Culinary Capers

Grandparents are supposed to be fun! They hopefully don’t need to be the disciplinarians and can just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Our grandkids love to help in the kitchen. Papa is a great bread baker and they love measuring the ingredients and helping him knead the bread and let’s face it there is nothing to beat fresh hot bread with butter and homemade berry jam. Our grandkids love to help in the kitchen whether it is squeezing lemons for lemonade, fresh juice from the oranges they’ve picked, kneading bread, baking cookies or helping make dinner, they’re on board and ready to help. Make it a good experience for all.

1. Make it fun! – I can’t stress that enough. Relax, sing songs, and be playful. Wear fun aprons and make it a happy experience.
2. Plan ahead – Make sure you know what you are going to be preparing and have everything you need on hand. Don’t forget to make it age appropriate! Know their capabilities and plan accordingly.
3. Expect mess! – Just let it happen and don’t stress, cleaning up afterwards can be part of the fun.
4. Don’t stress over how it looks – Kids can’t make it look like a gourmet. Don’t take the fun out of it by fussing!
5. Take your time – It takes longer for kids to do things so allow plenty of extra time.
6. Use your garden – Our grandkids LOVE picking produce from the garden and using it in a meal is an added bonus. You’ll find them trying foods they may have shunned before.
7. Taste testing – isn’t that one of the fun parts of cooking? Let them pick. Who cares if it spoils their appetite, they’re at grandma’s house, remember?
8. Be Safe – I feel silly reminding grandparents since we’ve already raised our own, but it always bears remembering because an ounce of prevention is worth pounds of cure. Prepare what might be unsafe for kids ahead and where possible use kid safe equipment like plastic knives and bowls.