This isn’t exactly a Monthly Munchie post, but I had to share the cooking tip my 12 year old daughter taught me tonight. I have no idea where she learned it and neither does she, but it worked like a charm. You may already know about it, but it was a new one for me.  Let me set up the scene.
On Wednesdays I have phone conferences that can sometimes run long, so I have been using my crock pot to make the meals on those days. Today I was making our family favorite Crock Pot Beef Stew (recipe here). When I went to add the tapioca I realized that I had none.  What to do? The stew was more like a super thick soup.  I really don’t like to use flour to thicken, so I called my mom to ask for help. My daughter was sitting in the living room listening to my conversation (whose child does that?).  My mom suggested something I had thought of; to drain the broth into a pan and thicken it on the stovetop. Then out of the blue my daughter says, “Use instant mashed potatoes.”  I asked her where she heard it and she just said that she liked mashed potatoes.  I thought it was a good idea and my mom  said she heard it somewhere too. So I added 1 cup of instant potatoes to the stew and mixed it in. It took less than a minute to thicken and did not alter the flavor of the stew like other thickeners can sometimes do. It worked great.
I never knew my daughter was such a good cook.