After a rough instructional pancake session last night that ended with both of us upset, she did these all on her own today!
Katie’s pancakes
Category Archives: In the Kitchen
Tell me you have kids without telling me you have kids.
This was in the cheese drawer. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Gramma’s potato peelers!
Cookie decorating!
We haven’t done cookie decorating because I just don’t have the patience. Buuuuut Anna wanted to do it so we tried. And even though there was a bit of a shaky start…Katie was actually pretty good at the whole thing. I was impressed. Owen doesn’t like sugar cookies so he did like one cookie and that was it. Tom and I even got into it.
Scout Backyard Campout
Since Covid-19 has thrown everything out of whack, a scouts weekend camping trip was turned into a backyard campout. The boys had a schedule to follow including camp setup, meal planning, zoom calls, computer check-ins with photos, and games!
FRIDAY
We borrowed a small tent from friends and both Owen and Katie LOVED hanging out in it. We put it up in the morning and they pretty much spent all day in and out of it, sometimes together, sometimes alone. They were coloring and listening to music and who knows what else.
And of course Owen loved starting a fire!
Katie really wanted to sleep outside with him but he wanted to do it himself. We were slightly unsure he’d last all night, but he said he’d be fine but asked if we’d leave all the lights on…so it was basically daylight out there.
SATURDAY
The night went fine and he stayed out all night!! Tom assisted with getting the fire ready for cooking breakfast but Owen did most of the actual food prep!
Both kids LOVED cooking over the fire… Katie—who generally says she doesn’t like hot dogs—cooked and ate TWO!
Owen decided to let Katie sleep with him the second night and she was over the moon. They had another official 9:30 lights out but she says they stayed up really late! And again, as bright as day out there.
SUNDAY
Overall we were really impressed with how much Owen enjoyed spending time in the tent and prepping and cooking food! He’ll be even more ready if and when actually camping weekends start again!
Green onion experiment!
A friend told me that green onions would sprout in water so we tried it. And whaddya know? It worked! It’s not enough if you need a bunch of them, but if you just need a few tiny pieces for a garnish, this is perfect.
Today’s eLearning lesson?
Bartending 101: Bloody Marys — Teach your children well, folks. #dontjudgeme
Tom came up with dinner tonight
Introducing naan pizzas with leftovers! We each got to build our own with bunches of whatever was left in the fridge!
- Tom: pulled pork, fried onions, fried jalapeño, bbq sauce, mozzarella
- Owen: pizza sauce, spaghetti and meatballs, pulled pork, bratwurst, cheddar cheese
- Jen: mozzarella cheese, fried onions, fried jalapeño, bbq sauce, cheddar cheese
- Katie: bratwurst, pulled pork, cheddar cheese
They were delicious. But more importantly, Katie willingly ate meat! She finished the whole thing!
Making our own pseudo corn dogs!
They turned out okay and everybody liked them but I would probably do it differently the next time. We had to lay the hotdogs down because they were too tall to stand upright but it was a little weird just having a hotdog in the middle so I would probably actually cut up discs instead. I might also make them more bite-size and use smaller tins.
Our chef this evening!
Instant Pot spaghetti and meatballs! Delish!
This is about the third time he’s done it and we’re hoping the next one he’ll be able to do ALL on his own.
Kitchen lesson #momwin
Queen of mac and cheese.
Katie didn’t like what we were having for dinner so she was making mac and cheese. Sometimes we help but otherwise she has to get a stool to reach the microwave. Pretty soon I’ll teach her how to make boxed stuff instead of the instant bowls.
Today they helped make fruit pizza!
Blueberry muffin helpers!
Grannie brought a bunch of hand-picked blueberries from Florida so they made muffins! Grannie definitely has more patience in the kitchen with them than I do!!
Mama can I help you?
I had a whole bag of limes to juice so I let her at it. I did have to help a bit (making sure she got the juice in the cup) but she did really well!
Green bean cleaners!
Grandpa and Katie were cleaning green beans for dinner tonight—not quite sure who the instigator was!
Helping Gramma make soup!
Potato Helper
Gramma wanted Katie to check with me if we had enough potatoes for our Thanksgiving Dinner. I said no. I mean really, you can never have too many mashed potatoes.
I was warned to stay out of the kitchen.
The kids helped make my surprise birthday cake!
Helping Grannie in the kitchen
Cupcakes!
We brought cupcakes and frosting for Gramma to do with the kids… Grauntie Marge ended up helping as well, and then I got stuck frosting them and Katie did the sprinkles.
We had them as birthday dessert for Katie after the Wednesday night group dinner when everyone came back to the house to visit. We even sang Happy Birthday to Katie and she loved it!
Play dough with friends!
Today we had a play dough play date with some new friends…the kids played with homemade play dough…and even MADE play dough!
Grannie has much more patience than I do.
The kids helped Grannie make deviled eggs to surprise daddy for lunch.
Cooking dinner with my mom!
What did we make?! CITY CHICKEN!!!! It’s a bit of work so I’ve never made it but my mom made it off and on when I was growing up and it’s a favorite!. She’s here visiting so we made it together today. 🙂
Of course, Katie had to help, too.
She did pretty good until the last piece she couldn’t get on the stick…and she wasn’t too happy (as you can see on her face).
What is city chicken, you may be asking? Breaded, fried, and baked skewered pieces of veal and pork. It looks like chicken legs—like non-farm “city” people might have. Apparently way back when, veal and pork were also cheaper than chicken so it was a faux chicken. It’s DELISH. (Similar recipe to ours here.)
Katie helping wash veggies
Baseball was cancelled so…we made cupcakes!
Helping Papa make his infamous cookies!
Grilled cheese helper
So when I told Owen what I was making for dinner (grilled cheese) he was adamant he wanted to help. I was really NOT in the mood but I let him anyway because the last thing I want to do is discourage anything kitchen- and food-related.
Of course, within the first 15 seconds or so, he dropped the fully-buttered knife down the cabinet front so I was cleaning that and the floor. But he did okay overall. I did learn that he needs to be making his own sandwiches for practice. 🙂
Helping daddy make pancakes
Owen’s day off!
Today was a teacher work day so Owen didn’t have school. I also picked today as a day for no technology—no TV, no iPads, no iPhones—so I try to do at least one fun project. Today I picked cake. 🙂 Owen did pretty good cracking eggs and mixing and I just let Katie dump things into the bowl and mix (with help). 🙂
Taking a Lego break.
Doing chalk in the back yard (on the steps—and as you can see in the next picture, any cement surface) since it was very sunny and the front doesn’t have shade OR anywhere to sit.
I told Owen he looked very dapper in his shirt (I had sent him upstairs to get dressed in his own) and this was the look I got: Yeah, I know. 🙂
That look. All I did was ask her to smile for a picture. Stinker.
I then surprised Owen with a Brick Loot box so he had fun building the Lego-ish toys. This was a 3-in-1 toy and I was surprised he actually built all three!
