Jackson Free Press

I have always heard that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If that's true, Father's Day will be 
littered with messy kitchens and burned cookies.

When I was younger, "cooking" for Father's Day meant a tiny cake from my Easy-Bake Oven. Dad will eat whatever you make him, regardless of taste, texture and consistency. But this year, I have devised foolproof recipes, even for the youngest kids.

For kids too young to use the oven, I recommend the ever-popular No Bake Cookies. You will need to use a stove for boiling, so older kids or an adult may have to help, but these cookies will not burn. They are frozen!

For the older kids, try making breakfast for dad. I love Organic Batter Blaster, pancake batter in a can. I know--it's batter in a can. But believe me. It tastes great and requires zero clean up. While you are making pancakes, try baking the easiest thing in the world: quiche.

Feeling adventurous? A good friend of mine taught me this easy chicken sweet-potato curry recipe. It's sure to be something dad will like.

Chicken Sweet Potato Curry

3 large chicken breasts
plain yogurt
2 medium onions
2 large sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 small can of chickpeas
1 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes (substitute real tomatoes if possible)

Marinate the chicken in yogurt for approximately two hours in the refrigerator before cooking.

Boil the sweet potatoes whole until they are soft, then cube them. Cube chicken and cook in saute pan with light oil until browned and crispy.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to medium (or a slow simmer) and continue stirring until the sweet potatoes are mashed and tomatoes boil down into a sauce. This usually takes 30-40 minutes.

Serve with white rice.

Crawfish Quiche

1 10-inch pie shell
1 shallot
1/2 pound of crawfish tails
1 small onion
1/2 pound of cheese (I suggest pepper jack and provolone)
3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of flour
5 eggs

Bake the pie shell in the oven per package directions.

Mince the onion and shallot, then saute in a regular skillet until clear. Add the butter and crawfish tails. Cook for about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a fork until blended.

Layer the pie crust with cheese and crawfish mixture and pour in the eggs. Make sure to leave about an inch of room in the pie crust for the quiche to rise, so don't fill it all the way to the top.

Set oven to 375 degrees and bake for 40-45 min.

No Bake Cookies

1 3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix milk, sugar, butter and cocoa in saucepan and boil for exactly two minutes (the freezing process will be affected if you boil any longer than two minutes). Remove from heat, stir in oats, peanut butter and vanilla. Drop teaspoonful amounts on wax paper and freeze.