Cooking with Noah

Noah has been an extraordinary imaginary-chef for as long as he could hold an imaginary spoon. In the past months, he has become more and more interested in cooking real food with us. Given Noah's long-standing love of food, it did not come as a surprise that he loves to hang around the kitchen and get involved in creating his favorite dishes.  Whenever one of us is in the kitchen, he pulls up his step-stool and then drags it around the kitchen with a loud screech to watch, help out, point, and see what is going on.

We have some routine meals that he likes to help with.  For example, just this evening, he helped make pizza with Daddy, stretching the dough, spreading the sauce, and dropping onions, mushrooms, and peppers all over. Of course, his favorite part is snacking on the pizza toppings, or some raw garlic if he can find any!  He also likes singing happy birthday to the tomatoes while they sit in the boiling water, and then peeling the tomatoes afterwards for the pizza sauce.  

Some of his favorite recipes are pretty typical for a 2-year old: he likes making chocolate chip cookies (who doesn't?), scones, and (banana) pancakes. Other favorites are a little more surprising, for example, Chana Masala (Indian chickpea curry) and hummus (our little guy is a BIG fan of chickpeas). He loves pureeing the chickpeas in the food processor ("Bzzzzzz").  He also likes making pita bread: kneading the little balls, rolling them out (or hitting them with the little rolling pin), and then putting them in the oven and shouting, "Wake up bread!" while we wait for the pita to puff up.

We've also done a few special cooking projects, like this "green meal." The appetizer was a green cucumber-based soup, followed by a pasta with cilantro pesto, roasted broccoli and mint chocolate chip cupcakes. 

                         

There was also "layer-night" where each dish was layered (tomato, portobello and mozzarela sandwiches, followed by vegetarian lasagna and baked smores). And there was Moroccan night where we looked up Morocco on the map and talked about the country and its food and then made tagine and Moroccan salads/dips.  I am not sure he enjoys the "themed" cooking  any more than general cooking but we have a good time planning!

Overall, Noah really seems to enjoy spending time in the kitchen with us. He keeps an eagle eye on everything that is going on, and makes sure to taste everything as it makes its way from raw to chopped to cooked.  (Holding up one finger, "One? I eat one piece?")  And he always knows what ingredient to add next: "Garlic, garlic!"