Cooking is Fun!

Well, at least for me it is. Well, at least most of the time it is. Well, I try to make it fun. With two little ones running around me, cooking does become a race to get food on the table before major meltdowns or fights occur. I've learned that cooking most of dinner during Kara's nap, makes the last pre-dinner moments much more relaxed - for all of us. This way, we can stay outdoors and play longer, often right up until dinner time. John also gets to help me in the kitchen, if he's not at school that day. And he LOVES to help in the kitchen. He practically jumps for joy if you need a lime or lemon squeezed. That keeps him occupied for quite awhile and he will get EVERY last drop of juice out of that citrus for you. (Great skills to have when Mommy and Daddy want margaritas!) He also enjoys other kitchen tasks - measuring, stirring, and placing things in casseroles, to name a few. Now, I do admit to having a hard time getting used to having the short person help in the kitchen. I have pretty much always been a solo chef. It's my kitchen and I am the queen of the room. But that's not quite the way it works these days. I have had to adapt a little to my sidekick, and no doubt will have to adapt further before long when Kara's ready to become a helper too. For now I still can enjoy cooking some good meals that occasionally even the kids will eat.

I am hoping that as my blogging habit gets more frequent I'll even start posting a few recipes here. For example, a recipe for swiss chard patties that my neighborhood moms have heard us talk about like crazy this summer with all the swiss chard we've been getting from our various garden sources and my kids love it! I've got a few other goodies that I'm hoping to share with other moms and folks who might be interested. Good, quick, easy, and kid friendly recipes can be challenging, especially when you add in the vegetarian factor as well. Oh vay! Anyway, look for that in future posts...once I can get myself unhooked from Facebook, my other latest technology craze. ;-)