Kids in the Kitchen

No playdough for us yesterday!  Instead we spent our rainy afternoon in the kitchen.  Fortunately, my children love to be in the kitchen.  That's a good thing because I love to be in the kitchen.  In fact, Frank and I love to be in the kitchen together.  I know, I know, he is certainly a keeper.  We would much prefer to cook a good dinner at home, together, to going out.  Now don't get me wrong...going out has the benefit of not having to clean up after you're done.

So what did we cook yesterday?  It involved lots baking ~ measuring, pouring, mixing, etc.  That's the kind of thing that my kids in the kitchen are great at though they also enjoy other ways to help.  I fondly recall one dinner prep this summer where everyone had a job {Walker watched the water boil, Stephen turned squash zucchini into ribbons and Mary Frances chopped nuts among a myriad of other tasks}.  Keeping their little hands busy kept my sanity while preparing a delicious made from scratch dinner.  Yes, Walker really did watch the water boil.  He's 3!  I didn't have an age-appropriate task on hand so I sat him on the counter and told him his job was to watch for bubbles.  Guess what?  He did it! 

But I digress...Back to yesterday!  We made chocolate chip cookies.  The stand by cookie in our house.  You can count on me to always have chocolate chips.  In fact, I've even upgraded to the 72 ounce bag from Sam's.  No fancy recipe here ~ just the original Nestle Toll House that moms have been making for decades.  We had some over-ripe bananas that needed to be hidden in bread.  One of my favorite ways to make banana bread is in muffin form.  We used an old recipe from Southern Living.  On we go...  We also made graham crackers for a tasty treat of a snack.  No, not the graham crackers but s'mores made when the graham crackers came out out of the oven.  We even  roasted peppers to try this.  Yes, there was a lot of activity to keep little ones occupied.

Oh yeah, we also made dinner.  The menu: grilled chicken marinated in lime juice, jalapeno pepper {from the garden}, olive oil, and little salt served with left-over tomato pie and roasted asparagus.  An aside, Walker ate asparagus and even asked for more.  You have no idea what a step that is! 

By the time Frank arrived home, the chicken was grilling, and I was exhausted! Seriously, Frank asked me to walk outside to check the garden with him, and I couldn't even carry Betsy.  The cooking was just our afternoon ~ post quiet time activity.  We had already had a day full before all of that.

So, do your children like to be in the kitchen?  Are they a help or a hindrance?  What do you do on a rainy afternoon ~ nap, read, pop in a movie, all of the above?