Kid in the Kitchen

by Amy When I was a kid, my sister and I used to go over to a friend's house and her dad would gather us in the kitchen and we would make bread. I don't remember exactly how involved we were in the pre-dough stage, but we got to make our bread into shapes and then he would bake them and we would eat them. I knew when my kid started being able to help out in the kitchen – and being very excited to help out – that bread was going to be one of our projects.

Today she was looking for something to do and I decided it might be the right day. I found a recipe online (from Jamie Oliver) and we went out to get our ingredients.

When we got back into the kitchen she was a little impatient as I read through the recipe and figured things out, but once we got started she got her hands right in.

It was a little messy:

...But once it was time to knead the dough, she knew exactly what to do.

The problem with making bread is that you have to let it rise twice, so instead of just mixing, baking and then eating, there is a bit more of a wait, but we got through that extra time with a bit of a dance party.

Eventually the bread came out of the oven.

It smelled like bread and it looked like bread, but we had to taste:

I think she approved.

(And while we had all the ingredients out, and since we had bought yeast, we made some baked doughnuts too...

Amy is mom to two year old Maggie and a 6 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.

Homemade Pizza

by Nicki Who doesn't love pizza? I know it is a favourite for all of us in this house.  So, last weekend, we decided to try making homemade pizza.  I have fond memories of making pizza at home when we were kids, so naturally, my first thought was how to get Liam involved in the process and make this a fun family dinner for start to finish!

Having just woken up from his nap, Liam was much more interested in his juice than in mixing and kneading pizza dough, however, watching yeast rise is really cool and a good science lesson for older kids.

Once the dough was mixed, kneaded and risen, Liam was ready to help.  He had a blast punching down the dough and was thrilled to get to use my marble rolling pin to roll out the dough.  It is one of those things on the counter that he always wants to play with!

Then, he used a spoon to "paint" the crust with pizza sauce.  He is very artistic!!

My favourite part, the toppings were added next.  We kept it pretty simple, lots of meat (pepperoni, salami and ham), tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese.

In order to make this a true family cooking experience, the pizza was then presented to Henry to be BBQed.

After about fifteen minutes on the BBQ, the pizza was cooked and ready to eat.  It was delicious and we all had fun making it.  Homemade pizza will become a frequent dinner menu item at our house from now on.

Pizza Crust Recipe

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp yeast

Dissolve sugar in water.  Sprinkle yeast on top. Let sit for 10 minutes.

• 4 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour

Add yeast mixture to dry mixture and stir together.  Knead for 10 minutes.  Let rise until doubled, approximately 45 minutes.

Punch down, roll flat and press into pan.

Add your choice of sauce and toppings.

Bake or BBQ at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

This recipe makes the perfect amount of dough for a large cookie sheet.

*****

Nicki is a working mom of one two-year-old boy, Liam. She is an Early Childhood Educator and in her spare time, volunteers for New Moon Rabbit Rescue and as a Brownie Leader with Girl Guides of Canada. She loves to garden, scrapbook and write! You can read more about Nicki on The Perils of a Working Mom.