Saturday, July 11, 2009

Budding Chefs

I recently learned something new about my children. I don't know about the rest of you, but mine usually go into meltdown overload when I'm cooking anything for dinner that doesn't include the words pizza, nuggets or mac-n-cheese.

"I hate that!"
"It's disgusting!"
"You make the grossest dinners in the world!"

It's a real self-esteem booster.

And then I tried something new. A few weeks ago I was out shopping with Noelle when we decided to make Taco Salad for dinner. She got on board when she heard there were Doritos in the salad. Upon arriving home with the ingredients, I was suddenly inspired to ask the kids if they'd like to help Mommy cook.

BINGO

After a quick lesson about knives and how to handle each one, I gave them each a task to do.




Noelle's lettuce need a few last chops from Mom, but Charlie was amazing with the tomatoes. After that was done, they actually got upset -- because there wasn't enough left for them to do! Charlie grated the cheese for me, and both kids helped add in the chips and beans. I cooked and put in the meat, and...


TACO SALAD!!

Not to mention two very happy kids who absolutely devoured their dinner. Score!!!

6 comments:

Ranch Girl said...

Sounds yummy, and I'm so glad the kids loved it!

Dawn said...

way to go on menu selection!

As for the comments... my kids would say things like that but then I told them how it hurt my feelings and they quit... and now I refuse to answer the "what's for dinner" question because I don't like their responses...

Mere said...

The 4 and 6 year old kids that I nanny for always tell me, "Oh my gosh, Ms. Meredith, that is SO GROSS!!" Drives me nuts. I tell them, "The next meal is _____(insert next meal)" and somehow they miraculously decide to eat my food and decide they LIKE it!! That taco salad looks delicious and I always love to see kids in the kitchen!! VERY CLEVER!!

Love, Mere

Angela said...

"You make the grossest dinners in the world!" That really made me laugh!! ;)

LazyCrazyMama said...

Awesome!! What a great idea!

John Deere Mom said...

That's awesome! And it looks delish. I LOVE taco salad!