kids in the kitchen

I'll admit, I can be skittish about kids in my kitchen. There are so many sharp items and so many places that heat up. And when I'm working on a meal, there are also generally about five hundred other things going on at the same time; it's hard to concentrate in chaos, and even harder to concentrate when the chaos is "helping." But with three meals for eight people to prepare everyday, I have happily relinquished lunchtime to the ten year-old.

She brought five cookbooks home from the library last night. Annabel Karmel's "Mom and Me Cookbook" made its debut today. Since I was juggling two babies all morning, the ten year-old assumed the role of Mom, with a five year-old assiting as the Me. They pulled off guacamole, drinks, and even pizza (complete with yeast dough from scratch -- I kid you not).

The food was fantastic, with the pizza being crowned the favorite homemade version ever.

The muffins, however, had a little trouble. I thought that was only fair. I mean two-out-of-three is a thoroughly respectable showing for one's first time running a kitchen, don't you think?