Cooking with Kiddos

Ever had one of those days that just isn't what you thought it was going to be? Well that was my day. Got up at a decent time to try and take advantage of cooler temps to go pick sweetcorn. Well the heat beat me and it was already about 80 degrees and humid. I was expecting to come home with about 6 dozen ears, but only came away with 2. Then I ended up with a pal for the rest of the morning and afternoon. My 5 year old nephew Ryan helped me mow and get gas for the Gator. My mom and sister came around 1 to help with corn (thinking that there would be a ton) but instead kept Ryan occupied (a difficult task, I assure you) while I did the corn.

My nieces and nephew LOVE to "help" in the kitchen, but I don't always have a patience required to cook with kids, especially in my tiny kitchen. By God's grace I felt that we were able to have fun today and turn it into a learning experience for Ryan-and me! One thing that I have come to realize when cooking with kids is that you will have more dishes to do than normal. Inevitably, a spoon will get dropped, they will lick something they aren't suppose to and this could turn into a very frustrating experience for the one doing the washing up. We played it cool today and used what dishes we needed to and made sure his hands stayed clean. This was another BIG challenge for a 5 year old. I made him wash his hands about 50 times while making cookies. Hands on the floor, in the mouth, up the nose, the list goes on and on. He learned though that if you pick your nose, you have to wash your hands if you are making something that other people are going to be eating. I learned that 5 year olds pick their nose a lot. :)
All in all, it was a fun, if not exhausting day. We made a batch of snickerdoodles and some muffins. I sent my mom and sister home with 6 pints of freezer corn, since there is much more corn coming and I already have 4 1/2 quarts. I'll probably be out again Saturday to pick more and might be freezing more if necessary. I hope you enjoy the pictures...I couldn't resist putting Ryan in David's kilt apron!

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