Food for My Family » The Kitchen Sink

Eat Well, Spend Less: Overall Kitchen Organization

Shaina — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:55:33 +0000

This month in the Eat Well, Spend Less series we’re going to take a look at a few things you can do to organize your kitchen to save you time and money. The ins, the outs, the ups, the downs and my own present failure. Plus more from everyone else on their food resolutions for 2012.

My dream is to have a pantry like this someday. Via Escapade
I have made quite the mess in the kitchen. We’re not talking an “I’ve been baking all day and have yet to clean it up” type of a mess. Anyone that knows me knows that I clean as I go, such is the Type A trait that flows in my soul. There are very rare occasions that I break from that rule, but yes, I do color outside the lines every now and again.

This type of mess that I’ve been creating is instead one of exhaustion. It starts with a bit of ingredient shopping at the store. The ingredients are usually purchased in larger amounts than needed, and then only a portion is used leaving the rest of them to sit and occupy space. Multiply this times holiday baking, book making and general family meals. It causes me to arrive home with groceries intended for this cookie or cake, that dish that needs to be made and then realizing that the cupboards are still full.

It is a mess of pushing, of finally giving up and sighing, of placing the food directly on the counter because it’s winter, it can’t go outside, and it doesn’t fit inside the limited kitchen storage space. It’s a mess that makes the Type A part of me wriggle under the thin layer of skin, screaming to get out.
Counters for the baker. Via Better Homes and Gardens

Someday remind me to tell you how I suppress the Type A and let all the mess just pile, defeated. It’s called motherhood. Some days I’m more successful at that suppression than others. Some days…well, we don’t talk about those days.

The facts. I know the mess needs to go, which is actually quite a fun concept for someone who likes to organize, but I’ve gone beyond the organize into pout at this point. I want to stomp my feet, sit on the couch and proclaim, “This mess is so big and so deep and so tall, we cannot pick it up, there is no way at all.”

Still, it is my view that having a well-stocked kitchen can help you save money and eat well at the same time, and if I can’t even figure out what all this stuff I’ve been stocking is and can’t reach the half of it, I’m doomed to continually spend more money than I need to be and eating pretty poorly in the process. It’s also hampering my ability to genuinely invite people over to my house to share food, which is perhaps an equally great loss.

How Overall Organization Saves You Money

The main concept is pretty straightforward. If you know what’s in your kitchen and can assess what you have in a glance, then you won’t buy things you already have or feel like you don’t have what you need to make a certain meal.

Still, it’s more than just what food you have on hand. The way your kitchen is organized, how easy it is to reach pans and cutting boards can make you feel like every step of a recipe is insurmountable as well. If lack of organization makes you feel like cooking is a hassle, then you won’t want to cook.

What Organization in the Kitchen Looks Like to You

Containers

There are many different options for containers you can use in your kitchen to help organize things. Aimee just did a great post about this over on TidyMom where she goes through the different types of containers you can use to organize so as not to spend a ton of money. The main takeaway is use what you have first before you buy other things. Look around your house and repurpose other items to help contain the things you need organized. Baskets, tins, glass jars and bins you may have been using somewhere else but aren’t any longer can all help to separate linens, store dry goods and create drawer dividers.

Containers that fit the object and the space can be attractive and fun, as well as functional. Via TidyMom

Shelves, Hooks and Dividers

When we moved into our home, there was one large cabinet that must hold all our pots, pans, cutting boards, baking sheets and everything else. It was completely empty. Not a single shelf in the entire thing. Before we even moved in I went out to the store to pick up wire shelving to help separate areas so we could organize and stack things. While I was out, I picked up a few bins for the refrigerator as well to help create a cheese drawer and more areas to store small packages that belong together.

Adding shelving and dividers can help keep you organized. It separates things in larger spaces, and it can also make things more accessible. A hook on the wall to hold potholders, for example, will help them from getting lost in the drawer with the linens.

Tension rods act as dividers for cutting boards and baking sheets, making them slide in and out of storage easily. Via Martha Stewart by way of TidyMom.

Moving Things Around

Sometimes moving things can make all the difference in the world. Simply storing spoons and spatulas next to the stove, for instance, can make a world of difference when you need one as you’re hovering over a steaming pot of soup or a sauce that needs a good whisk to keep from overflowing.

