To complicate matters even more this year, Mondays and Thursdays are dance nights for Sophia and Samantha, respectively. So with dance starting at 5:30 pm and 5:00 pm, it leaves little time for big meals again ... let's just say, I have been getting very creative with the meals so that we can still enjoy a family meal that is healthy and balanced, while also being easy to re-heat for those family members that are zipping out the door.
Sophia has always been my biggest helper in the kitchen. She squeals out loud each and every time that I ask if she would like to put her apron on and help me. Sam enjoys it too, but she is usually in school or busy doing something else outside.
The other day, Sophia helped me make potato soup in the crockpot. In the past, Steve and I have always made it on the stovetop, but I discovered that I can cut my prep time tremendously by using frozen hash browns and making it in the crockpot. I modified it slightly from the original recipe and determined that this will go in our monthly rotation for sure.
Most of the ingredients were easy for Sophia to simply pour/dump into the crockpot herself.
I cut up the onion, obviously, and Sophia added it to the mix inside:
She started out adding the onion chunks one-by-one, but I soon encouraged her to add them by the handful.
Adding the ham was also a very easy task for her. I even turned it into a number game by asking her to count her handfuls.
As I mentioned, Sam seems to be in school when I do most of my cooking, but I made sure to include her this last weekend. She is proud of the fact that she is able to "use the stove," while Sophia is limited to much safer cooking techniques ...
I am so happy that both of the girls love to accompany me in the kitchen. I seem to spend most of my time there (which I love), and with the holidays approaching, I imagine that we will be doing a lot of baking and cooking together ...
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