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Blog Entry 20 of 31 Musings, Ramblings and Scout Stuff

This blog is generally about what is piquing my interest at the moment which will probably be Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or politics.

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Allez cuisine, girls!

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Contributed by: Joshua Godinez on 3/31/2008

At 9 a.m., March 29, Girl Scout Troop 1328 from Mission Hills met in my family room.

Maryah, the leader of the day's Iron Chef event laid out all of the rules.

"You will receive $25 to spend on your ingredients. You must create an entree that features chicken and mashed potatoes. You must create a dessert that features milk chocolate. You may not ask your parents or other relatives for any advice for this event. Bring back your prepared dishes by 4 p.m. with three servings for the judges and at least 15 other servings for the troop."

The girls talked among themselves and departed in teams of two's and three's. Fried chicken, creamy mashed potatoes and chocolate-peanut butter cups were strategies being discussed. I assumed it would take everyone at least an hour to come up with a recipe.

My daughter, Cassandra, and her friend, Maryah, decided on their recipes in about five minutes.

We jaunted off to Albertson's in Granada Hills, you know the one by the Chuck E. Cheese's, and were able to get everything for the proposed meal: Chicken Coop with Asparagus, Cici's famous potato dish, and berry chocolate pudding cups.

The girls found recipes on the Internet and invented things from their own imaginations. Due to several factors, including lunch, the girls didn't get started until after noon.

Surprisingly, four hours isn't very much time to prepare something you've never done before and is slightly complex.

The girls prepared their chicken and put it in small, asparagus cages glued together with sticky potatoes. The potato dish is basically mashed potatoes with cream of mushroom soup and sour cream topped with cheddar cheese.

They spent quite a bit of time trying to melt chocolate and use cupcake molds to create their choco-cups. These were filled with chocolate pudding topped with raspberries and strawberries and garnished with whipped cream.

All of the Girl Scouts returned by 4 p.m. and presented their dishes to the judges. I was in a meeting so I missed presentation, but I arrived in time to hear the results.

Cassandra and Maryah won the dessert round! However, they got "better luck next year" for the chicken because they couldn't figure out how to cook the asparagus in time for presentation. Too busy working on other things.

A team of three novice cooks won the entree round with stuffed chicken. It must have been good because no one saved me any! They also won best team overall.

That was Amber, Arianna and Becky, I think.

Elizabeth and Mary had a chicken and mashed sweet potato dish with caramelized bananas. I really like those sweet potatoes.

Amanda, Lia and Lauren did a curried chicken that was quite tasty. I don't know what Selina and Lorena were part of, but I know that Britney presented a vanilla ice cream with milk chocolate bits that I regretted not sharing.

It was a learning experience for our families on several levels. The moms learned how to stop themselves from correcting or advising their daughters so the girls could learn for themselves.

Many of these girls had no idea they could make hot water, let alone a full-blown meal, and surprised themselves with their abilities to find and follow recipes, decipher their meanings and actually make what was asked for.

The adults were a little embarrassed to not expect much from the small cooks and had to admit that the meals were good.

My 5-year-old son, Justin, was envious and wanted to play, too, so he and I went to grandpa's house and made shredded chicken mini-tacos with mashed potato icing that actually tasted pretty good.

I learned how to use a pressure cooker for the first time to make the shredded chicken. He learned how to cut up tomatoes and lettuce and shred chicken from the bone. Not bad for a little guy still in kindergarten.

We had a great and filling time. Now I want to give the real test. Can I get my Boy Scout troop to do this event and will the results be edible?

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