Gigglesandgumballs: Kid's in the Kitchen: Apples, apples, and other things

Some of my friends have expressed that they are hesitant about having their kids in the kitchen. I hear: Things just go faster without kids. The kitchen stays a lot cleaner. What if they screw up a recipe? My thought is...how are they going to learn if they aren't given a chance?

I remember back when I was taking a cooking class in 8th grade and I was learning how use a potato peeler. I sliced my thumb skin right off! Ouch it hurt...and whatever we were making was ruined...but since then I have been extra careful when I am peeling potatoes. I always think about that one incident and how if I would have given up forever...my husband would be out of luck because we have homemade mashed potatoes at least once or twice a week!!

Looking back at these past few years, Jocelyn has shown an extreme interest with helping out in the kitchen. Katelyn and Easton too...but more so Jocelyn. She started off by showing me how she can crack eggs...and then spill the entire bowl on the floor. She showed me how she can stick her finger in the batter while we are making something...yuck. Katelyn showed me just last week that she can open a bag of pudding mix and spill it all over my rug or measure a cup of flour and then miss the bowl and again spill it on my kitchen rug. Easton has shown me that he can take a bite of something and set it back in my pile of whatever I am making...so I can not figure out which one has a nice little bite. I just have to remain calm and keep in mind...they won't learn unless they are given a chance...and another chance...and another chance.

So I challenge you...If you haven't given your kids a chance...try...try again...and then try again some more. Here are a few things that I worked on with my kids in the kitchen!

Apple Cupcakes: Recipe Here
These were soooo good! I ate probably 10 of them...well ok..maybe 6.

The little ones love doing this job! Can't really mess it up!

We went out and picked some apples from our apple tree!

I peeled and sliced them and then boiled them...just like my applesauce from last week.

The kids put the rest of the ingredients together

and then they put them in the cupcake holders...we made 16 total.

and here is our final product..I sprinkled some brown sugar on them about half way through the cooking cycle.

Apple Butter: Recipe Here
This was an all day thing. So if you are making it, you need to start early in the day or let it cook over night...except it requires some stirring through out the day...so during the day is the best. We gathered apples and then I cut them up into little pieces.

The kids threw the apples in the crockpot along with the other ingredients.

This is what it looked like about 6 hours into the cooking process.

After it cooked for 9 hours...this is all that we ended up with. We let it cool in the refrigerator overnight.

and then Jocelyn whipped up some eggs in the morning...I made some biscuits and sliced up a pineapple and we enjoyed a nice brunch.

Other things that we made through out the week...I didn't take pictures of the process, but you can see what we worked on...this first one was delicious and easy...3 packs of (4 oz size) chocolate instant pudding (about 1/2 of our's ended up on the ground due to Katelyn learning:)), cool whip, and milk. It was sooooo good!

We also made some more applesauce, but this time added cherries. The kids liked the strawberries from last week better!

and last but not least Jocelyn made one her favorites...meatloaf. This picture shows her putting the bacon on top. We tried something new...after it baked in the oven, I sliced it up and grilled the meatloaf. It was really good!