Cooking with Kids!

It's no secret, that this family loves to eat. I'm already realizing that we are going to have to set aside some serious budget money as these boys of ours grow.

Since a fair bit of my time is spent in the kitchen preparing the food we love to eat, it has been fun to include the kids in the preparation! They have fun and learn so much too. Counting, adding, subtracting, fractions (not yet for us, but eventually...), chemistry and of course a healthy appreciation, hopefully, for what kind of work it takes to get food on the table and into hungry tummies.

Here are some tips that I've found helpful when including the kids as I bake:

1. Allow more time for preparation. If I'm short on time, having helpers just isn't, well, helpful. Allowing for longer prep time helps keep the atmosphere relaxed and goes a long way to increasing mommy's patience! What goes along with this is realizing when I am short on time and/or patience and redirecting the boys attention elsewhere...


2. Letting them pour pre-measured ingredients into the bowls. Since I don't want to waste ingredients, I typically measure out and then allow them the opportunity to take turns pouring. If you are feeling brave, you can give them a little more leeway with this.


3. Let them 'man' the mixer. This is the most prized privilege. I'm not quite sure if it is a boy thing, but they LOVE to take turns lifting the bowl and turning the mixer on and off.


4. Anything related to rolling out dough or brushing on stuff is a good 'kid' job!


5. Avoid giving them the 'hot' jobs. I'm just not comfortable with them near the open oven or in this case with dropping pretzels into boiling water... Those are "take a step back and just watch" parts.

Of course, most of this goes for baking. I haven't really included them much with general cooking, except for letting them stir sauces and such. The thought of them at my side while I'm wielding a big knife scares me... Any ideas on this or other fun kid-friendly baking ideas would be much appreciated.

Our latest project was pretzels! I love a good soft pretzel, but certainly not the price that goes with it. There are more steps than the average recipe, which intimidated me at first. But really, if you take it one step at a time, it wasn't too bad. The boys really loved helping out with this one. Although there is room for improvement, the first try was a hit! The only change I made was to add 1 cup of whole wheat flour. I think I'll experiment with upping the whole wheat content and see if I can still get the light chewy texture!

Xander loved painting the pretzels with egg yolk wash! My precise little painter enjoyed getting egg into every little nook and cranny. (I ended up helping him out because he was getting a little too methodical and I was HUNGRY!)

Our finished product!

YUM!