Nice Boys. Can't Cook.

Oh my sweet, sweet boys. They have the best intentions, God bless them.

Exhibit A: 
Blake (age 7) and I were home alone one evening last week when, after turning down my suggestion of stir-fry for dinner, Blake decided he wanted to make me an "english muffin dinner" without any help. I gave him the go-ahead, and didn't really start to get nervous until he was still banging around in the kitchen after 20 minutes. He finally came out with a sandwich with the crusts cut off (cute), because there weren't enough english muffins for the both of us, and a side of nutrigrain bar.

The problem was what was in the sandwich.

Umm, that would be butter, honey, nutella, and GRATED CHEESE.

I'm afraid to say that I COULD NOT. After two of the smallest nibbles humanly possible. I gave him all the points for effort but told him I was going to have to break his heart and eat a bowl of cereal. He didn't seem phased by that so... phew. 

Exhibit B:

Russ and I went out on a Valentine's date Sunday night and left the kids home with Kendall in charge. She sent me this picture after we'd been gone a couple of hours, telling us that her sweet brother Cooper (age 12) had decided to fix her a special Valentine's dinner to share with him. 

(I guess Blake got the shaft?) 

The problem was Kendall had no idea what it was exactly, and after studying the picture, I couldn't tell either. Burnt taco shells? Burnt lettuce leaves? 

Nope. Cooper explained it to me the next morning... "charbroiled" roast beef deli meat slices, seasoned with paprika, garlic powder, and steak seasoning, and stuffed with cilantro and cheese. With a classy side of cheese for garnish. 

I gave him 10 points for fancy presentation, all the points for sweet intentions, and negative 20 points for forgetting that his sister is seriously lactose intolerant and can't eat cheese. (He highly enjoyed his creation all by himself.)

And now to work with my boys on "foods that compliment each other".