes for the crescents to cool. To be honest, I really don't understand why you have to let it cool anyway if it is going to go back in the oven. Mom, care to comment? I bought my turkey at Jewel, and it was sliced perfectly, but my ham was from Costco, and it was much thicker of a slice then it should have been. Also, since it was in a bulk package, I had to guesstimate what 6oz was and I think I went a little heavy on the ham. I used strawberry jelly to make it more kid friendly and left out the sesame seeds. It went into the oven for 15 minutes. I sliced a piece for the kids and noticed that the ham row was still a little cold, so I put the rest back into the oven for Paul and I. After 5 minutes, I checked again and it was luke warm, but the top crescent was starting to look a little too brown to keep it in the oven any longer. Lesson learned: no more buying ham from Costco when making this recipe.


The Verdict:
Nicole: I love it. It's the perfect balance of sweet and salty. I actually like it better than the restaurant version because it is not as heavy or greasy. I feel less guilty about it especially when I grab a second piece! Even though it should have been hotter, I still really enjoyed it. I cannot wait to heat it up for lunch tomorrow!!! I give it a 5.

Paul: Said it was hard to eat because it is tall, but also said that it was sweet and tasty. He gives it a 4.

Austin: Shocked the hell out of me and ate all the lunch meat out of his and Peyton's and didn't touch the crescent or the jelly part. It baffles me, but hey I'm tickled pink. Mission accomplished. He gives it a 4.

Peyton: Ate like 4 bites of the crescent with jelly on it and then proceeded to sneak the meat to Bella, our dog. Based on her fondness of the crescent, I think she'd give it a 3.

Day 4: Abby Cadabby's Disappearing Strawberry Muffins

After two nights of disappointing dinners from this cook book, I decided to pick a breakfast recipe instead. I announced last night that today would be Elmo and the gang's last chance to prove they have what it takes to be a part of this challenge. Shape up or ship out.

My kids are HUGE breakfast eaters. They will nibble on lunch and usually choke down dinner, but they will devour breakfast. They would sit at the table for an hour in the morning eating if I continued to shove food in front of them. They love yogurt, scrambled eggs, cereal, fruit, and cold pizza for breakfast. But they would live on any type of breakfast carbohydrate:pancakes, waffles, french toast, and especially muffins. There are a few muffin recipes in the book, but I chose this one because Peyton will ,and normally does, eat her weight in strawberries or "stra-la-las" as she likes to call them. Thus, Abby was given a chance to dazzle them with her muffins and restore my faith in this cook book.

I am bad mom. I just told you how much Peyton loves strawberries, and I refused to buy strawberries for this recipe. One pint was $4.00. Normally, I would think of nothing to spend that kind of money on something I know my kids will eat. However, seeing as though we have been severely disappointed by each recipe that comes from this book, I have a hard time buying $4 worth of strawbeerries that could very well end up in the trash. I read the substitution suggestions for these muffins, and they listed strawberry jelly as an alternate filling. SOLD!


Abby Cadabby's Disappearing Strawberry Muffins

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 teas baking powder
1/2 teas baking soda
1/4 teas salt
1 cup low fat plain yogurt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lg egg
2 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tin with paper liners
2) In medium bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
3) In large bowl, use a rubber spatula to stir together the yogurt and oil. Then stir in the egg until well blended. Stir in flour mixture until just mixed. Fold in strawberries.
4) Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake 20-25 minutes

Kitchen Play by Play:
We started baking at 7:45am, and the muffins were in the oven by 7:58. I thought that was pretty damn quick considering they were made from scratch, the kids were helping me, and I had yet to have my first cup of coffee and ,therefore, was still a little out of it. The kids had a great time measuring out all the dry ingredients. They are getting to be pros at measuring and dumping the contents into the bowl. Since past meals have lacked flavor, I bought vanilla yogurt instead of plain yogurt. I figured it would give the muffins a little more flavor and sweetness. Once we added the wet ingredients to the bowl, I was immediately depressed. This batter looked like paste. I could have turned the bowl upside down, and the batter would not have moved. Any muffin, cake,or cupcake I have ever made has always been a liquid base; so I was not at all convinced that these muffins were going to bake correctly. Since we still had fresh blackberries, I split the cement, I mean batter, in half and folded the blackberries in one batch. I then used the other batter to fill the muffin cups 1/3 full, added some jelly, and topped them with more batter. I made six of each type of muffin. They went into the oven for 21 minutes.

The Verdict:
Nicole: To my surprise, my muffin was actually very moist on the inside. That is all it had going for it. I chose a blackberry muffin, and when I took a bite with a berry in it, it was good because I could taste the berry. A non-berry bite was not good at all. It had absolutely no flavor and tasted like I was eating a bowl full of grain. To be honest, I'm getting a little sick of the cornmeal and whole wheat flour. Why are these needed in every recipe in this book? I understand that they are healthier alternatives for the kids, but it makes everything taste nasty. Abby was right. The muffin did disappear...right into the garbage. I give it a 2.

Paul: After his first bite, he looked at me and mouthed, " These are not so good." He thought they were dry and crumbly and the flavor was only where the strawberry jelly was. He gives it a 2.

