Chef's Corner: The grandson does a sleep over | Arts & Entertainment

A while ago one of my grandsons spent the night with us so we could enjoy his company.

YiaYia, which is Greek for grandmother, started preparing the house for his visit. She cleaned everything in sight and broke out all the board games and fun activities they would share. I asked about the menu, and she said, “I’ll ask him when I pick him up. I may just pick up something he likes.”

Kids today are so brainwashed by the fast-food companies, and many are so picky — you never know. I remember my daughter, when she was that age, would only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for days at a time.

My wife would be in tears wanting her to eat fresh fruit, vegetables and all the good stuff. She would lament she won’t be healthy. Finally, she came around, my wife that is, when she realized children will eat when they get hungry. Sound familiar?

Later that afternoon she went to pick our grandson up from day camp, I started planning a menu just in case. I had fresh chicken breast I could cut into strips and make chicken tenders or nuggets. I also had some beef stew meat I could grind into hamburgers. I could bake some fresh potato chips. I checked the fridge for fresh fruit, knowing my wife would be particular about what he ate.

I received a call from my wife and guess what? They were at the grocery store picking up a few things and my grandson wanted PaPou (Greek for grandfather) to cook for him. Wow, I couldn’t wait ’til they come home.

They arrived and I was expecting groceries of fresh fruit, healthy fat free snacks and fat free milk. Grandparents … we just can’t say no to the kids, can we? There was a large bag of some kind of corn chips, Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup to make chocolate milk, white chocolate chips (not sure why) and graham crackers.

No fruit …right away my wife made chocolate milk and she and my grandson opened the bag of corn chips and started snacking. I tried the chips, and they were some kind of new super-hot variety. It was like eating ghost peppers, but they were on the couch having a great time eating the bag together and this is the kicker – my wife never eats chips, especially hot ones!

I made the chicken nuggets and homemade potato chips, and everyone was happy. Later they ate graham crackers and more chocolate milk – again, no fruit. They watched cartoons together until he fell asleep.

The next morning, I found out about the white chocolate chips. I was instructed to cook bacon and make white chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and they were actually pretty good. Oh, we did get some fruit in with 100% pure apple juice.

Grandparents: Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? Love and spoil our grandkids. You might want to check with Mom and Dad first about what they eat, especially if the child has allergies. Beyond that, just have fun with them.

Super Simple White Chocolate Pancakes

Ingredients

2 Bisquick pancake mix cups

1 cup milk

½ cup melted butter

3 large fresh eggs

1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

Mix all ingredients together except white chocolate chips and let sit 5 minutes before cooking. Spray butter in a nonstick pan. Spoon batter into the heated pan the size of pancake you like. Sprinkle chips over pancakes and cook over medium heat until pancakes bubble and show holes. Turn and cook for 30 seconds to one minute. (Serve with chocolate milk!)

Costa Magoulas is dean of the Mori Hosseini College of Hospitality and Culinary Management at Daytona State College. Contact him at (386) 506-3578 or costa.magoulas@daytonastate.edu.