Cooking 101

I really hate cooking. Part of it was that my mother taught me to cook too much too fast. By the time I was 8, I was cooking full meals for my family at least 4 times a week.

Bleh.

As much as I really don't like cooking, I LOVE cooking with my daughter. We do some cooking together a few times a week. It's funny how her perception is different than mine. And her little girl's desire to see the results of everything NOW often leads to interesting conversations (which seem to repeat regardless of the fact that we've made the dish before). This is particularly true since she learned to read.

Me: Mmmmmm..... Just smell the crescent rolls! They smell so good.

She goes to look through the door of the oven.

Her: I think they're done! I think they're done!

Me: What does it say on the timer?

Her: 10 minutes!

Me: Well the directions say 15-20 minutes. I think we need to leave them in a little longer.

Her: (Grabbing instructions) Mom! It SAYS '15-20 minutes or until GOLDEN BROWN'! Look, they're golden brown!

Me: Well, let's just open the oven door a tiny bit to see if they're really golden brown.

We open the door and peek

Her: (with a dejected look) You know, they really need to design better oven doors!

[nicholmere]

Originally posted by gracef
...
Her: (with a dejected look) You know, they really need to design better oven doors!

Sweet story Grace.

If it was my house she'd be right to think the croissants were brown. My oven window is so well used (read - not cleaned often enough) that even a raw chicken looks roasted.

[Workingmomof2]

My son loves to cook. He's only six, though, so we try to keep it simple. His favorite dish to make is waffles -- he can add the oil, milk and egg himself, and stir it all up, and measure it into the waffle iron.

To make it more fun, we run the egg through a funnel so it builds up until the yolk POPS and gushes out the bottom. It's always a countdown to see how long the egg lasts (it occasionally gets gentle assistance....)

He can also make scrambled eggs by himself (I supervise of course) and makes a mean bag of microwave popcorn.

My son the chef....

[hadassahchana[$]]

Waffles! What a great idea! I am going out to price waffle irons- I think it might be easier to teach my chef-in-training (#2) to use one than to use a griddle for pancakes.

He wants to make all sorts of things- like steak. We [I[ never[/i] eat steak, but he had it once at a friend's house, so now he wants to make it. Never midn that kosher steaks cost $9 a pound!

He also wants to live in Martha Stewart's house- he wants to have beautiful place settings complete with folded linen napkins, crystal water glasses- in short, all of the things that he'll probably never see in this house!

But a waffle iron...that is doable.

Cindy

[Workingmomof2]

Check out Amazon.com, I buy a waffle iron every few months there it seems. I got a wonderful Grinch one that makes waffles with a swirlie pattern, my son loves it. I'm still watching for a Mickey Mouse one at an affordable price though. Anyway waffles are fun and easy, just make sure when you buy the waffle mix you get the kind you want (some require eggs and milk, and personally I think taste far better than the kind that you just add water -- but it depends on how "easy" you want to make it!)

Anyway - good luck - let us know how your waffle creations come out. The sandwich makers are fun too, just put a little cheese inside with bread and instant grilled cheese pocket sandwich....

[pluckyduck]

My boys love to cook, and it's an excellent way to teach kids all kinds of things....reading, measuring, following directions. :thumbs: Both of them are weak on their fine motors, so learning to crack and egg (and then fish the shells out! ) has been great for them, too.

As far as waffles go though, I haven't had much luck. I got a waffle iron for Christmas, but after one outing, the boys declared Eggo better than mine.

Feh.

They make a few slice and bake cookies and all of a sudden they are food critics.

Andrea