A brainstorming activity: Stand in the middle of your kitchen and consider the scene. Think about where you are when you usually reach for things. Do you always find yourself at the island wondering where the spatula is? Can you never seem to find the potholder when you need to pull a pan from the oven? Do you search for the salt and seasonings only after you cross the room? Then determine if you can make a few changes to the layout. It might be as easy as adding a salt cellar and a few commonly used spices near the stove, switching the drawers for silverware and spatulas or creating a board to hand your measuring spoons and cups on so you’re ever digging through the junk drawer when baking.

More easily accessible measuring cups and spoons. Via Infarrantly Creative

Getting Started

I’m a perfectionist. Oftentimes I won’t start a project unless I feel I can adequately clear my brain and focus all my efforts on the project to get to a reasonable stopping point or, even, the end of the project. I don’t like leaving things unfinished. I am this way with many things in life, the least of which are books. I will read until the book is finished. It’s a good thing I’m a fast reader.

This makes the getting started part of kitchen organization more terrifying and difficult than ever when the mess has grown so deep and so tall. For this reason, I know I need to break down my goals in more manageable pieces that I can tackle one at a time in the bits and pieces of the day I end up stealing away.

The Plan: Pick a day to do one thing. Even if it’s just reorganizing my spices, if I can focus and chop the job into small pieces, soon the entire project will start looking smaller and smaller, and I’ll get to a more manageable state.

This is the method that will work best for me, and it is a method that will have me inviting friends over for dinner again, not cringing instantly when someone shows up unannounced. It’s time I reclaimed a piece of my life that is a piece of me. My food resolution for 2012: Reclaiming my kitchen.

As always, you can check out what others are writing in the Eat Well, Spend Less series on food resolutions for 2012:

Aimee from Simple Bites
Alyssa from Kingdom First Mom
Carrie from Denver Bargains
Jessica from LifeasMOM
Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
Mandi from Life Your Way
Tammy from Tammy’s Recipes

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Closing the Door on 2011 and Looking Forward in 2012

Shaina — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:35:18 +0000

A brief overview of 2011 here on Food for My Family, as well as a look forward into what 2012 has in store for us.

As we head into the New Year, I thought I’d take a moment to look back on 2011. I’m always introspective at the start of a new year. I view January, with its blanket of snow and cold temperatures that cleanse and render the world immobile, like a blank canvas waiting for the artist to create a new world from raw materials. I’m excited to see what this year has in store for me as I make my way into previously uncharted waters and this space here transforms and melds as we go.

So, here are a few of the most popular posts from last year as I consider what color I’ll use for the base of the 2012 artwork that is yet to be. Welcome, 2012. It’s nice to see you.

It’s been quite the year. I wrote a cookbook (due out this spring from Harvard Common Press, so you’re bound to hear more about it in a few months), which kind of set the tone for the last half of the year, occupying my brain and my every waking moment for a while.

In March we talked crêpes and my lack of world traveling. The crêpes, however, stole the show. I can make them with or without the “proper” pan, and they’re worth the effort, every time.

How to Make Crêpes Without a Crêperie
We also welcome in a new addition to my friend Amanda‘s family. Baby Eddie was showered virtually from afar, and these macarons were my contribution to the showering.
Baby Shower Macarons for i am baker
Magnus got in on the action. He knows how it feels to be the youngest man in a family of four, so he wanted to make sure Eddie had some basic survival skills in place.

The summer saw the kids enjoying plenty of sunshine, fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden and a bit of watermelon sorbet for dessert, too.
Watermelon Lime Sorbet Slices

While I’d like to think you’re all crazy for my salsa, I have a feeling this post did well based on the story more than anything else. Thank you all so much for your care and concern as we find a new normal with Kjell. It’s been such a blessing to us.
Roasted Tomato Salsa and Moving Forward
Finally, a pear pie I made for my husband wraps up some of the most popular posts for the year. This one was close to my heart, and I’m glad you all loved it as well.
Buttermilk Custard Pear Pie and Pie Crust Crimping
I’m looking forward to what changes 2012 has in store for us. I’m planning on a few more interactive posts with the kids, plenty of recipes, the continuation of the Eat Well, Spend Less series and food. Of course there will be food.

Thank you all so much for continuing to read and be supportive here in my little corner of the internet. Without you, this is just a glorified journal of my experience with food. With you, it’s a community of people I couldn’t be happier to be associated with.

