When life throws you endless cloudy, gray, rainy skies in Central Ohio, it can be hard to stay motivated and creative. I thrive when I’m creating in some way and one of my favorite places to get those juices flowing is in the kitchen. I love to get my hands and counter dirty while kneading homemade bread. I love seeing the look on my kid’s faces as they take a bite of a fresh-from-the-oven cookie. I love that my work-from-home man lives for the moment he can smell dinner cooking in the kitchen.

Cooking for my people is one of the major ways I show them love. It’s definitely not a 10 minute ordeal for us. It takes time, attention, detail and even some backbone (many a-meal have ended up with kiddos begging for their sacred chicken nuggets).

But I have been realizing lately, that this passion of mine has made me fail to get my kids behind the scenes in the kitchen. It’s time to work on translating what I know to my people.

Our family is made up of myself and my husband Jordan, our three kiddos and a pup. Sweetie Girl is 14, a freshman in high school, and super engaged in her lessons and all the activities she can get her hands on. My eyes are wide open to the fact that within the next 3-4 years, she may be off at college or choosing a path away from home. She needs basic kitchen skills, some of which we’ve been working on, but now feel a slight pressure to focus more on in some of our time together.

Big Guy is 12 and in middle school. He in on the severe end of the autism spectrum, non-verbal and is extremely delayed developmentally. He also struggles with tactile sensory issues, making certain things/foods difficult to touch or eat, and has some major food sensitivities. We are working on simple kitchen skills with him currently (i.e. making a PBJ sandwich) that I’d love to build on, all while working to expand his palate.

Our youngest, Toots, is a spicy three year old. She loves helping me blend or mix batters, crack eggs, “wash” dishes in the sink and taste test sweet treats. Having Toots later in life has shown me some of the little things I didn’t think of doing when the other two were younger – things I’d like to change at this stage in all of their lives.

With all this – “Kids in the Kitchen” has been born. I’ll be documenting activities I do with my kiddos in our home kitchen weekly. Some activities will be cooking-based, some will be technique-based, and some may focus on fun stuff we can do in the kitchen not related to making a meal. Because wellness and nutrition is super important to us, that’s sure to be a topic of conversation, too.

Thanks for joining our journey…let’s get creative!