Cooking

[naomikritzer]

One of the girls last week said that she wanted to make pizza for dinner, so when we planned the menu for the week, we put that in the rotation. We don't usually make pizza -- normally, we keep that option in reserve for nights when we don't want to cook, and we pick one up from Papa Murphy's. (And in fact, that would have been cheaper than the crusts, cheese, sauce, and toppings. Sigh. But it was a Project, so whatever.)

I bought pre-made crusts (single-serving size, because the store was out of the big ones), a can of pre-made sauce, grated cheese, sliced mushrooms, canned pineapple, and fresh sausage. I cooked the sausage myself before we started the project. And then I called the girls into the dining room and told them they would be making dinner.

I did a lot of setup for them, but here are the things they did: Kiera opened the sauce (I started the can opener, but she did the rest), spooned out sauce onto the crusts, and spread it around. They both sprinkled on cheese. They both put on toppigngs, and the final handfuls of cheese.

Kiera ripped up lettuce, and Molly rinsed it. Kiera washed cucumbers, and Molly sliced them. Both girls picked cherry tomatoes from our garden. Molly trimmed green beans, and Kiera ran water into the pot to steam them.

I handled all stove and oven stuff. I probably could've let them turn the stove on, but I don't want them getting any ideas.

They did a really good job. I let them make the salad to their own tastes, so it was heavy on the cucumbers and light on the lettuce. Kiera piled the pizza toppings high, but it worked fine.

Molly also wrote a menu that included the line, "Let's hear it for our chefs, Molly and Kiera Burke, and also their assistant, Naomi Kritzer!" She was immensely pleased at having a hand in dinner. Little does she know that she just took another step towards our long-term goal of having the kids plan and cook one meal each week...

Comments

[jimlawrence.livejournal.com]

Interesting... reading this on an evening when my "baby" -- 23 yr old son -- stopped by (with a couple of friends) and dough and various flavors of mea-- such as boneless chicken breast... and pepperoni made from turkey (because he knows his 26 yr old sister does not eat any meat other than poultry... and whom he had invited to come by)... and feta cheese and bacon and mushrooms and garlic and pre-made pizza dough... and a 1.5 litre bottle of quite drinkable chianti... and proceeds (using my onions and mozarella and spices and olive oil plus some frozen tomato sauce that I had made) to make four delicious pizzas... each one different... and each one delicious. This is a kid who (despite an associate of science degree in auto body collision repair) has worked in restaurants since he was 14.

So... yes... teach your children about food and self-reliance and family togetherness and sharing... and enjoy them now and enjoy them when they become adults (which -- believe me! -- will happen in the blink of an eye).