Thursday, 15 August 2013

Who let the kids in the kitchen??


I love baking, but hate cooking meals.

I know, I am strange, but honest. I find cooking family meals boring and thankless. The worst part is wracking my brain to think of what to cook that won’t be met with groans from kids who have never been force- fed foods they don’t like. I have nightmarish memories of sitting at Sunday lunch until everything was gone from my plate-even if it was brussel sprouts, soggy carrots, or horseradish. 

Blah. 

I vowed never to feed my darling offspring such inedible cruelties. Too late I realised the error of my soft meal time approach. What I created was fussy pants eaters. I became sick of spending time in the kitchen after a long work day and a 3 hour commute, only to have the kids screw their noses up when faced with their plates.


My solution: one night a week is kids cooking night. 
That includes thinking, cooking and cleaning. It works on a rotation system between the three of them. My partner is a darling, and usually spends dinner with us on that night. He keeps telling me has a cast iron belly and he’ll eat anything, so we put it to the test. 
They now eat cool things like tacos and quiche. Really. It turns out they'll eat it if they cooked it. We all concur with murmurs of Yummmmm around the dinner table. It's a terrific way to discuss food, flavours and what works and what doesn't. I try tactfully to throw in helpful feedback too. " Honey this sauce is delicious. Maybe 5 spoonfuls less of pepper though next time hey?" 
The down side???  I never realised I had so many dishes until I could see them paraded over every surface of my kitchen. They quantity seems unnecessary, do they breed in the dark of those cupboards? 
The upside...I found Aunty Jane's salad bowl that I swore I gave back. Woops. 
The down down side? How do I get part 3 of my bludging- a- night- off- in- the- kitchen to work?......How do I get the kids to clean up the mess to my standards instead of chucking dishes in the nearest cupboards, and salt in the fridge?
UGH!!!!

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