My youngest has been enjoying time in the kitchen with me lately. He’s loves making pizzas for his brothers. He adds all sorts of things and even asks if they want white pizza or pizza with sauce. It’s funny because he’s been making up recipes since preschool. Like this lovely strawberry topped banana, which was much more tasty than the banana topped Cheez-it he force fed me one time.

Last weekend he wanted to make us a family dinner. He had been preparing his recipe in his mind for weeks. He even decided to create his own “Recipe Notebook.” I gathered his ingredients and off to work he went. Meatball Parmesan he called it. Because it was like my chicken parm but with meatballs. Meatballs, sauce, and cheese.

He prepared it and put it in the oven, then went to set the table. All fancy with candles.

He  nailed it. Dinner was delicious. His brothers gave him high praise and there wasn’t a bit leftover.

His masterpiece.

I think what I loved most about this was not that I didn’t have to make dinner, but it was the pure pride that exuded from him. He was so incredibly proud of himself and so happy that his entire family enjoyed the food that he made. I think it’s so important to teach our kids to cook. They can really do amazing things when we give them a little guidance and then let them fly.

Do you have little chefs in your home? What do they love to make?