Big Achievement of the Day no#2

I sat down to write the menu plan for the next two weeks before going shopping and I was struck with cookers block..or more like cookers boringness! No inspiration nor interest hit me while sitting there and planning foods my children would actually eat for dinner the next two weeks. Then I was hit with an idea.

I called them into the room and I gave the task of choosing the meals they wanted to eat over to them. At first they hit me with the not fair daggers thrown forth from their eyes into mine...but soon they felt the power of their task and the ideas came flying.

~ Lasagne   ~ hamburgers  ~sausages   ~ pasta    ~roast dinners    ~ Chicken snitzels  ~fried rice   ~ noodles  ~ homemade pizzas

The list went on and on with the mundane staples of our small eating choices of the picky and young. But then I added a new twist to the list! I told them they needed to choose one meal each that they will help me to cook! YES, they are cooking the dinner one night in the next two weeks! Brilliant idea! They were beyond excited at the prospect!

First on the cooking duty roster was K. He had decided he would like to help and cook that nights Lasagne. So off we went to do the grocery shopping and an hour later and several notches of tolerance used we all walked back into the house!

K then entered the kitchen and got to work. First task he fulfilled was delegating the cutting of the onion to me! He hates the smell and can't stand to cry. He was head chef, I had no choice but to comply ;) . Next he began to cook the onion and garlic and mince meat. He was amazed when the meat began to brown and we had an interesting science lesson when he taught me about conductors and how it was a good thing we were using a plastic spatula! He loved the cooking bit right up until the part when the oil jumped up and splashed a tiny drop on him! He gave up for a while as he ran the teeny wheeny droplet of red on his skin beneath cold water and then, just as he had done the day before, he came back for another try with cooking the meat (try, try again..or jump back on the bike in the literal and metaphorical sense :) ) .

It wasn't all smooth sailing. K is easily distracted and several times I sent him to wash his hands and he didn't come back without my calling several hundred times. But in the end he managed to put the lasagnes together and also cooked oven chips, cut up a salad to go with it and served it all with a smile :D

To say that he was proud of himself and his achievement would be an understatement...I think he was even more proud of himself than I was of his achievement. What a very big weekend it was for my biggest boy K. Learning to ride solo on his bike and then cooking dinner for the family! HUGE!

Oh and the meal was absolutely delicious! :D