Any Home Bakers Here?

With 7 children, baking with Mom wasn’t too common (can you imagine the mess?!) Regardless, we did sit in the kitchen, and watch even when we didn’t participate. I always baked with Duckling, and even making monkey bread with her at one wasn’t as awful as making it with someone else’s petulant 10-y-o. Regardless, the 10-y-o had fun in the end. I’m glad she let me show her how to make something delicious.
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There’s nothing I enjoy more than working with Katie or Evan in the kitchen. I’ve been cooking with them since they were about 8 or 9 years old. Evan is now 17 and Katie will be 17 in December.

Evan loves cooking..his mom has always hated it. So they have a deal….he cooks all of their meals, she does the cleanup. They’ve done that for years and they’re both happy with the arrangement. He even makes his favorite meal - sushi and sashimi - but fixes Tam something else since she won’t touch that. Evan just got his first job. He’s working in a restaurant as a dishwasher and training to be the prep cook. He’s tickled pink!

Katie doesn’t get to cook at home as much as she’d like - Kendra is devoted to her and often Katie will step back from the stove and practically trip over her. Not good while working with hot food and pans. Kendra is fast…if Jenny goes into the bathroom, Kendra makes a beeline crawling to be with her Katie. But Katie can whip up a meal, a batch of biscuits, or a dessert like a pro when given the opportunity. She loves to come spend the weekend with me. I simply ask her what ”gramma meal” she’d like to learn to make, and then I let her get to it. This new, huge kitchen is absolute paradise for that. Katie’s Autism means extra care with each step. She needs to get her mise en place set out before she even starts cooking…..onions chopped, spices and seasonings set out, meats and veggies ready to go, and cleaning up as she goes. If she has measured out and added her cinnamon or whatever, she turns the bottle upside down so she knows she’s used it already so she doesn’t wonder if she’s put it in or will accidentally double up on it. And every so often she gathers what she’s used and puts it away, avoiding any further clutter in her work space. I should be so organized!! Right now we’re working on timing….knowing when to start each thing so it’s all ready at about the same time and can be served piping hot.



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Katie’s buttermilk biscuits

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Evan getting ready to make us lime cilantro pork chops. This was when I was teaching them how to read through, then follow a recipe.

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Katie sent me this…she made dinner for her whole family - chicken and rice with sauce, corn, and biscuits.

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Even Kendra likes cooking…she and Katie are making pizza. The shower cap? Well, Kendra insists on wearing her “chef’s hat” when she is getting to make something.

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Kate and her first pressure cooker meal at Gramma’s old house…roast beef, taters and carrots. She also made a rich brown gravy, but she only had two hands for the photo.
 
Beautiful day outside, and not too hot. So no baking, just outdoor work, with minimum sweating. :)

@Blooie, nice to read about youngsters learning a great life skill. Thanks for posting.y her
Cold and rainy here. It’s a stay-inside, soup-and-grilled-pastrami-on-rye kinda day.

The kids have sure grown, haven’t they? I was inspired to share their successes by that beautiful monkey bread @BullChick and Duckling made. :drool

@pennyJo1960, just be sure to leave ventilation space on the back and sides. :old We had to adjust ours slightly to allow for it.
 

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