Guess what? We made it, we ate it up, and none of us got sick. But still, next time I’ll probably use one of those mousse recipes that uses marshmallow cream instead of eggs.

So, I gathered the ingredients together, including separating the eggs. I was feeling somewhat low on patience, so I laid everything out rather than working with him on that skill. I did let him cut the stick of butter in half with a sharp knife, which he loved. He then broke up the good quality chocolate into small pieces so it could melt together in the microwave.

I directed Max in using the microwave to melt the chocolate, stirring every 30 seconds.

Once the chocolate was melted, Max added the other ingredients, including the egg yolks, while I stirred. I directed him to work quickly, which he did.

Once this was done, we set aside the chocolate briefly to whip the egg whites in my mixer.  We then added 1/4 of the now shiny whipped whites into the chocolate and whisked, then gently folded in the rest.

Next we whipped up the heavy cream to soft peaks, folded it into the mousse, then poured it all into our 3 glasses. The recipe is actually for 4, but since there are 3 of us in our little family, we just made slightly larger servings.

Dad, please tell mom we don't really have to chill the mousse for 2 full hours.

Once spooned into the glasses, we covered and chilled for 2 hours (Max did not appreciate the wait), added plenty of whipped cream from a can, and chowed down. Max and I both had to consume ours in two separate servings because it was sooooo rich. Dad made the mistake of eating his all at once!

Recipe (Adapted from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)

6 oz semisweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
1/2 stick butter
2 T strong coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs, separated
2 T sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Microwave the chocolate and butter together, stirring after every 30 seconds or so, until melted and smooth. Stir in the coffee and vanilla (The original recipe called for a pinch of salt, but I use salted butter, so skipped this part). Whisk in the yolks, one at a time, fully incorporating between each.

In an electric mixer, whip the egg whites slowly until foamy, then increase the speed and continue to mix, while sprinkling in the sugar, until the egg whites are shiny and soft peaks form.

Whisk about 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate, then gently fold in the remaining whites.

Using the electric mixer again, whip the cream on medium speed until it forms soft peaks, then fold that into the mousse.

Spoon into glasses, cover tightly in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. Top with whipped cream. You can make more of your own from scratch (this time add sugar when whipping the cream to sweeten it), or just use canned.  I went the lazy way this time.

Mom Thinks: I can’t decide if I’m a good mom for making this because I didn’t give into my usual over-protective instincts, or if I’m a bad mom for “putting my kid at risk.” Regardless, it was a fun recipe to make, and we all enjoyed it. But, next time we’ll make something that doesn’t call for raw eggs.

Max Thinks: This was fun to make, and really tasted good. Next time I think we should leave out the coffee, since I could actually taste it.

First we prepared the couscous. Put some water in a pan and bring just to a boil. Add in the couscous,  covering with the water. Then cover the pan and remove from the heat. Leave sitting for 5 to 10 minutes.

While waiting for the couscous, we prepared the veggies. Max opened the can of garbanzo beans and complained about the smell of them (I won’t spoil your appetite by telling you what he compared the smell to). I chopped the grape tomatoes. Max did a great job peeling the cucumber, then I chopped it. We drained and rinsed the garbanzo beans.

Look at the pretty!

Once the couscous is ready, I scooped it out into a large dish. Max measured out the oil, which we stirred into the couscous, then we added the garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I stirred that all together along with some lemon juice and lime juice. Next, Max measured out the “stinky” feta cheese and poured it into the dish. I stirred it all up, then added some salt and pepper, and some more lemon juice, tasting along the way to try to get it just right.

Mom Thinks: This is not a recipe I’ll make again. This is a lot of couscous. Even though I doubled the tomatoes and increased the feta cheese, it’s still a lot of very bland couscous, so I ended up using all of the juices and quite a bit of salt to get it right.

Max Thinks: The garbanzo beans smell like [censored by mom], and the feta cheese is really stinky. The tomatoes weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. I like the couscous and cucumbers, but don’t like the texture of the beans. Mom made me have two bites. I’m not eating any more.

Adapted from this recipe at Heidi Swanson’s blog.

Ingredients

2 cups couscous
3 1/2 cups water
1 basket of grape tomatoes
1 cucumber
1 can garbanzo beans
juice from 1 lemon
juice from 1 lime
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup feta cheese

Instructions

Pour the water in a small saucepan, bring just to a boil. Add in the couscous, cover the pan and remove from the heat. Leave to sit for at least 5 minutes. Then fluff with a fork and pour into a large dish or bowl. Stir in the oil.

