Living and Cooking With Kids

I have four of them, and they are everywhere!  Active, needy, creative, messy, hilarious, frustrating, helpful, helpless, loud, athletic, silly, talented, busy, smart, loving: kids!

Cooking for these little monkeys is challenging- They have always been pretty picky with food.  When they were very small I acknowledged their pickiness and attempted to do something about it. I did what I called, "The Picky Eater Experiment" on them.  I blogged about it. It was a fail in the end...I didn't change their pickiness.  I now see that if they are served chicken fingers and pizza and grilled cheese options alongside veggie based dishes, they will choose the chicken fingers, pizza and grilled cheese.

After feeding them mostly a plant-based diet, (8 weeks now), I am finding that they are trying many new foods that they never would have before.  (While they still hate lots).  They are learning to enjoy and explore new and healthful menu options.  Today at bedtime snack they requested avocado on toast, apple & orange slices, peanut butter and veggie sticks (green pepper, celery, carrots)!  (Note: peanut butter- no sugar, just peanuts).

Cooking for them is also a challenge, not only because of the pickiness, but because of the craziness!  Today, for example, while cooking dinner, there were skateboards going by (yes I allow them to do that in the house as long as they wear their helmets) and one kid was running around with no pants on.  I was interrupted by important matters such as, "I need to buy a recorder for school, and I don't want my brothers'!" and less important matters such as, "Why is the inside of the dog's ear pink?".  There was also an explosion of chickpea flour which required vacuuming and mopping (by the kids) and one change of clothes. For this reason, usually I turn on the T.V., send them in the family room so I can have some peace and quiet with my lovely relaxing jazz music while I cook dinner fast and efficiently.

HOWEVER, I have a feeling that keeps coming back to me.  I want to teach the kids cooking skills that they will need in their lives.  I also feel that they need to be more responsible and contribute to the family meals.  Having all four of them helping me prep dinner would be a complete and utter disaster!

So my PLAN: each child has one day per week where they don't watch T.V./have screen time with their siblings, instead they be my sous chef.  So one day per week, they get one-on-one time with me, we get to plan and prepare the meal together.  I get help in the kitchen (theoretically) and we have bonding time (theoretically) and they will learn and develop skills they need to be an independent vegan cook as they grow up (theoretically).  I have tried this once before and it failed.  We are trying again!  So far it is awesome!  (Not always consistent- haircuts/playdates/after school activities can get in the way) but I generally stick to our schedule: Monday: O, Tuesday: Q, Wednesday: S, Thursday: G. Friday: Just me!