Today, I made brownies with my daughter whose 3 years old. She loves "helping" me in the kitchen. I don't like it so much. I'd much rather do something else with her, because "helping" to Grace actually means using the stove, putting something in a hot oven, skillet or pan or kneading dough after petting the cat or touching everything in sight. It's pretty stressful.
I guess I'm a little selfish when I cook. I don't like distractions and Grace is full of them. I am the complete opposite of my grandmother, who always allowed me to help in the kitchen. I learned a lot by watching her. I thought I'd grow up to be patient like her.
When my kids were babies I imagined myself making cookies, and decorating cupcakes with them, but that was crushed when I actually had them in the kitchen with me. I want them to measure and pour, but they wanted to do everything but. I want my children to like cooking. It's part of teaching them to take care of themselves, but to be quite honest I don't have the patience. I hate it so much that I do it at night when they are asleep or when they are distracted by television or playing.
So that my children and I can have fond memories, I take a short cut. I use boxed desserts. I have to be honest. I am not a fan of processed foods. I really like cooking from scratch, but to keep the stress level down in the kitchen, I fake it. It's much quicker, less mess and they love cooking. Today, we made a box of Giradelli brownies. I make it more interesting by adding a "secret" ingredient. This time I gave them a twist by adding coffee left from this morning instead of water and we baked them in a mini-muffin pan.
She was so happy. I feel like I created a great memory. She had a patient instructor and I was only in the kitchen with her for about 6 minutes. We moved on to a rhyming game which I like much better.
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