The Great Dinner Experiment

So, I mentioned that the kiddos were making dinner last night. No, it is not because I am a slave driver. I am trying to give them life skills. So, here's the story:

We sit down to dinner. I am so proud of myself. This is a gourmet healthy meal. Rock on, Binky! The kids were slightly underwhelmed with the fresh sea scallops sauteed in ghee served with fresh, local asparagus topped with homemade hollandaise sauce accompanied by basmati brown rice. Sounds really good, huh? It was stellar, in my eyes.

So, out of frustration of the children turning their little noses up on my dinner that I thought was oh-so-good, I devised a plan. I told the kids to put together two dinner menus. They needed to provide me with recipes, and ingredients for shopping. The catch was that each meal must include a lean protein, a fresh vegetable and if they were to include a starch, it would have to be a root vegetable or whole grain.

So, they went to work. Google was burning up that day, I am sure. My cook book collection got a thorough working over and I was presented with four pretty decent menus. I did the shopping and the cooking and it all went really well. So then I decided that not only did they need to see the planning that goes into a meal but the preparation side, too. So, this week, they both put together two dinner menus again. The catch this week was that they had to cook one on their own. Of course, I would be on hand for consultation and assistance as needed.

Austen made white chicken chili that was out of this world and super easy. It will definitely be made again. Tori picked chicken Caesar salad with home-made croutons. I helped her add a little zing to the dressing and showed her how to toss together croutons, but that was it. Once again, another awesome meal.

Since I've been doing this, they eat better, get more excited about flax seed tortillas than any teenager rightfully should and don't mind trying new vegetables! It has been a win-win-win situation. Next week I am going to start a rudimentary cooking school with them. We will start with stocks and soups and then move to sauces and gravies and onto basic preparation methods for meats and vegetables. It should be fun! I bet I will have two of the only teens who know what a mirepoix is!! or a bouquet garni!!! or the holy trinity of creole cooking! hahahaha it will be fun.


Oooooooooh and get this... this was a freaking jaw-dropping moment. I was feeling bad yesterday. I have been having some really rough days. Anyway, I told the kids that on the nights they made dinner I would do dishes (only fair right - they do them when I cook). So, I sat down for a bit after dinner in an attempt to actually keep the food inside me and while I was ruminating, Austen popped out of his room and told me he was going to do the dishes because I shouldn't have to do them when I feel icky. I think the apocalypse is on the horizon.