Austin: He chose a strawberry jelly muffin and ate the whole thing. He said that, "abby makes good muffins." He asked for a second one but then got distracted by Peyton playing with his toys in the other room and left the table. We went to the zoo today, and on the way home he asked if we could have strawberry muffins as a snack when we got home. Apparently, my son and I have completely different ideas as to what good food tastes like because everything he has loved I have hated and vice versa. He said he gives it a 5 and was very confused as to why Paul and I gave it a 2.

Peyton: She took one bite of a blackberry muffin and then asked for yogurt. I tried to offer it to her again, and she just stared at me as if I was speaking a foreign language. I think she would have picked all the blackberries out if I would have left it there, so maybe she would give it a 1.

**Though Austin has eaten and enjoyed two of the three meals from this cook book, everyone else in the family struggled to choke it down. Therefore, beginning tomorrow we will be exploring other recipes to include in this challenge. I'm thinking that I will probably pull out my Rachel Ray 30 minute meals cook book because I figure that if it only takes 30 minutes to cook, it should probably be relatively simple to prepare and kid friendly. We shall see.

Day 3: Elmo's Chicken Pot Pie

It's January, so when I planned my menu last week I thought a pot pie sounded like the perfect winter meal. Today it was 60 degrees outside when I left the Dupage Children's Museum which is not exactly a pot pie kind of a day. However, I had all the fresh produce, and I didn't want it to go bad; so even though it was definitely more of a chicken on the grill kind of a day, I made the pot pie.

I have never had a pot pie. I don't do creamy food. But, Peyton is a bread lover, and I thought that I could maybe disquise the five different vegetables in this dish under the biscuit and she would fall for it. Stay tuned to see if she did.

Tonight's blog though is not about how good the food was or how easy the prep was, but how many one liners Austin busted out during today's cooking process. He was on fire.

I am going to try to use the pictures of the recipe rather than type them out tonight. If it's hard to read, please tell me, and I will go back to typing it all out :)

Kitchen Play by Play: The majority of the vegetable mixture was prepared by me since it was a lot of chopping and cooking on the stove top. The kids helped measure out the liquid ingredients, and they helped break up the mushrooms rather then slice them. Austin pulled up his stool, excited to help, took one look at the mushrooms and said, " What are those? They look very icky. I'm not eating them." I told him that they are really good once they are cooked. He shrugged and pulled the mushrooms apart very diligently. Peyton had no problem with the mushrooms and ripped away at them like a champ creating perfect little pieces. The most exciting part of this recipe for me was the long overdue return of the Ziploc Steam Fresh bag. I forgot how much I loved these puppies. I only needed to cook one chicken breast. You cannot beat 3 minutes in the micro to get a perfectly cooked boob. The other two uncooked breasts will go on the grill for lunch tomorrow. Once we began making the biscuit dough the kids were the ring leaders. Austin used his small whisk to stir together all the dry ingredients without any issues. Then came the butter. I had to use 2 tbs to get it to form a crumble. Both kids really enjoyed this part. Austin took this job very seriously and used his little fingers to pinch all the butter into the flour. Peyton really enjoyed putting her little hands into the bowl, grabbing a handful of flour, and sprinkling it all over the top of my arm. She thought she was pretty funny. It kinda was. Once we added the wet ingredients to the bowl, Austin asked to stir. This time though he told me that he had to stop stirring because, "his muscles were not big enough for this job." Where does he come up with this stuff? We did choose to add the Parmesan cheese to the dough to give it some extra flavor, and then the kids took turns plopping the dough onto the filling. Into the oven it went for 30 minutes. Within ten minutes, the smell of pot pie was wafting throughout the house. I was getting pretty excited about my first pot pie experience!


The Verdict
Nicole: The biscuit was crunchy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside. A drastic change from last night's dough. The biscuit was also really yummy. Salty and cheesy. The filling was pretty bland. It needed salt and pepper. Some of the larger pieces of potato were not fully cooked, but they were still edible. This was way better then the enchilada pie, but I was really hoping to LOVE it since it was my first ever pot pie. Since the filling lacked flavor, I give it a 3.

Paul: " It was okay. The biscuit had a lot of flavor. The filling had no taste." After three bites without it, he invited his BFF Frank to the meal. Paul gives the meal a 4.

Austin: Upon first bite, he said, " Elmo is a much better cook then Rosita." This was very promising since he hoovered his meal last night and rated it a 5. After his second bite, he said,
"I am not going to eat as much as I did last night." On his third bite, he said, " I'm not eating this. There are vegetables in it. Gross." Paul sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top of it at this point, and we got two more bites out of him. He gives it a 2.

Peyton: Didn't look at it, touch it, or acknowledge it in any way. She was crazy overtired and just wanted to sit on my lap and scream about every little thing. However, once Paul brought out the cheese, she screamed until he shook some into an empty bowl for her. She then proceeded to spoon grated Parmesan cheese into her mouth. Hey, at least she ate something, right?

