In The Kitchen With My Boys.

My mom didn't like us in the kitchen while she was cooking.  It was a small space and her time, after the hectic day of mothering.  It was also about getting dinner on the table.

I get that.

I learned to cook from my grandmas, baking bread and pumpkin pie, rolling noodles, learning the "secret family recipes" like rosettes and pretzel salad.  Feeling ever so special drinking cranberry juice and 7-up.  I am incredibly grateful for the influence they had on me in the kitchen.

My grandma still doesn't miss an opportunity to get messy in the kitchen with her great grandchildren when she visits.

circa 2012

I like to believe that if my mom were here today, she wouldn't be able to get enough of cooking in the kitchen with her grandchildren.  Actually I know she wouldn't.

That's not lost on me.

And I don't want it to be lost on Riese and Peyton.  It's incredibly important to me that they have these experiences too.

So we cook, together.  In a small kitchen, with lots of messes, and hopefully a finished product we all enjoy, or at least enjoy participating in the process.  Sometimes we fail.  Sometimes we follow recipes, I love listening to my boys read recipes out loud.  Sometimes we don't.  This time we learned that following a recipe yields us amazing waffle cones, not following the recipe, the 2nd time, was a fail.

Sometimes we cook for a purpose...dinner, cookies for friends.  Sometimes we cook for no purpose at all with no time limits.

And I mostly look away when they use knives, hold my breathe a tiny bit when they light the gas stove, and still don't know how to let go of needing to help them pour the milk.  Hello spilled milk is a messy thing, and a waste.  But I have to be OK WITH A MESS.  I just have to.  I know if they feel capable and a sense of belonging in our kitchen it will solidify their confidence in this space, and hopefully cultivate a love for cooking.

I will also admit that it always helps our success if there is a cocktail (for me) involved.  Cold, dry, bubbly and extra chilled preferably, because let's be honest snappy mom voice kills the fun real fast.  And something special to drink for the boys, call it the cranberry 7up phenomenon.

Recently we received a flat of the most amazing Peaches from the Met Market as part of their Peach O'Rama event.  We anticipate these juicy gems all year long..."hey remember that time when we ate THOSE peaches."  It's a sign of summer's best.

And an opportunity to get in the kitchen, together.

With a new waffle cone maker (thanks bro!) peach ice cream made perfect sense.  And by ice cream we simply folded it into our favorite vanilla, because lets be honest - no patience to wait.  and after all we were already making homemade waffle cones.

key to success:  not overcomplicating.

another key to success:  when you start with the very best ingredients you don't need to complicate things.

(photo by Chelsea)

Please note:  not a food blogger.

How we made our ice cream...peeled and diced about 4 peaches, well except we kept eating them, but I still think we managed 4.  Then we added them to a half gallon of ice cream, along with all the juice from cutting.  mix and freeze until waffle cones are ready.

We followed this waffle cone recipe.  We used this waffle cone maker

I'd love to hear how you go about cooking with your kiddos.

This post was done in partnership with the Met Market, if you live in the greater Seattle area you can find their AMAZING peaches until around the end of August.  So get in there!

best,
Kirsty