“Mom, I need to cook you guys something.” 13-year-old announced to me out of the blue.

“That sounds good…..but why?” me.

“My Life Skills teacher told us that for extra credit, we can cook something for our families over Thanksgiving break.” 13-year-old.

“Great. You can cook the turkey.” me.

“No!” the kid laughed, “I have to cook one of the recipes we got from class.”

After reviewing all our options, we decided on garlic bread.

“All you have to do is to wait to be served, eat, and grade me on the grading paper my Life Skills teacher gave me.” 13-year-old.

But before I got back down to the couch, I was handed a piece of paper, with a short list of ingredients, and was immediately dispatched to the grocery story to fetch a sourdough bread, Parmesan cheese, and garlic salt.

Oh well, it is for extra credit, and we are suckers for extra credit. I went off to this unexpected shopping trip thinking happy thoughts.

When I returned, my 13-year-old took the ingredients, and ordered me out of the kitchen. Apparently, this extra credit was strictly against parental interference. I watched my young teen dropped the sourdough bread on the cutting board, and hacked at the sourdough bread, sending little pieces of bread crumbs flying in all directions.

Next, she took the butter out of our refrigerator. The butter was ice cold and unspreadable. So, the butter was butchered into ugly lumpy pieces, and roughly laid on the bread.

Then, she sprinkled garlic salt and Parmesan cheese to the bread, and put it in the oven to broil until it turned brown.

When the oven dinged, the entire kitchen and family room were filled with the delicious smell of garlic and hot butter.

The butter and the cheese had melted beautifully, leaving no evidence that they had previously looked hideous.

The garlic bread was served with a deliberate big smile, and presented with the kind of sophistication atypical with garlic bread.

As the rest of the family admired the unusual presentation, and savored the taste, the 13-year-old scrubbed the entire kitchen clean!

Mrs S., THANK YOU for this brilliant idea!

All this took about 30 – 45 minutes and the kid was exhausted. That’s when I decided to read the grading sheet. At the top, I noticed something extremely depressing.

EXTRA CREDIT RECIPE
Each recipe worth 2 extra credit points

…All that work, for two extra credit points!! This poor child is still wanting to make two other recipes. Somebody need to teach this kid a thing or two about “bang for your buck.”

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