For quite a while now, most weekends I involve all my children in cooking a meal or two.
This was how I learnt in my mothers’ kitchen and it’s invaluable to start them young (as soon as they are old enough to help with bringing the tomatoes) for so many reasons.
- It builds their self-esteem, confidence and they feel like valued contributors.
- It helps to grow their sense of independence so that even when you are not around, they can easily cope on their own.
- It helps you a great deal on days that you are just too worn out to think straight. They can easily whip up an omelette for you.
- It’s fun and offers a great bonding time as well. We swap stories or just generally chit-chat.
- It offers them the opportunity to learn a basic life skill and you never know what direction life can take them.
- Real life science and opportunity to experiment.
- Calculation skills are introduced here as well as better comprehension; I ask them to write down what they learnt or to read a recipe and explain it to me.
- You increase their imagination – to the point that my children now hunt for new recipes that we can try 🙂
- A nice way of sneaking in the vegetables, since ordinarily, two of my children avoid veggies, but taking part in making it does a wonderful thing to the mind.
…and yes, the food tastes extra special 🙂
Yesterday, we made our own version of baked potatoes and vegetable casserole with meatballs.
My daughter selected and washed the items according to my directions – I was the Operations Director 😉
They all participated in the paring, grating, cubing of the vegetables and potatoes, whilst mommy’s responsibility was to add the spices, assemble the processed items and set it to bake.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the finished product before we dug into it, luckily, I took a couple of photos when we started.
Recipe:
1 big sweet potatoes – peeled, washed and grated
3 medium sized Irish potatoes – peeled, washed and cubed
Half a head of Broccoli
3 large tomatoes
1 large onions
4 medium carrots – peeled, washed and grated
4 big white mushrooms
I large yellow bell pepper.
2 beaten eggs for binding.
Fresh garlic – out of a clove, I use like 4 pieces.
Spinach – a handful
A sprinkle of parsley
Oregano – half teaspoon
A dash of curry spice
Salt – 3 teaspoons
2 cubes of Maggi stock
25-50 gms of grated cheddar cheese – layered through and sprinkled on top.
1 pack of minced meat – spiced and rolled into balls with breadcrumbs.
Served a family of 5 with generous helpings and leftovers 🙂
Have a great weekend and do share your tips with us.
© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
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From the very first poem, “Dreams,” this book captivates with passionate and perceptive words. Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha captures a broad expanse of the human experience in this book of richly layered poems.
Well I have always been of the belief that Children should be taught the most basic of skills from an early age, I recall helping out my mum when I was a wee lad (though it was probably just making extra mess). Cooking is a good and therapeutic action, at home at least, commercially it is a different kettle of fish.
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It’s a great experience and I must agree about the therapeutic part. Your mother is certainly a wise woman 🙂
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Sounds wonderful. One of the best lessons my son had was when he had total responsibility to feed us all for a week – managing the budget, shopping, menu planning, cooking. He was so concerned about not overspending he came under budget!
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Ha,ha. That’s a good one. I’ll keep this in mind as they grow older 🙂 Thank you Raili
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Very nice post!
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Thank you. I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with all my comments ending up in the spam box. Very tiresome. I just saw this and want to say thank you for your kind words.
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A lovely post. I am so thankful that my mum taught my sisters and I to cook from an early age, despite the mess we made in the kitchen!
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I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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You are very welcome. Hope you get sorted Ok. Downloaded your book and it is an awesome achievement. Well done. I will put a comment on Amazon when I have finished.
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Oh wow! Thank you very much Brigid. I totally appreciate that.
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My pleasure.
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When I cook, it is fun to ask the little ones to help. I found they were always more apt to eat what they had cooked!
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That’s so awesome and they love it. I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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So many of mine were doing that awhile ago. I even filled out forms for aksimet but they never found anything, now it seems better!
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A fantastic post. The recipe sounds delicious 🙂
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I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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I will be moving in with my son temporarily and this was a great reminder to cook together for the fun on it.
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That sounds great. I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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Blessed be the ties that bind and the food that we share.
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I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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Passing on the wisdom and skills, you’ve done a great job. This interaction helped build a great bond between generations of grandparents, parents and children in my family.
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I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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You are welcome and enjoy your family.
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I’ll be working on this all summer
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Great idea. I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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😊😊😊
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I think having your children cook is fantastic.
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I am seriously wondering what’s wrong with most of my comments ending up in the spam box in the past couple of weeks. Very tiresome. I have to go in there, dig and approve. I just saw this and want to say thank for your comments.
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