Here’s to a fantastic 2012. May it bring you continued happiness and joy.

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…and a Happy New Year!

Shaina — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:32:10 +0000

Wishing you a Happy New Year, plus a NeatDesk Desktop Scanner & Digital Filing System giveaway to keep you organized going into 2012!

We had a highly disorganized, hectic, fun-filled Christmas weekend this year. We ran from one place to the next starting Christmas Eve morning, baked cookies in between, showed up late once because Ole decided the odd warm weather required a Christmas Day motorcycle ride (worth it) and stuffed ourselves silly on prime rib, shrimp dip, Christmas cookies and more. Then we collapsed on Monday morning after midnight when we returned home.

I woke up Monday and looked at the carnage that was left in the wake of Christmas. In the midst of trying to declutter, organize and make my house feel like a home again, I keep thinking about all the paper that we store. Receipts for goods purchased, school forms for the kids, recipes printed off and shoved into binders or, more often, between the pages of other cookbooks that I am using simultaneously.

Enter the NeatDesk. I finally opened my NeatDesk after months of looking at it in its box. Stupid of me to not have done it sooner, really. I have the ability to scan and store receipts, doing away with the clumsy piles that so often occupied my desk. I can do the same with teacher correspondence, recipes I cut from magazines and more.

By far the most fun piece of the NeatDesk High Speed Scanner is its ability to extract information from my scanned in information and put it into a digital format, making filing easy and gathering information later on more than simple.

The Neat Company is letting me give away a NeatDesk High Speed Scanner & Digital Filing System to one of my readers to help you get organized in the New Year, too! It means less time cleaning and fretting and organizing and decluttering and more time spend with your family, enjoying them. Here’s to a year filled with special moments and a simpler life.

THE PRIZE

One lucky reader will win a NeatDesk Desktop Scanner and Digital Filing System!

HOW TO ENTER TO WIN

1. Leave a comment. What is one of your goals for 2012?

2. Follow @FoodforMyFamily and @NeatCompany on Twitter and tweet the following, and come back and let me know you did:

Get organized for the New Year. Enter to win a @NeatDesk Scanner (ARV$499) from @FoodforMyFamily http://su.pr/27A6jC #giveaway

3. Join the Food for My Family community on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did so. If you already do, THANK YOU. Just let me know.

4. Join the The Neat Company community on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

THE RULES:

This giveaway will run until Sunday, January 1st at 11:59 p.m. ET and is open to all U.S. residents. A winner will be chosen at random using Random.org from all eligible entries. Each reader has 4 chances to win by completing the above tasks and leaving a separate comment for each entry method completed. Chosen winner must respond within 48 hours of notification to claim their prize. Good luck!

This giveaway is sponsored by The Neat Company. Tips, opinions and random thoughts are 100% mine.

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Eat Well, Spend Less: Stocking Up for the Holidays

Shaina — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:58:23 +0000

This month in the Eat Well, Spend Less series we’re taking a look at the holiday season and keeping the budget under control. Here you’ll find advice for getting ready for the next week by stocking up this weekend.

So, Christmas is now exactly one week away. If you’re like me, it has suddenly hit you that this is the last weekend to prepare before the big to-do of the holiday hits. So, it’s time to hit the grocery store, stock up and make it worth your while in the stress department as well.

Shop Now

While you can’t shop for perishables for your Christmas dinner just yet, this weekend is a good time to get into the store and make sure you have plenty of the essentials for the coming week so you can spend it baking and decorating and having a merry ol’ time and avoid a huge shopping list the day before Christmas. A few things you may want to consider getting now include:

Above image: The Many Faces of Gingerbread

Baking Supplies

Grab these items now so you aren’t staring at an empty shelf later in the week. Make a list of your final baking goals and go from there to create your list. Don’t forget to include spices for any Christmas meal items, too.

::flours
::sugars (granulated, brown, confectioners’)
::baking powder and soda
::chocolate (cocoa powder, hot chocolate, baking and sweetened, chips)
::spices (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg,)
::extracts (vanilla, almond, peppermint)

Easy Meal Ingredients

Keep your weeknight meals easy this week and plan ahead. Sandwiches, soups and other things that can be thrown together easily and with little pomp and circumstance are the perfect accompaniment to getting those last Christmas shopping trips and holiday plays done without stress or the drive-thru.

