Cooking with Our Children

“I think our job as parents is to give our kids roots to grow and wings to fly.” ~ Deborah Norville

Some of our most rewarding parenting moments happen in the kitchen cooking alongside our children. It is especially rewarding when they cook a meal to feed themselves, skipping the phone call to the take-out place, and instead, raiding the fridge for ingredients that are healthy and delectable!

It started when our kids were young, our attachment to teaching them their way around the kitchen. At first they experimented with serving us breakfast in bed (yumm, burnt toast and bowls of soggy honey nut cheerios)! But now, it has moved on to more sophisticated and healthy meals. Teaching them to create their own balanced meals is exciting to them and rewarding to us because it offers a lifelong skill set that will keep them on the path to healthy.

It’s never too early (or late!) to start cooking with your kids. Where to start? Are there 5 breakfast, 5 lunch, and 5 dinner options you could teach them? Here’s an example of meals they could accomplish themselves in a day: Avocado toast for breakfast, quesadillas for lunch, grilled steak and vegetables for dinner!

The shopping list could look like this for above mentioned meals:

• olive oil
• avocados (buy extra so they can make guacamole too!)
• eggs
• sliced bread
• cilantro
• hemp seeds
• tortillas
• shredded cheese
• can of BPA-free black beans
• jar of salsa
• sirloin or flank steak
• broccoli
• cauliflower

With this list, you could get them set up for a few days of success, which is even more important now that kids are remote learning. When we run out the door to work in the morning, we feel a lot better knowing the fridge is stocked with simple items that let them put together a day’s worth of meals. It’s a huge confidence boost (not to mention health boost) when our kids can feed themselves AND also feed the family. We take turns which kid is serving family dinner at night. Check out this adorable grilled steak video that we made with our 18 year old boys! 

Teaching kids to cook might be the #1 way to give them wings to fly. It has brought us so much laughter, so much adventure, and great health. Keep an eye on our Instagram and Facebook where we will be running a “cooking with kids” series. Satisfying selections such as acai bowl creations, smoothie boosters, lunch roll-ups and frittatas! 

Here’s to cooking up joy in your kitchen!
Fran and Michelle