"testing" some new recipes

Reagan has her 4th grade state english test this week. They spread the exam over 3 days. The school sent home a checklist of things that may help your child have a more positive testing experience. Reagan, being the second child in our house to go through this round of testing, basically got herself ready. Greg was so afraid of taking his 4th grade tests that he was in meltdown mode by the morning he was scheduled to take them. The only thing that calmed him was a call from one of his little friends who assured him he would do fine. It helped Greg hear that his counterpart in a different school was not worried at all. The confidence of that little boy spilled over and Greg of course did fine. Thankfully Reagan's experience has been better since the school has pulled itself out of academic jeopardy and has not been so focused on the performance of the students on this nefarious way of measuring teacher success. Anyway, Reagan packed a snack bag, filled her water bottle, dressed herself in layers, gathered #2 pencils and went to bed on time (not early, but without me nagging her). Day one went off without a hitch. Tonight, she said her teacher did not assign homework but told them all to relax and enjoy their evening. As I began cooking dinner, she said she wanted to help because "cooking relaxes me". Huh? Okay. She helped chop onions and garlic, measured out spices and stirred them as they simmered.

I was trying out an Artichoke and Chick Pea Stew recipe. She said she liked the taste of the broth but turned her nose up at the finished product. Like most kids she mostly enjoyed using a knife and stirring hot stuff. We used sweet potatos instead of white potatos and added some orzo pasta and a little asparagus that I had leftover. We topped it off with grated fontina cheese. It was great, and luckily for me no one else wanted any and I have a huge portion for my lunch tomorrow. Reagan has a kid's Better Homes and Garden Cookbook that she likes to sift through now and then, so she broke it out and picked another treat for us to make. Peanut Butter and Cream Cheese spread for apple wedges (reagan loves the apple corer we have and before I knew it had almost a whole bag of apples wedged). This was a good choice because it called for the use of the honey our own bees made. We used natural peanut butter and extra honey. It was a very tasty dessert. We played RACKO and off to bed she went. We did indeed spend some nice relaxing together time tonight. I guess those tests are good for something.