Claire loves to help in the kitchen. It's really adorable. And a lot of extra work. I want to encourage her enthusiasm for working in the kitchen, obviously, even though it makes everything take so much longer and is a little stressful for safety reasons. BUT. I'm making it a priority to let her help when she wants to (and if I'm not in a hurry). There are a few things that she always helps me with, and it's become a ritual of sorts because she's actually developed skills for it.
One of those things is making our instant oatmeal packets (not technically cooking but working in the kitchen, nonetheless). Claire really likes oatmeal, and I found this "recipe" (let's be real: it should really be called a "method," rather than a recipe) a while back. We've been making batches of it for about a year now, and she loves to help me measure and use the food processor and whatnot. We've gone over rules for when she can and cannot touch the food processor, so she's pretty reliably safe about it now.
Zoot zoot.
Honing her stirring skills. She doesn't flip it all out of the bowl anymore so YAY.
Getting ready to measure some more.
She's actually getting to the point of being helpful, which is kind of awesome. I've learned, as legions of mothers before me, that if I just take the time and effort (and frustration) to teach her how to do a few things properly and safely, she can actually contribute to the process. This is an awesome development. Sometimes that looks like handing me things, sometimes stirring things, sometimes kneading things or pouring things. We're working on all kinds of skills.
I let her help make playdoh using this recipe. That was a fun project until the playdoh started to thicken in the pot and needed lots of attention. Then we hit a bump in the road where she was super frustrated I wouldn't let her help, and I was trying to salvage our playdoh. Oi.
Periodically, I also make freezer breakfast burritos for Brad (and myself, if we're being honest). We go to Costco and buy huge things of eggs, breakfast sausage, tortillas, and cheese and make a stash for us to pull out and heat up for a quick breakfast. Claire had never made these with me before these pictures were taken, so I wasn't entirely sure how it would go. She did great! She LOVED cracking the eggs and got so excited every time we broke one. She also loved helping me scramble all the burrito stuffing together, as well as wrap all of the completed burritos in plastic wrap (she loved that step- it's my least favorite part). I've definitely been letting her help since.
She took egg beating oh so seriously.
We make pizza every Friday night. I don't remember the last time we ate something other than homemade pizza on a Friday night when we were at home. Claire has been helping me make the pizzas for a few months now. It's been really nice to see her try out "new" ingredients. There are still things that she doesn't want to eat, but she's started eating buffalo sauce, pesto, and pepperoni (these things were NOT on the same pizza) because she was a part of the preparation process. All things she was previously skeptical of. She particularly enjoys helping with all parts of dough preparation and with covering the pizza with cheese. We've had to set boundaries for how much of the cheese she can eat along the way. Oi. She'd eat it all, if I let her. We use my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook to do most of the mixing/kneading, although I make sure to let Claire do some hand kneading after it rises. Side note: I never would have registered for a KitchenAid mixer for our wedding, given that I am just not much of a baker. However, Brad's sweet Grandma decided that that was what she wanted to get us for our wedding. It stressed me out a little at first, because I worried that I'd get this extremely nice gift and never use it. That has certainly not been the case. I make two batches of pizza dough in it every week, I shred chicken in it, I make brownies and cookies in it about once a month. It's turned out to be SO useful. I'm glad she had the foresight that I didn't.
Watching our dough rise. She has a REALLY hard time leaving it covered while it rises. She wants to check on it every couple of minutes.
She is kind of becoming a pro at kneading and rolling. She can't do it entirely by herself, but she can make a decent dent in the process. The only problem is that she becomes rather proprietary of the rolling pin. Bless us. Oh! And that pizza stone was a wedding gift from my mom; actually, she thought ahead and got me two. At the time, I thought she really shouldn't have...but I make two pizzas every Friday, and it's awesome to have two stones! Thanks, Mom!
In addition to oatmeal, burritos, and pizza, She helps me regularly with chopping and peeling vegetables. I don't yet let her handle the knives, but I have her gather things up and put them in bowls/pans/bags. We've begun having conversations about knives and how to be safe with them. I'm still summoning up my courage to actually let her hold one. Maybe that will be on our bucket list for Year Four.
Until then, we'll wash her hands, put on her pint-sized apron (thanks, Amiee!), and haul out the step ladder for our regularly-scheduled favorites.
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