Do your kids like cucumbers?

Ro and Ree are mad for cukes, and they're mad for cooking, so this simple little recipe for Dill Cucumber Stars is right up their alley. 1. Cut two cucumbers into thin slices. You can stop right here and go on to the next step or get a little crazy and use a mini cookie cutter to cut the slices into shapes. You can see that (as usual) we err on the side of crazy in this house.



2. Put the slices in a glass bowl (don't use plastic because it'll do funny things with your vinegar). Add 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/3 cup water, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon minced dill.



3. Stir it all up.



4. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Oops, forgot to take a picture of this part. My bad.

5. Drain the liquid and put the slices out for the eating, we use individual little bowls or plates -- cuts down on the bickering.



6. Be sure to get out of the way, because these things are mighty popular with the little ones. Sometimes they don't even wait until you're done taking a dang photo before they start snitching stars.



These work great in little bento boxes, as a side to any meal, or as an anytime snack. Mmmm. The girls do everything but wield the knife. Actually they get to help with that part too -- the rule around here is that I hold the knife and one girl at a time can put one hand on the handle and the other hand on her hip. Keeps the self-inflicted and sister-inflicted injuries to a minimum.

PS: If food's not your thing, we've got some fun pics of Uncle Bobby's visit yesterday where we played hooky, hung out at the park, and then I forced him to do manual labor and paint a giant canvas for me. Check out the thumbnails, captioned pics, or slideshow. Oh yeah, and I took a little video of them playing too, it's here.