While You Cook Dinner

Please tell me I am not the only one whose kids turn into crazy hooligans right as I am trying to cook dinner? It never fails that when I sneak into the kitchen at 5 o'clock the whining, fighting, and complaining begin. In order to keep the peace and ensure our food gets cooked, I have to be creative in how I manage the chaos. Yesterday, I pulled out an old favorite: potato peel soup. 

Here's how it worked. After I peeled a few potatoes (which I had peeled for mashed potatoes) I put all the leftover peels in a bowl. Then I poured water into my biggest stock pot, grabbed a spoon and the salt and pepper shakers and called the kids in. They were in charge of making potato peel soup. Let me just say, they loved it! It was cute seeing them put on their aprons and work together to create a delicious soup. I ended up sacrificing a perfectly good carrot for the cause as well as an older looking lemon found at the bottom of the fruit drawer. They "cooked" and I cooked and dinner was done in no time. And no one ended up in time-out. 

                   Getting started

Hannah got involved and yes, Lucas is wearing a pink apron. The boy is confidant enough to cook and wear pink. Boo-yah!

A few wrinkly grape tomatoes got thrown in as well. It was quite delicious soup y'all. They served me some and smiled big smiles as I acted like it was the best thing I had ever eaten. 

Next time you have some scraps, before they go to the compost pile, let your little ones "cook" with them and they will dub you the coolest mom ever!