Kids In the Kitchen Your Questions Answered

  Welcome to the latest edition of My 4 Chefs!

  I have had a lot of good questions about this part of our blog and I want to answer them here before we go on to the yummy food I have to share with you.

  Do the kids have to do the grocery shopping too?

  YES, they take their list to the store with us and while we are all shopping, gather their part.  I want them to learn to price compare, read labels and navigate a grocery store well.

 How much help do you give the younger kids? Or do they choose something they can fix on their own?

    They can choose whatever they want! Even a "big" meal like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, sides and dessert.  (which Ty did last round)

  However, we are close by in case they need us, more or less help, depending on age.  I have to say, we have already seen a huge improvement since starting this a few months ago, in what they can accomplish without us.

  How do they choose what to make? Do you give them options or can they find their own recipes?

  They are given free range, as long as its a well balanced meal and includes a veggie! :)  They like to look through our cookbooks or go to the 4 little Fergusons blog, where ALLLL our family favorites got blogged for 5 years!

  Does everyone cook on certain nights, or who cooks when?

  Depending on weather, and depending on whose meal uses the fresh ingredients that go bad the fastest, is how we decide what we are making from our list of menu options.

  What age did you start this?
  
  We started this about 4 months ago.  We have 4 kids, 15, 11, 10 & 8.  We have had them in the kitchen with us, unloading dishwasher, helping make bread or dessert, setting the table for dinner, tossing salad, since they were toddlers.  

 How much do you all budget for this?

  Same as we did when momma was the main chef. 

  For 4 to 5 meals, plus breakfast, fresh fruits and veggies and snack foods has been running us about $150-200 depending on the area we are in.  We can make these meals last for a week to week and a half,  with leftovers.

  There is nothing better than new cookbooks!  I get SO excited to find things to cook from them!  Thanks to Grandma Eileen for donating TWO new 5 ingredients ones to our stash! :)

  Avery was up first....Pepperoni Pizza Pasta with garlic bread and salad.  You can find the recipe here.

  Avery loves to cook and bake, so she also picked a dessert!  

​  Whipped Chocolate and Cherry Pie

  I found a non red dyed, no HFCS, pie filling.  We still didn't love the cherry layer, the whipped chocolate tastes EXACTLY like hot cocoa, so we thought next time we'd make it into some kind of layered whipped hot cocoa layered dessert, or bowls of mousse with tiny marshmallows and chocolate shavings to garnish.

  I picked something new and unusual, and it was yummy! (some people didn't like the olives and feta, but they will get over it) ;)

   It is amazing hot like casserole or cold like pasta salad:  Greek Chicken & Spaghetti

 I thought Kalamata olives were more greek than black, so I switched it. Totally a yum move.

  Tylan picked Cheeseburger Pockets with carrot sticks.  (he wanted french fries, and momma said nope.) ;)  Gotta choose a well balanced meal.


  Only changes we will make is a better quality american or cheddar cheese, as the velvetta that was purchased, made us a little gaggy because of it's fakey flavor. 

 You can find the recipe here.

  Sweet Destiny made her dinner for the kids while Dale and I were at class, so I don't have pics of her prepping it, but here is the recipe from the 4 little Ferguson's blog!

 The only thing I told her was next time she needs to plan to steam some mixed veggies or something to go with it.

  Paxton has surprised me the last few times with his choices, and they have been a hit with everyone!  We all ranted and raved about the glaze on this Honey Sriracha chicken.

  We love to cook with our oils, so we served it up with some turmeric rice.....such yummy smokey flavor.  Just cook basamati rice in chicken broth with a hearty shake of turmeric powder, garlic powder and 4 drops doTERRA turmeric oil.  So healthy for you!!!

  Next time, I want him to plan to steam some broccoli or plan to stir some veggies into the rice for a pilaf.  

  That is it for this edition of My 4 Chefs!  Which recipe do you want to try first?  Any other questions you want me to answer in another edition?

​Hugs, T