A huge thanks to my friend Christine Koh, from Boston Mamas, for this week’s installment of What’s Cooking with YOUR Kids.  Christine and I met nearly two years ago (Gasp! Has it really been that long?) when I started writing for her awesome website, Boston Mamas.  She must be wonderful if she still lets me write for her site, even though I am from the opposite side of the country!  But despite our geographic distance, she and I share a very similar parenting philosophy and care a lot about all things eco and philanthropical…So it is with great pleasure that I am able to share her tale about her young daughter, Laurel.
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Given my love for cooking and baking, I have always encouraged my daughter in the kitchen. As a toddler Laurel particularly enjoyed dumping in and mixingingredients. As a preschooler, she started to measure and really liked being the teacher (e.g., instructing me which order to fill cupcake tins). And as a 5-year-old, she has become facile in chopping. And boy did that pay off recently.

The other week I was about to start making dinner and Laurel declared that she wanted to make dinner. Adamantly. To be honest, I was really hungry and just wanted to knock together some soup quickly, but she really wanted to make it. Laurel isn’t a bossy kid but for some reason, in this case, she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She said, “Mommy and Daddy, just go and sit and relax on the couch while I make dinner.”

Um, okay. No brainer on that offer.

Inspired by a recent soup recipe posted on Boston Mamas, I laid out the ingredients for Laurel to prep and told her what order to drop things in the pot. I cut the onions and potato because I was concerned about letting her use a knife with those hard vegetables (not to mention the stinky onion factor); otherwise, Laurel cut up the tofu, mushrooms, and zucchini.

[Two notes regarding prep: First, Laurel used to use a Zyliss plastic knife, but she now is able to safely use a small paring knife. It depends on your kid of course (when in doubt, err on the side of overcautious), but we feel OK with this because Laurel listens well to us, is extremely careful, and has proved with repeated supervision that she can handle a small knife. Second, when you cook with kids I think it’s critical to let go of perfection. Let them experiment and experience. Spill some flour? Not a huge deal - just add a little more. Veggies not all perfectly cubed? Who cares?]

Once Laurel finished prepping the ingredients, I set up the step stool at the stove, gave repeated reminders about the heat source, and she went at it. She added two “blobs” of olive oil (“ooh, it looks like binoculars!”), sautéed the onion then potato, added water, added five “shakes” of sesame oil and ten of soy sauce (from spigot-top bottles), then added the rest of the chopped veggies, frozen corn, and dumplings. She stirred until bubbling then called me to check on doneness while she made the toasted cheese sandwiches.

Laurel and I set the table together then we all sat down as a family to taste her work. And I swear, everything tasted better by her hand. Laurel’s soup and sandwiches were infused with so much love it breaks my heart a little to even think about it.

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Christine Koh is a music and brain scientist turned freelance writer, editor, and designer. She is the founder and editor of Boston Mamas, the designer behind Posh Peacock, and writes a personal blog at Pop Discourse. She resides in the Boston area with her husband and 5-year-old daughter. She tweets about it all at @bostonmamas.

Do you have any fun stories and photos to share about cooking with YOUR kids?  I hope to share at least one reader story every week and can’t wait to hear about your adventures in the kitchen with your kids. Here is what you need to do.

p.s.  Pass it on!