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I love to cook.  My husband also loves to cook. If we had all the time in the world I’m positive we would make some pretty interesting creations. For now we stick to healthy, standard fare that our three boys will usually eat without much complaining.

Allowing my kids to be active participants in the cooking process ^[2] has always been important to me. They stir, they pour and they help in every way possible. My earliest recollection of them cooking dates back to their years in preschool when they had a weekly baking or cooking activity.

All three boys (12, 11 and 9) continue to express an interest in cooking. I’ve spent much time fostering their love of cooking through deep breathing and overlooking sauce, flour, sugar and other ingredients that cover my walls and floors as well as their little bodies and faces. Kids just aren’t neat when they cook.

So their cooking creations continue. My kids now have 5 specialties that they claim to have perfected over the years.

Scrambled Eggs

According to my three boys, the trick to making the perfect scrambled eggs is using a stainless steel or cast iron pan ^[3] and not cooking them too long.  Yellow with no brown is perfection. We use organic eggs ^[4] when we can, rice milk or almond milk and olive oil instead of butter.

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French Toast

French toast with a little vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate and berries make it a special treat. Hands down the best french toast is made with challah. HERE’s a great recipe for Challah French Toast (we use rice or almond milk instead of dairy).

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Tabbouleh

My 12 year old saw a recipe for tabbouleh and decided he wanted to make it this weekend. After a trip to the supermarket and 2 hours of chopping and dicing he did it. The adults all thought it was fabulous, but he didn’t like it as much as we did. Needless to say, I was an impressed mommy. The recipe ^[7] he used was very simple with few ingredients. The prep took a lot of time and patience.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is where it gets ugly in the kitchen. Imagine flour flying everywhere and more chips on the floor and in their mouths than in the batter. It’s all well worth it for the prize at the end.

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 Tofu

Our favorite way to prepare tofu is to cube it and add it to a wok with a little soy sauce. That’s it.

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What do your kids love to cook?

 

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography via photopin ^[11] cc ^[12], foodiesathome.com ^[13] via photopin ^[11] cc ^[14], ginnerobot ^[15] via photopin ^[11] cc ^[16],  ohdearbarb ^[17] via photopin ^[11] cc ^[18]