I'm Mary Jane, the resident Chef, chief dish washer, bus-girl and menu planner.
My son Jack is the resident Chopper, mixer, kitchen entertainer and Sous-Chef in training.
My daughter Talia is the namesake of our blog. She's the primary Sous-Chef, menu-planner in training and all-around amazing kid-chef.
I didn't always cook with the kids. For one thing, it took them a while to get tall enough to see the counter..! Getting them to help out in the kitchen began as a form of self-preservation. We needed to eat, we needed to spend time together and between work, school, other activities and life (yeah, you know this routine, right?) our meals were slipping.
I love to cook, and I feel that good meals are an important part of our familly. So one night, in the middle of feeling stressed out and listening to kids bemone their empty bellies, I handed over a knife and said "well here, chop this."
It hasn't always been smooth sailing, and sometimes they don't want to help, but over time, it's become one of the most pleasurable parts of our day. I feel less guilty about the occasional pizza and really glad when they sidle up to me in the kitchen and say "can I help?" Because they can.
We started this blog a while back, when my daughter took an interest in whether our recipes were from cook-books or "made up". Many of them were made up, so she dug up a three-ring binder and asked me to write them down so she could name them. One thing led to another, and here we are!
We hope you enjoy the food and find some kid-chefs (young or old) for your kitchen!
Here's to shared food - the best kind of all!
