LIttle Chefs Party

Shortly before Christmas, my firstborn celebrated his seventh birthday. I'm still kinda shell-shocked by it because I can still remember celebrating his first birthday as if it was yesterday and I'm not really sure where all the time has gone. Who knows whether or not he'll even want mommy to throw him corny birthday parties anymore in a few years? Every new year for him brings unknown waters and new territories; being the first child, he'll always be our parenting test subject.

Yes, that's PvZ on his apron... he's never played but his friends have! (Sorry for the bad picture... don't know what happened to the original picture, just took another one with my phone when I noticed today, Jan16/15)

Mini dumpling factory II: Gnocchi!

I know some people think it's a little crazy to cook or bake with kids. The mess and the bickering and the inefficiency and all. But when you love to do something, you want to share it with those that you love. (Besides, I'll never be able to kick back and enjoy a meal made by my kids if I don't start training them now).

I love that the kids can surprise you and learn skills and have perseverance beyond what you (under) estimated for them. Check out my son in action. Turns out that little fingers are ideal for perfectly dimpled gnocchi. (And yes, the video is almost completely silent cuz that just how serious my little number two is).

It's also true what they say about kids being more interested in eating a meal they had a hand in making. I'm sure that my veggie phobic four year old would not have gobbled down these chard gnocchi in quite the same way if he had not made half of them himself. Never mind that they were a dreaded green colour and tasted fairly strongly of chlorophyll.

Additionally, I hope that my kids will grow an appreciation of food; where it comes from, what goes into it, and the people who prepare it for them. This chard gnocchi even gave them a glimpse of "from farm to table" since they picked up the chard, potatoes and eggs from the farm (Round The Bend Farm) with me earlier in the day.

Just because they can't bring home the bacon, doesn't mean that they shouldn't kiss the cook who fried it for them!

P. S.
Yes, the dishes and many other chores in our house often get ignored in favour of doing stuff with the kids. And no, we did not drink all that beer in one sitting... It was at least two.

Mini Dumpling Factory

We're having a cool summer which has been fantastic for kitchen work. Normally in the summer, my kitchen feels like some kind of medieval torture chamber... Except instead of being slowly immersed into a dunk tank, I'm drowning in heat and humidity. This year, we've barely had the a/c on at all and the windows and doors are open most days with a cool breeze flowing through the whole house.

Recently, we capitalized on the cool weather and had the kids help out in the kitchen to produce some delicious dumplings. We had some vegetarian dumplings to wrap as well, so the younger ones could help without running the risk of inadvertent raw meat consumption.

Of course having three kids do anything in the kitchen (or anywhere for that matter) will eventually result in all kinds of silliness; and these industrious faces were quickly replaced by laughter and giggles and dumplings made in every possible shape you can think of.

And as annoying as it was to endlessly repeat that "dumplings which are not closed at both ends will not stay together when mommy cooks them" I had to remember that my brothers and I used to play the exact same games when we "helped" in the kitchen.

There'd be the biggest dumpling ever. The smallest dumpling ever. The flattest dumpling ever. The dumpling with the thickest skin ever. The dumpling with only one piece of choy (vegetable). The dumpling that was only meat. The square dumpling, The triangle dumpling. And so on and so on.  I remember, my mom would separate any dumplings that she could recognize as our handiwork and make the offending party eat them. In fact, if my mom and dad are reading this right now, they are probably laughing about my brother's specialty dumplings that would only contain "one snot of filling" and thinking that I deserve whatever my kids dish out to me for the endless grief I must have caused them.

In any case, I hope that the kids enjoy learning about our food and culture. I look forward to the day that they will be able to share these things with their own families... cause what greater joy can a parent have than to one day witness their children passing on beloved family traditions and have karma come and bite them in the <fattest dumpling ever>?

Sweet Soup Dumplings (湯圓)

Mmmm... sweet soup dumplings. Chewy and warm and not too sweet. In our family we usually enjoy these around the winter solstice, but I know that a lot of families enjoy them during the new year and specifically to celebrate first full moon of Chinese New Year.

Usually, I make these every year with my father and sometimes my brothers if they are available. I have such fond memories of sitting around the dinner table with my family and making dumplings, pot stickers, spring rolls, etc. This year was extra special because it was the first time I made them with my family. 

Cooking with Kids: Kitchen Sink Cookies

My kids love making these because there is a lot of scooping and mixing involved. In fact, I had three kids baking with me and they all had more than enough turns with the spatulas, measuring cups and spoons.

Kitchen sink cookies are an easy cookie to improvise with because anything and everything but the kitchen sink can go into them. You simply start with the ratio of 1 part butter/oil combination to 1.5 parts sugar/honey/sweetener. Throw in an egg. Let the kids scoop in enough flour to give the batter a wet mashed potatoes consistency, plus a spoonful or so of baking soda.

Then the fun begins as the kids get busy bossing each other around about how many chocolate chips go in or when and how long to stir it.  This time around the kids got some mini chocolate chips and whole grain cereal flakes.  Also fun are nuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, (chips :P), etc. The kids enjoyed being in charge of how much stuff went in and how much went into their mouths. I knew they were done when the eating began to overtake the making :)

Fifteen minutes in the oven and there was a treat for all.

Cooking with Kids: The Food

So after dressing the kids up in aprons and hats, what if they ask you to actually cook with them? I find that sometimes they are content to stand and watch me cut and chop everything for dinner. It's especially fun for them when the foods include things that they can steal bits of while I'm prepping: carrots, cheese, etc.

Sometimes, they just want to go into their special drawer in the kitchen (which is full of all the cooking tools that are safe for play) and grab some stuff to make believe with.

Great to have recipes with weights... eliminates measuring!