::pastas and sauce
::sandwich fixings (meats, bread, condiments, cheese)
::salad essentials (lettuce, toppings, dressings)
::easy proteins (chicken, canned beans, hummus)

Less Perishable Christmas Meal Ingredients

Get the essentials taken care of, so you can just focus on perishables later in the week. Whether you’re planning a traditional meal or one with a bit of flare, there are always a few things you can pick up now to avoid searching for it in the supermarket crowd the day before Christmas.

::potatoes
::onions
::frozen items (meat or vegetables)

Above image: 3 Easy Appetizers on Simple Bites

Get Snacks Together

Grab your appetizers early, and then just fill in the blanks before the big day. There are plenty of items that can be picked up beforehand.

::mixed nuts
::dates
::crackers and cheeses
::olives and pickles

Something to Drink and Be Merry With

Plenty of beverages are key to a good party. Make a trip to the liquor store now, and plan your nonalcoholic beverages this weekend as well.

::wine
::apple cider (with ingredients for mulled cider or wassail)
::coffee assortment (with sweeteners)
::tea assortment
::beer
::spirits (and mixers)

Above image: Apple Ginger Cocktails at Gourmande in the Kitchen

As always, you can check out what others are writing in the Eat Well, Spend Less series on keeping it frugal for the holiday season:

Aimee from Simple Bites
Alyssa from Kingdom First Mom
Carrie from Denver Bargains
Jessica from LifeasMOM
Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
Mandi from Life Your Way
Tammy from Tammy’s Recipes

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Le Creuset Crêpe Pan Giveaway

Shaina — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 02:00:49 +0000

Enter to win a Le Creuset Cast Iron Enameled Crêpe Pan and start flipping and filling them in style.

Last week in San Francisco Ole took me to his favorite breakfast place in Nob Hill. It’s just a bit off the beaten path, and they have just a lovely chalkboard menu that boasts a full selection of both sweet and savory crêpes, including specials of the day for both. There was the crêpe Suzette (which is to be twisted and replicated later this week), and then there were crêpes filled with chicken, avocado, scallions, cheddar and dripping with a hot sauce.

I’ve discussed the beauty that is the crêpe here before, and then played up their versatility with a take on green eggs and ham, but I’ve never really had a proper pan to make my own. The hardest part about making these without the proper pan is (a) the lip on the side of the regular frying pan I was using makes it hard to flip the thin, delicate pancakes, and (b) it is hard to get an even layer without this cool little spreading tool that you see all the boys at the crêperie using to spread their crêpes thin. Bonus: The cast iron is perfect for more than just crêpes. I see gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches in the near future.

This giveaway is part of a delicious group of Le Creuset Holiday Giveaways. Take a little stroll through the bloggy forest and see what other goodies you can find.

Gourmande in the Kitchen for a Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Skillet
Dine & Dish for a Le Creuset Round 3.5-Quart French Oven
Bakers Royale for a Le Creuset 16-Quart Stockpot
I Am Baker for a Le Creuset Baking Dish Set
Tidy Mom for a Le Creuset 3.5-Quart Braiser

THE PRIZE

One lucky reader will win a Le Creuset Cast Iron Enamled Crêpe Pan!

HOW TO ENTER TO WIN

1. Leave a comment. Check out the Le Creuset site and tell me what product is on your wishlist.

2. Follow @FoodforMyFamily and @LeCreuset on Twitter and tweet the following, and come back and let me know you did:

It’s a #LeCreusetHoliday Enter to win a @LeCreuset Cast Iron Crepe Pan from @FoodforMyFamily http://su.pr/2Jbrfw #giveaway

3. Join the Food for My Family community on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did so. If you already do, THANK YOU. Just let me know.

4. Join the Le Creuset community on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

THE RULES:

This giveaway will run until Sunday, December 18th at 11:59 p.m. ET and is open to all U.S. residents. A winner will be chosen at random using Random.org from all eligible entries. Each reader has 4 chances to win by completing the above tasks and leaving a separate comment for each entry method completed. Chosen winner must respond within 48 hours of notification to claim their prize. Good luck!

This giveaway is sponsored by Le Creuset. Tips, opinions and random thoughts are 100% mine.

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Keep Your Hands Free for Holiday Baking: A Giveaway

Shaina — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:57:14 +0000

A little something to keep your hands free and clear for baking up holiday treats this season. A VTech Multi-Tasking Phone System giveaway for you.

