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Thursday, April 09, 2009

Has anyone figured out how to cook with one arm?

because my 9 month has decided she hates her high chair and screams a creative variety of wails until I pick her up.

Example:
8:00 - start dinner, after spending 1/2 hour bouncing baby around while looking at recipes, begin with homemade rattle, small plastic bowl with a few almonds inside:


We progress to homemade drum of tin pie holder, see that CeCe, it says Texas on the side, husband and obviously his relatives are from West Texas


Clearly the drum is leading to more aggression so I offer the spoon


8:15 I complete dinner and rescue peanut from her highchair of doom!


Here is the recipe that took 15 minutes to make:
Chicken and Black Bean Chili
1 can of Chicken 12.5oz (from Costco
1 can of diced tomatoes 14.5oz
1 can of Rotel with green chiles 14.5oz
1 can of black beans 14.5oz (washed, remove can juice)
1 Tablespoon Chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen red pepper diced

Dump everything in one pot, on medium to low heat, walk away for an hour and forget about chili while playing with baby then watching 1/2 hour show called "parks and recreation". Suddenly recall Chili and turn down heat to simmer. Put baby to bed, add fresh avocado & cheddar cheese, eat chili.

If you really want to make this, 1/2 hour cooking time will suffice.

6 comments:

crazywildberry said...

No, not yet. I am always afraid that something will splash or otherwise burn baby, so I usually tune out the crying or offer toys to entertain. Sounds like a good recipe and I like the 15 minutes prep time.

Anonymous said...

I think that is the stage where most of our dinners were stuff I could just shove in the oven - stuff I could make the night before or frozen stuff I bought.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Oh do I feel the frustration in this post. Abby was the most tactile baby Ev-vah. The only thing that saved me was a Hotsling... basically b/c they are made of stretchy material and you can hold even a lil teensy one on the hip or even just behind it. (you can pull the sides way up to their armpits) Best 40 bucks I ever spent. Also? at the age of 2.. she still couldnt fight her way out of it..

Thanks for your comment earlier.. and I will have you know, if you lived even remotely within driving distance, you would SO be grabbing Tapas with me.

Anonymous said...

Oh dude! I forgot one trick.... and this one rocks the cat box. (sorry for the Abbyism) plain paper.. and any color pudding you want... she can finger paint with edible safe medium and you can cook and might even get a full cup of tea in before she gets bored. A friend suggested this and it totally works.. but she said chocolate pudding.. and I had a hard time seeing the beauty in Abby's artwork when it looked like her "paint" was crap. We used lemon, strawberry and pistachio.

Suburban Turmoil said...

Ahhh, I remember the days of being unable to cook because of a screaming baby. They're over before you know it, trust me. :)

R. Molder said...

Wow these are some great suggestions and encouraging to know it will not last forever!