Yo Quiero Crab Quesadillas

Ready for an orginal Elli-Mommy creation? It combines three things I'm finding most appetizing as of recent: crab meat (the fake kind, because it's cheap and goes a long way), fajita-style peppers and onions, and cheese. Simple, quick and fast. Also three things I'm in love with. Elli helped we whip this meal together in no time the other day. We call it Crab Quesadillas because we are that unpoetic. Here's what you need:

1 8 oz. package of imitation crab meat (or 16 oz of the real McCoy if you're up to it)

2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese

1 green pepper, cut into 1 inch strips

1 red pepper, cut into 1 inch strips

1 small onion, cut into strips

8 flour tortillas (8 inch)

1 tablespoon Williams chilli seasoning mix

Sautee peppers and onion in small amount of oil until tender. Add chilli seasoning mix and coat veggies evenly. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Lay out each tortilla; divide crab meat evenly among all tortillas, placing the meat on one half of the tortillas, careful to keep it at least one inch from the edges. Top crap meat with cheese. Top cheese with veggies. Wet edges of tortillas with a little bit of water; fold tortillas in half, pressing down on wet edges to secure closed. Bake in 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Elli kind of has a thing for tortillas.

See what I mean? Poor tortilla looks like Charlie Brown's ghost costume. She did, however, manage to restrain herself from doing that to every tortilla. The others she calmly laid out for me -- in one big pile -- on the jelly roll pans while I finished sauteeing the veggies (I like 'em with a little singe, you know what I'm saying?). "There," she said, patting the top of the pile.

 

"Very nice, Elli. Thank you."

We let the veggies cool and set to work on filling the tortillas. I laid each one out on the jelly roll pans, mouths open like clams. We plunked down some crab meat in each one.

"Was dis?" she asked me, holding up the white-with-orange slice.

"It's crab meat," I replied. "Try it."

She put the slice partially in her mouth, and I thought for a second that maybe I was raising a seafood lover. How brief a second can be. She removed it from her mouth, held it up to me and said, "You eat it."

So much for expanding horizons. I popped the crab meat in my mouth, and we turned to the cheese. Elli, you may remember, once had a big thing for cheese. To the point I could not rely on her to put the cheese on the dish rather than in her mouth. She has matured past this point, though she still does sneak a few shreds here and there. She loved to see the cheese piles she created on top of the crab meat.

 

Finally it was time for the veggies, which I added solo because they were still a little too warm for little hands, or it was Mommy being a little paranoid. But she did enjoy helping wet the edges of the tortillas with water. Of course, some of that water ended up in places it wasn't assigned to go, but toddlers seem to have an innate skill for that type of thing.

Over the tortillas halves went -- closing the clams, as I say -- and then into the oven. Realizing that Elli would probably not do well with crab meat or cooked peppers, I added a small, plain cheese quesadilla to the middle of one of the pans.

Two dozen minutes later, we were sitting down to eat a delicious meal of crab (slash cheese) quesadillas with salsa and a dab of light ranch dressing. Elli ate three bites of cheese quesadilla, double that amount of ranch dressing and some peaches. Apparently, she had overindulged on tortilla.

Overall Crab Quesadilla Ratings (5 being the best):

Elli-friendly cooking: 4 (the veggies part brings down the rating a bit)

Elli-friendly eating: 1 (thus the plain cheese version)

Simple: 5

Fast: 5

Frugal: 5 (thus the fake crab)

Question for you:

What do you do with crab meat (real or otherwise)

Cupcakes for Baseball

Updated 11 a.m., Tuesday, July 13: Our condolences to the Steinbrenner family. Baseball will not be the same. Our family's affection for the national pastime is well-known in this sphere by now. Almost as strong as my affection for Chris Tomlin. Well, Chris probably takes a small second to baseball, honestly. This year we had planned our family vacation around another MLB city we had yet to visit: Minneapolis/St. Paul, otherwise known as Joe Mauer's hometown. While there, we took in a game at Target Field--Elli's first baseball game--and, of course, procured a piece of Twins garb or two. Saturday we found ourselves, through sheer coincidence, all wearing our Twins shirts. In honor of the happy chance, and of the All-Star Game coming up this week, we decided to make some baseball-themed cupcakes. Elli was in love with the thought from the very first mention. In that half-hour between lunch and Elli's naptime, we set about, as a team, to whip up some cupcakes. All we needed: 1 box of yellow cake mix eggs oil vanilla icing red decorating icing It quickly became clear just how much Elli had been paying attention this past year in our kitchen adventures. First, Elli showed Daddy how to pour the cake mix in the bowl. Then she gingerly guided my hands as we cracked eggs into the mix. She even counted them for me. After adding the oil, Elli coached Daddy on the finer points of moving a hand mixer around the bowl to get all the dry and liquid combined into a smooth batter.

Next, she asked for the cupcake pan and commenced with plopping in the liners. "There," she said when finished.

She consented to having me pour the batter into the bowl, so long as she determined the sequence in which I filled the cups. Like any good coach, she was not far away with her encouragement, both ("Nice, Mommy") and dietary ("You eat it" while handing me a yogurt covered raisin). Gotta keep her star players' movitation up!

It worked. We finished prepping the cupcakes in what felt like record time, and it was time for the cupcakes to go in the oven, and for Elli to go into her bedroom. About two hours later, she awoke with a question: "Eat cupcake?"

She rushed into the kitchen to find Daddy hard at work putting the finishing touches on the "baseballs." Having been a keen pitcher for many years, Daddy could draw baseball seems with his eyes closed.

Elli settled in at the table with her baseball and a nice, tall glass of cold milk. While Daddy and I chomped our way through ours, Elli delicately licked the icing, savoring the sugary heaven at the pace of a baseball game.

The wisdom of a child.

Because we have only one cupcake pan and even less patience, we decided to make just one batch of cupcakes and use the rest of the batter for a small cake. On that cake, which will likely last us until the All-Star Game, I wrote, "Go National League" in what I'm sure will be futile hope that the tide will finally turn for the hard-luck NL All Stars. I just can't help myself from rooting for the underdog.

Overall Baseball Cupcakes Ratings (5 being the best):

Elli-friendly cooking: 5

Elli-friendly eating: 5

Simple: 5 (if you use a cake mix)

Fast: 4

Frugal: 5

Question for all of you: What creative things have you done or seen done with cupcakes?