It’s been a while since I’ve posted about cooking with kids.  Maybe you think I’ve forgotten about them?  Well, I haven’t.  And they’ve been cooking up a storm!

You see, we’ve started a new routine in our house.  Once a week, the kids cook us a meal.  One week Abby cooks the main course and Henry cooks the dessert, and the next week they swap.  They get to choose what they want to make (with a little guidance from Grant and me), but the planning and time management usually is left to them.  We’ve had some really good meals.  And I think there was only one that ended up in the trash – which is pretty good considering we’ve been doing this for well over three months now!

But this week, I was asked to help out more than normal, so I thought I’d take photos of what my awesome kids came up with.  This was probably the best meal combined that we’ve had with them cooking and I’m so proud of them.  Note, I only guided them – I didn’t really do anything with them.  Usually Grant and I will hide away from the kitchen while they’re cooking so they get to deal with problems by themselves.  This time, I was in the kitchen with both of them, answering questions.  And generally enjoying spending time with them again.

Henry wanted to make ‘bangers and mash’.  For those who do not have an English background, this is basically sausages, onions, mashed potatoes with gravy over everything.  Henry has made this before on the kids cooking night, but just cooked sausages and mashed potatoes with gravy.  Without the onions.  Or vegetables.  And made the plate look like a smiley face.  Actually, it was classic when he went to start cooking and opened the fridge looking for the mashed potatoes – the look on his face when I told him he’d have to peel, chop and cook the potatoes before mashing them was priceless!  This time around he knew what he was in for, and did the potato preparation, and the onions.  And did really well with the gravy.  He still didn’t cook any veggies for the rest of the family, I just had a serving of roast vegetables in the freezer for just an opportunity for me (recipe here).  So he had fun plating up the food – here’s mine:

The other plates ranged from being a grumpy face, with a uni-brow (with the gravy), smiley-faces etc.  I didn’t get any gravy because it had gluten in it …

And then we came to Abby’s dessert.  Most of the time she’s been making cakes, or cupcakes and decorating them at will.  This time, because I wanted to update the photo of my chocolate chip bread pudding (recipe here), I asked her if she wanted to try it out.  And she did a really great job!  Probably better than I could have done.  

I am so proud of my kids and their skills in the kitchen.  Watch this space for more of their creations – this time I can’t wait until they get to cook for us again!

Until next time, enjoy cooking at home … with kids!

Sarah