The man can cook

I'm not going to lie, I LOVE that my boys enjoy cooking and learning with me in the kitchen. They are becoming more and more capable to take on new and different recipes all on their own as was written about earlier. But, I love that they are also interested in little tutorials on technics that make cooking some things absolutely necessary. To know that yeast dough should feel like a babies bottom after it's been kneaded the right amount of time. Knowing that creaming the butter and sugar for a long time is key to a great cookie and combining the wet ingredients before adding them to the dry ones makes for a perfect quick bread. Knowing you should always curve your fingers down and towards your palm when cutting something. Knowing that testing hot oil with water is NOT safe...... and the list could go on.

Several Sunday's ago Liam had the choice to make a boxed cake for FHE or one from scratch off the back of the Hershey's Coco box and he chose to try his hand at a homemade cake. Caleb pitched in and made the frosting with no recipe, just his sense.  It was a layered cake and they were so pleased with themselves and they deserved to be as the cake was absolutely moist and delicious.

As for myself, I've been experimenting with homemade tortillas for some time, which one would think would be as easy as anything, but it's not, or at least it wasn't for me. Getting the right dough was key and the first several attempts were received with little fanfare as they were truly pretty pathetic. Getting the right temperature on the griddle was also key.....note: the hotter the better. And finally being able to roll them out to paper thinness was a skill to be learned. So on an different Sunday I taught Gavin and Caleb what I have now learned about tortilla-making and at some point, I suspect I can put them in charge of making them start to finish.

I figure I want healthy kids and boys who will have one more tool in their dating portfolio, so I'll teach them how to cook! And with kids who can cook, I'm also guaranteed a night or two off in the future.