Meanwhile, halve the tomatoes, peel and chop the cucumber, and rinse and drain the beans. Stir all of this into the couscous, then pour in some of the lemon and lime juice. Stir in the feta, and add some salt and pepper. Taste, and add more lemon juice, lime juice, and salt to get the flavor you want.

We start by combining a bunch of dry ingredients in a very large bowl. This recipe calls for a lot of old fashioned oats, 2 to 3 cups of nuts, some seeds, brown sugar, some spices, and a little bit of salt. Just dump them all together and give it a good stir to distribute the spices, sugar, and salt evenly.

Nina - surprisingly - seemed very interested in this whole process

So was the dog, but no one was surprised by that.

Next,in a smaller bowl, we combine the wet ingredients. These include honey, a little oil, apple sauce, and maple syrup. The original recipe called for brown rice syrup, but I can’t seem to find that where we live, so I substitute maple. Pour the wet stuff into the dry, and mix it thoroughly. You want everything coated.

Spread the granola onto two pans. You don’t need to grease or line them. Put them in a 300 degree oven. We have a double oven, so I put a small pan in the top and a larger pan in the bottom.

Bake in the oven for somewhere between 30 to 50 minutes. Every 10 minutes, stir the granola and rotate the pans. When the granola has turned a nice golden brown, remove from the oven and set on the counter to cool. The granola will be a bit soft at first, but will harden up as it cools. Spoon into a large freezer bag and store in the fridge. It will keep a long time, but when this is in our house, we eat it up in a matter of days.

Mom Thinks: This is easy to make, and makes the house smell incredible while it’s baking. It’s kind of expensive, though.

Max Thinks: It’s very good and sugary. I like it and we should probably make it again.

Recipe:

Dry ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
2 cups raw pecan halves
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup hulled raw, unsalted sunflower seeds
¾ cup sesame seeds
¾ cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:
¾ cup apple sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
¼ cup honey
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (we use canola)

Preheat the oven to 300.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Dump the wet into the dry and stir thoroughly to coat evenly. Spread onto 2 baking sheets, and bake in the oven for at least 30 minutes. Every ten minutes, stir the mix and rotate the pans to try to cook it all evenly. Remove from the oven when the mix is golden brown. Allow to cool completely, then transfer to a large plastic bag. Store in the refrigerator.

Milk goes into the blender

Max scoops the ice cream

Sneaking bites along the way...

The dog is really hoping we'll drop something

Blending the ice cream and the milk

It takes just a few seconds.

Dumping in some broken Oreos

Almost There

Yum!

Ingredients:
3 cups vanilla ice cream
1 1/2 cups milk
8 Oreo cookies, broken up

Instructions:
Put milk and ice cream in the blender together. Blend for a few seconds until smooth. Dump in the cookies and blend for a few more seconds. Pour and serve immediately. Makes 2 12 oz shakes.

Mom Thinks: I tried a few sips and these are pretty tasty.

Max Thinks: Yum. Easy. Is this really even cooking? Did we even use a recipe?

Max being silly from the start.

First, we made a batch of white rice in the rice cooker.

Measuring out the cooked rice

Once the rice was cooked, we measured out 1 1/2 cups for the pudding, which leaves plenty of leftover rice for dad to chow down on. This is a rare treat for him, since we usually eat brown rice, not white.

Cracking an egg is still a bit of a challenge

Pouring the milk

Next, we mixed 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk together and set it aside…

… in between more silliness…

Then, we mixed the cooked rice, another 1 1/2 cups milk, and 1/3 cup white sugar together in a saucepan, and cooked, stirring frequently over medium heat until significantly thickened. This takes awhile, 15 to 20 minutes. During which time we get a little bored, and a little more silly.

When I thought it was thick enough, max dumped in the egg mixed with the milk, and I stirred constantly for 2 minutes. If you don’t stir constantly, you will have scrambled eggs in with your pudding, so he poured, and I stirred.

After 2 minutes, we removed from the heat, added in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of butter. We stirred until melted, then poured into a dish.

And then we turned it purple!

