Kitchen Helper

C wanted to help make dinner and we decided lasagna would be a fun way for him to help. I wanted him to be really involved, so I made a few modifications.

Here is the recipe I used:
Bag of Frozen Meatballs, thawed and soaked overnight in sauce
Tub of Ricotta
2 eggs
~2 TBS Italian Seasoning
2 cups shredded mozzarella
½ cup parmesan cheese
Lasagna Noodles

I had him cut the meatball bag, pour the meatballs into a bowl and then pour the jar of sauce over them.
The next day we had to get our hands dirty and dig into the sauce and break apart the meatballs. He loved this part, getting his hands all dirty and breaking them up with his hands.
He got to dump the ricotta in, measure a cup of mozzarella, and a ½ cup of parmesan cheeses and mix all together after I put the two eggs in.
I boiled, drained and rinsed the noodles so he would be able to place them in the pan.
I had him do the layers, he really enjoyed making dinner. We ended up doing a ¼ of the lasagna with no cheese at all. We called that part the cheeseless lasagna since C will not eat cheese at all. The meal turned out yummy and we all enjoyed the lasagna made by C.

My Serious Cooker

My Happy Cooker

Cooking Class - Last Session

Well, cooking class session #3 was not as big of a hit as the previous two. The first item made was pickles in a blanket. It consisted of a piece of turkey, cream cheese, and a pickle rolled and then sliced and served with a toothpick. He informed his teacher (and everyone else) he did not like pickles or cream cheese. The next item was stuffed celery. This was a mixture of cream cheese (yeah the stuff he does not like), crushed pineapple, and minced maraschino cherries spread onto celery. He apparently does not like cherries either. Sigh.
The last item was the only hit for him. It was Peanut Cheerio Pretzel Mix. Not sure what all was in it but it did have peanut butter, peanuts, honey, vanilla, pretzel snaps, peanuts, and cheerios. All things he liked, yay! Success, third time's a charm for him. All the kids loved this last item. No pics of the cooking class items since the first two we did not bring home and the last was quickly devoured by us and unfortunately, the dog ate some too after we went to bed. Darn Calvin! At least he saved me some calories.
He has told his teachers at school he is allergic to cheese. He does not want anything that has cheese, is remotely cheesy, has a texture of cheese, smells like cheese, etc. I thought it was pretty funny that he was able to grasp that other kids did not have to eat something if they were allergic to it, so he would claim an allergy to cheese, seems pretty smart to me. Hubs did not think it was very funny.

Cooking Class - Easter Theme

We had our second cooking class. He really enjoyed himself again. They made three things again this week. Everything was themed in Easter.
1. Bunny Cupcakes - Cupcakes frosted in white frosting, then coconut sprinkled on. For the ears cut a marshmallow in half, dip in pink sprinkles, pinch to make them oval and then stick on with frosting. For the eyes and nose use jelly beans, then the cheeks are mini marshmallows.
2. Egg Mice - Hard boiled egg with radish ears, olive eyes, and a chive tail. Cut slits in the egg and place the ears, eyes, and tail on. She also had cut a small piece off the bottom so they sit flat.
3. Chocolate Pretzels - the kids placed pretzels on their plates, then unwrapped hershey kisses and hugs. They then melted them in the microwave and when done, stuck a easter colored M&M on them. She said you can do red and green for Christmas, orange for Halloween, etc.
He wasn't too fond of coconut it turns out, so me and my co-workers got the cupcakes, daddy got the eggs, but the pretzels he wants to eat them all :-)

We have one more class left. April was full, so I will need to try to sign up again in May.
On a side note, in the new picture, I re-painted the dining room (there is still tape up) this past weekend. It was red and pink and now it is brown and blue, I am quite happy with the new colors. Just still need to touch up the chair rail and molding.

Incorporating Learning

I have been trying to get better about incorporating learning in daily conversations with C. It usually goes pretty well, but yesterday morning he threw me for a loop. I was lazy and just made oatmeal for breakfast, but he was excited because I add food coloring to his oatmeal to make it a color. Yesterday I made it green. He liked it! I said, "C what other things are green?" He went on to say grass, turtles, oatmeal (haha) , I added leaves so he said trees, and a few more. I said, "what else is green?". He responded, "why do we always have to talk about what is a color like green, why can't we just sit and eat and talk like adults?" I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. It was just too funny! Where has he heard that or what made him think that?!?! No clue how their big minds work.

I checked out a book at the library called Before Five in a Row, it is a book that gives ideas to parents of preschoolers on having fun teaching their children about the world around them. So we checked out some books on the list and have probably 15 books out from the library for now. He has pretty much memorized Going on a Bear Hunt after three readings. His favorite though that we checked out was Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. We also are doing some activity sheets with the Mike Mulligan one, where C will have to draw what he would discover in his hole if he was Mike and he was digging. I am looking forward to getting some more ideas on how to bring the books alive and teach him a little more at home. Some more examples are we are reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear and I made some activity cards where he will match the words to the characters in the story (like white and white dog). Also, for snowy day I made some picture cards and since we pretty much know that story by heart, I am going to have him color and glue his own snowy day picture book.

We started cooking classes tonight and it was a lot of fun. For March he is signed up for Cooking and Hockey and April I think we will do cooking and t-ball.

For his class tonight they made boats (deviled eggs with pepper sails), sandwich kabobs, and chocolate peanut butter rice krispie treats.

For the deviled eggs they were cut in half and the kids scooped out the yolks and then each had a plate that they mixed the yolks with a little mayo, mustard, and pickle juice.

The sandwich kabobs they got to choose from turkey, ham, cheese, pickles, olives, bread, peppers, and more and make their own sandwich kabobs.

For the rice krispie treats each one got to measure one thing and took turns stirring the bowl in between microwaving it to make it melt, then each spread their own into the pan. The kids had a good time.

Here are the finished products: