Spice girl

Yesterday i decided to make some homemade chocolate pudding, as something to tempt a sick girl's appetite and keep her busy "helping." I let her grind up spices with the mortar and pestle while I whisked the ingredients together on the stove. She is a big fan or mortar-and-pestling. Usually i just give her fennel seeds, but this time she asked for the red and because I was so pleased she knew they were red, i unthinkingly gave her some red pepper flakes. 

I came back in the kitchen after changing Penny's diaper to find some fennel and hot pepper floating atop the pudding - obviously someone had been helping me stir (with her own spoon). So I decided heck, if we're going to add flavor, let's add more! And I threw in a few cardamon pods. And that is how you make the best chocolate pudding ever. (Of course, by the time it cooled, Kaylen refused to try it.)

She did sample some of her spice mix, though, and began choking a little. Oops! But some cold grape juice fixed that right up. Fortunately she takes after her daddy and likes hot-spiciness a lot, so a few very hot pepper flakes didn't traumatize her!