Click “read more” for the recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked white rice
2 cups milk (divided into 1 1/2 cups and 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (we forgot the salt but it doesn’t matter)
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the cooked rice, sugar, 1 1/2 cups milk, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Pour in 1/2 cup milk and beaten egg. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and stir in the butter and the vanilla. Stir to melt the butter, then pour all into a dish. Add in food coloring if you wish.

Serve warm or chilled.

Mom Thinks: This is a simple, easy recipe to make with a kid, and very tasty. I don’t even really like rice pudding, but I like this rice pudding.

Max Thinks: This is one of my favorite treats. The dog wasn’t even harassing us while we cooked.

Max Using the Cherry Pitter

Eating While Pitting

I wanted Max to be able to pit the cherries for us, so I bought this cool little tool for him to use. It worked very well, but occasionally it missed the pit. Fortunately, we were halving the cherries too, so we found the errors and saved our teeth.

While he pitted cherries, I gathered the rest of the ingredients. The dough was made in a food processor, and I let him do all of the pulsing. He loves the food processor (because of the blades, of course). While the dough was chilling in the fridge, he pitted, I halved…

Adding lemon juice to the filling

…and then we made the filling.

Max eating a well-deserved snack after all that cherry pitting

Using a glass bowl to make the circles

He really got into this part

Once the dough was well-chilled, I rolled it out and he cut out the circles. We spooned some of the filling on, then I showed him how to make an egg wash and he wanted to know why it was called a “wash.” We ended up talking about Tom Sawyer and white washing fences and I was dismayed to learn my 9-year-old boy has no idea who Tom Sawyer is. Someday when I have an expired carton of eggs in the fridge, instead of throwing it out I’m going to let him practice with those.

Closing up the turnovers

Next, I folded closed the dough and pinched it shut with a fork. This takes some finesse, so it was OK with me that Max was restless during this time and didn’t seem interested. We shoved them in the fridge for about 20 minutes to chill, then I called him back into the kitchen to apply the egg wash.

Sprinkling on the sugar

We sprinkled the sugar on together. Max loved the coarse sugar and would have eaten a bunch of it right then and there If I’d let him.

Finally, we put them in the oven. About 3 minutes in, I remembered I’d forgotten to put slits in them to release the steam, so ran to the oven in a panic to do so!

Here’s what the prettiest one looked like.

Ingredients :

FOR THE CRUST
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons white sugar
1 stick butter (cold)
8 oz brick of cream cheese (cold)

FOR THE FILLING
2 1/2 cups pitted and halved cherries
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1/4 tsp salt (I used sea salt)

FOR THE EGG WASH
1 egg yolk
2 Tablespoons cream (milk will do, but I had cream, so I used it)

Instructions

To make the crust, dump the flour and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the cold butter in pieces and process for several seconds until the mixture is crumbly. Then cut up the cream cheese into several pieces and drop in the processor. This time, using short pulses, process until a dough comes together. Push the dough out on sheet of wax paper and knead with your hands a few times to even it out (otherwise there might be rather big globs of cream cheese). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

While dough is chilling, prepare the filling. Simply put the cherries in a small bowl and mix in the sugar, zest, juice, and corn starch. Let sit and thicken until ready to use.

Roll out the chilled dough into a circle about 15 inches in diameter. Using a 6-inch diameter cutter (or bowl), cut out circles of dough. Remove the disks to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Gather the scraps and roll out again and keep cutting out circles. I only got about 6 circles out of my dough, but that’s enough for our little family.

Give the filling a final mix, then scoop a couple of tablespoons onto each disk. Make sure to scoop it only onto one side, and leave a little room around the edges. Brush a little egg wash onto the clean edge of the side that has the fruit, then fold the other side over and use a fork to press the edges together. Make room in your fridge, and put the cookie sheet in to chill for 20 minutes.

Place a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375. While preheating, brush egg wash over the top of each chilled turnover, then sprinkle liberally with coarse grain sugar. Using a sharp knife, make slits in each turnover, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove when golden brown.

Mom Thinks:
I don’t love this recipe. It’s a pretty easy crust to use, but I’ve used just as easy that were a little tastier. I really think there was too much cream cheese in the crust. I didn’t love the filling either. It’s a little too lemony, and not sugary enough. The overwhelming flavor is of the lemon zest rather than the beautiful fresh cherries. So, this is one we will not make again.

Max Thinks:
The cherry pieces are too big, we should have chopped them up smaller. I can really taste the lemon zest, and I don’t like that. The crust is pretty good though. I would not have it for a treat after a meal.