Age: 2 years, 8 months
Favorite activity: entertaining an audience of any size
Favorite toy: Curious George stuffed animal
Favorite meal: cheese
Favorite beverage: milk
Favorite movie of the moment: Babe, which she calls "Piggy"
Elli was engrossed in a one-man game of Chutes and Ladders. Of course, this really just means that she moves the game pieces (Daddy, Mommy, Elli and Eli, as she calls them) around the board at will with no regard to the rules. Who needs rules? I asked her if she wanted to help me cook. At first she said no, but sometimes her "no" means "I don't understand" or "Maybe, tell me more." So I described the steps I was about to take -- smashing crackers, sprinkling cheese, handling ham -- and before I knew it, she was on her steps at the counter to help me make:
Ham and Potato Bake
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 32-oz. package Southern style hash browns, thawed
8 oz. Colby-Jack cheese
2 cups crushed Ritz-style crackers (about 1 cup crumbs)
2 tbsp butter, melted
Combine soup and sour cream in large bowl. Add potatoes and cheese; mix well. Spoon mixture into a 13x9-inch baking dish. Combine crushed crackers and butter; sprinkle evenly over mixture. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until heated through.
This recipe is based on one I found in an old Kraft Food and Family magazine. I added the ham to make it a main dish, used Colby-Jack because it was what I had to use up and used regular Ritz crackers because I misread the original recipe (it called for Ritz cheese-flavored baked chips).
Disregard for board game rules aside, Elli listens and absorbs quite well. Her sense of patterns is developing nicely, as she demonstrated to me while we cooked. For instance, she knew that the 1/2 cup of sour cream I had measured out and the opened can of soup should go into the mixing bowl I had sitting on the counter, and then we needed to stir it. I let her do the pouring, as best she could anyway before I dug in with the scrapper. Then I handed her "Elli's spoon," a short-handled mixing spoon that gives her little hands more leverage.
Her command of stirring has improved remarkably as well. She also got her first taste of sour cream in this whole process. I warned her of the taste, but she didn't seem to mind it.
Next we added the potatoes.
And stirred some more. Elli looked in the bowl and declared, "Need add cheese."
I don't care who you are, that's impressive. "Yes, my budding chef, we do need to add cheese." And so we did.
"Want to pick one out," she said, looking longingly at the mixture.
"One what?" I asked. "A piece of cheese?"
"Yes."
Odd, but she's requested odder (like, say, carting a can of Jif to daycare with her). "All right. Go ahead."
Next came the ham. Because I knew it was coming, I pre-empted her request and asked her if she wanted a piece of ham. Of course she did. And she liked it. A lot.
She tried her best to stir the ingredients, but after a minute she grunted, "Big pile, Mommy."
"Yes, honey. Let me help you." Together we mixed everything well.
When it was time to transfer the mixture into the baking dish, I let her take the lead on scrapping it out of the bowl with the spoon.
She dug and scrapped, dug and scrapped, little by little moving the mixture into the dish.
"You're doing so well, Elli!"
She replied, "I want more ham in my mouth."
Well, what can you do?
The last step was probably her favorite: the smashing of the crackers.
I mixed the course crumbs with the butter and sprinkled them over the mixture. Elli ate ham. Then she watched "Piggy" until the bake was done.
The bake was a hit with everyone in the house, although next time I plan to use sharp cheddar and salt and peper to give the bake more flavor.
Overall Ham and Potato Bake Ratings (5 being the best):
Elli-friendly cooking: 5
Elli-friendly eating: 5
Simple: 5
Fast: 3 (long cook time; not a good weeknight fixing)
Frugal: 4
Question for you: How would you modify the standard hash brown bake to your liking?