** Austin begged for a banana instead which then made Peyton scream for a banana too. So, before I handed them their bananas I told them both that tomorrow night they were going to eat what was on the table for dinner instead of rummaging through the pantry for an alternative. I then asked if they understood and Austin's reply was, " well, are you going to make something good?" The line itself is funny, but without hearing the tone of his voice you cannot get the whole effect. Though we tried to keep a straight face, within seconds we were laughing hysterically. The kid had a point. This recipe book was not exactly cranking out mouthwatering recipes. Tomorrow morning we are going to give a muffin recipe a chance, and, if it fails us too we are tossing this cookbook to the curb.

** This is not cooking related, but too funny not to mention. Both kids were way overtired and fought bedtime tonight. Peyton spent about 5 minutes yelling in her crib(not crying, yelling). Austin kept yelling for me too. I went in to see what the problem was and, he told me that he couldn't fall asleep because "Peyton is yelling, and she is organizing me." Organizing=antagonizing. He is something else.

Day 2: Rosita's Beefy Enchilada Pie

My family hearts tacos. Big time. Therefore, when I saw a taco like recipe I thought it would be right up our alley. The kids were super excited to cook again, and so was I until I showed Austin the recipe and picture of what we were cooking and he said verbatim, " That does not look good(pause) AT ALL." My heart sank. It's only day 2 and already he doesn't like something. I told him that we were still going to make it and that maybe it tasted better then it looked. He agreed. Fast forward to the step where we needed to mix the meat mixture. Austin spoke his peace again, " This is disgusting looking." SHIT, he's right. With a smile, I again reminded him that it would probbaly taste really yummy when it was finished, but really I was thinking, " my god, this looks like what Bella hacks up when she eats too fast." Needless to say, my expecations for beefy enchilada pie were not too high.

Rosita's Beefy Enchilada Pie
Prep Time:30 minutes Cook Time: 40 minutes

Double Corn Crust:
1 8oz can sweet corn, drained and rinsed
1 tbs olive oil
2/3 cup finely ground cornmeal
1/2 teas salt
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Filling:
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 sweet green or red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 teas salt
1 cup shredded cheese
1 cup black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes with onion and garlic or jalapenos

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 inch deep dish pie plate or shallow casserole.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the corn, oil, cornmeal, and salt.
3. Add boiling water to the bowl and stir to mix well. Stir in the cheese. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Use a rubber spatula to spread the corn mixture evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the pan to form a crust.
5. Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool slightly.
6. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute 3 minutes. Add the peppers and saute 2 minutes longer. Stir in ground beef and salt. Cook, stirring often, until meat is browned. Set aside to cool slightly.
7. In another large bowl, mix the beans, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup cheese together. Stir the cooled meat mixture and pour into pie plate. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
8. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Kitchen Play by Play: The kids made the entire crust themselves except for the step with the boiling water. Austin did an excellent job stirring it all up, and Peyton was a pro at pressing it down. We put it into the oven to bake, and the kids played while I chopped, sauteed and cooked the meat mixture. I chose a red pepper because Austin picks out any green item he sees in his food. Last week, while eating pizza he spent five minutes digging a piece of oregano out of the sauce. It was hysterical. Once I was finished cooking the meat mixture, the kids mixed the final ingredients together before we put everything together and saw how absolutely unappetizing it all looked. I questioned at that point how this was ever going to remotely taste good especially since the mixture was runny and ,therefore, would surely soak the crust. Peyton sprinkled the cheese on top, and I popped it in the oven with my fingers crossed. It was done in 25 minutes, and to my surprise it looked really good.


The Verdict:
Nicole: Sweet Jesus. This was by far one of the most inedible things I have ever created in my kitchen. The smell: Bad. The taste: Bad. The way it looked once it was on the plate: Bad. The texture: BAAAAAAAAAD. I don't know what I was expecting from a cornmeal crust, but I was not expecting a mushy mess. It was like polenta but mixed in with a whole lot of other non tasty stuff. I don't get why it did not taste good though. I love all the ingredients in this recipe, but put together this was just not Kosher. I literally took one bite. I ate a PBJ after the kids went to sleep. I give it a 0.

Paul: "Lacked texture, decent flavor." He took one bite without Franks Red Hot sauce so he could accurately rate the recipe, but then doused the rest of it. He told me that he liked the meal, but, " if a shoe had Franks on it, he probably eat that too." He gives it a 3.

Austin: Very, very skeptical at first. We always tell the kids that they need to try at least one bite. I figured that was all we would get out of him. He took his required bite and said, " I don't like it. I LOVE it." He ate the whole bowl within 3 minutes, but not before he dug out half the onions. I explained the rating scale to him, and he gives it a 5. Later he said, " no, a 7!"

Peyton: Like mother, like daughter. She wouldn't even look at it. I tried to feed her a bite and her lips went on lock down. I managed to get her to eat like 10 black beans out of her bowl. I told her she wouldn't get a treat if she didn't eat dinner. She looked right at me and said, " Mommy, no treat" and got down from the table. She gives it a 0 too.

** All in all, as much as I loathed everything about this recipe, my goal was to get the kids to eat things they normally wouldn't eat and in Austin's case he certainly did.