Someone's in the Kitchen with Momma

I have a great little helper in my kitchen. Her name’s Amelia and hanging out in the kitchen is one of her favorite things. No matter what she’s preoccupied with, asking her to help me cook or bake immediately piques her interest.

Of course, it takes way longer than planned when Chef Amelia’s in the kitchen, but it’s something we can do together. And, even better, there are opportunities to learn everywhere you look. Following directions, early reading skills, number recognition, safety lessons, art and even basic chemistry are just the beginning. We look for different opportunities to work on things she’s already mastered, like pouring and stirring, and have moved on to the more advanced skills of cracking eggs and locating certain measuring cups like “½ cup.”

Recently, I thought it would be fun to take her to the  in Strongsville.  The school has classes specifically designed for preschoolers – they call the class "Kindercooks" – in addition to classes for older students. I was off work for Presidents Day, and the classes are on Mondays, so the timing was perfect.

The menu when we visited consisted of a one-egg omelet with mushrooms, green peppers and cheese. Chef Amelia happily helped to chop (yes, chop, with a knife) some green pepper, but there was absolutely no way she was going to have any part of that green pepper touching her food. Luckily, the students were all able to add their own toppings while the teacher cooked the eggs at the stove.

My daughter and I cook a lot at our house, so some of the skills taught at Young Chefs Academy were things we’ve done before. The new skill for us, though, was the chopping, and Chef Amelia now wants to help me with dicing and slicing. The school uses a plastic knife and taught a really safe way to use it. As it happens, I own a knife like the one they used at the school, but we’ve needed several reminder lessons about knives here at home.

What’s for dinner at our house tonight? I have no idea, but I do know that will be made with love, Chef Amelia’s trademark ingredient.