Olivia cooks too!

The love for cooking must run in the Watson household. Or is it that when we cook together we just have a lot of fun? Either way, Olivia’s new found passion is checking out cookbooks from her school library. SG Reinertson Elementary School in Moorhead has a pretty cool selection as well. Her favorite is one called “Fun with Asian Food” (she has checked it out a few times). We have made banana “lassi’s” which is like an Indian Banana Smoothie, Egg Custard Cups, Vegetable Pancakes and Singapore Chicken Rice Meatballs. All have turned out very good. The book is filled with fun illustrations and also great preparation and cleaning tips. I may have to check out Barnes and Noble and add this to our permanent collection. The book takes you through many of the countries in Asia. In addition to cooking, we’ve had fun looking up the countries on a map to see where they are and reading a bit about each country and trying to guess why they use certain ingredients etc… What a great introduction to the cultures and traditions of Asia.

Our favorite dish is Tropical Thai Chicken Soup. The entire family enjoys it. The kids love working with items like lemongrass and coconut milk… (kinda neat that a 7 yr old knows how to add lemongrass to a dish.) We like this soup so much you might find it on one of our menus at Maxwells or Cafe Muse by Mosaic. We’ll give Olivia credit for discovering the recipe of course.

If you’re interested in the book it is called “Fun with Asian Food” A Kids Cookbook, recipes by Devagi Sammugam. Published by Periplus Editions. Anyone with kids who like to cook should check this book out. Our friend Melissa Schmalenberger might be interested in this book for her blog “365clevercookbooks” Her family will like it too!

Tropical Thai Chicken Soup

Makes 4 servings

1 chicken breast

1/2 lemon

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp soy sauce

7 oz cauliflower

10 fresh basil leaves

3 to 4 baby carrots, sliced

2 slices fresh ginger root

2 stalks lemongrass

3 cups chicken stock

1 tsp curry powder

1 cup coconut milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

finely sliced fresh chili or chili flakes

2 sprigs cilantro leaves

Dice the chicken breast. Grate the outer skin of the lemon using a fine greater. Squeeze the lime juice and chop the cilantro leaves. Set aside. Place the chicken in a mixing bowl and pour the soy sauce and lime juice over htem. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes to marinate. Cut the cauliflower into small florets. Remove the stems for the basil leaves. Wash the carrots and slice. Set aside. Peel one end of the ginger root. Cut off two thin slices. Cut off the top two thirds of the lemongrass leaving only the thick bottom third and slice this part into round pieces.

Place the chicken stock, chicken, vegetables, curry powder, lemongrass and ginger slices in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes until the chicken changes color. Pour the coconut milk into the pan and add the basil leaves, the grated lemon rind, salt and sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring.

Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the stove. With a spoon or tongs, remove the lemongrass pieces. Serve in bowls sprinkled with chili flakes or chili’s and cilantro.

YUM!!!