Independence in the Kitchen

If you've been a fan of ours for awhile then you know what fans we are of the Montessori method and its applications in the home. Montessori is all about empowering kids to make their own choices and do for themselves. By instilling a sense of confidence and independence, children are able to creative problem solve for themselves and studies have shown that most Montessori kids go on to become creative and successful adults. That's why we encourage X to be as hands on in the kitchen as is safe for his age and abilities.
This summer, X has been asserting his independence even more. He has an opinion on everything - from what he wears to what he eats (nothing new there!) to what order he wants to do things in. It's so great to see this kiddo taking charge in his life and as parents, the Dad and I feel like we're watching this little person blossom into a creative and engaged individual.
To help the Kid take more control of his environment, I decided to create a dedicated shelf for him in our pantry. Here, we store all his snacks that don't require refrigeration (the juice, milk, fruits, cheese, etc... are in the fridge) along with his plates, napkins and utensils so that he can help himself when he's hungry. With his plates, cups and cutlery on this lower shelf, he is also helping to set the table each night for dinner (he's been clearing his plate on his own for months but now he can help with dinner from the cooking, to setting the table to clearing up).

X gave me the cue that he was ready for this shelf in a very direct way - when snack time would roll around he would say, "Let's look in the pantry!" and open the door. It was just a matter now of putting the snacks where he could get them and he was off and running!

On X's snack shelf this month:
Homemade cheese crackers (here's the recipe we love from Oh Hey! What's Up?)
Honey wheat pretzel rods
Fruit leather (still trying to master making this from scratch so if you have a recipe you love, please share!)

The Kids Cook Monday: Apple Curry Chicken Skewers

Food on Sticks - it's nothing new but hey, it sure is fun! (By the way, I'm dying to add Matt Armendariz's cookbook to my collection but fear it will be the final undoing of my attempts at achieving a relatively healthy weight) We made these chicken skewers for dinner the day our CSA box was delivered. I've found that planning a grilled/broiled chicken dish for that day is a fool-proof way to use up the most perishable of produce items - lettuce. We served these skewers with the Boston lettuce we got that week - delish!

Apple Curry Chicken Skewers
serves 3

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb (or so) chicken tenders
Bamboo skewers

For the salad:
Dressing: Diced apples mixed with a fresh batch of the marinade ingredients and a little bit of stone-ground mustard
Diced roasted beets (also from our CSA box - I roast them as soon as we get them)
Raisins
Boston lettuce

Prepare your marinade by pouring the first four ingredients into a resealable plastic bag (not the most eco-friendly idea but the Kid really loved shaking the bag around to mix it up). Add the chicken tenders and let them marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so.

With clean hands, skewer the chicken tenders onto the bamboo skewers. I kept a spray bottle of water next to our work station so that we could spritz our hands between skewers. Dealing with raw ingredients like chicken does make me nervous when I'm cooking with the Kid but with a little diligence you can instill concepts like safe food handling at an early age without freaking your kid out about it. (This is coming from someone who never handled a whole raw chicken until I was well into my late 20s - I was completely freaked out by raw meat for most of my life.)

We placed our skewers on a broil pan and cooked them in the oven under the broiler, set on high. Keep a close eye on them and turn them as they get done on one side. Total cooking time was probably around 12 minutes or so.

This was one of those summer meals that I just loved from start to finish. The kitchen didn't get blazing hot while we were cooking and the end result was light and flavorful.