Friday, May 22, 2009

cooking with kayla

Wow! It's been awhile since I've participated in Kid Friendly Friday at I Blame My Mother. Do I seriously not do enough with my kids these days!? Maybe it's because the weather has been so gorgeous that most of the time is spent playing outside enjoying the sun, so there is no real "organized" activity.

However, we did squeeze in a little "cooking up some fun" the other day in the kitchen. Mikayla is at that age of wanting to soak in everything she can! Her new favorite thing to do is help me cook! For our last MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, we had a speaker come share with us about cooking with our kids and I really enjoyed listening to the tips and suggestions she had to pass along. I was also able to do a little online browsing as I prepared for some cooking links we could post on the MOPS blog, and that got me inspired as well. It was fun to see the different recipes out there or things you could do in the kitchen with your kids to teach them to help and enjoy the process of cooking! (Here is a simple article with tips on teaching kids the cooking basics...there are so many other resources out there, too!)

At the end of last week I thought it was the perfect day to make a sweet treat, so we opted for smoothies. Mikayla loves smoothies and it is the perfect little treat to share...it would be Austin's first try. After realizing we didn't have all the ingredients, we decided to take a quick walk to the grocery store to pick up some groceries. On the way there Mikayla and I had a little conversation about what was on our "list". We talked about what ingredients we needed to make our smoothie and what we had at home and what we needed to buy. I told her that she needed to help me remember. It was so cute for her to say the list back to me. (A random side note: Mikayla has been calling bananas "manna" for the longest time, so we tried pronouncing it for her so she could repeat it back to us. Buh-na-na. Simple, right? She repeats it back to us like this: Buh-duh-na-na. I'm so going to try to get this on video because it is just too cute!)

Time to get a cookin'!

Step 1: Cut up the bananas.

Step 2: Pour in the milk
Step 3: Measure out the yogurt
Step 4: Add in the berries.
Step 5: Turn on the blender.
Step 6: Give mom a cheesy grin.
Step 7: Cheers!

Mikayla decided to take hers "to go"!
And it looks like the smoothie was a hit...

...every last drop!


Another little cooking lesson that I didn't capture on camera was her helping me with dinner the other night. When it's appropriate and I have the time, I plan on giving Mikayla little jobs to do in the kitchen with me. (While Mikayla was helping me, I gave Austin a few {new to him} cooking tools to play with while we worked to distract him.) She put the salad in the bowls (I must admit it was a bagged salad! Gasp!). She was also in charge of buttering the bread and sprinkling the Parmesan cheese on top. Just giving your kids a little job in the kitchen will bring a smile to their face. It might be an extra mess, but I think it's worth it! Just don't choose an evening that's full of stress! One of the tips that I learned was to pick one night a week that was set aside for Mikayla to help me in the kitchen. That meal could be something that would be easy and fun to do together!

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek



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And, in other blogging news...I'm going to be enjoying an all day scrapbooking getaway on Saturday and heading out of town on Sunday until Monday night to visit friends, so you won't be hearing a lot from me, but most of you probably also have plans with the long weekend coming up. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend and we'll "see" you when we "see" you!

26 comments:

Dawn said...

Have a wonderful time at your scrapbooking retreat and trip. Enjoy!!

Thanks for the reminder about cooking with the kids. With our busy schedule lately, they haven't been helping out too much. Hopefully once sports are over we can get back to it. I like the idea about setting one night aside.

Kelli W said...

That smoothie looks really yummy!! Thands for the recipe and the tips! Have a great weekend!

Jennifer W. said...

My older girls love helping in the kitchen too-especially smoothies! My 9 year old's newest favorite is scrambled eggs. She can make them by herself as long as Paul or I are in the kitchen with her! She loves the independence!! And don't you love it when they mispronounce words??
Jen

Emily said...

Yummy! I'll have to let my kiddos give that a shot.

vicki said...

It looks like Mikayla was having a great time. She will have to make one of these for her Papa and Grammy! Thank you for the birthday greetings.
Love,
Mom

My Trendy Tykes said...

I would love a smoothie right now!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

Hi Heidi!
Those smoothies look delicious! My kids love making them!

Have a wonderful time at your scrapbooking retreat. How fun!

XOOX
Jen

He & Me + 3 said...

Great job. My kids love to help in the kitchen too. She did wonderful making the smoothies. I am going away on Saturday all day to scrap too. HOw fun for us both. Enjoy your weekend.

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

Great skills you are teaching her. Love that my kids can help out in the cooking department!
Have a great Memorial weekend ...pause and remember those who made/make this holiday possible.

A Crafty Mom said...

That looks fun AND yummy - I often get my boys to help us do smoothies too! Occasionally messy but so worth it - enjoy your scrapbooking get away!!

Kelli said...

An all day scrapbooking getaway...how nice! Enjoy every last minute. I met with my Stampin Up rep yesterday and she's so nice. I can't wait for my party. Have a great weekend.

Chris said...

What a great reminder. Great pics too! I love the idea of setting aside a night for the kids to help out. I think I will start doing that with mine. One night each for them (no fighting that way..lol). Off to check out the site you suggested as well!

Have a great weekend!

Xazmin said...

Tiy are such a good mama. I really look up to you for all the ways you make time to do fun things with your kiddos!

Love the flag picture and quote.

Maridith said...

This is a great post!! Your little ones are so cute!! Have a fabulous time this weekend!!

Katie said...

I love that it was to go!

Moore Minutes said...

You've been tagged! Stop by my blog. :)

Rhonda said...

Hey Heidi,

Guess what?? I just received my Craft it Forward Goodies from YOU!

WOOOHOOO! I'M SCREAMING IN UPPERCASE...I WAS SO EXCITED! LOVE IT ALL! The frame is my fav! So fun! Thank you, thank you! I'll be posting mine soon!

Shawn said...

Have fun scrap booking, I'm jealous!

Shellie said...

That looks like it was fun to do and to drink! Have fun scrapping.

kayerj said...

cooking and kids, what fun. Hope you can stop by to view my photo hunt Thanks so much.

Sarah Ondracek said...

I love that Mikayla put in her front basket, that was too cute! You can tell they both loved it. You made two kiddos VERY happy with that little treat! Enjoy your three day weekend:)

Latrice said...

How cool is that. You're starting at a great age, teaching your kids how to cook. In no time they'll be confident and independent in the kitchen all on their own! Way to go!

Your site is just what Raising Chefs is all about. Come by and check us out and maybe even grab a Raising Chefs' site approval seal for your site!

Have a blessed weekend!

Katie said...

Have a great time scrapbooking! I hope you get lots done and ENJOY! I will look forward to hearing about it.

Have a fantastic holiday weekend!

Sharon said...

We cook, bake and hang out in the kitchen the majority of every day. The boys help a lot with breakfast and baking cookies and love it. Just a couple of weeks ago we had a cookie making playdate! It was great and yes, kids LOVE to help in the kitchen all the time! Thanks for the great post!

Hillary said...

What a perfect thing to make with her! I'm excited for Ruby to get to these stages. :)

Have fun on your getaway!

I also wanted to say sorry for not doing your tag awhile back-I hope you'll tag me again despite that. I was tagged by three different people at a really hard time and then didn't get a chance to do any of them.

Sarah said...

I'm just now getting to look at all of the KFF posts. I really need to set aside time for the kids to help in the kitchen. I am a little OCD but need to be OK with a little mess and things taking a little longer. Breathe in, breathe out, let them help :) I will try!

I got the ribbon organizer - thank you!!

 
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