Blog Challenge: The Basics

"The Best Gourmet Dish Ever...by kids!"

Team 1 - Calvin and Corra had their turn at bat last night. Never having chopped an onion a day in his life, this was a seemingly easy challenge for Calvin...until the tears came, lol.  

Tonight's challenge: Hamburger helper revved up with fresh onions and sweet peppers. 

I didn't post the watery red eyes, but did give him a trick my husband gave me awhile ago, which was to run the onions in cold water. 
From About.com about why onions make you cry: Enzymes that were kept separate now are free to mix with the sulfenic acids to produce propanethiol S-oxide, a volatile sulfur compound that wafts upward toward your eyes. This gas reacts with the water in your tears to form sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid burns, stimulating your eyes to release more tears to wash the irritant away.

Calvin got points for dicing onions successfully and slicing the peppers with ease. He gave the onions and peppers to Corra to add to the pan. Cleaning the board and asking Corra if she needed help with anything else before moving to his next dish, which was the salad.

Corra took to the stovetop to brown the ground turkey and had no problem mashing up the meat while keeping the temperature at a medium high heat. 

Corra got points for using a heavy skillet to help stabilize the heat, waiting until the skillet was hot, before adding the meat, and making sure she didn't crowd the pan so that the heat could circulate freely throughout the pan. 

There was a mishap with the salad!

Calvin was tossing iceberg lettuce in a bowl and went to use the Garlic Salt grinder/shaker, but instead of twisting the top to grind the salt out, he opened the top, and out flew the majority of the Garlic Salt. 

He didn't let it stop him though, he grabbed the broom, swept up the mess, and kept moving. I shook off the excess salt for him, but then he drizzled with a little bit of olive oil, pepper, and tossed the salad with tongs to evenly coat the lettuce. 

Summary of event: Things started to heat up in the kitchen, literally, as Corra prepared the food in the pan, the food started to stick to the pot, with a little bit of water, she was able to continue cooking without remorse. 

Teamwork picture of the day:

Up next: Team Two, Kayla & Danielle