I May Never Have to Cook Again
It has finally happened. Annie and Louisa worked together to cook a complete dinner for us, 95% on their own. I suppose all it took was the right motivation, and maybe a little experience. You see, as About.com Guide to Entertaining I’m sent a lot of cookbooks to review, enough that you can often hear Joe walking around mumbling things about needing another bookcase. The most recent book sent for review was “Love at First Bite, the Unofficial Twilight Cook Book”. With the serious Twihards we have in this house, there was a lot of excitement over its arrival. First Louisa cooked the Rocky Road Brownie recipe, easy for her. Then Annie decided she wanted to cook dinner from it, and Louisa wasn’t about to be outdone. So I suggested they plan a menu to cook together (crafty, aren’t I?)
It was a joy on Tuesday night to sit and listen to the two of them cooperating busily in the kitchen as they prepared our dinner. They even cleaned up after themselves! The main dish was lasagna, I only helped with boiling and draining the noodles. They accompanied that with the non-alcoholic Eclipse punch which was a combination of fruit juice and soft drinks. Finally, they baked a chocolate cake for dessert. The only part I assisted with was making the frosting since it was a cooked frosting, and I didn’t want them to get burned with the boiled sugar part of the recipe. The cake layers turned out beautifully and the dinner was delicious.
On a serious note, I think the real key to getting kids to cook — is to let them. If you worry about them making a mess and always shoo them away, they’ll lose interest and never gain confidence in the kitchen. I’ve tolerated many flour and water experiments gumming up the countertops, strange drink concoctions, and almond and pickle sandwiches. But apparently it was worth it.
Comments
4 Responses to “I May Never Have to Cook Again”
Got something to say?
Oh my gosh! What a delicious looking dinner. If it tasted even half as good as it all looked you are one wise and lucky mom. You allowed them the freedom to try it out which gave them the satisfaction of producing a masterpiece and gave you an evening off! My congratulations to all of you.
It really was as good as it looked. I forgot to mention in the blog that they also prepared corn on the cob to go along with it.
I think another part of encouraging kids to cook is to eat the meals they cook that don’t taste as good.
Although, sometimes, it’s hard to disguise your dislike for a dish. Louisa was messing around with her own made up bread recipe yesterday and asked me to try it. As much as I wanted to tell her it was good, she could read my face and see that it needed to go down the disposal!