Fruit pizzas; the minis made the dough.
I am NOT a cook by any means. It is one of those things that don't bring me joy, but I firmly believe my children need to learn to cook. It was not something I learned (or cared to learn for that matter) and I was not made to cook until I was an adult. The first time I ever made mac and cheese was when the oldest was a year old! Luckily, my two boys LOVE to cook. I'm not a huge help in the kitchen, but they've done a great job of teaching themselves (while I make sure they don't burn the house down).
The oldest did World Studies for social studies this year. We also love triying new foods. We combined his studies and our love for new foods into part of his end of unit tests. He had to find receipes unique to the region/continent/country of study and make it. Of course, throughout all of this, we can't forget the middle mini, who loves watching baking shows. Their love for cooking, learning, and growing has meant that we've eaten amazing, unique meals and desserts for months now!
We start by researching recipes (research has been a large part of their homeschooling this year), making a grocery list, and planning when we'll eat their wonderful food. Many times these recipes are involved and aren't an incredibly quick meal. Plus, they require at least some supervision, but most of the time another set of hands helping them and showing them how to run a food processor, stand mixer, skillet, wok, etc.
So, what exactly have they made for us? Outside of the basics, here are some of our favorite meals the minis have cooked for us:
- Chicken noodle soup. The middle mini has been making this for a couple of years now and it's by far our favorite recipe. It needs to be doubled or tripled if I'm serving for daycare, but it's perfect on a winter day. The last time he made it, I requested no chicken in, so we just added more veggies (zucchini is perfect) and it was wonderful!
- Chicken coconut curry
- Smoothies of all kinds. They get creative with this one. Sometimes it's ice, yogurt, fruit. Other times it's a scoop of ice cream, fruit, juice, etc. I'm always anxious to see what they come up with.
- Fruity pebble pancakes. We subbed almond milk and the pancakes turned out great!
- Strawberry shortcake cupcakes
- Blini
- Stuffed french toast
- Breakfast quesadillas. We use scrambled eggs, green and red peppers, occasionally breakfast potatoes, cheese, black beans, and salsa or guacamole to dip.
- Sheet pan breakfast casserole
- Lahmacun. I was not a fan of this dish (almost like a pizza), as all I could taste was the Allspice. The oldest LOVED it and ate nearly an entire "pizza" himself.