Sometimes though, watching or pretending is not enough and they want to participate. Or as my toddler says, "Elp mommy doop [Help mommy scoop]".

Little hands trying to knead

We often bake cookies or muffins together since they are very forgiving about my kids inaccurate measurements. The kids have fun scooping, counting and measuring out all the ingredients. Giving them each their own bowl to mix only makes one extra bowl to wash, but keeps both very happy. Then they enjoy forming the cookies or dropping chocolate chips/fruit/raisins into the muffin cups.

Of course, my waistline doth protest when we bake too many sweets. So they often help me with pizza or calzones. You can make your own dough or buy some from the store. They play with the dough like it's modelling clay while I make the actual meal. When they are finally done playing with the dough, I either have them make a mini pizza/calzone or we fry the dough like a pan bread for a quick treat while we wait for the main event to bake.

What mommy made while the kids were playing with the dough

Any type of bread is fun for the kids, because they get to measure and then get hands-on with the dough. Breads are also great because you can often convert all the measurements to weights. And if you place your mixing bowl on a scale, the kids can scoop away to their little hearts' content while you simply watch the scale.

What the kids made

To minimize the waiting time between risings, I use instant yeast where possible and plan the bread making around lunch time. That way we can make the dough and knead it before lunch, have some lunch while it rises, form it after lunch, rise it again and bake/cook during post-lunch play and it's ready by snack time.

The sweet reward 

Mommy does have an ulterior motive for having kids in the kitchen and the inevitable mess that follows. though... the faint hope of future kids who can cook for themselves and me!

Cooking with Kids: Chef Hats

Of course, every little chef in an apron needs a hat to complete the look.

Never mind the super wiggly sewing...
that's what happens when your super wiggly two year-old sits in your lap while you're sewing.

You can definitely make a chef's hat without a pattern... but I like this tutorial from youcanmakethis.com because the adjustable headband is really nicely finished.

I modified this one to include a little bit of piping along the band and crown edge. I simply pinned the piping between the crown and band...

... and sewed it all together with the zipper foot. No basting required because the ruffling of the crown hides all anyway :)

I've also made them with coloured/patterned headbands and caps to coordinate with patterned aprons. Unfortunately, no pictures of those ones exist because they are currently being enjoyed by the kids they were made for :) Maybe I can get their mom to get a pic of her adorable children for me...

Cooking with Kids: Apron Crazy

Aprons are always a great dress-up/utility item for kids. Over the years, I've made my share of aprons and chef's hats for little friends. My first few aprons were creations from off the top of my head, but most recently I've made a few using this great tutorial from Lier @ ikatbag.

What I love about Lier's tutorials and projects is the attention to detail and the functionality of her pieces... In the past, I've made my aprons with a d-ring on the neck strap for adjustability, but Lier's elasticized neck strap is pure genius for little heads and impatient hands.

These ones were made for my two boys after my eldest asked me to make him a "cooking dress" for his Kids in the Kitchen class at the local rec centre. I wanted the aprons to be masculine enough to be worn by my boys, but not so much so that they could not be passed down to the baby girl. Hence the bias tape made from green camouflage print and the fairly unisex pictures embellishing the apron pockets.

The apple and orange were cut freehand from some scrap fabric. Love being able to use up scraps... (Does anyone know at what point I need to stop saving the scraps and consider them garbage? I find it so hard to throw cloth into the garbage!)

Here are a couple more aprons that were made for another set of brothers.

The Thomas fabric seemed a bit thin, so these aprons were lined with some broadcloth.

I love aprons! So much variation and so quick to make. The best reward is that the kids love them and they are a totally practical dress-up item. Add in a chef's hat and the kids are in heaven. Picture op for moms and dads as well :)

Fourth Birthday: Gingerbread Houses

What do you do with kindergarten age children during a birthday party? There's food and cake, but how to keep them occupied during the remainder of the party? Having winter birthdays means that my kids will never be able to have any outdoor fun, like sprinklers or jumping castles. And complicated crafting activities that require a lot of sitting still don't work that well for kindergarten kids... especially the boys.

So I figured I would combine something that involves food (in this case, candy and cookies), decorating (for the girls) and making a mess with icing (for the boys). And since it was something that was connected to the holiday season, I hoped that it would be something new and novel for the kids.

Gingerbread houses! What child would say no to candies and colours and icing "glue"?

I had originally whipped up a whole batch of gingerbread dough to bake the cookies myself, but when I went to Bulk Barn to pick up the candies, I found they had house kits that were very reasonably priced and saved me the trouble and sleeplessness of doing too much the night before the party.

The miniature gingerbread suburb along with the spinosaurus cake.

I assembled the houses the morning of the party and hoped desperately that the icing would set hard enough in the two hours before the party to withstand the rigours of young children decorating them. To this end, I intentionally mixed the royal icing a little thicker than usual, which definitely helped the houses dry faster, but almost gave me carpal tunnel trying to squeeze it out of the icing bag!

Note to self: Assembling one or two gingerbread houses is fun, but assembling nine in a row under a time limit is not.

When the kids initially sat down to the dining room table for this craft, I wasn't sure that they understood or wanted to participate. However, once I had demonstrated and handed them each their own bag full of icing plus a table full of candies, they were off in their own little sugar-fuelled worlds.

Here are some of their creations:

The last one belongs to my son, the birthday boy. He was complaining that the candies weren't sticking. And it was no wonder when I turned his house around to investigate and found the icing avalanche that was sliding down his roof. I just had to reassure him that the icing would dry soon and he just had to keep replacing the candies that were sliding off :)

They had lots of fun and the mess was more or less limited to fingertips and the tabletop... not much on clothing or hair. Luckily I had my SIL and a couple of moms here to help me clean up and wrap the houses up in cello paper. So the craft was a success and the kids enjoyed having something they made to show to their moms.