Lucy had an idea. A Big Idea. More than an idea. An obsession. That’s what it had become an obsession in her four-year-old brain.
She wanted us to make Chocolate Noodle Soup.
Okay, I thought. Why not? She had eaten an actual vegetable only a day or two prior. On purpose. And her body hadn’t rejected it. So it’s not like I had any dietary objection. On the contrary, it was high time that we did something to celebrate that bite or two of green pepper.
Why not whip up a little Chocolate Noodle Soup?
Besides, we wouldn’t even have to search the internet for a recipe. Lucy already had that all worked out.
First! We get all the ingredients.
noodles!
chocolate!
chocolate water that looks watery
plain water, it looks watery
and the noodles
salt!
a stirry thing
a pot
a refrigerator
and somebody to make it
and a stoveThere.
First! We get the pot. Then we put in some hot chocolate, and some cold chocolate, some plain water that looks watery, milk, salt. And we stir it up. Then we put it in the refrigerator. Then we take it out. Put in the noodles. Stir it up. You have to stir it up twice. Then we heat it up on the stove.
And that’s exactly how we made it. We made a great big bowlful. And then I let her eat it. After all that was the last part of the recipe.
Then we eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it.
I let her eat as much as she wanted.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “Water? Salt? With watery chocolate milk and noodles? Ew.” I know. I was thinking that too. After a couple excited yet tentative spoonfuls, so was she. Not that she’d ever admit it.
“It’s just okay,” she eventually conceded. But she wasn’t disappointed.
That was the best part. Without realizing it, she learned that the joy of creating is in the creation itself, not in the material product she’d made.
It’s sharing time! What are some of your novelest family recipes created by its youngest members?
My twelve year old son watches Iron Chef, and he loves to wrap things in dough or won ton wrappers. This has led to some decadent creations that usually involve Nutella. I have to admit, a deep-fried Nutella and peanut butter egg roll is pretty delicious.
He also makes some sort of Nutella/peanut butter truffle in the microwave that I can’t fully wrap my head around.
Growing up without television, my sister and I got creative with mud, grass and – on one memorable occasion – sow bugs!! (They are crunchy, in case anyone is wondering.) The chickens loved them, so we decided to try them as well!
Nutella and peanutbutter I get. But sow bugs???
By the way, sow bugs sounds even less appetizing than pill bugs or any of their other common names.