Yes, you can have kids & cook too!
One of the things I hear a lot, and have even found myself saying, is how difficult it is to cook when you have kids to contend with ~ especially the little ones! But, just like everything else with kids, you can do it, except you often have to change your ways rather than expecting them to change theirs ... in other words, expecting them to quit acting like kids!
Allowing your children the priviledge of getting to help cook is multi-beneficial: it is a great oppurtunity for learning (math & measurements, where food comes from, history of food, etc), and children are much more likely to eat something willingly that they have helped create. This especially applies to gardening .. if they can grow it, they might actually want to eat it!
Most importantly though: it is a wonderful time to bond with your child. Preparing food for those you care about is an act of thoughtfullness and love. Preparing food with the ones you care about is even more so. It allows them to take part in the anceint ritual of prepapring and serving meals, it shows them that you care about them because you have let them be part of this, it shows them you value them and see them as capable of contributing to the family.
On these pages here you will find tips & recipes that will, hopefully, make it a little easier to cook with your kids. From how to cook when you have a newborn's schedule to deal with to how to allow (and recipes for) your children to help prepare a meal.
~8/22/2007 ~ Shannon helping make pizza for dinner by putting the green peppers on. We made the herbed dough from scratch; used homemade pizza sauce (made from heirloom Cherokee Chocolate tomatoes we grew organically); picked some fresh basil, chives, oregano, and thyme (all organically grown) and sprinkled it on; picked some fresh organically grown heirloom tomatoes and green peppers, cut them up and put them on; then added lots and lots of cheese, some extra garlic, and pepperoni! Can you tell he was proud of his contributions?
