Carrot Tops and Tracks (Tips&Tricks)

In our house, when used to describe a culinary adventure, the word “interesting” is the kiss of death.  As I am always experimenting, it started as a polite way to say “this is the most disgusting substance that has ever touched my palate”.  It has never really graduated from that stage.

So you can imagine the feeling in the pit of my stomach, when one of my daughters’ friends said to me, “So you’re, like, the really amazing cook and everything, right?  Sarah (name changed to protect the innocent) was telling me about some of the really ‘interesting’ stuff you make.”

Uh-ha.  Yeah.  Not exactly the review you want to go in the papers, you know what I mean?  My response?  Well, when it came time to make dinner, I instinctually called all the girls down and suggested that they make dinner tonight.  Why not?  It will be fun.  Thank goodness for a pound of hamburg and some taco seasonings…  Lord knows the review I would have suffered if I had made dinner myself! 

Hannah is a very creative cook.  I enjoy watching her mix, pummel, and improvise with seemingly unrelated ingredients trying to come up with something delicious that belongs to her alone.  At 12, she rarely takes any guidance or advice, anyway, so I try to stay out of her way. 

Sunday morning, she made deliciously tender pumpkin muffins, eliminating the cloves in typical recipes.  They were simple-tasting and didn’t taste at all like a muffin pretending to be pie.

However, as you can see from the photo.  It didn’t get off to such a great start!  By under-estimating the size her recipe, she under-estimated the bowl size.  But, of course, rather than changing course midway through the recipe, she opted to continue dumping in all of the ingredients until it was time to stir.  Only then, was I allowed to help.  “Mom, will you help me transfer this to a larger bowl?”