Saturday, March 14, 2009

Mikayla, Hummus, and Mujadarah

Today was a very rainy day as was yesterday. What better way to spend it than to go gallivanting around town gathering ingredients, purchasing bird seed, and buying gift cards. That was my morning. Kellie "bro-napped" me and took me to several locations for said activities. Being the wily brother that I am, I took advantage of the situation and steered her towards Wild Birds Unlimited to purchase the bird seed without having to use my vehicle! I figured it was a small price to pay.

The main reason for the adventure was to get the necessary ingredients for Mikayla's Bible project. Since she is interested in cooking, she wanted to cook a food from biblical times. Naturally, I had to come up with the main dishes; therefore, I had to accompany the party to make sure everything was just so. We went to Trader Joe's and Harris Teeter to find everything. The only trouble we ran into was with tahini. Who knew it would be with the peanut butter and jelly??

After getting to Kellie's house, we started with the hummus. It wasn't that hard because the food processor did most of the work, but Mikayla did a good job learning to open cans with a hand-held can opener and measuring liquids. She also used a knife for the first time and did quite well halving the lemons and crushing garlic cloves. After tasting and correcting the seasonings, we were satisfied with the results. The next dish was called mujadarah. Supposedly, it's a lentil and rice dish that Jacob served to Esau. The first order of business was caramalizing the onions. Mikayla wielded the knife yet again and did well slicing the onions in thin slices. She was a little slow because it was her first time, so I sliced most of them so the skillet wouldn't get too hot! While watching the onions begin to brown, Mikayla washed the lentils and put them in the pot with water. After the cooked for a while, the caramalized onions, spices, salt, pepper, and rice were added to the pot. Since all that remained was the cooking process, I figured my time there was drawing to a close and came home. She did a really good job with all the tasks and I hope that she learned something and use it to build upon in her future culinery adventures!

By this time, the rain was no more than a spitting shower. I took that opportunity to fill my bird feeders. Before I was able to begin, however, Bob made an appearance for some fat. I was very happy because it has been 3-4 weeks since either he or Brittany came during a PFW weekend! After he was satisfied, I filled the feeders and then sat down to read some in The Shack. When supper time rolled around, I cooked Blueberry-Cottage Cheese Pancakes. They were yummy!!! I will definitely make them again!

Have a blessed day!

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