Teaching my Son to Cook
Teaching my Son to Cook
Cooking is many things, but what if it's the first real marker of adulthood?
I’ll be honest, I’m not always the best meal planner during the week. I have high hopes and a higher grocery bill after setting my menu for the 4-5 dinners I plan (hope? dream?) to prepare. Nothing fancy; a pasta night with chicken and green salad, homemade fajitas with fresh guacamole, maybe a hearty soup or stew with crusty bread, and a nice piece of salmon with veggies and crispy smashed potatoes on fish delivery days. Good food. Meals that my brood of five-who-eat-like-ten will enjoy.
Life gets busy, fast though. My husband and I were lamenting that yet another week has gone by and we only made one or two of the recipes I had aimed for. As we brainstormed solutions we quickly realized we needed another cook in the house. My husband works a ton and has an unpredictable schedule, so penning him in on a fixed dinner schedule isn’t a great choice. I have my work plus responsibilities including, but not limited to, principal dishwasher, lunch maker, chauffeur, boy wrangler, and emergency medical provider for various scrapes and bumps. It’s a lot.
More Cooks in the Kitchen
Our worried eyes started searching who else could possibly take some of the cooking load off of our shoulders…. as we scanned the living room with our trio of boys playing Xbox, our gaze landed on our newly 14 year old son. A-ha!
I’ll pause here to ask - and this may be my GenX/Elder Millennial talking - but who else learned to cook really early? Like, ‘as soon as you could turn on the gas without burning the house down’ early? I was making easy lunches for my siblings and helping my parents cook from about age 8. I was promoted to dinner duties a few times a week by age 12. Cooking was a skill I enjoyed and I enjoyed learning even more.
Fast forward to my own kids, and I think they do know some of the basics for (maybe) scrambled eggs, (possibly) French toast, and (perhaps) good old mac & cheese from a box. But, beyond helping cut vegetables, they haven’t taken a lot of interest in cooking with me (licking the frosting spoons doesn’t count, right?) It’s certainly my fault that I haven’t taught them more. I just enjoy cooking so much, that I’ve sort of hogged the experience!
Well, times are a changing, son! You are being drafted into kitchen service, and I will teach you how to cook that pasta and how to gently heat and fold those eggs to a soft scramble. What? You don’t know what a marinade is? Grab that citrus and oil, let’s get to work!
Because really, it’s not just about getting another cook in the kitchen to help with weeknight dinners, it’s about teaching self sufficiency. Good nutritional choices. Safe cooking practices and knife skills. Meal planning, and the basic joys of feeding those you love. We’ll start slowly, but surely, and you will become prepared for adulthood with an arsenal of simple recipes and good techniques.
But, in case of emergency, there’s always room on the shelf for that blue box of Mac & cheese.
Here are Some of The Recipes I’ll be Teaching!
