kid friendly

unless i'm cooking in the evening, which never happens, i always have a helper or two or three in the kitchen. have five kids? that's five times the amount of help. i love when the kids help. they learn how to measure, cook, mix, bake, stir, sift, saute - all the kitchen fundamentals. they love helping because they get to be my "taste testers" which is a very popular job in our home when any sort of baked good is involved. using mommy's "cha-chine"- my kitchen aid mixer- is also a popular activity.

my kids also help when we grocery shop. the produce area is a wonderful classroom to learn colors, numbers, and letters. as the munchkins have grown older, they've started to ask how i choose my fruits and vegetables. it also helps that they get free samples of cookies at the bakery.

do i ever tell my kids no to helping? unless i'm deep frying, i let them help because there will be a day when none of them want to help. and at some horrible point in time, they will all move out and need to feed themselves. my hope is that they will have learned to make some basic dishes, or at least their favorite dishes, and avoid the college student diet of cereal, kraft dinner, and bacon.

life lessons from mommy's kitchen.

until next post- maggie