Skippia Child

So this last week, the schools have been off for "Ski Week" in our district.  Ski week, Reading week, Presidents' Day Extended Holiday, whatever.

Anyways, Skip's had the WHOLE week off.

The.

Whole.

Week.

Last night, just as a throw-away conversation starter, I mildly enquire if Skip has any homework left before Monday.

"Oh yeah.  I've got this little Health Thing to do with Dad tomorrow."

A little health thing?

*coughs*

The "Little" thing?  He has to plan and execute a meal for the whole family.  Plan it, select recipes, work up nutrition information, shop for it, cook it, and arrange a well-balanced non-processed-food healthy meal that the whole family will eat.

*makes a little nonchalant wave of the hand*  Oh, just a little thing, indeed.

So, while Kelly and I were at her dance rehearsal after church, Skip was sweating out the menu online, trying to find things that were not only EASY and do-able, but were tasty, and for our family?  Finding something that all five of us will eat can be a challenge.

At 2:30 he came downstairs with three sheets of paper.  Three recipes that he was going to attempt with dad.

The menu sounded great to me.

Lemon tartlets in Vodka Crust (it's OK for the kids to eat this after it's cooked, right?  Heh)
Salmon filet baked in Miso and Mango
Red Curry Vegetable stir-fry.

I liked the menu.  But those tartlets were going to be a ton of work.  Ouch.  And a shopping trip was mandated because there were a few things that I just don't have lying around.  Like fresh salmon.  And miso paste (which, ironically enough, I had in the fridge until my last big fridge purge last week).  But I sent the boys off to the grocery store with my blessings, and got busy getting the kitchen counters moderately clean for the big shindig.

And when they came home from the grocery store, Skip just happened to mention that if he submitted his menu, recipes, and FAMILY FEEDBACK (egads, it's Homework for Parents!  Joy!) with a MOVIE, that he would get more Extra Credit marks.

(And you know with this Health Class, I have been all about the Extra Credit, as I'm still reeling from the near-failing grade he was assigned at the midterm marks.)

So Skip and Ken took the remainder of the afternoon to put together a most delicious meal.

And we ate it without complaining.

And now I am left to upload a bunch of little 15-20 second vignettes to YouTube, so Skip can get his Extra Credit.

Because I am an overachiever like that.

I will say that I found this rather hilarious.  He'd just gotten all the vegetables together for the stir fry, and I scripted a little "cooking lesson" like you'd see on FoodTV, where he's supposed to say "With a stir fry, you need to get all your vegetables ready ahead of time, because once they hit the pan, things happen quickly."

Unfortunately, he got hit by the Wall of Onion Fumes just as I started recording...

And because I'm such a kind and compassionate parent, I kept filming through the tears.  Heh.