bountifulplate

Last weekend, Dominic and I made some waffles. He is coming along quite nicely with his class, "Breaking an Egg Correctly into a Bowl 101." He is to the point of me just lightly tapping the middle of the egg and just barely opening it and then he does the rest.  When he put the eggs into the mixing bowl, he said, "I did it myself!" I foresee him "graduating" from that class soon and "enrolling" in my class "Pouring Ingredients into a Measuring Cup 101." As Dominic cooks and bakes alongside me more, I see his confidence and conversation increase. He was dispensing quite a bit of commentary as we were making the waffles.  Since I still pour the ingredients into the measuring cup for him, when I accidentally spilled some flour on the kitchen counter, Dominic told me, "that was too much!" and "what a mess!" I LOVED that he spontaneously told me that. Last night, since neither the hubby or Lauren were around at dinnertime...

One thing that I have tried to do with all three "kids" is to have them cook with me.  It's been a great way to connect with them individually and make something delicious at the same time!  Take a look at this old picture I found of my stepson and I making stuffed shells at my parent's house back in 1992! I'm surprised no feathers from the parakeet landed in our food :) Lauren is the master decorator for cakes - she decorated this yummy cake back in 2010: Dominic is a big help, especially now that he can read me the list of ingredients! I love the look of concentration on his face. My stepson came for a visit last weekend and since the hubby's birthday is coming up in early November, we decided to celebrate a little early. I asked the "kids" if they wanted to make a cake for their dad. All three of them said yes. When I told the hubby of our cake making plans, he remarked a few times, "oh, they don't have to!"  ...