I consider myself to be a fairly adept at multitasking. I do it often, for otherwise I may never accomplish the things that need to be done on a daily basis. In fact, often I still fail.

Right now I am babysitting a cake in the oven, cookies need to be photographed, I have writing deadlines breathing down my back. If I turn slightly to my left, I see my 3-year-old pushing wooden trains around tracks I built, tracks he will break just so that I will come and build them again. Soon, he’ll be whisked off to dreamland so that I can attempt to both manage a conference call for a creative team I’m working with and juggle the cookies and cake. At 3:30p my house will fill with the sounds of children. Backpacks will be tossed on the floor, no matter how many times I ask them to use the hooks that were drilled into plaster walls just for that purpose. Folders, sheets of paper and books will be shuffled on the dining room table, as dinner is prepared and dishes done.

My hands are often full, my mind racing, split in two and working on more than what’s in front of me. While this is the norm for me, Christmas always means a slight increase in the crazy everyday, and so while I chat with my sister about the gifts for my mom and field yet another question from my mom and aunts as they’re out shopping, I find it more important to keep my hands busy while I talk.

In that same vein and in keeping with the holidays, I imagine that we could all use a phone that leaves hands free to mix, roll and bake as we manage to catch up with loved ones, plan holiday parties and Christmas potlucks.

THE PRIZE

One lucky reader will win a VTech Multi-Tasking Phone System! You can answer the phone while baking, cleaning, decorating or anything else on your to-do list with the simple press of a button. Better yet is the audible caller ID, which makes it easy to know who is trying to reach you and allows you to keep doing what you’re doing if it’s a telemarketer. (I’m on the “do not call list.” They still call.)

So, rather than stress about doing this and that and everything else all at the same time, let your phone do a bit of work for you, whether it’ sanswering your calls, letting you know who called or just being ready to go whenever you are.

HOW TO ENTER TO WIN

1. Leave a comment. How can a hands-free phone system help you multitask?

2. Follow @FoodforMyFamily and @VTech411 on Twitter and tweet the following, and come back and let me know you did:

Enter to win a @VTech411 Multi-Tasking Phone System from @FoodforMyFamily http://su.pr/2MNhoT #giveaway

3. Join the Food for My Family community on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did so. If you already do, THANK YOU. Just let me know.

4. Join the Vtech community on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

THE RULES:

This giveaway will run until Thursday, December 15th at 11:59 p.m. ET and is open to all U.S. residents. A winner will be chosen at random using Random.org from all eligible entries. Each reader has 4 chances to win by completing the above tasks and leaving a separate comment for each entry method completed. Chosen winner must respond within 48 hours of notification to claim their prize. Good luck!

This giveaway is sponsored by VTech. Tips, opinions and random thoughts are 100% mine.

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Holiday Baking 101: Freezing, Including the Kids and More!

Shaina — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:06:01 +0000

Get started now on your holiday baking. A few tips for freezing cookies, baking with your kids, figuring out what to make first and having fun while you do it. Get the Christmas music ready, it’s time to bake!

Tomorrow it will be December. (If you just recoiled at that thought, I’m with you.) That means just 25 days until Christmas. To me, that’s 25 days to get a whole load of baking done and accomplished and crossed off my list.

It also means the start of the busy holiday season, where holiday parties, impromptu get-togethers, light festivals, frozen holiday parades and more are happening, taking up your time and making you feel a bit like a crazy person. (No? Just me?)

To keep my head clear and my stress level more at a functioning level, it helps to tackle things like holiday baking in a slow and steady manner, constantly chipping away at the overall. Plus, it means more variety when Christmas finally comes, and I like variety. Here are a few things to help, as well as how to involve those kids of yours.

A Holiday Baking Checklist

The first thing you’ll need to tackle in the holiday baking scene is coming up with a plan. It will help you see how much you have to do, what you have left as you’re getting it done and manage your time more effectively so that you aren’t left with too much to do at the last minute. Grab a few free printables over on Life as Mom.

