My dad should open a restaurant, so should my sister.
Come to think of it – they should do that together. In all their spare time.
Truly though, my dad and sister are creative chefs. Don’t worry my mom is not offended by this post – cooking isn’t her favorite, her talents span a million other things. I’m not a talented or creative chef, but I can follow a recipe.
I enjoy cooking – more now than when my kids were younger. I definitely enjoy it more now that our daily pace is a slower (homeschooling) and the kids can easily help out.
I know a lot of families like to meal plan far in advance, but that just doesn’t fit for us. I like to plan weekly and I really like trying new recipes. I also want my kids to learn to really cook before they move out one day. As a result, we have a long list of family favorites, but I also enlist one kid a week to pick a new meal and help cook it. I have a bunch of cookbooks that they can choose from – Pioneer Woman’s cookbook doesn’t quite fit with the rest, but…I like butter. And she’s a fellow Okie.
I’m going to get details wrong here, but just go with it. About 8 years ago I saw an episode of Oprah that featured a mom and her chef sons. All the boys were phenomenal cooks. The mom told Oprah about how she taught them to cook at an early age. Each week a different son was in charge of a meal. Eventually the boys started doing the meal planning and shopping – always learning more and trying new things in an effort to out-do each other. Basically, they competed to create the best meals and the mom got to eat all those delicious meals.
She was a genius.
I’m working towards that….one asparagus pizza at a time.
***What are your favorite tips, tricks and recipes regarding home cooking with and for kids?