What does Invisible Kid eat?

Emerill did a show tonight about the international foods of Queens, New York. You know, that place where The Nanny, Archie Bunker, and The King of Queens were about? I think that last Bill Cosby show, too. (Hey, my old blogger buddies better stop laughing at me right about now!) Anyway, one of the recipes he featured was the national soup of Colombia. Who would have known that there are so many Colombians in Queens, New York? (Really, stop laughing at me.)

I'm not a good cook. I like to cook, but I don't like to clean up afterwards so I don't do much fancy cooking. My favorites lately are baked ziti, grilled chicken, shrimp in garlic and oil, and anything I can pop in the microwave. Lucky Boy is a very picky eater, and he won't eat ziti or shrimp so we're pretty restricted. At least over the summer we can barbecue. I mean, who doesn't like hamburgers and hot dogs! (Well, I eat the turkey hot dogs and usually don't tell Lucky Boy, he just thinks I buy a different brand. Hee hee, you won't spill my secret right?)

OK, let's gather some recipes and see if they will actually work for my family:

1. Colombian Chicken Soup (as seen on Emeril) http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_35681,00.html
   This will not work for Lucky Boy. He doesn't eat soup and he will not touch salsa. And does anyone know what "Bijol" is?


2. Wikipedia entry on Cuisine of Colombia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_cuisine A bunch of fruits I've never heard of and I'm fairly sure they don't sell in my local supermarket. Another soup called ajico that doesn't seem the same as Emeril's recipe. Barbecued meat (woo hoo!). Two more soups. Another "national" dish that includes ground beef, plantains, and avocado (tonight I had frozen beef patties and frozen plantains, I guess that's similar). Cornmeal pancakes (Lucky Boy loves his pancakes!) with cheese. Something called arequipe that apparently can be eaten by itself or as an ingredient in other desserts. Good thing there are more links to a bunch of these foods!


3. Sancocho http://www.recipezaar.com/253801 Another soup, and this recipe has WAAAY too many ingredients for me. I did see a bag with frozen ingredients that said all you have to do is add cooked chicken or pork and it will be "sancocho," so I guess I can try that. I mean, I can boil water!


4. Flank steak (or substitute skirt steak) http://www.recipezaar.com/229300 I know Lucky Boy eats steak, and I know he eats skirt steak. And this recipe has a lot of ingredients but they're mostly seasoning. (But I don't know if I really want to add beer to a recipe for Invisible Kid.)


5. Ground Beef in Sauce http://www.recipezaar.com/229295 REALLY easy. I think I can actually make this one!


6. Recipes from my mom http://maelisa.home.sprynet.com/recetas/ But it's all in Spanish. ALL of it. :-(


7. Avocado and potato soup http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/americas/colombian/00/rec0002.html Yeah, another soup. I think I'll be floating away if I make all these soups.

Of course there's always pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, PBJ, chicken nuggets, all those classic kids foods. Those are international, right? I mean, I know that last year I watched the kids eat salad, pizza, and mac and cheese. Invisible Kid will eat those, right? (Lucky Boy will eat pizza and nuggets, too.)

Some pictures:

Arepas - cornmeal pancakes that can be filled with cheese or chocolate.








Bunuelos - they look like munchkins (donut holes) but the recipe says they have cheese in them.








Bogota barbecue. Does that corn look burnt? It just looks like some hot dogs, piece of meat, and some potatoes.

Ariquepe, which one of the recipes says is also called Dulce de Leche (like the Haagen Daaz ice cream flavor). It says this is a popular dish in Colombia, Venezuela, and Guatemala. Strange - Guatemala seems worlds away from Colombia in my mind. (Really, my old blogger buddies need to stop laughing at me, please.)