Determine quantity. How many trays of cookies are you bringing to holiday celebrations? How many boxes do you plan to fill? Try to come up with a rough estimate of exactly how many cookies or baked goods you’ll need at the end of the day (or the end of the season, rather).
Choose your recipes. Are you going with old favorites? Which new recipes will you be incorporating into the mix? Decide what it is you are making.
Separate the recipes into categories. Determine which things will keep better frozen (covered below) and which need to be made closer to the date they’ll be consumed.
Make a list or calendar. Plot out which recipes are going to be made first, second and so on. A calendar can help designate days for baking, but it can also give you a visual deadline to keep you on track.
Get started. There’s no time like the present to tackle that list. Even if you cross off just one item, you’re one item closer to the end.

What to Freeze Ahead

Freezing baked goods ahead is what makes it possible to do all this stuff ahead, but then the question becomes which ones freeze best? I recently wrote about this over at Food Your Way, so head there for the long version.

For dough: the firmer, the better. If you have a dough that you can shape with your hands or roll and cut, these are the best kinds of dough to freeze. It will keep well, and it will stand up to the freeze-and-thaw process just fine.
For baked cookies: Undecorated and single layer works best. If you want to freeze sugar or gingerbread cookies, do it before you decorate. Just bake them all off and pick a day in the future to spend decorating them. Avoid freezing filled cookies or sandwich cookies. Instead, consider freezing them as dough and baking later, or freezing the two baked cookies and filling later.
Freeze and then package. I like to freeze my cookies and then put them together in the package to freeze. This helps reduce moisture build up inside the airtight container, and it helps ensure they don’t all freeze together. Read about the exact process on Food Your Way.

Getting the Kids Involved

It probably won’t surprise you that my kids are involved in the holiday baking. While there are plenty of cookies I prefer to do myself because they’re more involved, if I tried to shoo them out of the room every time I needed to make a batch of cookies, roll peanut butter balls or stir a pot to make caramels, life simply would not work. Plus, they’re be pretty angry at me. So, instead, I try to get their hands dirty whenever it’s appropriate to do so, and we make a tradition out of it.

Make it fun. Rather than stress, try to make this experience as enjoyable as possible. Put on Christmas music, sing songs, have everyone don a set of reindeer ears and put Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on in the background.
Pick recipes or parts of recipes that you are familiar with. There are some cookies and holiday treats I make that just aren’t easy for the kids to help with, but perhaps some of them are. Let the kids help with the dough, but choose naptime or a day when they’re at basketball practice to roll them out and futz with the filling and the more delicate intricacies. Remember, too, that they may not have the attention span to last for a 4-hour baking session, so let them know up front which things you are going to have them help with, and have an activity set up off to the side to entertain them the rest of the time.
Mix it up. We love giving food gifts, and having the kids help layer ingredients in a jar to gift is always a fun idea. There are plenty of jar dessert mixes readily available, so find one you think looks fun. The kids can also help make labels and decorations for the jar as well.

I’ve posted this list before elsewhere, but never here. This is a general guideline for what kids can do at different ages. Be sure to consider your own child’s maturity level and experience in the kitchen – no one knows your kid better than you do – and don’t be afraid to get them involved.

Up to Age 4:

::pour pre-measured ingredients like flour or milk into mixing bowls
::sift and stir dry ingredients together in large bowls with spoons or whisks
::place cookie cutters in rolled dough and press down with assistance
::decorate cakes and cupcakes with sprinkles and nonpareils
::crunch and smash crackers and cookies into crumbs for crusts with the bottom of non-breakable cups

Ages 5 to 7:

all of the above, plus…

::cut soft fruits or peel oranges, clementines or potatoes
::measure dry ingredients with cups and spoons and add to mixing bowls
::wash fruits and vegetables and remove stems
::cut out cookies from rolled dough, slice rolled cookies, scoop drop cookies
::crack eggs into separate containers
::load utensils and measuring cups into the dishwasher

Ages 7 to 9:

all of the above, plus…

::measure all ingredients, both wet and dry
::frost cookies, cupcakes and cakes
::wipe down surfaces during the cooking process
::roll cookie, pie and pastry dough into different sizes
::load and unload the dishwasher
::separate egg whites and yolks into small dishes

Age 10 and Over:

all of the above, plus…

::use small kitchen appliances like mixers, a food processor or blender
::chop fruits, vegetables and nuts
::add/remove cookies sheets and pans from the oven
::use the stovetop: stir, add ingredients, watch
::everything!

What are some of your favorite things to bake and make for the holidays, and have you started yet? (I just did with the gingerbread this week!)

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