Budding Cooks
Looks like we have some budding cooks in the owlfan household. Yesterday I decided that since we are all at home over the summer, there is no reason why only one of us should be cooking. The kids weren't necessarily thrilled with the announcement at first, but they accepted it.
M has done some cooking with/for us before, but A really hasn't.
Last night, over dinner, we discussed menus and grocery lists. Both boys wanted to make pizza this week. I like pizza, but didn't really want it twice in one week. We ended up flipping a coin over who got to make pizza this week - A won. So M will make pizza the next time. Then this afternoon, they were arguing over who got to make dinner tonight. Yes, they both wanted to make dinner tonight!
Last night, after the menu discussions, M got out my cookbook (the Better Homes and Gardens, better known as the red and white cookbook). It was quite pleasant to see him leafing through the cookbook, examining recipes. He spent a lot of time on the dessert recipes, but some time on the rest of the cookbook too. He really wanted to make something that would be a surprise and was disappointed when I said I had to at least see the ingredient list, so I would know what to buy at the store.
Since A won on the pizza, I declared that M got to make dinner tonight. He had chosen baked ziti as his main dish. Yummy. I thought we had discussed bread to go with - only to find out that he had wanted to make bread himself (well, with the bread machine's help). Fine, except 2 things. 1- He didn't tell me this until 5pm and we would have had to start bread closer to 3 to have it ready for dinner. and 2 - the bread he wanted to make was cinnamon raisin bread. Yummy, but not quite what I want with baked ziti for dinner.
While the ziti was baking, we did make the dessert he wanted - popcorn balls. We had to find a new recipe though, since he hadn't told me he wanted to make them today and I didn't have light corn syrup on hand. We found a recipe for molasses popcorn balls instead.
Dinner was yummy and we have enough left for leftovers another night, to everyone's delight. As long as something is liked the first time, leftovers are popular around here.
It isn't easier or quicker to have the kids cook (though I'm hoping it will be once they have some practice), but it is really nice to see them participating and being interested in preparing a meal. It's also a good skill to have for later. My mom had my brother and I cook dinner when we were kids (though not as young as A). I think one of the things that is nice is that I get stuck in a rut sometimes and the rest of the family may think of different things. Somehow they thought of more different things when actually asked to cook than when I just ask for suggestions on what I should cook.
I'm looking forward to A's and D's dinners later in the week!
M has done some cooking with/for us before, but A really hasn't.
Last night, over dinner, we discussed menus and grocery lists. Both boys wanted to make pizza this week. I like pizza, but didn't really want it twice in one week. We ended up flipping a coin over who got to make pizza this week - A won. So M will make pizza the next time. Then this afternoon, they were arguing over who got to make dinner tonight. Yes, they both wanted to make dinner tonight!
Last night, after the menu discussions, M got out my cookbook (the Better Homes and Gardens, better known as the red and white cookbook). It was quite pleasant to see him leafing through the cookbook, examining recipes. He spent a lot of time on the dessert recipes, but some time on the rest of the cookbook too. He really wanted to make something that would be a surprise and was disappointed when I said I had to at least see the ingredient list, so I would know what to buy at the store.
Since A won on the pizza, I declared that M got to make dinner tonight. He had chosen baked ziti as his main dish. Yummy. I thought we had discussed bread to go with - only to find out that he had wanted to make bread himself (well, with the bread machine's help). Fine, except 2 things. 1- He didn't tell me this until 5pm and we would have had to start bread closer to 3 to have it ready for dinner. and 2 - the bread he wanted to make was cinnamon raisin bread. Yummy, but not quite what I want with baked ziti for dinner.
While the ziti was baking, we did make the dessert he wanted - popcorn balls. We had to find a new recipe though, since he hadn't told me he wanted to make them today and I didn't have light corn syrup on hand. We found a recipe for molasses popcorn balls instead.
Dinner was yummy and we have enough left for leftovers another night, to everyone's delight. As long as something is liked the first time, leftovers are popular around here.
It isn't easier or quicker to have the kids cook (though I'm hoping it will be once they have some practice), but it is really nice to see them participating and being interested in preparing a meal. It's also a good skill to have for later. My mom had my brother and I cook dinner when we were kids (though not as young as A). I think one of the things that is nice is that I get stuck in a rut sometimes and the rest of the family may think of different things. Somehow they thought of more different things when actually asked to cook than when I just ask for suggestions on what I should cook.
I'm looking forward to A's and D's dinners later in the week!
Labels: food, kids, parental pride
posted by owlfan at 10:18 PM
1 Comments:
Hmmmm, thanks for the idea. We'll have swimming lessons 4 nights a week this summer (the only time I could get them in more or less together that worked with my work schedule), but maybe I can work J and M cooking into the mix as well.
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