Let me tell you how awesome my Saturday nights have become... Well... first of all, it's breakfast night, so it's already going to be awesome. But second of all, I have relinquished control over the kitchen to my 8-year-old who happily prepares dinner for the entire family and leaves me free to sit around eating bonbons with my feet propped up! (PS - I don't actually know what a bonbon is...) She measures and sifts and pours and flips entirely by herself. It's pretty cute to see her climb up on the counter to find all the ingredients.Three weeks ago, I set her loose on making some chocolate 'waffle' cookies. A new recipe. She was thrilled with the freedom. The Kitchen Aid whizzed and soon she had a chocolaty, sticky dough(ish) substance that was to be ladled into the waffle maker. I was suspicious as the dough globbed onto the hot iron, but I smiled and cooked it anyway. When they wouldn't come OUT of the waffle maker, however, I asked a gentle question. "Are you sure you put enough flour in this?"
"Flour?" she asked. "The recipe didn't call for any flour." An inspection of the recipe showed that it did, indeed call for flour. 4 cups of it. We laughed.
But so far our pancakes have all been edible. Last week they were a little chewy...not sure what happened there... but I think it would take an awful lot to mess up a pancake to the point of 'gross'. (Unless you start with Krusteaz - - - I haven't quite figured out how to ungross those. (I know, I know...you probably love them.))
Way to be awesome, Kenz!
I LOVE the look on her face! And I love that you let her do this. I'm still learning to relinquish that kind of control...I just reeeaaaaaaally hate messes in the kitchen. Doing your own laundry- now that I can get behind. But something tells me I will never get a picture of a smile like that over a basket of folded clothes:).
ReplyDeletePS- the word verification on this is a real doozy...wish me luck!
Great pic, and I'm with you on the krusteez, or however they're spelled...I keep thinking that I need to involve my kids in the cooking more, but right now I lack vital brain capacity!
ReplyDeleteChewy or tough pancakes=beating them too hard.
ReplyDeleteI usually start by beating the egg so that it can get nice and fluffy. Then I add all the rest of the ingredients and stir til just mixed. They are like muffins, and if you overwork the dough they get tough.
LOVE that you let her do this! You are one awesome mom. I think I would be a bit of a nervous wreck letting Lydia do that, but maybe when she is eight. And totally agree on Krusteaz. How are they still in business??
ReplyDeleteI love the idea. Unfortunately, I will have to wait a few years to implement it, since I don't think a three-year-old would do quite so well (despite what he may think). We do buy Krusteaz for convenience, but I agree they are kinda gross--they get too tough. The only way I have found to not have them be tough is to put the water in and let it SIT for several minutes and do not stir AT ALL. Then I kind of mash the mush into the sides of the bowl (like mashing potatoes or something?) and add a little more water than it usually calls for. They are more edible that way. But we really like "blender pancakes" made with whole wheat kernels (I think they're actually called whole wheat berries, but that sounds fruity to me). We mix them in the blender with milk and add the rest of pancake ingredients and it's a great way to ENJOY your food storage. Super tasty and healthy whole grain pancakes. Anyway, I laughed aloud reading many of your side bar "funnies" and the one for March 5 made me laugh till tears came to my eyes, probably because I can see my own kids saying something very similar! Thanks for a good laugh. Hope you enjoy my nice LONG comment :)
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to ask us if we thought she just sat around all day eating bon bons . . . so one day (pretty sure I was an adult at the time) we found some fancy bon bons and got them for her. They are chocolate covered little bursts of yummy sugar (she shared them with everyone of course, and we all had a good laugh) I'm thinking maybe we should find you some for those lovely Saturday nights! How fun!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea! Alyssa found a recipe and asked to make it the other day- she was SOO proud of herself. I should let her do more in the kitchen.
ReplyDelete