Agreed – take an old recipe, add a teensy bit of obscure spices, or a slobbering of jalapeños and, voilà, it’s “modern”. (oh, and have an alternative cooking method for microwave…)
I grew up with watered down powdered milk. Skim is about as thick as I can stand. But, then I have friends who are the opposite: they can’t use anything less than cream – even on cereal!
Or, since it’s not your job to discipline the child, just get her the thing she wants, and let mom deal with it when she returns.