Okay, I’ll admit it:  I am nosy.  I like to see what other people are up to, how they manage their day-to-day lives, what they eat, and how well they are organized (or not.)  It is for those reasons that I adore reading about Other People’s Pantries on my friend Lydia’s blog.  The best part, perhaps, is that people voluntarily send in photos of their pantries, along with personal stories and comments.  I find these stories entertaining, and I love how people are eager to participate.  It has been so successful, in fact, that it has run weekly for almost 2 years!  Lydia has inspired me to think of ways to draw more people to my own blog and actively engage them.  Fortunately, the topic of my blog (cooking with kids)  lends itself to experimentation.  I would love to host my own version of Other People’s Pantries.  For now, I’ll call it “What’s Cooking with YOUR kids?”

Here is how I imagine it would work:

• Call your kids into the kitchen and cook up some fun together.
• You could use one of the recipes I have included on my blog or you could pick one of your own.
• Or, you could try doing one of the food-related community service activities that I get so darned excited about
• Take a few photos, write down the funny things your kids say or jot down some notes about how well the recipe or service project worked…or didn’t
• And then send me an e-mail (michelle (at) whatscooking (dot) info) with
  * your story
  * some photos
  * and a link to your website or blog, if you want me to mention it
• Stay tuned:  I’ll post these stories on the blog – and hopefully your enthusiasm will encourage other families to cook or do service with their kids, too.

Gina's Sand Art Brownies

Let’s give it a try with a e-mail that I got yesterday…

Gina has become a good friend over the past few months and was eager to have her little chefs create some homemade gifts for their teachers this year.  They decided to make the Sand Art Brownies from my blog because they were fun, pretty, and simple enough for the kids to do (almost) independently!  Even though they embarked on this project right before bedtime, the kids really enjoyed the process and worked hard to make their teachers proud.  It was interesting to see her kids’ personalities come out during the process – her “number-obsessed” son kept them on track, helping to measure each ingredient and making sure that the layers were ship shape.  Her daughter got to pour each layer into the jar – and together they created these masterpieces!  Feel free to take advantage of Gina’s adorable Printable Labels for the Sand Art Brownie Jars, which you can print and use for yours too.  They look especially pretty when you cut them out and paste them onto colored construction paper.

I can’t wait to see What’s Cooking with YOUR kids… Who’s going to be next?