cooking with kids

My girls love to cook and they love being in the kitchen with me.

I have to be honest. This use to drive me crazy!!! Selfishly I knew it was more work for me too.

You know…. the all to familiar battle most mommies go through- doing it yourself vs. teachable moments. Tasks are much easier (and quicker and cleaner and….) if you do them yourself.

However, I have grown to LOVE having my girls in the kitchen cooking with me. We have a total blast.

I can see them growing in the area of cooking and that makes me smile.

My hope is to raise little girls who love to cook and appreciate good wholesome REAL food.

I bought KK this cookbook for Christmas. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! The artwork is spectacular, the recipes are fun and simple, and it creates a sense of good ole’ home cooking nostalgia when you open it up that makes you want to grab an apron and whisk and whip something up.

There is a whole series of the books for girls and I highly recommend them. We also have the "See and Sew" book by Tina Davis and it's a gem as well!


Here are some photos over the last week of us hanging out and cooking together.....from scratch.

Kaylyn cutting her ham and pineapple. She is already so careful and great with knife. I let her do a lot of my food prepping.


My little dough girl, Rae Rae, spreading the homemade pizza dough.


A good reminder for me.....this is suppose to be "FUN"! Put a smile on your face momma and make a mess!


Kaylyn, spreading her sauce and building her pizza....the sauce was NOT from scratch.


I cold busted Rae Rae eating the sauce instead of spreading.


But, who could get mad at a face like that.....momma, laugh, I say. Laugh!


Because, there will be messes. Lots and lots of messes. Flour flying, sauces slinging, cheese crumbling....it's only part of it.


And there will be dishes. Lots and lots of dishes. A sink full of dishes to be exact. But, its okay. We had fun....and not only can my girls learn to cook, they can learn to do dishes too:). My momma always taught me,"A good cook always cleans up her mess."


The reward is far worth it and the flavors are unlike any other. Especially paired with a Virgil's Natural Micro-Brewed Root Beer. Heavenly. A real treat!


On a separate occasion last week, Kaylyn decided she wanted to make a chocolate cake from scratch. So we got out her cookbook and I let her pick her recipe out.

I was SOOOO proud of her. She made her chocolate cake all by herself without my help- not once.


Cracking the egg. She is pretty much a pro at this. I'm amazed that she can manage to crack 12 eggs and not get shell in the mix once (unlike her momma who is reckless abandon).



Stir, my love, stir.


Sifting her flower for the cake.


Oh and I would like to show you what the cake looked like, but it was gone far too quickly to capture it in all its beauty.

On the real......her chocolate cake was the BEST chocolate cake I've ever tasted. Ever. I think there was only a handful of ingredients too all of which were wonderful clean ingredients.