Tasty Time with ZeFronk and Snubnose

Last weekend, Snubnose cooked on her own for the first time. I had to run some errands with Piglet, and she opted to stay home and cook something for us when we returned.

Before your imagination goes haywire, thinking of an 8-year-old left alone in the house and in charge of the kitchen, note that I switched off all gas supply to the burners, and my father-in-law was around to help oversee.

I’d pre-cut all the vegetables, and since she was only making a sandwich, there was nothing dangerous about it. Frankly, Snubnose is super-cautious (read: scaredy-cat), and I never have to worry about her taking all sorts of weird risks.

The recipe for the sandwich came from a program that Snubnose watches with a great deal of interest. This show is called Tasty Time with ZeFronk on Disney Junior, and Snubnose adores it. I love to watch it too. It’s a cooking show for kids where they teach all sorts of simple, fireless essential recipes. It comes on YouTube, also. Just search for ZeFronk. Here is an example video.

When this show is on (it only runs for about 5 mins in between other TV shows), Snubnose sits with a little book and pencil, copies down all the recipes obediently, and then nags me to help her try them out on her own. All I need to do is make sure she has the ingredients and do a little chopping and peeling for her ;).

So, last weekend when Piglet and I returned from our errands, this is what she had waiting for us on the dining table.

Inside the sandwich is a mixture of cucumber, tomato, onion, and cheese, microwaved until the cheese melted. The veggies were nicely mixed into the cheese, and Snubnose had to toast the bread and add the cheese and veggie mixture. She then went one step further and used one of my cutting tools to cut the sandwich into fun shapes like circles and hearts.

And how did it taste? Umm, it’s a regular sandwich, so it’s nothing special. None of the recipes are unique.

What I like about this cooking show is that:

• It is geared towards kids and features stuff that kids can do easily.
• There are fruits and veggies used in that show, which Snubnose would not try on her own, but when she copies a recipe from there and makes that dish, the food goes in smoothly. For example, there’s a recipe for a strawberry, banana, curd, and milk smoothie, which she would never try if I made it up for her. But now that it’s on the show and she has made it herself, she not only samples it but drinks up the entire thing with nary a whimper. Win!
• There are so many interesting but simple recipes that Snubnose can do without much intervention. She can channel her creativity and all that extra energy into doing something she enjoys without me having to scratch my head coming up with cooking ideas for her. Awesome!
• This cooking show has a lot of blended recipes, which is easy for Snubnose to follow. All she has to do is take the ingredients in the correct quantity, put them inside the blender, and switch it on. Smoothies galore!

So, if you find me featuring some kiddish recipes on the blog, don’t be too surprised 😉. They are all Snubnose’s creations that somehow have become family favorites. How can you not eat when she has prepared stuff with so much love and care? K and I are not fond of bread, but we munched that thing down with great gusto.

Now if only Piglet shared the same sentiments 🥹 .