Fun In The Kitchen With Lindsay

Now that Christmas is put away, the memories are all stowed safely away in our hearts, it's time to get back to the more normal day to day memory making activities. For us that includes homeschool.

We just finished our latest Social Studies lesson which we all found quite interesting. We learned a lot about Israel this last couple weeks. I think everyone's favorite part though, was the ending, which took place yesterday.

Although this last project was mostly Lindsay's doing, we all benefitted from her presentation , and I enjoyed spending time with her as I helped out just a wee bit.

One of Lindsay's favorite pasttimes these days is spending time in the kitchen, so it was with great enthusiasm that she tackled her chosen project. She washed her hands with warm water and soap, and began collecting her ingredients.

We started with the stewed tomatoes. Since she's a bit leary of dealing with sharp knives I diced 2-3 Tbsp. worth of green bell peppers and about 1/3 cup of onion. Lindsay then opened a 15-1/2 oz. can of diced tomatoes. She popped the tomatoes, along with the diced vegetables into a sauce pan and added 1/2 tsp salt, 1 rounded Tbsp. sugar and about 16 turns of pepper from the pepper mill. She stirred it up real good and placed it on the burner on medium high heat. I cut up about 1-1/2 cups worth of bread into cubes and set it aside for her.

Next she got started on the main dish. Chicken Schnitzel, we learned, is a popular dish in Israel, especially with the children. To begin, she whipped up 2 eggs in a bowl.

Next she measured about a cup of Panko (unseasoned) into another bowl, to which she added 1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, salt and paprika, and about 24 turns from the pepper mill. She mixed that up real good and spread it out on a plate. She then measured about 1/2 cup of flour into the now empty bowl. Yes! One less dish to wash later!

Then the fun began! She lined her ingredients up in a row, first the flour, then the eggs and finally, the now seasoned Panko. She gave her tomatoes a stir, added some oil (we used Olive oil) to a large skillet and set it to heating up, grabbed the 4 slightly flattened chicken breast halves and got to work. First she placed the chicken pieces in flour, turning them to coat both sides. Then she gave them a dip in the egg mixture before popping them on the plate of Panko. She coated them real good with that and placed them on another plate while she repeated the process until all 4 pieces were ready.

About this time she just couldn't stand it any more! She had to go wash all that sticky mess from her hands! She got the green beans started, turned the tomatoes down to low, gave them another stir, and we determined the oil was hot enough so she placed the chicken in the pan. It took maybe 4 minutes on the first side then, using tongs she turned them over to cook the other side, while Nathan and I were busy setting the table. When everything else was about ready Lindsay stirred the bread cubes into the tomatoes before serving everything up.

By then end of the meal we could all understand why this chicken dish is so popular with the younger set, and I'm guessing the young at heart as well, in Israel. It was delicious! This is one meal we'll be repeating!